aland@infmx.UUCP (Dr. Scump) (12/21/89)
Subject line pretty much says it. We are getting a bunch of 6386s
(6386/25 WGS and 6383E/33) on which we'd like to run both DOS 3.3
and UNIX V 3.2.2. Are there any special tricks for doing so?
My initial plan is to build a moderate DOS partition on one of the
drives (all machines will have 2 ESDI drives) and be able to boot
into either DOS (not Simultask; regular DOS) or UNIX.
As far as I know, the 6386s do not have inherent dual-boot capability,
so I plan to have the primary UNIX partition as the boot partition
and boot DOS from floppy when needed. Is this off-base? Can I have
a DOS partition sitting on one of the drives that comes into play
only when I boot from a DOS diskette, and have all of the UNIX
partitions recognizeable when I boot UNIX?
I expect that a number of people have tried such things. As I think
this would be of general interest, posted responses are fine. Email's
fine, too -- I will summarize any email responses. (If any email
respondents want their comments *omitted* from a summary, say so in
the email).
Also, any configuration tips/advice would be appreciated. (Email)
Quick note on the planned configurations:
6386/25 6386/33
------------------ ------------------
16 MB memory 16-24 MB memory
1 135MB ESDI drive 2 300 MB ESDI drives
1 300MB ESDI drive
both
----
AT&T UNIX System V/386 Rel 3.2.2 and MS-DOS 3.3
AT&T 125MB Streaming tape unit
AT&T 329M VGA card & VDC600 VGA monitor
AT&T 2400 baud external modem
Consensys PowerPorts 16-terminal serial controller
Consensys PowerStor caching ESDI disk controller
3Com 3C503 Ethernet card (also for use with PC-NFS under DOS)
Thanks in advance.
--
Alan S. Denney @ Informix Software, Inc. "We're homeward bound
{pyramid|uunet}!infmx!aland ('tis a damn fine sound!)
-------------------------------------------- with a good ship, taut & free
Disclaimer: These opinions are mine alone. We don't give a damn,
If I am caught or killed, the secretary when we drink our rum
will disavow any knowledge of my actions. with the girls of old Maui."fmcgee@cuuxb.ATT.COM (~XT6561110~Frank McGee~C23~L25~6326~) (12/23/89)
In article <2892@infmx.UUCP> aland@infmx.UUCP (alan denney) writes: >As far as I know, the 6386s do not have inherent dual-boot capability, >so I plan to have the primary UNIX partition as the boot partition >and boot DOS from floppy when needed. Is this off-base? Can I have >a DOS partition sitting on one of the drives that comes into play >only when I boot from a DOS diskette, and have all of the UNIX >partitions recognizeable when I boot UNIX? You could also have MSDOS on the first partition, and boot MSDOS off the hard disk. But /dev/swap will perform better if MSDOS is a non-bootable partition farther out on the disk (ie, /dev/swap will be on the faster inner tracks). If you aren't swapping you won't notice the difference though...... Now here's where I started to wonder.... >Quick note on the planned configurations: > > 6386/25 6386/33 >------------------ ------------------ >16 MB memory 16-24 MB memory >1 135MB ESDI drive 2 300 MB ESDI drives >1 300MB ESDI drive > > both > ---- > AT&T UNIX System V/386 Rel 3.2.2 and MS-DOS 3.3 > AT&T 125MB Streaming tape unit > AT&T 329M VGA card & VDC600 VGA monitor > AT&T 2400 baud external modem You're okay (as far as I know) to here... > Consensys PowerPorts 16-terminal serial controller The last time I checked, these cards require a 512K shared memory area that starts on a 512K boundary. This limits you to a 12 MB of RAM configuration, because the 6386/33 supports 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 28, 32 and 40 MB configurations. Since you need to have a 512K segment for the card between 0 and 16 MB, you need to have the next lowest memory configuration; ie, 12 MB. On the older Olivetti 6386's it was possible to create a memory "hole" for cards; this isn't possible on the 6386/SX, 6386/25, 6386/33, or Model S. If you install the Consensys card in a 6386/SX/25/33 with more than 12 MB you won't be able to address the Consensys card. I suggest you try another card vendor that uses 64K of RAM on 64k boundaries (ie, it will fit between 512K and 1 MB) such as the Computone, Bell Technologies, or AT&T IPC 1600. > Consensys PowerStor caching ESDI disk controller Don't know if this will work, we use the Western Digital 1007A-WA2. > 3Com 3C503 Ethernet card (also for use with PC-NFS under DOS) AT&T doesn't have and doesn't sell Unix drivers for the 3C503. AT&T has two separate and distinct TCP/IP platforms for 386 Unix; we only support the AT&T TCP/IP Interface for Unix (ie, Micom/Racal-Interlan product) or the Wollongong Integrated Networking (WIN) TCP/IP 386 over an AT&T StarLAN 10 NAU, EN100, or Fiber NAU card. Hope you were already aware of these items. Hope you have a happy holiday season ! -- Frank McGee, AT&T Tier 3 Complementary Channel Sales Support attmail!fmcgee
aland@infmx.UUCP (Dr. Scump) (12/29/89)
In article <4380@cuuxb.ATT.COM> fmcgee@cuuxb.UUCP (Frank W. McGee) writes: >In article <2892@infmx.UUCP> aland@infmx.UUCP (alan denney) writes: >> <various planned hardware> > >You're okay (as far as I know) to here... > >> Consensys PowerPorts 16-terminal serial controller > >The last time I checked, these cards require a 512K shared memory area >that starts on a 512K boundary. This limits you to a 12 MB of RAM >configuration, because the 6386/33 supports 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 28, 32 >and 40 MB configurations. Since you need to have a 512K segment for >the card between 0 and 16 MB, you need to have the next lowest memory >configuration; ie, 12 MB. On the older Olivetti 6386's it was This is no longer the case with the current versions of the boards. Now, all they need is an 8K window, which can come out of "high memory" (640K-1024K). They claim that this (default) configuration works fine on the Intel-made 6386s. (Anybody got a map of memory usage between 640K and 1024K on the Intel-made 6386s?) >> Consensys PowerStor caching ESDI disk controller > >Don't know if this will work, we use the Western Digital 1007A-WA2. Since the machines come with the WD card, I will have those to fall back on in case the PowerStor doesn't work or doesn't provide enough benefit to be worth the $. (Each machine will be running dual 300 MB drives). >> 3Com 3C503 Ethernet card (also for use with PC-NFS under DOS) > >AT&T doesn't have and doesn't sell Unix drivers for the 3C503. AT&T >has two separate and distinct TCP/IP platforms for 386 Unix; we only >support the AT&T TCP/IP Interface for Unix (ie, Micom/Racal-Interlan >product) or the Wollongong Integrated Networking (WIN) TCP/IP 386 >over an AT&T StarLAN 10 NAU, EN100, or Fiber NAU card. That's a shame. This means that there is no single card which supports both AT&T TCP/IP and PC-NFS. I ordered the 3C503 because they were on everybody else's compatibility lists (SCO, Interactive, ESIX, etc.), and originally we weren't going for AT&T machines because of ship delays on the 33 MHz models. But, they came around just in time (just got 'em yesterday, in fact). Does anybody know if there is a way to use these cards with AT&T Sys V/386 (maybe using "foreign" [gasp!] drivers)? Otherwise, we'll probably just live without UNIX-UNIX ethernet on these boxes for the forseeable future (sigh). >Hope you were already aware of these items. Hope you have a happy >holiday season ! Well, thanks for the help in any case. As the Consensys stuff seems to be kind of an unknown entity, I'll report back on how they work. >Frank McGee, AT&T Tier 3 Complementary Channel Sales Support -- Alan S. Denney @ Informix Software, Inc. "We're homeward bound {pyramid|uunet}!infmx!aland ('tis a damn fine sound!) -------------------------------------------- with a good ship, taut & free Disclaimer: These opinions are mine alone. We don't give a damn, If I am caught or killed, the secretary when we drink our rum will disavow any knowledge of my actions. with the girls of old Maui."
dwd@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (David W. Dykstra) (01/03/90)
From article <2933@infmx.UUCP>, by aland@infmx.UUCP (Dr. Scump): *>> 3Com 3C503 Ethernet card (also for use with PC-NFS under DOS) *> *>AT&T doesn't have and doesn't sell Unix drivers for the 3C503. AT&T *>has two separate and distinct TCP/IP platforms for 386 Unix; we only *>support the AT&T TCP/IP Interface for Unix (ie, Micom/Racal-Interlan *>product) or the Wollongong Integrated Networking (WIN) TCP/IP 386 *>over an AT&T StarLAN 10 NAU, EN100, or Fiber NAU card. * * That's a shame. This means that there is no single card which supports * both AT&T TCP/IP and PC-NFS. I ordered the 3C503 because they were * on everybody else's compatibility lists (SCO, Interactive, ESIX, etc.), * and originally we weren't going for AT&T machines because of ship * delays on the 33 MHz models. But, they came around just in time (just * got 'em yesterday, in fact). * * Does anybody know if there is a way to use these cards with AT&T Sys * V/386 (maybe using "foreign" [gasp!] drivers)? Otherwise, we'll * probably just live without UNIX-UNIX ethernet on these boxes for * the forseeable future (sigh). You can buy TCP/IP which supports the 3C503 directly from Wollongong. - Dave Dykstra dykstra@cs.uiuc.edu dwd@ihc.att.com