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From: clp@beartrk.beartrack.com (Charlie Pilzer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.rt
Subject: Re: curious
Summary: We're using it
Keywords: IBM, AIX, RT, Opinions.
Message-ID: <373@beartrk.beartrack.com>
Date: 11 Oct 89 05:10:31 GMT
References: <27415@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> <17120@rpp386.cactus.org> <899@gort.cs.utexas.edu>
Organization: Bear Track Computer Co., Takoma Park, MD.
Lines: 66

In article <27415@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> royle@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (keenan royle) writes:
>>I am curious, is there anyone out there who has used RTs running AIX as a
>>developement and/or production platform and is pleased.
>>
>>I used them for more than a year and hate the things.

We have a Model 25 we are using for development and have installed several
machines (25s & 125s) as production machines at client sites.  We
feel that for our purposes its a pretty good machine.  Our experience so
far is that the hardware has no down time.  There are some software
problems (particularly early releases of AIX) but nothing fatal.

The development machine is a Model 25 with 4 MB Ram, 3 x E70 disks and a 6157
Model 1 tape drive.  It also has a bunch of ports.  Its no great blazer but
it gets the job done.  Our projects are commercial (accounting, small data
base, and WP) rather than research or heavy development.  The major problems
are:  the compiler is deadly slow, our 386 box screams past it; the tape drive
(as are all 1/4" drives) is a joke; and its hard to really find out about
the machine (the documentation may have been rewritten, but you have to search
through a dozen books to find ALL the information you might need and then
sometimes you still can't find it).  On the other hand, nothing has ever failed
in the hardware.  AIX is different; its not BSD and its not Sys V.  There are
changes that were made to Sys V for reasons that are not apparent to me.  In
spite of that, its easy enough to write code that works on the RT and can be
ported to 386 under XENIX or to a 3B2 without any difficulty.  We don't have
lots of people banging on the machine so maybe that's how we get away with it.

As far as the machines installed for clients, its a pretty good choice.  Its not
the fastest or even classy but it gets the job done.  Its got the IBM name on 
the outside and IBM will come fix it (I guess, no one's ever needed to call them).
Our clients are running a pretty controlled set of applications (no development
work at all) and its easy enough to tune the machine under those conditions.
AIX is invisible to the users (except for the person who administers the
machine) so its compatibility with Sys V is not a concern.  If I had to choose
a platform now to use as a production machine, I would probably choose a 386
machine only because of the price and availability of alternate suppliers. But
if a client insisted on an IBM machine I would not hesitate to use an RT.  As
a ISV/VAR, our biggest problem with the RT is availability.  We can't get them
and neither can our distributer.  We've been waiting close to a year for an
upgrade (25 -> 125) kit.  Got one of two, put it in, kicked up the machine just
fine but we can't seem to get the second kit.

The biggest problem of the RT now is the fact that it got a terrible start.
The original releases of AIX were slow and buggy.  The fact that the software
was slow didn't help the slow machines.  The new machines are fast enough
and AIX has a come a long way.  I suspect that because the press was bad
about the original RTs that IBM may have backed off from really pushing
the line.  I'm looking forward to the new machines that are going to be
released Real Soon Now.

I can understand that if you are in a heavy R & D environment, the RT is not
going to cut it.  And the parts of AIX that have been changed could be
really frustrating but as a small (under 30 users) machine for commercial
applications its pretty good.

I just wish that it would find better acceptance in the marketplace so
that lots of Tnird Party companies would release products for the RT.  I
would like to get a larger disk but you only use disks from IBM.  As far
as I know there are no third party EESDI disks, or memory cards available.
You can (and should) get third party multi-port boards.

Charlie Pilzer
clp#beartrk.beartrack.com

Charlie Pilzer
clp@beartrk.beartrack.com