From: Digestifier To: Linux-Misc@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu Reply-To: Linux-Misc@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu Date: Sun, 29 Aug 93 14:13:28 EDT Subject: Linux-Misc Digest #68 Linux-Misc Digest #68, Volume #1 Sun, 29 Aug 93 14:13:28 EDT Contents: Ultrastor 34F SCSI Controller, $225 OBO (Ji Zhang) Re: NT versus Linux, the updated and expanded comparison chart, version 2 (Andrew Bray) Re: solved: flex problem (Andrew Bray) Re: zsh (Re: Anyone got **UPS DEBUGGER** working for LINUX) (Andrew J. Cosgriff !) Re: 800 meg core dump! (Matthew Hannigan) Re: A nice linux story (Matthew Hannigan) Re: How about some money for linux...read on (Chris Royle) Re: SLS considered harmful (wasRe: Bashing Peter MacDonald) (Matt Welsh) Re: 64K Vs 128K Cache:-is difference worth $40.00 (Kevin Brown) Stacker-like Compression? Re: Zyxel modems & Linux (Peter C. Norton) Re: LINUX HARDWARE POLL (Matthew Dillon) Re: has anyone done booted a diskless Sun 3 from Linux? (Gregory Owen) Re: has anyone done booted a diskless Sun 3 from Linux? (Charles Hedrick) Slackware with 5" boot drive (David Gaudine) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: zhang@bach.ecse.rpi.edu (Ji Zhang) Crossposted-To: misc.forsale,misc.forsale.computers.other,comp.os.linux,comp.os.linux.development,comp.os.linux.help,misc.forsale.computers.pc-clone,misc.forsale.computers.workstation Subject: Ultrastor 34F SCSI Controller, $225 OBO Date: 29 Aug 1993 03:14:01 GMT Ultrastor 34F SCSI, SCSI-2, local bus controller. Less than 6months old. latest bio chipset 200080.006 (not the earlier buggy version, which has problems with MS-DOS) Worked perfectly with DOS, Linux (but it is supposed to work with OS/2, SCO and other commercial UNIX systems). In original packaging, with all software drivers (one floppy disk) and documents included. (just one brochure) Paid $279 +s/h from DC Drives, I believe it's still the best price now. Asking: $225 or best offer, I'll pay UPS shipping. If interested, please contact: Ji Zhang 518-276-6483 (day) or 518-371-4154 (evenings), best way is email: zhang@ecse.rpi.edu ------------------------------ Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy From: andy@madhouse.demon.co.uk (Andrew Bray) Subject: Re: NT versus Linux, the updated and expanded comparison chart, version 2 Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1993 19:24:37 +0000 In article kevin@frobozz.sccsi.com (Kevin Brown) writes: >- Linux wasn't designed at the outset to port to every piece of hardware > available. If you want that attribute, then perhaps this comparison should > be between BSD and NT. That Linux is being ported to the 680x0 is evidence > enough that it's at least somewhat portable. Nor was NT! If NT is so portable, why are chip vendors falling over themselves to make little-endian/switchable CPUs? Regards, Andy ------------------------------ From: andy@madhouse.demon.co.uk (Andrew Bray) Subject: Re: solved: flex problem Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1993 19:28:17 +0000 In article Gary Keim writes: >I fixed my problem with flex by changing the declaration of yytext from: > >extern char yytext[]; > >----> > >extern char *yytext; > >The flexdocs man page talks about this in the section describing the >differences between flex, lex, and POSIX. It wasn't enough for the program I was trying to port, it assumed yytext was a copy of the text from the file buffer, rather than a pointer into the file buffer with a NULL patched in; so it edited the contents of yytext, sometimes even lengthening it then doing a yymore. Yukk. Regards, Andy ------------------------------ From: ins407x@mdw058.cc.monash.edu.au (Andrew J. Cosgriff !) Subject: Re: zsh (Re: Anyone got **UPS DEBUGGER** working for LINUX) Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1993 04:04:57 GMT hjl@nynexst.com (H.J. Lu) writes: >In article , nbladt@autelca.ascom.ch (Norbert Bladt) writes: >|> Is the Zorn-shell (zsh) available on Linux ? It was easily "ported" (ah, >|> configured and compiled) on SunOS, 386BSD and even SVR4 (Unisys == Convergent ?) >|> but NOT on ISC V.3 Rel. 4.0 >I thought zsh supports Linux. I have been using zsh for more than a year >now. But I had to configure it by hand since it used /bin/csh to config >and had some very interesting configuration stuff. I think the authors >should take a look at GNU autoconfig. Well,I think 2.3.1 needed some minor fixes for Linux (it's at sunsite : /pub/Linux/system/shells), but the 2.4 beta works fine - you just have to say buildzsh and it builds fine... The latest beta version is 2.4 pl 216, which needs a small fix to work properly, but then is fine. One of the major improvements over 2.3.1 is dynamic completion (similar to tcsh's), which finally puts zsh ahead of tcsh in the really-cool-shell stakes :) zsh source is available at ftp.sterling.com, as well as a place in the netherlands that I can't remember offhand... Hassle me if you need that little patch for pl 216 (I don't know if it's on the ftp sites yet) Another happy zsh user, Andrew -- -Andrew J. Cosgriff- andrew@bing.apana.org.au ins407x@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au APANA, the Australian Public Access Network Association. Mail info@apana.org.au "What's another word for Thesaurus ?" (Steve Wright) ------------------------------ From: matth@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Matthew Hannigan) Subject: Re: 800 meg core dump! Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1993 07:42:37 GMT eds@VFL.Paramax.COM (Ed Skladany) writes: >[ Stuff about programs dumping huge core files deleted. ] >Yes, Linux can produce disk-filling core files when tools are run with >incompatible library versions. This happened to me trying to run an >xpilot binary with an older library. This can be prevented in bash and tcsh. >Here's the entry from the latest FAQ: >Question 6.5. How do I stop producing core files ? >If you use bash put > ulimit -c 0 >in your .shrc or .bashrc; if you use tcsh put > limit coredumpsize 0 >in your .cshrc. For other shells check the shell's manpage. Here's two more hacks which will work for a particular directory: cp /dev/null core chmod a-w core # core can't be written OR ln -s /dev/null core # core will be written to /dev/null # (could take a long time for those # disk-filling cores :-) -- -Matt ------------------------------ From: matth@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Matthew Hannigan) Subject: Re: A nice linux story Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1993 07:48:55 GMT c@royle.org (Chris Royle) writes: >In comp.os.linux.misc, Frerk Meyer (frerk@loophole.tk.telematik.informatik.uni-karlsruhe.de) wrote: >:> > >fortran, the only major porting hurdle... they don't trust language >:> > converters). >:> See it this way: A compiler *is* a language translator. >:> And of course *every* compiler could contain bugs. >:> Fortran -> C -> Assembler -> Machinecode = 3 'Compiler' >:> Fortran -> Machinecode = 1 'Compiler' >I have to say that despite numerous CompSci qualifications, that little gem >had escaped me. [Slaps wrists]. But then all programs are language translators. e.g. grep: input language is REs + text output language is text matching REs wordperfect: input language is commands + text output lanugage is printer controls + window controls. Slap your wrist again! -- -Matt ------------------------------ From: c@royle.org (Chris Royle) Subject: Re: How about some money for linux...read on Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1993 06:59:09 GMT In comp.os.linux.misc, Dan Doner (dan@longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu) wrote: :> In article , kevin@frobozz.sccsi.com (Kevin Brown) writes: :> |> In article <251ots$l38@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> bo@horus.cem.msu.EDU (Bo Peng) writes: :> |> >Don't jump up so fast yet. What I mean is perhaps setup some sort of foundation :> |> >or something like that. Linux is still free with no obligation whatsoever.But, :> |> >just in case, just in case that some feel like paying something -- again, what- :> |> >ever they feel appropriate -- for the stuff, the money could be collected and :> |> >put into good use. A machine dedicated to linux development/discussion? Pay :> |> >for internet costs for someone? Save simtel-20? Charity? :> |> :> |> [rest deleted] :> |> :> |> I have an idea that will probably work better. If you want to contribute :> |> money to someone who has worked on Linux, why not just send them a check? :> |> That way you avoid the problem of someone else deciding who should get what. :> |> That way, the amount of money people get is directly related to the amount :> |> of money the contributors feel they should get. No hassles, no problems, :> |> no bureaucracy, no legal fees. :-) :> |> :> |> And then the recipients can do whatever they want/need with the money. :> |> :> |> >Bo Peng :> |> :> |> :> |> -- :> |> Kevin Brown kevin@frobozz.sccsi.com :> |> This is your .signature virus: < begin 644 .signature (9V]T8VAA(0K0z end > :> |> This is your .signature virus on drugs: <> :> |> Any questions? :> Better yet, why not form a for-profit company that distributes linux and gnu :> software for cost only. Then sell support. If you have a problem or a question, :> buy a service contract for a few months. All profits should be doled out to :> those that provide the support AND those that do development - not necessarily all :> under one roof. As for who gets what, I dont think it would be all that difficult :> to distribute any profits in a meaningful way. :> Is anyone remotely successful at doing this? :> Dan I'm interested in *considering* doing this as another branch of Objectronix, but I do need to think about it. Chris. -- Chris Royle Cheap mail & news feeds over UUCP from UKP5/mo Managing Director Windows / X-Windows code, 386s from UKP540 Objectronix Limited Desktop publishing Leeds, UK Tel. +44 532 661536 ------------------------------ From: mdw@sunSITE.unc.edu (Matt Welsh) Subject: Re: SLS considered harmful (wasRe: Bashing Peter MacDonald) Date: 29 Aug 1993 15:08:18 GMT I have to agree that childish complaints against Peter's work are unwarranted. However, I feel personally responsible for at least some of SLS's popularity: after all, I advocate it in virtually all of the current Linux documentation. Why? I don't think that SLS is the best release available. I think that SLS needs a lot of help, from someone who knows something about packaging and distributing a trouble-free, mature, and robust UNIX system. There is simply no excuse for many of SLS's shortcomings: there are installation problems with SLS that I have seen since 0.98 still in the current distribution. This makes my "job" as documentor and consultant extremely difficult, and unreasonably so. For this reason, I am not obliged to document SLS in the future as I have done so faithfully in the past. If there aren't some serious changes in the direction and robustness of the SLS release very soon, I am dropping it from all of the docs in favor of another, more mature, release. That being said, I do appreciate Peter's work on SLS. I think we all do. Instead of complaining to Peter about it, however, people need to step forward and volunteer to help work out the bugs in the SLS release with test installs and the like. And Peter needs to incorporate those changes in the SLS release proper. Long ago, I made several attempts at reorganizing the TCP/IP software (NET-1) for SLS, which Peter responsed positively to, but never incorporated into the main SLS release. If Peter really wants SLS to be the bona finde Linux distribution, he needs to do as Linus and others do every day: accept corrections and modifications from the user base. SLS does have many many strong points, aside from technical problems. First of all, it includes just about everything, including X (it can be argued that SLS contains "too much"). It is also available via mail on diskette, tape, and CD-ROM directly from Softlanding. And they sell support. If only MCC had this availability, and included X, then perhaps it would replace SLS. The reality is, most new Linux users simply don't know enough about UNIX to install X by hand, although it only means gzipping and untarring a few files from /. (You'd be surprised how difficult that is for a new UNIX user.) Secondly, because MCC doesn't have CD-ROM, tape, or diskette mail distributions, it's difficult for me to advocate it in books like the I&GS and elsewhere: after all, if you can only get MCC from the Internet, it doesn't do anyone else much good. Now, I feel that there is a real solution on the horizon, in the form of a brand-new Linux release from someone not only with a full distributor but also from someone who knows a lot about UNIX. I will say no more at this time, but let it suffice to say that I don't think that SLS will be around within a year. The Linux community does demand more robust standards than it has in the past: it is no longer a shaky, weak hacker's OS in which we accept technical shortcomings as are seen in SLS. If SLS fails to meet these new standards, it will disappear. mdw -- Matt Welsh, mdw@sunsite.unc.edu (formerly mdw@tc.cornell.edu) "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." -- Send submissions for comp.os.linux.announce to: linux-announce@tc.cornell.edu ------------------------------ From: kevin@frobozz.sccsi.com (Kevin Brown) Subject: Re: 64K Vs 128K Cache:-is difference worth $40.00 Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1993 13:21:37 GMT In article <1993Aug28.184544.9438@unlv.edu> maniac@unlv.edu (Eric J. Schwertfeger) writes: >To follow up on my statement that going from 8K internal to 8K >internal + 256K external write-back cache, I originally stated that >this had less than a 5% improvement on my 486DX40. This was in 4M of >ram. Someone suggested that larger amounts of RAM might benefit more >from the cache, so I borrowed 16M from my boss. The difference at 20M >of ram between having the external cache enabled and disabled was >quite significant, in the neighborhood of a 30% improvement. Also, >the increased ram eliminated the swapping, so I know that my >increadibly slow compile times with 4M of ram was due to excessive >swapping. ...and now you won't give that 16M back to your boss, right? :-) :-) >Eric J. Schwertfeger, maniac@cs.unlv.edu -- Kevin Brown kevin@frobozz.sccsi.com This is your .signature virus: < begin 644 .signature (9V]T8VAA(0K0z end > This is your .signature virus on drugs: <> Any questions? ------------------------------ Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux Subject: Stacker-like Compression? From: Date: Sunday, 29 Aug 1993 11:16:03 EDT Hi folks, Is there a stacker-like on the fly disk compression software for Linux? I'm running out of disk space real quick. Edward Galarza/2 2.1 Brooklyn College City University of New York Lenbc@cunyvm.cuny.edu Lenbc@cunyvm.bitnet ------------------------------ From: pn002b@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Peter C. Norton) Subject: Re: Zyxel modems & Linux Date: Sun, 29 Aug 93 15:30:28 GMT Try asking about the modems themselves, and sources fof info about them on comp.dcom.modems. They're all the rage over there. ------------------------------ From: dillon@moonshot.west.oic.com (Matthew Dillon) Subject: Re: LINUX HARDWARE POLL Date: 29 Aug 1993 08:56:54 -0700 Hi guys! This is a most excellent poll. I've gotten 30 responses so far after 12 hours! Keep 'm comming! The poll ends next Saturday by which time, if this keeps up, I'll have several hundred responses to categorize. We ought to get very good results. The original material (minus email headers and signatures) will be made available as well as the categorized results. Some people have emailed their responses to my email address rather then the poll address. I knew that was going to happen... for those that did, don't worry about it, I'll put them where they are supposed to go, but for those who have yet to answer the poll please be reminded that the address for poll responses is: poll@moonshot.west.oic.com (next time I guess I'll have to post from a dummy account so people can just 'r'eply to the right place, but all and all things are working out) -Matt Matthew Dillon dillon@moonshot.west.oic.com 1005 Apollo Way dillon@overload.berkeley.ca.us Incline Village, NV. 89451 ham: KC6LVW (no mail drop) USA Sandel-Avery Engineering (702)831-8000 ------------------------------ From: gowen@apex.cs.tufts.edu (Gregory Owen) Subject: Re: has anyone done booted a diskless Sun 3 from Linux? Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1993 17:39:07 GMT byron@cc.gatech.edu (Byron A Jeff) writes: > >hedrick@geneva.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick) writes: > >>One of our faculty is interested in using a diskless Sun as an X > >>display. For $600 you can get a machine that has a bigger display > >>than most people can afford for a PC. The problem is that > >>diskless suns require RARP and TFTP servers to boot. RARP is > >>not a pure TCP/IP protocol. Does anyone have any experience > > There is a Sun Xkernel for machines like this. It doesn't run SunOS > binaries. It just acts as an Xterminal. I think that's what the > original poster was asking for. Also because it doesn't have all the > other OS overhead old Sun 3's actually get pretty good perfort. Does > anyone know where they can be found? It can be found on ftp.ctr.columbia.edu, and it does indeed give a sun3 good performance. Our sun 3/50 stations boot in around 45 seconds, and login takes about 10 seconds 8). Performance feels like an slc, I'd say, and you get that huge monitor 8). Booting off a linux box shouldn't cause any particular problems as long as the linux box can do tftpboot protocol, I think. (Note: the preceding was a Wild-Ass Guess, or WAG, and should be treated as such). All you do on the server side is create an /export/home directory for the sun3. Oh, and who said $600 for a sun3? We got 4 diskless sun3's for $50 dollars at a bankruptcy auction 8). Greg Owen { gowen@forte.cs.tufts.edu, gowen@xis.xerox.com } 1.01 GCS/GO d++ p+ c++ l++ u++ e+ -m+ s++/- n- h !(f)? g+ -w+ t+ r-- y? "These fragments I have shored against my ruins/Why then Ile fit you. Hieronymo's mad againe./Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata." ------------------------------ From: hedrick@geneva.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick) Subject: Re: has anyone done booted a diskless Sun 3 from Linux? Date: 29 Aug 93 17:12:00 GMT gowen@apex.cs.tufts.edu (Gregory Owen) writes: > Booting off a linux box shouldn't cause any particular >problems as long as the linux box can do tftpboot protocol, I think. >(Note: the preceding was a Wild-Ass Guess, or WAG, and should be >treated as such). TFTP is no problem. That's a standard IP protocol, and the server for it could be ported to Linux with no special problem. Ditto bootp. So booting Cisco boxes and NCD X terminals should be no problem. However diskless Suns use RARP instead of bootp to find out their IP address. RARP is not an IP protocol. Thus it needs special kernel support. I wondered whether Linux has the necessary code in the kernel, and whether anyone has actually ported an RARP server to it. ------------------------------ From: david@donald.concordia.ca (David Gaudine) Subject: Slackware with 5" boot drive Date: 29 Aug 93 17:05:50 GMT I have a 5" drive A: and a 3" drive B:. Slackware seems to be only available on 3", including the A1 disk. Is there any way I can install it on my system? -- ========================================================================= David Gaudine, programmer, Concordia University, Loyola Campus, Montreal. david@donald.concordia.ca ------------------------------ ** 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 ******************************