Making a PC into a CTOS Supergen Workstation/Server.

Required parts.
These were the things I used.  Whether something else will work, I don't know.

CTOS Licensing
You need to be aware of the following:
CTOS Licensing is NOT transferable from machine to machine.
This means, for example, you replace your current Supergen with a "newer" Supergen
(or a PC for that matter), you need to purchase a software license.
Building a CTOS machine from a PC, as described here, would therefore mean you NEED to buy a license from Unisys.

CTOS Support
As this is an "unqualified" CTOS setup, it is not supported by Unisys.

Software

CTOS III s1.3.6 (required for IDE disk support)
STD-SW R12.3.120 (required for IDE disk support)
VAM s4.3.153 (earlier R4.3.100 might work)
ISAM II R1.3
Batch s2.4.105 or later (was modified for Supergens)

Adaptec AHA-1520B ISA SCSI card (required if you want to connect a tape drive).
Tape Drive:
           [QIC] Archive Corp, Model 2525S Rev D.
           [DDS] Sony SDT-5010 4GB DAT.
Clustercard 2.0 (for workstation use)
Clustercard 3.0 (for server and/or workstation use)
Compaq EN6400/EN6333 PC's (Pentium II 400 / 333's)

Limitations
Common to server and workstation.

NO WYSIWYG is available (even with VAM 4.4.x).
Pentium II chip is identified as a 80486.

Only able to recognise first 64MB of memory.
Unable to reliabily use local floppy drive with vClstrLfs.
ERC 6's when using vClstrLfs. <further details here>

System Manager was unable to "see" the EIDE hard disk.  Known problem.
CTOS III only seems to format up to the first 1GB of a disk.

Setting up a Server.
1. Have you read the disclaimer yet? :-).
2. The next step will cause you to lose ALL data you have on your hard disk.
    You have been warned!
3. With a copy of FDISK, delete ALL partitions, leaving NO partitions.
4. In the BIOS, set the IDE Drive Translation to DISABLE.
5. With your Supergen Boot Disk, boot the PC off the floppy drive and insert the
    Boot Continuation disk.
6. Log on as INIT user and follow the steps.
7. At the Configure Disk Stage, use the following parameters:
   Device Name                  D0
   [System image size]          1280
   [Log file size]              48
   [Crash file size]            131072
   [Max. directories]           400
   [Max. files on volume]       14000
   [Primary file headers only?] NO
   [Surface tests]              1
   [Old CTOS format?]           NO
   [CTOS partition in Mb]       1024

8. After the format completes, go on and install the system software.
 

Setting up a workstation
1. Make sure you have a CTOS III 1.3.x vClstr sysimage on your server.
2. Insert Clustercard into PC.
3. Boot PC.  You may need to hold the spacebar down to "C"lusterboot.
 

Disclaimer
This article is provided as is without any express or implied warranties.  While every effort has been taken to ensure accuracy of the information contained in this article, the author assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.
 

Dale 'Cat' Robinson - catfromdarwin@oocities.com
6 December 1998
Revised 4 May 1999

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