roy@ut-emx.uucp (Roy Ivy III) (12/01/90)
I'm currently looking for a new pc. I would like to migrate to a Unix
box and am strongly considering the NeXT. Before I commit myself to the
NeXT, I'd like to get a few subjective answers to a few questions.
(1) Memory:
It seems that Mach and many of the NeXT apps (esp Mathmatica) are memory
hogs. How much memory is a useful minimum to prevent massive disk swapping?
(8MB, 16MB, ...)? And for a NeXTstation memory upgrade, what size SIMMs
must you use (can you mix 1MB and 4MB SIMMs?)? And how many SIMMs must
you add at a time (as required by the memory interleave factor)?
(2) Secondary storage:
What is the size of the total 2.0 Extended release (in MB)?
What is the process to get 2.0 Extended after getting a 105MB station
(a 100 2.88MB floppy UPS package?!)? For that matter, how are they
going to distribute the next OS upgrade?
What size and type HD (for 2.0Ext, swap space, and user data) should be
the minimum used for the system? How much data (in MB) do swapping and
application data take up (for IB programs, Mathmatica notebooks, WriteNow
files, etc.)? Is there a quantum leap in data file sizes generated for
all those neat NeXT features?
* Now that the OD is more or less dead, what should be used for backups
(including the OS files)?
(3) Communication:
How can the NeXT be used to access the outside world (BBSs, the net, etc.)
SIMPLY -- by a NON-unix.wizard? (just a simple modem addition?)
From what I've inferred, it seems that a nice minimum system would be:
NeXTstation (8MB, 105MB HD)
8MB memory upgrade
WREN 350MB external HD
This system is still fairly expensive (to me!) at ~$5000 (plus the necessary
laser printer is ~$7500) plus tax!
Comments for a NeXT user wanna be?
Roy Ivy
Email to:
roy@aaraya.ee.utexas.edu (or) roy@emx.utexas.edu