NIC works on "SCO Unix

Doug Laidlaw

Actually, it's not a bad idea.

If you are a Linux user shopping for a NIC card, you probably know that the driver already exists or can be easily found.

For a SCO system, it's not that easy. If the card isn't well known, there may NOT be a driver at all. Therefor, the comforting words on the box may cause the desperate SCO shopper to choose this card.

Which may do them no good at all. Many, many, many extant SCO systems were sold as "Host" versions, which means they have no networking capability other than ppp over a serial port or modem. This is often "discovered" when it has become time to transition to Linux or that piece of crap - what's it called? Windows? Whatever.. anyway, someone who doesn't know any better says "Sure, we'll just slap a nic card in that puppy and transfer the data.."

Nope. Not without an expensive upgrade.

Should you find yourself performing the charitable act of transition, SCO's "custom" command will show you the version installed. If it says "Host", forget the NIC. If it says "Enterprise", you can do it, but there's still more you need to know and I suggest visiting these two links just for safety:

There are still a lot of SCO boxen out there. I've moved more than a few to Linux but there are plenty more to come. Some moves are more of some of the things you might run into.

-- Tony Lawrence