Problems with old Onyx and raw input

[Brad Templeton]

I have a chance to pick up an old Onyx C8002 that has never been used from
a local dealer at a good price.  I borrowed it over the weekend, to
check it out.  It is so old the box says C8000, but it runs the "Idea
machine" software from Interactive Systems, and has both IS/1 and IS/0.
The manuals say this means it must be a rev 3 board.  It uses 16k chips
on the memory board.  The software is dated Summer 81.

The system seems to run ok, but seems to like to hang or crash when I
play around with communications.  Under IS/1, even using cu or other types
of raw input at any rapid speed causes the system to crash requiring reboot.
(and sometimes wrecking the file system), and uucico normally causes a
crash while doing the login dialogue, although I once got it to start one
file coming in just before it crashed.  Under IS/1, cu (they call it cunix)
gives jerky output like an overloaded machine, even at 300 baud, while
IS/0 does not have this problem.

At other times, with no cause known, the system will print "Random
Interrupt ignored" on the console and hang.  It listens to the terminals,
echos and even prints (EOF) when you hit ctrl-D, but Unix doesn't respond.

If I buy this Onyx, I will probably get the latest System III upgrade,
partly because I want the new programs and partly because I expect a
performance upgrade.   Has anybody else experienced this crashing problem?
Will the new software solve my problems?  Help appreciated.

New information edited in:  I got uucp to work if I don't use the modem
port, but instead use one of the others through a null modem and with
modem control off in the device driver (mknod without the +16 on minor
device) so it looks like it might be hardware, but any comments
are appreciated.

-- 
	Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ont. (519) 886-7304
	allegra!watmath!bstempleton