Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!iuvax!purdue!mentor.cc.purdue.edu!j.cc.purdue.edu!aeh From: aeh@j.cc.purdue.edu (Dale Talcott) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: Floptical usable alone Summary: yes, barely Message-ID: <9837@j.cc.purdue.edu> Date: 10 Aug 89 02:57:45 GMT References: <7309@microsoft.UUCP> Reply-To: aeh@j.cc.purdue.edu (Dale Talcott) Organization: Purdue University Lines: 21 In article <7309@microsoft.UUCP> t-jondu@microsoft.UUCP (Jonathan Dubman) writes: >Question: >Is the NeXT usable with one floptical and no hard disk, besides the fact that >it's a bit slower? Yes. That's how mine is configured. Some simplistic tests I did early on, timing launching of applications, showed the OD to be mid-way between the SCSI and NFS to a SCSI Next server, with the SCSI being twice the speed of NFS. (I.e. the OD was 3/4's the speed of the SCSI drive at starting applications.) Another way of putting it is: where there are comparable applications, the Next running from an OD feels somewhat slower than a Mac Plus with a SCSI HD. But still usable, if you're a patient sort. As others have mentioned, the biggest problem is that standard Next software fills the OD. You have to throw a lot of stuff away to give yourself room to work. Dale Talcott, Purdue University Computing Center aeh@j.cc.purdue.edu, j.cc.purdue.edu!aeh, aeh@purccvm.bitnet