Re: To Upgrade or Not. What's the difference?

In message <1179013052.672643.99450@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Ams <ams@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[snip]

I'd call only having provision for one hard disk and no ability to
directly attach a CD Writer to the IDE bus a bit of a substantial
compromise.
Annraoi

It's all about viewpoints and one such alternative (which I do not personally
hold for *all* my computing needs) is that provision for one hard disc is as
much as what most (non-technical) users out there (even in Wintel land) need.
A great many non-RISC OS users don't even understand the concept of what a
hard disc is - instead thinking in terms of storing files "inside the
computer". Obivously there are also many who know exactly what is inside
computers too.

With regard to CDs. My A9 was only ever intended as an extra machine to
augment what I already have. The fact that it doesn't have a CD drive is not
a big issue with my home networked set up. I've pondered over adding the
optional CD drive from Advantage6, but for the most part not been able to
justify it. My Risc PC has 4 CD icons when it boots up - a CD ROM Drive, a
CD ROM Writer and a DVD Writer - plus CD Faker. Lately these drives get very
little use at all (although installation of RISC OS SIX needed one of them).
I have shared an optical drive to the A9Home, maybe 4 times since I got the
A9.

Therefore, I think stating that lack of extra hard drives and lack of CD
drive as "substantial" compromise is a bit strong. If the A9Home was the
*only* computer someone had, then it probably has more importance to have the
CD Drive - and some method of backup up files from the hard disc, but I would
imagine that most people (certainly not all) would have at least one other
computer (not necessarilly RISC OS) that could network to the A9Home.

Anyone who owned a single A9Home and no other computer could still use it,
but installation of some software products would be a little challenging and
fear of loosing data would need to be mitigated by use of USB Pen drives or
something similar to back up. There are obviously ways around software
installation, such as borrowing someone's machine to copy installers down to
Pen Drives etc.

As it happens for the market A9Home is aimed at that might
be a valid enough restriction (remember A9Home is derived from the A9
series which was aimed at purely embedded applications where having
only 1 HDD or no CD-ROM might not have been a big issue).

The "Home" version is aimed at small inconspicuous home use. But the main
thrust of what you say there is valid because typically "industries" allow
for system failures / rebuilds of "units" and backup of important data.

In the PC world *no one* would use a Laptop HDD as their main drive on
a desktop machine.

Probably not but if their main/only PC is a Laptop - as is mine then that
leaves no choice ;-)

[snip]

A compromise YES - but valid if you view it to enable the production
of subminature machine for embedding or for ultra portability.

Very true and worth it particularly if it not an only machine at one's
disposal.

[snip]

Which would be to ignore it's *best* asset - it's small size. I could
(at the moment) only envisage an A9Home as being appropriate to use
within a "laptop" like native RISC OS machine (it would not require an
external video card and would have a mainboard so small that it could
easily be "shoehorned" into a portable case). Doing that with an Iyo
mainboard would be nowhere near as easy....if not impossible.

Another such use *could* be not based on its size as such but on its low
power demands. Take for example fitting into a car or caravan for use away
from home but note that it could be "fixed" rather than portable / removable.
You could put a full size machine such as an Iyonix into a Car Boot and route
cables and fit a screen somewhere etc. (See "Pimp my ride" on sky for extreme
examples!) or more practically fit a machine in a Caravan or Narrow Boat
(something which I've been specifically asked about by a RISC OS user).

In all the examples just above, we're not so much worried about size
(although it helps), but more about power consumption and whether battery use
(car battery or whatever) is viable for when mains drops out or is
unavailable at moorings / camp site (I know nothing about the practicalities
of camping before anyone explains what solutions are available).

[snip]

The above are just the result of some "out of the box" thinking to illustrate
that size isn't everything when it comes to alternative comcept computers.

Regards
Steve

--
StevePotts at blastzone DOT demon STOP co DOT uk (www.blastzone.demon.co.uk/)
Written on RISC OS.
http://www.riscos.com/

--
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