bruce@bmhalh.UUCP (Bruce M. Himebaugh) (09/19/90)
What I am looking for is a good comparison of an Altos Series 5000 versus what ever the equivalent is for NCR. A customer of ours (the company I work for) is going to be purchasing a new system and we are trying to determine which would best fit his needs. The system will initially be configured for the following: 70 users 20 printers 3 modems 24M - 32M RAM 600M - 800M hard disk space 300M - 500M tape drive The system needs to have the future expandability of: 100 users 30 printers 3 modems 48M-64M RAM 1G - 1.5G hard disk space 300M - 500M tape drive The OS will be Unix System V (or equivalent). The software they will be initially running on the system is: - Multiplan Spreadsheet - Uniplex Word Processing or comparable - Some sort of user friendly mail system (i.e. not /usr/bin/mail) - Programs running under MicroSoft compiled basic - MultiView (i.e. like JSB's mview) - filePro+ 4.0 database from Small Computer Company The most heavily used software will be the filePro+ database and the compiled basic programs. The MultiView product will be used by 20 to 30 users. The other software will be used on and off, as needed by everyone. Future software requirements will include such items as CAD and other graphics related software. 95% of the people will be using standard ascii terminals, but down the road some X capability might be needed also. SCO compatibility would be nice, but not necessary. Of course price/performance is the main issue. They want a fast system, but a reasonably priced system, hence the price/performance issue is the heavy factor. Please keep in mind that what I really want compared at this point is the hardware NOT the software. I know the type of software running can make a difference when comparing hardware, that's why I listed it, but I am not interested in opinions on what people think of software A versus software B. I don't mean to come across nasty, but that's just not what I'm looking for at this point. All replies will be GREATLY APPRECIATED. Please post all replies to "comp.unix.sysv386" or send e-mail. Posting would be preferable so that others can comment on any replies I receive. Thanks, Bruce -- Bruce M. Himebaugh Voice: 216-484-3528 PATHS: uunet!{ncoast,aablue}!fmsystm!bmhalh!bruce (NOTE: the system name "fmsystm" is with no "e", NOT "fmsystem") *NOTE*: Please do not use bruce@bmhalh.UUCP -- I'm not registered yet.
shwake@raysnec.UUCP (Ray Shwake) (09/23/90)
bruce@bmhalh.UUCP (Bruce M. Himebaugh) writes: >What I am looking for is a good comparison of an Altos Series 5000 versus what >ever the equivalent is for NCR. A customer of ours (the company I work for) is >going to be purchasing a new system and we are trying to determine which would >best fit his needs. Be aware that NCR is in the process of restructuring its entire line, phasing out the Motorola 680x0 in favor of the Intel 386/486. The NCR will be using a Micro Channel bus, if that matters to you; the Altos runs on an EISA bus. First models of the new NCR line, as well as the Altos, seem to be well regarded. As in all cases of such a radical shift, you'll need to look into such issues of availability and delivery, especially of application soft- ware of interest to you. At least in the beginning, the Altos is probably the "safe" choice given that it's running a version of SCO UNIX, but that should change very quickly.