idallen@watcgl.waterloo.edu (10/27/89)
From: "Ian! D. Allen [CGL]" <idallen> We have an 8600 running 4.3bsd with a DMF-32 (2 modem-control serial lines, 6 dumb serial lines, parallel port) and two DMZ-32's (two times 24 modem-control serial lines). (I moved two of our telebit modems over to the DMF after I found out that the DMZ just could not do 19.2kbps.) I went DEC catalogue (catalog) shopping for serial lines for the replacement DECsystem 5810 we are considering (VAXBI bus), and was amazed at how expensive things are -- about three times the price-per-port of a Q-bus serial controller. I think I'm going to buy a Q-bus serial controller for each of our MVII and VS3200 Q-bus machines instead. Why are these VAXBI serial controllers so expensive?
elgie@canisius.UUCP (Bill Elgie) (10/30/89)
In article <12098@watcgl.waterloo.edu>, idallen@watcgl.waterloo.edu writes: > From: "Ian! D. Allen [CGL]" <idallen> > > I went DEC catalogue (catalog) shopping for serial lines for the > replacement DECsystem 5810 we are considering (VAXBI bus), and was amazed > at how expensive things are -- about three times the price-per-port of a > Q-bus serial controller.... > Why are these VAXBI serial controllers so expensive? EVERYTHING is more expensive for the VAXBI. Why ? Best guess is because DEC has no competition for add-ons to the bus. While the 5810 is a system with significant longterm potential for growth and upgradeability, it remains to be seen whether DEC will follow through. I (a "veteran" of DEC-20, DEC Professional, and MicroVAX, among others) have my suspicions and reservations.... In the meantime, the 5810 is an expensive machine to own and operate, parti- cularly when compared to the 5400 (we ordered one of each). greg pavlov (under borrowed account), fstrf, amherst, ny