Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!im4u!ut-sally!utah-cs!thomson From: thomson@utah-cs.UUCP (Richard A Thomson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: My Amiga has a retarded brother... Message-ID: <5447@utah-cs.UUCP> Date: 27 Apr 88 00:29:03 GMT References: <2859@houxa.UUCP> Reply-To: thomson@cs.utah.edu.UUCP (Richard A Thomson) Organization: University of Utah CS Dept Lines: 55 In article <2859@houxa.UUCP> shah1@houxa.UUCP (J.SHAH) writes: >For example, autoboot is normal stuff in the IBM and APPLE domain >and we always hear about the need for 1.3 to support it. There are >few very basic stuff that a computer in 1988 has to support i.e. >autobooting harddisks and a large number of printers and the Amiga >does not support these very well. How many printers can you reliably use with a Mac? I have only seen ImageWriters and LaserWriters. That does not seem to be too many to me. As for IBM and their clones: the reason that they support so many printers is that they treat them with a text-only attitude. For that realm you have to get the software vendor to support your printer. That means that each program has its own configuration software that you run to tell it what kind of screen, printer, etc. you have. By putting these features in the OS the Amiga system allows much more ease-of-programming for the software manufacturer and at the same time ensures that more printers will be supported for ALL applications, not just the ones who can afford to hire a programmer to write 25 variations on a theme for their application. >The technical gibberish about autoboot, >1.3, Chipram, kickstart makes the Amiga appear as a hackers computer >not a machine that any novice user can deal with. Again, have you looked at the IBM world? I worked in a retail computer store where I endlessly had to explain CGA, EGA, VGA, Extended Memory, Expanded Memory, Extended/Expanded Memory, EEMS Memory, etc not to mention the Messy- DOS commands. If the particulars of memory types are bothering you, go get a Mac where you don't have any memory to worry about :-]. Computers, when you get right down to it, are complicated intricate machines and the complexity just doesn't go away if you want to do anything interesting or useful. >As an Amiga user I feel CA peoples' time is better spent on these questions >not in badmouthing a piece of computing history: the VIC-20. As another Amiga user I think your time is better spent not badmouthing a rare priviledge in the computer community. Not every computer user gets to talk to their tech support groups through easily accessible electronic mediums like UseNet and BIX. All these comments about the VIC-20 were made in fun and you should realize that. Please notice the UseNet convention of sarcasm [ the ubiquitous smiley-face :-) ] and the obvously humurous intent of the last few lines. >> Get about 10 more and line them up across your street. They make great >> speed bumps :-) >> Uh oh.... Here comes the >> OW! Let go! I dont like this fancy white coat! >> Help! Jane stop this crazy thing.... >> >Shah Jahan -- Richard Thomson 3190 MEB, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 thomson@cs.utah.edu (801) 584-4555: Talk to a machine, they're lonely. Gaia: Its not just a hypothesis, its an epistemology.