tep@suntan.west.sun.com (Tom Perrine) (02/21/90)
This is partially in response to Bob Powell' recent request for info about the viability of Suns at home. I realize this is anathema to all of us Sun-fanatics, but I think it is important for perspective. I too am looking at Suns for personal use. (My wife and I are both rather spoiled, I have a Sun-3/260 at work and she uses Suns and Symbolics Lisp machines at work. We also refuse to let our children grow up in an MS-DOS world!!) We have been looking for a way to get decent computing at home for over 4 years. Multi-tasking and windows are the primary requirements. We would really like to have Multics :-), but would be happy to live with UNIX. Here are some of the things I am currently tracking: Our *short-term* solution was to buy an Amiga for the house. It has color, a multi-tasking operating system, and most UNIX software (non-graphics) is an easy port. A graphics program is a medium-level port, depending on the complexity, dependence on SunView oddities, etc. There is lots of PD support from a gazillion other UNIX people on the net who couldn't afford UNIX-at-home just yet. (comp.sys.amiga, etc.) My home machine runs UUCP, mail and (soon) news. Hard drive *strongly* recommended :-). An Amiga 2000 can be had for $3-$5K depending on memory and hard-drive sizes. A friend just added a 68030 with 6Mbytes or 32-bit-wide RAM and an 80Mbytes SCSI hard drive to his Amiga 2000. The Amiga 3000 (68030, 4 or 6 Meg RAM and 300 Mbyte drive) has been announced, due to start selling in March. This will be a UNIX System V R4 box. Or, consider this alternative: 25 or 33 Mhz '386 PC -clone, running SCO UNIX System V R3 + X-windows on a VGA monitor. ESDI disk are available, or SCSI. Hardware costs about $2K-$3K, SW cost about $1K (but its SUPPORTED!!). There are several machine is the San Diego area that are running FULL newsfeeds on just such a machine. I have heard from some people at UC San Diego that Sun-2/120s are the "machine of choice" for home use if you really want one. Several people have posted lists of companies that buy/sell used Sun equipment. There is some controversy about the transferability of the "right to use" license, however. Another option might be one of the reconditioned 3/50s or 3/60s that Sun has, due to their big trade-in a while back. Call the local Sun office. Sorry to bring up the A-word and the P-word, but somebody had to. An Amiga isn't a 3/260 or a Sparcstation, but you can afford it *now*. Tom Perrine (tep) Logicon (Tactical and Training Systems Division) San Diego CA (619) 455-1330 Internet: tots!tep@LOGICON.ARPA GENIE: T.PERRINE UUCP: nosc!hamachi!tots!tep -or- sun!suntan!tots!tep
adam@stevenage.dynamics.british-aerospace.co.uk (Adam Curtin) (02/23/90)
In v9n52, Tom Perrine asks about a multi-user, windows, Unix micro for home use. I don't know about availability in the States, but UK firm Acorn (owned by Olivetti, owned by ...) have a low-cost (~4K sterling) Unix (4.2 BSD in fact) workstation called the R140. RAM is (I believe) fixed at 4Mb, and the basic system has a 40Mb hard disk crammed with most Unix things you ever thought of, including X11 and the IXI desktop. The CPU is Acorn's own ARM (Acorn RISC Machine), the latest version of which provides about 10 MIPS. A floating point accelerator is an option, as are Ethernet and Cheapernet cards. The base price does not include a screen - monitors upto 1152x900 mono are supported I think. You should be able to get to someone at Acorn by writing to Acorn Computers Ltd, Fulbourn Rd, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge CB1 4JN, England, or mailing aingle@acorn.co.uk PS knowing how you feel about computers that aren't starred and striped - didn't I hear about a Unix Amiga? or was it an Atari ST? The ARM is a better computer, though! Adam Curtin acurtin@ste.dyn.bae.co.uk