ignatz@ihuxx.UUCP (08/08/83)
Just a caveat to anyone else out there who got stuck with a Plexus... the latest release of the software is out. Two particularly annoying problems surfaced in this release: 1) They've gotten rid of _doprnt in the libc library. Now, while this is an undocumented routine, and yes, Virginia, you shouldn't be using it, the raw truth is that routines DO use it. Most notably, Berkeley curses! So, expect problems when rebuilding any program using curses, and the possibility that other software--esp. Berkeley--expects this routine to be there. (It is, and as far as I know, will be, present ad infinitum in BTL Unix(Tm).) 2) Ah, well, this isn't a print problem...but I thought of it after I started the article, and it's important enough to mention. The Plexus uses a z8000 CPU, which talks to a z80-based I/O board. This is a reasonable way to deload the CPU, but it takes somebody with a good grasp of the system to program it. Somebody didn't; they forgot that when carrier is gone, the line should be dropped. Yes, if you hang up on a dial-in line, and then are disconnected or hang up without terminating the shell, you have the new feature that you can dial back in on that line *days* later, and still be logged in, at the same point in your session that you left it. *Wonderful.* Keeping in the spirit of funny middle names, Dave "I told 'em not to buy it" Ihnat ihuxx!ignatz