msf@rotary.Sun.COM (Michael Fischbein) (02/06/90)
In article <1990Feb6.060809.15101@nueces.cactus.org> chari@nueces.cactus.org (Chris Whatley) writes: > The last time I >checked, (maybe it was about 2 mos. ago when we bought some >sparcstations) the sparcs with a 19-inch mono display, two 80MB SCSI >drives were over 10k. Sure you can crank through data at twice the >speed at that price but where are you going to put it all? Just for the record, the SparcStation doesn't use an 80MB disk; it uses 104 MB disks. I have no idea what NeXT's sell for; is the pricing information off by 25% as well? mike Michael Fischbein, Technical Consultant, Sun Professional Services Sun Albany, NY 518-783-9613 sunbow!msf or mfischbein@east.sun.com These are my opinions and not necessarily those of any other person or organization. Save the skeet!
alan@oz.nm.paradyne.com (Alan Lovejoy) (02/07/90)
In article <1990Feb6.060809.15101@nueces.cactus.org> chari@nueces.cactus.org (Chris Whatley) writes: >Followups to comp.sys.next >>I know. Steve's going to upgrade the NEXT to a 68040. >>Even then, the Sparc chip set is faster. > >What sparc machine do you think is going to beat an '040 at anything >if Motorola's specs are correct? We have one of the fastest >sparcstations that Sun makes in the department and it is only a 16 VAX >mips machine. One of the tests a professor here ran was an application >for his akcl LISP which takes 1800 seconds on his 6 MIPS '030 HP >machine and takes 600 seconds on the Sun4. If the '040 @ 25Mhz will do >20 MIPS then we can expect it to run in a little over 400 seconds. >Anyway, we can all do math. Well, I certainly hope that the 68040's SPECmark at 25MHz is about 20.0. But that is not yet an established fact. I have yet to hear an authoritative explanation as to what Motorola means by "20 MIPS." Does that mean it iterates thru Dhrystone 2.1 more than 35 to 40 thousand times per second? Does it mean its SPECmark will be 20.0? Does it mean that it executes 20 million native instructions per second? Or does it mean something else? Motorola claims that the '040 executes 1.3 cycles per instruction. I believe that 20 * 1.3 = 26. Or alternatively, 25/1.3 = 19.2___. Also, the article in EDN magazine that I saw today said "20 native MIPS." If that is true, then the 68040 probably runs at around 15-17 integer VUPS at 25MHz, as measured by SPECmarks, for instance. Considering that the CMOS-MPU machine with the highest PUBLISHED SPECmark so far (which is based on the 33Mhz 88k) has a SPECmark of almost 18 (I forget the precise number), that's still pretty impressive. But this is all guesswork. Computerworld today had a little note in its rumors section to the effect that the MacIIxi will be released soon--with a 68040 inside. While I don't believe this, if true, then we may not have to wait long to start benchmarking real 68040s in real systems. But Apple is about as likely to introduce a system based on the 68040 before next fall (if that soon) as IBM is to adopt the Mac as its corporate PC standard. Perhaps I'll be proven wrong. I'd like that. ____"Congress shall have the power to prohibit speech offensive to Congress"____ Alan Lovejoy; alan@pdn; 813-530-2211; AT&T Paradyne: 8550 Ulmerton, Largo, FL. Disclaimer: I do not speak for AT&T Paradyne. They do not speak for me. Mottos: << Many are cold, but few are frozen. >> << Frigido, ergo sum. >>
john@newave.UUCP (John A. Weeks III) (02/08/90)
In article <1990Feb6.060809.15101@nueces.cactus.org> chari@nueces.cactus.org (Chris Whatley) writes: > underdog@portia.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe) writes: > > > Worse, NEXT costs MORE than a Sparstation I. > >What store are you buying your computers from. You are incorrect. A >NeXT with a 40MB winchester, a 256MB optical, 8mb of ram a 17-inch >monitor with a 25Mhz '030 and a DSP is ~$7000.00 Is this an educational price? The last time I checked at BusinessLand, the NeXT without the 40M Drive but with the printer is $17,400. I think Steve is now including the 40M drive at no extra cost. Subtracting $3400 for the printer, the NeXT sells commercially for about $13,000. -john- -- =============================================================================== John A. Weeks III (612) 942-6969 ...uunet!rosevax!bungia!wd0gol!newave!john =============================================================================== <*** *** Disclaimer: Its my machine, so I can say whatever I want. *** ***>
rogerk@mips.COM (Roger B.A. Klorese) (02/08/90)
In article <BBC.90Feb7172532@sicilia.rice.edu> Benjamin Chase <bbc@rice.edu> writes: >Apparently IBM has decided that nExTsTeP, along with >OSF/Motif, will win, place, or show, and that the X Window System will >not pay, at least on IBM hardware. And just what do you think OSF/Motif uses for a windowing protocol? It is a higher layer than, not a replacement for, X. -- ROGER B.A. KLORESE MIPS Computer Systems, Inc. phone: +1 408 720-2939 928 E. Arques Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 rogerk@mips.COM {ames,decwrl,pyramid}!mips!rogerk "Two guys, one cart, fresh pasta... *you* figure it out." -- Suzanne Sugarbaker
ca@cbnewsi.ATT.COM (christopher.arnone) (02/10/90)
> announced they will support NeXTStEP on their AIX machines. Talk > about timing. Apparently IBM has decided that nExTsTeP, along with > OSF/Motif, will win, place, or show, and that the X Window System will > not pay, at least on IBM hardware. Unless I misunderstood, isn't Motif running on top of X (just like Open Look on the Sun)? Or did IBM do something different here. In the NY Times today, Steve Jobs praised the new IBM hardware as "worth the wait".
jmann@bigbootay.sw.stratus.com (Jim Mann) (02/10/90)
The current commercial price for a NeXT with an optical and 40MB accelerator disk (but no printer) is $10,000. Without the optical it's $8,000.