bruce@godot.UUCP (Bruce Nemnich) (03/02/85)
In case anyone is interested, I spoke to DEC about support under Ultrix for disks on the HSC50 and was told that no support of any kind would be available until summer of '86, and that support would NOT include sharing between CPUs. I hope no one is holding his breath over it. I have a CI bus, an SC008, and HSC50, sitting down in the machine room, and I would like to use them for something more than counter space. It also appears DEC no longer sells the documentation necessary for writing drivers for these things. Does anyone have (or is anyone working) on a 4.2 driver for this kind of configuration? I wouldn't mind working on it, but I would need the doc. I am not so concerned about sharing disks yet (I will be), but I presume I could get much better bandwidth through the CI bus than with a UDA50 on the Unibus. -- --Bruce Nemnich, Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge, MA ihnp4!godot!bruce, bjn@mit-mc.arpa ... soon to be bruce@tm.arpa
chris@umcp-cs.UUCP (Chris Torek) (03/03/85)
> It [...] appears DEC no longer sells the documentation necessary for > writing drivers for these things [CI/SC008/HSC50]. If this is true (the "appears" alleviates the scare somewhat), then I think DEC is making a Big Mistake. I like DEC equipment partly because I have these little manuals I can flip through. It's hard to have too much documentation [though VMS perhaps succeeds here :-)]. The best argument I can give for my opinion is "if we don't know enough about it, we aren't going to buy it". Are you listening, DEC? -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 4251) UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!chris CSNet: chris@umcp-cs ARPA: chris@maryland
pag@hao.UUCP (Peter Gross) (03/07/85)
> > It [...] appears DEC no longer sells the documentation necessary for > > writing drivers for these things [CI/SC008/HSC50]. > > If this is true (the "appears" alleviates the scare somewhat), then I > think DEC is making a Big Mistake. I like DEC equipment partly because > I have these little manuals I can flip through. It's hard to have too > much documentation [though VMS perhaps succeeds here :-)]. The best > argument I can give for my opinion is "if we don't know enough about it, > we aren't going to buy it". > > Are you listening, DEC? Another "unavailable" manual is the UDA50 Programmer's Kit -- makes it impossible to interpret the MSCP packet dumps that the 4.2 UDA driver is fond of spitting out on the console. Our field service rep has agreed to accidently leave one at our site. -- --peter gross UUCP: {hplabs,seismo}!hao!pag CSNET: pag@ncar.csnet ARPA: pag%ncar@csnet-relay.arpa
haral@ttidcb.UUCP (Haral Tsitsivas) (03/11/85)
In article <1388@hao.UUCP> pag@hao.UUCP (Peter Gross) writes: >Another "unavailable" manual is the UDA50 Programmer's Kit -- makes it >impossible to interpret the MSCP packet dumps that the 4.2 UDA driver >is fond of spitting out on the console. Our field service rep has agreed >to accidently leave one at our site. You didn't have to do that. I called my DEC salesman and he delivered the manuals personally to me within one week. What you have to do is make a case on why you really need it...
eric@plus5.UUCP (Eric W. Kiebler) (03/12/85)
> > > It [...] appears DEC no longer sells the documentation necessary for > > > writing drivers for these things [CI/SC008/HSC50]. > > > > If this is true (the "appears" alleviates the scare somewhat), then I > > think DEC is making a Big Mistake. I like DEC equipment partly because > > I have these little manuals I can flip through. It's hard to have too > > much documentation [though VMS perhaps succeeds here :-)]. The best > > argument I can give for my opinion is "if we don't know enough about it, > > we aren't going to buy it". > > > > Are you listening, DEC? > > Another "unavailable" manual is the UDA50 Programmer's Kit -- makes it > impossible to interpret the MSCP packet dumps that the 4.2 UDA driver > is fond of spitting out on the console. Our field service rep has agreed > to accidently leave one at our site. > -- > --peter gross > UUCP: {hplabs,seismo}!hao!pag > CSNET: pag@ncar.csnet > ARPA: pag%ncar@csnet-relay.arpa These folks are right. I just spent a bunch of customer's money on my time because: 1) The ULTRIX-11 driver protoype code was wrong 2) DEC said "So pay $270/month software maintenance for a $10K Machine" 3) The damn rq controller doesn't pass bus grant through, and has to be the last board on the q-bus. 4) DEC OEM said "Oh Gee, we don't know anything about that. If you find out let us know, okay?" They are a university site, and if they had been aware of a 2.9 driver for the MSCP disks on the MIcro-11, they would have switched right then and there. So, if anyone knows of such a driver, would they send me a pointer please? Thanks! Cheers, eric -- ..!ihnp4!wucs!plus5!eric ..!ihnp4!plus5!eric (314) 725-9492