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From: agk@ihuxq.UUCP (Andy Kegel)
Newsgroups: net.arch
Subject: Re: 3B2 performance not phenomenal?
Message-ID: <1037@ihuxq.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 26-Jun-84 10:15:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxq.1037
Posted: Tue Jun 26 10:15:05 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 28-Jun-84 02:45:40 EDT
References: <176@ucbopal.CC.Berkeley.ARPA> <152@pertec.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 33

> Isn't the 3B2 the one that AT&T says will support 18 users for $10K?

It is, and it does, but THE USUAL CAVEATS APPLY.

We have a ("1 MIP") machine around here that supports one user -- the
person who builds the development UN*X kernel each day.  UC-Berkeley
has (had) a PDP-11/70 that supported some HUGE number of users (the
rumor was 70 simultaneous users).

The Point: the number of users is a STRONG function of what they do.
The AT&T 3B2 system will not reasonably support 18 software developers
doing simultaneous "cc kernel.c" commands.  On the other hand, the
machine will reasonably support lots of users in an office environment
(a mixture of spreadsheets, data base activity, word processing,
e-mail, and games -- note tongue firmly in cheek).

The above has been vague for two reasons:
1) Others have obtained the results I summarized.  I feel *they* have the
	right to announce the results of their work, not I.
2) Learning to be a good competitor means learning when to speak, and when
	to be quiet.  This is a hard lesson to learn.  Please bear with me.

A useful discussion to derive from this would concern benchmarks.  Does
compiling 'printf("hello, world");' accurately measure a machine?  Do
the Whetstone benchmark speeds accurately model your floating point
needs?  Does your computer spend a lot of its time in Ackerman's function
or solving the now-famous "puzzle?"  Does anyone have a spell(1) dictionary
that includes "Ackerman" and "Whetstone" correctly spelled?

The preceeding represents my personal opinions, and has not been cleared
nor approved by the Company, the NSA, the KGB, nor my mother.

	-andy kegel