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Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.questions:9109 comp.sys.dec:18830 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!foxhound.dsto.gov.au!fang.dsto.gov.au!yoyo.aarnet.edu.au!news.adelaide.edu.au!news.cs.su.oz.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msuinfo!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!news.uoregon.edu!usenet.coe.montana.edu!bsd.coe.montana.edu!nate From: nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu (Nate Williams) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions,comp.sys.dec Subject: Re: what to buy...what to buy *sigh* Date: 2 Mar 1994 19:22:15 GMT Organization: Montana State University, Bozeman MT Lines: 72 Message-ID: <2l2p17$c17@pdq.coe.montana.edu> References: <1994Mar2.103006.1@gracie> NNTP-Posting-Host: bsd.coe.montana.edu In article <1994Mar2.103006.1@gracie>, Ed Jones <ejones@gracie.psych.wright.edu> wrote >I want a unix box. Now that we've got that outa the way here is >my question. I only want to spend $3000-$3500 on it. I am very >used to DECstaions running Ultrix and DEC Alphas running OSF/1. >It seems I have two basic options, and maybe more. DEC has a >wonderful (seemingly) refurbished equipment deal on old DECstaions. >For example, for $1800 I could get a DECstation 5000/120 with >a 19" color monitor and PX graphics. Does that include Ultrix, or "Buglix" as some have called it? I assume so. Anyway, that means you'll be running X11R4 (not R5 and certainly never going to run R6) due to DEC not being very forthcoming about their graphics cards. The reason the deal is so wonderful is that DEC is trying to unload their now 'un-supported' MIPS hardware because they are going all ALPHA. >For an additional $450 I could >get total memory up to 24 megs and another $850 would buy me a >1gig SCSI drive. Remember, these are used prices. So, for $3100 >I could get a decent workstaion for home use. Remember, aside from the main board all the prices you pay for memory, disk, video are the same or less for a PC as compared to the DECstation if you build your PC system correctly using decent controllers and memory sub-system. I use DEC hardware on my box now. :-) >I dont know how >it would compare to a good 486dx266 running one flavor of free >unix, either NetBSD or FreeBSD. For a 486 with 16 megs of ram, a >decent 17" monitor, 500 meg SCSI drive, EISA/VESA bus with "good" >SCSI host controller and video card is gonna cost me roughly the >same as the DECstation. Having lots of experience with DECstations, I find that for *most* things my 486/33 compares very favorably with the 5000/200's on campus here except when it compes to floating point, and it's a real loser there. Note, this is a 486/33 ISA box, not EISA or VLB. A 486/66 with EISA/VLB would be a big win. This is not just my experiene either, I had some other folks login and they found the machine to be quite snappy considering alot of them hate PC's. Another thing to note is that a good rule of thumb is that RICS boxes tend to use up 50% more memory than a comparable CISC machine, so 24MB RISC ~= 16MB CISC. Binaries also tend to be larger by about the same amount. >I do not play video games and absolutely >hate Dos and WinBlows. So, what would you do? BTW, anyone know >the performance specs on the 5000/120? I believe a 5000/120 is equivalent to a 5000/200 but it has a half-speed turbo-channel bus and built-in video. (I *think*) Something else to think about is that Ultrix is no longer 'supported' by DEC as they are moving away from MIPS, so you are stuck with a dead-end architecture, while the Intel stuff is still a commodity item. This means that a few years from now you should be able to sell your PC to most anyone while your DECstation will be only marketable to the niche folks. Anyway, that's my take on the matter. Please feel free to send me private email about this where we can talk about it in more detail. Nate -- nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu | FreeBSD core member and all around tech. nate@cs.montana.edu | weenie. work #: (406) 994-4836 | Graduating May '94 with a BS in EE home #: (406) 586-0579 | - looking for work in CS/EE field.