Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!ucsfcgl!cca.ucsf.edu!root From: root@cca.ucsf.edu (Systems Staff) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Re: Direction of MINIX Summary: i386 upgrades -- cheaper and cheaper Message-ID: <2086@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu> Date: 15 Jun 89 01:54:33 GMT References: <16546@louie.udel.EDU> <251@utrcu1.UUCP> Organization: Computer Center, UCSF Lines: 71 In article <251@utrcu1.UUCP>, goedhart@utrcu1.UUCP (Goedhart) writes: > > The argument that students don't have the money to buy hardware with > memory protection is not entirely true anymore. Prices of AT class > machines are falling, and therefore MINIX should be ready to run on > those systems when they are in reach of a large amount of students. > When schools rushed out to buy the original PCs many were buying them at prices like $2500 - $3000. And then they had to spend like $500 for a full memory quota. Etc. Etc. Now the going price for the Intel 80386 upgrade boards for those PCs is $599 (singles, probably less in batches) including a megabyte of memory. Many places advertise this price and I bought one so I know the price is real. There is something wrong with the argument that the basic PC is all schools can afford; if they are sticking to basic PCs for CS students in an OS lab they are seriously abusing these students with obsolete equipment. Just for fun, I flipped open the current issue of Computer Currents magazine to find this advertised: 20 MHz 386 system 1 MB ram expandable to 8 MB on board 1.2MB floppy drive 1:1 interleave controller 66 MB hard disk (25 ms access) 2 serial, 1 parallel, 1 game port 101 Keytronics KBD 220W power supply Real Time Clock/CMOS memory w/Battery back up Socket for 80387 Supports MS DOS, OS|2, Unix, Xenix, ... 14" Monochrome monitor & card Price $1860 And you could probably shave this with a smaller disk, save $40 by taking the 12" monitor, get a quantity discount, etc. A few pages before there is a cheaper machine: 16 MHz 386sx 1 MB ram expandable to 8 MB on board 1.2 MB Teac Floppy 42 MB hard disk Mono card & monitor This one is $1599. And the 80486 based machines aren't even here to further depress the prices on the current models. There seems to be little point in doing any substantial new work for PC family systems that isn't aimed in this direction. Thos Sumner (thos@cca.ucsf.edu) BITNET: thos@ucsfcca (The I.G.) (...ucbvax!ucsfcgl!cca.ucsf!thos) U.S. Mail: Thos Sumner, Computer Center, Rm U-76, UCSF San Francisco, CA 94143-0704 USA OS|2 -- an Operating System for puppets. #include