Subject: Re: Alpha Recommendation Query
To: John C. Hayward <John.C.Hayward@wheaton.edu>
From: Andrew Gallatin <gallatin@cs.duke.edu>
List: port-alpha
Date: 01/22/1997 09:01:16
Chris G. Demetriou writes:
 > >    We are in the process or distributing our network services on various
 > > machines.  Since NetBSD is well connected with Sendmail, DNS and so on
 > > we are considering using some Alphas running NetBSD for these services.
 > > With last falls sale of varioius Multia's we were thinking of using
 > > some of these inexpensive Alphas for doing various things and having a
 > > spare around to plug in as a replacement.  
 > >    Last Fall it seemed that the 166MHZ multia was going for $800 and in
 > > smaller supply the 233MHZ for $1100.
 > >    Any suggestions for what might be a good Alpha which NetBSD is
 > > supported which would be good for such a pupose?
 > >    If not we will probably get some Pent-Pros and put the i386 port
 > > up.
 > 
 > So, Multias, etc., are (in my experience, at least) sturdy little
 > boxes, but ... rather slow.
 > 
 > If you're thinking machines comparable to Pentium Pro systems, i'd say
 > you're looking for systems with either a high-end 21064A cpu (e.g. the
 > faster versions of the AlphaStation 255), or with a low-end 21164[A]
 > (e.g. the AlphaStation 500 and 600, or the eb164/pc164
 > motherboard-based systems).
 > 
 > 
 > AlphaStation 200/400/255 systems are my primary development machines,
 > and they work great.

DCG claims to have cheap 200 4/233's.  These are 233Mhz 21064a's
w/512k L2 cache. $2300 for a 32MB, 1G system, $2800 for a 64MB, 2GB
system.  Keep in mind that NetBSD will not run X with the graphics
cards he's listing here (PowerStorm 3D10 & ZLXp-E2).  See
http://www.dcginc.com/alpha233.htm

I've never bought anything from this guy, but a friend of mine who's
shopping for an alpha just ordered one from here & passed the URL on to
me.

Drew

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