System memory

SCO recommends that your system contain at least 32MB RAM to install and use SCO OpenServer.

The minimum RAM supported is 16MB for the Host, Desktop, or Enterprise Systems. See ``Installing on 16MB systems'' for notes on installing this type of system.

The installation procedure checks your system for available RAM and displays an error message if it is below the minimum requirements. You can choose to continue the installation even if you have less than the minimum RAM.

If your installation halts with a Signal error, start the installation again from the beginning and enter the following at the boot prompt:

defbootstr nbuf=100

This bootstring makes more of your system's memory available for installation processes, such as booting from the CD-ROM and badtracking hard disks.

Maximum filesystem and RAM size

At press time, the maximum RAM supported is 4GB and the maximum filesystem size is 450GB.

If you have an unusually large number of files on a filesystem larger than 18GB, performance may suffer. To avoid this problem, we recommend using DTFS filesystems with compression disabled.

Installing on 16MB systems

You can install SCO OpenServer on a system with only 16MB of RAM, subject to these caveats:

• Boot the installation from the installation floppy disks, not from Bootable CD-ROM. Bootable CD-ROM consumes 2.88MB of memory during the installation, which can cause the installation to fail.

• If installing on a laptop computer, use the notebook or laptop bootstring to boot a smaller kernel that consumes less memory. At the boot prompt, enter:
  
  notebook

• If installing on a system that requires Boot-Time Loadable Drivers:

  1. Create the small kernel installation and BTLD floppy disks.

  2. Start the installation by using the small kernel boot disk.

  3. Enter the appropriate BTLD bootstring at the boot prompt.