All things Mac
January 1997 issue
(c)1997 Brian Fouhse. All rights reserved excepting that this file may be
copied for non-commercial purposes, unchanged. No warranties apply. I am
just a user volunteering my observations.

Some unedited tidbits for you this month. It's a challenge to come up with
"news" in contrast to the Internet, new things are announced and available
every day, and only hours old.  The old fashioned way of reading magazines,
and heaven-forbid, books that might be months or even years out of date,
I'm sure, gives writers and publishers quite an obstacle to overcome. So
far, I've resisted the temptation to simply include clippings from other
sources. I tend to filter the information and condense it, hope it meets
with your approval.

1. Some of the biggest news relates to Apple's purchase of NeXT, the
computer company that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs created when fired by
John Sculley back in the 80's. The two companies talents will be combined
to modernize the Macintosh operating system. Complaints (maybe too harsh a
word) have surfaced, that even System 7.5 is not as capable as what might
be available if a product was created from scratch. The replacement Copland
system was dumped recently, as it was deemed to be too tough of task to get
to market soon. It had experienced numerous delays and technical problems.

Also on the consideration block was the "Be" corporation. Interestingly,
this was also founded by a former Apple executive, Jean Louis-Gassee maker
of the Mac II, IIcx, IIci, etc. MacUser ran a big review in their January
97 issue extolling its virtues. Some of these included:
- easy multiple processor support - if two are present, they can
automatically share the load
- preemptive multitasking, fancy phrase for the operating system dividing
up its time between every thing that needs doing. In the Be's case, every 3
thousandths of a second, the system goes off and does something else. For
example, calculate a little spreadsheet stuff, check the mouse, do a little
more spell checking of your letter, check the keyboard, update the window,
copy a little more of the file from your zip drive to hard disk, check your
network connection, open a little more of that new program you launched, do
a little more searching for that file name that ends with "year-to-date',
etc. The system never commits itself to spending more than this quick
repetitive amount of time to any given task. This results in the snappier
performance of almost everything.
- virtual memory, object oriented design, protected memory, and so on.

Some of the demonstrable performance capabilities of the machine, to
quote MacUser "It's amazing to see a BeOS system simultaneously play
multiple Quicktime movies and an audio file, serve and browse Web pages,
and render 3-D animation, all in real time. Don't try this with your Mac."

A sampler or teaser copy of the operating system was distributed with the
MacTech magazine in January. Also, Power Computing will be distributing it
on all new systems this year. The regular MacOS is there too, I'm not sure
if they're put on two partitions of the disk or what.

To be fair, the NeXT operating system as it appears today on UNIX hardware,
has these features as well. plus has the advantage of having been around
for a while rather than being untested.

Some internet comments mention the ease of creating programs by reusing
parts of existing ones, and the mature internet features that it has. Java,
the latest programming language of the internet, is easily converted to
NeXTStep and vice versa.

The time frame for availability is very aggressive, 6 months for
developers, 1 year for customers. It has been hinted? for next years San
Francisco MacExpo. Otto, can you buy me a copy next year?

2. MacAddict magazine - includes a CD-ROM every month. I just bought my
first issue, some of the demo programs require a PowerPC processor to run.
Maybe it's time to buy a new computer.

3. Speaking of new computers, how can you keep up.
Power Computing has an expanding lineup. The last MacWarehouse catalog I
received (#13) has a PowerBase, PowerCentre, PowerTower, and PowerTower
Pro. They range in price from :
$1999 Canadian for a 180MHz 603e desktop model, 16M RAM, 1.2G hard drive,
8x CD, 2M video memory with PCI graphics card, 3 PCI slots, 256K level 2
cache, keyboard and mouse. (monitor extra)
$6999 Canadian for a 225MHz 604e tower model, 16M RAM, 2.0G hard drive, 8x
CD, 8M video memory with PCI graphics card, 6 fast PCI slots, 1M level 2
cache, built-in Ethernet (10BaseT and AAUI), keyboard and mouse. (monitor
extra)
I believe they have also come up with some preconfigured cheaper models,
the name escapes meŠ

UMax is selling them - info to follow

APS (of add on SCSI drives fame) - info to follow

Motorola has 2 models of 2 configurations of 2 speeds. They carry an onsite
next business day 1 year warranty, plus 4 more years. 90 days of free phone
technical support. They are unique in that they, in addition to the
standard Mac ports of SCSI, microphone, ADB, stereo speaker outputs, also
have an IBM PS2 keyboard or mouse port. This is getting closer to the CHRP
design.
From MacWarehouse #13 again:
$2299 Canadian gets you a StarMax 3000/180 - 180MHz 603e desktop model, 16M
RAM, 1.2G hard drive, 8x CD, 288 external fax / data modem, 1M video memory
on the motherboard, 3 PCI slots, 256K level 2 cache, keyboard and mouse.
(monitor extra)
$4399 Canadian gets you a StarMax 4000/200 - 200MHz 604e desktop model, 32M
RAM, 2.5G hard drive, 8x CD, 288 external fax / data modem, ?M video memory
on the motherboard, 5 PCI slots, ? level 2 cache, keyboard and mouse.
(monitor extra)

CHRP designs - the generic Common Hardware Reference Platform design that
promises to make the systems even cheaper and more capable, might show up
this summer. I'm not sure (haven't checked with my sources today yet) how
this new hardware variable meshes with the operating system changes re:
NeXT/Mac. There is also some question of availability of Windows NT
software for this platform. I will have to brush up on this, does the
operating system need recompiling to match the processor, or does every
piece of software have to be recompiled as well? Any insight anyone can
share would be appreciated.

And lets not forget Apple themselves. Some of the current lineup includes
(Canadian prices again):
- $2299 Performa 5260 - one piece monitor/CD/processor/speakers. 120MHz
603e, 16M RAM, 1.6G hard drive, 8x CD, 288 internal fax / data modem, 1
short PCI slot, keyboard and mouse, and 14 inch monitor.
- $2299 Performa 6260 - desktop model, no monitor, same insides as the
5260, 160MHz 603e, 16M RAM, 1.6G hard drive, 8x CD, 288 internal fax / data
modem, 1 short PCI slot, keyboard and mouse. (monitor extra)
- $2399 Performa 6400 - tower model, same insides as the 5260 and 6460,
180MHz 603e, 16M RAM, 1.6G hard drive, 8x CD, 288 internal fax / data
modem, 1 short PCI slot, 16 bit stereo sound with integral subwoofer,
keyboard and mouse. (monitor extra)
- $3499 PowerBook 1400 series, 117MHz 603e,12M RAM, 750M hard drive,
optional 6x CD drive, 2 PCMCIA slots for modems etc., 11.3 inch colour
screen
- 7200, 7600, 8500, 9500 and 9500MP Power Macs from $2299
- One comment from Apple as it relates to the CHRP design: They intend to
migrate to this design almost silently, they do not want it to appear as an
entirely new hardware product. After all, the very same software will
continue to run on it.

4. Other stuff
If you notice any errors or omissions in my presentation, please let me
know. I am also open to any and all suggestions for format or content.
See you again NeXT month.

Brian Fouhse
bfouhse@cableregina.com