Subject: Linux-Development Digest #314
From: Digestifier <Linux-Development-Request@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU>
To: Linux-Development@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: Linux-Development@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU
Date:     Sat, 18 Dec 93 04:13:05 EST

Linux-Development Digest #314, Volume #1         Sat, 18 Dec 93 04:13:05 EST

Contents:
  Re: VT220 emulator (Tracer Bullet P.I.)
  Re: PPP code anywhere? (Michael Callahan)
  Development Opportunity (cdh@specialix.co.uk)
  Adaptec 2842 VLB SCSI (Kenneth Benson)
  works: init calling dip (Brad Midgley)
  Re: Lifesavers (Re: scroll-back tty's) (Robert E. Wyrick)
  Re: ftape-0.9.8a and IRWIN-floppystreamer (Karsten Steffens)
  Re: Adaptec 2842 VLB SCSI (Scott Ferris)
  Re: Has anyone ported STRN to linux? (Ken Pizzini)
  Re: where should I tell ups to turn off power? (Theodore Ts'o)
  Re: XFree86 driver for AGX-014 chips? (Bernie Thompson)
  REQ: Trantor T130B Programming Details (Andrew Davison)

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

From: ges@earth.baylor.edu (Tracer Bullet P.I.)
Subject: Re: VT220 emulator
Date: 16 Dec 1993 23:57:17 -0600

In article <93349.093242NU013809@ndsuvm1.bitnet>,
>Seriously the standard console driver, in my experience, has provided
>excellent VT220 style emulation.  From memory of the early days I believe
>that was its intention.
No, It doesn't.  In fact it doesn't even provide complete vt100 emulation.
This I can prove since I have a real vt100 hooked up to my linux box.
I wrote some code that displayed double high double wide character
on my vt100, but on the console it displayed two single wide lines.
here is the offending code:
        printf("%c#3hello\n",27) /* esc#3 for the top half */
        printf("%c#4hello\n",27) /* and esc#4 for the bottom half */
also when running nethack while using the DECgraphics option the
character that is a 'mid-dot' showed up as a brittish pound symbol
(yes I admit this one i should have fixed, but the time i was looking
at this I didn't have a list of the pc character set near me to know what
to change)

There are several vt220 specific features that I feel sure are not implenteded
also (i have not checked these) : font downloading, defining f-keys (you can
have <shift>-<f-n> send any arbitrary string), and sending stuff to the 
attached printer.

While most unix applications do not use these features many vms apps do.

I will admit that console code implements the features that can be easily
implented.  Most of the unimplented features are more trouble than they
are worth (at least in the kernel).

Now if you could give me vt240 emulation THAT would be impressive :-)


Gene E. Scogin

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

From: callahan@maths.ox.ac.uk (Michael Callahan)
Subject: Re: PPP code anywhere?
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 93 10:05:37 GMT

In article <JROZES.93Dec16201257@allegro.cs.tufts.edu> jrozes@allegro.cs.tufts.edu (J Rozes) writes:
>I am looking for any PPP sources, alpha or beta, that I could test, 
>evaluate and tinker with using a pl14f kernel. I am looking for both
>kernel-level and user/system-level sources. Is any work of this kind
>happening or am I wishing too hard?
>
>thanks,
>jonathan

No, not wishing too hard.  I've written a PPP kernel module and ported
ppp-1.3.1, a freely-distributable PPP frontend.  I'm using it to type
this and many other people have used it successfully as well.

If you want to use it, you need to do two things:
1) join the PPP channel on linux-activists:
    echo X-Mn-Command: join PPP | mail linux-activists-request@niksula.hut.fi
2) (optional) email me for a pointer to the FTP directory.

Although the code is nearly stable, I want to keep the distribution
among people who are willing to stay in touch via the PPP list.
So I don't want to mention the ftp site here...

Michael


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

From: Alan Drew (cdh@specialix.co.uk)
Date: 17 Dec 93 11:09:25 GMT
Subject: Development Opportunity



Hi Folks, forgive my intrusion, but I have a proposition for you, 

Specialix are prepared to supply FOC

1 SLXOS Developers toolkit
1 SI HOST
1 TA8 terminal adaptor

To a team or an individual that wishes to develop a Linux driver
for the above intelligent IO controller.

NOTE: This is not an open offer, i.e we will not send the kit out to
everybody who phones up and says "Yeah I'll do it"

If anybody would like to apply, or if you have any advice on the best way
to approach this (mailing lists that should be contacted etc), or even any
general commments, please feel free to e-mail me.


Thanks


--
  Alan Drew = cdh@specialix.co.uk   |    This message is hereby disclaimed.
     Senior Support Engineer        | Unless I am talking to you on behalf of
This .sig has been brought to you by| the company. In which case it should be
        International Rescue        |            completely ignored.

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

Reply-To: kbenson@fireborn.win.net (Kenneth Benson)
From: kbenson@fireborn.win.net (Kenneth Benson)
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1993 15:05:07 GMT
Subject: Adaptec 2842 VLB SCSI

A question for anyone who can answer it (but probably directed to Eric
Youngdale more than most ;). Will the Adaptec 2842 card work with the 1542
drivers or is it going to require a variation on the code to make it work.
I've seen the 2842 (in the box, not a look at the card itself) so I'm not
sure if it uses the same chipset or not. If so, does anyone have the name
and number of someone at Adaptec that I can talk to for info on the card and
I'll attempt the changes myself.

For what its worth my system is:
QLC 486dx2/66 (locally produced) VLB mb
Cirrus Logic GD5426 VLB video card (clone)
Future Domain 1680 (at present, I'd like to try the 2842)
Toshiba MK-537 1GB SCSI-2 hard drive
Wangtek 5525 SCSI tape backup
Western Digital AC2250 IDE drive (for MSDOG stuff)
Slackware 1.0.3 with pl13

Season's Greetings!
Ken
The Fireborn 


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

From: bmidgley%peruvian.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Brad Midgley)
Subject: works: init calling dip
Date: 17 Dec 93 09:40:29 MST

A few days ago I posted about trying to call dip from init.  Well I
got it to work so I want to summarize:

1.  Get the alpha serial patches to pl14. (so cuax can be a
controlling tty and dip will hear sig_hups)

2.  Remove the code from dip which forks and has the parent exit.  It
would be good to have a -nodaemon flag so this behavior could be
selectable.

3.  add the line to inittab... mine is:
 
c9:6:respawn:/usr/bin/dip /etc/uucc </dev/null >/dev/null 2>&1

where uucc is the login script.  redirecting std(in/out/err) probably
isn't necessary, but I haven't experimented with that part.

======================

I put a uugetty on the same line with runlevel 5:

c8:5:respawn:/bin/uugetty 38400 ttyS1

So now, on carrier loss, dip will start again if we're on runlevel 6;
telinit 5 takes the net down and receives dialins instead, and telinit
4 will kill everything on the line and let me dial out (I don't know
how to share with uugetty since the dialin/dialout devices were
introduced several versions ago.)

Just wanted to contribute something...
-- 
bmidgley@peruvian.cs.utah.edu

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

From: wyrickre@wyrickre (Robert E. Wyrick)
Subject: Re: Lifesavers (Re: scroll-back tty's)
Date: 17 Dec 1993 19:58:39 GMT

Matthias Urlichs (urlichs@smurf.sub.org) wrote:
: Speaking about lifesavers... what I'd like to have is a "Stop" button which 
: halts the machine if the console runs off on me. (It's pretty hard to read 
: anything when several screenfuls per second just zip through.)

: I've thought of adding an external NMI button, by simply connecting
: a pushbutton to the IOCHK bus line and to ground. However, Linux seems to be 
: turning that particular feature off:
: - Linux recognizes NMIs which are generated by parity errors.
: - The BIOS thinks there was a parity error when said button is pressed.
: - However, as soon as Linux boots, the button does nothing.
:   (OK, it clicks reassuringly. ;-)
:  
: Conclusion: Something turns off the IOCHK line. Where, how? 

: -- 
: And then I got rescued by this bowl!
:                 -- Jo, PLANET OF THE DALEKS
: -- 
: Matthias Urlichs        \ XLink-POP N|rnberg   | EMail: urlichs@smurf.sub.org
: Schleiermacherstra_e 12  \  Unix+Linux+Mac     | Phone: ...please use email.
: 90491 N|rnberg (Germany)  \   Consulting+Networking+Programming+etc'ing      42

Ctrl-S (^S) always works fine for me.  Followed by ^Q to resume.

Rob

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

Crossposted-To: de.comp.os.linux
From: karsten@kshome.ruhr.de (Karsten Steffens)
Subject: Re: ftape-0.9.8a and IRWIN-floppystreamer
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1993 19:29:36 GMT

Andreas Joppich (aj@Z2-DB21b.ms.DeTeMobil.de) wrote:
: Hey folks,

: /dev/ftape: No such device

: Anybody out there having a patch or something else ?

Execute the following as root. This will create the devices.
BTW, its from the INSTALL file of the ftape-0.9.8a package:

      mknod -m 666 /dev/ftape c 27 0
      mknod -m 666 /dev/nftape c 27 4

The ftape-device will automatically rewind the tape,
the nftape won't (after completing an operation).

Hoffe, das hilft!
        Karsten

-- 
==================>         Karsten Steffens        <=====================
   karsten@kshome.ruhr.de          |      steffens@ikp.uni-muenster.de
Marl - close to Recklinghausen     |         Institut fuer Kernphysik
  North of the Ruhrgebiet          |   Westf.Wilhelms-Universitaet Muenster

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

From: sferris@budapest.math.macalstr.edu (Scott Ferris)
Subject: Re: Adaptec 2842 VLB SCSI
Date: 17 Dec 1993 21:34:47 GMT

Kenneth Benson (kbenson@fireborn.win.net) wrote:
> A question for anyone who can answer it (but probably directed to Eric
> Youngdale more than most ;). Will the Adaptec 2842 card work with the 1542
> drivers or is it going to require a variation on the code to make it work.

   The 284x series uses the same AIC-7770 ASIC as the EISA 274x
models.  They are not backward compatible with previous Adaptec
controllers.  

   I have documentation from Adaptec, and I (with help from a few
others the way things look now) will be attempting a Linux
driver for scsi controllers that use the AIC-7770 ASIC.  I
have a 2742T, so I can't directly test anything for the 2842.
The 2840 tech ref I just got this morning appears to say that
284x boards just have a hardware translation from VLB to EISA,
so in theory the code to run the ASIC in EISA mode will work
just fine on the 284x.  The only difference will be the probe
code and configuration for the board.  

  I won't have time to start work on the driver til January.
Anyone interested in the project can email me and volunteer
to help write and/or test the pre-alpha version of the driver.
Once something fairly stable exists, I'll announce an alpha
on the SCSI mailing list.


> I've seen the 2842 (in the box, not a look at the card itself) so I'm not
> sure if it uses the same chipset or not. If so, does anyone have the name
> and number of someone at Adaptec that I can talk to for info on the card and
> I'll attempt the changes myself.


--
Scott Ferris,             sferris@math.macalstr.edu
LaserMaster Inc,
Macalester College,
and points in between.


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

From: ken@halcyon.com (Ken Pizzini)
Subject: Re: Has anyone ported STRN to linux?
Date: 17 Dec 1993 14:58:51 -0800

In article <2engbh$4nd@explorer.clark.net>,
Paul Arbogast <trl@clark.net> wrote:
>If this hasn't been done, does anyone know where one might find the 
>source to STRN so i can attempt a port??   I use this on a sun and it is 
>by far my favorate newsreader, unfortunately it doesn't come with Linux.

I was alpha-testing strn under Linux, and don't recall any porting
weirdnesses (I lost the news feed to my Linux box shortly before
strn went into beta, so there may be something odd that I didn't
notice).

Enclosed below is the excerpt from the strn 0.9.1 announcement
containing a list of sites that it's available from.  I just
verified that ftp.uu.net still has a copy as documented, I
presume the others do also.

                --Ken Pizzini

Strn version 0.9.1 is available from the following FTP sites:
(North America, Eastern US)
    ftp.uu.net
        /news/trn/strn
    ftp.digex.net
        /pub/news
(North America, Southwest US)
    perseus.unm.edu
        /pub/strn
(Europe, Netherlands)
    ftp.twi.tudelft.nl
        /pub/news
(South Africa)
    ftp.ee.und.ac.za
        /pub/news/strn

The files are:
strn-0.9.1.tar.gz  (573390 bytes)  --  the full tar file.
strn091.patch.tar.gz  (22620 bytes)  --  patches for 0.9.0 -> 0.9.1

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

From: tytso@athena.mit.edu (Theodore Ts'o)
Subject: Re: where should I tell ups to turn off power?
Date: 17 Dec 1993 23:08:36 -0500
Reply-To: tytso@athena.mit.edu (Theodore Ts'o)

   From: bsa@kf8nh.wariat.org (Brandon S. Allbery)
   Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1993 22:30:32 GMT

   I thought that's what it does anyway.  You can't *truly* unmount / while
   /etc/brc is running, or halt, or anything else...

No, but a umount of / will cause the root filesystem to be remounted
read-only, and all of its filesystem state flushed out to disk.  The
second-best thing to being truly unmounted cleanly.  :-)  

                                                - Ted

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

From: bernie@bjt105.rh.psu.edu (Bernie Thompson)
Subject: Re: XFree86 driver for AGX-014 chips?
Date: 18 Dec 1993 03:35:32 GMT

Dirk Hohndel (hohndel@informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de) wrote:
: Andrew M Dyer (amd@chinet.chinet.com) wrote:
: : Is anyone working on a driver for the AGX-014 chip?  If so I would
: : be interested in helping out.  If not - does anyone know where I can
: : get programming information on this chip?

: as far as I know no one is working on it. I have no idea what this chipset
: is all about or where to get docs from

The AGX-014 and AGX-015 are from Integrated Information Technologies.
(IIT).  They're based on the XGA spec (XGA->AGX), but they're not 
100% compatible.  An AGX/XGA driver would hit another big section
of the video market. 

--
Bernie Thompson       -- Internet connected with Linux over PSU dorm ethernet
                         IBM co-op for OS/2 2.0 and 2.1 (video devices)
 

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

From: davison@bruce.cs.monash.edu.au (Andrew Davison)
Subject: REQ: Trantor T130B Programming Details
Date: 18 Dec 1993 05:20:43 GMT

Has anyone succeeded in obtaining the programming details for the T130B SCSI
adaptor ? Our numerous enquiries to the Australian distributer of Trantor
and Adaptec have resulted only in revealing the lack of computing knowledge
in that company :-)

Regards,
        Andrew Davison




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


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