Subject: Linux-Misc Digest #893
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 94 04:13:18 EDT

Linux-Misc Digest #893, Volume #2                 Fri, 7 Oct 94 04:13:18 EDT

Contents:
  Re: What PCMCIA ethernet card to buy? (James Greer)
  I know this has been asked before but.... What is the best Linux CD set? (Peter Farkas)
  Re: which is better: Mitsumi or Panasonic CDROM? (Harry C Pulley)
  Disk partitioning and moving filesystems. (Kristian Mowinckel)
  Re: Word (Text) processors for Linux? (Richard L. Goerwitz)
  Re: Mystery Chip...AMD (Rob Kean)
  Re: Editors/WordProcessors for Linux ([email-masked])
  Compatibility with Magitronic systems (Jordan Coleman (Pioneer))
  56.6 KB SIMULATED WIT ([email-masked])
  Re: FVWM sound manager? (Alan Hannan)
  Re: Bluewave?? (neil j.cherry)
  Re: Beautifying Linux/Xfree (Alexandra Griffin)
  Re: Mystery Chip...AMD (Alexandra Griffin)
  Re: QNX, Linux, or 386BSD? (Rob Carnegie)

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

Crossposted-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.networking
From: [email-masked] (James Greer)
Subject: Re: What PCMCIA ethernet card to buy?
Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 15:05:35 GMT

>>I'm looking for PCMCIA ethernet card for my notebook running Linux. I
>>have the list of Linux-happy cards (got it from the Stanford ftp site
>>about a month ago.) I'm looking for recommendations on these or
>>compatiable cards, as well as leads on good prices. Thanks!

>I am using the 3COM 3c589.  So far it work great.  I have some network config
>issues to work out still, but they have nothing to do with the card.  I don't
>know if they are still offering this; I believe it has expired.  I bought the
>card through a special promotional deal directly from 3COM.  You could get
>the TP version for $99 or the Combo for $129.  You might want to call them
>at 1-800-NET-3COM and see if its still available.

>Steve

3Com is still doing this deal, but they said they couldn't ship it for 3-5
weeks. I couldn't wait this long, so I'm getting a D-Link for about $200. 
Oh, well... Thanks for letting me know.

-- 
"Because it was there...                         [email-masked]
 I don't think I even had to be on stuff.        Computer Science, Class of '95
 I just like to smear things. Smearing is nice. 
 Smearing is good." - Iggy Pop on why he put peanut butter on his chest onstage

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

From: [email-masked] (Peter Farkas)
Subject: I know this has been asked before but.... What is the best Linux CD set?
Date: Thu, 6 Oct 1994 09:42:52 UNDEFINED

I am sorry for once again asking this question, I saw it here a week or so 
ago, but I did not pay attention then. What is the best CDROM Linux vendor? 
Preferably with the slackware distribution. Any thoughts? As this question has 
already been debated to some extent on the linux newsgroups, perhaps any 
responses should be mailed to me instead. Either way, I will get them. THank 
you.

Pete Farkas

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

From: [email-masked] (Harry C Pulley)
Subject: Re: which is better: Mitsumi or Panasonic CDROM?
Date: 6 Oct 1994 12:14:31 GMT

Heiko Schlittermann ([email-masked]) wrote:
: In article <[email-masked]>,
: Teemu Kilpivuori <[email-masked]> wrote:
: >: What evidence do you have for that ?
: >Yeah,what. As I understand, Panasonic doesn't use IRQ nor DMA, only software
: >polling, which makes it slower,and it causes more CPU-load than Mitsumi with
: >IRQ and DMA enabled. I have tested both drives, and seen that myself, which 
: >is why I bought a Mitsumi.

: As far as I know the Mitsumi driver doesn't use either irq nor dma.

Then why is it important that you set your IRQ correctly in mcd.h?

Harry
--
<:-{}   [email-masked]       |This message released|It takes all kinds,
 \      Harry C. Pulley, IV       |to the PUBLIC DOMAIN.|and to each his own.
==================================+=====================|This thought in mind,
Stay away from the DOS side, Luke!|Un*x don't play that.|I walk alone.

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

From: [email-masked] (Kristian Mowinckel)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.admin,comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Disk partitioning and moving filesystems.
Date: 7 Oct 1994 00:01:03 GMT

Disk partitioning and moving filesystems.
=========================================

Firstly I must mention that I have read
Wirzenius's newsarticle of 2 jul 1994 18:21 about disk partitioning.

However I have some questions.

I recently bought a 420Mb Conner ide drive.
And I have a 240Mb Samsung ide drive.

Currenly my 240Mb Samsung drive is my hda
and my 420Mb Conner drive is my hdb.

The partitions are:
Filesystem 1024-blocks  Used   Available Capacity Mounted on
/dev/hda2  216012       173057 31799     84%      /     % linux root 
/dev/hdb1  385436            1 365529     0%      /hdb1 % new linux part 
/dev/hda1  5212           2636 2576      51%      /dosc % dos part

On /dev/hdb2 I have a 18Mb swap partitition.
Earlier I had a 17Mb swap partitition on /dev/hda3,
but that I deleted.

Since the 420Mb Conner drive is faster I would
like to let this become hda(by changing jumpers on the drives).
Then would like to have one big linux partitition on this,
besides the swap partitition.

On 240Mb Samsung drive I would like to have a small
dos/mswindows partitition and a  news spool partition
since I am planning to set up a news server on my box when I get
my slip connecting.

How can I accomplish this?

Especially installing lilo on the 420Mb Conner drive.

Greetings from,

Kristian   

                         /\_/\
                         (o o)
+---------------------ooO-(o)-Ooo---------------------+
Name:            Kristian August Mowinckel            +
Postal Address:                                       +  
                 Hamnegata 6                          +
                 7800 Namsos                          +
                                                      +
Country:         Norway                               +
                                                      +
Phone:      + 47 74 27 43 61                          +
                                                      +
E-mail:   [email-masked]                            +
+-----------------------------------------------------+

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

Crossposted-To: comp.unix.questions
From: [email-masked] (Richard L. Goerwitz)
Subject: Re: Word (Text) processors for Linux?
Reply-To: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 6 Oct 1994 05:09:41 GMT

[email-masked] (Sergei Naoumov) writes:

>Haven't heared about such a creature! Emacs and TeX!!! Besides, if you'd
>make a WYSIWYG for LaTeX, imagine how many menus and control sequences
>you nedded to get a good control over your document. Impossible!

Come on guys.  I've been using Emacs for quite some time now.  It's the
best program editor I know.  But it can't touch off-the-shelf word pro-
cessors available for micros.

Another point:  TeX will give you low-level control over your document.
But frankly I don't give a damn.  Once the referees, copy editors, lay-
out goons, and editors get their hands on my MS it's not going to look
like what I gave them, anyway.  So who wants to twiddle kerning pairs?
Just bang the sucker out, I say, and don't be so anal-retentive.

And don't anyone tell me, by the way, that Emacs is a great multilingual
editor.  I've got some off-the-shelf editors that do this on micros with
little or no fuss (e.g. MLS for the peecee).  And they are REAL word
processors - not souped up editors that still betray their roots in old
style ttys and character-based displays.  Just touch type Hebrew or
Greek or whatever with canned layouts - no need to even look at any
key bindings.

Like someone said to me via e-mail, why question whether there are any
good multilingual word processors for Linux when there aren't any good
word processors available for it period?  Things may change, to be sure.
I'll be the first to hop on the bandwagon if they do.

-- 

   -Richard L. Goerwitz              [email-masked]
   [email-masked]          rutgers!oddjob!ellis!goer

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

From: [email-masked] (Rob Kean)
Crossposted-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems,comp.os.linux.admin
Subject: Re: Mystery Chip...AMD
Date: Thu, 6 Oct 1994 01:52:06

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (G. E. Terry) writes:

>RYAN  Colin Patrick ([email-masked]) wrote:
>: While responding to an add inteh local paper for a $99 486 upgrade it came
>: to light that this upgrade was a quote "486/66 Mhz" which was a "faster chip and less expensive than the i486DX2-66". This propted my query on what the hell
>: this chip was and the response was AMD. I was not aware of this chip. I was
>: under the impression that all the 66's 75's 100's etc (non-Pentium) were 
>: overclocked 33 Mhz chips. Does a 'real' 66 Mhz chip exist? If so (and I dont'
>: think so" do traditional mother boards ( ie that could handle a DX2) support
>: this chip. And Finally, if this is true is it compatble and reliable.

>This is just an clock doubled 33. I would say it might have been an error
>in the ad. I have one of these chips. The story I read was that Advanced
>Micro Devices bought the masks for the 80286 from Intel a few years back.
>They decide to try to test the copywrite & patent laws by cloning the
>386 & 486 chips. Well they were very successful and Intel sued. In the
>following trial, Intel LOST. I hear it was due to the naming system that
>they used. It made the chips generic in the eyes of the court. That is why
>there is no 80586, and we have the Pentium. 

>As far as reliability, the AMD 486DX2/66 is an exact duplicate of Intel's 
>chip, or so I read in PC Magazine. And at an average of 100 to 150 dollars
>less than Intel, I am a buyer!

Actually, in the ever running catch up game between AMD and Intel the price 
difference has fallen to $20.  BUT, this is about to change--BIG SHOCK!!  8^)..

AMD is about to release, yes you guessed it, their 486DX2-80MHz!!!!!

From what I've heard through my venders, It will run about $20 more than an 
Intel 66MHz.

rhk
[email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: Editors/WordProcessors for Linux
Date: 6 Oct 1994 06:11:03 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked]

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Josef Dalcolmo) writes:
 : Well, I am using jed (look at amy.harvard.edu).  That's a small programmable
 : emacs lookalike. (If you have plenty of memory you may as well use emacs)

   Close.  It is amy.tch.harvard.edu in pub/jed.  0.97-5b does color syntax
highlighting on TeX files.

--
     _____________
#___/John E. Davis\_________________________________________________________
#
# internet: [email-masked]
#   bitnet: davis@ohstpy
#   office: 617-735-6746
#

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

From: [email-masked] (Jordan Coleman (Pioneer))
Subject: Compatibility with Magitronic systems
Date: 6 Oct 1994 06:34:48 GMT

Does anyone know anything about compatibility (or compatibility problems)
using linux on Magitronic systems.  I'm looking into a Pentium Magitronic
box, but I want to check compatibility first.

Also, I'm trying to construct a screamingly fast machine for linux.  It will
probably be based either on magitronic or an Asus motherboard, are either of
these a good choice, or is there a better one?  Also, I've heard that running
linux on a pentium isn't much faster than on a DX2 and that memory is more of
an issue.  What would the difference be between the two, assuming PCI bus,
fast disk, and 16-32Mb RAM?  What about DX4?

Thanks!

--Jordan

==========================================================
Jordan Coleman
Chair, RPI Association for Computing Machinery
Engineer, Coleman Consulting

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

From: [email-masked]
Subject: 56.6 KB SIMULATED WIT
Date: Wed, 05 Oct 94 22:01:51 -0700

>        I recall seeing a device that does just that in a catalog
>called "Black Boxes" (which unfortunately I no longer receive).
>
>        Basically, it's a pair of black boxes, one on each end
>of the modems:
>
>     box      modem                          modem  box
>      ---     ---                             ---    ---
>      | |-----| |-----------------------------| |----| |
>      | |     ---                             ---    | |
>      | |                transmission                | |
>      | |     ---                             ---    | |
>      | |-----| |-----------------------------| |----| |
>      ---     ---                             ---    ---
>             modem                           modem
>
>        I think the black boxes deal with the multiplexing of the
>signals, and appear as a single serial port to the host.
>Perhaps someone who does recieve that Black Boxes catalog can
>look it up.  (not cheap though, as I recall.. )
 
I have a system at work which captures Associated Press and various 
other wire services -- multiple 9600 baud feeds -- which go to a couple 
of Black Box brand spoolers. We don't have the latest models, but they 
are VERY good at managing multiple streams of data. They can also match 
up two devices with different baud rates, i.e. take 9600 baud and spit 
out 2400.

Also, they can HOLD data if the destination computer is not ready to 
receive it. All in all, a real lifesaver. When we perform system 
backups, the Black Boxes hold the wire data until the tape is done 
running.

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

From: [email-masked] (Alan Hannan)
Subject: Re: FVWM sound manager?
Date: 6 Oct 1994 03:11:41 GMT

Bill McCarthy ([email-masked]) wrote:

: Been reading the posts on the new ver of Xfree and came across references
: to an FVWM window event sound manager - can anyone tell me what this is
: and point to files related? I looked around at home and couldn't find
: anything in the system.fvwmrc. This sounds interesting and is the first
: time I"ve seen reference to such an animal. Thanks for any pointers.

It's a module in the newer fvwm distributions.  You can get it from:
spcot.sanders.com:/pub/fvwm
It's quite nice for a while, then it seems to get old, but it's great to
have available, very customizable, and just blows the sox off of visitors.

--
+ [email-masked]   Network Operations Center (402)/472-0242, Fax (402)/472-0240  +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+============\\ "Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong." +
+/|/| * |\    \\____________________________             - Oscar Wilde         +
+|| | | |/ net  (A Global Internet Company)| + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

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

From: [email-masked] (neil j.cherry)
Subject: Re: Bluewave??
Date: Thu, 6 Oct 1994 15:55:28 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Andre Broers) writes:
>Does someone know if there exists a bluewave reader for linux??

I don't know about Blue Wave but there is a qwk reader called atp which is
either on sunsite or tsx.

njc (Neil Cherry)

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

From: [email-masked] (Alexandra Griffin)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development
Subject: Re: Beautifying Linux/Xfree
Date: 7 Oct 1994 07:31:12 GMT

In article <1994Oct5.141142.773@muvms6>,
Andy Bailey <[email-masked]> wrote [in c.o.l.misc]:
>[...]
>  
>  I think more users might be attracted to Linux, if some really nice
>out-of-box configs like this were available, as well as some new icons and
>fonts. Perhaps some scripts (maybe tcl/tk based) that allow easy
>addition/removal of icons from the desktop. (I know its simple just the edit
>the config file to add/remove stuff, but this would be better looking)
>
>  Its just a wild idea, but I'd like to hear from anyone whos interested as
>well

You may get some negative feedback from the die-hard functionality
over form crowd, but I'd say there's a lot of truth to what you're
saying-- cleaning up minor things like GUI look & feel *will* make the
X environment more appealing to a lot of people (maybe this is
unfortunate, but with all the "fluff" on a typical Mac/Windoze desktop
nowadays a lot of people expect this kind of thing...)

Some ideas along this line that I've thought about:

1) A mouse-driven tool for setting common X resource preferences would
be *very* helpful, even for experienced users (kind of a big project,
I know).  Hewlett-Packard workstations include this as part of the
HP-VUE desktop-- you can adjust window colors, background pixmaps,
speaker pitch & volume, screensaver status, etc. from a "control
panel"-like utility.  There are too many things under X that can be
configured only from the command line, which is not good (ideally both
a good GUI and command-line way of setting each option should exist).
        An extension of this idea might involve using GetWidetTree
calls to a selected application to find out what resources can be set
(like editres does), filtering out those that are obviously used only
internally, and providing some kind of nice front-end for altering
these (and saving them to .Xdefaults, which would be automatically
"xrdb -load'ed" on exiting the preferences tool).  HP-VUE even allows
some things to be changed on the fly in already-running clients, but I
think support for this has to be specially compiled into each client.
Maybe a drop-in replacement for some of the X shared libraries could
allow existing binaries to support this, though?

2) A better X file manager than what's currently out there (xfm &
xfilemanager are nice but not as easy to configure, easy to use, or
generally polished as one might like).  Maybe something that provided
essentially the same functionality as Mouseless Commander (the
text-based Norton Commander clone), but with a mouse-driven GUI? (&
provisions for icons if desired, scrollbars on the dual file selection
lists, real pulldown menus-- leave in the command line at the bottom,
though!).
        Well, you mentioned NextStep-- on second thought, something
similar to the wonderful NeXT Workspace Manager application would be
delightful to have.  For those who have never seen it, this program
(in its Browser mode) presents a group of side-by-side vertical
directory listings, with each column representing a level of the
directory hiearchy... selecting a subdir. name from one list opens a a
listing of that directory onto the column to the right.  It's very
similar to Xarchie's user interface (with the MultiList widget)-- the
column set scrolls horizontally so there's no limit to how deep you
can go.  Above each column, a single icon is shown for the selected
entry ("pouches" for directories, appropriate icons for other file
types), and above that is a "shelf" area where icons can be dragged to
for quick access or future use.  For copying/moving/linking, you can
either use the shelf as a temporary holding area or open multiple
browser windows at once...
        Workspace manager has other view-modes as well (Mac-like
window full of icons, detailed single-column directories...), but
Browser is the most unique.

3) Another idea from HP-VUE... this environment features a "console
bar" area at the bottom of the screen, containing buttons to switch
virtual desktops, invocation icons for commonly-used apps, small icons
for system functions (logging out...), and space for a clock,
calendar, Xload bargraph, & other stuff.  The appearance of the bar is
very professional, with little beveled insets for each item.  I'm
thinking that something similar could be done for fvwm by simply
creating a "wrapper" program that allows existing X apps to be run as
borderless, titlebarless child windows within its confines, creating
the nice bevels or whatever around each inset client.  Good clients to
embed might include xclock/dclock/oclock/whatever, xload, xmem,
xsysinfo, fvwm GoodStuff (for launching apps), the fvwm pager,
xpostit, etc. etc...
        For those like myself who have less screen resolution than
they want and like to conserve it ;-), another good feature this
"toolbar" app could provide would be to find the optimal geometries
for packing the configured child clients into as small an area as
possible, for a given overall rectangular area and position (and
minimum sizes for each child).  I have my .xsession set up to start
the fvwm pager, xpostit, xload, xsysinfo, and dclock (from
Interviews), all nicely packed together in the upper-left corner of
the desktop (borderless and "sticky").  Finding all the -geometry
AxB+C+D settings down to the pixel was kind of tedious, though, and
that's the kind of thing computers should be doing for us!  Options
for a decorative border a la HP-VUE around the area would be cool as
well.  Of course, this client should be configurable in a GUIish way
for user-friendliness, with the option to just edit an rc file for
experts...

Just thought I'd throw those ideas out-- things I've thought about
writing myself some day but probably won't for a while (until I learn
more about X programming at any rate...)

-- alex

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

From: [email-masked] (Alexandra Griffin)
Crossposted-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems,comp.os.linux.admin
Subject: Re: Mystery Chip...AMD
Date: 7 Oct 1994 07:39:00 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, Daniel Zappala <[email-masked]> wrote:
>
>In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Sam Brown) writes:
>
>I have an AMD 486DX-40.  Any news on an add-in from AMD to turn this into a
>486DX2-80, or do I need to buy a whole new chip?

Nope, sorry... the dx/2 chips are different inside (have a PLL circuit
to double their on-chip clock, and extra interface logic to hook up to
the half-speed external bus), and of course you can't very well modify
a silicon die after it's been made!

You may be able to overclock a little bit, though... possibly up to
50MHz?  That big of a jump is probably pushing it though.  Be sure to
adequately cool the cpu if you try it (heat sink w/conductive
compound, fan blowing on it).

-- alex

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

From: [email-masked] (Rob Carnegie)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.qnx,comp.os.386bsd.misc
Subject: Re: QNX, Linux, or 386BSD?
Date: 3 Oct 1994 22:36:28 GMT

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

QNX is an operating system that is optimized for real time
applications.  Most commercial products made for it are
real time oriented (eg. process control etc.). For general
purpose computing, I would give it a pass in favour of
something more widely used for G.P. computing.

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

** 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.misc) 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
    sunsite.unc.edu				pub/Linux

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