Virtual consoles AT&T 386 UNIX

[Bill Kennedy]

One of the few things that I have not liked about AT&T 386 UNIX was its
lack of virtual consoles like Microport and Xenix.  Interestingly, they
do have virtual consoles but they come with VP/ix (Simul-Task-386).
Many thanks to Bill Bunton for getting me to find them, but they are
sure there and they sure work.  You can have 7 of them, just fire up a
getty on /dev/vt0n where n is the number of what you want.  Also use the
virtcon gettydef and you're on your way.  Alt-SysReq-Fn will get you to
that virtual console and Alt-SysReq-F8 will get you back to the "real"
console.

I'm cross posting this because I have seen a number of questions and
remarks about a decent '386 UNIX.  I think that AT&T has done a good
job of building on the ISC port and it has some real pluses that you
don't think about right away.  Believe it or not, AT&T is less expensive
than the others.  Elek-Tek will sell you unlimited run time and development
for around $700.  That's quite competitive with the others.  The VP/ix is
unlimited users too and it's far superior to Locus' Merge/386 (aka
Microport).  I had Microport V/386 and Merge/386 and tossed them out
because they just wouldn't function correctly or the way I wanted.

If you already have the AT&T UNIX and VP/ix, welcome back virtual consoles!
If you're still thinking or looking, don't make any ASSumptions about the
AT&T product, it's robust, well documented, and quite cost effective.  In
all fairness, Bill Bunton has ISC 386 UNIX and he's the one who coached me
through finding them and turning them on.  I can't say that AT&T's VP/ix
documentation is very good, I know SCO's is better and I suspect that ISC
is too.  I *like* it!

No affiliation with AT&T other than singlehandedly funding their Long Lines
capital improvements :-( and being a very satisfied user of their '386
products.
-- 
Bill Kennedy  usenet      {killer,att,rutgers,sun!daver,uunet!bigtex}!ssbn!bill
              internet    bill at ssbn.WLK.COM