RE: Who is using WDSC, who is using PDM/SEU? -- MIDRANGE-L

Hi, John:

Looking at the price of RAM in isolation is like price-shopping a Windows
server against a Series i. It's just not that simple.

For us, there are two main drags on being early adopters of
resource-demanding applications such as WDSC. First, putting more RAM into
a PC is nowhere nearly as easy as specifying that amount of RAM on a new
machine. The motherboard has to support the added memory. The
archaeologically interesting debris compacted around the CPU box has to be
removed. The Network Administrator has to have the available time.

Second, transferring **ALL** the user's settings from one computer to
another is a pain. Modified commands is a limited problem for an i5/OS
upgrade. In Windows that sort of thing is a virulent epidemic. Sure, the
browser has a new version. What happened to my bookmarks? No, this is not
to say that Windows upgrades can't be done. We do them regularly. But that
kind of disruption is not to be taken lightly, and for the most part our
staff would rather make do with what they have unless the upgrade is HUGE.

Darrell

Darrell A. Martin - 630-754-2141
Manager, Computer Operations
dmartin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 06/21/2007 07:33:22 AM:

Well, astronomical amounts of memory are the norm nowadays. We're
pretty far beyond "never needing more than 640K RAM."

I've used B & C model AS/400s with 8MB RAM; our current iSeries has 32GB
and our System i has 48GB. My first home PC had 320KB RAM; my home
workstation now has 4GB. My first graphics card was a CGA with, IIRC,
16KB RAM. My new Radeon has 512MB and supports 2 monitors, TV out, &
HiDef decoding.

I'm pretty sure my home printer has 32MB RAM. My Treo phone/PDA has
64MB + 1GB RAM (SD card), digital camera has an 8GB SD card, and I've a
4GB thumb drive (and am giving serious thought to replacing it with a
16GB unit). How much storage does your average MP3 player have?

RAM is cheap. Buy more of it. Get used to the idea that every 18
months RAM requirements go up by something between 50 and 100%. Bemoan
the causes of RAM consumption if you want but that's the reality.

If you want to see pretty much all PC software fly, try this 'dream'
developer workstation:
- Core2Duo E6600
- 4GB RAM
- XP Pro
- 256MB Radeon
- 2 20" flat panels (not wide screen)
- 250GB hard drive
- 16X CD/DVD-RW
- 3 year "business comprehensive" warranty

The above Dell Optiplex 745 desktop runs about $2600. Not a cheap PC
but then it has dual displays, a ton of RAM, and a good warranty.
Dropping the specs a little can shave hundreds off that price if you're
in sticker shock. But consider that this is an investment in your
developer's productivity and general happiness on the job (do your
employees review their managers?).

The PC I built for myself at home has mostly better specs (quad core,
Vista Ultimate, 512MB video, mirrored 500GB disks, 18X DVD) except it
has a single 20" LCD. It ran about $2300 and the only down side besides
putting it together myself is the generally shorter warranty.

BTW a similar config can be done on a notebook if you try:
- Latitude D630
- Core2Duo T7700
- XP Pro
- 128MB NVIDIA graphics
- Hi-res LCD
- 4GB RAM
- 8X CD/DVD-RW
- Wireless
- 160GB 7200 RPM hard drive
- 3 year on-site warranty
- 20" flat panel

That runs more at around $3500 but again you end with dual-display
(internal LCD + external flat panel), dual-core CPU, and tons of RAM.

--

John A. Jones, CISSP
Americas Information Security Officer
Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.
tel: +1-630-455-2787 fax: +1-312-601-1782
john.jones@xxxxxxxxxx

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Darrell A Martin
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 4:30 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Who is using WDSC, who is using PDM/SEU?

Dale:

We have WDSC on all of our programmers' PCs, and on mine. We all love
what it can do, potentially.

It is dog slow.

Now, it is emphatically possible that we just tried to use it too soon;
perhaps newer PCs with astronomical quantities of memory and huge disk
caches could disabuse us of the molasses in January notion. Whatever
that case may be, most of us, after an initial "it will get better as I
learn it" honeymoon, have reverted to PDM/SEU for at least some things.
I don't see WDSC on screen too much. However, there are features in WDSC
that are not just clones of green screen, and for those it is worth it
to have WDSC taking up disk space.

Darrell

Darrell A. Martin - 630-754-2141
Manager, Computer Operations
dmartin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 06/20/2007 01:58:24 PM:

Question, though, for this panel. How many of you are using WDSC and

how

many are still using PDM/SEU? I can't get my programmers to move

onto

WDSC, and it looks like it should be sweet! They say it's too slow

and

cumbersome..... and they ARE very fast.

If I did more programming (which I sadly don't have time for), I'd be

doing

a more thorough shakedown myself.

Opinions, please?

Dale Gindlesperger

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