My first real computer (after a few Tandy CoCos) was a Altos 586. It has long since passed away, but I still have a Altos 486 at home. I also still have the manuals (somewhere).
Xenix on an Altos 586 would have been licenced from Microsoft, not SCO, and was Microsoft's version of Unix (they had a license from AT&T / Bell Labs). Later Microsoft sold their Xenix stuff to SCO.
I have install disks for Xenix 2 which was 7th edition Unix (manuals are on the web http://cm.bell-labs.com/7thEdMan/) and Xenix 3 which was AT&T System III (pre System V).
My system had a 40 MB ST506 Hard disk (you could only access 32 Meg), a 720 KByte floppy drive (Double sided, Double Density 96TPI, 5 1/4") and 5 (or was it 6) serial ports, 512K of memory and an 8086 processor. I think that the 586 name indicated that you could have 5 users and a printer connected on a 8086 processor. The Altos 986 had 10 ports for 9 users!
By far the easiest way to get data on and off at the time was using the floppy. With a 10 meg drive it would only take a dozen or so floppies to back the system up. Tar was the standard backup command, but I think there was an odd extension to tar for multi-volumes.
I think all the machines should have had 720KB floppy drives. Xenix came on floppies and so did diagnostics. These are much easier to swap with other systems than ST506 hard disks. Other systems such as some NEC PCs (IBM clones) also used these 720 KB drives And they were pin compatible with 720k 3 1/2 drives (different connector, but same pins).
Second best method was kermit (I remember having a lot of trouble trying to compile kermit on this) and with a 10 meg system, it is quite possible that you don't have a C compiler.
UUCP is an option, but it may not be installed. You could also use cu from another unix system, but it does not have error checking.
However if it was a BBS server, there is a better chance that it does have Kermit, UUCP, or X-modem software installed. I think the serial ports default to 9600 baud, 1 sotp bit, no parity.
Many of the comments suggest using SCO software. Most SCO software requires either a 286, 386, or higher processor and won't run on an Altos 586. SCO did sell Xenix for 8086, but it was not very widely used.
Of course I bought this machine around 1987 and threw it out around 2004, and my memory is a bit rusty, so my comments should probably be considered as hints at the truth.
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Xenix on an Altos 586 would have been licenced from Microsoft, not SCO, and was Microsoft's version of Unix (they had a license from AT&T / Bell Labs). Later Microsoft sold their Xenix stuff to SCO.
I have install disks for Xenix 2 which was 7th edition Unix (manuals are on the web http://cm.bell-labs.com/7thEdMan/) and Xenix 3 which was AT&T System III (pre System V).
My system had a 40 MB ST506 Hard disk (you could only access 32 Meg), a 720 KByte floppy drive (Double sided, Double Density 96TPI, 5 1/4") and 5 (or was it 6) serial ports, 512K of memory and an 8086 processor. I think that the 586 name indicated that you could have 5 users and a printer connected on a 8086 processor. The Altos 986 had 10 ports for 9 users!
By far the easiest way to get data on and off at the time was using the floppy. With a 10 meg drive it would only take a dozen or so floppies to back the system up. Tar was the standard backup command, but I think there was an odd extension to tar for multi-volumes.
I think all the machines should have had 720KB floppy drives. Xenix came on floppies and so did diagnostics. These are much easier to swap with other systems than ST506 hard disks. Other systems such as some NEC PCs (IBM clones) also used these 720 KB drives And they were pin compatible with 720k 3 1/2 drives (different connector, but same pins).
Second best method was kermit (I remember having a lot of trouble trying to compile kermit on this) and with a 10 meg system, it is quite possible that you don't have a C compiler.
UUCP is an option, but it may not be installed. You could also use cu from another unix system, but it does not have error checking.
However if it was a BBS server, there is a better chance that it does have Kermit, UUCP, or X-modem software installed. I think the serial ports default to 9600 baud, 1 sotp bit, no parity.
Many of the comments suggest using SCO software. Most SCO software requires either a 286, 386, or higher processor and won't run on an Altos 586. SCO did sell Xenix for 8086, but it was not very widely used.
Of course I bought this machine around 1987 and threw it out around 2004, and my memory is a bit rusty, so my comments should probably be considered as hints at the truth.
Grant