21 Feb
2003
21 Feb
'03
8:13 p.m.
On Fri, 21 Feb 2003, Patrick Finnegan wrote:
OK, I've got a few problems with this. Personally, I think you're
confusing the terms 'vintage' or 'classic' and 'real' mostly.
For
reference, I'll use three computers. One very new - an IBM p690
"Regatta" system, a 'just classic' machine ~10-11 y.o.- an IBM RS/6000
model 520, and a fairly classic machine - an IBM System/36. I've used
both the p690 and the 520, and sort-of-used a System/36. Yes, I have
'carefully chosen' these models to prove a point. If you're not
familiar with the p690, it's basically what would happen if you took an
IBM S/390 (their 'current' mainframe arch... well sort of) mainframe and
turned it into an RS/6000. While it doesn't have hot swap CPU or
memory, it is about 1/10th the price - the one that Purdue recieved had
a street value of about $1.3M.
A Regatta is a real computer. A Dual Athlon XP 1900 isn't. And yes, a
520 is a real computer. And so is an S/36.
And a Regatta is more different from a zSeries than you think. Price
isn't really the applicable issue here. There are z800's which cost
significantly less than a Regatta.
Peace... Sridhar
That's quite a sad definition of "real
computer". Any one of my
PDP-8 or PDP-11 systems, even the wimpiest, is much more of a "real
computer" than any PC compatible will ever be.
Phil wrote:
What, even if said PC is a K6-II/400 running
Linux?
Even if it's the dual Athlon XP 1900 running Red Hat 8 which I use for
most of my software development. There's no question that it has
orders of magnitude more computing power, memory, and disk, but that's
not part of my criteria for "real computer":