Subject: Linux-Misc Digest #932
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 94 18:13:39 EDT

Linux-Misc Digest #932, Volume #2                Thu, 13 Oct 94 18:13:39 EDT

Contents:
  NCR53c810 Driver FAQ? (Chris Harris)
  mpeg_play 2.0.1:  Motif :(  Binary? (Warwick Allison)
  Re: Is linux a multithreaded operating system? (Jeff Kesselman)
  CFV: rec.games.computer.doom.* groups (Ron "Asbestos" Dippold)
  Should the FAQ be in col.admin, .misc, .development ? (Ian Jackson)
  Re: Linux doom and PPP (Benjamin John Walter)
  Re: ncurses 1.8.1 (Benjamin John Walter)
  Re: Microsoft Keyboard users? (Andries Brouwer)
  YOUR VERY OWN IDLE DAEMON (John Palaima)
  Re: Word (Text) processors for Linux? (Boudewijn)
  Re: Weakest Linux Box (Thomas Schenk)
  Re: Nailed down to 386bsd or linux, now which one? (Ross Alexander)
  Re: jlinuxdoc-sgml-1.0 released. (Sverre Stoltenberg)
  Re: Fintronic ---> VERY impressive!!! (Dan Pop)
  Re: Is linux a multithreaded operating system? (Jeff Kesselman)
  Re: Overlaid swap files (was Re: Yggdrasil Fall 1994: buyers be (Andreas Helke)

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

From: [email-masked] (Chris Harris)
Subject: NCR53c810 Driver FAQ?
Date: 13 Oct 1994 14:33:32 GMT

Hello Linux Users,
      I have a new Pentium system in the mail, whose only hard drive interface
is SCSI, based on the 53c810 NCR chip.  As I'd like to make sure Linux works
on it before the MBG expires, I'd like to know how to install some form of
the linux kernel.

      I checked the driver site at tsx-11.mit.edu, but couldn't find any
readmes or anything.  The closest I came was the following, from the SCSI
HOWTO:

Section 3.11 : NCR53c810 (ALPHA)
ALPHA available from tsx-11.mit.edu : /pub/linux/ALPHA/scsi
    ncr_src.2.tar.gz    - patches against 1.1.19
    ncr_kern.2.gz       - kernel, dd to disk and use rdev
    ncr_slack.2.gz      - Slackware boot disk, dd to disk and
                            install slackware

      Since I'm borrowing my friend's slackware CD, it would seem logical to
simply download the boot disk.  However, I remember hearing somewhere that it
is really a two disk set, but only one is shown at the FTP site.  Any ideas
how I could get this running asap?

      Many thankyous!

-Chris
-- 
"If patterns of 1s and 0s were 'like' patterns of human lives and death,
if everything about an individual could be represented in a computer by a
long string of 1s and 0s, then what kind of creature would be represented
by a long string of lives and deaths?"  --Thomas Pynchon

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

From: [email-masked] (Warwick Allison)
Subject: mpeg_play 2.0.1:  Motif :(  Binary?
Date: 10 Oct 1994 03:26:09 GMT

Version 2.0.1 of mpeg_play has introduced a Motif user interface.
(2.0 just opens a window and plays the animation).

It is my understanding that this means I need to buy Motif libraries
in order to compile the program, or find a pre-compiled, statically
linked binary copy of the executable.

Are there any other options?  (free sub-motif library I could try?)

--
Warwick
--
  _-_|\      [email-masked]            /
 /     * <-- Computer Science Department,  /      WIT SPACE TO LET
 \_.-._/     University of Queensland,    /
      v      Brisbane, Australia.        /

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

From: [email-masked] (Jeff Kesselman)
Subject: Re: Is linux a multithreaded operating system?
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 04:02:59 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, Lam Dang <[email-masked]> wrote:
>Jeff Kesselman ([email-masked]) wrote:
>: In article <[email-masked]>, Lam Dang <[email-masked]> wrote:
>: >Jeff Kesselman ([email-masked]) wrote:
>: >
>: >[cut]
>: >
>: >: This blocking business is an implementation detail. I don't think its a 
>: >: terminology issue.  This whole discussion goes to illustrate my OTHER 
>: >: point (deleted) that the terms thread, task and process are often used in 
>: >: different ways.  The whole area of terminology is muddied, this is 
>: >: PARTICULARLY true when referrign to 'threads'.
>: >
>: >For historical perspective, in IBM's MVS a "job" runs in its own address 
>: >space.  Each job consists of multiple, concurrent "tasks" which share the
>: >same address space.
>: >
>: >And, just like today's threads, MVS tasks do get in each other's way, and 
>: >reading dumps is still a required skill in MVS shops.
>: >
>: >
>: >-- 
>: >Lam Dang
>: >[email-masked]
>: >
>: >                            
>
>: Okay.. and your point is?????
>
>: As the ancient romans used to say, "Non sequitor."
>
>: JK
>
>It did look that way, didn't it?  I just meant to add to your point about 
>terminology.
>-- 
>Lam Dang
>[email-masked]
>
>                               

Ah I understand now.  You are saying that threads under MVS behave like 
the light-weight tasks mentioned earlier, thus supporting the contention 
that such behavior (or lack thereof) is an implementation detail, not 
part of the definition of a thread.

Okay, now that I understand, thanks for the support and I'm sorry if I 
sounded snotty in my last post, I was honestly just confused.

Jeff Kesselman

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

From: [email-masked] (Ron "Asbestos" Dippold)
Crossposted-To: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,alt.games.doom,alt.games.doom.announce,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.sgi.misc,comp.sys.next.misc,comp.os.os2.games
Subject: CFV: rec.games.computer.doom.* groups
Date: 13 Oct 1994 15:56:29 -0400
Reply-To: [email-masked] (Ron Dippold Voting Alias)

                     FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2)
           moderated group rec.games.computer.doom.announce
            unmoderated group rec.games.computer.doom.help
            unmoderated group rec.games.computer.doom.misc
          unmoderated group rec.games.computer.doom.editing
          unmoderated group rec.games.computer.doom.playing

Newsgroups lines:
rec.games.computer.doom.announce        Info/FAQs/reviews about DOOM. (Moderated)
rec.games.computer.doom.help    DOOM Help Service (new players welcome).
rec.games.computer.doom.misc    Talking about DOOM and id Software.
rec.games.computer.doom.editing Editing and hacking DOOM-related files.
rec.games.computer.doom.playing Playing DOOM and user-created levels.

Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 3 November 1994.

This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party.  For voting
questions only contact [email-masked].  For questions about the
proposed groups contact John Van Essen <[email-masked]>.

PURPOSE

The rec.games.computer.doom hierarchy is for discussing various topics 
relating to the popular action-oriented computer game DOOM, written by
id Software, and its sequels and user-written add-ons.  It would also 
consolidate DOOM-related discussion currently underway in other 
newsgroups.  It is intended for world-wide distribution.

This proposal also establishes a new rec.games.computer newsgroup 
subhierarchy for games that run on general-purpose computers.

CHARTERS
========

rec.games.computer.doom.announce    Info/FAQs/reviews about DOOM. (Moderated)

  The sort of postings likely to be to be approved by the moderator are 
  general announcements that are interesting to the broad spectrum of DOOM 
  players.  Examples of these types of articles are:

   - Anything from id Software
   - New PWAD and LMP announcements
   - Announcements of new versions of utilities like DEU and DEHACKED
   - Tourney announcements
   - FTP site news (downtime, user limits, etc)
   - FAQs and similarly informative documents
   - Reviews of user-written PWADs

  The current moderator of alt.games.doom.announce, Tony Lezard, says that
  he'd be happy to moderate this newsgroup using the current addresses:

    Submit:  [email-masked]
    Contact: [email-masked] (Tony Lezard)

  This newsgroup replaces alt.games.doom.announce.

rec.games.computer.doom.help        DOOM Help Service (new players welcome).

  This unmoderated newsgroup is the headquarters of the DOOM Help Service.
  Readers new to USENET or to DOOM who post questions here will receive a
  flame-free friendly response from experienced USENETters and DOOM players.
  Game setup, hardware problems, modem/network setup, secrets, cheats, how
  to get DOOM and related utilities are a few examples of suitable topics.

  Questions about modifying/editing levels belong in the .editing group.

  This newsgroup replaces alt.games.doom.newplayers.

rec.games.computer.doom.misc        Talking about DOOM and id Software.

  Here is where discussion occurs about non-play-related issues that
  aren't suitable (or only marginally so) for the other subgroups.
  Examples are FTP issues, ports of DOOM to other systems, piracy,
  "DOOM - the Movie", DOOM II vs. DOOM, what's the best soundcard, 
  DOOM-related ads, comparisons with other games, magazine articles, 
  people at id and their cars, future id plans (Quake).  In general, 
  if it isn't about actually playing or editing DOOM, post it here.    

rec.games.computer.doom.editing     Editing and hacking DOOM-related files.

  Discussion here covers modifying the DOOM environment, especially the
  EXE and WAD files.  There are many user-written utilities available that  
  do these types of things.  Some authors and experienced users can answer
  questions about design techniques and using the utilities.  Examples of
  topics are effects of design error (HOM, Medusa), design problems in 
  user-written PWADs, modifying default DOOM behavior, utility enhancements.

  Comments or questions about playing user-written PWADs (opinions, keys, 
  secrets, etc.) should not be posted here - post in .playing instead.

rec.games.computer.doom.playing     Playing DOOM and user-created levels.

  Discussion about playing DOOM takes place here (not only about playing
  id's original levels, but also about playing user-written PWADs).
  Topics include how to find secrets, keyboard/mouse movement techniques, 
  side-effects of playing DOOM, where to find good PWADS (and which ones 
  are favorites), deathmatch experiences, and so forth.

  Tournament discussions and multi-player topics can go here, too.

  PWAD upload notices can be posted here when not posted in .announce.

  Non-play-related topics belong in the .misc group (this includes Quake).

()=========== A Few Words From the RFD Author (John Van Essen) ===========()
||                                                                        ||
|| Please LEAVE YOUR VOTE BLANK for any subgroup that you have no strong  ||
|| feelings about one way or the other.  If a group is created, it should ||
|| be because voters felt strongly enough about needing it to vote YES.   ||
|| Vote NO only if you think that particular group is a bad idea, period. ||
||                                                                        ||
()========================================================================()

HOW TO VOTE

Erase everything above the top "-=-=-=-" line and erase everything
below the bottom "-=-=-=-" line.  Do not erase anything between these
lines and do not change the group names.

Give your name on the line that asks for it. For each group, place a YES or
NO in the brackets next to it to vote for or against it.  If you don't want
to vote on a particular group, just leave the space blank.  Don't worry
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inserts.

Send MAIL to:   [email-masked]
Just Replying should work if you are not reading this on a mailing list.

-=-=-=-=-=- Don't Delete Anything Between These Lines =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
rec.games.computer.doom.* groups Ballot    <RGCD-0001> (Don't remove)

Give your real name here:

[Your Vote]  Group
=======================================================================
[         ]  rec.games.computer.doom.announce moderated
[         ]  rec.games.computer.doom.help
[         ]  rec.games.computer.doom.misc
[         ]  rec.games.computer.doom.editing
[         ]  rec.games.computer.doom.playing
-=-=-=-=-=- Don't Delete Anything Between These Lines =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Anything else may be rejected by the automatic vote counting program.  The
votetaker will respond to your received ballots with a personal acknowledge-
ment by mail - if you do not receive one within several days, try again.
It's your responsibility to make sure your vote is registered correctly.

Only one vote per person, no more than one vote per account.  Addresses and
votes of all voters will be published in the final voting results list.

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

From: [email-masked] (Ian Jackson)
Subject: Should the FAQ be in col.admin, .misc, .development ?
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 12:48:24 GMT

Currently the Linux FAQ is posted only to comp.os.linux.announce and
col.help.

I'm considering expanding that to include the other groups in the
hierarchy.  Does anyone have any comments to make about this ?

What has prompted me to consider this issue is the following message
from Prodigy, posted to the faq-maintainers list:

> From: Ed Ravin <[email-masked]>
> 
> Over the next few weeks, Prodigy's two million or so members will begin
> to access the Usenet.  As part of our effort to minimize the minimum
> impact this infusion of new blood will have on the rest of Usenet, our
> newsreader sports a "Get FAQ" button which will attempt to fetch an FAQ
> file for the current newsgroup.  It works by looking in news.answers
> for any articles cross-posted to the current newsgroup, then displaying
> a menu of those articles.

Please let's not have a flamewar about Prodigy.  If you must to do, at
least change the Subject and Newsgroups lines.

-- 
Ian Jackson, at home.         [email-masked] or [email-masked]
+44 1223 575512    Escoerea on IRC.   http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/iwj10/
2 Lexington Close, Cambridge, CB4 3LS, England.   Urgent: [email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Benjamin John Walter)
Subject: Re: Linux doom and PPP
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 1994 21:50:31 +0000

: Also, is there any easy way to configure PPP like there is for slip? Dial 
: up program, default scripts, etc... Any help woild be great!

Well, its not quite as easy, but there are some example scripts to
help you.  If you want to run PPP, I'd recommended picking up the
ppp2.1.2a package from sunsite (I think you'll find it under
/pub/Linux/system/Network/serial)  It contains the pppd daemon
(manages the connection), chat (a program to automate login) and some
example scripts.

Good luck!

Peace,  Ben

-- 
   __   _                
  / /  (_)__  __ ____  __
 / /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ /  . . .  t h e   c h o i c e   o f   a
/____/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\              G N U   g e n e r a t i o n . . .

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

From: [email-masked] (Benjamin John Walter)
Subject: Re: ncurses 1.8.1
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 1994 21:52:11 +0000

: where can i obtain help with ncurses for linux ver 1.0 (LSL) ?
: possible bug report or misunderstanding. 

I'm sure you've already looked there, but how about /usr/doc/ncurses?

Peace,  Ben

-- 
   __   _                
  / /  (_)__  __ ____  __
 / /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ /  . . .  t h e   c h o i c e   o f   a
/____/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\              G N U   g e n e r a t i o n . . .

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

From: [email-masked] (Andries Brouwer)
Subject: Re: Microsoft Keyboard users?
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 22:29:37 GMT

[email-masked] (Wilfred Despe) writes:

>I currently use the new MS keyboard with Linux.  I am not sure there is
>any real difference with a normal keyboard.

>I however have not tried to use any of the additional keys..

I would like to get the scancode (use showkey -s), and, if it exists,
the keycode (use showkey) for these new keyboards (or any other
strange unusual keyboards). - [email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (John Palaima)
Subject: YOUR VERY OWN IDLE DAEMON
Date: 13 Oct 1994 20:49:51 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
[email-masked] (Van Dao Mai) wrote:
> Idle daemon for linux? Can anyone give me the name of it please

this is an idle daemon:
============cut here====8<===============
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

/* this program, idled, is copyright (c) 1994 Richard Cooley.
   You may copy, modify, distribute, etc, to it, as long as this copyright
   notice remains unchanged in this source file and this file is supplied to
   others */

void main(void)
{
#ifdef PURE
        FILE *fp;
        fp = fopen("/var/adm/idled_log", "w")
        fprintf(fp, "\n\nidled v1.0, (c) 1994, R Cooley\n\n");
        fclose(fp);
#endif /* PURE */

        while (1)
        {
                sleep(10);
#ifdef PURE
                fp = fopen("/var/adm/idled_log", "w");
                fprintf(fp, "idled: one iteration\n");
                fclose(fp); /* don't want to tie up the system needlessly */
#endif /* PURE */
        }
}
====================>8====cut here==========
copy the next few lines (up to but not including #%#%) into a file
fnamed makefile:
#
#
# to create the idle daemon, unpack the makefile and the idled.c source
# file.  then type "make install"
#
#uncomment the next line(remove the leading #) for a "pure" idle daemon
#DEFS = -DPURE

install:
        gcc $(DEFS) -o idled idled.c
        mv idled /usr/local/bin/idled
        echo "/usr/local/bin/idled" >> /etc/rc.d/rc.M
        echo "all done."
# be gentle with me, this was my first makefile
#%#%
And you'll have your very own idle daemon.  If enough people like it, I'll
create a package for it suitable for Slackware pkgtool.  Paul, interested? :)
--
Richard Cooley Extraordinaire           "Yeah.  Arrgh."
        [email-masked]      These are my opinions, not MIT's etc...
        [email-masked]           Linux Linux Linux Linux Linux
"LILO - it's not just a boot loader, it's a way of life" -- me

-- (almost) always one to take a question at face value :) :) :)

hoo hoo hoo hoo heh heh :)

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

From: [email-masked] (Boudewijn)
Subject: Re: Word (Text) processors for Linux?
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 94 15:18:26 CET
Reply-To: [email-masked]

In article <[email-masked]> Steve Dunham 
([email-masked]) wrote on Re: Word (Text) processors for Linux?

> 
> You're wrong.  You can easily combine hebrew, arabic, english,,
> classical greek, devenagari, aramaic, ... with TeX.  
>   There is an extension to the TeX program proper which is called
> Tex-Xet.  It is easy to apply the patch when you install TeX.  

And where would this be? I would love to try it out.
-- 
Boudewijn Rempt
Kloosterstraat 34 1.2, 2021 VN Haarlem.
't Gezichtje eerst, dan de handen,
dan de bibben, en 't laatst de tanden.
                                  Mijnheer Dil, De tuinen van Dorr, Paul 
Biegel.

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

From: [email-masked] (Thomas Schenk)
Subject: Re: Weakest Linux Box
Date: 13 Oct 1994 12:15:37 -0600

In article <[email-masked]>,
Steven Pritchard <[email-masked]> wrote:
>[email-masked] (H.J. Lu) writes:
>>In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Linux Mac Daddy) writes:
>>|> I was just wondering who has the weakest Linux box?  What I mean by this 
>>|> is like anyone running Linux on a 386 with 3 megs of RAM...  I've got a 
>>|> 386sx-16 with 5 megs of RAM and it works great (tons faster than DOS).  
>>|> If anyone has a "weaker" machine that runs Linux (and you actually use 
>>|> it) let's hear it....
>
>>386sx/16 with 4 MB RAM. I am trying to upgrade and waiting for the price
>>to drop :-(.
>
>Well, I didn't actually *use* it, but I booted SLS on my 386SX/16 when it 
>only had 2 meg.  I waited for 2 more meg before installing it.
>

My first Linux installation was on a 386/sx20 with 2 Meg and 40 Meg of hard
drive space devoted to Linux.  This was with H.J. Lu's mini distribution a
long time ago (prior to version 0.99) and I impressed the local sysadmin 
with the speed, but that was compared to a VAX 8200 running Ultrix 4.2 that
took 12 hours to do the first stage compile of GCC 2.4.x with only two
users on the system.  My Linux box was very useful to me since I was taking
a C/Unix class at the time and didn't like the slow response of the VAX.

Tom Schenk

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

From: [email-masked] (Ross Alexander)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.386bsd.misc
Subject: Re: Nailed down to 386bsd or linux, now which one?
Date: 13 Oct 94 17:24:25 GMT

[email-masked] (Othman Ahmad) writes:
>[email-masked] (Harf) writes:
>>      I prefer Linux, but I use FreeBSD 1.1.5.1 because it more closely
>> resembles Ultrix, which I have to run on a DECstation which I assist in
>> administrating.
>I was told by someone who had not tried *BSD
>that Linux can behave like Sun OS which was based on BSD.
>Similarly with Ultrix. I believe it is a matter of degree of similarity.

Ultrix was frozen on the 4.2 release fairly early in the game, and
then a whole bunch of strange DEC stuff (MOP, LAT, RIS, DecNET, and
that strange fs@host notation they use for NFS) got grafted on.
Meantime, Sun at least waited for 4.3 Tahoe before the divergences got
to be noticeable.

(I was there for all of this, admin'ing a mixed Ultrix/SunOS shop with
vax and sun servers + vax, decstation, sun3, and sun4 clients.  Way
fun.)

To parody a famous un*x pronunciamento, SunOS 3.5 was an improvement
on both its predecessors and successors.  Ditto Ultrix 2.3 (mostly).

regards, Ross

--
Ross Alexander VE6PDQ   [email-masked],
(403) 675 6311          [email-masked]

Television is chewing gum for the eyes. -- Frank Lloyd Wright

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

From: [email-masked] (Sverre Stoltenberg)
Subject: Re: jlinuxdoc-sgml-1.0 released.
Date: 12 Oct 1994 18:17:52 GMT

/S.

Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Path: nntp.uio.no!trane.uninett.no!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!uhog.mit.edu!news.kei.com!travelers.mail.cornell.edu!cornell!bounce-bounce
From: [email-masked]
        (佐藤 健司)
Subject: jlinuxdoc-sgml-1.0 released.
Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
Followup-To: comp.os.linux.misc
Keywords: Linuxdoc-SGML, Japanese
Sender: [email-masked] (Matt Welsh)
Reply-To: [email-masked]
        (佐藤 健司)
Organization: None
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 13:52:10 GMT
Approved: [email-masked] (Matt Welsh)
Lines: 42

I release "linuxdoc-SGML for Japanese" based linuxdoc-sgml-1.1.tar.gz
at last.  ;-)

Some change from linuxdoc-SGML ver.1.1 for Japanese and more.

It is 
ftp://ftp.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp/Linux/JF/misc/jlinuxdoc-sgml-1.0.tar.gz.

If possible, please send me it's inpressions. :-)

Chief change Lists:

* Add Sun-JLE(Japanese Language Environment) Support.

* Add Some Script
    + make HTML file from SGML source (bin/fmthtml)
    + make DVI file from SGML source (bin/fmtdvi)
    + make PS file from SGML source (bin/fmtps)
    + make TEXT file from SGML source (bin/fmttext)

* Delete "Next Chapter" from Last HTML file. (bin/rmnext)

* Add Linuxdoc-SGML file Edit Major Mode for Emacs. (elisp/lnxsgml.el)
    + Can translate to all in Emacs.
    + Can insert almost SGML TAGS by C-c + 1 Charactor.

* Add New SGML Tags.
    + <trans> is translater like author.
    + <tdate> is translation date like date. (but Not Use)

* Modify qtex for "page number correct".

* Add "new page" command after "table of contents" in
  rep/latex/mapping.

Thank you for your cooperation.
--
     Kenji Sato ([email-masked])

--
Send submissions for comp.os.linux.announce to: [email-masked]
Be sure to include Keywords: and a short description of your software.

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

From: [email-masked] (Dan Pop)
Subject: Re: Fintronic ---> VERY impressive!!!
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 1994 18:16:15 GMT

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Marc Fraioli) writes:

>In article [email-masked],  [email-masked] (Steve Champagne) writes:
>>Based on recent experience, I'd highly recommend Fintronic as a provider of
>>systems pre-configured with Linux.  I purchased the following:
>>
>>  - Intel 486DX2-66MHz VLB basic system
>>  - Buslogic KT-445S VLB SCSI Controller w/ ASPI DOS drivers
>>  - 1.0GB, Quantum Empire 1080S, 9ms, 512K cache, 3.5x1"
>>  - Conner Viper 2525S 525MB 1/4" SCSI tape
>>  - Viewsonic 17, 17", 1280x1024
>>  - #9 GXE Level 11 VLB 2MB, S3-928
>>  - DOS 6.2/Windows 3.1 installed with dual boot (via LILO)
>>
>>For slightly less than $4100 (including shipping).
>>
>
>Wow, for that money you're in low-end RISC territory.  You can get entry
>level RISC boxes from Sun, HP, or IBM for less than that, all with 16MB
>RAM and at least 16" color monitors.  True, they have smaller disks (Sun
>gives you a 535, IBM a 260, not sure about HP) and no tape, but you
                                            ^^ -- it's 260, too.
>get a _much_ faster CPU.  Of course, they don't include source to their
>OSes either...

Have you ever tried to work on one of these entry level workstations?
They're severely underconfigured, especially as far as disks and memory
are concerned, which means that they swap madly when you try to do
anything. And a system with a 260 MB disk can be used only in a network,
where almost everything is stored on a remote file server. You can't fit
the full OS and a decent swap partition on such a disk, don't even think
of users home directories.  The graphics hardware (adaptor and monitor)
usually sucks, too.

When you start considering adding another 16 MB RAM (a must) a decent
disk and a better display (if you want better resolution you usually
have to add some video memory, too), you find out that the price of the
system has doubled (at least).

Compare this with a pretty well configured PC, that works like a 
charm with a nice OS. I won't hesitate a single moment if I had to make
a choice between a PC and a workstation having the same price. The 
workstation could be a winner only if all you have to do is number
crunching. But even in this field, a P90 system beats most entry level
workstations (especially Sun's):

MACHINES               MHz SPECint92 SPECfp92

SUN/SPARC/5/70         70  57        47.3 
SUN/SPARC/5/85         85  64        54.6
SGI/INDY/R4000SC      100  57.5      63
IBM/RISC/6000/250      66  62.6      72.2 
DEC/3000/300LX        125  63.5      75.5
HP/712/60              60  58.1      79        

Pentium                66  64        57  
Pentium                90  86        77 

Dan
--
Dan Pop 
CERN, CN Division
Email: [email-masked]
Mail:  CERN - PPE, Bat. 31 R-004, CH-1211 Geneve 23, Switzerland

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

From: [email-masked] (Jeff Kesselman)
Subject: Re: Is linux a multithreaded operating system?
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 18:28:00 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
Robert Ashcroft <[email-masked]> wrote:
>In article <[email-masked]>,
>Jeff Kesselman <[email-masked]> wrote:
>>As the ancient romans used to say, "Non sequitor."
>
>Except that they spelled it "sequitur".
>

Lesee, can I remember, r - ris -tur -mur -mini -ntur.

Yup, you're absolutely right!

JK

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

From: [email-masked] (Andreas Helke)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Re: Overlaid swap files (was Re: Yggdrasil Fall 1994: buyers be
Date: 13 Oct 1994 18:19:25 GMT

Schultz, Russell ([email-masked]) wrote:
: In article <[email-masked]>
: [email-masked] (Moises Lejter) writes:

: >   Jeff> instaleld all m ystuff from the commadn lien and so far
: >   Jeff> haven't found anything thatw asn't loaded ('course again, i
: >   Jeff> don't use X...)
: > 
: > I installed Linux from the Yggdrasil Fall 94 CD on a Packard-Bell
: > 486SX33, with 8MB.  When prompted for a swap partition, I declined to
: > specify one, since I planned to set one up later, "on top of" my 
:                                                     ^^^^^^^^^^^
: > windows swap file.  I attempted to install some of the software from
: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
: Ooooga ooooga!   How to do this? and can OS/2 share the same space?  It
: really stinks having 3 swap files.

: I'd be excited, closer to ecstatic.

Sharing with windows is simple. The process I use is to create a
appropriately sized DOS partition and create a DOS filesystem on it. Save
the first sectors (root directory and partition table) to a file. I activate
this partition as linux swap partition when booting linux and restore the
file to the partition when shutting down. For some strange reason this gives
me a DOS filesystem with a corrupted FAT. I then use debug in my
autoexec.bat to restore the rootdir and FAT once more. (The linux based
restoration is necessary because DOS debug does not like to write to a
partition without a file system). For windows it does not matter that the
content of the swapfile is lost. This file is remade at each windows boot. I
would assume that sharing with OS2 could function in a similar way, but if
you have to coordinate between 3 different OS it might get complicated.

Andreas
--

* Andreas Helke    Institut fuer molekulare Genetik, Universitaet Heidelberg
**                        Im Neuenheimer Feld 230, 69122 Heidelberg, Germany
***    If you want ls, cp, dd or a Korn shell clone for DOS computers ftp to 
****       orion.mgen.uni-heidelberg.de the home of the HFM DOS file manager
*****  HFM V. 4.02 is now available here and coming soon to SimTel and Garbo

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

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