stefan@wheaton.UUCP (Stefan Brandle ) (01/11/89)
We have recently been offered a grant for DEC equipment. It's one of those
deals where we put up 1/3 of the cash and others 2/3 of it. Part of it is to
be used for academic computing activities. We would like to get some genuine
graphics workstations, but know little beyond what the propaganda blurbs spout.
Here are several questions, for which I would appreciate opinions.
1) What sort of software is there for these machines under ULTRIX? Obviously
there is X-windows/DECwindos, but we're not too sure how many *affordable*
applications are out there. I have seen the Sun catalog, and it's impressive;
is there a similar collection for DEC workstations? If we got VAX workstations,
would we be stuck with a nice screen, a compiler and a graphics interface, or is
there stuff available for the different academic disciplines?
2) How do these machines match up performancewise to something like the Sun
workstations. I realize that there are many different Suns, but do the DEC
machines with GKS capability come in the general ball park, or are people going
to laugh when they hear what we got?
3) The original microVAX cpu (KA630?) will be seeing it's demise one of these
days. Is it foolish at this point to get the II/GKS or VS2000? Would the
VS3200 therefor be a much better decision?
4) We have been hearing about HOOPS. Anyone have experience/opinions about
it? It apparently does run under Ultrix and sounds interesting.
5) DEC has just announced FREE software to education institutions. Anything
that is developed by DEC is free (some conditions may apply, depending on who
you are and what you are doing), and discounts on stuff they sell for other
people. (See Digital NEWS, Dec. 12, p 7) This sounds nice. Is it for real?
Will DEC try it for a while, and then decide to ditch the program? If we
decide to go ahead with the grant partly because of free software, then get
the rug pulled out from under us, that would be cute! Any opinions,
corrections?
6) How well does diskless operation go? We were thinking of having a microVAX
II do disk serving for +-6 of these workstations. Will that be tolerable, or
should we put disks on some of the workstations?
7) Are there any really graphic-oriented editors, or do we have to use good
old vi or emacs?
Thanks for any help. I promise to summarize if anyone either replies or asks
for a copy.
Send mail, don't followup since I won't be around for a few weeks and won't
see it.
Stefan Brandle
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Stefan Brandle UUCP: ...!{spl1,obdient}!wheaton!stefan
Wheaton College "But I never claimed to be sane!"
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