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>From: Eric Pani <address@hidden> >Organization: Northeast Louisiana University >Keywords: 200003272256.PAA08972 PC Solaris x86 hardware warranty Eric, >We are looking at replacing our SPARC20 ingestor with a PC running >Solaris x86. Here is the configuration we are considering: > >1 Minitower enclosure >2 Intel P3-733 MHz CPU >512 MB PC800 ECC RDRAM (2 RIMMS) >Diamond Viper V770D 32 MB Video Card >Ultra 160/M SCSI Controller Card >36 GB Ultra2/Wide SCSI 10,000 RPM Hard drive >17" M780 Monitor >LS120 SuperDisk > >DELL gives us a quote of $5241. This sounds like a reasonable machine, but our system administrator, Mike Schmidt, had this to say: o you could probably do better pricewise by going somewhere other than Dell o the monitor seems pretty small o if you havn't already, you should look at; http://soldc.sun.com/support/drivers/hcl/index.html o we've run into problems supporting that latest and greatest SCSI (U2W) at one point, so make sure the SCSI chipset is supported o the Superdisk doesn't appear to be supported by Sun, but may well be by others. Based on my experience with our x86 systems here, I would max out the memory configuration (1GB on most system) if possible Have you asked Dell to certify that the components listed will be supported by Sun Solaris x86 (they probably won't, but you should ask)? When we purchase PC, we specify in our purchase agreement that the machine and all hardware components have to work with the latest releases of: Sun Solaris x86 RedHat Linux Microsoft Windows NT I have included the quote for the latest systems that we purchased at the end of this email. >We would also need to get C++ and Fortran compilers. You would need to purchase the Sun development environment. The latest release is SC5.0. >Your comments on the machine and suggestions about the compilers would >be appreciated. The machine sounds like ones that we ordered recently. The only difference is the video card and the 36 GB hard disk. One thing about Solaris x86, its support for the latest in video cards is minimal. One can get around that by purchasing a commercial X window system and installing that instead of using what comes with x86, but that will add another $200 or so to your total. >We want this box to last us for a while and to act as >our ingestor. The lifetime of this machine will be no more and most likely no less than other machines: about 2 years. >We would also like it to be able to share its data with >other PCs acting as X-terminals. What you really mean is to run multiple invocations of whatever software that you want to use (e.g., GEMPAK/GARP (do you use McIDAS anymore?)). For this you would have to worry about total amount of memory used. You will be suprised how fast 500 MB of memory can disappear when you are running multiple instances of display/analysis packages. I agree with Mike and recommend that you max out this system with 1 GB of RAM. For a comparison of your machine and ones we have purchased fairly recently, please check out the 'platforms' search page: Unidata Home Page http://www.unidata.ucar.edu Search http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/glimpsedocs/glimpse.html platforms support e-mail archive http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/glimpsedocs/ghplatforms.html >thanks. January 26, 2000 Base System: Dual Intel Pentium III 700 Mhz Coppermine CPU w/256 KB Cache ASUS P2BDS Dual CPU SCSI ATX BX AGP Motherboard Single Edge Connector Pentium II Slots One AGP, Four PCI and Two ISA expansion slots (2) 16550 serial ports and (1) hight-speed parallel port AGP Video Support and Two Stacked USB Connectors Integrated PCI Ultra DMA Hard/Floppy Drive Controller Teac 1.44 MB Floppy Drive Qty 2 - High-end ball-bearing CPU Fan Enlight 8902 Full Tower Case with 300 Watt UL LIsted Power Supply Memory: 756 MB SDRAM (Ztech to Provide ECC Registered Memory) Hard Drive: Qty 1 - 18.2 GB IBM 10,000 rpm U2W SCSI hard drive w/2 MB Cache Qty 1 - Enhance Technology ER4610 Removable Hard Drive Rack w/lock and fan Controller: On-board Adaptec Ultra 2 Wide Chipset On-board Bus Mastering Ultra DMA IdE controller supporting 4 devices Monitor: 21" KDS VS-21E SVGA monitor Video Card: 8 MB ATI Xpert 98 ABP 2x video accelerator Multimedia: Creative Labs 52X IDE CD-ROM Network: 3Com 905B-TX PCI network adapter with driver software Software: N/A (customer supplied) I/O: Keytronics PS2 Windows 95 keyboard Logitech 3-button PS2 mouse Warranty Technical Reference and Manuals and Support: Lifetime Toll-Free technical support 24 hours of testing 3 year Parts and Depot Labor Warranty Price: $5,295 Contact: Lyndon V. Hanson Vice President - Contour Systems Group contoursys.com I hope that this helped. Tom Yoksas