Subject: Linux-Misc Digest #340
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, 30 Jun 94 10:13:14 EDT

Linux-Misc Digest #340, Volume #2                Thu, 30 Jun 94 10:13:14 EDT

Contents:
  NCR53c810 SCSI PCI driver: Problem with fdisk (Sevananda Adari)
  PC-WEEK news nedded (Stefano Campadello)
  Re: Linux better than OS/2 for net surfing (David Wright)
  Re: Youngest linux user (Jerome Kaidor)
  Re: Access to novell server (Rob Janssen)
  Re: Advice on which large IDE HD to buy .... (Rob Janssen)
  Re: SLIP sessions HANGING (Thomas Pfau)
  Re: Linux better than OS/2 for net surfing (Michael Edward Chastain)
  Re: Watching a user on an tty? (Albert Hui)
  Re: Advice on which large IDE HD to buy .... (John C. Leon)
  Re: Linux better than OS/2 for net surfing (Paul JY Lahaie)
  Re: Umsdos+Swap (Alan Osborne)
  Does Linux support TLI? (John F. Davis)
  Answer: Slackware/Shadow Passwd. (Arne Wichmann)
  Re: Linux/UNIX database software? (Kai Petzke)
  Re: OS/2 and Linux discussed (Re: TCP/IP: The reason I dumped OS/2) (Jim Robinson)

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
From: seva@ulysses.att.com (Sevananda Adari)
Subject: NCR53c810 SCSI PCI driver: Problem with fdisk
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 18:05:54 GMT

I have a 486dx2-66 system with about 500MB SCSI HD. It has
PCI bus and a mother board built-in NCR SCSI controller
(NCR53c810). I have made a 200 MB partition (C:) for MS-DOS
(Windows 3.11) and would like to install Linux on the
rest of the memory.

I have InfoMagic's Apr 1994 CD-ROM. 

========
STEP 1
====== 

I tried to use "ncr_slack.2.gz" to boot  and use root disk
that I made from slackware and install the slackware version
of Linux, but I had trouble with "fdisk".  

I went to the login prompt with no errors being reported and 
promptly recognizing my system with SCSI hard drive. 
I think it even recognized my Mitsumi CD-ROM.

After loging in as root I attempted to fdsik /dev/sda
and got the following messages:

        #fdsik /dev/sda
        and cylinders.
        You can do this from the extra functions menu.
        You must set heads sectors
        Command (m for help):

At this point going thru' the help if I choose 'n' option
I get the same message as above

        Command (m for help):n
        and cylinders.
        You can do this from the extra functions menu.
        You must set heads sectors
        Command (m for help):

To check the current partition table, I chose 'p' option
and it existed the fdisk program with an error.

        Command (m for help):p
        
        Disk /dev/sda: 0 heads, 0 sectors, 0 cylinders
        Units = Cylinders of 1 * 512 bytes

        Device  Boot    Begin   Start   End     Blocks  Id      System
        /dev/sda1 *     1       61      410040  204990  6       DOS 16-bit>=32M
        Floating point exception
        #

I tried to exit using "shutdown" with variety of command line
arguments and that didn't work either. 

=====
STEP 2
=====

I went back to DOS and ran 'dparam 0x80' and got the following:

        60      17      1007

I went thru' the documentation I have, to decipher what these are
and came to a conclusion that heads=60, sectors=17 and cylinders
=1007. Then booted the system with ncr_slack.2 boot disk and at
the boot prompt I wanted to specify the above parameters, I didn't
know how exaclty that can be done other than via ramdisk option.
This didn't do much good either, system behaved as before (STEP 1).



The note on ALPHA NCR53c810 SCSI PCI driver by Drew Eckhardt says 
that "synchronous negotiations on the SCSI device be disabled",
which I didn't do (don't know how to do that). Is this the reason
why I have problems with fdisk. Or is it something fundamentally
wrong I am doing. 

Any help will be appreciated.


                                Thanks

                                Seva
                                seva@ulysses.att.com


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

From: campa@paola.dei.unipd.it (Stefano Campadello)
Subject: PC-WEEK news nedded
Date: 30 Jun 1994 11:13:36 GMT


Hello. 
I have a problem with an italian newspaper about Linux, Corsair and so on.

Can someone send me the date of the first issue of PC-week that announced
Novell expose?

And, can someone send me a file with that article scannered?

Thanks!


                        campa@dei.unipd.it


Universita' di Padova. Dipartimento di Elettronica ed Informatica
Via Gradenigo 6/a
35131 PADOVA
ITALY




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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.os2.advocacy
From: dmw@prism1.prism1.com (David Wright)
Subject: Re: Linux better than OS/2 for net surfing
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 16:50:47 GMT

>>>>> "AR" == Alex Ramos <ramos@engr.latech.edu> writes:

  AR> And, the "constant evolution" is there only as an option. I'm still using
  AR> Linux 1.0.8 ("anciently old"). 

        I'm still running the very first 1.0.x that was released. And I have
the latest FTAPE installed, and PPP up and running fine. Not only that, but
I installed the 1.0.0 kernel on top of an even older Slackware distribution,
not one piece of which has been upgraded (well, new "at" and "cron" commands,
along with installing the shadow password suite which was removed in the
Slackware version I have (is that back in there now?)). Never had a single
crash or lockup. I started running it back on a 386sx16, and now I'm on a
whopping 386dx33... :-)

                                                Dave

--
  ____________________________________________________________________________
 |        /\ /          | Prism Computer Applications        |  David Wright  |
 |      -/--\--         | 14650 Detroit Ave, Suite LL40      | dmw@Prism1.COM |
 |      /____\          | Lakewood, OH 44107  USA            |  216-228-1400  |

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

From: jkaidor@synoptics.com (Jerome Kaidor)
Subject: Re: Youngest linux user
Reply-To: jkaidor@synoptics.com
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 20:14:14 GMT


**** In fact, I've been considering giving my 10-year-old son a terminal
account on my Linux box.  He has his own 286 machine.  I could run a serial
cable through the crawl space, and let him use a terminal program.

     I'd give him his own email account, let him enjoy using the computer as
a communication device.  It would give him an activity with lots of reading....

     Are there any newsgroups or mailing lists that are populated by,  meant
for, or especially suited for,  preteen children?


                               - Jerry Kaidor ( jerry@tr2.com, jkaidor@synoptics.com )



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

From: rob@pe1chl.ampr.org (Rob Janssen)
Subject: Re: Access to novell server
Reply-To: pe1chl@rabo.nl
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 08:57:54 GMT

In <2e0f45a6@tempo.nest.nl> sim@tempo.nest.nl (Sim Yskes) writes:

>Hello All!

>Where can i offer myself as a potiential victom, for testing NCP IPX/SPX
>support in the linux kernel?

Such support doesn't exist...  so there is little to test.

Rob
-- 
=========================================================================
| Rob Janssen                | AMPRnet:   rob@pe1chl.ampr.org           |
| e-mail: pe1chl@rabo.nl     | AX.25 BBS: PE1CHL@PI8UTR.#UTR.NLD.EU     |
=========================================================================

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
From: rob@pe1chl.ampr.org (Rob Janssen)
Subject: Re: Advice on which large IDE HD to buy ....
Reply-To: pe1chl@rabo.nl
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 09:07:03 GMT

In <2uq2oc$ev6@nntp2.Stanford.EDU> stimson@stanford.edu (Stephen Timson) writes:

>Speaking of heat, if you need a new heater in the room try the Maxtor 540A.
>That thing COOKS -- hot enough to burn you if you hold it a while - granted
>it wouldn't be a BAD burn ....  However, it does work fine (for me) in

You must be a newbie in computer hardware...  Only a few years ago it
was quite normal that a drive could not even survive when powered on
without forced cooling (a FAN nearby).  I am running a 5" 820M drive
which is in that category, it really needs an extra fan when placed in
a standard PC cabinet.  The power-supply fan alone won't cut it.
My old 5MB disk in my CP/M 80 system requires >50Watt of power.  Now
compare that with the power consumption of your Maxtor (let alone the
power consumption per megabyte of storage :-)

Rob
-- 
=========================================================================
| Rob Janssen                | AMPRnet:   rob@pe1chl.ampr.org           |
| e-mail: pe1chl@rabo.nl     | AX.25 BBS: PE1CHL@PI8UTR.#UTR.NLD.EU     |
=========================================================================

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

From: pfau@cnj.digex.net (Thomas Pfau)
Subject: Re: SLIP sessions HANGING
Date: 29 Jun 1994 21:15:56 GMT

I had trouble with SLIP sessions hanging when I first got my connection
going.  Turns out I had changed one of the flow control settings on my
modem.  After changing it to AT&I0 fro &I2, it's been working fine ever
since.

This may not be your exact problem but I would definitely check your
modem settings.

--
tom_p                           | I could get a new lease on life
internet:   pfau@cnj.digex.net  | if only I didn't need the first
compuserve: 73303,1136          | and last month in advance.

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

From: mec@shell.portal.com (Michael Edward Chastain)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.os2.advocacy
Subject: Re: Linux better than OS/2 for net surfing
Date: 29 Jun 1994 21:38:09 GMT

In article <ajross.772734232@husc10.harvard.edu>,
Andrew <ajross@husc10.harvard.edu> wrote:
> OK, I'll bite.  Hell yes, I'd use the free clone.  Call me when one
> appears.  Therein lies the real problem with the FSF mentality.  Some
> software is simply to big to be developed free.  Without exception,
> all GPL'ed software out there was developed by a small group of
> people, or piecewise by several small groups.

I don't think it's a question of size, but of interface.  Much free
software is a clone of someone else's specification.  Of course there
are significant counter-examples: emacs, X11, and Usenet News software
come to mind.

Cloning someone else's specification has several advantages: the
cloner can select only the popular, successful targets.  The cloner
knows that the job is possible.  The cloner benefits from knowing
and avoiding dead ends of the original.  The cloner usually has
documentation and working reference systems available.

(Nothing in this message should be construed as an argument for or
against the propriety of cloning.)

Michael Chastain
mec@shell.portal.com

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

From: s931306@yallara.cs.rmit.OZ.AU (Albert Hui)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.admin
Subject: Re: Watching a user on an tty?
Date: 28 Jun 1994 18:42:55 GMT

kevinl@bruce.cs.monash.edu.au (Kevin Lentin) writes:
>Bruce Haggerty (haggerty@acf2.nyu.edu) wrote:
>> >And finding out passwords, eh?  I don't mean just login, but PGP, for

>Of course, using the same password everywhere invites such risks.

But PGP is a public key...?

>> go through a users $HOME, but if that user attemps to compromise the
>> system, you can bet I'll see what's in the file ~cracker/hack.sh!

How do you determine that user ATTEMPTS to compromise?
Well if you discover that hack.sh in the log, it may be too late...

>Monash University, here in Melbourne. Part of our user agreement (which all
>users sign) states that we have the right to monitor activities if a breach
>of the agreement is suspected. Those breaches include any illegal

Even if you don't make the users sign, the right to snoop on them
is implied by the current practice.  Remember Robert Morris?
It isn't fair imho.  I'd prefer signing up.

There is a fine line between protecting one's own rights and
infringing upon others'.  It isn't even done right in the real
community, not to mention the virtual one...
--
`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._
  Albert Hui (The Avatar)            |
  - avatar@suburbia.apana.org.au     | "Your mind is the only prison
  - s931306@yallara.cs.rmit.oz.au    |  that can ever bind your soul."

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

From: JLEON@sam.neosoft.com (John C. Leon)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Re: Advice on which large IDE HD to buy ....
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 13:31:11

In article <1994Jun28.020235.24442@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg> asktan@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg (Kenneth Tan) writes:
>Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.misc
>Path: uuneo.neosoft.com!news.uh.edu!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!newsserver.jvnc.net!raffles.technet.sg!ntuix!asktan
>From: asktan@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg (Kenneth Tan)
>Subject: Re: Advice on which large IDE HD to buy ....
>Distribution: usa
>Followup-To: comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.misc
>X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
>Organization: Nanyang Technological University - Singapore
>Message-ID: <1994Jun28.020235.24442@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg>
>References: <2uf4cj$b12@delphinium.cig.mot.com>
>Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 02:02:35 GMT
>Lines: 24
>Xref: uuneo.neosoft.com comp.os.linux.help:42995 comp.os.linux.misc:19648



>Don't buy anything larger than 528MB (1024 cyl, 16 hd, 63 sect).  Even
>though the disk geometries are pretty meaningless, now that they are all
>Zone-Bit-Recording, they are still being used by Linux and DOS.
>[I've got a 540Mb and had a really rough time with Linux and DOS...
> personally, I'd recommend you get the 420Mb instead.]

>Kenneth Tan

I just bought a Conner 540, Acculogic Enhanced IDE VLB controller, and had no 
problems.  First, I did NOT use Conner's software to fool the BIOS into seeing 
all cylinders.  My DOS stuff is well inside 1024.  Set the BIOS up to 1024 vs 
1048 cylinders.  Linux no longer complains about the size, and I've only lost 
12 meg of capacity.

As an aside, the VLB controller with the new drive shows throughput of over 
9400 Kbps with Coretest, vs 967 Kbps on my old ESDI!  This throughput is seen 
only when using the 32 bit driver supplied with the card.  I don't know what 
the throughput is with Linux.  All I know is that Word Perfect 6.0a for 
Windows loads by the time I count to 5 !!!!

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.os2.advocacy
From: Paul_Lahaie@achilles.net (Paul JY Lahaie)
Subject: Re: Linux better than OS/2 for net surfing
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 12:12:58 GMT

In article <1194@zam103.zam.kfa-juelich.de> mibo@isi026.isi.kfa-juelich.de writes:

>Maybe too simple. What does your university pay for Usenet access? To be fair
>one should compare real cost. 

     What does it matter what the University pays for it?  I have 'free' 
access to the Internet (56Kbps link), therefore Linux is truly free for me.  
And when I'm at work, I have 6x56Kbps to play with (also 'free').  Someone is 
footting the bill, but it isn't me.

>Linux on CD \approx DM 80.00 < OS/2 on CD = DM 99.00.  The relation still 
> holds, but the difference is smaller.

     This only applies if you buy the CD.  I don't have a CD player, therefore 
I pick it up off the net.  Faster and more recent that way.

                                             - Paul
--
pjlahaie@achilles.net




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

From: alan@osborne.demon.co.uk (Alan Osborne)
Subject: Re: Umsdos+Swap
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 12:40:08 +0000

Wallace Roberts (robertsw@agcs.com) wrote:

: when i witness his eagerness & ability with computers, then realize that
: there are many homes out there with teenagers just like him, i have
: little fear for the future of our world.

Oh, oh, oh....... whoah there..... I don't want to add irrelevant noise
to this group and will possibly get flamed but I really can't let this
statement go without a comment.  If I take the above statement at face
value then it gives me great fear "for the future of our world".  A
computer is *only* a *computer*.  I'd be a little worried if my child
had unusual difficulty with mastering the machine in the same way that
I'd be concerned if he had trouble with his literacy, only less so.
More important is an "eagerness & ability" with *society* and an honest,
caring and respectful attitude to other members of it - and not via a
computer.  There's a big world out there but you have to feel it, smell
it, get the wind in your hair, fall in love, taste danger, fear, betrayal,
friendship, fight for justice and survival, get drunk - you get the
idea - evolve into a Human.  

If a computer can help you with a task, use it.  If a chainsaw would be
more appropriate, use that.  Ask yourself who's running your life - you
or the computer.

I write as someone who's been using computer and communications systems
for many years, including at one time systems of an apocalyptic potential
lurking all around us.

--
AlanO


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

From: davis@clark.net (John F. Davis)
Subject: Does Linux support TLI?
Date: 30 Jun 1994 12:55:59 GMT

Well does it?  I know it does berkely sockets. When I was programming 
using the sockets, I got a "Transport endpoint not connected" error message.
I thought transport endpoint was a term reserved for TLI.  In Solaris,
the socket routines are outside the kernle (i.e., library routines), and 
their interface to the kernel is through the same two routines used by 
TLI.  The name of the two routines escape me know, but it something like 
put_mesg, and snd_mesg.  So, does linux have the socket routines in the 
kernel, or are they library functions like in Solaris?

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

From: aw@math.uni-sb.de (Arne Wichmann)
Subject: Answer: Slackware/Shadow Passwd.
Date: 30 Jun 1994 12:23:08 GMT

In article <2ubo8s$g3@serveur.cribx1.u-bordeaux.fr> niedner@petrus.cribx1.u-bordeaux.fr (Niedner) writes:
>Seems to be a silly question, even to me, but i wasn't able to figure it out 
>for myself:
>
>DOES Slackware use shadow passwords?

It doesn't. The shadow suite has a copyright which doesn't permit it
to be resold, as far as I remember.

cu

-- 
In my hands I hold empty desires // in my hand an emptying glass.
In desparation.                     (Anne Clarke)

Arne Wichmann (aw@math.uni-sb.de)

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

From: wpp@marie.physik.tu-berlin.de (Kai Petzke)
Subject: Re: Linux/UNIX database software?
Date: 30 Jun 94 13:00:15 GMT

feltercarb@aol.com (Feltercarb) writes:

>I'm looking for a decent (and preferably cheap or free) database
>package for Linux/UNIX.  I need something that can accept some of the
>more popular formats, at least for importing sake.

>Our current database is in Microsoft Access, and I'm really tired of
>its problems, so we're thinking of setting up a Unix (Linux) network
>so we can have multiple people performing data entry simultanously.

>Any ideas?

A number of database packages I can think of right now (sorry, if
I missed something):

freeware (check sunsite:/pub/linux/apps/databases)
        ingres
        postgres
        obst
        metalbase
        gdbm

commercial, but below $1K for a single user/no support license:
        db++ (ftp.Germany.Eu.NET:/pub/shop/concept-asa)
        /rdb
        poet



Kai
-- 
Kai Petzke                      | How fast can computers get?
Technical University of Berlin  |
Berlin, Germany                 | Sol 9, of course, on Star Trek.
wpp@marie.physik.tu-berlin.de   |

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

From: jimr@shorty.cs.wisc.edu (Jim Robinson)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.os2.advocacy
Subject: Re: OS/2 and Linux discussed (Re: TCP/IP: The reason I dumped OS/2)
Date: 30 Jun 1994 12:56:15 GMT

In article <2utf0s$v33@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> hsuc@egr.msu.edu writes:
>I am sure you have a long list of things which you felt IBM
>promised and didn't deliver.  You can be assured that many other
>users do not share your opinion.

I certainly agree. There are good things and bad things about
ANYTHING, and some people experiance one side more then others.  IMO
if I had to give up Linux for any reason as my main OS, I would go
right back to OS/2.  I just don't care for some of my past experiances
with support is all.

>Funny, I don't remember getting any patches for Linux sent
>for free.  Even funnier, I spent all of a week trying to figure
>out the various packages I had to upgrade (gcc, Xfree, kernel, etc.)
>just to get Mosaic to work.  Same thing to install PPP.  I 
>suppose I could "raise my consumer standards" and chew out
>Linux developers.

Funny, I don't remember paying any money for Linux or having the Linux
I have advertised as doing something it cannot do.  Now if I had payed
for Linux after seeing one of those Linux ads in the magazines, I
would be majorly pissed off when I found out exactly what the ad
meant.  But I would have been stupid to believe a 1x1 inch add in the
back of a magazine anyway...


[...]
>Let's not get high and mighty.  Linux and OS/2 coexist quite
>well together, users and OS alike.  A flame war is hardly
>necessary.

I for one was not flaming anybody, I pointed out things I saw
on BOTH sides of the debate.  In any case, this thread has
started to look a little boring and nit-picky, so we might
as well all stop.



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


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