Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 13:38:01 -0600 (CST) From: Joe Greco <jgreco@brasil.moneng.mei.com> To: dennis@etinc.com (dennis) Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Multi-Port Async Cards Message-ID: <199601301938.NAA05698@brasil.moneng.mei.com> In-Reply-To: <199601300147.UAA12915@etinc.com> from "dennis" at Jan 29, 96 08:47:37 pm
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> >> A "real" isp might use a portmaster....but many non-isps would like to > >> provide a small number of modem lines for corporate dial-in. Its a big > >> selling point for the O/S. > > > >That resembles what I'm doing here at MEI with the engineering dial-in > >pool... 4 AT&T Paradyne DataPort 14.4 modems on a hunt. The box? A > >FreeBSD 2.0.5R 386DX/16. Extra benefit: the lines can be used for outdials > >too!! > > A brand new 486SLC-33 MB is 42 bucks (last time I checked)....more than twice as > fast as 386DX/16..... The 386DX/16 was $0.00, included case and power supply, video card, and network card (i.e. it was a retired PC). It is not showing any signs of being unable to keep up with the workload. I have a 386DX/33 running as a terminal server down at sol.net handling 8 lines. Also not a problem. FreeBSD, taking that old "obsolete" PC hardware and giving it new life. I remember the days of the VAX 11/750 running BSD. The number .5 MIPS sticks in my mind. I know MIPS is an almost worthless benchmark but I still favor it as my method of rough comparisons. As I recall, the MIPS rating for a 386DX class machine is approximately CLOCK/5, and for a 486DX class machine is around CLOCK/2. (I assume a 386SX would be CLOCK/10 for 32 bit stuff).. so even a 386sx/16 running in non-turbo mode would be around .8 MIPS. Plentyyyyy of power. ;-) As far as new boxes go - I probably wouldn't venture much lower than a 486DX4/120 (CPU ~= $100, MB ~= $100) unless I happened to get it for free. You can't argue with the bang per buck figure. ;-) ... Joe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Greco - Systems Administrator jgreco@ns.sol.net Solaria Public Access UNIX - Milwaukee, WI 414/342-4847
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