🚀 go-pugleaf

>What is a multifinder?  As near as I can tell it fakes multitasking by
>suspending processes in memory.  Is this all there is to it?  If I
>start compiling a program, and want to start up MacWrite to write a
>letter while I wait (or maybe I'm uploading someones 40 Meg HD via
>modem, whatever), will the background task (compiler/terminal) halt
>and wait?  Would the modem bomb?

It depends on the programs. They can be programmed to run in the background.
Some do (Excel, for instance, will recalculate in the background. DiskFit
will do your backups in the background).

>While I'm sure this was a bad
>program (not machines fault) is this common?

>could the Macs
>recent intro of MultiFinder make all sorts of programs useless?

Multifinder isn't all that new (a year old? whatever...). About the only
programs I find these days that don't like to play with Multifinder are
games. Crash and burn problems are rather rare.

>I will get a color monitor.  How well is color supported?  Even if my
>256 colors wind up just painting backgrounds, I want it, But I think
>color is the greatest.

On the screen? Color is wonderful. There's a CDEV called Kolor that lets you
redefine the default color for various parts if you really want to play.
More and more programs are using color to good effect. 

Printing out? give it a few years -- color printer costs are still beyond
the range of reasonableness for most folks.

>And what about A/UX?  I heard its a weak implementation, but the Amiga
>version wasnt supposed to be great either.  Anyway, does it access
>Mac/OS programs, or does it require separate disks.

1.1 is much better than the initial release. Compatibility is much improved.
You can (and I *do*) put both a MacOS partition and an A/UX partition on the
same disk. You can either import your MacOS binaries onto the A/UX partition
or use a program to launch them from the MacOS partition. There are still
limitations in what you can do in a Mac program under A/UX, but they're
significantly reduced -- and you can always reboot to MacOS if you need to
use something that isn't compatible.

>One of my last
>remaining nits of Macs is the lack of a CLI, since only so much can be
>done with Icons.

I've found that DiskTop (a finder-replacement DA) removes any need for a CLI
for me, and I'm a hard-core Unix type. I still use the finder for basic
stuff, but use DiskTop when I want to do the sort of things that a Unix
Shell used to be required for.