MicroPort/DosMerge 386 w/ 3.5" drives

[Randal Abler]

	I'm contemplating a 386 machine, possibly even a
	PS/2 Model 80 (I get a good discount as a student)
	and Microport's 386 with DOSMerge, so here are some
	questions for those of you running Microport 386:

	1) Has anyone tried MP 386 w/ a IBM Model 80?  Comments?
	   Does MP work well on the ESDI 70Mb disk?
	2) What media is it shipped on?  If I buy a system with
	   only 3.5 inch drives am I going to be in trouble?
	   5.25 disks are available from Procomm (or IBM if they
	   are shipping) for extra $$
	3) Does Microport even support the 3.5 inch drives?
	    or do they use the same driver as the 5.25 drives.
	4) Any quirks with the IBM VGA Display?
	5) What is the latest production version? I don't want to
	   pay for an outdated version.

	My intended configuration is a 
		PC compatible 386 machine,
		2 Mb RAM,  
		around 70 MB disk,  
		VGA display,
		Printer, 
		2400 baud modem.

	I run several UNIX machines around campus (HP 9000/540,
	MicroVax II's {Ultrix}, and we have a SUN 3/60 and 
	three SUN 4/110 on order) thus the desire for UNIX. 
	I can read 'notes' while at work, so I have no intention
	of using up disk space for notes on my machine.  The
	modem is a must for accessing the campus net, and uucp
	between work/home.
		
	I am currently using a AT&T 7300 UNIX PC, which belongs to
	the school, and goes back shortly.  It is really a slow
	beast, and the 'Window' enviroment brings words of 
	profanity to mind, but it is nice having a common 
	operating system between all the machines I work with.

	To muddy the waters, I have a fair amount of PC software,
	including programs from when I had a IBM PC (shortly
	after they came out) and programs available (legally,
	no flames please) as student demo versions that are used
	for course work.  PC's are popular for the never
	ending programming assignments that seem to go with
	an engineering education ...


	Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated!

					Randy Abler
					Georgia Institute of Technology
					{hp-lsd,gatech}!gtuplab!randy