Jargon file v2.1.5 28 NOV 1990 -- part 5 of 6

[Sean Eric Fagan]

In article <O7Y77DB at xds13.ferranti.com> peter at ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
>The 386 box on my desk at work is a comparable
>machine, with 5 times the RAM of the old 11/70, but more than 10 users kill
>it dead. And that's probably more users than the typical 386-class UNIX box
>is expected to support.

That's because the '386 box, although it has the processing power, doesn't
have the I/O power.  I.e., NO BANDWIDTH!

If we're really lucky, the EISA machines will help this a lot; they should
be able to do things better.  Note that, while the Intel-based MCA machines
don't have the throughput needed for lots of users, the RS6000 (also MCA
based) *does*.

-- 
Sean Eric Fagan  | "I made the universe, but please don't blame me for it;
sef at kithrup.COM  |  I had a bellyache at the time."
-----------------+           -- The Turtle (Stephen King, _It_)
Any opinions expressed are my own, and generally unpopular with others.