Xref: utzoo comp.unix.xenix:1481 comp.sys.ibm.pc:11614 Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!lll-tis!ames!rutgers!im4u!ut-sally!utah-cs!utah-gr!uplherc!sp7040!obie!wes From: wes@obie.UUCP (Barnacle Wes) Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix,comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: Get a Wyse 80386 box w/SCO Xenix? Message-ID: <39@obie.UUCP> Date: 8 Feb 88 00:41:22 GMT References: <139@amcad.UUCP> <594@spdcc.COM> <140@amcad.UUCP> <325@dalcsug.UUCP> <768@bigtex.uu.net> Distribution: na Organization: UinTech, Layton, UT Lines: 42 Keywords: wyse 3216 80386 xenix SCO Summary: 286, 386 Unix/Xenix systems need LOTS of RAM In article <768@bigtex.uu.net>, james@bigtex.uu.net (James Van Artsdalen) writes: > The drawbacks I see are mainly expensive RAM and potential coming changes. > RAM costs $500/megabyte. This isn't so bad up to three or four megabytes, > as most other systems require you buy another board at some point, but still.. Remember that Unix systems are memory hogs. I have been running my 286 system with MicroPort System V/AT for over a year now, the system was unacceptably slow until I upped the memory from 1 meg to 3 meg. Now that I have Usenet News running background jobs almost continually :-) I am looking at sticking another 3 meg in the system, for a total of 6. This will, of course, require re-building the disk to create a larger swap partition. A good guideline that has been suggested in the BIX microport conferences is 2 meg for the system, and 1 meg per user. If you are planning on running Usenet News, add another 1 meg for 'compress'. This will keep your system from having to swap too much, and believe me, no matter how fast your 386 is, an ST506 disk is going to make the system sluggish if you spend a lot of time swapping/paging. This would require 4 meg for a (mostly) single-user system with a news feed, and that's the MINIMUM I would recommend. Of course, you may be more willing than I to wait for the computer to catch up to you. Static-RAM systems are the fastest 386 boxes out right now, but if you don't ABSOLUTELY need that speed, you might want to look at one of the static-RAM cache systems, the manufacturers claim an 80% hit rate, which gives you 80% zero wait-states, and 20% 3 wait-states. A reasonable trade-off for $125/meg RAM, especially when you are buying 5-6 megs! I have heard really good things about PC's Ltd. I have also had good experiences with AST. I you want to get a 'name brand', buy Unisys. My Sperry PC/IT has been flawless, and even lived through a power spike that Killed my Oki laserprinter (to the tune of $300). As far as the O.S. goes, why not buy REAL Unix from MicroPort (or perhaps Interactive Systems) and save yourself a grundle of money? Unless you have a specific application that runs on Xenix and not System V, get System V. -- /\ - " Against Stupidity, - {backbones}! /\/\ . /\ - The Gods Themselves - utah-cs!utah-gr! / \/ \/\/ \ - Contend in Vain." - uplherc!sp7040! / U i n T e c h \ - Isaac Asimov - obie!wes