From owner-freebsd-newbies Wed Jul 29 11:46:34 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id LAA28726 for freebsd-newbies-outgoing; Wed, 29 Jul 1998 11:46:34 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from smok.apk.net (root@mail.apk.net [207.54.158.15]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id LAA28599 for ; Wed, 29 Jul 1998 11:46:13 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from stuart@junior.apk.net) Received: from junior.apk.net (stuart@junior.apk.net [207.54.158.20]) by smok.apk.net (8.9.1/8.9.1/ts-apk-rel.980722) with ESMTP id OAA18550; Wed, 29 Jul 1998 14:45:36 -0400 (EDT) Received: from localhost by junior.apk.net (8.9.1/8.9.1) with SMTP id OAA03742; Wed, 29 Jul 1998 14:45:28 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 14:45:28 -0400 (EDT) From: Stuart Krivis To: Sean Harding cc: Rainer M Duffner , freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: What tipped the balance In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On Wed, 29 Jul 1998, Sean Harding wrote: > Everything from the cheapness of 99% of PC cases (yes, even the expensive > ones when you put them next to something from a workstation manufacturer) > to having to screw around with IRQs and in the bios. I am plenty willing > to pay the extra $$$ to have a clean Sun on which I can get an "ok>" > prompt, type "boot net - install" and install the *entire* OS from a CD > that's in a machine in another room. Try that sort of thing on a PC. At > the very least, you'd have to boot from a floppy or CD on the local > machine.... Being able to "boot net" is not a reason for choosing a Sun over a PC. Good PC hardware is actually very reliable. Most people don't know good hardware though. Ever looked at the IBM PC Server series? They're rated by IBM to handle Solaris x86 or SCO. And the hardware quality is quite good. > Well, it all depends on what you are doing. When I want to get real work > done and have the resources to do so, I skip the PC hardware biz and get > something real. When it's for fun or on a low budget, a PC with FreeBSD > can't be beat. You can get plenty of work done on a PC running FreeBSD. > I'm certainly not suggesting that home users go out and buy a Sun or SGI > (though an older Sun or SGI can be had for $1000-2000)...I'm just saying > that if you could, it would be worth it IMHO. I work for a Sun VAR and I say you're just a hardware bigot. There are times when a Sun is better and times it isn't. A PC running FreeBSD with a good video card is snappier than an Ultra2 with 2 200 MHz processors and a Creator 3D card for many tasks. I've tried it. On the other hand, load the PC down to where it runs into bus limits and the Sun walks away from it. -- Stuart Krivis stuart@krivis.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message