Using Gnu instead of the Development system

[Steve Cirian]

In article <1991Apr4.161804.4842 at holos0.uucp>, lbr at holos0.uucp (Len Reed) writes:
> I want to put Unix on my home PC.  It's a 386-33 ISA machine.  Is it
> possible to buy Unix without a development system and run GCC?  Price
> is a paramount concern for this system.
> 

I had the same plan as you, and purchased the runtime version of Microport's
Sys V R 3.2.  The runtime version does not include a compiler, networking, or
X.  I got the runtime package for $200, and have been fairly happy with it.  I
also planned to get the Gnu C compiler, and 386X, and try to get by as cheaply
as possible for my home system.  Here are my observations on Microport, and on
my strategy:

Microport makes a decent Unix, but I have had a few problems:

1)  When rebooting my machine after it has been running for more than 10 minutes
    it hangs, and just repeats the memory check and self test.  I do not get the
    usual "Booting Microport Unix..." message.  One person out there in Netland
    suggested that the way that Microport Unix interprets the interrupt that is
    generated by my video card as an error.  His system had the same video card
    (a Paradise VGA+16), and the sane problem.  I am going to try to convince
    my roommate to let me rip apart his new PC and let me borrow his card to
    see if it makes a difference.

2)  I have not been able to print.

3)  FYI - this one was my fault, not Microport's, but I thought I would mention
    it, since it might be of general interest.  I experienced several system
    crashes, where the system woul give me the following message:  "Operating 
    System Not Found".  My system seemed to run fine for a few weeks, and then
    would mysteriously crash.  I am almost certain the cause of this was a 
    virus.  My roommate used a program on my DOS partition, which apparently 
    hosed the boot sectors, which in turn hosed UNIX.  I had to reload 3 times
    before he discovered the virus on his new PC, and I am pretty sure this is
    what messed up my computer.  (He owes me, so I am going to borrow his 
    video card.)

4)  Microport does not include decent doco.  The only thing that comes with the
    runtime package is a hardcopy of the man pages for the basic set of 
    commands.  This booklet also includes brief summaries of how to perform
    a few tasks, such as enabling serial ports, adding a printer, and mounting
    a floppy (Microport tells you how to do it, but not which device files
    correspond to which type of floppies (DD, HD, 3.5, 5.25)).  Online man 
    pages are not included.  I have recieved several phone calls from their
    sales staff, trying to get me to purchase additional doco and support,
    but I do not wish to do so until I know if their version of Unix can be
    made to function properly on my box.

I have not had much time to tinker around with my system, and have to reply to
Microport's support staff with some answers to some of the questions they had,
so to be fair to them, I guess I can't complain too much until I get them the
answers I promised them.

As far as my stratgey of putting together a cheap system, one kind person said
he would be willing to mail me Gnu's c compiler, lex, and bison on floppies once
he got it compiled, but he has not had time to work on it lately, so I can't 
comment on how that compiler will work out.

I was going to get 386X via anonymous ftp through one of the mailer sites, but 
decided that it wouldn't be fair to have that amount of data mailed to me 
across the net via uucp.  (In case anyone has this and would be willing to 
send it to me on floppies (I will pay for the cost of the floppies, postage,
etc), please email me.)

Steve Cirian

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