tek@ms.uky.edu (Thomas E. Kunselman) (05/30/90)
Hi!
Well, I think I've found a machine under my $8000 hardware limit.
A Northgate 486 Elegance system with 8 MB ram, 256K SRAM cache,
200 MB MAXTOR ESDI disk, VGA and color monitor.
This costs $7639.
The base system comes with 64K SRAM cache. How much difference will
maxing that to 256K make?
I asked the ESIX people if this would work, they said that there is
no reason why it shouldn't, but they had not tried it themself.
Any comments as to whether it will work or not?
I need to get a twisted pair ethernet card. The guy at ESIX said
that they only supported thin/thick ethernet cards from 3COM,
WD and Everex. Is there a difference between a thick or thin ethernet
card from 3COM and a twisted pair ethernet card from them, if they
make one, that would make the card require a different driver?
Also, I don't think I understand this VP/IX stuff. I definitely will
need to run a few DOS applications. If I'm going to be the only user
running DOS, do I need to get an unlimited license or can I get the two
user license? Will a two user license limit me to running only to
DOS applications at a time?
Can I run Microsoft Windows under VP/IX? I'm not sure I can afford the
unlimited VP/IX thing.
Anyone know of someplace that offers ESIX at an educational discount?
--
Thomas Kunselman {rutgers,uunet}!ukma!tek
Planning and Institutional Research bitnet: irkunsel@ecuvm1.bitnet
East Carolina University internet:tek@ms.uky.edu
Greenville, NC 27858 (Educate, Don't Legislate!)flint@gistdev.gist.com (Flint Pellett) (05/30/90)
tek@ms.uky.edu (Thomas E. Kunselman) writes: >Hi! >Well, I think I've found a machine under my $8000 hardware limit. >A Northgate 486 Elegance system with 8 MB ram, 256K SRAM cache, >200 MB MAXTOR ESDI disk, VGA and color monitor. >This costs $7639. Another company you ought to check out is Cheetah. (Phone 1-800-cheetah) I have one of their 486 machines that ran $8500: it includes the 486, 8 MB RAM, a 300 MB CDC SCSI drive, PSI Hyper-Store SCSI caching disk controller with 4MB of cache on the controller, a Seiko CM-1440 monitor (The .25 dot pitch on this monitor is the best you'll find anywhere) and 512K Super-VGA (800x600x256 non-interlaced, 1024x768x16 interlaced), both 3.5 and 5.25 floppies, and a 450 watt power supply to handle the 5 other disks and the toaster I'll surely need to hang off that SCSI controller. :-) If you left out the disk controller and the memory on it you'd save about $1400, but I wouldn't recommend that-- why have a machine that has all that cpu power bogged down because the disk can't keep up? You can save $200 by not getting the larger power supply and get a smaller disk and probably get to your $8K budget without much problem. The Cheetah doesn't have cache available (other than the 8K cache that is built into the 486), and they aren't EISA, but for the price I don't think they can be beat. (The price probably is up some now, I bought mine in Dec. in a promotion knowing it wouldn't ship for 3 months.) -- Flint Pellett, Global Information Systems Technology, Inc. 1800 Woodfield Drive, Savoy, IL 61874 (217) 352-1165 INTERNET: flint%gistdev@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu UUCP: uunet!gistdev!flint
rick@tmiuv0.uucp (05/31/90)
In article <15371@s.ms.uky.edu>, tek@ms.uky.edu (Thomas E. Kunselman) writes: [stuff deleted] > I need to get a twisted pair ethernet card. The guy at ESIX said > that they only supported thin/thick ethernet cards from 3COM, > WD and Everex. Is there a difference between a thick or thin ethernet > card from 3COM and a twisted pair ethernet card from them, if they > make one, that would make the card require a different driver? I would imagine that they'd work, though I won't swear to it. The twisted pair stuff has to do with the transceiver hardware. I'd think that the driver would be the same. You should call 3-Com and ask them. In fact, Black Box has a device which will convert from 15 pin AUI cables to twisted pair. It's a completely external box which sells for $149. So, you could get a thickwire (AUI) board and this box and not worry. Your computer would have a standard thickwire board (which ESIX likes) and the network would be twisted pair. If you want the catalog number of the Black Box goodie, it's in the May 1990 catalog on page 156. Catalog number TK-LE111A, $149. Black Box can be contacted at (412) 746-5530. Their technical info line is (412) 746-5565 Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time. No, I don't work for Black Box. I just like their stuff. It's inexpensive and works well. [more stuff deleted] > -- > Thomas Kunselman {rutgers,uunet}!ukma!tek > Planning and Institutional Research bitnet: irkunsel@ecuvm1.bitnet > East Carolina University internet:tek@ms.uky.edu > Greenville, NC 27858 (Educate, Don't Legislate!) -- .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. / [- O] Rick Stevens (All opinions are mine. Everyone ignores them anyway.) \ | ? +--------------------------------------------------------------------| | V | uunet!zardoz!tmiuv0!rick (<-- Work (ugh!)) | |--------+ uunet!zardoz!xyclone!sysop (<-- Home Unix (better!)) | | uunet!perigrine!ccicpg!conexch!amoeba2!rps2 (<-- Home Amiga (Best!!) | \ 75006.1355@compuserve.com (CIS: 75006,1355) (<-- CI$) / `-------------------------------------------------------------------------' "I was Caesarean born. When I leave the house, I use the window." - Steven Wright
wag1@cbnewsl.att.com (d.wagley) (06/01/90)
In article <15371@s.ms.uky.edu>, tek@ms.uky.edu (Thomas E. Kunselman) writes: > > A Northgate 486 Elegance system with 8 MB ram, 256K SRAM cache, > 200 MB MAXTOR ESDI disk, VGA and color monitor. Does this machine use the AT bus or EISA? Doug Wagley piccolo!wag
donegan@stanton.UUCP (Steven P. Donegan) (06/03/90)
Our cards in the WD8003 series are software compatable from starlan through ethernet to twisted ethernet. -- Steven P. Donegan (stanton!donegan) Area Telecommunications Engineer Corporate Telecommunications Services Western Digital Corporation The opinions expressed here are mine.