usenet@carssdf.UUCP (UseNet Id.) (08/08/89)
Can anyone tell me if, under the 386 version of xenix the sort has been improved to use a sort work area larger than 32K, and to open serveral dozen of it's temp files simultaneously for input durring it's merge phase. I am thinking about purchasing SCO Xenix 386 for my system, which includes a SCSI disk from Texas Inst if that makes any difference. (They call it the model 1300). I wonder if I should wait for more improvements, because purchasing a new O/S seems to be the only way to get all the updates. Getting updates from SCO has been a problem of hide and seek. If I can tell them what I need, I may be able to stumble on to a fix that they already have, but there seems to be no catalog of "fixes" that might help. Pardon me venting my frustration, but I can't aford to spend $1200 every year, and this is very much like waiting for the stock market to peak out! John Watson an independent programmer rutgers!carssdf!usenet
karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) (08/08/89)
In article <186@carssdf.UUCP> usenet@carssdf.UUCP (UseNet Id.) writes: >Can anyone tell me if, under the 386 version of xenix the sort has been >improved to use a sort work area larger than 32K, and to open serveral >dozen of it's temp files simultaneously for input durring it's merge phase. I don't know about it's specific behavior, but I do know that it will sort 1MB files without problems (ie: pathalias output :-) >I am thinking about purchasing SCO Xenix 386 for my system, which includes >a SCSI disk from Texas Inst if that makes any difference. (They call it >the model 1300). I wonder if I should wait for more improvements, because >purchasing a new O/S seems to be the only way to get all the updates. No, you can get either the xnx fix disks, or upgrades. There is no need to buy it all over again -- if you are dealing with someone other than a large mailorder house which don't do anything other than push product. >Getting updates from SCO has been a problem of hide and seek. If I can >tell them what I need, I may be able to stumble on to a fix that they already >have, but there seems to be no catalog of "fixes" that might help. Pardon >me venting my frustration, but I can't aford to spend $1200 every year, and >this is very much like waiting for the stock market to peak out! So buy from a VAR who supports the product! Then you don't have a problem like that. Sure, you will pay a few dollars more -- but you get what you pay for. If you pay rock-bottom price, and STILL expect Class-A support, you are being unrealistic. We resell SCO Xenix, and we frequently badger them for fixes and the like for our customers. We also keep available the current list of fix disks, and how to obtain them. Our customers seem to be happy -- we must be doing something right. Remember, support IS a product. You can either pay someone else for support, or you can buy it direct from SCO. SCO prices their support rather high - which conceivably discourages people from using it. That is ok - it gives all of us resellers something to do, and yet another possible way to earn a few bucks. It's not terribly wise to buy something as complex as an OS from a "chop shop"; they may sell the product(s) cheap, but they likely don't even know what it really is or does. We _use_ Xenix here for our internal work -- every day of the year. -- Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl) Public Access Data Line: [+1 312 566-8911], Voice: [+1 312 566-8910] Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. "Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"