Finds

From: Zane H. Healy <healyzh_at_aracnet.com>
Date: Wed May 31 14:48:07 2000

Dave McGuire wrote:
>On May 31, Zane H. Healy wrote:
>> Of course since I have a 60Mhz RS/6000 on my desk at work and refuse to
>> give it up for a state of the art single or dual processor PC my opinions
>> of acceptable speed might be a little outside the norm :^)
>>
>> Remember for most things stability is more important that speed.
>
> While I agree 100%, it would seem that the unfortunate proliferation
>of PeeCees have all but killed that mindset. I suspect that most of
>us fight very hard to keep it alive.

> But...on the term "acceptable speed"...isn't that completely
>subjective? I mean, what's acceptable to you might be too slow for
>Joe Blow, or uselessly fast for Jane Doe...Intel would have us believe
>that we all do the exact same thing with our computers, and that the
>only possible thing that we should find acceptable is *their* brand of
>high-performance...i.e. blindingly fast until you try to do more than
>one thing at a time, then it goes into the toilet.
>
> Man, if your RS/6000 does the job, and you like it, then keep it,
>and more power to you!

The thing to remember is to choose the software you use with care. On the
RS/6000 in question Netscape 3.0 has acceptable performance, however,
Netscape 4.0 does not. As a result I normally use Netscape 3.0, if
necessary I'll use either Netscape 4.0 or else I'll use Metaframe to run
Internet Exploder. My main problem isn't the speed, it's the 8-bit
graphics. I've come to really like Metaframe even though I totally hate
Windows and refuse to use it for the simple fact it allows me to use
MS Lookout for mail and calendaring (I'm still pissed we moved off of the
multi-platform calendaring software which did everything we needed and was
*easy* to use).

The other thing is it's all in how you're using the system. In the case of
the RS/6000 it's an intelligent X-Term that's rock solid (I can't afford to
have my desktop system crash in my job), and if I goof on a program I'm
writing I only lock my own system up (I've done that a couple times). The
fact I can't afford for it to crash is why I've been able to justify
keeping the system.

If I'm working on a writing project on my own time I'm quite happy to use
something like a Mac SE/30 running MS Word 5.1, though I prefer my
PowerBook 540c running Word 6.0.1 as it has features I *really* like, even
though it's a pig. On my G4/450 I run Word '98, but only because it's more
compatible with the newer versions of Mac OS. I need a *fast* Mac at home
because I like doing things like Graphics and Audio processing. It's nice
having a fairly fast UNIX (333Mhz PII) or OpenVMS (433Mhz 21164) box at
home, but I don't need the really the state of the art really fast ones in
the case of them because of how I use them.

Geez, what a ramble, and look at the time. Gotta head into work.

                        Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh_at_aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh_at_holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
Received on Wed May 31 2000 - 14:48:07 BST

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