The two-hour show included almost an hour of customer question-and-answer, a far more generous slice of input than in previous HP TV broadcasts. One customer asked, "Which release of MPE/iX did you say would be a 64-bit version?" HP had to reply that, um, they didn't announce a 64-bit release of MPE/iX -- which may not matter so much, depending on which 3000-savvy engineer you ask. We're asking Winston Prather, R&D leader for CSY, in our next issue's Q&A. Some say that the hype over 64-bit systems is mostly marketing sizzle cooked up to maintain interest in new technology and spark sales. They're saying 64-bit operating systems really only deliver one tangible benefit for commercial computing: the ability to address lots of memory all at once. You should expect file sizes greater than 4Gb to arrive between the 6.0 and 7.0 releases, sometime in 1998. That's a 64-bit feature that a surprising number of customers could use today, according to application and tool vendors in the 3000 marketplace.
The challenges to the HP 3000 market's growth remain a part of a picture that HP is unable to change with any strategic broadcast. A customer wanted to know which applications have arrived on the 3000 as a result of adding Posix to MPE/iX. It's not the first time the question has been asked of the Commercial Systems Division management. The answer was about the same as it's been, as HP referred to tools like Gnu C++, Java and Samba rather than pointing to specific applications which now run on the 3000. The Posix extensions for MPE/iX might be in line for some enhancements, an upgrade that developers say would make ports of things like Samba better integrated with the traditional MPE/iX namespace. HP committed to including Posix enhancements in its "overall solution planning process" for a future MPE/iX release.
But the inquiries about the future of the 3000 might well be balanced by the growing acknowledgement of its continuing success in the customer base. The TV show's identification lines for its speakers included a "25" logo next to each name, and HP carried a birthday cake onto the set to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 3000. These icons were meant to remind viewers they were looking at the latest plans for a system that's outlasted five US presidents and two HP CEOs. Given that the show aired in the month of January, perhaps the most apt comment on the plans came from Wirt Atmar of AICS Research, an application provider which makes an MPE/iX spreadsheet/report writer. Atmar said that after hearing about plans for a prioritized 64-bit 3000 implementation and looking over his own satisfied customer base, he feels like Janus. That's the Roman god whose blessing was asked in the first month of each year. Janus was represented in art with two faces looking in opposite directions, symbolizing his knowledge of the past and the future. Looking into the future and the headlines in publications like Computerworld, Atmar said he might be able to understand worries over the system. "But then I look back at our customers," he said, "people who are so happy and productive with their HP 3000s. They represent the rock that the 3000 community is built upon. I take a lot of this concern with several large grains of salt." (See our March issue for more details on customer reaction. E-mail us yours
HP's Year 2000 tool list is premature and incomplete
Get to work on Year 2000 issues, HP stressed in its TV program. It will
release a White
Paper on the subject within the next month, and that should clarify the
supplier
information HP's been providing about tool sources in the 3000 community.
Only some
are shipping, while others are on the way. Adager and Diamond Optimum Systems have
been shipping database and documentation tools, respectively, since last
year. Bradmark
says its Year 2000 tools will ship soon, but its 3000 R&D chief Jerry
Fochtman wasn't
quite ready to discuss a full feature set. Robelle will ship a new Suprtool with
Year 2000
assistance this Spring. HP's not the only one cleaning up errors; in our
lead story we got
Vertical Growth Solution Team manager Rachel Kornblau's number wrong, too.
You can
reach her at 408.447.6066.
HP's 32-bit ODBC will arrive with the same haste that aging MPE releases
expire.
Several
questions and comments on the teleconference zeroed in on the expected
release date
for HP's 32-bit ODBC driver. Those who were hoping for a Spring delivery of
ODBCLink/SE got the news that MPE/iX 5.5 Express 3 will bear the long-awaited
middleware to connect Office95 with IMAGE/SQL databases. That's at least
one Express
later than some hoped. HP's currently projecting delivery of Express 3 for
the HP World
timeframe, or at the end of August. This schedule means HP will be
shipping the
software more than a year after it was announced, and two years after
Windows95 was
first shipped. What hasn't been decided yet is how customers can get
ODBCLink/SE
without an upgrade to MPE/iX 5.5. Software product manager Kriss Rant says
that HP is
looking into a separate delivery vehicle for 5.0 users to give them
ODBCLink/SE. You
might be able to take delivery of MPE/iX 5.0 Express Release 4 to get the
32-bit ODBC
connectivity and some other enhancements. That's because the 3000 customer base
adopts new releases cautiously, and a serious part of you won't be ready to
embrace 5.5
this year. Rant didn't say when Express 4 might be shipping. For the
record, 5.0 now has
a PowerPatch 7. At least customers know HP isn't hurrying them along to upgrade
MPE/iX.
A new free Web server whoops it up on the 3000
Like the Indian warriors of the same name who often appeared out of
nowhere, the
Apache Web server made its debut for HP 3000s in a beta version in late
January. Mark
Bixby of Coast Community College in Costa Mesa, Calif. ported the
well-regarded server to
MPE/iX, and you can download it from his site.
Bixby said the project means the world's most popular Web server meets the
world's best
OLTP server, and he ported Apache to the HP 3000 "because I need to be able
to run a
web server on the HP 3000 where all of our major databases live. I chose Apache
because it's free, and also because it's what I run under HP-UX for the
Coast Community
College District web site as well as my own personal Southland Ski Server
web site." The
Apache/iX version available at presstime includes setuid() and FastCGI
support within the
server only.
The Apache heritage is impressive, having been first created by some of the team that did the NCSA HTTP-D server that proved the 3000-as-Internet-server concept. The server is available on many other platforms, and it's developed an organization that maintains the latest versions of the software much like the Gnu freeware products. Bixby's port relies on the Gnu C++ compiler for the HP 3000, the software at the heart of many a Posix port to the platform. The web page lists all the current known implementation issues as well as complete instructions on getting it downloaded and installed on your HP 3000. Like all implementations of 3000 Web servers except the QWEBS product from QSS, Apache demands that you work with Posix files. Apache uses the exec() functions to launch CGI programs and scripts. MPE/iX 5.0 exec() can execute compiled programs but cannot execute scripts; MPE/iX 5.5 exec() can execute both compiled programs and scripts. Apache/iX doesn't yet run under the MPE/iX implementation of inetd. But the shortcomings will likely be eliminated quickly if a combined effort of 3000 developers takes place like it has in the last three months with Samba, the resource sharing utility for networking NT with the 3000...
Samba is taking fast steps on the 3000 dance floor
In the few weeks since we wrote about Samba/iX in this month's NewsWire
main issue,
the software to share 3000 resources with Windows NT and Unix networks is
leading
customers into connectivity to a faster beat. The major 30K socket call
limitation, which
limited the size of files transfers to 30K, has been eliminated in the 0.5
version, which is
available on the 3K Associates FTP server
under the POSIX directory.
NewsWire subscriber Michael Gueterman reported that he's been using this
version
without a single failure of a file copy. You can see our main article this
month for a
description of what Samba does. If you watched the HP TV conference you saw
click and
drag transfers of files between a 3000 and an NT server, as well as native
Notepad editing
of MPE/iX files. That got the attention of a lot of customers in the
audience, and
Gueterman said he thinks the software could link the 3000 better than any
ODBC: "In my
opinion this one product has the potential to pull the majority of 3000
users closer to
MS Windows users than any other connectivity product (including 32-bit
ODBC) out
there." HP's Jeri Ann Smith is the Solution Team leader for HP's
Interoperability/Internet
area, and she's the manager who's in charge of how much effort HP puts into
making
Samba a supported solution. You can call her at 408.447.1158 to tell her how
important Samba can be for you.
We've been honored for our Web information sites
Outside confirmation of your success is always great to hear, and
during the last week we
got notice that the NewsWire's FreeNews Web site earned a special award for
its content.
The Reader's Digest organization's LookSmart has started grading Web sites, and
FreeNews won an Editor's Choice Award. As the LookSmart editors put it, "We
have
viewed literally over a million Web sites to select those chosen to meet
our standards.
This award conveys the highest standard for providing a useful and high
quality Web
site," and add that editorial standards have been a hallmark of their
company for over
75 years. Content standards are fundamental to us too. Thank you for the
support and
shared information that's earned us our award. We're glad to be the first
HP news service
to be so recognized.