newton@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov (Mike Newton) (12/14/88)
I've just finished brining up a Sun 386i system, and felt that others
might be interested in a review. Overall, my opinion is: Dont buy one.
Why? (NOT in order of severity!)
1. The keyboard and monitor and CPU are all hooked together w/
a special cable (video and keyboard all in one). Though I am sure there
are extenders available, the cable is so special that it's guaranteed to
be mega-$. It also makes placement very hard.
2. The keyboard _SUCKS_. I've used/managed Sun2's, Sun3's and
(briefly) Sun4's. None of them had such bad keyboards. It does not even
properly debounce -- so i often get mmanyy repeated charcters. I no
longer can type a reply to a mail message w/o using the editor.
3. There is only 1 serial port as opposed to two on the older
suns. ("Easily fixed by adding PC cards..."). Dont add a modem and a
printer!
4. The one serial port that exists is BUSTED. It cant handle
9600, let alone anything faster (say, a telebit).
5. For tip and similar work, you cant even run at 2400 baud!!!!!
Having tip send 2400 baud from ttya to the console will cause the console
to send ^g's to the ttya -- even for one short 70 character line.
("Fixed in 4.0.1").
6. When talking to sun support:
Me: Could I please talk to someone about the hardware problem
Them: No, we will call you sometime within a WEEK.
Me: Please just give me the number so i can call them.
Them: That would not be very professionnal.
Me: Broken hardware is not very professional!
(In all fairness, they did speed up the handling and i did get someone
who genuinely tried to help... "Fixed in 4.0.1" was the end result though).
7. Sun OS 4.0 is brain-dead. And the bugs have already found
their way into the coffin and are having a very nice time eating away at
the corpse.
- mike
ps: in all fairness, i should also point out that i have an _extreme_ bias
against anything that has ...86 in the parts list.zimmer@cod.nosc.mil (Thomas L. Zimmerman) (12/21/88)
kahuna!newton@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov (Mike Newton):
[Mr. Newton complains about the monitor/keyboard cable, the keyboard, the
serial port and the operating system]
I guess what we have here is a case of "to each his own". I've had a 386i
for about a month now and have been quite happy with it. In general it
has run every DOS and UNIX package that I have thrown at it, quickly and
with no changes to the code. The system is compact, fairly quiet, and
easy to administer - yet is still a powerful UNIX workstation. I much
prefer the new keyboard to the ones on our Sun3's and I like the combined
monitor/keyboard cable - its neater, and plenty long for my needs. The
serial port is a small problem - I've had problems accessing it from DOS -
but mine will run kermit under UNIX at 9600 baud reliably. As for SunOS
4.0 - I still haven't had any trouble with it, though Sun readily admits
that its buggy. My only real complaint about the machine is the speed it
handles screen management in the DOS windows (slow, but not unacceptable).
>From what I saw at the SUG conference, the DOS windows have been
significantly improved under SunOS 4.0.1 (as well as the serial I/O).
I'd buy one again.
Lee Zimmerman zimmer@nosc.mil
Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diegojim@eda.com (Jim Budler) (12/22/88)
kahuna!newton@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov (Mike Newton) writes: > I've just finished brining up a Sun 386i system, and felt that others > might be interested in a review. Overall, my opinion is: Dont buy one. > > Why? (NOT in order of severity!) > > 1. The keyboard and monitor and CPU are all hooked together w/ > a special cable (video and keyboard all in one).... Special? The monitor portion is 3 bnc's, easily extendable. The keyboard portion is DIN-8, as in Macintosh ADB. > 2. The keyboard _SUCKS_. I've used/managed Sun2's, Sun3's and > (briefly) Sun4's. None of them had such bad keyboards.... I disagree. And no mention of the fact that the cable from the keyboard to the CPU, and the cable to the mouse are interchangeable: CPU<------------------>KEYBOARD<-------->MOUSE or MOUSE<---------------->KEYBOARD<-------->MOUSE so that they are on opposite ends of the keyboard, don't interfere with each other, and you can arrange them for left or right handed people. > 3. There is only 1 serial port as opposed to two on the older > suns. True, but minor. Add two $79 PC AT compatible serial ports if you wish, giving you three serial ports. You also didn't mention that there was a PC compatible parallel printer port standard. > 4. The one serial port that exists is BUSTED. It cant handle > 9600, let alone anything faster (say, a telebit). Then how am I getting my full news feed through my attached Telebit Trailblazer Plus? True it cannot handle 19.2Kbps, so I have to run it at 9600, but can't handle it? > 5. For tip and similar work, you cant even run at 2400 baud!!!!! > Having tip send 2400 baud from ttya to the console will cause the console > to send ^g's to the ttya -- even for one short 70 character line. > ("Fixed in 4.0.1"). I run tip and xcomm just fine through the Telebit. I also ran both, plus uucp mail and news (not a full feed then) using a hayes compatible 2400 for two months before the telebit arrived. > 7. Sun OS 4.0 is brain-dead.... Buggy, yes. But 4.0.1 is already out, so many of these may be fixed. I haven't installed it yet, so I don't know at this point. > ps: in all fairness, i should also point out that i have an _extreme_ bias > against anything that has ...86 in the parts list. It shows.-- Jim Budler address = uucp: ...!{decwrl,uunet}!eda!jim OR domain: jim@eda.com