Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 23:05:27 -0400 (EDT) From: Mark Mayo <mark@quickweb.com> To: Jason Thorpe <thorpej@nas.nasa.gov> Cc: Dennis <dennis@etinc.com>, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: mitsumi CD-ROM Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.94.960716225604.6321B-100000@scooter.quickweb.com> In-Reply-To: <199607161917.MAA03813@lestat.nas.nasa.gov>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Tue, 16 Jul 1996, Jason Thorpe wrote: > On Tue, 16 Jul 1996 13:56:35 -0400 > dennis@etinc.com (Dennis) wrote: > > > Yeah, when you're spending taxpayers dollars those high-end 'puters > > are real nice! :-) > > > With every purchase, a good consumer makes a value judgement. Frankly > > I get more utility out of 5 PCs than I do with 1 of whatever you recommend... > > particularly when its my money. > > ...sort of hard to do when I haven't actually recommended anything here > on this list. Actually, I did recommend the purchase of some PCs for our > Data Communcations Laboratory. They're pretty high-end PCs, but that doesn't > mean they don't suck. They were recommended mostly because they're > fairly cheap, and they run NetBSD really well. (Don't try to convert me; > I have Sparcs and Alphas in the lab, as well :-) > > It's clear that I'm going to have to justify my comment... One of the big > reasons I think PCs suck is because there's so much hackish hardware for > them. SCSI gear is _not_ that much more expensive, and the benefits of > using SCSI are far greater than the (small) additional cost. > > If we're going to perpetuate the use of a really lame (IMHO) architecture > such as the x86, then we might as well try to break the cycle of hanging > hackish hardware off of it. > > > IDE drives are just fine and darn convenient, considering all most people do > > with them is load a distribution or pull something off an archive. And for > > $65. a piece for a 6X drive they're practically disposable. > > I fail to see value in "disposable" hardware. That's just wasteful. In > the long-run, you end up spending _more_ than you did on just one piece > of good hardware. I fail to see why you think any computer hardware isn't disposable. Fact is, a computer I buy today will be an out-of-date piece of junk 3 years from now. Peripherals like CD-ROMS might as well be disposable. What do you do with your old Sun 350's? I use mine as door stops.. I just replaced a $100,000 AIX server puchased 4 years ago with a $5000 Pentium Pro 'PC' - and it kicks the IBM's ass around the block!! (thanx to FreeBSD :-) Reality check: PC hardware is catching up with 'workstation' hardware at a remarkable rate - and for 1/10th the price. As far as I see it, this concept is the REASON behind FreeBSD. It's a UNIX that runs on **PC's**. If you want 'superior hardware', just chuck out $35,000 for an HP PA-9000 or Dec Alpha. As much as I love my ALpha machine at work, I think FreeBSD should definately support 'cheap' hardware like IDE CDROMS. They get the job done, and let more people run a real OS for little cost. Later, -Mark :%t$sig -- Oops, thought I was in vi.. ------------------------------------------- | Mark Mayo mark@quickweb.com | | C-Soft www.quickweb.com | ------------------------------------------- > > -- save the ancient forests - http://www.bayarea.net/~thorpej/forest/ -- > Jason R. Thorpe thorpej@nas.nasa.gov > NASA Ames Research Center Home: 408.866.1912 > NAS: M/S 258-6 Work: 415.604.0935 > Moffett Field, CA 94035 Pager: 415.428.6939 >
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.3.94.960716225604.6321B-100000>