mcguffey@muvms3.bitnet (Michael McGuffey) (09/29/90)
I'm putting together a configuration for a lab in our mathematics department for teaching calculus and "higher level" mathematics via computer. The money available keeps the price per seat at or about $3500 plus a little for two printers and some cabling and furniture. I've already put together the configurations for the other viable platforms (one for PC's and one for Mac SE/30's... both using Mathematica with local hard disks, 4 MB memory and networking) The Mac had my vote until NeXT made their announcement and the $/seat fit into our budget. The current idea for the NeXT is 18 NeXTstations with 105MB HD's and 8MB memory, two cubes with 660 MB HD and 16MB memory, and two printers. Since Mathematica, languages, and a word processor are all included, there are no software expenses (although we might get a single license for WordPerfect and/or Framemaker), and we get the advantages of larger screen, security, built-in TCP/IP, etc. I have a few questions which current NeXT users may be able to answer: 1. Are there any labs out there using NeXTs for teaching math? (I know of only Allegheny College and U of Iowa) 2. In this type of set up, could user accounts be spread over all of the machines or should they stay on the 660's? 3. Can Mathematica be used in command line mode from a telnet session from a vax or terminal? 4. Is there a math equation editor program for use with Writenow or WordPerfect (other than TeX)? 5. What are the major caveats when working with NeXT or the machines? Our NeXT representative has been very helpful, but I wanted to get some users' perspectives. Thanks for any assistance you can give... -- michael ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael McGuffey, Director BITNET: mcguffey@marshall Office of Institutional Research Internet: mcguffey%muvms3@wvnvms.wvnet.edu Marshall University Phone: 304/696-3212 Huntington, WV 25755 FAX: 304/696-3601 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------