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From: maddox@renoir.Berkeley.EDU (William Maddox)
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc
Subject: AT Xenix(tm) memory woes
Message-ID: <14389@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Mon, 16-Jun-86 05:25:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.14389
Posted: Mon Jun 16 05:25:44 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 17-Jun-86 12:21:24 EDT
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: maddox@renoir.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (William Maddox)
Distribution: net
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 38
Keywords: Xenix, JRAM-AT, Tall Tree Systems

I recently purchased a Tall Tree Systems JRAM-AT memory expansion for
my IBM AT.  According to the manual, when configured in its so-called
"mode 1", it functions "exactly like an ordinary IBM expansion board."
I carelessly assumed that this was true; How could anyone possibly screw
up something as straightforward as a memory board?  Well, they did.

When using this board, Xenix 1.0 nearly always panic halts with a parity
error during the boot sequence.  The IBM diagnostics show no problems.
I contacted Mr. Troy Stone at Tall Tree technical support who informed me
that they had seen this problem before, did not know what caused it, and
said to tape over one of the pins on the edge connector.  What he had in
fact advised me to do was to disable parity error detection entirely.  I
insisted that this was not an acceptable solution, and that I wanted a
real fix.  To his credit, he offered to refund my money on the board, provided
that I had purchased it directly from Tall Tree Systems.  Unfortunately,
I had purchased my JRAM-AT through a dealer as a special-order item.  He
agreed to send me a schematic when I inquired about technical details.

Despite a claim that TTS was looking into the cause of the problem, when I
called back a few weeks later, Mr. Stone offered only the same advice as
before, and I got the distinct impression that TTS was not particularly
interested in finding the cause of the problem, much less providing its
customers with a hardware or software patch.

I find this lack of support rather disappointing, as the JRAM-AT, if it
were compatible as claimed, has much to offer the Xenix user.  The
situation is typical, however, of problems that I, as a Xenix user, have
experienced when dealing with DOS-oriented companies, whose definition of
IBM-compatible often seems to be "runs Lotus 1-2-3 and Sidekick."

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has sucessfully used
a Tall Tree Systems JRAM-AT with any version of Unix(R) on an IBM-AT, or
can shed some light on the cause of this problem.

Bill Maddox
ARPA: maddox@renoir.berkeley.edu
UUCP: ucbvax!renoir!maddox
BELL: 415-849-0462