SCO Unix 3.2v4.2 is slow to boot

SCO Unix 3.2v4.2 is slow to boot on some hardware platforms due to the way the processor cache is flushed.

The symptom will be a pause after the Boot: prompt with nothing displayed and then a longer pause with the following message displayed:

Boot
:
hd(40)unix

Memory sizing

This symptom happens with the FT//ex range of systems for example.

The cure is to add cache=/d to the boot string defined in /etc/default/boot as below:

.
.
DEFBOOTSTR=hd(40)unix cache=/d
.
.

Note that this symptom does not indicate that the processor cache or second level cache is slow, it is merely that the operation that SCO is doing takes a long time on certain hardware.

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