Subject: Linux-Misc Digest #897
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 94 18:13:28 EDT

Linux-Misc Digest #897, Volume #2                 Fri, 7 Oct 94 18:13:28 EDT

Contents:
  Re: How to let normal users run SVGALIB programs (SOLN) (Pete Chown)
  Re: Linux on a 386 (Steven Pritchard)
  Re: Softlanding (Erik Troan)
  Re: which is better: Mitsumi or Panasonic CDROM? (Mark A. Horton KA4YBR)
  Re: Telnet & ftp freeze! (Peter H. Lemieux)
  Re: Where to find kernal upgrades (Uwe Bonnes)
  Re: Beautifying Linux/Xfree (DAVID L. JOHNSON)
  Re: Word (Text) processors for Linux? (Richard L. Goerwitz)
  Re: New Linux Distribution (Justin Murdock)
  Linux installed from CD but now won't read it... (Donald R Lloyd)
  Teac 4x supported? (S.hoffar)
  error 0x11 (root)
  Re: Telnet & ftp freeze! (Ralph Sims)
  Linux and Ethernet (root)
  Help with the SoundBlaster (Goran Devic)
  Re: Word (Text) processors for Linux? (Bernd Backhaus)
  Re: Beautifying Linux/Xfree (Harm Hanemaaijer)
  Re: Yggdrasil Linux Plug and Play CD ver1.1 ? (Jeff Kesselman)
  Flame on the attitude of Linux towards GCC development (Xiaojun Zhu)

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

From: [email-masked] (Pete Chown)
Subject: Re: How to let normal users run SVGALIB programs (SOLN)
Date: Thu, 6 Oct 1994 14:16:05 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Mr D R Barlow) writes:

> [making svgalib programs setuid is] still not exactly an ideal
> solution, but the alternatives seem to be to put it in the kernel
> (bloat...) or to make a kind of client/server thing with one setuid
> process and normal user processes communicating with it.  This has
> however already been done, it's called X :-) Does anyone have any
> better ideas?

How about this:

When an svgalib program starts, it checks to see whether it has the
I/O permissions it needs.  If it doesn't, it exec's another program
which is suid root.  This program checks that the first program is
entitled to have direct access to the video system; if it is, it
adjusts the I/O permission bitmap accordingly, and then exec's the
first program (after setting its euid back to the proper value).  This
program does what it did last time--looks to see whether it has the
relevant I/O permissions.  This time, it does have, and starts
working.

This allows normal users not only to run svgalib programs, but to
write ones of their own.  The svgalib clients do not have to be
trusted.

Of course this will only work if I/O permissions are not reset by the
exec() calls.  I don't know whether this is the case or not--the only
thing I use for graphics is X...

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

From: [email-masked] (Steven Pritchard)
Subject: Re: Linux on a 386
Date: 3 Oct 1994 12:12:10 -0600

[email-masked] (Alex Ramos) writes:
>Jeff Kesselman ([email-masked]), quoted out of context, wrote:
>> 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;

>What about Cyrix's DLC? Is it also just an improved 386?

The DLC is 486 instruction set compatible.  It has only a 1K cache.  It 
has the same pin-out as a 386DX, though.  Apparently, this means that it 
can't do anything a 486 does with those extra pins.  (The only thing I 
know of is burst mode, there could be more.)

A friend of mine claims to get about 486DX/33 performance from a DLC/40 w/ 
mathco.

Steve
-- 
[email-masked]  | Southern Illinois Linux Users Group
Steven Pritchard          | http://nyx10.cs.du.edu:8001/~spritcha/home.html
(618)549-8579             | Meetings the 1st and 3rd Mondays of every month.

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

From: [email-masked] (Erik Troan)
Subject: Re: Softlanding
Date: 7 Oct 1994 14:03:53 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
E. St. John-Olcayto <[email-masked]> wrote:
>I've been using Linux 0.98 for the last two years via the Softlanding
>Software distribution.  I've recently obtained an upgrade (Slackware)
>but can anybody tell me whatever happend to Softlanding?

They seem to have fallen off the face of the earth as everyone waved
goodbye.

Right after 1.0 came out, Peter (SLS guy) announced a new SLS - 1.05 I
think. People tried it and found:

1) Bugs that had become well known on the net were not fixed in the new
   version - not even simple things like permission problems.
2) Binaries were horibly out of date
3) A completely modular kernel was introduced. Neat hack, but Linus didn't
   like how it was implemented and decided not to use it in his kernel. This
   made SLS's changes a lot less appealing to people (fyi, Linus's objections
   were technical and well-founded)
4) SCSI wasn't supported properly in the modular kernel, and SLS was selling
   the fix for a lot of money.

Peter never has responded to email from me or many other folks, and we just
got sick of it. It's still on tsx-11 (and probably its mirrors) if you're
really interested in it, but Slackware is *much* better.

Erik

-- 
============================================================================
"Like a fool I let dreams become great expectations" - Chess

        Erik Troan = [email-masked] = http://sunsite.unc.edu/ewt

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

From: [email-masked] (Mark A. Horton KA4YBR)
Subject: Re: which is better: Mitsumi or Panasonic CDROM?
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 1994 11:33:09 GMT

Mark A. Davis ([email-masked]) wrote:

: And to think.... SCSI is made soooooo obsolete by these proprietary
: CD-ROM interfaces........   ;)

;-)  yeah, I think the following is appropriate here:

"..here pigs will fly, lightning will strike twice,  
     hell will freeze over, and eventually,         
       things will get really interesting..."      
                          --- Gary Merinstein
 
I agree with you Mark!

        - Mark

(Please!  No harelipped dog jokes!  :) ... )

--
"Linux!     Why waste your money on anything less?  "
============================================================
Mark A. Horton       ka4ybr           [email-masked]
P.O. Box 747 Decatur GA US 30031-0747   [email-masked]
+1.404.371.0291 : 33 45 31 N / 084 16 59 W    [email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Peter H. Lemieux)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.development,comp.os.linux.admin
Subject: Re: Telnet & ftp freeze!
Date: 7 Oct 1994 04:26:30 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Ralph Sims) says:
>
>Other things that run are Sendmail+IDA as a daemon, xntpd, and
>CERN's web server.  The ftp session definitely takes over the system.
>

Remember that FTP is running two simultaneous sessions with the other host, 
a data channel and a control channel.  With only a standard two-wire modem,
the line must be repeatedly turned around from TX to RX and back again.
(Four wire, dedicated-line modems are pricey.)  Services like news and
the web have little upstream traffic, mostly downstream, since they
have no control channel.

Peter

Dr. Peter H. Lemieux
cyways, inc                                  Voice:  +1 (617) 924-7991
203 Arlington Street                           Fax:  +1 (617) 926-8440
Watertown, MA 02172-2036 USA              Internet:     [email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Uwe Bonnes)
Subject: Re: Where to find kernal upgrades
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 1994 18:07:10 GMT

Rob Kean ([email-masked]) wrote:
> I'm reletively new to the linux world...only been playing with it for about a 
> year now.  I thought I just upgraded to the newest kernal with 1.1.18.

> After reading through these posts, I see that the newest ( that I saw 
> mentioned) was 1.1.51.  

> Where do these come from.  I didn't see them on sunsite or tsx-11???????

Origin is nic.funet.fi:pub/OS/Linux/PEOPLE/Linus/v1.1 but soon afterwards on
sunsite:pub/Linux/Incoming and later sunsite:pub/Linux/kernel/changes
-- 
Uwe Bonnes  [email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (DAVID L. JOHNSON)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development
Subject: Re: Beautifying Linux/Xfree
Date: 7 Oct 1994 16:09:25 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Alexandra Griffin) writes:
>In article <1994Oct5.141142.773@muvms6>,
>Andy Bailey <[email-masked]> wrote [in c.o.l.misc]:
>>[...]
>>  

>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...)

We got LOTS of fluff, but no *one* set of it.  That is sort of the main 
difference.  You want standardized interfaces?  Not likely.  A vendor could
provide one -- most of them do.  But linux is a creature of the net, and there
will not be only one GUI interface.  

>
>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).  

I don't think this is too hard, and it is a good idea.  

>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!).

This is arleady avialable.  Try GREAT.  Really.  It takes a while to 
configure, and you should have Motif to get the best performance, but it has
lots of options.

>       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... 

Y'know, the browser from Ghostview is similar to this -- not as advanced,
though.  GREAT's file manager is similar, as well -- though not the 
tree-structure.  To each his own

>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.  

Again, GREAT -- along with what you can do with .xinitrc, can do this.  There
is also another program out there that does things like this.  Can't 
remember the name, but check them out as they show up. 

Much of your suggestions are really already available, and I don't see any
interest in somehow standardizing them.  Making such bells&whistles available
is one thing, making them ubiquitous is another.  Don't just assume that,
if it isn't in slackware, it's not available.

-- 

David L. Johnson                        [email-masked] or 
Department of Mathematics               [email-masked]
Lehigh University
14 E. Packer Avenue                     (610) 758-3759
Bethlehem, PA 18015-3174                (610) 828-3708

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

Crossposted-To: comp.unix.questions
From: [email-masked] (Richard L. Goerwitz)
Subject: Re: Word (Text) processors for Linux?
Reply-To: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 1994 14:07:05 GMT

[email-masked] (Miguel Alvarez Blanco) writes:
>
> Really? This must be in your own field, because some journals of the
>APS, like Physical Review, accept LaTeX documents by e-mail (in source!)
>and use LaTeX in producing the final document.

Correct me if I'm wrong.  I thought that TeX was originally designed for
CS types and mathematicians.  For people in the vast majority of academic
disciplines it's not exactly ideal.  Like I mentioned before, it's very
irksome to me to have to preview to see my Arabic or Greek or Hebrew in
its native font.  I also prefer to be able to switch keyboard layouts on
the fly within my word processor app, so I can touch type in any language
I know how to do that in (just two :-(, but still you see what I mean).

This is not to say that LaTeX is a bad system.  It probably serves many
people's needs quite well.  I just don't think it's the system of the fu-
ture.

-- 

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

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

From: [email-masked] (Justin Murdock)
Subject: Re: New Linux Distribution
Date: 07 Oct 1994 13:24:56 GMT

zachary> So give them the DOS interface they know so well, and the
zachary> single user mode,

perhaps an autologin would be better.

zachary>  and all the rest of the nightmare. And underneath it all,
zachary> give them LINUX!

--
~ o   - If this signature is present, then any perceived flame
 |    - is entirely unintentional. Blame cultural differences.
\_/   - If, on the other hand, this signature is missing......

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

From: [email-masked] (Donald R Lloyd)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Linux installed from CD but now won't read it...
Date: 7 Oct 1994 10:15:04 -0400

Last night I was finally able to get Linux up and running from the August
Slackware CD (NEC SCSI CD_ROM drive connected to an SB16 SCSI-II).  I only 
installed the basics initially, and now I want to go back and install X, etc.
from the CD.  The only problem is, Linux has decided not to recognize the
CD-ROM drive any more.

The drive is recognized in the list of SCSI devices when linux starts up,
but when it tries to mount I get an error message that says "/dev/scd0 is
not a block device".  (/dev/scd0 is the device that seemed to work for the
initial install).  Attempts to mount it manually using "mount -t iso9660
/dev/scd0 /cdrom" return the same error.  There is a disk in the drive
when I start up.

Anyone know what could be happening here?

Also... how can I change the login prompt to something that doesn't say
"darkstar login:" ?

-- 
Don Lloyd    [email-masked]          "Mmmmmm.... floor pie."

Stuck using a PC, but still an Amiga guy at heart...

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

From: [email-masked] (S.hoffar)
Subject: Teac 4x supported?
Date: 7 Oct 1994 05:36:08 GMT

        I was wondering if the new teac quad speed CD Rom was supported
in the Linux environment.  I believe that is the cheapist quad on the 
market right now.  I have seen ads for under $300!  I was thinking of buying
one this weekend, and perhaps a Soundblaster AWE?  Any problems with that
card as well?    know that the AWE is still relatively new, that is why I 
ask.  :)  Please respond, as the weekend is approaching.

thank you
Sally

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

From: [email-masked] (root)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: error 0x11
Date: 7 Oct 1994 05:42:06 GMT

I recently installed Linux 1.0.9 on my 386 and things were working fine 
for a while.  Then we recompiled the kernel to set up SoundBlaster 
supporrt.  after rebooting, the error 0x11 came up.  further reboots 
reduced, then eliminated this error message, but the message then came 
back.  for referencce, if this is important, it is set to boot from LILO, 
with DOS being the default.  Any suggestions on what's wrong and how to 
fix  it?  thanks in advance.  (responses would be best via email, since i 
don't  check news that often... thanks!)

Ed Glowacki
([email-masked])

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

From: [email-masked] (Ralph Sims)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.development,comp.os.linux.admin
Subject: Re: Telnet & ftp freeze!
Date: 7 Oct 1994 14:06:44 GMT

[email-masked] (Peter H. Lemieux) writes:

>>CERN's web server.  The ftp session definitely takes over the system.

>Remember that FTP is running two simultaneous sessions with the other host, 
>a data channel and a control channel.  With only a standard two-wire modem,

Right, but introducing a 3000ms latency in the PPP session is not
really acceptable.

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

From: [email-masked] (root)
Subject: Linux and Ethernet
Date: 7 Oct 1994 05:48:59 GMT

Anyone have any hints on how to configure Linux to use an Ethernet card?  
The theory is to try to connect a small group of computers, with possibly 
one of them connected via dialup to the Internet.  Thanks in advance.
(please reply via email, as i don't checck the news groups that often.  
thanks!)

Ed Glowacki
([email-masked])

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

From: [email-masked] (Goran Devic)
Subject: Help with the SoundBlaster
Date: 7 Oct 1994 00:54:11 -0500

Hi, there!
I just recompiled Linux (1.0.9) to include SoundBlaster support
(220/5/1).  When I boot Linux, I can hear a click from the SB, so it
means it initializes it, but now I can't (or i don't know :-)  to
produce any sound... 

I d/l some *.au files and tried ' cat .. >/dev/audio ' but nothing
happens.  Please someone who has SB working to tell me what should I
do to play audio (both melodies & raw data ) and what utility programs
are available somewhere.

Thanx in advance,
Goran

-- 
          o"o
+----oOO--=U=--OOo------+                                     
|  [email-masked]  |
+-----------------------+ Smash your forehead on any key to continue...

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

Date: 06 Oct 1994 11:59:00 +0100
From: [email-masked] (Bernd Backhaus)
Crossposted-To: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Word (Text) processors for Linux?

[email-masked] wrote 06 Oct 94 in article <[email-masked]>:

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

 > >Guys, the race is on to capture growing markets in China, India, and
 > >perhaps Russia and Islamic countries, and Unix is way behind the Mac
 > >(WorldScript) and NT (Unicode); probably behind NeXTStep, too, though
 > >I don't know what they've been doing lately....

 > Richard: I don't understand. OK, you can get Hebrew or Arabic under
 > Windows (I even saw a wordprocessor for old-egyptian hieroglyphs
 > demonstrated), but surely they are just translations of graphics for
 > existing characters? You can't even write hebrew in the right
 > direction (i.e. from right to left) when you select the font. If you
 > want to do that, you have to start from scratch and break out that
 > assembly language manual; or at least the toolbox with graphic
 > functions and there is not much in MS-Windows that you can use right
 > away. The hieroglyphic wordprocessor was done this way.

Wrong. All of the following packages have their own TrueType fonts for the  
specific language, most allow to write right -> left, up -> down or whatever.  
With Universe you can even mix as many languages on one page as you wish.

Logos - plug in for WinWord with special keboard drivers

Right Type - plug in for most Windows programs with TrueType and Bitmap fonts,  
incl. keyboard drivers

Glasnost Cyrillic Library

Switch - switches between cyrillic and latin with a hotkey incl. keyboard  
layout swapping

TurkishFontFactoty and EastEuropean FontFactory - like Switch

Kyrillica - despite the name also has fonts for almost every language in the  
world

Twinbridge Chinese Japanese Korean tools

Gamma Universe word processor for almost every language, incl. keyboard  
redefinition on the fly

The point is: you can do that under Windows easily (NT even easier in Unicode)  
as you just have to create TrueType (or Postscript if you want) fonts and  
intercept the keyboard driver with a suitable one or for more exotic languages  
with an input help like a selection pad (for Kanji etc). And most of the plug  
in's work with every Windows application that is coded properly (i.e. doesn't  
come with its own drivers).

Cheers,
       Bernd.

===========================================================================
Bernd Backhaus                            email: [email-masked]
Am Schamberge 56                     Compuserve: 100111,3061
44879 Bochum                            Fidonet: 2:2448/53.8
Germany

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

From: [email-masked] (Harm Hanemaaijer)
Subject: Re: Beautifying Linux/Xfree
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 1994 13:51:06 GMT

I think having a distribution optionally install nice
light-on-dark color resources for terminal windows and other apps,
with window manager colors to match and good fonts, would make a
significant perception difference. A large fraction of users don't
have a clue of how to configure X looks.

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

From: [email-masked] (Jeff Kesselman)
Subject: Re: Yggdrasil Linux Plug and Play CD ver1.1 ?
Date: Thu, 6 Oct 1994 01:21:09 GMT

Thanks Paul.

To give anye masochists actually following this the other half of that 
email.  I told Paul I'ld look at his example and check it out against my 
machine to see if it holds true in my setup.  Stay tuned for more 
no-holds-bared verbal tussling  :)
(Actually not much more, I think we've about reached conclusions one way 
or the other after which theres not much more either of us can say 
that'll chnage either of our minds...  :)  )

Jeff Kesselman

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.development
From: [email-masked] (Xiaojun Zhu)
Subject: Flame on the attitude of Linux towards GCC development
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 1994 06:39:33 GMT

I want to start a flame here. Please feel free to flame me as well.

Ever since the gnu c 2.6.0 compiler coming out, there are always some people
out there telling people that gcc 2.6.1 is coming out R.S.N., because
they know(yeah, I know you, you are an expert ?!?!), gcc 2.x.0 always
have bugs!!!, whenever some people
ask "could we get the new version for my linux version, PLEASE", and
no matter how sweet the plea may sounds. Because they just want to
WAIT until more bugs are fixed. 

But how could people fix those bugs? At least the gnu people? I think
mainly through people using and testing them. That's also how the
Linux itself is improving.  Linux is a big community,
lots of users are exposed to the Unixish world just through this
box. Linux kernel is built using the gnu compiler. How could we
act so selfish and just sit there and wait until somebody else fix the bugs?

Think about the scenario, when linus announced his first release of
linux and no body wanted to try that out? You know the answer,
don't you?

Oh, yeah, you could say, if you want to test them, you could always
go ahead and join the GCC channel, maybe you could get 
the more up to date code and compile and install it yourself. Oh, sure,
but some ordinally user may not have the necessary conditions to do
it, for example, lack of harddisk spaces, don't want to go through
lots of troubles(it is time consuming, you know that, GOD?)

So, please, stop sit back and wait, Start to support the gnu c development 
today. I know many of are experts(in real), if you could afford the time
and know more about things, why not help us update our compiler? Maybe
the compiler will become better faster? Don't you think? Give them more
credits. I don't think that they are dumb enough that they want to
release some bad product. We should be helping them to fix the bugs.
In fact, I have strong evidence that gcc2.6.0 is lot better than
gcc2.5.8, Also, gcc 2.6.0 is an official release.

I have just waited for so long and tired to hear about RSN.  I am also 
wondering the RSN is how soon?
Without many people using and testing them? These days, I chose not
to use my linux box, because it doesn't have an up to date
gcc compiler. I have some template class code which compiles perfectly 
well under gcc 2.6.0 but failed under gcc 2.5.8, I don't even have
the opportunity to become the bug reporter, you are not suppose
to report a bug in gcc 2.5.8 which doesn't occur in gcc 2.6.0 any more.

There are alwyas some kind soul offers to put the newer version in an
FTP site, please Don't say don't, OK! That's your personal opinion.

Your opinion?

Flame with me or flame me!!! It's a free world, isn't it?

XJ

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

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