bill@ssbn.WLK.COM (Bill Kennedy) (03/18/90)
I'm cross posting this to comp.windows.x because SunRiver has a
variety of products, and the one I'm reporting on is a dynamite
X terminal. Everyone has seen their advertising and I'm sure that
it has piqued your curiosity. After all, fiber optics are fast,
immune to noise, but does the stuff work?
The SunRiver people moved from Mississippi to Austin, TX a while
back and I wrangled an invite to go see their stuff. They had
five workstations hooked up to a Compaq running SCO Open Desktop,
it was impressive! The fifth was especially impressive because
the X server runs in the workstation. Pricing and availability
isn't firm on that model yet, but it has been shown and I laid
eyes and hands on it, so it's real.
They have three models I was interested in, monochrome, EGA, and
800x600 VGA. The host adapter supports four workstations and each
workstation has a console and three virtual consoles. The workstation
itself is a little larger than your average terminal base and it has
(in addition to the fiber optic link back to the host) a parallel
printer port, and two serial ports, DTE, DB25P and DB9D, just like
an AT with COM1/COM2/LPT1. The unit operates just like the native
console in 386/ix (and SCO), Alt-SysRq-Fn takes you to vtn and F8
to the main "console". ISC ships the SunRiver device drivers with
the base system, that's what I used. Oh yeah, I bought one of the
800x600 VGA models :-)
Set up was trivial, had I bought their VGA monitor (I got a better
price on an NEC Multisync 2A), it would have been effortless because
the pesky little rivet on their tilt & swivel would have fit right
into the base. As it was, the rivet interfered with the NEC tilt &
swivel base, so I put a couple of blocks of wood taller than their
base and set the NEC on that. I had some mechanical fit problems
with the 16 bit slot I wanted to put the host adapter in (my motherboard
doesn't exactly fit its chassis), so I chose another one and it was
done. I used kconfig to make a new kernel and xconfig (have the
Xvga man page handy) to set up a unix:1 display. Tell it you are using
a Mouse Systems mouse, it's easier than the Logitech. Also, don't
forget that the DB9 connector is the second port. After the new kernel
boots you have to edit /etc/inittab to get the gettys running and you're
on your way.
SunRiver says (and documents) that there are some VGA's and EGA's that
won't work with their workstations. Those are the ones who can not be
temporarily (*REAL* temporarily, only during a physical I/O event!)
disabled or switched to the secondary display. Naturally my Orchid
ProDesigner PLUS tested as incompatible, but it worked anyway. There's
a bonus in this if your native VGA (like mine) does grey scale instead
of color in VP/ix. The native VGA stays grey scale, but the SunRiver
does color just like you think it should. The color fidelity is
excellent, the display is sharp and flicker free. The new model (the one
that runs the server) is 1024x768, mine is 800x600.
I can see no difference whatsoever (other than the resolution) between
the performance of the native console and the SunRiver. It's just like
having another regular console but it can be at considerable distance
from the system. I needed an X capable workstation on the next floor
up. The performance in X windows is entirely adequate, the SunRiver unit
even has a speaker so you get noise when you would on the console.
That was a lot of words, let's get to the bottom line. I got a developer
discount because I'm a developer. With tax, title, tags, and dealer prep
I'm out just over $1,600 which includes the NEC monitor purchased separately.
I also have spigots for three more, knock off $700 for each additional since
you already have the host adapter. Your mileage may vary, I don't know if
they have educational discounts. Nonetheless, I was looking at an X
terminal and a monochrome model was going to run me ~$2400 plus an ethernet
card and TCP/IP, then ~$2400 for any additional stations, all monochrome.
The figure I quoted was for plug-n-play, fiber optic cable included. It's
a really cost effective way to add X stations if you don't have another
reason to have/want ethernet. The only thing I've found that doesn't work
right is a DOS game that doesn't work very well under VP/ix anyway.
Do I like it? I *LOVE* it! I'm using it to post this article. Given what
I saved in money and grief over an ethernet/X-terminal, I might get another
one :-) I have no affiliation with SunRiver, other than as a satisfied
customer, but you can reach them at uunet!sunriv!dickb. That might not be
the right person, but Dick will steer you the right way. Oh, I almost
forgot... If you send for their propaganda with a bingo card, you'll get
the usual stuff, no price/models/availability, I suggest using email if you
are really interested. I don't know what terms they offer or anything, I
just wrote 'em a check and walked out with one under my arm. They're good
people too. I had some cockpit problems and their tech support got me back
on the rails in moments. They're still small enough so that you don't get
hours on hold and you get an analyst who knows the product. Good people,
good product, cost effective alternative to a color X station. Thanks for
the read.
--
Bill Kennedy usenet {texbell,att,cs.utexas.edu,sun!daver}!ssbn!bill
internet bill@ssbn.WLK.COM or attmail!ssbn!bill