tlhilde@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Troy Hildebrand) (09/29/90)
Ok, everybody...I'v decided to go with a 386sx, thanks for all the
useful information you provided. In short, it seems that all software
written for the 386DX will work with the 386sx. The jury is still
out on whether or not software is able to tell the difference between
the two. Some people claim yes, some no.
Now that the processor has been decided, I have ordered a computer.
And I want to run Intel Unix on it.
The problem is, the manager at the firm from which I purchased the
computer claims that the usual controller card the ship with SCSI
drives is 'incompatable with Unix'. (He indicated that it was not
compatable with any versions of Unix.)
The controller card is the ST02 Seagate conrtoller, the drive is a
Seagate 80 Mb SCSI drive. Is there any reason why this is so? Is this
true?
I thought maybe they just did not have the proper device driver
for the drive...Could this be so? If so, does anyone have a driver
program for the ST02 controller?
He did offer me an alternative (of course!)...For an additional chunk
of money I can purchase a Future Domain (controller card) 'clone'.
Is this necessary? I hope not, because I am already over budget.
Please respond by mail, with suggestions of what i might do, explanations
of anything which i seem to mis-understand (or which you know better
than I) or pointers on how i might investigate writing a driver for this
hardware setup.
Thanks..
Troy
--
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Troy Hildebrand | That'll be the last | The Internet: more than just
tlhilde@en.ecn.purdue.edu | teacup I have... | a free phone system! Whee!
tiptop@vet.vet.purdue.edu | davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) (09/30/90)
In article <1990Sep29.022927.3183@ecn.purdue.edu> tlhilde@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Troy Hildebrand) writes: | Now that the processor has been decided, I have ordered a computer. | And I want to run Intel Unix on it. | | The problem is, the manager at the firm from which I purchased the | computer claims that the usual controller card the ship with SCSI | drives is 'incompatable with Unix'. (He indicated that it was not | compatable with any versions of Unix.) | | The controller card is the ST02 Seagate conrtoller, the drive is a | Seagate 80 Mb SCSI drive. Is there any reason why this is so? Is this | true? Be glad you have an honest salesman who doesn't smile and tell you "it works with all DOS applications." The answer is that there are drivers for that board for several versions of UNIX, but that you will have to get a version which will boot off a floppy and use it. Practically that means finding someone who can roll the systems for you, since I don't believe that's a standard configuration. Wish I could help, I think the ST driver was posted to alt.sources recently, and if you're lucky someone will offer to build a system for you. The alternative is to borrow a controller and drive from a friend or vendor, load UNIX, build the new kernel, build a new boot disk, and reinstall on the SCSI drive. Let me know if you have more questions. Someone does make a controller which looks like a WD and runs standard UNIX on SCSI drives. I wish I knew (a) who, and (b) if it works well. -- bill davidsen - davidsen@sixhub.uucp (uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen) sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc and 80386 mailing list "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me
pim@cti-software.nl (Pim Zandbergen) (09/30/90)
davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) writes: >In article <1990Sep29.022927.3183@ecn.purdue.edu> tlhilde@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Troy Hildebrand) writes: > Wish I could help, I think the ST driver was posted to alt.sources >recently, and if you're lucky someone will offer to build a system for >you. The alternative is to borrow a controller and drive from a friend >or vendor, load UNIX, build the new kernel, build a new boot disk, and >reinstall on the SCSI drive. The SCSI driver posted to alt.sources will not let you boot from the SCSI disk, so you will also need a second controller and harddisk. If you have some bucks left, I'd scrap them together for an Adaptec 1542B bus mastering SCSI host adapter. It is much more expensive than the ST or the Future Domain, but it will make your system fly, especially when running *ix. I am pretty sure Intel Unix supports this board, as the top Intel 386/486 machines come installed with this card. -- Pim Zandbergen domain : pim@cti-software.nl CTI Software BV uucp : uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!ctisbv!pim Laan Copes van Cattenburch 70 phone : +31 70 3542302 2585 GD The Hague, The Netherlands fax : +31 70 3512837