barton@holston.UUCP (Barton A. Fisk) (01/05/90)
Would you please email me your experiences with Northgate
both good and bad?
Please excuse me if I'm beating a dead horse.
--
Barton A. Fisk | UUCP: {attctc,texbell}vector!holston!barton
PO Box 1781 | (PSEUDO) DOMAIN: barton@holston.UUCP
Lake Charles, La. 70602 | ----------------------------------------
318-439-5984 | "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone"-JCamull@Morgan.COM (Andrew P. Mullhaupt) (01/06/90)
In article <5655@holston.UUCP>, barton@holston.UUCP (Barton A. Fisk) writes: > Would you please email me your experiences with Northgate > both good and bad? We got one. It's great. We popped the pwer supply at one point, and they sent us one FED Ex right away. (I.E. BEFORE they received the busted one back... just like they say). We use the keyboard in our lap and as a result their newer style OMNI KEY/102 is not so cool, because the cable often slips out the connector and locks SCO UNIX (V/386 3.2) right up (dead bang). We talked to Northgate about this and they swapped us a keyboard (ditto on the Fed Ex). Total down days (since we've owned it) = 2. Recommendation: get yourself more than 65Mbyte of disk if you want the SCO UNIX with Development System. Also: specify that you want a mother board which can hold more than 4Mbyte of RAM (Even if you don't want to buy it right away). Not all of their 386 mother boards can hold more than 4Mbyte on board; and you'll only get one 32 bit slot. If you have to use it for memory, you can't use it for a killer caching controller - a definite cramp in the upgrade path. Overall: Northgate makes Fast systems which are reasonably reliable but backed by their excellent (helpful and courteous) service, you don't need to worry about not buying Compaq or Big Blue. > > Please excuse me if I'm beating a dead horse. Well, I don't know. Are you beating a dead horse? Later, Andrew Mullhaupt
caf@omen.UUCP (WA7KGX) (01/08/90)
In article <646@s5.Morgan.COM> amull@Morgan.COM (Andrew P. Mullhaupt) writes:
:and as a result their newer style OMNI KEY/102 is not so cool, because
:the cable often slips out the connector and locks SCO UNIX (V/386 3.2)
:right up (dead bang).
Strange ... I have an Omni Key 102 whose cable is permanently attached
to the keyboard. I also have an OmniKey PLUS which does have such a
connector, and unplugging it from the keyboard is not fatal.
How if only I could get the documentation on how to use the extra keys
(F13-F15) that I specified in my order ...amull@Morgan.COM (Andrew P. Mullhaupt) (01/08/90)
In article <6@omen.UUCP>, caf@omen.UUCP (WA7KGX) writes: > In article <646@s5.Morgan.COM> amull@Morgan.COM (Andrew P. Mullhaupt) writes: > :and as a result their newer style OMNI KEY/102 is not so cool, because > :the cable often slips out the connector and locks SCO UNIX (V/386 3.2) > :right up (dead bang). > > Strange ... I have an Omni Key 102 whose cable is permanently attached > to the keyboard. I also have an OmniKey PLUS which does have such a > connector, and unplugging it from the keyboard is not fatal. How old is your OmniKey 102? The New style is only about six months old, according to their tech support. The new style has the same kind of connector as the OmniKey Plus - (detatchable); the old style does not. You may not experience the lockup problem if your motherboard is not the same as mine: I have an 'old' (i.e. not more than 4Mbyte on board restriction) Elegance 20Mhz motherboard. But their may be an entire sequence of motherboards: Northgate re-engineers these things on a very frequent basis compared to other companies. Shall we compare serial numbers? > > How if only I could get the documentation on how to use the extra keys > (F13-F15) that I specified in my order ... Yeah - they're pretty serious about building to order - and that's one of the reasons we all get different stories on the little details like keyboard connectors, etc. Northgate seems to concentrate on the lowest price high quality components as opposed to the stick with one good supplier theory. This is why, when you call Northgate technical support, they will call up your configuration in their database and ask if you've installed any hardware or software since they last heard from you. They only have one really good tech for Xenix - and her name is Kathleen - and most of her experience is with Xenix, not UNIX, but she's been pretty helpful. Later, Andrew Mullhaupt P.S. In one of the PC mags this month some guy quoted the president of Northgate as admitting that he didn't know what the 'Omni' key was for on the OmniKey Plus - so I wish you good luck getting your info. Also: They shipped us really excellent documentation for the most part, but they sent an OmniKey Plus manual along with the OmniKey 102 which we ordered. BTW I just checked the Rev. number on my 'old style' OmniKey 102 - It's 6.2. I didn't keep of record of the one I swapped.
zdb1526@dsachg1.UUCP (Kelly Pearce) (01/08/90)
In article <5655@holston.UUCP>, barton@holston.UUCP (Barton A. Fisk) writes: > Would you please email me your experiences with Northgate Please post a summary of your responses on Northgate to the net. -- Kelly M. Pearce, DLA Systems Automation Center, (801)399-6549, AV 790-0549 UUCP: ucbvax!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!dsac!dsachg1!kpearce INTERNET: kpearce@dsachg1.dsac.dla.mil * Opinions are still mine, but the gov't has a claim on everything else. :^)
jsulliva@cvbnet.UUCP (Jeff Sullivan, x4096 MS 4-2) (01/10/90)
I have owned a 386/16 VGA system for 8 months or so.
I bought it with my own money (not companies!) and it's
one of the best (depreciable asset) investments I've made.
I would buy from Northgate again, only I'd buy a faster
machine with more memory. (The 20 mhz machine is now cheaper
than my 16!). I recommend the 16-bit VGA option and a mouse.
You should consider getting at least 2M RAM, it's cheaper if
you buy it right off the bat. If you really want to take adv-
antage of the 386, you'll want run DESQview/386, Windows/386
or Unix (more than 2M!).
Disclaimer: No connection with Northgate, just a happy camper.
-Jeff
UUCP : {decvax|linus|sun}!cvbnet!jsulliva
Internet: jsulliva@cvbnet.prime.com