jcburt@ipsun.larc.nasa.gov (John Burton) (12/12/90)
Okay, I have a couple of really dumb questions for netland...
I'm considering getting a 386 machine with about 4mb ram.
Some of the applications I'm working on require large
amounts of memory (image processing - 512x512x2 byte arrays
minimum). The ideal way to go would be to run a virtual memory
version of Unix on it. Unfortunately most of my current
applications run under DOS, and most Unix systems are a bit
price for my checkbook...I've heard about DOS extenders
(such as from Phar Lap) and memory managers such as QEMM386
and others.
My main questions are:
1) what is the *best* unix for a 386 machine (price/performance) ?
speed is fairly important. Also I would like it as similar as
possible to the system I use at work, SunOS 4.1. can it support
Xwindows?
2) What does a DOS extender do? which is the *best* one available?
Whats the difference between a DOS extender and a memory manager
(QEMM386).
3) Is DESQview just a windowing environment (what does it give
you over say just QEMM386) ? Which is *better*, DESQview or
Windows 3.0 ?
4) Can someone quickly explain the functional differences between
386MAX (Phar Lap DOS extender) QEMM386, and DESQview? what is
the purpose of each, what are the limitations, i.e. what are
the can and can't do's for each...
(*best* & *better* => personal, subjective viewpoints...I would like
to know what people think as well pointers to articles/reviews
etc...)
Thanks in advance for any help...
John Burton
(jcburt@cs.wm.edu)