3b15 - How good?

[Tom Reingold]

In article <1990Nov7.001356.11586 at mccc.uucp> shevett at mccc.edu (Dave
Shevett) writes:

$ I had an interesting phone call from a friend and fellow scrounger today.
$ He had someone offer him a '3b15' that has been sitting around for a year
$ or so, as long as he came and got it.
$ 
$ I know about the 3b2 and 3b1 series, but almost nothing about the 3b15.  It
$ has 6meg of RAM in it, and several ~150meg SMD drives on it.  A great
$ bargain (free?), well, the catch is it's about 250 miles from here, and
$ we'd have to rent a truck to go get it.  
$ 
$ The question is - is it worth it?  I run a 3b1, several PC's, and a 33mghz
$ '386 at home (Xenix) - this is all the power I need - The other fellow has
$ 2 microvaxen and some other miscellania.  Performance wise, what does the
$ 3b15 rank next to, say, a nicely configured '386?

As with any obsolete computer, it's probably not a good deal even it's
delivered to your doorstep.  It's very large and heavy and will draw
lots of power.  You won't like it speed.  It will be very hard to get
support or parts for it.

It could be a good deal if it fills a need because all your other
computers are busy and you can't get another.  But how likely is that?

A 3b15 is a real dog compared with modern machines such as 386's, Suns,
and even 3b2's!
--
        Tom Reingold
        tr at samadams.princeton.edu  OR  ...!princeton!samadams!tr
        "Warning: Do not drive with Auto-Shade in place.  Remove
	from windshield before starting ignition."