Subject: Linux-Activists Digest #278
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 1 Oct 93 09:13:08 EDT

Linux-Activists Digest #278, Volume #6            Fri, 1 Oct 93 09:13:08 EDT

Contents:
  Mouse busy problem (Joseph Russack)
  [summary] Installing Linux newbie (James F Hall)
  ATI video card (Charlie Oliver)
  Re: 1024x768 => Cirrus 5422 freaks out (Mr KAA. Smith)
  [UUCP] UUXQT can't spawn rnews/rmail after restore (Joe George)
  Re: Colorado streamer (Kenneth Edwards)
  Linux 0.99pl12 and NET-2 (Bennie Sexton)
  How to install packages from b: drive (3 1/2") ??? (Mong-Chuan Sim)
  Problem with system freezing while using X-win (travis jensen)
  Trouble installing Linux on IBM PS1 (laurent vallee)
  undump for Ultrix (David Rensin)
  Re: WHAT HAVE I TO DO TO SET UP THE .PROFILE (Nicola Pedrozzi)

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

From: [email-masked] (Joseph Russack)
Subject: Mouse busy problem
Date: 1 Oct 1993 00:25:48 GMT

  I recently recompiled linux (I patched .99pl12 to .99pl13) and am now
having difficulty with my logitec busmouse. The problem materilizes in 
x, but it's because Linux is returning a "device busy". If I boot with
the old kernel, everything is fine. 
  
  I'm testing this with "cat /dev/mouse". Well, for asthetic reasons, I chdir
to /dev and type "cat mouse". On pl13, I'm informed that the mouse is busy.

  I have read FAQs and I have turned on the flag for the logitec drivers.
Linux is recognizing the logitec busmouse when I boot. I have also recompiled
the kernel (a second time - after a make clean and a make setup) to ensure
that I haven't overlooped something clueless like not compiling in the 
drivers for my mouse.

  Does anyone have any ideas? Or am I making some colossally stupid mistake?

  Oh, incidentially, does anyone know why minicomm won't take any input
from my keyboard? It compiles and runs fine, I can set it up, but when I 
attempt to type anything on the term screen, it ignores it. It looks like
I've sent an XOFF - completley frozen. Only a kill or a resizing of the
xterm will cause it to react & kill itself.

[email-masked]

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

Subject: [summary] Installing Linux newbie
From: [email-masked] (James F Hall)
Date: 30 Sep 93 20:30:17 -0600

Since I had so much help from the readers of the net on how to install
my Linux system, and since there is not much documentation on the
subject for non-computer-geniuses (like myself), I thought I would
summarize how to install Linux for first-time Linux users.  This
should repay at least part of my debt to you all!  :-)

Now, if only I can get X to work...  :-)

--James

=================================< cut here >============================

FIRST-TIME LINUX USERS -- INSTALLING LINUX, STEP-BY-STEP:
=========================================================

Author:
=======

James F. Hall

If this is received well, I will make a habit of regularly posting this
to the net.  Errors should be reported to: <[email-masked]>.

Please redirect other questions to the readers of the net.

What You Need:
==============

1. A blank 1Mb floppy, that is the same size (3-1/2" or 5-1/4") as the
boot floppy drive.  Format this under DOS first.

2. Paper and pencil.

3. All of your old data backup up.  Just in case...

Basic Premise:
==============

I had a lot of trouble when I first installed Linux, and I thought it
would be better if someone wrote a step-by-step installation guide for
first-time Linux users.

That is what this is all about.

I will assume that you are trying to install Linux without keeping
another operating system on your machine at the same time you have
Linux.  This is probably the easiest way to go at first.  If you
decide later on to add another operating system, you can take those
steps when you are ready.

I will also presume that you do not use two hard drives at the same
time.  This is not easy, so it would be best if you waited until you
gain more experience with Linux.

This is written with the SLS disks in mind.

Following this document will give you a complete Linux system, with
just Linux and whatever programs you choose to install on your
computer.

When better help can be easily obtained from the programs involved
with the installation, I let you find it out.  That should help keep
this document as short as it can be without putting you in the dark.

Installation:
=============

1. Make sure that the computer is turned off.  This assures that the
memory is purged, and that we are all on equal ground.

2. Boot the computer using the disk "a1" from the SLS release.  When
the "login:" prompt appears, enter "root" and hit return.  Don't use
the menu program, as some problems have been reported with this.

3. Enter the command that enters the fdisk program:

        # fdisk /dev/hda

4. Using the help found in fdisk, delete all of the old partitions.
Then, ask for a new partition, which will be a primary partition,
called #1, and use the full number of cylinders of your hard drive.
The program will tell you how many cylinders you have.

** The fdisk program may complain about a few things here.  (1) That
you are using an odd number of sectors on the disk.  (2) That Linux
cannot access __ sectors of the disk.  You can safely ignore these
warnings, as we will fix them in a minute.

5. Use the fdisk help to print a list of the available partition
types.  Write down the number of the Linux ext2 type.  I'll call it
"xx" for use in step 6.

6. Use the fdisk help to change the partition type.  It will ask for
the new type.  Enter the value of "xx" that you found in step 5.

7. Using the help found in fdisk, print a list of that partitions that
are on the disk.  You should get something like this (where "nnn" is
the number of cylinders on your hard drive, "xxxx" is the size of the
hard drive):

        /dev/hda1       1       1       nnn     xxxx    83      Linux ext

8. Write down the "xxxx" size of the hard disk, as you will need it in
step 11.  Use the fdisk help to save the partition table data, and
then quit.

9. Prepare your computer for rebooting by entering the command:

        # sync

10. Reboot the computer using the "a1" disk from the SLS release.
When the "login:" prompt appears, enter "root" and press return.
Don't use the menu.

11. Tell Linux that you want to use the new partition by entering the
command (where "xxxx" is the size of the hard drive, which you found
in step 7):

        # mke2fs -c /dev/hda1 xxxx

** The mke2fs command takes a little while to run, and it will print
out a lot of diagnostic information.  Just sit back a wait until you
get a prompt again.

12. Enter the command to install the Linux system:

        # doinstall /dev/hda1

13. Follow the prompts given in the installation program to select
which software you want on your hard drive.  I recommend using just
the base Linux system, without installing X.  The reason for this is
that X is not easy to get going, and it would probably be a little
better to get used to Linux before you started experimenting with X.

14. Enter the command to prepare the computer for rebooting:

        # sync

15. Reboot your computer using the boot disk that you make during the
installation.  When the "login:" prompt appears, enter "root" (you
will always do this when you use Linux) and press return.  Now begin
using Linux...

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

Subject: ATI video card
From: [email-masked] (Charlie Oliver)
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 93 06:53:00 -0600

Hi, I have a VGA wnoder video card with a chip set of ATI = 28800-5 and 
I can not get xconfig set up so windows will even start. I know the newest 
version of Linux supports this but I have had no luck at all. I keep
getting the message that it 'ati'is not supported. Any help would be
appreciated and thanks ahead of time
--- BgNet 1.0b12 - 

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

From: [email-masked] (Mr KAA. Smith)
Subject: Re: 1024x768 => Cirrus 5422 freaks out
Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1993 03:07:43 GMT

I'm running Xfree 1.3 with a GL5422 in 1024x768 with no probs at all.

I'm at work right now so I can't send my Xconfig...but if anyone needs
it, mail me and I'll send it to you from home.

Keith

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: [UUCP] UUXQT can't spawn rnews/rmail after restore
From: [email-masked] (Joe George)
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1993 07:12:49 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked]

Hi all,

Help!  I have an easy one, I think. I backed up and restored my Linux (99.12)
partition to add about 30MB to it. Ever since I've restored it, I can not
get uuxqt to work.  uucico works, and feeds the items into /usr/spool/uucp,
but when I run uuxqt I get the following failure:

uuxqt whiffer uucp (1993-09-30 06:42:16.76 289) Executing X.whiffer1867 (rmail jgeorge)
uuxqt whiffer uucp (1993-09-30 06:42:16.77 289) ERROR: ixsspawn: Permission denied
uuxqt whiffer uucp (1993-09-30 06:42:16.77 289) Will retry later (X.whiffer1867)

uuxqt whiffer news (1993-09-30 06:42:17.12 289) Executing X.whiffer1869 (rnews)
uuxqt whiffer news (1993-09-30 06:42:17.13 289) ERROR: ixsspawn: Permission denied
uuxqt whiffer news (1993-09-30 06:42:17.14 289) Will retry later (X.whiffer1869)

I do not know what permissions the errors are referring to. uuxqt runs suid
(reinstalling the uucp binaries don't help) and rnews and rmail can be run
by hand from the root account.

Everything APPEARS to have restored okay, but for some reasons some owner 
information was not restored correctly.  The binaries in /usr/lib/uucp are
owner uucp.root, and /usr/spool's rw permissions are, as best as I can tell,
alright, and changing them does not help.

Email replies gratefully appreciated!

Joe

-- 
Joe George ([email-masked], [email-masked])
Actually, I _do_ speak for the Waffle Whiffer | begin 644 foo
M2&%V92!)(&9O=6YD($=O9#\@5VAA="P@9&ED('EO=2!L;W-E($AI;2!!1T%)
$3C\-"C\- ` end
nd

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

From: [email-masked] (Kenneth Edwards)
Subject: Re: Colorado streamer
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1993 18:35:35 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (nicolas olle) :
>subject: I have a 250 Mb streamer (Colorado) connected 
>on my pc (IDE). And i would like to use it under Linux.

There seems to be quite a bit of traffic on this so I thought I'd post,
a little about how I got ftape to work for me.

MANY MANY THANKS to Bas Laarhoven and everyone who worked on this project.
I get a warm fuzzy feeling looking at my stack of tapes and knowing that
my Linux system is finally properly backed up.

This is how I got it to work on my third ( or fourth, I lost count ) try!!
Your mileage may vary.
You must READ the instructions that come with ftape very very carefully.
Read them again, UNDERSTAND them, FOLLOW them exactly.

If you understand the instructions, you may get it to work on your
first try, I did not and so got to do it again, and again etc.

My system:
Colorado Jumbo 250 running on the floppy controller that used to be fd1.
SLS 1.03  source distribution lx99pl12.
ftape-0.9.6 from kernel/tapes on sunsite.

NOTE: SLS comes with modules installed but it is NOT configured to
      install ftape, so some of the patches have to be applied by 
      hand, and some of them mess up duplicating code.

0  Backup your linux source directory so you can do this again if you have to.
1  Unpack ftape as per instructions.
2  Unpack modules as per instructions.
3  Apply the patch as shown.
4  In SLS you must fix the patches that did not work !!!
5  Try to rebuild linux ( make zlilo ).
6  Fix the problems with unresolved externs  according to the instructions.
7  Rebuild linux ( make zlilo )
8  Reboot
9  Run make in the modules/utils directory and test the hello program.
10 Put the executables ( insmod lsmod rmmod ) somewhere in you path.
11 Run make in the ftape directory, it will make and install the tape driver.
   
Note that I get lots of multiply defined messages etc. when I install the
driver but it seems to work fine.  It will not work at the same time as
ANY floppy access but if you are on a single user system as I am then
it is fine.

I have created a bootable floppy with a minimal kernel that will run
the tape.  I could put it on the net if there is interest, and the folks
that run the archive sites feel it is of significant value.

Good Luck.

Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: Colorado streamer
Summary: 
Expires: 
References: <[email-masked]>
Sender: 
Followup-To: 
Distribution: world
Organization: Calgary UNIX User's Group
Keywords: 

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (nicolas olle) :
>subject: I have a 250 Mb streamer (Colorado) connected 
>on my pc (IDE). And i would like to use it under Linux.

There seems to be quite a bit of traffic on this so I thought I'd post,
a little about how I got ftape to work for me.

MANY MANY THANKS to Bas Laarhoven and everyone who worked on this project.
I get a warm fuzzy feeling looking at my stack of tapes and knowing that
my Linux system is finally properly backed up.

This is how I got it to work on my third ( or fourth, I lost count ) try!!
Your mileage may vary.
You must READ the instructions that come with ftape very very carefully.
Read them again, UNDERSTAND them, FOLLOW them exactly.

If you understand the instructions, you may get it to work on your
first try, I did not and so got to do it again, and again etc.

My system:
Colorado Jumbo 250 running on the floppy controller that used to be fd1.
SLS 1.03  source distribution lx99pl12.
ftape-0.9.6 from kernel/tapes on sunsite.

NOTE: SLS comes with modules installed but it is NOT configured to
      install ftape, so some of the patches have to be applied by 
      hand, and some of them mess up duplicating code.

0  Backup your linux source directory so you can do this again if you have to.
1  Unpack ftape as per instructions.
2  Unpack modules as per instructions.
3  Apply the patch as shown.
4  In SLS you must fix the patches that did not work !!!
5  Try to rebuild linux ( make zlilo ).
6  Fix the problems with unresolved externs  according to the instructions.
7  Rebuild linux ( make zlilo )
8  Reboot
9  Run make in the modules/utils directory and test the hello program.
10 Put the executables ( insmod lsmod rmmod ) somewhere in you path.
11 Run make in the ftape directory, it will make and install the tape driver.
   
Note that I get lots of multiply defined messages etc. when I install the
driver but it seems to work fine.  It will not work at the same time as
ANY floppy access but if you are on a single user system as I am then
it is fine.

I have created a bootable floppy with a minimal kernel that will run
the tape.  I could put it on the net if there is interest, and the folks
that run the archive sites feel it is of significant value.

Good Luck.

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

From: [email-masked] (Bennie Sexton)
Subject: Linux 0.99pl12 and NET-2
Date: Fri, 01 Oct 1993 00:20:54

Has anyone had any luck in getting Linux 0.99pl12 to work with NET-2 with
a subnet mask other than 0 or 8 bits? The following is an example of what
I am doing and the error that I get. Any suggestions will be welcome.

ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1
route add 127.0.0.1
ifconfig eth0 128.99.4.128 netmask 255.255.252.0 broadcast 128.99.7.255
route add 128.99.4.0

This yields a route table that looks OK.

Destination net/address   Gateway address      Flags RefCnt  Use Iface 128.99.4.0                *                    UH    0         0 eth0
127.0.0.1                 *                    UH    0         0 lo

This looks OK, but a ping to 128.99.4.1 gives the following error:

ping: sendto: Network is unreachable

This should work though, becuase 128.99.4.1 is in the same subnet as
128.99.4.128 which is 128.99.4.0 and it is in the routing table.

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

From: [email-masked] (Mong-Chuan Sim)
Subject: How to install packages from b: drive (3 1/2") ???
Date: 1 Oct 1993 09:07:59 GMT

Hi,

        I'm having trouble installing packages from drive b:.  Everytime
I typed sysinstall -mount -X11, my computer look at the HD instead of
drive B:.  I suspect that my drive B is not properly mounted.  But how
to mount drive B ???

        Any Help is GREATLY appreciated ...  MANY MANY thanks in
advance...

__ Jeff SIM
--
            /\
            \/
   ,    *   /\ 
  /|     \ /  \ 

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

Crossposted-To: comp.windows.x,comp.windows.x.i386unix,comp.os.linux.help
From: [email-masked] (travis jensen)
Subject: Problem with system freezing while using X-win
Date: 1 Oct 93 03:17:31 MDT

I had an interesting problem begin this week.  When I
am running X (XF_86mono, olvm) my system will die.
What happens is nothing.  The screen and keyboard are
completely frozen.  What makes this problem so interesting
is that is started recently and I haven't made any
changes to any of my X window files.

I know this isn't a lot of information, but does anybody
have *any* idea what could be happening?

BTW, I am running Linux 0.99p12 and Xfree86 v1.3 (from
the SLS v1.03 release) on a Packard Bell 486dx-33 (Legend
Supreme) with a Video-7 SVGA card.

Oh, and sorry if this doesn't really belong in c.o.l., but
I'm not sure if it has something to do with my linux setup
or not.

Thanks in advance,

Travis

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

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

From: [email-masked] (laurent vallee)
Subject: Trouble installing Linux on IBM PS1
Date: 1 Oct 1993 12:40:33 GMT

Hello,

Last week, I have tried to install Linux SLS 1.03 on a IBM PS1 (486DX)
for a friend. But it failed because of the hard disk. Linux told it was
not a proper disk.

I don't know well IBM machines and I have seen anything about that in the
faq. Linux works well on my PC. So, if anybody has encounter the same problem,
please tell me what is the solution.

-- 
+-------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+
+ Laurent VALLEE    | fan of Masamune Shirow + email : [email-masked]  +
+ 74D, rue Lecourbe | fan of Macross         + vocal : (33) 1 47 34 23 56 +
+ 78520 LIMAY       | fan of Silent Mobius   + fax   : (33) 1 30 98 40 52 +
+ FRANCE            |                        +                            +
+-------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+

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

From: [email-masked] (David Rensin)
Subject: undump for Ultrix
Date: 1 Oct 1993 12:20:57 GMT

        Very recently I got undump for Sun 4's to correctly create binaries 
of my perl scripts. I am happy. Does anyone know of undump code for Ultrix ?
I have a Decstation that I want to "compile" stuff on.

                -thanks,
                - dave :)

 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dave Rensin
[email-masked]
College Of Engineering, University of Maryland
(will hack Perl code for food) :)
(I'm a JAPH and damn proud of it!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc.help,comp.os.linux
From: [email-masked] (Nicola Pedrozzi)
Subject: Re: WHAT HAVE I TO DO TO SET UP THE .PROFILE
Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1993 12:30:53 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Bryan E. Glancey Jr) writes:
|> Rachid BELMOUHOUB <[email-masked]> ([email-masked]) wrote:
|> : Hi,
|> :  I have succefully now installed the SLS 1.03 release, on my 486DX50 clone,
|> :  I went through the Linux user's guide in search of informations about how to
|> :  configur my system but haven't found lot of things about the file .profile
|> :  I tryed to set the PATH environment variable to run X11, I did like in my
|> :  .cshrc file on a sun at work but after sourcing the .profile, I have run
|> :  printenv and none of the changes I've made was taken, I tryed unset PATH
|> :  and I had an answer that the systen can't unset PATH. Is there any document
|> :  that explains how to do this, or any one here that could help me.
|> 
|> :  Thanx
|> 
|> :  Rachid 
|> :  
|> 
|> 
|> 
|> 
|>      ME TO!! Also, any information anyone can give me on which are
|> the auto running shell files (I am used to the .cshrc and .login) would
|> be apreciated.
|> 
|> 
|>              Bryan Glancey
|>              [email-masked]
|> 

The .profile file (or the .login) starts once at login time.
The .cshrc starts each time you start a new shell.
If you want to start X11 at login time insert the line 'startx' in
your .profile.

I hope this was helpfull, 
Bye, have a nice one 
                        Nicola Pedrozzi 

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

** 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
******************************