From: root@rkamiga.UUCP (Rick Kelly)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re:  Oh my God! Help my friend not buy an IBM!
Distribution: world
Date: 10 Nov 92 11:20:13 EST
Organization: Rick's Amiga

In article <1992Nov9.233145.8885@ra.msstate.edu> skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls) writes:
>In article <1992Nov9.163300.6254@gw.wmich.edu> x90wardell@gw.wmich.edu writes:
>>In article <1992Nov9.200117.27089@cs.olemiss.edu>, skip@cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls) writes:
>< much deleted >
>
>>	So your point is, Clones are good if you want to get work done
>>but to play with multimedia which very very few people use, the Amiga
>>is great?
>
>If so few people use MultiMedia, why is it that everyone in the Clone realm
>is talking about it like it is the next big thing?

Because Microsoft marketing has spoken.

>>	First of all, I am an EE major with a computer systems engineering
>>specialty (meaning in our EE program I took the CSE option).  I use this
>>machien (my clone) to do engineering projects and programming primarily.
>>However, I also like to listen to musion it for fun (rather listeten
>>to the radio still), play games, do a lot of telecommunications with it.
>
>That's great, I'll concede that you don't need an Amiga for those tasks.
>I have to agree with you on the music, most of the mods are crappy techno
>disco stuff that I personally find annoying.  Too bad none of the mod
>writers is a fan of real musicians like Hank, George Jones, and Buffett.  :-)

I wouldn't mind having some Chet Atkins mods.

>>	I have not seen an Amiga (500,2000,3000) that can even come close
>>to what I can do on this in terms of animation, multitasking, and
>>raw computing power.  I give the Amigas the edge on sound as you said,
>>my sound blaster pro is a match (in my opinion) for the Amiga but
>>every multimedia program ever made for the Amiga supports its sound,
>>the same can not be said for the sound blaster.  Of course, I don't
>>use Windows for animation since it is obviously very poor at it. 
>
>Hmmm, I have a tricked-out Clone that has trouble with running a single
>animation, much less along with doing anything else.  Multitasking?  I
>have heard rumors that Clone users have finally discovered what Amiga
>users have known about for years.
>
>Windows sucks for animation, but then again it sucks for everything else also.

As far as I'm concerned, clones are cheap workhorses for running UNIX.
 
>>	By the way, what is "Cutting" edge to an Amiga user?  Multimedia?
>
>We've had MultiMedia for years, but Commodore didn't have a marketing
>department to come up with the buzzword.  Cutting egde this year seems to
>be morphing and virtual reality, both of which will only be easier on the
>new machines.
>
>>	I think perhaps our difference in opinion is lack of experience.
>>It appears you haven't spent a lot of time with IBMs equipped to the max
>>and I will concede that I probably haven't seen Amigas equipped to the
>>max.  I will say this however, this machine here is certainly superior
>
>Hah!  I spend several hours a day working on a Clone that is equipped to
>the max.  My boss likes to keep on top of things and we'll have a LocalBus
>equipped SuperDuperWhateverComesAfterVGA machine with a MegaBassSoundBlaster
>Pro II within a short time.  Would you call 50-70 hours a week in front of
>one of these beasts a lot of time or not?

Local bus disk controllers seem to be a win for MSDOS, but they aren't too
good for multitasking operating systems.  Since all the boards on the local
bus can become bus masters, the cpu is locked out of main memory while the
disk is accessing.

>>to any amiga I have used in terms of speed, workablity, graphics,
>>and multitasking.  I am not familiar with that Amiga 1200 and I have
>>not used teh Amiga 4000 however.  Keep in mind though, you can buy
>>machines like mine now for under $2000.
>
>And you can buy an A4000 for $2795.  Add MCA or EISA, LocalBus SVGA,
>and a SoundBlaster Pro to a 486-50DX2 and you will have a comparable
>system, but I'd bet the price is more than $2000.

Easily.

>>	And before you go out and call IBM users "lame" or "boring"
>>or wahtever.  Think how you feel when IBm users come on and say "Go
>>play with your lamo toy."  I know most Amiga users get quite offended
>>when somene wrongly calls the Amiga a "toy".  To call IBMs "lame"
>
>Like I care how Clone users feel!  This is an Amiga newsgroup created
>for the purpose of advocating the Amiga.  I'll bash Clones, Macs, Ataris,
>and any other machines if I so please.  Do you think that anyone really
>cares whether or not you prefer a Clone to an Amiga?  Not me, and I don't
>think that many Amiga Advocates do either.  You and your lot are a lost
>cause.
>
>>and basing it on the old IBM XT or something (which you didn't do but
>>you have seen it on this conference) is pretty offensive too.  Unless
>>someone here happens to have an IBM compatible with 16 megs of ram,
>>OS/2 2.01, Coprocessed 24bit video and also has an Amiga, I don't think
>>people should say that the Amiga "blows" away clones as a general
>>statement.  There are too many clones out there with too many options.
>>One could say "Amigas blow away the typical clone setup." and I wouldn't
>>argue with that.
>
>I have just such a system as you describe and I have an A1000, and A3000,
>and will have an A4000 in a day or so.  Since I meet your qualifications,
>I can say whatever I want to about how bad the Clones really are compared
>to the Amiga.

--
Rick Kelly		Rick's Amiga		Framingham, Mass.

		think!unixland!rmkhome!rkamiga!root