Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ncar!gatech!uflorida!mathlab!Math.UFL.EDU!adin From: adin@Math.UFL.EDU (Adin Burroughs) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: A3000UX competition Keywords: Unix A3000 A3000UX NeXT Message-ID: <453@mathlab.math.ufl.EDU> Date: 30 Nov 90 19:54:07 GMT Sender: root@mathlab.math.ufl.EDU Reply-To: adin@Math.UFL.EDU (Adin Burroughs) Organization: University of Florida Dept of Mathematics Lines: 111 >>UNIX SVR4 license, X-Windows, Open Look. Full man pages. >>3000UX-100: 4MB fast scram, 1MB chip, 100MB Quantum HD 19ms access. >>3000UX-200: 8MB fast scram, 1MB chip, 2UNIX SVR4 license, X-Windows, Open Look. >>Full man pages. >>Price of $3999 for the 3000UX-100, $4999 for the -200, the 3000UX-200 >>also includes an ethernet board bundled with. Bundles also include >>the 1950 monitor. These prices were confirmed by my local dealer. >>Official commercial release at UNIFORUM (feb???) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The local Unix & NeXT Guru's reply to my forward him the previous msg.-- (Brian is the local Guru, Randy is the local sysadmin.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Brian Bartholomew To: Adin Burroughs Date: Thu, 29 Nov 90 10:55:06 EST Hmmm. Ballpark competitive, maybe. Here are some comments about the competition you are facing: Commodore offering: I personally wouldn't want to subject myself to Sys V again, but R4 is supposed to be signifigantly better. If you don't like Open Look (from what I have seen Randy show me of it, I don't much), you can replace it with parts of the MIT distribution. You can get X stuff from Randy, but you will spend time porting it. I would worry about a vendor that called the full man pages an extra. At that rate, the C compiler (and the text processing tools, and the networking software, and the networking hardware) is an extra. SCO did this shit with the XENIX on the PC's, too. 4 Meg of core is a rediculous on a workstation now, just as the 3/50's are. However, you can get cheap third-party memory. I would worry about a UNIX vendor that tried to sell me a 4 Meg workstation. Just how bad is the performance? What CPU/clock-speed are we talking here? What kind of monitor is that? How big is it? Can it compete in resolution with a Sun? A NeXT? I would prefer high-res mono to low-res color, as that allows me much more text on the screen. Anything less than 300 meg is too small, add $500 for a bigger drive. Price: $4,999 + $500 = $5,499. Are there educations discounts to cut this any? NeXT offering: 8 Meg + 105 Meg NeXTStation. You've heard me yap about it. Better video than either of these (resolution-wise). 200 Megs of bundled software that neither of these can touch. $3,500. Add $750 for bigger drive to put bundle on. Yes, you can get X for it, but why would you want to? Price: $3,500 + $750 = $4,250. All applicable discounts applied. Sun offering: SLC. The standard archetecture for net-written software today. You've seen it and worked with it. It is probably faster than either of the other platforms. $3,500 for unit + complete SunOS. Add $750 for drive. Get X from Randy. Price: $3,000 + $750 = $3,750. This is with all applicable discounts applied. ----- Brian's opinionated conclusion: I fault the Commodore for non-BSDness, but then again I fault HP's and Ardent's too. I personally wouldn't go back to it. Commodore as a workstation vendor gets a vote of "no confidence...yet. Try one more time" for their strategies of 4 Meg and broken-up OS. In another iteration, this will be a reasonable package for someone who wants Amiga backward-compatibility bad enough to pay for it. DO YOU really want it that bad? Instead of (a) keeping your Amiga to do Amiga things, and (b) getting a workstation to do workstation things? That is the choice I am making with my PC. I am keeping my PC, but getting a separate workstation. NOT getting a 386 or 486 PC. Brian -Adin Any answers? Comments? -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | .Sig 1.1 under construction..... U of F, Gainesville, FL | | adin@math.ufl.edu | | adb@beach.cis.ufl.edu | | Iceman@maple%decnet.circa.ufl.edu | | 'Tis better to have loved and | | lost than to have never loved at all........ | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------