System/6000 questions.

[drake at drake.almaden.ibm.com]

I can't answer all your questions, but here's a start.

In article <40900001 at sunb6> voss at sunb6.cs.uiuc.edu writes:

>1)  Will an RS 6000 act as an NFS server?  client?

Yes.  Yes.

>2)  Does it support SLIP?  Compressed SLIP?

SLIP is supported.  Don't know about compressed SLIP.

>3)  How fast can you push the 320's serial ports?  (I'ld love 56 kbps [ISDN])
>    (One at a time, or both?)

I couldn't find a number for the built-in serial ports.  The various
expansion cards that support serial ports (there are 8, 16, and 64 port
cards available) support up to 38.4Kbps.

>5)  Is the 2-d Color Graphics Adapter really "optimal for X Windows use?"

I don't know what question you're asking.  The 3-d capabilities of 
the 3-D adapter won't be exploited by X, so if all you want to do is run
X then the 3-D adapter might be a non-optimal expenditure.  But if you 
want the 3-D capabilities the 3-D card is very impressive!

>6)  What GNU software has been/is being ported to the Rios?

At a minimum, the FSF has EMACS available.

>8)  Does AIX support the BSD three R's, rlogin, rsh, rcp?

Yes, yes, yes.

>9)  What do you think of AIX in general?  (I'm a BSD bigot myself.)
>    One person told me half jokingly:
>	"throw out the best of BSD, and the best of SYS V,
>	 what is left is AIX."
>    What do you think?

I disagree.  Define the "best of BSD" and the "best of SYS V", and
we'll see if it's there or not...specifics are better than generalizations.

>10) Does AIX come with /usr/man/man* or just /usr/man/cat* ?

Neither, quite.  AIX comes with the documentation in a hypertext
system that is more advanced than others on the market.  The "man"
command can retrieve information from the hypertext system (minus
the hypermedia aspects).  The "info" command uses the same database
to provide a highly advanced hypermedia interface.  The "man" command
can also read standard "man" pages, either from /usr/man/man or from
/usr/man/cat.  With the optional CD-ROM drive, the ENTIRE library
of publications for AIX Version 3 and the RISC System/6000 can be
searched via the hypermedia system...quite nice!

>15) Are floppies the standard distribution media for OS & Applications?

There are several standard distribution media:  (1) floppies, (2) 1/4" tape,
(3) 8mm tape, (4) pre-loaded by IBM on the system hard files.  You can also 
install your 2nd-nth machines over the LAN from your 1st machine.

>17) How many buttons on the standard mouse?
>	(None of the pictures I've seen show!!!!)

Three.

Opinions are my own, not my employer's.


Sam Drake / IBM Almaden Research Center 
Internet:  drake at ibm.com            BITNET:  DRAKE at ALMADEN
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