🚀 go-pugleaf

To those blaming DEC's "outrageous" prices: there is one more thing
to keep in mind when shopping for a computer, namely *architecture*.
PDP-11 family has been on the market for 20 years, and it is still
one of the best architectures for scientific instrument automation.
The variety of interface boards available for it is infinitely
broader than that in IBM-clone. Programming efficiency is also much
higher: for what you can squeeze into 56KB on PDP-11, you'll need
*at the very least* 256KB memory in a PC-clone. The size of hard drive
you need is in proportion to the above. Well, you think PDP is
hopelessly obsolete... OK, pull the processor out. There are VAX
CPU's using the same bus. ...What? OK, you convinced me that IBM-clone
is a better flavor of *personal computer*, that there's more software
of better quality, that your new 486DX2/60 is faster than my VAX...
but I'm still well aware that DEC makes the best machines for
*professionals*. No, not those workstation users - they are professionals,
too, and in this field DEC is simply a *very decent* vendor. I mean
professionals using software for real-time control and other
"tangible" things. Here I vote for DEC. There are specialized
machines doing specific tasks better, but the versatility of DEC
(I mean VAX in recent times and Alpha now) can hardly be overcome.
Don't forget that average DEC computers are much more ruggedized
than, for instance, IBM-clone or Sun. Don't forget DEC's long-term 
upgradability and mix-and-match compatibility, too.

Call me old-fashioned if you want. I *do* use PC's and Sun workstations
where they belong. I am a sysadmin of two Sun's. And I still believe
in DEC and use VAX and PDP-11. They simply have their own ecological
niche in the world of computers.


-- 
Tony Konashenok   avk@hafnium.cchem.berkeley.edu   (510)843-5632 (home)
University of California, Berkeley                 (510)642-5831 (office)

Strauss research group, Latimer Hall, UC Berkeley, Berkeley CA 94720, U.S.A.