[rescue] Compaq Proliant 8000

[J. Alexander Jacocks]

I normally hesitate to jump in on a discussion that looks like
Dave-baiting, but I can't resist any longer.

It is amazing to me that even people on this list are surprised at the
value/power of years-old workstations compared to PC's.  Folks, there is
a reason why these boxes cost what they did originally.  Hint: it wasn't
for the pretty plastic.  The recent death of so many .com businesses has
made it really easy to be a collector of some awfully powerful
equipment.

In the past year, I have purchased the following, all for < $150:

Sun Ultra 60/400/Creator3D
Sun Ultra 10/440/Creator3D
CycleQuad 4x300/Creator3D
SGI Octane R10k/250/2xSI
SGI O2 R10k/175
IBM RS/6K 43p/140/332

I even bought an Sun E4500 8x336/4.5gb for < $1000, if you want real
horsepower.  (Thanks, Dave!)

I have variously used most of these as a primary workstation at home or
work (yes, I bring my own hardware to work) and do heavy lifting on
them.  I do extensive daily compiling of large amounts of company and
other source, and have never considered giving up and going the way of
Windoze.  I think it is worthwhile (and satisfying) to do what you think
is the right thing, especially in the face of corporate interference.

I have managed to impress my bosses enough with the value of reclamation
of others unwise cast-offs, that I have been tasked to acquire large
amounts of Sun hardware through such channels.  It's really easy to
convince a suit not to buy a Dell when I can get enterprise-class
hardware for less.

Let's move on from this discussion soon.  I think that almost everyone
has weighed in on this topic, and it's starting to get old.

Thanks!