Here's an update on MS-DOS emulation on the Mac II -- a rerunning of May's
benchmark tests. The latest results for the Norton System Information Indexes,
DBASE III Plus, and Lotus 1-2-3 version 2.01. are listed below. (All results
are in seconds except for the Norton indexes and the accuracy test in 1-2-3.)
The old figures for version 1.0 of Mac286 are for comparison purposes.
Monitor setting Mono Color Mono
AST's Mac286 V1.0 V1.01 Insignia's SoftPC
----------------- -------- -------- ----------------
Norton SI Indexes:
------------------
Computing Index: 8.2 8.2 1.2
Disk Index: 3.7 3.7 3.4
Performance Index: 6.7 6.7 1.9
DBase III Plus:
--------------
Launch Program: 7.7 5.8 10.4
Search*: 7.2 4.6 6.7
*: Search 100 record (12 fields) database.
1-2-3 Version 2.01:
-------------------
Launch Program: 5.6 4.8 10.5
Add Integers: 1.1 1.5 4.0
Add Floating Pt.: 1.1 1.9 5.3
Multiply Integer: 1.3 2.0 4.6
Multiply Floating Pt.: 1.4 2.0 6.2
Integer/SIN: 3.8 4.8 29.0
Load Multiply FP File: 4.0 3.8 10.5
Save Multiply FP File: 3.5 3.2 5.1
Accuracy (SQRT)**: 99.99999936 99.99999936 99.99999936
*: Result of taking the square root of 100 twenty-five times, then squaring
that result 25 times. The final result should be 100.
The add, multiply, and integer/SIN tests were done in a 25X25 matrix where the
result in each cell was dependent on another cell above or to the left of it.
General Comments:
The hardware setup was as follows: Macintosh II w/2mb RAM, 2-800k floppy
drives, 40Mg internal hard disk, 80Mg external hard disk, and a color monitor.
All tests with the software were run from the 80Mg external hard disk. The
monitor was set to color mode with 256 grey levels for V1.01 tests. This was
the only change made from the previous comparison. For version 1.0 of Mac 286
and SoftPC, the monitor was set to mono and 2 grey levels.
A problem in version Mac286 1.01 is that resizing the screen in graphics mode
and then returning to text mode causes a 1" margin on the left side of the
screen. This is only an annoyance, because you can avoid this problem by
moving the horizontal scroll bar to the left and then back to the right edge
before returning to text mode. Also, Mac286 sometimes "loses" the cursor when
running certain programs (Dollars and Sense, for example).
For more information, search the Tech Info Library for Insignia Solutions
and AST Research.