jimb@athertn.Atherton.COM (Jim Burke) (07/01/89)
I'm contemplating buying SCO Unix and I'm in the baby step stage (deciding
if I want to justify spending the money, in other words). In any event,
I'd like an opinion as to whether my hardware situation will require
upgrading, meaning even more of a cash outlay. Soooo, here's what I have:
80386 20Mhz processor w/2Mb interleaved memory
60 Mb RLL hard drive w/controller
Hercules compatible mono adapeter & monitor (I know, yuk!)
AMI Bios (don't recall rev. level, but its recent)
I called SCO who refered me to a dealer that is no longer in business so
rather than running around perhaps someone can give me an idea as to whether
anything I have is grossly incompatible. My biggest concerns are memory
and the bios. Thanx for any input...
--
Jim Burke (408) 734-9822 (temp) | I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin'
jimb@Atherton.COM | no babies, Miss Scarlet!
{decwrl,sun,hpda,pyramid}!athertn!jimb | bruce@mdi386.UUCP (Bruce A. McIntyre) (08/08/89)
In article <5920@athertn.Atherton.COM>, jimb@athertn.Atherton.COM (Jim Burke) writes: > I'm contemplating buying SCO Unix and I'm in the baby step stage (deciding > [deleted] > 80386 20Mhz processor w/2Mb interleaved memory > 60 Mb RLL hard drive w/controller > Hercules compatible mono adapeter & monitor (I know, yuk!) > AMI Bios (don't recall rev. level, but its recent) > > My biggest concerns are memory > and the bios. Thanx for any input... I use a 16mhz Mylex board with AMI bios, and have a screamer. 2MB is enough memory to start, but you will want more if you do: 1. Graphics, 2. Usenet (maps) 3. Multi-User 4. Spread sheets 5. 4GL's The drive is pretty limiting after a while, but by then, you can add the second drive, and add a >60MB drive for expansion. In other words, go for it... You'll run like a scalded bandit. If you want to add some things like Blit screen, Ethernet, Smart boards, etc, you will have to get the PAL modification to "uncache" part of memory.. bruce -- ========================================================================= Bruce A. McIntyre, McIntyre Designs, Inc. VOICE(215)322-1895 143 Bridgetown Pike, Langhorne, Pa. 19047 DATA (215)357-2915 {wells|lgnp1}!mdi386!bruce bruce@wells tbit+ -- ========================================================================= Bruce A. McIntyre, McIntyre Designs, Inc. VOICE(215)322-1895 143 Bridgetown Pike, Langhorne, Pa. 19047 DATA (215)357-2915 {wells|lgnp1}!mdi386!bruce bruce@wells tbit+
yap@me.utoronto.ca (Davin Yap) (08/30/89)
I was just wondering how practical it would be to use a bare-bones 386
box running xenix as a terminal server. I'd appreciate answers to any of
the following questions or any suggestions in general. As a barometer
the cost of a 16 port terminal server here in Toronto is about $13,000 CDN
(or $10,800 US). For those of you who don't know what a terminal server
is, it's just a box you attach to your ethernet, with lots of serial
ports you can attach terminals to, and login to other machines.
The idea is to buy a cheap 386 box, sans HD, an ethernet board, a
couple(?) serial port boards, and (I suppose) run tcp/ip, then telnet to
the various hosts.
Questions:
1) Is it viable to run Xenix without a HD, even with no entries in the
crontab (geez I don't even know if Xenix has a crontab :-), and just
the bare minimum of processes running? I'd like to use one perhaps
two 1.44 meg drives.
2) I'm assuming you can run tcp/ip under xenix. Am I assuming too much?
3) What is the maximum number of serial ports one can access under
Xenix? What is the PRACTICAL limit (as a note, I've been told you
can't have more than 8 serial ports on a PC, but I'm assuming that
this is under DOS)?
4) How much ram would you need for such an implementation? That is, if
each user is running a telnet, how much memory do you need for each
user? Here, I'm assuming that it's koser to put 'exec telnet' as the
first line in each users .profile (there's just gotta be a bourne
shell :-). How much memory does the kernal require?
5) How much (approx.) would a unlimited user, no frills Xenix cost?
If this turns out to be a viable alternative (10.8K US is a lotta dough
for something not really impressive), would anyone be interested in going
into business with me? You can have the US, I'll take Canada ;^)
We can cooperate by ironing out the technical difficulties, and perhaps
go in on some bulk purchases. There are worst ways of making a profit
(I don't know the smiley for tongue-in-cheek)
But seriously - THANKS to all who reply,
Davin
--
GOAL: To dance the light fan- |Davin Yap, Mechanical Engineering, U of Toronto
tastic in the face of derision,| yap@me.toronto.edu yap@me.utoronto.bitnet
from those bland at heart. | ...{pyramid,uunet}!utai!utme!yapjbayer@ispi.UUCP (Jonathan Bayer) (08/30/89)
yap@me.utoronto.ca (Davin Yap) writes: >I was just wondering how practical it would be to use a bare-bones 386 >box running xenix as a terminal server. I'd appreciate answers to any of >the following questions or any suggestions in general. As a barometer >the cost of a 16 port terminal server here in Toronto is about $13,000 CDN >(or $10,800 US). For those of you who don't know what a terminal server >is, it's just a box you attach to your ethernet, with lots of serial >ports you can attach terminals to, and login to other machines. >The idea is to buy a cheap 386 box, sans HD, an ethernet board, a >couple(?) serial port boards, and (I suppose) run tcp/ip, then telnet to >the various hosts. >Questions: >1) Is it viable to run Xenix without a HD, even with no entries in the > crontab (geez I don't even know if Xenix has a crontab :-), and just > the bare minimum of processes running? I'd like to use one perhaps > two 1.44 meg drives. No. You need a hard disk even if it is a slow 10 meg drive. >2) I'm assuming you can run tcp/ip under xenix. Am I assuming too much? Yes you can. >3) What is the maximum number of serial ports one can access under > Xenix? What is the PRACTICAL limit (as a note, I've been told you > can't have more than 8 serial ports on a PC, but I'm assuming that > this is under DOS)? On a 386 you should be able to run a maximum of 64 serial ports (4 16-port cards). As a practical matter you will probably want intelligent cards to relive the cpu of all the interrupts. >4) How much ram would you need for such an implementation? That is, if > each user is running a telnet, how much memory do you need for each > user? Here, I'm assuming that it's koser to put 'exec telnet' as the > first line in each users .profile (there's just gotta be a bourne > shell :-). How much memory does the kernal require? Yes, there is a bourne shell. The kernal for a basic system will take up about 3-400 K. Yes, you will be able to do an exec telnet. Ram is a different matter. Understanding that this is a guestimate, I figure that you will need about 4 meg, for up to 32 users, more for the 64 users. >5) How much (approx.) would a unlimited user, no frills Xenix cost? About $ 600 >If this turns out to be a viable alternative (10.8K US is a lotta dough >for something not really impressive), would anyone be interested in going >into business with me? You can have the US, I'll take Canada ;^) >We can cooperate by ironing out the technical difficulties, and perhaps >go in on some bulk purchases. There are worst ways of making a profit >(I don't know the smiley for tongue-in-cheek) It is a viable alternative. The total cost would come to about $ 5000, depending on how much ram and how many serial ports you will end up using. >But seriously - THANKS to all who reply, Your welcome. -- Jonathan Bayer Intelligent Software Products, Inc. (201) 245-5922 500 Oakwood Ave. jbayer@ispi.COM Roselle Park, NJ 07204
ronald@ibmpcug.co.uk (Ronald Khoo) (08/31/89)
In article <1127@ispi.UUCP> jbayer@ispi.UUCP (Jonathan Bayer) writes: >yap@me.utoronto.ca (Davin Yap) writes: > >>1) Is it viable to run Xenix without a HD, even with no entries in the >> crontab (geez I don't even know if Xenix has a crontab :-), and just >> the bare minimum of processes running? I'd like to use one perhaps >> two 1.44 meg drives. > >No. You need a hard disk even if it is a slow 10 meg drive. > Really? I sometimes run without a hard disk at all... in multi-user to boot. Doesn't do much, though, just lets them log in, and tells them the machine is down for the day. But getty, login, cat, etc.... all running happily on a single 1.2Mb floppy Xenix multi-user system :-) With 2 1.44 Mb drives, I figure I could actually run a service :-) -- Ronald.Khoo@ibmpcug.CO.UK (The IBM PC User Group, PO Box 360, Harrow HA1 4LQ) Path: ...!ukc!slxsys!ibmpcug!ronald Phone: +44-1-863 1191 Fax: +44-1-863 6095 Small is beautiful, but small & broken is ugly--(Marty)Leisner.Henr@Xerox.COM
jim@bahamut.fsc.com (James O'Connor) (09/01/89)
> yap@me.utoronto.ca (Davin Yap) writes: > > >I was just wondering how practical it would be to use a bare-bones 386 > >box running xenix as a terminal server. I'd appreciate answers to any of > >the following questions or any suggestions in general. As a barometer > >the cost of a 16 port terminal server here in Toronto is about $13,000 CDN > >(or $10,800 US). For those of you who don't know what a terminal server > >is, it's just a box you attach to your ethernet, with lots of serial > >ports you can attach terminals to, and login to other machines. To update the issue about terminal server cost: I just received some literature from Xylogics which lists their Annex II terminal server at $5495 for 16 ports, $8495 for 32 ports. Each port supports 16 simultaneous (but separate) network connections. There is a parallel printer port, and the network management software is run from one of the host machines, even a PC running Xenix (first time I've seen that!). It would be hard to beat the 16 port version of this with a 386 running Xenix (unless you start using the Xenix box for other things), but you could probably do a 32 port Xenix box for less. There were several of these Annex boxes scattered around Usenix, and they seemed to be very nice machines. Sorry about goin on so long about terminal servers in c.u.x, but someone else started the comparison. :-) ------------- James B. O'Connor Work: jim@tiamat.fsc.com Filtration Sciences -- Play: jim@bahamut.fsc.com A division of Ahlstrom UUCP: uunet!tiamat!jim
jburnes@pnet02.gryphon.com (Jim Burnes) (09/06/89)
hi!
To answer your question about a terminal server. I'm a big fan of UNIX
but I think the optimal solution for your setup is to run TCP/IP on QNX.
QNX is a fast real-time multitasking multiuser networking OS that can
support a heavy communications load in a small pc that can be a diskless
workstation. Eight users on a 10MHZ 286 AT running QNX would be no sweat.
Their address is:
Quantum Software Systems, LTD
175 Terrence Matthews Crescent
Kanata, Ont., Canada, K2M 1W8
(613) 591-0931
PS: QNX's throughput could be a deciding factor. A 286 AT tasks switches
a full magnitude of order faster than XENIX/386 (pick your clock speed).
I still love unix and do not wish to start a flame war. UNIX is good.
QNX is good. Direct nasty responses to NULL:
Jim Burnes
UUCP: {ames!elroy, <routing site>}!gryphon!pnet02!jburnes
INET: jburnes@pnet02.gryphon.com