From: passaret@copernicus.crd.ge.com ("Mr. Mike" Passaretti)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: More meaningless comparisons (Was Re: Unreal demo!)
Summary: No nude Texans
Date: 11 Sep 92 15:10:56 GMT
	<1992Sep07.160103.18226@NeoSoft.com>
	<1992Sep8.151018.26361@ctr.columbia.edu>
Reply-To: Mike Passaretti <passaretti@crd.ge.com>
Organization: GE Aircraft Engines, Evendale OH

I'm going to hate myself in the morning, but I'm in curmudgeon
mode (Christ, I sound like KPD.  Shoot me now!).

# In message <1992Sep8.151018.26361@ctr.columbia.edu>, 
# jerry@connection.prospect.com (Jerry Shekhel) writes:

> peter@NeoSoft.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
>Where can I get a 486 box for $400?

jjs> You can't, but you can get a 386 box (no HD or monitor)
jjs> for that price.  And don't tell me that the 386 can't
jjs> compete with the A500.

Once again, all together now...

"The utility of a tool depends on the necessity for it"

If you need a PosiDriv screwdriver, all the digitally
controlled torque sensing hammer drills in the world won't do
you a lick of good.  "Compete" is a content-less word in your
sentence.  Give me an application or a market and maybe the
comparison can be made.  Hell, I'll even concede the business
marketplace to Apple and IBM.  You'll still have that cross
section of people who want to hack a little and play a little
and do some useful work (Where useful work doesn't have to
include 32 color pie charts or documents with animated pitches
in them).  I've been living with various UNIX boxen and an
Amiga for the last 5 years.  So far I haven't had any work
task I couldn't do on one of them, and damn few I couldn't do
on both.  I will grant that the X-Windows development gets
done at work, but I do my real-time simulation on my 3000
rather than on my Sun, and since I design real-time systems
for a living, that's useful work to me.  (Where real-time is
defined as 8KHz 32 sample burst 12 bit signal processing stuff
and simulation of a 3 processor VMEBus signal analysis box in
a deterministic (if not one-to-one) time scale.  In case you want
to know _my_ definition).

>The 486 chip itself costs more than a 500.

jjs> That's funny, I was just quoted $475 for a 486/33
jjs> motherboard.

Let's see... Well I just got quoted $329 for a 500 with a meg
of memory.  That leaves about $146 for ancillary components.
Sounds about right, especially if it's a 0K motherboard.  

>For that matter, the Sparc-2s at work *feel* slower than my
>Amiga 1000.

jjs> Yep, and a Boeing 747 *feels* like it's standing still.

And what's your point?  That you're just as capable of making
stupid assertions and invalid comparisons as, say, -MB-?  My
1965 TR4 _feels_ faster than my 1989 Shadow Turbo.  It's not,
but I still have a lot more fun driving it.  It corners with
better feel (although less G-force by the numbers) and is more
responsive in general.  I have to do points and change plugs
and all that stuff, but I wouldn't give it up for the world.
Different strokes.  I use a Sparc IPX at work all day, and I
can attest that for everyday operations, my 3000 feels faster
to me too.  It's the nature of the beast.  Even with 32MB,
with EMACS and a bunch of xterms up the Sun swaps.  Add NFS
delays and such (because no UNIX guy can have enough disk
space locally - by definition) and you've got some loss of
real-time response.  Sometimes it's so slow it makes me
scream.  Just like the stupid engine management system in my
Dodge makes me cry out for my 1960's vintage britcar, tractor
engine and all.  Just like Windows (And the Finder) make me
cringe, even on fast machines.  If you can't grok that, then
there's no point in trying to understand why I still hack UNIX
(What three letters are _not_ options to BSD /bin/ls?) and
AmigaOS (What do you mean you can't send scsi direct commands
_sometimes_?), and don't hack Macs (@^&$@& Pascal residue) or
PC's (F*ck the BIOS, full speed ahead) any more.  It's a
matter of feel and style.  OS/2 is a start.  And a pretty good
one, too, but it'll take a while to get rid of the bad taste
left from the last distributed real-time database management/
network communications project I had to do on an IBM.  No way
I should have to write my own serial drivers to get 9600 baud.
No way.  PC's have progressed a bit since then (EISA and the
486), but I'll pass for a while yet.  Good tools, and I use
them when it's appropriate, but I'll stick with the Amiga, oil
leaks, warm beer and all :-)

>Peter da Silva.  <peter@sugar.neosoft.com>.

jjs> |                            jerry@polygen.com
|

And trim that signature, will ya'... 8 lines and a G&R quote
make you look more like a newbie than a professional computer
dude (TM).  Especially 10 times a day.  TEHO, I guess, but
there's some advice anyway.  Worth what you paid for it.
I said I was feeling curmudgeonly.
                                                        - MM
-- 
passaretti@crd.ge.com           {whatever}!crdgw1!copernicus!passaret
mrmike@michelotti.ae.ge.com     {whatever}!crdgw1!copernicus!michelotti!mrmike