From: Digestifier To: Linux-Misc@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu Reply-To: Linux-Misc@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu Date: Sun, 5 Dec 93 18:13:25 EST Subject: Linux-Misc Digest #376 Linux-Misc Digest #376, Volume #1 Sun, 5 Dec 93 18:13:25 EST Contents: Re: Linux Consortium (EurIng Chris Thoday) Networking Linux (Paul Eremenko) Networking Linux (Paul Eremenko) Need Comm. Software ! (Marco Bertolucci) Re: SQL for University Ingres (Roy Hann) Re: UNIX/PC Sys Admin opinions (Rene COUGNENC) Re: Xwindows stuff (Rene COUGNENC) Re: Interesting pl14 activity (Rene COUGNENC) Re: Modem problems... (Rene COUGNENC) Networking Linux (Paul Eremenko) Re: Xfree386 2.0: why is my Trident card so fast? (Christian Pablo Tagtachian) Re: probando. desde Espania (Christian Pablo Tagtachian) Re: Linux IS well documented. (Mark A. Davis) Re: Gateway [P5-60 & DX2/66V] and Linux compatibility (Douglas L. Crozier) alternative to getty_ps? (JL Gomez) Re: Are there problems using the Toshiba CD-ROM? (Robert Stockmann) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: chris@thoday.demon.co.uk (EurIng Chris Thoday) Subject: Re: Linux Consortium Reply-To: chris@thoday.demon.co.uk Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1993 17:01:40 +0000 In a previous article I wrote: >>>I would like to suggest that the review group should: > >>> a) Collect reports from anybody who wishes to report a problem. >>> b) Attempt to verify the problem reports where possible. >>> c) Maintain a database of solutions. >>> d) Issue guidance to distributors. In article <1993Dec5.024236.25805@henson.cc.wwu.edu> markline@henson.cc.wwu.edu "Mark Line" replied: >I always thought that was what software *developers* are supposed to >do. Have I missed something? IMHO the answer is certainly "yes". I suspect you have never tried to install Linux from a CD-ROM. I installed the pl7 Yggdrasil CD some time ago when I did not have access to the Net. There were quite a few problems but I was able to get round them or put up with the things that did not work. I was particulary interested in an affordable system that I could use to develop X Windows applications on my PC at home. I have recently purchased the Nascent CD with which I have had a great many problems. I do not wish to be overly critical of Nascent which is a low cost distribution. However, it seems to me distributors need to be helped to improve their products. The main point is that *developers* are only developing parts of the system but it is the total package that is of concern to users. As an example: the version of "more" on the Nascent CD fails with a segmentation violation. To try to sort this out, I did the following: a) Checked shared library with "ldd". It appeared to be OK. b) Tried to locate source for "more" using "tar -tvzf" on various source archives. c) Recompiled "more" and found that it still had a problem. Ignored the many warnings that came out of the compile. d) Changed Makefile for -g option and tried to investigate the problem with "gdb". Tried again after removing the -s option as well. This produced no useful information except that the program failed on return from a function which references "termcap". e) Made a guess that the termcap buffer was too small and changed the definition of TBUFSIZ from 1024 to 2048. This appeared to solve the problem but I should really have consulted the documentation for the termcap functions. It is hardly possible to blame the original UCB developer of "more" which was copyrighted in 1980. The source code does not indicate which developer ported "more" to Linux. Perhaps the problem lies with the developer of the termcap library or the developer of the /etc/termcap file (which, incidently, does not recognise the 80x28 VGA mode). Perhaps this problem was missed because no developer uses "more" any more :-). In my case I use my own version of "pg" and would not have noticed anything wrong with "more" except that I am developing a new version of "lc" and was testing it with the default pager. I used "more" repeatedly while attempting to install the system from the CD as it was the only pager on the floppy disk. I did not have any problems with it at that stage so I am unclear why it fails to work from /bin on the hard disk. This is just one of many problems which I have had in installing Linux. The most serious problems relate to the confusion over device addresses, IRQ's and major/minor device numbers. This confusion can result in the distributor's Boot floppy being unusable. This, in turn, means that any documentation or source code on the floppy disks or CD is inacessible. Unfortunately, the developer of the Mitsumi driver decided to remove the message about the address and IRQ from the information displayed at boot time. If the address is right but the IRQ is wrong the Mitsumi driver may partially work but may fail in the middle of copying a directory with a kernel panic. So far as I am aware, these problems are not covered in the main FAQ's or HOW-TO's. I suggest that this experience supports the proposals which I quoted at the start of this article. I think that the "Linux Consortium", or whatever it is called, is badly needed -- and not just for novices. -- EurIng Chris Thoday, chris@thoday.demon.co.uk, Software Engineer 8 Victoria Street, RUGBY, a Director of the European X User Group Ltd Warwickshire, CV21 2HN, UK info@exug.demon.co.uk ------------------------------ From: eremenko@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Paul Eremenko) Subject: Networking Linux Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1993 20:26:38 GMT Does anyone know whether Linux supports a 3Com Ethernet II or III card? Also, is it possible to directly interface it with Novell Netware? (Please reply via e-mail) Thanks, Paul Eremenko. ------------------------------ From: eremenko@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Paul Eremenko) Subject: Networking Linux Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1993 20:30:34 GMT Does anyone know whether Linux supports a 3Com Ethernet II or III network card? Also, is it possible for it to directly interface with Novell Netware? Thanks. Paul Eremenko (eremenko@mace.cc.purdue.edu). ------------------------------ From: n8ac@unb.ca (Marco Bertolucci) Subject: Need Comm. Software ! Reply-To: n8ac@unb.ca Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1993 19:33:44 GMT Hello, I am student enrolled in a course called System Engineering. The course's objective was to set up an electronic network to allow companies to share information. We have many companies that are interested in participating but we have had some trouble finding the proper communication software to run our network. The following are the requirements for our network: - full graphic interface between PC and VAX mainframe with normal phone line - VAX architecture might be too old and we do have the capacity to upgrade to a new system architecture which will be able to handle our demands. - PC remote station must be able to execute mainframe programs example : - ANSYS - UNIGRAPHICS - MATLAB - XMATH - ALGOR - etc - menu driven software - cost minimal; remote station must be able to use this network with minimal cost for upgrade - screen sharing capabilities (real time and transmission rate > 2400 baud) - file transfer must have choice of common communication protocols So far we know of : PC-X VISIT from Northern Telecom ( cannot be accessed from a remote station not having VISIT software) Any recommandations to what kind of commercial or public domain software we should use will be appreciated. Yesterday, I recieved a reply to address the comp.os.linux.* groups for help and it also mentioned that the software requirements I need may be meet by a software package called XFREE ? Will it, if so where can I get some information on it ? Thank you, Marco email:n8ac@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca ------------------------------ Crossposted-To: comp.databases,comp.os.linux.development From: rhh@tachy.uah.ualberta.ca (Roy Hann) Subject: Re: SQL for University Ingres Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1993 21:08:16 GMT In article <8h0UNYC00VR54Gw3Qe@andrew.cmu.edu> you write: : zmbenhal@netcom.com (Zeyd M. Ben-Halim) writes: : > I seriously doubt that anyone is going to add SQL to university ingres, : > at least without being paid for it. Most of the people familiar with : > QUEL and SQL think QUEL is better and have no incentive to add SQL. : : Buzzt! You lose. : : Ingres is our main production base in my department, and there isn't : anyone here who would rather use QUEL than SQL. My guess would be : that the choice of whether to use QUEL or SQL would be determined by : personal preferences, portability, and availability. I refuse to believe that anyone who knows QUEL would rather use SQL if they had the free choice--ie they are not constrained by external considerations like recruiting and maintainability. Are you trying to tell us you know QUEL but actually LIKE SQL? Frankly that defies belief. I can't believe it. I don't believe it. On the other hand, if you are just saying SQL is "standard" and widely available and as a matter of policy you use it for those reasons, well: ho-hum; you and me both. But that does not contradict Zeyd. QUEL is the better language--it's not popular, but it IS better--and no one would rip it out of University Ingres to put SQL in, because (I conjecture) no one using University Ingres is going to be concerned about maintainability etc. and the virtues of QUEL are manifold and manifest. So, Buzzt yourself, and thanks for playing. PS: This could shape up to be an amusing Holy War. If the flames start to fly it might be fun to move this thread to c.d.ingres ======================================================================== Roy Hann Senior Analyst, Information Systems rhh@tachy.uah.ualberta.ca University of Alberta Hospitals (MIME-capable mail agent) WMC 2C2.21, 8440-112th Street, Edmonton, Alberta Tel: (403)492-4367 T6G 0N4 FAX: (403)492-3090 Canada ======================================================================== ------------------------------ From: rene@renux.frmug.fr.net (Rene COUGNENC) Subject: Re: UNIX/PC Sys Admin opinions Date: 5 Dec 1993 14:17:45 GMT Ce brave Joe Ryan ecrit: > Attention UNIX/PC System Administrators! > LINUX > 386BSD Could you please do real cross-posts if you really want to post in ALL the linux newsgroups (BTW this is strongly discouraged !), instead of posting the same text whith a different 'Newsgroups: ' line each time ? I have read 4 times your article (and it has been posted TWICE in the misc group...!) Don't forget that there is already too many messages in these groups, and that many of us have to pay for transporting this data... For the next time, thank you :-) -- linux linux linux linux -[ cougnenc@renux.frmug.fr.net ]- linux linux linux ------------------------------ From: rene@renux.frmug.fr.net (Rene COUGNENC) Subject: Re: Xwindows stuff Date: 5 Dec 1993 14:32:27 GMT Ce brave Steve Wampler ecrit: > And while we're at it... > How about having *multiple* X-window servers running? My wife and I are > getting tired of having to kill each other (well, our X-sessions) when > we switch back and forth. With VCs, we can both stay logged in, but It seems to be possible: plux:/usr/bin/X11 $ X -help use: X [:] [option] I just tried X :1 after switching to text mode, and another X server started on this "display 1", on a free VT. I did not test further, I just switched back to my actual X session to answer to you :-) Here is what 'ps' says: root 59 2.3 11.5 2567 840 ? S 13:46 2:21 (X) << I have encountered a couple of interesting behavioral anomolies in the > bootup of pl14. > 1) The boot-up log output keeps running even after the login: prompt. > Quite a bit of it is duplicates of what came before (SCSI disk checks, > et.al) I think it is syslogd. The kernel code can now use the syslog facilities, and when you start syslog, it gets all the previous printk's. -- linux linux linux linux -[ cougnenc@renux.frmug.fr.net ]- linux linux linux ------------------------------ From: rene@renux.frmug.fr.net (Rene COUGNENC) Subject: Re: Modem problems... Date: 5 Dec 1993 15:42:05 GMT Ce brave Matt Womer ecrit: > I've been having a few problems with my modem since I purchased a new > machine (I had a 486/50 and bought a 486/66). I used to never have > problems with it until the new machine. It's the same modem with the > same software setup (okay, a few kernel revisions later, but ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > basically the same). But now-a-days whenever I'm using the modem I > lose characters whenever the hard drive runs. It's especially (...) > are the old uarts and I am running at 14.4... but why would this > problem not happen on the 486/50? If you mean 8250 by old uart's, this is certainly the problem. Change to 16450 or much better, 16550afn. ---------- Now, I underlined the "few kernel revisions later", because I am experiencing very bad things whith kernels pl13q, r, and pl14 and the serial port :-(( Linux used to work pretty well, since the early days, with my HST dual modem. The machine answers the phone and people download megabytes of Linux. The machine periodically polls for mail and news via uucp. Now, when the pl13 version came up, the system began to lose characters when receiving, after 5 or 6 days of intensive use. So I started to reboot each week to avoid the problem :-) The pl13 q and r version, lose received characters after about 2 days. The pl14 version lose received characters after some hours... ! I have now to reboot TWO TIMES a DAY the pl14 kernel, if I want good uucp and zmodem reception :-(( Ok, I have just 16450 uart's, but they worked without problems whith all the previous versions of Linux... Perhaps there is something whith the IRQ's and the network code (I have an Etherlink II working in the box); the net works now really well and I don't see any more the "Spurious interrupt.." or "unknown interrupt" message that the net code was sometimes displaying before :-) -- linux linux linux linux -[ cougnenc@renux.frmug.fr.net ]- linux linux linux ------------------------------ From: eremenko@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Paul Eremenko) Subject: Networking Linux Date: 5 Dec 93 20:34:33 GMT Does anyone know whether Linux supports a 3Com Ethernet II or III network card? Also, will it directly interface with Novell Netware? Thanks, Paul Eremenko (eremenko@mace.cc.purdue.edu). ------------------------------ From: floyd@arthax.satlink.net (Christian Pablo Tagtachian) Subject: Re: Xfree386 2.0: why is my Trident card so fast? Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1993 16:42:27 GMT Andreas Helke (andreas@orion.mgen.uni-heidelberg.de) wrote: : John Paul Morrison (jmorriso@rflab.ee.ubc.ca) wrote: : : Nifty: it looks like I don't have to buy an accelerated video : : card, at least not as soon as I thought. My lowly Trident 8900C : : 1 meg SVGA card is actually fast enough. Jump scrolling in Xterms : : is really well done. : : I was used to using the video card in OS/2 2.1, and command line : : windows would take AGES to scroll; it was pathetic. On another Linux : : machine with an ATI in Xfree 1.3, performance wass pretty shabby, : : and I thought my Trident would be even worse. But it's OK, certainly : : *useable*, which I wasnt expecting. (btw, I've never run Xfree : : on this setup before, so I don't know what 1.3 would have been : : like). : Maybee we should ask why is the Ati vga that slow? I made similar experiences. : With the Ati Vga part of an Ati graphics ultra the text display with X was : unaccepably slow. I switched to the x8514a scale and now to the mach8 server. : On the other hand an ET4000 card is fully adequate for text display and : scrolling. This card only reaches its limits if I try to play xpilot. : With MS-Windows the ET4000 card is too slow for text display again, if you : ever tried one of the modern cheap accelerated videocards. : Hello, I have an ET4000 card running with Xfree 1.3 do you think I should expect some performance improvement if I upgrade to Xfree 2.0 ? Thank you Christian Buenos Aires, Argentina. ------------------------------ From: floyd@arthax.satlink.net (Christian Pablo Tagtachian) Subject: Re: probando. desde Espania Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1993 16:57:25 GMT CHRISTOPHER M MAY (cmay@titan.ucs.umass.edu) wrote: : A Guest (guest@g386bsd.first.gmd.de) wrote: : : Hola, soy un usuario en Espania, y me gustaria contactar con mas gente. : : Linux funciona bien, y me gustaria que otros me comentarasis. : : cotrina@lia01.unizar.es : : riaguas@cc.unizar.es : : francisco Cotrina : : c/Pampa 4-0-2, Zaragoza 50012 : : tfno: 976-326441 : : Un saludo. : Ojala que te encuentre personas aqui que habla espanol : tan bien que tu comprendo. Yo no habia usando este lengua : en unos anos... Pero, eso es un(a) NETWORK internacional, : y quiero hablar con personas que te gusta LINUX. : Que parta de Espana? Tengo un amigo mio que vivio en Madrid.... : Excusa me mal palabras...Ingles es mi primer lengua. : -- ha! que raro me siento escribiendo en internet en castellano, yo estoy acostumbrado a comunicarme siempre en ingles (excepto en soc.culture.argentina :) ) . Tambien tengo un sistema linux 'up & running'. (.99pl12) y ahora estoy pensando en hacer un upgrade al .99pl14 & Xfree 2.0 pero aun no estoy decidido debido a que veo mucha gente con problemas. ok.. lets switch back to English.. Greetings Christian Buenos Aires, Argentina. PS: I haven't seen anyone else from Argentina in this area... is there any out there? ------------------------------ From: mark@taylor.wyvern.com (Mark A. Davis) Subject: Re: Linux IS well documented. Date: Sun, 05 Dec 1993 21:40:30 GMT dblack@pilot.njin.net (David Alan Black) writes: [...] >I would also like to make a plug for ASCII documentation. No doubt there are >them as think I've missed the entire point of *ni|ux by not knowing much >about, or having access to facilities for, text processing. (Nor do I have >the power to run X.) However primitive it makes me sound, I will say >nonetheless that my favorite mode of working through a difficult compile >or application is to have the relevant ASCII document (README, FAQ, I agree 100%. What Linux really needs is a convention for documentation. (Not just plain old man pages). I think the following would be extremely helpful: ASCII documentation on all software applications, Unix commands, installation, maintenance, modem installation, typical problems, driver installations and configurations, hardware setup (cd-rom, hd's, memory), etc, etc, etc. A standard documentation viewer packaged in the SLS's (and such) for reading the files in both text and GUI/X mode. The ability to easily search on keywords (with simple menu-driven boolean operators) on ALL the documentation at once. The ability to print what is on the screen with the touch of a menu command, or the entire entry. The ability go jump backwards to topics you already look at before. Uses linedraw, termcap/info, arrow keys, page-up/down, attributes like bolding, reverse, or color to highlight things, etc... Perhaps an introduction blurb of a few sentences and KEYWORDS, like: elm: A full-screen, interactive email application. Can view, send, reply to, print mail, and many other features. Very configurable. KEYWORDS: elm, mail, mailx, mailer, menu-driven, application, etc.... home: Normally lives in /usr/lib/elm binary: /usr/bin/elm, etc... date: last documentation update on XX/XX/XX Then the rest of the documentation, in some standard format. Could make use of all the existing documentation if just slightly rearranged. Man pages could be used for many commands, with the above headings added, and possibly a short tutorial/examples. Hypertext might be too dificult to get going and have documentation continue to be written :) But SCO does it on a lot of their stuff, and it is very nice. Perhaps an external "hot-index" based on command/program names and all the keywords; with a simple update procedure. And the ability to search the body of all entries looking for non-specified keywords (probably could not index that because of the size). -- /--------------------------------------------------------------------------\ | Mark A. Davis | Lake Taylor Hospital | Norfolk, VA (804)-461-5001x431 | | Sys.Administrator| Computer Services | mark@taylor.wyvern.com .uucp | \--------------------------------------------------------------------------/ ------------------------------ From: dcrozier@crl.com (Douglas L. Crozier) Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help Subject: Re: Gateway [P5-60 & DX2/66V] and Linux compatibility Date: 5 Dec 1993 14:25:53 -0800 Surya Prasad Koneru (koneru@tera.cs.umn.edu) wrote: : I am interested in knowing if anyone is using Linux on a Gateway DX2/66V : or a P5-60. : Surya Yes, I had it on a Gateway DX2/66V and it was working great. But I took it off to change around my drives some, and now I can't get it to install from the Sony 31a CDROM anymore. Doug Crozier dcrozier@crl.com ------------------------------ Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.admin Subject: alternative to getty_ps? From: jgomezr@neptune.uucp (JL Gomez) Date: 5 Dec 93 12:33:13 PST Can someone recommend an alternative getty to getty_ps? Thanks for the FTP name and directory! -- jgomezr@neptune.calstatela.edu ------------------------------ From: stock@dutsh7.tudelft.nl (Robert Stockmann) Subject: Re: Are there problems using the Toshiba CD-ROM? Date: Mon, 6 Dec 1993 05:11:58 GMT tpb@fluent.com (Tom Buskey) writes: >Adrian L. E. Hungate (adrian@tlspu.demon.co.uk) wrote: >: Tibor Polgar (tlp00@climb.ras.amdahl.com) wrote: >: > The local computer shop that is building up my PC told me that Linux has >: > problems with the above scsi cd-rom drive (its the 200ms one). They are basing >: > this on a customer who complained that the drive would report an i/o error(?) >: > and then linux would hang/crash. They recommended a Sony CD-ROM instead (the >: > 285ms one). Sounds more like a "not very robust" driver.... >: > Comments?? >: Which model? I use a Toshiba MX-4101b with NO problems what so ever! >: A friend has tried a Sony and had one crash bad enough to put him off the idea >: for good (He lost the contents of a 450 MB SCSI) >I've run a toshiba txm3301 (The one intergraph uses) with an adaptec >1542b & it worked great! I also have a Syquest 88mb removable on it. >This is with .99pl13. And I use a toshiba XM 3401 and it works great. both with SLS 1.03 and with slackware 1.1.0 wich i use now. My SCSI controller is a adaptec 1740 in enhanced mode. Robert Stockmann ------------------------------ ** 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 ******************************