Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!burl!codas!killer!jfh
From: jfh@killer.UUCP (The Beach Bum)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: The GNU Manifesto
Summary: ;lasdkjf
Message-ID: <2947@killer.UUCP>
Date: 16 Jan 88 20:42:05 GMT
References: <153@mozart.UUCP> <1351@sugar.UUCP> <9591@tekecs.TEK.COM> <1393@sugar.UUCP>
Organization: Big "D" Home for Wayward Hackers
Lines: 50

In article <1393@sugar.UUCP>, peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes:
> In article <9591@tekecs.TEK.COM>, snoopy@doghouse.gwd.tek.com (Snoopy) writes:
> > Incorrect.  My home machine will run GNUmacs, and I know plenty of other
> > people who own machines that will run it.
> 
> A home computer should cost no more than a small fraction of the price of
> a small car. I'll amend my statement to read that GNU can not run on any
> machine that any significant numbers of individuals can hope to own.

My home machine cost more than my Fiero.  I make a living off of this
business, so why not have a machine worth writing home about?  Does
5900 Dhrystones sound impressive?  My first system was $8,000 about 6
years ago.  The return on the investment isn't possible to figure, but
I think having a Unix box in the bedroom helped get the last few jobs.

> 
> > The expensive part of a home Unix machine is the disk, not the CPU/MMU/RAM.
> > Disk space is still expensive, and the MTBF is, er, depressing.
> 
> A 20 megabyte drive and controller for the IBM-PC costs on the order of a
> couple of hundred dollars. A megabyte of DRAMS costs a substantial fraction
> of that.
> 

Even static column rams cost CHEAP.  I think a 80387 is more than a 20MB
drive and controller, or 1MB of 120ns static column DRAM.  The really exensive
part is the sheet metal they make the box out of.  The CPU boards cost
the manufacturers under $1000, but they wrap then in tin and sell the machine
(remember, the disks and memory and such cost extra) for $3000+.  Pretty
expensive tin.

>                          Let me tell you a story... once upon a time there was
> a good little operating system named Version 7...

Don't say that too loud, Guy Harris over at Sun's Bigger and Better Kernel
department might get miffed.  Who needs all that new junk.  Shared memory,
semaphores, process control, yick!

I've got a better story.  Once upon a time, all the documentation fit into
two books, each about the size of a phone book ...

> > Snoopy
> -- Peter da Silva  `-_-'  ...!hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!sugar!peter

- John.
-- 
John F. Haugh II                  SNAIL:  HECI Exploration Co. Inc.
UUCP: ...!ihnp4!killer!jfh                11910 Greenville Ave, Suite 600
"Don't Have an Oil Well? ...              Dallas, TX. 75243
 ... Then Buy One!"                       (214) 231-0993 Ext 260