From: "Alex R.N. Wetmore" <aw2t+@andrew.cmu.edu> Subject: Re: What are the various PC bassed Unix box OS? Date: Thu, 9 Sep 1993 09:52:55 -0400
Excerpts from netnews.comp.os.386bsd.misc: 9-Sep-93 Re: What are the
various PC.. by Jeff Stern@aris.ss.uci.e
> Wouldn't this, however, be an argument *for* getting a 486? I am just
> wondering, as I have heard that UNIX on a 486 should conceivably run
> better because the 486's hardware, especially if it has a local bus,
> accesses peripherals, especially the hard drive, much more
> efficiently, so that users are not as affected by others using the
> drive...
The hardware is pretty much the same as on 386 systems (which is why a
lot of motherboards let you plug in a 386 or 486 these days). Local bus
should speed up disk access (esp with scsi) and video access, but you
can get local bus for 386 machines as well.
I agree with the above statement that you really don't need a 486 (I
used to run bsd on a 386dx/16 with a 387 very happily, but wanted more
memory which meant buying a new motherboard, so I got a 486sx).
On the other hand with MB prices being so low these days (about a $30
difference between a 386/33 and a 486sx/25) why not just buy the 486...
alex