Subject: Linux-Activists Digest #223
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 93 22:13:07 EDT

Linux-Activists Digest #223, Volume #6           Sun, 12 Sep 93 22:13:07 EDT

Contents:
  Re: SLS 1.03 hangs (C.A. Peskin)
  Re: Source and desirability (Kerry Person)
  LaTeX (latex.fmt) in SLS 1.03, bum copy? (Guru Aleph_Null)
  Re: Thrashing - how to quantify (Charles T Wilson -- Personal Account)
  Defrag'ers and SZ prob's (Robert Seal (Law))
  ftape-0.96 encrypepted ?? (Joerg Wesemann)
  Re: Defrag'ers and SZ prob's (Matthew J. Ryan)
  Where and what? (Johnnie Walker)
  X.25 for Linux?? (azevedo)
  ext2_new_block: unable to locate free bit (Larry "Bob" Mulcahy)
  Re: Thrashing - how to quantify (Piercarlo Grandi)
  Re: Mathmatica like package for linux? (Jeff Stern)
  Re: Thrashing - how to quantify (John Henders)
  Need install help on SLS disks! ([email-masked])
  Suggestion needed on buying PC (Chi Gu)
  Re: Installing rom NFS. (Eberhard Moenkeberg)
  Re: What are the various PC bassed Unix box OS? (Bill Heiser)
  Re: LaTeX (latex.fmt) in SLS 1.03, bum copy? (Thomas Dunbar)

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

From: [email-masked] (C.A. Peskin)
Subject: Re: SLS 1.03 hangs
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1993 15:20:49 GMT

I had the same problem when booting off a1.3 of the SLS 1.03 dist.
After my sound card is recognized, it just hangs.  I have a Pro Audio
Spectrum 16, and I never had any interupt conflits while running under
ms-dos.

-- 
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Rochester Institute of Technology              Chris A. Peskin  |
|  Electrical Engineering                                          |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+ 

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

From: [email-masked] (Kerry Person)
Subject: Re: Source and desirability
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1993 16:56:02 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (William J. Sandman) writes:
>C
>Ok, Ok... I'm a unix greenhorn.. I admit it.. No Flames please

No flames, just a redirect.

Your questions are among the most commonly asked, so a FAQ (frequently
asked questions) list has been put together with all the answers.

Here's two things you need to know:

1.  This newsgroup is being phased out in favor of comp.os.linux.****,
where **** is "help", "development", "misc", and "admin".

2.  In comp.os.linux.help, there is a regularly posted article with the
subject "READ THIS BEFORE POSTING..." or something like that.  It tells
where to get all sorts of info on Linux.  After you've read all the stuff
it points you at, you should check the help newsgroup for any other
questions you may have, then post if you don't see it.

Have fun.

--
Kerry J. Person                                      Electrical Engineering
[email-masked]                      North Dakota State University
[email-masked]                                    Fargo, ND USA

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

From: [email-masked] (Guru Aleph_Null)
Subject: LaTeX (latex.fmt) in SLS 1.03, bum copy?
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1993 16:46:11 GMT

Does anyone know if the LaTeX in SLS Linux 1.03 is a bad copy? I've
reinstalled it twice (the first time the latex.fmt file was a
different size and the second time latex still says "I'm stymied.")
and it still doesn't work.

-- 
=========================================================================
     Simon "Guru Aleph-Null" Janes     |... don't crespt the weasal ...
         <[email-masked]>         |... just think of the master ...
                                       |... feel the grass, softly ...

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

From: [email-masked] (Charles T Wilson -- Personal Account)
Subject: Re: Thrashing - how to quantify
Date: 12 Sep 1993 19:10:15 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Richard William Jones) writes:
>When I run gcc on my machine with 5 megs of real memory installed, it
>seems to run very slowly and swap frequently ... So it's probably thrashing ...

Thrashing occurs when the primary activity of the OS is dealing with page
faults..ie, servicing requests for the necessary pieces/parts of the
executable(s) and data.  Even though your system is not necessarily under
a heavy load, very little seems to happen.  A lot a swapping does not
necessarily mean your system is thrashing, which is not to say that you
wouldn't want more ram.  I can't say about your situation from here.  I'd
be more inclined to believe that you're having problems with your ram
(assuming you're not also running X at the same time...a heavy load for
5 megs of ram).

>What I need is a way to quantify exactly how much time is spent swapping
>in/out and how much is spent running the program. This way I can start
>to tune the system. The obvious choice is ps, but this doesn't seem to give
>the info I need, and really I'm stuck. Does anyone have any ideas?

I don't think I've heard of a need for more than 16 megs.  I run fairly
well with 8 megs physical and 16 megs swap, which includes X.  I plan
on getting more, but I'm not exactly suffering from excessive swapping.

>Secondly, how much real memory am I going to need? This stuff is expensive,
>and I think my only option is to go for the full 16+4 megs (I've only got
>8 slots, with 4+1 config at the moment). This will cost more than I can bear
>at the moment. Is there another solution.

I'd start by pulling that bank of 256K simms out just to see what happens.
If you run about the same (or even speed up), then those simms are either
defective or not entirely compatible the other bank of simms.  Like many
other OS's, Linux uses ram more thoroughly ( poor choice of words, but the
right ones won't come to me) than something like DOS, and will 'separate
the wheat from the chaff', so to speak.

I hope vendors aren't trying to make hay over the fire at that resin factory;
it was back in operation in at least partial capacity about two weeks after
the accident.   Just previous to this, 70 ns RAM (what I use) was averaging
about $35/meg from most of the vendors I pay attention to.  Has this changed
very much?   Just as an example of what can happen, a local PC show had 
vendors selling 60-70 ns RAM at anywhere from $40 - $95 per meg just after the
fire; at least that's what I was personally aware of.

-- 
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------\
|  Tom Wilson                      |  "I can't complain, but sometimes  |
|  [email-masked]       |   I still do."                     |
|                                  |                -Joe Walsh          |

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

From: [email-masked] (Robert Seal (Law))
Subject: Defrag'ers and SZ prob's
Date: 12 Sep 93 18:58:16 GMT

        I was looking around the other day for a defrager for a ext2 type
        fs. I have found on defrager for a standard fs, but not for a
        extended. Does anyone know if one exsists? And if so, where can 
        I get it. I need it because of HEAVY usage of my Linux machine!

        Also, sometimes when uses try to use sz and download, they encounter
        lots off errors. I am gettying the port the modem is on at
        19.2 baud [using a HS 14.4k]. I have CTS/RTS one, but regardless
        of the callers speed, I still encounter problems. Actually, I 
        have had this same problem on other Unix machines as well
        [SunOS, Ultrix, etc].... Thank!

                           [email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Joerg Wesemann)
Subject: ftape-0.96 encrypepted ??
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1993 19:41:56 GMT

Hi folks,

a few minutes ago i got ftape-0.96 from sunsite.
Gzip gives me an error: ... is encrypted use a newer version of gzip

I use gzip 1.2.4 ...

Please mail me a solution.

Thanks in advance,
Joerg

--

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Joerg Wesemann                             [email-masked]  |
| Auf der Heide 12                                      2b||~2b             |
| 28832 Achim                                                               |
| -49 - 4202 - 75518                                                        |
| Germany                                                                   |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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

From: [email-masked] (Matthew J. Ryan)
Subject: Re: Defrag'ers and SZ prob's
Date: 12 Sep 1993 21:10:27 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked]

|>      Also, sometimes when uses try to use sz and download, they encounter
|>      lots off errors. I am gettying the port the modem is on at
|>      19.2 baud [using a HS 14.4k]. I have CTS/RTS one, but regardless
|>      of the callers speed, I still encounter problems. Actually, I 
|>      have had this same problem on other Unix machines as well
|>      [SunOS, Ultrix, etc].... Thank!
|> 

  I have experienced the same problem - I have noticed that the error occurs
when the comm program writes what it has to disk.  it may be just a 
coincidence, but wouldn't that mean that the incoming data is overflowing?
I dunno....just a wild stab.  I would appreciate a real answer, though, if
anyone knows whats going on.

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

From: [email-masked] (Johnnie Walker)
Subject: Where and what?
Date: 12 Sep 1993 21:17:17 GMT

Hi everybody!

Now I am going to kill MessDoss off my computer.
What I want is the linux system, X11 with xview, gnu C++ to run with 
an Adaptec 1542C and Quantum LPS240S plus Genoa 7900 Videocard.
The question is:
Where will I get the latest sources needed, and what will I need
to fetch? I have searched several ftp sites in germany, but did not
find very useful information about that. I understand that the current
version of kernel sources is something like 0.99-12, but what about the
rest? Is there a special linux edition of X11 and gnu packages, or should I
get the standard unix distributions? And is there some precompiled version
of gcc anywhere?
How much disk space would I need for the whole lot?

Answers to email address below s.v.p.
--
Peter Koellner 
Student of Idiocy at the university of Dortmund
EMAIL:[email-masked] 

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

From: [email-masked] (azevedo)
Subject: X.25 for Linux??
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 93 21:28:57 GMT

I'm looking for some (hopefully public domain) X.25 software
for Linux, any hint?

Adriano
---
internet: [email-masked]

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
From: [email-masked] (Larry "Bob" Mulcahy)
Subject: ext2_new_block: unable to locate free bit
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1993 18:51:20 GMT

Lately I'm having big problems with the ext2fs.  10-20 times a day my
system coughs up the message

    ext2_new_block: Unable to locate free bit in block group 115

generally as it's receiving news via uucp.  I can run a full e2fsck
(-afv or -acfv) right after getting several of these errors and it
detects nothing wrong.

I have a 1 GB Maxtor P0-12S and an Adaptec 1542B SCSI controller.  115
is the last block on the device.  I'm running the 0.99.12 kernel with
the 18 August `small patch.'
 
--
Larry Mulcahy
[email-masked]  [email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Piercarlo Grandi)
Subject: Re: Thrashing - how to quantify
Reply-To: [email-masked] (Piercarlo Grandi)
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1993 22:08:14 GMT

>>> On 12 Sep 1993 19:10:15 GMT, [email-masked] (Charles T
>>> Wilson -- Personal Account) said:

Charles> I hope vendors aren't trying to make hay over the fire at that
Charles> resin factory; it was back in operation in at least partial
Charles> capacity about two weeks after the accident.

A lot of people made a bundle speculating on the rise; a lot of people
will lose a bundle as soon as the bubble explodes. There is no content
to the idea that the factory fire affected production schedules for RAM
packages; it was very probably just used as an excuse by some clever
people with lots of SIMMs on stock to unload them at a high price by
stimulating a panic.

If you want to prove this to yourself, dear reader, just consider: the
factory supposedly produced chip bonding resin; thus in practice only
the SIMMs using 1Mbit chips should have become significantly scarcer and
more expensive, not *all* SIMMs, including those using 4Mbit chips
(which require 1/4 of bonding resin per megabyte as the others). What
instead has happened is that there has been a proportional, not flat
raise in price.

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

From: [email-masked] (Jeff Stern)
Subject: Re: Mathmatica like package for linux?
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc
Date: 12 Sep 93 22:39:21 GMT

If you get any responses to this, I'd be interested.  I know there is
something online which you might try compiling, called maxima-4-155
which you might be interested in.  But it might not do everything
you're looking for.  I myself have sent e-mail to Wolfram asking them
whether they'd be interested in a port to Linux or 386bsd, and they
haven't responded.  However, in my latest edition of the Mathematica
Newsletter they mentioned they are porting to several new
architectures /systems, including NextStep for Intel.  This version is
currently in the testing stage, which is a far cry from the 'planning'
stages of some of the other architectures...

Hope this helps.

===========================================================================
Jeff Stern <[email-masked]>
"Timex Sinclair UNIX.. coming soon to a dealer near you."
===========================================================================

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

From: [email-masked] (John Henders)
Subject: Re: Thrashing - how to quantify
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1993 22:10:37 GMT

[email-masked] (Richard William Jones) writes:

>When I run gcc on my machine with 5 megs of real memory installed, it
>seems to run very slowly and swap frequently ... So it's probably thrashing ...
Secondly, how much real memory am I going to need? This stuff is expensive,
>and I think my only option is to go for the full 16+4 megs (I've only got
>8 slots, with 4+1 config at the moment). This will cost more than I can bear
>at the moment. Is there another solution.

        8 megs should do you ok. It used to be more than enough, but the 
jump from gcc 2.3.3 to 2.4.5 seems to have increased memory usage by a 
bit. I never had swapping with 2.3.3 in 8 megs, now, about 1.5. meg 
gets pushed into swap when I compile the kernel. Most of this is 
probably from the switch to g++, but even compiling c code is slower 
with 2.4.5.
-- 
John Henders       GO/MU/E d* -p+ c+++ l++ t- m--- s/++ g+ w+++ -x+

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

From: [email-masked]
Subject: Need install help on SLS disks!
Date: 12 Sep 93 19:02:45 -0600

I've been a regular reader on this group for ~1yr, and I thought I had down
all the options for getting out of an install problem for Linux.  No such luck
on my first install attempt today.  I need help!

--

INFORMATION:

I am using the SLS disks obtained from Softlanding Software directly.  All
disks write-prot. EXCEPT disk A1 (as per instructions.)  Previously, I've been
running Dos 5.0, no Windows (if that makes a difference.)

I run a '386 DX machine with VGA, 80Mb hd, 8Mb ram, 1 1.44Mb 3.5" drive, 1
360kb 5.25" drive (never used anyway).

I want to install the full base system + XWindows.  (~70Mb)

Yes, I have read the manuals and the info sheet that came with the disks
explaining how to install.

--

PROBLEM:

Upon install, I was given this description of my system:

/dev/hda1    *    1    1    980    83291+    DOS    16-bit >= 32M

This looked okay, so I chose "Done" on the menu...  I assume that the "DOS
16-bit" part is normal, that it recognizes that I have DOS on there already.

But when SLS was trying to install Linux on my system, I was met with a
thousand error messages telling me that it couldn't create directories, or
that files did not exist!  After trying to install several pkgs from the menu,
I quit, and checked that there WAS INDEED Linux on my system.  Yup, I have
Linux on my machine.  Or at least, I have a root directory with /bin and all
that.

I tried to install Linux _again_, thinking maybe I had misinterpreted tar's
error messages.  But, now it claims that it's run out of disk space, and I
sure as heck didn't install anything more than the FAQ and some of the bin
files!  (I kept install notes.)

--

If anyone can help me, I'd appreciate it greatly.  The info sheet from SLS
says that their release takes the "hassle out of setting up" a Linux system,
so I assume that I am just being a dummy ;-)  and misinterpreting something.

Please tell me that I haven't f*cked something so badly it can't be undone. 
I'm a physics major, not a cs major, so I'm in the dark here.

--

REPLY-TO: [email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Chi Gu)
Subject: Suggestion needed on buying PC
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1993 01:14:03 GMT

Hi, Netters,

I need suggestion/advice on the following:

  1) I plan to buy a PC and put Linux on it. The machine will use phone line
to connect to my department machine. Is GW2000 Dx2-66 a good choice?

If buy from GW2000, then
  2) Which RAM config is more appropriate, 8meg. or 16 meg.?

  3) I suppose the ATI XLR card works with Linux? I don't read this group
very often, but have seen quite alot discussion/complaints about the ATI
vs. Diamond stuff :-)

  4) I plan to install X11 on the PC. How big should the HD be? Is 340meg
appropriate? I remember seeing someone suggested to ask GW that the HD been
pre-partitioned for both Linux and Dos, how and what should I ask?

  5) I guess it's better to get a true USR modem from another vendor instead
of GW? Can anyone suggest some names? How about their price, and software
for the modem?

  6) How about the CD-ROM from GW? Is it supported by Linux? or more generally
it it true SCSI-2 drive? If not, where can I get a CD-ROM working with both
DOS and Linux? Price?

Thanks for any info/advice/feed. Please reply thru e-mail. My address:
[email-masked]

Charlse Gu

Washington Univ. St. Louis

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

Date: Sat, 11 Sep 93 10:53:19 +0100
From: [email-masked] (Eberhard Moenkeberg)
Subject: Re: Installing rom NFS.

Hello Stephane and all others,

on 10.09.93 Stephane Proulx wrote to All in USENET.COMP.OS.LINUX:

SP> I cannot install SLS 1.03 from NFS. Network not configure proprely.

Try to use the "old" (3-Aug) a1.5 installation disk. Rawrite can write
it to a 3.5" floppy, too.

It worked this way here (subnetted C-net).

Greetings ... Eberhard

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.misc
From: [email-masked] (Bill Heiser)
Subject: Re: What are the various PC bassed Unix box OS?
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1993 23:59:12 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Michael L. VanLoon) writes:
>>>[email-masked] (Alan Cox) writes:
>>>>In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Christoph Maethner) writes:
>>>>>I don't think I will ever need a 486 , I would perfer more RAM.
>>Wouldn't this, however, be an argument *for* getting a 486?  I am just
>>wondering, as I have heard that UNIX on a 486 should conceivably run
>>better because the 486's hardware, especially if it has a local bus,
>No matter how fast the drive and controller, RAM will always be
>faster.

I ran a Unix SVR3 on a 386/25.  I then upgraded the machine to a
486/33.  Overall system performance was *twice* as fast (using the
same peripherals) with the 486 machine than on the 386.

-- 
Bill Heiser   [email-masked]
              [email-masked] (unixland is a private home system)

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

From: [email-masked] (Thomas Dunbar)
Subject: Re: LaTeX (latex.fmt) in SLS 1.03, bum copy?
Date: 13 Sep 1993 01:33:03 GMT

the latex.fmt file in latex.tgz is one that is compatible with
the virtex in texbin.tgz..it's simple enought to update your
latex.fmt though. just run:

initex lplain \\dump; mv lplain.fmt /usr/TeX/lib/tex/formats/latex.fmt

NOTE: for a while i had binaries posted that only looked
in subdirs of /usr/TeX/lib/tex/inputs for files. if ur binary
cant find lplain.tex either:
  
  1)get updated texbin.tgz
  2) run:
      cd /usr/TeX/lib/tex
      tar cvf m.t macros
      rm -r macros
      ln -s inputs macros
      tar cvf m.t
      sync; rm m.t

 please forgive my oversight that caused the above problems.

      thomas ([email-masked])

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

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Linux may be obtained via one of these FTP sites:
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The current version of Linux is 0.99pl9 released on April 23, 1993

End of Linux-Activists Digest
******************************