In my query, I asked about the performance one might expect with

a small memory machine running as a stand-alone under SunOS 4.1 and as

the only 4.1 machine among 4.0.3 machines. I got mostly positive feed-

back. Cogent comments follow. Thanks, folks.

=======================================================================

From:rackow@antares.mcs.anl.gov

The only caution that I can give you is that you will loose binary

compatibility when you compile on the 50 and want to run it on

other machines on the net.

--Gene

From:zjat02@trc.amoco.com (Jon A. Tankersley)

I don't have any druthers to say, but [we] went to 4.1 with minimal difficulty.

HDB might be nice, but I have seen some interesting problems with ALM, etc.

From:dave@jupiter.nmt.edu (Dave Becker)

We've had two of our machines running 4.1 with all of the others at 4.0.3.

No problems at all, and my boss (who has the 3/50 running 4.1 on his desk)

informs me that he has noticed a speed improvement. Summary: should be

fine. Works for us very nicely.

From: Tom Leach <leach@oce.orst.edu>

Mark, I don't know about 3/50's, but the SS1+ that I installed with 4.1

has a LARGE kernal. The generic kernal is 1.45Meg, which I pared down

to 1.3Meg. Most of the larger size is being taken up by the various new

options (High Sierra CD format, SysV stuff, lots of others...)

From:bob@kahala.soest.hawaii.edu (Bob Cunningham)

As I happen to run about 40 machines (a mix of various Sun3 & Sun4 models)

under a mix of SunOS4.0.1, 4.0.3, and 4.1, I can tell you that the

answer is yes. You should notice a (though not dramatic) performance

improvement...provided you have a properly-configured kernel. For

starters, install the generic small kernel as part of the upgrade.

Then (provided you installed the /usr/sys stuff), go back and--using

the GENERIC_SMALL template in /usr/sys/sun3/conf as a guide---configure

your own kernel, triming it down even further if you can...though I'd

probably add the TMPFS option and try mounting /tmp via tmpfs because I

think it's a performance win even on a 3/50.

The only likely (but minor) "gotcha" is if you're running YP, and the

YP servers are still at 4.0.3. In that case, try to get the lines in

the 4.1 /etc/services (from your 3/50) added to /etc/services on the YP

master machine so that it can publish (and your 3/50 will know about)

those things. No big thing, uucp should still run fine without it (tho

not over ethernet), but unless you do that you're liable to get an

annoying message or two every time you reboot your 3/50.

From: David Wiseman <magi@csd.uwo.ca>

Yes. The performance improvements extend to standalone 3/50s.

On your second question: 4.1 and 4.0.3 will co-exist quite nicely. I'm going

it right now. Mind you, you may find yourself replacing some of the 4.1

utilities with their 4.0.3 counterparts (bugs you see: mailtool, Mail,

textedit).

--
mark@DRD.Com uunet!apctrc!drd!mark$B!J%^!<%/!!!&%m!<%l%s%9!K(B(918)743-3013
"That's not garbage: that's kanji!"