en2j@vax1.UUCP (Thomas Purcell) (12/08/87)
I figured masscomp folks might have some educated opinions, so ...
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.bitnet