My experience with the AT&T 6386WGS (was Re: Reports on Trailblazer...)

[Lenny Tropiano]

In article <1158 at usl-pc.UUCP> jpdres14 at usl-pc.UUCP (Collett Donald L) writes:
|>
|>I have been considering buying either an AT&T 6386WGS and was wondering if you
|>could tell me a few things about this computer.  Has there been any problems
|>with the computer or the Unix it comes with?  What kind of modems can be 
|>installed in it and how well do they work with the computer?  Do you know if
|>this machine will run the new AT&T Unix System V Release 4.0 that will be 
|>coming out in about a year?  It was my understanding that this machine is
|>shipped with AT&T Unix System V Release 3.2 already on it.  Thank you for
|>your time.
|>

We just got our AT&T 6386WGS system in the office last week.  So far I think
it's a great machine.  We have the CPU63 which is the 68MB hard disk.  We
have 4MB of RAM, as well as, the Color monitor and EGA graphics adapter.
Setting up the machine was quite easy.  The documentation was suprisingly
accurate and straight forward.  My only mistake was to populate the RAM card
with the 256K SIMMS to 4MB before loading the diagnostics and telling the
internal NVRAM of my new configuration.  A quick phone call to the HOTLINE
solved that without much hassle.

Before getting the UNIX operating system, I loaded Interactive's System V/386
and it worked quite well.  Even the VP/ix (DOS-merge) stuff worked pretty 
well.  I was able to notice a few quirks with the OS, but I have an "older"
release of Interactive's OS.  We finally got the AT&T UNIX System V/386
Operating System Release 3.1.  It loaded fine, but my only complaint is that
the initial setup scripts (off the Foundation Disk 1) doesn't support any 
more than a /, /usr, /usr2 filesystems.  I couldn't create a /usr3 using their
simple startup procedures...

To answer a question posed above, yes modems work well.  I only tested a
Telebit Trailblazer on it.  It seemed to communicate find, for the amount
of time we had it on the machine.  But I don't see much problems with it. The
ports go up to 38,400 baud, so 19,200 is a breeze..   The UNIX Release 3.1
comes with HoneyDanBer UUCP, and is exactly like the 3.1 OS on the 3B-series.

AT&T will be releasing UNIX System V release 4.0 for the 6386WGS systems
just after the 3B2 is released.   AT&T has guaranteed support for these 
machines for their new product line.  They will be kept just as up to date
as the 3Bseries has been.  

One note on ordering Simultask 386 (DOS Merge-VP/ix) don't forget to get
a copy of AT&T MSDOS 3.2 or later releases, as it isn't shipped with the
Simultask.  You need to spend the $65.00 for the MSDOS.  It doesn't work
with 2.11 (I tried) :-(  Oh well more on that when I load it down tomorrow.

Peripherials ... We ordered (and received) the PORT boards (AKA "Gemini 10") 
from the company that sells it to AT&T (since AT&T isn't shipping them yet
because of a few "quirks").  The company name is "CTC".  The port board is a XT
slot (1/2 card) that has a large cable that is connected to an intelligent 
board.  The board has 8 serial ports and 2 parallel ports.  It is controlled
by two Z-80 CPUs so that all the ports can run up to 38,400 baud.  The board
throughput is very good.  I didn't loose any integrity running it at higher
speeds.     The board came with a disk to load the "Gemini" drivers for the
6386 -- Yes, the diskette was made especially for the AT&T machine.

Basically it comes down to this... you get your machine, 4MB of memory (more
is needed if you load it down with lots of users), a port board, and you
have a machine that has 9 serial ports (one on the back of the machine, 8
on the board) and 3 parallel (one on the back, two on the port board).  Pretty
impressive, and very cost efficient!

So far so good... I like the machine!

								-Lenny
-- 
US MAIL  : Lenny Tropiano, ICUS Computer Group        IIIII  CCC U   U  SSS
           PO Box 1                                     I   C    U   U S
	   Islip Terrace, New York  11752               I   C    U   U  SS 
PHONE    : (516) 968-8576 [H] (516) 582-5525 [W]        I   C    U   U    S
TELEX    : 154232428 [ICUS]                           IIIII  CCC  UUU  SSS 
AT&T MAIL: ...attmail!icus!lenny  
UUCP     : ...{mtune, ihnp4, boulder, talcott, sbcs, bc-cis}!icus!lenny