Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!caip!clyde!cbatt!cbosgd!ucbvax!ucdavis!samira!kahless From: kahless@samira.UUCP (Lord Kahless) Newsgroups: net.unix Subject: RE: Any Tower Users? Message-ID: <34@samira.UUCP> Date: Sat, 13-Sep-86 03:44:12 EDT Article-I.D.: samira.34 Posted: Sat Sep 13 03:44:12 1986 Date-Received: Sun, 14-Sep-86 04:02:12 EDT References: <3641@brl-smoke.ARPA> Organization: The Klingon Empire Lines: 105 > >from: "Kurt L. Reisler" > >Any users of NCR Tower 1632 systems out there? > >I am particulary interested in what kinds of problems I might > >expect with UUCP and NEWS software. > >Kurt > >----------------------------- > >from: Sam Vause > >Kurt underlines a good point in general. Most people are not really aware > >that the NCR plant that engineered the TOWER, added SYSTEM III, and ported > >SYSTEM V Unix to the TOWER family machines is on the net in a big way. We > >are a major force in the world Unix market, and are committed to support! > >----------------------------- > >from: Greg Hackney > The following reply is honest opinion based on my personal use > of a Tower XP. I felt I had to reply. > > We have had numerous problems though. A lot of blown boards > (which NCR has replaced *mostly* for free). We cut the air > to about 85 degrees weekends, and the temperature > variation might have caused some of it. Running the machine above 85 degrees? What? How much above 85 degrees? I know the specs say you can run to 40 centigrade, but ... > Also, it is sensitive to power fluctuations even with surge protection. > We have borrowed a standby power (interrupted) supply from NCR which > helps a little, but it needs a uninterrupted power system if > the environment is sub-standard (educated opinion). Let me tell you a little story. After the system had been up around 200 hours, something very weird happened in the middle of the night, just as I was trying to format floppies to back the system up. The floppy devices, then /etc/, then the utilities seemed to disappear out from under me. At around 1:00 a.m. our time, I called NCR's 800 number for system problems. Within half an hour, they had a person on the phone to help me determine what was wrong. Head crash. At around 9:00 a.m., NCR field service in Sacramento called me up. They replaced the disk, free of charge. Before you buy some other brand of UNIX micro, find out if they have a service and repair system that can match that. Yes, I'd say NCR is DEFINITELY committed to providing service. The field service guy said that transients in the lines do screw up the system. He recommended that I get a better surge protector than the one I had on the system, and said that a good surge protector usually eliminates the problems. I bought a Transtator Systems ACP100BLN from NCR for $200., and have had no hardware related problems since. That was over a year ago. By the way, the power in this office is often bad. At times, I can see the lights going dim and then bright. > NCR version 2.00.00 of System V wasn't good to us, and so we got > a free copy of 3.00.02 which corrected many problems. NCR's 2.00.XX has many bugs. The worst problem is in the optimizer in the C compiler. It takes around six hours to compile rogue optimized on this 1632 under release 2.0.1, but only twenty minutes unoptimized. I wish *I* could get a free copy of 3.00.2. > > UUCP seems acceptable. This tower was the first system I put uucp up on. I had some troubles, so I sent some people at NCR a mail message (from another site). They phoned *ME*, from Columbia, South Carolina, and showed me where I had gone wrong. UUCP was up in half an hour. Thank you Mike Wescott. Sam Vause sent me the sources to the news. Thank you Sam. It compiled without a hitch. I'd send the news stuff on SASF's (Self Addressed Stamped Floppies) to any other tower users interested. For those of you who who are considering getting a UNIX system that will not be maintained by a UNIX guru, I'd recommend that you really seriously consider looking at a Tower. The system adminisration menus might not look the hottest, but they are easy to understand and work perfectly. They make it trivial for a totally non-technical person to do some relatively complicated stuff, including mounting volumes, reconfiguring terminal and printer lines, etc. > > If you are going to spend cash American money on a new system, > it is always WISE to shop around (opinion). I'm sure you can get more bang for the buck than a tower, and if that's what you need, then get something faster. It's like comparing an IBM PC to some $900 Taiwan AT copy. Sure, the clone runs rings around the PC, for as long as it runs. When that clone has problems, you're up a creek. If you're going to want solid service and support, you're going to have to figure that into the price. By the way, I have no connection with NCR. I just program for a company that likes NCR equipment. > Greg Hackney > S.W. Bell - Texas Network Engineering Support System > ...ihnp4!tness1!root > ...rice!ots!tness1!root -- Kahless tai-Hazar {lll-crg,sdcsvax,ucbvax}!ucdavis!samira!kahless These views do not necessarily reflect those of The Imperial Propoganda Division, The Klingon Empire, or our Emperor.