From: willmore@iastate.edu (David Willmore) Subject: Re: Intel, the Pentium and Linux Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 22:31:23 GMT
nan@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Nan Zou) writes:
>jerry@msi.com (Jerry Shekhel) writes:
>>Nan Zou (nan@matt.ksu.ksu.edu) wrote:
>> but IMHO, Linux simply wipes the
>>floor with both OSF/1 and HP-(S)UX, as well as almost everything else I've
>>worked with. SunOS/Solaris is the only OS that's in the same league as far
>>as I'm concerned. The thing is, I don't think any of this will change until
>>the hardware vendors stop thinking they can develop operating systems as
>>well. That's why my next machine will probably be a Pentium -- so that I
>>can keep running Linux/GNU/XFree86.
>If I were considering future upgrades, I'd go with the Pentium route
>also, not because of its technological advantages over the other RISC
>chips, but because Linux runs on it. As nice as the Alpha and MIPS
>chips are, I don't think their impacts will be too significant (compared
>to Intel) to the destop PC market. Now the PowerPC on the other hand
>might have a chance...
The reason that I went with my 386/40 was that the price/performance couldn't
be beat by any machine in my price range. If it weren't for Linux, I wouldn't
even have considered it. Without a meaningful OS, the intel chips were just
so much bent sand. OS/2, win, winNT and friends just don't cut it. If it's
not Posix or better, it isn't worth using.
My next machine won't be an Intel archetecture machine. The reasons are
fairly clear in the market today. Very low priced RISC PC's are coming into
being which are in my price range and can use the standard hardware (IDE
drives, floppys, keyboards, vga cards, etc). The difference? They won't
need someone to write a 'Linux' for them. They'll *come* with a good OS.
They won't have to 'home grow' one. (no offence to the marvelous work
done by the Linux community of which I'm, somewhat, a part :)
Cheers,
David
-- =========================================================================== willmore@iastate.edu | "Death before dishonor" | "Better dead than greek" | David Willmore | "Ever noticed how much they look like orchids? Lovely!" | ===========================================================================