Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!lll-winken!uunet!dg!rec
From: rec@dg.dg.com (Robert Cousins)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.misc
Subject: Re: Criteria for comparing RISC processors
Message-ID: <161@dg.dg.com>
Date: 5 May 89 13:41:23 GMT
References: <2368@ogccse.ogc.edu> <1464@cfa.cfa.harvard.EDU> <141@dg.dg.com> <18120@winchester.mips.COM> <144@dg.dg.com> <18316@winchester.mips.COM> <147@dg.dg.com> <18645@mips.mips.COM> <154@dg.dg.com> <8142@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Reply-To: uunet!dg!rec (Robert Cousins)
Organization: Data General, Westboro, MA.
Lines: 79

In article <8142@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> mbkennel@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Matthew B. Kennel) writes:
>This should really be in e-mail, but it's bounced back faster than a superball.
>
>  I'm thinking of getting a workstation, primarily for scientific
>computation. . . .

<explaination of what he needs and how well his jobs run on various machines>

>The Iris is out of my price range ($20K+), but I really don't need
>all the fancy color graphics.  What I want is something like a 
>NeXT:
>  monochrome screen, medium-sized disk (~100 MB), and appropriate amount
>of memory(8 mb I guess).  
>
>For the vendors:
>	What would be the price on a DG workstation as described above, with
>and without educational discount?  

	The AViiON AVX 300 (bottom of the line) with 8 Megs of RAM,
	160 Meg disk, 150 Mb tape, DG/UX 4.1, X-11, etc. would cost
	$14295 retail.  This also includes the complete documentation
	package, 19" 70Hz monitor (1280 x 1024), keyboard, mouse, etc.

>What kind of system software does it come with?  

	DG/UX 4.1 (the latest revision)
	Full System V commands set
	C compiler
	X-11 R 3
	NFS
	TCP/IP

>Is it BSD or SYSV based?  (which is it _really_?) 

	DG/UX is a from scratch redesign of the kernel.  It is SVID
	compliant and supports all 4.3 BSD calls except the quota
	calls.  

>Is X windows included?  (i.e. a working, compatible server) 

	Yes.  X11r3

>How close is the OS to common "industry standards"?  

	DG/UX 4.1 is 88/open ABI compliant.  It will run applications
	developed on any ABI compliant product.  There are currently
	more than 45 developers working to this standard.

>Is it possible for individuals to purchase, or can it only work through 
>a department/purchasing officer?  

	If you want to purchase retail, just contact your local DG office.
	If you wish to participate in the Design/Win program, you should
	probably work through your purchasing officer.  The Design/Win
	program gives a substantial discount from list to selected 
	software developers.  You may qualify.  For more information
	concerning Design/Win, contact Sandy Friedman at (508)870-9764.

>Can one get third-party memory or disk drives, e.g. do Macintosh RAM 
>modules and SCSI drives work with it?

	The AVX workstations us a 4 megabyte RAM module developed by
	DG which is not currently sourced by another company.  (Just
	wait a while. :-)  As for SCSI devices, the software is designed
	to allow third party SCSI peripherals to be integrated with
	"a high probability of success" though obviously the diskman
	menus do not have entries for everyone's favorite SCSI disks.

>
>Much thanks,
>Matt Kennel
>
>mbkennel@phoenix.princeton.edu

Robert Cousins
Dept. Mgr, Workstation Dev't.
Data General Corp

Speaking for myself alone.