gmv@cblpf.ATT.COM (G. Michael Vrbanac) (09/04/87)
Last Wednesday (Sept 2nd) I had the good fortune to be invited to AT&T's
new product announcement held in Parsippany New Jersey. It was quite a
production, but that's another story. The most interesting speaker was
a guy named Stew Leonard who runs a dairy store in Norwalk, Connecticut
that grosses $10 million a year, but that's another story, too.
The products announceed included desktops, a 3B2/500, the 3B4000
(aka the apache) and a bunch of networking stuff.
.
There was a new version of the AT-class PC6310 called the PC6312. It's
essentially the same as the 6310 but runs 12mhz rather than the 8mhz 6310.
6310 to 6312 upgrades will be available, consisting of a new motherboard.
.
The 3B4000 is a multi-processor box, with up to 14 processor cards that
vary the horsepower from 1.6 mips to 43.4 mips. Memory ranges from 16mb up
to 240mb. They claimed it would support from 8 users up to 300.
.
The most interesting (at least to me) were the two 80386 boxes. The 6386
is desktop arrangement that looks a lot like the 6310 only wider and slightly
taller. The 6386E is a floor standing unit. Specs from the sales
brochure:
.
. 6386 desktop 6386E floor mount
operating system: MS-DOS 3.2 MS-DOS 3.2
. UNIX SV3.1 UNIX SV3.1
user interface: DOS supervisor DOS supervisor
processor: 80386 80386
clock speed: 16mhz 20mhz
wait states: one one
bus architecture: 32 bit 32 bit
standard rom: 128k 128k
RAM: 1 mb 2 mb
(256k chips) (256k chips)
RAM expansion: up to 48meg up to 64meg
DISK configurations: 3 half-height, 3 half-height,
1 full-height 2 full height
hard disk: 40,68or135meg 135meg
disk interleave: 3:1 3:1
expansion slots: 7 (3-32bit) 10 (4-32bit)
serial port: one one
parallel port: one one
clock calendar: yes yes
display controller: on expansion board on expansion board
hard disk controller: on expansion board on expansion board
graphics: VDC 400, EGA, CGA VDC 400, EGA, CGA
keyboard: 101 key 101 key
power supply: 230 watts 265 watts
.
Optional features:
80387 math co-processor, modems, 3-button mouse, STARLAN connectivity.
.
There were the requisite demos and so forth. I did get to talk to a couple
of AT&Ters who seemed to know the 386's and here's what I found out
(note: this info bears no warranty, either expressed or implied!!!)
VIDEO:
There is no built-in video board; the video controller is on it's own card
and comes in two flavors. The "right-view" controller does the 6300 style
CGA and AT&T 400x640 video (note: there is no DEB, the 400x640 is
two color only). The "super-view" controller does EGA and works with either
of the existing AT&T monitors, so you can have EGA in either color or in
sixteen shades of green! The larger 319 color monitor is supported too.
MEMORY:
There's no memory on the motherboard and there is only one flavor of memory
expansion board which will support either 256k chips or one-meg chips. The
6386 comes with one meg of 256k chips with space for an additional three
meg of 256k chips. Three full-popped cards yields 12meg. Pop it out
with one-meg chips produces four meg per card, 48meg max. The 6386E has
one additional 32-bit slot, so it can max out at 64meg. Chip types cannot
be mixed on any given board, but boards with different chips can be used
in the same machine. The chips are packaged/mounted in those funny looking
things I think they called SIPs.
PORTS:
One standard, its an Intel somethin' or other that has a 16 byte buffer
that is supposed to allow it to run 19.2. The big news here is there is
supposed to be a "smart" 8-port card. Unix drivers for all. The first
three can be configured as COM2 thru COM4 for use directly by DOS, the last
four could be used by DOS programs that talk to them directly. Slots are
provided for a max of four of these boards, 33 rs232 ports in all.
KEYBOARD
The same 303 keyboard that comes with the 6310 (still no mouse port). I
talked to a guy who has a 302 on his.
STARLAN
Supported by both DOS and UNIX.
OPERATING SYSTEMS: DOS 3.2
Comes standard with something called the "DOS Supervisor", which allows it
to run up to eight simultaneous MS-DOS operating systems and their
applications. A hot key switches the keyboard/monitor between DOS's.
OPERATING SYSTEMS: UNIX SV/386
The UNIX System V/386 that was announced a while ago is the combined
AT&T/MicroSoft port to the 386 (Bill Gates was at the announcement and
talked about it some). SimulTask was discussed some: multiple DOS's can be
run concurrently. Text-only DOS applications can be run from asynch
terminals; graphics applications still can only be run from the
monitor/keyboard.
EXPANDED MEMORY MANAGER
This a an adjunct to the DOS supervisor, that allows the DOS's running
under the supervisor to access up to 4 meg of expanded RAM each.
BENCHMARK
This is really crude but it'll give you an idea: the demo had a 6300, a
6312 and a 6386 all running DOS, tied together with STARLAN. A calculation
was started on all three simultaneously, at the end it would display a
number, re-calculate and increment the number. They started it up, ran it
a little while and then stopped it. The 6300 display read "2", the
(12mhz) 6312 read "13" and the 6386 (16mhz) read "19".
MISCELLANEOUS
I didn't see a mouse, but was told it's a bus type, three button. No
streaming tape drive was announced, but all the demo machines had them,
mounted in-board, 60 meg cartridge type.
Cassoni clearly stated it would run OS/2, when it is available.
VGA boards for ATs will work, but not on the AT&T monitor.
AVAILABILITY
Hardware: controlled introduction beginning in October, general
availability 1Q88. That's the CPUs (with the DOS supervisor & DOS 3.2),
no word on the memory or ports boards.
Bill Gates said UNIX SV/386 would go controlled introduction sometime in
2Q88 and general availability 3Q88.
.
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| Mike Vrbanac AT&T Bell Laboratories Columbus, Ahiya |
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