melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) (12/19/90)
How about SpecMarks for the 68040 NeXT? They have been shipping for a week or two. Is the personal workstation a reality? -Mike
mikes@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Michael Squires) (12/19/90)
In article <F+gp#&x3@cs.psu.edu> melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes: > >How about SpecMarks for the 68040 NeXT? They have been shipping for a >week or two. Is the personal workstation a reality? Please define "personal workstation" - is it simply a matter of CPU throughput? Is it running some form of UNIX? Is it a state of mind? If a "workstation" is simply UNIX box that is comparable in CPU throughput to what Sun, et al, are selling as "workstations" then the personal workstation appeared some time ago - a 386 running 386 UNIX, 030 NeXT, others. -- Mike Squires (mikes@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu) 812 855 3974 (w) 812 333 6564 (h) mikes@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu 546 N Park Ridge Rd., Bloomington, IN 47408 Under construction: mikes@sir-alan@cica.indiana.edu
suitti@ima.isc.com (Stephen Uitti) (12/20/90)
In article <1990Dec19.150649.9647@news.cs.indiana.edu> mikes@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Michael Squires) writes: >In article <F+gp#&x3@cs.psu.edu> melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes: >>How about SpecMarks for the 68040 NeXT? They have been shipping for a >>week or two. Is the personal workstation a reality? >Please define "personal workstation" - is it simply a matter of CPU >throughput? Is it running some form of UNIX? Is it a state of mind? > >If a "workstation" is simply UNIX box that is comparable in CPU throughput >to what Sun, et al, are selling as "workstations" then the personal >workstation appeared some time ago - a 386 running 386 UNIX, 030 NeXT, >others. It depends on what work you want to do. I know someone who does reasonable quality document generation. She has a PC clone with a daisy wheel printer with a carbon ribbon. No fancy fonts, or size changes, but bold and underlining are available. The printer has a wide carriage, and can print in landscape mode on legal sized paper. Very crisp, clear work. It isn't even an XT. 4.77 MHz 8088, 256KB RAM, twin 360K floppies. There are more than adequate resources available at all times. The system wasn't horrifically expensive. The software and hardware are mature. The software does not run faster on faster hardware, since there are no noticeable delays. She just had the printer fixed. It was worth it. Upgrade? Out of the question. It works, and she knows how to use it. I'd say workstations have been around for quite awhile. Stephen Uitti suitti@ima.isc.com
melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) (12/20/90)
In article <1990Dec19.150649.9647@news.cs.indiana.edu> mikes@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Michael Squires) writes:
Please define "personal workstation" - is it simply a matter of CPU
throughput? Is it running some form of UNIX? Is it a state of mind?
If a "workstation" is simply UNIX box that is comparable in CPU throughput
to what Sun, et al, are selling as "workstations" then the personal
workstation appeared some time ago - a 386 running 386 UNIX, 030 NeXT,
others.
I would define a personal workstation to be Unix(memory protection,
virtual memory, networking, etc -- i.e. a "real" OS), workstation
performance, and a GUI(and apps) as friendly as the Mac's GUI(and
apps). There has always been a significant gap between the
performance of personal computers and workstations, especially in
floating-point performance. While workstations (and Unix) are
notorious for having a huge learning curve("raw" Unix is not for the
masses), and until recently they were expensive. The 040 NeXT could
finally be the bridge b/w the two markets. It's a Unix box with
horsepower, and a user-friendly GUI at a reasonable price. Just want
mom always wanted; no need to buy her a MacinToy for Christmas now.
You could argue that the 030 NeXT was the first "personal
workstation", but it was a bit pricey, and it did lack in performance.
Anyway, I hope that it's the machine that will finally get the world
out the confines of 640K, TSR programs,... There are a lot of people
who are really looking forward to DOS 5.0 :-(.
-Mike
BTW: Are there any SpecMarks available on the 25 MHz 68040? I might
be getting exited over nothing.