HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: u2d92@seq1.keele.ac.uk (MJ Gumbley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: The PET
Date: 23 Dec 92 10:40:38 GMT
Organization: Keele University, England

From article <1992Dec22.131337.22119@zds-oem.zds.com>, by benjamin@zds-oem.zds.com (Adam Benjamin):
> I vaguely remember playing some text adventure written in basic on a PET
> at the local Community college.  I only remember falling into a pool that
> was full of mercury... anyway,  What did (does?) PET stand for? anything?
> is it Pretty Electronic Thing?  Programable Electronics & Transistors?
> What what?
> 
> /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
>    //   benjamin@zds-oem.zds.com  OR    af987@yfn.ysu.edu
>  \X/  Adam Benjamin          Insert snappy humor here
> \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

  As I recall, it stood for "Personal Electronic Translator" (Could have
been Transactor... hmmm...)

  Pity about the name, really, because they had to change it when they
marketed it in France... Hmmm... Apt, really!

--
Matt J. Gumbley              || Still needs a good signature, not liking
u2d92@seq1.cc.keele.ac.uk    || any of his recent feeble improvements on:
University of Keele, England || Why can't _I_ think of a good signature?
From: ggg@kepler.unh.edu (Gregory G Greene)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: 1200/4000 pricing
Date: 3 Jan 1993 05:29:59 GMT
Organization: University of New Hampshire  -  Durham, NH
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: kepler.unh.edu

'>VGA is ok, not great. There is no sound standard on the PC. Basically the
'>closest thing you'll get is the SB, not even the SB-Pro, SB-16, etc...

	To tell you the truth, I kind of like it that way.  I don't really
   want an all encompassing sound standard.  I'd rather have what we have  
   today, a multitude of sound cards being supported.  I don't want to be
   locked in to only one sound standard. 

'>The things just aren't very
'>interesting, and companies that have tried to make them interesting are 
'>having a hard time of it. The 486 I have is set up to be as interesting as
'>a PC could possibly be at this time.  Yet few people who visit our home find
'>the thing of interest, which is not what I can say about every other system I
'>have.

        I must have a different type of 486 PC then you do.  I find it very
  interesting and fun to use.  It runs my astronomy/astrophotography software,
  imaging software, and of course, games, wonderfully.  It provides me with what
  I consider great graphics and sound.  Not everybody who owns a PC is using
  it for spreadsheets and databases.
        As far as people who visit my home being interested in my computers,
  well, who cares really.  I bought it for my own use.  Frankly, I have had
  3 computers, an Apple IIe, an Amiga A500, and a 33/486, and few people 
  have found any of them to be interesting.

'>Had it not been for the PC we would have sound, motion, better TV/computer
'>interaction, etc...for a very reasonable price. As it is the 486 has taken
'>over the desktop and we have all these rather unpleasant things sitting
'>around demoing Wolfenstein3D...It's a nightmare.

	Now why would you want to demo Wolfenstein 3d when there is so much
  more out there.  How about demoing Strike Commander or X-Wing?  Or maybe
  one of those SVGA wargames like Patriot?  Ultima Underworld II?

							Greg Greene
                                                        ggg@kepler.unh.edu

'>Philip McDunnough
'>University of Toronto
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy,comp.sys.amiga.misc
From: jmpierce@whale.st.usm.edu (Jimmy Malcolm Pierce)
Subject: Re: Don't let the Amiga Die (Part II)!!!
Organization: University of Southern Mississippi
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 06:12:51 GMT

jerry@msi.com (Jerry Shekhel) writes:
>Philip McDunnough (philip@utstat.toronto.edu) wrote:
>:
>: The biggest hype around surrounds all these 486's and their fast 
>: hard drives, which for the most part are still running 8 bit software and
>: can't figure out which interrupts are taken.
>:  
>
>Interesting statement, Philip.  The original PC had an 8088 CPU.  How does
>one write 8-bit software for a 16-bit (internal) CPU?

   Probably the same way that some of the 386s where I work have 8-bit
controller cards in them. Floppy to floppy copying is very slow, on a
Zenith 386 16 MHz, running msdos 5.0. The 'Standard' 386 25 MHz do copy
faster, floppy to floppy in the other lab. { Same files, same size floppies}



-- 
         Jim Pierce Bach. of Sci. in Applied Computer Science USM 
             jmpierce@whale.st.usm.edu  Disclaimer: Standard.
                   Video. Cher: Love and Understanding.
From: Allen_Wittenauer@crispy.carb.il.us (Allen_Wittenauer)
Subject: Re: Will PC Makers Survive Mutimedia?? 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Distribution: usa
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: 3 Jan 93 00:37:52 CST
Organization: Mental Vortex BBS

Of course, what did you expect from Computer Shopper.  This is the same
magazien that swore a year or two ago that it would be re-initiating its
Amiga section "sometime in fourth quarter."  Yeah, right.  They wouldn't be
worth reading if it wasn't for their occasional generic articles about
modems, printers, and the like...

--
+--+------------------------------------------------------------+
|[]| UUCP Signature                                             |
+--+-------------------------+-------------+--------------------+
| Allen Wittenauer, SysAdmin | M E N T A L | +01 (618) 529-3486 |
| ecereal@crispy.carb.il.us  | V O R T E X |  Running DLG Pro   |
+----------------------------+-------------+--------------------+
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: bmccnnll@unix1.tcd.ie (Barry McConnell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy,comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: Byte A4000/A3000T-040 Review
Date: 29 Dec 92 13:42:26 GMT
Organization: Trinity College, Dublin

In <1992Dec29.072401.6373@desire.wright.edu> fheitkamp@desire.wright.edu writes:

>	Yeah, right.  You're gonna sue Commodore?   shakey company at best.
>	Remember most people like and use the Amiga IN SPITE of Commodore
>	not BECAUSE of Commodore.  Anything that knocks down Commodore would
>	kill the Amiga.  

Hey, that might be a good idea: sue them, they file for bankruptcy (okay,
so you have to get the judge to give you $1 billion, but that's another
matter...), GVP see their opportunity and jump in, and before csa.advocacy
knows what's happening, we have an agressive worldwide advertising
campaign, '060 Amigas before NeXT, and Apple go bust by Christmas. :-)

(Which ultimately means I'd lose my part-time job here, since we do s/w
development on Macs...)

Barry.

(Oh yeah, since I'm reading News at work for the first time - Standard
disclaimer: my boss in on holidays in the Carribean and doesn't even
know I worked out how to use the NetModem :-)
From: jcrowe@mpd.tandem.com (Joseph Crowe)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: CBM mention on 12/11/92 Computer Chronicles
Date: 29 Dec 92 01:11:39 GMT
Organization: Tandem Computers (MPD) Austin, TX

In article <1hnie8INNk8n@uwm.edu> bloc1469@ee.ee.uwm.edu (Gregory R Block) writes:
>In article <1992Dec28.151721.12729@sol.ctr.columbia.edu> jerry@msi.com (Jerry Shekhel) writes:
>>I beg to differ.  I'm not the one writing articles denouncing everything
>>from Intel CPUs to Madonna.
>
>The point was this:  Just because a million people buy something
>doesn't mean that what they bought is anything of
>worth/value/craftsmanship.  MS-DOS fails to be a miracle of software
>engineering by just a bit, and yet here it is, the most popular
>non-OS since...  Well, since never.  Never before have millions of
>people made a move towards running a program-loader rather than a real
>operating system.  Anyways, that was the point.

    The whole thread reeks of specious logic.  Different textbooks
define OS differently.  That MS-DOS is called an OS by many certainly
should not present problems to anybody here.  That MS-DOS has millions
of users should also present no problem.  Let's face facts, most users
of personal computers use them as tools, often to run a single
application.  To such users, the underlying software makes no
difference at all.  And, we could probably lump 90% of all personal
computer class users in that population and probably have some level
of confidence that it was an accurate statement.  But, as far as the
functions of modern OSs go, MS-DOS certainly blazes no trails.  I
doubt anybody reading c.s.a.a denies this.  For just poking around in
the internals, I personally find AmigaOS a lot of fun.  I also dink
with UNIX internals.  Why not just leave it at that?  Sometimes when I
read c.s.a.a I feel like I've stumbled into the neutral zone between
pro-choice and anti-abortion zealots.  Beats me how anybody can get so
worked up over a hunk of silicon, metal and plastic.

>
Joe Crowe                     |    "Come on down, you old fart
Tandem Computers Inc.         |     Let's see if you have got a heart"
Internet Address:jcrowe@mpd.tandem.com         David Byrne
From: jaker@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (Jake Rose)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: I am FORCED to by a laptop! HEELP ME!
Date: 23 Dec 92 17:05:04 GMT
Organization: Virginia Tech Computer Science Dept, Blacksburg, VA

slhmz@cc.usu.edu writes:
>What is out there on the IBM side that is simular to the Amiga?
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If you have the HD space on your laptop, you might like OS/2 (it
multitasks, for one).

>So, lets start out with the first program:  DeluxePaint IV.
>Is there anything remotely simular on the compatables?-

DeluxePaint IV is kinda like it...

>Travis Carter

>Faith Gibson
>slhmz@cc.usu.edu
-- 
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Jake Rose               :: Two men look out through the same bars.
jaker@csugrad.cs.vt.edu ::                     One sees mud, and one the stars.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: ccb8m@onyx.cs.Virginia.EDU (Charles C. Bundy)
Subject: Re: Future Amiga chipsets
Organization: University of Virginia Computer Science Department
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 18:50:31 GMT

In article <1992Dec22.153943.20019@sol.ctr.columbia.edu> jerry@msi.com (Jerry Shekhel) writes:
>Andy Finkel (andy@cbmvax.commodore.com) wrote:
>: >
>: >Right, but there's nothing preventing a nasty application from bypassing
>: >your ROM routines and talking directly to the disk hardware, screwing things
>: >up.  On a system with properly-implemented memory protection, however, it's
>: >much more difficult (if at all possible) to write such an application.
>:
>: If you are interested in the subject, you might want to do some research
>: sometime.  The Internet Worm is fairly interesting, since it ran
>: on Unix boxes.  (remember, Unix has protected memory).
>:
>
>Yes, Unix has protected memory; that doesn't mean that it's bug free.  The
>Worm took advantage of bugs in Unix, and took immense knowledge and ingenuity
>to create.  On the other hand, a second-week computer science student would
>have no problem intentionally screwing up a system without memory protection.
>

Bzzzt, sorry Jerry, the Unix worm didn't require "immense" knowledge of
unix systems.  Any undergrad could have written it.  There was a backdoor
in mail such that the author could log in with system privleges to assist
the sysadmin with installation.  If your root, yer almighty as far as
unix is concerned, no clever hacks required to bypass memory protection,
or fiddle with the kernel.  The Morrison hack was a simple hunt and 
replicate.

As far as the "second-week" student goes, anyone with no brains can frob
the power switch on a unix/mini/mainframe.  How's that for screwing up?

Most second week students won't be using dynamic types (pointers) either,
so yer memory protection is a moot point...

Charles C. Bundy IV
ccb8m@virginia.edu
Xref: sparky comp.sys.amiga.advocacy:32033 comp.sys.amiga.hardware:21980
From: aq722@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (John Gregor)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy,comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Power-up for AGA Machines! rumour.
Date: 23 Dec 1992 04:40:34 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: aq722@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (John Gregor)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc10.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, olson@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov (Paul Olson) says:

>From what I've read, HP is a long way away from even coming close to ALPHA, on
>the order of a year or two.

Not quite.  HP's machines from a year ago are faster than almost anything
shipping today, a year later.  At the time when the 730 came out, it was an
embarassment to DEC, IBM, and espeically Sun (which *still* hasn't caught
up).  Now, the IBM RS/6000 is almost as fast as an HP 730 (69 vs 75 Specmarcs).

The fast DEC Alphas are *not* shipping yet.  You can't buy a 150 Specmark
alpha.  HP has _also_ announced machines in that speed range, and even
demoed them pubicly.  I wouldn't be surprised if HP's machines ship sooner
than the Alphas of that speed, even. 

Not to take away anything from from Alpha - its very fast..  But it is
*NOT* a year ahead of HP, and may even be behind in some areas such as
SpecFP.  (But *everybody* is a year ahead of Sun :-) ).  You can't compare
a machine from a year ago to one not yet shipping.  Wait until both the
fast Alphas and the newer HPs are out and see what Tested Metal has to say.
Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

  John
From: monster@mbear.apana.org.au (Martin Ozolins)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: Don't let the Amiga Die (Part II)!!!
Distribution: world
X-NewsSoftware: GRn-beta 1.16g (10.12.92) by Michael B. Smith & Mike Schwartz
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Date: 1 Jan 93 08:26:40 PST
Organization: Bears Incorporated

In article <1992Dec29.173309.5562@sol.ctr.columbia.edu> jerry@msi.com (Jerry Shekhel) writes:
> Ray (rjc@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu) wrote:
> : >
> : >Right.  You think a 512KB Amiga (with no virtual memory, of course), could
> : >ever run something like Word?  FrameMaker?  Quicken?  Improv?  Paradox?
> : >Falcon 3?  Ultima Underworld?  Think again, denizen.
> :
> : Ever heard of overlays Jerry? Did you know that a very popular computer
> : used to run applications of this calibre using only 140k more ram than
> : the Amiga?
> :
> 
> Overlays are cute (if slow) for squeezing lots of code into a small space,

SO is VM. VM also slows down any program that uses it due to disk access.

VM is nice, but if you have enough RAM then you do not need it.

-- 

Martin Ozolins :Internet monster@mbear.apana.org.au
Victoria       :FIDO 3:633/359.6 AMIGANET 41:300/359.6 TRINET 42:8699/8.6
Australia      :Amiga Programmer, UniSYS 1100/2200 Systems Programmer
From: demosys@gcomm.com (Galacticomm's Demo System)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: Future Amiga chipsets
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 92 19:19:17 EDT
Organization: Galacticomm, Inc.




JS> : "Can handle the largest, most feature-packed commercial
JS> applications..."
JS> : which suggests that the programs are written before the OS...  Since
JS> when?
JS> :

JS> Is this a serious comment, or are you just playing dumb?

If I'm not mistaking, the thread is about OS design and I'm merely pointing
out that you are speaking of nailing ones foot to the floor in this respect by
having to support an existing and crippled msdOS...Pretty much like Intel's
backwards compatibility that has held back their 386->486 line.  I had a
very nice mixture of emotions when I tried using a Beta version of Windows
NT last night..  It stemmed from Laughter at boot up (seeing nothing
that gave me a chubby over Windows 3.1..which the media and Microsoft
are trying to lead the public to believe otherwise) to utter ulcers
when trying to have 2 seperate MSDOS prompts each formatting a diskette
in their own drive (which, by the way took over 30 minutes to complete)
and using a HD intensive application in a 3rd window.  Then the emotion
of sorrow came over me when I realized just HOW MANY PEOPLE believe
the utter BullSh!t that Microsoft and the Media are playing Windows NT up
to be.  This was done on a 386/40 Mhz with a very fast IDE drive, with 8
Megs of Ram...which by today's standards is not that underpowered a machine.
It was also quite humorous to also find out after the disks SAID they were
done formatting, that I could not get them to be recognized as properly
formatted floppies.  I found myself with plenty of time to go outside
and smoke a cig. each time I requested something with the mouse.. it was
worse than molasses in the winter time; but it was good for a laugh.
The 20 MEG swap file was also good for a chuckle... what the hell does
it need all that sh!t for?

About the only thing I found "usefull/useable" about it was the Mine Sweeper
game.  Wow, $500 for a PD game...  (*spin finger*)

JS> | JERRY J. SHEKHEL  | Molecular Simulations Inc. | Time just fades the

#include <std/disclaimer.h>
Christopher L. Kotacka
clk@reef.cis.ufl.edu

 * Q-Blue v0.7 [NR] *

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>>Email replies should include the following on
>>the first line of message text>>   MBBS: Arch
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

================ Making Modems work smarter... ================

Xref: sparky comp.sys.amiga.advocacy:31928 comp.sys.amiga.misc:18928
From: marv@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Marv Gordon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy,comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: Don't let the Amiga Die (Part II)!!!
Date: 21 Dec 92 18:05:09 GMT
Organization: People-Net [pnet51], Minneapolis, MN.

papresco@cantor.math.uwaterloo.ca (Paul Prescod) writes:
>>Well, 8M of RAM by itself costs about as much as an Amiga that can multitask
>>games while downloading. I used to play "Tracers" while downloading on my
>>512K Amiga 1000.
>
>Show me an Amiga for $370.00 US new.

$299 for a NEW A500 Thru Tenex and probably any amiga dealer. You can send me
a check for the remaining 71 bucks.....

UUCP: {tcnet, crash, quest}!orbit!pnet51!marv
ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!marv@nosc.mil
INET: marv@pnet51.orb.mn.org
From: jerry@msi.com (Jerry Shekhel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: CBM mention on 12/11
Date: 23 Dec 92 17:00:59 GMT
Organization: Molecular Simulations, Inc.
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]
X-Posted-From: hemi.msi.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

David Tiberio (dtiberio@engws10.ic.sunysb.edu) wrote:
:>:
:>: 	Wrong, the Atari 400 and the C64, with all their screen interrupts,
:>: can not display multiple screens like the Amiga can...
:>
:>No David, *you* are wrong.  The Atari 400 had hardware very similar to Copper.
:>If a full multitasking OS were feasible on that machine, it would be trivial
:>to implement Amiga-like screens on it.
:
: 	No Shekhy, *you* are wrong, unless you can name ONE Atari 400 
: application that can move screens using interrupts. 
:

Why should I?  I can tell you exactly how the hardware worked on the machine!
You can act like an idiot, making fun of people's names all you want, but in
the end, I know I'm right about the Atari, because I used to have practically
every feature and hardware register of the machine memorized, and I've seen
Amiga screens and Copper lists enough times to notice the suspiciously similar
hardware design.  (In fact, there's nothing suspicious about it; the same guy
designed both chips).

Your comment is like me saying, "The Amiga does not have the capability to
run a spreadsheet with anywhere near the power of Excel; this is evidenced
by the fact that there is currently no such spreadsheet for the Amiga."
--
+-------------------+----------------------------+---------------------------+
| JERRY J. SHEKHEL  | Molecular Simulations Inc. | Time just fades the pages |
| Drummers do it... |     Burlington, MA USA     | in my book of memories.   |
|    ... In rhythm! |        jerry@msi.com       |         -- Guns N' Roses  |
+-------------------+----------------------------+---------------------------+
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: jerry@msi.com (Jerry Shekhel)
Subject: Re: CBM mention on 12/11/92 Computer Chronicles
Organization: Molecular Simulations, Inc.
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 20:08:37 GMT
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]
X-Posted-From: hemi.msi.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

Gregory R Block (bloc1469@ee.ee.uwm.edu) wrote:
:
: [Multiscreen solutions for MS WIndows]
:
: Yes, but the PROGRAMS, lad!  I'm sure you can GET to those screens,
: but the gymnastics you must perform to get your WINDOWS there must be
: hell?
:

Click and drag.

:
: Greg
:
--
+-------------------+----------------------------+---------------------------+
| JERRY J. SHEKHEL  | Molecular Simulations Inc. | Time just fades the pages |
| Drummers do it... |     Burlington, MA USA     | in my book of memories.   |
|    ... In rhythm! |        jerry@msi.com       |         -- Guns N' Roses  |
+-------------------+----------------------------+---------------------------+
From: Paula_Lieberman@amicol.UUCP (Paula Lieberman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Things MORE confusing than Windows and Screens
Distribution: world
Date: 24 Dec 92 21:54:13 EDT
Organization: Amiga Colony BBS

It's not all that difficult to get confused about what's on what screen,
particularly if you have a three-way monitor (TV, video, and computer) to
help.  However, there are even SILLIER ways of bollixing things up --
there's a 500 in front of meet hooked into the RGB port, and a 1200 hooked
into the video input port, and the noise playing is from the audio out plus
one channel of Amiga 500 audio Y connected into the audio input input of
the monitor.... gets confusing with two mice, a 500 in front of one, and
1200 on  the lap, all hooked to the same monitor..... 

By the way, I posted a message inadvertently to comp.sys.amiga.
applications (meant to post it to .misc  about the 1200 (like, -where- is
the AmigaDOS manual, and why won't it format disks?!)


-- Via DLG Pro v0.992

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: keithc@welchgate.welch.jhu.edu (Keith Christopher)
Subject: Re: Monitors for the A4000???
Organization: Johns Hopkins Univ. Welch Medical Library
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 13:41:42 GMT

I also am looking for a monitor to get the most out of a 4000. I was leaning toward a 3fg from NEC any input ?? 

I also have a concern. I just sold my 2500 and want a 4000. Is now the time to buy >????? I hate moving to an expensive system and then have something new come out and it's now not the latest. How is software downward compat with 2.0 stuff ?


keithc
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy