HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: reeves@ayauw.aosg.gsf.dec.com (Jon Reeves AOSG)
Subject: Re: Alpha Prices -- Any Idea out there??
Reply-To: reeves@decvax.dec.com
Organization: AOSG
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 22:09:44 GMT

In article <BxMAwn.IK7@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, schwartz@feh.scs.uiuc.edu (Dwight A. Schwartz) writes:
[Dwight quoted my earlier statement:]
|> > . ISDN with a "don't use this or you go to prison" sticker
[And then asked:]
|> I was wondering what this "don't use" comment means?

Well, since I raised the issue, I better quote the sticker in full.

This customer equipment has no AUSTEL permit and may be dangerous or damage a
telecommunications network.  Connection to a telecommunications network is an
offense under Section 253 of the Telecommunications Act 1991 and may attract a
maximum fine of $12,000.

(So it seems my memory exaggerated a bit; it's really "don't use this or you pay
a juicy fine".)

The owner's manual also says, on the labeled picture of the back panel:

9. ISDN port	Currently not in use.

There's also a black foam rubber thing jammed into the ISDN socket.

I gather all this to mean that one or more of {software, hardware, certification
testing} has not yet been completed.  I'm not sure what AUSTEL is -- Australia?
-- but since I don't have an ISDN hookup in my office anyway, I don't much care.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
From: ss@panix.com (Steve Steinberg)
Subject: Re: dxmail on ULTRIX 
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 14:28:12 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC

In <1992Nov11.000045.29463@ll.mit.edu> plward@ll.mit.edu (paula l ward) writes:


>I'm using dxmail on ULTRIX and it's been working fine until I
>wanted to send mail to an address of the form:

>blah!blah%blah.UUCP@blah.blah.blah

>It's a good address because I had someone on a SUN forward it for me.
>I also tried it with the command line e-mail but it didn't like the "!".
>I've tried alot of different quotes and backslashes too.

At the command line try escaping the ! (use \!) since many shells use the !. 

>Any Ideas???

>Also, does anyone know if DEC has an e-mail address for sending
>questions or problems to?
?
>Thanks in advance...



>--
>//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
>                                   /
>Paula L. Ward  (plward@ll.mit.edu) /   Nor deem the irrevocable Past,     
>MIT Lincoln Laboratory             /     As wholly wasted, wholly vain,
>244 Wood Street M-130              /   If, rising on its wrecks, at last
>Lexington, MA 02173                /     To something nobler we attain.
>                                   /            -LONGFELLOW,
>                                   /             The Ladder of St. Augustine
>                                   /
>//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-- 
=====================================================================
=== Steve Steinberg   ==  ss@panix.com  == {cmcl2,apple}!panix!ss ===

              (The space below intentionally left blank)
From: lee@hsh.com (Lee Havemann)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
Subject: Re: Now that Alpha is here......
Date: 13 Nov 92 23:06:42 GMT
Organization: HSH Associates

In article <1992Nov13.133906.8445@engage.pko.dec.com>, jackson@pravda.enet.dec.com writes:
> 
> 
> Sorry for flaming you, but please, please, please.  
> 
> 
> Alpha is NOT a VAX, it is an entirely new architecture that was designed
> from the ground up.  It does not execute VAX instructions and the only thing
> that it has in common with a VAX is that they both run VMS.  
> 
> Thanks
> --
> 
> 
> William M. Jackson
> Workstation Product Marketing Manager
> Workstation Engineering
> Digital Equipment Corporation
> 146 Main Street
> Maynard, MA 01754
> 
> Mail:	Jackson@pravda.enet.dec.com

I pretty much know what an Alpha chip is, thank you. :-)

My reasoning is that people will be replacing their older, slower vaxen
running _VMS_ boxes for a newer, faster Alpha running _VMS_ boxes.


-- 

 Lee Havemann, Sys_op       HSH Associates          (201) 838-3330 
 Internet: lee@hsh.com    Compuserve: 70410,3507    AOL: HSH Assoc
 "Any opinions expressed are not necessarily those of anyone else, 
  including myself."                     
Xref: sparky comp.sys.dec:5878 comp.os.vms:17761 comp.unix.ultrix:8228 comp.windows.misc:1678 comp.windows.x:18990
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec,comp.os.vms,comp.unix.ultrix,comp.windows.misc,comp.windows.x
Subject: How do I throw a pixmap up on a DecWindows screen at once?
From: mlevin@husc8.harvard.edu (Michael Levin)
Date: 10 Nov 92 20:28:24 EST
Distribution: world
Organization: Harvard University Science Center


     I am a complete novice to X-windows programming (although I know
C and unix and VMS systems programming at an intermediate level). I
need to take a 2-dimensional array of colormap indeces, corresponding
to a rectangular patch of the screen with pixels of different colors,
and throw it up as a window on a Ultrix VAX or a VMS Vax with
DecWindows (no MIT X stuff - just regular out-of-the-box DecWindows)
from a C program. Something like this:
display_in_window(array)
short array[X][Y];
{
   /* here's the part I'm having trouble with */
}

where each element of array[][] will be 0 for black, 1 for white, 2
for green, etc.
   Is there any code anywhere that will show me how to do this? At
least a hint as to which routines I should be looking at (I don't have
a DecWindows manual, but I'll get one if there's no PD code already
around to do this - what's the proper manual called?). If anyone has
any helpful suggestions, please email me at mlevin@husc8.harvard.edu.

Mike Levin
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
From: dirico@tropix.enet.dec.com ()
Subject: Alpha AXP Fast FAX Service
Keywords: Alpha AXP
Reply-To: dirico@tropix.enet.dec.com ()
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 16:12:20 GMT


Looking for IMMEDIATE information on Digital's new Alpha AXP systems?

Announcing the "Alpha AXP Fast FAX" Service!
--------------------------------------------
Accessible worldwide, the "Alpha AXP Fast FAX" service is available to obtain 
Alpha AXP information.  You can receive immediate information on Alpha AXP 
products and services by just calling the number listed below.  The service is
extremely user-friendly -- just dial the number, follow the voice prompts, 
choose any Alpha AXP option you would like information on, and then, within 
seconds, receive the document right on your fax machine!  The literature 
available contains detailed product information, product specifications, 
investment protection programs, application and services information, 
multimedia products information, and an Alpha AXP family overview. 

U.S. and Canada                 800-842-7027 (from any touchtone phone)
Outside U.S. and Canada         415-694-3916 (from any fax machine)


 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
From: brune@luther.che.wisc.edu (Douglas A. Brune)
Subject: Re: Alpha speed?
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Madison
Date: 12 Nov 92 18:54:19 CST

In article <RICHARD.92Nov12152902@chemeng.stanford.edu> richard@chemeng.stanford.edu (Richard Schiek) writes:
>
>In all the technical blurbs for the new DEC Alpha chip, they call it a
>300MHz chip.  Yet, in all the new systems that DEC is shipping, the

I've seen it called a 300 MIPS chip, never 300MHz. Which blurb called it
300MHz?

>chip is running at 140 MHz max.  Why is it called a 300MHz chip when
>only 140 MHz systems are for sale?  Is there a problem with getting

Only the desktop is below 140 MHz. The deskside and mainframe units were
announced at speeds ranging from 150MHz to 200MHz, accordinfg to the specs
on gatekeeper. Where are you getting your info?

Doug   brune@luther.che.wisc.edu
-

Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec,comp.unix.ultrix
From: ajc@pa.dec.com (AJ Casamento)
Subject: Re: Fujitsu M2266S-512 on a 5000/240
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Distribution: na
Date: 10 Nov 92 11:57:25




In article <1992Nov5.084418.22570@hellgate.utah.edu> reading%uintah.cs.utah.
edu@cs.utah.edu (Dan Reading) writes:



>> I have a fujitsu M2266SA I'm putting on a DECStation 5000/240.  The
>> drive does not spin up if attached to the DEC at power up, and the
>> first first READ/WRITE I/O operation fails. After that it works fine.
>> I'm sure this has something to do with the jumper settings on the
>> drive. Maybe someone else can inform of the correct settings before I
>> have to set down and read the manual.

>> thanks in advance,
>> Dan R.
>> reading@cs.utah.edu

Dan,

  I would suspect that you've got a jumper setting problem. This is not all
to uncommon with some SCSI drives. The most likely culprit is the switch which
is hardwiring Synchronous SCSI. The ANSI SCSI-2 spec states that a synchronous
device be able to "negotiate" synchronous. 

  The console code in the SCSI prom on the DEC platforms addresses the drive as
an asynchronous device. When the operating system boots, it will negotiate with
the devices to see if they can handle synchronous. If your disk drive is hard-
wired as a synchronous device, it will fail at console level.

  You may want to try the following:


>>> Excerpted from a previous post by:
>>> From: grunwald@foobar.colorado.edu (Dirk Grunwald)
>>> Date: 16 Sep 91 21:55:46 GMT


   Switch Bank CHN2:
	   - open switch 1-2	(make it be SCSI-1/CCS)
	   - open switch 11-12	(turn parity off)
	   - open switch 15-16	(let host initiate SCSI synch mode)

   For some hosts, you may need to also disable the readahead cache
   (CHN9), but it seems to work on the DECstation. Bulk transfers (using
   dd & 32K blocks) are 1.2Mb/s. The Wren V gets about the same, maybe a
   little less. The Fuji has 14.5ms seek time.

>>> End of excerpt

  I make no warranties about the above information. You may want to contact
the folks who sold you the disk drive and ask them about it. But, this has
worked for a number of folks.

I hope that helps.

				Thanx,
				  AJ


      **********************************************************************
      * AJ Casamento			"The question is not whether or    *
      * Digital's TRI/ADD Program	 not the opinions are mine; but    *
      * 529 Bryant Ave. PAG-2		 rather, which of my personalities *
      * Palo Alto, CA 94301-1616	 do they belong to?"		   *
      * 415.617.3460							   *
      * ajc@pa.dec.com  						   *
      **********************************************************************
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
From: jackson@pravda.enet.dec.com ()
Subject: Re: Alpha questions
Reply-To: jackson@pravda.enet.dec.com ()
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 13:28:09 GMT


In article <31486@hydra.Helsinki.FI>, karell@cs.Helsinki.FI (Esa Karell) writes:
|>
|>1) How parallel is Alpha? Can it execute more than
|>   1 instruction/cycle (say, yes )? If yes, how many
|>   optimal/average?

The alpha architecture is designed for multiple issue, thus the architecture 
will support more than one instruction.  This implementation, the 21064 supports
two instructions per cycle.  
|>
|>3) How scalable it is with clock rate? 200 sounds
|>  quite steep. Can you *easily* (means, still use
|>  the same technology) jack it up to say 400?
|>  Is it CMOS?

The current implementation is CMOS, and it runs anywhere (in current products)
from 133Mhz to 200Mhz.  Scaling has many implications, so it's difficult to 
answer your question, but yes, Alpha is designed to scale.  Our design goal
is to scale over 1000 x over the life of the architecture.  This obviously
can't come from clock speed alone, so there are other ways to scale.
|>
|>4) How big are icache and dcache?
|>   Does it vary on any of the currently introduced boxes?
|>

The 21064 chip has 8KI/8KD on chip.  Each system has a different backup 
cache.  The workstations are 512K, the DEC 10000 has 4MB.

|>5) The ad said that also SV(R4?) *IX is (yeah, it really did
|>   say *is* not will :-) available besides OSF/1.
|>   Who did this for Alpha and any details on it?
|>

Encore has adopted the Alpha chip for their future generation systems, and
will be doing a SVR4 port.  If they are going to deliver that for general 
availbility I don't know.

|>6) Greetings to dec mktg. Couldn't you possibly come up
|>   with a more pathetic way to push this chip than
|>   by tooting this 4 ??? ??? ??? whatever number.
|>   And think that some poor sobs may actually buy the
|>   propaganda that this box is 4 <whatever> times
|>   better than what they have now.... 
|>  

Huh?
--


William M. Jackson
Workstation Product Marketing Manager
Workstation Engineering
Digital Equipment Corporation
146 Main Street
Maynard, MA 01754

Mail:	Jackson@pravda.enet.dec.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
From: lynchh@cs.curtin.edu.au (Huw Lynch)
Subject: XView 3.0 on decstation 5000/25
Organization: Curtin University of Technology
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 06:51:00 GMT

Has anyone managed to compile XView 3.0 on a dec station 5000?

I keep getting "Unknown size" errors during compilation.


Xref: sparky comp.sys.dec:5957 comp.mail.misc:3688
From: mjo@slee01.srl.ford.com (Mike O'Connor)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec,comp.mail.misc
Subject: Re: dxmail on ULTRIX
Followup-To: comp.mail.misc
Date: 13 Nov 1992 21:08:33 GMT
Organization: Not an official spokesperson for Ford Motor Co.
Reply-To: "Mike O'Connor" <mjo@fmsrl7.srl.ford.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: slee01.srl.ford.com

Followups redirected.  This is a mail issue, now.

In article <1992Nov12.182035.24694@decuac.dec.com> avolio@dco.DEC.COM
(Frederick M. Avolio) writes in response to me:

:>It's NOT a good address.  "!" mixed with "@" and "%" mixed with "@"
:>can cause problems, and "!" and "%" mixed with "@" usually DOES cause
:>problems.  
:
:Nonsense.  It is a perfectly good address.  Good, bad, and ugly are
:three different things.  It is an ugly address.  It is confusing only to
:someone who doesn't know the rules (@ has precedence), and for broken
:sendmail.cf files.

"blah!blah%blah.UUCP@blah.blah.blah" is the address format in question.

Using mixed "!" and "%" in the address is undefined -- both "@" and
"%" are routing hacks that I wouldn't consider part of a "good
address".  Moreover, anything that references the pseudo-domain .UUCP
is asking for trouble.  I guess your definition of "good" and mine
varies.  

						...Mike

--
 Michael J. O'Connor           |  Internet:  mjo@FMSRL7.SRL.FORD.COM
 Ford Motor Company, OPEO      |  UUCP:      ...!{backbone}!fmsrl7!mjo
 20000 Rotunda, Bldg. 1-3001   |  Phone:     +1 (313) 248-1260
 Dearborn, MI  48121           |  Fax:       +1 (313) 323-6277
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec,comp.os.vms
From: jackson@pravda.enet.dec.com ()
Subject: Re: alpha memory requirements (vs vax) ?
Reply-To: jackson@pravda.enet.dec.com ()
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 13:34:38 GMT


In article <1992Nov13.075521.20283@Urmel.Informatik.RWTH-Aachen.DE>, weikl@ee3ds1.ilt.fhg.de (Dr.B.Weikl) writes:
|>
|>
|>BTW, does anybody known with which memory the memory of a DEC/3000-500 is compatible? I've heard it would be the same as in a DECstation 5000. Does anybody know the order number of compatible memory?
|>
|>

It is new memory.  Two reasons:

	First, it is ECC and not parity. The only other workstation that
	we've done with ECC was the DECstation 5000/2xx series.

	Second, the memory is addressed in 256-bit (Plus ECC) datapaths, 
	thus some new organization had to be worked out. The DECstation
	5000 memory physically wouldn't deal with that


That's the bad news, now the good news.


The memory for the new systems is priced at $125/MB, which is considerably 
less than memory from Digital only a few weeks ago. In fact, Digital memory
is less expensive than that of a third party who announced their memory
for the DEC 3000 family before we announced the products.  We'll also trade
in memory from a current workstation when you're upgrading to allow you
to protect the investment that you've made in memory for our existing products.


--


William M. Jackson
Workstation Product Marketing Manager
Workstation Engineering
Digital Equipment Corporation
146 Main Street
Maynard, MA 01754

Mail:	Jackson@pravda.enet.dec.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
From: pje@meiko.co.uk (Patrick Evans)
Subject: wanted: DRB32 cables
Organization: Meiko Ltd. Bristol
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 11:43:35 GMT


Seeking DRB32W cable sets (VAX 6000/8000 Peripheral Bus).
---------------------------------------------------------

I am trying to get hold of the cable sets that are required to connect
a DRB32 board set to external devices. I am looking primarily for the
internal cables (17-01092-02, CK-DRB32-L). DEC have given me (in the UK)
some fairly daft delivery timescales for these parts (January), and I
would like to be getting work done before then. This is for our development 
system, so anything may be considered, regardless of ancestry.

Does anyone out there have any that they want to sell ? Maybe an old 6000 or
8000 that has BI-bus disk or tape systems that are out of use, which could be
pillaged ?

Please reply to pje@meiko.co.uk
From: mlevin@husc8.harvard.edu (Michael Levin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
Subject: postscript printer for VMS or Ultrix for under $1000?
Date: 13 Nov 92 04:19:14 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Harvard University Science Center


    Is there a postscript laserprinter that will work with VMS or
Ultrix, that can be bought for under $1000.00 and really works? Please
reply to mlevin@husc8.harvard.edu.

Mike Levin
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
From: mjr@hussar.dco.dec.com (Marcus J. Ranum AXP)
Subject: Re: Alpha Prices -- Any Idea out there??
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Washington ULTRIX Resource Center
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 18:16:05 GMT

>>The entry-level workstation is called the DEC 3000 Model 400 AXP Workstation 
>OK, Why "DEC 3000" ? And what does "XP" stand for? X-rated Performance? 

	The "Alpha AXP(tm)" made a bunch of us wonder, too, when the name
was decided upon. After reading a long statement about the choice of the
name "Alpha AXP(tm)" some of us finally managed to cut through the verbiage
and discover that "AXP" doesn't mean *ANYTHING* - it's just 3 letters
stuck onto "Alpha" to make it trademarkable. I've been involved in getting
a trademark in the past, and it is a LOT more ridiculous than you'd think,
especially for something you want to trademark internationally. So, while
adding "AXP" may seem kind of dopey, it's actually a lot less dopey than
the whole international trademark scene.

	Obviously, this is just my opinion.

mjr.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
From: hillig@U.Chem.LSA.UMich.EDU (Kurt Hillig)
Subject: Re: Alpha speed?
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 16:28:14 EST
Organization: Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

In article <1992Nov13.175341.9175@e2big.mko.dec.com> pettengill@cvg.enet.dec.com () writes:
>
>In article <RICHARD.92Nov12152902@chemeng.stanford.edu>, richard@chemeng.stanford.edu (Richard Schiek) writes:
>|>In all the technical blurbs for the new DEC Alpha chip, they call it a
>|>300MHz chip.  Yet, in all the new systems that DEC is shipping, the
>|>chip is running at 140 MHz max.  Why is it called a 300MHz chip when
>|>only 140 MHz systems are for sale?  Is there a problem with getting
>|>other components (ie memory) to work with a chip this fast, or is the
>|>chip lifetime too short to be feasible at 300 MHz.  
>
>I'm not sure what information you're referring to specifically, but as
>others have noted, at 150mHz, or more specifically 6.6ns cycle time, the
                          ^^^
>
>  [stuff deleted]
>

Not to be disparaging, but "mHz" is "milliHertz" - "MHz" is "MegaHertz".
If I was at DEC, I don't think I'd appreciate being told that my new
machine runs a billion times slower than it really does.  Of course if
they could get 120 SPECmarks with a 7 second cycle time, that would be
worth bragging about....

I know it's picky, but us scientist types sort this type of thing ;-)

-- 
      Kurt Hillig
   Dept. of Chemistry      I always tell the     khillig@umich.edu
 University of Michigan     absolute truth    Telephone (313)747-2867
Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1055    as I see it.    hillig@chem.lsa.umich.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec,comp.unix.ultrix
From: gpetty@rain.atms.purdue.edu (Grant W. Petty)
Subject: Re: Ultrix 4.3 -- Is it out ?
Keywords: New OS release
Organization: Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 22:38:35 GMT

In article <40298@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> xm9@sdcc12.ucsd.edu (richard g. adair) writes:
>In article <1992Oct19.191313.9635@alijku05.edvz.uni-linz.ac.at> ddean@risc.uni-linz.ac.at writes:
>>I've seen references to Ultrix 4.3, while our DECsystem 5000/240 delivered  
>>a couple weeks ago came with 4.2A.  Is 4.3 available ?  If so, what are  
>>the differences between 4.2A and 4.3 ?  Should we upgrade ?
>
>NO!  We have a DECStation 3100 and an Exabyte 8mm tape drive, and
>the upgrade from 4.2a to 4.3 caused it to malfuntion!  When the tape
>drive is accessed, all the SCSI devices reset and errors are logged
>to the uerf file!  How annoying!
>
>Tony Burzio
>Arete Associates
>San Diego, CA


I was just on the verge of doing the upgrade myself (from 4.1 to 4.3)
on my DECStation 5000/200.

Now I'm not so sure.  Can anyone else (e.g., DEC personnel, if they're
willing to give an honest assessment) confirm/refute this problem
before I retreat and upgrade to 4.2A instead??

	- Grant Petty

------------------------------------------------ 

I *HATE* upgrading -- it ALWAYS creates more problems than it solves!
But sometimes you gotta just swallow hard and do it, because the new
software version (e.g, DEC GKS3D v1.2), the one with the critical bug
fix you desperately need (and presumably some new, even more critical
bugs thrown in for good measure), requires the new version of the OS.

If new cars were engineered as sloppily as most new software, car
manufacturers would go to jail.


-- 
Grant W. Petty                                gpetty@rain.atms.purdue.edu
Assistant Prof. of Atmospheric Science        (317) 494-2544
Dept. of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Purdue University, West Lafayette IN  47907-1397  
Xref: sparky comp.sys.dec:5885 comp.os.vms:17773
From: brydon@asl.slb.com (Harvey Brydon (918)250-4312)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec,comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: alpha memory requirements (vs vax) ?
Date: 10 Nov 92 13:00:48 GMT
Reply-To: brydon@dsn.SINet.slb.com
Organization: Schlumberger/Anadrill Sugar Land, TX

In article <1992Nov5.113540.1@uwovax.uwo.ca>, brent@uwovax.uwo.ca (Brent
Sterner) writes:
>   Just curious about memory demands for alpha.  I'm running a VAX 4500
>with 128 MB memory.  Of that, SHO MEM tells me "38393 pages are permanently
>allocated to VMS".  How big is VMS on an alpha system?  (Perhaps someone with
>an alpha could post the last line from SHO MEM, though it might be misleading
>if there is a lot of dbugging code still in place.  Perhaps someone inside
>DEC has a non-debugging system they could use.)  Is there a rule of thumb for
>typical programs ("alpha memory needs"/"vax memory needs" ~= "constant")?
>[...]

You could apply Amdahl's law which says that a machine executing one
instruction per second needs one byte of memory and one byte/second I/O
bandwidth.  In 'real' machine terms, a 10 MIPS system should have about 10
Megabytes of memory and 10 MB/sec I/O bandwidth.  This is a rule of thumb. 
Modern processors and memory prices what they are, you will do better with a
bit more memory.  Now, what is the MIPS rating of a Flamingo?

The debate of MIPS/VUPS/Specs has already been beaten to death, thanks...
_______________________________________________________________
Harvey Brydon         | Internet:   brydon@dsn.SINet.slb.com
Dowell Schlumberger   | P.O.T.S.:   (918)250-4312
   "MIPS" is singular.  "MIPSes" is plural.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec