In article <Apr.25.13.32.25.1993.4924@geneva.rutgers.edu>, hedrick@geneva.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick) writes:

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> At this point I think Linux is about as "compatible" as most of the
> commercial Unices.  ... The primary problems at the moment are in
> areas outside what I'd call the central core of Unix features:
> shared memory, IPC, etc.  There's code for System V versions of
> that, but based on postings here it's not clear how stable it is.

The latest version does seem to be reliable; in fact, I would hope
that it becomes a standard kernel feature soon.

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> I have to say that I find the slow scrolling with an ET4000
> annoying.

Granted.

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> I also have the feeling that doing a compile in one window has a bit
> less impact on response in other windows on the Sun.

I have generally had the opposite experience, except for one thing -
because (as you have already mentioned) X is a bit slower on
Linux/ET4000 than on a Sun ELC, it gets disproportionately affected by
heavy load.  If you are running in text mode, Linux is *amazingly*
responsive even while running a couple of parallel compilations.  It
is not the kernel but the speed of X which causes the apparent
degradation in response when running X under load.

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> This would make me suspicious of what would happen if you put a lot
> of people on a Linux system.

A bigger concern would be the compile-time limits on the number of
open files/inodes and the tasks limit in the kernel.

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> currently I have a SparcClassic.  It is noticably faster than a
> 486/33, which should not be surprising given some basic information
> about the processors.  It's possible that a 486/66 would be
> comparable.

Well, on compute-bound *integer* tasks, (the 486's fp performance is
pretty poor,) my 486DX/33 runs my simulations faster than a
SparcStation 1+, a SparcStation 2, a Sparc ELC or a SparcServer 10.
I've done controlled, timed tests to do proper comparisons.

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> I think it's important not to oversell Linux, or people may be
> disappointed.  I think it's a great system for home use, both for
> faculty and students.

Indeed.  People just have to realise that it is still developing - and
rapidly.  The installation and maintainence is pretty easy for a
single user, but configuring X and setting up a network is *not* for
the faint of heart.  It is not desparately tricky, but you may need to
be persistant.

Cheers,
 Stephen Tweedie.
---
Stephen Tweedie <sct@uk.ac.ed.dcs>   (Internet: <sct@dcs.ed.ac.uk>)
Department of Computer Science, Edinburgh University, Scotland.