en2j@vax1.UUCP (Thomas Purcell) (12/02/87)
This is a request for advice: I'm trying to put together a very
respectable personal system for the next couple of years (till the
Super-engineering workstations come down to $5k.). Its uses would
include some commercial applications (that is, business type stuff)
and software development. Preferred characteristics are:
o Unix -- now or very soon (avail. within 1 yr.)
o desktop publishing at least up to mac quality level
ooo multiple operating system capability, even if this
anticipates additional processor cards (methinks
this is better than buying 4 different machines.?.)
o speed. don't want my hair to turn grey while I'm
waiting for something running on a hardware simulator,
for example, to execute a single instruction
o color graphics better than IBM cga, cheaper than a
$50k Silicon Graphics workstation
o full-page display would be pretty handy.
o Big harddrive; ample memory
(80 meg, 2 Meg is a nice starting point, bigger better)
o Don't need (right now) state of the art CAD/CAM
facilities. Can't go much over the $10k limit.
Or, need to aim for near to $5k for a
stripped machine if I'm to afford the bells
& whistles.
Multiple OS support is a goody and a biggy that I'd really like.
(Seems like this would depend on architecture and vendor's
economics...) Here's my reasoning:
I can afford to buy ONE flexible machine, and equip it with
some REALLY nice goodies: a very good display, a massive (for
one user) hard drive, similarly generous RAM, a backup system,
and so on.: All the goodies that make an environment more fun!
But, once I've invested in all those nice things, I want to be
able to work with (read/write) and write code for Unix,
MS-DOS, and Mac's OS. (For starters.) I CAN'T afford to buy
three or four vendor's machines and equip each one of them as
nicely as the single hypothetical machine above.
So, even if I have to install some extra processor boards
{which had better be REAL ones that are available or will
be -- hypothetical boards don't run real software }, AND
suffer some slowdown, I think I'm much better off with one
multifaceted machine.
If YOU can recommend (or sell to me) something that will approach my
Pipe-Dream as above, please let me know what it is and how much it'll
cost. I welcome the suggestion of a machine which hasn't been
released yet, if it fits the bill, and WILL be released within 6 mos.
to a year. Or, If you'd find my reasoning faulty, I invite
criticisms.
Please send a copy of your response directly to me.
-thomas
en2j@vax1.ccs.cornell.edu
en2j@crnlvax1.bitneten2j@vax1.UUCP (Thomas Purcell) (02/02/88)
[Actual date is
Date: 2 Dec 87 08:44:38 GMT
-ds (moderator)]
This is a request for advice: I'm trying to put together a very
respectable personal system for the next couple of years (till the
Super-engineering workstations come down to $5k.). Its uses would
include some commercial applications (that is, business type stuff)
and software development. Preferred characteristics are:
o Unix -- now or very soon (avail. within 1 yr.)
o desktop publishing at least up to mac quality level
ooo multiple operating system capability, even if this
anticipates additional processor cards (methinks
this is better than buying 4 different machines.?.)
o speed. don't want my hair to turn grey while I'm
waiting for something running on a hardware simulator,
for example, to execute a single instruction
o color graphics better than IBM cga, cheaper than a
$50k Silicon Graphics workstation
o full-page display would be pretty handy.
o Big harddrive; ample memory
(80 meg, 2 Meg is a nice starting point, bigger better)
o Don't need (right now) state of the art CAD/CAM
facilities. Can't go much over the $10k limit.
Or, need to aim for near to $5k for a
stripped machine if I'm to afford the bells
& whistles.
Multiple OS support is a goody and a biggy that I'd really like.
(Seems like this would depend on architecture and vendor's
economics...) Here's my reasoning:
I can afford to buy ONE flexible machine, and equip it with
some REALLY nice goodies: a very good display, a massive (for
one user) hard drive, similarly generous RAM, a backup system,
and so on.: All the goodies that make an environment more fun!
But, once I've invested in all those nice things, I want to be
able to work with (read/write) and write code for Unix,
MS-DOS, and Mac's OS. (For starters.) I CAN'T afford to buy
three or four vendor's machines and equip each one of them as
nicely as the single hypothetical machine above.
So, even if I have to install some extra processor boards
{which had better be REAL ones that are available or will
be -- hypothetical boards don't run real software }, AND
suffer some slowdown, I think I'm much better off with one
multifaceted machine.
If YOU can recommend (or sell to me) something that will approach my
Pipe-Dream as above, please let me know what it is and how much it'll
cost. I welcome the suggestion of a machine which hasn't been
released yet, if it fits the bill, and WILL be released within 6 mos.
to a year. Or, If you'd find my reasoning faulty, I invite
criticisms.
Please send a copy of your response directly to me.
-thomas
en2j@vax1.ccs.cornell.edu
en2j@crnlvax1.bitnetmarc@ima.isc.COM (Marc Evans) (02/08/88)
In article <573@vax1.UUCP> en2j@vax1.UUCP (Thomas Purcell) writes: >This is a request for advice: I'm trying to put together a very >respectable personal system for the next couple of years (till the >Super-engineering workstations come down to $5k.). Its uses would >include some commercial applications (that is, business type stuff) >and software development. Preferred characteristics are: ...etc... I have recently purchased a system from Quantus of Hudson, NH their MT386 system with the following specs: - 80386 at 4.77/6/8/10/16/20 MHz - 80387 socket - 2Mb Interleaved Dynamic RAM (designed for 0 wait state @ 20 MHz!!!) - Memory expandable to 8Mb on 1 board, or 16Mb on 2 boards - Full-height 80MB hard drive (Seagate 28ms) - 1.2Mb floppy half height drive - floppy/hard drive controller - Phoenix BIOS - Hercules compatable text/graphics card - Mono Monitor - Speaker - 8 expansion slots (2, 32-bit slots for memory boards) - room for up to a total of 5 half height drives - 101 key enhanced keyboard - 200 watt power supply - 3 year limited warrenty How much would you pay for this? Well, they list it for $2995!!! I can not find anybody else offering as good, besides the fact that they are located 2 towns away from where I live. Use AMEX to purchase, and you'll have a 4 year limited warrenty. As far as software - get yourself a copy of Interactive Systems 386/IX UNIX. This includes the VP/IX stuff from Phoenix which allows DOS programs to run under the UNIX system. For speed reasons, you may also want the *REAL* MS/DOS or OS2.