sean@petvax.medcor.mcgill.ca (Sean Marrett) (06/18/91)
Hi: I recently posted a message to comp.windows.x that read: >I've just been made aware of what, to my naive ears sounds like a >great deal. Apparently, it is possible to acquire diskless Sun 3/50 >w. 19in Mono. monitors, and 4Mb of memory, (no floating point >co-processor) for a very good price (between $600.00-700.00 US). This, >to me sounds like an ideal platform for Seth Robertson's Xkernel - >which apparently gives nice Xserver performance. We have had local >discussions about the relative merits of getting Xterminals vs other >alternatives, and the pricing that we have done seemed to indicate >that a good 19in mono Xterminal, with a good university discount would >still cost us about $3500.00 x 0.6 = $2100.00. As this is about a >3.25/1 cost advantage, I would appreciate hearing horror storie >riticisms of this - by the way, the 600-700.00 price includes a 6 >month warranty. No floating point coprocessor though ( which doesn't >bother me - should it ?). I'm a bit concerned that these machines will >be hosted by an SGI machine, rather than a Sun, but I do have access >to a Sun 680X0 arch machine to get the executable files ready. > >Please e-mail any comments, criticisms etc. If there is enough >interest, I will post a summary (discretely edited to remove the names >of the innocent). Thanks. > > Although the replies are still coming in, and are in general very positive (ie "Go for it !") one knowledgeable sort has pointed out a very real (potential ?) flaw in my plan. Since these machines are supposed to be booted from an SGI host (probably a 4D/35 or 4D/210) then the SGI's will have to be able to speak nd (net-disk or something) to whit: >From: der Mouse <mouse@lightning.McRCIM.McGill.EDU> >... >Does the Iris support Sun nd? No? Then does it support anything like >4.1's /dev/nit, allowing raw Ethernet access, and do you have >documentation on nd? > >No? > >Then you'll have trouble booting. Perhaps you should buy a shoebox and >dedicate one machine to being a boot server. (From the sound of it >it'll *still* be cheaper than "real" X terminals.) > >We have about six Sun-3/50s and -3/60s running as X terminals. Not >using the Xkernel stuff, but rather my setup, which it turns out is >based on the same ideas. (I ftped Xkernel after setting mine up, just >to see how it was done.) >... > > der Mouse > new: mouse@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu My problem is that if these machines are going to fly, then they HAVE to be booted by an SGI server. My overworked system manager has his hands full already trying to convert our lab from a Vax/Vms based enviroment to an SGI based enviroment. I on the other hand am really a gradual student in neuroscience, so it would be looked at poorly if I was to commit to managing a Sun system (no matter how simple or rudimentary). I'm just getting away with the Xterminal idea. So, the question is, has anyone done this: Specifically if you KNOW how to boot a Sun 3/50 off an SGI machine, especially if you are using either Xkern (or derMouses version ) of this, but USING AN SGI. Please e-mail to me FAST, since we have to commit to buying within the next 36 hrs. Any comments or info would be appreciated, but hard solutions would be preferred (e.g. "joe@xxx.yyy has done this - send him e-mail"). Once again, thanks very much. Now back to my brain carving... P.S. More than one respondee has suggested that we purchase a floating point accelerator - Will that make a great difference in the speed of Xsun ? I had thought not - Any opines ? Sean Marrett Positron Imaging Labs Montreal Neurological Institute sean@petvax.medcor.mcgill.ca neuro@mcrcim.mcgill.ca (No, i don't ALWAYS use CAPS for EMPHASIS) Generic stolen signature line: If I spent as much time working on my dissertation as I spent reading News, I'd be finished.