Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!know!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!cs.uoregon.edu!storm!bostrov From: bostrov@storm.UUCP (Vareck Bostrom) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: NeXT Positioning Problem Message-ID: <627@storm.UUCP> Date: 12 Nov 90 01:18:10 GMT References: <1990Nov9.160743.18770@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu> Reply-To: bostrov@storm.UUCP (Vareck Bostrom) Organization: storm UUCP, Eugene, Oregon, United States Lines: 56 In article <1990Nov9.160743.18770@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu> tgingric@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Tyler S Gingrich) writes: >"People BELIEVE that NeXTs are all $10,000+ computers, only usable by higher-ed >number cruncher types...." Interesting, most people I talk to think that NeXTs are all $10,000+ computers, with an extreme lack of power. Most are not aware that there is a 68040 NeXT available (well, orderable). They think of them is overpriced toys (remember the IBM RT?). >In the past 3 weeks (since I ordered a NeXT Station) I've had numerous people I got the same response when I ordered my 040 cube. >When I informed these folks about the $4995 list price & $3300 edu discount >prices on the NeXTStations (plus all the included software) they expressed >interest in the system/software (especially Improv from Lotus), but they >quickly discounted the machine since 'it's not an IBM'. One of these folks >was sitting in front of a BIG-BLUE model 70 running OS/2 with presentation >mangler and cursing about not being able to print very easily!! My friends discounted the machine because 'it's not a SUN 4'. I still can't figure out why so many of the people I used to work with didn't like NeXTs. They seemed fairly fast, though not rockets, at least as fast as the 3/80's. The opticals were slow, but I expected that the hard disk next's were faster. Thoes people absoultely HATED NeXTs. At one time, we had gotten a HP 1.2 GB drive system, and had no hp to plug it in to. It was a standard SCSI 2 drive, 60 pin. It wouldn't connect to the NeXT straight away, but a friend and I started looking for a way to connect it, planning to use the NeXT as an NFS server. (awesome bus, CISC chip.. should be better than one of the Sun's). We thought we might have to go buy a cable to connect the drive and NeXT, so we talked to our boss, who talked to his boss, and got "He says he would be willing to connect the drive to the NeXT if you can do it for less than $3. He would be willing to spend up to $100 to connect it to a Sun. In other words, don't connect it to the NeXT. Because the Suns belonged to the AI people, and we managed to dig up a cable from our mac lab, we decided to format the drive and plug it into the NeXT anyway, just to have a look at a NeXT with a 1.2 gb disk on it. When we got that done, we had to take it off. Sigh. Bottom line is, there are people who don't like NeXT's, period. Would a NeXT make a better NFS server than a Sun 4/60 (SPARCstation, not SPARCserver)? >The bottom line is "BE A VOCAL NEXT SUPPORTER". Tell people about the system >and if you can code, the write software!! I am , now. I used to be a NeXT person, then wavered and went to Sun for a while, then came back to NeXT after a bit of thought. A Sun is a workstation, not a personal computer. And an IBM 386 or 486 is a personal computer, not a workstation. I need both. The NeXT is both. >Tyler > - Vareck (bostrov@mist.cs.orst.edu)