Scientific/engineering workstation

It the main task is producing graphs, diagrams or drawings, the specification for a scientific workstation is the same as for a CAD/graphics machine. If the need is mainly for calculation with some display of graphics then the machine profile is slightly different. The demand on the CPU and a co-processor will be high, but other requirements are less stringent. Even the demand for memory is likely to be low, unless there is a need to keep large quantities of data in memory.

	Demand or type
CPU	High
BUS	ISA
RAM	medium
Expanded	medium
Disk speed	medium
Disk cache	no
RAM Drive	no
Disk capacity	Medium
Video	VGA
Co-processor	387, Weitek or Transputer
Mouse	yes
Printer	any
Operating system	MS-DOS, OS/2, Windows or Unix

The need for a powerful CPU and a numeric co-processor might suggest a 486, but if you needs the ultimate in number crunching power then you would be better off selecting a 33 MHz 386 and either a Weitek Abacus- co-processor or a Transputer add-on board. Of course, you then have to find the software to support such non-standard co-processors but the chances are that you would have to write, or commission, the software anyway!