From: blocker@dominic.ssc.gov (Rich Hall)
Subject: Re: List of Emplant "bugs" from UU.
Organization: Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 23:02:16 GMT

In article <tpang.721740668@sfu.ca>, tpang@fraser.sfu.ca (Tsui Ting Debbie Pang) writes:
|> wwarner@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Art Warner) writes:

|> >Joe was the *ONLY* person there.  He was having to answer two phone
|> >lines, and work on bug fixes by himself!  (busy man!)
|> >He had one phone in one ear, his eyes on a monitor, and
|> >another phone on hold!  (wonder where his mind is?)

|> Ahh, I know why there are so many bugs that it doesn't work, it's 'cause
|> all you guys calling and bugging :) them on the phone. See if you guys
|> have some faith and wait patiently a little longer (like sometimes next
|> week), we all might have working Emplants now. :)

Very funny. We all know the reason why one person answers the phone
is that there is no technical support to speak of. It's UU's fault,
not ours.

|> >I tried not to keep him too long, but here is a summary:

|> >A3000's without 2.04 roms are in the worst shape.
|> >Emplant doesn't like using Superkickstart loaded from HD.  (likes roms)
|> >LowMap works for some people, not for others.
|> >Still no HD support.
|> >Still doesn't run under 2.0.  It did at one time, but Jim likes 1.3 and
|> >  finished developing the rest of the softare under 1.3 assuming that 
|> >  it still ran fine under 2.0.

|> So he is not writing according to rules. Even most games can be degraded
|> to run on A3000! What kind of development this is, we have not heard a

You mean, even the A3000 can be degraded to run most games.

|> success working story yet, whatever the more favourable setup.
|> His product announcement specifically claimed support for HD, 68000, etc.
|> And now of course 68000 was dropped because it is too slow from the overhead
|> patches. Well , I don't believe it, I think some of us 68000 owners do not
|> mind seeing a very slow emulation, how about putting it back on to prove
|> what you said? Mr. Drew?

Novel idea, worthy of an answer, Jim.

|> >All of these problems are currently being worked on.
|> >They hope to have them corrected sometime "next week."  (I hate those words)
|> >Emplant.lha is available on the BBS.  It fixes disk caching and 32bit QuickDraw.
|> >  (not much need of me dnlding this until I they get some of the other fixes!)

|> >BTW: UU tells me that they *WERE* pressured into releasing Emplant in it's
|> >     current state due to legal "pressure/threats".  Personally, I would have
|> >     rather they waited.  Of course, I would rather Jim had not told us that
|> >     it was ready when it wasn't!  I'd rather have World Peace, too.

|> Well I guess it is so much of our faults, because we have not had faith on
|> him. Now we made him to release it as is, may be not able to further on
|> the development, because we are not true believers.

Again, I am assuming this is a sarcastic statement. True professionals would
care more about releasing a high-quality, functioning product to as many
customers as possible, and would not have been sidetracked by the silly
discussions here on the net. True professionals would not have gotten into
a dispute with AmigaWorld that prevents them from advertising, and would
not have drawn attention to that by degrading AmigaWorld. True professionals
would concentrate on releasing upgrades and bug fixes rather than blaming 
Commodore for writing bad system software, even if that were true.

|> >The bottom line is:
|> >  "Ain't much need of trying any more, until they get these fixes done".
|> >That is, unless your running:
|> >  '020 or '030 with system 1.2/1.3 roms 
|> >   and don't care about HD support (ie. no Mac sys7)

|> But how come we have not seen any positive reports? I am sure there are many
|> users with that set up?

I think the people with that set-up didn't buy Emplant.
 
|> >I think I'll wait.

|> I think I'll wait also. Not to be cynical, but I'll consider buying one after
|> reliable sources proved it's reliability and compatibility.

That's not cynical, that's intelligent consumerism. I'm waiting to see one running
side-by-side with an A-Max II+ system. I bought A-Max II+ and will upgrade to
Emplant if it ever works as advertised. By then, ReadySoft will have its own color
Mac IIcx emulator on the market (A-Max IIcx?), so there will be more to influence
the decision. ReadySoft has always treated me well, so if their offering is just
as powerful, ReadySoft will get my order.

There's something to be said for being on the leading edge, but buying Emplant
now is a naive way of jumping the gun. I had faith in Jim Drew until he tried to
explain his mistakes away without taking any responsibility for his company's 
shortcomings. It was Jim Drew who broke the faith while many fervent Amiga 
believers kept it. Maybe his middle name should be "Bakker."

|> David

Rich