To: 386users@TWG.COM Subject: 80386 mailing list, vol 4 #5 Date: 8 Feb 89 19:46:06 EST (Wed) From: "Wm E. Davidsen" 80386 User's mailing list vol 4 #5 Feb 2, 1989 In this issue: Brain dead SCO code? Nope; brain dead people. New fixed disk 386 video drivers (was Re: Paradise Autoswitch 480 and Windows/386) re: Article of egon@impch.UUCP Connecting Xenix/386 to Novelle -- can it be done? COMPAQ Streamer (Wangtek 135 Mb) wont work under XENIX 2.3 386 Re: 386 video drivers (was Re: Paradise Autoswitch 480 and Windows/386) Re: Paradise Autoswitch 480 and Windows Coprocessor emulation falure Help? The addresses for the list are now: 386users@TWG.COM - for contributions to the list or ...!uunet!TWG.COM!386users 386users-request@TWG.COM - for administrivia or ...!uunet!TWG.COM!386users-request P L E A S E N O T E If you want to get on or off the list, or change your address, please mail to the 386users-request address, or the message will be delayed by having to hand forward it (for your convenience, not mine). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) Subject: Brain dead SCO code? Nope; brain dead people. New fixed disk controller has SCO Xenix V/386 breathing fire! Date: 20 Dec 88 23:34:49 GMT A while back there was some statement made here that one of the reasons for poor I/O performance on SCO Xenix had to do with SCO's driver resetting the controller after each sector transfer.... Well, if that's the case, then I certainly can't find the problem with the practice. We just got in a load of WD1006-V/SR2 controllers, hot off the assembly line (serial #s under 200!). These, for those of you who aren't familiar, are RLL 2,7 track buffered Hard/Floppy controllers, nearly 100% surface mount construction, and will fit in a XT286 machine (short & only about 1/2 length). They're brand new; Western Digital had some serious production problems with the original design. It now appears the troubles are fixed, although there is a very limited supply at present (I grabbed everything I could get my hands on, and at a reasonable price too. Email, call voice or see my "biz" group posting for more info if you want one). These things work beautifully. I'm getting over 300Kbyte/second through the Xenix drivers now, about three times the previous "best". Raw I/O rates to/from the drive are in the 650Kbyte/second range, about as good as one can ask out of a RLL ST-412 unit (theoretical max is 750Kbyte/sec). This compares with nearly-identical raw transfer rates for the Adaptec ACB2372, but only 120Kbytes/second through the Xenix drivers (boo hiss!). The difference really has to be seen to be appreciated. I'd estimate that from a user's viewpoint, you've got 80%+ of the throughput of an ESDI subsystem at substantially less than half the cost. Drives we've checked out so far that work with these things include the Seagate 251's and ST4096's (if these work, nearly anything ought to be ok) as well as a Miniscribe 20M half-height XT drive. No problems at all. Boots are near-instant -- your first reaction upon seeing the system boot will be "nawwww, it couldn't be up that fast". The board also contains a ROM BIOS, and on-board formatting, surface analysis and defect management software (none of which is needed for Xenix applications, but nice for DOS!) Well recommended -- there's one in the machine this is being posted from. Wherever that nasty rumor about SCO's drivers came from, it's hogwash. We'll be testing these smokers with Microport and 386/ix within the next couple of weeks; email if you'd like results. If sufficient interest is shown, I'll post a followup. -- Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, ddsw1!karl) Data: [+1 312 566-8912], Voice: [+1 312 566-8910] Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. "Quality solutions at a fair price" ------------------------------ From: seg@smsdpg.uu.net (Scott Garfinkle) Subject: 386 video drivers (was Re: Paradise Autoswitch 480 and Windows/386) Date: 3 Jan 89 13:56:11 GMT >From article <8547@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>, by slin@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Steven Philip Lin): > > Does anyone know how to get Windows/386 to work at 640x480 mode with > a Paradise Autoswitch 480? Paradise supplies a driver to work with plain > Windows, but I can't seem to use this driver with the 386 version. Has > anyone gotten this to work? For that matter, what is the big problem in general with Windows/386 video drivers? I haven't seen any video card manafacturer yet who is supplying an 800x600 VGA driver for Windows/386 -- only W/286. Why? Scott E. Garfinkle SMS Data Products Group, Inc. uunet!smsdpg!seg ------------------------------ From: tim_hogan-doran@zeta.fido.oz (Tim Hogan-doran) Subject: re: Article of egon@impch.UUCP Date: 19 Dec 88 08:48:18 GMT > panic: meory failure - parity error The main causes of this , as most XENIX owners know , are low grade memory chips , which XENIX HATES !!!!! But also on 386 running SCO XENIX your memory should no be below 80ns. Also XENIX doesn't like you "mixing memory" in 386 (ie one board with 60ns and another with 120ns) These are what usually causes the panic message. So whats the GOLDEN RULES If ya go'in to buy , dony buy CHEAP , but buy FAST and the SAME =============================================================== Godd Luck !! --- Zeta * Origin: Zeta: Unix, Minix, Xenix support (02) 627-4177 (3:713/602) ------------------------------ From: chip@ateng.ateng.com (Chip Salzenberg) Subject: Connecting Xenix/386 to Novelle -- can it be done? Date: 22 Dec 88 15:06:38 GMT Among users of networked MS-DOS computers, Novelle's NetWare has become widely known as a quality product. Unfortunately, unless a machine runs MS-DOS, there's no way to include it directly in a Novelle network. And -- you guessed it -- we need just such a connection. Suggestions? Prayers? We are using Xenix/386 2.3.1. The network of MS-DOS machines is based on Token Ring hardware. The existing network has more than 100 nodes, so it would be acceptable to dedicate one computer as a gateway. Please post responses if they would be of general interest; otherwise, send E-Mail. Thanks in advance for all hints and experiences. -- Chip Salzenberg or A T Engineering Me? Speak for my company? Surely you jest! Beware of programmers carrying screwdrivers. ------------------------------ From: felix@netmbx.UUCP (Felix Gaehtgens) Subject: COMPAQ Streamer (Wangtek 135 Mb) wont work under XENIX 2.3 386 Date: 29 Dec 88 16:46:55 GMT hi! i'm having problems with the WANGTEK 135Mb Streamer from COMPAQ. I am using SCO's 2.3 XENIX for the COMPAQ 386-16. When using the command tape erase or tape rewind it *seems* to do the job. But using tar won't work (the streamer drives the tape around a bit and then it hangs). Anybody know how to handle this? Or is the compaq streamer/xenix driver pure JUNK ??? so long, felix ------------------------------ From: jls@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Jerome Schneider) Subject: Re: 386 video drivers (was Re: Paradise Autoswitch 480 and Windows/386) Date: 4 Jan 89 08:32:04 GMT In article <138@smsdpg.uu.net>, seg@smsdpg.uu.net (Scott Garfinkle) writes: > From article <8547@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>, by slin@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Steven Philip Lin): > > > > Does anyone know how to get Windows/386 to work at 640x480 mode with > > a Paradise Autoswitch 480? Paradise supplies a driver to work with plain > > Windows, but I can't seem to use this driver with the 386 version. Has > > anyone gotten this to work? > For that matter, what is the big problem in general with Windows/386 video > drivers? I haven't seen any video card manafacturer yet who is supplying > an 800x600 VGA driver for Windows/386 -- only W/286. Why? Unfortunately, the driver for windows/286 is the Windows part only. In win 386, there is a chunk of code that runs in the 386 protected mode and it's function is to provide "virtual machines" to each of the processes. A big part of this hidden machine is the code to "simulate" COM ports, mouse, keyboards, and display hardware for each running task. If you look at the windows disks, there are several files (cga.386, ega.386, hercules.386, etc) designed for specific hardware. This code is the entire "virtual machine" code for each hardware configuration. Because the display hardware is very intimately tied to the virtual kernel, drivers as such are not enough to provide the extended features. I think that only Video-7 has a contract with Microsoft to provide a special version of the virtual machine code with support for V-7 hardware in the extended modes. I don't know if paradise/WD is planning to do the same. I personally have given up on win/386 since Microsoft seems to want to avoid comnpetition with OS/2 or OS/3 and won't be fixing the obvious problems soon. I think we have a interim product that will be provided little future support. Oh well, be happy. . no signature file, killer.jls.DALLAS.TX.US Jerome Schneider. ------------------------------ From: mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu Subject: Re: Paradise Autoswitch 480 and Windows Date: 4 Jan 89 15:34:00 GMT >For that matter, what is the big problem in general with Windows/386 video >drivers? I haven't seen any video card manafacturer yet who is supplying >an 800x600 VGA driver for Windows/386 -- only W/286. Why? The VGA-16 card from Video 7 that came with my Dell 310 has such a beast. I haven't tried it, as I have only 640K on that machine. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Jan 89 11:20 N From: steinmetz!uunet!cunyvm.cuny.edu!RCSTLN@HEITUE5.BITNET Subject: Coprocessor emulation falure Reply-To: rcstln%heitue5.bitnet@byu.edu I've a 386 processor sytemboard with an AMI BIOS. The BIOS has to simulate the coprocessor if not availeble, according to the BIOS setup procedure. It aks simulate coprocessor Y/N. But it fails to work. Al the programms which use a coprocessor don't work. Is there anyone who knows how to solve this problem, or has the same problem? The motherboard is , Is a MORETEC I thought. Thanks, Leo v. Nieuwenborg ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jan 89 08:36:33 EST From: Thomas Weyer Subject: Help? Hello I have a couple of a problems that I thought the brain- trust of the net might be able to assist me with. I haven't heard much form the disscussion lately, but I hope it is still active. I work for Cornell University's information resources division. A couple of days ago IBM, as part of a loan pro- gram with the college (they provide micros we find uses within the Cornell community and then we persuade our users to purchase them), shipped us 5 PS/2-70's and model 80. The configuration is as follows: Model 80 -------- 2 internal 360M hard disks 1 Ungerman Bass Ethernet card 1 ESDI Controller card 1 8514/A Display and 4 Meg of system memory (I believe 2 on the system board and 2 on the 386 memory expansion option I think it is directly connected to the system board) 1 IBM Streaming tape drive (SY-TOS tape operating system) Model 70 -------- 1 internal 360M hard disks 1 Ungerman Bass Ethernet card 1 8514/A Display and 2 Meg of system memory Software -------- In their infinite wisdom IBM chose to ship us what they refer to select it is a package that includes DOS 4.0 and Windows 286 version ???. After having read several reviews or DOS 4.0 and its associated problems I decided to install 3.3 instead. The version of Windows 386 that I have doesn't have a device driver for the 8514 display. This version will not run under DOS 4.0 either. Other problems included inability to set up the SMART- DRIVE in extended memory (ie. memory above 10000H). I am content to run under 3.3 for a while if I can resolve the problem with Windows, even though I had to split my hard disk into 32M partitions. I must eventually use 4.0 or A/UX when we finally get the system configured. One of our goals for the 80 is a fast database file server. We would be us- ing the micro based database (ORACLE) that would contain views in synch with the mainframe database. Which brings me to the next problem. I have tried to install ORACLE Professional Edition (developers copy) on the model 80 using the program supplied (ORAINST). I can get up to the initialization of the database and then the system crashes the system beeps sev- eral times brings up the request for the next disk. When attempting SMARTDRIVE I get a similar response speaker beeps then system lockup. I think that both cases are related and have to do with memory addressing. I can't seem to figure it out, I has hoping that someone on the net might have con- figured a similar system and might bee able to help me with my dilemma. Thanks in advance, you can contact me E-mail or by phone, my work number is (607)255-1489 8:30 to 5:30. Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks again Thomas Weyer BITNET: TW9@CornellC Internet: TW9@Cornell.edu.cornell Snail-mail: Cornell University 400 Computing and Communication Center Ithaca, NY 14853 Acknowledge-To: ------------------------------ End of 80386 M/L ****************