ronb@natmlab.dms.oz (Ron Baxter) (12/07/86)
We are currently evaluating these graphics workstations and are under pressure to decide soon, We have glossies and are arranging demos, but I really would value comments from those of you who have already trodden this path. I summarize below my current assessment which is leaning towards Vaxstation II/GPX (influenced by prices as we see them), and invite you critical reactions, together with any additional info that may help. If there are enough reponses I will summarize. OUR CURRENT SET-UP A Vax 750 with BSD 4.2 (4.3 soon) and a Microvax I (remember them) connected by Ethernet. They are used for statistical data analysis (S, Genstat, Minitab), mathematical word processing (TeX, LaTeX) and fortran programming (IMSL, etc). REQUIREMENTS Another CPU (Microvax or equiv) to take some interactive load off the 750, and a Graphics Workstation with 8 bit-planes for research on image analysis -- mainly studying techniques for enhancement of raster images. CONFIGURATIONS UNDER CONSIDERATION - a Microvax II for interactive users, together with either a Sun 3 (110 or 160) , or a Vaxstation II/GPX, or an Apollo DN 570. - a SUN 160FS for interactive users and to act as a fileserver for a diskless 110C (or 160C) OUR ASSESSMENT SO FAR For the interactive users the Microvax II is the simplest solution since the binaries are compatible with the 750, while the Sun 3 160FS is easily workable and would make sense if we are likely to buy a number of Sun Workstations from here on. APOLLO. This is currently trailing our field for 2 reasons. Firstly, the different networks. Can NFS or equivalent be run between the Vaxes and the Apollo?, if so what costs are there for the software to do this?, how fast and effective is this Ethernet gateway from the Apollo token ring network? Secondly, the different ancestry of the UNIX on Apollo (Domain/IX) which is not a direct descendant of BSD 4.2 like SunOS and ULTRIX. This makes me suspect that porting existing software could be harder. For example, do S and TeX run on Apollo?, have others found the shifting of C and f77 programs from vax/4.2 to Apollo easy, or is it full of hidden gotchas? Sun 3. First let me say that Australian prices for Sun seem relatively higher than elsewhere (as far as I can gather). Thus the Sun 3 110C + SCSI seems a little cheaper than a Vaxstation II/GPX but not much. But the 110 cannot accommodate a Graphics processor, this would apparently require a 160C and the price is considerably higher. So how important is the GP for our application (ie displaying and manipulating a series of raster images)? Vaxstation II/GPX. Does it have graphics performance that is equivalent to a Sun 3 + GP (we get the impression it does)? NFS is currently not available on ULTRIX but we believe it will be soon (is this true? and how soon?) There are currently no diskless Vaxstations and I don't know if they are planned, but does this matter if the RD5? disks are cheap enough. Are the applications where the Sun is clearly better than Vaxstation? Have Vaxstation owners found the availability of software to be poor?, for example are there TeX previewers, graphics support for S, etc. Thanks for your patience, and I look forward to some interesting responses -- Ron Baxter, CSIRO Div Maths & Stats, PO Box 218, Lindfield, NSW, Australia. PHONE: +61 2 467 6059 ACSNET: ronb@natmlab.oz ARPA: ronb%natmlab.oz@seismo.css.gov UUCP: ....{seismo,hplabs,mcvax,ukc,nttlab}!munnari!natmlab.oz!ronb -- Ron Baxter, CSIRO Div Maths & Stats, PO Box 218, Lindfield, NSW, Australia. PHONE: +61 2 467 6059 ACSNET: ronb@natmlab.oz ARPA: ronb%natmlab.oz@seismo.css.gov UUCP: ....{seismo,hplabs,mcvax,ukc,nttlab}!munnari!natmlab.oz!ronb