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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.mel.connect.com.au!news.syd.connect.com.au!news.bri.connect.com.au!corolla.OntheNet.com.au!not-for-mail From: Tony Griffiths <tonyg@OntheNet.com.au> Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: To buy or not to buy.... Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 11:16:42 +1000 Organization: On the Net (ISP on the Gold Coast, Australia) Lines: 72 Message-ID: <337BB57A.1C0D@OntheNet.com.au> References: <33792404.167EB0E7@silas.cc.monash.edu.au> Reply-To: tonyg@OntheNet.com.au NNTP-Posting-Host: swanee.nt.com.au Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (WinNT; I) To: David Henshaw <dhenshaw@silas.cc.monash.edu.au> Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:40987 David Henshaw wrote: > > Hi all, > > Currently I'm considering buying a second computer to run as a server. > Ideally, it will provide Internet access to a win95 machine. > > I'm running FreeBSD 2.1.5 on a PC at the moment (co-existing with 95). > So far I've had my share of problems, but nothing that I haven't been > able to fix. > This machine has a 28.8 modem hooked up to provide access at the moment. > Ideally though, another machine would act as a gateway (that's right > isn't it ?) to this machine, which would be solely win95. > > Currently the following is for sale and I'm considering buying. > > DECstation 5000/25 > - 40M RAM > - 424M SCSI Disk (Internal) > - Built-in Audio > - Keyboard and 3-button mouse > - 24 bit Video (1280x1024x16M) > - 19" colour monitor > - Ethernet (AUI) + BNC Transceiver > - Ultrix 4.4 loaded (Installed) > - capable of running NetBSD/pmax, Linux/Mips (ie. Free Unix) > - AUS$1200 firm Hmm... The big monitor and high-end graphics card are probably the most valuable things in this box. It's a bit ligh on in memory for a RISC machine but probably workable. The SCSI disk is _definitely_ on the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM boundary for an Ultrix-RISC install. You won't have room for setting up proxy caches, etc. unless you add more! > > To me this would appear to be a bargain (assuming it is all working). > My questions are - > > 1). Can I hook up the modem to this machine. i.e. are the serial ports > of a DECstation 5000/25 and a PC compatible ? Can't remember if this particular box has one or two serial ports but I suspect only 1 that can be used only if you run the console on the graphics head (ie. it becomes the serial console port if you don't want graphics!). Also, it is probably NOT a high speed chip so the maximum speed you could reliably get is 19200 bps. Also, I seem to recall that Ultrix only supported SLIP, not PPP, for serial comms. Most ISPs still support SLIP for async serial but it is definitely on the "way out"! > > 2). Would I be better of obtaining a second hand PC at the same cost ? > > Any recommendations appreciated. While the monitor and graphics look good, the rest of the box is relatively ordinary especially if you want this machine to be your Internet gateway/server/etc. Given the cpu technology (25 Mhz R3000 ?), I would think that a low-end pentium would eat it alive. Personally, I would go and buy a box (box @ AUD60-70, motherboard @ < AUD1000, and cheap graphics card) and share the monitor with the existing PC. I have three systems (Alpha W/Station, Pentium-120, and Pentium-100) on or besides my desk with only 1 monitor (21" ;-)) shared. The Alpha and P100 run headless for most of the time. It's only if I need to play with their hardware that I temporarily move the head to the box in question. For the same money, or there abouts, you will get MUCH more horsepower and serial chips that can go up to 112 Kbps. Tony