|
|
Sponsored Content
Special Forums
Hardware
Upgrading antique Unisys U6000 / UNIX SVR4 1.2?
Post 302517283 by DMahalko on Tuesday 26th of April 2011 10:38:03 AM
04-26-2011
Upgrading antique Unisys U6000 / UNIX SVR4 1.2?
I have an old Unisys U6000/65 server I obtained as surplus about 12 years ago. For its day (1993) this server line was capable of insane ability, up to 4 gig of memory using dozens of 30-pin SIMMs and up to six processors, including mixed processor speeds and types (486/Pentium) in the same machine, EISA bus and built-in SCSI.
Mine merely has 64 meg of RAM and dual 486-50 processors with 1.5 gig of SCSI on a full-height 5.25" hard drive that revs like a jet engine powering up, but this was still very nice for 1993. It has two 10 megabit ethernet cards, and I can get it on the 'net. I also have a boot tape for it, with UNIX System V Revision 4, I think release 1.2.
It's about the size of a two-drawer file cabinet, and has been a nice lamp stand next to my bed.
,
Anyway, it works okay, but it has various small annoyances like no bash shell and no up-arrow command recall, and ls doesn't have color support. I would like to have that in this old system.
Everyone uses distributions and package managers now and doesn't do barebone source installs anymore. What are my chances of getting a modern linux bash shell to compile on this thing?
Should I first try to install newer versions of the "cc" compiler, "make", "yacc", etc on it?
I am not a C/C++ programmer so directly hand-editing source to "make it go" is out of my range of capability. Upgrading the kernel is likely impossible. For that part of the system, it is what it is.
(Yes, I am aware most modern smartphones have more CPU, storage, and memory than this old thing. It's like fixing up an old car or antique farm tractor..)
Mine merely has 64 meg of RAM and dual 486-50 processors with 1.5 gig of SCSI on a full-height 5.25" hard drive that revs like a jet engine powering up, but this was still very nice for 1993. It has two 10 megabit ethernet cards, and I can get it on the 'net. I also have a boot tape for it, with UNIX System V Revision 4, I think release 1.2.
It's about the size of a two-drawer file cabinet, and has been a nice lamp stand next to my bed.
,
Anyway, it works okay, but it has various small annoyances like no bash shell and no up-arrow command recall, and ls doesn't have color support. I would like to have that in this old system.
Everyone uses distributions and package managers now and doesn't do barebone source installs anymore. What are my chances of getting a modern linux bash shell to compile on this thing?
Should I first try to install newer versions of the "cc" compiler, "make", "yacc", etc on it?
I am not a C/C++ programmer so directly hand-editing source to "make it go" is out of my range of capability. Upgrading the kernel is likely impossible. For that part of the system, it is what it is.
(Yes, I am aware most modern smartphones have more CPU, storage, and memory than this old thing. It's like fixing up an old car or antique farm tractor..)
|
|
10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting
1. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users
Can we determine (reliably or guaranteed) at runtime if a system is SVR4 or BSD based, using two methods, shell and binary (C code)? (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: qanda
2 Replies
2. AIX
Hi all,
I've got a question about an OS upgrade.
I'm planning to do a upgrade from AIX UNIX 4.3.2 to 4.3.3 in a few weeks.
I haven't got that much information.
Could someone give me some general tips or hints, things I should think of before? Things I should know, or general errors.
I know... (9 Replies)
Discussion started by: Erik Rooijmans
9 Replies
3. HP-UX
Hello. I have inherited a HP 9000 series E35 server that has stopped working. It is running HPUX (10.2-I think). The fault light is on (steady) on the front of the server and it will not boot. It only goes to a CM> prompt, which I have never seen before. Initial research through HP indicated a... (8 Replies)
Discussion started by: sandyfox
8 Replies
4. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers
Hello All,
I have a Unisys 6000/65 machine running Unix System V Release 4.0.My problem is that we received an error that said "SPCS error occurred"and "vxfs:vx -ilisterr-inode 62585 mark bad /filesystem".The machine was stuck and I had to restart it.Now I cannot login from any workstation or... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: liverpool
2 Replies
5. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers
Hi
My main problem is trying to reset the password on an ancient (but still live) server. I have booted from floppy into maintenance mode, but it won't allow me to mount /. I'm using mount -F vxfs /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s1 /mnt and I get an error message along the lines of "operation not applicable... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: sweetleaf
2 Replies
6. HP-UX
Right now we are using HP-UX 11i
We are thinking of upgrading to 11i v3..
Questions:
Why would we want to upgrade? Benefits?
Do we need to install v2 and then v3 or can we just go straight to v3?
I see we can get the following:
HP-UX 11i v3 Operating Environment and applications... (10 Replies)
Discussion started by: nixie21
10 Replies
7. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers
We have 3 Unix servers all running SVR4 Unix 1.4. I have no problems copying files to and from 2 of the servers using either the rcp command or ftp but when i come to transfer large files to the third server the copy gives up part way through and crashes this server. Copying smaller files using RCP... (7 Replies)
Discussion started by: coatesd
7 Replies
8. Programming
Hi, I have got java 1.4.1 in my unix server, i wish to upgrade it to 1.4.2 version. I know how to do that in Windows, but it is the first time i am doing it in UNIX. Please tell me how to do it from command line?
Are there any environment variable to be set in unix as in windows?
Thanks in... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: macmohanin
0 Replies
9. Virtualization and Cloud Computing
Hello to all UNIX experts! This is my problem: I have to emulate an old UNIX System 5 release 4 on a virtual machine. I've got 30 images (.IMA) of 1.4M floppy where there is the installation of SVR4. How I can install it with those files? I tried with Vmware 7 workstation but it says 'Operating... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: mghis
6 Replies
10. Hardware
Hi all,
here at our computer museum in Palazzolo Acreide, Italy, we're trying to restore this ancient UNISYS server: (some picture here)
wiki DOT museo DOT freaknet DOT org/?title=UNISYS_U6000/50
(sorry I can't post any URL)
We have casual memory errors but we tested every single SIMM... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: asbesto
1 Replies
LEARN ABOUT LINUX
ahb
AHB(4) BSD Kernel Interfaces Manual AHB(4) NAME
ahb -- Adaptec EISA SCSI host adapter driver SYNOPSIS
To compile this driver into the kernel, place the following lines in your kernel configuration file: device scbus device ahb Alternatively, to load the driver as a module at boot time, place the following line in loader.conf(5): ahb_load="YES" DESCRIPTION
This driver provides access to the SCSI bus connected to an Adaptec AHA-174X host adapters in ``enhanced'' mode. Tagged queueing and syn- chronous SCSI transfers are supported. HARDWARE
The ahb driver supports the following SCSI host adapters: o Adaptec AHA-1740 o Adaptec AHA-1742 o Adaptec AHA-1740A o Adaptec AHA-1742A CAVEATS
The Adaptec 174X is very sensitive to SCSI bus termination and cable length. It may also have difficulties operating with some modern devices that, due to their speed, expose timing problems in the controller. There are no known mechanisms for working around device incom- patibilities of this nature. SEE ALSO
aha(4), ahc(4), aic(4), cd(4), da(4), sa(4), scsi(4) AUTHORS
The ahb driver was written by Justin T. Gibbs. BSD July 4, 2004 BSD