NEXTSTEP for Intel Processors

Title: Dell DG/X
Entry Number: 1154
Last Updated: <<Date June 13 1995>>

Product Vendor: 
Dell Computer Corporation
11209 Metric Blvd.
Austin, Texas 78758
USA

+1 (800) 247 6821 USA toll-free phone
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WWW: http://www.dell.com/

Keywords: Dell, Jaws, Localbus

Overview:
The Dell DG/X  provides 1120 x 832 in 16 bit color under NEXTSTEP.   NEXTSTEP also supports SVGA on the Dell DG/X at 1024 x 768.

The Dell DG/X should be compatible with NeXT color monitors. This compatibility is not guaranteed by NeXT.

Setup and Installation:
The Dell DG/X may come with two 1/4 height floppy drives in a single unit. Only one floppy drive should be enabled, and it should be the 3 1/2" set to be drive A in both the CMOS setup and the EISA Configuration Utility (ECU).

The following ECU settings were recorded by the Quality Assurance Group from a Dell DG/X known to have successfully installed and run NEXTSTEP Release 3.1 for Intel Processors. The system was running off of a SCSI hard disk with a DPT 2012 SCSI controller.

EISA Configuration Utility Setup
System - Dell Powerline (TM) Workstation 450 DE/2 (TM) System Board
Memory
	SIMM Memory 16MB
	Extended Memory 15360 KB
	Board Memory : 640 KB
	Base Memory : 640 KB
Fast Video : Cached
CPU Options
	486 Cache : On
	CPU Speed : 50 MHz
Boot Options
	Primary Display : VGA/EGA
	Keyboard : Installed
	Num Lock : On
	Reset Button : Enabled
	Speaker Volume : High
	SmartVu : System Messages
	Hard Disk Autosense : Off
	Boot Sequence : Diskette First
	Password Entry : Before Boot
Password : Not Enabled
Integrated Mouse : Enabled
Integrated VGA : Graphics : Color or Mon without retrace
Integrated Hard Disk Interface : Auto
Hard Drives
	Drive 0 : Not Installed
	Drive 1 : Not Installed
Integrated Serial Interface
	Serial Port 1 : Auto
	Serial Port 2 : Auto
Integrated Parallel Port Interface : Auto
EXP4 - DPT SCSI Host Bus Adapter (PM 2012B2/9X) - Banyan Vines
HARDWARE CONFIGURATION
Hardware Mapping
	IO Ports : Secondary/Disabled
	Interrupt Number : 15 Edge
	Floppy Drive : Disabled
	Option ROM : Enabled @ D8000h
	HBA SCSI ID : 7
WD1003 EMULATION MAPPINGS
	Drive 0
		SCSI ID : Disabled
		SCSI LUN : 0
	Drive 1
		SCSI ID : Disabled
		SCSI LUN : 0
CONTROLLER PARAMETERS
SCSI Parameters
	Maximum Transfer Rate : 10 MB/s
	External Cable Detection : Yes - 5 MB/s
	Command Queuing : Enabled
	Command Timeout : Enabled - 5 sec
Cache Parameters
	Cache : Enabled (Write-Back)
	Max. Percentage Dirty : 80%
	Max. Percentage Look-Ahead : 80%
	Look-Ahead : Enabled (8 blocks)
	Cache Threshold : 16 blocks
	Caching Parameters : Use Values Stored on Device
!DPTA402.CGF Version 005D
EXP6 - Dell DGX Video Subsystem
    Frame Buffer Location Cacheability : 20000000h, cached
    Video Interrupt Selection : IRQ2, Disable
    Color Mode : Normal

Known Problems:
Releases 3.1 and 3.2:
·	The Ultrascan monitor shipped with the Dell DG/X and the NEC 5FG both reportedly have some difficulty displaying 1120 x 832 video correctly.  This can result in fuzziness and faded colors. The NEC 6FG does not apparently suffer from this problem.

·	Some early DG/X systems have a single jumper on the Jaws Graphics board that will when jumped incorrectly prevent the cursor from being movable by the mouse while running NEXTSTEP.

·	One DG/X system the Quality Assurance Group tested demonstrated sensitivity to fast SCSI transfer rates. This manifested as multiple read errors during the installation process when installing from either a DPT 2012 or Adaptec 1542C SCSI adapter onto a Seagate SCSI hard disk. This problem was not observed on other DG/X systems.