jr@amanue.UUCP (Jim Rosenberg) (11/28/88)
I need to specify a 386 machine running some form of UNIX extremely soon. For
a variety of reasons, at the moment I'm strongly inclined toward the AT&T 6386.
I hear the price from AT&T for a tape drive is pretty steep. There are some
inexpensive AT Bus tape drives with drivers for Xenix and possibly Interactive.
Paul Homchick (cgh!paul) tells me that AT&T is claiming V.3.2 Xenix binary
compatibility is so good it will link and run Xenix drivers. If so this is
pretty impressive, and would open the door to all kinds of 3rd party
peripherals. So the question: Has anybody actually put this to the test? Is
anybody actually *RUNNING* a tape drive on a 6386 with a price around not more
than say $600 - $700? I'd appreciate any war stories, good & bad.
--
Jim Rosenberg
CIS: 71515,124 decvax!idis! \
WELL: jer allegra! ---- pitt!amanue!jr
BIX: jrosenberg uunet!cmcl2!cadre! /fmcgee@cuuxb.ATT.COM (~XT4103000~Frank McGee~C23~M24~6326~) (11/29/88)
In article <437@amanue.UUCP> jr@amanue.UUCP (Jim Rosenberg) writes: [.....] >Paul Homchick (cgh!paul) tells me that AT&T is claiming V.3.2 Xenix binary >compatibility is so good it will link and run Xenix drivers. If so this is >pretty impressive, and would open the door to all kinds of 3rd party >peripherals. So the question: Has anybody actually put this to the test? Is >anybody actually *RUNNING* a tape drive on a 6386 with a price around not more >than say $600 - $700? I'd appreciate any war stories, good & bad. AT&T claims binary compatibility for Xenix applications, not drivers. AT&T does claim SOURCE compatibility for Xenix drivers though. So you still need the Unix 386 Release 3.2 driver, but the good news is that for the developer all it should take is a re-compile. My recommendation (not an endorsement) for a third party tape drive would be Bell Technologies. They sell good drives, and they have 3.2 drivers. I've been using a 60 MB external for both DOS and Unix work for 5 months with no problems. Frank McGee Tier 3 Indirect Channel Sales Support attmail!fmcgee -- Frank McGee Tier 3 Indirect Channel Sales Support attmail!fmcgee
root@nebulus.UUCP (Dennis S. Breckenridge) (11/29/88)
In article <437@amanue.UUCP>, jr@amanue.UUCP (Jim Rosenberg) writes: > I hear the price from AT&T for a tape drive is pretty steep. There are some > inexpensive AT Bus tape drives with drivers for Xenix and possibly Interactive. > Paul Homchick (cgh!paul) tells me that AT&T is claiming V.3.2 Xenix binary > compatibility is so good it will link and run Xenix drivers. If so this is . > than say $600 - $700? I'd appreciate any war stories, good & bad. > -- > Jim Rosenberg I have used a couple of controllers in both a 6386 and a 6386E (20 mhz) with the AT&T Drivers. I must mention that I also run SysV r3.2 And I strongly suggest that you do the same. There were several problems with 3.1 that AT&T corrected with the release of 3.2. I have tried the Wangtek PC-36 model III controller (BTW AT&T wants this one on address 0x288) with both a 5099EN drive (60 meg) and a 5125EN (125 meg). I use SYTOS for the DOS backups and cpio for the unix ones. I have also used an Everex Clone of the Wangtek (unfortunately I forget the model number) and a calper 60 and 125 meg drive. You mentioned that 3.2 does provide XENIX Binary Driver Support, this is incorrect. UNIX/386 R3.2 does provide XENIX binary executable programs the correct environment to run but in no way does it let you run someone else's driver. I even tried to glue in an Interactive tape driver, to no success. In so far as other peripherals running in the box I have been burned a few times. For instance I have a MIDI (Roland MPU-401) interface that, after installing IEM tools to patch in an DOS driver (so I can use Personal Composer) hangs after the first bar of music. I have been trying to get the Documentation for the board so I can write a proper device driver. I must mention that I am extremely pleased with with AT&T and specifically the 6386E running UNIX/386 V3.2 -- ============================================================================== "A mind is a terrible thing to MAIL: Dennis S. Breckenridge waste!" 206 Poyntz Ave North York, Ontario M2N1J6 (416) 733-1696 UUCP: uunet!attcan!nebulus!dennis ICBM: 43 4 58 N / 87 55 52 W 50 megatons should do! ==============================================================================