From owner-freebsd-sparc Wed Oct 25 12:47:26 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-sparc@freebsd.org Received: from alpha.netaccess.on.ca (alpha.netaccess.on.ca [199.243.225.10]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7DBAF37B479; Wed, 25 Oct 2000 12:47:23 -0700 (PDT) Received: from schizo.controlq.com (dial085.nas.net [207.176.144.85]) by alpha.netaccess.on.ca (8.9.0/8.9.0) with ESMTP id PAA19113; Wed, 25 Oct 2000 15:47:21 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 15:57:01 -0400 (EDT) From: "Robert S. Sciuk" Cc: sparc@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-sparc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Anyone out there ? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-sparc@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On Tue, 24 Oct 2000, Rick Hamell wrote: > > > > Of course the biggest problem to me is the cost of Sparc > > > Architecture... I can get Ultra 5 in the $900-$1000 range. Yet can go down > > > to my local computer store a buy a decent PC for $400. Yes Sparc Hardware > > > is good, and if I needed it, might be worth the money. But I've been > > > building good quality servers for years and find it hard to justify the > > > extra money for a Sparc machine when PC does just as well. :) > > > > You cannot get the 24/7 HW support that Sun gives on most PC's. > > Nor the "just plug-n-play" of its hardware. > > On the other hand, I've got enough experience with PC hardware > that that is not going to be a problem. :) I can also easliy afford (If I > have too,) run down the street to buy a replacement part. Sun dosen't have > that. I can get next day shipping direct from Sun. I could even set myself > up with one of the Sun parts distributors in my area, but they all tend to > be the same way, next day shipping, no will call. > As for Plug and Play... Sun's is nice, but again enough PC > Experience makes that a moot point. :) > Saying all that, I'd still love to get my hand's on more Sparc > Hardware... it all comes down to cost. I'm not willing to plunk down the > money for even a used Ultra System with my non-needs. :) > I think we forget our roots. Older 32 Bit workstations are being given away, and this is where BSD grew up and belongs. My IPX is just begging for FreeBSD, but I can use Net or OpenBSD as well. I'm not likely to buy an ultrasparc either, given the recent intel improvements in performance and i/o bandwidth (well, over the old ISA machines anyways). Porting to ultrasparc makes less sense than legacy SPARC and HPPA for that matter, since we can get our hands on those boxes for 0$ frequently. just a thought. Cheers, R. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-sparc" in the body of the message