HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: lemson@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (David Lemson)
Subject: Re: Ethernet?
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 22:14:32 GMT

eps@futon.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott) writes:

>manufacturers are seriously considering it.  It may surprise you
>to learn that one of the reasons NeXT consistently loses sales to
>Sun is that NeXT doesn't support *multiple* ethernets per
>machine.  Those that complain about Ethernet being there at all

True.  A campus department recently bought a Sun SPARCServer that
had an FDDI board in it to provide networking - NeXT would need to
provide options like that to make a big dent in the server market.
Of course, I doubt that's where the focus is now, maybe it will be
DG's focus... :-)

>NeXT doesn't give a shit about students.  NeXT wants to sell to
>people with *money*--students are assumed to be disqualified

NeXT does want to sell to people with money and who actually can use
the machine.  No, they probably aren't likely to go after the Mac LC
II crowd soon... but for those who do need the computing power, and
the flexibility, the NeXT is the right choice.. whether they're
students, faculty, or corporations.
If you say that NeXT doesn't care about students, you must say that
Apple does not, either, because both offer comparably-priced
equipment when you consider the power of the equipment. (Well, NeXT
usually wins on large campuses like this one, but that's another
story).  You may say that NeXT isn't going after the low-end
market... that seems to be true.

Of course, I never speak for NeXT, my opinions only...
-- 
David Lemson                                                (217) 244-1205
University of Illinois NeXT Campus Consultant / CCSO NeXT Lab System Admin
Internet : lemson@uiuc.edu                UUCP :...!uiucuxc!uiucux1!lemson 
NeXTMail accepted                                  BITNET : LEMSON@UIUCVMD
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
From: spagiola@frinext.stanford.edu (Stefano Pagiola)
Subject: Re: NeXT dimension prices
Reply-To: spagiola@frinext.stanford.edu
Organization: DSO, Stanford University
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 92 21:06:47 GMT

Fredrik Nyman writes
> ...  figure about $2,000
> for a good monitor.  Sure, the 17" Philips monitor NeXT sells is
> only about $1,000, BUT it's so bad you're best off getting either
> the big NeXT color monitor (21" Sony, I think) or a third-party
> monitor that can handle the NeXTdimension's video output: 61 KHz
> horizontal scan  rate; 68 Hz vertical scan rate, 1280x1024
> resolution.  

NeXT is discontinuing their original 17" color monitor (which they've  
been referring to as the 'Fimi' monitor) and standardizing on the  
Sony 17" that they introduced last month.

Has anybody received a system with the 17" Sony?  Reports would be  
appreciated.

--
-
Stefano Pagiola
Food Research Institute, Stanford University
spagiola@frinext.stanford.edu (NeXTMail encouraged)
spagiola@FRI-nxt-Pagiola.stanford.edu (NeXTMail encouraged)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
From: rpomeroy@aunext3.amd.com (Ron Pomeroy x(Coop))
Subject: Re: High Bandwith and NeXT cubes
Reply-To: rpomeroy@aunext3.amd.com
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.; Austin, Texas
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 92 02:17:19 GMT

In article <BvtMJB.CsK@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> lemson@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (David Lemson)  
writes:
>>basil@aelle.cs.odu.edu (Keith Basil) writes:
>>
>>>	I'm considering using a Turbo Cube for a network and was
>>>	wondering if someone can give me some insight on its 
>>>	ability to handle a 56Kbps connection with about 30-40
>>>	shell level users.  Ideal configuration would be 64M ram.
>>
>>I believe the NeXT kernel (under 2.1 at least) is configured for 32
>>ttys at max.  Anyone know if this is increased under 3.0?  Louie? :-)
>>
>>-- 
>>David Lemson                                                (217) 244-1205
>>University of Illinois NeXT Campus Consultant / CCSO NeXT Lab System Admin
>>Internet : lemson@uiuc.edu                UUCP :...!uiucuxc!uiucux1!lemson 
>>NeXTMail accepted                                  BITNET : LEMSON@UIUCVMD

I just opened 32 Terminal windows and it topped out.  
--
Ronald Pomeroy		[Objective-Cruntime: [Smalltalk runtime]];
Advanced Micro Devices	[self dream-on];
CAM Applications Group
rpomeroy@aunext3.amd.com (NeXTmail preferred)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
From: rpomeroy@aunext3.amd.com (Ron Pomeroy x(Coop))
Subject: Re: connecting HP48SX to NeXTstation turbo
Reply-To: rpomeroy@aunext3.amd.com
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.; Austin, Texas
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 92 15:09:39 GMT

In article <BvtztK.19E@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca> klenfest@cerberus.UWaterloo.ca  
(Kurt Lenfesty) writes:
>>Is it possible to connect a NeXTstation turbo to a
>>HP48SX calculator?  I know there is a Mac cable kit
>>out there for it, but I believe the interface would
>>be for RS-422 and not RS-423.  Will it work?
>>Also, is there a Kermit program for the NeXT?
>>Please let me know.
>>
>>Thanks.		klenfest@zeus.UWaterloo.ca
>>	or	kdlenfesty@1308.watstar.UWaterloo.ca

I started a similar thread about a year ago.  If anyone has made any progress  
on this I would also like to hear about it.  I managed to get the HP and my  
NeXT talking but the only way to start the process was to start Kermit with a  
modem connected, unplug the modem (the serial cable that is), and connect the  
HP in it's place.  Yuck!  

The HP has only RX and TX and GND and only talks Kermit.  Surely wonderful Unix  
can communicate with devices such as this.  So how 'bout it you Unix gurus :-)


--
Ronald Pomeroy		[Objective-Cruntime: [Smalltalk runtime]];
Advanced Micro Devices	[self dream-on];
CAM Applications Group
rpomeroy@aunext3.amd.com (NeXTmail preferred)
From: bwebster@pages.com (Bruce F. Webster)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
Subject: Re: Nitro
Date: 9 Oct 92 14:54:18 GMT
Reply-To: bwebster@pages.com
Organization: Banzai Research Institute

In article <BvHE8J.CCD@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> asd@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Doug  
McClure) writes:
> 
> Nuther idea.  I'd imagine that there are a LOT of folks out there with
> 25Mhz machines that would upgrade (read: sell and buy new machine) if
> only the improvement was a bit larger than 25->33.
> 
Score one on that. The delta from 25MHz to 33MHz just wasn't enough to warrant  
a different machine, but a jump to 40MHz (I'd prefer 50MHz, but net notes  
indicate that even the 40MHz '040 isn't that stable yet) might. On the other  
hand, I'd just as soon wait and upgrade to an NRW if/when they come out. Or  
maybe even a (never thought I'd ever say this) 66MHz 80486. ..bruce..

Bruce F. Webster
CTO, Pages Software Inc.
bwebster@pages.com
#import <pages/disclaimer.h>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
From: todd@liveware.com
Subject: Re: Nitro (really the new keyboard)
Keywords: Hacking Anatomy WAIStation Lockout Wormhole Carpal Tunnel
Reply-To: todd@liveware.com
Organization: Liveware Corporation   Fort Collins, CO.  USA.
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 19:49:27 GMT

In article <1992Oct5.155824.18047@reed.edu> rseymour@reed.edu (Robert Seymour)  
writes:
> In article <1992Oct5.085406.4875@liveware.com> todd@liveware.com writes:
> 	[stuff deleted...]

[ my stuff canned about what someone should do to get good feel ]

> > Todd


[ Robert's stuff canned about really someone should design the
system ergo feel to be 'correctly' and 'idealistically' designed. ]

> --
> Robert Seymour					rseymour@reed.edu

I agree, as I took typing 12 years ago and still touch type with
preference to not rest my hands/writsts on anything.  But in
the real world of hacking, interacting with email, news and what
have you, I find resting my hands is optimal.

In the 2 years of
teaching and 4 years of studying anatomy, I have been fortunate
to realize the serious consequences of improper hand positions.
I have contacted the makers of the radical 'Bat' keyboards, I think
called "the jack" now for some legal/marketing reason.  I would
prefer a tool (not necessarily a keyboard) which fits into my hands
and I didn't have to perform gymnastic moves on a minute to minute basis
to perform information interaction with a computer.  Until cost
effective speaker independant speech recognition becomes a standard
in 3rd party or manufacture distribution (something I highly desire)
then I am stuck with what I am sold or can purchase.

NeXT does not offer good manual interface tools, period.
The original Mac mouse is not much worse (IMHO) than what
NeXT offers.  And making a mouse into the shape of a
badminton shuttlecock doesn't solve the mouse problem.
Making a keyboard tilt is old 'technology' and doesn't solve the problems
of wrist inversion while typing (bent medially when in the anatomical
position).  I would say the ADB compatibility is going to help, making
some product alternative available and that is great.  I still feel
the new products from NeXT are less than high tech.  We have 7 systems
here and each and every keyboard feels different, each mouse feels
different and each monitor flickers, flashes and tracks the electon beam
differently (even after numerous tweakings).
  
The ADB 'feature' is only good since it will allow me to use something
other than a NeXT product, which you can read into if you want.  I am
sick and tired of using NeXT interface tools, and I hope a 3rd party
really makes a splash with hardware UI goods.  I would be the
one of the first in line to consider/purchase serious alternatives.
Blah, blah, blah.

Todd Nathan
Liveware Corporation
-- 
--
Todd Nathan			Voice: (303) 484-7607 (w)
Liveware Corporation		Email: <todd@liveware.com>
From: amr@lucille.Princeton.EDU (Alistair  Riddell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
Subject: Maxstor 340 drive problem on NXS Turbo
Summary: Causes NeXTstation Turbo to loop on test indefinitely.
Keywords: Maxstor 340, Disk Drive Failure.
Date: 17 Oct 92 01:11:14 GMT
Organization: Princeton University

A friend just recieved a 340 Maxstor drive and by all accounts it *should* be
just a question of pluging it in, then formatting, etc.
However, it hangs his machine in some kind of test loop. We have tested the
drive on other NXS's and it does the same thing. Yet when plugged into a Cube
it works fine. We were able to format it and load data onto it.

The last error msgs that we noted consisted of the following fragment :

SCSI unaligned DMAsc (I forget the rest).

Anyone have a similar problem? We vaguely suspect some kind of termination
problem but why does it work on the Cube and not the Nextstation?

From further investigation both the drive and his machine appear to be OK.

Thanks,

Alistair

Department of Music
Princeton University
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
From: wolpert@mars (Florian Wolpert)
Subject: NeXT board for fast serial io wanted !
Organization: PPG Hellige, Freiburg, GERMANY
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 08:52:36 GMT

Hi NeXTers,
I post this for a company who has no internet access. Please don't
reply. Send mail to ds%dandsnx.uucp@germany.eu.net (NeXTmail OK).

-----------------------8<------------------------------------------
Dear Madams, dear Sirs,

as a company developing software for chemical and clinical subjects we are
planning to develope software for NeXT machines as workplace computers in
clinical laboratories. These workstations will have to serve different socalled
ONLINES (e. g. analyzers in clinical chemistry, hematology etc.).
There are up to eight analyzers per workplace in laboratory. the analyzers have
to be connected to the NeXT computer via asynchronous serial data links.

Exchanged data may consist of
        a) single characters containing status information of the analyzer
        b) data recordes containing test requistions rsp. test results
        c) poll messages to test whether counterpart is online

depending on logical states of the analyzers we have to read in messages from
rsp. write out messages to a single port containing single characters or data
sets with up to 2000 characters without any loss of data.
Data sets are terminated either by various characters (<ETX>, <EOT>, <CR> etc.)
or just by charcount.

Most of the analyzers don't care about the data they have sent out. If we don't
catch them at once, they are lost.
Hard / software handshake (DTR/RTS/, XON/XOFF) almost is not possible.

The form or length of messages sent by the analyzers may change due to their
internal states; so we are not able to expect messages in a well defined order
or form.

Some of the analyzers require response within 300 msecs.

Before considering any technical questions and programming facilities it is
essential for us to get information about following subjects:

Are there NeXT boards which can serve serial io-ports up to the required number
under described conditions?

Are there third party boards which are supported by NeXT computers?

Is there any possibility to connect a terminal server that can be programmed to
serve ONLINES in the above described manner?

We would be happy to get closer information about the hardware capabilities of
the NeXT machines to serve the analyzers mentioned above.


Sincerely
Peter Inde
EFL GmbH

--
EFL
Entwicklung + Laborservice GmbH
Schillingsweg 15
7630 Lahr
Tel.: 07821/21020
Fax: 07821/22200
e-mail: ds%dandsnx.uucp@germany.eu.net
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
From: alberto@parsec.mixcom.com (Manuel Alberto Ricart)
Subject: SEAGATE ST1480 -> 1024 bytes/sector
Reply-To: alberto@parsec.mixcom.com
Organization: Is the act or process of organizing or of being organized.
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 13:02:01 GMT

I have a NeXT supplied 406MB Seagate ST1480 ROM Rev# 4511 that I have
been wanting to format the drive to 1024 byte/sectors. The drive as
supplied by NeXT is 512 bytes/sector.
In some newer color stations, this drive is being supplied with
1024 byte/sectors. Which is the way it should have been supplied to
begin with. (As I understand it the file system allocates files in
1024 byte/sectors, so having a 512 sector size is really a waste of
disk space.)

I have heard rummors that this is possible, but the only person that
I have encountered that knows how to do this, doesn't want to share
the information.

One caveat: I want to be able to do this from the command line, as I will
be booting the computer of a CD ROM drive in single user mode.
So in this case NeXTSTEP applications isn't the way to go.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.
-- 
Manuel Alberto Ricart
alberto@parsec.mixcom.com <NeXTMail Welcome>
From: sritchie@cs.ubc.ca (Stuart Ritchie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
Subject: Swapfile compression algorithm (was Re: Nitro)
Date: 9 Oct 1992 14:51:05 -0700
Organization: Computer Science, University of B.C., Vancouver, B.C., Canada
NNTP-Posting-Host: stephen.cs.ubc.ca

In article <1992Oct8.064554.3163@cubetech.com> andrew@cubetech.com writes:
>In article <1atfn1INNi4p@stephen.cs.ubc.ca> sritchie@cs.ubc.ca (Stuart Ritchie) writes:
>>andrew@cubetech.com (Andrew Loewenstern) writes:
>>>If you have a Turbo, try turning on the "swaptimizer" (see the swaptab
>>>man page).  The swaptimizer compresses pages before they go out to
>>>disk to reduce disk IO.
>>
>>Does anyone know the compression algorithm used here?
>
>Probably LZW.  Maybe even Huffman, but I would bet on LZW.  The trick
>is to find something that will do a reasonable job as quickly as
>possible.

I wouldn't leave run-length encoding out of that list.  For the right
kind of data, RLE has a good compression/CPU ratio.  The thing is,
what kind of data is normally paged out?  Also, what is the granularity,
single 8K pages or larger multiples?  If you're doing LZW, would you maintain
a dictionary for each single page, or for the whole swapfile, or something
in between?

My intuition says that they're using RLE.  I assume that much of the
paging on low memory and especially colour machines is backing store
for window bitmaps.  Take a look at the windows
on your screen.  On my desktop, I see a high percentage of contiguous
colours (grey and white).  RLE eats this stuff for breakfast.

Maybe NeXT licensed Stacker for their swapfile :~)

Stuart
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
From: uli@kino.intellektik.informatik.th-darmstadt.de (Ulrich Grepel)
Subject: Re: Nitro
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 15:22:11 GMT
Organization: TH Darmstadt

In article <1992Oct6.133611.6559@cube.handheld.com>, jmd@cube.handheld.com (Jim De Arras) writes:
|> 
|> I'm afraid you are not in touch with reality, here!  Even the current NeXT  
|> apologists admit it's slower.  I have 32 meg of ram, and do not normally swap  
|> to disk.  And a 1.4 gb harddisk, and do not usually access data from the  
|> network.
|> The same setup as before, only 30-50% slower in the user interface.
|> 
|> Jim
I don't think that 32 meg of ram is really enough to stop any swapping. Do a ps xua and
add the vsize values - you will get a result that is much higher than ram size plus
swapfile size. Partly that comes from executables (not only) that are loaded directly, without
copying them to the swapfile, the other parts I would love to know about. So sure
you have less swapping, but not none.

Uli
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
From: lemson@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (David Lemson)
Subject: Re: Ethernet?
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 22:23:48 GMT

spagiola@frinext.stanford.edu (Stefano Pagiola) writes:

>Eric P. Scott writes
>[good arguments about why ethernet should be kept and why it doesn't  
>add much - if anything - to a NeXT's cost deleted]

>Keep in mind that not all people's needs are identical.  Look at the  

One more thing I hadn't included in the last post that I had meant
to - you sometimes never know what you will need/want in the future.
Having ethernet built-in means a couple of things:
- If you ever need to rebuild your machine, you can take it to a
networked site and netboot with little trouble (arguable, but you
never know)
- You might want to have another machine in the future, whether it
is a PC, or another NeXT and may want to share files.  I share files
all the time between my 386 machine and my cube. (incredibly cheap
ethernet card in the PC)
- Like EPS said, ethernet added into a NeXT probably costs <$30, by
my guess. Certainly less then $100 in raw parts, since you can get a
PC ethernet card for that, albeit not a fast 32-bit one like the
NeXT has.
-- 
David Lemson                                                (217) 244-1205
University of Illinois NeXT Campus Consultant / CCSO NeXT Lab System Admin
Internet : lemson@uiuc.edu                UUCP :...!uiucuxc!uiucux1!lemson 
NeXTMail accepted                                  BITNET : LEMSON@UIUCVMD
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
From: andrew@cubetech.com
Subject: Re: Nitro
Organization: Cube Technologies, Inc.
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 06:45:54 GMT

In article <1atfn1INNi4p@stephen.cs.ubc.ca> sritchie@cs.ubc.ca (Stuart Ritchie) writes:
>andrew@cubetech.com (Andrew Loewenstern) writes:
>>If you have a Turbo, try turning on the "swaptimizer" (see the swaptab
>>man page).  The swaptimizer compresses pages before they go out to
>>disk to reduce disk IO.
>
>Does anyone know the compression algorithm used here?

Probably LZW.  Maybe even Huffman, but I would bet on LZW.  The trick
is to find something that will do a reasonable job as quickly as
possible.


andrew
-- 
andrew@cubetech.com     | "We shall not cease from exploration
Andrew Loewenstern      |  And the end of our exploring
Cube Technologies, Inc. |  Will be to arrive where we started
                        |  And know the place for the first time." -T.S. Eliot
From: bense@heart4 (Booker C. Bense)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
Subject: Re: Nitro
Date: 9 Oct 92 23:04:31 GMT
Organization: San Diego Supercomputer Center @ UCSD

In article <1992Oct7.030838.9785@u.washington.edu> basiji@stein.u.washington.edu (David Basiji) writes:
>andrew@cubetech.com (Andrew Loewenstern) writes:
>
>>If you have a Turbo, try turning on the "swaptimizer" (see the swaptab
>>man page).  The swaptimizer compresses pages before they go out to
>>disk to reduce disk IO.  This works great (I use it on my 25mhz
>>machines) since you can't use the processor much during a page-fault
>>(since normally the windowserver causes the page-fault, and you must
>>wait to draw...), it makes sense.  It probably doesn't make sense on a
>>machine where you have a bunch of people logged in on ttys.
>
>
>I just checked the man page (NeXTSTEP 3.0.1) and it seems that compression
>is on by default. Now, regarding the number of buffers...I have 32 Meg of
>RAM in my 25MHz slab but the thing still churns like crazy when task 
>switching.  What do I put in my (I assume) /etc/rc.local to increase
>the number of buffers?
>
>Dave

- In my reading of the man page, the swaptimizer is off unless you
have < 12 meg of memory... Please everyone that is bitchin' about 
3.0 speed try booting with more system buffers, the difference is
phemonal, even on a lowly '030 with only a 40meg swapdisk. I haven't
played with the swaptimizer stuff at all. 

- From hardy@714-725-3176.nts.uci.edu

I avoided the 12 character limit by using the startup (in p in the
rROM monitor) sd- nbu=128; seems to work fine; I also added compressed
swapping, hoping to avoid huge swapfiles.
Regards,
Hardy
-----

- So to change the boot params use cmd-cmd-~ to halt the machine
and get to the ROM level prompt ie

NeXT> 

Then type p 
and answer the questions appropriately. TRY IT, IT REALLY WORKS...

-I've found 64 to work fine for me on a 20meg '040 Mono NeXTstation. 

- Booker C. Bense                    
prefered: benseb@grumpy.sdsc.edu	"I think it's GOOD that everyone 
NeXT Mail: benseb@next.sdsc.edu 	   becomes food " - Hobbes
From: prange@sdr.slb.com (Michael Prange)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
Subject: Automatic startup of CDPlayer?
Keywords: CDPlayer
Date: 12 Oct 92 15:15:55 GMT
Reply-To: prange@sdr.slb.com
Distribution: usa
Organization: Schlumberger-Doll Research

I understand that under NS 3.0, CDPlayer should automatically
start up when a music CD is inserted.  When I try this I get
an error message in the console that CDPlayer can't be found.
It's installed on my HD, and it works when it is manually started,
so what's the problem?
---
Michael
prange@sdr.slb.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware,comp.sys.next.sysadmin
From: petrilli@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Chris Petrilli)
Subject: NeXTdimension Speed Problems
Summary: Major speed problems with the NeXTdimension
Organization: Department of Redundency Department
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 15:39:56 GMT

Well, I seem to be having some rather major problems with a
NeXTdimension machine that I run, and I can't seem to find anything that
is obviously causing the problem.  The configuration is as follows:

	NeXTcube ('040, 16Mb RAM)
	NeXTdimension (16Mb RAM)
	400Mb HD
	Optical
	Digital Ears
	IEEE-488/SCSI interface

The problem is that the machine runs SLOW, I mean VERY slow, making an
old 030 machine look fast on some occasions.  I logged in remotely (so
as not to do anything graphics intensive) and I get load averages
ranging from 2.5-3.0, which is entirely TOOO high for a machine that has
basically nothing running on it except a shell.  Even after rebooting
the machine, the load average is in the mid to high 2s immediately.

Any ideas?  We're running NeXTstep 2.1

Chris
-- 
| Chris Petrilli                                             ____
| petrilli@gnu.ai.mit.edu             ``Quayle is a bozoe.'' \  /
| I don't even speak for myself.                              \/