dar@telesoft.telesoft.com (David Reisner) (08/20/89)
I'm getting pretty close to actually buying one of these machines. I lean towards the following: AST 386c - 20MHz, 4M RAM, Adaptec 1540 SCSI host adapter, Micropolis 1375 150M disk, Video-7 VRAM VGA 512k, and Sony 1304 monitor (or similar (NEC 4D?)); Interactive 386/ix with X11.3 (w/ special price on 386/ix). ~$6500 for the whole thing, from a good, local dealer. My main goal for the system is running Unix and X in a pleasant manner, and with minimum hassles. If anyone has any experience with this configuration, I would very much appreciate hearing about it, either good or bad. My biggest concerns are: - Will it work at all? How does it perform? - Are there any conflicts between the 1540 and the VRAM VGA, particularly wrt BIOS locations and the use of BIOS in shadow RAM? - Does the VRAM VGA in 1024x768 non-interlaced mode work with Interactive's X windows? (This is IMPORTANT. If I even might have problems, I'll get some other video card, or perhaps a large monochrome display.) - What monitors can I use with the VRAM running 1024x768 non-interlaced? Video 7 has mentioned the Sony 1304, Mitsubishi Diamondscan16, and a couple of others. I know that 48KHz H scan is required; I'm not sure about other characteristics. I'd like a 16" monitor, if I can afford it. I'm also willing to hear any particularly strong comments about price / other systems, and other Unix systems (I have a Berkeley Unix background, on VAX and Sun). Thank you all very much for your assistance. -David ucsd!telesoft!dar, dar@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu
madd@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Jim Frost) (08/21/89)
In article <459@telesoft.telesoft.com> dar@telesoft.telesoft.com (David Reisner) writes: | AST 386c - 20MHz, 4M RAM, Adaptec 1540 SCSI host adapter, | Micropolis 1375 150M disk, Video-7 VRAM VGA 512k, and Sony | 1304 monitor (or similar (NEC 4D?)); Interactive 386/ix | with X11.3 (w/ special price on 386/ix). | ~$6500 for the whole thing, from a good, local dealer. | |My main goal for the system is running Unix and X in a pleasant manner, |and with minimum hassles. | | - Will it work at all? How does it perform? I can't answer that, but you'll want at LEAST 8mb if you're running X. 4mb works but is not "pleasant". The whole thing should work if ISC supports the SCSI, but I don't know that offhand. The X server that ISC has is limited to 16 colors regardless of VGA capability. jim frost software tool & die madd@std.com
steve@stiatl.UUCP (Steve Lyle) (08/23/89)
In article <36840@bu-cs.BU.EDU| madd@buit15.bu.edu (Jim Frost) writes: |In article <459@telesoft.telesoft.com> dar@telesoft.telesoft.com (David Reisner) writes: || AST 386c - 20MHz, 4M RAM, Adaptec 1540 SCSI host adapter, || Micropolis 1375 150M disk, Video-7 VRAM VGA 512k, and Sony || 1304 monitor (or similar (NEC 4D?)); Interactive 386/ix || with X11.3 (w/ special price on 386/ix). || ~$6500 for the whole thing, from a good, local dealer. || ||My main goal for the system is running Unix and X in a pleasant manner, ||and with minimum hassles. || One small point to keep in mind. ISC allows only _one_ hard disk controller to be present during the initial installation. If you want the Micropolis to be the boot drive, you'll need a SCSI host adapter that supports a floppy drive or (possibly) have a separate controller for the floppy (I haven't tried the second choice). The Adaptec AHA 1540 is supported by ISC but does not run floppies. There is an equivalent model (the AHA 1542A, I think) which will support floppy drives and works fine under 386/ix. Stephen R. Lyle gatech!stiatl!steve Sales Technologies, Inc. (404) 841-4000 3399 Peachtree Road, Suite 700 Atlanta, Georgia 30326
neese@adaptex.UUCP (08/25/89)
Yes, it is the AHA-1542A that has the floppy controller on the adapter.
I would recommend another choice for hard drives. My personal preference
in the 150MB capacity range is the CDC Wren V HH. Formats to about
172MB and has a better transfer rate than the Micropolis and less overhead
also. Just make sure you ask if the read ahead buffer is enabled. By
default, CDC ships their products with read ahead disabled. It is only
controllable via software, but can be set permanently. There is a 400%
difference in the performance when read ahead is enabled. Again, this
is just my personal preference.
Roy Neese
Adaptec Central Field Applications Engineer
UUCP @ {texbell,killer}!cpe!adaptex!neese
merch!adaptex!neeseneese@adaptex.UUCP (08/25/89)
OOPS, I forgot,....you will have problems with the video adapter as it
takes up all of the BIOS area. This leaves no room for the Adaptec BIOS
thus not allowing you to boot.
Roy Neese
Adaptec Central Field Applications Engineer
UUCP @ {texbell,killer}!cpe!adaptex!neese
merch!adaptex!neeseterry@tah386.manhattan.ks.us (Terry Hull) (08/26/89)
In article <6700020@adaptex> neese@adaptex.UUCP writes: > >OOPS, I forgot,....you will have problems with the video adapter as it >takes up all of the BIOS area. This leaves no room for the Adaptec BIOS >thus not allowing you to boot. > I have a Video 7 VRAM card and would like to use the Adaptek SCSI controller in my system. Normally, the card is used in 16-bit BIOS mode and takes up the address space from C000 - DFFF, but you can switch the card to 8-bit BIOS mode and it will only take up the space from C000 - C7FF. Would using the 8-bit mode allow enough room for the Adaptek BIOS so that I could boot the system? -- Terry Hull Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kansas State University Work: terry@eecea.eece.ksu.edu, rutgers!ksuvax1!eecea!terry Play: terry@tah386.manhattan.ks.us, rutgers!ksuvax1!eecea!tah386!terry
neese@adaptex.UUCP (08/28/89)
If you can move the Video BIOS around so that it only goes up to
CFFF then there is no problem. The default address for the Adaptec
BIOS is DC00, so that will work.
Roy Neese
Adaptec Central Field Applications Engineer
UUCP @ {texbell,killer}!cpe!adaptex!neese
merch!adaptex!neesejr@frog.UUCP (John Richardson) (09/01/89)
In article <6700019@adaptex>, neese@adaptex.UUCP writes: > > Yes, it is the AHA-1542A that has the floppy controller on the adapter. > I would recommend another choice for hard drives. My personal preference > in the 150MB capacity range is the CDC Wren V HH. Formats to about > 172MB and has a better transfer rate than the Micropolis and less overhead > also. Just make sure you ask if the read ahead buffer is enabled. By > default, CDC ships their products with read ahead disabled. It is only > controllable via software, but can be set permanently. There is a 400% > difference in the performance when read ahead is enabled. Again, this > is just my personal preference. > > > Roy Neese > Adaptec Central Field Applications Engineer > UUCP @ {texbell,killer}!cpe!adaptex!neese > merch!adaptex!neese Why not put the mode select in. I have written a SCSI driver that includes support the the AHA-15xx family controllers, and have target function modules that can set specific MODSELECT parameters for given drives. I use the indentify command to find them, and if I do not have a table for one, then I use defaults. The reason I do this is because I need to carefully fiddle the cache parameters so that the drives disconnect from the SCSI bus whenever a read can not be satisfied. IE: Waiting for mechanical motion of either the arm or platter. I am using up to 3 of the AHA-15xx controllers controlling multiple drives with the data stripped across them. (2 GB of data supported on 10 drives for a high speed OLTP database product) Also, is a UNIX 5.3 source of the driver from ADAPTEC available? My driver is for our OS (UNOS), and I would like to bring over support for the striping to the System V/386 world. If the source is not available, I will have to re-write it from scratch. JR
jr@frog.UUCP (John Richardson) (09/01/89)
In article <6700020@adaptex>, neese@adaptex.UUCP writes: > > OOPS, I forgot,....you will have problems with the video adapter as it > takes up all of the BIOS area. This leaves no room for the Adaptec BIOS > thus not allowing you to boot. > > > Roy Neese > Adaptec Central Field Applications Engineer > UUCP @ {texbell,killer}!cpe!adaptex!neese > merch!adaptex!neese Well, I had to give up on the ADAPTEC BIOS, because I needed to boot tape. So I got the AT BIOSKIT BIOS source from ANABOOKS in Folsum CA. It cost about $200. After fixing bugs to get it working, I wrote a SCSI driver to replace the hard disk functions for the BIOS, and included an ADAPTEC host specfic module. I know can boot either disk or tape without using the ADAPTEC ROMS. (Matter of fact, I disable them to make rom for a large buffer ethernet board) JR