[rescue] "Workstation" [was Re: What do people think of a Sun Fire V210^W^W Ultra 45]

[Caleb Cupples]

On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 3:25 PM, Phil Stracchino <alaric at metrocast.net>
wrote:
> On 02/10/11 16:15, Steve Hatle wrote:
>> On 2/10/11 2:46 PM, "der Mouse"  wrote:
>>> Hmm.  What's a "server", then?  As a real example, Sun sold
>>> "SPARCstation N" and "SPARCserver N" for some value of N (1? 5? 20? I
>>> forget) where the only hardware differences were a factory-installed
>>> graphics head and the printing on the front of the case.
>>
>> In my world view, "workstation" implies a graphic console for the benefit
of
>> mainly one user, while "server" implies multiple users/functions with no
>> graphics or "remote" graphics via X or some other means.
>
> I'd go along with that, with the addition "capable of getting a wide
> range of serious work done on it".
>
> (Which, IMHO, largely rules out Windows from consideration...)

I'll agree with Phil's analysis, though with some caveats... I still
visualise a workstation as being a fairly powerful machine for its
era, that can still fit on one's desk, or beside it. This is why I
consider my Power Mac G5 running Linux to be a workstation, but my
i5-based Latitude to be just a PC. This is also why I look at my
Octane as a workstation, while the much more powerful Dell Optiplex
next to it is just a PC. (Yes, I know my lines happen to be drawn down
the RISC/CISC line, but I don't have any PCs that would've been
particularly powerful for their era.)

--
C. Scott Cupples
Psychology Undergraduate
Jackson State Community College

Tel: 731.607.0668
Email: cscupples at gmail.com

"The more there is a need to talk about the ideals of democracy, the
less democratic the system usually is." -- Noam Chomsky