Subject: Linux-Misc Digest #596
From: Digestifier <Linux-Misc-Request@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU>
To: Linux-Misc@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: Linux-Misc@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU
Date:     Thu, 27 Jan 94 14:26:16 EST

Linux-Misc Digest #596, Volume #1                Thu, 27 Jan 94 14:26:16 EST

Contents:
  Does anyone use Linux for REAL WORLD commercial applications? (Aris Stathakis)
  Re: WANTED: Linux CD (Joel Goldberger)
  Re: MSDOS Better than Linux (Michaela Merz)
  Re: HP Vectra VL and Linux? (Mr. Bassman)
  Re: Linux Pentium workstations $3589 (tan@msc.cornell.edu)
  Re: tape drives? (Cameron L. Spitzer)
  Re: Most stable filesystem? (Frank Lofaro)
  Re: IP routing problem in pl14 kernel? (Erik-Jan Bos)
  Re: LINUX on INTERNET via SLIP (Martin-D. Lacasse)
  Re: Does anyone use Linux for REAL WORLD commercial applications? (Joost Helberg)
  Panasonic CDROM CR-562-B (Ian Crakanthorp)
  Re: MSDOS Better than Linux (Bonne van Dijk)
  Re: RFV: Linux International proposal (Sunil Gupta)
  Re: Linux as X-Terminal? No! (Amancio Hasty Jr)
  Great Linux uptime! (Roth Mark Daniel)
  Re: Where is a 680*0 kernel ? (Evmorfopoulos Dimitris)
  Sounblaster 16 SCSI2 and Linux? (Jaime A. Jofre)
  Re: How much disk for Slackware 1.1.1 (Scott Derrick)
  Re: Advice on multi-serial cards wanted... (Gregory Gulik)
  Re: Linux Distributions and the Shadow Password Suite (Ludwig Van.)
  Re: MSDOS Better than Linux (WINGYUEN POON)
  NEED A BIT OF HELP!! (Mike Charrier)

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

From: aris@unisup1.mpd.co.za (Aris Stathakis)
Subject: Does anyone use Linux for REAL WORLD commercial applications?
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 21:11:35 GMT

I'd be curious to know if anyone was using or had 'sold' linux into a
commercial environment.  A friend of mine is thinking of writing an
application, but was thinking against doing it on UNIX because of
the usual OS costs.  But now, with Linux, his product can be more
of a reality.

Does anyone else use Linux for end-user applications?

What are the legalities with using Linux for end-user applications?

Thanks

Aris

-- 
Aris Stathakis        Tel:+27 11 887 1040          Snail Mail:  
SCO ACE / Novell CNE  Fax:+27 11 786 6647          P.O. Box 781228
M&PD (Pty) Ltd.       Fax:+27 11 887 5158          Sandton, 2146
                   E-Mail: aris@mpd.co.za          R.S.A.

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

From: joel@boris.infomagic.com (Joel Goldberger)
Subject: Re: WANTED: Linux CD
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 03:59:05 GMT

In article <2hovod$ojb@tisdec.tis.tandy.com> grober1@tisdec.tis.tandy.com  
(Greg Robertson) writes:
> I want to buy someones old Slackware CD for $20-25 (including
> shipping).  Please email if you have one to sell.
> 
> Greg
> --

How about a brand new one from 8 December for $15 ?  InfoMagic's Linux CD  
contains the complete archives from Sunsite and TSX-11 which include  
Slackware 1.1.1 and SLS distributions.  Contact us at the numbers below or  
at info@InfoMagic,com for more information.

--
Joel Goldberger
InfoMagic, Inc.

Tel: 609-683-5501
Fax: 609-683-5502

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

From: misch@eurom.fsag.rhein-main.de (Michaela Merz)
Subject: Re: MSDOS Better than Linux
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 20:57:36 GMT


On Mon, 24 Jan 1994 14:08:46 GMT,
debruijn@cs.utwente.nl (0000-Admin(0000)) wrote:

> (cat << __EOF__
> Julian D Glover (univ0020@black.ox.ac.uk) wrote:
> : In terms of real world work you lusers should realise that MS-DOS and
> : MS-Windows is far better than some half assed Unix toy, get a life and
> : pay for your software like everyone else you spongers.
> __EOF__
> ) > /dev/null
> 
> Your MessyDos can't do this, uh?
> 
> Steef

Hmm - don't flame me - but we should take this guy more seriously - even
he might have used the wrong words. Linux *is* just toy - as long as
there are no real applications available. So, don't just flame about
messy dos - write applications. Where's a wordprocessor, a desktop
publishing tool ........ ? Don't ignore the available shareware
and/or public domain tools for those ugly os like win**ows. There's
a lot more available. And it is *not* that easy to write well designed
win**ows progs. 

mm.




----
FREE SOFTWARE ASSOCIATION                                  irc: misch @ #fsag
OF GERMANY                                   gopher: eurom.fsag.rhein-main.de
Voice: ++49-69-6312083                www: http://callisto.fsag.rhein-main.de 

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

From: bassman@isoit034.bbn.hp.com (Mr. Bassman)
Subject: Re: HP Vectra VL and Linux?
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 10:58:16 GMT

In article <1994Jan25.071303.72216@yuma>, thorson@typhoon.atmos.colostate.edu (Bill Thorson) writes:
|>   I would like to know if anyone has any experience running Linux
|> on the newer HP Vectras.  The series is called the 486VL PC series
|> from HP.
|> 
[...]
|> 
|>   This has some kind of on-mother-board video controller as well and
|> I would be interested if someone has X working with it.

        You shouldn't have any trouble running on the Vectra. All the ones we've
tried have been fine. I don't know the VL series - there's none round here, but
we don't get all the different models. I think they are similar to the XM's,
unless I am mistaken. HP's are very expensive though - if your budget is tight
you may be better off buying something else. They are very well built, however,
and will last for ages. I was quite impressed by the design of the internals
of the latest ones; it's very neat and has a fan in the power supply, right
over the cpu. Cool !

        The on-board video should work fine, but you may find it's faster !
Does it have on-board ether ?  I did hear of that being slower than a seperate
card. I don't work in the PC dept anymore, however, so I'm not up to date on
everything.

        If you have problems setting up your HP box to run linux, mail me, and
I may be able to give you some advice.

Mr. Bassman
Platform Services (UNIX)
Hewlett-Packard, Boeblingen, Germany
bassman@hpbbi30.bbn.hp.com

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

From: tan@msc.cornell.edu
Subject: Re: Linux Pentium workstations $3589
Reply-To: tan@msc.cornell.edu
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 19:20:41 GMT

From article <JROZES.94Jan24001838@allegro.cs.tufts.edu>, by jrozes@allegro.cs.tufts.edu (J Rozes):
> In article <1994Jan23.235028.23409@cs.ucla.edu> edwin@maui.cs.ucla.edu (Edwin Tisdale) writes:
> 
>    A Linux Pentium workstation is just a little faster than (and about one
>    third of the list price of) a comparably equipped Super SPARC Model 41.
> 
> [...]
> This brings up some interesting questions. Suns aren't exactly known to
> excel in i/o of any kind (I'm talking about workstations here), but how
> do they compare to intel/linux boxes? Also, how does PCI compare to Sbus
> in terms of speed, flexibility and robustness? Just curious...

The SPARC chipset is not the fastest CPU out (it might be the slowest
modern RISC) but I haven't heard of other hardware complaints (not
that I've been following the issue religiously.)  The 1st generation
SBus of 5 years ago was rated at 80-100 MB/sec, the second generation
SBus double that (PCI is rated to 132 MB/sec, I think.)  As of a year
or two ago, the MBus (64-bit) was rated at 350-400 MB/sec.  I don't
know what Suns are up to now.  I'm not sure what you mean by flexibility
but as far as robustness goes, the Sun buses are supposed to be among 
the best (the development sure is there!)  Too bad they've fallen so
far behind in the CPU race.

While it's probably impossible to beat the Bang/Buck of Intel/Linux
boxes, be careful not to compare apples with oranges.  If your needs
run to heavy duty graphics, database management, etc., you're talking
a completely different class of machine (and a lot more $$$); it
really wouldn't be fair to compare a $5000 Pentium to a $35000 Sun GT
(or a $75K SGI) for graphics rendering, for instance.

What _I_ wonder is: do I wait for a few months for Pentium prices to 
drop, or settle for a 486/66 now and put the money in RAM?  Sigh.

Dave

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

From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron L. Spitzer)
Subject: Re: tape drives?
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 06:52:32 GMT


I've got a (get this!) Cipher self-loading 9-track drive,
with a Flagstaff Engineering controller for its "Pertec" style
interface.  Runs fine under DOS.  Handles 1600 bpi and 3200 bpi
tapes.  A software-compatible controller was also sold by
Laguna Systems (or something like that).
The controller is proprietary and programmer's info will
probably never be available.  It uses an interrupt and
a DMA channel.
The Flagstaff software is self-contained, no DOS "device driver."
Is there any chance of running this beast under dosemu?
Or is it my last reason for having a DOS partition?

Cameron
cls@truffula.sj.ca.us

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

From: ftlofaro@unlv.edu (Frank Lofaro)
Subject: Re: Most stable filesystem?
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 94 09:20:25 GMT

In article <1994Jan24.230931.1754@pe1chl.ampr.org> pe1chl@rabo.nl writes:
>In <1994Jan24.161536@cs.man.ac.uk> chardi@cs.man.ac.uk (Ian Chard) writes:
>
>>Hi,
>
>>I've been using ext2 for a while now, and I've had two filesystem crashes
>>(which might have been something to do with a fault in my version of shutdown).
>
>I have been using ext2 since it went into the standard kernel, and I still
>have to see my first filesystem crash...   Maybe this has something to do
>with the fact that I always have a recent tape backup at hand?  could this
>influence file system stability?
>

:)

EXT2FS has been very stable for me as well (so far :).

I only ever lost one file, and that is when one of my myriad kernel projects 
went totally awry (I did something really stupid, and SMASHED the STACK!).
That wasn't ext2fs' fault. Even under a (kernel) development environment 
subject to panics and the like it has held up quite well.

Great job!



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

From: bos@surfnet.nl (Erik-Jan Bos)
Subject: Re: IP routing problem in pl14 kernel?
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 09:03:39 GMT

In <1994Jan25.064553.10528@surfnet.nl> bos@surfnet.nl (Erik-Jan Bos) writes:

I wrote:

>Linus replied to my message as well and adviced me to upgrade my kernel
>to pl14, since in this patchlevel the IP routing part of the kernel was
>re-done. All looks great now, it works as I expected!

I need to be more specific: I am running pl14s now.

-- 
Erik-Jan.

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

From: isaac@elrond.physics.mcgill.ca (Martin-D. Lacasse)
Subject: Re: LINUX on INTERNET via SLIP
Reply-To: isaac@physics.mcgill.ca
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 04:00:34 GMT

In article <Jan.23.19.29.12.1994.1105@geneva.rutgers.edu>,
Charles Hedrick <hedrick@geneva.rutgers.edu> wrote:
>                                              ... There are a
>number of people going over this code with a fine-toothed comb.

        They haven't found the fact that stderr is sometimes lost
        over a rlogin connection, e.g.:

        linux: rlogin somehost (tried with AIX and SGI over slip)
        .....
        somehost: gnuplot 
        ....
        typing a wrong command and error message is lost.

        Is this a bug in readline that is only seen by linux? Now try
        rlogin somehost from somehost and everything is fine.

        Anyone else noticed the same problem? (I'm running pl14s)

Martin

 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
 Martin-D. Lacasse                   internet: isaac@physics.mcgill.ca
 Physics Department                     voice: (514) 398-7027
 McGill University                        fax: (514) 398-8434
 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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

From: jhelberg@nlsun8.oracle.nl (Joost Helberg)
Subject: Re: Does anyone use Linux for REAL WORLD commercial applications?
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 09:12:19 GMT

In article <1994Jan24.211135.26562@unisup1.mpd.co.za> aris@unisup1.mpd.co.za (Aris Stathakis) writes:
   I'd be curious to know if anyone was using or had 'sold' linux into a
   commercial environment.  A friend of mine is thinking of writing an
   application, but was thinking against doing it on UNIX because of
   the usual OS costs.  But now, with Linux, his product can be more
   of a reality.

   Does anyone else use Linux for end-user applications?

   What are the legalities with using Linux for end-user applications?


I know of at least one lawyer/attorney firm in The Netherlands
that uses Linux for their administrative business.

The end-user applications are: Emacs, TeX, LaTeX and sc.

(end-user in the sense that the user interacts directly with the
program)
--
   Joost Helberg                              Rijnzathe 6
   jhelberg@oracle.nl                         NL-3454 PV De Meern
   jhelberg@nl.oracle.com                     The Netherlands

   Oracle Europe BV                           Product Line Development  
   Phone: +31 3406 94211                      Fax:   +31 3406 65609

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

From: ian@atom.ansto.gov.au (Ian Crakanthorp)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Panasonic CDROM CR-562-B
Date: 23 Jan 1994 23:16:46 GMT

Hello,

I have some confusion over the CDROM drivers that come with linux.  I have
a Slackware version of Linux, and in the FAQ's that come with it.  The
hardware types supported is Matsushita/Panasonic CR-5** CDROM drives.

Which driver do I select in the kernel config?  The Mitsumi one?  Or is there
a driver out there (for kernel patch level 14) that I do not know about.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Ian...

-- 
Ian Crakanthorp                              e-mail: ian@atom.ansto.gov.au
ANSTO 
Australian Nuclear Science                   phone : +61 2 717 3365
& Technology Organisation                    Fax   : +61 2 717 9273

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

From: debruijn@cs.utwente.nl (Bonne van Dijk)
Subject: Re: MSDOS Better than Linux
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 09:33:02 GMT

Michaela Merz (misch@eurom.fsag.rhein-main.de) wrote:

: On Mon, 24 Jan 1994 14:08:46 GMT,
: debruijn@cs.utwente.nl (0000-Admin(0000)) wrote:

: > (cat << __EOF__
: > Julian D Glover (univ0020@black.ox.ac.uk) wrote:
: > : In terms of real world work you lusers should realise that MS-DOS and
: > : MS-Windows is far better than some half assed Unix toy, get a life and
: > : pay for your software like everyone else you spongers.
: > __EOF__
: > ) > /dev/null
: > 
: > Your MessyDos can't do this, uh?
: > 
: > Steef

: Hmm - don't flame me - but we should take this guy more seriously - even
: he might have used the wrong words. Linux *is* just toy - as long as
: there are no real applications available. So, don't just flame about
: messy dos - write applications. Where's a wordprocessor, a desktop
: publishing tool ........ ? Don't ignore the available shareware
: and/or public domain tools for those ugly os like win**ows. There's
: a lot more available. And it is *not* that easy to write well designed
: win**ows progs. 

For me it _is'nt_ a toy. I use TeX all the time, and put a lot time
in setting it up from scratch completely.

And if I want some pictures in it, I can choose between xfig,
idraw and probably others.

And porting my stuff to my work is _very_ easy.

And no more (Out of Memory) errors...

Ah. Drop it. You're not serious.
(but I agree with some people that Linux is not for everyone)

Steef
--
S.G. de Bruijn
Twente University of Technology, Dept. of Computer Science 
E-Mail: debruijn@cs.utwente.nl
=============================== @@ ===============================
\font\sig=handwriting at 25pt
\sig
Did you ever write a compiler in TeX?
\bye
== Signature under construction
\newread\inputfile
\newwrite\outputfile
\def\compile#1{%Compile input file #1
  \immediate\write16{Compiling #1.tex...}
  \openin\inputfile=#1
  \ifeof\inputfile
     \closein\inputfile
     \immediate\write16{Could not open input file #1.tex!}
  \else
  \fi
}


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

From: sunil@uel.co.uk (Sunil Gupta)
Subject: Re: RFV: Linux International proposal
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 17:57:20 GMT

Jay Lawrence (jjlawren@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca) wrote:
: In article <759199067snz@magnetic.demon.co.uk>,

: I think, right off the bat, your opening comment would make my marketing
: profs cringe.  I think we should be absolutely clear on what marketing

How about putting your own views forward? why use your marketing prof as a 
big stick to defend yourself ? You're cringing right?

I accept your views, you have a right to express them. But dont assume that
you're any more right than anyone else.

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

Crossposted-To: comp.windows.x.i386unix
From: hasty@netcom.com (Amancio Hasty Jr)
Subject: Re: Linux as X-Terminal? No!
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 22:03:42 GMT

In article <2i147s$ktl@snoopy.cis.ufl.edu> kem@prl.ufl.edu (Kelly Murray) writes:
>In article <hastyCK4Dq5.Hqs@netcom.com>, hasty@netcom.com (Amancio Hasty Jr) writes:
>|> >
>|> >Not to my knowledge- but rest assured that Xterminal speeds will most likely
>|> >increase also (its not an industry in a vacuum).  Personally, I think that
>|> >100k xstones is about all that is needed in most circomstances- it is very
>|> >much more comfortable than the < 10k xstone performance of typical ET4000
>|> >cards (a factor of 10) ; but I'm not sure that a factor of ten more
>|> >(1,000,000) would be that much more noticable (perhaps a human perception
>|> >thing).
>|> Would not be surprised to see a special ASIC to handle the X protocols
>|> to generate 1,000,000k xstones (Please don't ask me about this because this
>|> all I know)
>|> 
>|> As far as I am concerned the et4000 is obsolete;nevertheless, I understand
>|> your point. The current 2D technology in the leading graphic card's
>|> technology such as the Viper, Matrox MGA, #9 S3 928 based cards are
>|> perhaps more than adequate performance wise. However, once we
>|> entered animation, 3D graphics, Video, or Virtual Reality I don't see a 
>|> place for X terminals.
>
>(just couldn't let this go by without comment  :-)
>
>This is all in the future.  You must realize that ASCII terminals and interfaces
>are /still/ used by many thousands of people.
I have never been  nor will ever be a crowd follower. Besides, I am spoiled
by 1280x1024 resolution X servers. My sun's 1150 resolution is barely 
acceptable :)

        See Ya I have to get back to work 
        Amancio

-- 
FREE unix, gcc, tcp/ip, X, open-look, interviews, tcl/tk, MIME, midi, sound
at  freebsd.cdrom.com:/pub/FreeBSD
Amancio Hasty,  Consultant |
Home: (415) 495-3046       |  
e-mail hasty@netcom.com    |  ftp-site depository of all my work:    
ahasty@cisco.com           |  sunvis.rtpnc.epa.gov:/pub/386bsd/X

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

From: roth@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu (Roth Mark Daniel)
Subject: Great Linux uptime!
Date: 25 Jan 1994 05:05:14 GMT

I am always looking to have my Linux box up for as long as can be
before taking it down.  I think it's a good indicator of the stability
of a system when it can keep itself going for long periods of time
with minimal maintenance.

Anyway, I just took dynamic (my machine) down and am pleased to be
able to report that it was up for 62 days, 11 hours, and an odd number
of minutes.  I could have kept it up longer, but I needed to do some
maintenance, both hardware- and software-wise.  dynamic is currently
running pl13 with libc 4.4.4.

So, a great big thank-you to Linus and the other developers.  Linux is
a great system, and if pl13 was able to stay up for over 2 months, I
can't wait to see what kind of figures I can get out of 1.0!

-- 
Personal religious issues include: | Interface: CLI, eventually VUI, no GUIs!
OS: UNIX (Linux 0.99PL13 on my PC) |    (except X-Windows, of course.)
  Still recovering from MS-DOS...  | Micro: PCs!  No computer w/o a text-mode
Language: C++       Shell: tcsh    |    can possibly be taken seriously!

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

From: devmorfo@mtu.edu (Evmorfopoulos Dimitris)
Subject: Re: Where is a 680*0 kernel ?
Date: 25 Jan 1994 11:18:02 GMT

In article <2i01ar$i4a@erinews.ericsson.se>, bosse@ericsson.se (Bo-Erik Sandholm) writes:
> I have a friend who is interested in porting Linux to a 680*0 platform.
> I have a memory of somebody already having done some work in this
> direction, can any body give me a pointer.
> 
> ---
> Bo-Erik Sandholm   bosse@snoddas.ericsson.se
> Working for Ericsson Telecom Stockholm, Sweden
> 

        tsx-11.mit.edu:/usr/linux/680x0/.....

-- 
         ______      _______
        |  __  \    |  _____|   devmorfo@cs.mtu.edu  (Evmorfopoulos Dimitris)
        | |  \  |   | |___              
        | |   | |   |  ___|     Masters student working hard on        
        | |___| |   | |_____
        |_______| * |_______| * "Sliding Sunday, Week compression algorithm." 

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

From: jjofre@etsd.ml.com (Jaime A. Jofre)
Subject: Sounblaster 16 SCSI2 and Linux?
Reply-To: jjofre@etsd.ml.com
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 14:17:48 GMT

Hi,
  Is the Sounblaster 16 SCSI2 interface supported by any of the Linux
SCSI drivers?  Thanks in advanced,

J.

---

===========================================================================
|  Jaime A. Jofre                   |  Email: jjofre@etsd.ml.com          |
|  Equity Trading Support           |  Phone:  (212) 236-2060             |
|  Merrill Lynch                    |                                     |
|  WFC, South Tower, 12th Flr       |                                     |
|  NY NY 10080-6112                 |                                     |
===========================================================================



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

From: scot@am.ucsc.edu (Scott Derrick)
Subject: Re: How much disk for Slackware 1.1.1
Date: 25 Jan 1994 05:08:26 GMT
Reply-To: scot@cats.ucsc.edu


like I thought, just an OS. 

--
===============================================
Scott Derrick              | Yahoo Productions
scot@cats.ucsc.edu         |
(408) 335-7373             | "Make it so!"
===============================================   

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

From: greg@gagme.wwa.com (Gregory Gulik)
Subject: Re: Advice on multi-serial cards wanted...
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 20:18:39 GMT

In article <CK3Gqq.LIn@cda.mrs.umn.edu>,
Mark A. Bentley <bentlema@cda.mrs.umn.edu> wrote:
>
>You can't have more than two STB 4-port boards in the same computer since there  
>are only 8 comfigurable I/O addresses.

Correct.

My solution was to use the DigiBoard PC/4 and PC/8 boards.  The latter
gives you 8 ports on one card.

They work great, I have 12 ports in my Linux box now.  Soon to be 16.

Unfortunately:

- You need to replace the 16450's with 16550.

- Full-size card

- 8-bit card so it can only use the lower registers.


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

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

From: lruppert@iguana.syr.EDU (Ludwig Van.)
Subject: Re: Linux Distributions and the Shadow Password Suite
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 1994 20:24:54 GMT

In article <1994Jan21.035506.1134@rpp386> jfh@rpp386.cactus.org (John F. Haugh II) writes:
>In article <1994Jan19.202501.19435@swan.pyr> iiitac@swan.pyr (Alan Cox) writes:
>>And I'd like any that have been changed put back. Any that say xx distribution
>>of Linux is all GPL'd material yes - Linux is not a Linux distribution any
>>more than the sunsite ftp archive is Linux because it has a Linux kernel
>>in the filestore
>
>UNIX is more than /unix.  When you can get "Linux" to run with just a
>kernel and actually do something useful, come back and tell me about it.

OK, if you get pedantic enough, yes.  It could then be argued that
many commercial versions of UNIX suffer under the same problems, since
they borrow code from the Berkeley and AT&T original versions of UNIX.

>The fact remains -- several people took code which did not belong to
>them and sold it against the wishes of the owner.  I don't care what
>you call "Linux".  I call what was done "theft".

Clarity on this one would be appreciated.  Theft is a pretty strong
term.  Exactly what was "stolen", and to whom was it sold?  I have a
very richly featured Linux distribution and not one single package was
sold to me. I grabbed the package in its entirety off of the net for
free, and the package contains programs that all have their sources
available for free on the net.  Last I checked, taking things that
were free and redistributing them for free was not considered
thievery, perhaps my dictionary is out of date.

-Lou Ruppert
UNIX Weenie and apparent net.felon by association

>-- 
>John F. Haugh II [ NRA-ILA ] [ Kill Barney ] !'s: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh
>Ma Bell: (512) 251-2151 [GOP][DoF #17][PADI][ENTJ]  @'s: jfh@rpp386.cactus.org
>The P.C. Movement killed the 1st Amendment, the Brady Bill the 2nd, the WOsD
>got the 4th and 5th, political activism the 9th and 10th.  Not much left, eh?

Can't argue with you there... :(
-- 
"Until you stalk and overrun, you can't devour anyone."   -Hobbes
Lou Ruppert                     lruppert@mailbox.syr.edu
Note that the opinions expressed above are most likely not those of
Computing Services, for whom I am currently working. I value my job.

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

From: wypoon@cory.EECS.Berkeley.EDU (WINGYUEN POON)
Subject: Re: MSDOS Better than Linux
Date: 25 Jan 1994 12:13:33 GMT

Firstly, unless this person(?) who posted this rather sweeping statement is
1+1 = 3, he is obviously fustrated and posses little patience. Nonetheless,
he is exerting his freedom of expression, and we ought to respect this. Like 
the recent court ruling on the KKK's mammoth cross - what use is the freedom 
of expression if we do not tolerate non-mainstream :-) views?!

I think there is an ounce of truth in this person's rhetoric: there is a
dearth of layman applications for unix. This is perfectly logical, given that
*nix is ~not~ a user-friendly, low learning-curve, OS. And because the soft-
ware market thrives on high volumes, *nix is, and will, never have the
dishonor of being the OS with the most widespread usage. 

Look at the "Information *way", we already have that - for the technically
inclined. Yet, the goal is to have the "*way" made so metaphoric that the 
bulk of the cash-endowed population will and can make use of it.

*nix is almost solely used in academic institutions, research institutions,
and commercial scientific houses, no? Commercial *nix applications will never
sell for the $49 of Borland's paradox, the reason being simply because the 
software houses will never break even at the kind of volume for that sophist-
icated a product.

Face it, everybody loves (some) money. Public domain software will never reach
the feature-level of commercial software. Look at Procomm: starting off as a
shareware, it quickly became popular and now Procomm is a commercial soft-
ware produced by a money-raking company. The above conclusion, however, does
not preclude the possibility that someone with free time to spare, and motiva-
tion to achieve glory for the fostering of self-worth, will create a superb
app released under GNU license.

I love *nix (after learning it, of course), but Windows - and the require os
to run it (DOS?) - stays in my hardisk. The two can coexist side-by-side, and
they are complementary in many ways too.

sincerely,
Wingyuen Poon.

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

From: msc@austin.ibm.com (Mike Charrier)
Subject: NEED A BIT OF HELP!!
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 14:24:07 GMT


Hello!
I just installed the Slackware 1.1.1 version of Linux on my home computer
and can only say WOW!  Nice product for shareware!  I hope to be contributing
to it soon, but have a few questions that I need the answers to.  First let
me tell you about my setup:
        386DX-40
        8 Megs of RAM
        AMI BIOS
        1.2 & 1.44 floppies
        2 380 meg SCSI hard drives
        Adaptec 1522 SCSI controller
        Plain Jane VGA adapter using Trident chips (1 meg RAM)
        VGA monitor (640x480)
        Logitech MouseMan Cordless Mouse
        14,400 Zoom FAX/Modem
        Running DR DOS 6.0 and Windoze 3.1 and Linux

Questions:
  1.  When I used "fdisk" to partition my second SCSI drive (/dev/sdb) for
      Linux I got the following message:

      Partition   Boot    Begin    Start     End
      /dev/sdb1     *       1        1       301
      Partition 1 does not start on cylinder boundary:
      phys=(0, 0, 2) should be (0, 1, 1)
      
      Linux APPEARS to be running alright.  Is this a message to be
      concerned about?  Or should I just ignore it?
      
  2.  When I try to start XFree 2.0 with the command "xinit" I get the
      message:
      
      XFree86 Version 2.0/X Windows System
      (protocol Version 11, revision 0, Vendor Release 5000)
      
      Operating System: Linux
      Configured drivers:
        VGA16: Server for 4-bit colour VGA (Patchlevel 0)
          et4000, generic
      (using VT number 7)
      Fatal Server Error: No config file found!
      xinit: No such file or directory (errno2): Unexpected signal 13
      
      I take it I am missing a file.  I have the files .profile and
      .Xdefaults.  What am I missing?
      A related question:
      I configed my system during setup with the generic VGA driver; is
      there one that works better with Trident cards?
      
  3.  Is anyone else out there using a cordless Logitech MouseMan with Linux?
      What problems have you had and what solutions have you found?
      I saw a few earlier posts where someone was having problems with a
      MouseMan under Linux, but did not save them.

  4.  What is a GOOD book for the commands available under Linux?  I am used
      to AIX and some of the commands I normally use under AIX don't work
      with Linux. 

  5.  What problems have other DR DOS users encountered?  I have not run into
      any snags yet.

  6.  LILO LILO LILO.... I have read the documentation but still cannot
      figure out how to configure it so I can choose what operating system
      to use at startup.  Any help on this will be appreciated.

  7.  How do I install TEX?  The setup program (when I ran it) did not ask
      for that series of disks.

These are all I can think of for the moment.  Any help will be greatly
appreciated.  Thanks!
===========================================================================
Michael Charrier  | Internet: msc@austin.ibm.com | Post Simsvum Sequitur
Lead RS/6000 Tech | VM ID:    MSC@AUSVM6         | Septuna Luna Subset
===========================================================================
All comments are the ravings of a lunatic mind and not the opinions of IBM.
===========================================================================

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


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