[self-interest] Re: Hardware for Self

Jecel Assumpcao Jr jecel at lsi.usp.br
Thu Sep 16 13:31:28 UTC 1999


Douglas, I bought an Ultra 5 without a monitor for US$4000 about
a year ago, here in Brazil. It is neat having my own Sparc machine,
but *very* disapointing compared to what the same money could get
me in the PC world :-(

Jerry,

I used Self 4.0 on the following machines: Sparc 10 (not Ultra!),
Sparc 20, Meiko (multiple Sparc 20s), an Ultra 1 and now my Ultra 5.
I also tested it on a Fujitsu clone (Sparc 2 performance, I think).
At ECOOP'95 the Sun people were showing it on a Voyager, which
is also at a SparcStation 2 level.

The Sparc 20 is quite good enough, though the Ultras are a little
nicer. Anything less and you will face some long waits. But in
my experience memory size is *much* more critical than CPU speed.
Even with 64 MB of RAM it swaps terribly for the things I do
(sweep through all the objects counting things...). I would
suggest trying to find the cheapest Sparc you can find that
accepts normal memory SIMMs and then you upgrade it yourself
as much as possible.

A lot of people are throwing away old Sparcs. I missed the
opportunity to get for free a better machine than I bought :-(

Good luck,
-- Jecel



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