Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ucla-cs!ewa!michael
From: michael@ewa.cs.ucla.edu (michael gersten)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Multiple 030 boards in a cube: Can it be done?
Message-ID: <michael.669965113@ewa>
Date: 26 Mar 91 05:25:13 GMT
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I am looking at getting a used cube, or a new slab. What
I was wondering was, could I buy a few used 030 boards from
someone's upgrade to a 40, and plug it into the cube?

My thoughts are:
$2600	used cube
$ 300	used 030 board
$ 150	spare floppy :-)
------
$3150   Usable system with the power of a 040 board
	(I have a spare 54 meg disk partition for a swap
	disk, if I can figure out how to tell NeXT to
	only use part of a disk).

Compared to $3300 for a 105 meg 040, this is reasonable;
addmittedly, both will need a new hard drive later, but
this way I save another $150, and get two CPU's. So, the
questions are:

1. Are two 030's as powerful as an 040?
2. Does Next Mach support two cpu's?
3. Does the hardware?
4. If I do this, will I be able to use
   ** all 4 serial ports on both boards **
   (this is the biggest thing for me; SCSI serial
   ports are not cheap, and 2 is not enough)

Please reply by mail; I do not read this group reliably.