| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 955.1 | Have you considered SoftWindows? | UNIFIX::HARRIS | Juggling has its ups and downs | Wed Mar 19 1997 17:44 | 20 |
| I take it you have a 9500? Depending on the speed of your system, the
latest edition of the SoftWindows product has been getting good press
for its speed (a 200MHz 604e based Mac can get equivalent performance
of a 100MHz Pentium - more or less). If you wife doesn't need really
Really REALLY high speed, this might be an acceptable alternative.
Search the <http://www.macintouch.com> web site for pointers to the
SoftWindows reports. You should be able to find pointers to test
results there (which will be more truthful then my sorry memory :-)
But since "Your Milage May Vary", if you decide to try it, get it with
the option of returning it if the performance doesn't hold up. Also
if a lot of the stuff you wife has to do revolves around stuff like
MS-Office, you can get the Mac versions of those, and only fire up
SoftWindows for the PC specific stuff.
Regardless of which approach you try, make sure that you have the
memory to properly support the implementation.
Bob Harris
|
| 955.2 | Apple 6100 DOS module tanks on I/O latency | ROCK::WATSON | N1GNB, DTN 225-4898, 293-5922 | Tue Mar 25 1997 10:05 | 24 |
| Softwindows may not have this problem, but I have noticed on my Apple
"DOS compatibility module" (a 66MHz 486 with 16Mb of RAM) works fine
except for I/O latency through the Mac hardware. This latency seems to
be absolutely atrocious. I can make a PPP connection to work (HLO)
through a Hayes 14.4 modem. Some stuff seems to be OK until you start
downloading files (using a RAS connection). It seems to take months to
handle a 2Mb file (it dies after about 4 hours without finishing).
Moving the same file with a GV modem on the Mac takes far less time and
does finish (using either Zterm or FTP with a Mac PPP connection).
It could be that since Softwindows is a Mac program and can access
the serial I/O for the modem more directly, network and phone PPP
file transfer may be a lot faster.
In my work, I find moving files to be at least as important as
rapid scroll in Word or spreadsheet update in Excel. If I really need
speed in the Office applications, I simply use the same versions on the
Mac side and move them to and from the on-board PC.
I think the Orange micro PC module may have its own serial I/O -
that should be fine. The Apple PC modules (at least the older one I
have) uses the Mac's I/O and really tanks on latency.
Rich
|
| 955.3 | I/O card may be worth investigating | NPSS::NEWTON | Thomas Newton | Fri Apr 11 1997 16:47 | 8 |
|
Curiously enough, one of Apple's options for their latest (166 MHz) DOS
Card offerings is a $100 PCI card that adds a serial port and a parallel
port (I think) to the PC. Does it help with latency? I don't know.
I can't say that I'd be too happy about sacrificing two out of the three
slots in a 7300 to a DOS Card and this I/O card. On a Mac with more PCI
slots, it wouldn't be as big a deal.
|
| 955.4 | | NPSS::NEWTON | Thomas Newton | Fri Apr 11 1997 16:52 | 6 |
|
Sorry. I just realized what "6100" means. That model has basically the
same case as the Centris 610 and Centris/Quadra 660av, which means there
isn't room inside for anything more than a single, short expansion card.
Oh well. Maybe the I/O card will be of interest to other users.
|
| 955.5 | | NPSS::NEWTON | Thomas Newton | Fri Apr 11 1997 17:22 | 21 |
|
> Any opinions on this single board solution as opposed to an additional
> system?
In my opinion, the main advantage of the single board solution is convenience.
You don't need desk space for two computers, and you can cut and paste between
the Mac and PC. Being able to press Command-Return to switch between Mac & PC
is really neat, whether you use one or two monitors.
Price is not an advantage for the single board solution. It only seems to be,
because while they are giving you a lower price, they're also leaving out many
expensive components found in a real PC (such as a hard disk). Economizing by
sharing the monitor, CD-ROM drive, modem, and printer is fine. However, these
cards typically don't include enough memory for the PC (only 16MB of RAM comes
on the latest Apple cards), and they use your Mac's hard drive. Therefore you
should factor the cost of additional RAM and hard disk space into your budget.
Disadvantages of the single board solutions are that some only support DOS and
Windows (e.g., Apple's offerings), and that you can't expand them with ISA/PCI
cards. You're stuck with whatever sound and video chips the DOS card provides
(which tend to be low-end offerings like SoundBlaster 16).
|