Old, but not "Classic"

From: Allison J Parent <allisonp_at_world.std.com>
Date: Thu Nov 12 06:58:25 1998

< I believe Allison has a model 50Z (a 286 also) running Windows for her s
< The PC/XT class may be junkers for them though.

It does run win3.1 just fine and 3.11 as well but, Netscape is out of the
question. The problem is with only 1mb of ram you swap like mad for some
apps and others can't load enough of their resident portion to execute.
My machine only has 1mb of ram. While 2mb would help it would still
fall short in the ram derby as most apps want 4-8mb at least.

I'd advise that anything 386/8mb and above would be the minima for being
able to run most desireable packages. Even a lowly 386sx/16 would be
faster than any 286 and adding memory is a lot easier. It has more to do
with expandability and availability.

Oh, I've seen a 386DX/33 with 64k cache, 16mb ram running W95 and it's
slow but very useable. More ram is needed to avoid slow swapping. It
sounds wacky but with 386s around here bing free or nearly so they are a
resource that is underrated.

FYI: a 386 runs linux very well but for educational use (computer science
type stuff) MINIX is desireable as it's smaller and runs real well in
2-4mb on small (40mb) hard disks using any system from 8088 and up. It's
loadable from a dozen floppies. Using even a lowly 386sx/16 it seems
to fly. I have not had success using it on a 286(most any) but it's
supposed to work so likely my lack of expertize with the OS is more the
problem.

It's really a compatability and availability thing. Most XT class
machines are really most useful for control apps and simple programing.
The ISA-8 bit bus and their low cost make them good for hacking. The
286 class machines are good for cusp apps where in the right use they
may fit in a modern network. Generally both suffer from lack of speed,
not enough ram (286s) and sometimes lack the ubiquious 3.5"/1.44 floppy.
The very early 386s suffer from incompatability by using SIPPs for ram
or other oddities and bizzare BIOSs. Still they may be usable. I've
found that 386 machines that use SIMMs (most are 30 pin), 3.5" drives
and IDE (or adaptable for same) with VGA or bettter to be generally
useful where a PII or 486 would fit with allowance for speed. The
latter is good as here I'm inclined to swap around IDE hard drives
and if it boots/ runs on a 486 I've never had trouble with it
booting/running on a 386 system. The latter being important in a
classroom enviornment where you want every one to be able to do the
same thing the same way(and get the results at the same time!).

Allison
Received on Thu Nov 12 1998 - 06:58:25 GMT