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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msuinfo!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!news.uoregon.edu!netnews.nwnet.net!news.u.washington.edu!buckwild From: buckwild@u.washington.edu (Mark Tamola) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions Subject: Need an honest opinion: Sun Sparc 5 vs. P90 or P60 NetBSD-1.0Beta Date: 24 Aug 1994 08:58:15 GMT Organization: University of Washington, Seattle Lines: 30 Message-ID: <33f237$19c@news.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: stein3.u.washington.edu I am asking not to start some flame war (which shouldn't really happen, since I didn't cross post to any sun groups, or any other group for that matter). What I really need to know is, which is really the more practical, useful, and speedy machine? The types of things I'll be doing are word processing, lots of spread-sheet calculation, scientific simulations, and lots of C programming. I also hope to do a lot of graphics work, such as CAD and image editing. I have heard many conflicting reports on using RISC vs. CISC. I am sure the NetBSD Pentium could probably do all the things a SunSparc 5 can, but which one can do it better? Which one will hold out for at least the next three years (i.e. which one would be more technically ahead)? Performance and speed are big factors in my decision. Things like how much faster does the SS5 compile something like the whole X11R5 distrib compared to the P90, and vice versa. Keep in mind it will be a purely single user machine (although it may be hooked up to only one other machine just for pure network entertainment). Also note that price *IS NOT* a factor. One more thing, I want to know about performance under NetBSD-1.whatever, NOT FreeBSD (or 386BSD for that matter). However, if there is a FreeBSD person out there who can speak up for a Sun Sparc, I would like to hear her/him. Thanks for any replies that anyone may give to me. I know I asked a lot of questions, but I wanted to get an honest "net" opinion, since most mags and representatives from Sun surely have a biased opinion 8). Again, thanks for any resonses to my plea for help. Sincerely,