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From: works@ucbvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: mod.computers.workstations
Subject: Re: Masscomp - another voice from RIT
Message-ID: <8512041208.AA24490@caip.rutgers.edu>
Date: Tue, 3-Dec-85 13:28:43 EST
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Posted: Tue Dec  3 13:28:43 1985
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In article <9087@ritcv.UUCP> mjl@ritcv.UUCP (Michael Lutz) writes:
>Far be it from me to contradict the authoritative postulations of an
>undergraduate ;-)
Haven't you heard?  Undergrads know EVERYTHING!! 8-)

>                                                        I was in
>on the selection of the Masscomps
Nothing personal intended..

>                                                   (I'd have gladly
>taken a Cray-2
Now you're talking!

>              but we were a few million dollars short)
Suprising, considering what RIT charges for tuition, etc.  8-)

>                                                 You can read what
>follows with as many grains of salt as you like; I just ask that you
>apply the same saline solution to Mr. Wall's fulminations.
Make it a REAL strong concentraion on mine..  There'd've been a lot more
8-)'s, but they'd've make the article hard to read.

>1.	The system had to run UNIX(tm).  Essential, as we think it's the best
>	general purpose development system around, and we're educating students
>	who at least begin their careers as programmers.
As an undergrad, I KNOW Unix is the best around.. 8-)

>Well, come last fall (9/84), we ran into a lot of problems.
I'll say..  I took graphics that quarter.  I guess that's why I have
such a low opinion of masscomp 500's.

>                                          contrary to Mr. Wall's
>assertions, V3.0 for our systems has not been shipped yet, and we do
>not have it in any form.
Opps..  I was told by a faculty member that it was v3.0.  Don't remember who.

>Mike Lutz	Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester NY
>UUCP:		{allegra,seismo}!rochester!ritcv!mjl
>CSNET:		mjl%rit@csnet-relay.ARPA

It's nice to hear from someone in the know.  However, I will argue some
points with you.  Having used 2 of the masscomps for a total of 3 quarters,
I think I can safely say I've become somewhat familiar with the system.
In working on projects, and just plain digging around the systen, I've found
that some of the utilities (like lpr) don't seem to work right, and judging
from what's been done to fix them, never will.  Also, I've found that the
ethernet isn't quite as reliable as you've said it to be, and this is from
the past spring/summer, which is fairly recently.  I'm afraid I can't give
you a lot of specifics, because I forgot as much as possible as soon as
possible as soon as I got out of the courses which used the systems 8-).
I will grant that it is much more reliable than that first fall (ugh!),
but the crashcomp/trashcomp names have already stuck...
As far as 50-60% of an 11/780, it sure doesn't look that way from the user
end.

*aside* Who's Mr. Wall??  Could he mean me?  8-)

==============================================================================
        Steve Wall @ Rochester Institute of Technology
        USnail: 6675 Crosby Rd, Lockport, NY 14094, USA
        Usenet: ..!rochester!ritcv!spw2562 (Fishhook)   Unix 4.2 BSD
        BITNET: SPW2562@RITVAXC (Snoopy)                VAX/VMS 4.2
        Voice:  Yell "Hey Steve!"

    Disclaimer:  What I just said may or may not have anything to do
                 with what I was actually thinking...