Subject: Linux-Misc Digest #117
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:     Mon, 16 May 94 12:13:23 EDT

Linux-Misc Digest #117, Volume #2                Mon, 16 May 94 12:13:23 EDT

Contents:
  Re: Improving Linux performance: What works best? (Christopher D. Gori)
  Re: Clothes named after programming languages (Geoffrey Spear)
  Re: Streets named after programming lang (David K. Bryant)
  Soundblaster etc in 386s (N J Bailey)
  Re: What is latest CD out? (Byron A Jeff)
  Re: What is latest CD out? (Byron A Jeff)
  Re: Interest in a weekly Linux news? (Maxim Spivak)
  Re: Linux becomes a real operating system - official recognition (Maxim Spivak)
  Re: InfoMagic CDROM (William Turner)
  Re: Term 115 (beta) is out. (Steven Whitlatch)
  3COM 3C509 (Ether III) Suppor
  Re: INDEX generator for Linux ? (Matt Welsh)
  Re: I SAW CHICAGO! (Ove Hansen)
  Re: Interest in a weekly Linux news? (Tim "Strikemaster" Bowser)
  Re: Linux & DEC ALPHAs... (Jim Paradis)

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

From: cgori@isengard.stanford.edu (Christopher D. Gori)
Subject: Re: Improving Linux performance: What works best?
Date: 16 May 94 08:02:12 GMT

(richard@ricks.ak.planet.co.nz (Richard Haakma)) wrote: 

>News volume has increased so much that I know at least one full-feed news
>site has all news unpacking being done on a separate machine, even when
>using Sun Sparcstations.  The local university has also got a machine
>basically devoted to news only.
>
>You may need to consider doing the same.
>
>-- 
>Richard A. Haakma              richard@ricks.ak.planet.co.nz
>Linux, SunOS, MSDOS admin      richard@kcbbs.gen.nz

Heh, here at Stanford, the machine nntp2.stanford.edu is a 150 (200?) Mhz
DEC Alpha with scads of multi-gigabyte drives attached to the main FDDI ring
so that it can handle the volume of feed to the rest of campus.

Ahh... so this is what my tuition is buying me.  I like _this_. :)

        Chris Gori
        cgori@isengard.stanford.edu
        cgori@leland.stanford.edu

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

From: Geoffrey Spear <gspear+@CMU.EDU>
Crossposted-To: alt.folklore.computers,alt.religion.kibology
Subject: Re: Clothes named after programming languages
Date: Mon, 16 May 1994 07:06:18 -0400

lmccarth@cs.umass.edu (Lewis (YDNCTFL YWSRCFAOTW) McCarthy) writes:
> alien@acheron.amigans.gen.nz (Ross Smith) writes:
> >For C/C++ programmers, the obvious thing to wear would be a set of
> >matching braces.
> 
> { Notice: this joke may be puzzling for some readers in the States }

this is, of course, because most American C compilers don't use {}'s
because American keyboards don't have a { key.  

geoff spear             |please reply via snail mail,
gspear+@cmu.edu         |i don't use computers.

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

Crossposted-To: alt.folklore.computers
From: dbryant@netcom.com (David K. Bryant)
Subject: Re: Streets named after programming lang
Date: Sat, 14 May 1994 04:29:51 GMT

rnturn@delphi.com (Richard N. Turner) writes:

>>Is there in Silicon Valley a street called `Disk Drive' ?  
>> 
>>Someone once told me this but it sounds bogus to me (But I'll
>>be very happy to be proved wrong).
> 
>Hmm... It's not on my map but then it's centered on on San Jose and leaves
>out most of Palo Alto.  Maybe Disk Drive is a little further West or
>South than my map or it's a new street (like Apple's "Infinite Loop"
>mentioned in another post) or you were right about the bogosity of what your
>friend told you.

Yes there is a Disk Drive.  It intersects with Fortran Way(?).
It's located in San Jose.  North of Hwy 237 in the Alviso area.
Take North 1st St north across Hwy 237 and turn right at the
first right.  As I recall.



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

From: een6njb@sun.leeds.ac.uk (N J Bailey)
Subject: Soundblaster etc in 386s
Reply-To: een6njb@sun.leeds.ac.uk
Date: Mon, 16 May 1994 10:54:52 GMT

Is anybody successfully using a Linux 386 with a 16-bit soundblaster card?
I was thinking of using such a machine for undergraduate projects involved
with Digital Signal Processing (off-line) of sound files, but the 200KB/sec
data rate for HiFi-stereo seems like it might be too demanding for so
slow a machine.  It'll probably have a small and slow IDE hard disk too.

Any experience of using sound cards on such machines?




---
===============================================================================
Nick Bailey                             Telephone: +44 532 332057
Lecturer in Electronic Engineering      Facsimile: +44 532 332032     
University of Leeds
Woodhouse Lane
Leeds LS2 9JT
United Kingdom
===============================================================================



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

From: byron@cc.gatech.edu (Byron A Jeff)
Subject: Re: What is latest CD out?
Date: Mon, 16 May 1994 12:17:26 GMT

In article <wanggaar.112.000E06B5@nicmad.uucp>,
Michael Wanggaard <wanggaar@nicmad.uucp> wrote:
>>I'm looking to purchase a CD with Linux and the the arcvhies from Sunsite,
>>etc. Since there are so many to choose from, I would like to purchase the
>>latest.  If you have the number to the company I would be even more
>>appreciative.
>
>I've been wondering about this too.  Is there a FAQ or information sheet, or 
>has anyone just kept a listing of the current CD releases coming out?  I think 
>if I'm going to spend $30 on something I can download for free, I'd like to at 
>least make an informed decision about what release is best for me.

I have the Infomagic CD. Has all the distributions, the archives for both
Sunsite and tsx-11, plus an X11 tree, GNU sources, and a full set of
manual pages among other things. It's a pair of CD's that were mastered
from a Snapshot on April 20th (less than a month old!)

The only thing this distribution doesn't do is allow you to run a
system directly from the CDROM. Small consolation IMHO.

Let me grab the INFO-Sheet (I have the CD online):

I'm posting the whole thing because both of the posted asked.

Later

BAJ
===================== Begin included Text ============================
                     Welcome to the April Edition
                                of the
             InfoMagic Linux Developer's Resource CD-ROM

These discs are published every two months (or so) and include
snapshots of the TSX-11.MIT.EDU and Sunsite.UNC.EDU linux archives.
With this edition we are also including the complete gnu archive from
prep.ai.mit.edu so as to be in full compliance with the GNU public
license, a copy of which is provided in the gnu directory.
We have also unpacked a number of things since the double disc set
provides us lots more room.  See the RoadMap at the end of this file.

These discs are mastered in ISO-9660 format with Rock Ridge extensions
to preserve the long mixed case filenames and deeply nested directory
structure.  Every directory includes a file "YMTRANS.TBL" which lists
the ISO-9660 compliant alias and the original filename.  The sources
in the YM_UTILS directory can be used to either copy or create
symbolic links on systems that do not support the Rock Ridge
extensions.

Some large packages common to tsx-11 & sunsite have been merged and
put into top level directories.  This inlcude the kernel distributions
and XFree86.  The HowTo docs have been pulled out and put into a
directory directly off the root of disc 1.

All of the distributions can be found off the root of disc1 in the
directory "distributions".  Included distributions and their versions
are shown below.

Slackware       1.2.0.3
SLS             1.0.5 with modified boot images (see below)
TAMU            1.0-A
JE              Version of 94/02/03
MCC             1.0+
debian          0.91 Beta

The SLS boot images (a1.3 & a1.5) have been modified to accomodate the
directory organization of this CD and can be used to install directly
from the CD, assuming your hardware is supported.

The Slackware distribution has been modified (by Patrick) to include
the InfoMagic disc layout as an option in the CD installation menu.

Notes for NewComers

In the docs subdirectory of the sunsite archive there are a series of
HOWTO documents that provide detailed instructions on how to configure
and install nearly every aspect of Linux.  Please refer to these
before starting if you have never done it before !

The easiest distribution to use seems to be Slackware.  There are a
number of "readme" files in the "distributions/slackware" directory
that should provide all the information you need to get up and
running.

The tools used to create the bootable floppies, for all the
distributions, are in the directory "dosutils".  This directory also
contains a number of partition manipulation utilities including one
called "fips" that can be used to resize DOS partitions without
damaging them.  Please read the file "fips09.doc" before using it.

The file "ls_lr" contains the output of the command "ls -lR" from the
root of the discs.  The file "00_find" contains the result of the
command "find . -print" also from the roots.

InfoMagic is pleased to provide as much technical support as we can.
Please do not hesitate to either email, FAX, or phone us with any
questions on installation, hardware compatibility, or any other
problem.  If we don't know the answer we will try to find it for you !

email:  support@InfoMagic.com
Tel:    609-683-5501
FAX:    609-683-5502

For support in the UK and Europe, you may contact:

Lasermoon, Ltd.
2a Beaconsfield Toad
Fareham, Hants, England. PO16 0QB
Tel:    +44 (0) 329 826444
Fax:    +44 (0) 329 825936
Email:  ian@lasermoon.co.uk

In addition to Linux support, Lasermoon are experts in all manner of
Unix, Novell, and DOS systems and software.


RoadMap
~~~~~~~

disc1/distributions             Root of all included distributions
disc1/dos_utils                 Utilities for creating boot floppies, etc.
disc1/guide                     Install Guide in text and postscript
disc1/HOWTO                     How To Documents
disc1/kernel                    Kernel sources in tar format
disc1/sunsite                   Archive from sunsite.unc.edu

disc2/X11                       XFree86 distributions
disc2/gnu                       GNU sources from prep.ai.mit.edu
disc2/install                   Shell script to set up emacs w or w/o X.
disc2/linux-sources             Unpacked kernel sources 1.1.8
disc2/tsx                       Archive from tsx-11.mit.edu
disc2/usr                       Unpacked emacs, TeX, and man pages


---
Another random extraction from the mental bit stream of...
Byron A. Jeff - PhD student operating in parallel!
Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332   Internet: byron@cc.gatech.edu

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

From: byron@cc.gatech.edu (Byron A Jeff)
Subject: Re: What is latest CD out?
Date: Mon, 16 May 1994 12:30:08 GMT

In article <1994May16.121726.2820@cc.gatech.edu>,
Byron A Jeff <byron@cc.gatech.edu> wrote:

>I have the Infomagic CD. Has all the distributions, the archives for both

Following up my own post. I failed to say that I love this CD package.
Enough to start looking at buying another CDROM so I can have the CD
permanantly mounted.

BAJ
---
Another random extraction from the mental bit stream of...
Byron A. Jeff - PhD student operating in parallel!
Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332   Internet: byron@cc.gatech.edu

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

From: maxims@ucsee.EECS.Berkeley.EDU (Maxim Spivak)
Subject: Re: Interest in a weekly Linux news?
Date: 14 May 1994 00:34:14 GMT

In article <17218@tranter>, Jeff Tranter <tranter@Software.Mitel.COM> wrote:
>Is there any interest in reviving Linux News or have Linux Journal and
>c.o.la. made it obsolete?
>
>Jeff
>(copy sent to tree@cs.jhu.edu and wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi)
>-- 
>Jeff Tranter                                            Jeff_Tranter@Mitel.COM
>Software Technology
>Mitel Corporation, Kanata, Ontario, CANADA

YES!!!

For those who just want to keep up with new developments in the Linux 
world this would be a great resource!!!

Max
-- 
**************************************************************************
Maxim Spivak                            |  #include <GoBears.h>
University of California, Berkeley      |  #include <StdDisclaimer.h>
maxims@ucsee.berkeley.edu               |  #include ".signature"

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

From: maxims@ucsee.EECS.Berkeley.EDU (Maxim Spivak)
Subject: Re: Linux becomes a real operating system - official recognition
Date: 14 May 1994 00:39:01 GMT

In article <Cpr7DB.E34@specialix.com>, Jon Brawn <jonb@specialix.com> wrote:
>There are the obligatory sections such as ``My organization's primary
>business'', ``My Job Function'', and the interesting one ``Operating
>Systems Used''. Number twelve on the list? LINUX (all capital letters!)
>
>So, there you have it, official recognition from Uniforum (now, don't
>we all feel *much* better for that?).
>
>--

Wow, what do you know! I didn't notice it until I read this post, and 
checked. It's there, all right, smack in between IRIX and Macintosh. I 
wonder what it all means...

Max



-- 
**************************************************************************
Maxim Spivak                            |  #include <GoBears.h>
University of California, Berkeley      |  #include <StdDisclaimer.h>
maxims@ucsee.berkeley.edu               |  #include ".signature"

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

From: wturner@acorn.co.uk (William Turner)
Subject: Re: InfoMagic CDROM
Date: 16 May 1994 13:51:17 +0100

In article <CpqGoA.GF9@lincoln.gpsemi.com> Mark Edgeworth <medgewor@lincoln.gpsemi.com> writes:

>In article <CpMAGE.2Gp@cda.mrs.umn.edu> Kris C. Nelson,
>nelsonkc@cda.mrs.umn.edu writes
>about the fine service he has received from InfoMagic.
>
>Being a UK resident, I was astounded to find a company which
>could keep its
>promises on delivery.  I received my Linux disks in a little
>over a week from
>the States, a mere three days after the promised shipping date.
> Considering
>it took nearly two weeks to get SIMMS from a company barely
>fifty miles
>from where I live, InfoMagic should be applauded.
>
>Keep it up :-)
>
>Medge
>
>=============================================================
>===
>Mark Edgeworth                Tel: (+44) 522 502406 (direct)
>Principal Design Engineer          (+44) 522 500500
>(switchboard)
>GEC Plessey Semiconductors    Fax: (+44) 522 502393
>Lincoln,LN6 3LF. England     Gnet: +595
>=============================================================
>===

I too live in the UK & ordered the Infomagic CDs, but from Lasermoon
in Fareham, Hants. As I sent a cheque, obviously it needed to
clear, but it must have cleared pretty quick, as I got the CDs
delivered, by registered post one week later. Very Impressed!

Then, I opened the CDs, and had a Slackware system up and
running (not Xconfig sorted though :-) within 40min,
which includes the time taken to copy the raw images of the
boot and root disks to 1.44Mb floppies. Now all I have to do
is find out what else is on the CDs!!! :-)


William

+----------------------------------------------------------+

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

From: swhitlat@nmt.edu (Steven Whitlatch)
Subject: Re: Term 115 (beta) is out.
Date: Sun, 15 May 1994 05:44:31 GMT

In article <CpsBvv.J45@du.edu> yohgaki@cassandra.cair.du.edu (Yasuo Ohgaki) writes:
>I've tried term115 on AIX. It still can't compile on AIX. :(
>(I'm using xlc. no gcc on the AIX :(
>

        No quick, easy compile on SunOS_4.1 either.

        Anyone get a successful compile on Sun yet?

        Steve Whitlatch
        swhitlat@prism.nmt.edu

        nice and easy on Linux though


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

From: evanev@Mountain.Net ()
Subject: 3COM 3C509 (Ether III) Suppor
Date: 16 May 1994 13:07:37 GMT



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

From: mdw@cs.cornell.edu (Matt Welsh)
Subject: Re: INDEX generator for Linux ?
Date: Sat, 14 May 1994 07:55:04 GMT

In article <1994May13.171218.80@tychen.franken.de> rrklier@tychen.franken.de (Rainer Klier) writes:
>going through the directories of ftp-servers I noticed the directories
>named .cap. Obviously they are used to store information about the files
>in the directory where .cap can be found. 
>Maybe they can be used too to create an INDEX of the files below a subdir
>using those informations in the .cap directory. 

Actually, on sunsite, we do it the other way around. Here's the script
that I use to generate .cap from INDEX.

--
#!/usr/local/bin/perl

$TOTAL = 20;  
$space = " "; 

open(INDEX,"INDEX") || die "Can't open INDEX.";

mkdir(".cap",0755);

while (<INDEX>) {
  /^(\S+)\s+(\S.*)$/;
  $filename = $1; $desc = $2;
  
  $filename =~ s/\@$//;
  $filename =~ s!/$!!;
  if (!($filename =~ /^INDEX$/) && !($desc =~ /INDEX/) && ($filename)) { 

    $len = $TOTAL - length($filename);
    $spaces = $space x $len;
    open(CAPFILE,"> .cap/$filename") || die "Can't open $filename";
    print CAPFILE "Name=$filename $spaces $desc\n";
    close(CAPFILE);

  }
}

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

From: ove@groovy.neu.sgi.com (Ove Hansen)
Subject: Re: I SAW CHICAGO!
Date: 15 May 94 17:11:37 GMT

In article <2qsh2dINNpap@uwm.edu>, roseland@alpha1.csd.uwm.edu (Ivan Carl
Roseland) writes:

|> >>>Lucky you. We bought a couple of extra hard disks here.
|> >>>Every one of them with MS DOS/Windows installed. 
|>
|> I hate to say this but No disks, No Books, No lisence #
|> It's probably an illegal copy. 

No. My latest "brand name" machine came with DOS and Windows already
installed - but no disks. Still it was a perfectly legal copy. The
reason I was told was that it is far cheaper for the manufacturer to clone 
a few thousand copies of a harddisk with DOS/Windows already installed - 
than to install DOS/Windows manually on those few thousand boxes after 
they're built - and that most manufacturers do the same. Makes perfect 
sence to me...  

You can be pretty sure that Microsoft get their money from the manufacturer 
somehow...
-- 
Ove Hansen 

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

From: strike@steam.rome.ny.us (Tim "Strikemaster" Bowser)
Subject: Re: Interest in a weekly Linux news?
Date: Sat, 14 May 94 00:07:24 GMT

iiitac@uk.ac.swan.pyr (Alan Cox) writes:

>In article <17218@tranter> tranter@Software.Mitel.COM (Jeff Tranter) writes:
>>A while back, Lars Wirzenius and later Denise Tree produced a weekly
>>report on Linux happenings called "Linux News"; it was posted to the
>>net. I found this very useful, but it stopped sometime around June.
>>
>>Is there any interest in reviving Linux News or have Linux Journal and
>>c.o.la. made it obsolete?

>Definitely revive it. If there is someone who will put it together anyway.

I'd subscribe to it, if only to keep up with the "kernel de jour".  Trying
to figure out what the latest release of the system is has become a
hopeless task.

>Alan
-- 
       Tim Bowser ("Strikemaster")       | strike@steam.rome.ny.us or try
    Chip Socketer & Tape Twiddler of     |    batcomputer!steam!strike
   The Iron Horse Information Service    |--------------------------------

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

From: paradis@sousa.amt.ako.dec.com (Jim Paradis)
Subject: Re: Linux & DEC ALPHAs...
Date: 13 May 1994 20:45:09 -0400

Dwight M Evers (evers@plains.NoDak.edu) wrote:
: To all those would be porters of Linux to the DEC ALPHA...

That's me 8-)  More than would-be, by the way... I just booted it for
the first time last week.  Mind you, it didn't get very far, and I've
been temporarily called away to another project, but I'll be back in 
a couple of weeks with a full progress report.

:       I am not the greatest programmer in the world, but I would be a 
: bit hessitant none the least about trying it. First, familiarize yourself 
: with the problem at hand.

As one who has worked with Alphas at the instruction and operating system
internals level ever since the first pre-production chips taped out into 
the wafer fab, I consider myself reasonably familiar...

: The DEC ALPHA is the fastest production 64bit RISC CPU on the market today.
: (aka...VERY VERY BUGGY to those wouldbe software developers. I know of 
: those who have tried and failed...its not pretty.)

Your first sentence is correct 8-)  As for the follow-on sentence, would
you care to elaborate?  What kind of bugs have you encountered?  As far
as I know, there are no problems with the architecture or the chip.  There
ARE programming implications due to the chip's pipelined architecture,
its separate I&D caches, its multiple-issue architecture, and the 
appearance of 64-bit data types, but these are all well-documented in 
the Alpha Architecture Reference Manual.

:       To J. Paradis who claims to compare the CRAY-1 to the ALPHA...
: 
:               SHAME SHAME SHAME on you!!!
: 
: The Cray-1 did not have all the clock speed that the ALPHA does, 58mHz is 
: what I heard, but it had SMP with shared memory and a solid state disk 
: drive that was about 1/2 a gig...not bad for a comp built 10 years ago. 
: The raw processing speed of the damn thing was enough to make your head 
: spin around so fast that youd look like you were possesed. I was informed 
: that over 100 proccesing units were involved in its math core. That would 
: make its SPECmark-fp around 500!!! But the thing is about asd freindly as 
: a wounded grizzly bear. I don't believe it even ran UNIX!!!

Well, I used to work with Dick Sites, one of the chief architects of Alpha.
He used to work at Cray, so he's uniquely qualified to answer these 
assertions.  We ran your message by him and these are his comments:

        The Cray-1 had an 80 MHz clock, not 58.

        The Cray-1 was uniprocessor, not SMP.

        Some customers bought solid-state disks, but those were the days 
        of $1M and up government purchases.

        The Cray-1 was built in 1975, nearly 20, not 10 years ago.

        The "math core" had 12 functional units, not 100. 

        Cray-1 Specfp is under 100 and below high-end Alphas.

        Unicos is/was a Unix-based Cray operating system.

Admittedly, I'm initially targetting my Alpha Linux port to low-end
systems (i.e. 100-150MHz) as opposed to the 200+MHz higher-end systems,
so we MAY not get all the way up to 100 SPECfp... sorry 'bout that 8-)
On the other hand, I maintain that one will still be in the same league.
:       Trying to use a Ferrari to do the work of a VW will only make 
: things worse. I don't want to make it seem as if noone needs a DEC, but 
: re-evaluate your needs before putting out the $$$...

No problem... some people can get along just fine with 486s and Pentiums.
No problem.  On the other hand, some people have the need for more power 
but not the budget to justify a large, expensive system.  For such people, 
a low-end Alpha-based system with a small, fast OS that squeezes the maximum 
power out of such a small package is ideal, and that is what I intend to 
deliver.
-- 
Jim Paradis (paradis@tallis.enet.dec.com)

      The purpose of time is to keep everything from happening at once.  
                               It's not working.

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


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