From: mcsun!sun4nl!tuegate.tue.nl!eba!ebh!wjw@uunet.uu.net  (Willem Jan Withagen)
Subject: comp.sys.apollo FAQ (september)
Organization: Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
Distribution: fj
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 09:17:14 GMT
Return-Path: <apollo-list-errors@srvr1.engin.umich.edu>

This is the Apollo Frequently Asked Questions file.  I compiled it from
various sources.  

As of 25 march 92 this file is maintained by Willem Jan Withagen.
You can mail possible items to add to the file to:
	wjw@eb.ele.tue.nl

	Willem Jan Withagen, 
	Eindhoven University of Technology, 
	The Netherlands.

Topics:

 1 )  Is there an archive of comp.sys.apollo?
 2 )  Where can I get "foo" for my Apollo (for all values of "foo"
      where "foo" is some freely available software package)?
 3 )  Would anyone have a termcap entry that will work correctly with
      the VI editor?
 4 )  Why is X so slow at sr10.2?
 5 )  Why do I get these errors when I try to compile an X application?
 6 )  Where can I get x11r4?
 7 )  A list of third-party component vendors.
 8 )  Where can I get a version of sendmail which supports MX records?
 9 )  "does this or that version of sendmail work on apollos?"
 10)  What is "unknown mailer error 1?"
 11)  How can I use the DM editor for mail or while su'd?
 12)  How can I keep my node clocks synchronized?
 13)  When I try to use NFS on my IBM PC to access files on my
      Apollo, it complains about not finding an "Authentication Server."
 14)  Why doesn't Apollo ftpd support anonymous ftp?
 15)  How can I get auto word-wrapping in the DM?
 16)  How can I connect my Macs to my Apollo in a reasonable way?
 17)  Are the VT100 PF1-PF4 keys defined in the Apollo version of xterm?
 18)  What else should I know about X keysyms?
 19)  Where can I get emacs?
 20)  Do you have a problem with Gnu Emacs' C-x` command?
 21)  Does anybody know where I can get proxy ARP?
 22)  Are there third-party vendors of ethernet boards?
 23)  How do I enable IP name service?
 24)  Why can't I log in as root anywhere except a DM pad?
 25)  How can I determine the load average without /dev/kmem?
 26)  Why do I get "cannot start daemon" when I try to use lpr?
 27)  How can I get my printer to work?
 28)  Do I need to buy Omniback to use my Exabyte 8mm tape drive?
 29)  How can I read cartridges written on SUN systems?
 30)  Does anyone out there know about using DAT drives for backing up Apollos?
 31)  How do I use wbak to write stdout to a SUN workstation's tape?
 32)  Why does routed not work for long periods of time under SR10.2?
 33)  Does Apollo NFS work?
 34)  How can I get gcc and g++ to run?
 35)  Where can I get an assembler?
 36)  What's the story on adding more disks to my node?
 37)  I'm trying to get a SCSI-2 type disk to work with my Apollo but it
      does seem to work. What did I do wrong?
 38)  What are the connections in a 3-way serial porst splitter.
 39)  Why do I get:
         Unable to go into maintenance state  User not authorized to
         perform operation (network computing system/Registry Server)
 40)  Fixing your 19" monochrome monitor.
 41)  How well does SLIP work?
 42)  What are the internal names for the various node types?
 43)  Where else can I go besides HP for repairs?
 44)  How do I find out about, and fix, bad spots on my disk?
 45)  Why does my dn10000 ethernet interface stop working?
 46)  Has anyone else experienced power-supply problems with their
      Apollo 10000.
 47)  Former maintainer
 48)  Contributers






===============

 1 )     Is there an archive of comp.sys.apollo?

Answer:

There is an archive and an info server at the Eindhoven University of
Technology, maintained by Willem Jan Withagen <wjw@ebh.eb.ele.tue.nl>.  To
try it out, telnet to apoinfo.eb.ele.tue.nl on port 3401 from a vt100 or
equivalent.  From your Apollo, for example, start up an xterm or vt100 and
run "telnet apoinfo.eb.ele.tue.nl 3401" .

An archive of the comp.sys.apollo newsgroup is maintained by Jim Richardson
(jimr@maths.su.oz.au) and is available by anonymous FTP from maths.su.oz.au
(129.78.68.2).

The file README.FIRST in directory comp.sys.apollo gives details of the organ-
ization of the archive, which goes back to November 1989.

There are index files, which contain the following fields from each article:

	From		Subject		Summary		Keywords
	Message-ID	References	Date

These indices should be useful to people wanting to search through the wealth
of information in the archive for answers to questions that have been discussed
in the newsgroup in the past.

===============

 2)  Where can I get "foo" for my Apollo (for all values of "foo"
     where "foo" is some freely available software package)?

Answer:

Many things are available by anonymous ftp over the Internet.  Check the
"Anon-FTP-sites" file on archive.umich.edu.  A good place to find Apollo
specific code is
         the ADUS archive at adus.ecn.uiowa.edu.
Also try
         archive.umich.edu,
         hpcvaaz.cv.hp.com,
         maths.su.oz.au,
     and ftp.eb.ele.tue.nl.

===============

 3 )  Would anyone have a termcap entry that will work correctly with
      the VI editor?

Answer:  Nope.  You have to use the vt100 emulator (which ought to get loaded
    automatically when you run vi - unless you're trying to do it remote).
    You can also use an xterm.

    Pads are not terminals.
    Workstations were supposed to obsolete terminals.
    But they didn't.
    But pads still aren't terminals.

===============

 4 )  Why is X so slow at sr10.2?

Answer:
    You need to install "psk5".  This should be available from your friendly
    HP/Apollo sales office.  It's fixed in sr10.3.

===============

 5 )  Why do I get these errors when I try to compile an X application?

xtiff.c: 63: Unable to find include file 'X11/Xaw/Form.h'.
xtiff.c: 64: Unable to find include file 'X11/Xaw/List.h'.
xtiff.c: 65: Unable to find include file 'X11/Xaw/Label.h'.

Answer:

Your application was written for X11r4, and your Apollo only has X11r3.
Even though r5 is out now, HP still only fully supports r3 -- that puts them
two revs behind.


===============

 6 )  Where can I get x11r4?

Answer:

Your r4 clients will work just fine with the Apollo share-mode r3 X server.
The psk_q3_91 from Apollo includes some r4 client libraries (but not Xaw,
the Athena widgets) and a server that runs simultaneously with the DM, but
rather than sharing the screen, you switch between them with a hot key.  You
can get this by anonymous ftp from hpcvaaz.cv.hp.com, in the directory
~ftp/pub/apollo/pskq3_91 .  You can get shared r4 client libraries in binary
form by ftp from archive.umich.edu.  You can get x11r4 sources from the
following sites:

                        Machine                  Internet      FTP
    Location            Name                     Address       Directory
    --------            -------                  --------      -------------
(1) West USA            gatekeeper.dec.com       16.1.0.2      pub/X11/R4
    Central USA         mordred.cs.purdue.edu    128.10.2.2    pub/X11/R4
(2) Central USA         giza.cis.ohio-state.edu  128.146.8.61  pub/X.V11R4
    Southeast USA       uunet.uu.net             192.48.96.2   X/R4
(3) Northeast USA       crl.dec.com              192.58.206.2  pub/X11/R4
(4) UK Janet            src.doc.ic.ac.uk         129.31.81.36  X.V11R4
    UK niftp            uk.ac.ic.doc.src                       <XV11R4>
(5) Australia           munnari.oz.au            128.250.1.21  X.V11/R4


===============

 7 ) A list of third-party component vendors.

I am looking for addresses for Apollo third-party vendors for disk
and memory (DNxxxxx's, PRISM, and 400 series). Anyone have a list of
addresses? Any info would be appreciated.

Answer:

======================================================================
DISCLAIMER:  I will neither vouch for, nor complain about, any of the
following companies.  I have never worked for any of them, nor am I
receiving any favoritism from them.  To the best of my knowledge, the
products listed are available from them, but it is not necessarily a
COMPLETE list of products -- please call them yourself.
The vendors listed are not in any particular order.  I typed them as
their addresses came up in my folders.
The last three companies _appear_ to be HP suppliers primarily.  If 
this is true, I would expect them to deal mainly in the 9000 series
peripherals.  (However -- again -- call them).

John Thompson (jt)
Honeywell, SSEC
Plymouth, MN  55441
thompson@pan.ssec.honeywell.com

======================================================================

National Peripherals, Inc
1111 Pasquinelli Drive, Suite 400
Westmont, IL  60559
(312) 325-4151
==> DNxxxx memory
==> 9000/400 series memory, I believe
==> Maxtor 8760E (697MB) disk drives
==> SCSI drives for 9000/400 series
==> Exabyte 8mm tape drives
==> other disk drives, etc.


North Central Peripherals
14041 Burnhaven Drive, Suite 114
Burnsville, MN  55337
(612) 881-2302
==> DNxxxx memory
==> 9000/400 series memory
==> Maxtor 8760E (697MB) disk drives
==> Exabyte 8mm tape drives
==> other disk drives, etc.

AnDATAco Computer Peripherals
9550 Waples Street
San Diego, CA  92121
(619) 453-9191
==> DNxxxx memory
==> Maxtor 8760E (697MB) disk drives
==> Exabyte 8mm tape drives
==> other disk drives, etc.

Infotek Systems
1045 S. East Street
Anaheim, CA  92805
(714) 956-9300
==> 9000/400 series memory

Martech
1151 West Valley Boulevard
Alhambra, CA  91803
(818) 281-3555
==> 9000/400 series memory

Digital Micronics, Inc
5674 El Camino Real, Suite P
Carlsbad, CA  92008
(619) 931-8554
==> 9000/400 series memory

 -- John Thompson (jt)
    Honeywell, SSEC
    Plymouth, MN  55441
    thompson@pan.ssec.honeywell.com

Also:

Here are the names/addresses of two third party vendors that I have had
good luck with.

   local office                       corporate
   Mesa Tech                          MESA Tech
   267 Boston Rd.; Suite 13           9720 Patuxent Woods Drive
   Billerica, MA  01862               Columbia, Maryland 21046
   ATN: Michael Hall                  301-290-8150
        508-663-8254
   ==> HP SCSI drives for 9000/400 series
   ==> Exabyte 8mm tape drives
   ==> other disk drives, etc.
   
   Clearpoint Research
   35 Parkwood Dr
   Hopkinton Ma 01748
   508-435-2000
   800-877-7519 (New England)
   ==> DNxxxx memory
   ==> 9000/400 series memory

 -- Greg Rocco
    MIT Lincoln Lab
    rocco@ll.mit.edu


===============

 8 )  Where can I get a version of sendmail which supports MX records?

Answer:  

Sendmail 5.61+IDA is available by anonymous ftp from eng.clemson.edu in
directory mail+ftp.  For some small patches to make it run better under
Domain/OS, ftp the file sendmail.5.61-apo.Z from maths.su.oz.au.

 -- Jim Richardson

Also, check out Neil Rickert's version of sendmail 5.65 with the IDA
enhancements available from uxc.cso.uiuc.edu in
pub/sendmail-5.65+IDA-1.4.2.tar.Z

 -- ianh@bhpmrl.oz.au (Ian Hoyle)

Rumor has it that sr10.4 comes equipped with sendmail 5.65b+IDA-1.4.3, which
supports MX records.

 -- Jim Rees


===============

 9 ) "does this or that version of sendmail work on apollos?"

     the questioncan be rephrased:
         "does this version of apollo work under sendmail?"

Answer:

are there sites out there that deliver or queue 8,000 - 10,000 messages
a day on/through their ring?

we do.

three mods to mail are required to handle this volume of mail.

1.  use dbm files for /etc/passwd info, and do not query the rgy all
the time.

2.  use nR_xor_1W concurrency control and not cowriters, so you are
able to have different nodes process files without regard for which
node has the disk attached.

3.  have sendmail "tempfail" errors like ios_$concurrency_violation,
and get clues from the difference between ios_$name_not_found and
ios_$object_not_found.  Along with #2, this makes alias files much
easier to deal with.  Also makes it harder to miss someone's forward
file.

3a.  display the apollo error text, and not just the perror() text.  if
you see things like sfcb allocation failures, or can't lock pipe
errors, just go ahead and reboot.

if you use the rgy, and do any volume, you need to make sure that any 0
returned by getpw routines is not accompanied by an errno.  if you use
the /etc//passwd approach, you will get your errors at open time (you 
hope) but we have seen hours and hours go by and still a machine will
not successfully get the rgy data cached into `node_data/systmp.

when we quit using the rgy, we discovered that we ran into other
problems, like not getting sfcbs, having mutex locks never released by
processes trying to get an IP route, and other fatalities.  So, I call
proc2_$list() and see how many procs are running.  The load average is
not sufficient because the # of procs can get quite large without
appreciably bumping the load ave.

Anyway, I don't know offhand what arrangements the "king james" or IDA
releases make for apollos, but in my experience the aforementioned ones
have been crucial here.

We also spike a dec3100 at load aves. of anywhere from 40-60 doing news
and mail, so after a while, you just get used to "big mail."

Having said all this, the apollo/domain file system architecture is
really very good for doing the definitive distributed mail
environment.  We do run into loading problems and plain old bugs, but
we could not provide the scale of service we do now on anything but
apollos, quite honestly.

One hopes that other distributed or networked file systems will get
better and have features that support the same sort of functionality
I've gotten used to on apollos.

 -- paul@CAEN.ENGIN.UMICH.EDU (Paul Killey)


===============

 10)  What is "unknown mailer error 1?"

Answer:

The Apollo file system uses mandatory, implicit locks.  The Apollo mail
system has never been fixed to properly deal with this.

Mail is usually delivered to the spool file by /bin/mail.  If /bin/mail is
busy delivering mail when you try to collect it, you will be unable to open
the spool file.  If you are busy collecting mail when /bin/mail tries to
deliver, then sendmail will see the infamous "unknown mailer error 1."

As far as I know, /bin/mail doesn't use any other locking scheme.  It can't
use flock(), since flock() can only be called on open files.  It may use
.lock files but I doubt it.

The proper solution to all this is to write a new version of /bin/mail that
retries on locked spool files, and make sure all your mail reading agents
keep the spool file open only long enough to collect the mail, and also
retry on locked files.  Apollo should do this.  You shouldn't have to.  Don't
hold your breath waiting for this to happen.

 -- Jim Rees

I think Apollo patch pd91-m0336 (Oct 1, 1991) fixes the  mail file locking
problem that results in the "unknown mailer error" message from sendmail.

 -- orchard@eceserv0.ece.wisc.edu (Bruce Orchard)


===============

 11) How can I use the DM editor for mail or while su'd?

Answer: Many people have written programs to call the DM editor from a program
and wait until it exits.  For one solution, ftp the file dmedit.tar.Z from
maths.su.oz.au or ftp.eb.ele.tue.nl.


===============

Question:  Why won't kermit compile (or run) on my Apollo?

Answer:  There are some very old versions of kermit that have #ifdefs for
Apollo in them.  These are no longer necessary with Domain/OS (they were
needed for previous versions of Aegis with Domain/IX).  Get the standard
Unix kermit and use that.  I recommend the one on cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu.


===============

 12)  How can I keep my node clocks synchronized?

Answer:

Use xntp, available from the usual ftp sites.  See the file Readme.xntp for
Apollo patches.  See date.tar.Z for a simple program that just sets one
node's clock from another node's clock.

 -- Jim Rees

timed works well on SR10.2-nodes (it did not work in SR10.1).

We start it from rc.local as follows:
	/etc/timed -M -n <name of the local network>
and we list this local network in /etc/networks.
This works well for synchronizing the clocks among
all Apollos in the local network.

Recently, we wanted to synchronize the clocks with the
outside world also (i.e. other workstations in our department).
Our Apollos are connected through a token ring, but
one of them has an Ethernet card and runs routed to
provide the connection to the outside world. On
this machine we do the following:
        /etc/timed -M

The other ones still listen only to the local network, and do
not attempt to become master anymore:
        /etc/timed -n <name of the local network>

This implies that when booting our Apollos the "master machine"
must go first.

timed only accepts corrections from the timed on
another machine if they are not "too extreme". In the latter
case set the clocks manually using /bin/date once
before starting the time daemons. If you set a clock
backwards, don't do it with /bin/date, but shut the node down, use 

>EX CALENDAR

to set date and time, and wait for the amount of time that you had set
the clocks backwards before rebooting. This avoids
duplicate time stamps.

For all this to work correcty, TCP/IP has to be installed properly.

Best regards, Annegret
--
 Annegret Liebers, Technische Universitaet Berlin, FB 3 (Mathematik), MA 6-1,
           Strasse des 17. Juni 136, W - 1000 Berlin 12, Germany
                       Tel:  +49 - 30 - 314 - 25791
                 email:  annegret@combi.math.tu-berlin.de


===============

 13)  When I try to use NFS on my IBM PC to access files on my
      Apollo, it complains about not finding an "Authentication Server."

Answer:

Like always: There's an easy one, and a hard one.

Easy:	Get /pub/apollo/local/etc/pcnfsd.v1
         or /pub/apollo/local/etc/pcnfsd.v2
	    /pub/apollo/local/man/{m,c}atl/pcnfsd.l
	At ftp.eb.ele.tue.nl

Which should get it all to work.
(Don't try pcnfsd.new, since that's the version 2 I'm working on, which
 supports membership to multiple groups, but has printing sort of
 messed up. )
Goto /usr/adm, touch the file pcnfsd.log and from there execute the
pcnfsd. You get a nice log, which needs to be cleaned on regular
occasions.

(Note I keep a version with some changes to have it easier compile on
 Apollo's in /ftp/pub/apollo/sunrpc3.9a.tar.Z )

Now I've compiled this set with RPC version 3.9, and the most recent
one is 4.0. So You might choose the hard way:
	Get the RPC stuff, archie could tell you where.
	Get the code for the ftp-deamon (/pub/apollo/pcnfsd.v1.3.tar.Z)
And just compile to only make the library and then compile the pcnfsd. 
It's not all that hard.

 -- wjw@eb.ele.tue.nl (Willem Jan Withagen)


===============

 14)  Why doesn't Apollo ftpd support anonymous ftp?

Answer:  Anonymous ftp depends on the chroot() call, which doesn't work on
Apollo.  There is a patched version of ftpd that supports anonymous ftp by
fixing all path names before passing them off to the system.  It's available
(by anonymous ftp!) from various places, including ocf.berkeley.edu,
archive.umich.edu, and ftp.eb.ele.tue.nl.


===============

 15)  How can I get auto word-wrapping in the DM?

Answer:

WW is an undocumented DM command to do word wrap on the currently selected
region or to set word wrapping mode for text subsequently entered.  Options:

     -ON   Turn on word wrap and set column at current right margin
     -OFF  Turn off word wrap
     -C nn Turn on word wrap and set column at specified value
     -A    Wrap selected region
     -I    Query current column setting

 -- stluka@software.org (Fred Stluka)


===============

 16)  How can I connect my Macs to my Apollo in a reasonable way?

Answer:  See the file mac-apollo (separate file because of its length).

 -- Carlton B. Hommel <carlton@apollo.hp.com>


===============

 17)  Are the VT100 PF1-PF4 keys defined in the Apollo version of xterm?

If so,where are they?  If not, can someone give me a hint how to define
them (or how to redefine any key for that matter).

 -- John A. Breen

Answer:

The manual "Using the X Window System on Apollo Workstations" is the place
to look for some of this -- it's a good summary, but not an exhaustive
treatise on X.  The answer to your question is that you will need to use the
client "xmodmap" in order to simulate the keys which are not physically
present on the Apollo keyboard (PF1-PF4 as an example).

Since you are running in a "dm owns root" configuration, you'll need to take
into account the "keyboard.config" file which tells XApollo "this list of
keys doesn't exist for X, pass them through to the Apollo Display Manager".
This is important because you don't want to remap keys for xterm which
XApollo will not GIVE to xterm. See section 2.2.2 in the manual for a
detailed discussion about the /usr/lib/X11/keyboard/keyboard.config file.

Once you have picked a set of physical keys to emulate the PF keys, feed
this to xmodmap using the physical keycode and the keysym name (from the
include file /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h).

Example - you want to make the "AGAIN" key map to PF1.  Looking at the
output of "xmodmap -pk" you see that it is labeled "Redo" (which agrees with
the entry in the keyboard.config file), and it is keycode value 158.
Looking at the include file keysymdef.h, you see "#define XK_KP_F1 0xFF91"
which is the entry for "keypad function key 1" - also known as PF1.  The
xmodmap client will take either a file entry or a command line remapping, so
you could invoke it as < xmodmap -e "keycode 158 = KP_F1" > (the quotes are
required on the command line) and the deed is done.

If you don't have a copy of the manual, you can get one by using the order
number "015213-A02". Hope that helps.

 -- weber_w@apollo.HP.COM (Walt Weber)


===============

 18)  What else should I know about X keysyms?

Answer:

I suggest you put the following into /usr/X11/lib/XKeysymDB :

LineDel:        1000FF00
CharDel:        1000FF01
Copy:           1000FF02
Cut:            1000FF03
Paste:          1000FF04
Move:           1000FF05
Grow:           1000FF06
Cmd:            1000FF07
Shell:          1000FF08
LeftBar:        1000FF09
RightBar:       1000FF0A
LeftBox:        1000FF0B
RightBox:       1000FF0C
UpBox:          1000FF0D
DownBox:        1000FF0E
Pop:            1000FF0F
Read:           1000FF10
Edit:           1000FF11
Save:           1000FF12
Exit:           1000FF13
Repeat:         1000FF14
KP_parenleft:   1000FFA8
KP_parenright:  1000FFA9

This will let you refer to these keys by name.  For example, the following
resource will define scroll keys for your xterm.  You can put this resource
into your ~/.Xdefaults file and it will get loaded when you start an xterm.

XTerm*VT100.Translations: #override \
    <KeyPress>UpBox       : scroll-back(1,halfpage) \n \
    <KeyPress>DownBox     : scroll-forw(1,halfpage) \n

If you use emacs or motif, you may want to define a "meta" key (motif calls
this an "alt" key, presumably because IBM has some pull at OSF).  You can do
this by creating a ~/.keymod file, an put this in it:

  clear mod1
  keycode 147 = Meta_L
  add mod1 = Meta_L

This makes F0 your meta key.  You can use whatever key you want as your
meta, of course.  Use xev to find out the keycode for the key you want.
Then, when you log in, run this command (I put this in ~/.xsession, which
gets run on my machine when I log in):

  /usr/bin/X11/xmodmap .keymod

 -- Jim Rees


===============

 19)  Where can I get emacs?

Answer:

A new version of my modifications to GNU Emacs for the Apollo is now available.
This version supports GNU Emacs 18.57, Domain/OS SR10.2 and SR10.3, and the
latest release of the Domain C Compiler...

I am distributing this release from labrea.stanford.edu (36.8.0.47).  The
following files are available for anonymous ftp from the "pub/gnu" directory:

	APOLLO.README		    README for Apollo GNU Emacs
	apollo-emacs.tar.Z	    Apollo GNU Emacs modifications

As always, to install my Apollo GNU Emacs modifications, uncompress and untar
"apollo-emacs.tar.Z" on top of a unmodified GNU Emacs 18.57 distribution tree,
and consult "APOLLO.README" for building instructions.

Note: There is a bug in SR10.2 tar such that overwritten files are not
necessarily truncated to the proper size.  Before you untar the file under
SR10.2, execute the following commands:

rm README etc/APOLLO etc/MACHINES info/dir lisp/cl-indent.el* lisp/info.el*
rm lisp/lisp-mode.el* lisp/paths.el* lisp/rmail.el* lisp/rnews.el*
rm lisp/server.el* lisp/shell.el* lisp/startup.el* src/Makefile src/crt0.c
rm src/dired.c src/dispnew.c src/emacs.c src/fileio.c src/fns.c src/keyboard.c
rm src/m-apollo.h src/process.c src/sysdep.c src/x11fns.c src/x11term.c
rm src/xdisp.c src/ymakefile

                Leonard N. Zubkoff
		Lucid, Incorporated


Also, if you want a multi-window X version of emacs, check out epoch,
available from cs.uiuc.edu.  - Jim Rees


===============

 20)  Do you have a problem with Gnu Emacs' C-x` command?

Gnu Emacs 18.55 (with Leonard N. Zubkoff's patches for sr 10.2) seems to
have a problem with shell subprocesses.  At times the 0x0 character
(displayed as ^@ by emacs) appears in buffers running a shell.  While this is
only a nuisance running an inferior shell, it is a problem when running the
M-x compile command: The C-x ` (next-error) function is unable to process
the compiler output. Has anybody found out what causes this problem and how
to fix it? Any hints will be appreciated!

 -- mike@vlsivie.tuwien.ac.at (Michael K. Gschwind)

Answer:

This should probably go in some kind of FAQ list (sigh)...  Emacs talks to
its subsprocesses using pseudo ttys (ptys among friends).  On Apollos, ptys
occasionally get corrupted, and the problem you describe results.
Rebuilding the ptys helps, but it can have funny side effects to any users
logged in on those ptys.  We rebuild ours once per week.  That seems to
avoid the problem most of the time, but of course your mileage may vary.
Here is the relevant line from our /usr/lib/crontab (running the shell
script at 04:00 every Sunday morning):

0          4 * * 7 root /usr/local/lib/fix_ptys

and here is /usr/local/lib/fix_ptys:

#!/bin/csh -f
/bin/rm -f /dev/[pt]ty[pq][0-9a-f]
/etc/crpty 32

 -- 


===============

 21)  Does anybody know where I can get proxy ARP?

Answer:  Proxy ARP is a bad idea.  Apollo has wisely decided not to
    support it.  Use subnets instead.


===============

 22)  Are there third-party vendors of ethernet boards?

Answer:

The ethernet board used in the Otter (dn3000 series) is a 3Com 505.  You can
buy your own and perhaps save some money.  If you buy the board from Apollo,
it comes with a special PROM, which you won't have if you buy direct from
3Com.  That means you won't be able to boot diskless over the ethernet, or
make remote dumps over the ether.  But you'll still be able to boot from
disk, or over the ring if you have one.  And once the node is booted,
everything else will work fine.

The 505 is more expensive than some boards, because it has quite a bit of
on-board smarts and buffering.  No other ethernet board will work in the
Otter, unless you want to write your own driver, and even then you will lose
the ability to run domain protocols and TCP over the ether, which makes it
pretty useless.

Switch settings for the 505 are given in the file ether-switches.

 -- Jim Rees

And as followup:
In article <1992Jun30.140020.994@quintro.uucp>, bep@quintro.uucp (Bryan Province) writes:

  I bought a 3C505 board from 3Com instead of Apollo because I'm not
  interested in doing diskless booting over the ethernet.  I know it's missing
  a prom for doing that.  I've set the jumpers as described in the
  /systest/ssr_util/jumpers program with no luck.

Correct settings are port 300, mem addr 80000, dma 6, intr 10, test mode
off, rom select off.  If Domain/OS (and DEX) can't find the board at all,
you've probably got the port wrong.  You should have jumpers 8 and 9 in,
where "in" is away from the back panel bnc and aui connectors.

A second board would go at port 310, mem addr 84000, dma 3, intr 9.

 -- Jim Rees

orrect, however all the original poster said was that self tests
couldn't find the board.  I'm assuming that he's referring to the self
tests that run when powering up in normal mode (or when the
appropriate prom command is it "te" ?) is entered.  If this is the
ONLY time the board can't be found, it's because of the lack of the
boot prom (self test code is stored in there).  Run "ex config" and
remove it's knowledge of the ethernet board so it won't try to test
it.  The OS should find it ok (and nothing was said in the original
mail about whether the OS could or could not find it, I assume that it
could (it should!) ).

I tried emailing the original poster but couldn't for some reason...

 carl@Cayman.COM (Carl Heinzl)


===============

 23)  How do I enable IP name service?

Answer:

Uncomment the 'nmconfig' lines in /etc/rc.local.  Create the empty file
/etc/daemons/nmconfig.  Create the file /etc/resolv.conf.  It should look
like this:

domain  domain-name
nameserver      server1
nameserver      server2
nameserver	server3

where domain-name is your domain name, and server1..n are the numeric IP
addresses of your name servers.  You can have as many as you want, it tries
them in the order listed.  Here's a sample file for pisa.citi.umich.edu (IP
addresses are fictional):

domain  ifs.umich.edu
nameserver      10.3.27.4
nameserver      10.1.27.4
nameserver	10.1.33.2

 -- Jim Rees


===============

 24)  Why can't I log in as root anywhere except a DM pad?

Answer:

All you need is to configure /etc/ttys to allow root login via psudo-ttys
(if you really want to):

pty0	none	dumb	on	secure
pty1	none	dumb	on	secure
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