Altos 5000 (was: SCO Unix security features)

[Ti Kan]

In article <1990Aug19.214500.18612 at pegasus.com> richard at pegasus.com (Richard Foulk) writes:
>>Not my idea, unfortunately.  The machine in question is an Altos 5000; it runs
>>SCO Unix, but *not* the stock version:  it has drivers for MultiDrop and Altos'
>>serial port concentrators (based on past experience with Altos, they should be
>>far more reliable than the norm for PC-class machines), the High Performance
>>File Processor (optional attachment), built-in Ethernet controller and SCSI
>>controller, etc.  I *wish* I could just pick up 386/ix for it!
>
>I sounds like the Altos hardware has enough strikes against it to condemn
>its selection, just like SCO Unix on the software side.
>
>Remember, popularity is important when selecting hardware and software.
>Isn't that why most of us here have selected the 386-ATbus platform?  It
>keeps the cost down and the alternatives up.
>
>Richard Foulk		richard at pegasus.com

Well Richard, popularity can certainly be a consideration since it
relates to compatibility.  On the other hand, when you think 386-ATbus
boxes you are still thinking "Personal Computer".  There is nothing
personal about Altos' System 5000, despite its EISA bus, i486 CPU, and
general PC-like architecture.  We chose to go with this hardware
architecture *not* to build yet another PC-clone, but to build a truly
high-performance multi-user system, while taking advantage of the wide
availability of add-on hardware and software available for this
platform.

Perhaps I am going to sound like I am plugging our systems, but I
feel that I have to explain the rationale behind some of our
"non-standard" value-added hardware and software feature, so perhaps
you'll see why the available "standard" just won't do for our intended
application.

Our Altos 5000 supports 200 users.  What serial port card out there
with a "standard" SCO driver can support such a requirement?  I bet you
won't find any.  Thus, we developed the Multidrop card and the
associated device driver, allowing connectivity of up to 512 RS232
serial devices (up to 4 multidrop cards, with 128 ports each).  This is
accomplished via a single cable in the back of the computer per
multidrop card, and daisy-chained terminal-cluster units (TCUs) serving
8 RS232 ports per TCU.  On our TCU/2 model, there are even 2 parallel
ports so printers can be conveniently connected remotely from the
computer.  Moreover, with an on-board 286 processor and an aggregate
throughput of over 70,000 characters per second it out-performs just
about any serial card out there.  For applications that does not
require as many ports that the multidrop provides, we also offer our
"Serial concentrator" board that supports 8 RS232 serial ports.  This
one differs from other such cards in that it has its own 186 processor
on board, offloading the main CPU and offers very high performance (try
running all ports at 19200 or even 38400 baud on your brand X serial
board and see if any of your terminals will drop characters, ours
won't).

We chose to integrate many functions onto a single "Base I/O card"
card, which is shipped with every System 5000.  This card has a floppy
controller, a SCSI hard disk controller, two RS232 serial ports
(corresponding to COM1 and COM2 for compatibility), a parallel port
(again, corresponds to LPT1 for compatibility), and an ethernet port.
This card takes up only one slot, yet provides all the basic functionality
we feel are essential in a true multi-user system.  The other slots
are hence open for other expansion boards.  Ethernet is standard
on every system because we feel that this system is ideal as a network
file server, while concurrently supporting X display terminals and
PCs.

For large setups that supports a lot of users, we offer the High
Performance File Processor board, which is another SCSI controller
board.  Up to two such boards can coexist in the system, and in
conjunction with the SCSI channel on the Base I/O board, provides
a total of 5 SCSI channels, which means up to 35 SCSI devices
maximum.  With the largest currently supported SCSI disk at 1GB
per disk, the System 5000 can have up to 30GB of total disk space
(mounted in expansion cabinets, which plug into the back of the
computer), and still have space for various other SCSI devices,
such as high capacity cartridge tape drive (525MB per cartridge),
or the Exabyte 8mm tape drive (2GB+ per tape).  Again, what other
SCSI controller with a "standard" SCO driver can support this
kind of expandability?

The Multidrop, Serial Concentrator, Base I/O, and HPFP boards
are all 32-bit EISA cards, taking advantage of the increased
performance of EISA.

To further improve disk performance and reliability, we offer disk
striping and disk mirroring.  The parallel seeks of disk striping
decrease average seek time and the redundancy of disk mirroring
provides a measure of data security that is quite necessary in a
large system.  This, again, is unavailable in a "standard" SCO
system (or for that matter, in any other UNIXs that run on a PC).

You see, when we built the System 5000 we aimed very high.  This
system is so capable that we position it as a mini-computer, among
the ranks of Pyramids and Sequents.  Yet we priced it reasonably,
that it is in the same league as the "PCs", such as Compaq Systempro
and the HP Vectra.

What we offer in addition to the performance and expandability is
compatibility.  The PC-architecture simply allows us to provide an
unprecedented integration of a large UNIX system with all the
applications that SCO UNIX supports, as well as DOS compatibility.
You can still buy off-the-shelf PC/AT/EISA cards and plug them
into the 5000.  Our SCO-compatible UNIX guarantees that any SCO-
supported applications will simply plug-n-play.

I think the Altos 5000 differs from other such 486 EISA boxes (which
includes the Compaq and HP mentioned above, as well as a zillion other
clones), precesely because we designed it, software and hardware,
from the ground up to be a non-PC.

See the review of the System 5000 in the July issue of _UNIX WORLD_.
I think you'll see why our software and hardware should not be
"condemned from selection" because of our efforts to make a PC-like
machine perform like a mini.

Comments are welcome.

-Ti
-- 
Ti Kan                                                                  \\\
vorsprung durch technik!                                                 \\\
Internet: ti at altos.com                                                /// \\\
UUCP: ...!{sun|sco|pyramid|amdahl|uunet}!altos!ti                    ////////\