Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!nuchat!sugar!peter
From: peter@sugar.uu.net (Peter da Silva)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Atari-bashing (was Re: Looking for an Evangelist)
Message-ID: <3213@sugar.uu.net>
Date: 5 Jan 89 01:17:33 GMT
References: <474@ur-cc.UUCP> <6847@spool.cs.wisc.edu> <12835@cup.portal.com> <428@ho7cad.ATT.COM>
Organization: Sugar Land Unix - Houston, TX
Lines: 54

I claimed that the Atari ST was worse than the C=64, because with benefit
of more experience and they (The Tramiel Bunch, now called Atari) still went
with a unique proprietary O/S (GEMdos, from Digital Research).

In article <428@ho7cad.ATT.COM>, mgh@ho4cad.ATT.COM writes:
> Either you never owned a C-64 or have a very short memory. The C-64 is no
> comparison to the ST. If anything it has a tough time being considered the 
> equal to the Atari 8bit line.

This is true, and I'll give you the Apple-II as well. But then this is also
true of the Atari ST. The Jay Miner Bunch (Amiga) are still ahead of the
Tramiell Bunch, and the Bad Apples (Apple) have less desirable hardware but
make up for it in other areas.

Now, I continue with:
> > Programming on the ST is exactly like programming on the IBM-PC, except that
> > there are fewer tools available, and more bugs to work around. After a couple
> > of months of struggling the ST went into storage and I financed an Amiga.

> I can only guess that you do not have any good software stores avaiable to you
> that sell ST software.

I don't know. Is the Floppy Wizard in Houston good? They seem to have plenty
of titles. The ones I saw and tried out were almost all toys. Dave Beckmeyer's
shell was the one exception.

> I find lots of programming utilities available for the ST.

As many as on the IBM-PC? (go back and read what I said, above). If you want
to compare the Amiga to the ST, can you run PM while debugging a multitasking
MIDI utility or a well-behaved videogame? Where's the source code debuggers?
How about REXX? Or the midi.library? You couldn't *write* a program like the
midi library on the ST. On the Amiga it's shareware.

> Far more than I can find for my Amiga.

What do you need? I'll be happy to help you find some. I find Fred Fish
supplies most of my needs, though. Most of my software budget, such as it
is, has gone to Manx.

> My main source for utilities for the
> Amiga is thru mail order and not local software houses.

I don't buy anything but games from local software houses, even when they have
the products I want. Simple economics, coupled with the fact that I know more
about the product than they do... on any machine.

> As far as comparing the two machines op sys, I find GEM totally superior to
> Workbench. It is much more friendly and easier to work with.

That's why I wrote Browser.
-- 
Peter "Have you hugged your wolf today" da Silva  `-_-'  Hackercorp.
...texbell!sugar!peter, or peter@sugar.uu.net      'U`