droms@jasper.bucknell.edu (Ralph E. Droms) (04/13/91)
This is a quick followup to my previous query about PC-NFS. I
neglected to point out that the PCs that we would like to interconnect
do not currently have any network hardware. The PC-NFS
hardware/software package appears to retail for ~$700 (in quantity
10), which would come to about $450-$500 with our educational
discount. Is the network interface hardware from Sun a reasonable
choice, or would I do better to buy the hardwrae and software
separately?
--
- Ralph Droms Computer Science Department
droms@bucknell.edu 323 Dana Engineering
Bucknell University
(717) 524-1145 Lewisburg, PA 17837milne@ics.uci.edu (Alastair Milne) (04/14/91)
In <DROMS.91Apr13080329@jasper.bucknell.edu> droms@jasper.bucknell.edu (Ralph E. Droms) writes: >This is a quick followup to my previous query about PC-NFS. I >neglected to point out that the PCs that we would like to interconnect >do not currently have any network hardware. The PC-NFS >hardware/software package appears to retail for ~$700 (in quantity >10), which would come to about $450-$500 with our educational >discount. Is the network interface hardware from Sun a reasonable >choice, or would I do better to buy the hardwrae and software >separately? Honestly, I don't know. I think our site got a better deal by hunting through the local vendors for one willing to sell us 10 WD8003E's cheaply ($200-$300, I *think*), and the prices we got that way were a lot better than what was in Sun's bundle. So I think it depends on being able to find a willing local vendor. In case you have any microchannel machines to go on your net: I don't think Sun includes microchannel net boards in their bundle. We waited quite a while for ours -- we needed 2 -- because it took that long to find a vendor who could get them for a reasonable price. Alastair Milne
geoff@hinode.East.Sun.COM (Geoff Arnold @ Sun BOS - R.H. coast near the top) (04/15/91)
Quoth milne@ics.uci.edu (Alastair Milne) (in <2807EB31.14469@ics.uci.edu>):
#In <DROMS.91Apr13080329@jasper.bucknell.edu> droms@jasper.bucknell.edu (Ralph E. Droms) writes:
#>Is the network interface hardware from Sun a reasonable
#>choice, or would I do better to buy the hardwrae and software
#>separately?
# In case you have any microchannel machines to go on your net:
# I don't think Sun includes microchannel net boards in their bundle.
# We waited quite a while for ours -- we needed 2 -- because it took
# that long to find a vendor who could get them for a reasonable price.
(1) Our telemarketing folks might not like me saying this, but I
couldn't defend our board prices as being the lowest available. A lot
of people want the convenience of one-stop shopping, and our price
isn't too bad, but you can almost certainly get a better deal at your
local store or via mail-order.
(2) Alastair, check p.121 of the price list. We've always had a
microchannel board on the price list: the 3Com 3C523. However, that
reminds me of something:
(3) The part numbers have all changed for PC-NFS 3.5, largely because we
simplified things by shipping both 5.25" and 3.5" diskettes in a single
package rather than having them as separate items.
-- Geoff Arnold, PC-NFS architect, Sun Microsystems. (geoff@East.Sun.COM) --
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Sun Microsystems PC Distributed Systems ... --
-- ... soon to be a part of SunTech (stay tuned for details) --milne@ics.uci.edu (Alastair Milne) (04/18/91)
In <5516@eastapps.East.Sun.COM> geoff@hinode.East.Sun.COM (Geoff Arnold @ Sun BOS - R.H. coast near the top) writes: >(2) Alastair, check p.121 of the price list. We've always had a >microchannel board on the price list: the 3Com 3C523. However, that >reminds me of something: Apologies, Geoff, you are right. I tend to have the WD8003E on the brain, and I can assure you, finding *that* for MicroChannel was no joy at all. Two or three people were offering it, but the price was so high it went over our department's definition of the difference between "supplies" and "equipment". But it is not true that Sun does not offer ethernet boards for Microchannel. Alastair Milne