EDWIN%TAMODP.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.EDU (04/02/87)
I have a couple of comments to the following: >I'm not very expert on this level of Unix, but I have a thought I have >to share: is it SANE to run Unix on 80x86 processors? The complicated >archictecture seems oriented towards a much more low-level approach to >programming than is associated with Unix. (One Xenix advocate boasted >that this Unix derviative supports *six* memory models. I'm impressed, >but I'm also appalled.) > >The only motivation for doing Unix on IBM clones seems to be the fact >that they *are* IBM clones. > >Just a thought. First, lumping 80x86 chips together in the same boat is not accurate. The 80386 is quite different than the 80286, as it has a virtual memory mode as well as the 80286's segmented memory addressing scheme. Secondly, IBM PC's running Unix offer the best price/performance I know of. A 10 Mhz AT clone with a 70 MB hard disk and Unix can be bought for about $3000. For around $5000 one can get an 80386 machine, and from tests I have seen, an 80386 running Xenix has about the same processing power as a VAX 11/780 running BSD 4.2 (the main limitation is the slower I/O on the PC). Considering the price of a VAX, an 80386 machine could be considered much more than a workstation (however, most of the code now available has not been optimized for the 80386). Edwin Garrett EDWIN@TAMODP.BITNET
sl@van-bc.UUCP (04/06/87)
In article <6656@brl-adm.ARPA> EDWIN%TAMODP.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.EDU writes: >Secondly, IBM PC's running Unix offer the best price/performance I >know of. A 10 Mhz AT clone with a 70 MB hard disk and Unix can be >bought for about $3000. For around $5000 one can get an 80386 machine, You can build up an ICM-3216 based system with 70MB hard disk, 4MB RAM for round about $3500. And it will run circles around your 10Mhz AT. I've used both, there's no comparison. My main complaint about the AT was the first job runs fine, but as soon as you try and do two things, it really slows down. The ICM system has a very nice Demand Paged Virtual Memory, FPU, MMU etc. It even runs circles around the 68010 system I'm using right now. Mainly because of the DPVM. I'm just waiting for Seagates new 160MB SCSI drive, which sources say will come in at around $1600 wholesale. -- Stuart Lynne ihnp4!alberta!ubc-vision!van-bc!sl Vancouver,BC,604-937-7532