jay@splut.UUCP (Jay Maynard) (10/25/87)
I just got (finally!) DOSMerge/286 for my Microport SV/AT. (Yes, I know this should go into comp.unix.unix-at, but it hasn't been newgroup'ed here.) I run an Everex/AT Plus System 1800A, at 10 MHZ/1 wait state. I'm currently using SV/AT 2.2.1L, with 2.3 on order (after paying Microport's $99 yearly upgrade fee :-( after discovering that their single upgrade fee went from $25 [nominal, and therefore acceptable] to $60 [a blatant ripoff]). I tried to get Merge running, after reading the note in the release notes that said that you didn't need to have 2.3 running to run Merge. OK, fine. I 'installit' the package, and run /usr/lib/merge/dosinstall, with a vanilla PC/DOS 3.2 disk. I get to the point where it reboots off the floppy, and tells me that bootsnap is complete; I then reboot, with the new kernel in place. At the point in the boot where it should tell me 'drive 1 type = 2; drive 2 type = 10', it hangs. Is my problem a bug in Merge, or an incompatibility with my system's Everex disk controller, or that my clock is running too fast? I can't easily run my system at 6 MHz to remove that possibility, as the clock speed on the 1800A is set by changing the crystal, and I only have 16 and 20 MHz crystals. I haven't tried borrowing a Western Digital controller board. If I rename the kernel files so that the old 2.2.1L kernel is active, the system boots fine. I'm gonna call Microport tomorrow, but I thought I'd draw upon the massive expertise available on here as well, especially since I have seen others comment on the Merge product. (Almost forgot: Merge is the production 1.3.0 release.) Thanks for the help. -- Jay Maynard, K5ZC (@WB5BBW)...>splut!< | uucp: uunet!nuchat!splut!jay Never ascribe to malice that which can | or: academ!uhnix1!--^ adequately be explained by stupidity. | GEnie: JAYMAYNARD CI$: 71036,1603 The opinions herein are shared by neither of my cats, much less anyone else.
jay@splut.UUCP (Jay Maynard) (10/26/87)
I called Microport this morning, and talked to a John (Sully?) in the tech support department. For those of you who haven't discovered the 'p' key to read the parent article, after I installed DOSMerge/286 on my 2.2.1L SV/AT, running on an Everex/AT Plus System 1800A, rebooting with the new Merge kernel hangs the system, apparently in the hard disk driver. John had heard of this problem before, and told me that the problem was the Access Methods Inc. (AMI) BIOS used in later 1800-series computers. It seems there's a bug in that particular BIOS ROM, and that Merge had been successfully tested in an 1800 with an Award BIOS. He also said that AMI knew of the bug and was working on it, but he didn't know when they'd have it fixed. For the doubters out there about Microport support, (and I have been one of them at times!) it looks like they are really trying to upgrade the image. I called on the 800 number, was immediately put through to tech support, and got the answers I needed quickly. I hope they can keep it up. -- Jay Maynard, K5ZC (@WB5BBW)...>splut!< | uucp: uunet!nuchat!splut!jay Never ascribe to malice that which can | or: academ!uhnix1!--^ adequately be explained by stupidity. | GEnie: JAYMAYNARD CI$: 71036,1603 The opinions herein are shared by neither of my cats, much less anyone else.
root@uwspan.UUCP (John Plocher) (10/26/87)
In article <207@splut.UUCP> jay@splut.UUCP (Jay Maynard) writes: >I just got (finally!) DOSMerge/286 for my Microport SV/AT. (Yes, I know this >should go into comp.unix.unix-at, but it hasn't been newgroup'ed here.) I >run an Everex/AT Plus System 1800A, at 10 MHZ/1 wait state. >I tried to get Merge running, after reading the note in the release notes I have the same system configuration as you do (did you perchance buy it from Kammerman Labs? :-) and I am using Dosmerge on it. It sounds like you might not have enuf memory (at least 1.5Mb *required*; I have 2Mb) -John - -- --- -- - -- --- -- - Email to unix-at-request@uwspan with questions about the newsgroup unix-at, otherwise mail to unix-at@uwspan with a Subject containing one of: 386 286 Bug Source Merge or "Send Buglist" (Bangpath: rutgers!uwvax!uwspan!unix-at & rutgers!uwvax!uwspan!unix-at-request)
jmsully@uport.UUCP (John M. Sully) (11/05/87)
In article <207@splut.UUCP>, jay@splut.UUCP (Jay Maynard) writes: > I just got (finally!) DOSMerge/286 for my Microport SV/AT. (Yes, I know this > should go into comp.unix.unix-at, but it hasn't been newgroup'ed here.) I > run an Everex/AT Plus System 1800A, at 10 MHZ/1 wait state. > [...] > I then reboot, with the new kernel in place. At the point in the boot where > it should tell me 'drive 1 type = 2; drive 2 type = 10', it hangs. You don't mention what type of BIOS you have in your Everex, but the current models are using the AMI BIOS which presently does *NOT* work with DOSMerge. Older Everex 1800's used the Award 2.07 BIOS which did work just fine. AMI is currently working on revising their BIOS to work with DOSMerge, at last report though (Rev C) they did not have it working yet. You might try getting ahold of the Award BIOS and trying that, DOSMerge is known to work with an Everex box using that BIOS. -- John M. Sully UUCP: ...!{sun | ucbvax | ihnp4}!amdcad!uport!techs Microport Systems ARPA: uport!techs@ucscc.UCSC.EDU Technical Support