Which unix system to purchase?

[Michael Ginsberg]

I am currently looking to purchase a unix operating system for my computer.
My computer is an 80386 ibm clone running at 33mhz.  It has AMI bios.  It is
a Touche system made by Personal Computing Professionals.  It contains 4 meg
of ram, but I am planning on expanding this to 8 meg.  The monitor is a Sony
mutiscan HG CPD-1304.  My graphics card is a Video-7 VRAM vga card with 512K
on it, capable of displaying non-interleaved 1024x768 in 16 colors.  I have
a 330 meg hard drive, approximately 16ms access time, by Miniscribe.  I have
a Logitech hi-res mouse.  I have a token ring board, with which, currently
using FTP brand software, I can telnet and ftp to internet sites.  I use it
mostly to connect to the andrew network of computers at Carnegie Mellon.

That should be an adequate system description.  Now the question:  I want to
purchase a unix operating system.  I want it to be fast, and compatible with
all of my hardware.  I want to be able to still telnet to unix internet sites.
I want to be able to run X-windows.  I want to be able to bring up x-windows
running on other machines on campus (via telnet and then setenv DISPLAY to my
internet address, at least).  I want compatibility with other unix systems. It
would be nice if I could also leave it running and telnet in from somewhere
else on campus (ie: if it could be set up as a unix machine on the network)

Now that you know what I want, tell me what I want as far as software is
concerned.  I'd like opinions on which unix's are good for me.  I'd like
approximate prices.  I'd like to know of software mail order firms where I can
get the software.  I'd like to know the pros and cons of each company's unix,
as well as the differences in each company's options (ie: developer's package,
user's package, networking package, complete system, etc).  I'd like to know
things that I probably can't even think of.

Please write to me (post if you want, but I'll probably not see it, so at least
send me a mail copy).  If I've left anything out of my hardware description,
please tell me.  If you need to know anything else, please tell me.

Thanks alot for any time and help you can provide.

--Michael Ginsberg
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

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