Top Ten Reasons Why I Need A Pentium.

10) Allows savings on winter heating bills.
 9) Has super neat "Intel Inside" logo!
 8) Fully supports all my 8088 programs.
 7) Will let me start planning on filling my OverDrive socket so
    it will go _real_ fast.
 6) I'm helping an Intel Engineer through school.
 5) I saw the Intel ads and I want to fly through my computer also.
 4) I want to get one before Dilbert does.
 3) Makes the girls think I'm a real computer stud.
 2) I have too much money to buy a PowerMac.
 1) Faster CPU helps get the annoying experience of running
    Windows 3.X over with quicker!

The above was distributed by 
matossian@aries.colorado.edu (Espacionaute Spiff domaine!),
a regular distributor of humor. I do not have any more
original attribution.

Obviously the writer had a bias. I posted it here  for its humor
value, hoping that a flame war won't break out.

51 responses total.

Most of those sound like reasons that I got a 486.  I *must* be
behind the times...   ;-)

even with my bias towards PCs, I have to agree that the Pentium is too
little too late... Here's to the PowerPC chip. :)

I hate to say it, but that bit about running 8088 programs would
be a definite plus for me.

        I'm still running a 386/25, with SIPPS.  (SIPPs are like SIMMs on
stilts.)  And I have 2 MF/M hard drives.  Since I don't run Windows, my
computer never seems too slow.

        Spaceman Spiff?

re#3:  The PowerPC can be tricked into running anything. :)

 
        And you thought microprocessors were too confusing ... here comes
the Alpha chip, the PowerPC ... lots of other new superscalar RISC, CISC,
and just plain risky other chips that all promise to run Windows ...

It's really simple though when it comes to picking one of them out though:

The PowerPC is fast, and it's cheap, and it's simple.  Nothing else will
really be able to touch it (especially not with Apple & IBM both behind it)

You may be right, but I'm skeptical of what you say in the parenthses.
Having one or more industry giants behind something does not guarantee
success.  Remember the Apple Lisa, or the PC Jr?

You're right, John, but Brian has the chip pegged.
It will change the way programs are written, too, as floating point
becomes far more accessible for ordinary purposes. Consider:
(1) All PPC chips will have it (no more of this 68LC040 stuff)
(2) The floating point performance is beyond belief.

F'rinstance, Adobe Photoshop avoided the use of floating point,
because of the performance penalty. No more penalty.
It is a high-end workstation chip for a few $100.

I'm going to go buy mine now.  :-)

 Does this mean that all this ancient stuff is finally obsolete? ;)

Never!!

A friend of mine said the PPC will bomb, and RISC will never gain
popularity.  Well, hardware was never his thing.  He keeps on bragging how
the Pentium can do a 72-bit floating point in one cycle.  Well, since the
PPC can do 2 64-bit floating point per cycle, Pentium can kiss its butt
goodbye.  I don't think I'll upgrade for awhile, though.  I have a Centris
610 right now.  Upgrading will mean I lose speed and compatibility.  I
also get faster software that I have no use for.  Sure, I can get
SoftWindows for $500.  It allows me to run most DOS and Windows software
at 486SX speed.  Of course, I can get a 486SX/25 board for $400.  I'll
pass.  I do think, as I have all along (I even adapted it as a motto),
that RISC and the PPC is the future.

All hail the PowerPC!
Draven

Your friend sounds like he's been buying into the mass computer media drivel.
[yes, the very same computer media that pushes MicroSoft products, talks about
 Bill Gates' genius, etc. :)]

Indeed. And draven, you are probably smart to wait at the moment.
A C610 is an excellent machine unless you need slots or a FPU.
An upgrade to the 68040 (with FPU) is now down to around $250.

The time for PPC for you will probably be when PReP-compliant machines
come out. Maybe a 604. Your C610 is many times faster than my vintage 1987
Mac II. I will upgrade soon, and get MetroWerks while I getting stuff,
so I can start writing native code for it.

I will probably be sorry for not waiting longer - this is always the case,
as I may lock myself out of any Unix for that box. Who knows.

What's PReP?

PReP is a standard published by some combo of (IBM-Apple-Moto) maybe just IBM,
for PowerPC harware. If the machine adheres to it, then you know that the
other OSes will run on it. Planned are Workplace Shell, AIX, etc.

The 3 new PowerPC Macs from Apple are not PReP compliant, but later ones
may turn out to be.  (I hope I got PReP right, I'm not sure I even got
the capitalization right, but it's weird like that.)

ahh, I see.  Apple will probably be forced into PReP compliance, right? :)

(Workplace Shell isn't the OS, it's the interface... Workplace OS is the OS...
 in any case, it's OS/2 for the PowerPC, and it'll be really, really nice. :)

Right, sorry for the sloppy terminology. I believe it will be super.
Any idea when it'll be real?
I am torn between waiting and not. My Mac is slow as a slug.
I think I'll keep my old Mac, buy a bunch of X10's and automate my house
with it. It'll be "internet ready".

OS/2 v2.2 (for PCs) should be out sometime this summer.
Last time I heard anything, WorkPlace OS for PPC should *also* be out
sometime this summer... I'm guessing late fall at the latest.

(I also recently heard that Microsoft says Chicago will be out by June - 
HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAH....etc...etc..)

What hardware systems will Workplace OS for PPC run on?
All that's out today are Apple ($2k-$5k) and IBM ($8-10k).

IBM doesn't have any PPCs out yet (I don't believe so, at least)... 
It'll probably be targetd at their other RISCs, and definately their PPCs
when they come out.  I wouldn't be surprised if it ran on the Macs too.

IBM has had PPC Workstations since last fall. They're expensive tho.
They run only AIX.

PPC Workstations running AIX?  I was thinking along the lines of
Power *PCs* - that is, *personal* computers.  I suppose anything with a PPC
chip in it is a PowerPC. :)

The Pentium may be quick... but what about the RiscPC?  It has a nice ARM
RISC processor in it - with loads of native code software already available.
You can stick a 486 second-processor card in for 120 dollars and it will
run windows (inc WFWG) in a RISC-OS window.

re:#13
72 bit floats?? how nifty, is that a double float with 8 bits appended or an
extended with 8 bits cut of (who needs an exponent anyways?) ?? 

I have one reservation about the powerpc: the 'propaganda' that one needs
(or at least should) chose between it and the pentium. For any Mac user the
powerpc is the logical choice, since there is really no other 'upgrade'. For
PC users the choice is equally simple: 90 or 100 MHz Pentium. What is this
question that PC users supposedly have to tackle anyways? Why would anybody
switch to a first-generation CPU that has no SIGNIFICANT performance advantage
?
I've seen soooooo many 'benchmarks' for either CPU with supp. 'equal' 
machines that the whole issue is dog-meat anyways. Given that the 
PERIPHERALS on a PC or Mac contribute more to the overall performance than
the CPU it's not really amazing that macs are faster here, and pentiums are
faster there. Whatever runs your software fastest at the lowest cost is the
appropiate choice, THAT takes most of the issue of 'what-CPU-should-I-go-with'
out of the picture. 

Why would someone change?  For the software, of course.  There are some
programs that run on the Mac platform that would be useful to run, es-
pecially if you do desktop publishing, like I do.

Well, I think that the Mac has lots many of it's early day advantages, espec.
where graphics is concerned. How much would a PPC 'custom-made' for DTP cost
you?

Dell has a system that comes with Quark and Photoshop that they sell for
about $6,500.

        Pattie

Yeah, but they make PCs not PPCs.

I have Quad P6 Goliath, but it is too slow!!

Interesting item to read now.  Most people responding were very bullish about
the PowerPC (this is a 1994 item).  Look how things came out in real life...

The PowerPC chip is still better than the Pentium. There is a long history
of better products still not making it in the marketplace because of
other factors. ("Real life", of course, is whatever happens....)

Yup.  VHS wins yet again.  :P

The power pc is probably a superior processor.  OTOH, Mac OS was still, last
time I saw an ad for it, making its main claim to fame that it was a very
advanced operating system in 1984.  Microsoft finally left it in the dust in
1995, so I'm not suprized it hasn't done all that well since then.  When
Rhapsody comes out it will be a very different story in terms of performance,
if not in terms of marketing.

MacWeek reports that system 8.0 was selling even beyond Apple's wildest
expectations.  It seems to be pretty good and even developers have lots
of good things to say about it.
 
In general, I like Motorola.  They make very good communications equip-
ment and their processor division seems to look further down the road
than Intel.  Can someone tell me if the Power PC has the same variable
power supply requirements that the Pentium chips have?

UM is giving away MacOS 8 if you can download it, and charging only for the
medium if you buy it ($16 - for UM staff, students and faculty). 

(I'm assuming I have to be UM staff to download it?)

I don't know. It is provided on a UM site license, so I suspect the answer
is yes.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss