Buying a 386 - questions

[Jay Ts]

In article <16189 at s.ms.uky.edu>, styer at 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