Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rice!sun-spots-request
From: sequent!ccssrv!perry@tektronix.TEK.COM (Perry Hutchison)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun
Subject: Re: Sun workstation
Keywords: Hardware
Message-ID: <2361@brazos.Rice.edu>
Date: 19 Oct 89 19:57:14 GMT
Sender: root@rice.edu
Organization: Sun-Spots
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Approved: Sun-Spots@rice.edu
X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 172, message 10 of 19

In article <2090@brazos.Rice.edu> tomasz@sun2.fit.edu writes:
> X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 158, message 18 of 21
> I am considering a purchase of a refurbished sun workstation.  Currently
> my budget will allow only a 3/50 at ~$3000, no disk drive, 4 Meg of
> memory.
> extra but necessary expenses such as:
>       * sun-compatible disk drives
>       * anything needed for a workstation at home (no nest)

First the good news:
  We have had a used diskless 3/50 quoted at around $2000 (not $3000).

Now the bad news (aka where you get to spend the extra $1000):

If you won't be connected to a server, you absolutely must have a disk.
For a standalone system, I would consider 150Mb to be a minimum.  (If you
are planning on much of a news feed, better make it more like 300-500 Mb.)
Also, in order to install software and make backups, you need a tape.
(Installation can be accomplished by temporarily netting to someone else's
tape-equipped system, but that is too cumbersome for regular backups.)

You can save money by buying your Sun-compatible disk and tape from a
third- party suppliers -- there are ads in Unix World.  You can probably
save even more if you are willing and able to assemble your own.