tomasz@sun2.fit.edu (10/11/89)
Hi Sun-users! I am considering a purchase of a refurbished sun workstation. Currently my budget will allow only a 3/50 at ~$3000, no disk drive, 4 Meg of memory. I would like to get an opinion of a more knowledgable folk on the Types of extra but necessary expenses such as: * soft/hardware to support X windows * other necessary software * sun-compatible disk drives * fast modem * anything needed for a workstation at home (no nest) Is there a better way to go in this price range? I love working on suns, and I asume you do too, but sometimes the common sense takes over the infactuation. I would like to know what are the disadvantages, if any, that I would face after the purchase of the 3/50. Thanks in advance for any help in this matter
tomasz@sun2.fit.edu (10/11/89)
Hi Sun-users! I am considering a purchase of a refurbished sun workstation. Currently my budget will allow only a 3/50 at ~$3000, no disk drive, 4 Meg of memory. I would like to get an opinion of a more knowledgable folk on the Types of extra but necessary expenses such as: * soft/hardware to support X windows * other necessary software * sun-compatible disk drives * fast modem * anything needed for a workstation at home (no nest) Is there a better way to go in this price range? I love working on suns, and I asume you do too, but sometimes the common sense takes over the infactuation. I would like to know what are the disadvantages, if any, that I would face after the purchase of the 3/50. Thanks in advance for any help in this matter #!
perry@tektronix.TEK.COM (Perry Hutchison) (10/20/89)
In article <2090@brazos.Rice.edu> tomasz@sun2.fit.edu writes: > X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 158, message 18 of 21 > I am considering a purchase of a refurbished sun workstation. Currently > my budget will allow only a 3/50 at ~$3000, no disk drive, 4 Meg of > memory. > extra but necessary expenses such as: > * sun-compatible disk drives > * anything needed for a workstation at home (no nest) First the good news: We have had a used diskless 3/50 quoted at around $2000 (not $3000). Now the bad news (aka where you get to spend the extra $1000): If you won't be connected to a server, you absolutely must have a disk. For a standalone system, I would consider 150Mb to be a minimum. (If you are planning on much of a news feed, better make it more like 300-500 Mb.) Also, in order to install software and make backups, you need a tape. (Installation can be accomplished by temporarily netting to someone else's tape-equipped system, but that is too cumbersome for regular backups.) You can save money by buying your Sun-compatible disk and tape from a third- party suppliers -- there are ads in Unix World. You can probably save even more if you are willing and able to assemble your own.