Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mcdchg!ddsw1!karl From: karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix Subject: Re: Xenix probs... Summary: Anvil drivers still do not work right. (Warning: heat enclosed) Keywords: Drivers Message-ID: <1989Aug20.203453.14000@ddsw1.MCS.COM> Date: 20 Aug 89 20:34:53 GMT References: <941@utoday.UUCP> <14@fleet.UUCP> <767@eecea.eece.ksu.edu> Reply-To: karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) Organization: Macro Computer Solutions, Inc., Mundelein, IL Lines: 130 In article <767@eecea.eece.ksu.edu> terry@eecea.eece.ksu.edu (Terry Hull) writes: >In article <14@fleet.UUCP> mel@.UUCP () writes: >>Have you tried replacing the Computone board with another brand to see if >>your problem continues? Anvil Stallion cards seem to be pretty solid. > >Several months ago, there was a problem with the Anvil boards reported to >the net. It seems they cannot take high speed input from a Trailblazer >uucp connection. Has this problem gone away? They haven't solved the problems yet, although they keep telling me that they have. Now they're not calling me back again. It's as if we're being ignored. I told them I would keep my trap shut for a day or two in the middle of the week -- since they have seen fit to not return my call, here's the scoop. I am QUITE upset with these people. We have two boards here -- and neither one works right. It's a driver problem, that much we know. Here's a rundown of the problems with the various drivers we have tried: o 2.1.7 (what we use now, for reasons which will become apparent) Will only handle 20kbaud TOTAL ON THE BOARD for input. A single 19,200 baud incoming newsfeed causes output to drop to some 600 baud on a 2400 baud connection -- in short, performance is completely unacceptable. Two telebits on the same board end up being unusable; you will lose connections time after time with lost packets and characters. An attempt to use "rz" to receive at 19200 baud on this driver version will time out and puke after a few packets are sent -- it simply can't handle it. Their attempt to support 38,400 is a joke -- they can't even keep up with half that! To their credit, 9600 baud "rz"s do work most of the time, although they too drop packets here and there. TWO simultaneous 9600 baud rzs fail every time. o Will not reload the board properly on a soft (warm) reboot, this makes autoreboots impossible, and requires a power-cycle after a "haltsys" or "shutdown". o 2.4.1, 2.4.2 Hang at random times on 19200 and 9600 baud input. The port just "goes away", but can be restarted by killing the job on the port. Input performance is actually _worse_ than 2.1.7 (!). Anvil claims they have "no reports of trouble" with these drivers. o 2.5 (May 25 modification date, Jeff@anvilus confirmed that this is current last week) Does strange things, including: o Returns EOF to uucp input requests at random times (!) o Decides to close the port on it's own at random times during high-speed input, giving a "lost line" message from uucp (!). The line was NOT LOST -- DCD is still up at that point. The connection, though, is of course gone. o Refuses to drop DTR if you kill a job waiting on a modem control port (ie: "ungetty /dev/tty402" leaves DTR up!). Attempting to open the modem control port AGAIN, then ^Cing when it hangs (because there is no DSR there!) drops the DTR. o Dialing out on the non-modem control port after ungettying without doing the machinations above (with ^C and the like) appear to be operative in the first two anomolies noted above. This makes the board USELESS for shared dial in/out access on a single line, as uucp can't handle the maneuvers required. o Manually disabling a port, then dialing out on it using Xcomm appears to work but gives gross delays on input -- if I am watching the modem lights at 2400 baud the receive light on the modem goes off 1/2 - 1 second before output stops appearing on the screen! Anvil also claims to have no reports of problems with this version of the driver...... We've been putting up with missed deadlines, excuses and other nonsense for more than seven months. The problems, even after all this time, are NOT fixed. Anvil also has a philosophy problem -- they think that their model (ie: high speed output only) is what their customers all need, and that those of us who want to run high speed modems for input are such a minority that we can be safely ignored. Needless to say, we at MCS (and I'm sure anyone on the net feeding news!) disagree. Anvil has been offered our assistance in resolving these problems -- we asked for source, told 'em we'd be happy to sign a non-disclosure, and that they would be free to use our fixes once they were complete. They refused. Their advertisements used to say "160,000 kb/s throughput (or something similar)". What they don't tell you is that their throughput claims only apply to output, and only if you are doing no input at all! 2.1.7, which is the only driver set we have (and we've got FIVE!) that is stable enough to use, can barely do 1/8th of that for input, 1/16th on a reliable and steady basis. CPU offloading is fine, but not at the expense of reliability and overall usability. When confronted with this obvious error of omission from their ad copy, they said "but we never claimed 160kb/s on input". My contention is that absent a qualification I should be able to get 160kb/s through that card in ANY COMBINATION I CHOOSE -- not some special case that they have concocted to enhance their claims. Anvil's 160kb/s claim is like an automaker saying "this car will do 130 mph" -- what they don't tell you is that it will only do 130 mph on a 60% grade from 9,000 feet, and only for the last 1000 feet of the run! All I want now is a refund for the boards or FIXED DRIVERS >NOW<, although I have a stinking suspicion we are going to end up eating them. (To their credit they did at one point offer to allow us to return the boards -- verbally. We have not, as of this date, been given an RA number or a formal, written offer of a refund). We'd love to buy something else that works, from a vendor that actually returns calls when they say they will, and works to keep customers happy. Digiboard comes to mind; we've begun using their cards, and are very happy with both their performance and support... They actually listen to their customer base. Our current installations on the PC/16 are very happy, and throughput for input is _excellent_. Arnet also has excellent input capabilities. Digiboard did have some initial problems with the PC/16 drivers, but I got a diskette in the mail FIVE DAYS AFTER REPORTING THE PROBLEM, and what do you know - the trouble was actually FIXED! I would have kept my mouth shut if Anvil had returned my calls as promised. They had 48 hours in which to do so, and failed. Here it is folks. Caveat Emptor. -- Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, !ddsw1!karl) Public Access Data Line: [+1 312 566-8911], Voice: [+1 312 566-8910] Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. "Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"