Use a 386 unix as a home machine?

[Karl Denninger]

In article <1557 at aber-cs.UUCP> pcg at cs.aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi) writes:
>
>You also absolutely want a 1/4" tape, either a 60MBytes or a 125 MBytes one
>(the higher capacity ones are *expnsive*). Wangtek, Everex and Archive are
>pretty good. Get a combo with a QIC-02 interface, not a QIC-36 one, they
>tend to be cheaper. And if you lose the controller (I did :->), a QIC-02
>one costs half a QIC-36 one.

On the other hand, you can get an Archive Super Scorpion 125MB drive quite
cheaply -- well under $1,000.  They are in short supply, as they've been
discontinued by the maker, but we still have a few (I think).  Other vendors
are probably the same there.

>On the other hand I seriously suggest that you consider using a SCSI
>controller.  You surely *need* a cartridge tape backup, and if you
>anticipate running out of slots or IRQ lines, etc..., a SCSI controller can
>drive as many discs and tapes as you want. The SCSI controllers are also
>often (not the Seagate ones, that is) multithreading, and fast.  There is no
>question that *the* SCSI controller is the Adaptec 1542A. A SCSI controller
>costs more than an RLL or ESDI one, but less than an RLL or ESDI controller
>+ a tape controller. If I were to reconfigure my system now, I would go for
>a SCSI controller. You have an ample choice of devices. The
>Quantum PRO80S seems to be nice, and not too terribly expensive. Apparently
>the best SCSI tape is the Archive Viper, but I have no idea of prices.

The 1542 Adaptec controller >is< nice.  No gripes there.

Archive Viper 150MB tape drives in SCSI format are well under $1k as well.
They even have a >new< 525MB (yow!) drive.  We're getting one of those on
evaluation; they're not much more expensive than the 150MB models.  The one
drawback is that like most QIC drives, they can read but not write the lower
density media.

>As to Unixes, get Everex if you have money problems, SCO Unix if you haven't
>and want a lot of DOS compatibility, ISC if you want fast X11. Have a look
>at SCO's open desktop (even if it has Ingres, which is the competition).
>Make sure that the Unix you get can boot off a SCSI controller if you get
>one.

I would say either ISC or SCO.  Then again, I haven't played with ESIX.

>As to video board, get an ATI VGA wonder. They usually come with a free bus
>mouse (which saves you another slot, and money), and they are 16 bit (faster
>in character mode or 256 color mode), and you can get a nice VGA gray scale
>monitor to match.

NO!  The ATI bus mouse is not recognized here by either SCO or ISC's unix,
although it does work fine under MSDOS.  Neither ISC or SCO will support
that configuration, and ATI doesn't know why it doesn't work (nor do SCO or
ISC).  It may be 90% Microsoft bus mouse compatible, but it's not 100%.

>If you can, get *two* discs instead of one with the same capacity. For example,
>if you go RLL, get two Mitsubishi MR535 40/60 Megs, 25 msec, instead of
>a single 120 Meg disc. If you balance the load, your system, even single user,
>will be faster. With SCSI, having two discs is even better, because they
>can overlap operations.

Correct.

>As to laser printers, get an HP LJ IIP (low cost, low running cost).

Especially if you don't mind doing a little hacking.  I understand that the
IIP can take LZW compressed input -- which will make the printer run
god-awfully fast compared to the LJII.  

--
Karl Denninger (karl at ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl)
Public Access Data Line: [+1 708 566-8911], Voice: [+1 708 566-8910]
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