Opinions wanted on best UNIX for networking

[Paul S Secinaro]

We have been considering several options for creating a small Ethernet
here in the lab.  Because there are several different types of hardware
used, not just DOS machines, we have sort of drifted away from the choice
of Novell Netware 3.11 for a server.  I would be interested in what people
think of a UNIX/NFS solution for this environment.  Right now
we have a couple of copies of a fairly old AT&T SysV/386 R3.2.1 with
no networking support (other than RFS, blecch).
The way I see it, our options are:

o Get Novell and eventually upgrade to the NFS server when we need it ($$$)

o Upgrade our existing AT&T UNIX with TCP/IP, NFS, etc, and get PC-NFS, or
  something similar for the DOS machines.

o Junk AT&T and get a shiny new copy of Interactive, SCO, or something like
  that will all the goodies included.  We will then also need PC-NFS.
  (I've heard many good things about Interactive)

I'd appreciate hearing peoples opinions on what they would choose.  Is 
TCP/IP an appropriate choice for a small network?  Seems kind of like 
overkill, with all the overhead for routing information, etc.
How about pricing?  Do SCO and Interactive offer educational discounts?
How about Sun, FTP, and others on the DOS side?  At $400 per license, the
cost of PC-NFS seems to really inflate the price of a UNIX solution (we
would initially have about a half-dozen machines on the net, so 6*400 = $2400).

Please note the new email address below.  The address I'm posting this message
from is unreliable. Thanks!

-- 


Paul S. Secinaro
Synthetic Vision and Pattern Analysis Laboratory
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Kingsbury Hall
University of New Hampsire
Durham, NH  03824