On Tue, 24 Jun 1997, William Donzelli wrote:
> > us, rather than simply because a machine is physically attractive,
> > technically impressive, or financially successful.
>
> Actually, some of the real dogs are just as fun and important. The Lisa,
> for example, strikes out on all three (OK, two strikes and one foul) of the
> above mentioned catagories, but is still a fascinating machine.
IMHO, the Lisa gets a hit, a base run, then a strike-out.
Yeah, comparing the Lisa to the TRS-80 Model 16 from the same period (both
6Mhz 68000 CPU) is amusing. The Mod 16 gets a foul then two home runs. I
stopped at the Softwaire Centre on Pico in West LA back in mid '83
(looking for a magazine - they didn't have it) and wound up asking myself
"Here I am playing (some missile command clone) on the same CPU my
customers are using to do their bookkeeping, but they've got three people
pounding on keyboards, while this thing is making pictures and following a
mouse." Yes, in those days I had an idea that a $5000+ computer should be
usefull. (Now, sure, I'd love a Lisa -- and with the Unix port I saw on
it at the the last OCC in Anaheim in '84 -- I'm not a serious GUI fan,
though I fake it at work). The Mod 16 did a job -- the Lisa played games.
Now, I want to play those games. But no _way_ will I replace the old
Xenix box -- just add more CTIX, Unix, Solaris, Linux etc. boxen to stand
by their older brother. Hey, I teethed on it when I wasn't even thirty
years old yet.
Yes, we all have our personal favorites, and want to learn more. After a
while on this mailing list I'm actually _tempted_ to allow a machine with
a 6502 into my home -- breaking a vow I made when I first saw the original
Pet keyboard, Apple II disk subsystem and Atari _anything_ especially the
400 keyboard and BASIC interpreter (And I first learned BASIC on an HP,
from whence Atari BASIC descends). We grow, we learn. If you stop
learning, roll over -- if you're not dead, you should be. Such I learned
from Robert Heinlein, my spiritual father.
--
Ward Griffiths
"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within
the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." --Claire Wolfe
Received on Tue Jun 24 1997 - 23:29:47 BST