gendel@soleil.UUCP (Gary Gendel) (02/07/90)
I am trying to make a decision on a good 386/33 machine and operating system. Here is the basic requirements: 1) 386 @ 33Mhz. 2) 64k cache 3) 4 Mb main memory 4) ~150 Mb HD. 5) VGA 1024x768 color. 6) 3.5 and/or 5.25 Floppy Drive. 7) monitor and keyboard. all this for under $5k. So far Gateway is the price leader at $4400, but it took me three days to get in touch with a sales person and only after I insisted on waiting until one became free. It is more that 2 weeks since then and I have not received the price quote or technical literature that I requested. I have a friend who has a Gateway machine, and has had similar difficulties in contacting technical support. The second machine is HIMS at $4900, the sales staff were prompt, courteous, and I received the price quote and documentation 3 days after I called. Besides, they have a 1 year on-site service contract included. PC magazine also rated this the fastest 386 that they ever tested. Anyone have any comments about these machines or others that I haven't looked into. Second, I would like a native 386 compiler and an OS with Virtual memory. This leaves me with MSDOS w/extenders or UNIX. It seems to me that UNIX is the better choice, but which UNIX (SCO Interactive ESIX MINIX etc)? Anyone have experiences that they might share? Whatever OS, there must be native 386 C compilers/debuggers available. Last, the C compilers: 1) NDP - Applications require FP co-processor. 2) Metaware - What kind of debuggers are supported? 3) Watcom - "" 4) GNU - is there a C Run Time Library available for this one? Any suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated. Gary Gendel (201) 685-6627 rutgers!soleil!gendel