Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!pyrdc!netsys!beartrk!clp From: clp@beartrk.UUCP (Charlie Pilzer) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.rt Subject: Re: Inquiries for "Bad Aspects" of the RT Summary: Not so bad Message-ID: <271@beartrk.UUCP> Date: 1 Dec 88 05:31:07 GMT References: <7963@dasys1.UUCP> <815@kimbal.UUCP> <3707@pt.cs.cmu.edu> <3265@uoregon.uoregon.edu> Organization: Bear Track Computer Co., Takoma Park, MD. Lines: 45 I've been using the RT for about 2 years now and I've found it to be an underrated machine. Currently my system is a 6151 model 25 with 3 70 MB disks and 4 MB memory. I'm upgrading it soon to a model 125 (using the upgrade kit). Once the upgrade is finished, the system will have 1 by 310 MB disk and 2 by 70 MB disk, 8 MB FAST RAM and the APC card. I only have serial peripherals at the current time. I've recently upgraded to AIX 2.2 but I've been running AIX and not AOS or ACS. Not only do I use the machine in my business but I've sold the machine to clients. My clients machines are configured similar to my own. Surprisingly, I have found the machine to be quite a good small multi-user system. Up to about 8 users works quite well. AIX has proven to be stable although I've had some problems. AIX 2.2 seems to be a major improvement. The systems have not had any downtime due to either hardware or O/S problems. The downsides to the machine are: 1) The 6157 tape drive is inadequite. Its slow and doesn't hold all that much. I had some trouble with tapes at first, but find that DEI 600 foot tapes work well and allow for about 60 MB (84000 blocks). I would prefer a 120 MB tape unit or 1/2 inch tape. But at least the cartridges are compact and the tape drive doesn't take much room. I wonder if some of the slowness of the drive is due to the driver as opposed to drive itself. 2) The documentation is a strange mixture of good and bad. I think that a reasonable job of rewriting for novice users has been accomplished. Unfortunately, the new text is overly verbose if you are an experienced user. Information is scattered throughout several different books. My feeling is that "they broke the manuals"; especially if you are used to the BSD 4.x manuals. Some information is difficult to find or non-existent. 3) Support from IBM is not terrific. Very few of the customer support staff even know about RTs. However, those members of the support staff who do know the machine can get the answers. A knowledgable user would do fine with this level of support. 4) Upgrades of the software can run into some money if you want to upgrade the documentation as well. Most manuals are not included in the upgrade price. 5) The C compiler is unbelievably slow. Despite all the foregoing, I'm pleased with the machine and use it as my main development machine. I have to admit that I selected the machine prior to the wide availability of 386 machines. I suspect that if I were to choose a new machine now, it would be some kind of 386 running AT&T Sys V rel 3. Charlie Pilzer clp@beartrk.UUCP