modems@telebit.UUCP (Modem Mail Account) (03/15/88)
Many questions have come in as a response to some of our earlier postings.
One of the most common is:
"How can I update my TrailBlazer Plus modems to V4.00?"
To help out the rest of you who might not even know that an update exists,
here is a brief overview of our update policy:
1. We currently offer two update kits. One is for the TrailBlazer modem,
to provide the UUCP support and bug fixes present in pre-V3.01 code.
The kit will upgrade your TrailBlazer modem (not the TrailBlazer Plus)
to V3.01. The kit is part number RA12X-UK3. The cost is $124 for the
set of four (4) PROMS. So if you have a TrailBlazer without UUCP
protocol support, order this one.
2. If you have a TrailBlazer Plus (shipping since about November 1987, you
will by definition have UUCP protocol, but in addition, you will also
have Lempel-Ziv data compression. In late January 1988, we released an
upgrade kit for the Plus, to provide improved interactive response.
If you have a pre-V4.00 TrailBlazer Plus, and you'd like to improve
the interactive delay NOTICEABLY, order the V4.00 Upgrade Kit, part
number UK-T18SA. The cost for this two (2) PROM upgrade is $99 per modem.
Please note that this kit is NOT appropriate for the old TrailBlazer.
3. To order either Upgrade Kit, just call our toll-free number, which is:
1-800-TELEBIT
and tell the person what you want, and how many.
I hope that this helps clear the air about upgrading TrailBlazers.
Thanks to all of you who have responded to the previous postings. I will
try and keep them coming.
Regards,
================================================================================
Richard Siegel Phone: (408) 996-2644
Senior Systems Engineer UUCP: {uunet,ames,hoptoad}!telebit!rls
Telebit Corporation ARPA: telebit!rls@ames.ARPA
"When the going gets tough, the weird turn pro"...HST
================================================================================rick@pcrat.UUCP (Rick Richardson) (03/15/88)
In article <266@telebit.UUCP> modems@telebit.UUCP (Modem Mail Account) writes: >2. If you have a TrailBlazer Plus (shipping since about November 1987, you > will by definition have UUCP protocol, but in addition, you will also > have Lempel-Ziv data compression. In late January 1988, we released an > upgrade kit for the Plus, to provide improved interactive response. > If you have a pre-V4.00 TrailBlazer Plus, and you'd like to improve > the interactive delay NOTICEABLY, order the V4.00 Upgrade Kit, part > number UK-T18SA. The cost for this two (2) PROM upgrade is $99 per modem. This is the one thing about me Telebit that makes me see red! My modem was only two months old when they came out with the 'upgrade' (more like a bug fix, if you ask me), and they want to charge me an extra $99 bucks. Anyone with a sense of fair play would come up with an exchange policy on these EPROMs. -- Rick Richardson, President, PC Research, Inc. (201) 542-3734 (voice, nights) OR (201) 834-1378 (voice, days) uunet!pcrat!rick (UUCP) rick%pcrat.uucp@uunet.uu.net (INTERNET)
davidsen@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP (William E. Davidsen Jr) (03/15/88)
In article <266@telebit.UUCP> modems@telebit.UUCP (Modem Mail Account) writes: | Many questions have come in as a response to some of our earlier postings. | One of the most common is: | | "How can I update my TrailBlazer Plus modems to V4.00?" If I were doing this, I don't think I'd mention it in public. MultiTech has an upgrade/swap policy which is just over the cost of the ROMs. Microsoft offers no cost upgrades for 90 days after you buy a software product. SCO will supply bug fixes (not upgrades) for at least a year on Xenix. I can see a charge for the upgrade to the uucp ROMS, since that is an added feature, but $99 to fix a problem with interactive usage?? There is something distasteful about getting a free fix from SCO to have my 18 month old Xenix work with Trailblazer, and paying a hundred dollars to make a 90 day old Trailblazer work (in interactive mode) with Xenix. -- bill davidsen (wedu@ge-crd.arpa) {uunet | philabs | seismo}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me
jordan@zooks.ads.com (Jordan Hayes) (03/16/88)
Rick Richardson <rick@pcrat.UUCP> writes:
My modem was only two months old when they came out with the
'upgrade' (more like a bug fix, if you ask me), and they want
to charge me an extra $99 bucks.
I agree that there should be some better shake than a hundred bucks,
but make no mistake, this was not a "bug fix" -- it was a pretty big
deal from what i've heard. Further, not everyone is using these things
for interactive use. It remains to be seen what effect, if any, the
addition of a third packet size will have on SLIP performance (i'm
waiting for some 4.0's to check it out) fer instance.
You probably also think the USENET price of $700 was too high ...
/jordanwayne@teemc.UUCP (//ichael R. //ayne) (03/16/88)
In article <505@pcrat.UUCP> rick@pcrat.UUCP (Rick Richardson) writes: >In article <266@telebit.UUCP> modems@telebit.UUCP (Modem Mail Account) writes: ->2. If you have a TrailBlazer Plus (shipping since about November 1987, you -> will by definition have UUCP protocol, but in addition, you will also -> have Lempel-Ziv data compression. In late January 1988, we released an -> upgrade kit for the Plus, to provide improved interactive response. -> If you have a pre-V4.00 TrailBlazer Plus, and you'd like to improve -> the interactive delay NOTICEABLY, order the V4.00 Upgrade Kit, part -> number UK-T18SA. The cost for this two (2) PROM upgrade is $99 per modem. > >This is the one thing about me Telebit that makes me see red! My modem >was only two months old when they came out with the 'upgrade' (more >like a bug fix, if you ask me), and they want to charge me an >extra $99 bucks. Anyone with a sense of fair play would come up with an >exchange policy on these EPROMs. I agree about that this is a bad policy and complained directly to Telebit about it (one would think that free exchange on EPROMs for a year would be reasonable). They did not seem supportive of this notion. My suggestion is to find yourself somebody with 4.0 firmware and a PROM burner. Note, however, that you really should keep your original EPROMs around so that you can put them in if you need service. I find it very, very strange that Telebit would take this type of stand considering how reasonable they are on everything else. /\/\ \/\/ -- Michael R. Wayne --- TMC & Associates --- wayne@teemc.uucp INTERNET: wayne%teemc.uucp@umix.cc.umich.edu uunet!umix!teemc!wayne
rick@pcrat.UUCP (Rick Richardson) (03/16/88)
In article <3034@zodiac.UUCP> jordan@ads.com (Jordan Hayes) writes: > >You probably also think the USENET price of $700 was too high ... Nope. ~$700 was right on the ball. Even ~$800 right off the bat would have been OK. The point is that 2 months after I bought the modem they were shipping V4.00 EPROMS for *free* in new modems, but they were *selling* 4.00 EPROMS for old modems with the usual 500% markup (two 27512's == $20). -- Rick Richardson, President, PC Research, Inc. (201) 542-3734 (voice, nights) OR (201) 834-1378 (voice, days) uunet!pcrat!rick (UUCP) rick%pcrat.uucp@uunet.uu.net (INTERNET)
dsc@izimbra.CSS.GOV (get his coffin ready, 'cause johnny coming home) (03/17/88)
In article <3034@zodiac.UUCP> jordan@ads.com (Jordan Hayes) writes: >for interactive use. It remains to be seen what effect, if any, the >addition of a third packet size will have on SLIP performance (i'm >waiting for some 4.0's to check it out) fer instance. between two sun 3/160s running 3.4 plus the latest tcp & slip code from berkeley (ie, the `tahoe' release), we saw a throughput of 10 kbaud using brl's `ttcp' program (1k packets over a tcp connection). the trailblazers in question were running the 4.0 firmware (compression was on) and were connected to the suns' `zs' ports at 19.2 kbaud. dsc
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (03/17/88)
> ... and they want to charge me an > extra $99 bucks. Anyone with a sense of fair play would come up with an > exchange policy on these EPROMs. I doubt that Telebit is making a bundle on those upgrades. Servicing this sort of request takes more time and effort than you'd think. (Note, I am not claiming that it couldn't be cheaper, just that anyone who thinks it should be free is an optimist.) -- Those who do not understand Unix are | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology condemned to reinvent it, poorly. | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry
SNELSON@STL-HOST1.ARPA (03/17/88)
Oh, I don't know about that, but....I figure $99-124 is right in line when you consider brain sweat, prepping the chip, packaging, handling and shipping. Steve
faunt@spar.SPAR.SLB.COM (Doug Faunt) (03/18/88)
I would like to suggest to Telebit that they provide a "license to upgrade" price, which would be permission to copy the upgraded firmware. It would certainly help large sites with large numbers of modems, and also very small sites (like my home). I appreciate their action in lowering the cost of the upgrade for the "USEnet offer". How long is that in effect?
wayne@teemc.UUCP (//ichael R. //ayne) (03/18/88)
In article <1988Mar17.002759.1127@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >> ... and they want to charge me an >> extra $99 bucks. Anyone with a sense of fair play would come up with an >> exchange policy on these EPROMs. > >I doubt that Telebit is making a bundle on those upgrades. Servicing this >sort of request takes more time and effort than you'd think. (Note, I am >not claiming that it couldn't be cheaper, just that anyone who thinks it >should be free is an optimist.) Well, I for one, think that it could be free. Examine my logic and tell me where I err: 1) I am going to presume that the cost of developing the new software is absorbed by the company (staying competitive, new sales, etc.). Therefore the DEVELOPMENT cost of the upgrade is $0.00. 2) I agree that servicing the requests is time-consuming (but you can dup a LOT of EPROMs for $99). Rather than doing that, how about a posting of the (Intel Hex | Motorola S-records | other-standard-format) to one of the newsgroups or some other, generally available forum. Cost to Telebit would be 1-2 hours labor. I think that this is a perfect application of a biz newsgroup. I suspect that most people could find SOMEbody they know that could download the new programs and burn EPROMs. Telebit is a fine company that has an exciting technology. Their Usenet offer was a great idea (I bought 2 modems at half price and have sold clients on 8 more so far). The modems make economic sense, the technology works, the company is most helpful in correcting problems. I only wish that they would give a bit more consideration to the "little guy" who is willing to spend time to save money. In addition to this viewpoint, it can be difficult to get a $100 purchase order through the system at a large company. NOTE: I did suggest this to Telebit immediately after getting my modems and hearing that an upgrade was in the works. Their position was that they could not determine the effectiveness of a PROM burner at a user site and they did not want their product to suffer. Personally, I think that anyone who is willing to rip open the modems, remove the EPROMs, erase them, program with the new code and reinsert them (voiding warrenty, of course) is not going to be a problem. /\/\ \/\/ -- Michael R. Wayne --- TMC & Associates --- wayne@teemc.uucp INTERNET: wayne%teemc.uucp@umix.cc.umich.edu uunet!umix!teemc!wayne
roberts@edsews.EDS.COM (Ted Roberts) (03/19/88)
One problem I've got with the upgrade is that quite a few of the sites that I communicate with are asking me how good a modem the TB+ is. We got ours in November so we have the 3.01 firmware. Some of them are looking for a good modem for interactive use and I can now tell them that the TB is quite good in this area. However, I also have to tell them that they may want to wait a few months and get a better product for the same price, since Telebit may add more features. I appreciate that Telebit is soliciting suggestions from the net on what features to add next (I sure can't think of a better place), but if I was looking into buying one right now I'd be quite curious about whether waiting would save me money. This is assuming that I got the same great half-price deal then that we got on ours in December. How about it Telebit, planning to extend the deadline for those who waited and can now cash in on V4.00:-) -- Ted Roberts | My opinions are not necessarily those EDS Technical Services Division | of my employer. Does that mean I'm UUCP: roberts@edsews.EDS.COM | wrong?
pim@ctisbv.UUCP (Pim Zandbergen) (03/21/88)
In article <505@pcrat.UUCP> rick@pcrat.UUCP (Rick Richardson) writes: >In article <266@telebit.UUCP> modems@telebit.UUCP (Modem Mail Account) writes: >> If you have a pre-V4.00 TrailBlazer Plus, and you'd like to improve >> the interactive delay NOTICEABLY, order the V4.00 Upgrade Kit, part >> number UK-T18SA. The cost for this two (2) PROM upgrade is $99 per modem. > >This is the one thing about me Telebit that makes me see red! My modem >was only two months old when they came out with the 'upgrade'. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ My luck is even worse! The brandnew TB+ that i received *last week* still has the 3.0 firmware. According to the importer, the 4.0 firmware has not yet passed the approval of the Dutch telephone company. It's not sure when the 4.0 firmware will be approved, but it is sure I will have to pay $$ for an upgrade. Sigh... -- --------------------+------------------------------------+--------------------- Pim Zandbergen | CTI Software BV | Phone: +31 70 542302 pim@ctisbv.UUCP | Laan Copes van Cattenburch 70 | Fax: +31 70 512837 ..!mcvax!ctisbv!pim | 2585 GD The Hague, The Netherlands | Telex: 32133 CTI NL
pjh@mccc.UUCP (Peter J. Holsberg) (03/22/88)
My distributor told me that Telebit told him that 'blazers purchased
after 1/1/88 would be upgraded free. I expect that that holds for
foreign purchasers as well.
--
Peter Holsberg UUCP: {rutgers!}princeton!mccc!pjh
Technology Division CompuServe: 70240,334
Mercer College GEnie: PJHOLSBERG
Trenton, NJ 08690 Voice: 1-609-586-4800henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (03/25/88)
> 2) I agree that servicing the requests is time-consuming (but you > can dup a LOT of EPROMs for $99)... You obviously have never been in charge of actually *doing* software distribution. The big cost is not media duplication or postage, but man-hours: all the manual effort involved in deciphering, approving, preparing, and shipping orders, and dealing with problems. This takes far more time and hassle than you can possibly imagine if you haven't done it (I have). It certainly would make life easier for Telebit if they could distribute their updates electronically. This doesn't necessarily mean distributing them free of charge, as witness the AT&T Software Toolchest. *HOWEVER*, do remember that a lot of the smarts in the Trailblazers are in software, not hardware. Telebit may have decided that it's just as well if it takes a bit of effort to get a look at the bits. -- "Noalias must go. This is | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology non-negotiable." --DMR | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry
edm@nwnexus.UUCP (Ed Morin) (03/26/88)
In article <635@teemc.UUCP> wayne@teemc.UUCP (/\/\ichael R. \/\/ayne) writes: >they could not determine the effectiveness of a PROM burner at a user site >and they did not want their product to suffer. Personally, I think that >anyone who is willing to rip open the modems, remove the EPROMs, erase them, (Smart people would NOT blow away their old EPROMS...) ^^^^^^^^^^^ >program with the new code and reinsert them (voiding warrenty, of course) Just using the old EPROMS still doesn't "determine the effectiveness of a PROM burner" - and there are some real kludges out there. Can you imagine Telebit having to deal with all the folks who think their homemade EPROM burner is working fine when it really was that RS-232 cable with the cold solder joints that caused a glitch in the programming or the "new" EPROMS that had been reused for years finally slipped bit thus triggering a few phone calls to Telebit, etc. I personally think that $100 is a lot of money (maybe justified) for a set of EPROMS. I also think that the USENET "deal" is swell (I took advantage of it too) and hope that there may be a way for Telebit to continue with the tradition (at least for updates). Ed Morin Northwest Nexus Inc. "Public Access Unix for the Masses" 18704 - 142nd Ave. N.E. Woodinville, WA 98072 edm@nwnexus.UUCP
wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (03/30/88)
<<Should I buy it now?>> Yes. Telebit will probably be providing improvements on a regular basis, but if you keep waiting, then you'll never have a modem will you? Versus costs of other computer accessories, the cost of the firmware upgrade isn't that hard to swallow. Go for it. By the way, I've done a little fine tuning to uucp (like finally getting HDB uucp on my end), and I've been able to get sustainable throughputs of 880 char/sec between a bsd 4.2 vax sporting a Telebit and my 3b1 with a Telebit Plus. And yes, the version 4.00 firmware fixes bugs. Namely in MNP protocol recognition. I have not been able to get the TB with the ver 3.?? firmware on the vax to recognize MNP connections from anything but another TB or TB+ modem. The version 4 software seems to work properly, and has been tested with an AT&T CEO modem and a US Robotics HST. I would have given it a shot with the Microcom 9624, but the 9624 suffered a massive coronary after only about 10 minutes of operation-- too bad. And -- please let's forget the idea about duplicating the EPROMs; please buy them. If it were my work, I'd be rather upset if somebody blatatnly pirated it like that. The USEnet deal is a good thing, let's not irritate Telebit and blow it. --Bill