386 w/UNIX jumper??

From: Russ Blakeman <rhblake_at_bbtel.com>
Date: Mon Jun 29 18:33:51 1998

Doug Yowza wrote:

> On Mon, 29 Jun 1998, Russ Blakeman wrote:
>
> > As usual, no docs. This is not a problem as most is self explanatory.
> > There is one jumper on the mainboard though that goes in either 1-2 or
> > 2-3 that's marked "Unix", nothing else. Anyone have any idea what this
> > would do? I've moved it but nothing,but I haven't loaded Unix on it
> > either.
>
> For years, while Microsoft sat on their real-mode butts, Unix was the only
> thing that would take advantage of 32-bit protected mode on the 386. So,
> most PC manufacturers didn't even bother to test their designs in a 32-bit
> environment. When somebody tried to run a 32-bit Unix on these boxes,
> there was a fair chance it didn't work (either due to a buggy rev of the
> 386, or to some braindead address masking done on the mobo). So, I
> suspect that the jumper disables some 86/286-style address masking to
> enable full 32-bitness (for which Unix was the only known user at the
> time).

I tried a few things and what you say makes sense.

> If I wasn't out of space, I'd want one of those boxes just for that
> interesting anachronism.

Well let me know if you ever feel like it. I may have one still but
beforewarned that these puppies are heavy with the 170 mb ESDI drives and
heavy steel cases.

Thanks for the info.


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Received on Mon Jun 29 1998 - 18:33:51 BST

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