From: Digestifier To: Linux-Activists@news-digests.mit.edu Reply-To: Linux-Activists@news-digests.mit.edu Date: Tue, 7 Apr 92 14:00:19 EDT Subject: Linux-Activists Digest #38 Linux-Activists Digest #38, Volume #2 Tue, 7 Apr 92 14:00:19 EDT Contents: Sorry Linus (Jon Tombs) Re: Binaries considered harmful (Greg Lee) Re: mtools (mcopy) problems (Werner Almesberger) Re: Help Mr. Fortran (Craig Burley) Re: Binaries considered harmful (Daniel D Deavours) FS questions (Matthew Francey) Re. LINUX INSTALLATION PROBLEMS (Scott Dunn) BootAny help needed!! (r4ty@vax5.cit.cornell.edu) Re: Help: Straighten Me Out on SCSI Controller Cards (Host Adapter?) (Mike Berger) HELP! Problems with rootimage. (Timo Jaakko Sillanp{{) GCC V2.x now available from tsx-11 (Theodore Ts'o) Byte Unix Benchmarks. (Jon Tombs) Linux & Ultra 12F ESDI? (Keith L. Fries) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jon@robots.ox.ac.uk (Jon Tombs) Subject: Sorry Linus Date: 7 Apr 92 10:45:40 GMT The patch for linux 0.95c Linus probably doesn't want to see... Apply to /usr/src/linux/include/linux/config.h *** config.h^ Tue Apr 7 00:09:54 1992 --- config.h Tue Apr 7 00:09:54 1992 *************** *** 16,22 **** #define UTS_SYSNAME "Linux" #define UTS_NODENAME "(none)" /* set by sethostname() */ #define UTS_RELEASE "0" /* patchlevel */ ! #define UTS_VERSION "0.95a" #define UTS_MACHINE "i386" /* hardware type */ /* Don't touch these, unless you really know what your doing. */ --- 16,22 ---- #define UTS_SYSNAME "Linux" #define UTS_NODENAME "(none)" /* set by sethostname() */ #define UTS_RELEASE "0" /* patchlevel */ ! #define UTS_VERSION "0.95c" #define UTS_MACHINE "i386" /* hardware type */ /* Don't touch these, unless you really know what your doing. */ ======= Or should we be updating patch level? -- Jon "I got in today just as the sun was crashing" ------------------------------ From: lee@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Greg Lee) Subject: Re: Binaries considered harmful Date: 7 Apr 92 12:42:21 GMT In article <1992Apr7.074614.5347@colorado.edu> drew@caesar.cs.colorado.edu (Drew Eckhardt) writes: }... }Source should be freely available to anyone who wants it, }but a more convienient binary distribution should also }be available. Sounds good to me. But there has never been source code available for any of the versions of gcc, so far as I know, nor diffs against the fsf distribution. I hope there will be. I have never found source code for update. The source code I have for fsck doesn't come close to compiling with the current linux include files. I'm going to work on fsck.c (I question whether fsck -m works properly now), but since I don't understand the filesystem, my prospects aren't very good. Anybody with any source, please upload. -- Greg Lee ------------------------------ From: almesber@nessie.cs.id.ethz.ch (Werner Almesberger) Subject: Re: mtools (mcopy) problems Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 12:54:06 GMT In article tm@netcom.com (Toshiyasu Morita) writes: > mcopy does nothing at all - when I type mcopy c:/gcc-1.40/gccinfo.1 gccinfo.1 > nothing happens. I can "mcat" the file and I can view it, but I can't > copy it to my Linux directory. If "nothing happens" means that mcopy returns without doing anything, you've probably forgotten to make links for mread and mwrite. mcopy execs mread or mwrite to do the transfers, but it doesn't warn when the exec fails. Fix: chdir to the directory where mtools live and do a ln mtools mread; ln mtools mwrite (or, if you're not using the merged version, compile mread and mwrite and put them in the approp- riate directory.) If "nothing happens" means that mcopy hangs and has to be killed with ^C, you've probably compiled mcopy.c without -DMERGED. mcopy sets argv[0] of the execed mread/mwrite to "mcopy" if -DMERGED is omitted, which breaks the merged mtools. Fix: re-compile mcopy.c with -DMERGED - Werner -- _________________________________________________________________________ / Werner Almesberger, ETH Zuerich, CH almesber@nessie.cs.id.ethz.ch / / IFW A44 Tel. +41 1 254 7213 almesberger@rzvax.ethz.ch / /_BITNET:_ALMESBER@CZHETH5A__HEPNET/CHADNET:_[20579::]57414::ALMESBERGER_/ ------------------------------ From: burley@albert.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Craig Burley) Subject: Re: Help Mr. Fortran Date: 6 Apr 92 18:52:36 GMT In article <1992Apr3.142014.28253@ncsu.edu> jlnance@eos.ncsu.edu (James L Nance) writes: I remember reading a post here not too long ago from the person who was writing gnu FORTRAN. I was wondering if this person, whose name I can not recall, has considered porting FORTRAN to Linux. I would like to see if I can get Spice2g6 ported to Linux, but parts of it (lots of it) are written in FORTRAN and I think it would be a Major job to translate them into C. Hi, that was me. If (99% likely) and when (within a month or so) I do get a 486 box and start getting Linux up and running, I indeed would like to use it as my main Fortran-compiler-development machine. BUT, that might take a while (especially if I have to do driver development to get my peripherals working) and in the meantime I'll likely be modeming in to a Sun4 to do the Fortran work. Furthermore, GNU Fortran hasn't even reached alpha test yet, though from a technical perspective it's pretty close (testing and some backend changes to get COMPLEX support working still needed). I suggest you ftp to research.att.com, login as netlib (I think; maybe it's anonymous ftp, but I think they changed that), get f2c from ~dist/f2c or some such place, and use that to compile your Fortran code for use on Linux. f2c is pretty good; it's free (public domain); and when GNU Fortran comes out (as alpha), it'll be inter-module compatible with f2c-compiled programs. (f2c comes with it's own I/O and intrinsic libraries, so it ought to be quite easy to get it running under Linux.) If nobody seems to have gotten f2c ported to Linux by the time I get Linux working on my machine, I'll do it myself and let people know what changes, if any, need to be made. I doubt it'll be much; I've gotten f2c running on two 68k machines (HP and NeXT) and a Sun4 with a trivial amount of work. (On the other hand, I haven't run a whole lot of Fortran code through it anywhere, yet.) -- James Craig Burley, Software Craftsperson burley@gnu.ai.mit.edu Member of the League for Programming Freedom (LPF) ------------------------------ From: ddd42961@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Daniel D Deavours) Subject: Re: Binaries considered harmful Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 14:29:24 GMT Paul Allen writes: >- Software that is not needed for bootstrapping should be placed in the > archives in source or diff form only. >- Part of the process of installing a new Linux release is to recompile > everything. There's a lot of good reasonds for distributing binaries. Emacs 18.58 is a good reason! The source code is 4 megabytes compressed, and the time it would take to compile it on a 16mH SX with 2 megs of ram and a slow hard drive would be measured in days. Don't even think about X. >I may be missing something really obvious here, but I just don't see >the need for all these binaries. I'd rather just have sources. With >the exception of a few things that simply couldn't be compiled, Minix >has always been a source-only system. (You got the binaries when you >bought Minix, and sources/diffs from the net kept you current from then >on.) I see no reason that Linux needs to work differently. Minix is mostly a 16 bit OS, and has silly silly size limits to everything. Linux is different because it can compile and run HUGE programs. (I easily ported gnuchess, try that on Minix.) Also, keeping the source code around for all the utilities you need can be pretty hard on a limited sized hard drive. Further, what compiles on gcc1.37 may not compile on 1.40 or 2.0 or 2.1 (it should, but....) It's just so much more convenient. I like the idea, however, of keeping around sources and diffs. Shared libraries are one of them. I think that keeping binaries, even though some day they may break, are a good idea also. >Paul Allen >pallen@atc.boeing.com Dan Deavours zeos@uiuc.edu ------------------------------ From: mstype!mdf (Matthew Francey) Subject: FS questions Reply-To: mstype!mdf (Matthew Francey) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 14:48:52 GMT well, i've read the FAQ sheet and i am unimpressed. :-) or more precisely, i am showing remarkable restraint and calm in the light of the information on this FAQ list. i will refrain from rapid, perhaps unthinking, decisions. i will not drool *too* much. wild, incoherent singing in the middle of the night will be kept to an absolute minimum. hence, like any potential guinea pi..., err, customer, i have some more questions before i sign my life away to LINUX: 1) is there a driver for my beautiful Adaptec 1542B card? how difficult is it to make such a thing on a single diskette only system (which is what i would be left with)? trivial 30 minute operation, or success would be only marginal after 4 months of 24hr non-stop hacking sessions? 2) is the file system size *really* limited to 64 megabytes? this is a really serious flaw if true for (a) simple aesthetic reasons and (b) practical reasons for those with large disks ... and if true, can this be easily fixed? i have absolutely no care in the world about compatibility with MINIX file systems, or any other for that matter. i just want peak, or close to peak, fs performance. otherwise, LINUX is looking like what i an looking for. i have had it with COHERENT and its 64+64 business and disgusting disk performance... but its still a toss up between 386 BSD or LINUX. but i haven't found out anything about the BSD other than the fact it exists, is free, and a friend tells me it panics alot... -- Matthew Francey "You might not count in the new world order." ...!utzoo!sq!mstype!mdf -- Generation X (slightly edited) ------------------------------ From: scottd@cs.hw.ac.uk (Scott Dunn) Subject: Re. LINUX INSTALLATION PROBLEMS Date: 7 Apr 92 08:20:03 GMT Sorry to be a real pain in the but, but here's the next installment in the ongoing saga of 'Scott Tries To Install Linux'. Early this morning playing around trying to get things to work. Decided to boot up with 0.95 as suggested in I Reid's Beginners Guide. Made an fs, rebooted, and it worked, no probs. Tried 0.95a and : 8 virtual consoles 4 pty's HD timeoutHD timeout ....... dev 0300, block 0 Unable to read partition table of device 0300 HD timeoutHD timeout ....... dev 0340, block 0 Unable to read partition table of device 0340 Partition tables ok. /* Wonderful !!!! */ harddisk I/O error dev 0341, block 1 Kernel panic : Unable to mount root Back into 0.95, decided to install a few choice pieces of s/w just so I could at least have a decent look around. Everything worked, except mtools (mcopy wouldn't work). However on the whole it worked. Before switching off, decided to reboot with 0.95a, just in case. Amazing, it worked. Closed eyes, took a deep breath, tried again, it worked. Installed some more s/w, mtools working properly. Couldn't install gcc at all. One tar seems to be corrupted, one other returns with 'out of swap space' and yet another does nothing. Switched off, went to bed. 6.30 am, getting ready to leave, decided to try out linux, 0.95a - see above error message, switch to picture of me stomping around room (quietly) tearing at imaginary 'things' culminating in an almighty roar. Yes Linus, when you woke up at 6.30 and said 'What the **** was that?', now you know. Tried again, 0.95 - works 0.95a - HD timeoutHD timeoutHD timeoutHD timeout Partition tables ok. 39488/43545 blocks 14327/14515 inodes 226 buffers - 241424 bytes buffer space Free mem : 1310720 bytes All systems functioning (none) Login : 0.95a seems to work in the above manner 1 in 10 attempts. I am doing nothing strange between reboots. I would really appreciate it if somebody who could help would mail me or post the group. My configuration is as detailed in my previous 2 posts and everything mentioned in them still holds Remeber I can get 0.95a to works from hda1. But for the moment at least I need to keep DOS as it is installed. Any help much appreciated, Scott. ------------------------------ From: r4ty@vax5.cit.cornell.edu Subject: BootAny help needed!! Date: 7 Apr 92 16:17:36 GMT Hellllp!!! I installed bootany on my system, it refuses to boot LINUX, but the main thing is it's screwing up my clock and I want it off NOW... Whoops. I don't see any uninstall.exe. Basically I'm screwed, aren't I?? Do I have to low-level format my HD?? Is there any way to get the dratted thing out of the bootstrap? Please mail any answers to elan@tasha.cheme.cornell.edu - Thanks!! ------------------------------ From: berger@atropa (Mike Berger) Crossposted-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Subject: Re: Help: Straighten Me Out on SCSI Controller Cards (Host Adapter?) Date: 7 Apr 92 16:06:52 GMT sonny@charybdis.harris-atd.com (Bob Davis) writes: > I am *so* confused about SCSI -- all aspects of it. And I can't >seem to locate answers. First, what do I get for the $250 for an Adaptec 1542 >SCSI controller that I don't get with the $150 controllers , or with the $35 >Seagate ST02? *---- The extra money buys substantially higher performance. The Seagate is the bottom-of-the-line. It uses the CPU heavily, and doesn't support non-Seagate drives too extensively. I don't know what kind of software is available for tape or CD-ROM drivers. The Adaptec 1542B is on the opposite end of the spectrum. It's a bus-master disk controller, and has very high performance if your motherboard can handle it. Software support is excellent. At the higher end are EISA type controllers, and below the 1542B are non bus-master controllers that are a lot smarter and faster than the ST-01/02. -- Mike Berger Department of Statistics, University of Illinois AT&TNET 217-244-6067 Internet berger@atropa.stat.uiuc.edu ------------------------------ From: tsillanp@niksula.hut.fi (Timo Jaakko Sillanp{{) Subject: HELP! Problems with rootimage. Date: 7 Apr 92 12:48:47 GMT I reported this problem two weeks ago but got no help. So, here it is again. I got rawrite.exe, bootimage and rootimage (0.95a) from nic.funet.fi. I booted with bootimage diskette in drive A and Linux told me 'Loading....'.Then I selected one of the listed video modes. Linux told me to insert rootimage diskette in drive A and press ENTER. I inserted it and pressed enter. Diskette drive light and motor went on for a second and that was all. Nothing else happened. I got a new copy from nic.funet.fi and tried again - still didn't work. I have tried it on three different machines but it doesn't work! Unfortunately all of those machines are 486/33 with AMI BIOS dated 05/05/91 or 06/06/91, so I don't know whether it is a BIOS problem. My machine has OPTI chipset, the other two have some other chipset. Am I doing something totally wrong? I get rootimage.Z from nic.funet.fi (yes, binary mode is on), uncompress it and write it to a floppy disk (1.44Mb) using rawrite.exe. What should I do? Please at least tell me to shut up if I'm wrong. This uncertainty is killing me. TS. tsillanp@niksula.hut.fi ------------------------------ From: tytso@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Theodore Ts'o) Subject: GCC V2.x now available from tsx-11 Reply-To: tytso@athena.mit.edu Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 17:40:21 GMT TSX-11 now mirrors the GCC V2 directory on banjo.concert.net. The directory is: ~ftp/pub/linux/mirrors/GCCv2 - Ted ------------------------------ From: jon@robots.ox.ac.uk (Jon Tombs) Subject: Byte Unix Benchmarks. Date: 7 Apr 92 16:35:51 GMT I have uploaded to tsx-11, and I will upload to nic (if the link will stay up for long enought), the Byte Unix Benchmarks that came through in comp.unix.sources a while back. These required /usr/bin/time and a gawk with trig functions so I've included them in the upload (gawk-2.13.2 and gnu time-1.3). I expect it to appear as: /pub/linux/sources/test_suites/benchmark.tar.Z on tsx-11 In the mean time any _UK_ user can pick it up from ftp.robots.ox.ac.uk in the same place. As an idea of its output here the summary reports for my 486 and a Sparc1+ ---- Sparc1+ Arithmetic Test (type = double) 2541.7 1494.0 0.6 Dhrystone 2 without register variables 22366.3 13077.0 0.6 Execl Throughput Test 16.5 10.7 0.6 File Copy (30 seconds) 179.0 83.0 0.5 Pipe-based Context Switching Test 1318.5 947.1 0.7 Shell scripts (8 concurrent) 4.0 1.7 0.4 ========= SUM of 6 items 3.4 AVERAGE 0.6 ---- 486 33c Arithmetic Test (type = double) 2541.7 1891.6 0.7 Dhrystone 2 without register variables 22366.3 19281.7 0.9 Execl Throughput Test 16.5 89.2 5.4 File Copy (30 seconds) 179.0 44.0 0.2 Pipe-based Context Switching Test 1318.5 3738.0 2.8 Shell scripts (8 concurrent) 4.0 5.0 1.3 ========= SUM of 6 items 11.3 AVERAGE 1.9 Nice work Linus! READMEs etc are in the archive. mail me directly if you have any problems. -- Jon "I got in today just as the sun was crashing" ------------------------------ From: fries@hpspkla.spk.hp.com (Keith L. Fries) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 15:34:02 GMT Subject: Linux & Ultra 12F ESDI? From the FAQ: > IDE and MFM seem to work with no problem. It works, also, for some > ESDI drive (Joincom controller with Magtron drive after you have > commented out the "unexpected hd interrupt"-message from hd.c). Has anyone gotten linux to run with an Ultrastor Ultra 12F ESDI controller? Keith Fries Hewlett Packard, Spokane Div. fries@hpspkla.spk.hp.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 0.95a released on March 17, 1992 End of Linux-Activists Digest ******************************