Subject: Linux-Misc Digest #135
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, 19 May 94 14:13:16 EDT

Linux-Misc Digest #135, Volume #2                Thu, 19 May 94 14:13:16 EDT

Contents:
  gs, jpeg funny on my ET4000 (DL83-08)
  Q: How to contact QNX Developers? (Michael P. Jarreau)
  Re: Learning C++ on Linux? (James Kanze)
  Re: Linux and the ALPHA flamers... (Alan Cox)
  Re: Wait'll you see the May 16th PCWEEK... (Alan Cox)
  Re: A good NFS server ? (Alan Cox)
  Re: GNU Manifesto and Lisp window system  was Re: linux unethical ? (Bao Chau Ha)
  Re: Please help: trouble configuring network (Andy Hawkins)
  Promise DC2000 VL-IDE Controller (Martin Kasper Petersen)
  Re: Making "nice" nicer. (Joel M. Hoffman)
  Re: Standard Linux GUI (jam)
  Re: Improving Linux performance: What works best? (Queenie)
  Re: Learning C++ on Linux? (Jon Claerbout)
  Re: Linux Install help needed? (Daniel Shlyam CIS)
  DEPCA driver (Kaidi Weng)

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

From: s21008@cc.ntnu.edu.tw (DL83-08)
Subject: gs, jpeg funny on my ET4000
Date: Thu, 19 May 1994 12:39:12 GMT

[ Article crossposted from comp.os.linux.help ]
[ Author was s21008@cc.ntnu.edu.tw ]
[ Posted on Thu, 19 May 1994 11:48:35 GMT ]

I just got my Linux 0.99p15 set up and running the other day, and wanted to
start reading the gs.ps (Getting Started) on ghostview. No go! I also wanted
to look at some gif files with jpeg, and it didn't work either. With both
programs, when the screen comes up, I hear a high-pitched squeel from the
back of my monitor, and squiggly lines come from the top and bottom of the
screen, converging to the center. When I check the mode, both say ET4000 at
1024x786x256. I do have 1MB video RAM, and can run MSWindows at the same
resolution. Also strange: mpeg_vga will run fine! Does anyone have any
ideas?

Thank you!

--

 /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
%v  Curtis Dean Smith                      Internet: s21008@cc.ntnu.edu.tw   |
0j  Institute of Chinese Language & Literature                               |
?3  National Taiwan Normal University            Bitnet: NTNUS239@TWNMOE10   |
 \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

--

 /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
%v  Curtis Dean Smith                      Internet: s21008@cc.ntnu.edu.tw   |
0j  Institute of Chinese Language & Literature                               |
?3  National Taiwan Normal University            Bitnet: NTNUS239@TWNMOE10   |
 \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

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

From: jarreau@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (Michael P. Jarreau)
Subject: Q: How to contact QNX Developers?
Date: Thu, 19 May 1994 12:32:57 GMT

I am looking for an internet address for Quantum Software, makers of 
QNX os.  I specifically need to contact BJ Software Systems who
make "Real Flex" for that os.  Do you know how to contact either of
these companies?

Thanks,
Michael


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

Crossposted-To: unl.linux,comp.lang.c++
From: kanze@us-es.sel.de (James Kanze)
Subject: Re: Learning C++ on Linux?
Date: 19 May 1994 13:52:15 GMT

In article <2rbqlf$i8i@crcnis1.unl.edu> jepler@herbie.unl.edu (Jeff
Epler) writes:

|> I'm interested in learning C++ during my free time this summer, and
|> the only compiler I have easy access to is GCC on my home Linux
|> machine.

|> Does anyone know of a book that is well-suited to what I want?
|>  1) Isn't taylored to a DOS compiler like BC++ -- So no chapters upon
|>     chapters on the BGI or creating a Mouse class or installing an
|>     interrupt or

No good *C++* book will be targetted to a particular OS.  At least,
none of the good ones I know of are.

|>  2) Is targeted at the proficient C programmer who is knowledgeless
|>     about this 'objects' thing.

Everyone seems to recommend Lipmann.  *If* you really are an
experienced programmer, then try "The C++ Programming Language", by
Bjarne Stroustrup.  It can be heavy going, as it covers an incredibly
large amount of material in a normal sized book.

Although none of the following are designed to teach the language, I
would give all of them a good read:

        Booch           For the OO design and analysis
        Murray          For how to translate the OO design into a C++
                        design.
        Meyers          For all of the nitty-gritty things that make
                        the difference between writing a program which
                        compiles, and writing a program which works.

|>  3) (Is this too talk an order?  A book unto itself?) Teaches me to
|>     program in X Windows, but certainly not Motif.

No idea.

|>  4) Is available in electronic form.  Less necessary, but way I
|>     finally learned C was with some 'ctutor' program, viewing
|>     the text in one window of my text editor, and the code in another.
|>     This would be more of an added bonus than a requirement.

Dream on.  Just be glad you are buying the books in America, and not
here in Europe.

|> Also, is GCC's c++ compilation really good enough for me to learn c++?
|> I have read, though not understood, about how g++ is still limited
|> compared to 'cfront' (whatever that is -- I gather it is some
|> commercial c++ compiler) but I don't know if this deficiency is
|> anything that I'm going to be frustrated by as I take my first steps
|> at learning the language...

What do you mean by limited.  Neither g++ nor CFront support
exceptions.  Both have a number of bugs.  Either should be perfectly
adequate for the learning phase.  (We have had a lot of problems with
g++, but we push compilers to their limits.)
--
James Kanze                       email: kanze@lts.sel.alcatel.de
GABI Software, Sarl., 8 rue du Faisan, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
Conseils en informatique industrielle --
                   -- Beratung in industrieller Datenverarbeitung

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

From: iiitac@uk.ac.swan.pyr (Alan Cox)
Subject: Re: Linux and the ALPHA flamers...
Date: Thu, 19 May 1994 11:39:48 GMT

In article <Cq0Fp0.2AHr@ns1.nodak.edu> evers@plains.NoDak.edu (Dwight M Evers) writes:
>To make this as CLEAR AS POSSIBLE...ALPHA is RISC...Linux is (CURRENTLY) 
>CISC... I know of no ports of Linux tothe ALPHA. I do not claim in any 

Alpha is a procesor, a piece of silicon
Linux is an operating system.

I think you need to do a brain check.

Alan


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

From: iiitac@uk.ac.swan.pyr (Alan Cox)
Subject: Re: Wait'll you see the May 16th PCWEEK...
Date: Thu, 19 May 1994 11:45:24 GMT

In article <peterd.769265826@pjd.dev.cdx.mot.com> peterd@pjd.dev.cdx.mot.com (Peter Desnoyers) writes:
>I just wanted to point out that the GPL has come head-to-head with
>corporate lawyers at least once before (NeXT's Objective-C compiler)
>and the GPL won. (I don't know whether it was a sudden fit of ethics,
>or they were afraid that a competitor might pay the FSF's legal bill,
>or what...)

Not only that but it appears that the objective C compiler has gained a lot
from the ongoing gcc related work done by the FSF and friends too. I guess
both sides won 8)

>Also, as someone has pointed out, Novell has little interest in
>breaking the "shrink-wrap" part of the GPL - they depend on this sort
>of license for their own proprietary software.

You can't break the "shrink-wrap" license. You could contend that opening
the software did not force you to accept the license. However when it comes
to using it either:

a)      You accept the license
b)      If you don't accept the license then you have no right to use the
        program anyway
        
Alan




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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.unixware,comp.unix.solaris
From: iiitac@uk.ac.swan.pyr (Alan Cox)
Subject: Re: A good NFS server ?
Date: Thu, 19 May 1994 11:56:06 GMT

In article <Cq1HGz.8w1@hippo.ru.ac.za> csgr@cs.ru.ac.za writes:
>I can't say that I have any experience with Linux as a NFS server, but
>I have also seen rather poor performance with a Linux system running as
>a NFS client.  (About 90K/sec for a Linux client, as opposed to 600K/sec
>for a FreeBSD client, running the same hardware.)
>
>What I did notice, is that Linux does not appear to have a nfsiod.  Is
>this correct?  Maybe someone on one of the Linux groups has some
>suggestions on how to increase performance?
>
>As far as running NFS on FreeBSD goes, that has recently been added to
>the FAQ, and people having questions may want to have a look there.

The problem with Linux as an NFS client is partially poor caching but mostly
the fact that *BSD (and SUN) kernels are hopelessly inefficient at doing
synchronous I/O in blocks under a page size. The 1.1.13 client will be doing
8K NFS and from my tests with a SUN its a heck of a lot better tho by
no means perfect.

Alan

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

Crossposted-To: gnu.misc.discuss
From: habaoch@eng.auburn.edu (Bao Chau Ha)
Subject: Re: GNU Manifesto and Lisp window system  was Re: linux unethical ?
Date: Thu, 19 May 1994 14:42:34 GMT

In article <JANSSEN.94May17232343@holmes.PARC.Xerox.Com> janssen@holmes.PARC.Xerox.Com (Bill Janssen) writes:
>In article <2rc4hq$cvd@harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au> acbul1@penfold.cc.monash.edu.au (Andrew Bulhak) writes:
>
>   A Lisp-based window system? Is that still happening?
>
>You mean, aside from GNU Emacs?
>
YES, something like Symbolics' Genera development environment.

Bao

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.admin
From: andyh@jumper.mcc.ac.uk (Andy Hawkins)
Subject: Re: Please help: trouble configuring network
Date: Thu, 19 May 1994 12:05:33 GMT

Luke M Kaven (lmk6@crux1.cit.cornell.edu) wrote:
: I am having great difficulty getting networking to run correctly
: on our Linux machine.  

: Symptoms (besides syslog messages) are that ping, ftp, telnet 
: all hang.  Most noteworthy is that "route" _usually_ hangs up
: when trying to list the routing tables.  Sometimes it is possible

We had a similar problem here...and it's something to do with not being able
to reach the nameserver I think. If you do a route -n (which doesn't try to
resolve ip numbers into names) then things work Ok. Check that your
nameserver setup is correct (/etc/resolv.conf).

If it's not that...I'm stumped...

Andy

--
Andy Hawkins aka Chopper | Currently MSc student at University of Central
andyh@jumper.mccac.uk    | Lancashire.
hawkins_ad@uk.ac.uclan.p1| "Life, don't talk to ME about life..."



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

From: u930730@eranthis.daimi.aau.dk (Martin Kasper Petersen)
Subject: Promise DC2000 VL-IDE Controller
Date: 19 May 1994 14:44:52 GMT

Hello

I've been offered a Promise DC2000 based VL-IDE controller.

I'd like to know, if it supports more than 2 drives under Linux,
and if I need a special driver to take advantage of the 32-bit
access mode.

Thanks

--
===============================================================================
 Martin Kasper Petersen         Comp.sci.dept. at Aarhus University, Denmark.
 (u930730@daimi.aau.dk)         Homepage: http://www.daimi.aau.dk/~u930730
 (FidoNet: 2:234/87.39)         Member of Team OS/2, Linux User
 (OS2Net: 81:445/13.39)         >> We want stacker with JPeg compression ;-) <<
===============================================================================

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

From: joel@wam.umd.edu (Joel M. Hoffman)
Subject: Re: Making "nice" nicer.
Date: Thu, 19 May 1994 13:06:45 GMT

>>On my lowly '386 machine, I find that even with background jobs niced,
>>foreground jobs don't get enough CPU time.  For example, as I type
>>this, I have povray running  nice'd (level 10), but it's still getting
>>over 30% of the CPU time.  
>[...]
>But a real-time high-priority class, dunno if that's a good idea...
>I know it's real easy to hose up AmigaDOS by upping priorities
>carelessly, and seems that there are warnings about that
>in SVR4's documentation too. (SVR4 has a realtime priority class)
>As it stands, a nice -10 process on Linux
>can be chugging but still lets others run, at least a little.

Well, there are times when it's very useful to have ONLY one process
running.    Of course it's easy to make mistakes (for example, running
a top process in an xterm under X at highest priority, only to realize
that the X server won't get to run), but it would provide a nice way
to take care of a highly thrashing system.  Suppose, for example, you
run a for ... do loop in a shell, hoping to run several complex
processes sequentially, but err in adding a "&" to each process, so
you suddenly have 30 processes hogging the CPU and thrashing the
machine.  A "top -q" that only let top run would be nice.

-Joel
(joel@wam.umd.edu)
-- 
=============================================================================
|_|~~ Germany, Europe. 1943.    "The diameter of the bomb was 30 centimeters,
__|~| 16 Million DEAD.           and the diameter of its destruction, about 7
                                meters, and in it four killed and 11 wounded. 
 cnc  Bosnia, Europe. 1993.     And around these, in a larger circle of  pain
 cnc  HOW MANY MORE?          and time,  are scattered two  hospitals and one
                          cemetery.   But the young woman who was  buried  in
                    the place from where she came, at a distance of more than
             than 100 kilometers, enlarges the circle considerably.   And the 
      lonely man who is mourning her death in a distant  country incorporates
into the circle the whole world.  And I won't speak of the cry of the orphans
that reaches God's chair and from there makes the circle endless and godless."
=============================================================================
     Tell Clinton to stop the genocide:  president@whitehouse.gov

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

From: jam@jammed.is.ic.net (jam)
Subject: Re: Standard Linux GUI
Date: 19 May 1994 09:31:54 -0400

It seems like there are a lot of choices, and the thing to do, when
distributing binaries for X in a CD-ROM type distribution, is to make sure
that whatever interface you want to use, they all use the _same_ one. Of
course it would be more marketable to be "compatible" with MS-WINDOZE, but
Microsoft would probably sue for look and feel anyway (anyone remember all
the Apple lawsuits over their machine?)..

I happen to like the concept of chosing your own user interface. I am not an
X programmer (yet), but it sounds like this whole concept of widgets that
everyone can choose to you or not to use sounds like a good one. I would
assume, though, that changing widget sets is a royal pain..

There isn't a way to win on this one.

J

-- 
Jeff MacDonald                                     jam@jammed.is.ic.net
+1 (313)973-8742                                   jam@ic.net


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

From: cairnss@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (Queenie)
Subject: Re: Improving Linux performance: What works best?
Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 18:27:26 GMT

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

>mlord@bnr.ca (Mark Lord) writes:

>>In article <dhdCpKC40.Cpy@netcom.com> dhd@netcom.com writes:
>>>I have a 486 DX2/66 with 8mb RAM, an UltraStor 34F SCSI controller and
>>>a 1.8GB Quantum SCSI hard disk.  (I also have a 1MB Cirrus Logic video
>>>card, a NEC 4FG monitor, and a BocaBoard 2016 multi-port serial card,
>>>but I don't think any of those are relevent).
>>>
>>>The system is being used as a platform for my original Internet-oriented
>>>online service software.
>>>
>>>When news is being processed through the system, I find that it slows
>>>down to a crawl.  I would like to speed it up.  I'm thinking of one or

I'm not sure what you mean when you process NEWS,  If you are doing
something that requires CPU time, forget about using the suggestions
below.  Maybe this is some kind of crappy DOS software
that idlewaits the CPU for every I/O?


>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.

This is often the case.  SPARCS often end--up as News servers, becuase
they are usually in surplus.  SPARCS are not terrifically good at
I/O compared to some systems though.

The thing to remember here is that NEWS = I/O.  You need something
with very fast I/O to work as a high--use NEWs server. 
PC's have very bad I/O transfer rates.  Local bus is only about
33 MB/s (I have heard people saying this was fast :).
Most SPARCS have a faster I/O bus than PC's and a few (SS20)
and SparcServers are very fast but these machines rarely
end up as news servers. 
VAXes (yeah I know) are better at NEWS
than most low level SPARCS because of the 
100 MB/s I/O bus.  As long as you don't touch the CPU, I/O is
great.  

If you must use a PC, get a fast Hard drive, and a fast SCSI card.
This is about all you can do.  Processor speed doesn't mean anything
when we are talking DMA file transfer.  No PC was ever meant to
be a full feed news server.

Current activity is more than 2GB of news if you expire every two weeks.
For a busy network. ANY (read ANY) machine will sit with the
hard drive cranking 24 hours a day.  You are limited by Hard Drive
Access time. Remember, even a very slow CPU is much faster than a
hard drive.

If you are on a limited budget try and pick up a junk Sun 3 with a 
few gigs of SMD disk, this machine will do better than a SPARC
and SCSI2 for this kind of disk activity.

Perhaps a MicroVAX?  
Shop around for something with fast I/O,
just about everything can beat a PC.

-- 
carinsj@vampyre.colorado.edu         | What do 7, 11, and 438479857 have in
common?  Send a self-addressed stamped envelope to 'PRIMES, PO BOX 17986,
Boulder, CO 80308, for your official prime number.        Inquire within.

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

From: jon@oas.Stanford.EDU (Jon Claerbout)
Crossposted-To: unl.linux,comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: Learning C++ on Linux?
Date: 19 May 1994 13:58:58 GMT

>Dream on.  Just be glad you are buying the books in America, and not
>here in Europe.
>

if you have a credit card, you might find a USA university bookstore
that uses email.

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

From: dshlyam@its.brooklyn.cuny.edu (Daniel Shlyam CIS )
Subject: Re: Linux Install help needed?
Date: 18 May 1994 22:48:02 GMT

In article <2rdh76$hhc@zippo.uwasa.fi>, gasteiz@freeport.uwasa.fi (Brian Bell) writes:
|> 
|> I probably started in the wrong place!   I have the dist disks for
|> debian linux - where can I get some idiot-install instructions -
|> I mean really basic!?   Or can someone help me (pointers to docs?)
|> Help!
|> -- 
|> 
|> ----- Meet me in the ravintola! -----

Try to look at sinsite.unc.edu in pub/Linux/Docs or /HOWTO or somewhere near
that.  See if it helps.

===========================Daniel===========================

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

From: kweng@garnet.acns.fsu.edu (Kaidi Weng)
Subject: DEPCA driver
Date: 19 May 1994 14:51:41 GMT


Hi, is there any depca driver for linux kernel v1.0.8 or up?
I got an driver that was for linux0.99 and it didn't work too nice
with my new kernel.  The symptom is that it recognizes the card, but
give me wrong ether addr.  It told me the address is 08:08:08:08:08 or
something close to it(all 08's).  I couldnot reach my nameserver, or
outside of our subdomain.  If anyone has any info or cure, please
drop me a line.  Thanks a lot.
oh yeah, my old kernel was 0.99.pl14 and the old depca driver worked fine
until I upgrade to new version of linux.

--kaidi
============================================================================
Kaidi Weng(~{NL?-5X~})              email: kaidi@gfdi.fsu.edu
1972 Shadyoaks Dr.                  flame: /dev/null
Tallahassee, FL 32303               GO NOLES!  >>>>>--->  National Champs!
============================================================================
Just when you see the light at the end of the tunnel, the roof caves in. 
                          -- Forsyth's Second Corollary to Murphy's Laws
============================================================================


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


** FOR YOUR REFERENCE **

The service address, to which questions about the list itself and requests
to be added to or deleted from it should be directed, is:

    Internet: Linux-Misc-Request@NEWS-DIGESTS.MIT.EDU

You can send mail to the entire list (and comp.os.linux.misc) via:

    Internet: Linux-Misc@NEWS-DIGESTS.MIT.EDU

Linux may be obtained via one of these FTP sites:
    nic.funet.fi				pub/OS/Linux
    tsx-11.mit.edu				pub/linux
    sunsite.unc.edu				pub/Linux

End of Linux-Misc Digest
******************************
