notebook/portable PC with SCO Unix/Xenix 386

[Ross Oliver]

In article <1991Feb27.040717.26460 at cs.umn.edu> swie at cs.umn.edu (S. T. Tan) writes:
>Has anybody tried to run SCO Xenix-386 or SCO Unix-386 on a notebook or a
>portable PC? If you are using it, could you please share your experience?
>I am interested in the following systems: Compaq 386SX-20Mhz notebook, 
>AST 386SX-20Mhz notebook, IBM P70 (80386-20Mhz), IBM P75 (80486-33Mhz).


The Compaq will work fine.  Compaq was showing one off at last year's
SCO Forum90.  The IBM P70 will work, but requires a bit of fiddling
(see below).  By inference, the P75 should work with the same fiddling.
Other portables I have seen running SCO UNIX and XENIX are Toshiba,
Zenith, and Grid.  The typical problem with laptops and portables is
with the display.  If the machine comes with a special MS-DOS display
device driver, then it probably won't work with UNIX or XENIX.  A good
test is to try to boot with the N1 disk.  If the display looks good,
it will probably work.

Ross Oliver
Technical Support
The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.

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Do SCO XENIX and SCO UNIX support the PS/2 model P70 portable?

KEYWORDS: p70 ps2 gas plasma monitor portable vga screen xenix unix xnx155

RELEASE: SCO XENIX 386 Operating System Release 2.3.2 
	 SCO UNIX System V/386 Operating System  Release 3.2.0 for computers  
	 based on Micro Channel Architecture (MCA)

PROBLEM: The gas plasma display screen on the PS/2 Model P70 portable 386 
	 flickers when running SCO XENIX 386 Operating System Release 2.3.2 
	 or SCO UNIX System V/386 Operating System Release 3.2.0 for computers 
	 based on Micro Channel Architecture (MCA).

CAUSE: The model P70 gas plasma display is not supported under SCO XENIX 386 
       Operating System Release 2.3.2 and SCO UNIX System V/386 Operating
       System Release 3.2.0.

       It will work fine under either operating system with an external
       monitor attached.  Fixes have been developed for the following versions
       of the operating system:

*      XENIX 2.3.2: Support Level Supplement (SLS) XNX155 or XNX155B will allow
       the display to be used.

*      UNIX 3.2.0: No SLS is available, however /etc/conf/pack.d/vga/Driver.o
       can be extracted from SCO ODT Release 1.0 for computers based on Micro 
       Channel Architecture (MCA), or SCO UNIX System V/386 Operating System   
       Release 3.2, Version 2.0 for computers based on Micro Channel 
       Architecture.  Placing this file on a 3.2.0 system and then re-linking
       the kernel will allow the VGA interface to be put into EGA mode with the
       command:

            vidi e80x25
 
       This command will need to be inserted in the /etc/rc2.d/S88USRDEFINE file
       so the display will come up correctly on bootup.  When you insert the
       command in the file, you will need to indicate what device you are
       writing to by redirecting to that device, as in the following example:

            vidi e80x25 > /dev/tty01

       You will need to put in an entry for each screen you wish to use.  The
       example above applies to /dev/tty01, the first console multiscreen.  
       You need to apply the same command to /dev/tty02, /dev/tty03, etc., if
       you wish to use those screens. 

       You will also need to insert the following command in the file
       /etc/bcheckrc to prevent the screen flicker when you log in as root
       in System Maintenance (single-user) mode:

            vidi e80x25 > /dev/console

*      UNIX 3.2 Version 2.0: You do not have to extract the driver file as in
       the previous release, but you do still need to use the same vidi
       commands in order to use the display properly.