QNX2 support query.

Hello all

Currently we are supporting a qnx2 datalogger which is running on 486
mother board.

We are considering upgrading the system to qnx4 for support reasons; but
in the meanwhile would like to know if the qnx2 system can be run on a
Pentium. If so, what type of pentium and is there anything special
that needs to be done to achieve this?

Regards
Geoff Pincham
Control Systems Engineer
email: geoffrey.r.pincham@bhpbilliton.com

I haven’t used qnx2 in many years, but as I recall, it had serious problems
with what was considered fast 486’s at the time. Some 486/66’s would work,
while others didn’t. There was some patch available which dealt with the
issue, if I remember correctly.

“Geoff Pincham” <pincham.geoffrey.gr@bhp.com.au> wrote in message
news:3B724B37.24FD6AFA@bhp.com.au

Hello all

Currently we are supporting a qnx2 datalogger which is running on 486
mother board.

We are considering upgrading the system to qnx4 for support reasons; but
in the meanwhile would like to know if the qnx2 system can be run on a
Pentium. If so, what type of pentium and is there anything special
that needs to be done to achieve this?

Regards
Geoff Pincham
Control Systems Engineer
email: > geoffrey.r.pincham@bhpbilliton.com

“Geoff Pincham” <pincham.geoffrey.gr@bhp.com.au> wrote in message
news:3B724B37.24FD6AFA@bhp.com.au

Hello all

Currently we are supporting a qnx2 datalogger which is running on 486
mother board.

We are considering upgrading the system to qnx4 for support reasons;

May I suggest you have a look at QNX6. QNX4 is starting to suffer
from the same lack of hardware support compare to QNX6.

but
in the meanwhile would like to know if the qnx2 system can be run on a
Pentium. If so, what type of pentium and is there anything special
that needs to be done to achieve this?

Regards
Geoff Pincham
Control Systems Engineer
email: > geoffrey.r.pincham@bhpbilliton.com

Geoff Pincham <pincham.geoffrey.gr@bhp.com.au> wrote:

Hello all

Currently we are supporting a qnx2 datalogger which is running on 486
mother board.

We are considering upgrading the system to qnx4 for support reasons; but
in the meanwhile would like to know if the qnx2 system can be run on a
Pentium. If so, what type of pentium and is there anything special
that needs to be done to achieve this?

It can be run on a slow pentium. If it is still running ok on the 486,
though, I wouldn’t suggest the effort of moving it. Of course, if you
need to expand/run more machines… then it becomes an issue.

Look for slow (<200 MHz) pentiums, if you need networking, you’ll need
ISA slots, and even then the cards may not work. (Addressing issues on
the bus.)

If you don’t need the floppy drive, except during installation, you’ll have
your best chance of success – it is the piece most adversely affected by
timing problems on fast machines. For installation, go through the BIOS
and do everything you can to slow down the machine – introduce wait states,
disable CPU caches, etc. Once installed, download & install the
speed_correct utility as well (run it early in your sys.init file) – it
will help a little. Also, as long as your don’t need floppy access, you
can bring the CPU back up to speed.

If you are looking to move forward in OSes, I’d also suggest jumping to
QNX6 – QNX4 support is being ramped down, and you would too quickly
find yourself back in the same position you are with QNX2 to make it
worth doing the port. You can test-drive QNX6 for free, point a web
browser at get.qnx.com

-David

QNX Training Services
dagibbs@qnx.com

Just another opinion here.

You can get QNX2 to run on Pentium 1’s up to about 200Mhz
and still have the floppy working. You can get it running
on even faster pentium’s, (eg. I have it running on a 333Mhz
PII laptop) by either slowing down the processor for
installation, or using a slower machine to load the hard
drive. For the latter there are some tricky configuration
issues.

If you are using a QNET lan, there are additional problems that
started with the 486 and get progressively worse with faster
processors.



Mitchell Schoenbrun --------- maschoen@pobox.com

I’ve personally installed QNX 2 on many Pentiums and a few Pentium II’s
(Intel PII 400mhz). If you need to use QNX 2 for a while to finish a port,
make sure you use Intel CPUs as I had much better luck with them. The
Pentium 200’s and 233’s work really well. Our only real problem that wasn’t
solvable was the lack of ISA slots in current motherboards.

You will need the speed patched version of QNX 2 which I think you can still
get from QNX. Also, make sure you have someone who is good at going into
BIOS settings and figuring things out. Sometimes it takes a little
monkeying with the BIOS to get everything working but once you do get it
working, its done.

In actuality, I never had one Pentium that I couldn’t get working with QNX
2, it was just a matter of when, not if. Of course your mileage may vary so
don’t go out and buy 500 motherboards and cpus before testing one of them
first. A 233 mb/cpu combo can be had for under $150.

HTH,

Jim

“Geoff Pincham” <pincham.geoffrey.gr@bhp.com.au> wrote in message
news:3B724B37.24FD6AFA@bhp.com.au

Hello all

Currently we are supporting a qnx2 datalogger which is running on 486
mother board.

We are considering upgrading the system to qnx4 for support reasons; but
in the meanwhile would like to know if the qnx2 system can be run on a
Pentium. If so, what type of pentium and is there anything special
that needs to be done to achieve this?

Regards
Geoff Pincham
Control Systems Engineer
email: > geoffrey.r.pincham@bhpbilliton.com