Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!husc6!ogccse!littlei!omepd!mipos3!td2cad!jmarek
From: jmarek@td2cad.intel.com (John Marek)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
Subject: Re: DIBOL alternatives?
Message-ID: <1850@td2cad.intel.com>
Date: 4 May 89 15:35:40 GMT
References: <10547@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu>
Reply-To: jmarek@td2cad.UUCP (John Marek)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Intel TD, Santa Clara CA
Lines: 48

In article <10547@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu> tim@cit-vax.UUCP (Timothy L. Kay) writes:

>I might be consulting for a company that is running a large
>application written in DIBOL.  They want to upgrade from their 11/70
>platform.  DEC proposes a Micro Vax.  The prices are outrageous.  They
>charge about $8,000 for each incremental 10-user license.  They charge
>about $11,500 for each disk drive!

I wouldn't jump too fast on the "prices are outrageous" bandwagon.  The 
company probably paid $200K for their 11/70 if they bought it new.  An MV3300 
even with DEC drives and the VMS license is probably less than $100K.  

>Questions:

>	1.  Does the software restrict you from running more users
>	than you are licensed?

VMS does restrict the number of INTERACTIVE users (via direct login or SET 
HOST).  It does not restrict the number of non-interactive processes.  

>	2.  Do other vendors make RS232 serial boards for the MV3300?

There are tons of third-party peripherals of all types for Q-bus devices.  I 
would recommend Emulex or Able for serial ports.  You may also want to check 
the used equipment market for DEC stuff.  (Personally, I recommend terminal 
servers if you can afford them).

>	3.  What do I need to know about finding alternate vendors
>	for disk space?  I suppose I would need controller cards that
>	would hook up to Maxtor disks, for example?

Try SI or Emulex. 

>	4.  Are there other platforms that run DIBOL?  Preferably
>	under Unix?

Supposedly there are a lot of DIBOL-clones on the market (not called DIBOL 
since that's trademarked).  I haven't found any (haven't looked that hard).  
We only use DIBOL in a very limited way under VMS but I would be interested 
in a UNIX version.

>Tim

John.
-- 
John Marek, Intel Corp (...!decwrl!td2cad!jmarek  --  jmarek@td2cad.intel.com)

Any opinions in the above text are not Intel's.  Therefore, they are correct.