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PC/IX - (nf) [message #76394] Wed, 29 May 2013 23:55
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: isc.net@ism780.UUCP
Message-ID: <392@ism780.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 29-Aug-84 00:04:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: ism780.392
Posted: Wed Aug 29 00:04:33 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 30-Aug-84 12:11:16 EDT
Lines: 143

#N:ism780:12800007:000:5906
ism780!isc.net    Aug 27 14:53:00 1984



The following is a response from your good friends at Interactive to some
recent gripes/problems voiced on the net about PC/IX.  The original notes
are prefixed with ">"; our comments are indented.

Note that the "next release of PC/IX" should be available quite soon.

 > There definitely seem to be some port related problems with PC/IX.  Not
 > only the run-PC/IX-after-MSDOS problem Lee Merrill spoke of, but other
 > somewhat mysterious conditions where tty0 or tty1 will get into a wedged
 > state and refuse further commands.  An attempt to shutdown at that point
 > will cause shutdown to sit quietly for close to a minute, print the
 > message "init: something won't die%s", and then MAYBE finish the shutdown.

	This behavior is the result of two bugs, both of which have been
	fixed for the next release of PC/IX.  The first is a hardware bug
	in many of the async cards used in PCs; I believe this has been
	mentioned before on the net.  We have altered the kernel to
	circumvent the problem.  The second is a bug in the kernel shutdown
	procedure which we have fixed.

 > One problem that is still plaguing me is a behavior problem with certain
 > utility programs *only* when used from tty0 or tty1.  They're fine from
 > the local console.  Seems that any extra characters entered after
 > the final c/r of the password prompt and before the system types to you
 > when using login, su or passwd will kill the port.  You can still send
 > to it and the machine will respond (you'd only know that if it were
 > right next to you), but no output of any kind comes from the port.  Once
 > you have disconnected, the port is in its famous wedged state and nothing
 > at all seems to clear it.  Only solution at that point is a one minute
 > shutdown (described above).  IBM says its because PC/IX isn't running on
 > an IBM!  What help.
 > 
 > For example: login: yourid  password: yourpass 
 > will kill it every time.  Anything entered at the point of the second c/r
 > after your password, but before you receive more output from PC/IX on
 > any of the three utilities I mentioned will do it.
 > 
 > I'm using the MicroLine BabyBlue II board for both ports.  It works
 > flawlessly in MS-DOS.
 > 
 > Any suggestions?  (please mail me directly, and I'll summarize if necessary)
 > 
 > --Bill Blue            {sdcsvax, sdchema, ihnp4}!bang!crash!bblue

	We cannot duplicate this behavior.  It is quite possible that it is
	also due to the bad async card.  Sorry, but that's the best we can
	tell you!

------------------------------------------------
 > I have been "experimenting" with PC/IX since May 1, 1984.  My problems
 > are/were:
 > 
 > 1.  I was only able to install PC/IX after IBM replaced EVERY board
 > in my PC XT.  restore -x didn't like my computer!

	Your hardware was a lemon.  Sorry!

 > 2.  I could only get connect to work after spending several days
 > with local "gurus".  When I connect to a DEC VAX  11/780, I
 > can't use vi, but with SIMTERM, etc. I can.  Termcap problems?

	The configuration files associated with connect (/etc/sites and
	/usr/lib/INnet/connect.con) are really not that hard to figure
	out, although I suspect somewhat better documentation would be
	helpful.

	There was a bug in the connect "talker" program which
	prevented programs such as vi and e from operating properly
	when connected.  It is fixed for the next release of PC/IX.

 > 3.  I had to rm /dev/lp and ln /dev/lp1 /dev/lp to get the printer
 > to work.

	We distribute the system with /dev/lp linked to /dev/lp0, which
	seems the most logical choice.  You must have put your printer card
	in the second slot instead of the first, which obviously means
	reconfiguring the devices (or /etc/qconfig) accordingly.

 > 4.  I can't run more than one or two processed without crashing the
 > system.
 >        mm filename > temp &
 >        ps -ef
 > ( the above will kill my system, ungracefully)

	There was a highly unfortunate bug in the shell which went out
	with PC/IX.  It will manifest itself in relatively random ways
	whenever the shell is running on a heavily loaded system.  I
	suspect that if just the two processes above killed your system,
	that you must be configured with a very small amount of memory
	(perhaps the minimal 256K?).

	The bug is fixed for the next release of PC/IX.  However, you
	can (and probably should) circumvent the problem, at the cost
	of some efficiency, by executing the following commands:

		mv /bin/sh /bin/sh.old
		cp /bin/sh.old /bin/sh
		chmem +60000 /bin/sh

 > 5.  I can't print on standard output the graphics character set while
 > in connect mode (  e.g., echo "\0333" won't generate graphics )

	Same bug as item 2., I believe.

 > 6.  usr/games/bj doesn't work!

	Shocking!  Actually, this is pretty surprising, as the level of
	testing that went into the PC/IX release should have caught this
	easily.  We will look into this bug.

 > 7.  You cant type in the password after the login UNTILL the password
 > prompt appears

	This is standard UNIX System III.  An ioctl with a TCSETAF command
	is issued just prior to printing the password prompt, in order to
	discourage people from typing in their password while echoing is
	still enabled.

 > 8.  INed ( e editor ) is the SLOWEST editor I have ever used.  It can't
 > keep up with my typing speed which is 10 words/minute on a good day.

	Again, you must be configured with VERY little memory.  On our
	640K systems, e keeps up with anything we can give it; indeed,
	it performs about as well as it does on a lightly-loaded VAX.

	Also, keep in mind that while some of the function keys may seem
	slow, they often perform complex tasks with a single keystroke,
	so the illusion of sluggishness can sometimes manifest itself.

 > The bottom line is that I am going to shelve the product and try
 > Santa Cruze's XENIX.

	No comment.  Have fun.

 > David S. Green    Bell Labs  mhuxi!dsg  phone 201-564-4468


	--isc.net  (ima!ism780!isc.net)   INTERACTIVE Systems Corp.
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