Subject: Linux-Activists Digest #243
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 93 04:13:05 EDT

Linux-Activists Digest #243, Volume #6           Mon, 20 Sep 93 04:13:05 EDT

Contents:
  Writing device drivers. (Hugo Eide Gunnarsen)
  Linux is very unstable (Hugo Eide Gunnarsen)
  Re: ET4000/W32 drivers for Linux? (Stephen Harris)
  Re: Is there a way to switch Com IRQ's? (Philip Balister)
  [Q] configuring dosemu (travis jensen)
  [Q] Problems setting up new accounts (travis jensen)
  Re: "Memory exhausted" problem in X solved (Lars Wirzenius)
  Linux, X and everything (Hugo Eide Gunnarsen)
  Re: X and Slackware 1.0.3? (Aron Bonar)
  xconsole could not open console (Greg Margo)
  RE: Linux is very unstable
  Lint for Linux (Greg Rhoades)
  Re: Direct access to DOS drive (Yoshihiro Taguchi 7-2072)
  Modem no longer works correctly (Bruce Varney)
  timing of ET4000 VLB & Hyundai HCM-433E (MING HE)
  Re: Linux and MS Windows 3.1 (yuck) swap space. (Ian Nicholls)
  Minicomm not working. Please help. ([email-masked])
  Re: Fourport support for PL12 (Peter Brouwer)
  HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY LIST ([email-masked])
  Re: how many Linux installs? (Logan Bryant)
  Re: Linux won't let me change password for new user (Allen Mar)
  Problem with CD-Rom and WD7000FASST2 (Frank Westheider)
  Re: Making a filesystem larger than 64mb? (Mark Cosham)

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

From: [email-masked] (Hugo Eide Gunnarsen)
Subject: Writing device drivers.
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 93 20:22:09 GMT

Hi.

I am going to write some device drivers for linux, and wonder 
if anybody have some information about this.

Device driver for SB16 ASP.
Device driver for MS160 Search Engine.

I have looked at the sound device drivers for linux,
but I could not figure out what to do.

Hugo E. Gunnarsen
[email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Hugo Eide Gunnarsen)
Subject: Linux is very unstable
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 93 20:26:42 GMT

Hi.

I'm running linux-0.99.13 on my 80486DX50 16MB RAM 490MB IDE SMC ELITE
SB16 ASP and MS160 cards.

I used SLS 1.03.

My problem is tat I can not get linux to run for more than 10h before
it's craches.

When I export X (logg out) it craches.
When nobody do anything it craches.
ARRRHHHGGG !!!

Some times (2 time) i can log in via telnet, but are not able to
start X again because I have no free VT.

Anybody who might now any solutions ?
Can I start som kind of debugging ?

Hugo E. Gunnarsen
[email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Stephen Harris)
Subject: Re: ET4000/W32 drivers for Linux?
Date: 19 Sep 93 20:38:58 BST

Dirk Hohndel ([email-masked]) wrote:
: ET4000/W32 is said to be working with XFree86-1.3, but none of its
: accelerated features are used.

A colleague of mine set up one of these things recently and found that the
"NoSpeedup" option was needed, otherwise the system died.  Other than
that he was *well* impressed with the speed of it.  Was disappointed to
have to use his own T9000B :-)

--
                            Stephen Harris
                     [email-masked]
 
  Opinions are just opinions, and the facts are the facts.  But what are what?

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

From: balister@maddog (Philip Balister)
Subject: Re: Is there a way to switch Com IRQ's?
Date: 19 Sep 1993 20:01:59 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked]

Dhaliwal Bikram Singh ([email-masked]) wrote:
: I was wondering if there exists a program to switch the IRQ number
: of /dev/modem (or /dev/ttys2) to IRQ 5 instead of IRQ 3 (which is
: controlling my top secret death ray).  I know you can do it in the
: kernal if a #define or something, but I am runing a very small 
: linux system at the moment and don't have the Gnu C compiler working
: (as well I don't have the swap space).  Any help appreciated.

Get the setserial package from tsx-11. It lets you do this and
more.!

It's in pub/linux/sources/sbin/setserial-2.01.tar.z. I think it
includes a binery as well.

Philip
--
Reply to: [email-masked]
Linux: The choice of a GNU generation!

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

From: [email-masked] (travis jensen)
Subject: [Q] configuring dosemu
Date: 19 Sep 93 14:59:31 MDT

I am having a difficult time getting dosemu configured for my
system.  It is:

Packard Bell 486dx33 w/1M video ram, 234 MB HDD, and two floppies.
I am using SLS v1.03 and MS-DOS 6.0.

What would be ideal is if somebody with the same or similar system
could send me a copy of their config so that I could look over
it.  

Travis

-- 
Travis A. Jensen                
[email-masked]  (preferred)
[email-masked]  (next best)
"My elelator! Not your elelator, my elelator!!"--Baby Plucky Duck

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
From: [email-masked] (travis jensen)
Subject: [Q] Problems setting up new accounts
Date: 19 Sep 93 15:02:59 MDT

I am having problems adding users to my system (SLS 1.03).
I use 'useradd <name>' and then try to 'mkpasswd <name>'
and get an error 'no SBM(?) database'.  I try to log into
the newusers account (well, it is my account) and I can't
I don't know if this is a linux question or unix question,
but any help would be appreciated.  (BTW, I have checked
the FAQ :)

Travis

-- 
Travis A. Jensen                
[email-masked]  (preferred)
[email-masked]  (next best)
"My elelator! Not your elelator, my elelator!!"--Baby Plucky Duck

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

From: [email-masked] (Lars Wirzenius)
Subject: Re: "Memory exhausted" problem in X solved
Date: 20 Sep 1993 00:24:25 +0300

[email-masked] (Marius Hancu) writes:
> Following his advice on a related query, I inserted the following
> lines in my /etc/rc file:
> 
> mkswap -c /dev/hda2 16500
> swapon -a

Only the swapon command should be needed in /etc/rc; the mkswap needs
to be only once for each swap area (the mkswap doesn't really hurt,
except it takes a little while to run, and if you ever use /dev/hda2
for something else and forget to remove the mkswap from /etc/rc,
you're screwed).

> Would someone comment on why I had to insert these lines in those
> files? I would have expected to get by  just by the commands at
> partitioning time. Don't they have a lasting effect?

The mkswap program writes a `swap area signature' to the file, in
addition to doing some other stuff (I'm not sure exactly what, but
that is irrelevant).  This has a ``lasting effect''.

The swapon tells the operating system that it can use a particular
swap area.  This has to be done each time the system is started, and
that's why the command has to be in /etc/rc (which is run when the
system starts).

--
[email-masked]  (finger [email-masked])
   MS-DOS, you can't live with it, you can live without it.

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

From: [email-masked] (Hugo Eide Gunnarsen)
Subject: Linux, X and everything
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 93 22:06:35 GMT

I have found out, that if getty is swapped out, X will not
restart, and I will not get any contact with the keyboard.

If anybody have found out how to avoid this problem, or how
to mark a prosess as non swappeable, please mail me.

Hugo E. Gunnarsen
[email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Aron Bonar)
Subject: Re: X and Slackware 1.0.3?
Date: 19 Sep 1993 22:27:34 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Geoffrey Warren Hicks) writes:
|> Posted on behalf of a friend who does not have net access
|> ---------------------------------------------------------
|> 
|> 
|> [email-masked] (Robert Cooper) writes:
|> 
|> 
|> >    Has anyone else had trouble with XFree86 that came
|> >    with the latest Slackware release??
|> 
|> Yes!!!
|> 
|> >    I have an ET4000, Logitech mouse and 486 DX 33.
|> 
|> I also have an Et4000 and a Logitech (bus) mouse, but a 386dx40
|> 
|> >    I have configured X for 800x600 256 colours with a
|> >    virtual screen of 1024x768.  After using it for
|> >    about 10 to 20 minutes, the whole system freezes
|> >    requiring a hard reset.
|> 
|> I don't think I have this problem (then again, I haven't run X for
|> 20 minutes yet!!) My problem is that switching between virtual consoles
|> or exiting the server causes the video output to go into some weird text
|> mode that rolls the screen and is filled with "smiley" characters. Going
|> back to the graphic console displays a crapped out graphics screen. Exiting
|> the server and restarting it (blind!) restores the graphic screen, but the
|> same behaviour ensues when you switch/exit.
|>   But sometimes, it doesn't do this.
|> 
|>   I think the ET4000 driver has a few problems, although XFree86 1.2 from the
|> SLS was used for approx six months with no problems.
|> 
|>   I've mailed [email-masked] but have yet to get an answer.
|> 
|>   Any ideas, anyone?
|> 
|>      Craig Southeren

I can't complain of any of those problems.  I'm using Slackware 1.02 on
a 486dx-50 with an ET4000 based card (Orchid Prodesigner 2s) running
at 1024x768x256.  Also using a Logitech mouse (serial).  

No video problems yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

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

From: [email-masked] (Greg Margo)
Subject: xconsole could not open console
Date: 19 Sep 93 23:16:38 GMT

Has anyone run into this problem?
I am running SLS 1.03 with Xfree, using twm.  I want to run 'xconsole'
but it only prints the message "Couldn't open console".  I have tried
using chmod 666 on the appropriate tty and the -f device option on xconsole.
Anyone have a clue?
gm

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

Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 04:35:14 CDT
From: <[email-masked]>
Subject: RE: Linux is very unstable

Uh, oh, you are using patch-level 13 ! This is a very much ALPHA kernel!
Better use pl12, or don't complain ;-)

/Herp

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

From: [email-masked] (Greg Rhoades)
Subject: Lint for Linux
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1993 03:07:29 GMT

Does anyone know if Lint has been ported to Linux and where it might be?

Thanks for any info.

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

From: [email-masked] (Yoshihiro Taguchi 7-2072)
Subject: Re: Direct access to DOS drive
Date: 19 Sep 93 22:32:40 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked] (Yoshihiro Taguchi 7-2072)

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (cuong tran) writes:

If I have missunderstood what you would like to know, please forgive me.

Do as followings,

1) # mkdir /home2 (or with some other suitable name)

2) # mount -t msdos /dev/hda1 /home2

Hereafter, by doing % cd /home2, you can access to msdos hd.

When you would like to set up these things automatically everytime you boot system,
add one line

/dev/hda1       /home2  msdos   defaults

to /etc/fstab.

                   tag (phys/titech/japan)

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

From: [email-masked] (Bruce Varney)
Subject: Modem no longer works correctly
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 03:19:07 GMT

        I just installed the most recent SLS version, and I can no
longer get my modem to work correctly. Previously, I had a version
of SLS from last december, and my modem worked fine using /dev/ttys2
(com3 -- device c, 4, 66). Now, I cannot get the modem to work
at all when I link /dev/modem with /dev/ttyS2 (c, 4, 66), or
when I link it with /dev/cua2 (c, 5, 66). My modem still works
like a gem in DOS. Anyone have any ideas?

                        Bruce

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
From: [email-masked] (MING HE)
Subject: timing of ET4000 VLB & Hyundai HCM-433E
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 04:31:24 GMT

The following is part of my startx.log:

VGA256: et4000 (mem: 1024k numclocks: 16)
VGA256:   clocks:  25.2  28.3  32.4  34.8  28.9  35.9  25.5  36.0
VGA256:   clocks:  48.3  54.3  62.4  69.0  76.8  86.2  60.5  72.1
VGA256: Mode "800x600": mode clock =  36.0, clock used =  36.0
VGA256: Mode "1024x768": mode clock =  85.0, clock used =  86.2
VGA256: Mode "640x480": mode clock =  25.0, clock used =  25.2
VGA256: Virtual resolution set to 1024x1024

What is clocks?  Is those frequencies belonging to the ET4000 or the
monitor?  I supose that is of the ET4000 and has a unit of MHz.

The clocks in the three mode lines is always changing.  Why?  And can
I force them to run a specfied clock?

I'm using standard Xconfig VESA timing like below:

 "640x480"     25      640  664  760  800    480  491  493  525
               31      640  664  704  832    480  489  492  520
 "800x600"     36      800  824  896 1024    600  601  603  625
               40      800  840  968 1056    600  601  605  628
               50      800  856  976 1040    600  637  643  666
# "1024x768i"   44     1024 1040 1216 1264    768  777  785  817 Interlace
 "1024x768"    65     1024 1032 1176 1344    768  771  777  806
               75     1024 1048 1184 1328    768  771  777  806
               85     1024 1032 1152 1360    768  784  787  823

How can I change those above?  What reading is needed?

Thanks,
/ming
--
Ming  He                       / ------ +-+ +--+ "Are you believing that soul
                              /| |-| |  |-| |--|  lives independently from   
Video: [email-masked] | |_| |  +-+ |--|  the physical existing?"    
Audio: (416) 669-6427  [H]     |     |      /  |                -- H.M.      
*|-|*|\/|*|-|*|\/|*IMAGING THE UNIVERSE STARTED FROM A DOT*|-|*|\/|*|-|*|\/|*

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

From: [email-masked] (Ian Nicholls)
Subject: Re: Linux and MS Windows 3.1 (yuck) swap space.
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 03:52:41 GMT

[email-masked] (Kristian Ejvind) writes:

> .... and linux can't swap on the dos file system.

A simple question.  Why?  Is the msdos file system code not up to it? 
Mkswap creates identical files on xiafs and msdos (and presumably other)
file systems, but swapon says that it can't find the swap signature. 
--
"In some parts of the city, curiosity didn't just kill the cat, it threw
 it into the river with lead weights tied to its feet" - Terry Pratchett

Ian Nicholls         Phone : +61 3 829 6088   Fax: +61 3 829 6886
-- 
The opinions of the poster do not necessarily represent those of the company.

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

Subject: Minicomm not working. Please help.
From: [email-masked]
Date: 19 Sep 93 10:18:56 -0800

I have just ftp'd the source for MINICOM off of sunsite.unc.edu.

I have linux .99pl12 and all the up to date libraries and compiler.

After I make all, and try to run the program, I get the following error
message:

Segmentation fault (core dumped)

What does this mean?  I checked the config.h and makefile to make sure
everything was set properly for Linux.

Also I noticed that the make install places the files in /usr/local/bin.  I
don't have a usr/local/bin, just a usr/bin.  Should I just make it a symlink to
usr/bin?

Any help would be appreaciated.

-- 
Eric Levinson
[email-masked]      |  Home computer (UUCP)
[email-masked]         |  Vax
I can also be reached on my BBS system, Color Galaxy Milky Way (415) 883-0696

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

From: [email-masked] (Peter Brouwer)
Subject: Re: Fourport support for PL12
Date: 20 Sep 93 06:57:53 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked] (Peter Brouwer)

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Theodore Ts'o) writes:

>   From: [email-masked] (Claude Ackad)
>   Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1993 13:28:22 GMT

>   Does the fourport support (AST fourport card) exist for the
>   kernel 099PL12? What are the right settings for the kernel?
>   Thanx for any hints.

>Yes; from the INFO-SHEET:

>0.3.3 Supported hardware:

>        Other hardware: SoundBlaster, ProAudio Spectrum 16, Gravis 
>        Ultrasound, AST Fourport cards (with 4 serial ports), several 
>        models of Boca serial boards, the Usenet Serial Card II, several 
>        flavours of bus mice (Microsoft, Logitech, PS/2). 

>You will need the setserial version 2.01 to get the AST Fourport serial
>ports to be configured (in /linux/sources/sbin on tsx-11.mit.edu).
>Configure the AST Fourport cards in enhanced mode, not in compatible
>mode, and use separate IRQ's if you have two Fourport cards --- although
>the Fourport docs claims that two Fourport cards can share an IRQ, I've
>never seen it work.  I generally use IRQ 5 and IRQ 2 for my two AST
>Fourport cards.

For detailed info look in the file serial.c in the kernel sources. It is
located in the subdir chr_drv.
I do not have the sources at hand but if I remember correctly there are #define
flags to enable the support for various serial cards ( 3 if I remember
correctly). In my case the auto detect did not work. You can either use
setserial or swith of the autoirq for serial io. I modified the config.in
script for this.
In the source you can also find which IO address and IRQ to use and the major
and minor numbers for the tty entries in /dev

--
                                       /\_/\
                                       (0 0)
===================================oOO==(_)==OOo============================
# Regards, Peter Brouwer,              / Digital Equipment Enterprise,
# NET  : [email-masked] \ WorkGroup Systems,
# DIGITAL : HLDEO1::BROUWER_P,829-4218 / Dep Office Product Sets, P.O.Box 245,
# PHONE:[+31][0]55 43 ext 4218,fax 2103\ 7300AE Apeldoorn, The Netherlands.

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

From: [email-masked]
Subject: HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY LIST
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 07:00:40 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked]

-- 
Ed Carp, N7EKG                  [email-masked]                   510/659-9560
                            [email-masked]
If you want magic, let go of your armor.  Magic is so much stronger than
steel!        -- Richard Bach, "The Bridge Across Forever"

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc
From: [email-masked] (Logan Bryant)
Subject: Re: how many Linux installs?
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 07:27:09 GMT

Andreas Helke ([email-masked]) wrote:
: In article <[email-masked]> 
: [email-masked] (Cameron L. Spitzer) writes:

: >I work for a hardware and systems company.  We have an
: >Interoperability Lab where they install our products on
: >the OSes our customers run, test our drivers, run
: >benchmarks, etc.

: >I want the Lab to install Linux and check it out.  But
: >I can't make a business case for doing it without knowing
: >how big the Linux market is.  (All of Unix is only about
: >5% of our market.)  How many people run Linux,
: >on how many machines?  If you think you know or have a way to
Well, if you're taking a poll, I use it.  I'm not a sysadmin, nor am I a UNIX
guru or anything of that sort.  Just you're average Joe User....and I love it.

Logan
<[email-masked]>

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

From: [email-masked] (Allen Mar)
Subject: Re: Linux won't let me change password for new user
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 07:22:11 GMT

[email-masked] (Teddy Winstead) writes:

>I used the latest SLS distribution of Linux from sunsite.unc.edu, and
>when I added a user with useradd, things went smoothly until I tried
>to log in. The passwd field is totally blank in the passwd file, as is
>the entry in the shadow file. When I log on, I type the user name,
>and Linux informs me that my password has expires, and that I should
>select a new one. It then promptly tells me (without letting me
>type anything in) that the password cannot be changed. I have triple
>checked my permissions on all pertinent files, and can't figure out what in
>the hell is wrong. Anybody got any ideas?

Try setting a password for the user (from root) 'passwd <userid> <password>'.
The syntax may be not quite right, as I've not used my linux install for
a coupla weeks, but I had to go thru similar "problems" with that.

>ted

Allen
[email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Frank Westheider)
Subject: Problem with CD-Rom and WD7000FASST2
Date: 20 Sep 1993 09:47:59 +0200

HI Folks !

I'm running Linux SLS1.03 and pl12a with my WD7000FASST2 SCSI without
problems. But yesterday i connecte a SCSI-2 Toshiba CD-Rom.
First contact was good,mounting iso9660 works, but...
No audio capability. The Workman (with or without SCSI-2 ioctl-Patch)
didn't work, the xcdplayer works neither !

Any help appreciated !

Is this a bug in the WD7000, the WD7000-driver, the CD-Rom or the
application-program ??

Ciao
  and thanx

     Frank Westheider ([email-masked]   [email-masked])

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

From: [email-masked] (Mark Cosham)
Subject: Re: Making a filesystem larger than 64mb?
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 05:18:40 GMT

[email-masked] (Morten Krog) writes:

>Hi,

>How do I use mke2fs to create a filesystem larger than 64mb. I want to have
>a partition on my harddisk (size 75mb) installed with Linux, but I cannot
>format the partition. As I read the doc, mkfs is unable to do this but
>mke2fs should be able. I don't have mkefs so don't suggest that I use that.
>PLEASE help. Any help will be appriciated.

>Morten

Hi.  I've used the ext2 format quite successfully with partition sizes
of 120Mb, so it should cope with 75Mb ok.

Mark Cosham
-- 
 Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.
===========> <=======> <=======> <=======> <=======> <=======> <===========
 Mark Cosham   Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
    [email-masked] [email-masked]

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

** 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: [email-masked]

You can send mail to the entire list (and comp.os.linux) via:

    Internet: [email-masked]

Linux may be obtained via one of these FTP sites:
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    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
******************************