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From: sd...@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Subject: ULTRIX 32 info needed
Message-ID: <1044@bbncca.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 18-Oct-84 22:13:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: bbncca.1044
Posted: Thu Oct 18 22:13:55 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 19-Oct-84 01:41:40 EDT
Organization: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, Ma.
Lines: 16
I would like to hear some comments on ULTRIX, DEC's supported version
of 4.2BSD, especially from people who have used it themselves. Have you
been happy with its performance? How easy is it to reconfigure the
binary-only distribution? How are its software support plans? Does
DEC keep up with the bugs reported here and at Berkeley?
As you might guess, it is next to impossible to get any answers from
our salesman, who knows no more now about UNIX from DEC than he did
about UNIX from Bell Labs five years ago. Some software manager at
DEC called me on the urging of my salesman, but when I asked these
"hard questions" (?) he blanched (or the aural equivalent) and promised
to get back to me. I haven't heard anything yet, two weeks later.
--
/Steve Dyer
{decvax,linus,ima,ihnp4}!bbncca!sdyer
sd...@bbncca.ARPA
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From: st...@calmasd.UUCP (Stephen R. Cary)
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Subject: Re: ULTRIX 32 info needed
Message-ID: <195@calmasd.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 22-Oct-84 12:35:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: calmasd.195
Posted: Mon Oct 22 12:35:05 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 24-Oct-84 02:42:22 EDT
References: <wdl1.477>
Reply-To: st...@calmasd.UUCP (Stephen R. Cary)
Distribution: net
Organization: Calma Company, San Diego, CA
Lines: 20
Keywords: ultrix-32,DEC
I have just received some information from my DEC
salesman on ULTRIX-32.. I was singularly unimpressed.
It seems that it is a basic 4.2BSD system with
ALL of the non-DEC peripherals stripped out of it..
(eg. UUCP only supports DF02 and DF03's,etc.)
Now I understand why DEC would have done that,
but it is moderately annoying if you have foreign peripherals.
One advantage that is mentioned is that the error messages
are formatted to read like VMS error messages, so you
can hand the console page to the FE and tell him to fix it....
I have had to explain the standard error messages to our
field service folks...
Which reminds me.. we have been getting a LOT of
cp and ip cache parity faults. Any thoughts??
(780 running MORE/4.2bsd from Mt.Xinu)
steve cary
sdcsvax!calmasd!steve
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harvard!seismo!umcp-cs!chris
From: ch...@umcp-cs.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Subject: Re: ULTRIX 32 info needed
Message-ID: <436@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 24-Oct-84 17:05:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.436
Posted: Wed Oct 24 17:05:24 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 26-Oct-84 03:37:24 EDT
References: <wdl1.477> <195@calmasd.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
Lines: 16
Keywords: ultrix-32,DEC
* It seems that [Ultrix-32] is a basic 4.2BSD system with
ALL of the non-DEC peripherals stripped out of it..
(eg. UUCP only supports DF02 and DF03's,etc.)
Now I understand why DEC would have done that,
but it is moderately annoying if you have foreign peripherals.
They didn't remove any code, they just are not going to get excited
if you tell them your Frammitz Widget breaks the Rofulo program, or
whatever. If UUCP fails on one of *their* dialers, then you can
complain to them. Pretty much standard stuff.
--
(This mind accidently left blank.)
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (301) 454-7690
UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!chris
CSNet: chris@umcp-cs ARPA: chris@maryland
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dec-rhea!dec-erlang!falcone
From: falc...@erlang.DEC (Joe Falcone, HLO2-3/N03, dtn 225-6059)
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Subject: Re: ULTRIX 32 info needed
Message-ID: <4001@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 25-Oct-84 10:51:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.4001
Posted: Thu Oct 25 10:51:05 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 26-Oct-84 09:45:36 EDT
Sender: dae...@decwrl.UUCP
Organization: DEC Engineering Network
Lines: 41
CC:
Being both on the inside of Digital and a user of both field test and
production versions of ULTRIX, I'd like to set the record straight on
a few points. The following are a few facts based on the ULTRIX
distributions I've received and my personal opinions.
1. Non-DEC devices are not "stripped-out" of ULTRIX; the drivers are
still supplied, but are not supported as part of the service contract.
The manual pages for certain commands and devices have warnings that
they are not supported by Digital. Nevertheless, you get both the code
and the manual pages, just like in the 4.2BSD distribution.
2. I have been extremely impressed with the way the ULTRIX group tracks
net.bugs and net.sources. When the customer release arrived I was
pleasantly surprised to find many of the commands I had taken from
net.sources and the Berkeley "extra stuff" tape already installed in
working order on /usr/new, etc. This tracking saves me time that could
be better spent (in my case especially, since I am supposed to be spending
my time on things other than system support).
3. The distribution came up with no problems over 2 versions on 4 different
VAX configurations on our site. This is the first time in my 8 year
association with UN$X that I have seen a distribution come up without
glitches. I personally did three of the installations and was surprised
at how painless it was both starting from scratch or upgrading from 4.1C.
A perspective on me: I don't enjoy playing system manager, so a supported 4.2
is the greatest thing since sliced bread for me. I've been a user of Digital
machines and UN$X for many years now, and its nice to be able to have one's
cake (UN$X) and eat it too (with SUPPORT). My bug fixing days are over.
A relieved Joe Falcone
Eastern Research Laboratory decwrl!
Digital Equipment Corporation decvax!deccra!jrf
Hudson, Massachusetts tardis!