mikeb@ism780b (Mike Bessey) (01/16/88)
As a matter of policy, ISC will participate sparingly in usenet groups
to avoid suspicions of commercialism. We are responding at this time,
because we can clarify several popular support topics and correct some
recent postings regarding 386/ix. Actual technical support must come
from your supplier of 386/ix.
VP/ix on Terminals
VP/ix is not limited to the console. It runs on dumb ASCII
terminals (e.g. vt100s) or PC-compatible terminals (e.g. Wyse 60s)
connected to PC asynchronous ports or selected third-party multiport
serial adapters. Of couse, bit mapped graphics applications are not
supported on these serial terminals. However, Sun River fiber-optics
EGA terminals are fully supported.
Keyboards and Keystrokes
All releases of 386/ix will switch virtual terminal sessions on the
console using "SYSREQ n" (for next) and "SYSREQ p" (for previous).
On 101-key keyboards you will need to press ALT together with SYSREQ
to perform a SYSREQ. Releases beginning with 1.0.4 can access a
particular vtty by using "SYSREQ F1", "SYSREQ F8", etc.
On the console the TERM variable should be set to "AT386" for most
applications and VP/ix. Some Microport applications behave better
with TERM set to "ansi".
With TERM set correctly, the VP/ix pop-up menu can be activated on
the console by pressing SYSREQ. Due to BIOS and keyboard differences
between various machines, some keyboards require an additional "m"
to be pressed, for example "ALT SYSREQ m" (for menu). Because most
networking drivers do not transmit the scan code for SYSREQ, some
environments require the keystrokes "ESC [ L" (escape left-bracket
upper-case-L) to be used instead.
Terminals that emulate vt100's but lacking the PF4 function key (the
default for activating the VP/ix menu) can use "ESC O S" or "ESC ESC
O S", depending on your terminal's emulation. This also applies to
PC's running terminal emulation software. Most VP/ix input keystrokes
such as SYSREQ can be remapped in /usr/vpix/term/term_name.
3.5" Mirco-floppy Drives
3.5" 720K and 1.44 Mg drives are supported in all releases of 386/ix.
An example command to create the necessary device special file is:
mknod /dev/rdsk/f1q18dt c 1 81
ISC will offer 386/ix on 3.5" media in the future, as determined by
customer demand.
Distributors
There have been requests for a list of distributors. We have
decided not to include it in this widely distributed response,
because it may well be thought inappropriate. Instead, we'll ask
permission of each distributor to be included in a restricted
listing. This is expected to include roughly a dozen names and to
be posted next week to the info-386ix mailing list.
ESDI
ISC is working with several customers with ESDI disk controllers who
report difficulties. This includes 386/ix users who have posted
ESDI-related news items. Each of these customers has a unique
situation, however, and installation and configuration errors have
not yet been ruled out. In release 1.0.4, the following are supported:
- Compaq 130 with a Compaq-modified WD1007 controller
- WD1005-WAH used with 34 sector/track BIOS drive table entries
- Adaptec 2320/2322 BIOS-independent controllers
ICC
The Bell Hub 6 is supported in current releases. The Bell ICC
intelligent 6 port serial board (and others) will be supported in
release 1.0.5, scheduled to ship in February. As with most drivers
we receive from third party vendors, modifications are necessary to
avoid system conflicts and to provide services for VP/ix compatibility.
Korn Shell
AT&T licensing issues prevent us from making the Korn shell with
VP/ix support generally available. We will provide this software
at no charge to sites with ksh source licenses. There are no current
plans to market the Korn shell.
XDIR, MACASGN
The "XDIR" command, a VP/ix command to print directory information
plus file permissions, will reappear in release 1.0.5. "MACASGN"
has been replaced forever with the "NETUP" command.
Idle VP/ix CPU Time
Much work has been expended to minimize the amount of CPU time used
by an "idle" VP/ix process. But DOS applications are written to
have full-time access to the CPU, and so there are limits on what
can be done. For example, if VP/ix were truly idle, the time-of-day
clock in MS Windows would appear to stop. The current situation is
that idle VP/ix processes use little CPU time, even for DOS applications
that continually poll the keyboard or are in "busy loops."
Michael T. Bessey
INTERACTIVE Technical Support Representative
INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation, 2401 Colorado Ave, Santa Monica CA 90404olsen@XN.LL.MIT.EDU (Jim Olsen) (01/20/88)
In article <8621@ism780c.UUCP> mikeb@ism780b.UUCP (Mike Bessey) writes: >As a matter of policy, ISC will participate sparingly in usenet groups >to avoid suspicions of commercialism. > > There have been requests for a list of distributors. We have > decided not to include it in this widely distributed response, > because it may well be thought inappropriate. Instead, we'll ask > permission of each distributor to be included in a restricted > listing. This is expected to include roughly a dozen names and to > be posted next week to the info-386ix mailing list. I'm sure that such a list would be of wide interest. Since ISC is bashful about posting it, would someone else on info-386ix please post the list here when it comes out?
paul@vixie.UUCP (Paul Vixie Esq) (01/21/88)
In article <867@xn.LL.MIT.EDU> olsen@xn.UUCP (Jim Olsen) writes: >In article <8621@ism780c.UUCP> mikeb@ism780b.UUCP (Mike Bessey) writes: >>As a matter of policy, ISC will participate sparingly in usenet groups >>to avoid suspicions of commercialism. I am the moderator of the info-386ix mailing list; I read this article on USENET a few days back, and I'm holding off my reply until I see whether ISC sends it to the mailing list as well. Just in case anyone is holding their breath :-). (I *do* have a bit to say in reply.) >> There have been requests for a list of distributors. We have >> decided not to include it in this widely distributed response, >> because it may well be thought inappropriate. Instead, we'll ask >> permission of each distributor to be included in a restricted >> listing. This is expected to include roughly a dozen names and to >> be posted next week to the info-386ix mailing list. Not yet, it hasn't been. >I'm sure that such a list would be of wide interest. Since ISC is bashful >about posting it, would someone else on info-386ix please post the list >here when it comes out? I will do this, so long as ISC does not include any redistribution restrictions. I will, however, mail it out to anyone who asks; further, if you are not on the info-386ix mailing list yet and you have anything to do with *any* AT&T UNIX(tm) System V rel 3 (other than Xenix/386) on *any* 80386 system (Intel 310/320, AT-386, etc), you OUGHT to be on the list. I've got 80 subscribers so far, and if I get another 20 or so, I can ask for a moderated newsgroup. Keep those cards and letters coming! -- Paul A Vixie Esq paul%vixie@uunet.uu.net {uunet,ptsfa,hoptoad}!vixie!paul San Francisco, (415) 647-7023