Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!toro!nick
From: nick@toro.MTS.ML.COM (Nicholas Jacobs)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ncr
Subject: Re: Tower Alternative
Message-ID: <1484@toro.MTS.ML.COM>
Date: 3 Oct 90 15:53:32 GMT
References: <314@gandp> <6087@plains.NoDak.edu> <1487@ukpoit.co.uk>
Reply-To: nick@toro.MTS.ML.COM (Nicholas Jacobs)
Organization: Merrill Lynch Municipal Securities Systems Development, NY
Lines: 39

In article <1487@ukpoit.co.uk> ian@ukc.ac.uk (Ian J Spare) writes:
    >For myself I am unhappy at NCR dropping the 68xxx lines. I feel that one of
    >NCR's main strengths has been not jumping on bandwagons and working to an
    >optimum reliable robust solution.

Depending on how you apply the not in the "not jumping...", you get somewhat
different meanings :-).

    >I have been told that a major reason for
    >selecting this has been getting the multiple processor boxes which is  
    >currently difficult to acheive with 68000 based chips, seems to turn their
    >existing strategy on the head. The decision not to fully release 5.4 also
    >seems to likely to upset more people than just me !!!!

I can't comment on the suitability of 68000 chips in a MP environment, but the
Tower 32 line (the 600 and 650) is definitely showing its age. These machines
just don't have the raw horsepower to sustain a windowed environment such as
X. Of course, not every customer needs these capabilities, so NCR is bound to
lose a certain portion of its customer base with a move like this. I'm sure
that they'll be able to explain the damage-control measures at great gory
length to anybody who wants to listen.

But to be honest, NCR has said that they will continue to support the existing
machines. The fact that 5.4 won't be on the Tower line is disconcerting, but
given how much stuff has been put into 5.4, I wonder how well a Tower 32 could
run 5.4 (enlighten me please!).

Furthermore, is the CPU which you run Unix on that important? Since I've never
had to write any assembly language programs in a Unix environment, I don't
have a lot of attachment to any given CPU. I'm curious to know other people's
thoughts on this... I think that if NCR can produce and support modern Unix
boxes, it's not so important what the architecture is (unless you can buy
something faster and better supported from another vendor of course 1/2 :-)).

Just my $0.02 on the subject.

Nicholas Jacobs
nick@toro.MTS.ML.COM, uunet!toro!nick, (212) 236-3230
I have something to say! It's better to burn out than to fade away!