Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!public!eeh From: eeh@public.BTR.COM (Eduardo E. Horvath eeh@btr.com) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Real System Comparisons Message-ID: <306@public.BTR.COM> Date: 8 Aug 90 22:32:29 GMT References: <13466@cbmvax.commodore.com> <13678@cbmvax.commodore.com> Distribution: usa Organization: BTR Public Access UNIX, MtnView CA, Contact: cs@btr.com 415-966-1429 Lines: 35 In article mwm@raven.pa.dec.com (Mike (Real Amigas have keyboard garages) Meyer) writes: >In article <13678@cbmvax.commodore.com> daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes: > In article mwm@raven.pa.dec.com (Mike (Real Amigas have keyboard garages) Meyer) writes: > >1) The standard disk interface for high-end IBM PCs is ESDI, not SCSI. > IBM themselves are moving to SCSI. >They are (were?) also moving to the microchannel. I was looking at >what was being advertised. It's all ESDI, no SCSI to be found. >The point of mapping it back to an Amiga configuration was to show >that writing specs for "equivalent" systems doesn't work very well. >You wind up asking for hardware that just isn't available on both >ends. > >The point of all this is that (as I said before) price comparisons of > >arbitrarily defined "equivalent" hardware is pretty meaningless. You > >have to look at what you want to use the system _for_. > > Of course, if you need one specific application, you find the best system > that'll run that one application. That's not true. We bought a '386 20MHz over a year ago with a SCSI controller and a CDC WREN II drive. SCSI is available, and has been for several years. It is faster than ESDI and more expensive, thus the lower availability. SCSI is used almost exclusively for network servers in the IBM world, and may become dominant there in a year or two. Remember to add about $200 for the SCSI controller, and $500 for the 40M disk. ========================================================================= Eduardo Horvath eeh@btr.com ..!{decwrl,mips,fernwood}!btr!eeh "Trust me, I know what I'm doing." - Sledge Hammer =========================================================================