sewilco@datapg.MN.ORG (Scot E Wilcoxon) (09/10/88)
This article contains answers to frequently asked questions about the AT&T UNIX
PC. It is regularly posted to comp.sys.att and unix-pc.general. The following
items are addressed in this posting:
1. What are the AT&T UNIX PC, 7300, and 3B1? Which do I have?
2. I mailed the card to AT&T and did not get my Personal Calendar program.
3. How do I park the hard disk heads before moving the machine?
4. How do I open the case?
5. How can I put in a larger disk drive?
6. What is THE STORE! and how do I use it?
7. The On-Board Modem does not work with some other modems.
8. What is the operating system?
9. What third-party hardware is available?
10. How can I make a full-screen window?
11. Some AT&T serial boards do not work right. How are they identified?
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1. What are the AT&T UNIX PC, 7300, and 3B1? Which do I have?
UNIX PC and 7300 were the AT&T marketing terms for the original machine, with 10
or 20MB hard disk. 3B1 is a more recent name, for the 40 and 67MB models. A
3B1 also has a different top cover, a slightly different motherboard than the
original, more than 512K on the motherboard, and a higher-rated power supply.
Convergent sold the machine under the S/50 name. "UNIX PC" refers to all
machines in the family.
The model number should be on the name plate on the bottom of the machine. When
the keyboard is on the housing, the 7300 case is a slanted wedge shape. On a
3B1, the monitor is mounted on a square horizontal box protruding above the
slanted top of the wedge. This is because the 40 and 67MB hard disk is taller
than the 7300 hard disk.
2. I mailed the card to AT&T and did not get my Personal Calendar program.
Many machines were shipped with the calendar program in /etc/fixes.
You have to do a few things to install it.
Append this to your /usr/lib/ua/Office file:
Name=Calendar
Default = Open
Open=EXEC -d /usr/bin/pcal -c
Help=EXEC -d /usr/bin/uahelp -h /usr/lib/ua/ua.hlp -t Calendar
Append this to your /usr/lib/ua/Preferences file:
Name=Calendar
Default = Open
Open=EXEC -d /usr/bin/pcal -p
Help=EXEC -d /usr/bin/uahelp -h /usr/lib/ua/ua.hlp -t Calendar
If you are using the pcal that is located in /etc/fixes:
$ su
Password:
# mv /etc/fixes/pcal /usr/bin
# mv /etc/fixes/pcal.hlp /usr/lib/ua
# chown bin /usr/bin/pcal /usr/lib/ua/pcal.hlp
# chgrp bin /usr/bin/pcal /usr/lib/ua/pcal.hlp
# chmod 755 /usr/bin/pcal
# chmod 644 /usr/lib/ua/pcal.hlp
3. How do I park the hard disk heads before moving the machine?
The Miniscribe disk used in the 67MB machines parks the heads automatically, and
loudly, when the power is turned off. Some 40MB drives also park automatically.
To park the heads push the Cmd key and select Shutdown. After the machine is
shut down, insert the Diagnostics floppy disk and boot from it. Select Park
Disk Heads from the Diagnostics menu.
4. How do I open the case?
The plastic case under the monitor has two sections. Different screws release
the plastic case or only the top (the part above the keyboard storage area).
Read the following two paragraphs before removing anything other than the first
step: unplug everything from the back. (Oh, yeah: "No user serviceable parts
inside") During reassembly be particularly careful with disk cables in rear.
Six vertically-mounted screws hold the top of the plastic case to the bottom of
the plastic case. When removing the top of the plastic case, there are three
plastic hook-and-tab catches in the front of the machine. The top of the case
must be moved outward slightly (usually with a screwdriver) along the joint to
the right of the floppy drive in order to release the catches. This exposes
only the drives and power supply.
When removing the plastic case from the metal base, first find the keyboard
retainer posts (they hold the keyboard to the base--one is next to the socket
for the keyboard plug). Note the seam around the top of the retainer posts.
Remove the covers from the posts, and you'll find a screw inside each. Remove
those screws and the two horizontally-mounted screws in the rear of the machine.
Removing the entire plastic case exposes all metal-mounted parts other than the
monitor.
To open the top of the metal shield pan, remove three screws in top of front.
Disconnect monitor cable on left and ribbon connector to power supply on right.
Release latch on each side and lift forward, then up. This exposes the
motherboard.
5. How can I put in a larger disk drive?
Upgrading from a 10 or 20MB to a 40 or 67MB drive may require a 3B1 power
supply and a 3B1 full-height drive case top, dependent upon drive
characteristics.
Using more than 67MB requires either an SCSI board (see below) or making
hardware changes to the motherboard (new chips, soldering wires, etc).
6. What is THE STORE! and how do I use it?
THE STORE! is a computer with UNIX-PC software which can be downloaded to your
machine via uucp. It is operated by AT&T. THE STORE! is absolutely
unsupported, but the catalog is still on-line and there are some neat things
available.
How to get there:
1. The machine is named the shop with login shop in your L.sys(Systems)
file. The phone number is (201) 957-4646. There is no password on this
uucico-only login. 1200bps is supported as well as 2400bps (I think,
Try it.)
2. Once you've built this entry, do the following:
uucp shop!/store/STOREROOM/CATALOG+IN /usr/spool/uucppublic/CATALOG+IN
This in an installable package. Do it and enjoy.
WARNING: The CATALOG+IN file is huge and will cost you plenty bucks to
capture if you are a long ways away from New Jersey.
7. The On-Board Modem does not work with some other modems.
The OBM creates tones which confuse some MNP modems and the Telebit Trailblazer.
The tones cannot be altered, but often a system which cannot call the UNIX PC
OBM can be called by the UNIX PC OBM. The Telebit modems can be set to call the
OBM.
8. What is the operating system?
The operating system is based on UNIX System V revision 1, with Sys Vr2 and
other extensions. The most recent version is 3.51, with a 3.51a "fix" disk
available.
Changes in 3.51a:
New problem: Your machine will occasionally crash with a "panic: addr fault in
kernel" message, but _only_ if you have installed 3.51a _and_ you use the OBM
(On Board Modem). If you use a modem attached to any serial port, you'll never
see the problem.
Hardware flow control works, but is broken. HFC will consistently repeat a
block of data in an entirely predictable way.
The terminal emulator (/usr/bin/async_main) has fixes for: lockfiles not being
removed, vt100 enter key mapping incorrect, slow performance when using 513 or
vt100 emulation
The UNIX(r) PC 3.51a Custom Kernel (/UNIX3.51a) has fixes for: tty driver does
not return null character on break, break sent over modem freezes serial port,
lp driver truncates lines to 132 chararters
Kmap (/usr/lib/ua/kmap.610) corrects the misspelling of RollDn in the kmap file
for the 610 terminal.
Ksh (/bin/ksh) fixes: dumps core on long input lines while in emacs mode
Modemcap (/usr/lib/uucp/modemcap) has an entry for the AT&T 4024 modem.
The Phone Manager (/etc/ph) has fixes for: ph stops logging calls in .history,
call screen pops up, ph dies after several calls
The tam library (/usr/lib/libtam.a) has the following: newly developed
applications linked with the new tam library can draw windows/contents in one
pass instead of two
The uucp (/usr/lib/uucp/uucico) has fixes for: uucico hangs at call completion,
uucico turns modem speaker on, time stamps incorrect in LOGFILE
9. What third-party hardware is available?
Digital Data Systems, Inc., Marietta, Georgia (404-425-5700)
42 and 62MB drives.
2MB RAM expansion board.
IDT Systems, Inc., Newark, Delaware (302-731-1583)
3B1 HCD Kit (kit to modify 3B1 motherboard for larger disk).
Motherboard RAM upgrade from 1/2MB to 2MB.
2MB RAM Expansion board (available soon).
Bus Station (TM) SCSI adapter board (available soon).
Vartech, Lisle, IL (312-810-1777)
EIA (RS-232) "Combo" boards.
10. How can I make a full-screen window?
The following entry in the file "Office" in your home directory creates a
full-screen window with a UNIX shell.
Name=Big-Screen UNIX
Expert
Default = Run
Run=SH -wd
Help=EXEC -d /usr/bin/uahelp -h /usr/lib/ua/ua.hlp -t "UNIX System"
Prompt = Press Ctrl-D to exit
11. Some AT&T serial boards do not work right. How are they identified?
The EIA boards (or EIA/RAM) in question are anything RELEASE F or higher. Check
the revision release letter on the board, usually enscribed on the circuit side
of the PC board on either edge. If it is letter F,G,H,I,...Z call AT&T at (800)
922-0354 (HOTLINE) and tell them you need the serial controller chip for the
AT&T UNIX PC EIA boards that they are replacing. They will send you a Zilog
8530 SCC chip. You will replace the 40 pin chip in it's socket and you'll be
set!
Contributors and References:
1: BYTE, Vol 10 no 5 (May 1985)
1: gil@limbic (Gil Kloepfer Jr.)
2,8,9,11: lenny@icus.UUCP (Lenny Tropiano)
3: "Shutdown" (page 3-95) in AT&T UNIX PC Owner's Manual
6: Joe L. Wood
8: rjg@sialis.mn.org (Robert J. Granvin)
8: AT&T 3.51a fix disk
--
Scot E. Wilcoxon sewilco@DataPg.MN.ORG {amdahl|hpda}!bungia!datapg!sewilco
Data Progress UNIX masts & rigging +1 612-825-2607 uunet!datapg!sewilco
"McGarrett, it's the Chicago Police and they want Five-Oh's help!"
"Sorry, we're fictional. Maybe Magnum can help them?paul@junior.UUCP (Paul M. Moriarty) (09/10/88)
In article <1709@datapg.MN.ORG> sewilco@DataPg.MN.ORG (Scot E Wilcoxon) writes: >6. What is THE STORE! and how do I use it? > ....deleting info about store > How to get there: > > 1. The machine is named the shop with login shop in your L.sys(Systems) > file. The phone number is (201) 957-4646. There is no password on this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I tried this number today and could not connect. When I tried it by voice, I got a recording saying that the number could not be reached. The AT&T long distance operator could not reach it and neither could the local (NJ) AT&T operator. When I was put in touch with the repair service, they said that they couldn't fix the line unless I could tell them where it was as they had no record of the number! (See what great things the AT&T breakup are doing for us :-) ). Is this the correct number? Could somebody help me out here? Thank you. -- Paul M. Moriarty grinch!junior!paul
sl@van-bc.UUCP (pri=-10 Stuart Lynne) (09/14/88)
In article <1709@datapg.MN.ORG>, sewilco@datapg.MN.ORG (Scot E Wilcoxon) writes: > The OBM creates tones which confuse some MNP modems and the Telebit Trailblazer. > New problem: Your machine will occasionally crash with a "panic: addr fault in > kernel" message, but _only_ if you have installed 3.51a _and_ you use the OBM > (On Board Modem). If you use a modem attached to any serial port, you'll never > see the problem. I'm just porting my serial driver to the 3b1 (aka Unix-pc) for a client who wants bi-directional use of the serial port (allow incoming and outgoing calls without mucking about with /etc/inittab) with a Telebit Modem. The above comments makes me wonder whether supporting the OBM as well is worthwile. I've not used the 3b1 very much (first saw one on Friday). But delving into the kernel shows that supporting the OBM will be a royal pain. AT&T (or CT) saw fit to have two drivers, one for the serial port, and one for the modem, but sharing some common code by direct calls. You can't just replace the serial driver with loadable driver and have the phone driver use it! There seem to be two separate problems with the OBM. First it has slightly incompatible tone generation. Second there seems to be some problem with kernel panic's. So the question is, is it worthwhile to support the OBM or just to utilize the standard serial port (or expansion slot port) with an external modem? I've got the driver up and it works well for the standard port. Should be able to knock of the expansion slots tomorrow. So I'd appreciate any feedback on how people actually use these machines, and what works best. -- Stuart.Lynne@wimsey.bc.ca {ubc-cs,uunet}!van-bc!sl Vancouver,BC,604-937-7532
rkh@mtune.ATT.COM (Robert Halloran) (09/14/88)
In article <346@junior.UUCP> paul@junior.UUCP (Paul M. Moriarty) writes: >In article <1709@datapg.MN.ORG> sewilco@DataPg.MN.ORG (Scot E Wilcoxon) writes: >>6. What is THE STORE! and how do I use it? >> 1. The machine is named the shop with login shop in your L.sys(Systems) >> file. The phone number is (201) 957-4646. There is no password on this > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >I tried this number today and could not connect. When I tried it by voice, >I got a recording saying that the number could not be reached. The number is located at Bell Labs, Middletown NJ. If you tried it on Saturday the 10th, your problem was that the building had been completely shut down to have its power feeds re-strung by the local utility, taking out the building's PBX, computers, etc., hence the 'can't reach this number' message. The number should be fine at this point. Bob Halloran Distributed Programming Tools Group ========================================================================= UUCP: {att, rutgers}!mtune!rkh DDD: (201)957-6034 Internet: rkh@mtune.ATT.COM USPS: AT&T Bell Labs, 200 Laurel Ave Rm 3G-314 Middletown NJ 07748 Disclaimer: People have opinions. Companies have policies. Don't confuse MY opinions with AT&T's policies. Quote: "Good morning, the Russians still beating the pants off us in space?" -- Opus to Oliver, "Bloom County" =========================================================================
rlf@mtgzy.att.com (r.l.fletcher) (09/14/88)
In article <346@junior.UUCP>, paul@junior.UUCP (Paul M. Moriarty) writes: > In article <1709@datapg.MN.ORG> sewilco@DataPg.MN.ORG (Scot E Wilcoxon) writes: > > How to get there: > > > > 1. The machine is named the shop with login shop in your L.sys(Systems) > > file. The phone number is (201) 957-4646. There is no password on this > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > > Is this the correct number? Could somebody help me out here? Thank you. Yes this is the correct number and I just checked it for answer tone, and got it. Are you sure you dialed 1-201-957-4646, maybe you weren't using AT&T LD. If not, all bets are off :-). Ron Fletcher AT&T Bell Laboratories Middletown NJ
sewilco@datapg.MN.ORG (Scot E Wilcoxon) (09/14/88)
In article <346@junior.UUCP> paul@junior.UUCP (Paul M. Moriarty) writes: <In article <1709@datapg.MN.ORG> sewilco@DataPg.MN.ORG (Scot E Wilcoxon) writes: <>6. What is THE STORE! and how do I use it? ... <> file. The phone number is (201) 957-4646. There is no password on this <I got a recording saying that the number could not be reached. The AT&T I got a modem carrier just now. "Works for me" -- Scot E. Wilcoxon sewilco@DataPg.MN.ORG {amdahl|hpda}!bungia!datapg!sewilco Data Progress UNIX masts & rigging +1 612-825-2607 uunet!datapg!sewilco "McGarrett, it's the Chicago Police and they want Five-Oh's help!" "Sorry, we're fictional. Maybe Magnum can help them?
jlw@lznv.ATT.COM (J.L.WOOD) (09/15/88)
I just retried the number in question for THE STORE!. It works. The number is (201) 957-4646. This number is behind a S85 PBX and may not be known to an ATT or New Jersey Bell operator or repair person. In any event the problem is moot since the location in question was down for power fixes all day Saturday including the PBX. Joe Wood jlw@lznv.att.com
rjg@sialis.mn.org (Robert J. Granvin) (09/16/88)
>> The OBM creates tones which confuse some MNP modems and the Telebit Trailblazer. >> New problem: Your machine will occasionally crash with a "panic: addr fault in >> kernel" message, but _only_ if you have installed 3.51a _and_ you use the OBM >> (On Board Modem). If you use a modem attached to any serial port, you'll never >> see the problem. >I'm just porting my serial driver to the 3b1 (aka Unix-pc) for a client who >wants bi-directional use of the serial port (allow incoming and outgoing >calls without mucking about with /etc/inittab) with a Telebit Modem. > >The above comments makes me wonder whether supporting the OBM as well is >worthwile. It depends where you are going with this driver. For the client, it may not be an issue or even a desire. If you're every going to make it available to the net at large, or to others in some fashion, you probably ought to consider supporting it. >I've not used the 3b1 very much (first saw one on Friday). But delving into >the kernel shows that supporting the OBM will be a royal pain. AT&T (or CT) >saw fit to have two drivers, one for the serial port, and one for the modem, >but sharing some common code by direct calls. You can't just replace the >serial driver with loadable driver and have the phone driver use it! Fun how they did that... :-) >There seem to be two separate problems with the OBM. First it has slightly >incompatible tone generation. Second there seems to be some problem with >kernel panic's. The tone problems will more than likely never be repaired. The kernel panics, on the other hand, are supposed to be fixed in the next fix disk release, which is still known as "3.51b". Some hotline techs are now aware of its existance, but they're also aware that it hasn't been released yet, and no date has been announced. However, with ATT history, it'll probably not be announced, just suddenly appear. Therefore, you shouldn't worry about the kernel panics for the future, but if the tone problems are an issue, they will stay one. >So the question is, is it worthwhile to support the OBM or just to utilize the >standard serial port (or expansion slot port) with an external modem? For general purpose, people like to have everything supported. Most people immediately dump the OBM when they install a replacement modem on the machine. There are only a few people I know who are still using the OBM exclusively, and a small number of people use the OBM as a backup to their attached modem for outdial. So, if you're thinking general purpose, you might as well make an attempt to support it. If it's just for a client, discuss it with him/her and see if they care. >I've got the driver up and it works well for the standard port. Should be >able to knock of the expansion slots tomorrow. So I'd appreciate any >feedback on how people actually use these machines, and what works best. See above. :-) These impressions are based solely on personal experience on how people I know have used their 3b1/7300's. Fortunately, that number isn't small (except perhaps to colleges with bazillions of them, or ATT :-) -- Robert J. Granvin "Martyrs are just dying National Information Systems, Inc. to be heroes." rjg@sialis.mn.org ...{{amdahl,hpda}!bungia,rosevax}!sialis!rjg
thad@cup.portal.com (09/18/88)
201/957-4646 *IS* the correct number of The STORE. Our AT&T Users' Group rep just got The STORE disks for us this past Wednesday and I managed to call The STORE several times since then. My question is: is The STORE operating only at 1200 baud? When using a 2400 baud modem, it would answer, the modem says "CONNECT 2400", yet it appears The STORE dialogue is fixed at 1200 baud (which looks vulgar when connected at 2400 baud). Thad Floryan [thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ...!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad]