Subj : Re: non-disk stations
To   : Leonard Erickson
From : Darren Gibbs
Date : Fri Nov 10 2000 12:25 am

 DG>> I had to stop and think about it myself, I must admit. I haven't
 DG>> done a boot image machine in 10 years or more - hard disk space
 DG>> is so cheap {and so fast} these days it's not worth worrying
 DG>> about. Last time I did a boot image, a 20 meg hard disk drive
 DG>> cost in the order of an extra $1000 on the price of a 286, so it
 DG>> made good economic sense to go without them if you were
 DG>> outfitting an office of 500 or so PC's to Netware. :-)

 LE> I recently traded for an old NIC that had a boot ROM on it. I've set
 LE> it aside for when I set up an old IBM PC (or maybe a 286) to show just
 LE> how much you could do with such "underpowered" gear.

hehe. In days of yore, I ran a remote office loading boot images over a single 
2 meg link for 70 PC's. It worked fine, except if _all_ the PC's were turned on 
at the same time. Then the link got a bit bogged.

I also ran a branch office for what was then Australia's only telco - 500 odd 
PC's - on 286's with boot images, no hard disks, and a single floppy for 
emergencies.

When I look at today, where hard disks of 10 gig or more are the "norm", and 
where 2 meg links just aren't fast enough anymore - Microsoft has a LOT to 
answer for.

DaZZa

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