705 lines
26 KiB
Plaintext
705 lines
26 KiB
Plaintext
From: Digestifier <Linux-Activists-Request@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu>
|
|
To: Linux-Activists@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu
|
|
Reply-To: Linux-Activists@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu
|
|
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 93 20:13:09 EDT
|
|
Subject: Linux-Activists Digest #277
|
|
|
|
Linux-Activists Digest #277, Volume #6 Thu, 30 Sep 93 20:13:09 EDT
|
|
|
|
Contents:
|
|
A few problems with LINUX (Nicholas Johann Oddson)
|
|
video driver for orchid 1280 (jeremy milikow)
|
|
Looking for info about MacLinux (Johnathon Suker)
|
|
LILO and MBR (dikui021)
|
|
Re: SoftLanding Message (Miguel Alvarez Blanco)
|
|
Re: Kernel taking 2 meg of ram?? (Frank Lofaro)
|
|
Please use the real linux (comp.os.linux.*) groups (Frank Lofaro)
|
|
Re: WordProcessor (~=TEX) for Linux (David Wright)
|
|
Re: Looking for info about MacLinux (rich@mulvey.com)
|
|
Re: Installing Linux (rich@mulvey.com)
|
|
Re: Please use the real linux (comp.os.linux.*) groups (Carl Johnson)
|
|
Re: ATI Graphics Ultra Pro X problems (Bao Chau Ha)
|
|
Re: HARDWARE: Mitsumi LU005S CD-ROM anyone? (Grant R. Guenther)
|
|
Ethernet error message (Russell Nelson)
|
|
Re: WHAT HAVE I TO DO TO SET UP THE .PROFILE (Douglas Henke)
|
|
Installing Linux from Hard Drive (Dave Mueller)
|
|
how getting XENIX-Support (J”rg Bowinkelmann)
|
|
Re: Dead DIP (Gary Anderson)
|
|
#### PLEASE, DON'T CROSSPOST ##### (Karsten Steffens)
|
|
Re: Oakdriver for X (Wobutt)
|
|
NE600 ethernet board (Wobutt)
|
|
Re: Forward: QIC-80 (A Wizard of Earth C)
|
|
Re: kermit drop lines on exit (Andrew R. Tefft)
|
|
|
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: NJODDSON@TWINKLE1.watstar.uwaterloo.ca (Nicholas Johann Oddson)
|
|
Subject: A few problems with LINUX
|
|
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1993 16:35:45 GMT
|
|
|
|
|
|
I just installed LINUX for the first time yesterday, and I've ran across
|
|
a few problems with it and my machine... maybe someone can give me a clue
|
|
to what's going on.
|
|
|
|
First of all, I tried to use LINUX with a 100MB partition, which it didn't
|
|
seem to like. It complain that it wouldn't be able to use something like
|
|
70000 sectors, so I divided it up into two 50MB partitions. What could
|
|
be the problem there?
|
|
|
|
Also, EVERY single time I boot LINUX, my keyboard is fried..... it will
|
|
type approximately 3-4 characters each time I hit a key (ie. it repeats
|
|
quite rapidly). I thought it was typematic rate problem so I changed all
|
|
my CMOS settings to try and correct the problem, but it didn't seem to
|
|
help. However, if I unplug my keyboard after LINUX has booted and then
|
|
plug it back in, then the keyboard is totally fine.
|
|
|
|
Anyone have any idea what that could be?
|
|
|
|
Thanks to all.
|
|
|
|
==============================================================================
|
|
Nicholas Johann Oddson
|
|
178 Sunview Street
|
|
Waterloo, ON
|
|
(519)747-4852
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: jmilikow@csa.bu.edu (jeremy milikow)
|
|
Subject: video driver for orchid 1280
|
|
Date: 30 Sep 1993 17:26:37 GMT
|
|
|
|
I'm trying to get Xwindows working but
|
|
I don't know what driver will work with my system. I've got
|
|
an orchid 1280 vga video card and a sony multiscanHG monitor.
|
|
please e-mail me.
|
|
|
|
Thanks.
|
|
|
|
-Jeremy
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: jsuker@orion.oac.uci.edu (Johnathon Suker)
|
|
Subject: Looking for info about MacLinux
|
|
Date: 30 Sep 93 15:44:12 GMT
|
|
|
|
Netters,
|
|
|
|
Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this but I am looking for
|
|
any information about a Macintosh port of Linux. I am interested even if it
|
|
is in alpha testing or not for general release.
|
|
|
|
Thanks in advance,
|
|
|
|
Johnathon
|
|
--
|
|
Johnathon Suker | Thats SULTAN vile betrayer to you!
|
|
University of California, Irvine |
|
|
University Library | Iago
|
|
JLSUKER@UCI.EDU | Aladdin
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: dikui021@diku.dk (dikui021)
|
|
Subject: LILO and MBR
|
|
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1993 17:41:06 GMT
|
|
|
|
Hi Linuxers,
|
|
|
|
|
|
I've installed lilo on my two-disk SCSI system on which i also run
|
|
(ran) OS/2 and occasionally DOS. LILO has installed itself on the
|
|
Master Boot Record and is unable to boot OS/2. It can, however,
|
|
occasionally boot OS/2's Boot Manager, but that seems to have
|
|
crashed, why I dont know.
|
|
|
|
How do I boot OS/2 from LILO? OS/2 and Linux Swap is on disk 1
|
|
and Linux fs and DOS is on disk 2. I dunno where the MBR is,
|
|
presumably on disk 1, but DOS FDISK says the disk is not
|
|
startable and furthermore Linux FDISK and DOS FDISK swap
|
|
the drives such that /dev/sda == disk2 and /dev/sdb == disk2.
|
|
|
|
What's going on?
|
|
|
|
maz
|
|
(halgrim@diku.dk)
|
|
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Subject: Re: SoftLanding Message
|
|
From: miguel@pinon.ccu.uniovi.es (Miguel Alvarez Blanco)
|
|
Date: 30 Sep 93 19:06:07 +0100
|
|
|
|
Brett Michaels (brettm@access.digex.net) wrote:
|
|
: Thanks for the help. The file /etc/issue contains this message. You can
|
|
: edit it or remove to your liking.
|
|
|
|
: Anyone know whta program/script calls displays this file?
|
|
|
|
I've deleted it sometime ago, but I think it should be in /etc/rc or
|
|
/etc/rc.local
|
|
|
|
|
|
Miguel Alvarez Blanco "All that is gold does not glitter,
|
|
miguel@hobbit.quimica.uniovi.es not all those who wander are lost."
|
|
miguel@pinon.ccu.uniovi.es Bilbo Baggins.
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
|
|
From: ftlofaro@unlv.edu (Frank Lofaro)
|
|
Subject: Re: Kernel taking 2 meg of ram??
|
|
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 93 05:15:56 GMT
|
|
|
|
In article <edc187p.749337146@monu1.cc.monash.edu.au> edc187p@monu1.cc.monash.edu.au (Mr KAA. Smith) writes:
|
|
>G'day,
|
|
> I recently compiled my pl11 kernel with the net2 stuff installed. No probs
|
|
> with net2, btw. I implemented plip and slip in the linux/net/inet/CONFIG
|
|
> file and compiled. No errors, but when I rebooted, I found the kernel
|
|
> was taking around 2 megs of my ram! (1.6 meg data, if I remember rightly).
|
|
>
|
|
> Does anyone have any clues?
|
|
>
|
|
>Keith
|
|
|
|
Ouch! Did you enable kernel profiling when you compiled the kernel?
|
|
If so, that's probably it; recompile without it if you want the kernel to be a
|
|
more reasonable size. Kernel profiling takes a _*LOT*_ of RAM indeed!
|
|
|
|
(I know from what I heard on the net, and from personal experience! ;)
|
|
|
|
P.S. It would be a good idea to put this in the FAQ, since not many people
|
|
are aware of it, and it does make such a difference, especially on machines
|
|
with little RAM.
|
|
|
|
P.P.S. I'm moving this to comp.os.linux.help; comp.os.linux is being phased
|
|
out. Follow-ups are directed to comp.os.linux.help.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: ftlofaro@unlv.edu (Frank Lofaro)
|
|
Subject: Please use the real linux (comp.os.linux.*) groups
|
|
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 93 05:18:58 GMT
|
|
|
|
Please try to migrate to the new comp.os.linux.* groups, it is easier for
|
|
all when posts are made in those groups. Thanks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: dmw@prism1.prism1.com (David Wright)
|
|
Subject: Re: WordProcessor (~=TEX) for Linux
|
|
Date: 30 Sep 93 13:01:14 GMT
|
|
|
|
=====BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE=====
|
|
|
|
>>>>> "MAD" == Mark A Davis <mark@taylor.uucp> writes:
|
|
MAD> We have over 40 printers in use with over 6 models. We have never had ANY
|
|
MAD> printing problems. (Use "Other Spooler", works just fine here for 1 year).
|
|
|
|
I have to agree. If someone can't get WP to work on their system, THEY
|
|
are doing something wrong, NOT WP. We have been using various incarnations of
|
|
WP for Unix since the very early 5.0 versions, after using MS Word for Unix
|
|
very briefly, and Lyrix 5 & 6 before that. WP is the best WP on just about ANY
|
|
platform, as long as what you want to do is WP, *NOT* desktop publishing or
|
|
something like that.
|
|
|
|
I can only WISH that the "normal" system spooler worked as well as the
|
|
one in WP. I love being able to tell what is queued up where, what page it is
|
|
currently printing, how many more to go, etc.
|
|
|
|
MAD> (AND AT NO CHARGE). Etc.... My hat goes off to WordPerfect Corp. for being
|
|
MAD> a long-term supporter of Unix. Their text version is EXTREMELY stable
|
|
MAD> and yes, they are having a few problems with their FIRST X piece of
|
|
MAD> software; of which 3/4 of the problems were corrected with the 4/93 release.
|
|
|
|
Hear Hear. Except that the text version of 5.1 for SCO has some real
|
|
bugs with regards to using "view document" (it likes to lock up the
|
|
VT beyond recovery, and you can't ALT-Fx to another one), and with the formula
|
|
and table creation features (which also use graphics mode). But overall, you
|
|
would have a real hard time finding something that gave you ALL the features
|
|
you get with WP, with the level of support you get from WP, for the price of
|
|
WP.
|
|
Most of the time people complain it seems to be from people who don't
|
|
like WP at all anyway, but are forced to use it for office-political reasons.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dave
|
|
|
|
=====BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE=====
|
|
Version: 2.3a
|
|
|
|
iQCVAgUBLKrYgm++A+T9du0zAQEiFgQAku2SynQNuNmWFqvHJMT+1u7bySUlwwuJ
|
|
NeBpkeVGGxuiOteRl78021o0e8r+YhrvltAvxEUtgzOLHU5AK5Vm/l8Ov+Ouv8pp
|
|
oI/oX41SR+CJ/wzzVY8hNwjXrbDLi83mBOVJCX11BHdHVEGHYBzzqE/UEQY29pQb
|
|
Mp5iIYVunuE=
|
|
=Rto8
|
|
=====END PGP SIGNATURE=====
|
|
|
|
|
|
--
|
|
____________________________________________________________________________
|
|
| /\ / | Prism Computer Applications | David Wright |
|
|
| -/--\-- | 14650 Detroit Ave, Suite LL40 | dmw@Prism1.COM |
|
|
| /____\ | Lakewood, OH 44107 USA | 216-228-1400 |
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: rich@mulvey.com
|
|
Subject: Re: Looking for info about MacLinux
|
|
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1993 19:08:47 GMT
|
|
|
|
Johnathon Suker (jsuker@orion.oac.uci.edu) wrote:
|
|
: Netters,
|
|
|
|
: Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this but I am looking for
|
|
: any information about a Macintosh port of Linux. I am interested even if it
|
|
: is in alpha testing or not for general release.
|
|
|
|
Ask Dan Quinlan. I believe he has even ported Linux to his
|
|
refrigerator.
|
|
|
|
;-)
|
|
|
|
--
|
|
Rich Mulvey Amateur Radio: N2VDS Rochester, NY
|
|
rich@mulvey.com "Ignorance should be painful."
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: rich@mulvey.com
|
|
Subject: Re: Installing Linux
|
|
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1993 19:09:53 GMT
|
|
|
|
A.S.Williams (mi2914@ccub.wlv.ac.uk) wrote:
|
|
: I've just come across this group and I was wondering what files I need to
|
|
: install Linux.
|
|
: Also, what can Linux do? Can it run DOS programs via a shell? Does it require
|
|
: its own partition like xenix?
|
|
|
|
The FAQ's are posted on a regular basis.
|
|
|
|
--
|
|
Rich Mulvey Amateur Radio: N2VDS Rochester, NY
|
|
rich@mulvey.com "Ignorance should be painful."
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc
|
|
From: carlj@hpcvmcdj.cv.hp.com (Carl Johnson)
|
|
Subject: Re: Please use the real linux (comp.os.linux.*) groups
|
|
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1993 20:06:51 GMT
|
|
|
|
ftlofaro@unlv.edu (Frank Lofaro) writes:
|
|
: Please try to migrate to the new comp.os.linux.* groups, it is easier for
|
|
: all when posts are made in those groups. Thanks.
|
|
|
|
Not only that, but many of us will remove comp.os.linux when the rmgroup
|
|
message comes through in a few weeks. So you should switch to the new
|
|
groups if you want your messages to be read in the future.
|
|
--
|
|
|
|
Carl Johnson carlj@cv.hp.com
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: habaoch@eng.auburn.edu (Bao Chau Ha)
|
|
Subject: Re: ATI Graphics Ultra Pro X problems
|
|
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1993 19:40:50 GMT
|
|
|
|
In article <HSW.93Sep30171244@spade.digtec.dtro.e-technik.th-darmstadt.de> hsw@digtec.dtro.e-technik.th-darmstadt.de (Stefan Wolf) writes:
|
|
>Hi,
|
|
>i had the same problem with my ATI GUP. What solved my problem was
|
|
>reconfiguring the Card to seperated VGA and accelerator mem.
|
|
>My card was set to mem=shared and X messed up the screen on leaving.
|
|
>With setting VGA ram size to 256, 512 or 1024 byte my screen is now
|
|
>ok. This change can be done with the install utility that came with the
|
|
>ATI card.
|
|
|
|
Thanks. It works.
|
|
|
|
Bao
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: grant@nepahwin.cs.laurentian.ca (Grant R. Guenther)
|
|
Subject: Re: HARDWARE: Mitsumi LU005S CD-ROM anyone?
|
|
Date: 30 Sep 1993 16:09:19 -0400
|
|
|
|
In <28eoov$3oc@bigbird.csd.scarolina.edu> treynold@vierzk.bates.scarolina.edu
|
|
(Tom Reynolds) writes:
|
|
>Thus spake SEAN MICHAEL SCOGGINS :
|
|
>>Is anyone using the Mitsumi LU005S CD-ROM with Linux? I found no
|
|
|
|
>Configuring the Mitsumi to work with Linux is a snap. In fact, pl13 has
|
|
>Mitsumi support in the kernel code (pl12 may, too). If you're working with
|
|
>some older kernel (?) UPGRADE! No, seriously, there is a patch somewhere
|
|
>on tsx to your kernel sources for support. It's by a guy name Martin Harris.
|
|
>It's called, I think mcd-somtheting.tar.z
|
|
|
|
Watch out, though, the patches on tsx-11 DO NOT support the LU005S. The
|
|
code in pl13 does. I'm using pl10, so I used the kernel patches from
|
|
mcd-0.3 and modified them for the mcd.c and mcd.h that are in the pl13
|
|
source kit.
|
|
|
|
==========================================================================
|
|
Grant R. Guenther, Math & Comp. Sci., Laurentian U, Sudbury, Ont., Canada
|
|
grant@nepahwin.cs.laurentian.ca We are everywhere
|
|
==========================================================================
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: nelson@crynwr.com (Russell Nelson)
|
|
Subject: Ethernet error message
|
|
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 93 19:04:55 GMT
|
|
|
|
In article <habaoch.930929152458@wilbur.eng.auburn.edu> habaoch@eng.auburn.edu writes:
|
|
|
|
I keep getting ethernet error messages:
|
|
|
|
eth0: transmit timed out, TX status 0x3, ISR 0x3.
|
|
eth0: Possible IRQ conflict on IRQ3?
|
|
|
|
but TCP/IP seems to be OK. Are there something wrong with my setup?
|
|
I am using 3c503 (AUI, 8 bit), SLS 1.03 (0.99.13).
|
|
|
|
How many serial ports? COM2 usually uses IRQ 3. IRQ 5 is usually
|
|
safe if you must use a lower one.
|
|
|
|
-russ <nelson@crynwr.com> What canst *thou* say?
|
|
Crynwr Software Crynwr Software sells packet driver support.
|
|
11 Grant St. 315-268-1925 Voice | LPF member - ask me about
|
|
Potsdam, NY 13676 315-268-9201 FAX | the harm software patents do.
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc.help,comp.os.linux
|
|
From: henke@scaly.ssc.gov (Douglas Henke)
|
|
Subject: Re: WHAT HAVE I TO DO TO SET UP THE .PROFILE
|
|
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1993 21:36:37 GMT
|
|
|
|
|
|
[Various people ask about how to get their shell to work right, and in
|
|
particular what the bash equivalent of csh's .cshrc and .login files are.]
|
|
|
|
The file /etc/profile is sourced by bash. Put things in here that everyone
|
|
will want to do (like setting a default path, etc.). Bash then looks in
|
|
your home directory for a file called .bash_profile and sources that on
|
|
login.
|
|
|
|
To find out how to write bash scripts, see the manual page for bash.
|
|
|
|
For example, to set an environment variable, you would write:
|
|
|
|
MYVAR=some_value
|
|
export MYVAR
|
|
|
|
Note that although /bin/sh is actually bash, bash looks at the name used to
|
|
invoke it and behaves differently depending on that name.
|
|
|
|
-DGH
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: BJ020000@NDSUVM1.BITNET (Dave Mueller)
|
|
Subject: Installing Linux from Hard Drive
|
|
Date: 30 Sep 93 21:56:11 GMT
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'm trying to install Linux from my Hard Drive instead of having to put
|
|
everything on floppies.
|
|
|
|
But, I can't seem to get sysinstall to do this! Could someone give me the
|
|
steps necessary to do this! Including what directories/files you need on
|
|
the C: drive.
|
|
|
|
Thanx a bunch!
|
|
|
|
Dave
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: bowinke@uni-muenster.de (J”rg Bowinkelmann)
|
|
Subject: how getting XENIX-Support
|
|
Date: 30 Sep 1993 22:30:51 GMT
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hi Linux-Freaks,
|
|
SLS 1.03 runs realy wunderful (mostly), creating a new kernel is no
|
|
problem, mostly, except if you want the promised Xenix-Filesystem
|
|
support.
|
|
Is there anybody who know how I can create a kernel with Xenix-File-
|
|
system support...?
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: ganderson@clark.net (Gary Anderson)
|
|
Subject: Re: Dead DIP
|
|
Date: 30 Sep 1993 23:01:40 GMT
|
|
|
|
Brett Michaels (brettm@access.digex.net) wrote:
|
|
|
|
: I have been working with DIP and SLS 1.0.3. I followed all of the latest
|
|
: NET-2 instructions.
|
|
|
|
: When I use DIP I can not get it to talk to the modem. I have a 14.4 modem
|
|
: attached to /dev/cua1.
|
|
|
|
: I use:
|
|
|
|
: dip -t
|
|
|
|
: >port /dev/cua1
|
|
: >speed 9600
|
|
: >reset (nothing happens to the modem)
|
|
: >dial xxxxxxx (no string is sent)
|
|
|
|
: Then when I exit dip via a ^C, the modem line is frozen for use by other
|
|
: comm. programs. I have to reboot. No processes seeem to be runningnas
|
|
: shown by ps.
|
|
|
|
: The /dev/cua1 and moem work fine for normal telecom.
|
|
|
|
: Any clues?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Brett,
|
|
If I remember correctly, the old NET2-FAQ, and the new HOWTO for NET2 give a DIP
|
|
script somewhere near the end of the document. Some modems have trouble with the
|
|
'reset' command. What I did to make the script reliably wake up my modem is added
|
|
a couple of lines right after the 'reset' command:
|
|
ATZ0\r\n
|
|
wait OK 3
|
|
Also note the old method of setting the remote and local IP addresses is changed in
|
|
the newer flavors of DIP. You now have to use 'get $remote x.x.x.x' and
|
|
'get local x.x.x.x' where 'x' is the appropriate IP address. Other than that, the
|
|
script in the document seems to work for me.
|
|
Good Luck.
|
|
|
|
Gary Anderson
|
|
ganderson@clark.net
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: karsten@kshome.ruhr.de (Karsten Steffens)
|
|
Subject: #### PLEASE, DON'T CROSSPOST #####
|
|
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1993 18:14:09 GMT
|
|
|
|
Hello fellow Linuxers, please take a decision: the decision where to post
|
|
your messages. I find it rather annoying, when I see many articles in
|
|
COL and the same in COL.* (except COL.Announce, because its moderated). The
|
|
list is split up that long now, most sites now should carry all the COL.* now.
|
|
Or am I wrong there?
|
|
|
|
Best regards, and happy Linuxing! Karsten
|
|
--
|
|
==================> Karsten Steffens <=====================
|
|
karsten@kshome.ruhr.de | steffens@ikp.uni-muenster.de
|
|
Marl - close to Recklinghausen | Institut fuer Kernphysik
|
|
North of the Ruhrgebiet | Westf.Wilhelms-Universitaet Muenster
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: scc016rf@unm.edu (Wobutt)
|
|
Subject: Re: Oakdriver for X
|
|
Date: 30 Sep 1993 17:32:51 -0600
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yes,I'd also like to find a driver for this card,so if anyone has any
|
|
ideas..please email me or reply here...
|
|
|
|
Thanks.
|
|
|
|
Robert Franklin
|
|
scc016rf@carina.unm.edu
|
|
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: scc016rf@unm.edu (Wobutt)
|
|
Subject: NE600 ethernet board
|
|
Date: 30 Sep 1993 17:35:42 -0600
|
|
|
|
is this type of ethernet board compatible with linux?
|
|
I have SLS 1.03 is that helps any...
|
|
|
|
thanks
|
|
|
|
Robert franklin
|
|
scc016rf@carina.unm.edu
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Crossposted-To: comp.os.386bsd.bugs
|
|
From: terry@cs.weber.edu (A Wizard of Earth C)
|
|
Subject: Re: Forward: QIC-80
|
|
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 93 23:34:56 GMT
|
|
|
|
In article <1993Sep26.203329.10048@gmd.de> veit@mururoa.gmd.de (Holger Veit)
|
|
forwards for 71621.3022@compuserve.com who writes:
|
|
>
|
|
> I've seen your suggestion regarding the creation of support
|
|
>for the Mitsumi CD Rom Drive, and certainly it's a wise move, I could
|
|
>never understand why very popular and cheap hardware was kind of
|
|
>"snubbed at" my most of the recent OS (including Unixware, NT etc.).
|
|
> There's though an area that needs even more attention (in my
|
|
>opinion at least), namely the support for the most popular (and cheap)
|
|
>streamers. I'm sure very few can afford QIC-02 or SCSI-based tape strea-
|
|
>mers, however, almost everybody I know has a Colorado or Irwin model
|
|
>(that can be had for less than a _third_ of the price of a QIC-02 or
|
|
>a SCSI model) (thanks to Microsoft, due to the inherent instability of
|
|
>Windows it made everybody buy a streamer ;-) ).
|
|
|
|
There are beta drivers that have been posted both for the Mitsumi CDROM
|
|
and for the streaming floppy tape devices. The Mitsumi is a good addition
|
|
to the drivers, although it contributes to "kernel bloat" in many cases,
|
|
since the majority of people don't have a Mitsumi CDROM drive and thus
|
|
supporting it by default in an already tight-on-space kernel can be
|
|
argued to be a bad thing.
|
|
|
|
The Streaming floppy tape support is an altogether different issue, and is
|
|
based on some bad architectural choices by the designers of the devices.
|
|
The most serious of these, the timing constraints, almost invariably end
|
|
with drivers with buzz-loops in them for timing because the system clock
|
|
can not be trusted to force rescheduling sufficiently quickly, given its
|
|
10mS "tick" frequency (HZ for LBOLT is 100, in explict terms).
|
|
|
|
This tends to be bad; just like the original Archive/Computone tape
|
|
drivers for SCO systems, actively running the tape drive kills everything
|
|
else on the system as the tape driver buzz-loops so as to not miss its
|
|
timing window and nothing else is allowed to run. Among other things,
|
|
this results in QIC-40/80 drives being totally useless for network
|
|
backup, and extremely slow because the archiving programs (like tar and
|
|
cpio) are not allowed to interleave their execution with that of the tape
|
|
drive -- nor is the disk driver, for that matter.
|
|
|
|
DOS doesn't have a problem with this because all DOS programs, by definition,
|
|
eat the machine.
|
|
|
|
The cannonical soloution is to either up the LBOLT clock resoloution to
|
|
1 or 2 mS (there is a 2.5mS timing window for a particular operation) and
|
|
add a real-time scheduling queue that gets exampined before all other run
|
|
queues. This is the soloution taken by several UNIX variants, mostly those
|
|
with real-time extensions intrinsic to the OS. This works, but is, all
|
|
things considered, an unsatisfactory approach, since timing differences
|
|
still must be resolved by buzz-looping at about 30% of your system (at 1mS
|
|
resoloution -- HZ=1000) or 60% of your system (HZ=500).
|
|
|
|
A more correct soloution is to move the lbolt clock to one of the other
|
|
clocks and use the current LBOLT clock (since it is a better clock) to
|
|
implement queued timer events for a high resoloution timer (the highest
|
|
resoloution event being used as the discriminator). This allows the
|
|
driver to schedule processing a set interval after the last set of
|
|
processing, and in general will result in a vastly reduced system load.
|
|
Since the TQE's are resolved in kernel space, there is not an issue of
|
|
scheduling a user process at sufficient resoloution.
|
|
|
|
There are two other (minor) fixes that need to be implemented to complete
|
|
the "lowest overhead" scenario. The first is to allocate a minimum of a
|
|
32k buffer in kernel space (again, like the Mitsumi driver, an expensive
|
|
proposition) to be used by the tape driver, and another 32k buffer as a
|
|
user-to-kernel transfer area (if you are willing to block the user process
|
|
in the driver, the second area is unnecessary assuming some even factor of
|
|
32k as the transfer block size). The 32k buffer is then used for a single
|
|
continuous transfer without intervention; this will allow the driver to
|
|
stream on an unloaded system.
|
|
|
|
The next fix is related to the first, in that 32k is the minimum hunk to
|
|
allow timer initiated seeks or transfers within the second timing window
|
|
of 200mS. The important point is that if data is not ready, the drive
|
|
can be kept happy without losing its place by issuing a seek operation
|
|
on 200mS boundries; it is critical that neither the "keepalive seek" or
|
|
the 2.5mS window require a particular process context to be active --
|
|
that is they should be kernel triggered events -- to minimize the impact
|
|
on the scheduler code. Since this context may be swapped at the time
|
|
(being that it is in an I/O wait) this provides another rationale for the
|
|
second kernel transfer buffer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Finally, no matter what implementation is used, it should be noted that each
|
|
vendor is not sufficiently constrained by the wording of the standard; this
|
|
means that it is nearly impossible to write a single driver that operates,
|
|
for instance, a Colorado Systems Jumbo 250, and some other vendors QIC-40/80
|
|
drive without rewriting, at a minimum, the initialization code. This adds
|
|
a *large* amount of complexity to the project, namely because some vendors
|
|
believe that other vendors may want to adopt their way of doing things (fat
|
|
chance) and so won't let out programming info without non-disclosure... and
|
|
since source code constitutes disclosure... you get the drift. It's exactly
|
|
the Diamond dot clock problem all over again. Someone needs to hit the
|
|
hardware vendors over the head and tell them we don't care who can better
|
|
optimize boot code, it's how fast it runs that matters.
|
|
|
|
Just because something is ubiquitous, doesn't mean that it is standard...
|
|
QIC-40/80 drives are just the best example we have so far.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Terry Lambert
|
|
terry@icarus.weber.edu
|
|
---
|
|
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
|
|
or previous employers.
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
|
|
From: teffta@cs690-3.erie.ge.com (Andrew R. Tefft)
|
|
Subject: Re: kermit drop lines on exit
|
|
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1993 23:23:50 GMT
|
|
|
|
In article <28eh86$k3a@louie.udel.edu> chavey@bifur.cis.udel.edu (Laurent Chavey) writes:
|
|
>escape sequence back to kermit on linux
|
|
>kermit>!term </dev/modem >/dev/modem &
|
|
>kermit> exit
|
|
>
|
|
>here is the problem, my connection is dropped.
|
|
|
|
Yes, there is the problem -- the exit. When you exit kermit, it
|
|
drops dtr which hangs up the modem. If you don't want to "waste"
|
|
the shell that's running kermit, then after (or before) you
|
|
start term, suspend kermit -- at the kermit> prompt hit ctl-Z.
|
|
Then after you kill your term process, fg to get back to kermit
|
|
(you may have to CONnect back to the remote).
|
|
|
|
I always suspend kermit rather than running term (or rz/sz)
|
|
via !, so that I don't accidentally quit and drop my connection.
|
|
Instead I just have to remember there's a kermit in the background :-)
|
|
--
|
|
|
|
Andy Tefft - new, expanded .sig - teffta@cs690-3.erie.ge.com
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
** 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: Linux-Activists-Request@NEWS-DIGESTS.MIT.EDU
|
|
|
|
You can send mail to the entire list (and comp.os.linux) via:
|
|
|
|
Internet: Linux-Activists@NEWS-DIGESTS.MIT.EDU
|
|
|
|
Linux may be obtained via one of these FTP sites:
|
|
nic.funet.fi pub/OS/Linux
|
|
tsx-11.mit.edu pub/linux
|
|
tupac-amaru.informatik.rwth-aachen.de pub/msdos/replace
|
|
|
|
The current version of Linux is 0.99pl9 released on April 23, 1993
|
|
|
|
End of Linux-Activists Digest
|
|
******************************
|