jay@isis.UUCP (Jay Batson) (11/12/86)
Just a couple of questions - it's option exploring time for me. 1) Does anybody sell their used Suns when they buy newer Suns/other equipment or when they close their doors, or do they all simply get moved to the "old equipment to keep around" room? 2) Last time you knew of one getting sold, what model was it and what did it go for? I've worked where we've had and sold other, fairly major brand super-micro's before, and do Sun's depreciate as fast as other equipment does? 3) Has anybody who bought a used Sun had difficulties getting new OS releases and other occasionally necessary assistance from Sun because you didn't buy the box from them? What has been the cost of 'software maintenance' (i.e. the program you have to be on to get new OS releases), vs. the cost of simply paying for a new release every year or two when the need becomes overwhelming? 4) I've only had a small! amount of time to work on Suns, but what I did do I loved. I've never looked at the hardware configuations like serial ports, etc. though. What do you get on the backplane of the system, e.g. serial/parallel ports and #, & could you hang an ascii terminal off one of them? I could use a summary of the model numbers, and what distinguished them from the next, more 'glorious' models, along with as objective, factual comparison of performance between them as possible if you can say. (Guy Harris - are you reading this???) 5) What configuration would be reasonable for a stand alone system? I've seen the workstation hooked to a small box containing fuji disc and streamer. I assume this is the way to configure it. What are the inherent limitations in this kind of setup given the way Sun designed it? 6) What are the deadly problems to watch out for on the older boxes, and how many of these were really OS bugs that are fixed if you get a current release? The primary use will be C applications development, with non-sun targets (e.g. law office software for other, small UNIX based systems using ascii terminals). 7) I _do_ have occasion to need to use DOS stuff, and I'm going to have to deal with that at the same time. Certainly, a small clone might be the best bet, but I'd like some comments on Sun's DOS co-processor board, and running DOS as a process; e.g. what are the "compatibility" limitations, how interested is Sun in making it work, does 'lotus' run, etc, cost of the board and DOS from Sun or used. 8) Anybody out there have any boxes they plan on selling in the next few months??? Of course, I'll read responses to 1) - 7) from people who do have one to sell with an appropriately skeptical eye. All help appreciated. Please excuse the 'wizards' group choice - I know I should have posted it to net.wanted, but this is really as much as a fact-finding posting as an offer to buy, and 'wizards' are as likely as anybody to know the answers to this. I'm still exploring alternatives for an anticipated project. Thanks in advance. -------- "Stop it!! Stop it now. This is getting silly again, and this silliness has _got_ to stop. Go on to the next sketch. Go on. Turn this camera o " Jay Batson ihnp4!onecom!\ isis!jay seismo!{hao,nbires}!/
eeproks@gitpyr.gatech.EDU (K. J. Seefried iii) (11/14/86)
-- I would also be very interested in information concerning the purchase of used Sun's and other used Unix boxes. I am a student interested in the purchase of a personal Unix system. Any comment's or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ K. J. Seefried iii P.O. Box 30104, Georgia Insitute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 ...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!gitpyr!eeproks