🚀 go-pugleaf

It seems to me that one selection criterion which is overlooked in
all the discussions on the net is how much it costs to keep the
machine running.  At Rice, we have a lot of experience with SUNs and
little with other workstation vendors.  Clearly, there is great
variation between vendors and, with the same vendor, between
configurations.  For example, a collection of 8 SUN 3/52's
(standalone workstations with local disks) costs substantially more
to maintain than the equivalent diskless configuration - 8 3/50's
with a 3/160 server.  (The local disks on the 3/52's each cost nearly
what the much larger faster disk on the server does - in maintenance
prices.)

I have heard that HP has reasonable maintenance prices and good
service.  What sort of experience have you had, particularly in
places where you have workstations from competing companies?

thanks,
keith cooper
(cooper@rice.edu)