[comp.sys.amiga] HEY COMMODORE SALES! Re: AMIX?

kent@xanth.cs.odu.edu (Kent Paul Dolan) (04/27/88)

In article <1207@sbcs.sunysb.edu> root@sbcs.sunysb.edu (SBCS Systems Staff) writes:
>Peter, the CMU spec is quite a few years old.  I think that even Chuck's
>       estimate is a bit low ball, but workable.  This is our rough
>       requirement for a next generation workstation a SUNY/Stony Brook:
>
>	10-20 mips main processor
>	> 10M SP Whetstones FP performance
>	8 mBytes memory, must be expandable to 512 mBytes or greater
>	Medium resolution color screen, eg 1280x1024x8, must be
>		expandable to x24 and graphics rendering processor
>	FDDI networking, at least.  At least 50 mbps end to end throughput.
>	Fast internal bus, eg 100 mBps or greater.
>	Real Unix.  We're comfortable with 4.3, or SunOS 4.X.  SysV not welcome.
>	
>       We're looking at SGI, Apollo PRISM, etc.  Our low end requirement
>       is roughly Sun-3/60: 
>
>	3 mips processor
>	no min FP requirement, '881/'882 preferred
>	4 mBytes memory, expandable to at least 16 mBytes
>	Medium res color screen, eg 1024x1024x8
>	Ethernet networking
>	Real Unix.
>
>      The CMU requirement is just that: it is what CMU will buy.  We have
>      100+ Suns here, and I'll tell you that a 3/50 is pretty well threshold
>      of pain in current workstations.  In such an environment, the current
>      Amiga makes an awesome terminal with some compute ability.  It does
>      not make a workable Unix machine.  At least for the sort of Unix
>      we run here.
>
>      Listen to Chuck.  He is giving you the straight story.  Real unix
>      machines cost bucks.  
>
>						Rick Spanbauer
>						SUNY/Stony Brook
>	


Did you catch that?  Were you paying attention?

No?  Let's try again:

****************************************************************************
* Real Unix.  We're comfortable with 4.3, or SunOS 4.X.  SysV not welcome. *
****************************************************************************

Still no?  One more try:

                         *******************
			 *SysV not welcome.*
			 *SysV not welcome.*
			 *SysV not welcome.*
			 *SysV not welcome.*
			 *SysV not welcome.*
			 *SysV not welcome.*
			 *SysV not welcome.*
			 *SysV not welcome.*
			 *SysV not welcome.*
			 *SysV not welcome.*
                         *******************

Now?  Those are the paying customers speaking guys, and they are NOT
kidding around, and that is NOT an isolated opinion.  Think it
through, please?  It's your corporate survival, and my IRA retirement
plan.  Do it right, OK?

Kent, the man from xanth.

tope@enea.se (Tommy Petersson) (04/29/88)

In article <5084@xanth.cs.odu.edu> kent@xanth.UUCP (Kent Paul Dolan) writes:
>In article <1207@sbcs.sunysb.edu> root@sbcs.sunysb.edu (SBCS Systems Staff) writes:
. Almost everything deleted
>****************************************************************************
>* Real Unix.  We're comfortable with 4.3, or SunOS 4.X.  SysV not welcome. *
>****************************************************************************

Isn't it so that the Berkely Unix will evaporate?
It should follow the path of Xenix and merge into SysV.

This is what I have heard of the future Unix plans. I don't think 4.3
will merge with System V without leaving traces in the resulting
product, but it should be a lot more SysV than Berkely...

Sorry if it's all wrong and I make it harder for some of you to sleep
tonight totally unnecessary, but I would like to know myself. The Unix
we run here includes most of both worlds, but I think it's BSD based.
That may be wrong, too...

peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (04/30/88)

We're talking about selling computers to people. Not corporations.

Individuals can't afford 20 grand for a personal computer.

A workstation is a graphically-oriented computer that doesn't keep you
waiting because you don't have a prompt (or because your cursor looks
like a wristwatch).

This requires multitasking. This does not require megapixel displays or
even megabytes of memory.

I agree, by the way. System V is a monstrous bogosity. Of course, 4BSD is
as well. Sometime between 1979 and now everything went to hell...

But at least System V is marginally smaller and it is supported by AT&T.
-- 
-- Peter da Silva      `-_-'      ...!hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!sugar!peter
-- "Have you hugged your U wolf today?" ...!bellcore!tness1!sugar!peter
-- Disclaimer: These aren't mere opinions, these are *values*.

richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) (04/30/88)

In article <5084@xanth.cs.odu.edu> kent@xanth.UUCP (K*nt Pall Dolan) writes:
>>
>>      Listen to Chuck.  He is giving you the straight story.  Real unix
>>      machines cost bucks.  

>****************************************************************************
>* Real Unix.  We're comfortable with 4.3, or SunOS 4.X.  SysV not welcome. *
>****************************************************************************

We, Kimasabee ?

>Still no?  One more try:
>
>                         *******************
>			 *SysV not welcome.*

[evidence of K*nt's editor gone bezerk deleted]

>			 *SysV not welcome.*
>                         *******************
>
>Now?  Those are the paying customers speaking guys, and they are NOT
>kidding around, and that is NOT an isolated opinion.  Think it
>through, please?  It's your corporate survival, and my IRA retirement
>plan.  Do it right, OK?

Whats this "AH HAS SPOKEN" crap, K*nt ?

SYS V gives the marketing guys a sense of the warm fuzzies, and ya sure
we'd all like BSD, this is a subjective, not objective issue, and becomes
moot in the near future when the two merge.

>K*nt, the overbearing man from xanth.

A BROWN wallet please, eelskin if ya got it.

-- 
            Just a flaming nincompetent poop kinda guy
richard@gryphon.CTS.COM                          rutgers!marque!gryphon!richard

celerity@bucasb.bu.edu (Roger B.A. Klorese) (05/03/88)

In article <5084@xanth.cs.odu.edu> kent@xanth.UUCP (Kent Paul Dolan) writes:
>			 *SysV not welcome.*
(repeatedly)...

Well, I hope you tell this to the Beserkeley-heads' guru-of-choice, Bill
Whatsisname.  Mr. Joy, in an interview with Unix Review, reported that there
would be no SunOS release 5, but rather, System V.4...
---
Roger B.A. Klorese                      MIPS Computer Systems, Inc.
{ames,decwrl,prls,pyramid}!mips!rogerk  25 Burlington Mall Rd, Suite 300
rogerk@mips.COM                         Burlington, MA 01803
* Your witticism here.*                 +1 617 270-0613

bakken@hrsw2.UUCP (David E. Bakken) (05/04/88)

In article <5084@xanth.cs.odu.edu>, kent@xanth.cs.odu.edu (Kent Paul Dolan) writes:
>                          *******************
> 			 *SysV not welcome.*
> 			     [etc.]
> 			 *SysV not welcome.*
>                          *******************
> 
> Now?  Those are the paying customers speaking guys, and they are NOT
> kidding around, and that is NOT an isolated opinion.  Think it
> through, please?  It's your corporate survival, and my IRA retirement
> plan.  Do it right, OK?

Please note that the details we have heard about the A2500UX are for
European markets, where they demand "pure" SysV.  It is entirely
conceivable to me that C= could offer some sort of hybrid or even a
Berkley kernel for the US market.  I'm sure C= is well aware of the North 
American sentiments as expressed by Kent and others, and they have capable 
people in both  sales and engineering (their advertising budget is
another story, but I know they have been fighting a war against
bankrupcy, and making good progress lately).  

I hope they offer SLIP with the machine, personally.
-- 
Dave Bakken   Boeing Commercial Airplanes		(206) 277-2571
uw-beaver!apcisea!hrsw2!bakken
Disclaimer: These are my own views, not those of my employers.  Don't
let them deter you from buying the 747 you've been saving hard for.