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From: trb@stag.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Help requested in choosing a pc to purchase
Message-ID: <138@stag.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 7-Jun-87 15:41:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: stag.138
Posted: Sun Jun  7 15:41:37 1987
Date-Received: Mon, 8-Jun-87 05:40:57 EDT
References: <1711@ihwpt.ATT.COM> <955@killer.UUCP>
Reply-To: trb@stag.UUCP ( Todd Burkey )
Distribution: world
Organization: Mindtools ST Access Group, Plymouth, MN
Lines: 45
Xref: utgpu comp.sys.amiga:5150 comp.sys.atari.st:3639

<flame on...to a prior Re:>
I am really tired of seeing an 'analysis comparison' of the three
machines (ibm, st, amiga) by someone who obviously hasn't used any of
them extensively...what a waste of time.
<flame off>

Just to answer a few misunderstandings:

There are both IEEE expansion boxes and HP/IB expansion cages
available for the ST. We have a local distributor for a german company
(in Mnpls, MN!) who develops control system software/hardware for the
ST. I have also seen an ST tied into Ethernet at ETA, and at least one
ST that I know of has 4 RS232 ports allowing multiple logins
under the Multi-Tasking C-Shell (Beckmeyers'). I will try to get more
info at our next ST developers' meeting if anyone is interested.

Also, it is quite easy to add inexpensive hard drives to the ST, it
just costs a bit more because you need to add a case and a SCSI
adapter...Figure on paying about $150 more if you just buy bare drives
and cases than if you bought an external drive for a PC...$200-$300
more if you buy a pre-packaged drive from Supra. One nice thing about
the ST is that if you get a 3.5 inch Supra 20, you will have a very
quiet setup (no fans at all)...great for an office environment.

In the area of CAD, there are several packages for the ST. First Cad
is my favorite 'drafting' type package...I have used it for quick
schematics and Logic block diagram drawings. There are probably better
ones, but I am a cheapskate (First Cad is $49.95 retail). Also, the
new CAD 3D 2.0 is pretty nice for simple 3D visualization...it is
incredible when used with the Tektronic 3D glasses (I have actually
used one at last...but hear that the order backlog is >3 months). I
wouldn't do anything very large with CAD 3D, however (i.e. no building
design). I have heard rumors that some of the $500-$5000 cad packages
for the PC have been ported to the ST, but I haven't seen any yet.

In the area of word processors, I still haven't seen anything 'great'
out yet for the ST. I revert to Final Word for large manuals and First
Word (or Publishing Partner) for small stuff. On the other hand, there
are more good database progs (relational, graphics based, spreadsheet, etc) than
I care to think about for the ST, so I don't (I wrote a simple
database program once on the 8 bit Atari and it was all I have ever
needed for my own database work.)

 -Todd Burkey
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