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From: bob@allosaur.cis.ohio-state.edu (Bob Sutterfield)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.misc,comp.os.misc,comp.misc,comp.arch,comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: The NeXT machine has been announced! (long) (shuffling optifloppies)
Keywords: 256 MB is a lot or not enough
Message-ID: <24931@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 18 Oct 88 15:44:35 GMT
References: <360@elan.UUCP> <2070@cloud9.UUCP> <528@fabscal.UUCP> <1152@mmm.UUCP>
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In article <1152@mmm.UUCP> schultz@mmm.UUCP (John C Schultz) writes:
>Disk shuffling will still be a problem, escpecially if people
>implement 100+ networks of NeXT machines, each of which need to be
>backed up.

Gaak!  You're still thinking in personal computer terms, not
workstation terms.  Remember, this machine is for a University's
networked workstation environnment.  It's not intended for the home
market!  That's not snobbishness, it's a marketing choice.

The reason the thing has no Winchester by default is (a) it makes more
sense as a diskfree workstation talking over the network to a NFS file
server (local / and /usr are *hard* to administer in the 100's); and
(b) so that the appropriate amount of Winchester storage can be added
in the case that someone needs to configure one as a server or the
very occasional standalone.

In this environment, the optifloppy is used for software distribution.
If a NeXT machine is a server, it can be used for dump or rdump.
Usually, though, dumps will be done to a central server's 1/2" tape
drive.  The optifloppy on an individual workstation in a lab will be
used the same way students use magfloppies on Macintoshes now: to
carry around their personal work in their backpacks from lab to lab.
-=-
Zippy sez,								--Bob
I just had a NOSE JOB!!