Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mailrus!umix!umich!mibte!gamma!ulysses!thumper!faline!bellcore!tness7!tness1!sugar!peter From: peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Amiga as workstation Message-ID: <1939@sugar.UUCP> Date: 6 May 88 09:33:39 GMT References: <466@mailrus.cc.umich.edu> <863@gethen.UUCP> <391@brambo.UUCP> <492@sas.UUCP> Organization: Sugar Land UNIX - Houston, TX Lines: 49 In article <492@sas.UUCP>, bts@sas.UUCP (Brian T. Schellenberger) writes: > In article <1903@sugar.UUCP> peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes: > |Personally I'd be happy to give up my parallel port for another serial port. > |Parallel printers are a historical dreg that has no technical justification. > What, huh?? I've never seen anything shove bits as fast over a serial line > as you can over a parallel line. And for most printers this extra bandwidth is completely wasted: they can't even keep up with 1200 baud. > Try comparing the time to download fonts > to LaserJet II on parallel vs. serial (even at 19.2Kbaud) sometime, and see > if you don't want to keep your parallel port around when you get a laser > printer. If I could afford a laser printer I think I could afford a parallel port card. I mean, what's another couple of hundred bucks out of a couple of grand? In the meantime I can't: 1) Put two modems on my Amiga. 2) Put a modem and a terminal on my Amiga. 3) Put a cheap EPROM burner and a modem on my Amiga. 4) Put a Midi port and a modem on my Amiga. ... and any combination thereof. Proposition 1: the more ports your computer has, the better. Proposition 2: the more versatile the ports on your computer, the better. Claim: Serial ports are more versatile than parallel ports, because there is a greater variety of serial devices out there. Side issue: If there were multiple serial ports, the whole "serial device debate" would be a non-issue. Personally, I think it is anyway. We already have a perfectly good namespace for devices. Conclusion: For me, at least, serial ports are better than parallel ports. Totally unjustified flame: I have 4 serial ports on my Atari 800, via my 850. I have 4 joystick ports on it as well. Why does the Amiga have less? -- -- Peter da Silva `-_-' ...!hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!sugar!peter -- "Have you hugged your U wolf today?" ...!bellcore!tness1!sugar!peter -- Disclaimer: These aren't mere opinions, these are *values*.