Subject: Linux-Activists Digest #16
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 4 Apr 92 07:30:11 EST

Linux-Activists Digest #16, Volume #2             Sat, 4 Apr 92 07:30:11 EST

Contents:
  Pascal compiler (Drew Eckhardt)
  Strange behavior....... (Andy I. Liaw)
  FDISK!!!! how to use???? (Paul Simundza)
  How about a 0.95b release ? ([email-masked])
  Elvis 1.5 (Harry G. Varnis)
  Re: How about a 0.95b release ? (Drew Eckhardt)
  Re: HD timeout Errors (with .95a) (Erik Fichtner)
  Passwd & lpt1 ?? (Blake McBride)
  Re: diskbackup -> broken pile ([email-masked])
  Re: Fixing broken users; was "Reduce "gcc is broken" postings" (Bill Bogstad)
  Re: Since I haven't seen an FAQ... (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
  Re: Fixing broken users; was "Reduce "gcc is broken" postings" (D.Bolla)
  Re: taylor-uucp and smail (Ed Carp)

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

From: [email-masked] (Drew Eckhardt)
Subject: Pascal compiler
Date: 4 Apr 92 04:45:46 GMT

I thought some people might be interested in this : 

comp.compilers (moderated) #1661 (0 + 8 more)                              (1)
From: [email-masked] (R. Boucher)                                     -[1]
[1] Re: Optimization - newbie question
Keywords: GCC, Pascal, FTP
Date: Wed Apr 01 10:54:09 MST 1992
Organization: DND, Ottawa, CANADA
Lines: 16
In-Reply-To: <[email-masked]>

In article <[email-masked]> you commented on:
>For example, the Gnu C compiler now has a Fortran front end and would
>presumably also have Pascal if someone cared enough to write one. -John]

Actually, a beta version of GNU pascal is available for those wishing to
experiment and report problems.  This is taken out of its README file:

Newest (available) version of gpc is via anonymous ftp in host
kampi.hut.fi in directory jtv/gnu-pascal.

Robert Boucher
[email-masked]
...uunet!revcan!flatout!asimov!rob

A

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

From: [email-masked] (Andy I. Liaw)
Subject: Strange behavior.......
Date: 4 Apr 92 05:29:21 GMT

Hi! everyone,

I posted yesterday that I was having troubles getting linux 095a to 
install on my IDE drive.  Well, today I got it to work twice, but
failed at last.  Can someone explain why it does this?  Here's the
story:

I use fdisk in DRDOS to delete all partitions on my HD.  Boot up
linux from floppy, run 'pfdisk /dev/hda' and 'g 1001 15 17' and
'1 129 0 300' and 'wq' and then sync and reboot.  Then I did
the installation, reboot with the floppy that uses the file system
on the HD, and it worked!!!

Next I bootup linux with root on floppy again, run pfdisk as before
but with the partitioning: '1 4 0 680' and '2 129 681 999' then
reboot and install on /dev/hda2 again, and it also worked!

Bow the problem: I bootup dos from floppy and ran fdisk, made
c: bootable, and transfer the system files over to c:.  This
time linux failed.  So I bootup linux again from the floppy
and go through the installation as before, linux never worked.
It was ok before I made c: the bootable partition.  but although
i transfer the system files to c:, it fail to boot to dos until
i made c: bootable from fdisk.  Could this be the problem?

Andy Liaw                               [email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Paul Simundza)
Subject: FDISK!!!! how to use????
Date: 4 Apr 92 05:59:32 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked] (Paul Simundza)

I just set up a boot and root disk for linux on 2 floppies, 
and I want to install it on hard drive...
the first step is to run Fdisk, but when I type fdisk, it looks
on the floppy, and does nothing, it doesn't even look at the
hard drive...does anyone know what may be wrong...

I have an ARLL IDE 8o meg drive on a ps/2
also...I know the starting head and cylinder and so forth of my
partition, how do I create a linux partition on those locations?
-- 
paul simundza

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

From: [email-masked]
Subject: How about a 0.95b release ?
Date: 3 Apr 92 18:43:29 GMT

Dear All,
          Since there are patches to the .95a kernel for extended prtitions, ps
support & lp support, might an (interim) .95b kernel be worth releasing ???

hmmmm...

Tony

                                                    _
Tony Kew,   Oxford University Computing Services,  (_)xford,  England,  U.K.
====================================================|=========================
Janet:- [email-masked]                     --+--    Disclaimer :-
Internet:- [email-masked] | Who is the more foolish?
Earn/Bitnet:- tony%vax.oxford.ac.uk@ukacrl          |    The fool, or the
Phone:- +44 (0)865 273268   Fax:- +44 (0)865 273275 |  man who follows him?
==================================================\=|=/=======================
                                                   \|/

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

From: [email-masked] (Harry G. Varnis)
Subject: Elvis 1.5
Date: 4 Apr 92 06:36:18 GMT

FYI, The 1.5 version of Elvis (vi clone) posted recently in alt.sources
makes on Linux almost "right out of the box" and has a bunch of nifty
new features.
-- 
Harry Varnis         <[email-masked]>          +1 612 493 1042

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

From: [email-masked] (Drew Eckhardt)
Subject: Re: How about a 0.95b release ?
Date: Sat, 4 Apr 1992 07:07:39 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] writes:
>Dear All,
>         Since there are patches to the .95a kernel for extended prtitions, ps
>support & lp support, might an (interim) .95b kernel be worth releasing ???
>
>hmmmm...
>
>Tony
>

I agree.  It's easier to keep updating the kernel if the official version is 
close to the hacked up one, as you will have fewer conflicting patches,
and they will be easier to maintain as you won't have to sort out 
where the SCSI patch stops and where the configuration patch begins.

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

From: [email-masked] (Erik Fichtner)
Subject: Re: HD timeout Errors (with .95a)
Date: 4 Apr 92 07:23:06 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] writes:
>In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Stewart Baker) writes:
>>Is there anyone else having problems with their disk in .95a?  I have
>>two IDE hard disks, a Conner 170MB as the master, and a Maxtor 120MB as
>>the slave.  I have / and /usr on the Conner disk, and a 10MB swap partition

I was having terrible problems with Linux and the HD timeout..  it would 
try to read from one of my twin Seagate ST1144a 130mb IDE's and it's get stuck
and miss something, reset the disk, "HD Timeout" and try again.. which it 
missed AGAIN.. after about 5 times, it reported a disk error and repeated the
whole annoying process.  the only solution was to reboot.
 
the fix was insanely simple.. My bus speed is 12.5MHz. my IDE controller was 
rated at 10MHz bus speed. (although i had had troubles with it before at an
6MHz bus speed.. go figure.. cheap Chicony card. don't trust 'em..)  anyway
for $29.00 the local computer shop happily sold me a faster IDE controller.
haven't had a problem since.

-- 
Techs           [email-masked] 
Disclaimer: any inaccuracies are caused by the phase of the moon
"...whaddya mean I ain't kind... Just not *your* kind!" - Megadeth

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

From: [email-masked] (Blake McBride)
Subject: Passwd & lpt1 ??
Date: 4 Apr 92 04:11:36 GMT

I'm glad 0.95a has a login, but where is the passwd program?

Which dev entry may I use for my parallel ports?

Thanks.

-- 
Blake McBride                           Home (615) 790-8521
3020 Liberty Hills Drive                Work (615) 790-1088
Franklin, TN  37064                     [email-masked]
U.S.A.

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

From: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: diskbackup -> broken pile
Date: 4 Apr 92 07:45:29 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Jiansheng Zhao) writes:
>When I tried diskbackup with compress
>tar -cf - bin .. | compress |diskbackup "day one"
>I always got an error message: broken pipe. What might be the problem?
>I tried find | sort > list, the pipe seems working. Anyone has similar
>problem (bug in compress?)

Naw, I think the problem lies with diskbackup.  It quits reading input
when it doesn't get as much as it wants, which isn't always the end of it
from a pipe.  Besides which the program only puts 1030k or so on the
floppy.

I re-wrote the programs to work, and to use the entire disk.  I'll mail
it out if you want.                  

Steve Z

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

From: [email-masked] (Bill Bogstad)
Subject: Re: Fixing broken users; was "Reduce "gcc is broken" postings"
Date: 4 Apr 92 06:18:37 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (c
t wilson) writes:
>
>gcc 1.40 is quite stable for me, and probably everybody else. people need to
>realize that beta means unproven and possibly buggy.   I wonder what can be
>done about this?

        As one of the people who had problems in this area, I suppose I
should say something.  Once I got past the initial installation of Linux on
my hard disk, there really didn't seem to be any docs to help me figure out
what other stuff I might need to install or which version to get.  The
different archive sites seemed to have different versions of the same
program or sometimes more then one version on a single site.  There is no
canonical list of "standard" versus "beta" versions.

        Note, I wasn't looking for step by step instructions on how to
download and install software.  I've been using Unix for over a decade now
and that wasn't my problem.  The problem was that unless I happened to catch
the posting when an author put something up for ftp, I was pretty much
playing a guessing game in deciding which files to get and which to avoid.

        An example... I saw lots of messages about "bad" versions of both
compress and tar; but I never saw a definitive message about where to get
the "good" versions.  When things didn't work, I had no idea whether the
problem was in dearchiving a program or in the program itself.  (As it turns
out my problems were probably a result of problems downloading the archived
file.)
        
        As for GCC specifically, GCC 1.40 may be the "standard" version, but
it doesn't compile 0.95a using the unmodified sources and makefiles.  Yes,
now that it has been posted the change needed is apparently trivial.  And it
has been pointed out that it is mentioned in the FAQ file as well.  On the
other hand, even the FAQ file is not very clear about which compiler to
use.  In one place it suggests, "Choose yours".

        Enough of the problems.  Possible solutions... A list of software
with the "standard" versions and their locations.  Maybe directories on the
archives sites labeled "standard" and "beta" respectively.  Some cleanup of
the FAQ file would help as well.  I've been looking at the 3/25 version and
it refers to problems with older versions that are probably no longer
relevant.  (Yes, I'll mail in my suggestions.)

        Finally, I sound kind of negative above; but I'm actually quite
impressed with the status of Linux.  I just wish that it had been a little
easier to get from the basic system to something on which I can do some real
hacking.

                                Bill Bogstad

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

From: [email-masked] (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
Subject: Re: Since I haven't seen an FAQ...
Date: 4 Apr 92 10:22:25 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Sergio L Aponte) writes:
>
>       Can somebody give me a two-three liner description of what is LINUX
>       and what hardware it runs on?

Ok, this has come up so many times I'd better send out the info-sheet.
The FAQ is maintained by corsini@?? and he'll send out the newest
version just as soon as this newsgroup gets that far.

This info-sheet is basically the old 0.12 info-sheet with very minor
modifications: I've changed it slightly, but it's not completely up to
date.

                Linus

==========

LINUX INFORMATION SHEET
(last updated 13 Jan 1992 (with changes by Linus 4.4.92))

1. WHAT IS LINUX 0.95a
    LINUX 0.95a is a freely distributable UNIX clone.   It implements a
subset  of System V  and  POSIX functionality.   LINUX has been written
from  scratch,  and  therefore  does  not  contain any  AT&T  or  MINIX
code--not in the kernel, the compiler, the utilities, or the libraries.
For this  reason it can be made available  with complete source code by
anonymous FTP.   LINUX runs only on 386/486 AT-bus machines; porting to
non-Intel architectures is likely to be difficult,  as the kernel makes
extensive use of 386 memory management and task primitives.

    Version 0.95a is still a beta release, but it already provides much
of  the functionality  of  a System V.3  kernel.   For example, various
users have been able to port programs such as bison/flex without having
to modify  code at all.   Another indication  of its  maturity  is that
it is now  possible to do  LINUX kernel  development using LINUX itself 
and freely-available programming tools.

2. LINUX features
  - System call compatible with a subset of System V and POSIX
  - Full multiprogramming (multiple programs can run at once)
  - Memory paging with copy-on-write
  - Demand loading of executables
  - Page sharing of executables
  - Virtual memory: swapping to disk when out of RAM
  - POSIX job control
  - virtual consoles
  - pty's
  - some 387-emulation
  - ANSI compliant C compiler (gcc)
  - A complete set of compiler writing tools
    (bison as yacc-replacement, flex as lex replacement)
  - The GNU 'Bourne again' shell (bash) (as well as 'ash', 'rc' etc)
  - Micro emacs
  - most utilities you need for development
    (cat, cp, kermit, ls, make, etc.)
  - Over 200 library procedures (atoi, fork, malloc, read, stdio, etc.)
  - Currently 6 national keyboards: Finnish/US/German/French/British/Danish
  - Full source code (in C) for the OS is freely distributable
  - Full source code of the tools can be gotten from many anonymous ftp sites
    (Almost the entire suite of GNU programs has been ported to Linux.)
  - Runs in protected mode on 386 and above
  - Support for extended memory up to 16M on 386 and above
  - RS-232 serial line support with terminal emulation, kermit, zmodem, etc.
  - Supports the real time clock

3. HARDWARE REQUIRED
   - A 386 or 486 machine with an AT-bus.  (EISA will probably work, also,
     but  you will  need an AT-bus  hard disk controller.)  Both DX and SX
     processors will work.
   - A hard disk implementing  the standard AT  hard disk interface -- for
     example, an IDE drive.  In addition,  some SCSI drives  are supported
     with additional kernel patches.
   - A high-density disk drive--either 5.25" (1.2MB) or 3.5" (1.44MB).
   - At least 2 megabytes of RAM.  (LINUX  will boot in 2 Mb.   To use gcc
     4 MB is a good idea.)
   - Any video card of the following: Hercules,CGA,EGA,VGA

In addition, LINUX supports
   - Up to four serial lines (2 active at a time)
   - A real time clock 

4. PARTIAL LIST OF UTILITIES INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE FOR LINUX 0.95a 
   - The MTOOLS package (reading/writing to DOS filesystems)
   - The complete GNU filetools (ls, cat, cp, mv, ...)
   - The GNU C and C++ compiler with GNU assembler, linker, ar, ...
   - bison
   - flex
   - rcs
   - pmake (BSD 4.3 Reno/BSD 4.4  make)
   - kermit
   - Micro emacs
   - less
   - mkfs
   - fsck
   - mount/umount
   - TeX, dvips
   - and lots more...

5. LINUX BINARIES
    The LINUX binaries and sources are available at several different
    anonymous FTP sites. The biggest are:

    nic.funet.fi:/pub/OS/Linux
    tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux

6. LEGAL STATUS OF LINUX
     Although LINUX is  supplied with the  complete source  code, it is
copyrighted software.  Unlike MINIX, however, it is available for free,
provided  you obey  to the  rules specified  in  the  LINUX  copyright.

     Linux is (C) Linus Torvalds, but the copyright is the GNU copyleft:
get a copy of the copyleft at your nearest ftp-archive..

7. NEWS ABOUT LINUX
     There are now  two newsgroups devoted to  linux articles: an older
alt.os.linux  and the new comp.os.linux  group.   The alt-group will be
phased out as the comp-group  gets a wider propagation.   Additionally,
there are a couple of mailing-lists:  [email-masked] is
the original mailing-list, and it now supports sub-threads (notably the
gcc-2 beta-testing list).  There is also a linux-standards mailing list
as well  as a newsgroup-service  for  those that  can get mail  but are
unable to read the  newsgroups.   For the current status of LINUX, do a
"finger [email-masked]". 

8. FUTURE PLANS
     Work is underway on LINUX version 1.0,  which will close some of the
gaps in the present implementation.  Various people are currently working
on:
     - A more complete virtual filesystem layer 
     - STREAMS 
     - Interprocess communication
     - IEEE POSIX P1003.1 / P1003.2 compatibility
     - more complete SCSI support
If you want to help, mail the various activists or post to the newsgroups.

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

From: [email-masked] (D.Bolla)
Subject: Re: Fixing broken users; was "Reduce "gcc is broken" postings"
Date: 4 Apr 92 11:41:06 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked] (Damiano Bolla)

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Bill Bogstad) writes:
>In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (c
>t wilson) writes:
>>gcc 1.40 is quite stable for me, and probably everybody else. people need to
>>realize that beta means unproven and possibly buggy.   I wonder what can be
>>done about this?
People should test GCC2.1 and MAKE CLEAR to everybody else that it is a
BETA. ( Or alpha ). 
The ports should be compilable using GCC1.40.... 

>       As one of the people who had problems in this area, I suppose I
>should say something.  Once I got past the initial installation of Linux on
>my hard disk, there really didn't seem to be any docs to help me figure out
>what other stuff I might need to install or which version to get.  The
>different archive sites seemed to have different versions of the same
>program or sometimes more then one version on a single site.  There is no
>canonical list of "standard" versus "beta" versions.

My idea is:
Create one subtree for each NEW version of linux. Put in the new subtree
ONLY the NEW stuff and put it where it should be. ( as defined in the
standard directoryes ). 
NOTE: I am NOT asking to make symlinks to the OLD stuff. The current
release contains ONLY NEW stuff.
Old stuff can be found in the old release subtree.

This will NOT create duplicate of programs. It will make easier for
everybody to understand what is new and what is OLD.

>       Note, I wasn't looking for step by step instructions on how to
>download and install software.  I've been using Unix for over a decade now
>and that wasn't my problem.  The problem was that unless I happened to catch
>the posting when an author put something up for ftp, I was pretty much
>playing a guessing game in deciding which files to get and which to avoid.

See above :-)

>       An example... I saw lots of messages about "bad" versions of both
>compress and tar; but I never saw a definitive message about where to get
>the "good" versions.  When things didn't work, I had no idea whether the
>problem was in dearchiving a program or in the program itself.  (As it turns
>out my problems were probably a result of problems downloading the archived
>file.)

You vant the latest release of a program ?
Just look in the latest release subtree if you find it !
If you can't look in the previous one.... ( at least you know that 
the program will work with the OLD release :-) )

>       As for GCC specifically, GCC 1.40 may be the "standard" version, but
>it doesn't compile 0.95a using the unmodified sources and makefiles.  Yes,
>now that it has been posted the change needed is apparently trivial.  And it
>has been pointed out that it is mentioned in the FAQ file as well.  On the
>other hand, even the FAQ file is not very clear about which compiler to
>use.  In one place it suggests, "Choose yours".

Ok, What about GCC2.1 being OFFICIAL with the release 1.0 of Linux ?

>       Enough of the problems.  Possible solutions... A list of software
>with the "standard" versions and their locations.  Maybe directories on the
>archives sites labeled "standard" and "beta" respectively.  Some cleanup of

Do you like my idea ?

>the FAQ file would help as well.  I've been looking at the 3/25 version and
>it refers to problems with older versions that are probably no longer
>relevant.  (Yes, I'll mail in my suggestions.)

Amazing how linux is changing......

>       Finally, I sound kind of negative above; but I'm actually quite
>impressed with the status of Linux.  I just wish that it had been a little
>easier to get from the basic system to something on which I can do some real
>hacking.

Yup, with a better organization you can achieve this without extra work.

Damiano

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

From: [email-masked] (Ed Carp)
Subject: Re: taylor-uucp and smail
Date: 4 Apr 92 04:26:29 GMT

I'm very close on the beta 1.03 release.  Look for it this weekend...
-- 
Ed Carp  N7EKG/6        [email-masked]         [email-masked]
                        Cupertino, CA           408/252-5947

-- Absolutely unabashed Gates McFadden groupie! --

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

** FOR YOUR REFERENCE **

The service address, to which questions about the list itself and requests
to be added to or deleted from it should be directed, is:

    Internet: [email-masked]

You can send mail to the entire list (and comp.os.linux) via:

    Internet: [email-masked]

Linux may be obtained via one of these FTP sites:
    nic.funet.fi				pub/OS/Linux
    tsx-11.mit.edu				pub/linux
    tupac-amaru.informatik.rwth-aachen.de	pub/msdos/replace

The current version of Linux is 0.95a released on March 17, 1992

End of Linux-Activists Digest
******************************