HP-UX

Hi all

I have a HP B1000 with HP-UX 11 installed but recently I have aqquired 11i on CD, after reading the documentation it states that 11i can be installed on a B1000 with a firmware update, which is included on the 11i media, but I have been told it will be impossible to install 11i on my B1000 can someone please clarify the situation for me.

Thanks in advance

You should get some clarification from whoever told you that. I don't have a B1000. Like you, I see that the docs say that 11i is supported although a firmware patch is needed.

But under unsupported systems: So it looks like you should be ok if you have the right graphics card. Your source may have been mislead by this: But the B1000 is listed as 64 bit capable under "supported systems". The first quote is from the update and installation guide. The second quote is from the release notes. Find both documents for your particular version of 11i and read them carefully.

As always, perform a full backup before you upgrade. Be prepared to use that backup to recover your system if the upgrade does not work. If you can make another disk availlable, install 11i on that and test it.

Thanks for the help Perderabo, im pretty sure im ok for a upgrade, but I think its wise to do a backup, I know that linux can run on a B1000 but I bought a HP workstation to run HP-UX not linux.

Thanks again for the help, its much appreciated.

HP-UX 11i does work on the B1000, and in 64 bit mode. The one I have has a FX2 video card installed.

There is a potential problem however, if you are planning to do the install over a serial console - a pretty major bug in the install leaves you unable to confirm the keyboard type as it's USB - despite booting with serial it will not allow you to proceed past that point. As far as I am aware there is no workaround short of acquiring the necessary equipment to connect a monitor/keyboard to the system, and this is what I was forced to do. It is possible the appropriate firmware updates for B1000 contain a workaround for this issue, if you're affected by it I would very strongly recommend applying the updates before upgrading.

This bug exibits itself at least when performing a cold install - upgrading an existing system may sidestep the effect.

Linux does runs on the B1000, but without any graphics support (at least with FX2). Compared with HP-UX on the same system it's not very efficient, gcc on hppa remains quite unoptimised.