paterra@xanth.cs.odu.edu (Frank C. Paterra) (01/06/89)
Hi there Netlanders!! My company (after much prodding from me) has decided that we should use our 16mhz, IBM PS/2 Model 80 as a xenix system. Currently we have one 77 meg drive and 2 meg of ram. The system will have to support ~10 users, but most of the time ~6 will be using it concurrently and the major application will be Microsoft Word. Now that I got the company to sign up to it I have some concerns. - How much disk space should we allow for the os including swap? We are buying the full system (os + text package + development package) - We will be initially adding 2 megs of ram, and will be using an intelligent communications board (probably arnet). Will the Model 80 give us enough power? - I proposed Wyse 60 or IBM 3151 terminals because they were listed as supported by Microsoft Word. Whats the downside of these and what other terminals should we consider? - What do you suppose I forgot? This is the first non-pc/mac system we will have in our office and if it doesn't fly too well the non-computer engineers will have a fit, so if there are any standard pit falls that I might have to avoid, I'd really like to know them. Thanks in advance for your help! Frank Paterra paterra@xanth.odu.cs.edu
debra@alice.UUCP (Paul De Bra) (01/07/89)
In article <7064@xanth.cs.odu.edu> paterra@xanth.cs.odu.edu (Frank C. Paterra) writes: } }Hi there Netlanders!! } }My company (after much prodding from me) has decided that we should use }our 16mhz, IBM PS/2 Model 80 as a xenix system. Currently we have one }77 meg drive and 2 meg of ram. The system will have to support ~10 }users, but most of the time ~6 will be using it concurrently and the }major application will be Microsoft Word. Now that I got the company }to sign up to it I have some concerns. } } - How much disk space should we allow for the os including } swap? We are buying the full system (os + text package + } development package) A few megabytes should suffice in the root filesystem as most of the stuff resides in /usr. The system will ask you for a size, and you can give it as much more as you would like in /tmp (unless you make /tmp a separate file system which is a good idea in general, but it is not done by default in Xenix). Then I would suggest at least 20Mbytes for /usr as you will be installing MS-WORD too. How much swap you need depends on your ram memory. You need at least a couple of megabytes in any case (4 to 8 will do i would say), assuming you avoid swapping and paging by having enough memory. The amount of memory and swap space will determine the size of the biggest process you can run but you won't be needing that much. > - We will be initially adding 2 megs of ram, and will be using > an intelligent communications board (probably arnet). Will > the Model 80 give us enough power? The 4 Meg may be tight. Probably not the first day, but as you start to do more... You certainly will not be able to use vp/ix when several users are using Xenix. I think as ram-prices come down you should work towards getting 8 meg. With only 4meg you probably want a bigger swap space (like 10 Meg) > - I proposed Wyse 60 or IBM 3151 terminals because they were > listed as supported by Microsoft Word. Whats the downside > of these and what other terminals should we consider? I think any supported terminal will do. I wouldn't trust words though. Try one and find out. > - What do you suppose I forgot? This is the first non-pc/mac > system we will have in our office and if it doesn't fly too > well the non-computer engineers will have a fit, so if there > are any standard pit falls that I might have to avoid, I'd > really like to know them. What you forgot is disk space and speed. For a 6 to 10 user system I would suggest moving to a fast 300 Meg ESDI drive soon. Space is always short, especially if you want a reasonably sized /tmp and swap. Xenix will take about 20Mbytes I would think. Add 10Mbytes of swap and 15Mbytes for / and /tmp and you only have 32 Meg to actually use on your 77Meg drive... Access time is also important. There exist several drives with <20msec access times. An important thing to remember is that you DO want a /u file system for storing the user-files. This has to do with the position of the swap space on the disk. (You want the swap space somewhere in the middle.) Paul. -- ------------------------------------------------------ |debra@research.att.com | uunet!research!debra | ------------------------------------------------------
mikes@ncoast.UUCP (Mike Squires) (01/13/89)
In article <8689@alice.UUCP> debra@alice.UUCP () writes: >In article <7064@xanth.cs.odu.edu> paterra@xanth.cs.odu.edu (Frank C. Paterra) writes: >} >}Hi there Netlanders!! >} >}My company (after much prodding from me) has decided that we should use >}our 16mhz, IBM PS/2 Model 80 as a xenix system. Currently we have one >}77 meg drive and 2 meg of ram. The system will have to support ~10 >}users, but most of the time ~6 will be using it concurrently and the >}major application will be Microsoft Word. Now that I got the company >}to sign up to it I have some concerns. >} One article reviewing systems subsceptible to the 386/387 interface bugsaid that the PS 2/80 early production was especially likely to crash. This is apparently fixed by getting a D-step 386 or by buying Bell Technologies patch board that fits under the 386.