Replacement '386 motherboards ?

[J. Paul Landolt]

In article <539 at bronson.UUCP>, tan at bronson.UUCP (N.R. "Tan" Bronson) writes:
> 
>     I would like to upgrade my PC limited 8mhz '286, running SCO 2.1.3,
> to a '386 running SC0 2.2.
>     The most attractive would appear to be to replace my motherboard.

[ The new motherboard, among other things, must be ]
>     - verified to work w/SCO xenix
 
Write to the companies I am about to list and ask them about their mother
boards. They can give you a full description, and tell you wether they feel
it is Xenix ready.  But, chances are each of these boards will run Xenix
just fine.

>     The Intel motherboard seems like the major choice I have.
>     What are the 'safe' revisions to purchase ?
>     What price should I be able to get ?

Several other boards exist alongside the Intel board:

Dyna SX386 - Dyna Computer Inc. $1,650
  - designed to fit in an XT chassis
  
Hauppauge 386 Motherboard - Hauppauge Computer Works Inc. $1,495
  - fits into PCs and XT chasses (ies?)

Intel iSBC 386AT - Intel Corp.  sbout $1,995
  - fits in the full size AT chassis
  - memory expansion through 32-bit slots instead of 16-bit
  - onboard serial/parallel ports (this can be a downfall to some people)

Monolithic Microframe 386 - Monolithic Systems Corp. $3,295
  - fits in full size AT case (XT version may exist)
  
Zeos 386 Motherboard - Zeos International Ltd. $1,395
  - fits in full size case
  - on board SCSI interface

All of the preceding information was lifted from PC Magazine, January 88
issue.  The addressed to these companies can be found in the same article
If I did something wrong (by Usenet standards) by printing this info, 
someone please tell me.

   As you can see, most of the boards were designed for the full size AT
case.  It might be in your best interests to go out and spend $50 on a new
case.

>     How much faster is this going to be than my '286 system ?

   The Intel board is the only one that runs at only 16Mhz.  All the rest
run at 20.  The added speed as well as the better architechture (sp?) of
the 386 will make for a noticably faster computer. Check out the benchmark
tests in the aforementioned copy of PC MAgazine. all of these boards are
compared against an XT and a 286AT.

   The 386 is, overall, about twice as fast as the 386, and over 6x the
XT speed.  Disk speeds were about the same between the 286 and the 386

   I hope this information helps those people interested in upgrading to
a 386.


-- 
J. Paul Landolt
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