ram@umb.umb.edu (Robert Morris) (06/21/87)
A few things I haven't seen pass here about the PC 7300: About the only serious criticism I haven't seen pass in this discussion is that the keyboard has the most bizarrely placed CTRL key imaginable, down to the left of the space bar. I find it literally impossible to hold this key down while keeping the rest of my hands on the typing home position, and the machine is therefore almost useless with emacs (micro-emacs runs pretty well in a 1mB machine and I have seen claims that gnu-emacs will run, though I doubt in 1 mB). The slow 85 ms disk is a nuisance for C development. Since the screen ain't all that fast either with emacs or vi, I still find it preferable to dial up my standalone Sun 3 and work by telephone even at 1200 baud, let alone 2400. But, if you had no such access, the system is pretty respectable, provided you have release 3.5 of the OS and related utilities. The release 3.0 C compiler enforced 8 (?) character names on identifiers. What was most amazing to me is that the C >>preprocessor<< understood this limit and there was no way to take your existing code and fix the brain damaged compiler with #defines. My only other complaint is that there does not seem to be a way to directly access the screen, so that if you want to do any raster graphics of your own you need to make a system call per blt (an ioctl provides this), which induces you to keep a shadow frame buffer in memory and do raster ops out of it with the ioctl. Does someone know how to write in the frame buffer without calling unix? Part of what was distributed to universities given these machines is GSS's GKS implementation, which I assume is similar to what is available on IBM PC's. This is so-so, except for its narrow-minded mouse handler which implements a strict "pick" device. In particular, the application can not tell where the mouse is until the user pushes a mouse button. If it is the same as for the PC, these boxes might be a rational graphics development environment for code headed for a PC. If you snoop around a little in the diskette formatting scripts you will find that you can format at 10 sectors/track instead of the default 8. This gives you about 20% more per disk, but >>substantially<< worse i/o speed at the default interleaving factor. I can not remember whether you can't change it with the formatter, or whether experiments revealed nothing better (I think the former), and AT&T's software support staff could not help. As I recall, the 3.5 distribution is thus formatted. I use it for stuff I don't read often, e.g. backups. Anyone have any knowledge about interleaving? The disk controller and driver understand both formats automatically, and for all I know could support even higher density. I taught an undergraduate graphics course on this machine and for either GKS style graphics or rudimentary raster graphics its pretty much ok. Certainly the unix tools make it a more productive software development environment than a similarly priced PC. Albeit somewhat primitive compared to X, the window/menu system makes it pretty easy to wrap your applications up in warm blankets which keep the user from having to understand unix. The vendor's scheme for distributing software is fully documented and you can use it to keep multiple machines current with one another [ essentially you write formalized scripts describing what installing and removing each comprise].
psfales@ihlpe.ATT.COM (Pete Fales) (06/22/87)
In article <562@umb.umb.edu>, ram@umb.umb.edu (Robert Morris) writes: > A few things I haven't seen pass here about the PC 7300: > > About the only serious criticism I haven't seen pass in this > discussion is that the keyboard has the most bizarrely placed CTRL key > imaginable, down to the left of the space bar. I find it literally impossible There is a loadable driver available from THE STORE which switches the function of the Caps Lock and Ctrl keys. Works great. Pete -- Peter Fales UUCP: ...ihnp4!ihlpe!psfales work: (312) 979-7784 AT&T Information Systems, IW 1Z-243 1100 E. Warrenville Rd., IL 60566
kathy@bakerst.UUCP (Kathy Vincent) (06/24/87)
In article <562@umb.umb.edu> ram@umb.edu (Robert Morris) writes: >A few things I haven't seen pass here about the PC 7300: > >About the only serious criticism I haven't seen pass in this >discussion is that the keyboard has the most bizarrely placed CTRL key >imaginable, down to the left of the space bar. To the left *and* right of the space bar, to be precise. And maybe the reason that comment hasn't passed in the discussion is that it isn't a "serious criticism" for everyone. My Most Favourite Terminal right now - the 4424 - also has the CTRL keys to the L&R of the space bar, and I rather like them there myself. I use 'vi' rather than 'emacs', but 'vi' requires pretty constant use of the CTRL key, too. Personally, I like the position of CAPS LOCK key on the UNIX PC - typewriter position, left, above the shift key, which is where many other terminals/computers put the CTRL key. More proof, I guess, that the keyboard on any computer or terminal is a VERY personal thing - one person's meat, etc. Kathy Vincent kathy@bakerst.UUCP :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: {ihnp4|mtune|ptsfa} _____ {hplabs|seismo}!kitty _____\__ !bakerst!kathy {burl|mcnc|duke}!ethos _____/
tlh@pbhye.UUCP (Lee Hounshell) (06/27/87)
In article <781@bakerst.UUCP> kathy@bakerst.UUCP (Kathy Vincent) writes: >In article <562@umb.umb.edu> ram@umb.edu (Robert Morris) writes: >>A few things I haven't seen pass here about the PC 7300: >>About the only serious criticism I haven't seen pass in this >>discussion is that the keyboard has the most bizarrely placed CTRL key >>imaginable, down to the left of the space bar. > > >To the left *and* right of the space bar, to be precise. > >And maybe the reason that comment hasn't passed in the discussion >is that it isn't a "serious criticism" for everyone. Well, I sure hate it there.. I'm planning on buying a 3B1 next week, and the only thing I don't like about it is the position of the control keys. Has anyone out there tried modifying their keyboard encoder so that the "caps-lock" and "control" key positions are switched? Any suggestions about how this might be done efficiently? Yeah, yeah, I know it's gonna void my warranty.. but so what. LDatnornorntas
randy@chinet.UUCP (Randy Suess) (06/28/87)
>Has >anyone out there tried modifying their keyboard encoder so that the "caps-lock" >and "control" key positions are switched? Any suggestions about how this >might be done efficiently? Yeah, yeah, I know it's gonna void my warranty.. I had my 7300 for one day (3 years ago?) before I opened up the keyboard and cut 2 wires, and re-jumpered the keys to the proper place. The caps lite still worked! But nowadays, there is a driver available from THE STORE (free) that switches them with software. No warranty problems. If you want *REAL* brain damage, take a look at the MicroVax II's we have. <> keys where the left shift key belongs and *no* ESC key. Guess Ultrix users don't use vi.. -- that's the biz, sweetheart..... Randy Suess ..!ihnp4!chinet!randy
mikel@flmis06.ATT.COM (Mikel Manitius) (06/30/87)
- Well, I sure hate it there.. I'm planning on buying a 3B1 next week, and the - only thing I don't like about it is the position of the control keys. Has - anyone out there tried modifying their keyboard encoder so that the "caps-lock" - and "control" key positions are switched? Any suggestions about how this - might be done efficiently? Yeah, yeah, I know it's gonna void my warranty.. - but so what. - - Lee Hounshell Don't dispare folks. You can get the "KEYSWITCH" software from THE STORE! and it will to a software switch of the CTRL and CAPS LOCK keys (on the left side of the keyboard only). -- Mikel Manitius @ AT&T Network Operations mikel@codas.att.com.uucp | attmail!mikel