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From: schweige@aldebaran.cs.nps.navy.mil (jeffrey schweiger)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: A3000UX Seems Fated
Message-ID: <1778@aldebaran.cs.nps.navy.mil>
Date: 14 Dec 90 07:13:19 GMT
References: <1990Dec14.045924.20212@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: schweige@cs.nps.navy.mil (Jeff Schweiger)
Organization: Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey CA
Lines: 56

In article <1990Dec14.045924.20212@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> sl35746@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (By-Tor) writes:
<I just had a talk with one of our system administrators here, and I told him
<about the A3000UX.  He told me that Sun came out with a workstation that was
<286 based and ran Unix along with PC's in windows that multitasked.  I don't
<know of the model number, but he said they didn't sell, and Sun discontinued.

I don't know about a 286 box, but the Sun 386i is a capable machine.  Sun
however does appear to be discontinuing the line.

<AmigaDOS and Unix will not run at the same time, and there is a much smaller
<demand for Amiga compatibility than IBM compatibility, so I would think that
<there isn't going to be much of a demand for these things unfortunately.
<Considering you can buy a Sparcstation now for $3000 that comes inside a
<1200x800 monitor that will outperform an A3000, with the expansion capability
<to reach 100 MIPS, I really don't see where the market is.

Sun's SPARC equipment is impressive (so are the SPARC-clones), and I like
being able to use them (I'm typing this on a SPARCstation 1+), but let's not
severely overstate the capabilities.  I presume from the price that you are
referring to the SPARCstation SLC - (and I think that $3000 may be a bit low
even for that).  The SLC has a single 20Mhz SPARC processor advertised at
12.5 Dhrystone MIPS (overall SPECmark 7.6), and is not expandable.  It has a
monochrome 1152x900 noninterlaced display.

<Another interesting point he made was that Sun is almost guaranteed to support
<their computers.  Commodore is just starting out, so things will be even harder.

A valid point with regard to Unix workstations, but it should be noted that
Sun seems to be trying very hard to get out of the Motorola 680x0 workstation
business and concentrate on the SPARC machines only.  With regards to the
version of Unix for a 68030 based workstation, Commodore will be supplying
and supporting a newer system than Sun.  It's my understanding that Sun will
not be producing a version of SVR4 for the Sun3 line.  SunOS 4.1 will be the
final Sun3 release.  SVR4 (SunOS 5.0) will be for the Sun4/SPARC line only.

<I don't really see the point of putting Unix on an Amiga.  I think they should
<have just made a Unix box that was competitive, and started from there.  The
<fact that AmigaDOS and Unix are totally isolated basically makes the point
<almost moot to combine them in one box.  The Unix side is limited to the hard-
<ware that is needed to keep it Amiga compatible.
<
<I guess they only real market niche they could sneak into, and probably won't
<succeed in reaching, is a low-cost color workstation.  If the current
<implementation of X doesn't support color, then there is no way anyone will
<buy it for color.

Commodore marketing obviously doesn't agree with you with regards to the
A3000UX, and if the Virginia Tech purchase is any indication, neither do a lot
of other people.

Jeff Schweiger
-- 
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Jeff Schweiger	      Standard Disclaimer   	CompuServe:  74236,1645
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