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- Newsgroups: comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit
- Path: sparky!uunet!mcsun!sunic!ugle.unit.no!alf.uib.no!alf.uib.no!ketil
- From: ketil@ii.uib.no (Ketil M. Malde)
- Subject: Re: need beginner info ...
- In-Reply-To: ghost@opal.cs.tu-berlin.de's message of Mon, 16 Nov 1992 01:18:20 GMT
- Message-ID: <KETIL.92Nov16162203@sandel.ii.uib.no>
- Sender: usenet@alf.uib.no (Bergen University Newsaccount)
- Reply-To: ketil@ii.uib.no
- Organization: student of numerical analysis at the University of Bergen, Norway
- References: <1992Nov16.011820.27318@cs.tu-berlin.de>
- Date: 16 Nov 92 16:22:03
- Lines: 58
-
- >>>>> On Mon, 16 Nov 1992 01:18:20 GMT, ghost@opal.cs.tu-berlin.de (Hartmut Kuehn) said:
-
- Hartmut> First, I don't want to use DOS but Unix (perhaps BSD
- Hartmut> or so) as a cheap alternative to SUN Sparc (a
- Hartmut> complete Sparc workstation is yet out of reach). Now
- Hartmut> I wonder what quality the DX-50, DX2-50 and DX2-66
- Hartmut> (?) reached so far and what experiences the people
- Hartmut> here have using a PC and some kind of Unix with X11
- Hartmut> (what exactly are the differences between the above
- Hartmut> DX's ?).
-
- The DX2s have a double internal clock rate. This means that a DX2-50
- will only use 25mHz to memory, but work 50mHz internally. A DX-50 is
- therefore faster than the DX2, but needs more expensive support
- circuitry (faster memory and caches and the like)
-
- As far as I understand.
-
- Hartmut> Did the new series of DX-xx reached a level of
- Hartmut> performance and hardware, so that you can say, they
- Hartmut> are realy realible, or are there still problems like
- Hartmut> chip-overheat, inconsistent hardware or other ?
-
- I can't imagine there's much hardware problems with the chips, as they
- seem to be used extenxively. I'd worry about software incositencies
- instead.
-
- Hartmut> Ok, everybody using a PC will say, this is the best
- Hartmut> and don't want to admit some weaknesses, but what I
- Hartmut> need is a objective kind of view that gives me the
- Hartmut> chance to decide, if it's worth buying a PC for main
- Hartmut> Unix-use, or wait till prices for SUN Sparc / Clones
- Hartmut> decreaes, so that I can afford a workstation.
-
- I don't own a PC, so I guess I'm pretty objective :-)
-
- I think it is worth it to buy a PC as a low end unix WS, get a 486
- with 8+ Mb of RAM, 200 Mb disk, preferably locally bussed Video and
- and disk controllers. As for video, get soething that your Unix
- supports, and get an accellerated card, S-3 seems to be the way to go.
-
- If you're not afraid to hack a little, get linux (which is free and
- supports X for trident, et4000 and S-3 (I believe) video cards)
-
- There's also 386BSD for free (or was it BSD386?)
-
- If compatibility with Suns is important, consider Solaris from
- SunSoft. Be prepared to fork out money, though, not to mention to
- bring your own compiler (shame on Sun!)
-
- Hope this helps!
-
-
-
-
- --
- = Ketil Malde In real life: ketil@ii.uib.no =
- = Nuke the whales! Honk if you love unicorns! =
-