UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

One of my clients has a SCO OpenServer Host 5.0.5 server they want to upgrade to Linux. My main question is, since this is host we are talking about (no network support), how should I transfer about a gig of data? I've heard that Linux doesnt support the SCO FS, and since I know very little about SCO stuff, how should I transfer those files? Basically, would it be feasible to throw a hdd with a fat32 partition in there, or what? I don't know what SCO supports as far as file systems.

I've also heard the same about tape drives.....dont really want to backup 1 gig over floppies . Any ideas would be great! Thanks.

I rather doubt that there is any common filesystem. I find it very hard to believe that any modern version of unix would not support networking. That's especially true of one named "OpenServer Host"... What would server and host mean without networking?

But if it's really true that networking is impossible (it was hard to get my fingers to type that), well here is an idea that I might try...

Hook the disk up to the OpenServer-who-cannot-network but don't create a filesystem on it. Now figure out what special file corresponds to the whole disk. Create a portable tar archive to that disk directly. Move the disk over to Linux and read the archive. For this to be possible both os's will need to use the same technique to partition the disk.

thats a good idea, use a hard drive like a tape drive, totally forgot about that one.

yes, sco openserver host does not support networking other than serial communications. Its offered as a "cheap" alternative for POS applications, and the like with small user bases. Thats the difference between host and enterprise, enterprise supports networking & serial apps.

I was thinking of using floppies like that (as tape medium, just a raw write), but with as muich info as i need to backup (about 200 mb actually), that would be a bad plan. the hard drive though should work ok, might have to write zeros to it before though......only need to backup the company's data from their proprietary, generic program.

Hehe, for the most part here we try to stay away from political issues. Users arent (generally) responsible for the actions of the company, and unix.com is here to help users.

Anyway, i couldnt imagine it actually having NO network support what so ever.

Perderabo's hard drive swap suggestion seems the most practical. Good luck.

You shouldn't need to write zeros to the disk. There is a problem that you won't get an end-of-file until you run out of disk. That's why you a program like tar...it will know when to stop reading.

I would try the raw device first (/dev/rdsk/something). It will probably work if anything will. You can also try the block device (/dev/dsk/something) but you must at least type "sync" and wait a few seconds before you disconnect the disk .