[comp.sys.sgi] 4D/20 manuals

paulc@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Paul Connally) (08/02/89)

	What manuals are supposed to come with the basic PI?
	(just the standard software, no C, no NFS, etc.)

	Paul Connally            	paulc@boulder.colorado.edu
	University of Colorado  	High Voltage Electron Microscope Lab
	MCDB  -  Box 347 		"A higher potential for 
	Boulder, CO  80309		                 better penetration."

paulc@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Paul Connally) (08/05/89)

	I just received a Personal Iris.  Nice machine but...
I really can't beleive that the only manual they give you is the "PI
owners manual". What a joke!  I guess the sales rep out here that we
bought the PI from is lame in not telling me that I would need other manuals.
We have since changed reps but I still can't get much response in trying
to receive the rest of the docs I need.

	Also, it seems there is a good amount of undocumented programs
in the NeWS libs and bin (no man pages).  Are these programs supported?
Is 4-sight supported? What happened to the X-windows stuff?

	I have IRIX version 3.1D, is this the most recent version and
if not how do I go about getting the most recent one?

	Finally, what is the maximum length the cables from the monitor
to the computer can be?

	Is there some sales rep out there willing to do business with
us?  It seems that there is a confilict between the 2 out here so we
can't get straight answers.  Perhaps the one we deal with now is
mad because we didn't purchase the computer from him originally, but that's
ridiculous.
	Paul Connally            	paulc@boulder.colorado.edu
	University of Colorado  	High Voltage Electron Microscope Lab
	MCDB  -  Box 347 		"A higher potential for 
	Boulder, CO  80309		                 better penetration."

jmb@patton.sgi.com (Jim Barton) (08/05/89)

In article <10504@boulder.Colorado.EDU>, paulc@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Paul Connally) writes:
> 
> 	I just received a Personal Iris.  Nice machine but...
> I really can't beleive that the only manual they give you is the "PI
> owners manual". What a joke!  I guess the sales rep out here that we
> bought the PI from is lame in not telling me that I would need other manuals.
> We have since changed reps but I still can't get much response in trying
> to receive the rest of the docs I need.
> 
> 	Also, it seems there is a good amount of undocumented programs
> in the NeWS libs and bin (no man pages).  Are these programs supported?
> Is 4-sight supported? What happened to the X-windows stuff?
> 
> 	I have IRIX version 3.1D, is this the most recent version and
> if not how do I go about getting the most recent one?
> 
> 	Finally, what is the maximum length the cables from the monitor
> to the computer can be?
> 
> 	Is there some sales rep out there willing to do business with
> us?  It seems that there is a confilict between the 2 out here so we
> can't get straight answers.  Perhaps the one we deal with now is
> mad because we didn't purchase the computer from him originally, but that's
> ridiculous.
> 	Paul Connally            	paulc@boulder.colorado.edu
> 	University of Colorado  	High Voltage Electron Microscope Lab
> 	MCDB  -  Box 347 		"A higher potential for 
> 	Boulder, CO  80309		                 better penetration."

Sorry about the sales reps - I'm sure it's not as bad as it sounds, but
there are always people problems in every company.  In any case -

The PI manual is designed for "novice" users to use the machine.  Nobody
is out to get you, or make your life miserable.  The ease-of-use people
made a very determined effort not to frighten people with the machine
straight out of the box by shipping a huge manual set along with it.

If you want all the manuals, buy the "development option", which comes
with all our lovely purple manuals.  If your sales rep doesn't understand
this, you certainly do need a new one (and so do we ...).  Part of the
documentation covers 4Sight and friends.

SGI sells 75' monitor and keyboard cables for the IRIS.  The latest release
of IRIX is 3.1G, which you should be able to get through customer support.

Always remember, if you have any problems at all, call the
Geometry Hotline at 1-800-345-0222.  It is manned and ready to help YOU
out!

-- Jim Barton
Silicon Graphics Computer Systems    "UNIX: Live Free Or Die!"
jmb@sgi.sgi.com, sgi!jmb@decwrl.dec.com, ...{decwrl,sun}!sgi!jmb

pff@BEACH.CIS.UFL.EDU (Pablo Fernicola) (08/05/89)

We received our Personal Iris with about 10 manuals, besides the Owner's
manual.  However, I don't know if they were bundle in or if we pay for
them separetely.  Our system is also version 3.1D.

Hope this helps!

PFF

pff@beach.cis.ufl.edu

dunlap@bigboote.sgi.com (D. Christopher Dunlap) (08/08/89)

In article <39633@sgi.SGI.COM> jmb@patton.sgi.com (Jim Barton) writes:
>In article <10504@boulder.Colorado.EDU>, paulc@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Paul Connally) writes:
>> 
>> 	I have IRIX version 3.1D, is this the most recent version and
>> if not how do I go about getting the most recent one?
>> 
>> 	Paul Connally            	paulc@boulder.colorado.edu
>> 	University of Colorado  	High Voltage Electron Microscope Lab
>> 	MCDB  -  Box 347 		"A higher potential for 
>> 	Boulder, CO  80309		                 better penetration."
>The latest release
>of IRIX is 3.1G, which you should be able to get through customer support.
>
>Always remember, if you have any problems at all, call the
>Geometry Hotline at 1-800-345-0222.  It is manned and ready to help YOU
>out!
>
>-- Jim Barton
>Silicon Graphics Computer Systems    "UNIX: Live Free Or Die!"
>jmb@sgi.sgi.com, sgi!jmb@decwrl.dec.com, ...{decwrl,sun}!sgi!jmb


Most people will find  3.1D works just fine. That's why we're still
shipping it on systems. If you have this release and are having some
kind of trouble with something in particluar, then give us a call. We
might be able to help, or it might be fixed in one of our intermediate
releases (like 3.1G).  

You should have recently received a document called "The Geometry 
Hotline Users Guide", which explains our operation and how to make 
best use of it. If you haven't seen it, ask around. Someone there 
probably got one (depends on who's in our database as the owner of 
the system). If you didn't get one, send me email (dunlap@sgi.com) and
I'll make sure you get one. 

later,

chris


D. Christopher Dunlap		email: dunlap@sgi.sgi.com

Hardware Product Support 

blbates@AERO4.LARC.NASA.GOV ("Brent L. Bates AAD/TAB MS294 x42854") (08/08/89)

   You ship buggy, outdated OS software?!!!  That is reprehensibly
irresponsible.  No wonder people have soo many problems with their
4D's.  Any responsible company would ship new machines with the lastest
revision of software.
--

	Brent L. Bates
	NASA-Langley Research Center
	M.S. 294
	Hampton, Virginia  23665-5225
	(804) 864-2854
	E-mail: blbates@aero4.larc.nasa.gov or blbates@aero2.larc.nasa.gov

jmb@patton.sgi.com (Jim Barton) (08/09/89)

In article <8908081436.AA03608@aero4.larc.nasa.gov>, blbates@AERO4.LARC.NASA.GOV ("Brent L. Bates AAD/TAB MS294 x42854") writes:
> 
>    You ship buggy, outdated OS software?!!!  That is reprehensibly
> irresponsible.  No wonder people have soo many problems with their
> 4D's.  Any responsible company would ship new machines with the lastest
> revision of software.
> --
> 
> 	Brent L. Bates
> 	NASA-Langley Research Center
> 	M.S. 294
> 	Hampton, Virginia  23665-5225
> 	(804) 864-2854
> 	E-mail: blbates@aero4.larc.nasa.gov or blbates@aero2.larc.nasa.gov

We don't ship buggy software to anybody.  And outdated is a matter of taste.
IRIX is more advanced than what most of the rest of the workstation world
is shipping.  The letter suffix indicates that the release is still 
fundamentally 3.1 (as in 3.1D or 3.1G), but that some bugs may have
been fixed, and support for new hardware or software packages added.

Most of our customers complain about us changing the releases too fast.

This kind of tirade seems inappropriate in this newgroup.  It says more
about the sender than anything else.

-- Jim Barton
Silicon Graphics Computer Systems    "UNIX: Live Free Or Die!"
jmb@sgi.sgi.com, sgi!jmb@decwrl.dec.com, ...{decwrl,sun}!sgi!jmb

  "I used to be disgusted, now I'm just amused."
			- Elvis Costello, 'Red Shoes'
--

ted@bangles.csd.sgi.com (Ted Wilcox) (08/09/89)

In article <8908081436.AA03608@aero4.larc.nasa.gov>, blbates@AERO4.LARC.NASA.GOV ("Brent L. Bates AAD/TAB MS294 x42854") writes:
> 
>    You ship buggy, outdated OS software?!!!  That is reprehensibly
> irresponsible.  No wonder people have soo many problems with their
> 4D's.  Any responsible company would ship new machines with the lastest
> revision of software.
> --
> 
> 	Brent L. Bates

Wow!  Have you been talking to my mother again?

Seriously, some of our larger resellers are beating on us to ship older
versions of our software.  They have to go through a  fairly long QA cycle
for each revision of our software, and they want us to hold our releases
from the manufacturing floor.

So, I guess it just goes to show you can't please everybody.
--

Ted.
ted@sgi.com
{sun|decwrl|pyramid|ucbvax}!sgi!ted

dunlap@bigboote.sgi.com (D. Christopher Dunlap) (08/09/89)

In article <8908081436.AA03608@aero4.larc.nasa.gov> blbates@AERO4.LARC.NASA.GOV ("Brent L. Bates AAD/TAB MS294 x42854") writes:
>
>   You ship buggy, outdated OS software?!!!  That is reprehensibly
>irresponsible.  No wonder people have soo many problems with their
>4D's.  Any responsible company would ship new machines with the lastest
>revision of software.
>--
>
>	Brent L. Bates
>	NASA-Langley Research Center
>	M.S. 294
>	Hampton, Virginia  23665-5225
>	(804) 864-2854
>	E-mail: blbates@aero4.larc.nasa.gov or blbates@aero2.larc.nasa.gov


3.1G is not needed for most systems. It is required for IP7 based systems
(4D-2xx) and fixes some assorted bugs of various severity. The
severity depends on your application  for the system. If you have a
specific problem with a system that's running 3.1D, then call the
Geometry Hotline and we'll help you out. The solution MIGHT be to send
you 3.1G, but, it might not. 

What is it about this medium that makes people act like spoiled children?


chris



D. Christopher Dunlap		email: dunlap@sgi.sgi.com

Hardware Product Support 
Customer Support Division