More fun with Dick & Jane...

[Ron Flax]

In article <4144 at utastro.UUCP> Alexis Rosen
>This is crap. I've defended A/UX in the past, and probably will
>again in the future. Still, this makes me mad. The "appropriate
>changes" have *NOT* been made. First of all, HFX apparently fails
>under certain conditions and can trash your file system.

What do you mean "apparently" fails, has it failed on you? It sounds to
me like you've gotten this information second hand? I suppose you'd
rather use mfs, or maybe you know some trick with dd?  Hfx works just
fine for "the rest of us" (sorry I just couldn't resist...) :-)

>Even more important, A/UX still uses the System V File System. This
>is simply horrible. The reason is that Apple didn't want to take
>the time to rewrite sash.

Unfortunately this is true of *all* System V base UNIX ports.. where
might I ask do you get your information regarding a rewrite of sash?

>...
>hardware, but it took an outrageous time to get 1.1 out the door. And

And as far as committment goes.. this *is* only the second release of
the product, you are in such a hurry for us to "get it out the door",
that it's amazing that we are able to incorporate *any* new features.

>of course the toolbox support, which was supposed to make this Yet-
>Another-Undistinguished-Unix-Box desireable

Name one other UNIX box that runs *QUALITY* off-the-shelf software at
reasonable prices (ie, under $500-700 per copy).  Granted A/UX doesn't
run all MacOS applications, however it does run many of the standard
ones that lots of us use. (MS-WORD 4.0, Excel 2.2, PowerPoint,
MacWrite II, MacDraw II, MacPaint, More II, WordPerfect, HyperCard, 
WingZ, etc...)

>But you want to hear complaints, so there they are. While I'm at it,
>why don't you fix the various documented bugs that have been floating
>around (which make uucp a real problem, for example), bring the port base
>up to SVR3 (or dare I ask for R4?), support the FFS, provide a reasonable
>tape product (the 40SC is the most shameful piece of garbage ever to come
>out of Apple, I think), provide CD-ROM copies, a reasonable manual without
>requiring purchase of the $600 set, decent support of what little new
>hardware Apple has started selling since A/UX came out, etc. etc.

Ah, finally something constructive.. OK.. which bugs are you refering
to when you say floating around?  What version of UUCP would you like
to see?  HoneyDanBer? 4.3BSD?  What would you gain by having an SVR3
porting base? Streams? we have 5.2.1 Streams in 1.1.  What about RFS,
that's in R3, but everyone uses NFS.  Noone has an R4 port out the
door, there's lots of work to be done before that should be considered
a solid porting base.  The BSD Fast Filesystem, yes I'd like to see
that as well, in fact that plus long filenames.  Yes a better tape
backup would be great too, however there are decent 3rd party products
available now, like the Erwin 80MB drive, etc..  Would you like to see
a CD version of A/UX itself? Or just the manuals? Would you consider
buying a CD unit for you A/UX system if A/UX were provided on that type
of media?  What would you consider to be a "reasonable manual" besides
a cheaper price?  I don't understand you comment about what little
hardware Apple's come out with.. we've introduced more products this
year alone than in the entire existance of the company?  Eg. MacIIx,
MacIIcx, Mac SE/30, CD-ROM, Two-Page Display, Portrait Display, etc..

>
>Am I bitter? Not about A/UX in general. I just bought it, and I knew

I'm glad you're not bitter.. I would really welcome your even-tempered
thoughts with regard to the above questions.  I really think this type
of exchange can be constructive.

--
Ron Flax
UUCP:		..!uunet!afsg!ron
Internet:	ron at afsg.apple.com	
Apple Federal Systems Group, Complex Systems

DISCLAIMER: The thoughts expressed above are my own, and do not
            necessarily reflect those of my employer.