From owner-freebsd-isp Thu Aug 1 09:41:40 1996 Return-Path: owner-isp Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id JAA24191 for isp-outgoing; Thu, 1 Aug 1996 09:41:40 -0700 (PDT) Received: from Gatekeeper.Lamb.net (root@Gatekeeper.Lamb.net [206.169.44.2]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id JAA24179 for ; Thu, 1 Aug 1996 09:41:35 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from ulf@localhost) by Gatekeeper.Lamb.net (8.7.5/8.7.3) id JAA29085; Thu, 1 Aug 1996 09:39:22 -0700 (PDT) From: Ulf Zimmermann Message-Id: <199608011639.JAA29085@Gatekeeper.Lamb.net> Subject: Re: Question about Cisco 2503i price To: jgreco@brasil.moneng.mei.com (Joe Greco) Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 09:39:21 -0700 (PDT) Cc: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: <199608011516.KAA25748@brasil.moneng.mei.com> from Joe Greco at "Aug 1, 96 10:16:31 am" X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL22 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-isp@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk > > > >The 2503i is a mission critical version, it directly includes the software, > > > >which disables the serial port. You can later buy the full version ($1200 > > > >list price) to upgrade and use the serial ports. > > > > > > Does that include the (required) memory upgrade? > > > > > > So your talking $3000. for a box with 2 serial ports, an ISDN connection > > > and a '386-speed processor? Eeek! > > > > Two T1 ports, ISDN, support for T1 PPP, Cisco HDLC, Frame Relay and > > SMDS. Packet filtering. OSPF, RIP, RIP-2, EIGRP, BGP routing > > protocols (if you need them). Look at the 2524 which has provisions > > for integral 56K DDS or T1 CSU/DSUs to further reduce the system cost. > > > > Plus, you can plug it in and it works. No interrupt vectors, dma > > channels to fool with. Small package. Only a fan for moving parts, > > and no fsck. > > > > Not everyone is willing to spend a lot of time integrating a box when > > you can essentially buy an appliance off the shelf which does a better > > job. Are we going to start this whole discussion again? > > Yes, I agree, the FreeBSD box does a better job. Guys, take it to -chat > or -isp, where people either don't give a rip or don't give a rip, > respectively. > > Point for point, you can match Ciscos and FreeBSD boxes, it's simply a > matter of which colored glasses you put on. Louis will never admit that > a small amount of effort would yield a FreeBSD router that could > outperform a Cisco in terms of performance and reliability, and still > have no moving parts, because Louis is an "out of the box" bigot. Dennis > will take the opposing viewpoint.. > > So, puh-leeze, let's not get into this again... both sides are right, from > a certain point of view. > It might be true that a FreeBSD box can always outperform a Cisco 25xx, but it can never outperfom a system which does part of the routing on the interfaces itself, like Cisco does it on the 6 port Ethernet cards. Also it can't do that if you look at the speed of a PC bus. So, and to end the whole discussion: I really asked only for a price so I can compare if the 15% I got on the list price is good or not. I got yesterday a second quote whihc is 20% off list price. And now the reasons I want a Cisco: 1.) I like external boxes, because I play to much with my PC's ;-) 2.) I am sysadmin and want to get more into networking, all the companies I worked, are using Cisco. So I need to learn IOS. At the moment I always need the handbooks or the online documentation. And I like to know much ;-) 3.) At the same time I am buying this Cisco, I am building a FreeBSD box with 4 ethernet ports and 2 serial for WAN. So and now let's stop this thread and have fun :) Ulf. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ulf Zimmermann, 1525 Pacific Ave., Alameda, CA-94501, #: 510-865-0204 Lamb Art Internet Services || http://www.Lamb.net/