styer@ms.uky.edu (Eugene Styer) (10/17/90)
I am looking toward buying a 386 system in the near future (1-2 months) and
wanted to ask some questions to guide my purchase:
1. Do most versions of unix take advantage of the 1024x7?? displays, or am I
just as well off to get a standard VGA display and save some money?
2. Are the any incompatibilities where unix X won't run on computer Y?
3. Any versions on unix or computers I should definitely avoid?
4. Any helpful hints that you may want to include before I go spending my
money?
Thanks for the help,
Eugene Styer -- 957 POT, Univ. of Ky, Lexington, KY 40506 -- styer@ms.uky.edu
"1+1=3, for sufficiently large values of 1"
--
Eugene Styer -- 957 POT, Univ. of Ky, Lexington, KY 40506 -- styer@ms.uky.edu
"1+1=3, for sufficiently large values of 1"jay@metran.UUCP (Jay Ts) (10/18/90)
In article <16189@s.ms.uky.edu>, styer@ms.uky.edu (Eugene Styer) writes: > I am looking toward buying a 386 system in the near future (1-2 months) and > wanted to ask some questions to guide my purchase: > > 1. Do most versions of unix take advantage of the 1024x7?? displays, or am I > just as well off to get a standard VGA display and save some money? The console under ISC 386/ix is run in color EGA mode! You don't really even need VGA unless you are running DOS software under VP/ix, or X Window. (The version of X Window I have only supports 4 colors! It also makes my 4 Mbyte RAM system page like crazy... I don't use it!) Of course, if you're planning for the future, consider what Sys. V release 4 (with X Window/Open Look) will want. > 2. Are the any incompatibilities where unix X won't run on computer Y? Unfortunately, yes. > 3. Any versions on unix or computers I should definitely avoid? The people at ESIX, Interactive and SCO sales offices (use the 1-800 numbers) will be glad to help you with these questions. Each company has a hardware compatibility list of what computers are known to work with their software. There is a lot of hardware that will work that is not on their lists, but try to stay with the compatibility lists wherever you can. The reason may not always be obvious. For example, an associate of mine recently tried to assemble a 386 system for ESIX with a "2theMax" VGA card. It ran ESIX just fine until we installed VP/ix on the system. VP/ix ran fine too, up to the point when I tried to exit with the "quit" command. Then the console locked up, and since there were no terminals at that point, the system had to be reset (ouch! there was no tape drive, and hence no backups, at that point, either!) to be able to use the computer again. I strongly recommend such items as Paradise VGA+16, Western Digital WD1007, and other "standard" parts. They are more expensive, but it seems they were the first pieces of hardware supported when UNIX was ported to the 386, and therefore the most heavily tested. (Can someone at ATT/SCO/Interactive/ESIX confirm this?) > 4. Any helpful hints that you may want to include before I go spending my > money? Just in case you're looking to save some bucks -- and have a friendly hardware supplier/computer builder, here's the system we just built: ESIX System V.3.2 rev D (great price, great tech support, straight Sys V, X Window and RFS included!) AMI XGolden motherboard (25MHz), AMI BIOS dated 3/3/89, 8 Mbytes RAM Western Digital WD1007v ESDI controller Imprimis 94356-111 (98 Mb) ESDI drive (1070 cylinders, 5 heads, 34 sectors/trk when ESIX asks you for it) Paradise VGA+16 video adapter (Came with a copy of "Indiana Jones" game, which runs in 256-color VGA mode very nicely under VP/ix!) Everex DC600 tape drive. (ESIX includes a driver for this.) Gold Star color VGA monitor (ok, but not great) 101-key keyboard. parallel/serial I/O card 5 1/4" 1.2 Mb floppy 3 1/2" 1.44 Mb floppy tower case with 250-watt power supply; UPS (other miscellaneous parts; see below) And here's mine: ISC 386/ix 2.0.2 (many complaints on the net about bugs in 2.2, poor technical support, and high prices) Mylex MI386 (20 MHz, 64K cache) motherboard, 4 Mbytes RAM, *PHOENIX BIOS* (The AMI BIOS it came with was NOT compatible with 386/ix; I had to send Mylex a $60 "deposit" to exchange it for the Phoenix in order to get the board to run UNIX as advertised. There was a long delay, and they never refunded my deposit.) Adaptec 1542 SCSI hard disk controller (There has been a lot of success with these, and free tech support from adaptec on usenet!) Seagate 296N (Mine works ok, but I've read many complaints on the net, especially when it is used with 1:1 interleave.) Paradise VGA+16 video adapter (NO problems!) Mitsubishi XC-1429C (straight, sharp, simple color VGA monitor) Keytronics 101 keyboard (I like it.) parallel/serial I/O card. (I also have a Logitech bus mouse, which is nice even though I never use it. It is now in its box on the bookshelf next to X Window; I am keeping the mouse next to the pig :-) 5 1/4" 1.2 Mb floppy Everex Evercom 24E+ modem (or you'd never read this :-) mini tower case with 200-watt power supply miscellaneous cables, surge protector (think about getting a UPS!), etc. Panasonic KX-P1124 printer. Building your own system is not really that difficult (that's why there are about a million little clone stores in the U.S.). But you need to know a few details such as making the cables for the disk drive connections to the controller, for example. Look for a book on "How to build your own 386 and Save a Bundle" (I think that is the exact name of the one I read). And make sure the supplier you are dealing with accepts returns if you make a mistake or they give you something other than what you ordered. If I had it to do again, I would go with ESIX, AMI motherboard (25 MHz with cache), Adaptec 1542 controller, a Micropolis SCSI disk, Everex tape drive, Keytronics 101+ keyboard, and the same video card and monitor I have now. Sorry I can't name a manufacturer for the serial/parallel I/O card. Most should work, except that if you get one with a second serial port, make sure it is configurable with jumpers/DIP switches. Mine isn't, and so COM2 simply will not work under UNIX. (Can someone please help recommend a good one?) Jay Ts uunet!pdn!tscs!metran!jay
larry@nstar.uucp (Larry Snyder) (10/19/90)
jay@metran.UUCP (Jay Ts) writes: >either!) to be able to use the computer again. I strongly recommend such >items as Paradise VGA+16, Western Digital WD1007, and other "standard" >parts. They are more expensive, but it seems they were the first pieces I am running 386/ix release 2.20 with X from ISC (Release 1.2) and my video board (ATI VGA Wonder works excellent (well, maybe a little slow - but I have a feeling all the non-smart video boards are slow under X) in 800x600 with 256 colors.. On top of the above - 386/ix supports the ATI VGA built in mouse rather well -- >Gold Star color VGA monitor (ok, but not great) which Gold Star? Their 16 inch enhanced VGA monitor is priced around $680 - I am wondering how it works with X? >ISC 386/ix 2.0.2 (many complaints on the net about bugs in 2.2, poor > technical support, and high prices) I haven't had any problems with 2.20. First thing I did after installing 2.20 was to replace the mailer with smail3 - I'll say one thing - 2.20 with the 1542 and multiple SCSI drives is very, very fast --- -- Larry Snyder, Northern Star Communications, Notre Dame, IN USA {larry@nstar, uunet!sco!romed!nstar!larry, nstar!larry@ndmath.math.nd.edu} backbone usenet newsfeeds available Public Access Unix Site (219) 289-0282 (5 high speed lines)
pjh@mccc.uucp (Pete Holsberg) (10/19/90)
FYI, I'm running AT&T SV/386 R3.2.2 with VP/ix (Simul-Task) on the cheapest 25MHz with 64K cache clone I could find. It's from COMTRADE (see PC WEEK ads), and has 4 MB of 70ns RAM (I asked for 70 ns; 80 is standard) but uses a 20 MHz 80386 running at 25MHz. (They're going to replace it, they said. I had removed the heat sink to see the chip number and haven't had a chance to replace it [no source of RTV!] but it's been running without skipping a beat for over a week.) I have their VGA clone card driving a multisync monitor that I already had. I'm using a WD1007-WA2 ESDI controller and it works fine but I understand that the SV (SE?) version of that controller is better. Pete -- Prof. Peter J. Holsberg Mercer County Community College Voice: 609-586-4800 Engineering Technology, Computers and Math UUCP:...!princeton!mccc!pjh 1200 Old Trenton Road, Trenton, NJ 08690 Internet: pjh@mccc.edu Trenton Computer Festival -- 4/20-21/91
bill@bilver.UUCP (Bill Vermillion) (10/21/90)
In article <1990Oct19.004956.1343@mccc.uucp> pjh@mccc.edu (Pete Holsberg) writes: >I'm using a WD1007-WA2 ESDI controller and it works fine but I >understand that the SV (SE?) version of that controller is better. I have the WD1007-SE. I also have a Maxtor 8760E. This drive requires this controller. The SE is a 15Mb/sec ESDI controller, as is the drive. The drive wont run on a standard controller. And if you drive is only a 10Mb/sec, I don't suspect you would see any improvement, if it runs. I found this the hardway trying to put one of these into a stock ESDI controller situation. -- Bill Vermillion - UUCP: uunet!tarpit!bilver!bill : bill@bilver.UUCP
pjh@mccc.uucp (Pete Holsberg) (10/23/90)
In article <1136@bilver.UUCP> bill@bilver.UUCP (Bill Vermillion) writes:
=I have the WD1007-SE. I also have a Maxtor 8760E.
^^^^???
I have a 4170E. I found I had to tell SETUP that I had no hard drives
installed and then let the WD1007-WA2 BIOS tell SETUP something that
would make the whole shebang work! And it does.
Pete
--
Prof. Peter J. Holsberg Mercer County Community College
Voice: 609-586-4800 Engineering Technology, Computers and Math
UUCP:...!princeton!mccc!pjh 1200 Old Trenton Road, Trenton, NJ 08690
Internet: pjh@mccc.edu Trenton Computer Festival -- 4/20-21/91