Is this a reasonable platform for SCO Unix?

[Jean-Jacques Drolet]

In <CHAS.91Apr24095031 at stax.uchicago.edu> chas at stax.uchicago.edu (Charles Blair) writes:


>I've just installed SCO Unix on a 16 MHz AST Bravo 386/SX, Paradise
>VGA Plus card, Princeton Max 15 monitor. The installation went well,
>and Open Desktop looks like it might be something I could put in front
>of our users (the configuration above is standard for them), but
>performance is very slow.

>Admittedly, the machine has only 4 MB memory (we'll install more, but
>the dealer said 4 MB was sufficient if we didn't push it). However, I
>wonder whether upgrading to 6 or 8 MB will alter performance
>sufficiently to make a real difference. Right now the unit might keep
>up with an old 4.77MHz PC running MS-DOS, but no more, in terms of how
>it looks to the user (obviously, it's doing a lot more).

Depending on the applications you run, adding a couple of MB's of RAM may
substantially improve performance. If your system is constantly swapping
virtual memory to and from the disk, this may be part of what you need.
SCO recommends a minimum of 6 MB of RAM.

>Is the 386/SX architecture just sub-optimal for Unix? (The doc said
>the SX is the slowest 386 around, and that some chips can barely keep
>up under some circumstances; as I recall, this was in re: drives and
>interleaving; our drives are pretty fast.) Is the video card too slow?
>What's a reasonable platform, to make SCO Unix an attractive
>alternative to something line MS-Windows?

If possible, I would recommend using a 25 MHz 386DX with at least 6 MB
of RAM and a 200 MB hard disk as a minimum platform. The 386SX may be
acceptable in some situations, but it is definitely not optimal.

>Any responses with people's experiences, etc., will be much
>appreciated.

>Thanks.

>--
>Internet: chas at uchicago.edu
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