TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:The Power PC and such From:Steve Fouts <sfouts -at- ELLISON -dot- TI -dot- COM -dot- > Date:Fri, 6 May 1994 10:36:00 CDT
Doug writes:
|}
|} Although the Mac compatibility you describe is impressive (far better
|} than I would have expected) "speeds approaching that of a 486SX" isn't
|} all that fast, especially given the price of the machine. As for new
|} software at the end of the year; well, how long has it been now since
|} Microsoft promised us a WinBasic-like macro language in MacWord? And
|} for how many years was System 7.0 going to be available "before the
|} end of the year?"
I don't think you're up to speed on just what the Power PC is. It is a
whole new architecture, a whole new machine, based on the PowerPC chip.
With native PowerPC software it is as nearly as fast, as fast, or faster
(depending on who you read) as a Pentium based PC. If you are a Mac based
house with a need for gut wrenching speed, buy this computer. If you are
publishing full color catalogs with a Mac, buy the Power PC. If you are
looking for a new machine and want one that won't be obsolete before you
get it out of the box (good luck), buy one.
In addition to these capabilities, it can emulate an 040 based Mac at
speeds comparable to current 040 based machines. That's nice because you
don't have to trash all of your old software to buy a new architecture.
It can also emulate a 286 based PC if you have a need for that. Its the
old dancing bear thing. We are not impressed with how well it does it,
just by the fact that it does it at all. If you really NEED both a PC and
a Mac, buy both. Don't jump on me about price, you can afford what you
really NEED, but maybe not always what you want.
If you can afford both but don't have any idea where you'd put 'em, buy
a Mac and an Orange PC board. That is a 486 chip on a board that you plug
into your Mac, partition your hard drive, buy a scad of RAM and there you
go. One monitor, one box, one floppy, one hard drive, one footprint, two
computers. Windows at the speed of Windows (yeehah!) and Mac at the speed
of Mac.
|}
|} My point being, I'm still skeptical about this idea that the PowerPC/PowerMac
|} computers will allow effortless switching between apps with different native
|} environments; I've got to believe they're going to compromise one environment
|} or the other for a long time to come.
True enough. This is always true when you are trying to emulate the response
of one chip with another, but if the chip doing the emulation is enough
faster than the chip being emulated, the result is pretty good. You should
see how well it can emulate a 6502!
But again, the point is not that it does it well, but that it does it. One
machine, three OSs. It only does one really astoundingly well, still, its
a hell of a dancing bear.
_______________________
/ ___ __/__\ \ / / _\ Steve Fouts
/___ \| | ___\ | / __\ sfouts -at- ellison -dot- sc -dot- ti -dot- com
/ / \ | \ / \
/_______/__|_______\_/________\ "These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper,
but _minds_ alive on the shelves." -- Gilbert Highet
