From: thompson@PAN.SSEC.HONEYWELL.COM (jt -- John Thompson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: re: Mentor graphics/Apollo 3000 info request
Date: 11 Nov 92 21:43:22 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: The Internet


>   I need some info about some "old" Mentor graphics CAD workstations that
> I'm considering buying.  These are supposedly Apollo 3000 based, have a 19"
> mono monitor, 5 1/4 floppy drives, an 80 MB MFM drive plus controller and
> a token ring card.
>    Can someone explain the difference with the regular 3000 ?
Sure.  Mentor slapped a sticker on the APOLLO DOMAIN area that says MENTOR.

>    What kind of OS can be run ?  It apparently has a BSD4.2 based OS.  What
> could this be ?  Domain 8.? (assuming the machine is a 3000 + CAD software)
You can run any O/S from 10.4 back to at least 9.6.  A lot depends on what rev
of Mentor software you have.  They are tied together tightly.  Mentor software
depended (until Mentor8) on the AEGIS side of Domain/OS (just AEGIS at sr9.x).
The fact that you say BSD4.2 _implies_that it's got sr9.x loaded on it.  If
that's true, you're at a very very old rev of the O/S and Mentor s/w (pre-1989).

> Could the OS be upgraded to a more modern BSD4.3 based OS ?
Sure.  You can up-rev to the newest O/S available -- 10.4.  Of course, if you
want the Mentor software to run, you need to be tied to a specific version
   MENTOR REV   O/S VERSION     COMMENTS
   6.1		SR9.7		AEGIS + (optionally DomainIX bsd4.2/sys5.2)
   7.0		SR10.1		Domain/OS (Aegis/bsd4.3/sys5.3)
   7.0_1(?)	SR10.3		Much better than 10.1 (real dog of an O/S)
   7.0_3(?)	SR10.3.5	Better yet;  X11 support
   7.0_5	SR10.3.5.1	For mixed Mentor version 7/8 environments
   8.0_x	SR10.3.5.x	Mainly political releases from Mentor
   8.1		SR10.3.5.x	Pretty decent release
   8.2		SR10.4		FUTURE RELEASE (Mentor promises "quality")
Note that you would not want to run Mentor8 on this node (WAY TOO SLOW), and
might not want to run Mentor7 on it, unless you do small things, and little
simulation or other compute-intensive tasks.  This is only a 1MIP machine, and
might have as little as 2MB ram (takes up to 8MB).

>    There used to be a larger disk and a tape drive.  Is the included (80 MB)
> drive big enough or would I need to buy some additional disks ?  What kind
> of tape drive could be used ?
You can fit the O/S on the 80MBdisk if you squeeze tight, pare down, and link
out to other Apollos.  The Mentor s/w uses 40-90MB for most Mentor6/7 stations.
Don't forget swap space (automatically taken from remaining freespace), so the
short answer is no, the disk is too small.
The c-tape cannot be in a machine with a floppy drive, so you'd have to remove
the floppy first.  I forget the c-tape type, but it is NOT scsi.

>    Are ethernet cards available for the 3000 ?
Yes.  Check the FAQ for more info, but it's the 3-COM 505 ethernet board.

>    What kind of ports does it have ? (serial, scsii, ... )
1 RS232 serial port.  1 disk drive (different controllers for different
drives).  Optional parallel port w/ more $$ spent.

>    What kind of software and hardware support is available for the 3000 ?
You can get full hardware support from HP or other vendors.  O/S support of
sr9.x has gone bye-bye.

-- jt --
John Thompson
Senior Engineer / Sys-Admin
Honeywell, SSEC
Plymouth, MN  55441
thompson@pan.ssec.honeywell.com

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
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Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo