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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.417



If you're a serious UNIX hacker for either fun or profit, you're probably in
the market for what the mail-order vendors think of as a high-end or even
`server' configuration, and you're going to pay a bit more than the DOS
lemmings.  On the other hand, prices keep dropping, so there's a temptation to
wait indefinately to buy.  A tactic that makes a lot of sense in this market,
if you have the leisure, is to fix in your mind a configuration and a trigger
price that's just a little sweeter than the market now offers and buy when
that's reached.

Direct-mail buying makes a lot of sense today for anyone with more technical
savvy than J. Random Luser in a suit.  Even from no-name mail-order houses,
parts and system quality tend to be high and consistent, so conventional
dealerships don't really have much more to offer than a warm fuzzy feeling.
Furthermore, competition has become so intense that even mail-order vendors
today have to offer not just lower prices than ever before but warranty and
support policies of a depth that would have seemed incredible a few years back.
For example, many bundle a year of on-site hardware support with their medium-
and high-end "business" configurations for a very low premium over the bare
hardware.

Note, however, that assembling a system yourself out of mail-order parts is
*not* likely to save you money over dealing with the mail-order systems
houses.  You can't buy parts at the volume they do; the discounts they command
are bigger than the premiums reflected in their prices.  The lack of any
system warranty or support can also be a problem even if you're expert enough
to do the integration yourself --- because you also assume all the risk of
defective parts and integration problems.

Cruise through "Computer Shopper" and similar monthly ad compendia.  Even if
you decide to go with a conventional dealer, this will tell you what *their*
premiums look like.

You may want to subscribe to ClariNet Communications's "Street Price Report",
a digest of lowest current quoted prices and sources (send inquiries to
[e-mail]).  It's $29.95 per year, so using it just once is likely
to save you more money than the subscription.

The Street Price Report is issued every other Thursday; you can have it
emailed to you, or get it from an FTP site and decrypt it using an emailed
key.  It covers a wide variety of hardware and software.  Quotes are collected
from the ad sections of major magazines including "Computer Shopper" and "PC
Magazine".  Once you've cruised the magazines, you know what you want and are
after the lowest price, you can nail it without fail with the Street Price
Report.

Another alternative to conventional dealerships (with their designer "looks",
stone-ignorant sales staff, and high overheads that *you* pay for) is to go
with one of the thousands of the hole-in-the-wall stores run by immigrants from
the other side of the International Date Line.  They're usually less ignorant
and have much lower overheads; they do for you locally what a mail-order house
would, that is assemble and test parts they get for you from another tier of
suppliers.  You won't get plush carpeting or a firm handshake from a white guy
with too many teeth and an expensive watch, but then you didn't really want to
pay for those anyway, right?

A lot of vendors bundle DOS 5.0 and variable amounts of DOS apps with their
hardware.  You can tell them to lose all this cruft and they'll shave $50 or
$100 off the system price.  However, David Wexelblat observes "there are at
least two situations in which the Unix user will need DOS available: 1) most,
if not all, EISA configuration utilities run under DOS, and 2) SCSICNTL.EXE by
Roy Neese is a godsend for dealing with SCSI devices on Adaptec boards."

Don't forget that (most places) you can avoid sales tax by buying from an
out-of-state mail-order outfit, and save yourself 6-8% depending on where you
live.  If you live near a state line, buying from a local outfit you can often
win, quite legally, by having the stuff shipped to a friend or relative just
over it.  Best of all is a buddy with a state-registered dealer number; these
aren't very hard to get and confer not just exemption from sales tax but
(often) whopping discounts from the vendors.  Hand him a dollar afterwards to
make it legal.

(Note: I have been advised that you shouldn't try the latter tactic in
Florida -- they are notoriously tough on "resale license" holders).

(Note II: The Supreme Court recently ruled that states may not tax out-of-state
businesses under existing law, but left the way open for Congress to pass
enabling legislation.  Let's hope the mail-order industry has good lobbyists.)

On the other hand, one good argument for buying locally is that you may have to
pay return postage if you ship the system back.  On a big, heavy system, this
can make up the difference from the savings on sales tax.

VIII. Questions You Should Always Ask Your Vendor

A. Minimum Warranty Provisions

The weakest guarantee you should settle for in the mail-order market should
include:

* 72-hour burn-in to avoid that sudden infant death syndrome.  (Also,
  try to find out if they do a power-cycling test and how many repeats
  they do; this stresses the hardware much more than steady burn-in.)

* 30 day money-back guarantee.  Watch out for fine print that weakens this
  with a restocking fee or limits it with exclusions.

* 1 year parts and labor guarantee (some vendors give 2 years).

* 1 year of 800 number tech support (many vendors give lifetime support).

Additionally, many vendors offer a year of on-site service free.  You should
find out who they contract the service to.  Also be sure the free service
coverage area includes your site; some unscrupulous vendors weasel their way
out with "some locations pay extra", which translates roughly to "through the
nose if you're further away than our parking lot".

If you're buying store-front, find out what they'll guarantee beyond the
above.  If the answer is "nothing", go somewhere else.

B. Documentation

Ask your potential suppliers what kind and volume of documentation they supply
with your hardware.  You should get, at minimum, operations manuals for the
motherboard and each card or peripheral; also an IRQ list, and a bad-block
listing if your Winchester is ESDI rather than IDE or SCSI (the latter two
types of drive do their own bad-block mapping internally).  Skimpiness in this
area is a valuable clue that they may be using no-name parts from Upper
Baluchistan, which is not necessarily a red flag in itself but should prompt
you to ask more questions.

C. A System Quality Checklist

There are various cost-cutting tactics a vendor can use which bring down the
system's overall quality.  Here are some good questions to ask:

* Is the memory zero-wait-state?  One or more wait states allows the vendor to
  use slower and cheaper memory but will slow down your actual memory subsystem
  throughput.  This is a particularly important question for the *cache*
  memory!

* Is the monitor non-interlaced?  Does it have a tilt-and-swivel base?  Is it
  *color*?  Yes, if you don't see it in the ad, ask; some lowball outfits will
  try to palm off so-called "black & white VGA" monitors on you.  What's the
  vertical scan rate?  60Hz is SVGA standard; 72Hz is VESA standard and
  minimal for flicker-free operation; 80Hz is cutting-edge.  What's the dot
  pitch?  .31mm is minimal, .28mm or .27mm is good.  You need .28mm for X.
  A slightly larger dot pitch is acceptable in a larger monitor (16" or more).

* If you're buying a factory-configured system, does it have FCC certification?
  While it's not necessarily the case that a non-certified system is going
  to spew a lot of radio-frequency interference, certification is legally
  required --- and becoming more important as clock frequencies climb.  Lack
  of that sticker may indicate a fly-by-night vendor, or at least one in
  danger of being raided and shut down!

IX. Things to Check when Buying Mail-Order

A. Tricks and Traps in Mail-Order Warranties

Reading mail-order warranties is an art in itself.  A few tips:

Beware the deadly modifier "manufacturer's" on a warranty; this means you have
to go back to the equipment's original manufacturer in case of problems and
can't get satisfaction from the mail-order house.  Also, manufacturer's
warranties run from the date *they* ship; by the time the mail-order house
assembles and ships your system, it may have run out!

Watch for the equally deadly "We do not guarantee compatibility".  This gotcha
on a component vendor's ad means you may not be able to return, say, a video
card that fails to work with your motherboard.

Another dangerous phrase is "We reserve the right to substitute equivalent
items".  This means that instead of getting the high-quality name-brand parts
advertised in the configuration you just ordered, you may get those no-name
parts from Upper Baluchistan --- theoretically equivalent according to the
spec sheets, but perhaps more likely to die the day after the warranty expires.
Substitution can be interpreted as "bait and switch", so most vendors are
scared of getting called on this.  Very few will hold their position if you
press the matter.

Another red flag: "Only warranted in supported environments".  This may mean
they won't honor a warranty on a non-DOS system at all, or it may mean they'll
insist on installing the UNIX on disk themselves.

One absolute show-stopper is the phrase "All sales are final".  This means you
have *no* options if a part doesn't work.  Avoid any company with this policy.

B. Special Questions to Ask Mail-Order Vendors Before Buying

* Does the vendor have the part or system presently in stock?  Mail order
  companies tend to run with very lean inventories; if they don't have your
  item in stock, delivery may take longer.  Possibly *much* longer.

* Does the vendor pay for shipping?  What's the delivery wait?

* If you need to return your system, is there a restocking fee? and will the
  vendor cover the return freight?  Knowing the restocking fee can be
  particularly important, as they make keep you from getting real satisfaction
  on a bad major part.  Avoid dealing with anyone who quotes more than a 15%
  restocking fee --- and it's a good idea, if possible, to avoid any dealer
  who charges a restocking fee at all.

C. Payment Method

It's a good idea to pay with AmEx or Visa or MasterCard; that way you can stop
payment if you get a lemon, and may benefit from a buyer-protection plan using
the credit card company's clout (not all cards offer buyer-protection plans,
and some that do have restrictions which may be applicable).  However, watch
for phrases like "Credit card surcharges apply" or "All prices reflect 3% cash
discount" which mean you're going to get socked extra if you pay by card.

Note that many credit-card companies have clauses in their standard contracts
forbidding such surcharges.  You can (and should) report such practices to
your credit-card issuer.  If you already paid the surcharge, they will usually
see to it that it is restituted to you.  Credit-card companies will often stop
dealing with businesses that repeat such behavior.

X. Which Clone Vendors to Talk To

I went through the March 1992 issue of Computer Shopper calling vendor 800
numbers with the following question: "Does your company have any
configurations aimed at the UNIX market; do you use UNIX in-house; do
you know of any of the current 386 or 486 ports running successfully
on your hardware?

I didn't call vendors who didn't advertise an 800 number.  This was only partly
to avoid phone-bill hell; I figured that toll-free order & info numbers are so
standard in this industry sector that any outfit unable or unwilling to spring
for one probably couldn't meet the rest of the ante either.  I also omitted
parts houses with token systems offerings and anybody who wasn't selling
desktops or towers with a 386/33DX or heavier processor inside.

After plundering Computer Shopper, I called up a couple of "name" outfits that
don't work direct-mail and got the same info from them.

The answers I get revealed that for most clone vendors UNIX is barely a blip on
the screen.  Only a few have tested with an SVr4 port.  Most seem barely aware
that the market exists.  Many seem to rely on their motherboard vendors to tell
them what they're compatible, without actually testing whole systems.  Since
most compatibility problems have to do with peripheral cards, this is a
problem.

Here's a summary of the most positive responses I got:

A --- Advertises UNIX compatibility.
C --- Has known UNIX customers.
I --- Uses UNIX in-house.
T --- Have formally tested UNIX versions on their hardware.
F --- Have 486/50 systems
* --- Sounded to me like they might actually have a clue about the UNIX market.

Vendor        A C I T    F *    Ports known to work
---------------    - - - -    - -    -----------------------------------------------
ARC        . . X X . .    SCO XENIX 2.3.2, SCO UNIX 3.2.1
AST        . X X X X *    SCO UNIX 3.2.4, ODT 2.0 Microport V/4
Allegro        . . X X . .    SCO XENIX 3.2.4
Altec        . X . X    . .    XENIX (no version given).
Ares        . X X X X *    AT&T 3.2, ISC (version unknown)
Basic Time    . X X X X *    SCO XENIX 2.3.2, have in-house UNIX experts.
Binary Tech    . X . X X .    Claims to work with all versions.
Blue Dolphin    . X . X X *    SCO XENIX.
CCSI        X X . . X .    They've used SCO XENIX, no version given.
CIN        . X . . . .    SCO UNIX (version not specified)
CSS        . X . X . *    SCO 3.2.2, ISC 3.0, SCO ODT. See Will Harper.
Centrix        X . . . . .    No specifics on versions.
Compudyne    . X X X X .    Couldn't get details on which versions.
Comtrade    . X . X X .    Couldn't get details on which versions.
Datom        X X X X X .    SCO XENIX 3.2.
Dell        X X X X X *    See Dell SVr4 data.
Desert Sands    X X . X X .    SCO UNIX 3.2.4
Digitech    . X . X . .    SCO UNIX 3.2.1, XENIX 2.3.1
EPS        X X X X . *    SCO XENIX 3.2.4, ISC & AT&T (versions not sp.)
Gateway 2000    X X X X    X *    SCO UNIX 3.2.0. XENIX 2.3.4 ISC 3.0, ESIX 4.0.3
HD Computer    . X . X X .    SCO UNIX 3.2, SCO XENIX 3.2.2
HiQ        . X . X . .    SCO UNIX (version not specified)
Infiniti    . X . X X .    SCO UNIX (versions not specified)
Insight        . . X . X .    SCO XENIX 3.2.4.  No tech support for UNIX
Keydata        X . X X X *    SCO version 4, ISC 3.2
Legatech    . X . . X .    SCO UNIX, ISC (versions not specified)
MicroGeneration    . . X . . .    Uses XENIX.
MicroLab    X . . . . .    SCO UNIX, SCO XENIX
MicroSmart    X X . X . .    SCO XENIX (version not specified)
Microlink    X . . X X .    SCO XENIX (version not specified)
Myoda        X X . X X .    SCO XENIX 3.2.2, ISC 3.2
Naga        . X . X X *    SCO & XENIX 3.2.
Northgate    X X . X X *    SCO UNIX 3.2
PC Brand    . X X X . .    SCO XENIX, ISC UNIX
PC Professional    . X . X . .    ISC 3.2
PC-USA        X X . X . .    ISC 5.3.2 and SCO 3.2
Profex        . X . X    . .    SCO XENIX 3.2.
Royal Computer    . X . . X .    No details on versions.
SAI        X X . X X .    SCO UNIX 3.2.2.
Santronics    . . X X X .    SCO XENIX 3.2.4
Solidtech    . X . . . .    Dell (no version given), ISC 3.2.
Strobe        . . . X X .    SCO, Microport, ISC (no version numbers given)
Swan        X X X X X *    SCO 2.3.1, UNIX 3.2, ISC 3.2v2.0.2
TriStar        . X X X X *    SCO UNIX 3.2.2, XENIX 2.3.2, ISCr4
Zenon        . X . X X *    SCO UNIX (version not specified)
Zeos        . X X X X *    SCO XENIX 3.2.4, AT&T 3.2

Special notes about a few vendors who appear to have a clue:

Ares targets some of its systems for UNIX CAD use.  They have a house wizard
name Ken Cooper (everybody calls him "K.C.").

EPS targets some 486 EISA configurations for UNIX.

Swan doesn't know the UNIX market very well yet, but their project manager
wants a bigger piece of it and is interested in doing some of the right
things.  They have a house wizard, one John Buckwalter.

Dell, of course, supports an industry-leading SVr4 port.  They're a bit on
the pricy side, but high quality and very reliable.  Lots of UNIX expertise
there; some of it hangs out on the net.

Zeos is on the net as zeos.com, with a uunet connection; they host a UNIX BBS.
They have an in-house UNIX group reachable at [e-mail]; talk to Ken
Germann for details.  There are biz.zeos.general and biz.zeos.announce groups
on USENET.

Special notes about a lot of vendors who appear to have *no* clue:

Vendors where I couldn't get a real person on the line, either because
no one answered the main number or because I couldn't raise anyone at
tech support after being directed there: Sunnytech, Quantex, AMS, USA
Flex, Lapine, Syntax Computer, MicroTough, PAC International, The Portable
Warehouse.

Vendors where the question met with blank incomprehension, puzzlement,
consternation, or "We've never tested with UNIX": Allur, AmtA, Aplus, HiTech,
Locus Digital Products, LodeStar, TriStar Computers, Ultra-Comp, UTI Computers,
PC Turbo Corp, Evertek, Microcomputer Concepts, Jinco Computers, UWE, ToughCom,
System Dynamics Group, Terribly Fast Bus Systems.

Vendors who understood the questions but had no answer: Bulldog Computer
Products, LT Plus, Standard Computer, JCC.

Vendors who said "Yes, we're UNIX-compatible" but had no details of any tests:
CompuCity.

Vendors who said "Go ask our motherboard vendor": Ariel Design, Lucky Computer
Co., V-com, Professional Computer, MicroLine, MileHi.

Vendors who sent me to a toll number: Absec, Hokkins, New Technologies, Mirage.

Vendors that believe they have UNIX customers, but can't be any definite than
that: Austin Computer Systems, PC Professional, Treasure Chest Computer
Systems, CompuAdd Express, FastMicro, MidWest Micro.

Final note:

If you order from these guys, be sure to tell them you're a UNIX customer
and don't need the bundled DOS.   This will shave some bucks off the system
price, *and* it may encourage them to pay more attention to the UNIX market.
--
    Send your feedback to: Eric Raymond = [e-mail]
Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu comp.unix.sysv386:29502 comp.unix.bsd:9883 comp.os.mach:2805 news.answers:4458
Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!spool.mu.edu!wupost!darwin.sura.net!jvnc.net!netnews.upenn.edu!dsinc!bagate!cbmvax!snark!esr
From: [e-mail] (Eric S. Raymond)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386,comp.unix.bsd,comp.os.mach,news.answers
Subject: PC-clone UNIX Software Buyer's Guide
Summary: A buyer's guide to UNIX versions for PC-clone hardware
Message-ID: <1jjQdy#6dbp5J1VKBgV42Tvsg0glhbB=[e-mail]>
Date: 7 Dec 92 19:44:34 GMT
Expires: 7 Mar 93 00:00:00 GMT
Sender: [e-mail] (Eric S. Raymond)
Followup-To: comp.unix.sysv386
Lines: 2516
Approved: [e-mail]

Archive-name: pc-unix/software
Last-update: Mon Dec  7 14:40:22 1992
Version: 9.0

You say you want cutting-edge hacking tools without having to mortgage the
wife'n'kids?  You say arrogant workstation vendors are getting you down?  You
say you crave fast UNIX on cheap hardware, but you don't know how to go about
getting it?  Well, pull up a chair and take the load off yer feet, bunky,
because...

This is the PC-clone UNIX Software Buyer's Guide posting,
current to Dec 7 1992.

What's new in this issue:
   * New BSD/386 info.
   * More Consensys bugs.

Gentle Reader: if you end up buying something based on information from this
Guide, please do yourself and the net a favor; make a point of telling the
vendor "Eric's FAQ sent me" or some equivalent.  The idea isn't to hype me
personally, I've already got all the notoriety I need from doing things like
_The_New_Hacker's_Dictionary_ --- but if we can show vendors that the Guide
influences a lot of purchasing decisions, I can be a more powerful advocate for
the net's interests, and for you.

0. CONTENTS

  I.  INTRODUCTION.  What this posting is.  How to help improve it.  Summary of
the 386/486 UNIX market, including 6 SVr4 products, SCO UNIX (an SVr3.2), and 2
BSD ports.  What's new in this issue.

  II.  GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.  A brief discussion of general hardware
requirements and compatibility considerations in the base SVR4 code from UNIX
Systems Laboratories (referred to below as the USL code).  None of this
automatically applies to SCO or the two BSD-like versions, which break out the
corresponding information into their separate vendor reports.

  III. FEATURE COMPARISON. A feature table which gives basic price & feature
info and summarizes differences between the versions.

  IV. VENDOR REPORTS.  Detailed descriptions of the major versions and
vendors, including information collected from the net on bugs, supported
and unsupported hardware and the like.

  V. UPCOMING PORTS, FREEWARE VERSIONS, AND CLONES.  Less-detailed descriptions
of other products in the market.

  VI. HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY TABLES.  A set of tables summarizes vendor claims
and user reports on hardware compatibility.

  VII. FREEWARE ACCESS FOR SVR4 SYSTEMS.  Information on the SVR4 binaries
archive.

  VIII. FREE ADVICE TO VENDORS.  Your humble editor's soapbox.  An open letter
to the UNIX vendors designed to get them all hustling to improve their products
and services as fast as possible.

  IX. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND ENVOI.  Credit where credit is due.  Some praises
and pans.  What comes next....

Note: versions 1.0 through 4.0 of this posting had a different archive name
(386-buyers-faq) and included the following now separate FAQs as sections.

  pc-unix/hardware -- (formerly HOT TIPS FOR HARDWARE BUYERS) Useful general
tips for anybody buying clone hardware for a UNIX system.  Overview of the
market.  Technical points.  When, where, and how to buy.

  usl-bugs -- (formerly KNOWN BUGS IN THE USL CODE).  A discussion of bugs
known or believed to be generic to the USL code, with indications as to which
porting houses have fixed them.  None of this applies to the two BSD-based
versions.

Readers may also find material of interest in Dick Dunn's general 386 UNIX
FAQ list, posted monthly to comp.unix.sysv386 and news.answers.


I. INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this posting is to pool public knowledge and USENET feedback
about all leading-edge versions of UNIX for commodity 386 and 486 hardware.  It
also includes extensive information on how to buy cheap clone hardware to
support your UNIX.

This document is maintained and periodically updated as a service to the net by
Eric S.  Raymond <[e-mail]>, who began it for the very best
self-interested reason that he was in the market and didn't believe in plonking
down several grand without doing his homework first (no, I don't get paid for
this, though I have had a bunch of free software and hardware dumped on me as a
result of it!).  Corrections, updates, and all pertinent information are
welcomed at that address.

This posting is periodically broadcast to the USENET group comp.unix.sysv386
and to a list of vendor addresses.  If you are a vendor representative, please
check the feature chart and vendor report to make sure the information on your
company is current and correct.  If it is not, please email me a correction
ASAP.  If you are a knowledgeable user of any of these products, please send me
a precis of your experiences for the improvement of the feedback sections.

At time of writing, here are the major products in this category:

Consensys UNIX Version 1.3            abbreviated as "Cons" below
Dell UNIX Issue 2.2                abbreviated as "Dell" below
ESIX System V Release 4.0.4            abbreviated as "Esix" below
Micro Station Technology SVr4 UNIX        abbreviated as "MST" below
Microport System V Release 4.0 version 4    abbreviated as "uPort" below
UHC Version 3.6                    abbreviated as "UHC" below

SCO Open Desktop 2.1                abbreviated as "ODT" below

BSD/386    (0.3 beta)                abbreviated as "BSDI" below
Mach386                        abbreviated as "Mach" below

The first six of these are ports of USL's System V Release 4.  Until last year
there was a seventh, by Interactive Systems Corporation.  That product was
canned after half of ISC was bought by SunSoft, evidently to clear the decks
for Solaris 2.0 (a SunOS port for the 386 to be released late in 1992).  The
only Interactive UNIX one can buy at present is an SVr3.2 port which I consider
uninteresting because it's no longer cutting-edge; I have ignored it.

Consensys has an early version of Destiny (SVr4.2) out, but I don't have full
information yet.  It's said to be considerably improved over their 4.0.3
product.

Earlier issues ignored SCO because (a) 3.2 isn't leading-edge any more and (b)
their `Version 4' is a 3.2 sailing under false colors.  Can you say deceptive
advertising?  Can you say bait-and-switch?  Can you say total marketroid-puke?
However, the clamor from netters wanting it included was deafening.  The day
SCO landed an unsolicited free copy of ODT on my doorstep I gave in.  I don't
expect to actually use it, but I summarize the relevant facts along with
everything else below.  Note that ODT is their full system with networking and
X windows; what they call SCO UNIX is missing most of those trimmings.

BSD/386 is *not* based on USL code, but on the CSRG NET2 distribution tape.
Complete sources are included with every system shipped!  Mach386 is basically
BSD tools with the monolithic Mach 2.5 kernel and does entail a USL license;
it's based on the Tahoe BSD distribution.  For a few extra bucks, you can
get Mach 3.0 (a true microkernel) with *source*!.

AT&T's own 386 UNIX offering is not covered here because it is available and
supported for AT&T hardware only.

All the vendors listed offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, but they'll be
sticky about it except where there's an insuperable hardware compatibility
problem or you trip over a serious bug.  One (UHC) charges a 25% restocking fee
on returns.  BSDI offers a 60-day guarantee starting from the date of receipt
by the customer and says: "If a customer is dissatisfied with the product, BSDI
unconditionally refunds the purchase price."  Dell says "30 day money-back
guarantee, no questions asked".

Some other ports are listed in section V.

II. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

To run any of these systems, you need at least the following: 4 MB of RAM and
80MB of hard disk (SCO says 8MB minimum for ODT 2.0; Dell 2.1 also requires 8
MB minimum).  However, this is an absolute minimum; you'll want at least 8 MB
of RAM for reasonable performance.  And depending on options installed, the OS
will eat from 40 to 120 meg of the disk, so you'll want at least 200 meg for
real work.  To run X you'll need a VGA monitor and card, and 12-16MB RAM would
be a good idea.

Installation from these systems requires that you boot from a hi-density floppy
(either 3.5" or 5.25").  Most vendors offer the bulk of the system on a QIC 150
1/4-inch tape; otherwise you may be stuck with loading over 60 diskettes!  BSDI
offers the distribution not only on QIC-150 tape but also on CD-ROM.  They'll
even sell you a CD-ROM reader for US$225 (or you buy the same Mitsumi drive at
Radio Shack or Best Buy for US$199+tax).  In general, if the initial boot gets
far enough to display a request for the first disk or tape load, you're in good
shape.

USL SVr4 conforms to the following software standards: ANSI X3.159-1989 C,
POSIX 1003.1, SVID 3rd edition, FIPS 151-1, XPG3, and System V Release 4 ABI.
4.0.4 ports conform to the iBCS-2 binary standard.  The SVr4 C compiler (C
Issue 5) includes some non-ANSI extensions (however, note that as of mid-1992,
no SVr4 ports other than AT&T's have been formally POSIX-certified).

SCO conforms to the following standards: ANSI X3.159-1989 C, POSIX 1003.1 FIPS
151-1, XPG3, System V Release 3 ABI, and SVID 2nd Edition.  Despite the
marketing droids hacking at its version number, SCO is not conformant to System
V Release 4 or SVID 3rd Edition.

All SVr4 versions include support for BSD-style file systems with 255-character
segment names and fragment allocation.  In general this is a Good Thing, but
some SVr3.2 and XENIX binaries can be confused by the different size of
the inode index.  You need to run these on an AT&T-style file system.  SCO
UNIX 3.2v4 (thus, ODT 2.0 but not 1.1) has an `EAFS' file system which adds
symlinks and long filenames.  Old SCO binaries can be confused by long
filenames.

All SVr4 versions include the UNIX manual pages on-line.  Dell stocks
Prentice-Hall's SVr4 books and will sell them to you with your system (in lieu
of printed manuals) at extra cost.  You can order them direct from
Prentice-Hall at (201)-767-5937.  Warning: they ain't cheap!  Buying the whole
13 volumes will cost you a couple hundred bucks.  Esix, Microport and UHC
have their own manual sets derived from the same AT&T source tapes as the
Prentice-Hall set; Esix charges extra for them, but Microport and UHC both
include them with their systems.