Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!samsung!usc!orion.oac.uci.edu!uci-ics!rfg
From: rfg@ics.uci.edu (Ron Guilmette)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.m88k
Subject: Re: Information wanted on m88000 Risc workstations
Keywords: 80386 m88000 Everex Opus UNIX DOS
Message-ID: <25A64468.11498@paris.ics.uci.edu>
Date: 6 Jan 90 19:18:00 GMT
References: <641@s5.Morgan.COM>
Reply-To: Ron Guilmette <rfg@ics.uci.edu>
Organization: University of California, Irvine - Dept of ICS
Lines: 34

In article <641@s5.Morgan.COM> amull@Morgan.COM (Andrew P. Mullhaupt) writes:
>Please send me any information, experience, sources, tips
>you may have regarding the m88000/i80386 combination systems
>such as the Opus Personal Mainframe 8120, Everex Step 8825,
>or other similar systems. 

Coincidently, there is a write up about such systems in the January 1990
issue of "MIPS" magazine (soon to be "Personal Workstation" magazine?).

I haven't read it in detail yet, but there is also a separate article
on page 56 ("Great Performers") where some benchmarks of different
types of current hardware offerings are given, along with price/
performance evaluations.

The bottom line?  Three of the five "Best Performers" in the category
called "UNIX Workstations" are based on the 88000 (including the top
two slots).  In the "Best Price/Performance" list, the top 4 entries
are all based on the 88000.

Two items worthy of note from the "Best Price/Performance" list:

	The least expensive item on the list is the Data General
	AViiON workstation (even less expensive than the 386 add-ins).

	The DG AViiON has far and away the best single-precision
	Whetstone performance, and it has much better double-precision
	performance than any of the 386 add-ins.  This fact could be
	critical if you plan on doing any graphics or other numerically
	intensive computation.

Anybody who is now considering buying a "hot-box" would be well advised
to have a look at this article before making a final choice.

// rfg