Word processors under 386 unix(es)?

[Conor P. Cahill]

In article <895 at gistdev.gist.com> chris at gistdev.gist.com (Chris LaReau) writes:
>flavor (to be determined) of unix. It can't be a deal unless he can get a
>big-name word processor that will run (multi user over dumb terminals) on the
>box. I just read the ad in the April byte about MS Word 5.0 for SCO Unix, so
>I know that something exists (or will RSN :-); are there any others he should
>look into?

There are also several office automation packages that include a good
word processor.  One that comes to mind is Uniplex, but there are others.

>Also, my friend wants the boxes (25 MHz 386's) to run 25 or so word processing
>sessions at once (over smart serial cards). I do development, and a 25 MHz 386
>isn't enough power for *one* of me compiling something, but these people are
>just going to be typing on a word processor. Is he way off base in thinking
>that the machine will handle such a user load (with appropriate memory, etc)?

The question really is "what does he men by 25 or so word processing sessions"
Does he need to support 25 people typing at a rate of something like 30 or
more words per minute constantly, or is it that there will be 25 terminals
and they will be in use sporatically during the day?  

If it is the former case,  he might be in for trouble.  Of course,
one won't know for sure until you try it, but word processing is usually a very 
CPU and I/O intensive process.   To support that number of users I would get
a 33MHZ system or as a minimum a 25MHZ system with cache.  Make sure
the serial cards are very good, although you won't get the extra benefit
that some claim ("implement full termio controll on the board") because
the word processor will run the tty in raw mode wanting to see every character
as it is typed.


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Conor P. Cahill            (703)430-9247        Virtual Technologies, Inc.,
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