Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!execu!sequoia!uudell!pensoft!usenet
From: kari@finn (Kari Karhi)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: USENIX Summer 1991 and the absence of NeXT
Message-ID: <1991Jun19.161735.20250@pensoft.uucp>
Date: 19 Jun 91 16:17:35 GMT
References: <1991Jun18.085143.29619@kithrup.COM>
Sender: usenet@pensoft.uucp (Usenet Psuedo User)
Reply-To: pensoft!kari@cs.utexas.edu
Organization: Pencom Software
Lines: 54

In article <1991Jun18.085143.29619@kithrup.COM> sef@kithrup.COM (Sean Eric  
Fagan) writes:
> In article <1991Jun17.194851.18477@pensoft.uucp> pensoft!kari@cs.utexas.edu  
writes:
> 
> First off, your posting software is broken.  From: kari@finn or somesuch is  
not
> legal.
True, we are not on any nets, therefore we did not set up domains.
The ReplyTo line is still correct, did you have a problem replying
to me?  Please email to me if so (using the ReplyTo address or signature).
> 
> >Do you know of anything  
> >cheaper, with about the same functionality?  
> 
> Listen *very* carefully:  I have *never* said you could get anything
> resembling the NeXT for anything less than what NeXT is selling them for.
> NeXT is selling a great machjjjjjjjjjjjjjine at a great price.  But if *all*  
you want is
> a unix machine for your very own, you do *not* need a NeXT.  All you need is
> a '386 machine with about 100Mbytes of disk, a hercules monitor, and 4MBytes
> of RAM.  You can run xenix on that *extremely* well.  It's a fine unix (or
> unix-like) box, and can be had for, if you do your shopping well enough,
> less than $2k (buy a used OS, for example).
My question was whether you knew of some UN*X OS comparable in
functionality to SCO or ICS UN*X, but cheaper (UN*X, X11R?, development
environment)?  About a year ago I put together a 386 box w/ 4MB RAM,
a 300MB disk, ICS OS w/ X11R3. By carefully choosing, I managed to put
it together for a little over $4,000.  Now if I did not use X Windows,
I admit I could have put it together somewhat cheaper.  Also, prices
have dropped from a year ago.  I still dispute your below $2k price on
a system a UN*X hacker would want to live with (used equipment prices
are comparing apples to oranges). But I agree that the cheapest UN*X
system you can buy costs much less than a NeXT (but you won't catch
me using one).
> 
> If you want Mach, or NeXT Step, or a DSP, or the applications, you should
> get a NeXT.  But the person I followed up to the first time said that the
> NeXT was the only available cheap unix machine he could get for home.  He
> was wrong.
Ok, agreed!
> 
> Why don't you people *read* the original article before assuming you knew
> what I was saying?
It's not what I said, it's what I meant to say. :-)  Ok, Ok, I
apologise,  I read the original post a day earlier, not when I was
responding to you.  My basic mistake was assuming you meant new
prices and a system that a UN*X hacker could live with. And I had
my year ago buying spree to fall back on to compare prices.

	Kari Karhi
	Pencom Software
	(512)343-1111
	pensoft!kari@cs.utexas.edu