jd3l+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jean-Marc Debaud) (02/18/90)
I have been to a presentation of the new IBM POWER RISC stations yesterday (2/16) at CMU. Although I thought I was one of those people who dislike big blue for its unfriendly machines,.... I was seriously impressed !!! Yes indeed, If one adds the monitor, disks and so on one gets a 14000 to 15000 US$ machine that outperforms the NeXT and all other machines currently available or announced. The performance is truly impressive. And even of software: They support X, NeXT step and a lot of other things. Their graphism capacity are blasting !! Now at a cost/performance price level plus all the support (not included in the price it seems this time) I believe they have a hot machine. If I had the choice today, I would buy IBM. They managed to reverse my (strong) pro NeXT attitude. What do you guys think ? Jean-Marc De Baud. Carnegie Mellon U. jd3l+@andrew.cmu.edu
n245bq@tamunix (Keith Perkins) (02/18/90)
In article <AZrV9uG00Xok43VV1_@andrew.cmu.edu> jd3l+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jean-Marc Debaud) writes: >I was seriously impressed !!! > >Yes indeed, If one adds the monitor, disks and so on one gets >a 14000 to 15000 US$ machine that outperforms the NeXT and >all other machines currently available or announced. > >They support X, NeXT step and a lot of other things. Their graphism >capacity are blasting !! > >Now at a cost/performance price level plus all the support (not included in >the price it seems this time) I believe they have a hot machine. > >If I had the choice today, I would buy IBM. They managed to reverse >my (strong) pro NeXT attitude. > > What do you guys think ? > Jean-Marc De Baud. Personally, I'm going to wait for the new NeXT to come out before I make any judgement. The IBM looks good, but I like the NeXT for other things besides speed. I like the BSD compatable OS, the DSP chip, the music capability, and the optical drive - all of which I belive the IBM machines lack. If the new NeXT is up to date in terms of speed (both optical drive and processor), then it should be comparable to these new IBMs. IMHO, these new machines would be great for people who want to go beyond DOS, but are leery of OS/2 & P.M. (with good reason). Being able to run UNIX, X, NeXTStep, and DOS (in a window) all on one machine could be what IBM needs to wean people away from an outdated DOS standard. I wish them all the luck in the world. The more people running NeXTStep, the better! Keith Perkins Texas A&M University n245bq@tamunix.tamu.edu
dow@net.IG.COM (Christopher Dow) (02/20/90)
In article <4264@helios.TAMU.EDU>, n245bq@tamunix (Keith Perkins) writes: > The IBM looks good, but I like the NeXT for other things besides > speed. I like the BSD compatable OS, the DSP chip, the music capability, and ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > the optical drive - all of which I belive the IBM machines lack. I may be mistaken, but I believe that AIX is BOTH BSD and SysV compliant. At least, that is what our devout monks of the BSD order system programmers say don't like about it.
UH2@psuvm.psu.edu (Lee Sailer) (02/20/90)
This guy thinks that open systems have arrived. The high end model comes from one vendor, and the low end model from another. Neat. Of course, NextStep is only scheduled for the S/6000 (3rd Q?). That means we won't see it for a year, right? And when your configuring the S/6000, be sure to add in the price of all the stuff that NeXT offers standard. I hate IBM too, 8-) 8-), but for some reason I'm glad they are in NeXT's camp on this one. lee
mdeale@vega.acs.calpoly.edu (Myron Deale) (02/21/90)
In article <1564@awdprime.UUCP> @cs.utexas.edu:ibmchs!auschs!woan.austin.ibm.com!ron writes: >In article <8059@pt.cs.cmu.edu>, dandb@k.gp.cs.cmu.edu (Dean Rubine) writes: >|>In <1550@awdprime.UUCP> ron@woan.austin.ibm.com (Ronald S. Woan) replies: >|>>Remeber you got SCSI support and a micro-channel bus, so adding the >|>>DSP will be no problem. >|> >|>To me, the great thing about the NeXT was that it came with all >|>sorts of stuff as standard equipment. As a developer, I'll be much >|>more tempted to write applications which use the NeXT sound chip, >|>since I know there will be one on every machine. > >I have to agree with you here. Raising the lowest common denominator You lost me. >does indeed make it easier on the developers to use things suchs as >the DSP. Unfortunately, there are few main stream applications that To put the shoe on the other foot, how many applications use NextStep? or AIX? I always love it when Byte evaluates a new computer, "Gee, it's really nifty, but dang! there's no software yet. Why can't these computer makers ever do anything right?" DSP has never been "popular" or mainstream before. Perhaps now there is a possibility. >require the DSP these days. You might say in that regard that we are >not a leader in pushing this type of technology, but you would also Ok, I'll say it. IBM is not a leader in pushing this type of technology (though your DRAMs are gnarly). I liked what one fellow in comp.arch said (and I paraphrase), "All the performance, all the widgets, none of the spirit." Well, shucks, you can't take spirit to the bank anyway. > ... >digitized sound files. Also consider the DSP as just a quick 24(?)-bit >floating point processor and compare our MFLOPS rating (32-bit). Do I get to compare your MFLOPS rating against a TMS320C30 from TI? or even better, a DSP96002 from Motorola (kind of 2nd gen 56K). Digital Signal Processors are specialized for a purpose. The NeXT may be stretching definition a bit, but I think the gamble will pay off. >When DSP applications become mainstream, as have intensive floating >point applications, you will see DSP standard in everyones' machines. Read this as, when all the NeXT enthusiasts get used to developing code for the DSP and have a tremendous leg up on the rest of the industry, when folks see the great stuff NeXT developers are producing then "you will see DSP standard in everyones' machines." > ... >commited to it) will be one of the leaders in bringing out the OSF/1/2 >OS with a MACH kernel and (golly gee) AIX interface. >+ Ronald S. Woan (IBM VNET)WOAN AT AUSTIN, (AUSTIN)ron@woan.austin.ibm.com + I apologize for bagging on you and your company. I've been waiting months for this. Ever since the August headlines in EDN, "IBM file servers due next month." IBM seems to have a hot processor (ok, more than seems :) But I know better than to roll over, and you know better than to suggest. -Myron // mdeale@cosmos.acs.calpoly.edu