en2j@vax1.UUCP (Thomas Purcell) (12/02/87)
This is a request for advice: I'm trying to put together a very respectable
personal system for the next couple of years (till the Super-engineering
workstations come down to $5k.). Its uses would include some commercial
applications (that is, business type stuff) and software development.
Preferred characteristics are:
o Unix -- now or very soon (avail. within 1 yr.)
o desktop publishing at least up to mac quality level
ooo multiple operating system capability, even if this
anticipates additional processor cards (methinks
this is better than buying 4 different machines.?.)
o speed. don't want my hair to turn grey while I'm
waiting for something running on a hardware simulator,
for example, to execute a single instruction
o color graphics better than IBM cga, cheaper than a
$50k Silicon Graphics workstation
o full-page display would be pretty handy.
o Big harddrive; ample memory
(80 meg, 2 Meg is a nice starting point, bigger better)
o Don't need (right now) state of the art CAD/CAM
facilities. Can't go much over the $10k limit.
Or, need to aim for near to $5k for a
stripped machine if I'm to afford the bells
& whistles.
Multiple OS support is a goody and a biggy that I'd really like.
(Seems like this would depend on architecture and vendor's economics...)
Here's my reasoning:
I can afford to buy ONE flexible machine, and equip it
with some REALLY nice goodies: a very good display,
a massive (for one user) hard drive, similarly generous
RAM, a backup system, and so on.: All the goodies that
make an environment more fun! But, once I've invested in
all those nice things, I want to be able to work with (read/write)
and write code for Unix, MS-DOS, and Mac's OS. (For
starters.) I CAN'T afford to buy three or four
vendor's machines and equip each one of them as nicely
as the single hypothetical machine above.
So, even if I have to install some extra processor boards
{which had better be REAL ones that are available or will be --
hypothetical boards don't run real software }, AND
suffer some slowdown, I think I'm much better off
with one multifaceted machine.
If YOU can recommend (or sell to me) something that will approach
my Pipe-Dream as above, please let me know what it is and how much
it'll cost. I welcome the suggestion of a machine which hasn't been
released yet, if it fits the bill, and WILL be released within 6 mos. to
a year. Or, If you'd find my reasoning faulty, I invite criticisms.
Please send a copy of your response directly to me.
-thomas
en2j@vax1.ccs.cornell.edu
en2j@crnlvax1.bitnetjdm@mit-vax.LCS.MIT.EDU (Joseph D. Morrison) (12/15/87)
In article <570@vax1.UUCP> en2j@vax1.ccs.cornell.edu writes: >personal system for the next couple of years (till the Super-engineering >workstations come down to $5k.). Its uses would include some commercial >applications (that is, business type stuff) and software development. Sounds like you want a Mac II! Let's go through your requirements... > o Unix -- now or very soon (avail. within 1 yr.) Check! You can run "A/UX", which is Apple's Unix offering for the Mac II. > o desktop publishing at least up to mac quality level Check! By definition... > ooo multiple operating system capability, even if this > anticipates additional processor cards (methinks > this is better than buying 4 different machines.?.) Right now, you can get the Multi-finder with a Mac, which offers primitive multi-tasking facilities. However, I believe Apple is planning to come out with a better Multi-finder soon. Also, I should think the NuBus used in the Mac II would make it trivial to add additional processors, but I don't know the details... > o speed. don't want my hair to turn grey while I'm > waiting for something running on a hardware simulator, > for example, to execute a single instruction The Mac II uses a 68020; I'm not sure what clock speed. But the one I played with seemed very crisp... I think you won't get much more speed than this at your price range. > o color graphics better than IBM cga, cheaper than a > $50k Silicon Graphics workstation Check! (This criterion isn't hard to meet -- I think my old CoCo 2 might give the CGA a run for its money!) Actually, the colour graphics on the Mac II are very impressive. > o full-page display would be pretty handy. Several vendors sell oversize high-resolution displays for the Mac II. > o Big harddrive; ample memory > (80 meg, 2 Meg is a nice starting point, bigger better) Check. > o Don't need (right now) state of the art CAD/CAM > facilities. Can't go much over the $10k limit. > Or, need to aim for near to $5k for a > stripped machine if I'm to afford the bells > & whistles. A stripped Mac II is in the 5k range... I don't work for Apple, I just love this machine!! Joe Morrison -- MIT Laboratory for Computer Science UUCP: ...!mit-eddie!mit-vax!jdm 545 Technology Square, NE43-425 ARPA: jdm@mit-vax.lcs.mit.edu Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 253-5881 -- "The first fifteen million years -- they were the worst..."