Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1999 18:34:24 -0700 From: "Mark Holloway" <mholloway@flashmail.com> To: <questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Alpha or Ultra 5? Message-ID: <000a01bec74f$ae6ee6c0$eb3bea18@lvcm.com>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0007_01BEC715.01B2FAA0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I almost made this a long, drawn email asking for advice. Then I erased = it because I didn't want to be boring.. Simply put, for the last 6 months I have been SUPER EXCITED to buy a Sun = Ultra 5. For $2500, I can get an Ultra 5/270mhz/256k cache machine with = 64MB ram. I wanted it for the sake of learning Solaris and learning = system administration tasks on the world's most popular commercial Unix. = Then it hit me! After selling all my legacy equipment on ebay and = having $2500 in cash sitting here in front of me, I DON'T WANT THE ULTRA = 5!=20 I used FreeBSD for several months last year and I though it was great. = It's fast and geared towards the Internet just like Solaris. The only = problem I have with buying an Ultra 5 is the cost of upgrading. Sure, = $2500 gets me a cheap Ultra 5 with 256k cache and a SpecInt of 10.2 = (equal to a Pentium II/233 - a 2 year old chip!). To upgrade the Ultra = 5 from 270 -> 480mhz with 2MB cache is $4000. The $2500 Ultra ships = with 8 Bit graphics and EIDE. The more I re-read the specs the more it = makes me see Sun is not appealing to me with the "shaved down" machine. = Besides, I want to learn "Internet" related administration, not OS = specific tasks. That means Apache, DNS, Sendmail, Real G2 Server, = things that are all available for both Solaris and FreeBSD. So, I = figures instead of spending the $2500 on a very low-end Ultra 5, I could = get more bang for the buck by getting a DEC Alpha.. A very good friend = of mine sells used SUN, SGI, and DEC ALPHA machines. He has the = following system for sale: DEC Alpha 500a, 128MB, 2MB Cache, 4GB HDA, 16MB PCI Video Card, CD-Rom - = $1550.00 Simply stated: A Sun machine that is comparable to this is going to cost = a fortune! My only question to you, the FreeBSD world (and PLEASE be = honest), is in regards to learning FreeBSD versus Solaris - is there = something I will gain by learning Solaris instead of FreeBSD? I'm an = MCSE, Cisco CCNA and CCNP who is studying for the Cisco CCIE. As we all = know, Cisco and Solaris are the two companies who are most prolific with = the Internet. However, we all know FreeBSD lives here, there, and = everywhere.. FreeBSD is by far the most popular platform that exists in = multi-vendor environments. Many shops who use Solaris for one task use = FreeBSD for 3 more tasks.. It just pops up all over the place. =20 Because I'm spending over $1k this is considered a serious move for me. = If I buy the Alpha and install FreeBSD then that's it - there is no = turning back! If I buy the Ultra 5, the same thing will happen..there = is no turning back! I don't have money to waste...whatever I get the = first time is what I am stuck with. My instinct tells me buying the = Ultra 5 will be fun for the first week but that I'll get frustrated with = the SpecINT 10.2 performce versus the Alpha's 18.9 performance. Also, = keeping up with FreeBSD is much easier.. Are there any known issues with the Alpha I should be aware of? =20 Regards, Mark Holloway I appreicate ANY feedback! ------=_NextPart_000_0007_01BEC715.01B2FAA0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" = http-equiv=3DContent-Type> <META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2614.3401" name=3DGENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>I almost made this a long, drawn email asking for=20 advice. Then I erased it because I didn't want to be = boring..</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>Simply put, for the last 6 months I have been SUPER = EXCITED to=20 buy a Sun Ultra 5. For $2500, I can get an Ultra 5/270mhz/256k = cache=20 machine with 64MB ram. I wanted it for the sake of learning = Solaris and=20 learning system administration tasks on the world's most popular = commercial=20 Unix. Then it hit me! After selling all my legacy equipment = on ebay=20 and having $2500 in cash sitting here in front of me, I DON'T WANT THE = ULTRA 5!=20 </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>I used FreeBSD for several months last year and I = though it=20 was great. It's fast and geared towards the Internet just like=20 Solaris. The only problem I have with buying an Ultra 5 is = the cost=20 of upgrading. Sure, $2500 gets me a cheap Ultra 5 with 256k cache = and a=20 SpecInt of 10.2 (equal to a Pentium II/233 - a 2 year old chip!). = To=20 upgrade the Ultra 5 from 270 -> 480mhz with 2MB cache is $4000. = The=20 $2500 Ultra ships with 8 Bit graphics and EIDE. The more I re-read = the=20 specs the more it makes me see Sun is not appealing to me with the = "shaved down"=20 machine. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>Besides, I want to learn "Internet" related = administration,=20 not OS specific tasks. That means Apache, DNS, Sendmail, Real G2 = Server,=20 things that are all available for both Solaris and FreeBSD. So, I = figures=20 instead of spending the $2500 on a very low-end Ultra 5, I could get = more bang=20 for the buck by getting a DEC Alpha.. A very good friend of mine = sells=20 used SUN, SGI, and DEC ALPHA machines. He has the following system = for=20 sale:</FONT></DIV><FONT size=3D2> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>DEC Alpha 500a, 128MB, 2MB Cache, 4GB HDA, 16MB PCI Video Card, = CD-Rom -=20 $1550.00</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Simply stated: A Sun machine that is comparable to this is going to = cost a=20 fortune! My only question to you, the FreeBSD world (and PLEASE be = honest), is in regards to learning FreeBSD versus Solaris - is there = something I=20 will gain by learning Solaris instead of FreeBSD? I'm an MCSE, = Cisco CCNA=20 and CCNP who is studying for the Cisco CCIE. As we all know, Cisco = and=20 Solaris are the two companies who are most prolific with the = Internet. =20 However, we all know FreeBSD lives here, there, and everywhere.. FreeBSD = is by=20 far the most popular platform that exists in multi-vendor=20 environments. Many shops who use Solaris for one task use FreeBSD = for 3=20 more tasks.. It just pops up all over the place. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Because I'm spending over $1k this is considered a serious move for = me. If I buy the Alpha and install FreeBSD then that's it - there = is no=20 turning back! If I buy the Ultra 5, the same thing will = happen..there is=20 no turning back! I don't have money to waste...whatever I get the = first=20 time is what I am stuck with. My instinct tells me buying the = Ultra 5 will=20 be fun for the first week but that I'll get frustrated with the SpecINT = 10.2=20 performce versus the Alpha's 18.9 performance. Also, keeping up = with=20 FreeBSD is much easier..</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Are there any known issues with the Alpha I should be aware = of? =20 </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Regards,</DIV> <DIV>Mark Holloway</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I appreicate ANY feedback!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV></FONT> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML> ------=_NextPart_000_0007_01BEC715.01B2FAA0-- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?000a01bec74f$ae6ee6c0$eb3bea18>