🚀 go-pugleaf

 msprague@superior.mcwbst311b (Mike Sprague) writes:
>...  The needs of a church PC usually cover
>things like word processing and keeping track of records.  A 286 will
>fit the bill quite nicely, and will cost very little.  As long as your
>not trying to use windows, and assuming you want to upgrade the XT,
>a 286 will do quite nicely.  (Well, Windows will work on the 286, but
>what's the point.)

I have to tell a story here:  Our church decided to purchase a couple
of PCs for the pastor and his assistant to use.  I was on the
committee (it's a Presbyterian church :-) which was to select the type
of computer to buy.  I made exactly the recommendation above:  A 286
would be a super deal, all we need is Word Processing and so forth,
just stay away from Windows.

Well, they bought the 286s.  The computer store bundled Windows 3.0
with _every_ system sold.  "As long as we've _got_ it," the pastor
thought, "we might as well run Windows."  |-\  And since they were
running Windows, naturally they bought WordPerfect FOR WINDOWS to run
on them.  Now they complain about how slow the machines are!  And they
can't just scrap Windows because a) they're addicted to the pretty
graphics, and b) they don't have any DOS software. >sigh<

And it gets better/worse.

The pastor went out and bought a new version of Printshop FOR WINDOWS,
and it wouldn't run on his machine.  Why?  Because it needs Windows
3.1!  So, he upgraded his _286_ to Windows 3.1, and it's now even more
slothful than before.  So he traded in the machine on a 386DX/40.

So much for saving money...

-- 
----------------------------------------------------
Gordon S. Hlavenka           cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us
Vote straight ticket Procrastination party Dec. 3rd!

In article <1993Jan7.032313.6224@vpnet.chi.il.us>
cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us (gordon hlavenka) writes:

[SNIP,SNIP]

>So, he upgraded his _286_ to Windows 3.1, and it's now even more
>slothful than before.  So he traded in the machine on a 386DX/40.

[SNIP,SNIP]

I did something similar--twice--in recommending 1992 MS-DOS software
to people with 286's: the Norton Desktop for DOS, and Lotus Works.
(I hadn't bought software for my 8088 in years; what did I know.)  Well,
I got them both to run these at usable speeds, but the AT's are so
highly tuned you can almost hear them resonate.

The $3 Ad packets on the news stand say a 25 Mhz 486 is the minimal
machine now.  The 386 is a micro-mainframe; and companies like
Microsoft never even offered an operating system for it, there was no
demand for 32-bit memory or devices (other than video). People are
buying 486's for simple ICONS and WYSIWYG word processing.  I
panicked: "I can't useful things on my 8088!  Thousands of lemmings
can't be wrong!"

They weren't: new commercial wares, even for DOS, won't run on 286's.
(A hark back to those romantic days when IBM sold both mainframe
hardware and software.)

The solution is to buy DOS shareware--or used, older versions of
commercial software--and a simple program for writing menus.

BTW, I discovered DR-DOS comes with a cute optional interface of ICONS
and windows (in selectable color schemes) that works nicely with its
task switcher.  I've used UNIX for years.  How often do I run programs
in the background, rather than stop them and switch to another?
Almost never.

Bruce (Gypsy Scholar)
-- 
Department of Geological and Geophysical Sciences
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
bathurst@phoenix.princeton.edu bathurst@pucc.bitnet !princeton!phoenix!bathurst