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Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.misc:842 comp.os.linux:54332 comp.unix.misc:9024 Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux,comp.unix.misc Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!agate!doc.ic.ac.uk!uknet!cf-cm!cybaswan!iiitac From: iiitac@swan.pyr (Alan Cox) Subject: Re: What are the various PC bassed Unix box OS? Message-ID: <1993Sep3.120425.21703@swan.pyr> Keywords: pc,unix Organization: Swansea University College References: <1993Sep02.184251.23903@engr.engr.uark.edu> <chmae.747045462@guug.de> Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1993 12:04:25 GMT Lines: 43 In article <chmae.747045462@guug.de> chmae@guug.de (Christoph Maethner) writes: >From my personal private experience, with a 386DX40 with (only) 4MB >RAM you should only run unix-systems without X. I've run Linux with X windows in 4Mb and while it's doable (especially in mono) I'd not recommend it. Much better that you use the money you didnt waste buying a commercial offering on buying 4Mb of memory (in fact for typical prices probably more). Linux without X is fast in 4Mb, 386BSD is pretty comparable but uses much more disk space. >Any SystemVRel.4 should do . >I used to use the Consensys V.4 on a 386SX20 with 4 MB and it worked, though >it wasn't exactly a runner. Now on a 386DX25 with 8 MB I use a SysVR4.2 >from Onsite a german USL-licencee including X and it works fine. There >is nothing else making a unix-system faster than RAM and fast disks. >I don't think I will ever need a 486 , I would perfer more RAM. I'd second this comment. With 8 users doing user like things you tend to hit the IDE disk performance limit and memory limits way before you hit CPU usage limits. I've found Linux is quite nippy on a 386SX16 certainly comparable to a SUN3/60. >I don't know about the prices in the us - in germany it is considerable >expensive to buy a commercial implementation. Nevertheless I recommend >those before linux, which is free, if you want to learn about the >standards implemented in the commercial systems. Linux is very very close to POSIX indeed, more so that some commercial so called Posix compliant systems. There are thing that are different. You don't get motif for free and motif is the new world order amongst user interfaces (You do get X11, TCL/TK, Xaw, OpenLook tools). I happen to think that Motif is dreadful so I've never worried about it, or paid $200 to buy it. You don't get to run shrink wrapped packages though this is suprisingly close by the look of it. Where I work we threw the commercial system out and installed Linux. The Linux DOS emulator isn't as good in some areas as the dos/merge type stuff provided with things like SCO (notable it doesn't run windows). Another thing to ask is how much time do you have to play and learn things. Linux is on the whole faster and smaller but you need to put a little more effort into it. You don't get phone support either - though I find usenet and the irc #linux channel better support than most phone support groups. Alan iiitac@pyr.swan.ac.uk