🚀 go-pugleaf

Woodrow Shin (hunter@news.dorsai.org) wrote:
: Lawson English (english@primenet.com) wrote:
: : [snipt]
: : SoftWindows 2.0 allows one to use virtually all 80486-based software, 
: : although SOundBlaster support isn't offered.

: 	I believe SoftWindows is based on a 80286 emulator.  Unless this 
: has been changed recently.  That is why you see the Dos Card for Macs.


SoftWindows 2.0 emulates an 80486 system sans SoundBlaster support. I.E., 
Doom should run, but with no sound.

: : According to Donald Crabb, he could even boot WIndows 95, although I 
: : don't know how well the new Windows-95-specific software will run on it.

: 	I seriously doubt it, without a Dos Card.

He wrote it up in MacWeek. Do you know more about what he did than he does?

: : That gives us: 6,000 Macintosh apps. 600 Power Macintosh apps. 85-90% of 
: : all DOS/WIndows apps.

: 	6,000 apps, that run at Quadra speeds(Quadra 68040 25mhz), for 
: $2000+(This is for a minimal config), 600 Power Mac apps, which is incredibly 
: small, in number of choices, compared to # of Pentium apps.  And 
: Dos/Windows, which runs even slower than a Quadra unless you pay 
: $1000 for a DOS Card and at least 8 megs of onboard RAM for the card.  
: 16 would probably be better.  

Power COmputing currently sells a 100mhz 601 box with no monitor for 
$1699. It is the effective equivalent of a 7100/80, but 25% faster.

My understanding is that the 100mhz 604 is *cheaper* than the 100mhz 
601, so you can ship a 100Mhz 604 machine at roughly the same price.

A 132mhz 604-based PowerMac runs Windows 95 under SoftWindows in the 
range of a 80486DX33, according to Crabb. Presumably a bit faster for 
WIndows 3.1.

A 132-mhz 604-based PowerMac runs 68K apps faster than the fastest 68K 
Mac ever built (save floating point intensive stuff, which is still only 
1/2 as fast if you use SANE).


: : Sounds like a wider choice to me...

: 	Sounds more expensive, and less choice.  Also less 
: performance for the money your paying, unless you're running only Power apps.

Still sounds like a wider choice, and native apps are still being 
released at a rapid pace. No-one buys a 132Mhz 604 Power Computing clone 
for $2699 (or whatever the price will be) just to run emulated apps, but 
for those apps that need the power (graphics-intensive, 3D games, etc), 
the Power COmputing clone should be the price/performance leader for some 
time to come (starting next month, I hear).

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Lawson English                            __  __     ____  ___       ___ ____
english@primenet.com                     /__)/__) / / / / /_  /\  / /_    /
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