Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!lethe!geac!maccs!cs4g6ag
From: cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: 286/20 machines
Message-ID: <25E98E19.9986@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca>
Date: 26 Feb 90 20:14:16 GMT
References: <1533@ucf-cs.UCF.EDU>
Reply-To: cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn)
Distribution: na
Organization: McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
Lines: 27

In article <1533@ucf-cs.UCF.EDU> wordproc@ucf-cs.UCF.EDU (wordproc) writes:
$1.2MB and 1.44MB floppies, which have no trouble reading and writing to
$lower densities from other machines....

   There should not be a problem with high-density drives of either
size reading and writing lower-density diskettes ... the problem is
that once you've written to a 360K diskette with a 1.2M drive, other
360K drives may not be able to read it reliably.

$  I don't foresee ever using anything but MSDOS 4.01+,
$so the 386/25 probably would be a waste for me.

   But how far do you foresee?  I don't mean this to sound like an
insult, but when it comes to what one will be using one's computer for
more than a year or two into the future, one's expectations are often
significantly different from what the truth will be.

   In any case, some people will find one computer adequate for what
they do with it, while others will invariably find it very inadequate.
A 4.77 MHz XT is fine if all you're doing is word processing 2-page letters;
anything less than a 25 MHz 386 may be underpowered for a software
developer.
-- 
Stephen M. Dunn                               cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca
          <std_disclaimer.h> = "\nI'm only an undergraduate!!!\n";
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               I Think I'm Going Bald - Caress of Steel, Rush