Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cbmvax!daveh
From: daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Powerful machines at home (was Re: R.I.P. BYTE:)
Message-ID: <4539@cbmvax.UUCP>
Date: 22 Aug 88 22:56:44 GMT
References: <3144@teemc.UUCP>
Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA
Lines: 52

in article <3144@teemc.UUCP>, wayne@teemc.UUCP (//ichael R. //ayne) says:
> Keywords: BYTE, subscription, letter, fed up, POWER USERS

> In article <11704@oberon.USC.EDU> mlinar@eve.usc.edu (Mitch Mlinar) writes:
>>In article <2815@teemc.UUCP> wayne@teemc.UUCP (I) write
>> [ my bitching and moaning about how Byte has abandonded its readers deleted ]

> ->They don't know that some of us feel that a "small system" is a 16Mhz
> ->68020 with 4 Meg of RAM, 700 Meg of hard disk, and 16 serial ports running
> ->Unix (like my home machine).  

>>you say all your friends run UN*X at home, and then you describe this machine
>>that would be the envy of any hobbyist and cost a good $7k (price I just
>>dreamed up) that YOU have at home.

Also, you don't need to start out with a machine like that.  First, get 
an A2000, monitor, 40 meg hard disk with controller.  A year or two 
later, you could add an A2620 or similar 68020 board for about the same
cost as your inital A2000.  Now you're a 68020 system capable of running
UNIX.  A multi-serial card would run you another $200-$300, and you'd need
two of 'em in your machine to get all those serial lines, but it can be
done.  You can add a high capacity drive or two to the SCSI controller next
year, and maybe UNIX if you like it.  Another high capacity drive, and
you're up to about what Michael's got at home.  Not cheap, but you eased
into it.  And you still have 2 Amiga slots free.

> I thought it was a good deal at the time and I still do.  

A comparable Amiga system would have run you more, so I think I agree.

> All of us felt that $5K was a great price for what we were getting.  
> The machine is FAST.  

That's not out of line with what lots of people spend on their hobbies
or pleasure activities.  Compare it with a small boat, or a classic car,
or travelling (priced winter trips to the Bahamas or Hawaii recently;
that's where I've been wasting my money...).  And most other hobbies
don't have a direct influence on your career.

>>I think you are in the small minority --- for now.  

True.  Me too (I've got something in the same performance ballpark at
home, sans a few serial ports and a bit of disk capacity).  And I 
certainly don't expect 16MHz 68020 system to always run $6000, or $4000 
for that matter, either.

> Michael R. Wayne      ---      TMC & Associates      ---      wayne@teemc.uucp
> INTERNET: wayne%teemc.uucp@umix.cc.umich.edu            uunet!umix!teemc!wayne 
-- 
Dave Haynie  "The 32 Bit Guy"     Commodore-Amiga  "The Crew That Never Rests"
   {ihnp4|uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh      PLINK: D-DAVE H     BIX: hazy
		"I can't relax, 'cause I'm a Boinger!"