From: barrett@aminet.uucp (Keith Barrett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Need hardware advice for UNIX/WINDOWS NT/DOS
Date: 1 Jan 93 03:49:56 GMT
Reply-To: barrett%aminet@nuconvex.com
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Organization: Waterbury USENET/UUCP
X-Copyright: (c) 1992 Keith Barrett; May be distributed freely, Not for sale
X-Disclaimer: Statements expressed are not representitive of any employer
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Hello;

	I'd like to buy/build a system that will boot MS-DOS/WINDOWS,
WINDOWS NT, and UNIX (DELL preferred, but SCO is a possibility). I've been
reading the tons of reviews about various systems, costs, and performance,
and still can't reach a purchase decision because I don't have some
basic information.

1. Anyone happily running DELL UNIX on non-dell equipment please send
    me email about it (describing your config).

2. I have no writeups on SCO UNIX (at least, not as detailed as DELL
    provides). Does SCO come with color X windows support? XDM? emacs?
    elm? GNU C?

3. Could people that have systems which boot multiple operating systems
   also drop me a line and tell me what hardware you use, and what
  "procedure" you go through? I realize there are systems booting MS-DOS and
   UNIX, but adding Windows NT makes 3 OS's -- will this work? If so,
   does this require sperate drives?


I'd also like some hardware suggestions concerning which vendors I should
consider. My key factors are (obviously) low cost, upgradability, Windows NT
compatibility, and UNIX reliability. As I understand them, here are my
"minimum" requirements to support MS-DOS and UNIX:

386 or 486; 25Mhz or faster; 64k min cache with expansion option
8 meg memory
200 meg disk minimum
250meg QIC tape drive (UNIX supported)
3.5" and 5.25" floppy drives
ATI graphics card (or comparable)
ethernet card
Case that provides support for both floppies, internal disk(s),
   5.25" tape drive, and CD ROM

SCSI controller and VESA very desirable also

To add Windows NT:

	About another 100 megs of disk
        CD ROM (must also be usable under MS-DOS)


I'm not looking to build the ultimate system -- I don't have a lot of $$$.
I'm looking to build the minimum system, and still have the ability of
upgrading it to the larger cache, faster CPU.

My problem is that while I can look at the various vendors and create
such a system, I have no idea how UNIX compatible (DELL, SCO) the result
is. DELL hardware is just too slow and expensive for me to afford. The
system will be used for UNIX and X development.

I also come across these systems that fair well in tests (like eltech, BLK,
and others) in the last issue of PC world, but these vendors don't seem
to advertise anywhere so I don't get a sense of what the firm offers.

email preferred - I'll post summary if there is interest.

Thanks!!
-- 
-kgb

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Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware