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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!newshost.telstra.net!act.news.telstra.net!psgrain!newsfeed.internetmci.com!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!seismo.demon.co.uk!user From: russ@seismo.demon.co.uk (Russ Evans) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc Subject: Re: Benifts of NetBSD over Ultrix 4.0? Date: Tue, 05 Mar 1996 08:03:26 +0100 Organization: Dis Organisation Lines: 64 Message-ID: <russ-0503960803260001@seismo.demon.co.uk> References: <4h6d2o$581@hermes.cair.du.edu> <obg.825701969@nada.kth.se> NNTP-Posting-Host: seismo.demon.co.uk X-NNTP-Posting-Host: seismo.demon.co.uk X-Newsreader: Yet Another NewsWatcher 2.2.0b4 In article <obg.825701969@nada.kth.se>, obg@nada.kth.se (Olof Backing) wrote: > In <4h6d2o$581@hermes.cair.du.edu> jventer@phoebe.cair.du.edu (mOdNaR) writes: > > > Hi, > > I've recently 'inherited' and old Decstation 5000/200 from a company that > >didn't have a clue how to us it. I must say I'm not much better, but I can > >get it running. It's basically been sitting in a closet since 1990 or so. > > >Anyways my question is what functionality/performance over Ultrix does NetBSD > >offer. It definantly seems like a pain to get installed (and I haven't figured > >out how to make a boot tape for ultrix yet...) The machine is pretty minimal, > >8Mb ram, RZ55 338Mb, I believe Frame buffer (CX?) video card, a thin-net > >ethernet adapter, TK50 tape drive, and a Floppy disk (RX23?). It's running > >Ultrix 4.0 and X ok, but a bit slow. Frankly though their's not really much > >I can do with the machine, I have APL and SQL for it but don't really need > >either. So if anhone can tell me why it would be worth the effort(besides the > >fun of a new personality) of getting NetBSD onto this machien I'd appreciate it. > >I have quite a bit of experience fiddiling around with Linux on a couple of Pc's > >and OSF/1 / Digital UNIX on a nice AlphaStation, so the gory details don't scare > >me as long as the goal is worth the effort. Thanks. > > Well, as I see it with a DECStation 3100 I can give you two options: > > * Upgrade to Ultrix 4.3, 4.4 or even 4.5 :-) _BUT_ stay away from > DECWindows! Don't install that CPU-hog. Go for X11R6 instead. > > * Install NetBSD (I wish I had the guts and space to do that!) and > X11R5 (as of reading others posts on the topic). > > The 8 megs might make the machine a little bit slow with Ultrix, but > I can't speak for NetBSD. I hope it's Gods gift for DECStation users. > The RZ55 is more of a 300 meg drive giving you either 293 or 303 megs > depending on how you mkfs:s the drive. The standard inode size is > not efficient (4096 that is) so try 8192 instead ( think that is the > number that I used). I'm becoming rather enthusiastic about NetBSD -- unlike Linux, it runs on the machines I actually have! I'm taking steps to load up NetBSD on my pmax at work, and may run it routinely. I see the main benefit as the shared library support -- the static-only libraries in Ultrix have always bugged me! 8MB is seriously minimal on a pmax. Even with 24MB, mine bursts at the seams when running inn and nnmaster, let alone any user tasks. Add, say, a gcc compile, and you can kill it dead. (OK, these are all memory hogs). So on an 8meg machine, shared libraries should buy you a lot. They may also help a bit on a crowded disk. I have 2xRZ56's on mine, but I have run it against an RZ55 (I think -- the '350MB' drive), and I could just about get a full Ultrix system on board. I would expect NetBSD to leave a little room for user filespace. What interests me is the statement that this machine has been in the closet since 1990. My recollection is that the 5000 wasn't announced until late 1990/early 1991. Are you saying it was never, ever, used? Russ