Subject: Linux-Development Digest #325
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 94 17:13:21 EDT

Linux-Development Digest #325, Volume #2         Mon, 17 Oct 94 17:13:21 EDT

Contents:
  Re: SCSI: ISA/VLB, what difference? (Joseph Stanley (Joe Wisniewski))
  Re: 1.1.53 Wont compile AHA152x.c (Earl A. Stutes)
  Re: We a FAQ: Linux vs. *BSD!!! (Jordan K. Hubbard)
  Re: We a FAQ: Linux vs. *BSD!!! (Jordan K. Hubbard)
  8-bit ASCII for comm. (Prof. Gavrie Philipson)
  Re: Adaptec AHA-2940 PCI SCSI card support.... (Scott Weinstein)
  Re: 3Com 509 Driver Problems - Any fixes - Help (John Gotts)
  Re: Bad code generated by gcc for strlen() call? (Andreas Schwab)
  Re: 1.1.54 won't compile (Bruno Cornec)
  Mosaic in XFree 3.1 (Jonathan E. Brickman)
  ftape FS? (Joel M. Hoffman)
  Enhanced IDE support? (Agthorr)
  Re: Mathematical functions with c (Shawn D. McPeek)
  Re: VESA and SVGAlib? (Kolbe Florian)
  Re: Adaptec addresses and numbers (Michael Blair Mathers)
  Re: clearing the screen in gcc (Mitchum DSouza)
  Re: ext2fs vs. Berkeley FFS (-Michael P. Lindner)

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

From: [email-masked] (Joseph Stanley (Joe) Wisniewski)
Subject: Re: SCSI: ISA/VLB, what difference?
Date: 17 Oct 1994 14:42:00 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] writes:
|>   Hi all!
|> 
|> I have a Buslogic BT445s VLB Hostadapter and use the buslogic driver
|> which now is part of the kernel :-)
|> Allthough there are no real complaints, I noticed after a while when
|> looking at the kernels bootmessage that the driver is detecting the card
|> as a ISA Model. A quick look in  the source showed me the possility to
|> override the detection, which I then tried.
|> Strange enough, a benchmark comparison between the ISA and the VLB
|> Version (using bonnie) showed nearly no difference with a slight
|> slowdown for the VLB version (I did 3 runs for each version, and the
|> difference lies above the statistical variation).
|> How can that be? Even if the transferrate is dominated by the speed of
|> the drive (a 500 Meg Fujitsu), which it shurely is, it is not that easy
|> to understand. 

I would guess that your processor has some sort of cache, either internal
or external. If the inner loops of the benchmark fit entirely within cache,
and you are not running heavy traffic on the ISA bus for network cards,
CD ROM interface, graphics, etc. than the only major traffic on the ISA
or VLB bus will be the SCSI hard disk. Even an ISA Buslogic can pump 10
megabytes/sec over an unloaded ISA bus, and that's the fastest transfer
possible for your SCSI drive. Now, if you run some software that puts a 
heavy load on the bus, you'll see ISA transfer drop off much worse than
VLB. 

-- 
  Joseph S. Wisniewski  |  The views expressed are purely my own, and do not
   Ford Motor Company   |  reflect those of the Ford Motor Company, or any of
    Project Sapphire    |  its affiliates.
[email-masked] |  "any color you want -- as long as it's black"

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

From: [email-masked] (Earl A. Stutes)
Subject: Re: 1.1.53 Wont compile AHA152x.c
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 23:38:26 GMT

>> Subject says it all. I get a GCC internal error on this file now.

>> Gcc2.6.0

This has been going on for several pathc levels.  I had the problem
back when the patch level was about 1.1.40 or so.  every now and then,
I try to build the whole kernel with 2.6.0 and it breaks on aha152x.c.
I switch my gcc symbolic link to 2.5.8, delete the .o file and finish
the build.  So, I am running 1.52 compiled mostly on 2.6.0 with a few
modules 2.5.8.  It has been working fine for me.   I could not see
anything obvious in aha152x.c that should be causing the problem.

=eas=
-- 
                         [email-masked]

Earl A. Stutes, Inc. Software Consulting                  phone (408) 448 1089
P.O. Box 35567                                            pager (408) 631 6937
Monte Sereno, CA 95303-5567          voice message pager 800/226 2165 ext 6937

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

From: [email-masked] (Jordan K. Hubbard)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.386bsd.development,comp.unix.bsd
Subject: Re: We a FAQ: Linux vs. *BSD!!!
Date: 17 Oct 1994 00:38:57 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Jesus Monroy Jr) writes:

                   please consider the damage that a newbie could
           do, if they answered the question.  That alone should
           convince you of the unsoundness of your idea. 

Newbies can do so much potential damage in general that I find it
really difficult to get particularly excited about this One Piddly
Little Issue.

           Yes, there is a big problem with this idea, but we have
           a bigger problem.  That is, I'm tired of agruing with
           you (and a hunderd) other converts (sp?).  I know for
           a fact I can't get you to do the 386bsd thing with me,
           so why should I bother.   By the same token, I am not
           going to allow you to "bad-mouth" 386bsd.  Given the
           oppertunity (sp?) I will continue.   You know my staying
           power in this issue and we won't have any winners in
           an on going "flame-war".   This is a good solution 
           so that we my go back to work.    Mind you, next week
           I'm interviewing for a job of about $70K.  I won't fight
           you, but I can sure make it so you can't win.... 

Whatever, Jesus.  I'm still just trying to get past the idea that
someone would pay you anything, much less $70K! :-)  Let us all
know the name of the company so we can avoid their stock!

           If you re-read my original statement, I said each appropriate
           group would maintain their respective portion of the FAQ.

I wasn't even responding to your message, sheesh!  Please read your messages
more carefully.

                                        Jordan

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

From: [email-masked] (Jordan K. Hubbard)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.386bsd.development
Subject: Re: We a FAQ: Linux vs. *BSD!!!
Date: 17 Oct 1994 00:42:54 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Jesus Monroy Jr) writes:
        [Blah blah blah]  Surprise!

Ok, Jesus - how about if you put up or shut up?  If you want this
FAQ so badly then YOU write the fecking thing!  Don't tell us you
don't have time and someone _else_ should do it, YOU do it!

                                        Jordan

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

Subject: 8-bit ASCII for comm.
From: [email-masked] (Prof. Gavrie Philipson)
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 1994 12:17:09 GMT

Hi,
Is there any way to display 8-bit ASCII on the Linux console?
This is important for communications (BBSes sending 8-bit character codes).
How can this be done? When I call PC-based BBSes from Linux, I just get rubbish
for >127 characters.

From the manual page of minicom, it seems that it can display 8-bit ASCII
(i.e., the standard PC character set.), but when trying this I get wrong
characters.

Thanks,

--
Gavrie Philipson

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

From: [email-masked] (Scott Weinstein)
Subject: Re: Adaptec AHA-2940 PCI SCSI card support....
Date: 13 Oct 1994 06:22:11 GMT

>>>>> "Mark" == Mark A Horton KA4YBR <[email-masked]> writes:

Mark> Edward S Peschko ([email-masked]) wrote: : hey all
Mark> --

Mark> : Any plans (*please*) for developing support for the
Mark> AHA-2940 PCI SCSI : board??

Mark>   Why don't you ask your friendly Adaptec company why
Mark> they won't release their specs so a driver can be written
Mark> for them for FREE?  Don't blame Linux and its developers for
Mark> the failings and short-sightedness of a certain hardware
Mark> manufacturer.

What are you talking about? Just call up adaptec and ask for
documentation. I did and they sent me a thick Technical reference
manual for my AHA-1740. Although I'm not a driver writer this book
looks like it has every thing a driver writer would need. Drivers for
the 2[7-9]40 are being written and I just heard that the 2940 is now
bootable? 

Mark>   I just tried to send an email to the Adaptec people
Mark> about the 2940 support (I have a 1500 system network deal
Mark> brewing and about to install and would like to use their
Mark> equipment, but it looks like NCR or BusLogic is going to get
Mark> it instead - Adaptec's loss!)  BTW: this is the response I
Mark> got from them :

Mark> Thank you for your message regarding "2940 support for
Mark> Linux".
Mark> Currently, your e-mail request cannot be forwarded to the
Mark> appropriate individuals within Adaptec. At the current time,
Mark> the Technical Support group does not offer Internet support.
Mark> In the interim, the following alternate resources may be of
Mark> assistance to you:

Mark> Sales: (800) 959-SCSI

Mark> Technical Support Voice (408) 934-7274 Technical Support
Mark> BBS: (408) 945-7727 Technical Support FAX: (408) 945-6776
Mark> Interactive Fax System: (408) 957-7150 Literature Hotline:
Mark> (800) 934-2766 Software Order Line: (800) 442-7274

Big deal, they don't have email support, wow, 1-800 numbers, what a
shame. Come on, adaptec support is excellent.

Mark> So there you have it... call your vendor and
Mark> complain... don't complain about Linux not supporting YOU,
Mark> complain about your hardware vendor not supporting YOU!  :)

Yes, do this, support will come if there is a market for it, but not
overnight.

--
Scott Weinstein
University at Albany

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

From: [email-masked] (John Gotts)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Re: 3Com 509 Driver Problems - Any fixes - Help
Date: 17 Oct 1994 15:33:04 GMT

The author of the 3C501 driver strongly disrecommends the card's use.  Why
bother when you can buy a decent ethernet card for at most $50.00 second hand.

--
John Gotts ([email-masked])  73 de N8QDW   URL: http://www.umich.edu/~jgotts
GE -d+ H s+: g-- p? !au a-- w+ v C++++ UL++++ P+>++ L++ 3- E--- N+++ K- !W M--
 V-- -po+(---) Y+ t+ 5 j+ R- G? tv b+ D B- e+ u--- h f+ r n- y? <Linux rules!>

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

From: [email-masked] (Andreas Schwab)
Subject: Re: Bad code generated by gcc for strlen() call?
Date: 17 Oct 1994 14:17:34 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Dan Swartzendruber) writes:

|> With the input passed to blah(), the loop should never iterate even
|> once, since 0 is not less than -10.  And in fact, if I change the
|> call of strlen() to xstrlen(), which causes it to call the wrapper
|> function, it works correctly.  Examining the disassembled code seems
|> to indicate that gcc is generating incorrect code for the strlen()
|> code generated in the for loop.  I'm running gcc 2.5.8 on Linux.

Note that strlen() returns size_t which is always unsigned, so that
0 < (size_t)-10.
-- 
Andreas Schwab                                      "And now for something
[email-masked]              completely different"

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

From: [email-masked] (Bruno Cornec)
Subject: Re: 1.1.54 won't compile
Date: 17 Oct 1994 15:44:08 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Karsten Steffens) writes:
> Hello,
> 
>       I'm running into problems with the compilation of 1.1.54. 
> Compilation fails in /usr/src/linux/fs/binfmt_elf.c with the following
> errors:
[...]

The same here. I apply the patch with patch -p0 BTW.
The solution was to edit the file and remove all the end, because it
was duplicated (don't ask me why -:)
Then no problem to compile and also to execute. 

Hope that helps.
--
Bruno.

[email-masked] --- [email-masked] --- Lover of Andromede
Beatrice, Early Music, Linux, Recorder and Segolene (not in that order)

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

From: [email-masked] (Jonathan E. Brickman)
Subject: Mosaic in XFree 3.1
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 12:38:15 GMT

Has anybody got Mosaic to run well in XFree 3.1?  2.4 takes forever to 
load (and won't accept -geometry), and TueV (2.4.2) bombs the system; has 
anybody recompiled under 3.1?  I couldn't find a copy via ftp...

--
||Jonathan E. Brickman
-->  Want to have a good time driving yourself crazy, but also have the
-->  best PC Net connection in the world?  Try Linux :)
[email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Joel M. Hoffman)
Subject: ftape FS?
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 1994 01:57:05 GMT

Now that I have a tape drive up and running, I was wondering if it
would be possible to put some kind of FS on it.  The idea would be to
use the tape as an archive.  I have lots of large files that I almost
never use, and so which I don't keep on my HD.  It would be very
convenient if I could access them by putting in the right tape.

Looking at the problem in all its generality, the idea would be to
implement a FS on a serial device.  I suppose "tar" is sort of like
that, but tar would be exceptionally ineffecient, because it has no
centralized directory information.   One thought that comes to mind is
a read-only FS, which would have directory information scattered
throughout the tape, so as to reduce unnecessary seeking.  A special
program would then be used to create the FS.

At any rate, this would allow, for example, one to put source code or
seldom-used libraries on tape, but still use them for a compile (sure,
it would take a LONG time, but it could be done.)  I think the entire
source tree for my current Linux installation would fit on one tape.
If it were made into an FS, I could always type "make xxx" to recreate
whatever I wanted.  Not speedy, but immensely useful.

To make better use of this, one would want a way of telling the kernel
to try to keep this particular information in the cache.  It would be
drop a page from the tape drive that's 5 minutes' seek time away just
to avoid using a few bytes of swap space, for example.

Comments? 

-Joel
([email-masked])
-- 
=============================================================================
|_|~~ Germany, Europe. 1944.    "The diameter of the bomb was 30 centimeters,
__|~| 16 Million DEAD.           and the diameter of its destruction, about 7
                                meters, and in it four killed and 11 wounded. 
 cnc  Bosnia, Europe. 1994.     And around these, in a larger circle of  pain
 cnc  HOW MANY MORE?          and time,  are scattered two  hospitals and one
                          cemetery.   But the young woman who was  buried  in
                    the place from where she came, at a distance of more than
             than 100 kilometers, enlarges the circle considerably.   And the 
      lonely man who is mourning her death in a distant  country incorporates
into the circle the whole world.  And I won't speak of the cry of the orphans
that reaches God's chair and from there makes the circle endless and godless."
=============================================================================
     Tell Clinton to stop the genocide:  [email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Agthorr)
Subject: Enhanced IDE support?
Date: 17 Oct 1994 19:47:33 GMT

Does Linux support Enhanced IDE controllers/drives?  I don't see any info on
it in the FAQ/HOWTO's...

-- Dan 

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

From: [email-masked] (Shawn D. McPeek)
Subject: Re: Mathematical functions with c
Date: 17 Oct 1994 16:05:46 GMT

Eberhard Moenkeberg ([email-masked]) wrote:

: n> Does anyone now which library i must link to use the definitions from
: n> /usr/include/math.h ???

: Yes. Ask the readers of C.O.L.help.

Hmm, this answer is quite peculiar.  If you know the answer, you should
post it instead of directing him elsewhere.  If you don't know the answer,
then the more correct response would have been " No. Ask the readers of
C.O.L.help. "  Some people's children, jeesh...

Shawn

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

From: [email-masked] (Kolbe Florian)
Subject: Re: VESA and SVGAlib?
Date: 14 Oct 1994 23:13:12 GMT

"...get something better". I got a Mach64 and it's not supported yet. Hmm.

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

From: [email-masked] (Michael Blair Mathers)
Subject: Re: Adaptec addresses and numbers
Date: 15 Oct 1994 03:49:49 GMT

:       I have been trying to pry some information out of Adaptec about
:       their 2940 cards and potential Linux support from them (Well, I
:       can dream, can't I?!) and just thought I'd share this set of 
:       phone numbers and addresses I got in return for my trouble.  
:       Maybe if enough people called and wrote, they might recognise
:       us.  (Am I dreaming again?)   - Mark

The Adaptec 274x 284x and 294x cards are essentially the same cards..  
Being the EISA, VLB, and PCI versions respectively.  Except for the 
different buses these cards work identically.  A driver is already written
that supports the 274x and 284x..   It does not support the 294x simply
because the PCI version just hasn't been implemented yet.  Try contacting
the author of the driver...   His driver can be ftp'ed from

ftp.cpsc.ucalgary.ca   

I'm sure his e-mail address is somewhere in the readme file..

-Mike 

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

From: [email-masked] (Mitchum DSouza)
Subject: Re: clearing the screen in gcc
Date: 17 Oct 1994 10:51:19 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Hans Petter
Fasteng) writes:
|> This my sound silly but I have never done this in unix (yet).
|> How can I clear the screen, and make the cursor apper at the upper left
|> corner of the screen?

I think 

        printf("\033[H\033[J");

should work on ANSI capable terminals.

Mitch

P.s. You may want to read the doccment  available on most X archives (for eg:)

Site:   sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk
Dir:    computing/graphics/systems/X11/pub/R6untarred/xc/doc/hardcopy/xterm
File:   ctlseqs.PS.Z

with a lot of control sequence commands for ANSI terms.

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

From: [email-masked] (-Michael P. Lindner)
Subject: Re: ext2fs vs. Berkeley FFS
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 1994 16:10:31 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
Peter Mutsaers <[email-masked]> wrote:
>>> On 10 Oct 1994 14:50:20 GMT, [email-masked] (Hugh Strong) said:
>
>  HS> The icon (for a window manager) for the file could be
>  HS> accessed by the following call.
>
>  HS>          fd1 = open("MyDataFile:ICON",O_RDONLY);
>
>This will break existing code; there are programs that assume that ':'
>is part of a filename. The *only* character that cannot be part of a
>filename is the '/', which is the directory separator.

Yep!

>So the only way to go is to create a directory with files in it that
>belong together. It has been that way since the beginning. What is
>wrong with that?

Well, there are ".a" and ".so" and ".tar" files....

>It is basic in the Unix philosophy that files are untyped and that the
>kernel does not care what is in the file. Adding such things is
>completely against the Unix way of thinking.

        [stuff deleted]

>Unix *should not* handle attributes. Giving meaning to the different
>files is up to the (user space) programs.
>-- 
>Peter Mutsaers                  |  AT Computing bv,  P.O. Box 1428,
>[email-masked]                    |  6501 BK  Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Here I must disagree, in part.  True, the UNIX *kernel* doesn't care
what's in the file, but just about every application program does (as
opposed to utility program).

There are utilities already that make several files look like one to the
OS.  Tar, for example, or ar, or cpio.  These utilities distinguish
their dtaa files by magic numbers.  Likewise, many other programs
distinguish data one the basis of filename extensions (like make, gcc,
etc.)

I would not like to see the namespace for files change, but it would be
real nice to move the magic numbers for files into the inode.  It would
enourmously clean up application code written to take advantage of it,
and wouldn't break anything (although potentially cpio, tar, ar, and cp
could change to take advantage of keeping the magic number attributes
with the files).  The entire feature (other than the FS changes) can be
built in a user library.  For instance:

        int     fd = openObject("myDataFile");

could call open(), fstat(), look at the "magic number" field, and
perform the correct action based on what the file was typed as.  That's
my "modest proposal".
-- 
Mike Lindner
[email-masked]
[email-masked]
[email-masked]

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

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