palowoda@fiver.UUCP (Bob Palowoda) (02/03/90)
From article <=.F1X5Gxds13@ficc.uu.net>, by peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva): > In article <131010@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> plocher@sun.UUCP (John Plocher) writes: >> I hate to say it :-) but what did you expect of Dimitri (Former CEO >> of Bell Tech)? > > I seem to recall you baching Dmitri Rotow before, but assumed that it > was because you were at Microport. Could you explain now what precisely > you have against the man? I can't speak for John, but if there was any truth that they did hardware changes to their tape drive so that it only works with there driver software, it enough to put him at the bottom of the totem pole. I'll admit Dmitri does have the right idea about shrink wrap UNIX and I hope he continues in market for the shear fact that he is driveing UNIX prices down. I attended a speach he put on once and he appeared to be overly arrogant. But than again CEO are suppose to have ego problems right? I'm all opens eyes on his latest venture with Intel. At least he has a challenge on his hands now. Intel has never really be successful in mass market software. But than again Bell Tech wasn't either. So far it looks like a "stall" "stall" situation. But than again Microport is a "dead" "dead" situation. The bottom line is Dmitri should only write marketing articles for a living. I wouldn't by a can of worms from him if he was the salesman. >> If he wasn't the one in charge I'd have a good feeling about Intel >> and "Shrink wrapped" Unix; but as it is, I wouldn't touch it with a >> ten foot pole! > > Our experience with Bell Tech and now Intel UNIX has been excellent, > and we intend to continue doing business with them. Out of curiosity how does Intel handle the Bell Tech upgrades on the Blit card. What version of X is it running now? Do they still sell the card? How much is it? Does it have Intels name on it? Can users of Bell Unix upgrade to Intel's 4.0 for a nominial fee? Do you get service from Intel on your Bell Tech products? ---Bob -- Bob Palowoda pacbell!indetech!palowoda *Home of Fiver BBS* login: bbs Home {sun|daisy}!ys2!fiver!palowoda (415)-623-8809 1200/2400 Work {sun|pyramid|decwrl}!megatest!palowoda (415)-623-8806 2400/9600/19200 TB Voice: (415)-623-7495 Public access UNIX XBBS
val@swamps.UUCP (Val Christian) (02/04/90)
From: uunet!relay.EU.net!iiasa!wnp (wolf paul) Message-Id: <9002020811.AA11014@iiasa.UUCP> Date: Fri, 2 Feb 90 9:11:08 MET DST Organization: IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria Phone: +43 2236 71521*0 Subject: Re: unlimited vs. 1-2 users John Levine writes: > The AT&T licenses all distinguish between 1-2 users and unlimited, and > Interactive is mostly just passing this on to the customers. There is > little or no difference in the software between the two versions. > > The definition of "user" is extremely vague. Network dialins for uucp ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > definitely don't count, ... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ And yet, when I called Bell Tech (now Intel) a few months ago, I was told that their 1-2 user versions enforce that limit by not supporting more than one serial port. That in effect includes uucp dialins in the user count, since there won't be any uucp dialins (or dialouts, for that matter) once there is a user on the first (and only) serial port. -- Wolf N. Paul, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis Schloss Laxenburg, Schlossplatz 1, A - 2361 Laxenburg, Austria, Europe Phone: [43] (2236) 71521-465 BITNET: tuvie!iiasa!wnp@cernvax.BITNET UUCP: uunet!tuvie!iiasa!wnp INTERNET: wnp%iiasa.at@uunet.uu.net
sl@van-bc.UUCP (Stuart Lynne) (02/04/90)
In article <983@fiver.UUCP> palowoda@fiver.UUCP (Bob Palowoda) writes: >From article <=.F1X5Gxds13@ficc.uu.net>, by peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva): >> In article <131010@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> plocher@sun.UUCP (John Plocher) writes: >>> I hate to say it :-) but what did you expect of Dimitri (Former CEO >>> of Bell Tech)? >> >> I seem to recall you baching Dmitri Rotow before, but assumed that it >> was because you were at Microport. Could you explain now what precisely >> you have against the man? > > I can't speak for John, but if there was any truth that they did >hardware changes to their tape drive so that it only works with >there driver software, it enough to put him at the bottom of the As much as I hate to defend Dimitri (he can defend himself well enough)... Bell Tech 's driver software only worked with the Bell Tech Hardware. The hardware works fine with other driver software (minor reconfiguration may be required). While Bell Tech apparantly did make subtle changes to the Everex controller card and drive addressing, it was so that their software could recognize when it was being used with a Bell Tech controller. This prevented people from buying the hardware from other sources and using Bell Tech's driver software (ie pirating the software). These changes *DID*NOT* prevent the hardware from being used with other driver software (for example SCO Xenix). I ran mine that way for a year. I'm still using the drive with an Archive controller card (easier to use internal with the Archive card, Everex card was for external installation). -- Stuart.Lynne@wimsey.bc.ca ubc-cs!van-bc!sl 604-937-7532(voice) 604-939-4768(fax)
palowoda@fiver.UUCP (Bob Palowoda) (02/04/90)
From article <192@van-bc.UUCP>, by sl@van-bc.UUCP (Stuart Lynne): > In article <983@fiver.UUCP> palowoda@fiver.UUCP (Bob Palowoda) writes: >>From article <=.F1X5Gxds13@ficc.uu.net>, by peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva): [stuff about Bell Tech deleted] > While Bell Tech apparantly did make subtle changes to the Everex controller > card and drive addressing, it was so that their software could recognize > when it was being used with a Bell Tech controller. This prevented people > from buying the hardware from other sources and using Bell Tech's driver > software (ie pirating the software). Lordy, and to say this man's driveing the strategy of "Shrink Wrap UNIX". Actually I find this technique of locking in customers very repulsive. If they wanted to be protect the hardware to the software, considering if it was that good why didn't they just add hardware encryption. This is all considering if your statement is true. Hey I got nothing against Dimitri, in fact I give him a thumbs up for trying to bring an inexpensive UNIX to the masses. But than there is the other face. If in fact the tape drives where more expensive than what the competitors where offering them I would think the customer would be skidish in being locked into buying expensive hardware. After all what kind of customer would be attracted to the inexpensive unix version would also shop for inexpensive hardware. You idea about preventing pirating of software seems more like magic dust. Archive themself offer drivers. Free never the less. It's not a big deal anyways. It will be interesting to find out on what hardware Intels 4.0 runs on when it gets into the marketplace. By the way a gentleman called me all the way from the east side of Canada and spent 20 minutes of time explaining how Intel supports the Bell Tech products. That's all the way to california, and I wasn't even shopping for unix. I'm impressed. Which brings up another question if Intel's going for the shrink wrap market do we expect to see in software "retail outlets". ---Bob -- Bob Palowoda pacbell!indetech!palowoda *Home of Fiver BBS* login: bbs Home {sun|daisy}!ys2!fiver!palowoda (415)-623-8809 1200/2400 Work {sun|pyramid|decwrl}!megatest!palowoda (415)-623-8806 2400/9600/19200 TB Voice: (415)-623-7495 Public access UNIX XBBS
peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) (02/06/90)
Me: > > Our experience with Bell Tech and now Intel UNIX has been excellent, > > and we intend to continue doing business with them. In article <983@fiver.UUCP> palowoda@fiver.UUCP (Bob Palowoda) writes: > Out of curiosity how does Intel handle the Bell Tech upgrades on > the Blit card. [other BT hardware questions] Not having any Bell Tech hardware, I couldn't say. The tape drive business is uncool, though. Dmitri sent me some mail saying he's back on the net, but I couldn't get a response back to him. From my point of view that's not much different than the gratititous changes that ISC seems to have made to the base Intel/AT&T product, though. But it does bear watching... -- _--_|\ Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. <peter@ficc.uu.net>. / \ \_.--._/ Xenix Support -- it's not just a job, it's an adventure! v "Have you hugged your wolf today?" `-_-'
karl@ficc.uu.net (Karl Lehenbauer) (02/06/90)
In article <L0K18WBxds13@ficc.uu.net> peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes: >The tape drive business is uncool, though. When Dmitri visited Ferranti a year or so ago to demonstrate Unix, the blit card, etc, Peter and I pigeonholed him and gave him a rather hard time about making gratuitous changes in external hardware so not-purchased-from-BT-at-a- righteous-markup hardware wouldn't work. They did ultimately drop this policy -- 3.2 included drives from the Bell Tech- modified tape controller and for the standard ones, for example. They never have supported dumb serial boards (other than their own) adequately, something Microport for all their flaws more or less always did, but we now have PD asy drivers and such, so the bold may proceed unhindered. -- -- uunet!ficc!karl "...as long as there is a Legion of super-Heroes, uunet!sugar!karl all else can surely be made right." -- Sensor Girl
fraize@prodigal.psych.rochester.edu (Scott Fraize) (02/06/90)
Technically, what to vendors typically do to their unix to limit the number of users on on a machine?
root@nebulus.UUCP (Dennis S. Breckenridge) (02/07/90)
In article <5079@ur-cc.UUCP> fraize@prodigal.psych.rochester.edu (Scott Fraize) writes: > Technically, what to vendors typically do to their unix to limit the > number of users on on a machine? They used to hook login to count the number of users logged in and refuse to run if that number was exceeded. I understand that they are getting better at the game and provide a system call to the application that checks how many users are running and the application dumps. BOO HISS!!!!! -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NAME: Dennis S. Breckenridge UUCP: dennis@nebulus EMACS: Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------