Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!uwvax!oddjob!gargoyle!ihnp4!homxb!mtuxo!mtune!codas!ge-dab!ge-rtp!edison!toylnd!dca From: dca@toylnd.UUCP (David C. Albrecht) Newsgroups: comp.sys.att Subject: Re: The Unix-pc! Message-ID: <136@toylnd.UUCP> Date: Sun, 21-Jun-87 02:51:02 EDT Article-I.D.: toylnd.136 Posted: Sun Jun 21 02:51:02 1987 Date-Received: Wed, 1-Jul-87 02:48:56 EDT References: <3980@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> Distribution: na Organization: Dave & Anne in Charlottesville, VA Lines: 88 Summary: Unix pc data > 1) Hardware: For $800, is the monitor included, color or monochrome? > Is the mouse included? > Keyboard? A unix PC is a one piece unit that is real snazzily designed. The monitor is affixed to the top so it is not removable and it is monochrome. Mouse and keyboard are included and they also can nest on a shelf on the front but that blocks the floppy drive. Looks real high tech, in fact I just saw one in "The Secret of my Success" the latest MJ Fox movie. The fli (female love interest) was typing on one the first time he barges into her office. > What is the chip at the heart of the machine? A 10Mhz 68010 with some sort of MMU and I suspect some wait states especially since the memory seems to be of the 150ns variety. > How fast is it? How fast can it run with Unix slowing it up? It is pretty quick I've found the speed quite acceptable. The only thing which seems to be noticeably slow is the phone manager. Speed is awfully subjective. The only benchmark I know for the machine is dhrystones and it does 973 (NOREG) 1034 (REGS) which is around an 8 Mhz large model 80286. Mind you dhrystones are not the be all and end all of existence. For floating point you are better of with a clone as the machine has no FP processor. > Is the machine powerfull enough to carry the weigth of Unix? I have found it quite acceptable. > What is the speed of the hard- disk? Don't know the speed of the 20M but suspect it to be 60ms+ avg access (it is fairly slow). The 40M or higher capacity drives are 28ms. If you plan to use the machine multi-user at all the high capacity drives make the machine pretty reasonable at time sharing otherwise it is somewhat grim. > Is the 1 Meg ram the limit on the model 7300... The machine has three slots. Expansion memory in the slots can be up to 2M, memory on the motherboard can be up to 2M. The typical 7300 has 512K on the motherboard and 1 512K expansion card. (the 1M machine comes with 1) for a total of 2M. > Are the 3B1 models different that the very handsome 7300 > (i.e. are they the same box or do they consists of bigger clanky boxes)? Same except a block under the monitor to accomodate a full height drive. > Is there a compatibility card that allows running MSDOS? DOS-73 card. don't know anything else about it. > I heard the Modem is included? Is it Hayes compatible? No. It is controlled directly from ioctl calls. > 2) Software: Is the software to run the modem included? Depends on what you mean. There is a built in vt100 terminal emulator with XMODEM which uses it via the phone manager. cu and uucp also work with it. If you want to use it you can invoke it via ioctl's or the dial/undial calls. > Is the famouns SimulTask included? That is 6300 stuff not 7300. > In the$700 of software that is deemed essential, is there a version of > the vi editor included, and what about f77 and troff?? ^ yes ^ no and ^ no > Does it take an eternity to boot it up, and do you have to leave it > on all the time, or can you just shut it off every now and then like > the DOS boxes?? I does take a little while to boot up (on the order of a few minutes). It can be shutdown if you follow the shutdown sequence (I do it all the time). The only problem with this is that you have to manually run some things that would otherwise be automagically run by cron to cleanup some system files so their sizes don't get excessive. They don't typically grow real fast so it isn't a major problem. > 3) Generalities: Is this model going to be discontinued? I would bet on it. > What is the name of that UNIX-PC bulletin board somebody mentionned and > how can you contact it? The is a network based on news software but I don't know any contact points. Apparently AT&T has some sort of software tools BBS but it isn't 7300 specific, however I expect it has some 7300 tools I don't know the number for it. > How long is the warranty? Software 90 days including phone hotline support. Hardware also 90 days. > Is AT&T going to support it for long if it discontinues the line? Got no idea. > These would be unbelievable prices for > a usefull and good machine, but a tad expensive for a useless box. > In my opinion the box is far from useless. At the price it's going for it is a real steal. Being realistic, however, if you want support or service it isn't probably a great idea. I suspect that 3.5 is the last gasp for software development that AT&T will do for the 7300. Service after the warranty period even if you can get it would most likely cost more than buying two machines. I spent more than $1500 on my Amiga and while it had superior capabilities in the graphics and sound area the UNIX pc has a hard disk, unix, a built-in modem and a hell of a lot of software for the same amount of money. For software development it is still a heck of a machine. David Albrecht