Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!chinacat!balkan!wrangler!bill From: bill@wrangler.WLK.COM (Bill Kennedy) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ncr Subject: Re: NCR's 4000 series to replace towers??? Message-ID: <637@wrangler.WLK.COM> Date: 12 Apr 91 13:08:38 GMT References: <5900@holston.UUCP> <5904@holston.UUCP> <106632@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> Reply-To: bill@wrangler.UUCP (Bill Kennedy) Organization: W.L. Kennedy Jr. & Associates, Pipe Creek, TX Lines: 30 In article <106632@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> vaigl-j@carp.cis.ohio-state.edu (James Vaigl) writes: >The 3433 is a 486-33 uniprocessor. I think you have to get to level >35xx before you start talking about multiprocessors. I'm a little distant from the subject with this but I'm curious about a couple of things. There's no question that ssbn (33MHz 386, 12MB) outperforms wrangler (32/400, 4MB) but wrangler is superior for intensive serial I/O. I realize that this doesn't have anything to do with reality, general purpose Pee Cee cloneware (ssbn) is pretty puny with serial I/O. My point is that the creaky old 400 serves a vital role here running the three modems and system printer. It's not snazzy but it's even tempered and reliable. Each time I feel like it's too pokey I just go log in on the 3B2 :-) >I don't know about Unix, but I'd say that it will be a *long* time >before you see a version of OS/2 that supports MP platforms, and when/if >it does, i'd say the odds are overwhelmingly against really symmetric >use of processors. I agree with Jim, it's going to be a while before symmetric multiprocessing reaches down to the class of machine that you can pick up by yourself. It reminded me of a rumor I heard that the final buy for 32/450 and 32/650 is set for late June of this year. It sounds reasonable and credible, has anyone heard the same thing? I admitted I was a bit off the subject, but day-to-day computing realities in Pipe Creek, Texas (yes, it's as remote and small as it sounds :-) tend towards asymmetric multicomputers. There is still a lot of crunch left in the antiques and as they discontinue they come into the budget reach of mere mortals. -- Bill Kennedy uucp {att,cs.utexas.edu,pyramid!daver}!ssbn.wlk.com!bill internet bill@ssbn.WLK.COM or ssbn!bill@attmail.COM