markov%umass-cs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa (04/12/84)
From: Steve Epstein <markov%umass-cs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa> Our research group is trying to decide on a high-performance workstation to buy within the next three months, for applications involving heavy floating-point number crunching and 3-D color graphics. We seem to have narrowed down the field to either the Masscomp WS500 with the color and array processor options or the Ridge 32. What we lack at present is any idea how the Ridge feels from the user's (as distinct from the salesman's) point of view. In particular, can any reader answer the following questions for us: * Is the UNIX complete and relatively unbuggy? * Is the graphics software adequate? * Has the hardware proved reliable? * How good is Ridge at customer support? * If you have used the Masscomp, how would you compare it (w.r.t. power, user interface, reliability, software support, &c.) with the Ridge? We would be very grateful for any information you could provide, either directly to us or to this forum, and will gladly summarize and post responses if there's enough interest. Steve Epstein Math/Stat, UMass Amherst, MA