annala@neuro.usc.edu (A J Annala) (12/25/90)
chip@chinacat.Unicom.COM (Chip Rosenthal) writes: >>cy5@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Conway Yee) writes: >>If SCO Unix is just so difficult to deal with, why >>is it so popular? What would be a suitable replacement? > >VMS. > Chip -- You actually have this completely backwards. According to DEC's advertisement in Computer Reseller News (December 10, 1990, pp. 59, 61) the new DEC 433MP System (1 to 6 coupled i486 CPU's, 64 MB global shared memory, 64 MB/s system bus, 1.2 GB internal hard disk) will not run any variety of VMS (or even ULTRIX) -- INSTEAD IT WILL RUN SCO UNIX!!! As far as SCO UNIX SYSTEM V/386 3.2.0 being difficult to deal with, you might consider my experience with this system. I am a biologist -- not a system programmer. I have a generic 33 MHz cached 80386/80387 system with 8 MB main memory, 676+ MB ESDI hard disk drive, and 150 MB DC600XLP cartridge tape drive. The instructions for installing the base system, the development system, and tcp/ip were so complete and detailed that I had absolutely no problem installing the software products from scratch. The only minor problem encountered was difficulty creating an emergency boot floppy -- a problem quickly solved by SCO's telephone support line. I subsequently obtained and compiled gcc and emacs without incident. I am in the process of installing SUN OS 4.0.3 developed image processing code on this machine. I never relaxed the C2 restrictions. I have not encountered any problem from the presence of the C2 enhancement. Why is SCO UNIX so popular? The software is mature, well documented, and well supported. SCO does not appear to release software products until they are well tested. In short, from my perspective, SCO UNIX performs as expected and does not interfere with work on my projects. In the long run, as my work becomes increasingly computation intensive, SCO UNIX will support automatic division of my tasks among several closely coupled cpu's on a low cost platform. Can any other UNIX system accomplish these tasks? Frankly, if anyone out there in USENET land is terribly unhappy with their SCO UNIX System V/386 System, I would be very happy to make an appropriate arrangement to acknowledge the value of your donation to the University of Southern California. Such an acknowledgement could reduce your individual or corporate tax liability at year end. In other words, if you don't want your copy of SCO UNIX (or any layered products -- e.g. tcp/ip development system, XSight, ODT), please feel free to donate it to my school where it will be put to very good use. Thanks, AJ Annala Alexander-James Annala HEDCO Neuroscience Bldg., Rm. 534 University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089-2520