From: ewtroan@watson.ibm.com (Erik Troan) Subject: Re: Linux Journal -- magazine Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1993 14:12:03 GMT Reply-To: ewtroan@ewt.raleigh.ibm.com (Erik Troan) In article , chip@fin.uucp (Chip Salzenberg) writes: |> According to linux@fylz.com (Linux Journal): |> >Why does the Linux community need a magazine? The publisher of a |> >technical magazine I was talking to put it this way: "No successful |> >movement has ever made it without a journal reporting on its progress." |> |> Ha! We don't need no steenkin' journal. We have Usenet. |> -- |> Chip Salzenberg, at home or But! Other's do need a nice clean journal. They don't have Usenet. The whole world isn't on internet. Any effort that can be made that doesn't cost ME or YOU anything is a good idea. Don't discourage anyone from spreading the word about linux. Think about all of those poor lost souls who still see "C>" when they turn on their machines. Sad, isn't it? Erik + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + When I was in school, I cheated on my metaphysics exam: I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me. -- Woody Allen Erik Troan = ewt@sunsite.unc.edu, ewtroan@vnet.ibm.com ------------------------------ From: ewtroan@watson.ibm.com (Erik Troan) Subject: Re: 16550 uarts and .99pl8 Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1993 14:22:30 GMT Reply-To: ewtroan@ewt.raleigh.ibm.com (Erik Troan) In article <1993Apr20.114346.781@ositos.UUCP>, cmf@ositos.UUCP (Carl Fongheiser) writes: |> In article <1993Apr19.081303.15747@cs.tulane.edu> butler@cs.tulane.edu (Larry Butler) writes: |> >Is anyone having problems with patchlevel 8 and 16550 uarts? Ever since I |> >changed from pl 6 to pl 8 I have been having problrms with characters |> >repeating. It's a little hard to explain. I clipped a couple of lines from |> >kermit while logged in to a remote system: |> |> I'm seeing the exact same thing with my Boca 4-port card. Kind of annoying |> when I'm using the modem to fetch stock quotes :-( |> |> Carl Fongheiser |> ositos!cmf@vpnet.chi.il.us I'm having that problem too! I've been running pl 7 before I bought my no-name 16550C card, and have reapeating characters intermittantly. Erik + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + When I was in school, I cheated on my metaphysics exam: I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me. -- Woody Allen Erik Troan = ewt@sunsite.unc.edu, ewtroan@vnet.ibm.com ------------------------------ From: ewtroan@watson.ibm.com (Erik Troan) Subject: Windows NT Announcement Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1993 16:45:15 GMT Reply-To: ewt@sunsite.unc.edu Just wanted to make sure everyone heard about Bill Gates latest announcement concerning Windows NT. Apparently it won't ship before August 1st, will nedd at least 16mb of RAM (more for servers), and will be priced around $500 for the non-server version. He even said that if you don't know why you want NT, you probably don't want NT. Thank you Linus for saving us all from this. My 4 MB 25 MHz 386 has never seemed so lively. Erik + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + When I was in school, I cheated on my metaphysics exam: I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me. -- Woody Allen Erik Troan = ewt@sunsite.unc.edu, ewtroan@vnet.ibm.com ------------------------------ From: ewtroan@ewt.raleigh.ibm.com (Erik Troan) Subject: Re: Linux FTP mail server? Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1993 18:08:18 GMT Reply-To: ewtroan@ewt.raleigh.ibm.com (Erik Troan) In article <802@wpsun4.UUCP>, jayk@wpsun4.UUCP (Jay Kint) writes: |> Is there one, and how does one use it? More precisely, is it fairly standard |> and what is the address one sends a help to. As well, perhaps someone knows |> if the uunet has a FTP mail server. I have access to the archives on UUNET |> and they contain the Linux stuff. |> |> Thanx for any information. |> |> Jay |> wpsun4!jayk@uunet.uu.net |> sunsite.unc.edu has a mailserver of its very own. To use it, send mail to "ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu" and it'll tell you how. In response to your next question, I'm pretty sure that sunsite does indeed have every tcp bell and ip whistle that exists. jem likes to play :-) Let me know if you have any problems, Erik + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + When I was in school, I cheated on my metaphysics exam: I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me. -- Woody Allen Erik Troan = ewt@sunsite.unc.edu, ewtroan@vnet.ibm.com ------------------------------ From: pdh@netcom.com (P D H) Crossposted-To: comp.os.os2.programmer,comp.os.coherent,comp.os.mach,comp.os.minix,comp.periphs,comp.unix.bsd,comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit,comp.os.386bsd.development Subject: Re: QIC NEWS vol.1 Special Edition #1 Date: 23 Apr 93 05:49:01 GMT jmonroy@netcom.com (Jesus Monroy Jr) posts: > -I tried to convince them to reconsider the issue of that cost vs. > -the profit of selling more drives. At least 2 people I talked > -to said they would bring it up when the chance arrived. I talked > -to them in terms of the LINUX system market potentials. I can't > -see how they can ignore the OS/2 market. > > We sell the .. for OS/2. > :: [deleted] :: Now LINUX, please. I've already abandoned OS/2, having found that it is not (yet) a true 32-bit protected mode system (I know, 32-bits apps, but that is not what I am taking about). > ->You can get all the specs you need from the QIC committee. > :: [deleted] :: > :: [see QIC NEWS vol.1 no.1] :: Not true. This is apparently the specs that CMS wants you to think you need. The "need" in this case seems to be that on the part of CMS; THEY need for us porgrammers to go hide somewhere and quit trying to make better software. Every time I hear that from them, it makes me SICK! I have the QIC specs. Ain't in there. > This goes back to the amount of support we can provide. The > software and communications are not as simple as they may appear. > The specs are also long and terse. Please don't baby me. Some of us a very good programmers that can understand complex subjects, and even understand hardware. So they are long and terse. That's only a sign of poor documentation anyway. I know the parallel port problem is not simple. It is difficult in part because the original design didn't expect it to be used for this. But then we can find tons of really bad designs in the PC architecture that people found working solutions around. > Our software group is quite active. They have to support new > hardware as it comes out while doing new software development. All the more reason to open the specs. Third party software developers might well surprise you in how innovative they can be. I believe a possible solution here is for the QIC group to adopt a standard for operating over the parallel interface. This standard really should be one that is very universal. It should not be specific to tape backup units, but rather, it should be one that will allow software on the PC, and hardware on the other side of the interface that plugs into the PC, to have a reliable and simple communications path. Then on top of that (an interface circuit and a driver on the PC) you can put any kind of connection application you want, like a backup tape. Then another standard should exist for how to command a tape backup unit through the above reliable simple raw data path. It should be workable as a modular standard, usable for tapes supporting any of the other QIC recording formats and data formats. -- | Phil Howard, pdh@netcom.com, KA9WGN Spell protection? "1(911)A1" | | Right wing conservative capitalists are out to separate you from your MONEY | | Left wing liberal do gooders are out to separate you from EVERYTHING ELSE!! | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ From: ewtroan@ewt.raleigh.ibm.com (Erik Troan) Subject: Re: some general questions about linux Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1993 18:21:39 GMT Reply-To: ewtroan@ewt.raleigh.ibm.com (Erik Troan) In article , lee@ceg.uiuc.edu (Chris Lee) writes: |> I've seen linux run on a PC, and am convinced that it's the ONLY |> REAL OS for PCs. I have a few general questions about linux before |> I make the jump. |> |> 1. How reliable is the filesystem? Do fsck and friends repair |> most (if not all) of the file system damage? |> Very. I've been running the ext fs for months w/o a problem. I've heard ext2 and xiafs are fine too. Minix is extremely reliable as well, but fairly braindead. |> 2. Will disk utilities like Norton Speed Disk corrupt the linux |> partition if run? I assume you don't really need to run a |> defrag program if it has a real file system. |> It will kill the parition is no time flat. Of course, I'd be suprised if you could ever convince one to run on a non-dos parition anyway. If you do manage to somehow, report it to the company who made it immediately. It really should no better. Many good fs do need de-fragmentors. Linux has one, and it's on sunsite (and I'm sure it's on other places as well). |> 3. Being UN*X, I assume if you boot linux, you have to go thru |> the shutdown procedure. But, being dual-bootable with DOS, |> can you just turn the machine off if you booted DOS instead of |> linux? Will this damage the linux partition? If you're running dos, you can just turn it off. No problems. |> |> 4. I've seen a DOS partition mounted on linux. How accessible |> is the linux partition to DOS? Do you have to go thru the |> floppy to do that? Not very accessible at all. The best way of moving a linux file to dos is to boot linux and "cp file /dos". Shutdown, and then boot dos. It'll be there when you get there. |> |> 5. How much disk space is required for the OS, GCC, and TeX |> with none of the networking stuff (this is probably a FAQ)? |> I figure I don't really need ftp, rlogin, and telnet for |> a home machine. I don't know - 30 meg maybe. Somewhere around there anyway. Note that if you do the installation by hand it'll be significantly smaller then the equivalent SLS installation (as SLS is VERY complete). |> |> 6. How are printers accessed? Is it thru the parallel port or |> the serial port? Also, are drivers and filters available for |> various printers? |> Parallel or Serial. Standard lp commands are available. The only drivers you should beed are for printing graphics, and TeX .dvi convertors can do some of it, and GhostScript can probably do the rest. |> 7. What comm programs are available? Currently I just use the |> terminal program that came with Windows3.1 (*gag*). Kermit (my favorite), Minicom, pcomm. You didn't mention X anywhere in this, so I'll assume you don't want to run X ones (though the comm progs for X are supposed to be much better) |> |> 8. What video cards are supported? The one I saw was on a |> Diamond Speedstar. Does it support ATI cards? Also, I read |> that EISA and MCA support is not there. What about local |> bus video (this is probably a FAQ)? |> MCA doesn't work. At all. Don't try it. EISA and local bus should though. For non-X stuff, and standard VGA card should work fine. If you don't want graphics at all, any EGA/VGA/MDA card works. Erik + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + When I was in school, I cheated on my metaphysics exam: I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me. -- Woody Allen Erik Troan = ewt@sunsite.unc.edu, ewtroan@vnet.ibm.com ------------------------------ From: ewtroan@ewt.raleigh.ibm.com (Erik Troan) Subject: Re: 16550 uarts and .99pl8 Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 13:36:44 GMT Reply-To: ewtroan@ewt.raleigh.ibm.com (Erik Troan) In article , nigel@world.std.com (Nigel R Gamble) writes: |> I don't have any problems with 0.99pl8 and my 16550A. But I recently |> read over in comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware that the difference between a |> 16550 and a 16550A is that the 16550 has a bug in the FIFO which can |> cause repeated characters. So the question is: has anyone who knows |> that they have a 16550A (and not a plain 16550) seen this repeated |> character problem? |> |> -- |> Nigel Gamble gamble!nigel@uunet.uu.net |> Boca Raton, FL, USA. uunet!gamble!nigel I'm having this problem. Looking at the chip tells me its a 16550C, and the kernel tells me its a 16550A at bootup. Erik ------------------------------ From: ewtroan@ewt.raleigh.ibm.com (Erik Troan) Subject: Re: nothing lets me mount proc fs :( Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 13:43:34 GMT Reply-To: ewtroan@ewt.raleigh.ibm.com (Erik Troan) In article , marc@r-node.hub.org (Marc G Fournier) writes: |> Hi folks... |> |> how do I get mount to let me mount a proc fs so that I can use |> procps? I've tried useing the default mount that comes with the SLS |> dist, but it gives me a mount: error #####...I've tried downloading |> and compiling the mount-0.99.6.tar.z package, but it tells me that my |> kernel doesn't have proc fs enabled...which it most certainly does (I |> compiled it a second time, just in case I did make that mistake) |> |> what am I missing, please? |> |> thanks... |> |> marc |> Try this # su # mkdir /proc # mount -proc /proc /proc I'd guess you're missing the mkdir part. Erik --------------------- From: ewtroan@ewt.raleigh.ibm.com (Erik Troan) Subject: Re: [Q] Where can I find SCCS for linux Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 13:52:10 GMT Reply-To: ewt@sunsite.unc.edu In article <1993Apr26.040302.28468@samba.oit.unc.edu>, jem@sunSITE.unc.edu (Jonathan Magid) writes: |> In article wimjan@sci.kun.nl (Wim-Jan Hilgenbos) writes: |> >Hi, |> > |> >If I remember correctly I read 2 month ago something about SCCS |> >ported to linux. Recently we started to use it at university so |> >I like to have it for my linux system at home. I let archie search |> >for it, but all it came up with were BSD-sources. So I'm wondering |> >Is there a SCCS for linux? IF so where? If not so, can I use the |> >BSD source? |> |> sccs is available on sunsite.unc.edu in |> /pub/Linux/development/ver_cont/sccs.tar.Z. |> |> enjoy, |> jem. |> |> Incredible. I just removed sccs from sunsite, get to work, fire up my newsreader for the first time since Friday, and there is a nice long thread on SCCS. A note from a concerned citizen prompted me to take a look at the sccs distribution on sunsite (which was where jem said above). The source code has *no* copyright information, even though one file (sccs.c) that I looked at had an RCS tag indicating it was from UCB 4.2. As I have never seen and legitimate bsd source code without a copyright notice, this made me a little nervous. Then I looked at the README, which said this as a port of sccs to linux be PALMC (People Against Large Multinational Corporations), and the port was done by "Bart", who apparently has no e-mail address. Finally, I looked at the Makefile, which mentioned System III, but also had no copyright. These observations and my own knowledge that SCCS was oringally written at AT&T and was thus owned by them prompted my to remove sccs from sunsite's archives this morning. If anyone has a) A freely available version of sccs or b) Knowledge as to where this one came from Please let me know so I can resolve that problem. Until I get more information, sccs will no longer be available on sunsite. Please direct all replies and flames to email at ewt@sunsite.unc.edu. Erik PS: To all potential uploaders of (C) stuff: While I support linux as strongly as you do, I cannot allow non freely-distributable software on sunsite. Please don't bother uploading it, as you are oonly making my life more difficult and c.o.l. more noisy. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + When I was in school, I cheated on my metaphysics exam: I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me. -- Woody Allen Erik Troan = ewt@sunsite.unc.edu, ewtroan@vnet.ibm.com ------------------------------ From: Theodore Ts'o Subject: Re: 16550 uarts and .99pl8 Date: 26 Apr 1993 22:57:46 -0400 Reply-To: tytso@athena.mit.edu From: ewtroan@ewt.raleigh.ibm.com (Erik Troan) Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 13:36:44 GMT I'm having this problem. Looking at the chip tells me its a 16550C, and the kernel tells me its a 16550A at bootup. Don't worry about it. There are no real functional differences between the NS16550A, the NS16550AF, the PC16550, and the PC16550C --- indeed, I don't believe there is a software method for distinguishing between them. The only real thing that is at all important is distinguishing between these three cases: *) NS8250 UART's (don't have a scratch register, don't have FIFO) *) NS16450/NS16550 UART's (don't have a FIFO -- or a working FIFO) *) NS16550A/NS16550AF,PC16550,PC16550C (has a working FIFO). And all Linux cares about is whether or not the chip has a working FIFO or not --- if it does, it will print that it has a 16550A; otherwise, it will print that it has detected a 16550 or a 16450. Note: there are actually very few NS16550's out there --- they were only produced for a few months before National Semiconductor realized there was a bug in a chip, and quickly fixed it. Most of them are in the first generation PS/2's, which means most Linuxer's probably won't run into them. One thing that is confusing is that there are other chip manufacturers other than National Semiconductor making 16550A compatible UART's. So just because the chip says "16550" doesn't necessarily mean that you can't use its FIFO's --- take a look at what the kernel says. If the kernel detects a 16550A, you can probably trust its FIFO's. - Ted