gemini@homxb.UUCP (Rick Richardson) (12/02/85)
PRODUCT REVIEW - "Venturcom's VENIX System V Release 2.0" --------------------------------------------------------- Supplier: Unisource Software Corporation, (617) 491-1264 Machine: IBM PC/AT, 2.0Mb RAM, 20Mb CMI Disk, 7.5Mhz 80286, 5Mhz 80287 Config: buffers=40, hashbuf=32, inodes=120, files=80, mounts=6, calls=25 procs=50, texts=70, clists=30, maxproc=40, autosync=60 Updates: Update disks #1 and #2 were applied. Disk Usage: ~15000 blocks == 7.5Mb. RAM Usage: 63342 text, 6924 data, 45426 bss == 115692 bytes. Dhrystones: 1449/sec with registers; 1333/sec without registers. IOCALL: 5.1 system seconds for benchmark. ByteMarks: NAME REAL USER SYSTEM dwrite 3.0 .05 .8 dread 1.0 .16 .35 fcalla .51 .31 .1 fcalle 1.13 .86 .13 fibo 17.11 16.95 .16 float 9.7 9.6 .1 iofile 27.75 .26 2.83 loop 10.06 9.6 .06 pipes 3.26 .1 1.18 scall 4.95 1.83 3.06 sieve 2.3 2.25 .0 sort 29.83 28.9 .18 tst.sh 3.4 .1 .9 multi.sh 1 4.1 .2 .9 multi.sh 2 5.1 .5 1.7 multi.sh 3 6.3 .5 2.4 multi.sh 4 7.4 .7 3.3 multi.sh 5 10.2 1.1 3.5 Features: Mostly complete UNIX SVR2, subject to below, plus: Runs 286 in protected mode. Has bad block mapping for disks. Has 4 full screen windows for logins on CGA. Console emulates 25 line ansi terminal. Modified uucp supports intelligent modems. Provides more(1), ctags(1) dtree(1), and csh(1) commands. Has single clock tick sleep(3) capabilities. Has lockf(1) system call for record locking on files. Has BOTH terminfo/AT&T curses and termcap/Berk curses. Modified SVR2 ls has 'lc' link for easy columnar listing. Syncs disk every "autosync" clock ticks of continuous idling in scheduler. Has "sticky RAM" for pure texts. Keeps programs in core until the core is needed for something else. Deficiencies: Does not provide SVR2 shmem(2) functionality, instead has 'own' shared memory scheme. Uses 'own' a.out format. cc(1)/cpp(1) don't use FLEXNAMES (id's up to 32 chars) Keyboard mismaps unshifted <-- to DELETE, shifted <-- is backspace. The "DOS Connector" by Uniform is not yet available. Neither is OS-Merge by Locus. Missing: - bfs(1) - big file scanner - bs(1) - a compiler/interpreter for modest-sized programs - crypt(1) - encode/decode - ct(1) - spawn getty to a remote terminal - diff3(1) 3-way differential file comparison - diffmk(1) - mark differences between files - dircmp(1) - directory comparison - efl(1) - Extended Fortran Language - factor(1) - factor a number - mailx(1) [SVR2's version of Berkeley mail] - makekey(1) - generate encryption key - man(1) - print entries in this manual - ratfor(1) - rational Fortran dialect - sag(1) - system activity graph - sar(1) - system activity reporter - sdb(1) - symbolic debugger [MAJOR LOSS] - sdiff(1) - side-by-side difference program - shl(1) - shell layer manager - sno(1) - snobol interpreter - sroff(1) - format text - timex(1) - time a command; report process data and system activity - troff(1) - text formatting and typesetting - units(1) - conversion program - vc(1) - version control Bugs Noted: Segment table overflows occasionally, increasing limit did not seem to correct. vi(1) core dumps if TERM not set. Inode table as distributed configured too small. Easily changed. Using compacted macros with mm(1) gets Bad Storage Allocation. more(1) always uses "-c" option. Got "interrupted system call" once. Had to reboot. Occasional lockup in adb(1) when using breakpoints. Must reboot. Observations: The screen is SO fast at scrolling, that you cannot see the stuff as it goes by. It literally is not displayed for the required 1/60 second! You need to use more(1) to see long output on the console. The C compiler is quick, but the optimizer takes forever to run. The improvement in code isn't worth it. The disk is accessed much less frequently than in Venix 2.1. System was quite usable to me- I was able to edit a file with 'vi' and noticed no real degradation in response when these thing were also happening: - a 2400 baud uucp file transfer, and - lp printing a source listing, and - make compiling some software, and - nroff (piped to filters) formatting a document. -- Rick Richardson, President, PC Research, Inc. (201) 922-1134 DO NOT USE this articles Path: to reply to me, I won't get it. Use: ..!ihnp4!houxm!castor!pcrat!rer