🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <43d58e$2n5@onramp.arc.nasa.gov>, josco@eco.arc.nasa.gov (Joseph Coughlan) writes:> In article <Summers-1509951528200001@ethyl-the-frog.arc.nasa.gov> Summers@Ethyl-the-Frog.arc.nasa.gov (David P. Summers) writes:
> I disagree.  Look at today's MS Office and Mac's and even system 7.5x
> is large.

Sorry, but I must disagree.  Who needs to run Office?  The only portion of Office that I find even remotely usable is Excel (With most of the 'Wizards removed')  Otherwise, I can get along just fine with WordPerfect 3.x, (or Word 5.1, which runs faster than Word 6.01 on my 6100 with SpeedDoubler), Excel 4.0 (with SD, this is more than adequate), and Aldus Persuasion.  I have been able to survive without Microsoft's bloatware, as there are adequate substitutes.  System 7.5.1 can be large, however, one can e


asily trim things down to a set of essential extensions with Extensions Manager.  QuickDraw GX and PowerTalk are features that most people will never use, so need never install.

> 
> Apple sells crippled systems to users and that means short life spans.
> For instance I'm now teaching a MAC class and the only system I can
> purchase from the Univ is a 5200 performa with 12MB and 800 MB HDisk.
> No substitutes.  That's a crippled system given today's software.
> Apple seems to want to sell stuff that has a short life span.

While I agree that most stock models do not come with an adequate amount of memory, I would hardly call the new systems 'cripled'.  For non-PPC based systems, the average user can manage quite well with 8 MB.  A PPC though, handles much better with 16 MB (or greater).  A 16 MB PowerMac can easily last a user 4 years (provided you use efficient software, (ie virtually anything that MS didn't make)).

> 
> Most students with older macs are out of luck with it's limited
> expandibility for the types of systems apple sold cheaply.
> I suspect the clone competition will force apple to change.

This depends on what the student does with the system.  My experience shows that most students with older computers are doing simple word-processing, and as such rarely need more computer than they have.  (Word 4.0 on a 4 MB Plus will get an essay done just as well as Word 6.01 on a 32 MB PowerMac 7100, ableit with fewer bells and whistles (but who needs them anyways.))  

> 
> My rule of thumb on PC's is to get 4 times the ram a base system sells
> with.  So I'd get a PPC with 32MB of RAM.  For expandibility an IBM
> clone in a big case is the most adaptive.

I dunno, I get along just fine with 16 MB in my 6100 with RamDoubler.  32 MB is nice, but my system works well as is.  PC Clones have that advantage (and sometimes disadvantage when compatibility becomes an issue) that you can piece them together/replace whatever parts you want in the system.  However, by the time my friend's father finished upgrading his 386 to a 486, about the only thing that wasn't replaced was the case.  While this cost him somewhat less than a new system, it is still an expensive vent


ure.

> 
> In 1991 my 386-33 had 16MB and it's still good today because the ram is
> enough to run OS/2 well.  I plan on skipping the pentium for a P6 or
> PPC system in 1996.

Of course!  OS/2 is a good OS.  However, on that same system MS Windoze (or Win95) would run like a pig, so as you can see, your system's lifespan is determined by the quatily of the software you run.

> -- 
> 
> -- Dr. J.C.Coughlan, jcoughlan@gaia.arc.nasa.gov 

Cheers!

Michael.

-- 
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Michael A. Flynn                         "In a world where only the insane can
-maflynn@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca      prosper, only those who prosper can
-2A CS, University of Waterloo, Canada    truly judge what is sane." (Anon.)
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------"The greatest power is often simple patience." (E. Joseph Cossman)------
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