Subject: Linux-Activists Digest #182
From: Digestifier <Linux-Activists-Request@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU>
To: Linux-Activists@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: Linux-Activists@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU
Date:     Sun, 29 Aug 93 07:13:04 EDT

Linux-Activists Digest #182, Volume #6           Sun, 29 Aug 93 07:13:04 EDT

Contents:
  Re: Lilo Problem. Help Help Help!!!!!!! (Ian Justman)
  SpeedStar PRO (Eric S. Wallace)
  Problem solved. Re: /dev/tty (Whatis it for?) (Rodney Volz)
  Re: Joe can't write? (Lawrence Foard)
  Re: linux slow > 16mb RAM? (Lawrence Foard)
  Re: Linux viri ? (Lawrence Foard)
  Linux consultant available (Lawrence Foard)
  Re: Joe can't write? (Stephen Kump)
  Re: Problem with EXT2 (Scott Mitchell Jennings)
  Re: 32 bit compiler for Linux????  <<============= (Lawrence Foard)
  Re: xdm lack of security (Patrick J. Volkerding)
  Re: Slackware rdev doesn't set video mode. (Patrick J. Volkerding)
  Re: FDISK with 2nd IDE: Problem (Andreas Kelz)
  com4 and sls and pl12 (mantel@adcalc.fnal.gov)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: ianj@netcom.com (Ian Justman)
Subject: Re: Lilo Problem. Help Help Help!!!!!!!
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1993 05:03:57 GMT

James Bond (snowr@db.erau.edu) wrote:
: I have two Hard Drives.  My first Drive is completely MS-Dos 6
                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is your problem right here.  Not so much as I have utter contempt for
pimple-face geek Gates and pity for his fiancee, you need to do something
like I did.  Repartition your hard disk so that MS-DOS uses all but say
one cylinder of your first hard disk.  (Ed note:  I have since repartitioned
my drive such that the first partition is OS/2's boot manager, the next par-
tition is an OS/2 HPFS partition, the next one is an MS-DOS partition, and
finally, a one-cylinder partition of which only the boot sector is used, and
all three of the OS partitions are then incorporated into the Boot Manager)
You will be only using the boot sector of said partition.  What you do is
then write a LILO sector into the boot record following the instructions
outlined in the README or the PostScript files using the partition you cre-
ated as the "boot" parameter if you're using a configuration file for LILO.

However, if you don't want to go through the repartitioning process, though I
highly recommend it, you could just lay down LILO as the master boot record.
If you need to zap LILO, you use DOS's FDISK /MBR option.

: I also have hdb1 partion msdos
: hdb2 is root for LINUX and hdb3 is the extended system
: hdb4 is swap..

No consequence, though I have two more hard disks.

: I can't get LILO to work.  How can you set in up for this config.
: What should my config file look like for lilo????

Here's mine.  My "one-cylinder partition" is /dev/hda4.

boot = /dev/hda4
install = /etc/lilo/boot.b
delay = 100
compact
image = /etc/images/Image
        label = linux
        root = /dev/hdb1
        vga=normal
image = /usr/src/linux/Image
        label = linux-test
        root = /dev/hdb1
        vga = normal

"root" is where the boot image wants to look for the root filesystem.


: Any suggestions?

Hope this helps.

Keep me posted!


------------------------------

From: esw@po.CWRU.Edu (Eric S. Wallace)
Subject: SpeedStar PRO
Date: 29 Aug 1993 05:27:35 GMT


Will XFree work (in color) with a Diamond SpeedStar PRO (VLB) card?
I've seen some ramblings about Diamond cards being difficult to
program...I even got the 'diamond' clock setting package but have
found no specific reference to my video card --- which I think uses
a different chip from other Diamonds (a Cirrus Logic chip). Should
I be using this package? 'Cause I can't even get X to go into 640x480
mode which is step 1 in the doc...

Eric Wallace
esw@po.cwru.edu

------------------------------

From: rodney@tyrell.tynet.sub.org (Rodney Volz)
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux
Subject: Problem solved. Re: /dev/tty (Whatis it for?)
Date: 27 Aug 1993 12:23:28 -0000

In article <253cu7$mqd@salyko.cube.net> paulzen@salyko.cube.net (Oliver Paulzen) writes:
>C.W. Southern (cws9669@ultb.isc.rit.edu) schrieb:
>> I am having a program with serial logins on my machine.  I am running SLS
>> 1.03.  I have a good connection between the two, and when I try to connect
>> the to together it will get as far as the Password: prompt then stop.  So I
>> ran strace on getty and found for some reason that the login program switches
>> ttys from /dev/ttys2 (COM3) to /dev/tty.  When this file is removed the login
>> process continues as normal.  But this file (/dev/tty) is required when loading
>> xterm up under X-windows.  I have a few questions.  What is the reason for this
>> file (/dev/tty)?  The only way that I can find around it is to patch login 
>> program, is there another?
>
>I have the same probleme on my machine, which is running with SLS-1.03
>too. Quite the same probleme I had with an old version of SLS wich used
>the pl6 of 0.99. In the first two weeks running the system, connection
>was quite o.k. After this periode, I don't know what happend, there were
>the same problems as above.
>If anybody is having an answer for this problem, please send an eMail.

IMHO, this is a kernel bug. I already reported problems like this
to the kernel mailing list, but People told me everything would
be fine. I'm not willing to put any more activity in this, so
this is the last posting from me concerning this thread.

When asking for a password, getpasswd() opens /dev/tty. /dev/tty
is a pseudo device, which always returns a filedescriptor of your
controlling terminal. Now, since you are using /dev/cuaXX as
dialin device, your login process doesn't have a controlling
terminal, so things just hang.

There is no general limitation, why /dev/cuaXX should not become
controlling tty; however, the linux tty driver inhibits it.  Now,
while you guys probably can just use ttySXX for dialin purposes, there
are situations where this is _not_ possible (e.g. flexfax).

The problem is in linux/kernel/chr_drv/tty_io.c. Go and look
for function tty_open(). There you find:

        if (major == 5)
        {
                if (!minor)
                {
                        major = 4;
                        minor = current->tty;
                }
                noctty = 1;
        }

Change this to:

        if (major == 5)
        {
                /* We want controlling cua's, too! -Rodney Volz */
                if (!minor)
                        minor = current->tty;
        }

Voila.
-Rodney Volz
-- 
                    Rodney Volz - 70197 Stuttgart - FRG
======================> public access usenet system <========================
rodney@tyrell.tynet.sub.org +49 711 651429 Fax/Data volz@rus.uni-stuttgart.de
 \______________ May your children and mine live in peace. ________________/

------------------------------

From: entropy@world.std.com (Lawrence Foard)
Subject: Re: Joe can't write?
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1993 06:28:57 GMT

In article <1.11185.2381.0N279210@satalink.com>,
John Will <john.will@satalink.com> wrote:
>I have a slightly annoying problem with an application on a linux system
>here that I've been unable to figure out.  I have two systems running
>linux, X, networking, etc. everything seems to be working fine.  I built
>the second system by tar'ing the first onto a tape and dumping it onto
>the partition of the second one, so they should be close in configuration.
>The problem is that the editor joe can't edit an existing file, but it can
>create a new one!  When I attempt to save a file that I've edited on my
>second system with joe, I get:
>
>Couldn't make backup file... file not saved
>
>Doing an identical operation on the first system works like a champ.  Since
>I'm doing this as root, it doesn't seem to be a permissions problem, but
>I sure can't figure it out!  Anyone have any idea what may be causing the
>problem?  BTW, I've installed the same copy of joe on each system, so it's
>not that. :-)

Its probably the protection of the directory. If you don't have write
permission you can overwrite files, but not create new ones.

-- 
====== Time: 820713600 seconds, Space: 1727.2mm, Mass: 9.5E10 ug         . 
\    / Kinsey: 4.5, Religion: Science, Energy: 8.55E18, OS: Linux       . .     
 \  / Species: Human, Planet: Earth, Fame: Tinymush, Allergy: Dustmite . . .   
  \/ Purity: 40, Sex: male, frequent, Drugs: Caffeine, Rock & roll:   . . . .

------------------------------

From: entropy@world.std.com (Lawrence Foard)
Subject: Re: linux slow > 16mb RAM?
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1993 06:31:37 GMT

In article <1.11186.2381.0N279211@satalink.com>,
John Will <john.will@satalink.com> wrote:
>I recently added 4mb to my 16mb system with linux 99pl12 running, and 
>recompiled the kernel allowing more than 16mb of RAM.  Everything ran
>ok, but the machine is MUCH slower with more RAM!!!  I expected that
>there might be a slight overhead, since the question is asked in the
>config. but I wasn't prepared for how slow it really was!  Is there
>something obvious that I'm missing?  Running in X, it's painful with
>the additional 4mb of RAM, that sure doesn't seem right. :-)

Its most likely your BIOS settings. Some machines won't cache above
16Megs, others default to not caching but it can be turned on in the
BIOS. With a 66Mhz 486 this can cause extreme problems. 

Maybe someone should make a patch so that Linux can be made to use
>16Megs for buffer cache only, on defective machines?
-- 
====== Time: 820713600 seconds, Space: 1727.2mm, Mass: 9.5E10 ug         . 
\    / Kinsey: 4.5, Religion: Science, Energy: 8.55E18, OS: Linux       . .     
 \  / Species: Human, Planet: Earth, Fame: Tinymush, Allergy: Dustmite . . .   
  \/ Purity: 40, Sex: male, frequent, Drugs: Caffeine, Rock & roll:   . . . .

------------------------------

From: entropy@world.std.com (Lawrence Foard)
Subject: Re: Linux viri ?
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1993 06:37:05 GMT

In article <255euo$4l3@nic.umass.edu>,
Sol Lightman <verdant@twain.ucs.umass.edu> wrote:
>Is Linux structurally less likely to play host to a virus?  I know
>that MSDOS viruses probably won't work on a Linux system, but what
>kind of measures are going to be neccessary when/if Linux becomes
>very popular? 

Linux is much safer than MS-LOSS but because its frequently
used by root to install software its probably farely susceptable
to custom designed Linux viruses. Fortunitly Linux hackers have
plenty of productive things to keep them busy :-)

Of course it could still get boot sector viruses from accidental
floppy boots.

-- 
====== Time: 820713600 seconds, Space: 1727.2mm, Mass: 9.5E10 ug         . 
\    / Kinsey: 4.5, Religion: Science, Energy: 8.55E18, OS: Linux       . .     
 \  / Species: Human, Planet: Earth, Fame: Tinymush, Allergy: Dustmite . . .   
  \/ Purity: 40, Sex: male, frequent, Drugs: Caffeine, Rock & roll:   . . . .

------------------------------

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development,misc.jobs.consulting
From: entropy@world.std.com (Lawrence Foard)
Subject: Linux consultant available
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1993 07:09:24 GMT

I'm located in central mass, but am use to doing work for people
all over the place. A plane ticket or UPS can fix most problems
of geography :-)

I'm looking for non urgent or short term linux or unix consulting work. I've
got a farely regular customer with lots of "it needs to be done yesterday
work", I'd like to find some short term non urgent projects to earn
money while I'm waiting for the next urgent project :-) 

Areas of expertise/experience:

Linux kernel hacking:
 Added track buffering to the Linux floppy driver (increased
 read speed substantially).
 
 Wrote portions of the code that allows Linux to handle multiple
 filesystem types (filesystems.c).

 Made the Xenix emulator which due to my need to earn a living ( :( )
 hasn't yet been upgraded to work with newer kernel code.

Networking:
 Turned tinymud into tinymush, an ancestor of tinymuse (see
 rec.games.mud.tiny)

 Have written a number of message passing and database demons as parts of
 various software systems. 

Medical:
 Have written software to interface to Kodak and 3M laser camera's
 as well as display images with window and level control. Due to
 my current commitments I have to be careful to avoid a conflict of
 interest in this area. 

Scientific:
 Have written software to drive a number of data collection and 
 equipment control systems. IEEE bus, A->D converters etc.
 As well as software to display 2 and 3D graphs of collected data.

If you are interested and want a complete resume, or have any questions
please write.
-- 
====== Time: 820713600 seconds, Space: 1727.2mm, Mass: 9.5E10 ug         . 
\    / Kinsey: 4.5, Religion: Science, Energy: 8.55E18, OS: Linux       . .     
 \  / Species: Human, Planet: Earth, Fame: Tinymush, Allergy: Dustmite . . .   
  \/ Purity: 40, Sex: male, frequent, Drugs: Caffeine, Rock & roll:   . . . .

------------------------------

From: skump@panix.com (Stephen Kump)
Subject: Re: Joe can't write?
Date: 29 Aug 1993 03:08:30 -0400

In article <1.11185.2381.0N279210@satalink.com>,
John Will <john.will@satalink.com> wrote:
>I have a slightly annoying problem with an application on a linux system
>here that I've been unable to figure out.  I have two systems running
>linux, X, networking, etc. everything seems to be working fine.  I built
>the second system by tar'ing the first onto a tape and dumping it onto
>the partition of the second one, so they should be close in configuration.
>The problem is that the editor joe can't edit an existing file, but it can
>create a new one!  When I attempt to save a file that I've edited on my
>second system with joe, I get:
>
>Couldn't make backup file... file not saved
>
>Doing an identical operation on the first system works like a champ.  Since

When I used to get that message from JOE it was usually due to the
file-name-length limitation of the original "minix" filesystem.  When JOE
saves a modified file it names the backup by appending a tilde to the name
of the original file.  If the original name's length is already the
maximum for the filesystem in use JOE can't append the tilde and won"t save
the file.  VERY annoying.
Since you're seeing this only on the second system, I'll bet that second one
has a filesystem with a shorter maximum filename length than the first
system.

Steve Kump <skump@panix.com>

------------------------------

From: smj@netcom.com (Scott Mitchell Jennings)
Subject: Re: Problem with EXT2
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1993 06:58:45 GMT

For the benefit of those followingthis thread:

I stopped using 'screen', and the problem did indeed go away.

Next, I downloaded a clean copy of the 0.99.p12 kernel, and (this is
likely what did it) applied the latest patch per linus via .announce.

I am now back to using screen, and have not suffered any corruption
of filesystems since.

Thanx to the fellow who suggested the above.

   -smj@netcom.com

------------------------------

From: entropy@world.std.com (Lawrence Foard)
Subject: Re: 32 bit compiler for Linux????  <<=============
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1993 07:17:49 GMT

In article <1993Aug27.165438.7841@ohm.york.ac.uk>,
Weber Martins <weber@ohm.york.ac.uk> wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I am considering to install Linux in my 486. Is there any 32 bit
>compiler around??? 

Yes GNU C on Linux is 32 bit, and all Linux programs are
32 bit :-)

Running Linux you will forget that that some people actually 
worry about the mythical 640K limit....
-- 
====== Time: 820713600 seconds, Space: 1727.2mm, Mass: 9.5E10 ug         . 
\    / Kinsey: 4.5, Religion: Science, Energy: 8.55E18, OS: Linux       . .     
 \  / Species: Human, Planet: Earth, Fame: Tinymush, Allergy: Dustmite . . .   
  \/ Purity: 40, Sex: male, frequent, Drugs: Caffeine, Rock & roll:   . . . .

------------------------------

From: bf703@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Patrick J. Volkerding)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help,comp.windows.x.i386unix
Subject: Re: xdm lack of security
Date: 29 Aug 1993 07:22:32 GMT
Reply-To: bf703@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Patrick J. Volkerding)


In a previous article, sreekar@panix.com (Sreekar Shastry) says:

>
>Whenever I log in from xdm and type in any valid login name all I have 
>to do is type enter or anything and I will log in, even for root!
>
>I am running the full Slackware linux distribution.
>
>Thanks for any help.

This will be fixed soon. The xdm binary included does not support shadow
passwords. Neither does rsh, I'm told.

-- 
Patrick Volkerding
volkerdi@mhd1.moorhead.msus.edu
bf703@cleveland.freenet.edu

------------------------------

From: bf703@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Patrick J. Volkerding)
Subject: Re: Slackware rdev doesn't set video mode.
Date: 29 Aug 1993 07:53:45 GMT
Reply-To: bf703@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Patrick J. Volkerding)


In a previous article, sreekar@panix.com (Sreekar Shastry) says:

>
>rdev -v /dev/hda1 -2                                   
>
>in Slackware doesn't set the video mode; it always comes up 80x25.
>
>Thanks for any help.

If you're using LILO to boot your system, you should check your LILO
configuration to be sure you're not setting it for vga=normal, because
this will override the rdev. I suspect that's what you're running up
against.

Good luck!

-- 
Patrick Volkerding
volkerdi@mhd1.moorhead.msus.edu
bf703@cleveland.freenet.edu

------------------------------

From: a283204@sun1.LRZ-Muenchen.DE (Andreas Kelz)
Subject: Re: FDISK with 2nd IDE: Problem
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1993 10:20:27 GMT

bilan@egr.msu.edu (Thomas Bilan) writes:

>How do I tell FDISK to look at my 2nd IDE hard drive instead of the first!
>I don't want to touch my 1st ide because it's happy running DOS and I just
>added a 2nd to run linux.

>H..E..L..P..

>Tom Bilan
>bilan@egr.msu.edu

Hi,
simply type
   fdisk /dev/hdb

Good luck,

  Andreas Kelz                       |  Leibniz-Rechenzentrum
  Phone: +49 89 2105 8769            |  Barer Strasse 21
  Fax:   +49 89 2809 460             |  D-80689 Muenchen
  Email: kelz@lrz-muenchen.de        |  Germany

  Einstein: E=m*a^2 ?,
            E=m*b^2 ?,
            E=m*c^2 ?,
            ....

------------------------------

From: mantel@adcalc.fnal.gov
Subject: com4 and sls and pl12
Date: 29 Aug 93 05:32:31 -0600

Here is a problem I have come across while using
sls 1.03 with kernel .99pl12 from linus' area:
  I would like to use my modem which is set up on COM4 (i.e. cua3).  But no
 matter what communications software I use I cannot get a signal out.  After
 some reading of FAQs and such and doing some snooping around in my filesystem,
I have discovered something interesting.  When I boot up linux, with my newely
compiled zImage, I get the following two lines, amoungst others at the
 beginning of the messages that are put on the screen during boot up:

{ tty00 at 0x03f8 (irq=4) is a 16450 }
{ tty01 at 0x02f8 (irq=3) is a 16450 }

But when I boot linux with the sls 1.03 a1.5 disk, generated with kernel
99pl9, I get the following:

{ tty00 at 0x03f8 (irq=4) is a 16450 }
{ tty01 at 0x02f8 (irq=3) is a 16450 }
{ tty03 at 0x02e8 (irq=3) is a 16450 } <--- this one

What I assume I need is the third line in the second group of messages.  In 
essence I need to have address 0x02e8 (irq=3) to be defined in the kernel pl12.
  But here is the problem.  I am not sure how to get the kernel or what ever to
 configure address 02e8 and how to initialize it at boot up.  Any help
would be appeciated. 

Thanks in advance,
Jaime Mantel
mantel@adcalc.fnal.gov



------------------------------


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End of Linux-Activists Digest
******************************
