itkin@mrspoc.UUCP (Steven M. List) (02/16/89)
I am thinking of buying a computer from Dell Computers. Their ads sound
good, they've gotten good reviews in PC Magazine, and they provide on-site
service. The big question is: Does XENIX run on them? None of their ads
make any mention of either UNIX or XENIX. I'm concerned that XENIX may
have problems with their disk controller (particularly for the big ESDI
disks) and tape drive/controller.
Does anyone have any experience with these beasties?
--
: Steven List @ Transact Software, Inc. :^>~
: Chairman, Unify User Group of Northern California
: {apple,coherent,limbo,mips,pyramid,ubvax}!mrspoc!itkin
: Voice: (415) 961-6112davidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr) (02/18/89)
In article <5230@mrspoc.UUCP> itkin@mrspoc.UUCP (Steven List) writes: | I am thinking of buying a computer from Dell Computers. Their ads sound | good, they've gotten good reviews in PC Magazine, and they provide on-site | service. The big question is: Does XENIX run on them? None of their ads It does on the 386 models. I'm running 2.3.1 on a Dell 325 with no trouble. They use a disk controller which looks like an ST506, so you *don't* want the ESDI version of Xenix. I've had no trouble with the 325 or the 310, but haven't tried the 286 versions with Xenix. -- bill davidsen (wedu@ge-crd.arpa) {uunet | philabs}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me
compata@cup.portal.com (Dave H Close) (02/19/89)
Quoting: Steven List @ Transact Software, Inc. > I am thinking of buying a computer from Dell Computers. Their ads sound > good, they've gotten good reviews in PC Magazine, and they provide on-site > service. The big question is: Does XENIX run on them? None of their ads > make any mention of either UNIX or XENIX. I'm concerned that XENIX may > have problems with their disk controller (particularly for the big ESDI > disks) and tape drive/controller. I can testify that the Dell 310 runs Xenix fine with the 150MB ESDI disk. HOWEVER, beware of multiport serial boards. To run Xenix you will surely want at least one. But Dell put COM1 and COM2 on the motherboard AND left out any way to force disable them (such as a jumper). Their BIOS does attempt to determine if an add-in serial board is present and disables the on-board ports if any is found. But they don't reliably find all the boards on the market! In particular the BellTech HUB6 doesn't work. Dave Close, Compata, Arlington, Texas compata@cup.portal.com