Installing Xenix 2.3.4 386GT on a new Pentium
Brent Fidler
First of all I want to apologize. I know virtually nothing about Xenix or
Unix. I have been given an assignment and I need some help. We currently
have an old 486/33 running SCO Xenix 2.3.4 386GT. We are unhappy with the
speed of the machine and are running out of disk space. Instead of
replacing the hard drive we want to buy a new PC since they are so cheap.
Will Xenix 2.3.4 386GT run on a new Penium or PentiumII? All the
doucmentation with the OS only mentions 386 machines. If it will run, is
there a certain brand of PC I should consier over others. We currently run
Microns on our Peer to Peer Win95 network.
Would I be better off simply replacing the hard drive? BTW, I will
hopefully be hiring someone else to do the installation. I can't even
fathom the problems that I could run into trying it myself.
In over my head.
Brent Fidler
Southern Glove Mfg. Co., Inc.
Mike Schwartz
I strongly suggest that you upgrade to SCO Open Server 5.0.4. I have
gotten Xenix 2.3.4 to run on a few Pentium computers, but the faster
the Pentium gets, the more problems I am having. If you MUST upgrade
the Xenix to a Pentium, try looking for an older 75 Mhz or 90 Mhz
machine with only a small amount of Cache memory on it. Remember that
Xenix will address only 16 Megs of RAM, so don't bother to put any
more than that on the machine. I suggest installing only 8 or 12 Megs
of RAM, because several of the older peripherals need to be addressed
in the upper 8 meg RAM space. Also you can fully expect that some
perhiperals won't run. I had to scrap one customers 8-port Wyse-995
multi-user card because I just couldn't get it to run on a Pentium 120
Mhz. And generally speaking, keep the hard drives 512 Megs or less.
Myself or others on this group could give you a lot more specific
information if you tell us exactly what equipment you have; ie. tape
drive, multi-user cards, application software, etc.
--
.
Mike Schwartz - Pilot & Programmer Extrordinare!
.
Brent Fidler wrote in message <01bd2837$d845b040$92e564ce@brentfid>...
Trisoft Computer Services
In article <01bd2837$d845b040$92e564ce@brentfid>, bren...@twave.net
says...
>
>First of all I want to apologize. I know virtually nothing about Xenix
or
>Unix. I have been given an assignment and I need some help. We
currently
>have an old 486/33 running SCO Xenix 2.3.4 386GT. We are unhappy with
the
>speed of the machine and are running out of disk space. Instead of
>replacing the hard drive we want to buy a new PC since they are so
cheap.
>
>Will Xenix 2.3.4 386GT run on a new Penium or PentiumII? All the
>doucmentation with the OS only mentions 386 machines. If it will run,
is
>there a certain brand of PC I should consier over others. We currently
run
>Microns on our Peer to Peer Win95 network.
>
>Would I be better off simply replacing the hard drive? BTW, I will
>hopefully be hiring someone else to do the installation. I can't even
>fathom the problems that I could run into trying it myself.
>
>In over my head.
>
>Brent Fidler
>
>Southern Glove Mfg. Co., Inc.
Brent,
I have installed Xenix 2.3.4GT on Pentium 120 systems OK and even on a
Cyrix P166 class system.
Re Hard Drives - As I understand 'it' - with IDE drives 2Gb is the limit,
with SCSI 1Gb is the limit. Also with SCSI, I have only had success with
Adaptec 1540/2 A, B, C or CF adapters - the 1542CP will not work.
I have used Stallion Technologies Onboard and EasyConnection Terminal
Controllers and Wangtek tape drives without problems but Mike Schwartz's
advice about the problems with various devices is most appropriate.
Good luck with the assignment
Ian Gilbert
tri...@powerup.com.au
Michael Brandi Andersen
>I strongly suggest that you upgrade to SCO Open Server 5.0.4. I have
>gotten Xenix 2.3.4 to run on a few Pentium computers, but the faster
That's a problem if You use any special device drivers right?
>the Pentium gets, the more problems I am having. If you MUST upgrade
>the Xenix to a Pentium, try looking for an older 75 Mhz or 90 Mhz
>machine with only a small amount of Cache memory on it. Remember that
>Xenix will address only 16 Megs of RAM, so don't bother to put any
I've had luck running on 200MHz PentiumPro, but it's very important what
hardware you are using. In this case I was using Intel components, but I've
heard about success with Micron components also.
>perhiperals won't run. I had to scrap one customers 8-port Wyse-995
>multi-user card because I just couldn't get it to run on a Pentium 120
I hope that's not going to be a problem for me, since I also use the
Wyse.995.
>Mhz. And generally speaking, keep the hard drives 512 Megs or less.
Do You know the max legal parameters for hard drives?
>Myself or others on this group could give you a lot more specific
>information if you tell us exactly what equipment you have; ie. tape
Di you know if I can use the HP(or other) DAT drives on xenix?
Michael Brandi Andersen
Denmark
Mike Schwartz
The Wyse 995 card seemed to work at first, but terminals kept dropping
characters with Xenix 2.3.4 on the Pentium 120. I switched to a
Digiboard, and the digiboard runs all the terminals and printers at
their full rated speeds.
As I recall, the DAT drives aren't supported, although a couple of
notes in this newsgroup seemed to say that a SCSI tape is a SCSI tape.
I've never tried to get a DAT drive to work. Suggest you search
through the archives on www.dejanews.com or wherever.
--
>I hope that's not going to be a problem for me, since I also use the
>Wyse.995.
>
Tom Fugate
I too would suggest moving to the Open Server. You will not be able to use
any IDE HD that is over 1024 cylinders. Also if you try to use a SCSI HD
that is over 1 Gig the operating system will loop back onto itself and chew
up the file structures and operating system. I was reinstalling the
operating system once a week on a system until I got assistance on that
fact. The system would recognize a SCSI over 1 Gig but could not use it
properly. I ended up not using the upper 100 Meg of HD and that fixed that
problem. Go to the Open Server and these problems go away. Hope you find
this useful.
--
anti spammed. remove #'s for direct reply
Michael Brandi Andersen wrote in message <6aune6$kgm$1...@news.uni-c.dk>...
>>I strongly suggest that you upgrade to SCO Open Server 5.0.4. I have
>>gotten Xenix 2.3.4 to run on a few Pentium computers, but the faster
>
>
>That's a problem if You use any special device drivers right?
>
>>the Pentium gets, the more problems I am having. If you MUST upgrade
>>the Xenix to a Pentium, try looking for an older 75 Mhz or 90 Mhz
>>machine with only a small amount of Cache memory on it. Remember that
>>Xenix will address only 16 Megs of RAM, so don't bother to put any
>
>
>I've had luck running on 200MHz PentiumPro, but it's very important what
>hardware you are using. In this case I was using Intel components, but I've
>heard about success with Micron components also.
>
>>perhiperals won't run. I had to scrap one customers 8-port Wyse-995
>>multi-user card because I just couldn't get it to run on a Pentium 120
>
>
>I hope that's not going to be a problem for me, since I also use the
>Wyse.995.
>
>>Mhz. And generally speaking, keep the hard drives 512 Megs or less.
>
>
>Do You know the max legal parameters for hard drives?
>
>>Myself or others on this group could give you a lot more specific
>>information if you tell us exactly what equipment you have; ie. tape
>
>
>Di you know if I can use the HP(or other) DAT drives on xenix?
>
>Michael Brandi Andersen
>Denmark
>
>
jeff
There was a reworked version of divvy that took care of the 1gb drive
bondery that goes back 91 or 92. I might even have it somewhere if you
absolutly can't find it. also in this thread is the issue of dat or tape
of the scsi type. I found a product some years ago that was guit useful
with sco xenix 2.3.4 and it was called cornerstone If I recall the company
was bought out by buslogic which was bustek befor that, don't mean to date
myself :) hope this info proves useful.
Respectfully,