Various info (was Re: Flaky behavior after installing 3002 upgrade)

[Robin D. Wilson]

In article <1249 at cameron.egr.duke.edu> jpe at egr.duke.edu (John P. Eisenmenger) writes:
>Here is a summary of various things of which I have recently found out through
>my extensive dealings with IBM trying to get my XStation 120s to handle IEEE
>802.3 networking.  I in no way represent IBM, and these statements are in no
>
>	1) At one point an IBM rep. at software support mentioned that a
>	   new tape was on the verge of being released.  According to my
>	   SE, the tape being mentioned was the 3003 update.  I have since
>	   heard from my SE that IBM is having problems with that tape and
>	   the latest available update so far is 3002.  If you haven't
>	   upgraded your system to the 3002 update you should call IBM
>	   and get it.  It's free and it's quick (I received my update
>	   within 24 hours -- overnight air -- surprised the h*ll out
>	   of me!).

3003 is not yet available, but will be autoshipped to all "CUSTOMERS OF RECORD"
at  some date in the future (tentatively set for mid-January).  There are 
MANY significant fixes/enhancements in this update.  There are also some
serious "gotcha's" if you don't read the release notes.  Make sure that you
carefully read the notes before updating the machine, or you may have to 
reinst*** (oops, can't say that word).

 
>	2) This is also from my SE: watch out for telnetd under 3002.  If
>	   you haven't applied the 3002 update yet, save the 3001 version
>	   of telnetd and reinstall it after applying the 3002 update.  The
>	   3002 version will (supposedly) hang up.  We almost always use
>	   "rlogin" so I can't verify this, but seeing as how I was warned
>	   by an IBM rep. I suppose it's true.  She didn't know if it would
>	   be fixed on 3003...

This is caused by the implementation of a new RFC for terminal negotiation.
(Needless to say the implementation we used doesn't work.)  Basically what 
happens is this: the RS/6000 host says "can you terminal neg?" and the 
calling host says, "yes (or no), how about terminal type 'x'?"  The RS then
says, "nope can't do that one, how 'bout this one?"  blah blah blah, and 
eventually both hosts end up waiting on the other one to respond.  The "BEST"
solution is to use the 3001 version of telnetd.  The next best solution is
to make sure that your terminal type is found in the RS's terminfo database.

>
>	3) Earlier Robin Wilson said that getting IEEE 802.3 networking
>	   going on IBM XStations required the 3002 update plus a hardware
>	   change for the XStation Ethernet card.  This seems to be the
>	   case, but the hardware EC has been cancelled by IBM.  So far
>	   I haven't been able to find out why it was cancelled, when
>	   they plan on making it available again, how I'm supposed to
>	   get my X terminals to work, or anything else.  Since it's the
>	   holiday season I'm not expecting answers overnight...

I can't provide any help here, I don't work in the hardware area.

>	   Presently I am going to try subnetting my Xterminals off of a
>	   second Ethernet card which is configured to run "Standard"
>	   Ethernet.  The card is a loaner from IBM...

This should work... But I can't promise that every Marketing Rep. will be so
free swinging with hardware loaners.

>I must say that I have been pleasantly surprised with IBM's service.  Even
>though my problems aren't solved I haven't had the feeling that my calls
>or questions have been in any way ignored or delayed unnecessarily, which
>is all-too-frequent with some other companies.  In some ways (like lending
>us ethernet cards -- this is the second time) they're bending over backwards
>to help.

We try.  Thanks.


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