HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jgifford@attmail.com
Subject: For H.J., a minor suggestion
Reply-To: jgifford@attmail.com
Organization: The Internet
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 05:22:00 GMT

First, many many thanks for your efforts and support of gcc for linux.  I think
that many of us forget just how hard it is to compile a free unix without a
compiler.  ;)
I don't have 2.2.2 yet, but someone is mailing me the disks(no ftp)
I still have 2.1  :(
I have installed 1.4, and 2.1, and I was very confused both times.  
When installing 2.1, I had NO IDEA where to look for the README and install 
script.  as a matter of fact, I had it working before I even found them.  ;)
I was just thinking that it might be better if those documents were at the top
of the un-tarred tree of stuff, instead of hidden in ./install/????/????
(all of this is from memory, and if you have already changed this, I am sorry
to bother you.)

I must say though, you have accomplished a considerable task, going so far in
so little time.  :)
this is not meant to offend, nor is it a flame, just a friendly suggestion. :) 
:) :)

Jim Gifford
jim@raskol.attmail.com
Organization: Doctoral student, Statistics, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 23:02:03 -0400 
From: Tao Jiang <tj2n+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Mtools


Hi!  When I used mtools as root, it worked fine.  But as non-root, it
complained that:

init: open: Operation not permitted

Any clues?

Thanks!

TJ
From: davidsen@ariel.crd.GE.COM (william E Davidsen)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: FOLLOWUP: fileutl-3.3B* and find-3.7B*: possible problems
Date: 29 Jul 92 19:44:01 GMT
Reply-To: davidsen@crd.ge.com (bill davidsen)
Organization: GE Corporate R&D Center, Schenectady NY

In article <14203@borg.cs.unc.edu>, faith@cs.unc.edu (Rik Faith) writes:
| 
| This note explains the problems that I was having with fu-3.3's cp, what
| caused these problems, and why cp is really *SAFE*!
| 
| The only documented problem with fu-3.3's cp involves cp'ing a kernal image
| for booting with shoelace (i.e., cp Image /vmunix).  The cp in 3.3, since I
| compiled it with a kernel that has st_blocks working correctly (i.e., 0.96c
| pl2) is now able to detect when a file has "holes" in it.  It will then try
| to copy the "holes."  It does this during the copy by looking for a block of

  That's a great feature in general, although I can see where it could
cause problems in some cases.

| However, shoelace *CANNOT* correctly read a file that contains "holes."
| 
| So, I had two *IDENTICAL* kernel images, one created with a new cp and one
| created with an old cp.  They were identical in terms of size, sum, and diff.
| One would boot and the other would not.  This seemed very weird, and since
| a new utility that I has posted was involved, I decided to err on the side
| of caution and post a retraction message (especially since I had made some
| optimizations in the compilation of the posted binaries). It now seems that
| this was not necessary, and that the files that I posted are *SAFE*.

  This sounds like a responsible thing to do, and I either a note in the
man page of a command line option. I wish there were a better way to
tell what's "really" in the file.

  I have my own "kopy" routine which does the same thing, for database
use. And a backup utiltiy which detects and eliminates zero block during
saves to keep backup media usage down. Great feature.

  We could probably start a thread in comp.arch.storage about the
benefits of having this in the kernel.
-- 
bill davidsen, GE Corp. R&D Center; Box 8; Schenectady NY 12345
	It never ceases to amaze me that otherwise rational people, able to
	understand calculus, compound interest, and the income tax form, can
	continue to believe that poker is a game of chance.
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
From: bms1@quads.uchicago.edu (R.A.Knucklebuster)
Subject: X problems with Paradise Card
Reply-To: bms1@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 15:53:47 GMT


 <sigh>
I just got Linux about a week ago, and Murphy's law says that I'm bound to
have trouble... especially with X.
	
Perhaps some kind people can diagnose my problem?
I've read through the Install.base and done everything I could.
	
	
System:  Intel 386-33, 8 megs RAM, AMI BIOS
	 IDE Drive, partitioned between DOS and Linux
	 Paradise 1024 VGA, 512k (capable of 640x480 8 bit color)
									
Problem: When I start X386, the screen blanks out completely and never comes
	 back.  I type <ctrl><alt><backspace> to exit, and I hear a beep, but
         the screen is still blank.  I know I *must* still be in a shell,
	 however, because when I type "emacs" I hear lots of hard disk access.
	 Nevertheless, since my video is permanently blanked, I must reboot.

									
What I've Done:
	
    - I've installed GCC 2.2.2, but I'm not sure that it's fully working yet.
				
    - I've put all the X files in the appropriate places.
				
    - I've setuid root for X, X386, Xterm and Xinit.
				
    - DISPLAY is set to :0
				
    - /dev/tty0 is set for read/write access for owner, group, and other.
				
    - /dev/console is also set this way.
		
		
My Video Hardware:
		
    - Since I have a Paradise card, I was hoping the server would auto-
      detect the PVGA chip.  It doesn't seem to (? a guess)
						
    - My monitor is standard, interlaced 1024x768 multifrequency.
      Has a Horizontal sync 31.5-35.5 KHz, Vertical sync of 50-87 Hz
						
    - I can't seem to find the "driving frequency bandwith" of my VGA card 
      anywhere in the manuals
						
		
State of Xconfig:
		
    - I tried starting X without modifying Xconfig at all.  No luck.
					
    - I tried commenting *everything* out.  No difference.
					
    - I allowed the "paths" and keyboard options to be uncommented.
      I included a Microsoft Mouse on /dev/ttys2, baudrate 1200.
      I included the commands "vga256" through "viewport".
      I set "modes" to "640x480".
      I commented out all of the clock values and all of the Mode Database
        except for the "640x480" fields.
      Everything else was commented out.
      Still no luck.
		
    - Many other random combinations haven't worked either.
					
					
					
Can anyone give me some advice?
					
Please reply to:
					
	sussman@antares.mcs.anl.gov
					
	(I'll summarize)
-- 
                        	Ben Sussman
						bms1@midway.uchicago.edu
						sussman@antares.mcs.anl.gov
	        
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
From: 882028s@dragon.acadiau.ca (Ghazali Shafie)
Subject: Help : Silly question : How do I get Xwindows
Organization: Acadia University
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 06:13:04 GMT


Well , the subject says it all . ( I'm sorry , I don't really know much 
about Unix software )

Thanks in advance
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
From: doogie@garfield.catt.ncsu.edu (Jeff House)
Subject: X11 vs X386?
Organization: Computer and Technologies Theme Program, NCSU, Raleigh
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 18:37:41 GMT




Hey, all!


I was wondering what the differences were between the X11 distribution
that I see on banjo and X386 everyone is talking about.  I am about to
install X (I just got gcc running) and was wondering which one to get.

Also:

I have a VGA 1024 card with 512K and an NEC Multisync II monitor.
This probably is a FAQ, but can I successfully run X on this?
I read that someone was developing drivers for ATI cards... Are you
still out there? :)

At any rate, 
AHWBGA (Any help would be greatly appreciated [cliche` cliche`])...

Thanks again!
-Doogie


Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
From: healyzh@iat.holonet.net (Zane H. Healy)
Subject: Compiling Mailpak-1.2
Organization: HoloNet (BBS: 510-704-1058)
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 01:30:10 GMT

I've been trying to install the mailpak program's, right now I am trying to
get elm set up to send mail between the acount's on my system.  The problem
is mail fails to compile and smail3 doesn't seem to work right.  Whenever I
try to use smail it comes up with this line:
        /lib/libc.2.2.2
and that is all it does!  Does this mean that something is broke or am I 
failing to install it correctly?  If someone would be so kind, I would 
appreciate a little help on this one.

		Thanks,
		    Zane
From: zlsiial@uts.mcc.ac.uk (A. V. Le Blanc)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: Two questions
Date: 22 Jul 92 10:46:10 GMT
Reply-To: LeBlanc@mcc.ac.uk (A. V. Le Blanc)
Organization: Computing Centre, University of Manchester

In article <1992Jul20.034523.19524@athena.mit.edu> chchen@stat.fsu.edu writes:
>
> 1. I am using the MCC-interim version. If I want to upgrtade, is it
>    necessary that I need the MCCed kernel or I can just grab the kernel
>    sources from Linus and compile it directly? Someone said that the system
>    can be 'mixed'. So can I just use commands like PAX on the MCC one?

The MCC interim versions of Linux are just collections of software;
you can add programs from anywhere or recompile the kernel or whatever.

The main caution is this:  Most of the executable binaries distributed
as part of the MCC interim versions use shared libraries which are
installed from the utilities disk.  You need to keep these shared
libraries unless all binaries linked with them are replaced.  Naturally,
each new MCC release replaces all the binaries from the previous releases,
so this affects only files which you compile yourself or get from some
other source.

     -- Owen
     LeBlanc@mcc.ac.uk
From: Jim.Corbett@f35.n152.z1.fidonet.org (Jim Corbett)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: PC as a terminal
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 11:40:01 -0800

 > Could someone send my an example inittab for the
 > follow:
 > ( I checked the FAQ, but only modems were discussed )

 > PC (running Dos)  <---> PC (running Linux)
 > com1                         com1

 > Connecting these together using a Null Modem (Serial
 > Cable)
 > Is it possible, what speed should I use, .....

Look in the inittab, it should have a couple of commented out entrys
that will help.

Off the top of my head;
ttys1:console:/getty 9600 /dev/ttys1

on the PC use a comm program to access the comm port direct, not as a
modem.

 * Origin: Intermittent Connection   - Eugene, OR - (1:152/35)

Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
From: russed@marcus.its.rpi.edu (Daniel Pereicich Russell)
Subject: ATI Graphics Ultra support?
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 02:46:40 GMT


	Has anyone used the ATI Graphics Ultra, either in text (Press
ENTER for ...) and/or X graphics.  Also, does anyone know the chipset
on the board (or ATI's number)?  I know, the wrong group for those last
questions, but I was on a roll...

	Much thanks-
 dan
=====
Dan Russell		russed@rpi.edu
From: Jim.Corbett@f35.n152.z1.fidonet.org (Jim Corbett)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: Is anyone using an IN2000 SCSI with Linux?
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1992 15:47:03 -0800

 > This is really annoying me, Linux refuses to look at
 > my SCSI drive.
 > I've mknod'd the /dev/sd0, sd0a etc and it's still
 > saying nothing
 > (fdisk).

 > When I boot it claims there are no drives present?

No IN2000 support yet!

I would love to have access to my IN2000 also, though it looks like I
will have to breakdown and buy a Segate SCSI ctrlr to use Linux on my
SCSI drive, as it seems there aren't any programers of Linux
drive-drivers using an IN2000!

 * Origin: Intermittent Connection   - Eugene, OR - (1:152/35)

Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
From: welshm@snail.rtp.dg.com (Matt Welsh)
Subject: Re: ibug, Linux Bug Reporting program
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 92 13:35:12 GMT
Organization: Data General Corporation, RTP, NC.

In article <1992Jul27.211216.1690@athena.mit.edu> Graham@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL writes:
>welshm@snail.rtp.dg.com (Matt Welsh) writes:
>
>|It's here: This is "ibug", the bug reporting program that I've
>|written to handle reporting of bugs for Linux over e-mail.
>
>It wasn't clear until down in the shar archive that this utility
>is not meant to be run on Linux, but on your unix computer which
>you use to connect to comp.os.linux. The program fills out a template,
>and if the host you use to connect to comp.os.linux is not a UNIX host
>then you have to fill it out by hand.
>
>The target machine for the bug reporting program should be Linux, not the
>host that you use to access comp.os.linux.
>
>Pat Graham
>Graham@Dockmaster.ncsc.mil

Agreed. I think the best way to do this, however, would be to fill out the
bug report template by hand using vi and then let the person finding the
bug in question upload it to a machine that can mail over the Internet
and THEN mail it to ml-linux-bugs@dg-rtp.dg.com. 

By the way, ibug isn't meant to post directly to comp.os.linux. If 
you want to post the bug report template to the newsgroup, that's fine,
but any formal report of the problem will do for the newsgroup posting.
Once the problem is verified as a bug, you fill out the template and mail
it off. I'll post the two templates this afternoon so that others can
get to them directly without having to go through the shell archive if
they're not on a UNIX system. 

Sorry about the confusion. 

mdw

Matt Welsh    welshm@dg-rtp.dg.com        ...!mcnc!rti!dg-rtp!welshm
UNIX-SQA, Data General Corporation RTP        Office: +1 919 248 6070
  "Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball."
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
From: drew@caesar.cs.colorado.edu (Drew Eckhardt)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: Performance of Linux 0.96cp2
Date: 27 Jul 92 20:12:00 GMT
Organization: University of Colorado at Boulder

In article <1992Jul27.133629.9648@cs.hw.ac.uk> scottd@cs.hw.ac.uk (Scott Dunn) writes:
>Has something gone wrong somewhere along the road from (I think) pre-0.96
>and 0.96.  My machine is not the best for what I want to do, 25MHz 386,
>2 Megs RAM, 8 Meg swap partition, but in the past it was perfectly usable.
>

The size of the buffer cache was increased - which means less memory 
in the user memory pool.  You should play around with the values in 
init/main.c, and reduce buffer cache size until you get something 
useable.

Compiling a kernel configured for your system (ie, remove scsi.a from
the Makefile, remove the call to rd_load from sys_setup() in hd.c)
will decrease the size of kernel text and increase buffer cache wihtout
eating into the user memory pool.
From: kxb@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Karl Buck)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: sigblock, sigpause...
Date: 24 Jul 1992 10:47:58 -0500
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: matt.ksu.ksu.edu

Are sigblock and sigpause implemented in the latest version of the
compiler and/or kernel?
-- 
Karl Buck         O, Freddled Gruntbuggly      
Grain Marketing   Thy Nicturations are to me   
Research Lab      As Plurdled Gabbleblotchits  
(913)776-2745	  On a lurgid bee.       -- Chief Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
From: mj@dfv.rwth-aachen.de (Martin Junius)
Subject: Re: shutdown problem
Organization: Communication Networks
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 12:08:14 GMT

>I tried using the shutdown utility from the 0.96c root disk under 0.96cpl2
>and it gave me messages "cannot umount /dev//dev/hda3" and "cannot
>umount /dev//dev/hda2" or something to that effect. These are indeed
>mounted as / and /usr.

Looks like you're _not_ using mount/umount from the 0.96 root 
disk. With those tools and a proper /etc/fstab it will work. 

Martin
-- 
 _____ _____
|     |___  |   Martin Junius           FIDO:      2:242/6.1
| | | |   | |   Communication Networks  Internet:  mj@dfv.rwth-aachen.de
|_|_|_|@work|   Aachen U of Technology  Phone:     ++49-241-8790220 (voice)
From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: Better serial throughput: another approach
Date: 21 Jul 92 20:18:58 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki

In article <2A6C23D4.5D7F@tct.com> chip@tct.com (Chip Salzenberg) writes:
>According to hedrick@dumas.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick):
>>I've finally concluded that there's just too much code being
>>executed per character.
>
>There is another way, as SCO does:
>
>   At serial interrupt: just store the character in a queue and return.
>     Don't go through scheduler, just return.
>
>   At clock interrupt: pull characters off the queues and do the rest
>     of the processing that is currently happening at serial interrupt
>     time.  Then run the scheduler, _once_.
>
>Presto: minimum-overhead serial I/O.

This is in fact how linux does it already: the problem has been to find
the offending code.  As I haven't actually seen the character loss, I
originally thought it was either bad interrupt latency or simply too
slow serial interrupt routines.  After more testing (mainly thanks to
hedrick), it seems the problem is actually the clock interrupt routine:
it's too slow. 

"Why would the system care how slow the clock interrupt is?" - the
reason is simple: interrupts are enabled while the serial interrupt
happens, so the following can happen:

	serial interrupt received: handler started
		timer interrupt received: immediate response
		timer interrupt does the serial copying, returns
	serial handler returns.
	
The result is that while the serial code is fast enough, it can get
interrupted by the timer interrupt (which happens 100 times a second:
not too surprising if it happens while the serial handler is active
every now and then).

The timer interrupt isn't that complicated, but it does do the
copy_to_cooked routine, which can take some time.  So, there are four
possibilities: (a) make the serial interrupt handler atomic or (b) speed
up the copy_to_cooked routine or (c) move copy_to_cooked from within the
timer-interrupt to some less time-critical place and (d) rewrite the
general tty handlers totally to have less need for the copy-to-cooked
routines. 

I'm in fact looking into all four possibilities, and 0.97 will contain
one or several of the fixes.  One way of getting slightly better
performance already is to use the patch by hedrick, which essentially
speeds up copy_to_cooked by making some of the help-function inline etc. 

[ Note that you cannot right now use SA_INTERRUPT to install a serial
handler that is totally atomic: it's still interruptible in the general
IRQ handling code.  I'll have to change this for the next version
anyway, as the old problems with some (buggy?) harddisks are back ]

		Linus
From: davidsen@ariel.crd.GE.COM (william E Davidsen)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: BSD Unix aka Freedom is a myth....
Date: 24 Jul 92 14:24:04 GMT
Reply-To: davidsen@crd.ge.com (bill davidsen)
Distribution: comp
Organization: GE Corporate R&D Center, Schenectady NY

In article <LYNCH.92Jul23182147@flubber.cc.utexas.edu>, lynch@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Tom Lynch) writes:
| 
| I wonder if it is worthwhile to take up a collection to help
| fight the ATT lawyers.  I would hate to see another 'look and feel'
| type of outcome.  Jeeze, these lawyers could convince a computer
| ignorant jury that anything using a keyboard and CRT is an ATT copy
| of unix.

  Before you start doing this better get the facts. The fact that AT&T
has not gone after other vendors is interesting, and from what I read in
other groups the suit is not as broad as people seem to think, but
rather based on some specific portions of code.

  I'm not a big ATT supporter (other than financially), but as long as
the law protects software from copying I will support the law. Let's get
someone to list the actual legal details, *then* decide if they need
help or got caught with a hand in the cookie jar.
-- 
bill davidsen, GE Corp. R&D Center; Box 8; Schenectady NY 12345
	It never ceases to amaze me that otherwise rational people, able to
	understand calculus, compound interest, and the income tax form, can
	continue to believe that poker is a game of chance.
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
From: corywest@rice.edu (Cory West)
Subject: Re: tsx-11.mit.edu Linux
Organization: Well, none really, but I know where my socks are!
	<1992Jul28.223119.27683@pool.info.sunyit.edu>
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 20:11:02 GMT

In article <1992Jul28.223119.27683@pool.info.sunyit.edu> 
ujlh@pool.info.sunyit.edu (James Henrickson) writes:

>  Maybe it is an mit problem in general?  The same thing has been happening
>  when I ftp prep.  It might be somewhere else, though, as it also happened
>  when I ftp'd nic.funet.fi recently.  I've even gotten responses back in
>  a different order than I issued the commands!  :-)

	I think the real 'problem' is that the MIT network and
their NSS connection are just quite busy.  What with all that
brain power and all.... :-)

				Cory West, corywest@rice.edu
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
From: ujlh@pool.info.sunyit.edu (James Henrickson)
Subject: Re: problems with who and w
Organization: State University of New York -- Institute of Technology
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 21:54:19 GMT

In article <1992Jul21.223916.18114@ifi.uio.no> janl@ifi.uio.no (Jan Nicolai Langfeldt) writes:
>
>In article <1992Jul20.170722.1@mcclb0.med.nyu.edu>, ramirez@mcclb0.med.nyu.edu writes:
>> 	I am having a problem with who and w.  It is telling me that there are
>> two users when there is only one.  It also says under the tty entry that the
>> user is connected to ttyp1.  I've reset the machine and that user is still
>> there.  Is there anything that I can do to get it off?
>
>This seems to be ripe for adding to the faq.
>
>The problem comes from a earlier improper logout (crash?), that left
>the /etc/[uw]tmp files unupdated. I haven't seen (can't remember) a
>better solutions so I offer this one: login as root, then type 'cd
>/etc;', then 'rm [uw]tmp; touch [uw]tmp', then logout. The [wu]tmp
>files are now empty, and when you login again 'w' and 'who' will
>report the right number of users.

We used to have the same problem with a Xenix system until I wrote a little
C program to add a logout entry in wtmp.  Unfortunately, I can't access
that machine at the moment so I can't convert the program for Linux.  A
suggestion for anyone thinking about writing a program that deals with
important system files: test your programs on a COPY of the files involved,
and make a backup of the files when you test the finished product.  I didn't
learn this the hard way, but you can easily make a mess if people rely on
these system files.  :-)

Just a helpful suggestion for new programmers.


-- 
Jim H.
*
* James L. Henrickson                                 ujlh@sunyit.edu
* "Yet another Jim in the Linux world."  :-)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
From: butler@cs.tulane.edu (Larry Butler)
Subject: Problems with X as non-root
Nntp-Posting-Host-[nntpd-4692]: rex
Keywords: X tty
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Tulane Univ., New Orleans, LA
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 23:46:13 GMT

Hi everyone,
  I just Installed X11 last week (much thanks to the person who posted the
information on how to run X on a VGA in 640x400). But I still have one
problem. When I run X as a non-root user I get the message:

  Can't open '/dev/tty0'

As far as I know, I followed all the instructions that said make sure you
do <this> if you want to be able to run X as a regular user. Any help
would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Larry (butler@cs.tulane.edu)
From: allbery@NCoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery KF8NH)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: BSD Unix aka Freedom is a myth....
Date: 29 Jul 92 02:49:21 GMT
Reply-To: allbery@ncoast.org (Brandon S. Allbery KF8NH)
Followup-To: comp.os.linux
Organization: North Coast Public Access *NIX, Cleveland, OH

As quoted from <150ckcINNc7p@iraul1.ira.uka.de> by S_TITZ@iravcl.ira.uka.de (Olaf Titz):
+---------------
| In <veit.711728954@du9ds3> veit@du9ds3.uni-duisburg.de writes:
| >    process management (e.g. init, fork, setuid!)
|                                           ~~~~~~
| 
| Some time ago, in a UNIX manual (which one I unfortunately don't
| remember), I read that the SETUID principle was actually covered by a
| patent (inventor Ken Thompson, I think).
+---------------

And AT&T publicly stated that this dated from a time when there was pressure
on Bell Labs employees to patent things, and that they were not pursuing
violations of the patent.

Of course, with the current litigation-happy folks over there, they may well
have decided to change their minds on that.  The bastards.

++Brandon
-- 
Brandon S. Allbery, KF8NH [44.70.4.88]: allbery@NCoast.ORG, bsa@telotech.com
Senior Programmer, Telotech, Inc. (if I may call myself that...)