Subject: Linux-Development Digest #394
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:     Fri, 21 Jan 94 09:13:09 EST

Linux-Development Digest #394, Volume #1         Fri, 21 Jan 94 09:13:09 EST

Contents:
  Re: Linux v1.0: what's in it? (Charles Hedrick)
  Re: Configuring linux box as a router with a serial interface (Gregory Gulik)
  Late comments on the DMA problem. (Jesus Monroy Jr)
  Re: VLB or eisa or PCI ?? (ALAN L HIGHTOWER)
  Re: Missing sgtty.h in MGR v0.56 compile? (Mitchum DSouza)
  To the developers of SAG-ALPHA (Charles (The Great Todd))
  is there a driver for National 8390 Ethernet Chip (Curtis Hrischuk)
  Re: Missing sgtty.h in MGR v0.56 compile? (Anup M Changaroth)
  DPT PM2021/9x-SCSI Controller (Martin Seine)
  Re: Better than Xmag ? (phys2108@waikato.ac.nz)
  Re: term111 (Ron Smits)
  Re: Term bug (?) (Olaf Titz)
  Re: Global Alert For All: Jesus is Coming Soon (Kai Altenfelder)

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

From: hedrick@geneva.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick)
Subject: Re: Linux v1.0: what's in it?
Date: 20 Jan 94 20:42:28 GMT

carlb@inex.com (Carl Boernecke) writes:

>So, is the networking code stable, or not?  Will we ('we' being
>the thousands of loyal Linux users) finally be able to compare our
>systems to those that run NetBSD or FreeBSD?  Their only real
>bragging point has been the networking code.  Will this realase
>effectively remove that point from the 'my system is better than
>your system' discussions?  I don't really care, though, just 
>curious.

Actually, I now think there is hope for TCP in 1.0.  As far as I know,
the primary problem with TCP was on the write side: connections would
hang, it would send fragmented packets larger than the MSS (which
would cause PC telnet's to hang, and also caused error recovery not to
work), and behavior after a dropped packet was bizarre.  I believe
I've fixed those problems.  The fix is in pl14r.  pl14s fixes problems
in keepalive that showed up as a consequence of those fixes.  (pl14r
would work on a purely end-user machine, but telnetd and rlogind would
hang after a connection was idle for 50 sec.)  Alan and company are
working on another major set of problems, and it sounds like they're
close.  It's certainly possible that there will be other things
showing up as fallout from these change (as the keepalive problem
showed up as fallout from write-side fixes), but in my opinion if Alan
can get the things he and his cohorts are working on in pl15, and we
have a month to take care of fallout, there is reasonable hope that
1.0 will have a reliable TCP.

While I think it's reasonable to expect something that will work well
in practice, it probably won't be ideal.  As an example:
Retransmission is now using a fairly simply slow start strategy.
Jacobson has come up with more clever things, which the Hosts
Requirements RFC says should be implemented.  However at the moment we
don't need cleverness -- we need reliability.  I think there will be a
number of details like this remaining in 1.0.  After 1.0 I'd like to
see someone go through the Host Requirements RFC (and Router
Requirements, if we really intend Linux to be used as a router) and
make sure all the details are right.  Note that you don't need to be
strictly compliant with the Host Requirements RFC to have a reasonable
implementation.  Many of the well-known PC telnets have serious
violations (some serious enough that I probably wouldn't even consider
them reasonable implementations).  4.3 BSD has quite solid networking,
but didn't get all the details of the HRRFC.  So whether 1.0 will
solve the problem depends upon how high a standard you hold it to.  I
frankly don't know whether netBSD strictly meets all the requirements
in the HRRFC.  It's possible that it does.

If people want to argue about superiority of OS's, we probably can't
stop that.  What I think we can stop is the continuing complaints that
people can't get files between their machines because the connection
hangs, and that net managers are wary of having Linux machines on
their network because of misbehaviors.  (Actually I think it would be
healthy for the network as a whole if "my OS is better than yours"
started turning into discussions of whether it meets everything in the
Requirements RFC's -- I'd like to see such discussions extended to
some commercial TCP implementations, too.  Some vendors could use a
bit of pressure to bring their implementations up to snuff.)

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

From: greg@gagme.wwa.com (Gregory Gulik)
Subject: Re: Configuring linux box as a router with a serial interface
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 18:53:27 GMT

In article <199401190215.NAA01320@pet3.austin.unimelb.edu.au>,
Daniel O'Callaghan <danny@austin.unimelb.edu.au> wrote:
>Has anyone configured a linux box as a router?

Yes.
It doesn't work well.

>I am getting a permanent net connection.  I'll start off on a dial-up
>line with SLIP, but I will quickly need to progress to a proper connection.

This works fine as long as you have one machine connected to the Internet.
It doesn't work if you have other machines on your local ethernet that
need access to the SLIP link.

>I intend getting an ISDN connection for this line, so I'll need a router
>which handles RIP etc. and which can be connected to a V.35 modem (ISDN modem).
>
>A bought router does this through its serial interface, and can send all 
>sorts of stuff down the serial line - IP, ODI, IPX, Appletalk.
>
>Can I connect the V35 modem and sl0 on a linux box easily?

V.35 is a synchronous serial connection.  As far as I know, there
is no driver support for any V.35 cards for Linux.  I believe
BSDI does though.

>What would the ifconfig command be?

Here's what I have:

Kernel routing table
Destination net/address   Gateway address           Flags RefCnt    Use Iface
default                   198.49.174.17             UGN        0  79435 sl0
198.49.174.32             *                         UN         0    590 eth0
198.49.174.17             *                         UH         0   5498 sl0
127.0.0.1                 *                         UH         0   2910 lo

>Can I use the same linux machine for dial-up SLIP on sl1 and sl2 with
>no conflicts?

Probably.

>I have looked at PC-Route v2.2.4, which is good, but it handles SLIP
>on the serial line, and I think routers talk something closer to ethernet
>on their serial interfaces.  Please correct me if I am wrong.

I believe Cisco routers use HDLC.  I doubt it's all that much better
than something like PPP

-- 
Gregory Gulik - greg@gagme.wwa.com
WorldWide Access (SM) - Chicagoland Internet Services
+1 312 282 8605 or send mail to info@wwa.com

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.386bsd.development,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage,comp.periphs,comp.realtime,comp.arch.storage
From: jmonroy@netcom.com (Jesus Monroy Jr)
Subject: Late comments on the DMA problem.
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 21:22:11 GMT

 
                    Late comments on the DMA problem
                    --------------------------------
 
            Please be aware that the programming of the DMA and the
        system buffering techinques are not under my direct control.
 
        These comments were sent to me very recently on the DMA
        problem.  Your comments, as always, are quite welcome.
 
==============================================================================
>> B) It is possible that they way you are setting up DMA may be a problem.
>>
        I have not considered this.
        However, I did look into the problem at some extent early on.
        I do not remember my results.
 
>> For example, it is not possible to implment "scatter/gather" with the FDC by
>>                    ^^^
                      |||
        I think he meant to say that "it is possible", because I know
        it is.   Evidence is the the FDC (flexible drive controller)
        has a command for read-a-track.
 
>> telling the FDC to transfer a large block of data, but telling the DMA
>> controller
>> to transfer say one file buffer, and then reprogram the DMA for a 2nd file
>> buffer.  The interrupt service lattencies and service times far exceed the
>> FDC's limited buffering capability.  This can be done for DMA-SCSI,
>> because SCSI devices have very large buffer capacities (except for some
>> older SCSI tape drives many years ago) that can "coast through" these
>> delays.
>>
 

-- 
Jesus Monroy Jr                                          jmonroy@netcom.com
Zebra Research
/386BSD/device-drivers /fd /qic /clock /documentation
___________________________________________________________________________

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

From: alh@engr.engr.uark.edu (ALAN L HIGHTOWER)
Subject: Re: VLB or eisa or PCI ??
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 02:05:41 GMT

jsoi@joensuu.fi (Janne Soimasuo) writes:

>We are going to buy a server to manipulate satellite images (a file ~ 100 Mb)
>so the use will require quite lot from the bus of hard drive.
>
>The system is going to be something like
>       - 468 dx2 66 
>       - 32 Mb memory
>       - 2 Gb HD
>       - 1 or 2 Mb display controller
>       - ethernet-connection
>
>So shall I buy:
>       isa-motherboard with 2 VLB or
>       eisa-vlb motherboard (for example DECpc MTE)
>       PCI-vlb motherboard (for example DECpc XL)

Niether, get a Sun SPARCstation or Iris Indigo....  If the images are 100MB, you'll need it!

If not, eisa-vlb would be your best bet.  Caching SCSI controllers would be a good idea too. (w/ 16MB cache....)

Alan.


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

From: Mitchum DSouza <m.dsouza@mrc-apu.cam.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Missing sgtty.h in MGR v0.56 compile?
Date: 21 Jan 1994 05:13:17 -0500
Reply-To: m.dsouza@mrc-apu.cam.ac.uk

According to Eric Merth:
| I'm  trying to get MGR v0.56 going with Slackware's
| Linux distribution. I believe that I've got gcc 2.5.8 
| & the 4.4.4 libraries. My kernel is 0.99.14.
| 
| The make dies when a header called "sgtty.h" is included
| (except that it doesn't seem to actually exist). The guilty 
| include line uses angle brackets so I assume that sgtty.h
| is supposed to be a linux header or a gcc header, and not
| a MGR header. 
| 
| I can't find any file named "sgtty.h" anywhere on the machine,
| but there is a "tty.h" header that came in the linux kernel 
| source. By making a link "/usr/include/sgtty.h" to tty.h I
| can compile with lots of warnings.
| 
| Does anyone have any ideas about what I've done here - I have
| no idea what sgtty.h would contain and tried linking to tty.h
| in desperation. The mgr executable that I was able to compile
| starts but hangs, saying that it can't set the mouse mode.... 
| I'm stumped!


Have you read Q: 42 of the GCC-FAQ ?? 

Mitch


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

From: chtodd@alpha.wright.edu (Charles (The Great) Todd)
Subject: To the developers of SAG-ALPHA
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 02:40:26 GMT

Dear developers of the System Administrator's Guide,

  I think that the "getting to know unix" manual covers about 2/3 of
the topics you are covering in your manual.  It might be best, if
you want to repeat them, to just note so and copy it.
  A couple of other topics I believe you should discuss:  
        The quota system (how to setup and maintain...documentation is
                slim to non-existent)
        Setting up the printers and print queues (network and
                hardwired)
        On the discussion of create/add users, I don't know about you,
                but I didn't get adduser with my SLS distribution. 
                I'm sure I could write one, but it's not there, as
                far as I know.  Correct me if I'm wrong.  Therefore,
                please discuss making a sample user.
        Updating the libraries and compilers. Discuss the terminology.
        State which version of the kernel you are using.  Also which
                distribution your statements are founded off of, also
                please state which versions of the libraries were
                present at the time of writing. (that way if things
                change, we can understand that at the time of writing,
                such and such was true)

Thanx!  
Charlie

Note:  a copy was also sent to lars.wirzenius@helsinki.fi


--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Mrs. Bobbit complained that her husband could never give her an
orgasm.  Well, one thing's for sure....she's not getting off now! 
-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
#include <rear_end/head.h>


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

From: ceh@enoch.sce.carleton.ca (Curtis Hrischuk)
Subject: is there a driver for National 8390 Ethernet Chip
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 03:01:31 GMT

HI.  I have an ethernet card which has a National 8390 MAC chip.  Is
there a driver to support this card under Linux?  Either way, where is
the source code for the ethernet drivers?

Thanks

Curtis
--
===============================================================================
| Curtis Hrischuk              | Boundaries of Science:                        |
| ceh@sce.carleton.ca          | 1) How did I get here?                        |
| Carleton University          | 2) Why am I here?                             | 
| Ottawa, On. ,Canada, K1S-5B6 | 3) What happens when I leave?                 |
| Ph  (613) 788-2600 x1762     | "The proof is almost identical to the previous|
| FAX (613) 788-5727           | proof and hence omitted here."(actual quote)  |

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

From: aa160@city.ac.uk (Anup M Changaroth)
Subject: Re: Missing sgtty.h in MGR v0.56 compile?
Date: 21 Jan 94 11:08:12 GMT

emerth@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca (Eric Merth) writes:

>I'm  trying to get MGR v0.56 going with Slackware's
>Linux distribution. I believe that I've got gcc 2.5.8 
>& the 4.4.4 libraries. My kernel is 0.99.14.

[...]

>I can't find any file named "sgtty.h" anywhere on the machine,
>but there is a "tty.h" header that came in the linux kernel 
>source. By making a link "/usr/include/sgtty.h" to tty.h I
>can compile with lots of warnings.


Have you tried looking in /usr/include/bsd ? ie. try changing
#include <sgtty.h> to #include <bsd/sgtty.h>


>Thanks very much in advance!

>Eric Merth.

Cheerio,


-- 
                                ______
 Anup M Changaroth              \    /       Computer Systems Engineering
 Internet: aa160@city.ac.uk    L I N U X      City University, London. UK
                                  \/

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

From: martin@erde.GUN.de (Martin Seine)
Subject: DPT PM2021/9x-SCSI Controller
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 23:27:59 GMT

Hello out there,

Does anyone know, if there's a driver for the DPT SCSI-Controller
(especially the ISA-Type PM2021/9x) already available, under work or planned?

Does anyone have programming docs of this card ?

TIA
Martin

--
=====================================================================
Martin Seine                                       martin@erde.gun.de
                                        Martin.Seine@FernUni-Hagen.de
Due to the absent of everything comes the presence of nothing,
and so there's not everything absent.

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

From: phys2108@waikato.ac.nz
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Re: Better than Xmag ?
Date: 21 Jan 94 15:09:06 +1300

In article <1994Jan20.135507.6547@taylor.wyvern.com>, mark@taylor.wyvern.com (Mark A. Davis) writes:
> guru@camelot.bradley.edu (Jerry Whelan) writes:
> 
>>In article <2h8ujh$2pb@piston.ecp.fr>,
>>Guillaume du Bourguet <bourgug4@cti.ecp.fr> wrote:
>>-} I have a trouble with my eyesight, so I need very large characters
> 
>>-} But I can only use UNIX system in text mode. However I have to use
>>-} Xterm. Fonts are smaller, and anyway it is not easy to write anything
>>-} with 10 characters a line.
> 
>>In all the articles in this thread, I have not seen the obvious answer.
> 
> [...]
> 
> I have already posted containing that solution- lowering the res and using
> the extra video memory to pan.
> 
> -- 
>   /--------------------------------------------------------------------------\
>   | Mark A. Davis    | Lake Taylor Hospital | Norfolk, VA (804)-461-5001x431 |
>   | Sys.Administrator|  Computer Services   | mark@taylor.wyvern.com   .uucp |
>   \--------------------------------------------------------------------------/
How about getting a lcd projection unit and putting the output on a wall.

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

From: rsmits@xs4all.hacktic.nl (Ron Smits)
Subject: Re: term111
Date: 21 Jan 1994 11:23:50 GMT

cajho@uno.edu writes:
: In article <2h7m0v$3bi@mojo.eng.umd.edu>, dskim@eng.umd.edu (Daeshik Kim) writes:
: >
: >     It was rather refreshing shock!
: >
: >filter:~ >tupload -uv ALPHA-pl14p.tar.gz 
: >sending ALPHA-pl14p.tar.gz
: >        sent file removed.
: >        1185209 bytes sent in 543 seconds, cps = 2182.71
: >
: >     Even with 3 other active 'trsh'..
: >
: >     It was big improvement since last release...so I could not stand
: >     to post this..
: 
: That's funny, because I found that I slowed down from 1.0.8 to 1.1.1..using
: a ZyX 14.4 from PC to Sun.  At least that is what term is reporting.  I
: was getting just over 1600 average on tuploads w/1.0.8 and now 1.1.1 reports
: mid 1500's, w/all other things equal.  In fact my estimate for 1.0.8
: tupload speed may have been conservative...Needless to say, I'm back 
: w/1.0.8.  Anyone else notice this?
:   
: 
: 
: 

 I installed term1.1.1 yesterday evening between two linux machines, and
with a nullmodem cable running on 38.4 I only got 300CPS Am I doing
something wrong?
        
        Ron Smits
        rsmits@hactic.nl
        Ron.Smits@Netherlands.NCR.COM



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

From: uknf@rzstud1.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de (Olaf Titz)
Subject: Re: Term bug (?)
Date: 21 Jan 1994 12:28:15 GMT

In article <1994Jan18.144405.14411@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>,
Schultz, Russell <Schultz_Russell@semail.jsc.nasa.gov> wrote:
> > A friend and i use the same account, and just recently tried running
> > term at the same time.  Apparently the two processes competed.  I

> I guess a better question would be--how does TERM/TREDIR or whichever
> of its fun little parts determine who belongs to who on a multi-users
> and/or multi-login environment?  

If you use more than one instance of term at once, you should set
the TERMDIR environment to something different upon login. 
You then have, e.g.
user 1: TERMDIR=$HOME/term1
        uses $HOME/term1/.term/socket, $HOME/term1/.term/termrc
user 2: TERMDIR=$HOME/term2
        uses $HOME/term2/.term/socket, $HOME/term2/.term/termrc

(copy or link the termrc files between them, but the important thing
is the sockets, which are created by the term server.)

> this group for a question such as this.  I can only assume that TERM is
> a mostly LINUX product, and development means development of LINUX type
> products--hence this would be the proper group.  Comments on this? or
> is this an operating-system-development-questions-only kinda group?

Not all people agree on whether this is true, but since your question
was not about *development* but about *use* of term the .help or .misc
group is more appropriate, IMHO.

Olaf
-- 
        olaf titz     o       olaf@bigred.ka.sub.org          praetorius@irc
  comp.sc.student    _>\ _         s_titz@ira.uka.de      LINUX - the choice
karlsruhe germany   (_)<(_)      uknf@dkauni2.bitnet     of a GNU generation
what good is a photograph of you? everytime i look at it it makes me feel blue

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

From: kai@genepi.sh.sub.de (Kai Altenfelder)
Subject: Re: Global Alert For All: Jesus is Coming Soon
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 23:03:50 GMT

Michael Horwath (drechsau@winternet.mpls.mn.us) wrote:
: Oh please, take this jibberish someplace else.  Just what we need, a
: bible thumper on a computer related topic group :(

 Not enough, this guy posted this article to every newsgroup (no, not as
 crosspostings...) on the net. Have a look at the 'Path:'-line... :-(


 Kai
-- 
-\- UseNet fuer Hamburg-Pinneberg-Steinburg -\- UUCP-Accounts -
 -\- E-Mail -\- int. Newsgroups -\- Kontakt: shnet@sh.sub.org -

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


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