3B2 Interest Group (Was Re: FAQ about the AT&T UNIX PC)

[Charlie Lear]

In article <84314 at tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> len at giza.cis.ohio-state.edu (Len Rose) writes:
>  They are:
>  u3b.config
>  u3b.misc
>  u3b.sources
>  u3b.tech

I'm well aware of them, but unfortunately they don't get anywhere
near New Zealand. I am entirely dependent on this newsgroup and on
mail to keep up-to-date. By the same token, I don't want to get
people het up by leaving any more "I've-got-a-3B2-hassle-help!"
articles in what is plainly a generic AT&T newsgroup.

So I'll try to keep my postings down to one every couple of weeks...
8-)

Latest news for those who have been following my saga with interest
(especially those who have been good enough to email me) is that I
can't get the uucp feed going and the primary hard disk gets bad
sectors at random in the root filesystem.

I've swapped both hard drives over, so the bad sectors are now
appearing in /usr. That I can live with, as I do frequent backups.
The New Zealand distributor of AT&T products lost their 3B2 guru
when he shifted to England a year ago, and they can't find *any*
technical documentation or diagnostic disks that would enable me to
do a low-level format. Such is life.

Re the news problem, this is what happens: (initial stuff deleted)
7.0 (kaukau.comp.vuw.ac.nz) (ttyp2)^M^J^M^M^J^Mlogin:got it
sendthem (bearcave^M)
expect: (word:)
 ^Jlogin: bearcave^JPassword:got it
sendthem (pwd^M)
Login Successful: System=vuwcomp
wmesg 'U'g
Proto started g
wmesg 'H'
Remote Requested: vuwcomp!D.vuwcof9d189f --> bearcav!D.vuwcof9d189f
(news)
wmesg 'S'Y

Here is where it hangs. Just sits there. Bummer. Then it eventually
fails with:
send OO 0,Conversation Complete: Status FAILED

Any clues, however tiny, would be incredibly appreciated. Of my last
"can't get into firmware" panic messages, it was just one tip in
email that allowed me (and the NZ technical support guys) to get it
going again. That was the terminal having to be set to N81 else
firmware mode wouldn't work. So don't think that you need hold back
on a trivial or obvious suggestion - everything is welcomed.

As a final note, I could very shortly be on my own: the last
remaining five 3B2 systems in NZ will be decommissioned in a couple
of months and may find their way overseas. Help me wave the AT&T
flag! 8-)

Regards
 Charlie Lear ( clear at actrix.co.nz )