From: mike@array.com (Mike Willett)
Newsgroups: comp.os.coherent
Subject: Coherent FAQ, Technical Info for Version 3.2
Keywords: FAQ, Technical Info Coherent OS Version 3.2
Date: 23 Jan 93 02:01:37 GMT
Organization: Array Microsystems, Colorado Springs, CO. USA







       T E C H N I C A L  T I P S  F O R  C O H E R E N T  3.2

              Technical Tips FAQ for Rev 3.2 of Coherent

    Comp.os.coherent (Usenet) / Coherent list on ListServ@IndyCMS

                             FAQ Rev. 2.3


               C O N T E N T S :
               -----------------
               Modem devices:
               Remote logins:
               Fast modems:
               Simultaneous users:
               Usenet news software:
               Email packages:
               The 64K question:
               Compiler hints:
               Hardware configurations:
               Termio hints:
               Curses:
               More uucp:
               How to create a bootable >>>R/W<<< floppy from Coherent:
               Master Boot Reinstallation:
               Line Printer Help:
               Moving data from a Sun to Coherent:
               Multi-Volume Archive:
               SCSI MKFS Notes:
               DOS to Coherent:
               Uuinstall Bug Help:
               Xwindows:
               Tar Help:
               Setting Boot Partition: DOS or Coherent?
               A Backup Script:

               MISC:
               Disclaimer:
               Trademarks:

                     T E C H N I C A L  T I P S :
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MODEM DEVICES:
Q: What devices should I use with a modem for dialing in / dialing out

A: For dialing in you should use a device with modem control. For example
   com1r or com2r. That is important to ensure that when the calling site
   dropped carrier, that also at your site SIGHUP is sent to already running
   processes, to ensure that the modem hangs up (dropping DTR) and a new
   getty is opened on that port to enable further logins.

   For dialing out or local terminals you do not need modem control
   Also you do not have to worry about cabling problems, just use some
   of those null modem cables available in most computer stores.

REMOTE LOGINS:
Q:  How do I enable logins via modem to my machine:

A:  I assume that modem is set to AUTO-ANSWER (ATS0=1) and the cabling
    is ok.
    Edit the file  /etc/ttys. Here an example for com2:

    0rPcom2r

    0            = not yet enabled (enable = allow login, run getty)

    r            = remote access   (will enable asking of a password
                                    for remote-access (see /etc/passwd)
                   Why ? System security, additional password

    P            = speed (your modem is connected to the computer)
                   P = 9600 Baud, I use this for my Telebit Modem

    com2r        = device with modem control, when CARRIER is lost it
                   will sent SIGHUP to all processes running on that
                   line and will also drop DTR so a modem hangup or
                   a modern modem does a hardware reset.

     Now type the following:
     enable com2r    (for Coherent 3.2 that's enough)
     kill -1 1       (Coherent 3.0.0 or 3.1.0, Process INIT will start
                      a getty on com2r)

FAST MODEMS:
Q:    Can I use fast modems with Coherent 3.2?

A:    Yes you can. But you must think about the following:

      a) maximum  Baud rate between modem - machine is 9600 Baud
         (Coherent as a multiuser/multitasking environment is
          not fast enough for 19200 Baud)

      b) cps-rates in transfer depend on modem/method

         calling into my machine (T2500) with a USR, using sz for transfer:
                   480 cps to 600 cps (compressed, uncompressed files)

         calling out with uucp (T2500):
                   860 cps

         The rate may differ if you use a slow 286 or 386. The above results
         were yielded with a 386/33.

SIMULTANEOUS USERS:
Q:    I want to use Coherent 3.2 as a multiuser operating system. How many
      users can work with it at the same time ?

A:    Now 11 User:
      console   : 1
      com1      : 1
      com2      : 1
      Multiport : 8
      --------------
                 11

USENET NEWS SOFTWARE:
Q:    Is there any Net-News Software for Coherent ?

A:    Yes, there are several packages available:

       CNEWS  -  the famous package
         difficult to install (although there is a nice installation
         script in the Coherent version). Only for advanced users !
         Has no reader !

       WNEWS 3.0  -  News for MINIX, ported to Coherent
         based on BNEWS - small, not bad
         Has no reader

       rn
          the well known newsreader

       tass
            curses based newsreader. Nice, but you should not have
            too much groups or articles in /usr/spool/news.

       bsnews
          small news package for receiving news via email

        and others...

EMAIL PACKAGES:
Q:    I do not like Coherent's mailer. What can I use instead of it ?

A:    WMAIL 3.63  -  a minix port, MAILX-clone

      comb 1.29   -  curses based mailer, nice interface

      You should ensure that in both cases you have smail 2.5 as
      a smart-mailer that understands domain addresses.
      smail 2.5 is already in Coherent 3.2

THE 64K QUESTION:
Q:    Does Coherent really have a 64 kb limitation ? I want to port
      the GNU-C-Compiler and compile big programs.

A:    Coherent programs are limited to 64 K for code and 64 k for data
      and stack. The limit is not in the compiler, it's in the kernel
      or at least in the actual system design. No process can exceed this
      limitation.
      But Binaries in Coherent are about 40 % smaller so big programs
      for "Real-UNIXES" may also be portable

COMPILER HINTS:
Q:    I write a C-program that seems to be ok but it still core dumped.
      Is this a compiler error ? Is my program wrong ?

A:    If a program needs a lot of space for local data (resided on the
      stack in most cases) then the maximum size for the stack may be
      exceeded and your return addresses or other important things were
      overwritten.
      With the program fixstack you can increase the size for the stack
      (and also cut the space for data)
      Try size my_prog before and after fixstacking to see the difference.

HARDWARE CONFIGURATIONS:
Q:     What hardware (Motherboard, hard disk) do I need for Coherent ?

A:     Difficult question. Minimum is a AT 286 with 640 KB RAM and a
       hard disk (MFM,RLL,ESDI,SCSI (some), IDE (some)) with at least
       10 MB free disk space.

       Nevertheless Coherent is not the fastest operating system, so
       a 386 with at least 25 MHZ and 4 MB RAM and a fast hard disk
       (a hard disk is always too small !!!!) is the minimum config-
       uration for a usable multi-user-operating.

TERMIO HINTS:
Q:    I compiled a program that uses termio but it did not work.

A:    The termio in Coherent (at least 3.1.0 and the first 3.2.0) did
      not work in all cases. So try the sgtty, that works fine.
      When porting programs try to find the -DBSD-parts. There you will
      find in most cases the sgtty-parts you need for porting.

CURSES:
Q:    I compiled a program that uses curses but the screen sometimes get
      garbled or the machine seems to hang

A:    Maybe you still have an old libcurses.a. Replace it with a newer
      copy.

MORE UUCP:
Q:    I often loose email or files after receiving them with UUCP.

A:    Try to get the newest UUCP-update from MWCBBS. The old packages
      still have some problems. Check the permissions, at least for example
      with comparing them with those on your original diskettes.
      Check also the permissions of the needed directories.
      In /usr/spool/uucp/Logs./uucp-program you will find the "hints" of the
      "uucp-program" (uucico, uucp, uux,uuxqt) what goes wrong.
      In Coherent 3.2. you have the program uucheck that will check your
      uucp-installation and is also able to "fix" problems. But you have to
      run it twice if you run it as root because the first time it creates
      the needed directories and the second run sets the correct permission.

Q:    I am having a problem connecting to uucp sites not running Coherent
      after updating to Coherent 3.2.  The error looks like a parity
      problem, with an {expect} / {actually got} output like:
        uu315323t 342og310n:   (With backslashes before the numbers)

      Again, get the latest UUCP package from MWCBBS.  The 3.2 Coherent
      release may exhibit a parity problem which is cured with the latest
      uucp release.

HOW TO CREATE A BOOTABLE >>>R/W<<< FLOPPY from Coherent
        From: Peter Fillingham  fillingham@att.com
The COHERENT Operating System Release Notes (Release 3.1.0) along with
the  main  manual  suggest  ways  of  creating a bootable floppy.  One
difficulty of this procedure  is  that,  after  producing  a  bootable
floppy,  one  can't  write  to  it !  The following shell programs are
suggested as a way making a bootable floppy,  and  below  is  the  fix
recommended by mwc for making the bootable floppy system read-write.

    (0) first boot your system from your hard disk, login in as  root,
use  mkdir to make a convenient subdirectory [e.g., /bin/temp ]. cd to
/bin/temp. Place disk #1 of your mwc original floppies  in  drive  A:,
then enter

        dd if=/dev/fha0 of=cohboot count=80 bs=30b

Run it in the background if you wish [follow the above line with an &;
use  ps  -axfl  if  you  are curious].  This will take just over three
minutes depending on the speed of your system.  What is  going  on  is
that  dd  is  creating  an  image  of  your boot floppy in you default
directory with the file name cohboot. When it finishes, remove the mwc
original floppy, and insert a blank disk.

(1) Next run the following shell program:

        echo "/etc/fdformat -v /dev/fha0"
        /etc/fdformat -v /dev/fha0
        echo "/etc/badscan -o proto /dev/fha0 2400"
        /etc/badscan -o proto /dev/fha0 2400

    Run it in the background if you wish; it  takes  time.   The  echo
    lines  simply  display each command line just before it is carried
    out to tell you what is going on.  The  second  and  fourth  lines
    format  the  floppy  and  check  for bad blocks, respectively.  In
    addition,  a  file  (proto)  is  being  built  in   your   default
    subdirectory.   This  file  will contain a list of the bad blocks:
    look for a line with %b in it. Probably it is best to use  only  a
    floppy with NO bad blocks: so try until you find one.

    (2) make sure you have a subdirectory /f0 on your hard disk;
        if not, use mkdir /f0.

    (3) Next run the following shell program:

        echo "/etc/mkfs /dev/fha0 proto"
        /etc/mkfs /dev/fha0 proto
        echo "cp /conf/boot.fha /dev/fha0"
        cp /conf/boot.fha /dev/fha0
        echo "dd if=cohboot of=/dev/fha0 count=80 bs=30b"
        dd if=cohboot of=/dev/fha0 count=80 bs=30b
        echo "/etc/mount /dev/fha0 /f0"
        /etc/mount /dev/fha0 /f0
        echo "cd /f0 "
        cd /f0
        echo " DONE but f0 still mounted !"

    The second line produces the file system on the floppy  using  the
    information  from  file proto.  The fourth line copies boot.fha to
    the floppy.  The sixth line transfers the  image  of  your  system
    boot  floppy  to  your newly formatted disk (note all these things
    take time). Finally, the floppy is mounted so that while you  have
    booted  from the hard disk and have root permissions you can write
    to the floppy. The last line simply rings the bell and  tells  you
    it is done.

    (4) next (noting that your default directory is /f0, i.e. the
          floppy disk) enter:

          mv begin autoboot
                then enter
          db coherent
                then enter
          ronflag
                the response is
          ronflag=001
                then enter
          .=0
                then a response appears
          ronflag=000
                then enter
          :q
                and you should get back your prompt.

    (5) Finally while the floppy is still mounted, cp over  your  most
        useful  programs  to  the appropriate directories (e.g., vi or
        me, du, df ...) Lastly umount f0, shutdown, sync and boot your
        writable floppy.

MASTER BOOT REINSTALLATION:
            From: doug@mwc.com (Doug Peterson)
    I want to upgrade the DOS partition from MS-DOS 3.3 to 5.0, and the
    installation program refuses to work with the Coherent master bootstrap
    program. It no longer asks for the ability to boot Coherent!

    The problem specifically is caused be Microsoft's faulty update install
    procedure. They assume you have no other operating system on the
    computer.

    When the 5.0 update install is run, the procedure archives the original
    master boot block of the hard drive and rewrites a brand new one.
    Problem is, it takes Coherent's master boot along with it. To restore
    the master boot is very simple:

    Use dos 5.0 fdisk to change the active partition to COHERENT. Reboot.

    Use COHERENT's fdisk utility with the -b option to rewrite a new master
    boot. Specifically; fdisk -b /conf/mboot /dev/at0x <ENTER>

    Once completed, you can now boot either system no matter which one is
    active or inactive.


LINE PRINTER HELP: From: dave@uvm-gen!pete (Dave Peterson)
    I have my printer hooked up to lpt1 and cannot get any output.  I have
    checked my files, but, no luck.  What's the problem?

    1) ls -li   ( The i will list the inode number, this will tell you where
                  you have linked /dev/lp to. )

    2) ln -f /dev/lpt2 /dev/lp  ( link to lpt2  IBM and MWC number the ports
                               differently thus lpt2 is the first printer )
                               [ you need to be root or bin to do the link ]

    This is a partial listing of my /dev directory note the first number is
    the inode number.  I have linked lp to lpt2.
      174 c-w--w--w-  2 bin        bin          3   1 Mon Nov 25 17:36 /dev/lp
      101 c-w--w--w-  1 bin        bin          3   0 Fri Apr 27  1990 /dev/lpt1
      174 c-w--w--w-  2 bin        bin          3   1 Mon Nov 25 17:36 /dev/lpt2
      173 c-w--w--w-  1 bin        bin          3   2 Fri Apr 27  1990 /dev/lpt3

    As a final point when you send data to /dev/lpt2 use pipes not redirection.
    Try cat (file) | /dev/lpt2  it works for me.

MOVING DATA FROM A SUN TO COHERENT:
                    (From: PINEAU@uqac.uquebec.ca (Louis Pineau))
    First, the floppy have to be formatted whether on the  sun  or  on
    the  Coherent  system  (with fdformat /dev/rfd0c on the sun). Once
    the floppy is formatted, there is no need to reformat or  mkfs  it
    for the life of the floppy or until something unusual happens.

    To write and read the floppy, on both system (sun and coherent), I
    use  the  command  "ustar"  since it can handle multi-volume files
    (files that are too large to fit on a single floppy).

    Thus, on the sun, I do:
      /usr/5bin/ustar -cvf /dev/rfd0c file [files ...]    to write on the floppy
      /usr/5bin/ustar -tvf /dev/rfd0c                     to list the floppy
      /usr/5bin/ustar -xvf /dev/rfd0c [file ...]          to read the floppy

    On my coherent  system,  I  use  the  same  commands  without  the
    /usr/5bin  prefix  and with the proper floppy device (/dev/fva1 on
    my system).

    I know that there is a way  to  read  or  write  ms-dos  formatted
    floppy  but  in  order  to  mount  or unmount the floppy, you must
    become superuser.

MULTI-VOLUME ARCHIVE: (From: jr@connie.de.convex.com (Joachim Riedel))
    I'm trying to archive a 5 mb file (which is  itself  a  compressed
    cpio file) from hard disk onto floppy disk (fva1). I've tried cpio
    and tar and even pax directly but cannot get past one volume.

    Use the raw device (i.e. /dev/rfva1 ) instead of the device  fva1.

SCSI MKFS NOTES: Answer From: stephen@mwc.com (Stephen Davis)
    I am trying to add a second scsi drive to my  system.   mkfs  will
    not accept a proto file.  What do I do?

    You do not badscan a SCSI drive. Instead of giving  mkfs  a  proto
    file, you give it the total number of blocks in the partition. The
    number of blocks is listed in the partition table under f-disk.

DOS TO COHERENT:
    Q: The question is, is it possible to read DOS-format 360KB-diskettes?

    A: yes it is :-)   From: lvds@tfpbbs.uucp (Laurent Cas)

    Here is the device type reference table:
    Device name  Sectors/track  Heads  Sectors  Bytes   Format
    /dev/f9a0          9          2      720    360 KB   5.25"
    /dev/fqa0          9          2     1440    720 KB   3.5"
    /dev/fha0         15          2     2400    1.2 MB   5.25"
    /dev/fva0         18          2     2880    1.44 MB  3.5"

    If your 360KB drive is 'A:' (MSDOS reference) you  can  do  dos  t
    /dev/f9a0  to  list  your  disk, or if your 360KB is 'B:' you will
    have to do dos t /dev/f9a1

    drive A is number 0 and drive B is number 1 ; same for  partitions
    on your hard disk...

    Cheers, Laurent.

UUINSTALL BUG HELP: (From norm@mwc.com)
    Using Coherent 3.2, I run UUINSTALL, upon exiting, I am back at my
    prompt,  but,  the  system  hangs.  the  only way to restart via a
    reboot.  Is this problem specific to 3.2 or is it something I have
    possibly done?

    This is a bug in the 3.2.0  release  of  uuinstall.  Occasionally,
    upon  exiting,  it leaves your terminal in "raw" mode.  The Errata
    sheet which is included with 3.2 releases mentions this, as far as
    I  know.   To fix your terminal after exiting uuinstall, enter the
    following (note that <ctrl-J> is the control key plus  the  letter
    J):

            <ctrl-J> stty sane <ctrl-J>

XWINDOWS:  (From doug@mwc:)
    From time to time,  we  get  people  asking  about  X  windows  on
    Coherent.  Many  new entrants into the field of UNIX have probably
    heard of the popular UNIX graphics interface called X-WINDOWS.

    X-WINDOWS was developed by MIT. To the best of our knowledge  they
    still  hold  the rights to the source code and it is in the public
    domain.

    To the best of our knowledge, the source code takes  up  110mb  of
    disk  space!   The  binaries,  an  additional  12 - 20mb's of disk
    space. It requires TCP or Streams support, neither of which is  in
    COHERENT.

    X-windows it seems, has become somewhat of a popular GUI for  UNIX
    in  a  very  short time. Various hardware firms have developed and
    are marketing X-workstations, servers and cards.

    On page 14 of the November 1991 issue of UNIX REVIEW, is an ad for
    X11  Release 5 for System V/386. The price advertised is $495 with
    printed manuals,  $395  without.  So,  X  is  not  cheap  via  the
    commercial route.

    Given  COHERENT  3.2's  small  model  compiler,  it  is  obviously
    impossible at this time for COHERENT to even compile the code, let
    alone run it.

Tar Help:
    The Coherent version of tar has been known to create problems  for
    users.   It  is  believed  that  the  latest  version  of  tar has
    alleviated most of these problems. Some of the  original  problems
    include  inability to read a tar archive to tar creating recursive
    inode/file loops that can only be removed  by  "clri".   The  more
    recent  Coherent releases also includes ustar, which appears to be
    much more robust.  It has been suggested to use the ustar  command
    instead of the Coherent native tar command in most cases.

Setting Boot Partition: DOS or Coherent?
    Occasionally, a user may want to boot to  Coherent  for  the  most
    part,  rather  than  come up in DOS by default.  You can leave the
    DOS partition in tact, and switch between the preferred  operating
    systems on as "as needed" basis.  To do this, simply use the fdisk
    program in either operating system and make the  partition  active
    for  the  operating  system that resides there. Reboot the system,
    (AMI Bios system owners require a hard reset) and the system  will
    now  boot to the partition made active with fdisk. For example, if
    you wish to boot DOS by default, make the first partition  active.
    If you want to boot Coherent by default, make the partition active
    that Coherent resides on.

DISCLAIMER:
    ANY REFERENCE TO THIS ARTICLE, IN ANY FORM, IS PURELY AT YOUR OWN RISK!
    All opinions, tips, and instructions in this article are those  of
    the  contributors,  and  not  of  any  company associated with the
    individual contributor, or any company mentioned in this  article.
    The  information  contained within is not guaranteed to be free of
    errors in any way.

    The intention of this  note  is  only  to  inform  curious  usenet
    readers  about  some  aspects of the operating system of Coherent,
    and those companies mentioned are encouraged to  add  corrections,
    additions,  or  suggest  deletions  to  this  note to as per their
    policy or willingness to provide positive criticism.

TRADEMARKS
    Unix is the trademark of AT&T / Unix System Laboratories, Inc.
    Coherent is the trademark of the Mark Williams Company.






















-- 
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mike@array.com              So much fun, so little time to enjoy it....
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