Subject: Linux-Activists Digest #67
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 92 12:45:24 EDT

Linux-Activists Digest #67, Volume #2            Tue, 14 Apr 92 12:45:24 EDT

Contents:
  Re: kermit5A.tar.Z (Joseph Knapka)
  Re: all kinds of questions (Kevin Cummings)
  Re: all kinds of questions (Kevin Cummings)
  Re: Linux makefile (Kevin Cummings)
  Re: Linux Printer (Kevin Cummings)
  Re: what does linux rhyme with? (Fisher)
  Miscellaneous questions. (Scott Dunn)
  Miscellaneous questions. (Scott Dunn)
  German FTP-Server ready/Mirroring tsx-11 (Thomas Wuensche)
  TeX Installation for Linux (thomas dunbar)

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

From: [email-masked] (Joseph Knapka)
Subject: Re: kermit5A.tar.Z
Date: 14 Apr 92 14:41:44 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Linus Benedict Torvalds) writes:
>In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Dahai Li) writes:
>>
>>I have seen your notice about re-uploading a working version of kermit5A to
>>tsx-11.mit.edu, and downloaded it (it is dated 4/10/92, I think). However,
>>it still fails to work with a "segment fault".
>>
>>I am running Linux 0.95c+ on a 8Meg 486 (with 16Meg swap space). Could you
>>check it again please?
>
>This might not have anything to do with this particular problem, but I'd
>just like to say:
>
>When using gcc-2.1 to compile binaries that you distribute on the net,
>/PLEASE/ use the "-static" flag to get a statically linked binary. 
>Otherwise, the binary won't work on a machine without the library, and
>the result is a segfault.  The binary should really print out "unable to
>find /lib/libXX.XX.XX", but due to a minor bug in the crt0.s code, it
>doesn't: it just dies with the segmentation fault. 
>

Interesting. I compiled a program with the April 6 version of gcc-2.1,
and it dies with "can't find lib92.04.06" and a segfault, even though
I've got the lib! Compile the same program with the static libs, it
just dies with a segfault (seems that strcpy() is f*). Could the
"can't find libxx.xx.xx" error show up under any circumstances other
than the library not being there?

BTW machine is 486-33, 4meg ram, 4meg swap. Kernel is 0.95c. And the
"can't find lib" message isn't *all* there -- usually a few
characters get hacked off the front, so it just says "ind libxx.xx.xx"
or some such. But sometimes I get the whole thing, so I know that's
what it is.

Bye,
Joseph
>
>               Linus
>
>PS.  The crt0.s bug is being fixed, and future versions will give a
>clear error message telling you why it doesn't work...

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

From: [email-masked] (Kevin Cummings)
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux
Subject: Re: all kinds of questions
Date: 14 Apr 92 15:21:17 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Drew Eckhardt) writes:
> In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Greenup) writes:
> >3. does "sync" do a diskpark, or do I have to round up a routine for that?
> 
> No.  sync merely commits the buffercache to disk.  Buffers will be 
> committed to disk when buffercache is full, or a sync()  syscall
> is performed.  To prevent heinous catastrophees, update is 
> run from /etc/rc. update syncs the disks every 30 seconds.
> 
> Most hard disks these days autopark, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Unless you are not running with "new" disks.  There are an AWFUL lot of MFM
disk out there that don't auto-park; like most of them!  So unless you are
shutting down your system to reboot DOS (or something else), your disk
heads will not be parked by LINUX.  Maybe this is the cause of some of the
trashed file systems some people are experiencing?

=================================================================
Kevin J. Cummings                       Prime Computer Inc.
20 Briarwood Road                       500 Old Connecticut Path
Framingham, Mass.                       Framingham, Mass.

Work:  [email-masked]
Home:  [email-masked]

Std. Disclaimer: "Mr. McKittrick, after careful consideration,
                  I've come to the conclusion that your new
                  defense system SUCKS..."   --  War Games
=================================================================

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

From: [email-masked] (Kevin Cummings)
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux
Subject: Re: all kinds of questions
Date: 14 Apr 92 15:21:17 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Drew Eckhardt) writes:
> In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Greenup) writes:
> >3. does "sync" do a diskpark, or do I have to round up a routine for that?
> 
> No.  sync merely commits the buffercache to disk.  Buffers will be 
> committed to disk when buffercache is full, or a sync()  syscall
> is performed.  To prevent heinous catastrophees, update is 
> run from /etc/rc. update syncs the disks every 30 seconds.
> 
> Most hard disks these days autopark, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Unless you are not running with "new" disks.  There are an AWFUL lot of MFM
disk out there that don't auto-park; like most of them!  So unless you are
shutting down your system to reboot DOS (or something else), your disk
heads will not be parked by LINUX.  Maybe this is the cause of some of the
trashed file systems some people are experiencing?

=================================================================
Kevin J. Cummings                       Prime Computer Inc.
20 Briarwood Road                       500 Old Connecticut Path
Framingham, Mass.                       Framingham, Mass.

Work:  [email-masked]
Home:  [email-masked]

Std. Disclaimer: "Mr. McKittrick, after careful consideration,
                  I've come to the conclusion that your new
                  defense system SUCKS..."   --  War Games
=================================================================

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

From: [email-masked] (Kevin Cummings)
Subject: Re: Linux makefile
Date: 14 Apr 92 15:28:35 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Jim Winstead Jr.) writes:
> Speaking of the 80x50 code, does anyone know of a simple routine to
> tell the difference between VGA and EGA monitors?  Apparently there
> are problems with using 80x43 on EGA screens because Linux thinks it's
> really 80x50.  (Actually, I know of one quick 'n dirty way to fix
> this, but I was hoping for a more elegant answer.)

The easiest thing to do is in setup.S, which runs while the machine
is still in REAL mode, and still has access to the video BIOS.

Generate an INT 10 request for a VGA only function.  Check the
AL (or is it AH) register upon return.  If it is 0, then a VGA
is present.  If it is the same as the function request number,
then a VGA is NOT present.  Do the same for an EGA or better
function to distinguish EGA from CGA.  You can also check the
machine equipment byte in the CMOS to distinguish color monitor
from monochrome.  A full method for doing this was described by
Dr. Dobbs Journal when they started their GRAPHICS column a couple
of years ago.  setup.S should be doing most of what they described
to determine the video type, and THEN try and figure out specific
card vendors.

=================================================================
Kevin J. Cummings                       Prime Computer Inc.
20 Briarwood Road                       500 Old Connecticut Path
Framingham, Mass.                       Framingham, Mass.

Work:  [email-masked]
Home:  [email-masked]

Std. Disclaimer: "Mr. McKittrick, after careful consideration,
                  I've come to the conclusion that your new
                  defense system SUCKS..."   --  War Games
=================================================================

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

From: [email-masked] (Kevin Cummings)
Subject: Re: Linux Printer
Date: 14 Apr 92 15:47:44 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (david.a.cuka) writes:
> 
> I tried last night to get my parallel printer working with linux.  Based
> on some previous postings, I tried 
> 
>       "mknod /dev/lp0 c 6 0"
> 
> followed by a test
> 
>       "cat /etc/rc > /dev/lp0"
> 
> I got a "ENODEV", so I tried using minor device number 1, which did not
> work either.  Is there some addtional setup that I am missing?  I
> am running on v0.95a.

I am running 0.95c+ from tsx-11.  When I boot, it tells me that lp1 and lp2
both exist in my system (note:  no lp0).  This is amusing since under
dos, my printer (when it was working) was connected to LPT1.  I suspect
that the line printers here suffer from the same problem as the serial
ports.  Under DOS (actually, under POST), the BIOS checks a list of IO
addresses sequentially and assigns the first addresses that is successful
to xxx1, the second to xxx2, etc  trying upt to 2 or 4 COM ports, and up to
3 LPT ports.  Is it true that unde LINUX there is a one to one correspondence
between an address and a LINUX device?  If so, then the parallel port
that is found on the old CGA/Monochrome cards is lp0, and the parallel ports
more commonly found on serial/parallel cards can be either lp1 or lp2.
I don't know what addresses are used by printer ports off the top of
my head, and I don't know which one is used on printer ports on motherboards.

=================================================================
Kevin J. Cummings                       Prime Computer Inc.
20 Briarwood Road                       500 Old Connecticut Path
Framingham, Mass.                       Framingham, Mass.

Work:  [email-masked]
Home:  [email-masked]

Std. Disclaimer: "Mr. McKittrick, after careful consideration,
                  I've come to the conclusion that your new
                  defense system SUCKS..."   --  War Games
=================================================================

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

From: [email-masked] (Fisher)
Subject: Re: what does linux rhyme with?
Date: 14 Apr 92 16:04:38 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Linus Benedict Torvalds) writes:
|>In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Daniel A. Martin) writes:
|>>In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Paul Fox) writes:
|>>>
|>>>    Big question:
|>>>    
|>>>    Does "linux" sound like "linus" (i.e.  like "line" followed by "ux"
|>>>    which rhymes with "us"), or does "linux" sound almost just like
|>>>    "minix", which I assume people say the way they start "minimal"?
|>>
|>>Yeah!  I have been wondering about this too...
|>>I've been pronouncing in line-ux since that is how I would pronounce
|>>Linus...although pronouncing it like minix seems to make a lot of
|>>sense too...hmmmmm...I guess we need Linus to settle this :)
|>
|>Oh God. This comes up again :)
|>
|>No, linux doesn't sound like Linus - it's a short [i] sound, like in
|>mInIx or mInImal or prInt or ...  The reason isn't that I wanted it to
|>sound like minix, it's just the natural way to pronounce it (imho) in
|>Swedish.  Pronouncing it like "line"+"ux" is totally foreign to Swedish:
|>in that case I'd have written it "lainux".  So there.  Maybe this should
|>be in the FAQ :)
|>
|>              Linus

Gee, I thought it was for  Lion - ux, the Lion of Unix! :-)

-steve

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

From: [email-masked] (Scott Dunn)
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux
Subject: Miscellaneous questions.
Date: 14 Apr 92 12:00:35 GMT

Finally managed to get linux installed and working properly.  0.95c seems
to have solved the HD timeout problem I was having.  Thanks to everyone
who tried to help.  I think I replied to everyone, but if I didn't, sorry,
I deleted all the saved messages before replying to all.(silly)

Some miscellaneous questions (probably daft) :

1.      I am using tcsh, how do I set up paths to include and lib directories?
        This doesn't seem to be a problem, recompiled the kernel with no paths
        set up, other than path for binaries etc.
        However, gcc -g (debug info) gives the following link error :
                can't find libg   or something like that.
        I can't find what it's looking for.

2.      What is a working version of tar and un/compress?
        A lot of problems seem to be solved by getting new versions of the
        aforementioned.  However, nobody has indicated how to identify which
        are the dodgy copies.
        Sometimes when uncompressing it seems to get stuck in an infinite
        loop which takes all system resources.  ie I can't login to another
        terminal and kill the process.  Is this what is known as a 'race
        condition' ?  Is this indicate a dodgy copy of un/compress ?

3.      What are shared libraries?
        What are the implications of using shared libraries?
        I got a load of object files, I think it was 2.1-shared-A.tar.Z which
        apparently use them.  Certainly, once they were 'made' they were
        much smaller than the 'normal' equivelants.
        Are there limitations when using shared libraries?
        Are they like runtime libaries?

4.      Why are ccp and cc1plus(?) in my /lib directory with links to
        /usr/lib/..../ccp, cc1plus?
        When I first tried to use gcc, it failed saying it couldn't
        find them.  I just stuck /lib in my path, but this seems wrong
        to me.  I didn't move the aforementioned into /usr/bin on the
        assumption that they must have been put /lib for some reason.

5.      A number of utilities crash when I give valid syntax in an
        inapropriate situation. e.g.
                ls -l *.doc
        when there are no docs in the current directory.  Is this a bug
        in the kernel, the utilities (do they have to be recompiled), or
        some peculiarity of my system?

Thanks in advance,

Scott.

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

From: [email-masked] (Scott Dunn)
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux
Subject: Miscellaneous questions.
Date: 14 Apr 92 12:00:35 GMT

Finally managed to get linux installed and working properly.  0.95c seems
to have solved the HD timeout problem I was having.  Thanks to everyone
who tried to help.  I think I replied to everyone, but if I didn't, sorry,
I deleted all the saved messages before replying to all.(silly)

Some miscellaneous questions (probably daft) :

1.      I am using tcsh, how do I set up paths to include and lib directories?
        This doesn't seem to be a problem, recompiled the kernel with no paths
        set up, other than path for binaries etc.
        However, gcc -g (debug info) gives the following link error :
                can't find libg   or something like that.
        I can't find what it's looking for.

2.      What is a working version of tar and un/compress?
        A lot of problems seem to be solved by getting new versions of the
        aforementioned.  However, nobody has indicated how to identify which
        are the dodgy copies.
        Sometimes when uncompressing it seems to get stuck in an infinite
        loop which takes all system resources.  ie I can't login to another
        terminal and kill the process.  Is this what is known as a 'race
        condition' ?  Is this indicate a dodgy copy of un/compress ?

3.      What are shared libraries?
        What are the implications of using shared libraries?
        I got a load of object files, I think it was 2.1-shared-A.tar.Z which
        apparently use them.  Certainly, once they were 'made' they were
        much smaller than the 'normal' equivelants.
        Are there limitations when using shared libraries?
        Are they like runtime libaries?

4.      Why are ccp and cc1plus(?) in my /lib directory with links to
        /usr/lib/..../ccp, cc1plus?
        When I first tried to use gcc, it failed saying it couldn't
        find them.  I just stuck /lib in my path, but this seems wrong
        to me.  I didn't move the aforementioned into /usr/bin on the
        assumption that they must have been put /lib for some reason.

5.      A number of utilities crash when I give valid syntax in an
        inapropriate situation. e.g.
                ls -l *.doc
        when there are no docs in the current directory.  Is this a bug
        in the kernel, the utilities (do they have to be recompiled), or
        some peculiarity of my system?

Thanks in advance,

Scott.

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

From: [email-masked] (Thomas Wuensche)
Subject: German FTP-Server ready/Mirroring tsx-11
Reply-To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 09:49:51 GMT

I have set up ftp-server ftp.fgb.mw.tu-muenchen.de [129.187.200.1].
It mirrors /pub/linux on tsx-11.mit.edu (Thanks to Ted for his help).

There will soon be installed the ftpd from wuarchive.wustl.edu,
that allows downloading subdirectories by creating a tar-file on
the fly.

Enjoy it,

Thomas

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

From: thomas dunbar <[email-masked]>
Subject: TeX Installation for Linux
Reply-To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 16:38:38 GMT

 now that lp is commonly avail., here's a few notes on installing TeX.

1. get (tsx-11.mit.edu) ptex.tar.Z and either dvips.tar.Z or
dvilj2p.tar.Z (PostSript|LaserJet)

2. see below for default locations. (for dvips, set TEXCONFIG to point
to config.ps and edit config.ps if necessary). the tex binary looks
for the format file tex.fmt which is plain format + the eplain macros
in the .fmt i put in ptex.

Testing:  make test.tex:
             This is a test of \TeX, blah blah
             \bye
run:
   tex test
 to get a DVI file
run:
   dvilj2p -e/dev/lp test
 to print on a laserjet 2p (or better) hanging off /dev/lp.
(dvilj2p.tar.Z has notes on source for other lj)
  or
   dvips test
   cat test.ps >/dev/lp
  for a PostScript printer.

References:    Beginner's Book of TeX; Seroul & Levy
               TeX for the Impatient; Abrahams, Berry, Hargreaves
               The TeXbook; Donald Knuth

FTP sites:     ymir.claremont.edu   (134.173.4.23)
               ftp.cs.umb.edu       (192.12.26.4)
               labrea.stanford.edu  (36.8.0.47)

/usr/local/bin:
-rwxr-xr-x      58368       dvilj2p
-rwxr-xr-x      22          dvp
-rwxr-xr-x      199459      tex
-rwxr-xr-x      2275        MakeTeXPK
-rw-r--r--      12532       dvi2xx.dvi     doc for dvilj
-rwxr-xr-x      58368       dvilj2p
-rwxr-xr-x      49415       gftopk
-rwxr-xr-x      203563      mf

/usr/local/emacs/lisp:
-rw-r--r--      21941       auc-tex.elc         fancy
-rw-r--r--      2073        minor-map.elc       alternative
-rw-r--r--      5069        outline-m.elc       to
-rw-r--r--      9373        tex-buf.elc         tex-mode.elc
-rw-r--r--      2119        tex-cpl.elc
-rw-r--r--      2900        tex-math.elc
-rw-r--r--      2490        tex-misc.elc
-rw-r--r--      3027        tex-site.elc
-rw-r--r--      9018        tex-symb.elc
-rw-r--r--      3758        vir-symb.elc

/usr/local/lib:
drwxr-xr-x      96          mf
drwxr-xr-x      48          tex

/usr/local/lib/mf:
drwxr-xr-x      1568        macros

/usr/local/lib/mf/macros:
-rw-r--r--      3677        cmr10.mf       font parameter file
-rw-r--r--      171720      mf.base       really cmmf.base
-rw-r--r--      39793       romanl.mf      MetaFont source

/usr/local/lib/tex:
drwxr-xr-x      48          fonts
drwxr-xr-x      48          formats
drwxr-xr-x      160         inputs

/usr/local/lib/tex/fonts:
drwxr-xr-x      320         pk.hplaser
drwxr-xr-x      96          tfm

/usr/local/lib/tex/fonts/pk.hplaser:
-rw-r--r--      4456        cmtt10.300pk     300dpi font for Canon engine

/usr/local/lib/tex/fonts/tfm:
-rw-r--r--      928         cmex10.tfm       TeX Font Metric

/usr/local/lib/tex/formats:
-rw-r--r--      304682      tex.fmt          format file(eplain)

/usr/local/lib/tex/inputs:
-rw-r--r--      574         fonts.lst        put texinfo.tex here
-rw-r--r--      7886        stables.tex      also

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

** 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
******************************