kreme@isis.cs.du.edu (Harvey Leech) (10/18/90)
Hi. I've been elected to make a purchase recommendation for a small Mac network (One server, three terminals, and the ability to expand to as many as 10-12 terminals in the future) and I was looking at the new Macs as possibilities. What I was thinking of doing is using Mac Classics as terminals and a Mac IIsi with an 80 Meg drive and 5Mg or Ram as a the server. I guess my question is: "Is there any reason to spring for a whole hell of a lot more money and get a IIci or something?" The network will be used to do all the accounting, Newsletter publishing, letter writting, and also for some educational uses. The Sales Rep though this setup would work out fine, but I wanted to get some input from the net (more realistic and experienced I'm sure). Is there any shortcomming of the mac IIsi? Any glaring oversight? Thanks in advance for your time. Please reply directly to my e-mail address and I will post a reply (I get mails right away, some posts take us a week to see). -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | kreme@nyx.cs.du.edu |Growing up leads to growing old, and then to dying, and| |---------------------|dying to me don't sound like all that much fun. | | <Insert cute quote of your choice here!> |
ml27192@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (10/20/90)
/* Written 1:25 pm Oct 17, 1990 by kreme@isis.cs.du.edu in uxa.cso.uiuc.edu:comp.sys.mac.misc */ /* ---------- "What's wrong with the new Mac IIsi?" ---------- */ [stuff deleted] a IIci or something?" The network will be used to do all the accounting, Newsletter publishing, letter writting, and also for some educational uses. /* End of text from uxa.cso.uiuc.edu:comp.sys.mac.misc */ If you want to do heavy (or even medium-sized) accounting you should consider a meachine with an FPU (for the 'terminals'). Also, dp is much easier with a larger display. But then you would need _four_ SIs, wouldn't you? MacUser recommends an SE/30 with a BIG hard drive as a server. It's faster than a II (x?) and doesn't require the monitor, etc. Mark Lanett
gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu (10/21/90)
80 Meg is probably not large enough for the server's hard disk. I suggest 2-3 times as much (160-240 meg). Here are some things to think about --- (1) How will backup be accomplished? Have you considered copying data from each classic to the IIsi? (2) Today's software systems are 1Mb-2Mb per program. Advanced programs (hypercard, mathematica, smalltalk) already require 3, 5, or 10 Mb each. Next-generation software systems will be 5Mb each. (3) A single grey-scale scanned picture is roughly 200-300 Kb. How many of these pictures could be stored on your 80 Mb disk? 240-400, total. (4) If you ever want to run virtual memory on your II-series mac, then you will need a "backing store" file to back up the main memory. So to run 16Mb of virtual memory on the IIsi, will require 16Mb of dedicated hard disk space. (5) Once you run low on disk space, the time spent in managing the disk DOUBLES or TRIPLES, since you must delete something for everything you create. This is why you want to delay this occurence as long as possible. Do you want to have archives of the old newsletters on-line?