fs@uwasa.fi (Filip Sawicki LAKE) (07/24/90)
Great thanks to all the people who responded to my call. Since some others asked for summary, here it is. I received 18 mails. In all of them opinions were absolutely positive, sometimes with technical info also. It seems that these computers can work very heavy without any problems -- at least for 6 months, since most of the reviewers bought them in February or March this year. Some people would buy one or two more units for themselves (just for show?); some really did for their firms/labs. Since Gateway 25Mhz machine was reviewed in the last PC, and two of its main components earlier (ATI VGA-Wonder and NEC 3D), I will focus only on reported flaws and problems. All major software runs OK, including Xenix 386, QNX and INTERACTIVE UNIX. No problems with DOS-based applications. There seems to be some troubles with SCO Open Desktop, due to nonstandard hard disk controller (UltraStor) and VGA (solution to this problem was posted 3 days ago to the net). edat!root@uunet.UU.NET writes: > Problems: > There is a problem in my video card that turns on about > a dozen pixels when running X-windows with Motif. I've using > the the machine so much I can't afford any down time at the moment > so I haven't bothered to get it replaced. > When installing Unix I had major problems because of the > cache system. The cpu starts reading from the boot floppy, then > tries to read from the cache. There is nothing there yet, so the > whole system reboots. This went on for about 2 days before I > found in the documentation a mention about turning off the > cache controler when loading OS/2. That done plus all the other > proper jumper and switch settings being supplied their tech > support, it loaded right up in a few years. It turned out that > a few other switches had bet for loading dos and not Unix. Moreover, a third of respondents had some problems with crashing or non-working hard disks. Gateway replaced them instantly, along with controllers and all cables. J. Robert Sims <jsims@vuse.vanderbilt.edu> writes: > My father purchased their 386/25 machine. They took a long time to ship, but > they did not charge us until the machine was shipped. They substituted a > 2 serial/1 parallel card for the 2/2 card we ordered in order to get the machine > out the door, and the 2/2 card never came in. However, we just received a > parallel port card from them to supplement the other one. The machine is > quite solid, and except for the previous, there have been only two problems. > > One, the serial ports did not work properly, and tech support didn't have any > valid solution. I configured the ports (Mouse on com1, spare com2, internal > modem com4) and there is only a slight problem now. If the modem is set to > echo characters, com2 does not work. Otherwise, no flaws. I would avoid > their modem, but the rest of the system is good. > > The standard Gateway monitor is very nice. I had been using a NEC 3D with > an STB vga w/512k (800x600x256, 1024x768x16), and the 1024 mode had a real > flickering problem. With the Gateway monitor, 1024 is clear and has no > flicker. Much easier on the eyes. The first problem (slow shipment) is even worse now, when they get a lot of requests. Edward_Engler@transarc.com writes: > Some shareware that I have > downloaded has not worked, but I tend to blame the software, not the > hardware. David Goldston <goldston@med.unc.edu> writes: > The problem I did have, > an erroneous error on boot-up, was solved by Gateway's technical support > after about 15 minutes of walking me through the system diagnostics. This seems to be a standard trouble: hargrove@cbnewsj.att.com writes: > The one problem I had was that > the bios chips were set up wrong originally, I had to call customer > support (quite helpful) to set things up myself with their help. RPI360@MAINE.BITNET writes: > I had two problems at first, both solved over phone service - > their phone bill, they called me back fairly promptly. I bought a > monochrome system (saved about $400). The problem was that they mislabled > the com ports, com2 as com1 and com1 not labled. It too awhile but we > figured it out. The second problem was that the battery powering the chips > for the CMOS and XCMOS ran down and lost the programming. Over the phone > we re-entered the data then I was told to just let it run a couple of days > to charge up the batteries. Final note: P.Garbha <@sunic.sunet.se:pgd@compuram> writes: > Beware of options. For example, they also sometimes > have the Paradise VGA 1024 card, and other disks and controllers, but > you can also get the parts you ask for. If anyone is still interested, I can forward to him/her all the mails I received. fi.
peter@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Peter Wu) (07/25/90)
In article <1990Jul24.163008.16114@uwasa.fi> fs@uwasa.fi (Filip Sawicki LAKE) writes: > > Great thanks to all the people who responded to my call. Since some >others asked for summary, here it is. > > I received 18 mails. In all of them opinions were absolutely >positive, sometimes with technical info also. It seems that these >computers can work very heavy without any problems -- at least for 6 >months, since most of the reviewers bought them in February or March >this year. Some people would buy one or two more units for themselves >(just for show?); some really did for their firms/labs. > > Since Gateway 25Mhz machine was reviewed in the last PC, and two of >its main components earlier (ATI VGA-Wonder and NEC 3D), I will focus >only on reported flaws and problems. > I just called up Gateway last night to check up on some prices and was shocked to find that they no longer have 24 hour service for ordering or tech support. This and the fact that ZEOS just dropped $300 off of their 25 mhz package has convinced me to get the ZEOS. Any one have bad opinions on ZEOS's own 1024x768 monitor or the Paradise 1024 card? Any interference with RLL controllers reported? Thanks in advance. Pedro Quien?