[comp.unix.aux] A/UX on ci

leonardm@ul.ie (12/10/90)

Any point in trying to run AUX on anything less than an fx? I'd like to save
money by using a ci or cx. Anybody try it? 

+Martin+

ewing-martin@cs.yale.edu (Martin Ewing) (12/11/90)

In article <10780.27639eba@ul.ie>, leonardm@ul.ie writes:
|> Any point in trying to run AUX on anything less than an fx? I'd like to save
|> money by using a ci or cx. Anybody try it? 
|> 
|> +Martin+

I'd say a IIci is fine; I have one.  Desktop/finder operations are rather
slow compared with MacOS, but, once launched, applications run pretty well.
Occasionally there are longish delays (e.g., when logging in or out) that
have no obvious purpose, but these are only for a few seconds.  Overall,
I have no problem choosing A/UX over MacOS on the IIci, because of the
better networking and all those other Unix features.

I benchmarked my IIci under A/UX against a SparcStation 1.  The IIci is about
1/5 of the Sparc on Dhrystones (integer MIPS), and 1/3 on Linpack Mflop/s.
But the Sparc doesn't run Word or Excel :-)

Martin Ewing
Yale University
Ewing@Yale.edu

abm@alan.aux.apple.com (Alan Mimms) (12/12/90)

In article <10780.27639eba@ul.ie>, leonardm@ul.ie writes:
|> Any point in trying to run AUX on anything less than an fx? I'd like to save
|> money by using a ci or cx. Anybody try it? 
|> 
|> +Martin+

I'd like to point out that almost everyone in the A/UX group at Apple runs
A/UX on a MacII or MacIIx or MacIIcx just so we are poigniently (sp?)
aware of any performance problems.  A/UX 2.0 and later are QUITE useable
on MacII performance class machines (MacII, MacIIx, MacSE30, MacIIcx).
The MacIIci is QUITE good -- especially for X11, since direct mapped
CPU RAM is driving the display and is thus faster for things to be drawn
in.

I just didn't want anyone to get the idea that A/UX REQUIRES a many-MIPS
processor: it does NOT.  ALL of the X11 code was ported on my boss's
MacIIx.  It DOES, however, help to have a lot of RAM; 8MB is starting
to look kinda small if you're running a big Macintosh world and a lot of
X11 clients or compiles or something.  Not that you can't do it, but it
is a LOT more palatable if you have 16MB or more.

-- 

Alan Mimms (alan@apple.com, ...!apple!alan)   | My opinions are generally
A/UX X group                                  | pretty worthless, but
Apple Computer                                | they *are* my own...
"Laugha whila you can, monkey boy..." -- John Whorfin in Buckaroo Bonzai
"Never rub another man's rhubarb" -- The Joker in BatMan