🚀 go-pugleaf

dobrien@kean.ucs.mun.ca writes:
> Up to 50 terminals can be run on UNIX, provided they are all doing work
> which doesn't hog time on the CPU to a great extent

	That's a pretty meaningless statement.  I happen to be using a
DECstation 5000/240 which is limited to 3 terminals (or, at least, 3
concurrent terminal sessions) by silly licensing rules.  On the other hand,
even if I had an unlimited user license, I'm sure the machine would roll
over and die long before I could get 50 people logged in, even if they were
only running telnet sessions; even if I had enough CPU power and memory, I'd
probably run out of some vital system resource (file descriptors, process
table slots, etc) long before I got close to 50 users.  Yet, given a big
enough machine, say some big multiprocessor with 100s of Mbytes of ram,
Gbytes of swap space, and dozens of cpus, or maybe a Cray, you could
accomodate hundreds of users.  But then again, if you're logged into a Cray,
you're probably not "doing work which doesn't hog time on the CPU to a great
extent".  I suspect most people don't log into Crays to read usenet.

	To say that UNIX can accomodate 50 terminals is like saying you can
fit 500 people in a room with carpeting on the floor.  Are we talking my
bedroom or the Convention Center?