From: arsouth@watson.ibm.com (Andrew R. Southwick)
Subject: Re: EGGPLANT, IMPLANT, EMPATH, BLAZEPLANT...
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 23:55:11 GMT
News-Software: IBM OS/2 PM RN (NR/2) v0.14g by O. Vishnepolsky and R. Rogers
Reply-To: arsouth@watson.ibm.com (Andrew R. Southwick)
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

In <1992Nov12.190515.5924@utstat.uucp> philip@utstat.uucp (Philip McDunnough) writes:
>In article <1992Nov12.133846.14559@gn.ecn.purdue.edu> jess@gn.ecn.purdue.edu (Jess M Holle) writes:
>>Also, does this A3000/Emplant system have:
>>  *built-in Ethernet
>>  *accelerated 24-bit color w/ the addition of VRAM SIMMs
>>  *three NuBUS 90 slots
>>  *built-in sound input
>
>The built in Ethernet needs a special connector which costs almost as much as
>an Amiga's Ethernet card. ZorroIII competes favourably with NuBus. Sound on
>the Amiga is far better than on the Mac. The Amiga multitasks. In many ways
>the Amiga is far better (especially the A4000), and if Jim Drew gets the bugs
>out of the Emplant software then one would be hard pressed to not consider
>the combination.

"In many ways the Amiga is far better..."
In many ways the Mac is far better.  So?  That's not the issue.
The issue is: The Emplant is not a perfect replacement for a Mac.  The Mac is
more than software emulation.  It's programs running with NuBUS cards;
being able to expand with an accelerated 24-bit graphics card; adding VRAM
SIMMs to a quadra to get 24-bit color; built-in Mac sound working naturally
with the rest of the Mac OS.  Zorro III is not NuBUS.  Who cares if it
competes favorably?  We are talking about 100% compatibility.  Remember the
early PC clones that were 96% compatible?  They are no longer around because
compatibility is 100% COMPATIBILITY.  An Amiga with Emplant is not a Mac.
It looks and acts a lot like one, but it is not the same thing.

If you want to, consider the Amiga/Emplant combination when deciding to
move up from a smaller computer, or buy a new one.  I do not have a problem
with that.

>The Quadra is nice. It's really meant for A/UX which has never been accepted.
>Might help if Apple started using DMA properly.

It's not really meant for A/UX.  It's meant to be a fast Mac.  If I
had the money, I would get a Quadra 950 (i.e. rather than spend the money
on a Amiga 3000 and $3000 (or more) towards a new car, or whatever).
Why would you buy a faster computer?
        -to run the OS and standard applications faster
        -to run a more demanding OS
        -to run more demanding applications
        -to get better performance from the programs you do have
         (Paint programs, renderers, compilers)
A/UX is one of these reasons.  For me, getting better performance
from compilers is the primary reason for considering a faster computer.

Some people might disagree.  The guy over my shoulder here does; he has
a IIci at home.  He can not say why he disagrees; he is waiting for someone
to flame me so he can rationalize his own feelings.

>Philip McDunnough
>philip@utstat.toronto.edu

COMMUNISM: You have two cows. Give them to the government. They give you milk.

--------------------------------------------------------------
My views are my own; behaviorists can stick THAT up their ***!
Andrew R. Southwick
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy