Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!hpda!hpcupt1!hpisod2!decot From: decot@hpisod2.cup.hp.com (Dave Decot) Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp Subject: Re: Switching from Sun to HP: some general questions Message-ID: <16710082@hpisod2.cup.hp.com> Date: 10 Apr 91 21:50:56 GMT References: Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino Lines: 88 Here are answers to some of the questions. I don't know reliable answers for the others. However, see the disclaimer at the bottom. > Does HPUX include DWB? No, but Documenter's Work Bench for HP-UX can be obtained from companies such as ELAN. Note, however that nroff, eqn, and tbl are all provided in stock HP-UX. > Does HPUX support long filenames, symlinks, job control, sockets, NFS? Yes, since HP-UX Releases 6.5 [s300] and 2.0 [s800], respectively. > Is it POSIX compliant? Yes. HP-UX has been compliant with POSIX.1 and the XPG3 Base branding criteria since Release 7.0. > Does uucp work reliably at 19200 bps? Is it a solid version of uucp? It is HoneyDanBer UUCP, if that means anything to you. > Does HPUX provide lpr or does it only provide lp? There is no command called "lpr", but HP's lp also provides most of the other services associated with lpr, including remote spooling and cancellation. > Somebody said that OSF/1 was going to be available by the end of this > year. Does this mean that a production version suitable for end users > will be available by then? Does this mean HP will be shipping OSF/1 > as their standard OS by then? Will OSF/1 run HPUX binaries? Nobody in HP can comment on future products. > Is BSD 4.4 likely to be available? If so, will the machine dependent > parts be freely redistributable? If not, does HP document their > hardware enough that it would be possible for somebody to port it? Someone (the University of Utah, I think) has ported BSD 4.3 for HP hardware, so it should be possible. I don't know its distribution status, and obviously can't guarantee anything about future BSD releases. > How good (fast, robust) is HP's implementation of X? Does it include > all of X11R4? Is it reasonably close to X11R4? Does the MIT X11R4 > distribution build on a 9000/730? Is the R5 distribution likely to? > Do HP document their graphics hardware enough to port a window system? Standard benchmarks of "good", "fast", and "robust" have not been developed, to my knowledge. It's certainly seems to be very fast on the Series 700. I think the answer is yes to all the rest of these. > How does HP's 19'' monitor compare to the Trinitron that Sun ships? > How about the keyboard and mouse? How noisy/hot would a system with > two internal 400Mb disks be? Would it be reasonably pleasant in an > office environment? Does it connect directly to thinwire ethernet? Is > HP hardware generally reliable? HP's monitors are all manufactured by Sony, I believe. Reducing environmental noise and dissipated heat are important design objectives for all HP equipment, but since I run diskless on my desk I can't provide first-hand knowledge of this particular set-up. In general, HP hardware is the most reliable available from any major vendor. > How reliable is the standard C compiler? Are the higher optimization > levels sufficiently reliable to be usable? Reliability is relative and somewhat subjective, but I haven't had any problems with either the Classic or ANSI C compilers or their shared optimizer in the recent releases. > In general, how easy is it to port free software to HPUX? Most things > seem to port to SunOS with little effort. To what extent is this true > of HPUX? It depends on the general portability of the particular free software, obviously. I'm sure that free software has been written that only runs on PC-DOS. However, most Un*x-oriented things I've pulled off the net port easily on HP-UX. *********************************************************************** DISCLAIMER: All of the information above is provided for informative purposes only, as my own opinion, and may be false. I am not authorized by HP to make binding statements. An HP sales representative will be able to give you such answers. *********************************************************************** Dave Decot