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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msunews!uwm.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!csn!news.sinet.slb.com!news.San-Jose.ate.slb.com!San-Jose.ate.slb.com!banzai From: banzai@San-Jose.ate.slb.com (Jeffery Kaneko) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions Subject: Re: HELP - 3COM 3SERVER?? Date: Thu, 15 Dec 1994 12:30:42 Organization: Schlumberger Technologies Lines: 27 Message-ID: <banzai.20.000C8365@San-Jose.ate.slb.com> References: <D0uz3p.12t@ns1.nodak.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: jeff_banzai.san-jose.ate.slb.com X-Newsreader: Trumpet for Windows [Version 1.0 Rev A] In article <D0uz3p.12t@ns1.nodak.edu> walth@plains.NoDak.edu (Chris Walth) writes: >I have a 3COM 3server, and I was wondering if Freebsd 2.0R would operate >on it. It has a built in ethernet, and appletalk network cards. It also >has both async and sync serial cards built in. All of this is on the >motherboard. I have no manuals.. It has a scsi hard drive in it. Any >suggestions would be helpful.. Please post and email me a copy.. Thanks >for your time.. >Chris Walth (walth@plains.nodak.edu) Ahhh, don't even *THINK* about it. The 3Com 3Server hardware was very tightly integrated with the Network Operating system. If it is a 3Server70 or a 3Server3, it used an 80186 processor, supported a bizarre subspecies of Mess-DOS, and 3Com's 3Plus Share NOS. So, FreeBSD (or any other _modern_ incarnation of UN*X) is not a possibility. If it's a 3S400 or 3S500, you're in a little better shape (but not by much). Those used '386 processors, and had an ISA bus, keyboard port, etc, but everything else was strictly non-standard (although I think they still have support for Novell Netware). I can't imagine anyone going through all of the trouble to write the needed drivers to support *BSD for these things. The inexpensive hardware available now would be much faster, for alot less money. --Banzai