How Good is the AT&T 6300 Plus?

[Joe Russack%CGL]

In article <1286 at amiga.amiga.UUCP> mitch at horse.UUCP (Mitchell R. Gass) writes:
>I haven't seen much on the net about the AT&T 6300 Plus.  Can
>anyone tell me:
>
>  - how the UNIX available for it compares with versions of UNIX
>    that run on other micros (in particular, the PC-AT)
>
>  - how IBM-PC compatible it is (does it run all those PC-DOS
>    applications?  Does it accept IBM expansion cards?) 
>
>  - how reliable it is

  I have worked withe at AT&T quite a bit from a tecnicians point of view
. It has some major problems. I work at a computer store which pushes them
pretty heavily, and I have noticed that thr return rate is pretty bad. We 
are always about 3 AT&T's behind sechedule. But, when one opens up the 
machine, the reasson is obvious. The thing is CHEAP. Lots of sharp aluminum,
things screwed to the motherboard, and other uglies. It is a two board computer
with the mail logic board on the bottom and the bus on the top. Becasue 
of this configuration, (Or at least we think becasue of this) the RF is pretty
bad. When the case is on, things are ok.....  but with it off, phew!

  The pc compatibility is not too good. It is passing, (and much better than
some unmentionable clones) but not as good as some others (like the ITT, compaq,etc). The worst thing about it is the nonstandard bus. For normal cards, it works fine. AT&T was generous enough to provide a 16 bit bus, not unlike the AT. But- and here is the funny part- the 16 bit extender is 6 inches from the regular
bus. This means that the only 16 bit cards the AT&T can use are made by AT&T. 
No fun. 

   In the unix depdt. I am ignorant- I have never used it. Hope all this stuff
helped- 

Joseph Russack
!ucbvax!ucsfcgl!russack