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From: chenr@tilt.FUN (Ray Chen)
Newsgroups: net.college,net.cse
Subject: Re: Why force the AT&T at UVM?
Message-ID: <284@tilt.FUN>
Date: Tue, 7-May-85 18:29:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: tilt.284
Posted: Tue May  7 18:29:32 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 8-May-85 05:40:25 EDT
References: <380@uvm-cs.UUCP> <281@tilt.FUN> <239@uvm-gen.UUCP>
Reply-To: chenr@tilt.UUCP (Ray Chen)
Organization: Princeton University EECS Dept
Lines: 50
Xref: watmath net.college:728 net.cse:388
Summary: 

In article <239@uvm-gen.UUCP> punia@uvm-gen.UUCP (David T. Punia) writes:
>
>	You don't sound like a freshman, or even a sophomore to me. 
>Keep in mind that the basic system is adequate for all of the students
>for several years, at least.  As far as doing AI and other more involved
>types of activities, remember two things:
>
>	1.) It can make a good workstation to communicate with the bigger
>	   resources on campus.
>
>	2.) Seven expansion slots.  They may not be good for 20 MHz, but
>	   there's still a lot that can be done with them.
>
>The 6300 will certainly never offer the power of a SUN, but it is felt to
>be a suitable workstation for the vast majority of the applications that
>will be run by undergraduates, including CS majors.

Some background information.  I'm a senior CS major.  As a computer,
a 6300 would have become useless as of the second half of my sophmore
year.  The same holds true for many of my friends.

Now, I'm not arguing that a word-processor or terminal emulator/file
transfer machine is a bad thing to have.  However, I am claiming that
as a computer, a 6300 will only be able to satisfy a limited set of
needs.

I think people should realize that a Business major, an Engineering
major, a Math major, and a Computer Science major are all going to
require different levels and types of computational power, and that no
one machine is going to be cost-effective for all of them.  For most
Business majors, a 6300 should be adequate for at least 4 years.  A CS
major will be lucky if the 6300 is good for two.  By his junior year at
the latest, he'll be doing simulations, compiler hacking, kernel
building, and who knows what else.  So why is UVM forcing some people
to spend money on an obsolete machine that within two years will be
useless?

If somebody wants to argue that the 6300 will be still useful as a
file transfer machine I'll agree with him.  I'll also ask him to rephrase
the UVM pc announcement as requiring certain incoming freshman to
purchase an AT&T terminal emulator/file transfer machine for $2000.

(Please remember that without a printer you can't do word-processing
unless at some point you transfer a file to a machine with a printer.
As UVM doesn't require purchase of a printer, that makes the 6300
relatively useless for local word-processing unless the poor or
soon-to-be-poor student pours more money into his machine.)

	Ray Chen
	princeton!tilt!chenr