AT&T PC 6300 Plus Unix box

From: Ward Griffiths <wdg3rd_at_home.com>
Date: Mon Oct 4 03:24:04 1999

Tony Duell wrote:
>
> > For the time., it was possibly the best Unix PC (emphasis on PC)
> > around. SCO Xenix on the AT was unstable at best. There was no
> > really stable Unix on the x86 series until things were recompiled
> > for the 80386. (Despite the name, the "Unix PC", the 7300/3B1
> > series, was never priced as a personal computer nor did it have an
> > Intel cpu). I'm welcome to contrary opinions about the viability
>
> Since when (either on this list, or 'back then') has 'personal computer'
> implied an Intel CPU.

Sorry, Tony. I've been inactive here for a fair while, not even
reading much of the list for months on end (though I received the
whole lot and they're archived awaiting "copious spare time").

I was using the term "PC" as it was more or less used at the time.

> I think you could justify calling the TRS-80 model 16 a 'personal
> computer' and as you say below, it ran Xenix.

I had two Model 16s at the time, both personal and beloved to me
until the electric company murdered them and I replaced them with a
by-then-discontinued 3B1. The machines were scrapped due to my
ignorance and my then-wife's opinion that they were impossible to
salvage (she was the hardware person in the marriage, a field
engineer by profession). My current Tandy 6000 can't find its hard
drive and my present wife wants me to toss it, but she's just a
registered nurse with no expertise on silicon-based life forms.

> When is 'for the time'? Torch (in the UK) released the XXX not that much
> later (1984?). That was a _strange_ machine -- it ran unix (well,
> uniplus+), and had a machintosh-like frontend. But if you pointed and
> clicked in the right place you got a real shell. The display was colour
> and sort-of EGA resolution. Hardware was a 68010 (or 68020 with a
> kludgeboard) CPU, 1Mbyte RAM (expandable with a daughterboard XOR VME
> cards), 3 serial ports (at least one of which could do X25), optional
> ethernet, etc. It also came with the most insulting set of manuals I have
> ever seen for a workstation :-(.

I remember reading about those in Unix Review and Unix World. I
wanted one but the price was prohibitive. Were the manuals as
insulting as those for the AT&T 7300? That'd be a stretch.

> Don't get me started on the joys of jumpstarting one of these toys when
> the battery goes flat ;-)

Well, I've really got to open my 7300s and replace their batteries.
Been
dead for several years. Yes, I've got the instructions on replacing the
NiCad with a clip for a couple of D cells. (As well as the instructions
for replacing the single hard drives with pairs of larger capacity).

--
Ward Griffiths  wdg3rd_at_home.com   <http://members.home.net/wdg3rd>
WARNING:  The Attorney General has determined that Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms can be hazardous to your health -- and get away with it.
Received on Mon Oct 04 1999 - 03:24:04 BST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Fri Oct 10 2014 - 23:32:32 BST