Subject: Linux-Development Digest #259
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 94 11:13:16 EDT

Linux-Development Digest #259, Volume #2          Mon, 3 Oct 94 11:13:16 EDT

Contents:
  Re: Report on gcc with P5 optimizations (Eric J. Schwertfeger)
  Re: ext2fs vs. Berkeley FFS (Bill Broadley)
  VESA and SVGAlib? (Andy Bailey)
  Re: Need MOTIF Library Clone (Alexandre Naaman)
  Re: [STATUS] Linus Floppy Driver Development (David Holland)
  Re: Linux Device Driver info needed (Rob Janssen)
  Re: Bug in MSDOS fs ? (Bruno Haible)
  ifmail25 trap.c (Champ Clark)
  Re: [DOSEMU] Running dosemu disables serial port!! (Byron A Jeff)
  Re: What GUI to write for? (Jinwoo Shin)
  Re: What GUI to write for? (Hugh Strong)
  Re: An idea: Weighting the cache per device (Michael Faurot)
  Re: IBM Token Ring Support? (Robert Kroes)
  Which kernel suports two ethernet cards ? (-- Mascaraque --)

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

From: [email-masked] (Eric J. Schwertfeger)
Subject: Re: Report on gcc with P5 optimizations
Date: 2 Oct 1994 16:55:09 GMT

Erann Gat ([email-masked]) wrote:
: FWIW, FYI, ETC:

: Several people asked me to report my experiences using gcc-2.5.8 with
: pentium optimizations.  I got the version from sunsite, which appears
: to be slightly different from the version from intel.  (For one thing,
: the intel version claims to be revision 2.4.0.)  It compiled without a
: hitch, and the kernel recompiled OK using -O2 but not -O4.  This is
: consistent with earlier reports.  Bootup dies during delay loop
: calibration.

That's true for pentium machines, my 486 did it just fine.  I think it has
something to do with the pentium's dual execution units.  FWIW, -O4 worked
fine on my machine except for TCP/IP, which wouldn't work in at least some
cases.

-O3 however, worked fine.
 
: Unlike earlier reports, I perceive no performance change using the new
: compiler.  However, much of what I am doing is memory-intensive, and so
: I would not expect to see much speedup.

I see about a 3% speed difference in most cases.

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

From: [email-masked] (Bill Broadley)
Subject: Re: ext2fs vs. Berkeley FFS
Date: 2 Oct 1994 22:44:49 GMT

I'd be interested in any documentation for the EXT2 based file system
of linux.  FFS papers are easy to find.

It would seem that with increasingly intelligent scsi drives, and
increasingly large on disk caches.  (1MB aren't uncommon) that
it isn't as necessary to know the hardware details of a drive
because they are hidden from you by onboard cache policies, variable
recording rates etc.

Back when drives has no cache using the geometry of a drive was a big
speed win, but I suspect it's less so today.

--
Bill Broadley           [email-masked]           UCD Math Sys-Admin
Linux is great.         http://ucdmath.ucdavis.edu/~broadley            PGP-ok

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

Subject: VESA and SVGAlib?
From: [email-masked] (Andy Bailey)
Date: 2 Oct 94 11:42:52 EDT

 I have what might be a dumb question, about SVGAlib and video modes. I don't
know diddly about programming graphics drivers, but here goes.
  With most DOS applications, namely graphics viewers, instead of specifying
the drive specific to my card, I simply use the VESA driver, and voila, all my
cardsmodes are recognized. Would this be possible for SVGAlib? I have overheard
bits of conversation among Linux developers about avoiding making BIOS calls (
I guess to ensure portability to other processors). Is the case the same here?

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

From: [email-masked] (Alexandre Naaman)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: Need MOTIF Library Clone
Date: 30 Sep 1994 21:50:22 GMT

C.W. Southern ([email-masked]) wrote:
: I am looking for MOTIF libraries.  I don't need MOTIF, just the libraries.
: I once saw that someone metion that there where some MOTIF Library clones
: out there.  Does anyone know about this?  Can anyone help.

There is a MOTIF clone being worked on as we speak. Check out the Projects-Map
file for details (on sunsite.unc.edu: /pub/Linux/Incoming or /pub/Linux/docs (I 
think)).

Ciao,

Alex.

--
Alexandre Naaman                    |  Try out my home page :
Mechanical Engineering Student      |  http://www.polymtl.ca:8001/zuse
Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal     |       /naaman/Mosaic/home.html

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

Subject: Re: [STATUS] Linus Floppy Driver Development
From: [email-masked] (David Holland)
Date: 29 Sep 94 22:39:58

[email-masked]'s message of Mon, 26 Sep 94 16:45:48 PDT said:

 > Try this on for size.....  New filesystem type = AMFS (AutoMount
 > File System) Attempt to mount this file system to a device and
 > mountpoint always succeeds When mountpoint is accessed then AMFS
 > checks for floppy available and what type of floppy... The only
 > question would be: Build FS support into AMFS for each file system
 > type desired... or find existing kernel FS support routines

This is not entirely correct. Removable media, such as floppies, are
also changeable. Any such scheme should support multiple volumes. That
is, look in /floppies/foo to get your disk "foo", /floppies/bar to get
"bar". Ideally a reference to a disk not presently available should
cause a message on the system console asking for the disk to be
inserted.

Thus you could, for instance, cp /floppies/foo/* /floppies/bar and
expect it to work if you have only one floppy drive.

--
   - David A. Holland          | -- "Do you have a moment?"   -- "Yes.
     [email-masked] | Unfortunately, it's a moment of inertia."

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

From: [email-masked] (Rob Janssen)
Subject: Re: Linux Device Driver info needed
Reply-To: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 2 Oct 1994 22:42:51 GMT

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (William Shubert) writes:

>   This is probably a FAQ, but I couldn't find this newsgroup's FAQ on rtfm
>or anywhere else, so here goes...
>   I need to write a device driver for Linux.  I looked through the
>src/linux/drivers directory, and found some good examples but no
>documentation.  Is there any documentation on the linux kernel anywhere?

There exists a "Kernel Hackers Guide" that you should be able to find
in the documentation tree of major Linux sites.  (filename is khg*, I think)

>   If there isn't, could somebody point me to a device driver that accesses
>a device on the memory bus by doing memory accesses instead of using the
>outb/inb calls?  All the standard drivers seemed to use the I/O bus.  I
>suppose that the hardware I'll be using could be modified to look for I/O
>accesses instead of memory accesses (it'll be a custom card), but I'd
>prefer to access it as memory.

Devices that are memory mapped include the video card, and the WD80x3
ethernet cards.  You can look at the drivers for those.

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

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

From: [email-masked] (Bruno Haible)
Subject: Re: Bug in MSDOS fs ?
Date: 3 Oct 1994 00:13:14 GMT

Per Holm <[email-masked]> wrote:
> There seem to be a bug in the msdos fs..
>
> I have a 250 MB dos partition (formattet with MSDOS 5), and when mounting 
> this partition under linux, I'm not able to read a file using the last 
> cluster on the disk...   It causes an I/O error...
>
> There is not any problems reading the same file when booting plain dos..
>
> The error has been in the kernel since 1.1.29, and may be in older versions.

The problem is that the DOS partition has an odd number of sectors.
Linus calls it ``the old "not a whole buffer" problem''. In the days
of 0.99.15f, I developed the following patch. Anyone can do better than
that?

                    Bruno Haible
                    [email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Champ Clark)
Subject: ifmail25 trap.c
Date: 1 Oct 1994 10:04:02 -0400

        Greetings....

        I am attempting to compile ifmail25,  and have hit some errors
        ,  namely in iflib/trap.c .   Seems that it gets a "context"
        error (sorry,  I am at work, and cannot see the errors).
        This was compiled with slakeware 2.0.0...  

        Any ideas would be helpful

-- 

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

From: [email-masked] (Byron A Jeff)
Subject: Re: [DOSEMU] Running dosemu disables serial port!!
Date: 1 Oct 1994 13:18:52 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
Joel M. Hoffman <[email-masked]> wrote:
-I'm running DOSEMU 0.52, and it's GREAT, except that when DOSEMU is
-active on the console, nothing else can use the serial port!  If I
-have kermit or rz/sz running on the serial port, communication simply
-stops.  If I don't --- even worse --- mgetty goes crazy.  Incoming
-FAX's and logins are not processed.
-
-I've already taken all the serial lines out of dosemu.conf.  Is this a
-known problem?  Has it been fixed in any of the pre_53 releases?  Is
-there a workaround?

Just a thought. is that serial port at COM4? That address often conflicts
with some ports on SVGA cards. And DOSEMU runs the VGA BIOS.

Just a thought.

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

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

From: [email-masked] (Jinwoo Shin)
Crossposted-To: comp.windows.x.intrinsics,gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: What GUI to write for?
Date: 3 Oct 94 13:45:01 GMT

[email-masked] (Chris Toshok) writes:

> I don't think Athena or Motif is the answer.  One is absolutely ugly, and
>the other is absolutely overpriced (not free).  I for one would be willing
>to write some widgets for a GPLed widget set.

Yes, Motif is very ugly IMHO and I don't think Athena is overpriced at all :)
For me xview hits the spot. Code freely available, and its API is not too bad
and GUI is aesthetically pleasing in my eyes. Good example being workman.
-- 
Jinwoo Shin                             [email-masked]
System Administrator                    
Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center

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

From: [email-masked] (Hugh Strong)
Crossposted-To: comp.windows.x.intrinsics,gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: What GUI to write for?
Date: 3 Oct 1994 14:13:04 GMT

Marc Fraioli ([email-masked]) wrote:
: In article [email-masked],  [email-masked] (Marten Liebster) writes:
: >I want to write a X application or two.  At first they would be for 
: >personal use, but eventually I might make them availble for the 
: >public to use.
: >
: >I am not sure which GUI/toolkit to use.  It would be nice to keep it
: >portable to use under various UIs.  Do I have to use Xlib? or can I
: >write them using XView?
: >
: I have been pondering the same question for a while now.  Ideally, I
: would like to use Motif, as I already know it, it is pretty standard,
: and I like it.  Alas, it's not free.  I'm willing to pay for it for
: Linux, but most Linux users aren't.  I'd like to make my stuff accessible
: to as many people as possible-- that's why Linux has improved the way 
: it has.  XView is a definite possibility since it's a complete toolkit
: and it's free.  I find its look and feel somewhat ungainly though, and
: now that Sun is abandoning it in favor of CDE/Motif, it is dying a slow
: death.  There is also the Athena Widgets, which are free and relatively
: complete, but kind of ugly.  You can get a 3d version, but it is only
: partially 3d, and it appears not to have been worked on in a year or
: two.  Finally, I've been looking at the widgets from the Free Widget
: Foundation.  There are some very nice ones in the set, and they come
: with good examples.  Unfortunately, the look and feel is not uniform
: (some are Motif-like, some are Athena-like, and others are just out
: there), and the set of widgets available is not as comprehensive as
: Motif's.  Of course, there is also Stallman's recent note about Tk
: and the Scheme bindings available for it.  I'm no big fan of Scheme,
: however.  I'd prefer to stick with C or C++.  I'm not really interested
: in using Tcl either-- I want to use a compiled language for speed.
: I'm currently leaning towards FWF, and possibly writing a widget or
: two of my own to fill in some of what's missing.  I'd like to hear others' 
: thoughts on this though.

: Since I think this is a fairly important question, I'm adding 
: comp.windows.x.intrinsics and gnu.misc.discuss.

Check out several API kits on sunsite. The one I'm most aquainted
with is called wxWin, which is installed on my machine, although
I haven't played with it yet.  It's for building applications
for XView, Motif, and (Yes, it does do windows) Windows/WinNT.  It
looks impressive, and I may get around to using it someday. The toolkits
are in /pub/Linux/X11/devel, but one of the wxWin files is corrupted
and you'll have to go to the home for the complete package.

                                        -- Hugh Strong
                                        [email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Michael Faurot)
Subject: Re: An idea: Weighting the cache per device
Date: Thu, 29 Sep 1994 10:39:01 GMT

Gary Paul Gortmaker ([email-masked]) wrote:

:       I was thinking that a lot could be gained by putting some sort of
: sysop-configurable weighting factor on block devices with respect to
: file system caching. (via an ioctl() or whatever seems appropriate...)

[examples deleted]

: # Sets priority level of each block device with respect to buffer cache.
: # Parsed by /sbin/setcache at boot time.
: # A value of zero means "don't cache this device" and a maximum value
: # of 10 means "hold onto cached blocks from this device". In general,
: # give low numbers to fast devices, and high numbers to slow devices.
: # Default value is 5, assigned by the kernel.

: /dev/hda      4       # Fast IDE
: /dev/hdb      5       # Slower IDE
: /dev/sda      2       # Barracuda SCSI disk, faster than hda
: /dev/sdb      6       # Old SCSI disk, slower than hdb
: /dev/sr0      8       # Slow SCSI CD-ROM
: /dev/mcd      9       # Mitsumi CD-ROM, slower than the SCSI CD-ROM
: /dev/fd0      10      # Try to keep 3.5" floppy info (until ejected :-)
: /dev/fd1      0       # I only read 5.25" disks once, and then eject them.

: # End of /etc/blk.cache
: $

: Too difficult?  Is buffer.c already to ugly?  Featur-itis? 

No idea (not a developer) if this is feaseable or not.  However as an
admin, if something like this were available, I'd want a reporting tool
for the cache system to help me judge if tweaking of the cache with
the weighting factors was helping or not. 
-- 
+--------------------+----------------------------+--------------------------+
|   Michael Faurot   | [email-masked]    |      I don't like        |
|   ------- ------   | ...!netcomsv!phzzzt!mfaurot|      lima beans!!        |
+--------------------+--------------------+-------+--------------------------+

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

From: [email-masked] (Robert Kroes)
Subject: Re: IBM Token Ring Support?
Date: 2 Oct 1994 01:43:33 GMT

[email-masked] (Clarence Chu) writes:

> I would like to know whether IBM Token Ring Adaptor is
> being supported by Linux.  I don't find it in FreeBSD, and
> in hope that the device driver is in Linux.

There is an ALPHA driver available. I've been using the 1.1.49
kernel patch for the past few weeks, and it works great!

You can ftp the latest patch from aix13ps2.cc.kuleuven.ac.be (I
forget the exact directory).

NOTE: For ISA cards, make sure the shared RAM of your adapter (not 
----  the ROM address which you can set with the dipswitches!) is 
      located at 0xd0000, as this is hard-coded in the 
      linux-1.1.49-TR.diff.gz patch. Alternatively, you can edit 
      linux/drivers/net/ibmtr.c and change the two lines of hardcode 
      (from memory, look for 0xd0 & 0xd0000). I changed these to 
      0xd8 & 0xd8000 to suit my adapter...

Good luck...

-- 
-Robert Kroes-
[email-masked]

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

From: imascara@bosco (-- Mascaraque --)
Subject: Which kernel suports two ethernet cards ?
Date: Sat, 1 Oct 1994 10:49:15 GMT

 We have a Linux box as a file server (pcnfs server).
 At the time we are writing this message we want to connect it to
 other network so we need to install a second ethernet card.

 We have the following cards:
    WD 8013
    WD 8003 / NE1000 / NE2000

 Can anybody tell us the kernel we need ? ( we have read that some kernels do
 not suport more than one card )

 Thanks in anticipation. 

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

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