neils@microsoft.UUCP (Neil SMITH) (01/26/91)
Does anyone have experience running Dell SVR4 on generic ISA bus 386 systems? I'm particularly interested in: 1. motherboard/BIOS combinations 2. VGA (or higher res) video adapters that do/don't work. I have talked to Dell technical support and the standard line is "well, we've tested it on our hardware only...". Not too helpful, but somewhat understandable given they'd like to sell me one of their systems... Email me directly; if there's enough interest I'll summarize. thanks - neil
sblair@upurbmw.dell.com (Steve Blair) (01/30/91)
[Here's some things to keep in mind. I'm not going to flame Neil] [about calling us...not my style...] We have a business, like other manufacturers. You're not able to run *SUNOS* on an Apollo, or visa versa. You *can* port BSD Tahoe 4.3 to a "X" machine, and in time get it running. We chose early on to have our SYS V.4 on our machines first. Then, we agreed(as our *salesfolks will say*) to "see" what other machines our SYS V.4 will run on. Since I'm one of the folks that deal with machine issues, let me see what I can do to clarify our position... **IF YOU INTEND TO RUN DELL's SYS V.4, on *non-DELL* h/w: --------------------------------------------------------- 1) Disk Controllers: ESDI -- Ultrastor SCSI -- Adaptec 1542B *are currently the "supported" controllers* 2) Ethernet cards: WD8003, WD8003e WD8003-10BaseT *are the currently supported controllers*(3Com, in future) 3) Tape Controllers/Tape Drives: Adaptec *QIC150/250* drive Adaptec Tape Controller *are the *ONLY* supported controller & drive* 4) Video Controllers: VGA -- DELL/Paradise VGA(640x480) GPX -- DELL GPX card(1024x768) 5) Memory: A good recommendation is a *MINIMUM* of 4Mb's *for non X Windows based users* *FOR X WINDOWS USERS -- 8Mb's or *more*(!!!)* **As we get more feedback, and customers applying DELL V.4 to *non-DELL* machines, sending email to us will allow us to be better "able" to publish a listing of what "other" customers using DELL's SYS V.4 are running it on. If you've got more questions, you can email us as: support@uudell.dell.com -- Steve Blair DELL UNIX DIVISION sblair@upurbmw.dell.com ================================================================ Q: What Do Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Baghdad have in common? A: Nothing Yet !!
larry@nstar.rn.com (Larry Snyder) (01/31/91)
neils@microsoft.UUCP (Neil SMITH) writes: >I have talked to Dell technical support and the standard line is "well, >we've tested it on our hardware only...". Not too helpful, but >somewhat understandable given they'd like to sell me one of their >systems... But then Dell gives a 30 day no questions asked refund - how many other vendors offer such a policy? -- Larry Snyder, NSTAR Public Access Unix 219-289-0287 (HST/PEP/V.32/v.42bis) regional UUCP mapping coordinator {larry@nstar.rn.com, ..!uunet!nstar!larry, larry%nstar@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu}
james@bigtex.cactus.org (James Van Artsdalen) (02/02/91)
In <14656@uudell.dell.com>, sblair@upurbmw.dell.com (Steve Blair) wrote: > 4) Video Controllers: VGA -- DELL/Paradise VGA(640x480) > GPX -- DELL GPX card(1024x768) To be more specific, for regular console usage (non-X), 1. the 8 and 16 bit Paradise PVGA1A boards are supported, 2. the Video-7 16 bit board is supported, 3. the Sigma Legend and STB Powergraph ET-4000 boards are supported, 4. the 90c11 in the builtin configuration on our products is supported. This should be close enough to any add-on 90c11 product for it to work in text mode, but I haven't actually seen it yet. For X, the list is currently narrower, with the exception that the GPX is supported. > 5) Memory: A good recommendation is a *MINIMUM* of 4Mb's > *for non X Windows based users* > *FOR X WINDOWS USERS -- 8Mb's or *more*(!!!)* Quick correction: the global minimum, I believe, is 8meg. -- James R. Van Artsdalen james@bigtex.cactus.org "Live Free or Die" Dell Computer Co 9505 Arboretum Blvd Austin TX 78759 512-338-8789
mjhammel@Kepler.dell.com (Michael J. Hammel) (02/02/91)
In article <14656@uudell.dell.com>, sblair@upurbmw.dell.com (Steve Blair) writes: > > 2) Ethernet cards: WD8003, WD8003e WD8003-10BaseT > *are the currently supported controllers*(3Com, in future) > Just to clarify: thats WD8003EB, WD8003EP, WD8013EBT, and WD8005TR (the latter is a token ring card, although token ring functionality is less than "perfect"). The WD8003EBT (twisted pair ethernet, AKA 10BaseT) should also work, although it hasn't explicitly been tested. We hope to have 3Com 3C503 support "real soon now". ;-) Michael J. Hammel | mjhammel@{Kepler|socrates}.dell.com Dell Computer Corp. | {73377.3467|76424.3024}@compuserve.com #include <disclaim/std> | zzham@ttuvm1.bitnet | uunet!uudell!feynman!mjhammel #define CUTESAYING "Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way."
davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) (02/04/91)
In article <14656@uudell.dell.com> sblair@upurbmw.dell.com (Steve Blair) writes: The right hand does not know what the left hand is doing here, Steve. Let me make some comments based on both personal experience and what the *Dell manual says*. ("Working with Dell UNIX") What you say seems at variance to some of that information. | **IF YOU INTEND TO RUN DELL's SYS V.4, on *non-DELL* h/w: | --------------------------------------------------------- | | 1) Disk Controllers: ESDI -- Ultrastor | SCSI -- Adaptec 1542B | *are currently the "supported" controllers* The manual says "Supported types are integrated drive electronics (IDE) enhanced small device interface (ESDI), and small systems computer interface (SCSI). Experience says the WD100X series works, and I'm running one system with a DTE. | 2) Ethernet cards: WD8003, WD8003e WD8003-10BaseT | *are the currently supported controllers*(3Com, in future) The manual lists the 8013 and admits it doesn't auto configure. | 3) Tape Controllers/Tape Drives: Adaptec *QIC150/250* drive | Adaptec Tape Controller | *are the *ONLY* supported controller & drive* My beta stuff said Wangtek PC-36 and EV-811, and experience says they both work, with the 5099 or 5125 drives. | | 4) Video Controllers: VGA -- DELL/Paradise VGA(640x480) | GPX -- DELL GPX card(1024x768) Most VGas work well, although the ET4000 chipset may have a funniness with the sysadmin menu stuff (haven't gone back to the old VGA to test). | 5) Memory: A good recommendation is a *MINIMUM* of 4Mb's | *for non X Windows based users* | *FOR X WINDOWS USERS -- 8Mb's or *more*(!!!)* The manual says 4 to run and 8 to install. And at least on an SX you will find X disgustingly slow until you add the 387. Don't own a 386DX without FPU, so I can't say how that would work. I have no handle on finding out what memory is doing on V.4, because the free memory seems to become disk buffers. When I went from 8 to 12 MB I checked with both sar and perfmon and saw free memory reported go from 400k to 1200k. I conclude there's no easy way to tell if you have enough memory, although you can look at page faults. 12MB doesn't seem much better than 8, so either "8 is enough" or even 12 is grossly inadequate. -- 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
mdm@mondy.UUCP (Michael D. Mondy) (02/09/91)
In article <14656@uudell.dell.com> sblair@upurbmw.dell.com (Steve Blair) writes: steve> [...] steve> **IF YOU INTEND TO RUN DELL's SYS V.4, on *non-DELL* h/w: steve> [...] steve> 3) Tape Controllers/Tape Drives: Adaptec *QIC150/250* drive steve> Adaptec Tape Controller steve> *are the *ONLY* supported controller & drive* In article <3085@sixhub.UUCP> davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes: bill> My beta stuff said Wangtek PC-36 and EV-811, and experience says they bill> both work, with the 5099 or 5125 drives. bill> Dell used to (still does?) sell the Wangtek 5150EQ drive which uses a QIC-02 interface (as opposed to a SCSI or QIC-36 interface). The adaptor for this drive is the PC-02. It appears that the device driver also supports the PC-36 adaptor which uses QIC-36 to the wangtek 5xxxEK and 5xxxEN drives? I cannot imagine that Dell would drop support for hardware that they sell when coming out with a new release of unix! It would not exactly have a positive effect on customer upgrades :). Anybody know which adaptors are functionally equivalent to each other? I imagine people would like to run scsi tape drives off of the 1542; perhaps someone at Dell can comment on when support for this will be available. BTW: All versions of /usr/include/sys/wtioctl.h that I have seen were totally bogus. >In article <14656@uudell.dell.com> Steve also writes: steve> steve> 4) Video Controllers: VGA -- DELL/Paradise VGA(640x480) steve> GPX -- DELL GPX card(1024x768) In article <3085@sixhub.UUCP> Bill also writes: bill> Most VGas work well, although the ET4000 chipset may have a funniness bill>with the sysadmin menu stuff (haven't gone back to the old VGA to test). bill> I purchased a Paradise Vga Professional before Dell started selling that card or selling unix. I bought it because it was 100% HARDWARE compatible with the IBM. Since it works, I'd IMAGINE that any other 100% hardware compatible would work - at least at standard resolutions. Mike Mondy - mdm@mondy.uucp
davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) (02/11/91)
In article <290@mondy.UUCP> mdm%mondy@ralph.lafayette.la.us writes: | I purchased a Paradise Vga Professional before Dell started selling that | card or selling unix. I bought it because it was 100% HARDWARE compatible | with the IBM. Since it works, I'd IMAGINE that any other 100% hardware | compatible would work - at least at standard resolutions. I ripped the code out of fractint to put a standard IBM VGA (and all the goof CGA clones I ever tried) into 800x600 mode, and I E-mailed it to Dell V.4 development. I suggested that it would be a great thing to put in their X server. I guess they're not doing that (although I expect a new X server, possibly two) out of Dell by the end of the month. The comment was made that interlaced mode is not "visually acceptable" for X. I am really unhappy with any vendor who tells me that something wouldn't be acceptable to customers, when other programs use the feature and are accepted. I have been assurred that the Rowell server will be out, an enhanced version of the current server is also being developed, and that the AT&T X and NeWS server will come out eventually. Note that Dell decided to go with X11R4 and give up NeWS, rather than stay with X11R3, and I think that's a reasonable decision. -- 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
tim@dell.co.uk (Tim Wright) (02/11/91)
In <290@mondy.UUCP> mdm@mondy.UUCP (Michael D. Mondy) writes: >In article <14656@uudell.dell.com> sblair@upurbmw.dell.com (Steve Blair) writes: >steve> [...] >steve> **IF YOU INTEND TO RUN DELL's SYS V.4, on *non-DELL* h/w: >steve> [...] >steve> 3) Tape Controllers/Tape Drives: Adaptec *QIC150/250* drive >steve> Adaptec Tape Controller >steve> *are the *ONLY* supported controller & drive* >In article <3085@sixhub.UUCP> davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes: >bill> My beta stuff said Wangtek PC-36 and EV-811, and experience says they >bill> both work, with the 5099 or 5125 drives. >bill> > Dell used to (still does?) sell the Wangtek 5150EQ drive which uses a >QIC-02 interface (as opposed to a SCSI or QIC-36 interface). The adaptor >for this drive is the PC-02. It appears that the device driver also >supports the PC-36 adaptor which uses QIC-36 to the wangtek 5xxxEK and >5xxxEN drives? > I cannot imagine that Dell would drop support for hardware that they sell >when coming out with a new release of unix! It would not exactly have a >positive effect on customer upgrades :). > Anybody know which adaptors are functionally equivalent to each other? >I imagine people would like to run scsi tape drives off of the 1542; perhaps >someone at Dell can comment on when support for this will be available. I'm not really a hardware guru but I *think* that QIC-02 is a subset of QIC-36 i.e. yes QIC-02 drives do indeed work. Having fooled around with a few Quarter Inch Cartridge drives under V4 (including the 5150EQ), I have yet to find one that won't work. Your mileage may vary :-) Tim -- Tim Wright, Dell Computer Corp. (UK) | Email address Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 1RW | Domain: tim@dell.co.uk Tel: +44-344-860456 | Uucp: ...!ukc!delluk!tim "What's the problem? You've got an IQ of six thousand, haven't you?"