Subject: Linux-Misc Digest #849
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 94 10:13:19 EDT

Linux-Misc Digest #849, Volume #2                Fri, 30 Sep 94 10:13:19 EDT

Contents:
  Linux won't see printer (Mike Stancliff)
  Re: How Old Is Linus? (Sean A. Long)
  Please help me ... I can't get InterViews to work !!!!!! ([email-masked])
  Re: QNX, Linux, or 386BSD? (Dan Hildebrand)
  mac (Kevin Hoogheem)
  Re: New Linux Distribution (Erann Gat)
  Re: Orchid Kelvin 64 Xfree86 Driver Availability ??? (D.S. Foster)
  Re: Linux on a 386 (Jeff Kesselman)
  Re: Linux and Intel SatisFAXtion 400 (internal) (Wayne Scott)
  Where do I get PPP software? (Naji M. Khudairi)
  Trans-Ameritech Release 4 ! New Slackware 2.0.1 !!! (Roman Yanovsky  [email-masked])
  Re: where to get the texbook (Charles Blair)
  Re: Ada Compiler for Linux (Quick)
  Re: i486-????-linux (was Re: Horrific bug in DOOM! (MS-DOS lives!)) (Charles Lopes)
  Re: How to pronounce Linux?? (S. Joel Katz)

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

From: [email-masked] (Mike Stancliff)
Subject: Linux won't see printer
Date: 26 Sep 1994 22:45:08 -0400

When I type " ls > /dev/lp1 "  I get a message that says "no such
device".  It also says that for lp0 and lp2, which I think it should.  I
have an MS-DOS partition and a Linux partition.  I can print with no
problem from DOS with the printer set as LPT1.  I've looked through all
the FAQs (I think ?!?) and can't find anything.  I've got the Slackware
distribution of Linux 1.0, if that makes a difference.  This is just a
stand-alone desktop machine, not networked to anything.  I'm  frustrated...

Can anyone help?

Mike Stancliff
[email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Sean A. Long)
Subject: Re: How Old Is Linus?
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 17:36:46 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> Alberto Vignani <root@psie81> writes:

>If someone takes a look at /linux/kernel/sys.c, line 180, there is a
>mysterious magic number:

>|asmlinkage int sys_reboot(int magic, int magic_too, int flag)
>|{
>|      if (!suser())
>|              return -EPERM;
>|      if (magic != 0xfee1dead || magic_too != 672274793)
>|                                               ^^^^^^^^^
>|              return -EINVAL;
>|      if (flag == 0x01234567) {

>If you write this in hex, it is 0x28121969.
>Sounds like a birth date...so is Linus a Capricorn? 

Forgive me for being paranoid, since I don't know what this section of code 
does... Is this a backdoor?

-=>Sean Long
[email-masked]

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

Subject: Please help me ... I can't get InterViews to work !!!!!!
From: [email-masked]
Date: 29 Sep 1994 22:35:35 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked]

Hi,
        Each time I tried to run InterViews' programs such as
Docs, Logo, or the others.  I got an error message saied Floating
Point Exception.  I can't find a way to solve it and please help
me.  I do have a math coprocessor.  I even complied the kernel with
math emulation to try those programs but it still got the same error
message and did not work.  I use Linux kernel 1.1.18

Thanks in advance.

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.qnx,comp.os.386bsd.misc
From: [email-masked] (Dan Hildebrand)
Subject: Re: QNX, Linux, or 386BSD?
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 19:13:12 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, Po-Han Lin <[email-masked]> wrote:
>If one has a pc compatible with a 486, which OS is the best unix
>operating system?  QNX, Linux, or 386BSD?  

After the forged "QNX for sale" posting in various conferences, I have to
wonder if this posting is a deliberate attempt at flame bait, but all the
same, I'll ask the obvious question.

"Best at what?"

Every Os has a different mix of strengths and weaknesses, features which 
were deliberately added to address specific application needs.  In the case 
of QNX, a microkernel architecture, realtime, certified POSIX compliance, 
network transparent distributed processing, and fault tolerant networking 
are some attributes that differentiate it from Linux and 386BSD.

In the case of 386BSD and Linux, attributes such as being free and full source
being available differentiate it from QNX.

As to which is best, you have to look at your application and see what
it needs most, and then choose based on that.  After all, most of us
don't run operating systems just for the fun of it.  The OS is usually
part of the environment (which includes the hardware) necessary to 
support the applications we need to run.

-- 
Dan Hildebrand      [email-masked]         QNX Software Systems, Ltd.   
phone: (613) 591-0931 x204 (voice)       175 Terence Matthews          
       (613) 591-3579      (fax)         Kanata, Ontario, Canada K2M 1W8

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

From: [email-masked] (Kevin Hoogheem)
Subject: mac
Date: 30 Sep 1994 00:13:04 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked]

any news on Linux for macs??

--
=====================================================================
Kevin A. Hoogheem                        Saint Marys College of Minn.  
[email-masked]           [email-masked] [NeXT Mail]
1-(507)-457-1969   Saint Mary's College  P.O. 1137   Winona, Mn 55987
=====================================================================

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

From: [email-masked] (Erann Gat)
Subject: Re: New Linux Distribution
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 10:31:01 -0800

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]
(Juana Moreno) wrote:

> I have been thinking of putting up a new Linux distribution especially
> oriented to DOS-Win dummies.

IMHO, the key to making a newbie-friendly distribution is not making the
distribution brain-damaged, but rather to add some documentation and
utilities
in key places to help walk the user through doing the things she wants to
do.  The main barrier to entry at the moment is not the power and
complexity
of Linux but rather that in order to install and use it the user has to
make
decisions which a new user does not have the knowledge to make.  The
current
installation procedure begins by having you haul out rawrite (which isn't
all
that horrible) and fdisk (which is ghastly).  If I am a new user I have no
clue how many megabytes of swap space I need.

My vision of a newbie installation is one where you get your install disks
or your CD-ROM or whatever, and there is a file called install.bat that you
run, which pops up and says something like:

"I am about to install Linux on your disk.  This will wipe out all the data
on your hard disk.  Are you sure you want to do this?"

"The first thing I am going to do is partition your hard drive.  This means
that I am going to divide your hard drive into smaller units, each of which
is going to be used for a different purpose.  Later on, if you want a
different
partition you can do this step yourself using the fdisk utility, which you
can read all about by typing 'man fdisk'.  For now I am going to partition
your disk in the following way:

partition 1: 200 MB root partition.  This partition will hold the actual
linux kernel as well as some important programs for maintaining your
system.

partition 2: 200 MB usr partition.  This partition will hold application
programs, etc.

partition 3: 20 MB swap partition, used for virtual memory paging.

partition 4: 100 MB DOS/WINDOWS partition.  (NOTE: I will set things up
so that you can boot both DOS and Linux, and so that you can read your
DOS files from Linux.  Unfortunately, there is no way to read Linux files
from DOS - DOS is too brain damaged.)

and so on.

The key points are:

1.  Do not give the users any options unless it is absolutely necessary.
Make everything some reasonable default and as automatic as possible.

2.  Inform the user at every step in the installation what is going on,
the decisions that are being made for her, and how to change things later
if she wants it done differently later on.  Also, where to go for more
info.

3.  When everything is in place, put a file on the screen with the
following
information: a) how to press the shift key on bootup to select DOS or Linux
to boot.  b) how to edit a file using the default editor (this could be a
pointer to read some other file, with explicit instructions on how to read
that file) c) how to get to the DOS partition  d) how to run DOSEMU.  (NOT
how to install it; it should be installed automatically!)

FWIW.

E.

-- 

Erann Gat
[email-masked]

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

Crossposted-To: git.unix.linux,comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.admin
From: [email-masked] (D.S. Foster )
Subject: Re: Orchid Kelvin 64 Xfree86 Driver Availability ???
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 1994 07:58:45 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Raymond Ho) writes:
>In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (nilsen) writes: 
>
>>
>>
>>Does anyone know if drivers have been written for this card yet??
>>
>>I think it uses a cirrus logic 5434 chipset
>>
>>I would obviously prefer the driver to be public domain
>>
>>I know that it is supposed to be coming in xfree86 3.1, when is this due
>>out???  
>>
>>Is there any way i can get an advance copy of the driver??
>>
>>
>>And what does accelerated vs. unaccelerated support mean on the linux 
>>hardware compatability sheet??
>>
>>thanx,
>>
>>-- 
>>Robert Windsor Nilsen III     | We make holes in teeth!
>>[email-masked] |
>>
>I would like to know too, I have a Diamond Speedstar 64 PCI which uses the
>same Currus Logic 5434 chip.  I've configured it as a clgd5424 for X and it
>works fine for all the display modes, except when I exit, then when screen
>will just goes into funny characters.  I have tried using the clgd543x driver
>but with no luck.
>
>

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

From: [email-masked] (Jeff Kesselman)
Subject: Re: Linux on a 386
Date: Thu, 29 Sep 1994 17:00:34 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
Jim Sun <[email-masked]> wrote:
>[email-masked] (Jeff Kesselman) wrote:
>
>>Note however that NOT all 486's are equal.  The IBM 
>>blue-lightening 486 for instance, is really a 386 with improved caching.  
>>it does NOt have the improved micrcode and runs somewhere btw a 386 and 486
>>in performance....
>
>The first sentence is correct; the remainder are misinformation at best.
>IBM's SLC and DLC processors are indeed merely improved 386s; however, the
>BlueLightenings are true 486-class processors; they use the 486 architecture
>provided by Intel itself (such as BL75) or Cyrix (such as BLDX2-66).  
>
>Jim

Thats interesting.  My source was my older brother whos worked in IBM 
research for about 15 years.  Whats yours?

I COULD have misremembered this, but I don't think so.  Ill double check 
however and follow up on this note with a conclusion.

Jeff Kesselman

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

From: [email-masked] (Wayne Scott)
Subject: Re: Linux and Intel SatisFAXtion 400 (internal)
Date: 28 Sep 1994 23:14:43 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked]

In article <[email-masked]>,
Dan Bullock <[email-masked]> wrote:
>Does anyone have the SatisFAXtion working with Linux?
>
>Thanks,
>-Dan

Yes,

The driver that loads under DOS inits the modem.  So
to get it to work:
 
  - boot dos and load the driver
  - warm restart (CNTL-ALT-DEL)
  - load linux

It works!

Or use loadlin so that you have a linux menu in your
config.sys that loads the driver and then calls loadlin
to boot linux.

Has anyone figured out what the driver inits so we can do
it from linux?

Also, I haven't been able to get the modem to answer the
phone.  (I think the fax half wants to answer...)
Ideas?

Wayne

-- 
========                                                                |
Wayne Scott
[email-masked]         Work #: (503) 696-4165

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

From: [email-masked] (Naji M. Khudairi)
Subject: Where do I get PPP software?
Date: 30 Sep 1994 00:33:05 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked]

Hello netters!  I have PPP enabled in my kernel with Slackware 2.0, but I do
not know how I can go about using it?  Currently, I am using slip with dip,
but I cannot find any software for dialing in with PPP.  I have a dynamically
allocated IP address, and I have to dial in to get it, so I need software that
meets these needs.   Much thanks in advance!

--Naji

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

From: [email-masked] (Roman Yanovsky  [email-masked])
Subject: Trans-Ameritech Release 4 ! New Slackware 2.0.1 !!!
Date: 28 Sep 1994 23:59:56 GMT

Trans-Ameritech Systems announcing the Linux Plus BSD  CD-ROM Release 4.

The company that pionered the Slackware distribution on a CD-ROM, the "live"
file-system and DOS-assisted installation procedures is proud to announce
a new revolutionary Installation Free (tm) release of Linux. 

We hope you will find it easy to install and use. This CD-ROM has one feature  
not found on any other distribution of Linux: it is possible (and very easy!)
to start running Linux from your hard drive WITHOUT GOING THROUGH THE NORMAL
INSTALLATION ROUTINE! It will work with ANY CD-ROM that DOS can read. The only
assumption that the automated procedure makes,is that you have an IDE drive C:
with at least 20 MB of disk space to automatically put a Linux system with
X-windows on! We call this a Test Drive. After going through this, you can
add software by a normal "setup" procedure or you can decide to dedicate a
partition to Linux.

The Release 4 is based on the brand new release of Slackware  2.0.1 that is
considered by the author (Patrick Volkerding) to be very stable and a major 
milestone. The full Slackware tree (145 MB compressed!) is provided as well
as the Slackware sources tree. And of course the Trans-Ameritech trademark
"live" filesystem that can be used to save disk space. In addition to the
many kernels of all flavors that come with Slackware, we provide a number of
kernels based on the post-code-freeze Linux kernel 1.1.50. It has many 
desirable features not found in the 1.0.x kernels standard with most 
distributions:  
        Considerable improvements in disk performance - SCSI and IDE
        Support for huge IDE disks (over 1024 cylinders).
        Support for the IDE CD-ROMs (NEC 260).
        Standard support for UMSDOS filesystem.
        Way too much more to list here.

The highlights of this release:

        DOOM for Linux!!!
        Read-only Double-Space filesystem!
        NCR PCI SCSI.
        IDE CD-ROM support.
        TGIF - Xlib based interactive 2-D drawing facility under X11. 
        An X server for et4000/w32-based boards. 
        Software for the Ham Radio enthusiasts.
        Two sets of compilers and libs - 4.4.4 and 4.5.26
        Kernels from 1.0.9 to 1.1.50.
        qfax 1.0
        Jazz 1.0 - a  comfortable MIDI sequencer 
        Easy configuration of Xwindows.
        New NTeX 1.2
        BSD Sendmail 8.6.9
        util-linux-1.10
        term 2.1.0
        calc2.9.3t8 - arbitrary precision calculator. 
        irsim - An event-driven logic-level simulator for MOS circuits 
        DOSEMU 52.3 beta for the new kernels.

        FreeBSD packages 1.1

Other important software:
        GNU emacs 19.25 and 19.26 for tty and X.
        Interviews - text and graphics utilities
        ANDREW

If you prefer to go through a much more flexible custom installation, an MSDOS
based program provided on the CD-ROM ("install.exe") will help you make the 
right choice of a boot kernel depending on the hardware that you have and will
actually create the two floppies to be used for Linux installation. 
Furthermore, the "setup" script modified by the Trans-Ameritech, will put the 
kernel used during the installation on your hard disk for use with actual 
operation. This guarantees that all the hardware that worked during the 
installation will continue to work afterwards.   

The important documentation is uncompressed and ready to read under DOS before
installing Linux on the CD-ROM.

Pricing:

The price for our current (Release 4) Linux Plus CD is $30

Below is the ordering information.

You can order by email, by phone (408)727-3883 or FAX (408)727-3882.
(email: [email-masked])

If you prefer to send a cheque/money order, our address is:

Trans-Ameritech Systems, Inc.
2342A Walsh Ave
Santa Clara, CA 95051
USA

If you order with a credit card (VISA, M/C, American Express) please indicate
the card number, expiration date and your mailing address.

The order will be processed and the CD shipped the same day.

Shipping and handling in US is $5, Canada/Mexico $6, Overseas $8.
COD is available in the US only for $4.50

California residents please add sales tax.

Anual subscriptions (4 Regular Releases) are available for $80 plus s&h.
(note: there are 4 shipments in a subscription)
Example subscription in US is: $80 + $5 * 4 = $100
Subscription in Europe/Japan etc. is: $80 + $8 * 4 = $ 112

If you have any further questions, please contact us at 

Trans-Ameritech Systems, Inc.
2342A Walsh Ave
Santa Clara, CA 95051
USA

Phone (408)727-3883 
FAX   (408)727-3882.
email: [email-masked]

Note: Unix is registered trademark of Unix System Labs. All product 
names referenced herein are trademarks of their respective companies.

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

From: [email-masked] (Charles Blair)
Subject: Re: where to get the texbook
Date: 28 Sep 1994 18:06:02 GMT

   CAUTION Neither the book by Knuth nor the book by Lamport describes
the texinfo system used by GNU, although both are interesting for their
own sake.  I would suggest looking through whatever documentation 
prep.ai.mit.edu has on info and texinfo first.

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

From: [email-masked] (Quick)
Subject: Re: Ada Compiler for Linux
Date: 30 Sep 1994 09:39:09 +0100

>Shujaat Siddiqui ([email-masked]) wrote:
>: I am looking for Ada compiler on linux. I read somewhere, there is such thing

Steven Buytaert suggested GNAT, but there is also adaed, the ada83 version
from NYU. I have compiled adaed under linux, having made a couple of edits
and it runs as well as it does under other systems (solaris, MSDOS), i.e. it
barfs on separate spec and body files and some intermodule errors. For ada83
basic work it's fine.

        boggle
        ([email-masked])

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

From: [email-masked] (Charles Lopes)
Subject: Re: i486-????-linux (was Re: Horrific bug in DOOM! (MS-DOS lives!))
Date: 29 Sep 1994 20:43:21 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Mr D R Barlow) writes:
|> that is).  So we need a vendor-neutral term that describes i486 linux
|> systems.  My suggestion is prompted by listening and reading the way
|> which other linux users refer to their computers, and hence I propose
|> 
|>   i486-box-linux
|> 
Better to use i486-linux as does gcc.

/Charley

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

From: [email-masked] (S. Joel Katz)
Subject: Re: How to pronounce Linux??
Date: 29 Sep 1994 20:46:34 -0400

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Jin S. Choi) writes:

>Actually, if you want to be downright canonical about it, you can pick
>up english.au from nic.funet.fi and hear how Linus himself pronounces it.
>"Hi, my name is Leenoos Torvahlds and I pronounce Leenooks as Leenooks."

        You post made me crack up. Just had to let you know.

-- 

S. Joel Katz            Information on Objectivism, Linux, 8031s, and more
[email-masked]      is available at http://www.panix.com/stimpson/
        Time flies like an arrow -- fruit flies like a banana.

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

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End of Linux-Misc Digest
******************************