mzal@pegasus.UUCP (Mike Zaleski) (10/27/84)
Excerpts from God <root%bostonu.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>: Looks like we are going to be the proud owners of a 3B5 and a few 3B2s, any experiences (SYSV)? I use 3B2s every day. Since I haven't used any other little computers I can't really compare them speedwise. They are too slow for my tastes, though. The System V implementation seems normal. However, not everything is included with the standard system, many packages are add-ons. The 3B5 seems more like a normal 3B20, only slower. We will be using 3BNET, any experiences or info on that would be appreciated. We use nisend as a front end application on top of 3BNET. It (nisend) goes down too often for no appearant reason. I'm not sure if this means 3BNET is unreliable or just that niend is unreliable. Also (and very importantly) anyone know of something to nicely network these to our VAXEN? UUCP maybe? :-) Seriously, I don't know of anything offhand. We only have 3B[2/5/20]s in my lab. -- Mike^Z Zaleski@Rutgers [allegra!, ihnp4!] pegasus!mzal All opinions above are strictly those of the author.
mzal@pegasus.UUCP (11/02/84)
I would like to expand on some of my earlier remarks: I use 3B2s every day. Since I haven't used any other little computers I can't really compare them speedwise. They are too slow for my tastes, though. Note that this is just MY impression. In general, I think this of any computer that does not instantly respond to a command. I understand that release 1.1 of this system is supposed to have a new, bigger disk drive. Perhaps this will improve the speed somewhat. The System V implementation seems normal. More accurately, is normal. However, programs which run on a 3b20 may require some modification to run on a 3b2 (Montgomery's Emacs, for example). However, not everything is included with the standard system, many packages are add-ons. What I should have said here is that not everything is on the system when you get it, though a number of add-on packages are included with the system which you can put on yourself. There are optional packages, but standard stuff like the compiler will be there in the box. -- Mike^Z Zaleski@Rutgers [allegra!, ihnp4!] pegasus!mzal All opinions above are strictly those of the author.
schnable@ihuxf.UUCP (Andrew T. Schnable) (11/03/84)
The modifications needed to compile existing C code for the 3b2 are minimal, especially if you start with 3b20 code. 1) link using the -f flag if the application uses floating point. 2) look for u3b ifdef's and add similar u3b2 ifdef's. That's all I've ever had to do. Of course, if you start with VAX code you may have to worry about signed vs. unsigned chars and more, depending upon the application. I don't think the 3b2 is slow at all. Given the choice of using a 3b2 or a loaded (40 people) VAX 11/780, I would use the 3b2 any day (in fact, I do.) andy ihuxf!schnable