| From: | Jonathan Day |
| Date: | 5 Aug 2001 at 11:17:23 |
| Subject: | Re: AA22 review of the PlexWriter |
Hi Neil
> Not anti-IDE, just pointing out the limitations of the very oild IDE
> implementation on the Amiga motherboard.
Don't we know it :-(
> It's not that IDE is unsuitable for this sort of work, Plextor wouldn't
> have made the drive if that's the case. It's that the Amiga's IDE simply
> isn't up to the job. A product has to be reviewed in context, a review
> written for, say, Linux format would be different.
This is crux of it really: what should the context be? I was thinking that
with high (er) speed IDE being available for quite a while, and with high
speed IDE via the AmigaONE just round the corner, the PlexWriter should have
been reviewed on it's own merits rather than by the limitations of the
slowest (but albeit most common) IDE implementation on Amigas.
> CD writing generally requires plenty of RAM, and more helps offset the
> disadvantages of the slow interface.
Fair enough, I can understand that, but RAM's not mentioned in the review.
> > SYSTEM: Any Amiga with an IDE interface and at least x Mb RAM, but the
more
> > the better.
>
> It's hard to put a figure on X though, which is why I didn't.
So perhaps some mention in body of the review to this effect ? Is 32Mb
enough...?
> > In the editorial of the same issue, David Stroud says we "can't keep AA
> > going exclusively 'Classic Amiga' magazine forever..." Whilst I know
David
> > was talking about content not directly Amiga related, I feel that it is
all
> > part of the same thing. To me, it seemed as if the PlexWriter got a
"bad"
> > review cos the Amiga IDE interface is crap where-as it should have been
the
> > other way round.
>
> The drive was reviewed in the context of using it with an Amiga. In this
> context, it's not a particularly good buy. A PC magazine would give it a
> better rating, because it works better with a PC.
In cases such as this, I would personally prefer reviews to be based on
upgraded hardware, detailing the performance on lower spec machines as a
side issue rather than as the primary review. Why should you treat the IDE
interface any different to, say, an accelerator? If someone is considering
this drive, it's likely they'll have an upgraded IDE interface anyway,
otherwise they'd buy a slower drive at almost half the price.
> > PS. Once we do get a decent IDE interface with the AmigaONE, what is
the
> > comparison going to be like with respect to SCSI v IDE? Does SCSI still
come
> > out hands down, or should someone like me who no-longer has SCSI
hardware
> > keep to the cheaper IDE, or even go for USB?
>
> You can do everything with IDE that you can do with SCSI.Those
> application usually have USB alternatives, but USB requires drivers,
> which isn't always true with SCSI. Provided drivers are available, IDE +
> USB should be sufficient for most needs.
>
> OTOH a PCI SCSI controller for the AmigaONE will only cost around £25.
Yeah, but you still have to pay the substantial (to me on my income anyway)
difference between a SCSI and the IDE version...
Thanks Neil
Jon
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