Subject: Linux-Activists Digest #246
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 93 00:13:06 EDT

Linux-Activists Digest #246, Volume #6           Tue, 21 Sep 93 00:13:06 EDT

Contents:
  Re: Auto-answer with uugetty or getty (Mark A. Horton)
  Unable to access SCSI disk on Gateway 66E? (Moti Thadani)
  Adaptec 1542B vs 1542C vs 1740 (Doug McLaren)
  [Q] Comments on my configuration of PC please... (Taek-Soo Kim)
  serial-ports connection  (Helmut Deichmann)
  Re: weird fdisk on slackware bootdisk (lou Williams)
  Cant see 20 lines on terminal ([email-masked])
  Re: PROBLEM: X386 freezing up station (Zack Evans)
  Re: Fourport support for PL12 (Jon Brawn)
  Writing device drivers (Hugo Eide Gunnarsen)
  Re: PROBLEM: X386 freezing up station (Robert Cooper)
  SLS 1.3 with Ultrastore 34 Image (Steve Smoot)
  Xwindow/openwin problems (James W Abendschan)
  Xpilot 3.0 and .99pl13 (Byron Faber)
  Re: Fourport support for PL12 (Byron A Jeff)
  Re: Where is Slackware Linux dist? (curtis varner)
  Re: LPD and 1.03 (Eric Sulzner)

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

From: [email-masked] (Mark A. Horton)
Subject: Re: Auto-answer with uugetty or getty
Date: 20 Sep 1993 14:10:47 -0700

Jack Roberts ([email-masked]) wrote:
: [email-masked] (Mark A. Horton) writes:

: >Gert Doering ([email-masked]) wrote:
: >: [email-masked] (Willie Lim) writes:

: >: >Any suggestion on what needs to be set to get dial in to work on my
: >: >SLS 1.03 machine?

: >: Use "mgetty" from the "mgetty+sendfax" package. It has been written
: >: especially for use with "smart" modems and offers extensive logging to
: >: nail down problems.

: >             I have been very pleased with the getty_ps package in
: >             SLS-1.02.  If you take the time to configure it like

: I only have one modem and would like to use it in a dialin and dialout
: capacity.  Do either of these packages allow for this without having to
: kill the getty manually in order to dialout?

        Don't know abt. mgetty, but getty_ps does just that for data -
no fax support.  It works just like real-live uugetty but better in that
it will let you set up a modem initialization string to send each time
the modem is released from use (either uucp drops it or it drops from
terminal mode.) as well as being able to use Dialers file type "expect-
send" chat entries.  This allows the modem to autobaud and the getty
software to adjust the speed so the user doesn't have to keep banging 
away on the enter or break key until the system finds a speed it's happy
with.  I think it's already installed but not active until you change
the format of the entries in inittab.  Source and doc should be found in:
                /usr/src/getty_ps (at least it is on mine :)!  )
Good luck!, Mark

: -- 

: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
: |      Jack Roberts                                                        |
: |      National Science Center Foundation      Usenet: [email-masked]    |

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

From: [email-masked] (Moti Thadani)
Subject: Unable to access SCSI disk on Gateway 66E?
Date: 20 Sep 93 17:34:55 GMT

        I tried to install Linux on my Gateway 66E (EISA) PC and found
        that the bootable floppy (disk a1) does not detect the 500MB
        SCSI disk.  It does detect the SCSI controller (which is the
        Ultrastor, 24F I believe) and otherwise seems functional
        (allows me to log in as root and when I try to run fdisk
        /dev/sda it comes back saying "cannot open /dev/sda").  Is it
        something I'm doing wrong?  

-- 
________________________________________________________________________

Moti N. Thadani                         (408) 456-5619
Unisys Corporation                      [email-masked]
San Jose, CA
________________________________________________________________________

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

From: [email-masked] (Doug McLaren)
Crossposted-To: misc.forsale.computers.pc-clone,comp.periphs.scsi
Subject: Adaptec 1542B vs 1542C vs 1740
Date: 20 Sep 1993 21:41:10 GMT

I've got a Wangec E51000HT 1.0 GB 1/4" external tape drive and want
to use it under Linux ...

I have an Adaptec 1522, and have used it under DOS, but of course, the
1522 doesn't work under Linux so ...

I'm looking at buying another Adaptec SCSI card, so I have a few
questions ...

   - I know that xxx0 has no floppy controller and xxx2 does, so
that's no biggie.

   - But what's the difference between the Adaptec 1542B and 1542C ?

   - And how do they compare to the (EISA) 1742?

   - And what's a good price for all these cards, especially used.

(I've got a EISA 486/50 ...)

(Also, if anybody knows anything about the tape drive - what kind of
tapes do I need to use to get one gig on it, and do I have to do
anything special to do it ?)

-- 
======================= \  Zippy says:
Doug McLaren,            \  Uh-oh -- WHY am I suddenly thinking of a VENERABLE
DemoN on IRC              \  religious leader frolicking on a FORT LAUDERDALE
[email-masked]  \  weekend?
========================== /

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

From: [email-masked] (Taek-Soo Kim)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: [Q] Comments on my configuration of PC please...
Date: 20 Sep 1993 21:55:34 GMT

Hi there,

After some survey and recommendation, I decided to purchase
the following PC. Any comments would be very helpful.

486-DX2 66 (Comtrade)
EISA
16MB RAM
Adaptec 1742 scsi-2 controller
545MB HD
Orchid Fahrenheit 1280+ or VA (32bit VLB) with 1MB.
17" Monitor (MAG or CTX).

As you can see, I have not fixed the monitor and the video card.
Any suggestion is welcome.

I plan to attach scsi tape drive in the future, any recommendation
on this would also be appreciated.

Taek-Soo Kim

ps. Thanks to those who responded on my previous posting
    "[Q] Diamond grapics card and tape backup"

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

From: [email-masked] (Helmut Deichmann)
Subject: serial-ports connection 
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 22:12:52 GMT

Hi

I have a problem. In my linux 0.99pl12 it seems to be able only to 
install up to three ttyS* ports in inittab via getty.
Any other then ttyS0 - ttyS2 that I have tried like ttyS3 did not
apear under ps -aux after rebooting.
Do any one know to handle this problem cause I need more of these
ports.
An other thig is, I have installed a port with /bin/getty 9600 ttyS3
and then a login apeart on my kermit-terminal, but I was not able
to answer this login.

Please help.

Bye, bye

        Helmut

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

From: [email-masked] (lou Williams)
Subject: Re: weird fdisk on slackware bootdisk
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 13:29:05 GMT

Robert Cooper ([email-masked]) wrote:
: [email-masked] (Patrick J. Volkerding) writes:

: >In a previous article, [email-masked] (Peter Berger) says:
: >>
: >>What I'm interested in now, is what fdisk is this? (I mean from
: >>what package? So I can avoid ever trying this version...).
: >>
: >Have other people experienced trouble with this version of fdisk?

:       Well I don't know if this is an fdisk problem or a mke2fs
:       problem, but after creating partitions greater than 70MB
:       I was unable to format them, kept saying can't find block
:       for inode table....

I had this same problem as well.  However, I found that by INCREASING
the partition size by 1 meg worked well.  I started making /dev/hdb2
at 120M for /usr and  had the above problem.  So, I deleted /dev/hdb2 and
recreated the partition at the same starting block, but increasing it
by 1meg to 121 meg.  All worked fine afterward.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lou Williams ([email-masked])                | Amatuer Radio: KE4ARM  |
| Unix Systems Programmer                            | Phone: (919) 515-2794  |
| NCSU Administrative Computing Services             | FAX:   (919) 515-3787  |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|              Ack!  Thpppppffffffft!!!!    -Bill The Cat.                    |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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

From: [email-masked]
Subject: Cant see 20 lines on terminal
Date: 19 Sep 93 19:15:40 -0600

** NOTE ** My newsreader is on a separate system.  If possible, please REPLY
TO [email-masked] although I will be checking both systems.  Thanx.

--

Problem with Linux--

I recently reinstalled Linux on my box.. and now I fear I made a mistake.

Problem:  I can't see the bottom 20 or so lines of text on my terminal.

Intention: I want a basic 80x25 text terminal.  Eventually, I may want to get
graphical text (ala a Sun) on this sucker, but only if this is available.

Error?:  I may have hit a wrong key when installing Linux this time, maybe on
the "preset graphics" part..  I don't know.

Basically, I need to find a way to determine how my terminal is set up, and
then find a way to get it to the way I want..

Any help would be greatly appreciated!  And, no, I don't yet have access to
the other comp.os.linux.* groups.  :-(

--

[email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Zack Evans)
Subject: Re: PROBLEM: X386 freezing up station
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 93 00:24:25 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (RZ Diplomantenarbeitsplatz) writes:
>Hi,
>I got a problem when running X386. Sometimes the X-Server freezes 
>the complete station. All X-Clients seem to stop ( clock doesn't
>update, xload doesn#t update ). I haven't tried to login into my
>station from remote, but i'm quite sure that the machine is hanging.

Well, try it to make sure anyway.... does CAPS LOCK still work? (The ultimate
diagnostic, that one :) )

>The problem is that this doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes
>I can open lots of shell-windows and anything will work fine, but
>othertimes the statiob hangs after opening just two windows.

I wonder if this might be the memory fragmentation that was mentioned somewhere
else recently... do you only ever have problems when the machine has been on
for a while? Also, if you are using SLS PL12, it might the memory leak in that
kernel that is hitting you.

>I think my configuratuion in Xconfig is ok. 

If it wasn't it would probably not run at all...

>I'm running linux 0.99p12 and XFree 2.0.
                               ^^^^^^^^^^

You can't be - do you mean 1.3?

>Question is:   Is the defect described above a known failure
>               (I hanve't found anything about it in README files). 

Haven't seen it in the groups or on the lists before...

>I've got a second problem:
> The size of my swap partiotion is about 22 MByte (shown by fdisk).
> I did a mkswap with the given size. When I say swapon /dev/xxxx
> I get 16xxx KByte swap partition activated. Why is there some swap
> space left unused ?

This bit's easy - Linux will only support up to 16MB on any one swap partition
or file. Divide your swap partition into two and run mkswap and swapon on them
individually, and you should be OK.

Zack

--
Zack Evans        [email-masked] or [email-masked]

UNIX was not designed to stop its users from doing stupid things,
as that would also stop them from doing clever things.

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

From: [email-masked] (Jon Brawn)
Subject: Re: Fourport support for PL12
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 18:03:10 GMT

Although Specialix deal in intelligent I/O controllers, we do have a
dumb 4-port:

``The Specialix I/O4 is an entry level 4-port serial interface expansion
card, with full modem control. Compatible with the AST Fourport/XN
board, it supports terminals, modems and other serial devices.''

        MODEL   DESCRIPTION                     LIST PRICE
        I/O4    Non-intelligent, 4-port card    $ 300

These boards use 16C450 UARTs, which aren't socketed. We have a few of these
in stock here in the US office. I don't know if the other Specialix offices
have stock at the moment.

Initially, contact me here ([email-masked]) for information.

[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:

>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.

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux,development,comp.os.linux,misc
From: [email-masked] (Hugo Eide Gunnarsen)
Subject: Writing device drivers
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 93 00:46:43 GMT

Hi.

I'm trying to write some device drivers for linux.
The problem is that I can not find any documentation about this subject.
If anybody know about, or have any doc., please tell me.

Especially stuff like register_chrdev etc, so that I can fill 
the proper structs, and use the kernel functions (printf!=printf) 
and so on.

Hugo E. Gunnarsen
[email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Robert Cooper)
Subject: Re: PROBLEM: X386 freezing up station
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1993 00:44:26 GMT

[email-masked] (RZ Diplomantenarbeitsplatz) writes:

>Hi,
>I got a problem when running X386. Sometimes the X-Server freezes 
>the complete station. All X-Clients seem to stop ( clock doesn't
>update, xload doesn#t update ). I haven't tried to login into my
>station from remote, but i'm quite sure that the machine is hanging.
>The problem is that this doesn#t hppen all the time. Sometimes
>I can open lots of shell-windows and anything will work fine, but
>othertimes the statiob hangs after opening just two windows.
>I think my configuratuion in Xconfig is ok. I can create lots
>of processes if I don't use X386.
>I'm running linux 0.99p12 and XFree 2.0. Window-Manager is olvwm.
>Hardware:  Cyrix 486DLC, VGA 16 ET4000 SVGA card, 8 MBYte RAM,
>           16 MByte Swap space

        I am experiencing similar problems with Xfree 1.3.  I also
        have an ET4000 and 8MB RAM, but I have a 486DX 33.

>Question is:   Is the defect described above a known failure
>               (I hanve't found anything about it in README files). 
>               Can I do anything to avoid it?

        Yes, I've done this too, and I think my setup is OK....looks
        like the ET4000 drivers may be buggy.  I have also tried
        the NoSpeedUp option in Xconfig, but that doesn't make any
        difference.

                                                Rob.....

--
=====================================================================
Robert Cooper, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia   [email-masked]

       .....Discoveries are not made by following instructions.....

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

From: [email-masked] (Steve Smoot)
Subject: SLS 1.3 with Ultrastore 34 Image
Date: 21 Sep 1993 01:11:55 GMT

Hi,
  I;m trying to bring up SLS (hot off of tsx-11) on a machine with
a Ultrastore 34f.  I got Image.Ultrastor, and am having a problem.
  It dies, unable to mount root device.
  I modified Image.Ultrastor as per SCSI-howto: Subection B4,
(hack a couple of bytes.)  But it did no good.
  Has anyone gotten this to work?

-s

Here is the suggestion in the HOWTO:

4.  The bootable kernel for an ALPHA driver does not work,
        resulting in a "kernel panic : cannot mount root device"
        message, or it does not work with your Linux distribution.

        You'll need to edit the binary image of the kernel (before
        or after writing it out to disk), and modify a few two byte 
        fields (little endian) to gurantee that it will work on your 
        system.  

        1.  default swap device at offset 502, this should be set to 0

        2.  ram disk size at offset 504, this should be set to the size
                of the boot floppy in K - ie, 5.25" = 1200, 3.5" = 1440.

                This means the bytes are 

                3.5" : 0xA0 0x05 
                5.25" : 0xB0  0x04

        3.  root device offset at 508, this should be 0, ie the boot
                device. 
Here is the code I used to do this:
main(){
  FILE *fp,*out;
  unsigned char c,c2; int i;

  fp=fopen("Image.UltraStor","r");
  out=fopen("NewImage","w");
  c=getc(fp);c2=getc(fp);
  for(i=0; !feof(fp); i++) {
    if (i>509) {
      putc(c,out);putc(c2,out);
    } else if (i==502) {
      putc(0,out);putc(0,out);
    } else if (i==504) {
      putc(160,out);putc(5,out);
    } else if (i==508) {
      putc(0,out);putc(0,out);
    } else {
      putc(c,out);putc(c2,out);
    }
    c=getc(fp);    c2=getc(fp);
  }
  fclose(fp);
  fclose(out);
}

Seems like it should have worked...

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

From: [email-masked] (James W Abendschan)
Subject: Xwindow/openwin problems
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1993 01:25:42 GMT

Hi.  I have a friend who has a 17" CTX CTS 1760 Proscan monitor and an
Orchid Celsius localbus video card.  We managed to get X running, sort
of, only the image being displayed is incredibly huge, regardless of the
resolution [we've tried 640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768, all with similar
results.  The higher resolutions shrink the picture a bit, but not enough
to make it usable.]

When we start X, the "logo" is partially displayed in the lower left
corner of the screen.  Then bash comes up in what resembles 20-column
mode.  Openwin has the same problem.. huge menus that scroll off the
screen.  By "huge" I don't mean with alot of options.. I mean the size
of the letters is gigantic.

I have tweaked all sorts of values in Xconfig, but the problem doesn't
go away.  Is there another file that controls this?

My next idea is to attempt to set the resolution to something like 2048x1024
and see what happens.

Any ideas are welcome.

-- 
$10C3: back to your quiet nightmares

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

From: [email-masked] (Byron Faber)
Subject: Xpilot 3.0 and .99pl13
Date: 21 Sep 1993 03:19:46 GMT

Ok.. quick question:

I installed the MCC from sunsite.unc.edu.  original .99pl10+ + gcc2.4.5

I just installed pl13.

telnet and rlogin break as said.  (is this right for .99pl10+ original code)?
xpilot 3.0 says it can't create Dgram Socket.   

Is that right and do I have to recompile xpilots?

Please mail me.. or post.

Thanks,
Byron Faber
-- 
PGP 2.3 key available (in plan file) at:        Support questionable code:
[email-masked] &                     Pgp 2.3 and others
[email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Byron A Jeff)
Subject: Re: Fourport support for PL12
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1993 03:24:39 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, Jon Brawn <[email-masked]> wrote:
>Although Specialix deal in intelligent I/O controllers, we do have a
>dumb 4-port:
>
>``The Specialix I/O4 is an entry level 4-port serial interface expansion
>card, with full modem control. Compatible with the AST Fourport/XN
>board, it supports terminals, modems and other serial devices.''
>
>       MODEL   DESCRIPTION                     LIST PRICE
>       I/O4    Non-intelligent, 4-port card    $ 300
>
>These boards use 16C450 UARTs, which aren't socketed. We have a few of these
>in stock here in the US office. I don't know if the other Specialix offices
>have stock at the moment.
>
>Initially, contact me here ([email-masked]) for information.

OW! $75 a port for a 16450 that you can't swap out. I'm not even a customer
for serial boards and I can suggest something better than that:

================================== Begin Included text ====================

             **************************************  
             *** STB 4-COM Card $110 delivered. ***
             **************************************
A 4 port, 16bit, serial I/O card, 112,000 baud max (burst rate), that
provides 4 high performance RS-232 Asynchronous Serial Communications
ports, each on one seperate IRQ, or allows sharing one or more IRQs.
Each port INDEPENDANTLY configurable by jumpers for addresses:
      h3E8, h2E8, h1E8, h1A8, h3F8, h2F8, h1F8, h2A8
          and for IRQs 15, 12, 11 10, 5, 4, 3, 2
       * You CAN use 2 4COM Cards in one machine *
Full 16 byte 16550 FIFO buffering on each port (16554 chip)
Includes 4 (six inch) 8pin DIN to DB9 male converter cables.
15 month manufacturer's warranty & free tech support from STB.
Works fine with DOS, DESQview, DV/X, Windows, and OS/2 2.+ 

[ I've had reports that It works line with linux too: BAJ ] 

        Remember, our price INCLUDES delivery. (to USA)
 Along with any card order we offer $34.95 Belkin lifetime warranty
   (DB9 Female/DB25 Male) Premium Modem cables for $10.95 each.

Also, along with any card order we offer $18.95 Belkin lifetime warranty
   (DB9 Female/DB25 Male) Serial Adapter Blocks for only $3.65 each.
(these allow you to use your old DB25/DB25 modem cables with the 4COM)    

     All Prices INCLUDE SHIPPING (UPS or US Mail) to USA
Send check or money order (NC residents include 6% sales tax)
to: PreRapture(tm) Solutions,  1806 Albany St ,  Durham, NC 27705-3134

For Orders *ONLY* 1-800-SELLCOM(735-5266)  Ext 64 (VISA/MASTERCARD)
For Technical Questions, leasing, or outside USA call 919-286-1502 Ext 40
STB Tech Support 214-234-8750 / USRobotics Tech Support is 800-982-5151

As advertised in BoardWatch Magazine, Connect Magazine, & Computer Shopper

    Steve Winter PreRapture BBS 919-286-3606 USR-H16/V.32b

================================= End included text ====================

BAJ
---
Another random extraction from the mental bit stream of...
Byron A. Jeff - PhD student operating in parallel!
Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332   Internet: [email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (curtis varner)
Subject: Re: Where is Slackware Linux dist?
Date: 21 Sep 1993 03:24:41 GMT

Hello,

        Slackware can be found at ftp.cdrom.com in the
/pub/linux/slackware directory.  I just downloaded the stuff today -
with the exception of the stuff in the zooed directory, and it took
up 40MB to store the a1-14, e1-e5, f1, q1, x1-x11 disks.  

        Things I've noticed that SLACKWARE has, besides the same
stuff that SLS has are (to best of my knowledge):

        - networking that works
        - nfs install that works
        - pine binaries
        - TAMU package
        - latest version of Emacs (19.19)
        - the XS3-0.0.4 - for S3 accelerated video cards
        - Other editors - such as JOVE and JOE
        
        Those are just the things I can think of off the top of 
my head.  Both SLS and SLACKWARE have more or less the same
packages - the difference lies in how the series are named, 
and the quality of the install scripts.  I've done quite a few
installations of linux in the past two weeks, and the times I've
tried SLS, I haven't been able to install over NFS.  Slackware 
has worked everytime.  I also like the installation script 
SLACKWARE uses.  Good work, Patrick.

Curt Varner
CS Student, UC Riverside

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

From: [email-masked] (Eric Sulzner)
Subject: Re: LPD and 1.03
Date: 21 Sep 1993 03:42:16 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>
        [email-masked] (Bryan Zarnett - SPEC/F93) writes:

   LPD demon doesnt seem to run properly on version 1.03.  LPD doesnt appear
   in the process list after its typed (over a dozen times) and when I use
   LPR it gives a file not found.  Any ideas?

   If I switched back to an old LPD would it run on 1.03, I have the one from
   patch level 6 running around on disk still. 

   - Bryan

I was able to solve my lpd and lpr problems by running them with strace
-f in separate windows so I could watch both.  Most of the problems were
errors trying to open files or devices.

BTW, I think there's an SLS 1.03 and a Slackware 1.03 now, so you need
to specify.

--
Eric Sulzner    [email-masked]
disclaimer -> I am not speaking for Intel.

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

** 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:
    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
******************************