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[Robert J. Granvin]

>One more point of clarification -- a lot of folks have been beating the
>OBM (on-board modem) to death on the net, as well as port tty000.  Please
>folks, the hardware is not at fault.  In fact, the hardware as I've seen
>it (through schematics, of course) is very flexible and has the capability
>to do what you want without problems.  The problem as I see it is the
>SOFTWARE (ie. the OS).

tty000 problems are purely software.  The driver(s) were brain
damaged, but for the most part have been repaired.

Expansion boards, if they have problems are predominantly hardware
problems.  Although the fix is incredibly trivial.  Replace a chip.
Of course, if you still have brain damaged drivers, then you'll still
not be able to use the ports to full capabilities, even though your
machine won't crash quite as seriously.

The OBM is another issue altogether, though.  Sure.  The OBM has had
its problems as well because of software.  A lot of it was attributed
it to a brain damaged (that term is getting used a lot :-) uucico.
While not much more intelligent, the uucico fixes have made a marked
improvement.

But let's take it a step further... A lot of modems out there
recognize the OBM as an 1200 baud MNP modem.  Believe me.  It's not.
A lot of modems out there are also fully capable of connecting with
any brand of modem providing any "legal" carrier tone.  But wait a
moment... Then there is the 3b1 and the OBM.  All of a sudden you
might have discovered a modem that you cannot connect to.  This is not
OS related, but is hardware related (of course, depending what you
consider firmware, that point is debatable :-)  Many modems will
connect fine, but many will not.

Even Telebit Trailblazers under one type of configuration will connect
to every available modem (apparently :-) but will always fail on a 3b1
OBM.  A different configuration which isn't necessarily as optimum or
efficient, works in all cases.   While the OBM may not be completely
the guilty party, it is certainly at least an accomplice.  Even the
best hardware is only as good as how well it operates.  In many ways
the OBM works better than a lot of commercial modems, but in other
ways, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Anyways, that's all subtopics.  There are a lot of software items that
should be fixed or at least notably enhanced, but don't expect
anything from it.  ATT isn't going to put a lot of effort to fixing
something that works (even if it doesn't work well, it still works),
and source is practically impossible to obtain (even certain sections
of ATT's 3b1 support groups weren't able to get the source for a long
time...)

(Although, not to be unfair - for the past several weeks, I've been
keeping in touch with a very small subset of technicians, keeping tabs
on the current state of some repairs and reporting new problems as
they are made known.  While not everything may be repaired, these
techs are handling the items very well (surprisingly, at times.  And
no, these are not the "phone techs" which I have had some very
frustrating experiences with).  These people are taking serious issues
with the seriousness it deserves, plus they perform what is normally
considered a reasonable test period.  The advantage is that the
updates or fixes released are more than likely solid and complete.
The disadvantage is that you have to wait, and normally can't find out
what's being repaired...)

-- 
"I've been trying for some time to                           Robert J. Granvin
 develop a life-style that doesn't          National Information Systems, Inc.
 require my presence."                                       rjg at sialis.mn.org
    -Garry Trudeau                ...{{amdahl,hpda}!bungia,rosevax}!sialis!rjg