Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wasatch!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ficc!peter
From: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: What is a Workstation?  (What should GNU ...)
Message-ID: <5776@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 18 Aug 89 13:14:11 GMT
References: <20638@adm.BRL.MIL>
Organization: Xenix Support, FICC
Lines: 22

In article <20638@adm.BRL.MIL>, drs@bnlux0.bnl.gov (David R. Stampf) writes:
> 	A few years ago, Bill Joy described a workstation in terms of 6 M's. I
> think that the description is still fairly valid.

	Well, the original was the CMU 3-M criterion:
		MIP/Million Pixels/Megabyte.

> 	Mip processing power
> 	Million Pixels
> 	Megabyte network
> 	Megabye of memory (hah!)
> 	Mouse
> 	Multuser/tasking Operating System

	By this standard an Amiga 2000 with a network card and a Viking
	monitor is a workstation. Certainly a Bell Tech Blitstation-200
	qualifies many times over. And that's a PC.
-- 
Peter da Silva, *NIX support guy @ Ferranti International Controls Corporation.
Biz: peter@ficc.uu.net, +1 713 274 5180. Fun: peter@sugar.hackercorp.com. `-_-'
"Optimization is not some mystical state of grace, it is an intricate act   U
   of human labor which carries real costs and real risks." -- Tom Neff