From: alan@nabeth.enet.dec.com (Alan Rollow - Alan's Home for Wayward Tumbleweeds.)
Subject: Re: What do I wish for?
Reply-To: alan@nabeth.enet.dec.com (Alan Rollow - Alan's Home for Wayward Tumbleweeds.)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 18:47:22 GMT


In article <1992Jul29.103852.14043@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>, goldberg@turing.toronto.edu (Jody Goldberg) writes:
>
>I have been given a blank cheque and told to get
>the biggest bestest Dec 5000 around with all the trimmings.
>
>What hardware and software do I want?

The base starting point is the DECstation 5000/240 with as much
memory as it will hold and the Prestoserve hardware and software
license.  With the Prestoserve taking up one of the 15 memory
slots I think you can use the other 14 for the MS02-CA 32 MB
memory board giving you 448 MB.

Next choice is the graphics.  Since the DECstation 5000/240 appears
to support the TURBOchannel extended, you can get the PXG Turbo+
96 plane graphics adapter and end up using only one TURBOchannel
slot.  This leaves slots free.  The PXG Turbo+ is high end 3D
graphics option.  If that much more than you really need, you
may want to consider the HX, smart frame buffer.  It also only
needs one TURBOchannel slot.

The base system comes with an integrated SCSI controller and
Ethernet adapter.  Within the restrictions of cable lengths
the SCSI adapters supports 7 additional SCSI devices.  So you
want a variety of disks and probably a tape drive for backups.

If you with the PXG Turbo+ in the TURBOchannel extender, you can
get two 3.5" disks in the extender box.  While it's not supported
at the moment you may want to work with the DEC sales person to
see if you can get two RZ26s (1 GB drives in it).  You'll also
need a system load device, but the extended option has the capability
for a CDROM.  So, of the seven devices you'll probably use one for
a tape drive, 2 3.5" disks and the CD.  This leaves three.  You can
get a storage expansion box with two RZ58s in it and another with
an RZ58 and TLZ04 tape driver (4mm DAT).  If you can get the RZ26s
to replace the RZ25 that would normally come in the TURBOchannel
extended this gives you a little over 6 GB of disk space.

If you need more then can get another TURBOchannel SCSI adapter and more
disks (and maybe another tape drive).  If you need really fast
disk space you can also get the Genroco IPI TURBOchannel controller
and some IPI drives.  If you need LOTS more disk and really do have
a blank check, then consider the CITCA TURBOchannel CI adapter, a
couple of HSC90s, cache and cabinets of RA72s.  It would be kind
of hard to put this in your office though.  The CITCA will require
a 2nd TURBOchannel extender.  The CITCA should be available in a
few months.  Assuming we come out with another RA disk with larger
capacity than the RA72 (following normal capacity trends you could
get around 190 GB on the system and still be within ULTRIX's 96 disk
limit (supported).

Also be sure to discuss with the sales person what new devices
are planned.  If any are of interest then you might be work out
an upgrade deal where you pay the future price and when the new
stuff comes out we'll roll out the upgrade pieces.

A parts list for the base system I've described so far is:

PM390-CY	DECstation 5000 Model 240 System Bulding Block
		No monitor, 32 MB, 120 V/240 V.
PMTCE-MA	TCE PXG Turbo+ 96 plane, 2xRZ25, CDROM.
		(I don't know if the PMTCE package includes
		 a monitor.  See a DEC sales person).
DJ-523PS-AA	Prestoserve option, 1 MB NVRAM cache and
		software license.
MS02-CA		13 32 MB Memory modules.
SZ16J-DA	RZ58 (1.3 GB SCSI drive) and TLZ04 (4mm DAT)
SZ16J-JA	2 RZ58s.

For software you'll need at least

ULTRIX V4.2A (or whatever is current).
DEC PHIGS V2.3 (or whatever is current).

For better storage availability and performance you
may want to consider ULTRIX Disk Shadowing and DEC
Disk Striping.  Striping is available through our
ASSETs program.  Your sales person can contact me
for more information if they need it.

Beyond that what software you want depends on what
you'll be doing with the system.

>Jody Goldberg
>

--
Alan Rollow				alan@nabeth.cxo.dec.com