386 machine capacity

[Farhad Khansefid]

Hi,

I read somewhere that the 286 machine in a multiuser environment, sharply
degrades in performance when the number of users exceed 3 in normal 
applications.

My questions is whether anyone has used a 386 engine for more than 8 users
running data-entry or other types of applications (not heavy calculations)
in a xenix environment?
		
		- How does the performance degrade compared
		  to a one or two user system?

		- Did you have to use Smart serial ports?	

		- How far do you think one can push a 386?

		- Would 28ms disk access time be sufficient
		  or you need to spend some buck for 18/16.5 ms?

Any related experience is appreciated. Please send responses 
directly to me and I will summarize and post.

Thanx.    farhad at corwin.usc.edu