[comp.unix.questions] WANTED: Info and Opinions on EUNICE

hudson@dalcs.UUCP (03/16/87)

   The university here is in the process of getting a VAX 8800 as the
central computer. It will primarily run VMS (version 4.5) but we are
also looking at getting Eunice. I was looing for any opinions that
people had. Would people running Eunice please let me know what they
like or dislike about it? Did you get the 4.2BSD version or the SYS5
version? What made the difference? If anyone considered Eunice and rejected
it, could you tell me why? Did you get something else?

   One thing we are having trouble with is the licences. We currently run
two VAXes with 4.3BSD on campus. As I understand it, to use the 4.2BSD
Eunice, we would need to get a V7 licence for the 8800. To use the SYS5/BSD
version we would presumably need both a V7 licence and a SYS5 licence, or
is just the SYS5 licence sufficient? Also, the Wollongong people mentioned
that we could use a SYS3 licence or a SYS 32/V licence. Are these comparable
in cost? Can you run a SYS5 port with a SYS3 licence? 

   If I sound confused it is probably because I am. I would appreciate any
and all help/info that I can get.

----
   Many thanks in advance.			Bruce Hudson

						HUDSON@DAL.BITNET
						hudson@dalcs.UUCP
						hudson@cs.dal.CDN
-- 
------
Bruce A. Hudson				{dartvax|utcsrgv|dreacad}!dalcs!hudson
Dalhousie University			Halifax, NS, Canada

edwards@uwmacc.UUCP (mark edwards) (03/17/87)

In article <2451@dalcs.UUCP> hudson@dalcs.UUCP (Bruce Hudson) writes:
>
>   The university here is in the process of getting a VAX 8800 as the
>central computer. It will primarily run VMS (version 4.5) but we are
>also looking at getting Eunice. I was looing for any opinions that
>people had. Would people running Eunice please let me know what they
>like or dislike about it? Did you get the 4.2BSD version or the SYS5
>version? What made the difference? If anyone considered Eunice and rejected
>it, could you tell me why? Did you get something else?

  We have eunice on our 785, and soon to be added to our 8600. Eunice
 runs well for 4.1 I think, we don't have 4.1 BSD so i really can't
 compare it. It really depends what you want to use it for. I would not
 suggest using it as a replacement for a real Unix machine. 4.3 is
 great, eunice is well just ok. 
  I am trying to get news working on our machine, it was much easier
 on a 4.3 machine, and if you have tcp you have many options. You can
 buy tcp for VMS. But remember tcp only started working some what with
 4.2. The interface to it is not intuitive. I have gotten the rrn 
 software to work that is part of the nntp distribution. Well it mostly
 works, still some bugs.
  Forks are not fast on a VMS machine, so expect that anything VMS
 will probably run faster. I compared some applications to eunice on
 our 785 to a Unix 780 machine running 4.3. They are about the same, 
 perhaps with 4.3 running a tad faster. Notice that I am comparing
 performance of a 780 and a 785.
   There is supposed to be a new release in the fall. They call it
 Eunice 4.3 whatever that means. You can not port a large portion
 Unix sources available without some hacking. 

  In short Eunice is better than having no Eunice. I still would rather
 have a real Unix machine though.

>   One thing we are having trouble with is the licences. We currently run
>two VAXes with 4.3BSD on campus. As I understand it, to use the 4.2BSD
>Eunice, we would need to get a V7 licence for the 8800. To use the SYS5/BSD
>version we would presumably need both a V7 licence and a SYS5 licence, or
>is just the SYS5 licence sufficient? Also, the Wollongong people mentioned
>that we could use a SYS3 licence or a SYS 32/V licence. Are these comparable
>in cost? Can you run a SYS5 port with a SYS3 licence? 
>
>   If I sound confused it is probably because I am. I would appreciate any
>and all help/info that I can get.

   I think that if you have source to 4.3 that means that you have all
 the necessary requirements. You might have to drop a wad to register
 your machine with ATT. But its best to register a whole bunch of
 machines at once, because the cost is the same for however many machines
 you register. One by one will cost lots in the long run.
-- 
    edwards@unix.macc.wisc.edu
    {allegra, ihnp4, seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!edwards
    UW-Madison, 1210 West Dayton St., Madison WI 53706