SCO OpenServer Release 6.0.0 new features and notes

Hardware support

SCO OpenServer Release 6.0.0 includes new and updated hardware support.

Support for Large Physical Memory (LPM). The system can use up to 64GB of physical memory. System memory (RAM) configurations up to 16GB in size are supported for general-purpose workloads. Memory above 16GB can be used as dedicated memory that is set aside at system initialization time for use by specific shared memory facilities.
Hot-plug memory can be added at any time on system hardware that supports it, eliminating the need to shut the system down to add memory. Please see ``Adding memory (dynamically addable memory)'' for more information.
Multiple processor support, including hyperthreading, is provided by default. The number of processors that can be used at the same time are controlled by your edition license.
The Storage Device Interface (SDI), a framework for driver software, replaces the programming interface for mass storage devices supported in earlier releases. The system now supports a far greater number of independent disk storage devices. SCO OpenServer Release 6.0.0 supports the following types of physical mass storage devices:
- Hard disks: high-speed, high-capacity disks available in a variety of types (IDE, SATA, SCSI) and sizes. SCO OpenServer supports both fixed and removable drives, as well as industry standard hardware-RAID systems.
- CD and DVD R/W devices: most disc readers and burners, including those using the IDE, SCSI, and SATA interface.
- Medium Changer devices, sometimes called jukeboxes.
For an overview of SDI, see ``Mass storage devices overview'' and the sdi(HW) manual page for more information.
SDI also supports a passthru interface to storage devices, documented on the following manual pages:
- -- pt_open(S)
- -- pt_send(S)
- -- pt_close(S)
New and updated Host Bus Adapter (HBA) support, including full support for Intel's open Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) specification for Serial ATA and Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) for HP Proliant products. See ``Supported Host Bus Adapters (HBA)'' for more information.
The use of more than two IDE controllers is now supported.
The Universal Serial Bus (USB) subsystem has been completely revised. See ``USB support'' for more information.
Multi-path I/O (MPIO) is supported by the mpio and clariion drivers. These drivers are enabled/disabled with the mkdev mpio script. MPIO is managed using the sdipath(ADM) command.
New support for video adapters, including Accelerated Graphics Processor (AGP) and PCI Express cards. The X server provided by SCO OpenServer Release 6.0.0 uses the graphic acceleration features of these cards. See ``Video adapter support''.
Expanded and updated Network Interface Card (NIC) support, including drivers for several leading Fast Ethernet, 100Mbit Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet network cards, as well as Centrino-based Wireless LAN support. See ``Network card support'' for more details.
Enhanced and updated PC-Card support -- see ``PC Card support'' for more information.
A network card can be configured as a failover device for a primary NIC, allowing networking traffic to be shifted to another configured network card when hardware failures are detected on the original card. See ``Configuring a backup network card'' for details.
The SCO OpenServer Release 6.0.0 serial driver supports all of the PCI multiport serial boards supported by the SCO OpenServer Release 5 sio driver, in addition to many new PCI multiport cards. SCO OpenServer Release 5 ISA multiport serial boards are not supported.
The SCO OpenServer Release 6.0.0 serial driver implements SCO OpenServer Release 5-style IOCTLs.
See ``Serial Manager'' for information on configuring serial ports.
Most devices are autodetected and immediately available -- mkdev scripts are not required to configure these devices. (See ``Hardware/Kernel Manager and mkdev scripts'' for more information on changes and enhancements to the SCO OpenServer mkdev scripts and the SCOadmin Hardware/Kernel Manager.)
Sound support for Intel ICH-based AC'97 audio controllers.

USB support

The SCO OpenServer Release 6.0.0 USB subsystem includes USB 2.0 support for EHCI Host Controllers and USB 1.1 support of OHCI and UHCI Host Controllers. Supported USB devices include keyboards, pointing devices, CD-ROM drives (including bootable drives), floppy drives, mass storage devices, and printers.

For information on how to connect USB devices, see the usb(HW) manual page.

Note the following:

USB device detection
In general, USB devices that function like SCSI peripherals with multiple LUNs function most reliably.
USB device names
In the previous USB subsystem, device nodes were created under /dev/usb when a USB device was connected. In the new USB subsystem, device nodes are created under /dev. Use usbprobe(ADM) to list currently connected USB devices. USB devices are listed as USB Mass Storage (usb_msto), and each line contains the device name and its INQUIRY data. See the usbprobe(ADM) manual page for more information.
USB floppy device names
USB floppy drives no longer use the /dev/fdXX device names that were used in SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.7, and that are still used for ISA floppy drives. USB floppy drives now use device nodes in the style of hard disk drive device nodes (e.g. /dev/rhdXX, /dev/hdXX, and so forth). Run usbprobe(ADM) to list USB device names used by installed devices. See the usbprobe(ADM) manual page for more information.
Unsupported USB devices
USB flash memory devices that require device-specific control commands or a special device driver to determine the type of flash card to read do not work with this release.
USB serial devices are not supported.

For more information on the SCO OpenServer Release 6.0.0 USB subsystem, see the usb(HW), usblp(HW), and usbprobe(ADM) manual pages.

Video adapter support

SCO OpenServer Release 6.0.0 includes new and updated support for a wide variety of video adapters, including AGP and PCI Express cards. For a list of supported cards, see ``Supported video adapters''.

NOTE: The SiS (Silicon Integrated Systems) SIS661FX chipset should not be used as it can cause the system to panic.

In most cases, SCO OpenServer can automatically detect and configure your video hardware. For information on video adapter configuration, see ``Configuring video adapters'' and the xorg.conf(4) manual page.

NOTE: Depending on the video adapter that you are using, you may encounter some problems with automatic configuration. For example, testing has revealed problems with the Virge3dx video adapter where the configuration settings that are made automatically do not work. If you experience problems of this kind, see ``Configuring video adapters manually'' for more information.

Network card support

Network card support in SCO OpenServer Release 6.0.0 has been updated as follows:

new ipw driver for Intel Centrino PRO/Wireless 2200BG LAN support.
the Intel PRO/100 (eeE8) network driver has been updated to version 2.9.1. (See ``Intel PRO/100 (eeE8) notes'' for more information on this driver.)
the Intel PRO/1000 (e1008g) network driver has been updated to version 7.4.9.
the Broadcom Gigabit (bcme) network driver has been updated to version 7.5.22.
the following d21x, e3E, and nat NIC drivers have been updated to include PC Card support.

Intel PRO/100 (eeE8) notes

Intel PRO/100 (eeE8) notes

If you are using an Intel PRO/100 NIC and you see a message similar to:

   WARNING: eeE8: eeE8ValidateChecksum: EEPROM checksum validation failed (slot6,port1)

you may have a failed network adapter that needs to be replaced.

Note that checksum validation is enabled in this driver. If you want to disable this check:

Edit the /etc/conf/pack.d/eeE8/space.c file.
Locate the uchar_t eeE8_validate_eeprom_en entry and change the value from ``1'' to ``0''.
Run /etc/conf/bin/idbuild -B.
Run init 6.

It is also a good idea to make the same changes to the /etc/inst/nd/mdi/eeE8/Space.c file in case you reconfigure the eeE8 driver using the Network Configuration Manager.

PC Card support

SCO OpenServer Release 6.0.0 supports the following new PC Card adapters, including CardBus NICs and selected PRISM II-based Wireless PC Card NICs:

3Com EtherLink III 3C589C 0101058906
3Com EtherLink III 3C589D 0101058906
3Com 10Mbps LAN PC Card 3CCE589EC
3Com 10Mbps LAN PC Card 3CXE589DT
3Com 10Mbps LAN PC Card 3CCE589ET
3Com 10/100 LAN PC Card 3C3FE574BT
Dell ``TrueMobile'' 1150-Series 802.11B Wireless PC Card
Intel PRO/100 CardBus II MBLA3300
Intel PRO/100 S Mobile Adapter MBLA3300 C3
Intel PRO/100 CardBus II MBLA3400
Linksys Combo PCMCIA EthernetCard EC2T
Linksys EtherFast 10/100 PC Card PCMPC100
Linksys EtherFast 10/100 CardBus Card PCMPC200
Linksys Wireless-B Notebook Adapter (802.11b)
Netgear 10/100 PCMCIA Mobile Adapter FA411
Netgear 10/100 CardBus FA510
Netgear 802.11b Wireless PC Card MA401
Socket Communications EA
Socket Communications LP-E

ISA and EISA network card support

ISA and EISA network card device drivers contained in SCO OpenServer Release 6.0.0 are provided to SCO customers as-is. No warranty or SCO support of any kind is provided for these devices. ISA and EISA network card devices from UnixWare 7.1.3 and 7.1.4 should work on SCO OpenServer Release 6.0.0 but have not been tested. A listing of these devices can be viewed in the SCO Hardware Database, which can be viewed at: http://www.sco.com/chwp.

In future releases, ISA and EISA network device drivers will be removed from the product as these devices are no longer available, nor can they be used in computer systems certified for SCO OpenServer Release 6.0.0.

Configuring a backup network card

If a network adapter's hardware allows its Media Access Control (MAC) address to be reprogrammed, you can configure the adapter as a ``backup'' device for an existing primary NIC. If the primary device fails or it loses its physical connection, the system automatically switches to using the backup device. This functionality is commonly referred to as ``device failover''.

NOTE: Automatic failover requires that the primary device's driver is capable of recognizing and signaling such problems to the kernel. Some device drivers may be capable of detecting hardware failure but may be unable to tell if the physical connection has been broken.

You may only configure a backup device after you have configured the primary device. When configuring a backup device, you are asked to select the primary device that it will support.

One backup device may be configured for each primary device.

To add an adapter as a backup device, run the Network Configuration Manager. Select Hardware Add new LAN adapter . On the Add Protocol screen, select Backup Device instead of a protocol suite such as TCP/IP. Then select an existing network adapter (the primary device) for which the new adapter will act as a backup device and click on OK.

The Network Configuration Manager indicates that a primary device has failed or is otherwise unavailable for use by placing a cross on the icon for the network adapter. (In character mode, the string ``HX'' replaces ``HW''.)

Some packets may be lost when the system switches to a backup device. Retransmission of packets happens automatically in the case of TCP/IP connections. However, not all applications that use UDP may be capable of handling such interruption of service gracefully.

NOTE: Currently, you cannot use the Network Configuration Manager to switch between primary and backup devices manually. The Hardware

Switch to Backup and Hardware

Revert to Primary menu options do not work.