[SunRescue] Ultra 1 vs. beefy Sparc 20

[David Rouse]

> I'm running Solaris 2.7. When I'm working in CDE I want everything
> to be crisp and snappy. Whenever I do anything the CPU monitor goes 
off the
> charts.

Um, yep. Hey, something with the same vintage as a U250 ought to run 
pretty snappy -- even with the default load of system daemons.

> I'm spoiled by using fast cheap Intel hardware. MS IE 4.01 takes like 
20
> seconds to load
> on my Sparc 5. From what I understand because of the way the Sparc 5's
> architechture
> and processor are designed they are slower then most Sparc 10/20's 
with
> lower MHz
> ratings and a large onboard cache. I guess I could run Solaris on my 
Intel
> box but
> I really don't want to.
> 

A couple of things to consider:

0) The Sparc5 was close to the bottom of the line, and it isn't using 
the ultra processors that are found in modern machines.

1) How many system daemons are you running? Do you really need all of 
them?

2) Do you really need the CDE? I know OpenWindows has a smaller memory 
footprint and offers less chrome, so its been faster to me.

3) MS IE is going to run faster on Intel and Windows. But even so, how 
fast does MS IE load on an NT system running on a 110 MHz processor?

4) If it takes a long time to start something, just leave it running. I 
mean, we don't have one of those gotta-boot-every-day computers.

5) The prices of nice Ultra 1s are close to the price of a new Sun U5. 
You might want to get one of those.

6) Umm, lost train of thought ...



---
David Rouse
Network Manager
Goldsboro News-Argus