| Recently, we've been replacing the Digital versions of several books in
the VxWorks documentation set with their Wind River counterparts. In
general, the Wind River versions are more up to date. We've included
small supplements for Alpha in those cases when Alpha-specific
information needs to be presented. All this activity is in preparation
for a unified Digital/Wind River product which contains Alpha support.
Those internal sites who have a V5.2B kit have already noticed several
shiny, new, blue manuals from Wind River. It's a big step forward for
us.
The unfortunate side-effect of updating the documentation in this
manner is that internal sites have to pay full price for the documents
which we buy from Wind River. The SSB buys them from Wind River and
passes the extra cost along to whomever is ordering the kit. They're
much more expensive than the documents which Digital manufactures,
ourselves. The next release of VxWorks for Alpha will contain more Wind
River documents than the current release. The goal is to have as few
Digital documents as possible. The cost of the internal kit will
increase accordingly.
We have a new option for internal distribution which is less expensive
for internal users. The Engineering organization will maintain a stock
of the CD's containing the software binaries for the shipping release.
Internal sites with a demonstrated requirement for the software can get
a copy of the CD for free. We'll send it to you by interplant mail (or
whatever land mail is appropriate) without any internal charge. All you
have to do is ask for it and have a reason why you need it - customer
support, internal project, whatever. The CD's are very cheap for
Engineering to obtain without the documentation. We're glad to offer
this service to internal sites.
You will not receive any printed documentation. You will receive
on-line documentation in BookReader format for those documents which
are manufactured by Digital.
Documents manufactured by Wind River will not be available in
BookReader format. If you require this documentation, there are two
options. You can order a printed doc set from the SSB. You'll get all
the Wind River books and all the Digital books. This doc set is only a
little less expensive than the software/doc kit which is so expensive
in the first place. Your other option is to order the required Wind
River manuals directly from Wind River. Since you'll probably only
order the manuals you really need, the cost could be a good deal less
than all the books we sell in the whole doc set. You'll have to order
them from Wind with real money -- i.e. by using your corporate credit
card. This is not an internal order. We will give you their part
numbers and their 800 number.
The primary assumption is that internal sites probably don't need a new
doc set for every release. For example, the main Programmer's Guide
won't change much from V5.2B to V5.2C. You don't need 2 copies. Even a
Programmer's Guide from the V3 products could probably do for an
internal site. It's up to each site to determine how much to spend on
documentation. The only thing you absolutely need is the media kit,
which is now free. You will continue to use the PAK database on VTX for
internal licenses.
As you might guess, this option is not available for customer orders.
Customer's have to order the whole media/doc kit.
To apply, send mail to HELIX::REALTIME or realtime@helix.enet.dec.com.
Tell us you who are, where you are, what you're doing with the software
and we'll send you the media.
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