daveb@pyuxf.UUCP (david berk) (05/20/88)
Has anyone seen any reviews of the 6386 machine. I'm looking into the possibility of purchasing one. Anyone have any information about the different models of this machine that are being offered? Comments/Reccomendations anyone? Dave Berk ..!ihnp4!pyuxf!daveb
wmh@mtuxo.UUCP (01435-W.HYLAND) (05/21/88)
In article <332@pyuxf.UUCP>, daveb@pyuxf.UUCP (david berk) writes: > Has anyone seen any reviews of the 6386 machine. > I'm looking into the possibility of purchasing > one. Anyone have any information about the > different models of this machine that are being > offered? Comments/Reccomendations anyone? > > Dave Berk > ..!ihnp4!pyuxf!daveb John Blair has written a sterling review of the AT&T 6386 WGS running AT&T's own 386 UNIX System V Release 3.1 in the June '88 issue of UNIX World. Some clips from his article, "The 6386 is speedy. On some commercially available benchmarks, the 6386 runs an average of twice as fast as the Compaq 386 and IBM PS/2 Model 80. And on other tests, four times as fast in floating point calculations." "Under DOS, the 6386 comes out several points ahead of both on the Norton System Index." "The 6386 represents the best fit of UNIX to the architecture of the 80386 and support chips." Of added interest, Blair notes in a sidebar article that all utilities in the AT&T 386 UNIX System V Release 3.1 System are in 386 object code format. This was not the case in other commercially available systems ported to the 386 including SCO XENIX.
wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (05/23/88)
I did some of the testing in the aforementioned Unix Word article. I would attribute much of the 6386's good showing to the fact that AT&T's Unix and all its utilities are apparently '386 native code, while much of SCO's Xenix is still '86 (not even '286) code. The Olivetti herritage of the 386WGS still is quite strong, and it still looks very much like the classic 6300 and 6300plus. The peripherals were high quality. The disk was a Micropolis and the tape unit was a Wangtec. The unit we have just has the standard ATT400 / CGA compatible video card, reworked to run in a standard bus slot, rather than the monstrositiy in the 6300. I've heard that a few people have had some bugs with using EGA cards. The Micropolis drive was large enough that it didn't mount in the standard width WGS case; it was in a sidecar unit bolted to the right hand side of the machine. At the time I looked the WGS over, it was running a beta copy of Unix, but it was quite stable and I presume it was for all intents and purposes what shipped as the official release. If I had to make a purchasing desicion based on the need to run Unix, I'd be very temped to choose the WGS above the IBM model 80 because the quailty of AT&T's Unix seems to be superior to the Unixes that are available for the model 80. Of course, IBM is saying that they have intent to give Unix its due, but then IBM has been saying that for some time and it is still a largely unfuilled promise. I think the quality of construction in the IBM model 80 is probably superior (as is evidenced by the fact that IBM will write a carry in service contract for $20/month), but AT&T's accesibility via the hotline and usenet is superior, so the WGS is still a better choice in my book. John did the benchmarks on the WGS, so don't write me for the gory detials. I just commented mainly on the WGS's contruction, etc and ran the comparisons on the mod 80. Oh yes, I just remembered, the model 80 suffers from a bug in the way the 80387 is handled in protected mode. If you get a floating point exception while the machine is doing a DMA tranfer, the mahcine will crash. I've tried to aggrivate the bug to occur on the model 80 here, but it hasn't done it for me. In a call about something else, one of the technical support people at SCO mentioned it to me. This is an Intel bug, and is not particular to IBM. Fortunately some fairly simple glue logic between the '386 and '387 fixes the problem. One would presume that since the '387 is a requisite condition for running AT&T's Unix on the WGS, that AT&T designed in the necessary glue logic at the outset (or else they don't do DMA :-)). If good floating point performance is important (i.e. you want to use the 387), the above is a definite plus in the AT&T column. I also looked at the tower version of the AT&T '386. That is one heck of a machine. It's built like a tank. There are 12 slots and a huge power supply. It's an fairly expensive unit, but has very close to minicomputer performance. The advantage is that you can easily drop in multiport serial boards and ethernet cards, etc from a number of companies. The choices for the microchannel architecture are much more limited. --Bill wtm@neoucom.UUCP
twh@mibte.UUCP (Tim Hitchcock) (05/23/88)
In article <332@pyuxf.UUCP>, daveb@pyuxf.UUCP (david berk) writes: > Has anyone seen any reviews of the 6386 machine. > I'm looking into the possibility of purchasing > one. Anyone have any information about the > different models of this machine that are being > offered? Comments/Reccomendations anyone? > > Dave Berk > ..!ihnp4!pyuxf!daveb The June 1988 issue of UNIX WORLD.
louis@auvax.UUCP (Louis Schmittroth) (05/27/88)
In article <332@pyuxf.UUCP>, daveb@pyuxf.UUCP (david berk) writes: > Has anyone seen any reviews of the 6386 machine. > I'm looking into the possibility of purchasing Look at the current issue (May I think) of UNIX World. There is a review there -- very favourable. We have one and are very impressed. If you want more in depth impressions, e-mail me. -- Louis Schmittroth My employer has no opinions. Computer Science Athabasca University ...{ubc-vision, ihnp4}!alberta!auvax!louis
stevens@hsi.UUCP (Richard Stevens) (05/27/88)
In article <649@auvax.UUCP>, louis@auvax.UUCP (Louis Schmittroth) writes: > Look at the current issue (May I think) of UNIX World. There is a > review there -- very favourable. We have one and are very impressed. > If you want more in depth impressions, e-mail me. That review is pretty pathetic in my opinion. It left me wanting a lot more detailed information than was provided. The article claims the 6386 is faster than both the PS/2 Model 80 and the Compaq - OK, but how much faster and how do they do it ? There was also a mention about some troff previewing on its terminals, but the article also said neither nroff or troff was provided. I'd like to know a *lot* more about the UNIX that comes with it - are streams provided for no charge, or an expensive add-on ? How about RFS ? What kind of networking interface - TLI I assume ? Any TCP/IP ? When is the release that allows Xenix programs to run going to be available ? An on and on ... Richard Stevens Health Systems International, New Haven, CT { uunet | ihnp4 } ! hsi ! stevens
wmh@mtuxo.UUCP (W.HYLAND) (06/01/88)
In article <993@hsi.UUCP>, stevens@hsi.UUCP (Richard Stevens) writes: > In article <649@auvax.UUCP>, louis@auvax.UUCP (Louis Schmittroth) writes: > > Look at the current issue (May I think) of UNIX World. There is a > > review there -- very favourable. We have one and are very impressed. > > If you want more in depth impressions, e-mail me. > > That review is pretty pathetic in my opinion. It left me wanting > a lot more detailed information than was provided. The article > claims the 6386 is faster than both the PS/2 Model 80 and the Compaq - > OK, but how much faster and how do they do it ? There was also a The article was an excellent start. If you care to have more detail, I am sure the editors of UNIX World would be more than happy to respond with additional follow-up if they are made aware of your interest and the interest of those like you. Perhaps you could suggest a review of the new Release 3.2 software product which promises to merge XENIX compatibility. > mention about some troff previewing on its terminals, but the article > also said neither nroff or troff was provided. I'd like to know a AT&T does not sell an nroff/troff package but a number are available from 3rd party outfits, one of them is Elan software in CA. I believe. > *lot* more about the UNIX that comes with it - are streams provided > for no charge, or an expensive add-on ? How about RFS ? What kind The $695 product includes the Base System Package, Editing Package (vi, etc.), Remote Terminal Package (i.e. terminfo. termcap is in Base System), Security Admin Package (i.e. this is crypt and decrypt), a 2 KB File System Utility (i.e. an optional file system type with a 2 KB blocksize targeted to server applications), and a Networking Package which includes STREAMS, RFS and the shared network support utilities library. Documents include the Product Overview, the Documentation Roadmap, the Operations/System Administration Guide, the User Reference Manual, the STREAMS Primer, and Release Notes. The Software Development Set addon for $695 provides the C programming language utilities issue 4.1, with the advanced programming utilities and C programmer's productivity tools. You get SCCS, lex, yacc, profilers, debuggers, and all that fun stuff. Also included is the Extended Terminal Interface, ETI, which provides a color enhanced curses/terminfo, higher level libraries to same, and a TAM transition library for all you UNIX PC users. Documents include the programmers guides and programmers reference manuals as well as release notes for the SDS itself. The best news is that both sets are available for $995 when purchased at the same time! > of networking interface - TLI I assume ? Any TCP/IP ? When is the True. TLI is supported. TCP/IP is sold by MICOM - witness the UNIX World article. > release that allows Xenix programs to run going to be available ? AT&T states that this will be available in August. > An on and on ... > > Richard Stevens > Health Systems International, New Haven, CT > { uunet | ihnp4 } ! hsi ! stevens