Info on PWB-VAX conversion wanted - (nf)

[ericf at inmet.UUCP]

#N:inmet:10300010:000:2414
inmet!ericf    Dec 27 09:23:00 1983

Hi, gang!  In our last exciting episode, we were trying to figure out
whether we should go from our ancient PWB/UNIX system to another Unix
on our PDP-11/70's.  Guess what?  We're STILL running PWB/UNIX on our 11's,
and it's been about a year.  But there's now the (more) real possibility of
going from PWB Unix to 4.1 (or 2) BSD on some new VAXen.  Management,
however, needs to know how much "better" a VAX running 4.XBSD is relative
to an 11/70 running PWB/UNIX.  We would really appreciate it if anyone out
there who has any experience in the relative merits of these two configurations.
We already know that VAX Unix is nicer to use than PWB Unix.  What we need to
know are things like:

1. What's involved in converting PWB C programs to run under VAX?  Specific
   issues that you've encountered would be helpful.

2. How many users can a VAX system support and still have "reasonable" system
   response?  Please describe the job mix you have under your system with
   this many users (i.e., just editing ("vi" or "emacs"?), C compilations, etc.)

3. Does anyone have an interface to a remote IBM system running MVS?  On
   PWB we use the RJE system, which uses a DQS-11 interface, which doesn't
   really belong on a VAX (ever try to fit a square peg into a round hole?)
   We do have a KMC-11 to play with, and it would proabably be nice to 
   use that, or anything else that doesn't feel the compulsion to interrupt
   the CPU on every character.

4. Anything else that would help us to know how much work it would be to
   convert from PWB to 4.XBSD, and how worthwhile it would be to do.  We
   know that VAX Unix is a much nicer environment to work in, but 
   management is more interested in knowing if we can get more users on
   one machine and get more work done.  Rumor has it that a VAX is about
   1.3 11/70's, but we need more concrete figures, like you can get 35
   people on a VAX running 4.2BSD with half the people running vi and
   the other half running the C compiler, and no one running rogue.
   Our job mix is most people running "vi", lots of "RJE" to a remote
   4341, and some local tools.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.  Please MAIL all replies to:

		harpo!inmet!{ericf, klk}
		decvax!cca!ima!inmet!{ericf, klk}
		esquire!inmet!{ericf, klk}


					Happy new year!

					Eric Feigenson
					Kathy Kroenert
					Intermetrics, Inc.
					Cambridge, MA
					02138