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- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!torn!news.ccs.queensu.ca!qucdn!leek
- Organization: Queen's University at Kingston
- Date: Friday, 28 Aug 1992 11:44:03 EDT
- From: <LEEK@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>
- Message-ID: <92241.114403LEEK@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
- Subject: Re: What makes OS on ROM _WORSE_ than one on disk???
- References: <talan.02wd@tension.UUCP>
- Lines: 42
-
- In article <talan.02wd@tension.UUCP>, talan@tension.UUCP (Dave Bicking) says:
- >
- >you seem to need to learn a bit more. First of all, the "Amighty Macintosh"
- >has their OS on ROM. Second, the "Almighty Windows 3.1" is coming out with
- ^^^^^^^^^
- Depending on the machine model... Part of the OS sits on the disk and
- is used to patch up the older roms. That's why there are inits files.
-
- >a ROM OS. Gee, looks like you'll be reduced to using that godlike ST
- >(Falcon?) OS, since it is almost the only one left on disk!
-
- >I would also like to note that the Windows on ROM will take a fraction of the
- >disk space of the disk version (obviously) and run considerably FASTER, and
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- Huh ? How do you run faster when EPROM/ROM speeds are considerably
- slower than RAM ? Can you explain why there are shadow ROMs (running
- the ROM images in memory) for people who wants better performance ?
-
- How fast can a 512K byte mask ROM or EPROM runs at ?
-
- It might consider be faster becuase it doesn't have to be loaded in.
- At speeds the HD are capable of doing (ie 500K/sec to a couple of mes/sec
- for really expensive ones), loading up the OS takes may be a couple of
- seconds and you only do that once when you start up the machine. (Unless
- the OS is so buggy that ity has to be rebooted every 3 minutes. :) :) :)
-
- >You next infer that the Amiga ROM upgrade is vastly more expensive than a disk
- >upgrade. Well, compare a $45 Amiga ROM to the $150 Windows package and the
- >equally expensive OS/2. I can get DOS 5.0 from a computer store for "as
- >little as" $70. Gee, ROMS are terrible, aren't they? Too bad we don't NEED
- I agree with the low Amiga OS prices. Don't forget that MS makes money
- on software. They don't sell OS at cost. C= sells hardwares. Selling
- the OS is a way for customer service. Otherwise we'll only have DOS 1.0
- and start buying OS' from Mickysoft. I can still remember the $30 1.3
- (disks only) upgrade. I might try to pick up the 2.04 or 2.1 and try
- to hack it in my A1000. (The hack is the fun part for me. :)
-
- >Dave Bicking
- >Programmed Solutions, Inc.
-
- K. C. Lee
- Elec. Eng. Grad. Student
-