From: sysmark@helios.physics.utoronto.ca (Mark Bartelt)
Subject: 4.0.5 confusion (again, still)
Reply-To: mark@cita.toronto.edu
Organization: University of Toronto Physics/Astronomy/CITA
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 18:54:55 GMT

We've ordered an R4K Indigo, and have arranged to have the disk and
software pre-shipped (long story, don't ask), and they arrived today.
Unfortunately, we got 4.0.5A, whereas it's my understanding that we
really want 4.0.5D.  That's OK, mistakes get made, I'll work it out
with our sales folks.

However, on reading a bunch of past articles about all the multiple
variants of 4.0.5, I realize that I'm still not clear on what version
we ought to have for our other machines.

Bob Green wrote ...

|         4D1-4.0.5A (really revision B of 4D1-4.0.5)
|                 <make 4.0.5 work on a Mitsubishi monitor>
|                 <fix on fail>
|                 <shipping from manufacturing with all new machines
|                  except RealityEngine and R4K Indigo>
|
|         4D1-4.0.5C
|                 <fix two nasty but very isolated bugs (NFS lockd and R4K chip
|                         bug on Crimson)>
|                 <fix on fail>
|
|         4D1-4.0.5D
|                 <port of 4D1-4.0.5C to RealityEngine and R4K Indigo hardware>
|                 <fix bugs as they relate to these platforms>
|                 <does not support other platforms>
|                 <shipped on new systems and hardware upgrades>

... and Dave Olson wrote ...

|                                               4.0.5D is a
| hardware specific release.  It contains support for the
| r4k Indigo, the Reality Engine graphics board, and probably
| some newer versions of some of the multi-media programs for
| the Indigo.

Bob's comment implies (well, sort of implies; depends on how you
interpret "other platforms") that for our other systems, we want
4.0.5C (we do want this, since the C release fixes the NFS lockd
bug).  And that we want 4.0.5D for our R4K Indigos.  What about
a vanilla R3K Indigo (entry graphics or XS/XS24/Elan)?  C or D?
At first, I took the comment to mean that D wouldn't run on the
R3K Indigo.  However, in response to a question of mine ...

| Gack!  If I read this correctly, this means that I'll need to keep *two* sets
| of CDs kicking around, one for my R4K Indigos, and one for everything else.

... Dave replied ...

| Well, one for all of your indigo's (r3k and r4k), and one for everything
| else.  4.0.5D will only install on supported hardware; it will refuse
| to install elsewhere.

Does this means that *all* Indigos, regardless of whether they have
an R3K or R4K CPU, and regardless of whether they have the lowest-end
or highest-end graphics, are supported by 4.0.5D?

Finally, one last question:  Of the various flavours of 4.0.5 releases
(A,C,D), is it only the eoe1 and eoe2 subsystems which differ?  On my
4.0.5A CD, only the eoe[12] subsystems have any sort of alphabetic suffix
after the version number.

PS:  Whoops, one more question:  If 4.0.5C fixes two allegedly "nasty"
bugs, why is 4.0.5A the one that's shipping from manufacturing with all
non-RE/non-R4K-Indigo systems?  Or does Bob's comment about 4.0.5C mean
that the NFS lockd bug is present only on the Crimson?  (The statement,
as worded, is ambiguous.)

Sorry if I seem rather dense about all this, but I am rather confused
about what's the most recent officially-supported release for some of
our hardware configurations.

Mark Bartelt                                              416/978-5619
Canadian Institute for                           mark@cita.toronto.edu
Theoretical Astrophysics                         mark@cita.utoronto.ca

"Clothes not busy being worn are busy drying." - Dylan, on laundry day