IDE controllers

[John C. Archambeau]

jan at bagend.uucp (Jan Isley) writes:
>jca at pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau) writes:
>
>>david at talgras.UUCP (David Hoopes) writes:
>>>Hello,
>>>	I have been looking at some of the low end 386sx machines.  I would
>>>like to buy one for working at home.  All of the ones that I have seen have
>>>IDE hard drives.  I have never used IDE controllers or hard drives.  Will
>>>SCO Unix/Xenix run ok on one of these machines?
>
>>IDE should work just fine.  I've had no problem with using IDE with Novell.  I
>>plan on upgrading my system's hard drive configuration from a small 40 Mb and
>>a 10 Mb ST506 MFM to a Conner CP-3204F.  If there is a problem with IDE, it
>>certainly would surprise me.
>
>It does not suprise me that a Novell user would assume that SCO would behave
>just like Novell. :-)

Actually, I've found in my experience that a lot more things work with *nix
in general than Novell.

>It depends on at least 4 variables: the motherboard, controller, drive, and
>version of SCO.  I can tell you from personal experience that there are many
>combinations of these 4 variables that do *not* work together.  Some will.
>
>Find a reputable dealer, and/or someone who has a reliable system configured.
>NOTE, reliable does not mean, "will it boot".
>
>I will also point out that in the latest version of Xenix System V/386 that
>we got from SCO *today*, there are no supported IDE devices listed.

All of ALR's machines are certified by SCO and Novell.  ALR is really big on
IDE.  Of course, ALR is a major name brand.  One of the things one might look
for is a system with a motherboard that is Novell and SCO certified.  A lot of
motherboards out there have an IDE port on them.

Also keep in mind that IDE generally looks like an ST412/506 controller and
drive.

But of course, as I've always said, there are exceptions to the rule.  Find a
dealer that will guarantee that SCO Xenix will run on their machine with an
IDE drive on it.
 
     // JCA

 /*
 **--------------------------------------------------------------------------*
 ** Flames  : /dev/null                     | Small memory model only for
 ** ARPANET : crash!pnet01!jca at nosc.mil     | Unix?  Get the (*bleep*) out
 ** INTERNET: jca at pnet01.cts.com            | of here!
 ** UUCP    : {nosc ucsd hplabs!hd-sdd}!crash!pnet01!jca
 **--------------------------------------------------------------------------*
 */