Hey!
I have just acquired a Unisys SMP6400 server. It has Unix already installed. It has 2 disk drives: 1 is 2 gig with Unix setup on it. The 2nd drive is 8 gig with apps. Both drives are under Mylex DAC960 raid control. Here is my question, can I install Windows 2000 Pro on this machine either standalone or with UNIX???
Thanks
Yes, but recommend you call the vendor, UNISYS for details. Is this a commerical production system? Or just an old system you are playing around with?
Well, as far as I can figure, that model is simply based on a Pentium Pro Processor, so I suppose theoretically it would work, but according to this page:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/professional/evaluation/sysreqs/default.asp , you may just barely be scraping by on minimum, which is not very fun with Windows.
Also, you may have hardware problems other than the CPU, like HD controllers... I suppose it's worth a shot if you want, but take a backup of your current operating system since you will most likely have a hard time finding all of the stuff that's currently installed to reinstall, and end up with a paperweight.
The system has a motherboard that currently has 2 pentium pro processors and 512 Megs of memory. It can accomodate 2 more pentium pro processors as well as 3 gigs of memory. That is why when my company bought the unit, we figured it would be a nice replacement for our single pentium pro with only 64 megs of ram. I did get the system to accept, or at least I thought it accepted the files from the CD, however when I rebooted, the system halted right when Win2000 should have kicked in...it went through the P.O.S.T. without any difficulties and also allowed me to load the raid divers, but right at the point of openning Win2000 it said " cannot read file" ...
Thanks for your comments...
Well, you could always try out Linux on there 
Seems you guys are getting ahead of yourself discussing what OS to install before discussing the application the server will host. Before jumping into 'hey install this OS' might be a good idea to discuss what tasks you need to accomplish with the server 
The server will be used for our day to day networking needs, we have 8 workstations that are linked to our current server and 4 printers. This Unisys server will replace our Compaq server, if I can get the issue of the OS under control. My office people want to keep Novell vers 4 as a OS. I am pushing for Windows 2000. The Unisys server has the capability with plenty of room for expansion. This particular unit has 2 pentium pro 200 mhz. processors with room for 2 more. It can also handle 3 gigs of ram, it currently has 512 megs. The hd capacities are fine for now being 2 gigs and 8 gigs of space. There is a large cartridge tape backup installed in the main unit, as well as a smaller satellite tape drive. There is also the CD rom and floppy. I hope this gives you enough data. I do want to say thanks for all those of you responding. Without the WEB this would be an almost impossible task.
THANKS
"Day to day networking needs" is not very specific and do very little to describe your application environment. By your reply it sound like you want office-automation file and print services for your PC users.
The most robust way to accomplish this is to load Linux on the server and to set up samba . This is much cheaper and much more robust and flexible than using a W2K backend server.
You do realize that @ 200Mhz, even with 4 CPU's, Windows 2000 will be nearly unbearably slow? I would HIGHLY recommend switching to Linux or FreeBSD. I'd recommend Netware, but Netware 4 is about to be unsupported by Novell, and your server doesn't have the beef to hack a NW5 install (which is nearly as bad as 2K now). With PPros, you'll get very high performance out of Linux/FreeBSD (w/Samba), but you will be in a mire with Win2K (which has a minimum spec of :
133Mhz Pentium or better
64Mb RAM or better
1 Gb install partition)
Ahh, I've been looking at this all wrong here. From the first post, I was kind of assuming it was a "play" box for him.
Still though, I guess my tongue-in-cheek reference to Linux might still work. Linux talks very well with Novell, even on the network level (as opposed to the application level). It will talk to / act as a print server, file server, etc..
Samba is a great way to go, IMO.
Is there anything more specific you needed out of this machine?
First of all, many thanks to all of you who posted and are posting to this.
Forgive my stupidity, how do Linux and Novell coexist on the same server? The big thing I have to keep in mind here, is that I am forced to stay with Novell. The accounting software that we use is compatible with Novell and certain version of Windows, but not any flavors of Unix. This is my primary concern, being able to store and retrieve files and print from the server SEAMLESSLY, when the change occurs.
Rather than trying to answer my questions here, any links on the web would also be appreciated.
My knowledge of Linux is infantile at best. I have tried to load several flavors on my various home computers with some success. However, the thought of using it in a business server application is very sobering...
Well, Novell Netware would be great on that box. 4.11 was designed for that kind of environment (ppro's, etc), so it should be rather responsive. Netware 5 will work, but will be much less responsive.
As far as unix/linux go - if the shoe fits, wear it, but if you don't have much experience with them, I don't think that trying to push them onto a needed production server would be a good idea.
On the other hand, with that hardware, Windows2000 would not be very usable - slower than just about anything else you could put on there.
I'd stick with Netware 4.11 if possible - a VERY nice, stable and decently robust NOS. And if you already have Netware in your network, it's got that as an added benefit.