Microport System V/386 install woes

[Pete Holsberg]

In article <1984 at sugar.UUCP> karl at sugar.UUCP (Karl Lehenbauer) writes:
...First off, the surface analysis program doesn't work.  It bombs.  This is
...mentioned in the install documentation, but the install script (autobooted
...this time, unlike on the 286) valiantly tries to run it anyway.  Without
...the surface analysis, this means we *must* type in all the defects by
...hand (right?), and that we'll find any new defects by having the system 
...screw up rather than having the surface analysis program find it.  If this
...is correct, it is a major fubar.

???  When the install script asked if I wanted the surface analysis, I
typed "s" and it skipped it entirely.  Never trust the surface analysis
done by a disk controller over that done by a disk tester.  I would hand
enter that bad block map regardless, just for piece of mind.

...Also, has anyone else noticed how much more user friendly DOS install, 
...format, etc. programs are than Microport Unix ones?  The Sys V/386 format 
...program appears to print a period for every four cylinders that it formats.
...(That's based on observation; there's no mention of it in the docs.)_
...The DOS format program cursor addresses to continually update, numerically, 
...which cylinder and head is being formatted.  It helps one's confidence, 
...particularly when the format program seems to slowly drive the heads back to 
...track zero after every cylinder, making it seem like something is wrong
...since it is constantly reseeking.

Have you ever used DEBUG to format an XT disk?  That ain't friendly in
my book.  And it's only the recent DOS "high-level" format programs that
show head and cylinder.  The old one's didn't and I don't believe
that the low level formatters ever did.

...The fact is, installing Microport Unix is still for gurus only (unless
...my experiences have been very rare rather than, as I suspect, pretty common)
...and, although some people at Microport are apparently getting rich off it, 
...neither will it be the "next thing" nor will they fix the bugs that have
...been killing my system since 9/1986.

I'm certainly no guru, but I've found that the installation goes pretty
smoothly.  I "preformat" my Micropolis 1335 (71MB formatted) with
SpeedStor and then run the install script.  Seemed pretty easy to me.