From: u9148043@cs.uow.edu.au (Justin Jay Lister)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: PC's vs. mortals
Date: 23 Jul 92 04:01:44 GMT
Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Wollongong University, Australia

pdb059@ipl.jpl.nasa.gov (Paul Bartholomew) writes:

>In article <1992Jul10.164405.9454@hfsi.uucp>, ata@hfsi.uucp (John Ata FSO) writes:
>> Sorry, my experience with the 286, 386, 486 are more in line with
>> Steve's experience.  Configuring PC's in my experience is a major
>> hassle.  And I've done it enough times with enough vendors so I am
>> pretty confident that my experience is not a fluke.  Your case
>> appears to be one where the motherboard is being expanded.  In all
>> the cases I've dealt with, adding an extra board is an arduous
>> experience is figuring out how the memory is laid out and setting
>> dip switches!  I think that Steve is saying that this exercise is
>> more simple on the Amiga, to which I strongly agree.

>I've added seven boards to my 286 clone, including video, memory, disk
>controller, i/o, SoundBlaster Pro, scanner interface, and a board which
>allows me to read Mac diskettes.  I will not claim that it was as easy
>to install these as it perhaps would have been on the Amiga, but it 
>really was not an "arduous experience".  In each case, all I had to do
>was read the manuals, record the memory locations and IRQs used, and
>set a few switches.  In the case of the memory board, I had to set switches
>to allocate part of the memory to expanded and part to extended memory.

>I fully agree, from the descriptions posted here, that the experience is
>more simple on the Amiga.  I also agree that automatic configuration is
>very useful and I wish that it was available in the IBM clone world.  Still,
>you're talking about a process that at worst consumes several hours.  And
>once you've done the work, it's done.  Over your computer's useful lifetime,
>the amount of effort is trivial.

When the saying goes that we spend 20% of our time doing 80% of our work and
80% of our time doing %20 (being configuring and tidying) i think that this
time is not as trivial as you say. Sure it is done but every time u get 
something new you start all over again (ok maybe just a little over exagerated)
but all this time adds up. Now i wish i could find where that 80% of the time
goes so i could use it more productivley. Besides i don't know anyone who
enjoys sitting there with a board that want's to be a bastard and not be 
recognize when it should.

*wishing i had that 80%*


>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Paul Bartholomew          |   "The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of
>                          |    many things..."                  Lewis Carroll
>pdb059@mipl3.jpl.nasa.gov |   Disclaimer:  Opinions?  What opinions?
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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