SCO Unix V/386 Installation Issues

A number of machines are not being configured correctly for supply to customers and this may result in problems arising as time progresses. To produce a more standard and robust installation some guidelines are given below.

1. Swap must never be configured as less than memory. If this is done it can result in catastrophic consequences if the machine ever panics. The rule of thumb is swap should be at least twice the size of memory (reducing to 1.5 times as memory increases above 32 MB)
2. The SCO console driver/double panic fix (SCOL010) must be installed on all SCO UNIX MCA based systems (including 3.2v2); without the installation of this fix it is impossible to identify some hardware failures.
3. Unless it is specifically requested by the customer we recommend the SCO C2 security is NOT relaxed. Relaxed security can cause user creation and other system administration functions to fail.
4. All SCO UNIX V/386 3.2.0 systems should be installed with UNX 223 to correct errors with the security software.
5. All SCO UNIX V/386 systems (including 3.2 V2)should be installed with UNX 257 if they exhibit errors with the security system. UNX 223 must be installed before UNX 257 on UNIX 3.2.0 systems.
6. The recommended serial cable for printers and terminals with software flow control (X/ON X/OFF) is:

   Printer/Terminal

   1 ---- shield 2 -------------------- 2 3 -------------------- 3 7 -------------------- 7

   Specialix/Chase IOLAN

7. Parallel printers should not be connected to UNIX systems as they make excessive calls on the CPU when heavily utilised
8. Fast serial printers and modems should not be connected to the on-board serial port, this may make excessive calls upon the CPU under load which would not occur with an intelligent Serial I/O card.

All SCO fixes can be obtained from either the UNIX front end server (if you have chosen to have an electronic mail connection to us) or the MS-DOS based Bulletin board system.

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