jeff@stormy.atmos.washington.edu (Jeff L. Bowden) (01/15/89)
Do they still make/sell them? I'm asking because a friend of mine can pick one up cheap ($100-200) and we're trying to figure out how much work it will be to bring it up as a BBS or USENET node. It comes with Xenix, (I didn't make a note of the version, unfortunately) 1MB RAM, 15MB hard disk, and BASIC. I was amazed to find that it doesn't come with a C compiler. I was even more amazed when the Tandy dealer we went to showed us a list of software we could order which include F77, COBOL, Pascal and BASIC but not C. There are several things I am interested to know. 1) Has anyone ported GNU C to the 6000? If so how can we get executables for it? 2) How difficult/expensive is it to add more mass storage? 3) How difficult/expensive is it to add more memory? 4) What version of Xenix is considered minimal to be used as a USENET node? 5) Is it possible to add more RS232 ports to it? 6) Is it a good deal at $100? $200? Since I have just now subscribed to these newsgroups I have no idea whether such questions as this have been asked frequently in the past. Given this it would probably be best to respond via E-Mail. I will summarize to anyone who asks. -- "...lies, damned lies, and heuristics."
jpr@dasys1.UUCP (Jean-Pierre Radley) (01/17/89)
In article <JEFF.89Jan14171447@stormy.atmos.washington.edu> jeff@stormy.atmos.washington.edu (Jeff L. Bowden) writes: >Do they still make/sell them? No. >I'm asking because a friend of mine can pick one up cheap ($100-200) and we're >trying to figure out how much work it will be to bring it up as a BBS or >USENET node. It comes with Xenix, (I didn't make a note of the version, >unfortunately) 1MB RAM, 15MB hard disk, and BASIC. I was amazed to find that >it doesn't come with a C compiler. I was even more amazed when the Tandy >dealer we went to showed us a list of software we could order which include >F77, COBOL, Pascal and BASIC but not C. >There are several things I am interested to know. Your dealer is retarded in the gray-matter department. Like many other Xenix/UNIX offerings, Tandy sells run-time, and then development system. The machine you're considering has run-time, but it's the development system which has the compiler. Let him look up the Tandy catalogue for the dev.sys., not for compilers. > 1) Has anyone ported GNU C to the 6000? If so how can we get > executables for it? Don't know. I compiled lots of stuff with Tandy's. > 2) How difficult/expensive is it to add more mass storage? > 3) How difficult/expensive is it to add more memory? 1-Meg. is the normal maximum, and served me quite well for several years. If you want more memory (why?) or more har drives, call Bob Snapp at 513-891-4496. > 4) What version of Xenix is considered minimal to be used as a USENET > node? Use Tandy's 3.2 core system. the 3.2 developemt system is not out yet, but the 3.0 will do. > 5) Is it possible to add more RS232 ports to it? Tandy admits to supporting five. Nine have been done, but slow... If you want even more than that, again call Snapp. > 6) Is it a good deal at $100? $200? Sure. -- Jean-Pierre Radley Honi soit jpr@dasys1.UUCP New York, New York qui mal ...!hombre!jpradley!jpr CIS: 76120,1341 y pense ...!hombre!trigere!jpr
roger@gtisqr.UUCP (Roger Droz) (01/20/89)
In article <JEFF.89Jan14171447@stormy.atmos.washington.edu> jeff@stormy.atmos.washington.edu (Jeff L. Bowden) writes: >Do they still make/sell them? No, they discontinued them around Thanksgiving time, 1987. I just had my model 16B (predecssor to the 6000) in for repair. The Tandy people, as a rule, don't know much about Unix, but they still support the hardware. >It comes with Xenix, (I didn't make a note of the version, I'm currently using 3.2, an upgrade I received last April. I was surprised and pleased that Tandy is supporting a discontinued product by informing users of OS upgrades. >I was amazed to find that it doesn't come with a C compiler. You want is what Radio Shack calls the "Development Package." That includes cc, make, sccs, nroff, an assembler, etc. I don't recall seeing a kernal object file, so you probably can't write device drivers. If you could, you'd probably have to have access to the Z80 I/O processor code. >There are several things I am interested to know. > > 2) How difficult/expensive is it to add more mass storage? > I'll email last month's discussion on this, if you wish. > 3) How difficult/expensive is it to add more memory? There is some problem with the memory management hardware that restricts the 6000 to 1MB. I'm not sure about the availability of an MMU upgrade. > 5) Is it possible to add more RS232 ports to it? Yes. My /dev includes up through tty06. > 6) Is it a good deal at $100? $200? I'm sure glad that I didn't buy the one I saw advertised for $1150! My 16B doesn't have room to expand the memory. I'm interested in a 6000, cheap. ______________________________________________________________________________ Roger Droz, Maverick MICRoSystems, Mukilteo, WA () () UUCP: uw-beaver!uw-nsr!uw-warp!gtisqr!roger (_______) ( ) Disclaimer: "We're all mavericks here: | | Each of us has our own opinions, | | and the company has yet different ones!" (___)