Subject: Re: ballpark ratio users:cpu for a [345]86 NetBSD box?
To: None <perry@imsi.com>
From: Dave McGuire <mcguire@rocinante.digex.net>
List: current-users
Date: 09/27/1994 16:28:57
On September 27, you wrote:
> The comment reminds me of a manager I knew once who wouldn't believe
> that Sparcstation 10 pizza boxes were more powerful than his old
> fridge size sun 4/490 servers. After all, they were too small -- how
> could they be so powerful?  Before dismissing the idea as "silly", you
> ought to try it out.

  Mine is not an issue of size.  It's an issue of intended
application, even if it has been reduced to a `perceived' issue only.
I agree with your argument.  How many times do I have to ask you to
not let this conversation degenerate into a completely worthless flame
war?  Now that we have NetBSD to make it worthwhile, I may just "try
it out".

> >   Out of curiosity...I honestly don't know much about the Pentium's
> > instruction set, beyond the obvious 8086isms.  What is ugly about it?
> 
> The obvious 8086isms. Furthermore, the whole machine is dirty -- too
> much ten year old backward compatibility. You cannot, however, beat
> the price/performance.

  Well, if they're really under $2k for that kind of hardware, I think
I'd have to agree.


                            -Dave McGuire
                             Operations
                             Digital Express Group, Incorporated
                             mcguire@digex.net