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Re: ArrrrrrrrrrrrghIX



On Fri, 24 Apr 1998, Ira Abramov wrote:

> 
> sorry for this post, I need to let off steam...
> 
> we got a new IBM machine. PowerPC, latest version AIX.

4.3.1 ?

> 
> no man pages.

Man pages exist although they would rather have you use info-explorer.
The infoCD contains tons of useful info, but if you want the mans, you can
find them on the BOS CD's. (they are not installed by default since they
are huge, but you can install them. If you cant find them let me know and
I will check the package name for you)

> 
> I mean, the OS comes with the manpages PRINTED IN BOOKS. no man FILES.

Its on the BOS CD's and in the INFO CD.  Both are parts of the OS CD's you
got.  they are just not installed by default.

> 
> then I have to fight the stupid ksh (standard shell on AIX I guess). I
> learned ksh, and I know the differences between the linux' pdksh and the
> real one, this AIX ksh behaves even LESS like ksh than pdksh does!

I replaced ksh with tcsh the moment I started working on aix.  got a
binary from aixpdslib.seas.ucla.edu.

> 
> so I tried csh or tcsh, they both ignored the PATH variable (you read
> correctly). I went back to ksh after typing /bin/ls for the tenth time.

The binary I got from the above site works fine with PATH so I never
bothered compiling one of my own.

> 
> now I'm compiling egcs, then RCS, then perl...

I got binaries from the above site and later compiled perl myself.

> 
> 
> to sum it up: it's worse than Sloaris. thank god for linux distribution
> designers, who put the right things in and make the OS usable! Thanks
> Redhat, and thank you Patrick Volkerding!
> 

I used to prefer solaris but after I got used to AIX I think its better,
although linux is still way better.  They have a fantastic kernel with
internal debugging options.  (I develop kernel modules on AIX and believe
me, its a good kernel)
There are many things that are different from unix as we know it, like all
those smitty based scripts instead of regular config files.
("smit happens!")  However, you can get used to it and take advantage of a
great architecture, although not as fun as running it with linux.

Anyway, you can also run linux on this machine.  The PReP port works on
most IBM PPC based machines, although AIX can take better advantage of the
604 special features.  Also, if you have a 64bit rs6000 or one with more
than one processor, I think you can still use it better with AIX.

> 
>