Masonry Magazine June 1994 Page. 37
COMPUTERS FOR CONTRACTORS
By JAMES N. MEIDL
President, J. Meidl Systems
Speed Costs!
How Fast
Do You Want
to Go?
I SAW THE SIGN "Speed Costs! How Fast Do You Want to Go" in an automotive parts store. The message is that each increment of increased speed becomes more and more costly as you approach the current maximum. Yet even speed in cars can mean many things. Dragsters are fast from "zero to sixty." Indy cars are fast when "running the oval." and sport cars are fast "through the curves." Acceleration, top end, and handling are types of speed in cars. Your intended use determines how much of each you want.
SPEED in a computer comes in four types:
1. Calculation Speed, (How fast is the adding machine in there?), is most directly related to the megahertz (MHz) of the processor chip. 486 processors are available at 25, 33, 50 or 66 MHz. The effective power is in direct proportion to their number. (50 is twice the power of 25, etc.) As the numbers go up, so does the cost but not in proportion. The last jump up to the "fastest on the market" is always the most expensive and can seldom be cost justified.
2. Data Retrieval Speed, (How fast can you find something?), is most directly related to disk drive average access speed and the data transfer rate of the disk controller. This type of speed is often overlooked and is seldom detailed in specifications. Currently the two fastest types of controllers are Local-bus IDE and SCSI. These combined with drive access speeds under 12 milli seconds are desirable. Slower technology such as RLR and MFM controllers often are used with drives having 30+ milli second average access times and can be as much as 5 times slower.
3. Print Speed, (Am I waiting for the finished document?), is a function of both the printer's speed and quality of print. Speed is expressed as either characters per second (dot matrix and ink jet printers print at "300 Cps"), lines per minute (Line printers print at "600 LPM"), or pages per minute (Laser printers print at "8 Ppm") depending on the physical mechanics of how the printer prints. The quality of the print is expressed as "draft"- quick but of minimal quality. "report" slower but more readable, "Near letter quality" the dot matrix version of letter quality, and "True letter quality" which only laser and ink jet printers produce. Generally, people are more dissatisfied over time with their printer than anything else. When you have to wait for your printer, it seems very slow.
4. Video Display Speed, (How fast can it paint the screen?), is a function
THE POLY LINE
CONCRETE MIXER
* Removeable/replaceable poly liner with molded blades.
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* Wide choice of power options
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Cedarburg, Wisconsin 53012
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A Construction Forms Company
MASONRY-MAY/JUNE, 1994 37