Unix on the Vax 8600

[Keith Packard]

In article <1513 at emory.UUCP> km at emory.UUCP (Ken Mandelberg) writes:
>Right now we run about 30 users each on two 780s runing BSD. Would
>60 users run better on one 8600. The users are students and faculty
>mostly in an edit/compile cycle, with a smaller number doing 
>nroff/troff and running some statistical packages.
>
>On the surface, the 8600 would seem like a win. DEC rates it at
>about 4 780s. However, this is presumably a VMS comparision, and
>it is not clear to me if it still holds true for Unix.
>
>
>Ken Mandelberg
>Emory University
>Dept of Math and CS
>Atlanta, Ga 30322

Sites like this might want to look into systems like the
sequent balance 8000 or other multi-cpu systems.  We have
had a sequent box for about 3 months and I, for one, would
never consider buying a vax again in a multi-user environment.  

It's got 6 32016's and a mess of iop's and runs 4.2 unix.
For single job execution it performs about like an 11/750.
For 6 job execution it performs about like 6 11/750's.  Even the
i/o bandwidth doesn't seem to slow it down a bit, the notoriously
cpu bound 4.2 file system has a party with 6 cpu's serving it!

And, the best part, it costs less than a *single* 11/780!
Also, it is housed in a rather small box (1m deep, 2m wide
and <1m high).  I use it for software development - edit,
compile, link...  and have been working with ~1M of code.
I was on an 11/780 with about 30 other software designers,
load averages of 20-40 not uncommon.  The sequent box has
been wonderful.

They are supposedly coming out with 32032 boards that are plug
compatible with the 32016 boards and run a bit faster.

The days of single CPU's multitasking for a multitude of
users are numbered, there are only two directions I see
of change, either sun's on every desk or systems like
the sequent box.  I would rather have the sun, but the
sequent box is more in keeping with traditional ideas
of centrallized computing power, as well as being
well suited for the university environment where a
$17000 machine availible for general use would tend to
be destroyed in less than a year.

I, of course, have no connection with sequent except as
a satisfied user.

keith packard
...!tektronix!tekmdp!keithp	(this is the sequent box)
...!tektronix!reed!keith	(home)