Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ukma!gatech!hubcap!ncrcae!ncrlnk!uunet!mcvax!ukc!kl-cs!jonathan
From: jonathan@cs.keele.ac.uk (Jonathan Knight)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: anyone heard of "Amstrad" pc clone?
Message-ID: <447@kl-cs.UUCP>
Date: 16 Dec 88 13:32:28 GMT
References: <2225@titan.camcon.co.uk>
Organization: U. of Keele, Staffs. U.K.
Lines: 49

From article <2225@titan.camcon.co.uk>, by mrh@camcon.co.uk (Mark Hughes):
> wagner@procase.UUCP (Mark Wagner) writes:
>>So specificially: has anyone heard of a pc clone called "Amstrad"
>>and if so how does it compare to other clones in terms of price/
>>performance/ etc.?
> 
> No long comparissons... just some simple feedback based on having used
> both Amstrad PC1512 and PC1640 for a couple of years. These machines are
> *very* compatible, as fast as you'd expect for the price, and extremely
> good value.

I had a PC1512 and found it too incompatable to use.  The floppy hardware
wasn't compatable enough to run COPYIIPC, the mouse was fine for stuff
which used the supplied mouse driver and didn't do anything clever.  The
mouse isn't compatable with anything else so you can't use a package
that wants to drive the mouse directly (windows, cadd, etc etc).  Even
if the package uses the supplied mouse driver, I often found the mouse
cursor disapearing or the machine locking up (e.g. MS Codeview).  The
keyboard software had a bug that caused binaries generated by MSC 4.0
to sometimes hang the system and the screen is a sort of Hercules
compatable.  It is a pretty good CGA emulator though (I had the monochrome
version).

Reliability is a real probelm, where I worked they bought a whole load
of the things and it was odd not to find one or two broken ones
lying around.  Specifically the printer port chips kept blowing and
the hard disks failed.  I believe Amstrad are buying in hard disks
now instead of making them themselves.  Overheating was also a problem
as the PC1512 didn't used to have any fans in them.

Overall I wasn't too impressed with the machine and it certainly
wasn't compatable enough for developing code on.  I'd make sure
that your applications work on it before buying one.

I now use a Beltron XT compatable (Continental Ltd) with a Genius
mouse and have only had trouble with the latest release of the MS
mouse driver as the Genius mouse wasn't compatable with the latest
MS mouse hardware.  I just use an older version without problem.  So far
I've had no other trouble with it at all and I would recommend considering
them as the machine has a much nicer feel and is a lot more
rugged.  Its also a snap together clone so the parts are well tried
and from well known manufacturers (TVM monitors, DTK motherboard, Seagate
disk, Western Digital controller).  Its a touch more money but I feel
it was worth it.
-- 
  ______    JANET :jonathan@uk.ac.keele.cs     Jonathan Knight,
    /       BITNET:jonathan%cs.kl.ac.uk@ukacrl Department of Computer Science
   / _   __ other :jonathan@cs.keele.ac.uk     University of Keele, Keele,
(_/ (_) / / UUCP  :...!ukc!kl-cs!jonathan      Staffordshire.  ST5 5BG.  U.K.