Subject: Linux-Development Digest #232
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 94 01:13:07 EDT

Linux-Development Digest #232, Volume #2         Tue, 27 Sep 94 01:13:07 EDT

Contents:
  Re: Linux on CD (Kevin J. Butler)
  Re: Linux on CD (Pete Chown)
  Q: mylex dce376 eisa scsi controller (Peter Gerhard)
  Re: [STATUS] Linus Floppy Driver Development (Alain Knaff)
  Re: Support for third IDE drive using 2nd IDE controller? (Carlos Dominguez)
  Re: DMA problems on Dell XPS-90 (Robert Pyle)
  Re: ncr53c810, Linux, SCSI drive appears multiple times (Mika Kuoppala)
  Dawicontrol (AMD SCSI chipset) driver for Linux ? (Felix v.Leitner)
  Re: Cant mount /dev/mitsumi_cd with kernel 1.1.45 (Stephane Boyer)
  Re: Multiprocessing Pentium Systems (Frank Lofaro)
  Re: Source Code (Christian Jachmann)
  Re: svgalib problem (Jeff "Obik" Epler)
  Re: [STATUS] Linus Floppy Driver Development (Rob Janssen)
  Re: How to use a host as a router - READ THIS (Jay Ashworth)
  Re: integer sizes was Re: Alpha Linux (Kent A Vander Velden)

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

From: [email-masked] (Kevin J. Butler)
Subject: Re: Linux on CD
Date: 26 Sep 94 21:10:56 GMT

[email-masked] (Pete Chown) writes:

>If you have an IBM mainframe to spare, and run MVS on it, you can set
>it up to move files to slower discs or to tape if they haven't been
>used for a while.  But they remain in the catalogue and are moved back
>invisibly when you next use them.

>This, IMO, is the sort of thing that is required here.
Exactly.

A multi-tiered (secondary) storage sol'n:
disk
compressed disk
cd  (if avail)
tape  (if avail)

complications arise w/ cd/tape, because they are removable--you end up
interrupting to tell the operator "Insert [media] volume X..."
But hey--its cheaper than robot mounted tapes, etc.  ;-)

Anyone working on anything like this???

kb
-- 
Kevin Butler            [email-masked]                  8-)
This is a sample .sig file!

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

From: [email-masked] (Pete Chown)
Subject: Re: Linux on CD
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 1994 16:26:58 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] writes:

> What I think (for what it's worth) would be useful would be
> the ability to merge the CD-ROM's directory with the HD's and
> the HD's files would take precedence.  That way if you want to
> make a change or just want the speed of the HD you could copy
> the file(s) to the HD in the same spot (directory and file name).
> Just a vague thought...

If you have an IBM mainframe to spare, and run MVS on it, you can set
it up to move files to slower discs or to tape if they haven't been
used for a while.  But they remain in the catalogue and are moved back
invisibly when you next use them.

This, IMO, is the sort of thing that is required here.  When you use a
file on the CD, it gets copied to your hard drive.  If you don't use a
file for a week (for example) and it is identical to one on the CD, it
gets deleted.

This is also a good way of implementing compressed file systems -
instead of having the overhead of compression whenever you use a file,
you just compress files that have been unused for a week.  When they
are next used you uncompress them and leave them uncompressed; if they
are unused for a week again, they will get recompressed.

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

From: pge@aifbmozart (Peter Gerhard)
Subject: Q: mylex dce376 eisa scsi controller
Date: 26 Sep 1994 19:34:00 GMT

hello
does a driver exist for the mylex
dce376 eisa scsi controller 
besides the WD emulation

regards
peter

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

From: knaff@ngulu (Alain Knaff)
Subject: Re: [STATUS] Linus Floppy Driver Development
Date: 26 Sep 1994 14:00:08 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked]

[email-masked] wrote:

: <[email-masked]> writes:
: > 
: > The basic problem is that the floppy drive in no way notifies the
: > rest of the system when a disk has been inserted.  This means that
: > the floppy drive must be polled periodically so as to notice when
: > a disk appears.  This is not impossible, as a test already exists
: >
: > ------------------------------------------------------------------
: > David C. Niemi (SLMA, Herndon, Virginia, USA)    [email-masked]
: > Know the difference between the color of the wine and the color of
: > the glass.  (Jalaluddin Rumi)
: > ------------------------------------------------------------------
: > 
: Since when does the drive not notify the system of a disk change....
: one of the big features of the 1.2 and 1.44 drives is the "DISK CHANGE LINE" 
: that tells you if a floppy has been changed since the drive was last selected!
 Yes, but what we need to know is not when the floppy has been
changed, but rather when it is inserted. The DISK CHANGE LINE is set
when the floppy is _removed_ not when it is inserted. It is cleared
when a disk is in the drive _and_ a seek is done. Thus, in order to
detect a disk _insertion_ the drive has to be seeked endlessly. If the
period of the poll is too small, the noise gets annoying, if it is too
long the feature gets useless.

: About the only use of this line that I've ever seen is in FastBack for DOS... 
: so that FastBack can start immediatly writing to a disk as soon as it has been 
: inserted... I have no idea what port or bit this line is visible on... but it 
: is available somewhere out there is I/O land......
 Hmm, maybe FastBack is already issuing the read/write command before
the disk is inserted? In that case, the floppy disk controller waits
on its own until a disk is inserted before executing the command. This
feature could not be used "as is" in Linux, because only one drive at
a time may be monitored that way, and many machines have several
drives attached to them. Moreover, the drive motor would have to be
spinning while waiting. For a backup program, these limitations are
ok, because it knows where to expect the disk, and because usually the
waiting period is not that long.

 Alain,

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

From: [email-masked] (Carlos Dominguez)
Subject: Re: Support for third IDE drive using 2nd IDE controller?
Date: 26 Sep 1994 11:56:01 -0400

David Simmons ([email-masked]) wrote:

: Is there any possible way to support more than two IDE hard drives
: in Linux?  I want to use the second IDE controller in a Gateway
: machine (it's ISA, the first one is a PCI) to put a third drive on.
: The bios recognizes the third drive properly...

Get the atdisk2 patches off of sunsite. They will enable support of
a second AT-IDE controller card.

At home I have the ftp site maintained by the author Delman Lee, with
kernel diffs up to and including rev 1.1.51

email me if you have any other questions.

-- 
  __  __   __ | .__.  __. ::::  Carlos Dominguez - proprietor - sysadmin  
 |    __| |   | |  | |__  ::::  [email-masked]
 |__ |__| |   | |__| .__| ::::  Basselope *nix systems
  ---------------------------   Internet services consulting is our forte

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

From: [email-masked] (Robert Pyle)
Crossposted-To: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
Subject: Re: DMA problems on Dell XPS-90
Date: 27 Sep 1994 01:04:53 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Steve Kann) says:
>
>I have been having problems with the DMA system on DELL XPS-90 machines.
>
>I run Linux on them, 1 of them is a "server" of sorts, the other 20
>serve as dual-purpose Xterminals/Dos workstations.
>
>I am no DMA expert, but I have been getting errors from the two main DMA
>devices on the systems: namely the floppy driver, and the lance ethernet
>driver (I have AT-1500's).

Try flashing to the A04 BIOS. There is an issue with the GAT (guaranteed access
time) on the PCI bus that is the likely culprit - the A04 BIOS fixes this. The BIOS is 
available by anonymous FTP to dell1.us.dell.com as \bbsfiles\bios\p90a04.exe. 

 Regards,
 Robert Pyle
 Dell Online Services

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

From: [email-masked] (Mika Kuoppala)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Re: ncr53c810, Linux, SCSI drive appears multiple times
Date: 25 Sep 1994 20:49:09 +0200

Adrian Miranda ([email-masked]) wrote:
: I have an NCR53c810 SCSI controller card, and a PCI bus machine.  I'm
: using the Slackware Linux NCR boot disk.  After much pain and misery,
: I got the Linux kernel to see the NCR controller and the SCSI drive.
: The problem is that it thinks I have 7 identical disks, it seems to
: see the same drive on every possible SCSI id.  I can partition the
: disk with fdisk, but when I go into the Slackware setup, it apparently
: sees all the ghost disks, and dies.

I think that in SCSI-Howto there was something said about this. If i remember
correctly, this is because you might have overlapping id addresses. Your 
host's id address is same as your drive's. Try to change the jumper settings.

Please look at SCSI-Howto. There might be more info on this.
 
--
Mika Kuoppala                                   
Evitech                                         [email-masked]
Espoo-Vantaa Institute Of Technology

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

From: [email-masked] (Felix v.Leitner)
Subject: Dawicontrol (AMD SCSI chipset) driver for Linux ?
Date: 27 Sep 1994 01:29:58 GMT

Hi folks,

I am looking for SCSI support for Linux for the AMD SCSI chipset.

I have a board here (from Dawicontrol), but I have no informations about the
board and the Dawicontrol hotline was wrong (German telco told me there was no
such number). Is somebody working on that driver or does someone know where
I can get specs ?  I don't really want to disassembler the DOS ASPI drivers.

Felix

-- 
Felix von Leitner, Gervinusstrasse 22, 10629 Berlin, Germany; +49-30-32700270
"Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk ?"

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

From: [email-masked] (Stephane Boyer)
Subject: Re: Cant mount /dev/mitsumi_cd with kernel 1.1.45
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 1994 22:30:13 GMT

Aapo Meili ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Bob Ashmore ([email-masked]) wrote:
: : I have a Gateway 2000 4DX2 66V with a mitsumi cd
: : which works OK with Kernel 1.1.0 but when I installed 
: : kernel 1.1.45 it will not mount. It gives the error on 
: : boot;
: : /dev/mitsumi_cd is not a valid block device.
: : and if I try to mount it manually it gives the error;
: : /dev/mitsumi_cd no such device or address.
: : All is OK if I go back to Kernel 1.1.0.
: : Has anybody any Ideas 
: : PS I did say yes to mitsumi when running make config!

: : Bob Ashmore.

: I have the same problem.
: When booting the mitsumi is recognized but not mounted.
: With 1.1 kernel everything went fine.
: Interupt and address are set well.

in the fstab change "defaults" to "ro"  for the cdrom entry

and when mounting from the command-line add "-o ro" as in 

mount -t iso9660 -o ro /dev/mcd /cdrom

:    Aapo Meili

: -------------------------------+------------------------------------------------
:                                |    Tel:      +41-1-465 3522
:    Alcatel STR AG              |    Fax:      +41-1-465 3525
:    Aapo Meili (3.364)                |    X.400:    C=ch ADMD=arcom PRMD=alcatel
:    Friesenbergstr. 75          |              S=meili G=aapo
:    CH 8055 Zurich              |    X.25:     0228-4795123920::A_MEILI
:                                |    InterNet: [email-masked]
: -------------------------------+------------------------------------------------

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

From: [email-masked] (Frank Lofaro)
Subject: Re: Multiprocessing Pentium Systems
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 94 03:21:31 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Huw Leonard) writes:
>In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Mark Bolzern) writes:
>>>I've just seen some new dual processor pentium systems in Computer
>>>Shopper.  They look swell for the money, but there isn't a single OS
>>>that can take advantage of them.  Anybody have any thoughts about how
>>>hard it might be to make Linux one of the first OS's to take advantage
>>>of these systems?
>
>>Not quite true... SCO MPX will work with many of them.  But it would still
>>be good to have Linux available......
>
>WinNT works well on many multi-processor systems. IBM seems to be on the verge 
>of releasing an SMP OS/2, as well. The problem, as I understand it, is that 
>there is no firm multi-processor standard yet. The problem with working up an 
>SMP or MPX version of Linux would be having to support all of the wierd 
>variations of the architecture. Perhaps when manufacturers have a consistent 
>standard, multi-processor Linux would be more feasable.
>
>Is this opinion incorrect? Comments?
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>Huw Leonard - Speaking only for himself

Linux should start supporting SMP now.
The commerical OS's have already, and they aren't anywhere near as 
good as UNIX or Linux.
We are supposed to be ahead of, not behind commercial operating systems.
Linux is a hacker's OS, and it should be developed as hacker's would, 
trying innovative approaches, not always trying to go with what is stable 
and standardized. If people want that, and Linux they can use the 
non-development kernels, but as for the rest of us, now is a good time 
to start broadening Linux's base. It already has made a powerful impact 
deep into the x86 world, so work in broadening its usefulneess is a good 
idea.

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

From: [email-masked] (Christian Jachmann)
Subject: Re: Source Code
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 1994 20:01:00 GMT

Matt Fredrick Kraft ([email-masked]) wrote:

:       could anyone tell me where I can get the orig. Source code for linux 
:       I need an FTP sight with Source and Docs. availiable. Some ambitious fri        ends of mine and I are going to try to port Linux to Power Mac Bin for a        science Fair project. Thanks in Advance. 
:                                               Matt Kraft
:                                               University of Louisville
What do you think of ?
The kernel code or the various programms ?
Have a look to: ftp.cdrom.com    /pub/linux/Slackware_Sources (or so)   
Many programs/sources are found in GNU directories.
Just have a look around.

-- 
-cj

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

From: [email-masked] (Jeff "Obik" Epler)
Subject: Re: svgalib problem
Date: 26 Sep 1994 16:18:13 GMT

[email-masked] (Aulas) writes:

[trying to compile a test program from svgalib]
>$ gcc -o test1 test1.c -lm
>/tmp/cca01261.o: Undefined symbol _vga_init referenced from text segment

Try this instead:
gcc -o test1 test1.c -lm -lvga
*OR*
gcc -o test1 test1.c -lm /usr/local/src/svgalib/libvga.a
                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This is where
ever your libvga.a file is, probably different on your system.  Only
if you haven't installed libvga in /usr/local/lib yet
*Or Maybe*
gcc -o test1 test1.c -lm -L/usr/local/lib -lvga
                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ if, for some reason,
/usr/local/lib isn't in your default linker path.  (I'd be surprised
if this was the case)

Just like you have to include a special library when you use math
functions, you need to include one when you use vga graphics.

(There are also libraries for gdbm, curses/termcap, bsd compatibility,
X stuff, termnet, ...)

>(the -lm is used for the linking properly <math.h>)

And -lvga (or the other alternatives) is for linking in the svga
library, for when you use stuff from <vga.h> .  You need -lvgagl if
you use <vgagl.h>, too.

>If anyone can help, please answer in this newsgroup, or
>via email at [email-masked].

Posted and Cc:'d.

>thanx

Welcome
Jeff
--
____ "And if I smile please tell me some bad news
\BI/  before I laugh and act like a fool"
 \/            -The Who "Behind Blue Eyes"
grep -vi obik       Running Linux 1.1 -- Free Unix for 386+ machines

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

From: [email-masked] (Rob Janssen)
Subject: Re: [STATUS] Linus Floppy Driver Development
Reply-To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 1994 18:01:55 GMT

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] writes:

>Since when does the drive not notify the system of a disk change....
>one of the big features of the 1.2 and 1.44 drives is the "DISK CHANGE LINE" 
>that tells you if a floppy has been changed since the drive was last selected!

>About the only use of this line that I've ever seen is in FastBack for DOS... 

This line is used all the time.  DOS will discard the in-memory copies of
disk buffers when it sees a change on this line.
Sometimes you will see machines in which the sequence:

(insert disk)
C> DIR A:
(swap disk)
C> DIR A:

produces two times the same directory output (of the first disk).  This
is because the changeline logic is defective or mis-configured (jumper
on the diskdrive)

Rob
-- 
=========================================================================
| Rob Janssen                | AMPRnet:   [email-masked]           |
| e-mail: [email-masked]     | AX.25 BBS: PE1CHL@PI8UTR.#UTR.NLD.EU     |
=========================================================================

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

From: [email-masked] (Jay Ashworth)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.admin,alt.uu.comp.os.linux.questions
Subject: Re: How to use a host as a router - READ THIS
Date: 26 Sep 1994 12:13:08 -0400

[email-masked] (Frank van Maarseveen) writes:
>I saw a posting in comp.os.solaris recently about assigning multiple
>IP addresses to the same adapter! (on a SparcStation with Solaris 2.x)

I'll reply to this, since the original posting was mine, I guess...

>This was done in order to route something across the same physical network
>without the need for an extra adapter. The second "virtual" adapter was
>referred to as le0:1, the ":1" part appended to the original adapter name.
>Though a bit unusual, there's nothing wrong with this I think.
>I suppose there are no plans yet for implementing this feature in linux.

This is, of course, the opposite of the situation we were originally
talking about, the same address on two different interfaces.  This one
here is useful for running one machine with multiple names as well.

I've been asked to condense my postings about using Linux as a router for
the Networking HOWTO by it's editor; I'll be scribbling today.

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth        High Technology Systems Comsulting             Ashworth
Designer              Linux: The Choice of a GNU Generation       & Associates
ka1fjx/4                                                  
[email-masked]   "Hey! Do any of you guys know how to Madison?"  813 790 7592

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

From: [email-masked] (Kent A Vander Velden)
Crossposted-To: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: integer sizes was Re: Alpha Linux
Date: 27 Sep 94 03:35:51 GMT

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (GARY K BARNES) writes:

>Just to relate this to linux a little, cracking a passwd file on my
>386dx25 Linux box took 5hrs 40mins to do the 1st (gecos) pass, whereas
>it took 13mins 25secs to do the same pass on an Alpha running OSF/1 2.1.

  Great.

-- 
Kent Vander Velden
[email-masked]

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

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End of Linux-Development Digest
******************************