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Path: ncsuvm!psuvm.bitnet!psuvax1!rutgers!sun-barr!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!tektronix!psueea!psueea.uucp!kirkenda
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: The ST as a PC or a Mac
Message-ID: <1212@psueea.UUCP>
Date: 18 May 89 00:57:24 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, Portland State University; Portland OR
Reply-To: kirkenda@jove.cs.pdx.edu (Steve Kirkendall)
Sender: news@psueea.UUCP
References: <8905151535.AA13997@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <24455@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Lines: 27

In article <24455@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> c60c-3ds@e260-4d.berkeley.edu (John Kawakami) writes:
>
>Does anyone know the status of Xformer by Darek Mihocka.  It has Atari
>8-bit simulation (including some interface for an 8-bitter drive).
>It was supposed to get Apple// and Commodore 64 emulation as well.
>
>If this emulator ever gets totally finished, you can have a II in a
>Mac in a ST, or II in a ST.  Like wow man.

and Steve Kirkendall writes:
 >>Let me see if I have this straight.  The ST can emulate...

       >> * An ST (of course)
       >> * A Macintosh (black-and-white models only)
       >> * An IBM PC
       >> * An Atari 8-bit
       >> * An Apple ][ (running under the Atari 8-bit emulator)
       Not exactly something I'd boast about.
       >> * A CPM machine
       Wow! Jerry Pournelle would love to hear this!
       >> * A Commodore 64 (I'm not sure about this one...)
       Nope. It's DOA.
       >> * A UNIX machine (via MINIX)
       Minix does not equal Unix. It's a nice learning tool, but
       nothing like AUX or Commodore's AMIX.

>What's left?  Is anybody working on a CRAY-XMP emulator yet?  Oh, wait, that's
> UNIX machine now.  The VIC-20?  That was kinda superceded by the 64.  Ummm...
>Amiga?  Anybody got an Amiga emulator?  Or a Nintendo? The programmable
>calculators have been done already...

Any time you start seeing a lot of emulators popping up for a machine, there
is the risk that the emulators can be more popular than the native OS. "Gee..
I can buy this box that emulate _all_ this stuff. Let's see, I'll buy Word for
my Mac emulation, Lotus 123 for my PC..." Guess who loses? Native ST
developers. And the machine starts to die, because of the consumer that walks
into a store, looks at what is available for the ST, and then looks at what's
available for Amigas, Mac's and PC's. Guess what kind of machine they will
end up buying? The one that runs the software they want to run, without having
to buy emulators.

All these emulations aren't something to boast about. It indicates that
the software end of the machine using it's native OS is severely lacking, and
people are trying to make up for that.

I bought an Amiga (no flames please, I read this group with the best
intentions) and fully expected to buy a bridgecard (PC on a card). I also
expected to buy a Mac emulator when it became available. Well, guess what.
It's a year later, and a Mac emulator is available, at a very reasonable
cost. I still don't have a bridgecard, and it's looking very likely that
I won't be buying the Mac emulator. I can do everything I need to do with
the software I presently own for my machine.

This is be taken as an example, not as an argument of Amiga > ST. If someone
reads it as such, reread my posting and think about what I am saying.

--hal
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Hal Meeks                 "Things have changed, things will change,
 netoprhm@ncsuvm.bitnet     and it breaks down."
 hgm@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu        The Past Revisted 4/88