From: Digestifier To: Linux-Activists@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu Reply-To: Linux-Activists@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu Date: Tue, 17 Aug 93 07:13:05 EDT Subject: Linux-Activists Digest #130 Linux-Activists Digest #130, Volume #6 Tue, 17 Aug 93 07:13:05 EDT Contents: Linux META-FAQ (johnsonm@stolaf.edu) Re: NetBSD's ash as /bin/sh substitute on Linux (Alan Cox) Re: ZMODEM hiccups starting at pl10 (Risto Kankkunen) Re: SLS1.03, NET-2 broke? (Eberhard Moenkeberg) Re: Modem and noise problems - Please help (Floyd Davidson) Re: networking with pl12 (Linus Torvalds) Re: NetBSD's ash as /bin/sh substitute on Linux (Linus Torvalds) Re: [Q] Can't do networking with SLS 1.03 (Linus Torvalds) Re: emacs 19.18, here are the LINUX patches (Jan van Oorschot) Re: Au-Player with sound card suport (Andre Fuechsel) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.announce,comp.answers,news.answers From: johnsonm@stolaf.edu Subject: Linux META-FAQ Reply-To: johnsonm@stolaf.edu Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1993 09:23:33 GMT Archive-name: linux-faq/meta-faq Last-modified: 15 Aug 93 Version: 3.02 Linux Meta-FAQ This is the Meta-FAQ for Linux. It is mainly a list of valuable sources of information. Check these sources out if you want to learn more about Linux, or have problems and need help. Lars Wirzenius (wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi) wrote the first version of this document, and it is now maintained by Michael K. Johnson (johnsonm@Sunsite.unc.edu). Mail me if you have any questions about this document. NOTE: Filenames in this article are for the tsx-11.mit.edu ftp site (see below for names of more ftp sites). Files are usually located in similar places on other sites. The names are relative to the directory /pub/linux/ on tsx-11. What is Linux? Linux is a clone of the UNIX operating system that has been written entirely from scratch. It has no proprietary code in it. Linux is freely distributable under the GNU Public License. It only works on IBM PC compatibles with an ISA or EISA bus and a 386 or higher processor. See the FAQ for more exact hardware requirements. The Linux kernel is written by Linus Torvalds (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi) from Finland. Most of the programs running under Linux are generic Unix freeware, many of them from the GNU project. The Linux FAQ A collection of common problems and their solutions. Answers many questions faster than the net. Stored on many Linux ftp sites (docs/FAQ/) and rtfm.mit.edu, the general archive site for all FAQs. Linux newsgroups There are several Usenet newsgroups for Linux. It is a good idea to follow at least comp.os.linux.announce if you use Linux. Comp.os.linux.announce is moderated by Matt Welsh and Lars Wirzenius. To make submissions to the newsgroup, send mail to linux-announce@tc.cornell.edu. You may direct questions about comp.os.linux.announce to Matt Welsh, mdw@tc.cornell.edu. The newsgroup comp.os.linux.admin is an unmoderated newsgroup for discussion of administration of Linux systems. The newsgroup comp.os.linux.development is an unmoderated newsgroup specifically for discussion of Linux kernel development. The only application development questions that should be discussed here are those that are intimately associated with the kernel. The newsgroup comp.os.linux.help is an unmoderated newsgroup for any Linux questions that don't belong anywhere else. The newsgroup comp.os.linux.misc is the replacement for comp.os.linux, and is meant for any discussion that doesn't belong elsewhere. In general, do not crosspost between the Linux newsgroups. The only crossposting that is appropriate is an occasional posting between one unmoderated group and comp.os.linux.announce. The whole point of splitting comp.os.linux into many groups is to reduce traffic in each. Those that do not follow this rule will be flamed without mercy... Other newsgroups Do not assume that all your questions are appropriate for a Linux newsgroup just because you are running Linux. Is your question really about shell programming under any unix or unix clone? Then ask in comp.unix.shell. Is it about GNU Emacs? Then try asking in gnu.emacs. Also, if you don't know another group to ask in, but think there might be, politely ask in your post if there is another group that would be more appropriate for your question. At least the groups comp.unix. {questions,shell,programming,bsd,admin}, and comp.windows.x.i386unix should be useful for a Linux user. 0.1 Getting Linux 0.1.1 Linux FTP sites A more complete list of Linux FTP sites is in the Linux INFO-SHEET (docs/INFO-SHEET). The most important sites are listed here; please see the INFO-SHEET for a site nearer to you (there are many mirrors). textual name numeric addr Linux directory ======================= ============== =============== tsx-11.mit.edu 18.172.1.2 /pub/linux sunsite.unc.edu 152.2.22.81 /pub/Linux nic.funet.fi 128.214.6.100 /pub/OS/Linux These sites are the main ``home'' sites for Linux where most uploads take place. There are many mirror sites; please use the closest (network-wise) site to you. 0.1.2 Linux on BBS's Zane Healy posts (around the beginning and middle of the month) a list of BBS's that have Linux available for download. Try them if you can't FTP. This list is available by ftp as docs/bbs.list at tsx-11. 0.1.3 Linux on physical media Linux is distributed on floppies by at least Softlanding Software (910 Lodge Ave, Victoria, B.C, Canada, V8X-3A8, (604) 360-0188) for USD 3.25/disk. This is mostly the same SLS distribution that is available via FTP (see below). The diskette distribution is mostly meant for people who can't FTP. SLS is also now producing a CD-ROM of the SLS release. Marco Scheibe (mykee@cs.tu-berlin.de) and Gert Doering (gert.doering@physik.tu-muechen.de) will copy Linux (the complete SLS distribution, including X, possibly other things as well) for you, if you send them diskettes and return postage. Contact them via e-mail first. Yggdrasil Computing is producing a CD-ROM with Linux. Currently a beta version is available (beta referring to the fact that the contents are still evolving) This is a completely new distribution, not SLS. A complete listing of files is available via FTP from netcom.com in directory pub/yggdrasil. There is also a manual and other information there. Contact yggdrasil@netcom.com or call (510)526-7531, 9am-5:30pm, California time. Also check advertisements/* at tsx-11 for advertisements of other ways to get linux, including a list of people that will make copies for you at low prices. If you know of other distributors, send me a note! 0.1.4 Commercial networks GEnie mirrors most of tsx-11 and sunsite (including SLS). CompuServe has only very limited very old Linux archives. 0.1.5 Mailservers and such The trickle server TRICKLE@AWIWUW11.BITNET, aka TRICKLE@AWIWUW11.EARN, aka TRICKLE@AWIWUW11.wu-wien.ac.at, send mail to one of these addresses with a body consisting of /HELP. 0.2 Linux distributions (aka ``releases'') Linux is distributed by its author only as a kernel. Other people have put together ``distributions'' that can be used. These distributions pair the kernel as released by the author with software, to make a complete working package. Most releases include application programs as well as system software, providing ``one stop shopping'' for Linux. Jim Winstead and H.J. Lu maintain the boot and root disks. These two form more or less the ``official'' release. It is fully functional, but only has the bare essentials. The filenames are: images/bootimage-xxx.Z and images/rootimage-xxx.Z (xxx stands for the version number). They're also hard to install for newcomers; I'd go for the SLS release (below) if you're new to Linux and want all of the goodies. The SLS (Softlanding Linux System) release is rather complete and has more or less all of the software you could possibly want for any Linux system. This release is what most new Linux users with large hard drives will want to install: it's fairly easy to do and since most people have used the SLS Linux distribution, if you have any problems there are many people out there who can give you help. The SLS release is updated periodically, with ``full'' updates taking place occasionally. You can find the SLS release on tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/packages/SLS/ and fine mirrors everywhere, including SunSite.unc.edu and wuarchive.wustl.edu. If you would like a smaller, tighter, and cleaner distribution of Linux with fewer frills and fewer programs, try the recently re-incarnated MCC-interim distribution. You can ftp it from ftp.mcc.ac.uk. It is designed for very quick installation, and comes with very good and complete installation documentation. Also, almost every binary in MCC is re-compiled for each release, which means a better working system in general. H.J. Lu (the Linux GCC maintainer) also has another set of disks, including a combined boot and rootdisk, and some additional disks with more programs. This package assumes you are already familiar with Linux, and at least some of it may be incorporated to the work of Jim Winstead. See directories packages/GCC/rootdisk and packages/GCC/basedisk on tsx-11. 0.3 Linux mailing-lists Used mostly for discussion between developers of new features and testers of pre-release versions. See addresses in the FAQ. 0.4 Documentation for various programs Many programs come with some sort of documentation, often in a file called README or something similar. It is a VERY good idea to read them with care. It is boring to see (and answer) questions that are answered in the documentation. 0.5 Keeping track of current releases New releases, programs, and ports are usually announced in comp.os.linux. finger torvalds@klaava.helsinki.fi to get some information about the current kernel (often long!). See also the next item. 0.6 The Linux Hardware Compatibility List Posted occasionally to comp.os.linux.announce, and found on the major Linux FTP sites (tsx-11:docs/compat.list). This list lists some of the devices and hardware that Linux currently supports. It's useful for anyone wanting to purchase or upgrade their system. Be aware that it cannot be complete, as there is more hardware out there than Linux users can own. 0.7 Legalese Trademarks are owned by their owners. Satisfaction not guaranteed. No warranties about this document. Void where prohibited. ------------------------------ Crossposted-To: comp.unix.shell From: iiitac@swan.pyr (Alan Cox) Subject: Re: NetBSD's ash as /bin/sh substitute on Linux Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1993 08:47:05 GMT In article <24p1ck$ag@disorder.hacktic.nl> branko@disorder.hacktic.nl (Branko Lankester) writes: >I think the problem is Linux's weird behaviour when SIGCHLD is set to >SIG_IGN, child processes can mysteriously disappear in this case. You >should make crond set SIGCHLD to SIG_DFL (which also means ignore the >signal) instead of SIG_IGN. This isn't weird its correct POSIX/SYS5 behaviour. The ability to ignore child signals is an invaluable tool and saves messy code picking up dead children you don't care about. Alan ------------------------------ From: kankkune@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Risto Kankkunen) Subject: Re: ZMODEM hiccups starting at pl10 Date: 14 Aug 1993 03:23:30 +0300 I have not encountered any errors with zmodem, but noticed another odd thing. I use 2400bps internal modem with pl10 and it works nicely, in general. However, after uploading (and maybe downloading, too, I'm not sure) the serial line becomes jumpy. When I'm back in my kermit session, text from the remote host appears in chunks of about 128(?) characters, a bit like on a slow compressed line. Everything still works, no characters are lost, but it sure is a bit annoying and probably indicates a bug in somewhere. I have also noticed that fast spurious character burst (e.g. lifting the phone accidentally off the hook while the modem is in use) often lock the serial line completely. Kermit just hangs when trying to access it. Rebooting the machine fixes that (while not affecting the modem) so the problem is surely in the device driver. -- Other people like awk too, although in these days of kitchen sink languages with chainsaw syntax and dishwasher semantics [see perl], it sure looks light-weight. --Ozan S. Yigit ------------------------------ From: emoenke@gwdu03.gwdg.de (Eberhard Moenkeberg) Subject: Re: SLS1.03, NET-2 broke? Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1993 10:07:13 GMT Sait Umar, (umar@compsci.cas.vanderbilt.edu) wrote: : With SLS 1.03 NET-2 code my network functions are all hung and : occasinally I get the message from eth0: : that there is an IRQ5 conflict and it is resetting it! Have a look into /proc/kmsg (only once possible!). I "accidently" configured QIC-02 support, and that "beast" finds what is not there & claims IRQ5! Eberhard Moenkeberg (emoenke@gwdg.de) ------------------------------ From: floyd@hayes.ims.alaska.edu (Floyd Davidson) Subject: Re: Modem and noise problems - Please help Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1993 10:23:44 GMT In article <24q3fh$7e4@ursula.ee.pdx.edu> rkwee@ursula.ee.pdx.edu (Roland Kwee) writes: >floyd@hayes.ims.alaska.edu (Floyd Davidson) writes: > >>Perhaps I should take this thread a little more serious. >>It should be in alt.dcom.telecom or comp.dcom.telecom, but on the.... > >I think this thread is not more outrageous or funny (what's the diff) >than some other ones in this newsgroup (SIMMs, wysiwyg...). I agree, but it really should be moved. >>I have an extreme amount of experience in the use of scopes for >>circuit analysis and trouble shooting, and in analysis and testing >>of telephone lines. I can't interpret what you would see on a >>scope in any useful manner for testing telephone lines. And >>neither can you. >>Neither noise nor signal levels can be measured with a scope.... > >Do you have an EXTREMEly high or low amount of experience...? Enough to be very comfortable teaching others the proper methods. >I see it this >way. For trouble shooting I use basically three tools in this sequence: >screwdriver---voltmeter---oscilloscope. In this particular matter, I would >be looking for the whole scope picture to shoot up and down outside the >window everytime the airconditioning starts (high inrush currents). If >I would see that, I wouldn't worry about a dB here or there, but check >ground wires. It won't be ground wires. The problem is that the telephone line is not well balanced. If it were there would be only common mode induction from external fields and that would be balanced out. The first thing to suspect is that the local "house" wiring isn't twisted pair. Non-twisted pair should only be used for very short distances (like the 6' from the modular jack to the phone). If the house wiring is old "quad" wire, which isn't twisted, then it should be replaced. Same if it is "satin ribbon". If the wiring is in fact twisted pair then the indication is that a staple has shorted it to something, it is kinked somewhere very badly, there are long stub runs that aren't used, there is a bad connection, or there is a short to ground or some other conductor on one side. Your screwdriver might be of some help, but the voltmeter and the scope just aren't going to help you test telephone lines. You can continue to believe it will if you want, but people in the business of testing telephone lines don't use them. And I will continue to try correcting whatever misinformation you wish to post on the subject... Floyd -- floyd@ims.alaska.edu A guest on the Institute of Marine Science computer Salcha, Alaska system at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. ------------------------------ From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Torvalds) Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help Subject: Re: networking with pl12 Date: 16 Aug 1993 13:56:12 +0300 In article <1993Aug15.224514.7802@ringer.cs.utsa.edu> djimenez@ringer.cs.utsa.edu (Daniel Jimenez) writes: > >MYNAME=`/bin/hostname` >NETMASK="255.255.255.0" > IPADDR="129.115.10.31" >NETWORK="129.115.10.0" ># utsa2 >GATEWAY="129.115.3.253" > ># Attach the loopback device. > >/etc/ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0 The netmask is not needed with pl12, as the kernel gets it right now. But it won't hurt, of course. >/etc/route add 127.0.0.0 The 127.0.0.0 route is probably useless. >/etc/route add 127.0.0.1 > ># Set up the Ethernet connection(s). >/etc/ifconfig eth0 ${IPADDR} netmask ${NETMASK} When you set the netmask by hand, you should also set the broadcast address to make sure they match: you should probably add BROADCAST="129.115.10.255" and add "broadcast ${BROADCAST}" to the ifconfig line. >/etc/route add ${NETWORK} Do you have the network address in your /etc/networks file? Add a line like "Cnet 129.115.10.0" to your /etc/networks (or name the network anything you want, naturally), so that the route command can find out that you are adding a network route. This is also why you want to use libc.so.4.4.2, as the 4.4.1 libc will mess up the network addresses (it will think 129.115.10.0 is a B-net, and mask it out to 129.115.0.0). >/etc/route add ${IPADDR} Shouldn't be needed. The network address should cover this case. >/etc/route add default gw ${GATEWAY} metric 1 This should work once you get the network route set up correctly. Linus ------------------------------ From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Torvalds) Crossposted-To: comp.unix.shell Subject: Re: NetBSD's ash as /bin/sh substitute on Linux Date: 16 Aug 1993 14:13:41 +0300 In article <24m3s6$sv@adv.win.tue.nl> devet@adv.win.tue.nl (Arjan de Vet) writes: > >>>It runs indeed configure scripts very well except it cannot do `cd .' :-) >> >>Interesting. I hadn't tried that...:-) > >Not the first test you think of indeed :-) Seems to be a Linux-only bug. One thing to check for in cases like this is what arguments the shell actually uses for the "chdir()" call: it might be using the empty string (or even the NULL pointer), both of which probably work under BSD to give the "current directory", but it doesn't work that way under linux (and is not supposed to). "ftpd" has a similar problem when using "mget/mput" for the current directory. One good way to check this out is to use "strace" on ash. There may be other use of "BSD features" that break under POSIX (and thus linux), which may explain why the problem cannot be seen on the NetBSD platforms. Linus ------------------------------ From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Torvalds) Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help Subject: Re: [Q] Can't do networking with SLS 1.03 Date: 16 Aug 1993 15:33:28 +0300 In article <24nqdc$a44@tuegate.tue.nl> ronald@lowt.phys.tue.nl (Ronald Aarts) writes: >I still have problems getting my network going with the latest SLS 1.03 release >(disk a1.3 dated Aug 12). In doinstall I select option 5 for NFS-install and I >specify my IP-number, network number, etc. My NFS-host is on the same subnet. >It looks as if the network configuration is OK (no errors or warnings), but >the NFS-mount doesn't work: > >! mount clntudp_create: RPC: Port mapper failure - RPC: Unable to send > >My ifconfig and route look like: > >! lo IP ADDR 131.155.110.55 BCAST 131.155.255.255 NETMASK 255.255.255.0 >! MTU 2000 METRIC 0 POINT-TO-POINT ADDR 0.0.0.0 >! FLAGS: 0x0049 ( UP LOOPBACK RUNNING ) This is wrong. Loopback should be configured to 127.0.0.1 and not your IP address. Use /etc/ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1 /etc/route add 127.0.0.1 to set up your loopback device. >! eth0 IP ADDR 131.155.110.55 BCAST 131.155.255.255 NETMASK 255.255.255.0 >! MTU 1500 METRIC 0 POINT-TO-POINT ADDR 0.0.0.0 >! FLAGS: 0x0043 ( UP BROADCAST RUNNING ) At least the eth0 broadcast and netmask doesn't match: the broadcast addrss implies a B-class network, while the netmask is for a C-class (probably correct - subnetted). >! Kernel routing table >! Destination net/address Gateway address Flags RefCnt Use Iface >! network * UH 0 43 eth0 Your "network" route is in fact a host route judging by the flags (the 'H'). Add the network to your /etc/networks so that 'route' will set up the correct routing (but see caveat about libc-4.4.1). Assuming you do indeed want a C-class network, your /etc/networks should have at least this line ===== network 131.155.110.0 ===== >! softland * UH 0 0 lo > >I don't think the latter is correct !!! See earlier for correct loopback setup. >After that I installed Linux from my hard disk, but I still couldn't get the >network going. ifconfig and route give similar output as above and NFS-mounts >give the same error. >I can ping to localhost, but I can't ping to any other host. From the other >side, if I try to ping to my PC from e.g. an RS/6000 I don't get a reply, but >now a host with IP-address 0.0.192.31 shows up in the arp-table of the RS ???? > >I also tried the hints of Darcy Boese in comp.os.linux/53085: > > /etc/ifconfig eth0 ${IPADDR} netmask ${NETMASK} broadcast ${BROADCAST} The ifconfig is correct (assuming you set the right ip, netmask and broadcast addresses: in your case these should probably be "131.155.110.55", "255.255.255.0" and "131.15.110.255" respectively). Check the broadcast define. > /etc/route add default gw ${GATEWAY} metric 1 > /etc/route add ${IPADDR} The route commands should be written as /etc/route add ${NETWORK} /etc/route add default gw ${GATEWAY} The network route has to be added first (to tell the kernel how to get to the gateway), and the network ("131.15.110.0" most probably) entry has to exist in the /etc/networks file. After that, the output of ifconfig should look something like this: ! lo IP ADDR 127.0.0.1 BCAST 127.155.255.255 NETMASK 255.0.0.0 ! MTU 2000 METRIC 0 POINT-TO-POINT ADDR 0.0.0.0 ! FLAGS: 0x0049 ( UP LOOPBACK RUNNING ) ! ! eth0 IP ADDR 131.155.110.55 BCAST 131.155.110.255 NETMASK 255.255.255.0 ! MTU 1500 METRIC 0 POINT-TO-POINT ADDR 0.0.0.0 ! FLAGS: 0x0043 ( UP BROADCAST RUNNING ) and 'route': ! Kernel routing table ! Destination net/address Gateway address Flags RefCnt Use Iface ! default 131.155.110.xx UGN 0 0 eth0 ! network * UN 0 43 eth0 ! loopback * UH 0 0 lo Note that the above 'xx' depends on whatever gateway machine you specified, and that I wrote it without actually testing it out: I'm not at my linux machine right now. But hopefully it should give you some idea. Also, your IP address implies a B-class network (255.255.0.0), but you seem to be subnetted to C-class (255.255.255.0). Sadly, this is one of the things that the 4.4.1 libc gets wrong, and the "getnetbyname()" function will mess up your network address (it will truncate it to 131.155.0.0 instead of the 131.155.110.0 found in your /etc/networks). The only solution is probably to get the 4.4.2 library (which hasn't been released yet, ugh) or to recompile 'route' to fix this some other way to overcome the library bug (adding a 'net' keyword or even hardcoding it orwhatever to specify a network address instead of using /etc/networks and the buggy C library). Hope the above helps, Linus ------------------------------ From: etstjan@dutepp2.et.tudelft.nl (Jan van Oorschot) Subject: Re: emacs 19.18, here are the LINUX patches Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1993 09:11:24 GMT muts@compi.hobby.nl (Peter Mutsaers) writes: >Why these patches? I didn't need any, except for HAVE_FREXP because >configure bould figure that out for some reason (probably a patch to >configure is more on its place here). it depends heavily on your Linux installation. I you have a patched gcc, params.h and an libipc.a on your system, a number of the patches are not needed. If however you have a clean SLS/Slackware distribution, they are all needed (at least, for me). Jan -- -- Ir. Jan van Oorschot. --- Email: J.P.M.vOorschot@et.tudelft.nl -- -- Data Network Performance Analysis Project -- -- CARDIT, Delft University of Technology ------------ Tel: (31)-15-786179 -- -- P.O.Box 5031, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands ------ Fax: (31)-15-784898 -- ------------------------------ From: af1@irz.inf.tu-dresden.de (Andre Fuechsel) Subject: Re: Au-Player with sound card suport Date: 17 Aug 1993 10:36:29 GMT Reply-To: af1@irz.inf.tu-dresden.de (Andre Fuechsel) In article <1993Aug6.220145.1704@aspic.han.de>, tilli@aspic.han.de (Tilman Burmester) writes: >is there any sound program based on the snddrv kernel extension which >can handle au-files? Try SOX to convert your .au-files in whatever you want. I prefer the WAV-Format. For playing .WAV-Files try my WAVplay/-record utility :-) Andre Fuechsel -- af1@irz.inf.tu-dresden.de ------------------ * Why not try VMS? * * ... or LINUX? * ------------------ ------------------------------ ** 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-Activists-Request@NEWS-DIGESTS.MIT.EDU You can send mail to the entire list (and comp.os.linux) via: Internet: Linux-Activists@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 tupac-amaru.informatik.rwth-aachen.de pub/msdos/replace The current version of Linux is 0.99pl9 released on April 23, 1993 End of Linux-Activists Digest ******************************