vijay@HYDRO.SAIC.COM (Vijay S. Tripathi) (11/15/90)
Of special interest to:
Those interested in server implementations, and
Users of DEC workstations
The Decstation 5000 Model 200 PX is described by DEC as one of DEC's top
of the line workstation offerings at present. I was clearly told that DS5000
will perform a lot better than the (now) low-end DS3100.
Here is my problem: I have a DS5000 Model 200 PX with 24 Mbytes RAM and 65
Mbytes of swap space. I am running DEC's Xmt2d server (based on R3).
We use the XDataSlice program for visualizations of multiple color images
of pollutant transport in groundwater. Before too long the Xserver + xds
programs grow in size to 55 plus Mbytes and the xds is killed. During this
process the DS 5000's response time is slower than a Decstation 3100
(24 Mb RAM and 65 Mb swap) that runs the R4 server Xcfbmax.
[Note: The problem is not limited to XDataSlice; similar problems are
encountered with other visualization software, e.g., PV WAVE]
It is *extremely* frustrating to see that a machine costing twice as much
is slower and has more problems.
I am INTERESTED in:
1) Hearing from (or about) other DS5000 users who are having rpoblems
with the DS5000 because of DEC's slow and inefficient server.
If necessary I am willing to spend the time and energy necessary to
make DEC aware of our suffering and to convince them to provide us a
better alternative in a timely manner.
2) Hearing from DEC's X developers if they have any suggestions
(other than to wait or to buy Decstation 3100's instead) for us.
3) Confirmation that Ultrix 4.1 contains X11R4-based server.
I will post any response I get to the net.
Vijay S. Tripathi vijay@hydro.saic.com
Director, Contaminant Transport Research
Science Applications International
McLean, VA 22102