cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn) (04/07/90)
Check out the April 1990 BYTE magazine. It gives some information
on it, and IBM has a huge (8-page, I think) ad about their new systems.
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More half-baked ideas from the oven of:
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Stephen M. Dunn cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca
<std_disclaimer.h> = "\nI'm only an undergraduate ... for now!\n";dlucy@tropez.UUCP (Doug Lucy) (04/13/90)
In article <W9L#|A%@rpi.edu>, nforcer@pawl.rpi.edu (Paul J Stewart) writes: > I just got a letter from IBM concerning a demonstration of their latest in > workstations, the RS/6000. > DO any of you know o the RS/6000, How about a line of Unix (AIX) computers for use as workstations and file servers. The botoom-of-the-line is the PowerStation 320 IBM RISC chip PS/2 small footprint case 1284 x 1024 grey scale monitor AIX Mouse X Windows 8 Mb RAM 120 Mb harddisk 3.5" floppy Ethernet adapter 27 MIPS performance $14,995 (that's right, $14,995) And the top-of-the-line FileStation (?) has 43 MIPS. I wonder if these thigns actually work. Most of the computer rags have large ad insert this month from IBM featuring Hagar the Horrible as the spokesviking for the news RS/6000 line. -- "It's such a fine line between stupid..." | Doug Lucy 703.820.3922 "...and stupid." | DC Pro, Falls Church, VA "Yeah, stupid." | uunet!tropez!dlucy
greenstr@cstw75.prl.philips.nl (Roland Greenstreet) (04/13/90)
In article <186@tropez.UUCP> dlucy@tropez.UUCP (Doug Lucy) writes: >In article <W9L#|A%@rpi.edu>, nforcer@pawl.rpi.edu (Paul J Stewart) writes: > >How about a line of Unix (AIX) computers for use as workstations and >file servers. The botoom-of-the-line is the PowerStation 320 > > IBM RISC chip > PS/2 small footprint case > 1284 x 1024 grey scale monitor > AIX > Mouse > X Windows > 8 Mb RAM > 120 Mb harddisk > 3.5" floppy > Ethernet adapter > 27 MIPS performance > $14,995 (that's right, $14,995) > >And the top-of-the-line FileStation (?) has 43 MIPS. I wonder if >these thigns actually work. > I think you have missed a few things out here :- POWERstation 320 Fully IBM compatable ( but not using any Intel chips ) 7.4 MFLOPS NeXT Step display postscipt display. EIA-232D, EIA-422A and MIL-spec 188 asynchronus ports. Possibility for 24-bit 3D graphics. Unix compatable with 4.3 BSD and AT & T V.3. Plus a lot more new commands. This is their bottom end machine, the range extends to the POWERServer 930. With various perforamce ratings from 27.5 MIPS to 41.1MIPS, or 7.5MFLOPS to 13MFLOPS. Hopefully one of these will be available for me to take a look at soon, when I have I will post more information. From everything I have heard I think the IBM has hit the workstation/server market hard with this announcement. They will be shipping in quantity very soon. Hope this is of Help R.J.Greenstreet.
jacobs@cs.utah.edu (Steven R. Jacobs) (04/13/90)
In article <186@tropez.UUCP> dlucy@tropez.UUCP (Doug Lucy) writes: > In article <W9L#|A%@rpi.edu>, nforcer@pawl.rpi.edu (Paul J Stewart) writes: >> I just got a letter from IBM concerning a demonstration of their latest in >> workstations, the RS/6000. >> DO any of you know o the RS/6000, > > How about a line of Unix (AIX) computers for use as workstations and > file servers. The botoom-of-the-line is the PowerStation 320 > > IBM RISC chip > PS/2 small footprint case > 1284 x 1024 grey scale monitor > AIX > Mouse > X Windows > 8 Mb RAM > 120 Mb harddisk > 3.5" floppy > Ethernet adapter > 27 MIPS performance > $14,995 (that's right, $14,995) Actually, a 320 configured like this would be _less than_ $12,995. The $12,995 list price is for a 320 with _two_ 120Mb drives but no Ethernet. The Ethernet adapter is about $700 if I recall correctly. IBM was here last week with machines on display. -- Steve Jacobs ({bellcore,hplabs,uunet}!utah-cs!jacobs, jacobs@cs.utah.edu)
mseidle@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Mike Seidle) (04/15/90)
In article <186@tropez.UUCP>, dlucy@tropez.UUCP (Doug Lucy) writes: > In article <W9L#|A%@rpi.edu>, nforcer@pawl.rpi.edu (Paul J Stewart) writes: > > I just got a letter from IBM concerning a demonstration of their latest in > > workstations, the RS/6000. > > DO any of you know o the RS/6000, > > How about a line of Unix (AIX) computers for use as workstations and > file servers. The botoom-of-the-line is the PowerStation 320 > > $14,995 (that's right, $14,995) > And the top-of-the-line FileStation (?) has 43 MIPS. I wonder if > these thigns actually work. According to IBM Update (that wonderfull self-proclaiming shareholder's update), the entry lever RS6000 costs 12,995, and comes in a case which makes the PS/2 box look like a modern masterpeice (that box is UGLY). As far as the thing working goes, I don't know... Sounds like its too good to be true... The real significance of the RS is the MicroChannel bus. Its my understanding that it will take the same boards that the PS2's take and doubles the bandwidth on RS specific boards. Looks like IBM has some big plans for MCA after all... One problem with the RS6000 series is the OS - AIX. If it does not support multiple processors, part of the microChannel edge will be lost. (Eg. no quick expansions to, say, two POWER processors) Just a random thought, but could IBM be secretly planning to pull the rug out from under microsoft and Intel by dropping the 320's price down to PS2 territory after software starts to appear ? One more random thought: the RS 320's 110meg harddrive sounds a little smallish for a RISC based UNIX box... I thought IBM already learned this lesson... Oh well... mike - BSU
davin@me.utoronto.ca (Davin Yap) (04/15/90)
mseidle@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Mike Seidle) writes: >the entry lever RS6000 costs 12,995, and comes in a case which makes >the PS/2 box look like a modern masterpeice (that box is UGLY). Yup, these things are definitely _UGLY_. Gosh, I wish they'd ask people (with taste) their opinions of the aesthetics of their new machines before casting their shape into stone. If it sounds like I'm casting aspersions towards those responsible for the external looks of their machines, I am, and I'm glad you noticed. I resent people putting such a nice piece of hardware in a box I feel obliged to hide beneath my desk. >As far as the thing working goes, I don't know... Sounds like its too >good to be true... They work. >The real significance of the RS is the MicroChannel bus. No, the 40 MByte/s bus is _necessary_ for this type of machine. >Its my understanding that it will take the same boards that the PS2's take they will take "certain" ps/2 boards. >and doubles the bandwidth on RS specific boards. Looks like >IBM has some big plans for MCA after all... the bus on the current batch of 6000s max out at 40 MBytes/s; future buses will feature maximum transfer rates of 80 then 160 MBytes/s. >One problem with the RS6000 series is the OS - AIX. If it does not >support multiple processors, part of the microChannel edge will be lost. >(Eg. no quick expansions to, say, two POWER processors) Yes, from what I hear, AIX is a problem, but not because of that. AIX 3.1 is huge. The kernel is so big that it pages. They claim this is a feature. I beg to differ. AIX _will_ be better by the time they ship because it has to be, and of course will improve as time goes by. Nevertheless, opt for at least 16 MBytes of memory. The _other_ OS for the 6000 series will be a (purportedly "smooth") port of MACH (BSD, yeah!), but as it's not announced (and may never be), one suspects that all applications will run under AIX. Don't know if they will support multiple processors in their mach port. >Just a random thought, but could IBM be secretly planning to pull the >rug out from under microsoft and Intel by dropping the 320's price down >to PS2 territory after software starts to appear ? SUN, DEC, HP/APOLLO are the real targets. Priced a workstation lately? IBM prices are in-line with the competitions, once you tack-on all the options that make a workstation a workstation. Thing is, for the same price, the IBM box is 2+ times faster for integer and 7 times faster for floating point. The new DEC 5000 is in the same ball-park for integer but is still half as fast for floating point. My personal opinion is that IBM has a year lead in hardware, but the other vendors have a year lead in software, which is more important to you? New machines this summer from the other vendors will cut into IBM's current performance edge, but IBM does have a lead, let's see what they do with it. Oh ya, when I went to the 6000 announcement in February they spoke of a new low-end machine to be announced this summer - this could be fun. Another note. You can buy software for this box that lets it emulate a PC -- at a speed equivalent to a 386/20. Don't know what your price for this would be, but the educational cost is peanuts. >One more random thought: the RS 320's 110meg harddrive sounds a little >smallish for a RISC based UNIX box... I thought IBM already learned this >lesson... Oh well... You cannot buy a 320 without at least a 110 meg drive (if you can afford it, go for the 320 meg scsi feature, it's important); you need it to boot/page/swap (that's why the faster drive is important, especially if you've only got 8 meg of memory). You're expected to access most of your binaries and user files on a remote fileserver - well, at least that's how we do things. 110 meg would be fine for us, and I'm sure most buyers of 320s. Sure there will be stand-alone 320s, that'll need bigger disks, but they will be in the minority. Would I buy one? Yes, but I won't enjoy looking at it. Davin -- Davin Yap, Center for Computer Integrated Engineering, University of Toronto davin@me.utoronto.ca davin@me.utoronto.bitnet | 5 King's College Rd., Toronto ...{pyramid,uunet}!utai!utme!davin | Ontario, CANADA, M5S 1A4 --