2659 lines
128 KiB
Plaintext
2659 lines
128 KiB
Plaintext
ú Subject: PC-clone UNIX Software Buyer's Guide
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Archive-name: pc-unix/software
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Last-update: Tue Feb 22 14:43:26 1993
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Version: 11.0
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You say you want cutting-edge hacking tools without having to mortgage the
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wife'n'kids? You say arrogant workstation vendors are getting you down? You
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say you crave fast UNIX on cheap hardware, but you don't know how to go about
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getting it? Well, pull up a chair and take the load off yer feet, bunky,
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because this is the PC-clone UNIX Software Buyer's Guide posting.
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Many FAQs, including this one, are available via FTP on the archive site
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rtfm.mit.edu (alias rtfm.mit.edu or 18.172.1.27) in the directory
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pub/usenet/news.answers. The name under which this FAQ is archived appears in
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the Archive-nameline above. This FAQ is updated monthly; if you want the
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latest version, please query the archive rather than emailing the overworked
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maintainer.
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What's new in this issue:
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* Full info on Information Foundation System V Release 4.2
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* FTP access to precompiled SCO binaries.
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* possible serious problems with UHC.
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Gentle Reader: if you end up buying something based on information from this
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Guide, please do yourself and the net a favor; make a point of telling the
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vendor "Eric's FAQ sent me" or some equivalent. The idea isn't to hype me
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personally, I've already got all the notoriety I need from doing things like
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_The_New_Hacker's_Dictionary_ --- but if we can show vendors that the Guide
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influences a lot of purchasing decisions, I can be a more powerful advocate for
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the net's interests, and for you.
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0. CONTENTS
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I. INTRODUCTION. What this posting is. How to help improve it. Summary of
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the 386/486 UNIX market, including 6 SVr4 products, SCO UNIX (an SVr3.2), and 2
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BSD ports. What's new in this issue.
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II. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. A brief discussion of general hardware
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requirements and compatibility considerations in the base SVR4 code from UNIX
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Systems Laboratories (referred to below as the USL code). None of this
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automatically applies to SCO or the two BSD-like versions, which break out the
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corresponding information into their separate vendor reports.
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III. FEATURE COMPARISON. A feature table which gives basic price & feature
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info and summarizes differences between the versions.
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IV. VENDOR REPORTS. Detailed descriptions of the major versions and
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vendors, including information collected from the net on bugs, supported
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and unsupported hardware and the like.
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V. UPCOMING PORTS, FREEWARE VERSIONS, AND CLONES. Less-detailed descriptions
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of other products in the market.
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VI. HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY TABLES. A set of tables summarizes vendor claims
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and user reports on hardware compatibility.
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VII. FREEWARE ACCESS FOR SVR4 SYSTEMS. Information on the SVR4 binaries
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archive.
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VIII. FREE ADVICE TO VENDORS. Your humble editor's soapbox. An open letter
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to the UNIX vendors designed to get them all hustling to improve their products
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and services as fast as possible.
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IX. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND ENVOI. Credit where credit is due. Some praises
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and pans. What comes next....
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Note: versions 1.0 through 4.0 of this posting had a different archive name
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(386-buyers-faq) and included the following now separate FAQs as sections.
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pc-unix/hardware -- (formerly HOT TIPS FOR HARDWARE BUYERS) Useful general
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tips for anybody buying clone hardware for a UNIX system. Overview of the
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market. Technical points. When, where, and how to buy.
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usl-bugs -- (formerly KNOWN BUGS IN THE USL CODE). A discussion of bugs
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known or believed to be generic to the USL code, with indications as to which
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porting houses have fixed them. None of this applies to the two BSD-based
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versions.
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Readers may also find material of interest in Dick Dunn's general 386 UNIX
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FAQ list, posted monthly to comp.unix.sysv386 and news.answers.
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I. INTRODUCTION
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The purpose of this posting is to pool public knowledge and USENET feedback
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about all leading-edge versions of UNIX for commodity 386 and 486 hardware. It
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also includes extensive information on how to buy cheap clone hardware to
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support your UNIX.
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This document is maintained and periodically updated as a service to the net by
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Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>, who began it for the very best
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self-interested reason that he was in the market and didn't believe in plonking
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down several grand without doing his homework first (no, I don't get paid for
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this, though I have had a bunch of free software and hardware dumped on me as a
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result of it!). Corrections, updates, and all pertinent information are
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welcomed at that address.
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This posting is periodically broadcast to the USENET group comp.unix.sysv386
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and to a list of vendor addresses. If you are a vendor representative, please
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check the feature chart and vendor report to make sure the information on your
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company is current and correct. If it is not, please email me a correction
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ASAP. If you are a knowledgeable user of any of these products, please send me
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a precis of your experiences for the improvement of the feedback sections.
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At time of writing, here are the major products in this category:
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Dell UNIX Issue 2.2 abbreviated as "Dell" below
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ESIX System V Release 4.0.4 abbreviated as "Esix" below
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Micro Station Technology SVr4 UNIX abbreviated as "MST" below
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Microport System V Release 4.0 version 4 abbreviated as "uPort" below
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UHC Version 3.6 abbreviated as "UHC" below
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Consensys System V Release 4.2 abbreviated as "Cons" below
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Information Foundation System V Release 4.2 abbreviated as "IF" below
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SCO Open Desktop 2.0 abbreviated as "ODT" below
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BSD/386 (0.3 beta) abbreviated as "BSDI" below
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Mach386 abbreviated as "Mach" below
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The first six of these are ports of USL's System V Release 4. Until last year
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there was a seventh, by Interactive Systems Corporation. That product was
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canned after half of ISC was bought by SunSoft, evidently to clear the decks
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for Solaris 2.0 (a SunOS port for the 386). The only Interactive UNIX one can
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buy at present is an SVr3.2 port which I consider uninteresting because it's no
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longer cutting-edge; I have ignored it.
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Earlier issues ignored SCO because (a) 3.2 isn't leading-edge any more and (b)
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their `Version 4' is a 3.2 sailing under false colors. Can you say deceptive
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advertising? Can you say bait-and-switch? Can you say total marketroid-puke?
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However, the clamor from netters wanting it included was deafening. The day
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SCO landed an unsolicited free copy of ODT on my doorstep I gave in. I don't
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expect to actually use it, but I summarize the relevant facts along with
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everything else below. Note that ODT is their full system with networking and
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X windows; what they call SCO UNIX is missing most of those trimmings.
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BSD/386 is *not* based on USL code, but on the CSRG NET2 distribution tape.
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Complete sources are included with every system shipped! Mach386 is basically
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BSD tools with the monolithic Mach 2.5 kernel and does entail a USL license;
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it's based on the Tahoe BSD distribution. For a few extra bucks, you can
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get Mach 3.0 (a true microkernel) with *source*!.
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AT&T's own 386 UNIX offering is not covered here because it is available and
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supported for AT&T hardware only.
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All the vendors listed offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, but they'll be
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sticky about it except where there's an insuperable hardware compatibility
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problem or you trip over a serious bug. One (UHC) charges a 25% restocking fee
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on returns. BSDI offers a 60-day guarantee starting from the date of receipt
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by the customer and says: "If a customer is dissatisfied with the product, BSDI
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unconditionally refunds the purchase price." Dell says "30 day money-back
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guarantee, no questions asked".
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Some other ports are listed in section V.
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II. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
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To run any of these systems, you need at least the following: 4 MB of RAM and
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80MB of hard disk (SCO says 8MB minimum for ODT 2.0; Dell 2.1 also requires 8
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MB minimum). However, this is an absolute minimum; you'll want at least 8 MB
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of RAM for reasonable performance. And depending on options installed, the OS
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will eat from 40 to 120 meg of the disk, so you'll want at least 200 meg for
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real work. To run X you'll need a VGA monitor and card, and 12-16MB RAM would
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be a good idea.
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Installation from these systems requires that you boot from a hi-density floppy
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(either 3.5" or 5.25"). Most vendors offer the bulk of the system on a QIC 150
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1/4-inch tape; otherwise you may be stuck with loading over 60 diskettes! BSDI
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offers the distribution not only on QIC-150 tape but also on CD-ROM. They'll
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even sell you a CD-ROM reader for US$225 (or you buy the same Mitsumi drive at
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Radio Shack or Best Buy for US$199+tax). In general, if the initial boot gets
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far enough to display a request for the first disk or tape load, you're in good
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shape.
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USL SVr4 conforms to the following software standards: ANSI X3.159-1989 C,
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POSIX 1003.1, SVID 3rd edition, FIPS 151-1, XPG3, and System V Release 4 ABI.
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4.0.4 ports conform to the iBCS-2 binary standard. The SVr4 C compiler (C
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Issue 5) includes some non-ANSI extensions (however, note that as of mid-1992,
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no SVr4 ports other than AT&T's have been formally POSIX-certified).
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SCO conforms to the following standards: ANSI X3.159-1989 C, POSIX 1003.1 FIPS
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151-1, XPG3, System V Release 3 ABI, and SVID 2nd Edition. Despite the
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marketing droids hacking at its version number, SCO is not conformant to System
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V Release 4 or SVID 3rd Edition.
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All SVr4 versions include support for BSD-style file systems with 255-character
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segment names and fragment allocation. In general this is a Good Thing, but
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some SVr3.2 and XENIX binaries can be confused by the different size of
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the inode index. You need to run these on an AT&T-style file system. SCO
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UNIX 3.2v4 (thus, ODT 2.0 but not 1.1) has an `EAFS' file system which adds
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symlinks and long filenames. Old SCO binaries can be confused by long
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filenames.
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All SVr4 versions include the UNIX manual pages on-line. Dell stocks
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Prentice-Hall's SVr4 books and will sell them to you with your system (in lieu
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of printed manuals) at extra cost. You can order them direct from
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Prentice-Hall at (201)-767-5937. Warning: they ain't cheap! Buying the whole
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13 volumes will cost you a couple hundred bucks. Esix, Microport and UHC
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have their own manual sets derived from the same AT&T source tapes as the
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Prentice-Hall set; Esix charges extra for them, but Microport and UHC both
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include them with their systems.
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SVr4 includes hooks for a DOS bridge that allows you to run DOS applications
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under UNIX (the two products that actually do this are DOS Merge and VP/ix).
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Most vendors do not include either of these with the base system, however.
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All these systems support up to 1024x768 by 256 color super-VGA under X. The
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640x480 by 16 colors of standard VGA is no problem; everybody supports that
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compatibly. However, X servers older than the Roell or X11R5 version (that is,
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MIT X11R4 or anything previous) are hard to configure for the clock timings of
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your controller and monitor scan frequency unless you have one of the standard
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combinations USL supports or your vendor has configured for it.
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There are a couple of known hardware compatibility problems the USL code
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doesn't yet address. See the companion "Known Bugs" FAQ.
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III. FEATURE COMPARISON
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To interpret the table below, bear in mind the following things:
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All these products except BSDI/386, Mach386 and SCO ODT are based on the
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SVr4 kernel from UNIX Systems Laboratories (USL), an AT&T spinoff. Thus they
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share over 90% of their code and features. Product differentiation is done
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primarily through support policy, bug-fix quality and add-on software.
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The `USL support?' column refers to the fact that USL support is a separate
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charge from the source license. With the former, a porting house gets access
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to AT&T's own OS support people and their bug fix database, and the porting
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house's bug fixes can get folded back into the USL code.
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These systems come either in a "crippled" version that supports at most two
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simultaneous users, or an unlimited version. Generally the vendors do allow
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you to upgrade your license via a patch disk if your requirements, but this
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invariably costs slightly more than the base price difference between 2-user
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and unlimited systems.
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The "run-time" system in the price tables below is a minimum installation,
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just enough to run binaries. The "complete" system includes every software
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option offered by the vendor; it does *not* bundle in the cost of the
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Prentice-Hall docs offered by some vendors as an option. You may well get
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away with less, especially if you're willing to do your own X installation.
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Prices are for QIC-tape configurations. Some vendors will supply the OS
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on floppies, but they don't enjoy doing so and may charge substantially more
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for a diskette version.
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The `Upgrade plan' section refers only to upgrades from previous versions
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of the same vendor's software.
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The numbers under support-with-purchase are days counted from date
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of shipment. The intent is to help you get initially up and running.
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The engineer counts below are as supplied by vendors; .5 of an engineer
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means someone is officially working half-time. The `Uses USENET' column is
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`yes' if there is allegedly at least one person in the engineering department
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who reads USENET technical groups regularly and is authorized to respond to
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USENET postings reporting problems.
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The `DOS Bridge' row gives the version number of DOSMerge supplied with the
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system, if any. DosMerge 2.0 has roughly the caoabilities of DOS 3.0, though
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it is reported to be quite flaky and hard to configure. DOSMerge 2.2 has the
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capabilities of DOS 5.0.
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The AF_UNIX row tells which versions support UNIX-domain sockets. These
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are a separate namespace from the INET sockets, local to each machine and
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used by some applications because they cannot be spoofed over the network.
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A dash `-' means the given feature or configuration is not offered. A `yes'
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means it is currently offered; `soon' means the vendor has represented that it
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will be offered in the near future. A `no' means it's not offered, but there's
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some related information in the attached footnote.
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[Note: the single table of issues 1 through 10 has been flipped on its side
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and broken into 5 parts so that we can provide info in more products.]
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Table 1: BASE VERSION AND PRICE
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System Price (US$) Has Reduced price
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Base USL Run-time only Developmer's printed upgrade from
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Vendor Version support 2-user Unlim 2-user Unlim docs? SVr3.2 SVr4
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SCO 3.2.2 - 595 1295 3090 4290 y(f) y -
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Cons 4.2 ?? 495 755 1270 1535 y - -
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Dell 4.0.4 y - - 995(b) 1295(b) y(e) y (h)
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Esix 4.0.4 y 384 784 - 1607 y(e) y (g)
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IF 4.2 y 395 890 995 1490 y - -
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MST 4.0.3 - 249 449 799 999 - y (h)
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uPort 4.0.4 y 500 1000 3000 3500 y(f) y (h)
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UHC 4.0.3 ??(a) 695 1090 1990 2385 y - -
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BSDI BSD - - - - 1045(c) - - -
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Mach386 Mach - - - - 995(d) -(s) - -
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Table 2: SUPPORT FEATURES
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With 800 Support FTP Read # Engineers Support
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Vendor sale number? BBS? server? USENET? Support Devel. contacts
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SCO 30 y y y y 60+ 55+ per year
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Cons 30 y y(i) - - 6 ??(m) per year
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Dell 90 y - y y 5 10 per year
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Esix (j) - y y y 2 ~20 (j)
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IF 90 y soon soon soon 2 2 custom
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MST 30 - - - - 2 3 per year
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uPort 30 - y - y 4 6 per year
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UHC 30 - soon - -(l) 2 27 per year
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BSDI 60 - - y y 1.5 6.5 per year
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Mach 30 - y y y 1 5 per year
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Table 3: DISTRIBUTION MEDIA
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Floppy disk ------------- QIC tape ------------ via
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3.5" 5.25" 60MB 125MB 150MB 250MB 2GB CD-ROM network
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SCO y y y - - - - y -
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Cons y(n) y(n) y - y - - - -
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Dell - - - - - y y - y
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Esix y y y - - - - - -
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IF y y y - - - - - -
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MST y y y y y - - - -
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uPort y y y - y - - - -
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UHC - - - y y - - - -
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BSDI y y y - - y - y -
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Table 4: X OPTIONS
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X/News MIT AT&T AT&T Roell X11R5 Open Motif X
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X11R3 X11R4 Xwin3 Xwin4 X386 Look Desktop
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SCO - y(o) - - - - - 1.1.4 3.0
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Cons - - - - - y - 1.1 -
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Dell - y - - - y 4i 1.1.4 -
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Esix y - - y - - 1.0 1.1.0 -
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IF - - - y - - 4i 1.1.4 -
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MST - - y - y - 2.0 1.1.2 3.0
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uPort - - - y - - 4i 1.1.3 2.0
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UHC y - - - y - 4i 1.1.3 -
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BSDI - - - - - y - (p) -
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Mach - y - - - y - (e) -
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Table 5: MISCELLANEA AND ADD-ONS
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DOS UNIX
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Merge? SLIP? PPP? sockets
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SCO 2.2 y y ??
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Cons - - y -
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Dell 2.2 y - y
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Esix - y n(r) -
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IF - - - ??
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MST - - - ??
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uPort soon y - ??
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UHC - soon soon ??
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BSDI y y soon ??
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Mach - y(d) - y
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(a) UHC had a support contract at one time but may have let it lapse. I
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expect to have better information on this soon.
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(b) This price is for customer-installed UNIX. If it's factory-installed on
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Dell hardware, it's $500 less.
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(c) $1045 is for credit-card tape orders; POs are $50 more; CD-ROM $50 less
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more. Educational site licenses are available for $2K each.
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(d) Previous issues alleged that "No unlimited licenses have been sold yet."
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Feedback from the net indicates that all MtXinu systems now being sold
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are unlimited.
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(e) Extra-cost option.
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(f) With complete system only.
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(g) Small media charge. Note: if you upgrade from a 2-user to multi-user
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ESIX, you pay full price.
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(h) Free with support contract, charge otherwise (charge ~$500).
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(i) Support contract customers.
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(j) Unlimited free phone support.
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(k) Charges by the half-hour phone call.
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(l) UHC says they used to be net-active and want to be again when they can
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afford the man-hours.
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(m) Consensys explicitly refuses to release this information.
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(n) There's an $80 media charge for the diskettes equivalent to the normal
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60MB distribution tape.
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(o) SCO's own X11R4 implementation.
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(p) Motif for BSDI is available from a third party.
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(q) At present, you must buy Mach386 Autosupport to get SLIP.
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(r) Mark Boucher <marc@cam.org> has written a PPP driver for ESIX
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(s) Mach's user interface is 4.3BSD; the USENIX manuals may be used for it.
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(t) Mach X11R5 is available through autosupport only.
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The SCO information is included by popular demand for comparison purposes.
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In the price figures, the `runtime' system is SCO UNIX 3.2v4; the `complete'
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system is ODT with development tools.
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In general, the SVr4 market breaks into two tiers. The bottom tier is
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Consensys and MST; low-ball outfits selling stock USL with minimal support for
|
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real cheap. The top tier is Dell, Esix, Microport and UHC; these guys are
|
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selling support and significant enhancements and charge varying premiums for
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it. Your first, most basic buying decision has to be which tier best serves
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your needs.
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One further note: it *is* possible to buy some of these systems at less than
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||
the list the vendor charges! I found some really substantial discounts in one
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mail-order catalog ("The Programmer's Shop"; call 1-(800)-421-8006 to get on
|
||
their mailing list, but be prepared to wade through a lot of DOS cruft).
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IV. VENDOR REPORTS
|
||
Vendor reports start here. Each one is led by a form feed.
|
||
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NAME:
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SCO Open DeskTop
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VENDOR:
|
||
The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
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400 Encinal Street
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PO Box 1900
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Santa Cruz,CA 95061-1900
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1-(800)-SCO-UNIX (sales)
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1-(800)-347-4381 (customer service and tech support)
|
||
info@sco.com --- product info by email, sales requests
|
||
support@sco.com --- support requests (support contract customers only)
|
||
|
||
SOFTWARE OPTIONS:
|
||
SCO's package and option structure is (excessively) complicated. At the
|
||
moment the `bundles' to keep track of are:
|
||
|
||
SCO UNIX System V/386 Release 3.2 Version 4.0
|
||
|
||
SCO UNIX networking bundle, consisting of:
|
||
SCO UNIX System V/386 Release 3.2 Version 4.0
|
||
SCO TCP/IP 1.2.0
|
||
SCO NFS 1.2.0
|
||
|
||
SCO Open Desktop 2.0:
|
||
SCO UNIX System V/386 Release 3.2 Version 4.0
|
||
SCO TCP/IP 1.2.0
|
||
SCO NFS 1.2.0
|
||
LAN Manager Client, PC-NFS daemon, PC-Interface server
|
||
X (X11R4 server/clients, Motif 1.1.4, X.desktop 3.0)
|
||
DOS Merge (2.2)
|
||
|
||
Note that Ingres (the database) has been removed from the ODT bundle since 1.1.
|
||
There is a special Ingres price for ODT customers, and Ingres has committed
|
||
to offering a 50% discount till the end of '92.
|
||
|
||
ADD-ONS:
|
||
There are piles of them. I was most impressed by the docs for the CodeView
|
||
debugger and MASM assembler, but the presence of ISAM support would probably be
|
||
more significant to the ordinary commercial user.
|
||
SCO bundles with X also include 18 clients (what in marketingese are called
|
||
``personal productivity and groupware accessories and controls'') which
|
||
include: mail, help, edit, paint, term, print, login, clock, color, session,
|
||
mouse, lock, and admin (official names all prepended with "SCO") as well as
|
||
DOS, load, and calculator clients.
|
||
|
||
SUPPORT:
|
||
You get 30 days of free phone support with purchase.
|
||
ODT support is $895 per year.
|
||
SCO has BBS coverage and a local support operation in the UK as well as the
|
||
US; BBS coverage only Germany. Local support is, in theory, to be provided by
|
||
distributors.
|
||
|
||
FUTURE PLANS:
|
||
IPX/SPX (Novell networking support) will be added soon.
|
||
|
||
HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY:
|
||
See the appendix for details. SCO provides a Hardware Compatibility
|
||
Guide with its software.
|
||
|
||
COMMENTS:
|
||
The docs are impressive; you could get a hernia trying to lift them all.
|
||
|
||
TECHNICAL NOTES:
|
||
There's an `MPX' kernel available from SCO that supports multiprocessing.
|
||
Though this is a 3.2 kernel, SCO has added support for SVr4-like symbolic
|
||
links and long filenames to Version 4.
|
||
SCO has a standard driver announcement protocol which allows the
|
||
utility hwconfig(C) to print out detailed configuration info on hardware
|
||
attached to the machine.
|
||
SCO's cross-development and DOS emulation support is unusually rich. It
|
||
includes lots of system utilities for I/O with a DOS filesystem, as well as
|
||
cross-development libraries and tools in the Development System. Microsoft
|
||
Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.0 applications are supported (in real mode), and
|
||
future releases will support Windows 3.1 and associated applications.
|
||
Graphical MS-DOS applications are supported in CGA graphics mode within an X
|
||
window, and VGA graphics are supported in full-screen mode.
|
||
|
||
KNOWN BUGS
|
||
SCO tar(1) chokes horribly on long filenames and symbolic links.
|
||
This is scheduled to be fixed in the next maintenance supplement, MSv4.2.
|
||
SCO tar also fails to back up empty directories.
|
||
Petri Wessman <Petri_Wessman@hut.fi> has reported that SCO 3.2.4 sometimes
|
||
gets into a state in which exec(2) succeeds called from a binary but exec
|
||
reliably fails called from a shell.
|
||
|
||
WHAT THE USERS SAY:
|
||
XENIX is the UNIX port hackers love to hate, but at 70% of the market SCO
|
||
must be doing something right. In general, SCO UNIX and XENIX are reputed to
|
||
be a very polished and stable systems. Unfortunately, they also drive
|
||
developers crazy because of numerous tiny and undocumented divergences between
|
||
the SCO way and the USL-based releases.
|
||
|
||
REVIEWER'S IMPRESSIONS:
|
||
The SCO support system is heavily bureaucratized and prone to thrash when
|
||
processing questions of unusual depth or scope. While probably adequate for
|
||
the random business luser, hackers are likely to find the contortions
|
||
required to get to a master-level developer very frustrating.
|
||
SCO in general has the fairly serious case of corporatitis you'd predict
|
||
from their relatively large size --- no-comment policies and
|
||
compartmentalization out the wazoo.
|
||
On the other hand, they sent me an unsolicited free copy, and I got huge
|
||
amounts of useful technical and hardware-compatibility info "unofficially" from
|
||
SCOer Bela Lubkin <belal@sco.com>. Gee. Maybe I should flame vendors more
|
||
often... :-)
|
||
|
||
|
||
NAME:
|
||
Consensys System V Release 4.2
|
||
|
||
VENDOR:
|
||
Consensys
|
||
1301 Pat Booker Road
|
||
Universal City, TX 78148
|
||
(800)-387-8951 (sales and support both)
|
||
{dmentor,dciem}!askov!root
|
||
|
||
SOFTWARE OPTIONS:
|
||
None.
|
||
|
||
ADD-ONS:
|
||
Basically this is a stock USL Destiny system with the stock USL bugs. It
|
||
doesn't seem to carry over the Consensys 4.0.3 changes.
|
||
|
||
SUPPORT:
|
||
You get free phone support until your system is installed, to a maximum of
|
||
30 days. After that they charge per half-hour of phone time. They like to
|
||
do support by fax and callback. They'll sell support contracts by the year.
|
||
They have a support BBS at (416)-752-2084.
|
||
Knowledgeable customers report they're good about supporting the bits they
|
||
wrote (see below) but terrible at dealing with generic SVr4 problems.
|
||
|
||
HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY:
|
||
See the appendix for details.
|
||
|
||
KNOWN BUGS:
|
||
Trying to install the system administration package *after* first
|
||
installation of the OS doesn't work. This is probably a generic 4.2 bug.
|
||
|
||
WHAT THE USERS SAY:
|
||
During the life of their 4.0.3 release, Consensys had a dismal reputation on
|
||
USENET; horror stories of nonexistent followup on bugs abounded.
|
||
However, David Mason <vid@zooid.guild.org> writes "they appear to be
|
||
installing a lot more telephone support. In fact for a yearly fee they will
|
||
sell support and they apparently have been hiring people for a few months now.
|
||
Additionally, when I talked to a support person there, he seemed actually
|
||
willing to help me, as opposed to the hostile go-away attitude I encountered
|
||
shortly after we bought their SVR4 product 9 months or so ago. Maybe they are
|
||
learning."
|
||
One 4.0.3. customer (J.J. Strybosch, <jjs@ubitrex.mb.ca>) reported that
|
||
Consensys charged his credit card for more than they quoted him. If you deal
|
||
with them, watch your credit card statement carefully.
|
||
|
||
REVIEWER'S IMPRESSIONS:
|
||
These people used to be the bad boys of the SVr4.0 market --- not a company
|
||
you wanted to deal with unless low price was the most important thing. There's
|
||
some reason to believe they're trying to improve their act with 4.2; if so,
|
||
more power to them.
|
||
Consensys explicitly refuses to say how many development engineers they have
|
||
on staff. In this and some other matters they've adopted a corporate style
|
||
that appears defensive, evasive, secretive, and not conducive to trust. I
|
||
couldn't make their V.P. of sales understand that this appearance is a serious
|
||
liability in dealing with UNIX techies and distinguishes them from the
|
||
competition in a distinctly negative way.
|
||
|
||
|
||
NAME:
|
||
Dell UNIX System V Release 4 Issue 2.2.
|
||
|
||
VENDOR:
|
||
Dell Computer
|
||
9505 Arboretum Road
|
||
Austin TX 78759
|
||
|
||
(800)-BUY-DELL (info & orders)
|
||
(800)-624-9896 (tech support: x6915 to go straight to UNIX support)
|
||
info@dell.com --- basic Dell info
|
||
support@dell.com --- support queries
|
||
|
||
SOFTWARE OPTIONS:
|
||
Basically, there aren't any. You get the development system with all the
|
||
trimmings for a lower list than anybody else in the top tier. Whaddya
|
||
want, egg in yer beer?
|
||
|
||
ADD-ONS:
|
||
Dell bundles a DOS bridge (Locus 2.2, supporting DOS 5.0) with their base
|
||
system. They also include cnews, mmdf, perl, elm, bison, gcc, emacs gdb, Tex,
|
||
network time protocol support, and other freeware, including a bunch of nifty X
|
||
clients! Also included: the Xylogics Annex server for TCP/IP network access.
|
||
FrameMaker is also included, but runs in demo mode only until you buy a
|
||
license token from Unidirect.
|
||
|
||
SUPPORT:
|
||
Dell *does* support their UNIX on non-Dell hardware. They are quite
|
||
definite about this. They will deal with software problems reported from
|
||
non-Dell hardware, but you're on your own when dealing with hardware
|
||
incompatibility problems unless you can reproduce the problem on a
|
||
Dell PC. However, it is also policy that if you lend them the offending
|
||
hardware, they will work with the vendor to come up with a fix, and if
|
||
they can't make that work they'll refund your money.
|
||
You get 90 days of free phone support on a toll-free number, starting on
|
||
resceipt of your registration card (no card, no support). Yearly service
|
||
contracts range are $350 per year for the limited license, $500 for the
|
||
unlimited.
|
||
There are 6 engineers in their first line and 4 in their second-line support
|
||
pool.
|
||
Dell accepts software problem reports from anyone, Dell or non-Dell
|
||
hardware and whether or not they have a support contract. If you don't have
|
||
a support contract, don't count on getting a reply acknowledging the report.
|
||
Dell maintains a pair of Internet servers (dell1.dell.com and
|
||
dell2.dell.com) which hold patches, updates and free software usable with
|
||
Dell UNIX.
|
||
About upgrades, Dell says "If you have a support contract, the upgrade is
|
||
free, unless we've added something with significant royalty burden to us. We
|
||
may make a charge at that point. We didn't when we added Graphical Services
|
||
4.0 at the introduction of Dell UNIX 2.1. If you don't have a contract, then
|
||
the cost is basically Media+Royalty+Admin+Shipping."
|
||
|
||
FUTURE PLANS:
|
||
X.desktop 3.0 will be supported soon. NeWS isn't going to happen at all;
|
||
they couldn't get it to work reliability.
|
||
Dell has demonstrated a 486 port of NeXTSTEP at trade shows.
|
||
Dell is going to move to Solaris someday. However, policy is that they're
|
||
not going to phase out SVr4 until at least a year after their first *reliable*
|
||
version of Solaris, in order to provide an upgrade path.
|
||
|
||
TECHNICAL NOTES:
|
||
The big plus in the Dell code is that they've fixed a lot of the annoying
|
||
bugs and glitches present in the stock USL tape.
|
||
The installation procedure has been improved and simplified. You can
|
||
install Dell UNIX through your network from another Dell box once you've booted
|
||
the hardware with a special disk provided.
|
||
Both benchmarks and anecdotal reports make them significantly faster than a
|
||
stock USL system. Interestingly, Dell's manager for UNIX development tells me
|
||
this is all due to bug fixes and careful choices of some OS parameters.
|
||
A source at Dell has asked me to point out that Dell's SLIP can be
|
||
set up, configured, and stopped while UNIX is running; some other
|
||
versions (such as SCO's) require a reboot. However, others claim that
|
||
SCO's can actually be reconfigured without a reboot and that the SCO
|
||
*manuals* are at fault here for misleading people.
|
||
Dell device drivers are *very* unlikely to work on other SVR4 versions.
|
||
Dell includes some kernel extensions (not required, so other SVR4 device
|
||
drivers should work) to make life in support a little easier. A program
|
||
called showcfg will list all recognised device drivers and the IRQ,
|
||
I/O address, shared memory and so on. The device driver has to register
|
||
this info. Dell has told USL how to do this, it's up to them when or even
|
||
if they want to use this in a future release.
|
||
Dell device drivers are also auto configuring, for the most part. Check out
|
||
/etc/conf/sdevice.d/* and see how most of the devices are enabled, but with
|
||
zeroes in all fields for IRQ, I/O and memory. Those are autoconfiguring
|
||
drivers. Dell thinks that this makes life much easier; you only need to set
|
||
one of the configurations that they probe for! The device registration helps
|
||
this, by eliminating possible overlapping memory or I/O address usage. (On the
|
||
other hand, idconfig(1) is no longer helpful, when I/O, IRQ and mem are all
|
||
zero). The 2.2 release adds a utility `setcfg' which can be used to remove
|
||
unneeded drivers, shrinking the kernel.
|
||
Dell UNIX also has drivers for the Dell SmartVu found on some machines (a
|
||
little four character LED display on the front panel). By default this shows
|
||
POST values, then disk accesses, finally "UNIX" when running and "DOWN" when
|
||
halted. You can write to the device.
|
||
Dell's SCSI tape driver includes ioctls to control whether hardware
|
||
compression is used.
|
||
Some Dell systems have a reset button. On the Laptops these are wired
|
||
directly to the CPU. On the desktop and floor-standing systems Dell UNIX can
|
||
catch the interrupt; it's used to do a graceful (init 0) shutdown. Other
|
||
UNIXes will do a processor reset when the button is pushed.
|
||
About 95% of 2.2 was built using GNU cc for a significant performance
|
||
improvement over pcc.
|
||
|
||
KNOWN BUGS:
|
||
Uucico fails when sending more than 12 files to another machine. Fixed
|
||
in 2.2; a patch is available free from Dell for earlier versions.
|
||
Performance monitoring of uucp transfers doesn't work. Creating
|
||
/var/spool/uucp/.Admin/perflog results in uucico logging statistics to the file
|
||
correctly. However, using uustat -tsysname results in either a memory error or
|
||
you just being returned to the shell with no output. This bug is known to
|
||
Dell and being worked on now.
|
||
Merge is seriously buggy in many areas. It takes ages to start up in an
|
||
xterm and then sometimes crashes in the process. Attempting to use its
|
||
simulated expanded memory results in the system becoming slowly corrupted which
|
||
later results in virtual terminals disappearing and the system gradually
|
||
locking up. Really fun stuff! And it can only cope with 1.44M discs. These
|
||
are generic Merge problems, not really Dell's but Locus's fault.
|
||
There are some dropped stitches in the supplied USENET tools. The nntp
|
||
server has been compiled for a dbm history file while c-news has been compiled
|
||
for dbz. With nntpd this only shows on the ARTICLE <message-id> command which
|
||
either returns that the article with that id can't be found or crashes the
|
||
server. Also, they forgot to include the nntpd manual page or nntpxfer. A
|
||
Dell source thinks these things have been corrected in 2.2.
|
||
Dell's device driver autoconfiguration doesn't properly set up the mouse
|
||
port on the ATI Graphics Ultra card. You need to either remove all other
|
||
mouse drivers or use the DOS install program to manually force the mouse IRQ
|
||
to 5.
|
||
|
||
HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY:
|
||
Dell doesn't maintain a list of non-Dell motherboards and systems known to
|
||
work. And they're not willing to talk about the list they don't maintain,
|
||
because it would amount to endorsing someone else's hardware.
|
||
Dell promises that you can bring its UNIX up on any Dell desktop or tower
|
||
featuring a 386SX or up (it's hard to get the product on to the notebooks).
|
||
Notebooks can't drive a QIC tape and there aren't drivers for the pocket
|
||
Ethernet or token-ring adapter.
|
||
Jeffrey James Persch <using a friend's account> reports that he couldn't
|
||
get the X supplied with Dell UNIX 2.1 to work with a Microsoft bus mouse hooked
|
||
to the mouse port on a Compaq 486/33M or Systempro.
|
||
Andrew Michael <Andrew.Michael@brunel.ac.uk> says "If you're buying Dell
|
||
UNIX for non-Dell hardware, first try booting the Dell floppy on it. From
|
||
experience, some BIOS ROMs cause Dell SVR4 to lock up at the point where it
|
||
tries to talk to the hard disk. If it gets to the point where it asks you
|
||
whether you want to install or not you can be pretty sure that all is well. An
|
||
AMI or Phoenix BIOS is OK; be careful of anything else."
|
||
See the appendix for more.
|
||
|
||
COMMENTS:
|
||
Dell sells hardware, too :-). They are, in fact, one of the most successful
|
||
clonemakers, and will cheerfully sell you a Dell computer with SVr4 pre-
|
||
installed. Their systems are expensive by cloner standards (with as much as a
|
||
$1000 premium over rock-bottom street prices) but they have a rep for quality
|
||
and reliability their competition would probably kill for.
|
||
You can get Dell product information by sending an email request to
|
||
info@dell.com.
|
||
|
||
WHAT THE USERS SAY:
|
||
Most people who've seen or used it seem to think pretty highly of the
|
||
Dell product, in spite of minor problems.
|
||
A user in England observes: "Dell is the only firm that I found supplying
|
||
Unix at the real monetary exchange rate, not the usual computer pounds=dollars
|
||
nonsense. In the UK the 2 user version costs 699 pounds, which is pretty close
|
||
to the US price in dollars. For those of us who don't live on the left-hand
|
||
side of the pond (there are a few of us!) that's a distinct advantage." He
|
||
adds "Dell's UK support is pretty good. Not as good as Sun, but then you don't
|
||
pay as much! From previous experience, SCO support in the UK is, well, pretty
|
||
non-existent."
|
||
|
||
REVIEWER'S IMPRESSIONS:
|
||
Dell is the clear market leader in SVr4s. The combination of low price,
|
||
highest added value in features, and reputation for quality makes them very
|
||
hard to beat. At this point, I've installed, used or seen running several of
|
||
the SVr4.0 systems, and Dell's stands out as the best. Other vendors take
|
||
note -- to compete with Dell, you need to do what they do *better*.
|
||
The only serious negative I've seen is that their support system seems to be
|
||
very badly overloaded, so you can end up on hold for a while when calling. The
|
||
techs themselves are sufficiently cranked about this that they'll complain of
|
||
understaffing and corporate shortsightedness on the phone to a stranger.
|
||
(Dell has recently doubled their support staff and fixed a bad bug in their
|
||
call-handling system that was freezing the queue for up to two hours at a
|
||
time. This will certainly help matters.)
|
||
On the other hand, Dell's UNIX development manager responded to the first
|
||
issue of this FAQ with about three hundred lines of intelligent, thoughtful and
|
||
extremely candid comment, including a whole pile of hardware-compatibility info
|
||
and a number of excellent suggestions for improving the FAQ. He has
|
||
continued to send voluminous, factual feedback to later issues --- an example
|
||
other UNIX vendors would do well to emulate!
|
||
|
||
|
||
NAME:
|
||
ESIX System V Release 4.0.4
|
||
|
||
VENDOR
|
||
Esix Computers
|
||
1923 E. St. Andrew Place
|
||
Santa Ana, CA 92705
|
||
(714)-259-3020 (tech support is (714)-259-3000)
|
||
support@esix.com
|
||
|
||
info@esix.com
|
||
|
||
ADD-ONS:
|
||
None.
|
||
|
||
SOFTWARE OPTIONS:
|
||
ESIX can be bought in the following pieces:
|
||
Unlim 2-user
|
||
Base system 784 384
|
||
Base system + Networking 866 396
|
||
Development system 131 N/A
|
||
GUI module (X, Motif, Open Look, X.desktop) 610 380
|
||
|
||
Note that the base system without networking cannot be upgraded to the
|
||
base system with networking; you'd have to replace at full cost.
|
||
|
||
SUPPORT:
|
||
Purchase buys you unlimited free phone support. However, be warned that
|
||
there are only two engineers assigned to the job and they are swamped.
|
||
Esix offers a support BBS at (714)-259-3011 and 3013 (the 11 line
|
||
has a Trailblazer on it). They plan to bring up an Internet server in
|
||
the near future.
|
||
Patches are available via anonymous ftp to esix.everex.com.
|
||
|
||
FUTURE PLANS:
|
||
They don't plan to support DOS Merge because it's still horribly buggy.
|
||
They intend to do a USL System V Release 4.3 soon --- yes, 4.3!
|
||
|
||
TECHNICAL NOTES:
|
||
Relative to 4.0.3, 4.0.4 includes numerous bug fixes, a rewritten SCSI
|
||
driver, and better SCO binary compatibilty. The GUI package is significantly
|
||
different, changing from a home-grown ESIX implementation of X to a licenced
|
||
implementation of AT&T's xwin implementation (with ESIX support for additional
|
||
video cards added in.
|
||
|
||
HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY:
|
||
See the appendix for details. ESIX supports an unusually wide
|
||
range of peripherals.
|
||
They advertise support for the Textronix X terminal.
|
||
No one has reported any incompatibility horror stories yet.
|
||
|
||
KNOWN BUGS:
|
||
According to Esix, this port uses the stock USL 4.0.3 libraries. Thus it
|
||
must have the known bug with sigvec() and may have the rumored bug in the BSD-
|
||
compatibility string functions.
|
||
James D. Cronin <jdc@tropel.gca.com> writes: When developing X applications
|
||
under Esix, watch out for mmap(2) failure. This is caused by an incorrect
|
||
version of mmap() defined in libX11.a and libX11.so. This bug existed in Esix
|
||
4.0.3, and continues in 4.0.4 and the recently shipped Xwindow bug fix it
|
||
(which seems to have more bugs than the original version). One workaround is
|
||
to remove the offending file, XSysV.o, from libX11.a and link with the Bstatic
|
||
option.
|
||
|
||
COMMENTS:
|
||
Esix will sell you manuals troffed off the SVr4 source tapes for somewhat
|
||
less than the cost of the Prentice-Hall books. The content is almost identical
|
||
but the organization into volumes a little different.
|
||
Unlimited free support sounds wonderful, and might be ESIX's strongest
|
||
selling point. However, ESIX users on the net have been heard to gripe that in
|
||
practice, you get the support you've paid for from Esix --- that is, none.
|
||
That isn't at all surprising given Esix's staffing level. If this guarantee is
|
||
to be more than a hollow promise, their technical support has to get more
|
||
depth.
|
||
Evan Leibovich <evan@telly.on.ca> is a long-time netter who makes his living
|
||
as a consultant and owns an Esix dealership. He says you can get ESIX at a
|
||
substantial discount from him or other dealers, also that dealers are supposed
|
||
to do first-line support for their customers (which he does, but admits other
|
||
dealers often fail to). Evan is obviously devoted to the product and probably
|
||
the right guy to email first if you think you'd be interested in it.
|
||
|
||
WHAT THE USERS SAY:
|
||
Ron Mackey <rem@dsiinc.com> writes "In general, we are pleased with ESIX.
|
||
We still have problems driving the serial ports at speeds greater than 9600
|
||
baud. We also still see occasional PANICs. These appear to be related to
|
||
problems with the virtual terminal manager." This may be the generic USL asy
|
||
problem again.
|
||
William W. Austin <uunet!baustin!bill> writes "The support from Esix seems
|
||
to be usable if (a) you are a hacker, (b) you know unix (sVr4 internals help a
|
||
lot), and (c) you get past the sales guy who answers the help line (Jeff
|
||
[Ellis] is *very* helpful). If I were a computer-semi-literate, commercial
|
||
user who only wanted his printer to work, etc., I might be up a creek for some
|
||
problems (no drivers for some boards, no support for mouse tablets, etc., but
|
||
that's what VARs are for). All in all, the support is at least a little better
|
||
than what I expected for free -- in many cases it is *far* better than the
|
||
support I got from $CO (is SCO really owned by Ebenezer Scrooge?)"
|
||
[Note: Jeff Ellis has since left.]
|
||
A longer appreciation from Ed Hall <edhall@rand.org>: "I had a problem with
|
||
the ESIX X server. I got through to technical support immediately, and was
|
||
promised a fix disk. The guy on the phone was actually able to chat with on of
|
||
the developers to check to see if the disk would solve the problem. The disk
|
||
came four days later."
|
||
"On the other hand," he continues, "I get the feeling that ESIX has only
|
||
made a mediocre effort to shake out the bugs before releasing their system-- or
|
||
even their fixes. For example, they `repaired' their X server, but the new
|
||
server only ran as root (it made some privileged calls to enable I/O
|
||
ports)--they quickly had to release a second update to fix this new problem.
|
||
They obviously fixed a lot of things in the new server, and performance is
|
||
improved quite a bit as well, but the stupid error they made in the first
|
||
"fixed" version should have been found with only the most minimal of testing."
|
||
"They've done some work on the serial driver, but there are still some
|
||
glitches (occasional dropped characters on a busy system at 38400bps, and a
|
||
real doozy of a problem--a system panic--when doing simultaneous opens and
|
||
ioctl's on a tty0xh and ttyM0xh device. This latter problem was due to my
|
||
using the M0xh and 0xh devices improperly, but panics are inexcusable. No idea
|
||
if this is a SYSVR4 problem or due to their fixes.)"
|
||
"So my impressions of them are mixed. Perhaps I just lucked out in geting
|
||
such rapid response on my support call, but I was impressed by it nonetheless.
|
||
On the other hand, their QA needs work..."
|
||
|
||
REVIEWER'S IMPRESSIONS:
|
||
The tech I spoke with at Esix seemed knowledgeable, bright, and very
|
||
committed to the product. Nevertheless, when I asked what he thought
|
||
distinguished ESIX from the competition, he had no answer.
|
||
This reinforced the feeling I got from the spec sheets that Esix has kind of
|
||
an also-ran mentality, with no market strategy or clear priority for improving
|
||
SVr4 that positions it against its competition. It doesn't have Dell's
|
||
steak-with-all-the-trimmings appeal, it's not pushing price like Consensys or
|
||
support quality like UHC or performance like Microport. (I'm told that
|
||
at one time, Everex was the price leader).
|
||
When I asked Esix's chief marketroid about this, he said that he thinks
|
||
ESIX's best asset is that the product isn't going to go away, and muttered
|
||
unkind things about the possibility that Dell would deep-six their SVr4 in
|
||
favor of Solaris 2.0. This does not a long-term strategy make.
|
||
Despite numerous "repositionings" since I wrote the first version of this
|
||
comment in May 1992, and the fact that Everex has gone bankrupt and Esix has
|
||
been acquired by James River, I've seen no reason to change any of the above.
|
||
|
||
NAME
|
||
Information Foundation System V Release 4.2
|
||
|
||
VENDOR:
|
||
Information Foundation
|
||
One Tabor Center, 1200 17th Street, Suite 1900
|
||
Denver, CO 80202
|
||
Phone: 1-(800)-GET-UNIX (sales)
|
||
sales@if.com (sales)
|
||
support@if.com (tech support)
|
||
|
||
SOFTWARE OPTIONS:
|
||
The system is made up of the following pieces:
|
||
|
||
F = Foundation Set
|
||
U = Utilities Set
|
||
A = Administration Set
|
||
N = Networking
|
||
C = C Development Tools
|
||
S = C2 Auditing Tools
|
||
W = Windowing Korn Shell
|
||
|
||
You can buy about any combination of these in a custom configuration. There
|
||
are 5 "pre-mixed" packages ranging from the $395 UniStation to the $995
|
||
FullStation.
|
||
|
||
UniStation F,W $395
|
||
NetStation F,W,S,N $595
|
||
AdminStation F,W,S,N,U,A $895
|
||
DevaStation F,W,S, U, C $795
|
||
FullStation F,W,S,N,U,A,C $995
|
||
|
||
ADD-ONS:
|
||
Unlimited User License $495
|
||
DOS-Merge $395
|
||
GUI Development Set $895
|
||
OSF/Motif $395
|
||
Font Set $125
|
||
|
||
SUPPORT:
|
||
Bug reports are accepted from any customer, at any time.
|
||
90 days installation support; call (800)-284-UNIX.
|
||
They will have patches available on an FTP server, a BBS, and via UUCP.
|
||
Send in your registration card to get `passive support' (email notification
|
||
of bugs & fixes, BBS, UUCP & FTP access to patches. There's also `active'
|
||
(phone) support, priced per annum depending on your configuration or on a
|
||
per-site basis. IF says it will happily work out custom support plans for
|
||
large customers.
|
||
|
||
FUTURE PLANS:
|
||
They plan to have 20 support engineers by the end of '93.
|
||
Sometime in '93, a tasty selection of PD software (probably rather
|
||
resembling Dell's selections) will be appended to the distribution tape.
|
||
|
||
HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY:
|
||
They've promised to email me a list of hardware known to work, which
|
||
will appear in a future posting.
|
||
|
||
KNOWN BUGS:
|
||
Incorrect font handling in some help system titles.
|
||
There are no man pages --- USL doesn't want to supply them because it's
|
||
pushing a hypertext browser called Finger Librarian. If USL doesn't budge
|
||
soon IF is going to gen them itself.
|
||
|
||
|
||
WHAT THE USERS SAY:
|
||
There aren't any users yet.
|
||
|
||
REVIEWER'S IMPRESSIONS:
|
||
It's early days yet, but it looks to me like these guys are for real ans
|
||
will give Univel some serious competition. They're behaving like they want to
|
||
lead the SVr4.2 market; they're one of only two outfits with both source and
|
||
USL Master Binary licences (the other is Univel). Hiring Jeremy Chatfield away
|
||
from Dell was a smart move --- expect to see the successful elements of Dell
|
||
UNIX's formula repeated here.
|
||
|
||
NAME
|
||
MST UNIX
|
||
|
||
VENDOR:
|
||
Micro Station Technology, Inc.
|
||
1140 Kentwood Ave.
|
||
Cupertino, CA. 95014
|
||
(408)-253-3898
|
||
sales@mst.com (product info & orders)
|
||
cs@mst.com (support)
|
||
|
||
ADD-ONS:
|
||
None.
|
||
|
||
SOFTWARE OPTIONS:
|
||
C Development System
|
||
Networking
|
||
X11R4 and X11R3
|
||
Motif
|
||
Open Look
|
||
|
||
SUPPORT:
|
||
30 days of support free with purchase.
|
||
1 year of fax/email support is $299, 1 year of phone support is $599.
|
||
|
||
FUTURE PLANS:
|
||
They expect to upgrade to Motif 1.2 and X11R5 Summer '92. No plans for
|
||
4.0.4 yet.
|
||
|
||
HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY:
|
||
They've promised to email me a list of hardware known to work, which
|
||
will appear in a future posting.
|
||
They decline to release information on hardware known *not* to work
|
||
for fear of offending vendors.
|
||
|
||
KNOWN BUGS:
|
||
This port probably uses the stock USL 4.0.3 libraries. Thus it probably
|
||
has the known bug with sigvec() and may have the rumored bug in the BSD-
|
||
compatibility string functions.
|
||
The DOS support is only 2.0-compatible (< 32-meg DOS partitions).
|
||
|
||
COMMENTS:
|
||
Another outfit offering stock USL real cheap. They were actually the first
|
||
to try this (in Fall '91) and were the price leader until Consensys blew past
|
||
them.
|
||
These guys really want to sell you preinstalled UNIX on their clone
|
||
hardware. Configurations range from $1349 to $5599 and look like pretty
|
||
good value.
|
||
|
||
WHAT THE USERS SAY:
|
||
I have one experience report from Ray Hill, <hill@ghola.nicolet.com>, who's
|
||
been running MST on a 486 for a month or so. He says it works; elm, cnews, and
|
||
trn are up, so standard UNIX sources compile up and work fine. His only
|
||
criticism is the relative skimpiness of the printed docs.
|
||
Harlan Stockman <hwstock@snll-arpagw.llnl.gov> writes "MST has been very
|
||
helpful at every step of the way; phone and e-mail support have been timely."
|
||
Geoffrey Leach <geoff@ibmpa.awdpa.ibm.com> warns that some of the files
|
||
(specifically, socket library headers) necessary to build X11R5 are bundled in
|
||
the networking option --- this may meen you have to buy it even if you don't
|
||
actually intend to network any machines.
|
||
|
||
REVIEWER'S IMPRESSIONS:
|
||
Anyone who's been to a hobbyist computer expo in the last five years knows
|
||
that the low-price clone-hardware market is full of small, hungry companies run
|
||
by immigrants, often family businesses. Their English is sometimes a little
|
||
shaky but (in my experience) they're honest and their product is good, and
|
||
their prices are *real* aggressive.
|
||
MST seems to be one of these outfits. Since Consensys ended their promo
|
||
MST is now the low-price leader in this market.
|
||
|
||
|
||
NAME:
|
||
Microport System V Release 4.0 version 4
|
||
|
||
VENDOR:
|
||
Microport, Inc.
|
||
108 Whispering Pines Drive
|
||
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
|
||
(800)-367-8649
|
||
sales@mport.com (sales and product info)
|
||
support@mport.com (support)
|
||
|
||
SOFTWARE OPTIONS:
|
||
Networking (TCP/IP, NFS)
|
||
Software Development
|
||
User Graphics Module (X GUIs)
|
||
Graphics Development Module (X toolkits + man pages).
|
||
DOS Merge
|
||
|
||
ADD-ONS:
|
||
A few freeware utilities are included, notably kermit(1) and less(1).
|
||
They include a single-user copy of a program called `JSB MultiView'. It's a
|
||
character-oriented desktop program that front-ends conventional UNIX services
|
||
for character terminals and also provides a calendar service and
|
||
pop-up phone-book. It's something like a character-oriented X windows; each
|
||
on-screen window looks like a terminal to the application.
|
||
|
||
SUPPORT:
|
||
The base price includes printed docs. This is effectively the same content
|
||
as the Prentice-Hall SVr4 books; both are troffed off the SVr4 source tapes.
|
||
They have been very lightly edited for the Microport environment.
|
||
The base price includes 30 days or 1 year of phone support respectively
|
||
depending on whether you bought the base or complete system. Support is
|
||
said to be excellent for serious problems, not so good for minor ones (this
|
||
is understandable if one assumes their support staff is very good but
|
||
overworked, a hypothesis which is plausible on other evidence).
|
||
They have a support BBS at (408)-438-7270 or 438-7521. However, the level
|
||
of activity is low; one customer said (late February 1992) that they hadn't put
|
||
anything useful on it in six months (Microport responds that they've been too
|
||
busy hammering on r4 to spend lots of energy on it).
|
||
|
||
FUTURE PLANS:
|
||
DOS Merge will be folded into the system soon.
|
||
Microport believes they have a lead in multiprocessing SVr4 UNIX and intend
|
||
to push it.
|
||
File-system support for CD-ROMs is coming.
|
||
|
||
HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY:
|
||
See the appendix for details.
|
||
Math co-processors: Cyrix 20/25/33, Intel 80387 20/25/33, Weitek.
|
||
No one has reported any incompatibility horror stories yet. Bernoulli boxes
|
||
and Irwin tapes won't fly, but who cares.
|
||
|
||
TECHNICAL NOTES:
|
||
When I asked what differentiates Microport from the other SVr4 products,
|
||
the answer I got is "performance". The Microport people feel they've put
|
||
a lot of successful work into kernel tuning.
|
||
And, indeed, benchmarks from independent sources show that Microport's
|
||
fork(2) operation is quite fast. Other vendors show about 60 forks per
|
||
second on the AIM Technologies SUITE II benchmarks; Microport cranks 80.
|
||
This is the most dramatic performance difference the AIM tools reveal
|
||
among any of these products. Microport's other benchmark statistics
|
||
are closely comparable to those of its competitors.
|
||
Microport also offers a multiprocessing SVr4 which will run on the
|
||
Compaq SystemPro, the ALR PowerPro, the DEC 433MP, and the Chips &
|
||
Technologies Mpax system.
|
||
Microport has moved the socket headers and libraries necessary to build X
|
||
out of the networking option package into the development system, so you
|
||
don't have to buy an extra module to hack X.
|
||
|
||
KNOWN BUGS:
|
||
According to Microport, this port uses the stock USL 4.0.4 libraries. Thus
|
||
it must have the known bug with sigvec() and may have the rumored bug in the
|
||
BSD-compatibility string functions.
|
||
David Wexelblat reports that "Microport's enhanced asy driver does not work
|
||
correctly (or at all) for hardware flow control - you can't open the ttyXXh
|
||
devices under any circumstances. This was true in 3.1, and is still true in
|
||
4.1. The good news is that SAS (Streams-FAS) works fine for modems. But SAS
|
||
won't work with the AT&T serial mouse driver. So I've got asy on my mouse port
|
||
and SAS on the other one on my dumb-card. [...] Microport is still prone to
|
||
silly errors. The Motif development system, which is described in the release
|
||
notes as being included with the Motif runtime system in the 'complete'
|
||
package, is in fact missing from the tape. They have it available seperately,
|
||
but I had to call them to get it. The 'pixed' application for X.desktop 3.0 is
|
||
compiled with shared libraries that are not included with the release. Hence
|
||
it does not work. I had to call them about this, too."
|
||
|
||
COMMENTS:
|
||
These people sold a lot of shrink-wrapped UNIXes years ago before going
|
||
chapter 11. They're back, leaner and meaner (with a total staff of just
|
||
15).
|
||
Microport says it's primarily interested in the systems-integration market,
|
||
where customers are typically going to be volume buyers qualifying for deep
|
||
discounts. Thus, they're relatively undisturbed by the certainty that their
|
||
high price point is losing them sales to individuals.
|
||
|
||
WHAT THE USERS SAY:
|
||
I've received one good comprehensive experience report, largely favorable,
|
||
from David Wexelblat <dwex@mtgzfs3.att.com>.
|
||
|
||
REVIEWER'S IMPRESSIONS:
|
||
Microport is a small, hungry outfit with a lot to prove; they've already
|
||
gone bust once (I was a customer at the time :-() and they haven't yet
|
||
demonstrated that they've got a better strategy this time out.
|
||
They're perhaps a mite too expensive for the support quality they can offer
|
||
with less than fifteen people, and kernel-tuning isn't going to win them a
|
||
following on hardware that every year swamps those tweaks with huge increases
|
||
in speed for constant dollars. It may be that they're counting on the
|
||
|
||
multiprocessor version to be their bread-and-butter product; there, at least,
|
||
they're offering something that is so far unique and promises performance
|
||
levels unattainable with conventional hardware.
|
||
And, like UHC, they have techies answering the phones and the techies have a
|
||
clue. This certainly improves them as a bet for wizards and developers. If
|
||
multiprocessing is important to you, and/or you're looking for a small outfit
|
||
where you can develop personal working relationships with the tech people who
|
||
matter, Microport might be a good way to go.
|
||
They've offered to send me a copy of their OS gratis for review and
|
||
evaluation purposes.
|
||
|
||
|
||
NAME:
|
||
UHC Version 3.6
|
||
|
||
VENDOR:
|
||
UHC Corp.
|
||
3600 S. Gessner
|
||
Suite 110
|
||
Houston, TX 77063
|
||
(713)-782-2700
|
||
support@uhc.com
|
||
|
||
SOFTWARE OPTIONS:
|
||
Networking package (TCP/IP).
|
||
X + Motif
|
||
X + Open Look
|
||
|
||
ADD-ONS:
|
||
None reported.
|
||
|
||
SUPPORT:
|
||
The base price includes printed docs. This is effectively the same content
|
||
as the Prentice-Hall SVr4 books; both are troffed off the SVr4 source tapes.
|
||
30 days free phone support with purchase.
|
||
All their engineers take tech-support calls for part of their day.
|
||
They have 2 doing it full-time. The product manager is a techie himself
|
||
and takes his share of calls.
|
||
A support contract costs $1195 for one year. This includes 75% off
|
||
on all upgrades.
|
||
They are in the process of bringing up a BBS with a window into their
|
||
bug report and fix/workaround database.
|
||
It was emphasized to me that UHC wants to be known for the quality of
|
||
their support, which they feel is the product's strongest differentiating
|
||
feature.
|
||
|
||
FUTURE PLANS:
|
||
X11R5 by mid-May or thereabouts. They have it running now but don't
|
||
consider it stable enough to ship.
|
||
|
||
HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY:
|
||
See the appendix for details.
|
||
The asy driver in version 2.0 won't talk to the NS16550AFN UART, which
|
||
is supposed to be pin-compatible with the standard 16450.
|
||
|
||
KNOWN BUGS:
|
||
This port probably uses the stock USL 4.0.3 libraries. Thus it probably
|
||
has the known bug with sigvec() and may have the rumored bug in the BSD-
|
||
compatibility string functions.
|
||
|
||
COMMENTS:
|
||
They claim that according to USL they have the largest installed base of
|
||
SVr4 customers, and to have been first to market with a shrink-wrapped
|
||
SVr4 (in 1990).
|
||
UHC also claims to have performed and maintained IBM's official UNIX port
|
||
for the MicroChannel machines.
|
||
A subsidiary of Anam, "a holding company with a diversified portfolio".
|
||
|
||
WHAT THE USERS SAY:
|
||
The only comment I've yet seen on the UHC OS was an extended description of
|
||
a successful installation by a satisfied netter. He made it sound like a good
|
||
solid product.
|
||
I have one absolutely incandescently glowing report on UHC support from a
|
||
developer named Steve Showalter <shwasl@Texaco.COM>. He says: "We've been
|
||
running UHC's OS for about a year now...been EXTREMELY happy with it. The
|
||
support we receive is without a doubt, the finest we have received from any
|
||
vendor."
|
||
Duke Smith (c/o somesh@watson.bm.com) writes: "Another absolutely
|
||
incandescently glowing report on UHC support: I called the Programmer's Shop
|
||
about UHC & wound up talking to UHC tech support to find out if the sucker
|
||
would run on my machine. The guy took considerable time to explain all the
|
||
different things that might be causing the problem, and emphasized that the
|
||
same hardware problems which were probably causing Consensys not to run would
|
||
also hose UHC. This led me to contact ALR tech support (also a glower) who took
|
||
all of 1-1/2 days (not including shipping) to do the necessary upgrades, on
|
||
warranty because apparently their ads that it will run Unix are covered by
|
||
warranty. The glowing thing about UHC is, the guy helped me get a competitor's
|
||
port working, and I told him he was gonna get in dutch with the marketroids and
|
||
his response was that maybe I would remember them the next time I or someone I
|
||
knew needed a system. He's right. I'll use Consensys until I can afford
|
||
something better for my own system (it's still better than DOS...), but from
|
||
now on my clients will get pointed toward UHC, not Consensys, whose
|
||
absent-parent attitude is going to keep them from ever becoming anything but
|
||
the destitute hacker's Unix vendor."
|
||
On the other hand, William G. Bunton <wgb@succubus.tnt.com>: "So, I give a
|
||
thumbs up for the product. I give a thumbs down for the company, and it's
|
||
enough that I'm taking my future business elsewhere." He tells a horror story
|
||
about the 2.0 version involving a three-month runaround, a letter to their VP
|
||
of marketing, and lots of broken promises. Apparently UHC does sometimes drop
|
||
the ball.
|
||
This is reinforced by Darryl V. McDaniel: "Based upon conversations with UHC
|
||
and other people with UHC 4.0.3.6, UHC has a severe problem with revision
|
||
control. Just because two customers have 4.0.3.6, doesn't mean that they all
|
||
have the same version. It appears that UHC doesn't even know what they are
|
||
shipping." The best evidence he gives is that he's never seen the mouse-
|
||
middle-button which others (including your humble editor) have reported.
|
||
He also says: "Man pages have wrong section numbers, confusion between
|
||
compatibility package (SVR4, BSD, XENIX), etc. Man pages from DDDK overlay man
|
||
pages of same root name. UHC acknowledges that this is their bug."
|
||
|
||
REVIEWER'S IMPRESSIONS:
|
||
I found both the people I talked to friendly, candid, technically
|
||
knowledgeable, and willing to answer sticky questions. I came away with a very
|
||
positive impression of the outfit's operating style.
|
||
There are experienced UNIX developers who value dealing with a small,
|
||
responsive outfit where they can develop good working relationships with
|
||
individuals. UHC says it likes to sell to wizards and might be a good choice
|
||
for these people.
|
||
The second time I called (*after* I'd formed the above impressions) one of
|
||
their guys offered to trade me a copy of UHC UNIX with all the trimmings for an
|
||
autographed copy of _The_New_Hacker's_Dictionary_. So they have taste, too.
|
||
I'm too ethical to let this sway my evaluations, but not too ethical to take
|
||
the software... :-)
|
||
|
||
|
||
NAME:
|
||
BSD/386
|
||
|
||
VENDOR:
|
||
Berkeley Software Design, Inc.
|
||
3110 Fairview Park Drive, Suite 580
|
||
Falls Church, VA 22042 USA
|
||
(800)-800-4BSD
|
||
(719)-593-9445
|
||
bsdi-info@bsdi.com
|
||
|
||
SOFTWARE OPTIONS:
|
||
None. You get an unlimited user license, binaries *and sources* for the
|
||
entire system (this includes X11R5 and full BSD networking sources with both
|
||
Internet and GOSIP OSI protocol stacks). What more could you want?
|
||
|
||
SUPPORT:
|
||
The purchase price include 60 days of phone support.
|
||
A telephone-support contract is $595 per year; email-only support is
|
||
$295/year; upgrade only is $185/year.
|
||
|
||
|
||
FUTURE PLANS:
|
||
Capability to run SVr3.2 binaries (including SCO binaries) in 1993.
|
||
The current release (0.3) is a fairly stable beta. Rob Kolstad sez:
|
||
"Our current release (November 30, 1992) is titled Gamma 4 for
|
||
legal reasons. Our 1Q1993 release will be big-fixes for even
|
||
better quality."
|
||
|
||
HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY:
|
||
See the appendix for details. New drivers are being added all the time.
|
||
Most multiport serial boards aren't supported (they're working on it).
|
||
BSD/386 supports the RISCOM/8 multiport serial card (SDL: 508-559-9005) and
|
||
includes a driver for the MAXPEA serial cards.
|
||
Rob Kolstad says BSDI has been very pleased with the cooperation
|
||
they've received from systems vendor Technology Power Enterprises. He
|
||
says: "In a world of commodity products, they differentiate themselves
|
||
by good service. When we (as operating system developers) have any
|
||
problems with their boxes, they're happy to help us out in finding and
|
||
fix problems -- even when the problem is hardware!" Dave Ingalz of
|
||
that company has developed a BSD/386-ready configuration for people who
|
||
might wish to buy one; call 510-623-3834.
|
||
|
||
TECHNICAL NOTES:
|
||
Alone among the 386 UNIX versions described here, this version is *not*
|
||
based even in part on USL code and has no AT&T license restrictions. Rather,
|
||
it derives from Berkeley UNIX (the CSRG Networking 2 release, somewhere between
|
||
4.3 and 4.4).
|
||
Many of the BSD/386 tools, including the compiler, are GNU code.
|
||
This system's libraries, header files and utilities conform to X3J11, POSIX
|
||
1003.1 and POSIX 1003.2 standards. POSIX Certification is schedule for the
|
||
first half of 1993.
|
||
|
||
COMMENTS:
|
||
What these people are trying is audacious --- something functionally like
|
||
the SVr4 merge, but starting from a ported BSD kernel and with System V
|
||
compatibility hacks, rather than the other ways. By all accounts the product
|
||
is in far better shape right now than one would expect for a beta pre-release,
|
||
which argues that the developers have done something right.
|
||
|
||
WHAT THE USERS SAY:
|
||
The few who've seen this system display an evangelistic fervor about it.
|
||
|
||
REVIEWER'S IMPRESSIONS:
|
||
I expect this will become a hackers' favorite.
|
||
|
||
All this, and sources too...I salivate. I am tempted. Not sure I'm ready
|
||
to change OSs at the same time as I switch machines, though. SVr4's got better
|
||
continuity with the 3.2 I'm running now. Ghu, what a dilemma!
|
||
When I mentioned that I'm doing elisp maintenance for GNU EMACS these days,
|
||
Rob Kolstad, one of the principal developers, offered me a copy and a year
|
||
of support if I'd field their (so far nonexistent) EMACS problems.
|
||
|
||
|
||
NAME
|
||
Mach386
|
||
|
||
VENDOR:
|
||
Mt. Xinu
|
||
2560 Ninth Street
|
||
Berkeley, CA 94710
|
||
(510)-644-0146
|
||
mtxinu-mach@mtxinu.com
|
||
|
||
ADD-ONS:
|
||
Kernel sources! You get can sources for the Mach 3.0 microkernel for
|
||
$195 over base price.
|
||
|
||
SOFTWARE OPTIONS:
|
||
The base package includes: Mach 2.5 kernel and utilities, 4.3 BSD interface,
|
||
GNU utilities (GCC, GDB, GAS, EMACS, BISON), and on-line reference manuals (man
|
||
pages) for Mach and 4.3 BSD. The following options are available:
|
||
Networking (SUN NFS, TCP/IP networking from the Berkeley Tahoe release,
|
||
on-line NFS man pages).
|
||
X (X11R4 with programmer's environment and complete X manual pages).
|
||
On-line Documentation (Complete source for Mach and 4.3 documentation,
|
||
including Mach Supplementary Documents, System Manager's Documentation, 4.3 BSD
|
||
Programmer's Supplementary Documents, 4.3 BSD User's Supplementary Documents).
|
||
Optional Microkernel Add-on, Mach 3.0 (Complete Mach 3.0 microkernel source
|
||
code; complete build environment with tools to modify and rebuild the Mach 3.0
|
||
microkernel; binary BSD server which runs on top of the microkernel in place
|
||
of the standard /vmunix kernel; source for an example of a server (POE)
|
||
running on top of the Mach 3.0 microkernel and sources for some utilities
|
||
which are kernel-dependent.
|
||
|
||
SUPPORT:
|
||
You get 30 days phone support with purchase.
|
||
A support contract is available for $150 quarterly or $500 per year; this
|
||
includes upgrades. There is a support BBS open to contract holders only.
|
||
An ftp server at autosupport.mtxinu.com carries patches, enhancements and
|
||
freeware adapted for the system. That site also hists an NNTP server carrying
|
||
support newsgroups for MtXinu users. This service is called "auto-support". A
|
||
user writes: " They post bug reports/fixes, allow general user discussion, and
|
||
let registered users download updates. I have mixed feelings about
|
||
auto-support. The user activity on the news groups is pretty low, but Mt Xinu
|
||
responds to bug posts VERY quickly. Major updaes seem to occur about every 2-3
|
||
months. The cost is $150.00/quarter or $500/year. If you want the sources to
|
||
the 386-AT drivers and the build environment for the kernel, you need to buy an
|
||
auto-support subscription."
|
||
|
||
FUTURE PLANS:
|
||
They plan to move to OSF/1 this year. X11R5 and Motif support are
|
||
also in the works.
|
||
|
||
HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY:
|
||
See the Appendix for details.
|
||
Color X windows is supported on VGA boards via extended 8-bit color mode.
|
||
Toshiba and Toshiba-compatible floppy drives and controllers work.
|
||
All current motherboards tested have worked. There were a few problems with
|
||
early Compaq DeskPros. They add "Please note that we do not support the
|
||
microchannel bus, EISA extended modes, IBM PS2, and some NCR machines. We are,
|
||
however, considering new devices so let us know your interests!".
|
||
|
||
TECHNICAL NOTES
|
||
This product is essentially a 4.3 port built on the Mach project's
|
||
microkernel technology.
|
||
|
||
COMMENTS:
|
||
Very appealing for the educational market --- lets CS students and hobbyists
|
||
tinker creatively with the guts of UNIX in a way that would be impossible under
|
||
more conventional UNIXes. It's not clear who else will be interested in this.
|
||
|
||
WHAT THE USERS SAY:
|
||
Eric Baur <ecb@ventoux.assabet.com> writes:
|
||
"The system is a very faithful emulation of BSD43 on top of Mach. For our
|
||
purposes it is a super deal. For about $2000.00 in hardware and $995.00 in
|
||
software we have a Mach development platform that integrates almost seamlessly
|
||
into our network development environment. As a general-purpose UNIX (whatever
|
||
that means) Mach386 gives up a lot in features to the System V vendors.
|
||
(Virtual terminals, DOS emulation, etc etc) For the home hacker, it seems like
|
||
it would be a good deal. You obviously could never run "shrink-wrapped"
|
||
software, but most public domain and GNU stuff should port easily."
|
||
Mark Holden <l00017@eeyore.stcloud.msus.edu> adds "Mt. Xinu's tech support
|
||
is absolutely top-notch, and I've found them quite willing to deal with matters
|
||
even after the official support runs out. [...] Not that Mach386 is without
|
||
its quirks. I've had problems getting a Western Digital ethernet board to
|
||
work correctly, and things required a fair bit of tweaking to set things on a
|
||
smooth course, but then I've never worked with a BSD that didn't."
|
||
|
||
REVIEWER'S IMPRESSIONS:
|
||
Right now, this product is a solution looking for a problem --- a solution I
|
||
find technically fascinating, to be sure. But even the company admits to not
|
||
being sure who its market is. I wish 'em luck.
|
||
|
||
KNOWN BUGS:
|
||
Bugs reported in previous Guide issues with UUCP on bidirectional serial
|
||
lines have been fixed.
|
||
Eric Baur reports: "Fortunately, I got the micro-kernel add-on only as an
|
||
example for Mach 3.0 development. It is not nearly as stable as the mach 2.5
|
||
based production kernel. Our 486/33 EISA machine usually hangs within minutes
|
||
after booting the 3.0 kernel...Mt Xinu is completely up front about the limits
|
||
of the 3.0 stuff and is very helpful about trying to debug it."
|
||
|
||
V. UPCOMING PORTS, FREEWARE VERSIONS, AND CLONES.
|
||
|
||
There's a free X distribution that's worth checking out in lieu of the
|
||
vendor-maintained ports. It's called XFree86, and it's a souped-up version
|
||
of the 1.2 X386 server supported for SVr4, 386BSD, Mach386, and Linux. It
|
||
supports the following chipsets:
|
||
|
||
ET4000 (Tseng)
|
||
ET3000 (Tseng)
|
||
PVGA1 (Paradise)
|
||
WD90Cxx (Western Digital - Paradise PVGA1 Supersets)
|
||
GVGA (Genoa)
|
||
TVGA8900C (Trident)
|
||
ATI18800,28800 (ATI SVGA - not 8514!)
|
||
|
||
The Xfree maintainers recommend ET4000-based boards, except for recent
|
||
Diamond models. There is no support for S3, ATI 8514 or TIGA chipsets.
|
||
|
||
Source patches based on X11R5 PL17, from MIT, are available via anonymous FTP
|
||
from export.lcs.mit.edu (under /contrib/XFree86) and at various other sites;
|
||
binaries for various OSs are also widely available (consult the archie service
|
||
on Internet, using the search string "xfree" to find a site near you).
|
||
|
||
XFree86 is known to work under all the commercial ports covered above except
|
||
Consensys's 4.2; also under Linux and 386BSD. The maintainers believe it
|
||
will fly on any ISA/EISA clone box running SVr4.
|
||
|
||
Send email to David Wexelblat <dwex@mtgzfs3.att.com> or to
|
||
xfree86@physics.su.oz.au for further information.
|
||
|
||
There are three other commercial SVr4 UNIX ports on the market for which I do
|
||
not yet have detailed information. I hope to cover them in future issues.
|
||
|
||
Solaris 2.1:
|
||
Sun's port for 386/486 machines, just released. I hope to add a full vendor
|
||
report on this nextish.
|
||
|
||
PromoX UNIX:
|
||
This is said to be a bare-bones port by an outfit that mainly sells hardware.
|
||
The price advertised is $649 for a complete 2-user + devtools system.
|
||
|
||
PromoX Systems
|
||
1050 East Duane Avenue, Suite B
|
||
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
|
||
|
||
Tel: (408) 733-2966
|
||
Email: promox@cup.portal.com
|
||
|
||
SORIX:
|
||
This is a SVR4 UNIX port enhanced for real-time work, offered by Siemens AG.
|
||
|
||
Siemens AG
|
||
AUT 189
|
||
Gleiwitzerstr. 555
|
||
8500 Nuremberg 1
|
||
|
||
Tel: 0911/895-2203
|
||
|
||
I don't yet know if this version is going to be sold in the US. In the info
|
||
I have, prices are quoted in Deutschmarks.
|
||
|
||
NeXTSTEP 486:
|
||
NeXT has a 486 port of the NeXT environment scheduled for beta release in
|
||
4th quarter '92.
|
||
|
||
There are some freeware alternative UNIXes available for the 386/486. None of
|
||
these are yet complete and mature hacking environments, but they show promise
|
||
(and require much less in minimum hardware to run). They are:
|
||
|
||
386BSD:
|
||
Under development by Bill & Lynne Jolitz & friends (this is the same 386BSD
|
||
project described in Dr. Dobbs' Journal some time back). This OS is based on
|
||
the NET/2 tape from Berkeley, strongly resembles the commercial BSD/386 release
|
||
described above, and like it is distributed with full source. The aim is to
|
||
produce a full POSIX-compliant freeware BSD UNIX. Version 0.1 is now out,
|
||
including FP emulation, SCSI support, coexistence with DOS, and many more new
|
||
features. Passwording has to be acquired separately due to US export
|
||
regulations, but the system is otherwise fairly complete; I have seen it run.
|
||
There's a lot of traffic in comp.unix.bsd about this project.
|
||
|
||
Linux:
|
||
This is a POSIX-emulating UNIX lookalike, being written from scratch and
|
||
currently in beta. At the moment, it's less complete than 386BSD because it
|
||
|
||
doesn't leverage as much pre-existing code, but the kernel and development
|
||
tools are up and usable. Linux is changing so fast that more description would
|
||
probably be more misleading than enlightening. There's an active linux group
|
||
on USENET, comp.os.linux, and a (now less active) linux-activists mailing list;
|
||
to subscribe, mail to "linux-activists-requests@niksula.hut.fi". Up-to-the
|
||
minute info is also available by fingering torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi.
|
||
|
||
Hurd:
|
||
This is the long-awaited and semi-mythical GNU kernel. It's being worked on
|
||
by the Free Software Foundation (the people who brought you emacs, gcc, gdb and
|
||
the rest of the GNU tool suite) but it's not ready for prime time yet. It's
|
||
said to be a set of processes layered over a Mach 3.0 kernel. The 386BSD and
|
||
Linux developments both lean heavily on GNU tools.
|
||
|
||
Yggdrasil:
|
||
USENETter Adam J. Richter has formed Yggdrasil Computing Inc. to distribute
|
||
a Linux-based USL-free UNIX(r) clone on CD-ROM. He writes "The alpha release
|
||
has been shipping since December 8th [1992]. The beta release should come out
|
||
around the end of January [1993] and the first production release should ship
|
||
in late February or early March." For more info, check out the anonymous FTP
|
||
area in netcom.com:~ftp/pub/yggdrasil.
|
||
|
||
There is one other not-quite-freeware (cheapware?) product that deserves a
|
||
mention:
|
||
|
||
Minix:
|
||
This is a roughly V7-compatible UNIX clone for Intel boxes, sold
|
||
with source by Prentice-Hall for $169 (there's an associated book for
|
||
a few bucks more). It's really designed to run in 16-bit mode on 8086
|
||
and 286 machines, though the UK's MINIX center offers a 32-bit kernel.
|
||
UUCP and netnews clones are available as freeware but not supplied
|
||
with the base system. A large international community is involved in
|
||
improving Minix; see comp.os.minix on USENET for details.
|
||
|
||
These freeware and "cheapware" products exert valuable pressure on the
|
||
commercial vendors. Someday, they may even force AT&T to unlock source to stay
|
||
competitive...
|
||
|
||
Finally, there is a class of commercial UNIX clones that claim to emulate UNIX
|
||
or improve on it without being derived from AT&T source. The major products
|
||
of this kind for 80x86 machines seem to be Coherent, QNX and LynxOS. The
|
||
following information about these has been supplied by various USENETters:
|
||
|
||
COHERENT is a small-kernel UNIX-compatible multi-user, multi-tasking
|
||
development O/S for $99.95 that uses less than 14Mb of disk space, runs on most
|
||
286-386-486 CPU systems, has a (pre-ANSI) C compiler and over 230 UNIX commands
|
||
including text processing, program development, administrative and maintenance
|
||
functions. The GNU tools are available as pre-compiled binaries and source
|
||
from MWC. Coherent resides on a partition separate from DOS and can access the
|
||
DOS file system with the DOS command. It has no network or Xwindows support,
|
||
but netnews has been ported and it has its own newsgroup, comp.os.coherent. It
|
||
is fully documented with both a comprehensive 1200 page manual and an on-line
|
||
manual. Mark Williams Company provides excellent support including a UUCP
|
||
access BBS and has just announced Release 4.0, the 386 version of COHERENT
|
||
(which removed the 64K-address-space limit on the compiler). A big selling
|
||
point of this system is its minimal HW requirements --- only 1MB of memory,
|
||
a 10MB root partition, and monochrome (or better) monitor.
|
||
|
||
QNX is a POSIX-compliant microkernel OS with real-time capability, targeted
|
||
to mission critical, performance sensitive applications like factory
|
||
automation, process control, financial transaction processing, and
|
||
instrumentation. They claim an installed base of over 200K systems worldwide.
|
||
The microkernel is only 7K and implements a message-passing model; other pieces
|
||
can loaded in at runtime, supporting anything from a small real-time executive
|
||
up to a full multi-user time-sharing system (including transparent DOS
|
||
emulation supporting Windows 3.1 in protected mode). QNX networking supports
|
||
standard protocol suites, but uses very fast, lightweight protocols for
|
||
QNX-to-QNX node communications; QNX machines on a network can be treated for
|
||
most purposes as a single large multiprocessor, and the OS itself can be
|
||
distributed across multiple nodes. Here is contact information for the vendor:
|
||
|
||
Quantum Software Systems Quantum Software Systems
|
||
175 Terrence Matthews Cr. Westendstr.19 6000 Frankfurt
|
||
Kanata, Ontario K2M 1W8 am main 1
|
||
Canada Germany
|
||
voice: (613) 591-0931 x111 (voice) voice: 49 69 97546156
|
||
fax: (613) 591-3579 (fax) fax: 49 69 97546110
|
||
usenet: stuartr@qnx.com
|
||
|
||
QNX support is offered via voice and FAX hotline and a BBS. There is also
|
||
a newsletter and an annual international users' conference.
|
||
|
||
LynxOS is a 386 UNIX specialized for real-time work, available from Lynx
|
||
Real-Time Systems Inc. of Los Gatos, California. It includes TCP/IP, NFS, X,
|
||
etc. Most of the development tools are GNU. The kernel is pre-emptable and
|
||
supports threads and dynamically-loaded device drivers.
|
||
|
||
VI. HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY TABLES
|
||
|
||
These tables summarize vendor claims and user reports on which hardware will
|
||
work with which port.
|
||
|
||
To save space in the tables below, we use the following *one-letter*
|
||
abbreviations for the OS ports:
|
||
|
||
S SCO UNIX version 3.2v4
|
||
|
||
C Consensys System V Release 4.2
|
||
D Dell UNIX Issue 2.1
|
||
E ESIX System V Release 4.0.4
|
||
I Information Foundation System V Release 4.2
|
||
M Micro Station Technology SVr4 UNIX
|
||
P Microport System V/4 version 4
|
||
U UHC Version 3.6
|
||
|
||
B BSD/386 (0.3 beta)
|
||
X Mach386
|
||
|
||
A `c' indicates that the hardware is claimed to work in vendor literature.
|
||
A `y' indicates that this has been verified by a user report.
|
||
A `.' indicates that whether this combination works is unknown.
|
||
An `n' indicates that the vendor advises that the combination won't work.
|
||
A `*' points you at footnote info.
|
||
|
||
A blank column indicates that I have received no vendor info on the
|
||
hardware category in question.
|
||
|
||
The following general caveats apply:
|
||
|
||
* All ports support EGA, VGA, CGA and monochrome text displays.
|
||
|
||
* All ports support generic ISA serial-port cards based on the 8250 or 16450
|
||
UART. According to the vendors, the asy drivers on Dell, Esix, Microport,
|
||
BSD/386 and Mach386 support the extended FIFO on the NS16550AFN UART chip.
|
||
Indeed, Dell tech support will tell you this feature was present in the
|
||
base USL code. UHC says its 2.0 drivers *don't* talk to 16550s but
|
||
says that will be fixed in March '92. A user reports that SCO has
|
||
supported the 16550 since 3.2.2.
|
||
|
||
* I have not bothered listing ordinary ST-506/IDE/RLL drives, though lists
|
||
of them are given in vendor literature. This is a very mature commodity
|
||
technology; anything you buy should work with one of the supported
|
||
controllers unless it's defective.
|
||
|
||
* Vendors' supported hardware lists are not models of clarity. Some iterms
|
||
may be listed under a couple of different names because I don't know that
|
||
they're actually the same beast. I have been very careful not to make
|
||
assumptions where I am ignorant; thus, some hardware may appear less
|
||
widely supported than it actually is.
|
||
|
||
* These tables are grossly incomplete.
|
||
|
||
Also, be aware that there is a fundamental design problem in the ISA
|
||
architecture that can cause 8-bit boards used in a system with 16-bit
|
||
boards to flake out even if they're actually compatible. Jeremy Chatfield
|
||
(formerly of Dell, now of Information Foundation) describes it this way:
|
||
|
||
"We've seen (and fixed) this with several card combinations. If you have an 8
|
||
bit card and a 16 bit card in the same address range, then the address decoding
|
||
on the ISA bus will find that the 128KB range includes a 16 bit card. It
|
||
therefore programs itself for 16 bit I/O. If you then do I/O with the 8 bit
|
||
card, every other data byte is garbage. You will also have a reboot problem,
|
||
because the 16 bit card usually starts in 8 bit mode and has to be switched to
|
||
16 bit mode. If the switch back to 8 bit mode is not made, and the address
|
||
range is the c0000-d0000 range, close to the VGA BIOS, the VGA BIOS accesses
|
||
are screwed, because they are performed in 16 bit mode because of the above PC
|
||
H/W architectural problem. We include a deinit sequence in all the 16 bit
|
||
device drivers that causes a shutdown to reset the accesses to the safer 8 bit
|
||
mode. Of course, after a panic, the machine still has boards set up in 16 bit
|
||
mode, so you might observe the problem then.
|
||
|
||
This affects *all* PC OS's. I have seen cases where DOS failed to reboot
|
||
because of the same nonsense (network card in 16 bit mode in same address
|
||
region as VGA BIOS). Clever programming can resolve in several ways."
|
||
|
||
All the SVr4 systems inherit support for a fairly wide range of hardware from
|
||
the base USL code (version 4.0.3 or 4.0.4). This includes:
|
||
|
||
* All PC disk controllers (ESDI, IDE, ST-506 in MFM and RLL formats).
|
||
|
||
* The Adaptec 1542B SCSI adapter. Note: you'll have to jumper your
|
||
SCSI devices to fixed IDs during installation on most of these.
|
||
|
||
* Western Digital's 8013EBT Ethernet card, and its equivalents
|
||
the WD8003 and WD8013. SVr4v4 adds the 3Com 3C503.
|
||
|
||
* VGA adapters in 640x480 by 16 color mode.
|
||
|
||
* "C" protocol serial mice like the Series 7 and Series 9 from Logitech and
|
||
the PC-3 mouse from Mouse Systems (however, we've had one report of an
|
||
ostensible PC-3 clone called the DFI200H not working).
|
||
|
||
SCO UNIXes from 3.2.2 up and ODT 1.1 also support all these devices.
|
||
|
||
All SVr4 4.2 ports inherit support for these additional devices:
|
||
|
||
* "M" and "M+" protocol mice like Microsoft's and the newer Logitechs.
|
||
|
||
* SCSI WORM drives including the Toshiba and Maxtor RXT-800HS.
|
||
|
||
|
||
* SCSI Optical Disks: Maxtor Tahiti-I and II, Sony SMOE501
|
||
|
||
* SCSI CD-ROM drives: Toshiba XM-3201B, NEC CDR-82, Pioneer DRM-600,
|
||
Sony CDU-8012.
|
||
|
||
* ET3000-based SVGA boards at up to 1024x768x16, WD90C10-based boards
|
||
at up to 1024x768x16, WD90C11-based boards at up to 1024x768x256.
|
||
|
||
If you can fill in any of the gaps, or convert a `c' to `y', send me email.
|
||
|
||
S C D E I M P U B X Systems
|
||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
c . c . Acer (all 386/486 models)
|
||
. . . c ACCELL 486/33 ISA and 386/40 ISA
|
||
. c . . ADDA AD-428P-25, Portable 486/25, 486/33, AD-328D-25
|
||
. c c . ALR Business VEISA 386/33-101
|
||
c . . . ALR (all 386 and 486 models)
|
||
c . . . applicationDEC 316,316+,325,325C,333,425,433MP
|
||
c . . . Apricot LS, LS 386SX, XEN-S 386
|
||
c . . y Arche 486, Master 486/33
|
||
. . c . AST (models not specified)
|
||
. c c . AST Premium (models not specified)
|
||
c . . . AST Premium 386,386/33,486/25T*E*,486/33T*E*
|
||
c . c . AT&T 6386 machines
|
||
. . c . Compaq (models not specified)
|
||
c c c . Compaq DeskPro 386/33.
|
||
c . . . Compaq DeskPro 486s/20,486/25/486/33L,386/20,386/25
|
||
c . . . Compaq Portable III 386, SystemPro
|
||
c . . y Compaq SLT 386s/20
|
||
. . . y CompuAdd 320
|
||
c y y y y y . CompuAdd Model 333
|
||
. . . y CompuAdd 320
|
||
c . . . DEC DS486, DECpc 433, DECpc 433T
|
||
c . . . DECstation 320,325,425
|
||
c y . c . Dell 310,325,325P,333P,316SX,316LT,320SX,320LT.
|
||
c y . c . Dell 433P,425E,433E,425TE,433TE,4xx[DS]E,486[DP]xx.
|
||
. . . y DynaMicro 486/33
|
||
c . . . EasyData 386 model 333
|
||
c . . . Epson Equity 386/20PC,386/25,386SX; Epson PC AX3,AX3/25
|
||
. c c . Everex (models not specified)
|
||
y . . . Everex 33,386/20,486,486/33
|
||
. c c . Gateway 2000 (models not specified)
|
||
. . c y y Gateway 2000 (486/33 ISA)
|
||
. . . y . Gateway 2000 486/25
|
||
c . . . Groupil Uniprocessor 25MHz Tower
|
||
c . . . GRiDCase 1530,1550SX
|
||
. . c c High Definition Systems 486/25 ISA and 386 SX/16 ISA
|
||
. y . . High Definition Systems 386/40 ISA
|
||
c . . . HP 486 Vectra series
|
||
c . . . IBC 486
|
||
c . . . ITT 486
|
||
y . . . Micro Way Number Smasher 486/33
|
||
c . . . Mitac 386, MC3100E-02, S500
|
||
c . . . Mitsuba 386
|
||
c . . . Mitsubishi PC-386
|
||
. . . y MORSE PAT 386PX 386/40
|
||
. . . y MORSE KP 386T 386/33
|
||
c . . . NCR 316,316SX,3386
|
||
c . . . NEC 386/20,486/25, BusinessMate and PowerMate
|
||
y . . . NEC 386/33 BusinessMate
|
||
c . . . Noble 386
|
||
c . . . Nokia Alfaskop System 10 m52, m54/55
|
||
c . . . Northgate 33
|
||
. c c . Northgate 386/33
|
||
. y . . . Northgate 486/33
|
||
c . . . Olivetti 386/486 machines
|
||
c . . . Olivetti XP-9
|
||
y . . . Packard-Bell 386x
|
||
c . . . PC Craft PCC 2400 386
|
||
c . . . Phillips 386, P3464 486
|
||
. c c . Primax (models not specified)
|
||
c . . . SNI 8800-50, 8810-50, PCD series
|
||
c . . . Schneider 386 25-340, 386SX System 70
|
||
c . . . Siemens Data Systems Model WX200
|
||
c . . . Starstation
|
||
. . . y Tandy 3000
|
||
c . . . Tandy 4000
|
||
y . . . Tatung Force 386x
|
||
c . . . Tatung Force TCS-8000 386, TCS-8600 386
|
||
. c c . Tangent (models not specified)
|
||
. y . . Tangent 386/25C
|
||
. c y . Tangent 433E (486/33 EISA)
|
||
. . . y Technology Advancement Group EISA 483/33
|
||
. c c . Televideo (models not specified)
|
||
c . . . Televideo 386/25
|
||
c . . . Texas Instruments System 1300
|
||
. . . y Texas Instruments System 80486/33Mhz
|
||
c . . . Toshiba T3100,T3200,T5100,T5200,T8500,T8600
|
||
. . . y TPE 486/33 & 486/50
|
||
. c c . Twinhead (models not specified)
|
||
y . . . Twinhead 800 (486/33)
|
||
. c c . Unisys (models not specified)
|
||
c . . . Unisys PW2 Series 800/16,800/20,800/25
|
||
c . . . Victor 386 25, V486T
|
||
c . . . Wang MX200, PC 380
|
||
c . . . Wyse 386
|
||
n . . . Wyse Decision 486/33 (intermittent crashes)
|
||
c . . . Zenith 386 and 486 machines
|
||
. . . y Zeos 486DX-50
|
||
|
||
S C D E I M P U B X Motherboards
|
||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
c . . AGI
|
||
y . . . A.I.R. 486/33EL w 256K cache
|
||
. c . ALR
|
||
. c . AMAX
|
||
c . c . AMI (model not specified)
|
||
y c . AMI Enterprise II (33 & 50)
|
||
y . . Amptron AMD386/40
|
||
. . y Amptron ISA 486DX/33
|
||
. c . ARC
|
||
n . c . Cache Computer
|
||
. c . Chips & Technologies chipset
|
||
y . c . Chips & Technologies 33DX
|
||
c c . Club AT
|
||
. c . DataExport
|
||
y . c . Dell
|
||
. c n . DTK (model not specified)
|
||
y . n . DTK 386/33
|
||
. . c EISA Tech 80386SX MHz
|
||
y . . . Eteq 386
|
||
y n . . Eteq 486
|
||
. c . Free Technology (model not specified)
|
||
. . . y Free Technology 486/33 EISA board
|
||
y . . . Free Technology 486/50DX
|
||
y y . . Gigabyte GA-486US 33MHz 256K Cache
|
||
c . . y Intel 302 (386/25 + 387)
|
||
. . y Intel 403E (486/33 EISA)
|
||
. c . Microlab
|
||
c y c y c Micronics 386/25
|
||
c c y c y Micronics 486/33 ISA
|
||
y . . Micronics 486/33 EISA
|
||
. c . Mitac
|
||
. . . Modular Circuit Technology 386/SX 16Mhz
|
||
y . . . Motherboard Factory 386/40, 486/33 (Northgate's OEM)
|
||
. c . Mylex (model not specified)
|
||
c c . Mylex MI-386/20
|
||
y y y y . Mylex MAE486/33
|
||
y y . . NICE 486DX/50 EISA
|
||
y . c . OPTI 486
|
||
. c . Orchid
|
||
. c . PC-craft
|
||
y . . TMC Research Corporation PAT38PC 25/386,33/386
|
||
y . . TMC Research Corporation PAT38PX 33/386,40/386
|
||
|
||
Notes:
|
||
|
||
* These two tables probably way *understate* the compatibility of most ports.
|
||
Most ISA or EISA motherboards will work with all of them. However, Jeff
|
||
Coffler <coffler@jeck.amherst.nh.us> reports: "I couldn't get the Cache
|
||
Computer CPU board to work at all with Dell UNIX, even though they claimed
|
||
they work with SCO. Flaky, timing-related failures."
|
||
|
||
* Quote from Kolstad, "The external caches on the most advanced
|
||
boards are usually not tested well for UNIX-like applications. We
|
||
see problems occasionally that disappear when the caches are disabled.
|
||
Once reproducible, the vendors can usually repair the problem."
|
||
|
||
* A source at UHC describes the DTK boards as "dogshit" --- he says they
|
||
generate a lot of spurious interrupts that DOS is too cretinous to be
|
||
bothered by but which completely tank UNIX. He says DTK seems uninterested
|
||
in fixing the problem. Other correspondents confirm that this has been
|
||
going on for several years. On the other hand, another correspondent says
|
||
his company has 20 DTK machines running UNIX with no problems. We advise
|
||
that you actually *see* any DTK board boot UNIX and run for a while before
|
||
buying.
|
||
|
||
* Dave Johnson <ddj@gradient.com> reports that since upgrading from a 386 to
|
||
an Eteq 486, they've had lots of UHC random panics due to page faults in
|
||
kernel mode. UHC is looking into this.
|
||
|
||
* Some of the cards marked `supported' for SCO require the AGA EFS (Advanced
|
||
Graphics Adapters Extended Feature Supplement). (EFS's may be downloaded
|
||
for free via UUCP or FTP'd from uunet, but there is a media charge if they
|
||
are ordered on physical media from SCO).
|
||
|
||
S C D E I M P U B X Video Cards Max Res ChipSet
|
||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
. c y . * . . Appian Rendition GRX 1024x768x256 TIGA34010
|
||
c c y . * . . Appian Rendition II, IIXE 1024x768x256 TIGA34010
|
||
c c . . . . . Appian Rendition III 1280x1024x256 TIGA34020
|
||
. . . c . . ARC V-16 (Paradise) ???? ????
|
||
. . c c c . AT&T VDC 600 (Paradise clone) SVGA ????
|
||
. . c . . . AT&T VDC400 CGA ???
|
||
. . c . . . AT&T VDC750 EGA ???
|
||
c . . . . . AST motherboard video 1024x768x256 WD90C31
|
||
c . . . AST VGA Plus 800x600x16 WDC
|
||
c y . . c . c ATI Ultra 1024x768x256 Mach 8
|
||
c y . . c . c ATI Vantage 1024x768x256 Mach 8
|
||
c y c c c n y ATI Wonder+ SVGA N Wonder
|
||
|
||
c . c . . . ATI Wonder XL 1024x768x256 ????
|
||
. . . c c . ATI (type not specified) ???? ????
|
||
. y . . . . . Boca SuperVGA 1024x768 ET4000
|
||
c . . . . . Chips 451 800x600x16 N C&T451
|
||
c . . . . . Chips 452 1024x768x16 N C&T452
|
||
c . . . . . Compaq Advanced VGA 640x480x256 N ????
|
||
c . . . . . Compaq Plasma 640x400x2 N non-VGA
|
||
c . . . . . Compaq LCD VGA 640x480x16 N ????
|
||
c . . . . . Compaq VGC 640x480x16 N ????
|
||
c . . . . . Compaq AG1024 1024x768x256 ????
|
||
c . . . . . Compaq QVision 1024x768x256 ????
|
||
. . . . . c Compuadd Hi-Rez card w/1meg 1024x768 ET4000
|
||
c . . . . . Cornerstone SinglePage 1008x768x2 ????
|
||
c . . . . . Cornerstone PC1280 1280x960x2 ????
|
||
c . . . . . Cornerstone DualPage 1600x1280x2 ????
|
||
c . . . . . Cornerstone DualPage 150 2048x1560x2 ????
|
||
c . . . . . DEC 433w 1280x1024x256 TMS34020
|
||
c . . . . . DEC motherboard video 1024x768x256 WD90C30
|
||
c y . . . . . Dell motherboard video 1024x768x256 WD90C31
|
||
. y . c . c . Dell VGA 1024x768 ????
|
||
. y c c c y c y Diamond SpeedStar 1024x768x256 ET4000
|
||
c . . . . c Diamond Stealth 1280x1024x16 S3
|
||
c . . . . c Eizo MD-B07, MD-B10, Extra/EM 1024x768 ET3000
|
||
. . . . . y LSA WINNER 1280x1024 82C480
|
||
. c . . . . Everex ViewPoint VRAM SVGA+ ????
|
||
. c . . . . Everex ViewPoint True Color SVGA+ ????
|
||
. c . . . . Everex UltraGraphics II EV-236 1664x1200 mono
|
||
. . . . . . Fastwrite VGA 800x600 ????
|
||
. . c . . . Genoa SuperEGA HiRes 1024x768 ????
|
||
c c c c c c Genoa 5300/5400 superVGA SVGA N ????
|
||
c . . c . c Genoa 6000, 6400 SVGA N ????
|
||
c . . . . . Grid 1500 laptop 640x400x2 CGA-like
|
||
y c . c . . Hercules monographics display 720x348 mono
|
||
c . . . . . HP UltraVGA 1280x1024x16 S3?
|
||
c . . . . . IBM 8514/A 1024x768x256 8514/A
|
||
c y . . . . . IBM VGA VGA VGA
|
||
c . . . . . IBM XGA 1024x768x256 XGA
|
||
c . . . . . IBM XGA-2 1024x768x256 XGA-2
|
||
c . . . . . Imagraph ITX 1280x1024x256 TMS34020
|
||
c . . . . . Intel motherboard video 1024x768x256 WD90C3x
|
||
c . . . . . Matrox MWIN1280 1280x1024x256 N ????
|
||
c . . . . . Matrox PG-1281-CV 1024x768x256 ????
|
||
. c . . . . MaxLogic SVGA ????
|
||
. . c . . . MicroField T8 1280x1024 TIGA34020
|
||
. . . c . . Microfield V-8 1280x1024 ????
|
||
c . . . . . Microfield I8 1024x768x256 ????
|
||
c . . . . . Miro Magic 1280x1024x256 N 82C48
|
||
. . . * . . Mylex GXE (EISA) 1280x1024 TIGA34020
|
||
. . . . . y Nth Engine/150 1280x1024 82C480
|
||
c . . . . . Number Nine GXi 1280x1024x256 TMS34020
|
||
. c . . . . Oak Technology OTI-067 1024x768x256 ????
|
||
c . . . y . Oak Technologies Oak 077 1024x768x256 Oak 077
|
||
c . . . . . Olivetti EVC-1 (EISA) 1024x768x256 82c452
|
||
. . . . . c Optima Mega/1024 1024x768 ET4000
|
||
c . c . . . Orchid Designer SVGA ET3000
|
||
c . . . . c Orchid Fahrenheit 1280x1024x16 S3
|
||
c y . c c c Orchid ProDesigner 800x600 ET3000
|
||
c y y c y . y Orchid ProDesigner II/1024 1024x768 ET4000
|
||
. * c y . . Orchid ProDesigner IIs 1024x768 ET4000
|
||
c . c . . . y Paradise VGA Plus SVGA PVGA1A
|
||
. c c c c c Paradise VGA Professional SVGA PVGA1A
|
||
c c . c c . c Paradise VGA 1024 SVGA WD90C00
|
||
c . . . . . Paradise 8514/A SVGA+ ????
|
||
. . . . . y PixelWorksWhirlWin 1280x1024 82C480
|
||
. . c . . . PerfectView SVGA ????
|
||
c . . . . . QuadRAM QuadVGA SVGA ????
|
||
. . . c c . Qume Crystal 1024x768 T4000
|
||
c . . . . . Renaissance Rendition II 1024x768 TMS34020
|
||
y y y . c . c Sigma Legend 1024x768 ET4000
|
||
. . c c c . Sigma VGA/H 800x600 ????
|
||
c c c c c . Sigma EM-16 VGA, EM-16+ VGA SVGA ET3000
|
||
c . c . . . Sigma Extra-EM SVGA ET3000
|
||
. c c c . c STB PowerGraph w/1meg 1024x768x256 ET4000
|
||
. . . . . c Swan SVGA with VCO chip 1024x768 ET4000
|
||
. . c . . . Tecmar VGA VGA Et3000
|
||
c c c . . . Tecmar VGA AD SVGA ET3000
|
||
c . . . . . Toshiba Grid 1500 laptop 640x400x2 CGA-like
|
||
. . . . . c TRICOM Mega/1024 1024x768 ET4000
|
||
c . . c . . Trident SuperVGA ???? T880
|
||
c . c . . c Trident TVGA 8900 1024x768 T8900
|
||
. . . c c . Tseng Labs VGA 1024x768 T4000
|
||
. c . . . . Vectrix VX1024 (TI-34010) 1024x768 ????
|
||
. . c . . . Vega VGA 800x600 ????
|
||
c . . . . . Verticom MX/AT 800x600 ????
|
||
c c . c c . Video7 FastWrite VGA 800x600 x2, x16 ????
|
||
c . c c c . Video7 VRAM VGA 1024x768 Video7
|
||
c . . c c . Video7 VRAM II VGA SVGA Video7
|
||
c . . c c . Video7 VEGA EGA 640x380 Video7
|
||
c . . . . . Video7 VGA1024i SVGA Video7
|
||
c y . . . . . Zenith/Bull motherboard video 1024x768x256 WD90C31
|
||
|
||
In this table, an `SVGA' resolution code signifies the following resolutions:
|
||
1024x768 at 2 and 16 colors, 800x600 at 2, 16, 256 colors, and 640x480 at 2,
|
||
16, 256 colors. SVGA+ adds 1280x1024 at 2 or 16 colors. Some non-interlace
|
||
boards are marked with N.
|
||
|
||
Caveats in interpreting the above table:
|
||
|
||
* All super-VGA cards will work at VGA resolutions and below (that is, resolu-
|
||
tions up to 640x480 in 16 colors).
|
||
|
||
* Because color is of secondary importance for most UNIX applications, I list
|
||
only the highest dot-density resolution of a board that supports more than
|
||
one. Some boards have lower resolutions with more colors.
|
||
|
||
* This list is not exclusive. Many (perhaps even most) dotted combinations
|
||
will work. UHC claims that any SVGA based on an ET3000, ET4000, Paradise
|
||
or Genoa chip-set will fly; Dell echoes this with regard to ET3000,
|
||
ET4000, WD90C0xx cards, and the same is probably true of all other vendors.
|
||
|
||
* The Renaissance GRX-II is the same board as the Appian Rendition II; the
|
||
company changed its name. The II/XE is compatible with the Rendition GRX
|
||
and the Appian Rendition II, it differs in architecture in that it supports
|
||
more DRAM and runs a little faster than the older cards. All
|
||
Rendition II type cards run at a maximum resolution of 1024x768-256,
|
||
the Renditon III runs at 1280x1024-256 with its full VRAM set.
|
||
|
||
* An ESIX reseller says all the TIGA34010-based video cards are pretty much
|
||
alike and ESIX will drive any of them (the prudent user should probably ask
|
||
to see the card working before committing). ESIX also supports 720x348
|
||
resolution on cheap Hercules-compatible monochrome tubes, and the Everex
|
||
UltraGraphics display at 1664x1200 resolution.
|
||
|
||
* Beware the Trident and Oak chipsets. Many clone vendors bundle these with
|
||
their systems because they're cheap, but they break the Roell server and
|
||
some other X implementations. Also, they appear to argue with the WD8003EP
|
||
net card, and no re-arrangement of the jumpers seems to fix it.
|
||
|
||
* Third party server technology from companies like MetroLink can support
|
||
higher performance, higher resolution TIGA and proprietary technology.
|
||
|
||
* Dell's 2.2 adds X11R5 servers for VGA 640x480, 800x600 and for the Tseng
|
||
Labs ET4000 and WD90C11 in up to 1024x768 16 or 256 colour. Appian
|
||
Rendition II (formerly Renaissance) for 1024x768 TIGA 34010. Highest
|
||
performance from the ATI Ultra 1024x768 256 colour, and highest resolution
|
||
from the 1280x1024 256 colour JAWS (Dell proprietary card developed in
|
||
association with Lotus and MicroSoft)
|
||
|
||
* The Orchid ProDesigner IIs (top speed 80 MHz, not the 75MHz version) works
|
||
with both X386-1.2D and X386-1.2E (beta). It works ok with the ESIX 4.0.3
|
||
X11R4 stuff at any resolution under 1024x768. But the driver does *not*
|
||
work with 1024x768 (timings are way off). The vanilla ProDesigner II does
|
||
work correctly with both the X386 and the Esix X11's (R5 and R4,
|
||
respectively). Note: this info may change in ESIX 4.0.4, which uses a
|
||
different X.
|
||
|
||
* The Qume Crystal is a private-label version of the Tseng Labs VGA card.
|
||
|
||
S C D E I M P U B X Mice
|
||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
c y c c y y y y (Logitech-compatible) 3-button serial mice (C protocol)
|
||
c y c c c n y (Logitech-compatible) 3-button bus mice (C protocol)
|
||
. . c . . n . ATI Wonder+ bus-mouse port
|
||
y . . . . c . ATI Graphics Ultra bus-mouse port
|
||
c . . . . . . HP C1413A Mouse
|
||
y y . c . . . IBM PS/2 keyboard mouse
|
||
c y y c c c n y Logitech MouseMan (M+ protocol)
|
||
c y y . c c c c . Logitech Trackman (serial, M+ protocol)
|
||
c y c . c n y Logitech Trackman (bus, M+ protocol)
|
||
c . . . . . . Logitech hi-res Keyboard Mouse
|
||
c y c c c c y Microsoft 2-button (serial, M protocol)
|
||
c y c c c n y Microsoft 2-button (bus, M protocol)
|
||
c . . . . . . Olivetti Bus Mouse
|
||
c . . . . . . Olivetti hi-res Keyboard Mouse
|
||
. . . . . . c SummaMouse
|
||
c . . . . . . Summagraphics Bitpad
|
||
|
||
Notes:
|
||
|
||
* See the discussion of mice at the beginning of this section for details.
|
||
|
||
* BSD/386 says it supports all 1200-9600 baud serial mice, specifying Logitech
|
||
as an example. This is probably true of all vendors.
|
||
|
||
* The MouseMan and TrackMan require a patch obtainable from SCO to run under
|
||
ODT 1.1; they're fully supported in 2.0.
|
||
|
||
* X11R5 (X386 1.2) supports all of the known mice on SVR4 in a native mode,
|
||
bypassing the mouse driver. This wasn't true with X11R4 (X386 1.1b).
|
||
So if you're using X386 1.2 exclusively, you can use (say) a MouseMan
|
||
regardless of which SVR4 you're using.
|
||
|
||
* Dell 2.2 includes an auto-configuring mouse driver that's supposed to
|
||
work with about anything. Non-factory-installed 2.2s may require a
|
||
patch from support to handle the Logitech Mouseman.
|
||
|
||
S C D E I M P U B X Multi-port serial cards
|
||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
c . . . . AMI lamb 4 and 8-port
|
||
. y c c n Arnet (models not specified)
|
||
|
||
c y . . . Arnet 2,4 and 8-port and TwinPort
|
||
c . c c n AST 4-port
|
||
. . . c n Central Data
|
||
c . . c n Chase Research
|
||
c c . c n Computone (models not specified)
|
||
c y . . . Computone Intelliport
|
||
c . . . . Computone ATvantage-X 8-port
|
||
c . . . . Comtrol Hostess-4
|
||
c . c c n Comtrol Hostess-8
|
||
. . c y n Consensys PowerPorts
|
||
c . . . . CTC Versanet 4AT and 8AT
|
||
c y . . . Digiboard 4 and 8-port
|
||
. y c c n Digiboard DigiChannel PC/8
|
||
. . . . y . Digiboard Digichannel PC/Xe-16 (see note below)
|
||
y y . y n Equinox
|
||
c . . . . Kimtron Quartet 4-port
|
||
y . c c c n Maxpeed
|
||
c . . . . Olivetti RS232C Multiport board
|
||
c . . . . Quadram QuadPort 1 and 5-port
|
||
. . . . c . SDL RISCOM/8
|
||
y y . c n Specialix
|
||
. y . c n Stallion OnBoard
|
||
. . . c n Stargate (models not specified)
|
||
c . . . . Stargate OC4400 (4-port) and OC8000 (8-port)
|
||
c . . . . Tandon Quad serial card
|
||
. y . c n Technology Concepts
|
||
c . . . . Unisys 4-port
|
||
|
||
Notes:
|
||
|
||
* Only SCO, Dell, Esix and Microport listed multiport cards at all.
|
||
As some are `smart' cards which require special device drivers, you should
|
||
*not* assume that a board is supported on a particular port unless the
|
||
vendor explicitly says so.
|
||
|
||
* MtXinu says they have *no* multiport support right now.
|
||
|
||
* The Chase, Computone, Intelliport and Specialix cards will run under
|
||
SCO using a vendor-supplied driver.
|
||
|
||
* The Maxpeed SS8-UX2 doesn't support RTS/CTS flow control, and requires
|
||
its own config scripts rather than using inittab and gettydefs. The
|
||
BSDI people think it works with their config stuff.
|
||
|
||
* Peter Wemm <Peter-Wemm@zeus.dialix.oz.au> writes: "In 2.1, Dell's drivers
|
||
(direct from Stallion) are flakey. I have been annoying the living daylights
|
||
out of the developers (Stallion) here in AUS, and their new drivers have an
|
||
`interaction' problem with the reboot mechanism in dell's kernel. A reboot
|
||
causes the VGA card to be disabled." Jeremy Chatfield of Dell replies:
|
||
"We haven't seen the problem he reports. Most likely the problem he's seeing
|
||
is an icky [generic] one for UNIX on a PC." He then proceeds to detail
|
||
the 8-16 clash described at the beginning of this section. Peter Wemm
|
||
adds that the 2.8s.6 drivers supplied with Dell 2.2 seem to be good, but
|
||
that you should *not* install the 2.8s.7 drivers; they interfere with
|
||
the reboot mechanism.
|
||
|
||
* Digiboard makes an SVr4 UNIX streams driver available via download for the
|
||
Digichannel PC/Xe-16.
|
||
|
||
S C D E I M P U B X Disk controllers
|
||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
c c c c . . Adaptec 2320/2322 (ESDI)
|
||
c c . c . . Adaptec ACB 2730C (RLL)
|
||
c y . c . . Adaptec ACB 2732C (RLL)
|
||
c . . . . Compag 32-bit Intelligent Drive Array Controller
|
||
c . . . . Compag 32-bit Intelligent Drive Array Expansion
|
||
. c . c . c CCAT100A (IDE)
|
||
. . c . . Chicony 101B
|
||
y y c c . . Data Tech Corp 6280 (ESDI)
|
||
. . c . c DTG 6282-24
|
||
. c c c . . Everex EV-346 (ST506)
|
||
. c c c . . Everex EV-348 (ESDI)
|
||
. c c c . . Everex EV-8120 (IDE)
|
||
y c . . . . Lark ESDI controller
|
||
. c c c . . OMTI 8240 (ST506)
|
||
. c . . c . PSI Caching controller (ESDI)
|
||
c c . . . . SMS OMTI 8620 and 8627 (ESDI)
|
||
. y . . c . Ultrastor 12C, 22F
|
||
y y . c c c Ultrastor 12F
|
||
c c . . n . Ultrastor 22C (caching EISA version of 12F)
|
||
. y . c . . Ultrastor 22CA
|
||
c y c c . . Western Digital 1003 (RLL)
|
||
c . . . . Western Digital 1005
|
||
. y . . . Western Digital 1006V-MM2 (ST506)
|
||
y y y c . c Western Digital 1007 A,SE2 (ESDI)
|
||
c . c . . Western Digital 1009 SE1/SE2
|
||
|
||
Notes:
|
||
|
||
* All these ports should support all standard PC hard-disk controllers (ESDI,
|
||
IDE,ST-506 in MFM and RLL formats).
|
||
|
||
S C D E I M P U B X SCSI controllers
|
||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
c . . . . . . Adaptec 152x (non-bus mastering ISA host adapter)
|
||
y y c c y y c c y Adaptec 1540, 1542
|
||
c n . . . . . . Adaptec 1640 (MicroChannel version of 154x)
|
||
c y c . y c n c y Adaptec 1740,1742 (EISA) (1542 emulation mode)
|
||
y . y . . * c . Adaptec 1740,1742 (EISA) (enhanced mode)
|
||
. . . c . . . Always IN2000
|
||
y c . c . . . BusTek BT-542B
|
||
y c . c . . . BusTek BT-742A (EISA) (mPort specifies Revision F)
|
||
c . . . . . Compag SCSI Option Adapter and Compression Adapter
|
||
c . . . . . . Corollary SCSI-CPU
|
||
. . . c c . . DPT PM2102 caching controller (MFM emulation)
|
||
c . . c . . . DPT PM2102 caching SCSI controller in SCSI mode
|
||
. . c . . . . DPT 2011, 2012A, 2012B
|
||
. c . . . . . Everex EV8118/8110
|
||
c c . . . . . Future Domain 1660, 1680, 885, 860
|
||
. . c . . . . Future Domain TMC-7000 FASST2
|
||
y . c . . . . IBM HardFile (their SCSI host adapter for MicroChannel)
|
||
. . . c . . . Mylex DCE (EISA)
|
||
c . . . . . . Olivetti ESC-1 (EISA)
|
||
. . . . c . . PSI caching controller
|
||
c . . . . . . Storage Plus SCSI-AT "Sumo"
|
||
. . . c . . . Ultrastor 32k 12u
|
||
c y c . c c . . Western Digital WD7000
|
||
c y . . . . . . Western Digital WD7000-EX (EISA version of WD7000)
|
||
|
||
Notes:
|
||
|
||
* UHC started shipping a native-mode 1740/1742 driver in mid-April. It
|
||
requires a full SCSI-2 tape drive.
|
||
|
||
* The BusTek 542 is a clone of the Adaptec 1542. At least one respondent
|
||
thinks it works better and faster with the Adaptec drivers than the
|
||
Adaptecs do! The BusTek 742 has more complicated antecedents; it's an
|
||
EISA clone of the 1542, not necessarily compatible with the 1742.
|
||
|
||
* There's a known bug in the Adaptec 1742 firmware that produces hangs
|
||
when it's used with certain SCSI tape drives, including the popular
|
||
Archive 2150S.
|
||
|
||
* Bill Austin <uunet!baustin!bill> writes: "the 1740 patches on ESIX [4.0.3a]
|
||
do work but only bring the speed up in enhanced mode by about 15% over
|
||
standard (643Kb/s vs 535Kb/s) in writing, although the *read* speed
|
||
has nearly tripled (2,833 Kb/s) (this is using "iozone 16"). This may give
|
||
some idea of what improvement to expect from native-mode 1740 operation.
|
||
|
||
* Wolfgang Denk <wd@pcsbst.pcs.com> reports that SCO ODT 2.0 running an Adaptec
|
||
1542 cannot work with the following Hewlett-Packard drives:
|
||
|
||
HP 97536 SL
|
||
HP 97536 S
|
||
HP 97544
|
||
|
||
A source at SCO says "This problem is known to us. In some
|
||
not-yet-clearly-understood fashion, these HP drives interact badly with
|
||
our implementation of scatter/gather disk transfer ordering. There are
|
||
two different workarounds: you can turn off scatter/gather in the SCSI
|
||
disk driver, or you can get updated drive control board ROMs from HP."
|
||
|
||
S C D E I M P U B X Network cards
|
||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
c . . . . . c y 3COM EtherLink I 3C501 and 3C502
|
||
c c y c c . y c 3COM EtherLink II 3C503
|
||
c . . c . . c . 3COM EtherLink 16 (3C507)
|
||
c . . c . . . . 3Com 3C523 & 523B EtherLink/MC
|
||
c . . . . . . . 3Com 3C523 EtherLink/MC TP
|
||
. . c . . . . . Everex EV-2015, EV-2016, EV-2026, EV-2027
|
||
c . . . . . . . HP 27245A EtherTwist Adapter Card/8 ISA TP
|
||
c . . . . . . . HP 27247A EtherTwist Adapter Card/16 ISA TP
|
||
c . . . . . . . HP 27250A ThinLAN Adapter Card/8 ISA BNC
|
||
c . . . . . . . HP 27248A EtherTwist EISA Adapter Card/32
|
||
c . . c . . . . IBM Token-Ring Network Adapter
|
||
c . . . . . . . IBM Token-Ring Network Adapter II (short and long card)
|
||
c . . . . . . . IBM Token-Ring Network Adapter 4/16
|
||
c . . . . . . . IBM Token-Ring Network Adapter/A
|
||
c c . . . . . . IBM Token-Ring Network 16/4 Adapter/A
|
||
c . . . . . . . Microdyne (Excelan) EXOS 205, 205T, 205T/16
|
||
c . . . . . . . Racal Datacomm NI6510 ISA and ES3210 EISA
|
||
. y c c c c . c Intel PC-586 aka iMX-LAN/586
|
||
. . . . . . c . Novell NE1000
|
||
. . . . . . c . Novell NE2000
|
||
y y y c c c c c c SMC & Western Digital 8003 and 8013 and variations
|
||
. y . . . . . . WD TokenRing card
|
||
|
||
Notes:
|
||
|
||
* SCO support of SMC EtherCards and the 3C507 requires a patch available
|
||
from their BBS.
|
||
|
||
* Dick Dunn <rcd@raven.eklektix.com> opines "Somewhere along here, somebody
|
||
needs to note that the 3C501 is a miserable-misbegotten-son-of-a-lame-she-
|
||
camel-and-a-desperate-jackal Ethernet card, at least in UNIXland. It has
|
||
serious problems in any serious multi-user system because of various
|
||
hardware idiosyncrasies which are on the order of can't-walk-down-the-
|
||
street-and-chew-gum." Do tell, Dick!
|
||
|
||
S C D E I M P U B X Tape drives
|
||
|
||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
c y c . y . c . Archive 2150S or Viper 150 21247 (SCSI, QIC-150)
|
||
c c . c . . c Archive Viper VP150E
|
||
c . c c c . . Archive Viper 60 21116
|
||
c . c c c . . Archive Viper 150 25099
|
||
. . c . . . . Archive FT60i (Scorpion 5945C)
|
||
c . . c c . . Archive Viper 2525 25462.
|
||
y . . c . . . Archive 60 - 525MB (QIC-02 and SCI)
|
||
c . . c . . . Archive 4mm 4520 DAT
|
||
c . . c c . . Archive Python models 25501-003, -005 and -008 (SCSI)
|
||
c . . . . . . Archive Python DDS 4520NT and 4521NT DAT drives
|
||
c * . c c . c Archive XL (5580 & friends)
|
||
. . . c c . . Archive 3800
|
||
. . . . c . . AT&T KS22762 and KS23495 (SCSI)
|
||
c . . . . . . Bell Technologies XTC-60
|
||
. c . . . . . Caliper CP150
|
||
c . . . . . . Cipher CP-60B, CP-125B
|
||
. c . . . . . Cipher ST150S-II
|
||
c . . . c . . Cipher ST150S2/90 (SCSI)
|
||
n . . c . . . CMS Jumbo - 60MB QIC-40
|
||
n . . . c . . Emulex MT02/S1 +CCS INQ (SCSI)
|
||
. c . c . . . Everex Excel Stream 60, 125, 150
|
||
. c . c . . . Everex5525ES (SCSI)
|
||
. c . c . y . Everex EV-811, EV-831, EV-833
|
||
c . . c c c . Exabyte EXB-8200 (SCSI)
|
||
c . . . . c . Exabyte EXB-8500 (SCSI)
|
||
c . . . . . . HP 35450A (SCSI)
|
||
. . . . c . . HP 88780 (SCSI)
|
||
. . . . c . . HPCIPHER M990 (SCSI)
|
||
. . . . c . . NCR H6210-STD1-01-46C632 (SCSI)
|
||
c . . . . . . Mountain 8mm Cartridge
|
||
y . . . n . . Mountain FileSafe 150MB (QIC-02)
|
||
c . . . . . . Mountain FileSafe 60-300MB (QIC-02)
|
||
y y . . . . . . Sankyo 525ES (SCSI)
|
||
. . . . c . . Sony SDT-1000 (SCSI)
|
||
. . . c . . . Tallgrass 150 - 525MB SCSI
|
||
c . . . . . . Tandberg DQIC (SCSI)
|
||
. . . . . . c TUV DAT
|
||
. . c . . . . Wangtek 5099EN24 (60MB)
|
||
c y . . c . . . Wangtek 150SE (SCSI)
|
||
y c . c y . . Wangtek 5150ES (SCSI)
|
||
c . . c . . . Wangtek 60 - 525MB (QIC 02 and SCSI)
|
||
c . . c . . . Wangtek 6130 - HS 4mm DAT.
|
||
c . . y c . . Wangtek 5125ES ES41, 5150ES ES41, 5150ES FA0 (SCSI)
|
||
. . c . . . . Wangtek 5125EQ (125MB)
|
||
. . c . . . . Wangtek 5150EQ (150MB)
|
||
c . . c c c . Wangtek 5150ES SCSI-3 (SCSI)
|
||
c . . c . c . WangTek 5150PK QIC-02 (QIC-150)
|
||
c y . . . . . . Wangtek 5525 (SCSI)
|
||
c . . c c . . Wangtek 6130-F (SCSI)
|
||
c . . c c . . Wangtek KS23417, KS23465, KS24569 (SCSI)
|
||
|
||
Notes:
|
||
|
||
* All SVr4s inherit USL support for QIC-02, QIC-36 1/4", or SCSI tape
|
||
interfaces, using QIC-24 (9-track, 60MB), QIC-120 (15-track, 125MB) or
|
||
QIC-150 (18-track, 150MB) formats.
|
||
|
||
* A user says of Dell: it appears that anything using Wangtek QIC02/QIC36
|
||
controllers works; this should include the Wangtek 525MB, Cipher ST150S2,
|
||
and Archive 2150S drives.
|
||
|
||
* UHC specifies the following tape controller/drive combinations: Wangtek
|
||
PC-36 + Wangtek 5099-EN, Everex 811 + Wangtek 5150-EN, Bell Tech + Wangtek
|
||
5150-EN, Archive SC499-R + Archive External FT-60, Archive VP402 + Archive
|
||
Viper 2150L, Everex 811 + Archive Viper 2150L, Bell Tech + Archive Viper
|
||
2150L, Archive VP402 + Archive Viper 2150L.
|
||
|
||
* UHC claims that Any floppy tape supporting the QIC-107 physical and QIC-117
|
||
logical interface specs and QIC-80 or QIC-40 recording formats should work.
|
||
This is probably true of other vendors as well.
|
||
|
||
* BSDI says it supports almost any Wangtek 1/4" standard 3M streamer with a
|
||
QIC-02 or QIC-36 interface. However, they admit that the Archive SC402
|
||
QIC-02 controller will not work. BSDI says it will support almost any SCSI
|
||
tape unit, as well.
|
||
|
||
* Floppy tapes don't work on Dell; USL provides the support, but it collides
|
||
with Dell's code for auto-detecting the density of a diskette.
|
||
|
||
* SCO's tape compatibility table lists drive/controller pairs; not all drives
|
||
listed have been included here. They allege that any QIC-02 drive should
|
||
work. Unofficial sources inside SCO claim any SCSI drive ought to work.
|
||
|
||
* A source at SCO says the CMS Jumbo is neither compatible with QIC40/QIC80
|
||
nor Irwin "standards", vendor supplies their own driver which SCO does not
|
||
support. He also said "CMS is in general fairly UNIX-hostile; don't buy
|
||
their stuff if you have a choice." Tom Haapanen <tomh@wes.on.ca> adds
|
||
simply "Ick. Stay away!" On the other hand, Jerry Rocteur <jerry
|
||
@lncc.com> praises their hardware and says he found them quite helpful and
|
||
knowledgeable. Your editor has no experience on which to base an opinion.
|
||
|
||
* The Emulex MT02 is a QIC02 bridge controller for the SCSI bus -- lets you
|
||
take an old QIC02 drive and run it on a SCSI bus. It is said to use a
|
||
very old version of the SCSI spec; caveat emptor.
|
||
|
||
* John Plate <plate@infotek.dk> writes: "According to a fax from the Archive
|
||
manufacturer Maynard, [the XL 5580 drive only works with ESIX 4.0.3] if the
|
||
tape drive is "drive" two! Which is the same as disabling the second floppy
|
||
drive and then set a jumper on the tape drive."
|
||
|
||
S C D E I M P U B X Non-Winchester mass storage
|
||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
. c . . . . Bernoulli 90MB exchangeable SCSI
|
||
. . . c . Hitachi, Toshiba (models not specified)
|
||
. . c . c Maxtor RXT-800HS
|
||
. . c . . Maxtor Tahiti-I, Tahiti-II (floptical disk)
|
||
. . c . . NEC CDR-82 (SCSI CD-ROM)
|
||
. . c . . Pioneer DRM-600 (SCSI CD-ROM)
|
||
. . c . . Sony CDU-8012 XM-3201B (SCSI CD-ROM)
|
||
. . c . . Sony SMO E501 (floptical disk)
|
||
. c . c . Storage Dimensions XSE1-1000S1 optical disk
|
||
. y . c . SyQuest cartridge media
|
||
. c . . . . Tandata
|
||
. c . c c Toshiba TXM-3201A1 CD-ROM
|
||
. . c . . Toshiba XM-3201B (SCSI CD-ROM)
|
||
. c . y c c Toshiba TXM-3301B CD-ROM
|
||
. . . c c Toshiba WM-C050
|
||
. c c c c Toshiba WM-D070 WORM drive
|
||
|
||
|
||
VII. FREEWARE ACCESS FOR SVR4 SYSTEMS.
|
||
|
||
US4BINR is an archive dedicated to binaries (executable compiled program)
|
||
for UNIX System V Release 4 (SVR4) on 386/486 PC computer.
|
||
|
||
Our goal is to provide easy access to precompiled programs. Those
|
||
programs are (hopefully):
|
||
|
||
Up to date.
|
||
Documented.
|
||
Useful or fun.
|
||
|
||
Uploads annoucement are made in comp.unix.sysv386 and comp.unix.sys5.r4.
|
||
US4BINR carries PD, Freeware, shareware, games, etc... US4BINR is a non profit
|
||
organisation.
|
||
|
||
To get more info, email the following message to request@us4binr.uucp
|
||
or request%us4binr.uucp@uunet.uu.net
|
||
|
||
reply Put_your_email_address_here
|
||
help
|
||
quit
|
||
|
||
There is an archive of "custom" installable SCO UNIX binaries at:
|
||
|
||
ftp.wimsey.com:pub/wimseypd
|
||
|
||
It includes things like cnews, trn, elm, nntp, perl, gcc, etc. These
|
||
are also sent out periodically on the biz.sco.binaries news group.
|
||
|
||
VIII. FREE ADVICE TO VENDORS:
|
||
|
||
As a potential customer for one of the SVr4 ports, it's to my advantage to
|
||
have everybody in this market competing against one another as hard as
|
||
possible. Accordingly, some free advice to vendors, which I'm broadcasting to
|
||
all of them and the public so as to put just that much more pressure on each
|
||
vendor. :-)
|
||
|
||
SCO:
|
||
You have a serious image problem with many hackers which you've exacerbated
|
||
recently by falling behind the SVr4 leading edge and then engaging in what
|
||
certainly appears to be an attempt to sucker careless buyers with deceptive
|
||
product naming. But the reaction to this wouldn't be nearly so vehement if
|
||
it didn't come on top of years of discontent with more technical choices.
|
||
There's too much stuff in the SCO kernel and admin tools that's different from
|
||
USL and *not better*; too much stuff that raises weird little compatibility
|
||
problems that shouldn't be there. Verbum sap.
|
||
This different-but-not-better problem is perfectly reflected by the one
|
||
thing about the otherwise-excellent SCO documentation that sucks moldy moose
|
||
droppings; the rearrangement and renaming of the reference manual sections.
|
||
Your technical writers entertain a fond delusion that this helps nontechnical
|
||
users, but all it really does is confuse and frustrate techies with experience
|
||
on other UNIXes. Lose it.
|
||
|
||
Everybody but SCO:
|
||
SCO's documentation set is to die for (except in the one respect noted
|
||
and CodeView. Only Dell comes even close to matching SCO in the nifty add-ons
|
||
department, and even they have a lot of room for improvement. If you want to
|
||
outcompete SCO, you have to be *better*; this means (at minimum) supporting a
|
||
windowing debugger and ISAM libraries and DOS support that goes beyond 2.0.
|
||
|
||
Consensys:
|
||
I think you have a serious attitude problem. So far, you're the only outfit
|
||
out of nine to refuse to divulge information for the comparison tables. While
|
||
you have a perfect right to do so, it smells bad --- as though you think you
|
||
have weaknesses to hide. I tried to discuss this with your VP of sales (Gary
|
||
Anderson) and got back very little but evasions, suit-speak, defensiveness, and
|
||
attempts to divert me from the issues (and I don't mind admitting that the
|
||
|
||
conversation made me pretty angry and didn't end very pleasantly). This man's
|
||
behavior is all too consistent with reports of Consensys's dismissive behavior
|
||
towards customers and continued refusal to acknowledge technical problems.
|
||
In this corner of the industry we have a tradition of collegiality, mutual
|
||
trust, informality, and candor. If you plan to be here for the long haul, you
|
||
need to learn how to work with that rather than fighting it. Behaving like IBM
|
||
will only get you hammered.
|
||
1993 PS: there are some signs of improvement, especially the staffing-up in
|
||
support and a slightly friendlier attitude from your reps. And Gary Anderson
|
||
is gone. But you've still got a ways to go in making up for past mistakes.
|
||
|
||
Consensys and Esix:
|
||
Get a real support address. Bang-path accessibility doesn't impress anyone
|
||
any more --- in fact, it looks faintly quaint. You guys ought to be
|
||
@DATAPHONE@support@esix.com and support@consensys.com to follow the simple and l
|
||
convention SCO and Dell and Microport and UHC have established.
|
||
|
||
Dell:
|
||
Don't get fat and lazy. You've got the lead in the SVr4 market at the
|
||
moment and you've got the money and resources to keep it, *if* you use them.
|
||
If you staff up your UNIX support operation so customers don't get pissed off
|
||
by infinite hold, *and* keep your prices the lowest in the upper tier, no one
|
||
will be able to touch you. Don't let Microport et al. get ahead of you in
|
||
releases and new technology, and try to reverse that creeping corporatitis (the
|
||
no-comment-on-unreleased-products policy is a bad sign).
|
||
|
||
Everybody but Dell:
|
||
Forget your other competition. Dell is the outfit you have to beat if you
|
||
want to lead this market. And forget "positioning" ---- that means doing
|
||
everything they do *better* than they do; providing a more stable, more
|
||
feature-rich, better-polished system at a lower price. That's not going to
|
||
be easy, but don't con yourselves that you have a choice. Meet the ante,
|
||
or fold.
|
||
For starters, offer all the free software Dell does --- and *more*. All it
|
||
will cost you is the media, right? Even if you have to plaster CONTRIBUTED
|
||
SOFTWARE, NOT SUPPORTED on it, include perl, elm, bison, gcc, emacs, gdb, mush,
|
||
patch, compress, etc on your distribution tapes. Heck, include some *games*
|
||
(SCO includes games with UNIX but not the full ODT product; and makes some
|
||
games available for download on their BBS).
|
||
Nethack, empire, zork, stuff like that. Your engineers use and
|
||
play with all this in-house anyhow, yes? And you're selling to guys
|
||
just like your engineers. They'll love you for it. Trust me.
|
||
Set up a `sales' address to take product queries if you don't already have
|
||
one.
|
||
|
||
Everybody but Dell and SCO:
|
||
A Dell person warns that the kinds of tweaks to the source made by porting
|
||
houses can break X/Open (XPG3) conformance. Dell and SCO test every build with
|
||
VSX (the X/Open-approved XPG3 test suite) and Dell reports that it often finds
|
||
places where seemingly innocuous bug fixes cause XPG3 violations. Other UNIX
|
||
vendors would be well advised to do likewise.
|
||
Set up an 800 number for tech support. Support customers hate spending time
|
||
on hold, and they hate it like poison when they have to *pay* for the hold
|
||
time. The more overloaded your support staff is, the more important this
|
||
gets. Verbum sap.
|
||
|
||
Esix:
|
||
You're *boring*. You seem to make a decent product, but there's nothing
|
||
I've seen about ESIX that'd make me say "I might want to buy ESIX because...".
|
||
Position yourselves; pick something like price or support quality or
|
||
reliability or add-on features and push it hard. Warning: if you decide to
|
||
push support, *hire more engineers*. Your rep for following up on support
|
||
problems is bad enough that your "unlimited free support" ain't much of a draw;
|
||
especially now that your two best support guys have quit.
|
||
|
||
Esix, MST, UHC:
|
||
Get 800 numbers for product info, too.
|
||
|
||
MST:
|
||
Set up a support@mst.com alias to your cs address, see above. What would
|
||
that take, a whole five minutes? :-)
|
||
If you don't start planning for 4.0.4 now, you'll get left behind this
|
||
spring and early summer whan all the other vendors move to it.
|
||
On present trends, your software prices are cheap enough; you'd probably
|
||
get more sales mileage out of pulling down the hardware prices for your
|
||
pre-configured systems.
|
||
|
||
Everybody but MST and Microport:
|
||
Set up a `sales' alias to your info and orders email address. A universal
|
||
convention for this means just one less detail prospective customers need to
|
||
remember.
|
||
|
||
Microport:
|
||
Your complete system is way overpriced relative to what other vendors in the
|
||
top tier are selling. If I were a corporate customer, there is no *way* I
|
||
could justify spending the $1K or $2K premium over Dell's price --- not when
|
||
Dell has the rep it does for quality and features. You aren't offering
|
||
anything but a crippled copy of JSB Multiview to justify that premium and
|
||
that ain't enough.
|
||
There's some evidence that you've got a technical lead on the competition.
|
||
Push it; push it *hard*. You're first off the blocks with 4.0.4; keep that up,
|
||
be first out with a stable 4.0.5. Market yourselves as the leading-edge
|
||
outfit, court the hard-core wizards as their natural ally, detail somebody
|
||
who's fluent in English as well as C to listen and speak for you on USENET, and
|
||
keep the promises you make there.
|
||
|
||
UHC:
|
||
You've decided to push support; that's good, but follow through by getting
|
||
that 800 number. Don't lose those small-company virtues of candor and
|
||
flexibility, trade on them. Your policy of having all techs clear up to the
|
||
product manager take turns on the support lines is a damned good idea, stick
|
||
with it. And I'm sufficiently impressed with what I've heard from your guys
|
||
that I think you might be able to fight Microport for the friend-to-wizards
|
||
mantle, too. Maybe you should try.
|
||
|
||
Everybody except BSDI:
|
||
BSD/386 includes *sources*. For *everything*. Be afraid; be very afraid.
|
||
In effect, this recruits hundreds of eager hackers as uncompensated development
|
||
and support engineers for BSDI. Don't fool yourselves that the results are
|
||
necessarily going to be unfocused, amateur-quality and safe to ignore --- it
|
||
sure didn't work that way for gcc or Emacs. The rest of you will have to work
|
||
that much harder and smarter to stay ahead of their game.
|
||
|
||
BSDI:
|
||
Don't you get complacent either. The 386BSD distribution is breathing
|
||
down *your* neck...
|
||
The most effective things you can do to to seriously compete with SVr4
|
||
vendors are: a) emphasize standards conformance --- POSIX, FIPS, XPG3, etc.,
|
||
and b) follow through on your support promises. Just another flaky BSDoid
|
||
system isn't really very interesting except to hobbyists, even with sources ---
|
||
but if it were proven a reliable cross-development platform it could capture
|
||
a lot of hearts and minds among commercial software designers.
|
||
|
||
Everybody:
|
||
Do something about your product names! Even the cases that don't appear
|
||
to be deliberate deception are very confusing to the customer. If you're
|
||
releasing an enhanced 4.0.3 or 4.0.4 that's what you ought to *call* it. I
|
||
recommend:
|
||
|
||
Consensys UNIX Version 1.2 --> Consensys UNIX 4.0.3 revision 1.2
|
||
Dell UNIX Issue 2.1 --> Dell UNIX 4.0.3 revision 2.1
|
||
ESIX System V Release 4.0.4 --> Esix UNIX 4.0.4 revision 4
|
||
MST SVr4 UNIX --> MST UNIX 4.0.3
|
||
Microport System V/4 version 4 --> Microport UNIX 4.0.4
|
||
UHC Version 3.6 --> UHC UNIX 4.0.3 revision 6
|
||
|
||
The fact is, all these idiosyncratic version-numbering systems do you no
|
||
good and considerable harm. At worst, they make it look like you're trying to
|
||
pull a scam by deceiving people about the level of the base technology. At
|
||
best, they parade your internal revision number (which conveys no useful
|
||
information unless one is an existing customer considering an upgrade already)
|
||
and obscure the really important information. Do your product differentiation
|
||
elsewhere, in substance rather than nomenclature; it's not useful here.
|
||
You're *all* badly understaffed in support engineering, and it shows. Boy
|
||
does it show --- in poor followup, long hold times, and user gripes. The first
|
||
outfit to invest enough to offer really first-class quick-response support is
|
||
going to eat everyone else's lunch. Wouldn't you like to be it?
|
||
|
||
|
||
IX. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND ENVOI
|
||
|
||
Some of the material in this posting was originally assembled by Jason
|
||
Levitt <jason@cs.utexas.edu> of "Open Systems Today". Grateful acknowledgement
|
||
is made to him for permission to re-distribute and update this information.
|
||
|
||
Many netters sent me email contributing technical information, feedback,
|
||
and comment. Thanks to all. It's in combinations of individual mission and
|
||
collective cooperation like this one that the net really shines, and I'm
|
||
grateful to everybody who's worked with me to improve the signal/noise ratio.
|
||
|
||
The level of cooperation I've experienced from vendors' program managers,
|
||
techies and marketing people since the first issue has generally been
|
||
outstanding. Particular high marks go to Jeremy Chatfield (formerly of Dell,
|
||
now of Information Foundation), Kristen Axline at Microport, John Prothro and
|
||
Sam Nataros at UHC and Bela Lubkin at SCO, with very honorable mentions to Rob
|
||
Kolstad at BSDI. By cooperating intelligently with this FAQ, they've done a
|
||
great job of serving the market and representing their corporate interests.
|
||
|
||
So far, I've found that the technical merit of each of these eight products
|
||
(insofar as I have data to judge; I haven't actually used any of them yet)
|
||
seems to correlate pretty well with the degree of cooperation I've received. I
|
||
wasn't explicitly expecting this result, but I'm not surprised by it either.
|
||
--
|
||
Send your feedback to: Eric Raymond = esr@snark.thyrsus.com
|