HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jc@raven.bu.edu (James F. Cameron)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: IS UNIX DEAD?
Date: 7 Nov 92 19:10:53 GMT
	<JC.92Nov3112944@condor.bu.edu>
	<1992Nov6.121557.6817@global.hacktic.nl>
Organization: What do you mean 'That *can't* be done????'
In-reply-to: peter@global.hacktic.nl's message of 6 Nov 92 12:15:57 GMT

>>>>> "Peter" == Peter Busser <peter@global.hacktic.nl> writes:

  Peter> jc@raven.bu.edu (James F. Cameron) writes:

>the things you want, the system would need to be pretty big.  I can't
>*stand* having to install software on a PC which requires many
>floppies.

  Peter> Others can't stand to buy a CD-ROM device just to install an
  Peter> operating system.

Well, some of can't stand to have to buy a floppy drive to install an
OS.  *8-) Seriously, that is not a good reason.  The drives are fairly
cheap, can be used for MANY, MANY different applications, and can even
play some tunes for you.  (* grin *)

James
--
			-- James Cameron  (jc@raven.bu.edu) (617) 353-2879
					  
    System Manager, Signal Processing and Interpretation Lab.  Boston, Mass  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"But to risk we must, for the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.  For
the man or woman who risks nothing, has nothing, does nothing, is nothing."
	(Quote from the eulogy for the late Christa McAuliffe.)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: ae547@yfn.ysu.edu (Ronda Hauben)
Subject: Newmbox-length of mbox  != spool mailbox length!!
Reply-To: ae547@yfn.ysu.edu (Ronda Hauben)
Organization: St. Elizabeth Hospital, Youngstown, OH
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 07:23:57 GMT


I have just found it impossible to get into my mailbox and 
wonder if someone can explain what the message I am getting
means and what to do about it.

when I type mail I get a message that says
newmbox -length of mbox.! = spool mailbox length!!
exciting leaving mailbox in tact

Thanks.

Ronda
-- 
Ronda Hauben                    email address:ae547@yfn.ysu.edu
Amateur Computerist Newsletter              or
P.O. Box 4344                   rhauben@heartland.bradley.edu
Dearborn, MI 48126
From: tony@hacgate.SCG.HAC.COM (Tony Reeves)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: unix show
Date: 12 Nov 92 20:38:47 GMT
Reply-To: tony@hacgate.UUCP (Tony Reeves)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Hughes Aircraft Co., El Segundo, CA

I'm trying to find information about a unix show that is suppose to be in the
first half of 1993. I think its called usenix or something like that. 

does anyone know of a big unix show or trade seminar in Calif in 1993 (1Q)??


-- 
Why did the Roman Empire Collapse? What is latin for Office Automation?
---- The opitions expressed here are mine and have nothing to do with Hughes
Aircraft Co. -- So there! tony@hacgate.hac.com
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: twpierce@unix.amherst.edu (Tim Pierce)
Subject: Re: IS UNIX DEAD?
Organization: Homosexual Fascist Lobby, Rampant Paranoia Division
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 02:33:20 GMT

In article <BxD9vM.MAJ@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu>
papresco@lambert.uwaterloo.ca (Paul Prescod) writes:

Haven't you ever heard of 80 character line lengths?  Let alone 72?
Or are you using one of your snazzy GUIs that lets you have 132
characters per line?

>>>2. It should have a powerful command line.
>>
>>	Are you really an idiot or do you just play one on Usenet?
>
>I'm not sure why you feel the need for personal attacks.

He's probably gotten brain damage from beating his head against this
brick wall.

>>>3.It should install from floppy as well as CD.
>>
>>	Ah, you _are_ an idiot.
>>	(Take a look at Linux.)
>
>NO, YOU are an idiot, if you see linux as the hope for the future.  

What are you talking about?  You said that a "real" operating system
should install from floppy.  Linux installs from floppy.  Conclusion:
you lose.

>Imagine if PC-Magazine (or Pcworld etc.) said: LINUX is the best OS in
>the entire Universe, and it's got EVERYTHING you need to run...all you
>need is internet access to FTP it, or access to a BBS (what's a BBS
>says most people)

Um, no ... I think most people say, "Cool!  What's the number?  What
baud rate?"  What world are *you* living in?  One where Prodigy hasn't
yet been introduced?

>to download it.  And then you have to
>learn to unzip or untar it (what is unzip?  What is untar?).

You unzip it with PKUNZIP, Phil Katz's well-known dearchive program.
Lots of people use it.  It's very popular among PC users.  But I
understand the biggest complaint they have with it is that it doesn't
have toll-free phone support.

(Well, no.  That last sentence is a lie.)

>And then you have to make
>it.  (make it?  You mean write it from scratch?)

What?  Linux comes on a single hardware platform.  You get the kernel
in binaries.

>If you want a nice graphical interface
>like Windows or Os/2, you have to ftp and make that too.

Um, no ... you just install X from the SLS disks, I believe.

>And even so, most of the software doesn't take advantage of it.

Mm.  I know, not having a graphic interface for `ls' or `mkfs' is just
*such* a hardship.  It is to weep.

-- 
____ Tim Pierce                / 
\  / twpierce@unix.amherst.edu / I use antlers in all of my decorating.
 \/ (BITnet: TWPIERCE@AMHERST) /
From: jwc@netx.com (Jeffrey W. Comer)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: IS UNIX DEAD?
Summary: Let the religious wars begin!
Date: 5 Nov 92 17:04:16 GMT
Organization: The Chaos Bobs

Having worked my way up the ranks from MVS to VM and then DOS, with side
trips into VAX and NOS, and finally *NIX, I must say UNIX beats them all
hands down. No other OS has the flexibilty and power the others do. I'll
take three boxes running UNIX over a whole roomfull of IBM mainframes any
day. I am convinced JCL was the result of a freshman prank gone awry. And
IEFBR14? Come on, this must be somebody's idea of a joke!

And hey! Don't knock DOS! It may be a wimpy little thing in the corner, but
it got the micro revolution started, and I wager alot of us are employed 
today thanks to this boon. DOS has its problems too, and if *I* had any say
in its design, it would look a lot better, but remember DOS was originally
designed to fit onto and operate from a SINGLE 360K floppy! Which versions 
of UNIX can make that claim?

That having been said, UNIX does need to wake up and smell the roses, as it
were. Shells and launchers are all the rage, and though I love my X-terminal
and all its cool icons, UNIX would gain a lot of charisma points and market
standing if it had a "windows-like" look-and-feel (uh-oh, I think MicroSloth
might be upset by that one...). q:-))

Just watching from the sidelines, -JC.
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: root@trebor.uucp (Bob Stockler)
Subject: Re: .profile vs. .kshrc
Organization: Bob Stockler
Distribution: na
Date: Sat, 07 Nov 1992 19:13:10 GMT

barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin) writes:

>In article <1992Nov04.233827.1078@trebor.uucp> root@trebor.uucp (Bob Stockler) writes:
>>  If the
>>ENV environmental parameter is set (and exported) in either "/etc/profile" or
>>"$HOME/.profile" to contain the full pathname of any file, that file will be
>>read (and the commands in it executed, as though it were a "dot" file) upon
>>the invocation of any instance of the KornShell, at any level of subshells
>>(Bourne or Korn).  I have no idea how this relates to C shell users.

>It's not as good as the C shell's .login and .cshrc facility.

The question was "how do you get KornShell alias definitions in subshell
invocations of "ksh", not "which is your preferred shell".

>The main problem with this Korn Shell feature is that it doesn't provide
>any way to customize the shell environment in a shell that isn't descended
>from a login shell.  These include the shell in which cron, at, and batch
>jobs run, and commands executed with rsh/remsh.  The C shell always
>executes the user's .cshrc (unless the "-f" option is specified), so you
>always get your custom environment.

But you've given the answer for C shell users (I think):  set and export
ENV in "$HOME/.login" (however that's done in the C shell), if they wanna
execute KornShell scripts in subshells.

As for getting ENV in the environment for 'cron', on my system it can be
set and exported in the environment in a file in "/etc/rc.d" before the
'cron' daemon is started up (if one wanted to do so), and 'at' stuff
inherits the environment of the invoker.  Also, I think passing variable
assignments on the command line works, so "ENV=/.kshrc /bin/ksh script"
should put ENV in the environment of a KornShell script to be run.

Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: root@trebor.uucp (Bob Stockler)
Subject: Re: sh,csh porting guidelines
Organization: Bob Stockler
Date: Fri, 06 Nov 1992 23:31:40 GMT

klaus@helsinkiesf.de (Klaus Wicovsky) writes:

>I have just written a little sh script on a Sun. Of course I used things like 
>"echo -n" or "tar xvf tarfile 2> errfile > outfile". When I tried to run it on
>HP-UX I found that things went wrong/different from what I expected.

>So now my question is: Is there any list of features that are common in almost
>all Unix (c)sh variations? Is there any kind of document/book that helps ?

First, I would confine my scripts to the Bourne Shell (of which there are
enough variations), and forget the C Shell for scripts (which it ain't so
good at anyway).

Second, you might want to look at Larry Wall's "config" program, which
attempts to find the unique differences on various systems, in order to
use a Bourne Shell script to help build a header file to compile a program.
(Or something like that.)  He's gone to a lotta effort to cover a lot of
ground, and looking at what he's done might help you.  He tests, for instance
whether the available "echo" respects the "-n" switch, or requires the "\c"
convention.  You might want to use such tests, or reduce your scripts to the
lowest common denominator.  (I can't tell you where to find "config".  Sorry.)

>Tomorrow I might be writing an awk script, will I ever find out on which
>platforms it will work ?

The problem with "awk" can be solved by using only the very earliest version,
which ham-strings you a little, or by assuring that "mawk" resides on all the
systems you'll write for, and then using it.
From: nseth@desire.wright.edu
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Help with generating random numbers
Date: 12 Nov 92 04:12:43 EST
Organization:  Wright State University 

I need help with generating random numbers. If I use the normail C routines
on UNIX for generating random numbers (random, rand, etc.) everytime the
program is executed, the sequence of random numers remains the same. 

How can I fix this so that each time I execute that program, the initial (and
thus the following sequence of) random numbers is different? On Turbo C the
subroutine randomize() takes care of this. Is there such a routine available on
UNIX/ULTRIX?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot.

Nitin Seth
nseth@cs.wright.edu
From: andre@uts.amdahl.com (Andrew H. Lue)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: simple bulletin board wanted
Date: 9 Nov 92 19:06:37 GMT
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

I would like to install a bulletin board on my Unix system.
This would be used as a forum for technical discussion.  Most importantly,
it must be accessible by a specific group of users and no one else.
I do not need distributed facilities as it will run on a single computer.
It would be nice if it had a straightforward user interface as some
of the news readers do.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

I don't want to use a mail group because people often complain about
receiving too much mail, which they often don't read.
-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Andrew Lue                           andre@uts.amdahl.com

  DISCLAIMER:  The content of this article is an expression
               of me, not of Amdahl Corporation...
               ... which is my employer, of course.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: bmk@box.ssd.loral.com (Bruce Krawetz)
Subject: RPCGEN for Pascal
Organization: Space Systems/Loral, Palo Alto, CA  USA
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 21:05:52 GMT

Has anybody heard of an rpcgen program that generates
pascal source code? (and if so, where can I get it?)

---
bmk@box.ssd.loral.com
We must learn from our mistakes, so that we may make bigger and better ones.
From: john.fix@hardgood.com (John Fix) 
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: X WINDOWS SYSTEM
Date: 5 Nov 92 11:24:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: Hardgoods East BBS - Eastchester, NY (914) 961-8749
Reply-To: john.fix@hardgood.com (John Fix) 

I'm running DesqView/X on a few DOS PC's, and would like to install an X
Windows program on a SCO SystemV v3.2 system in order to link them all
up via TCP/IP.  Is SCO's X-Sight a good choice?  Are there others which
will run under SCO's Unix (there must be), and what are the pro's and
cons?

                                  -= John =-
From: erik@peewee.nwc.navy.mil (Erik van Bronkhorst       Code 3814                               Phone 939-1421)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: grep
Date: 13 Nov 92 18:13:57 GMT
Organization: NAVAIRWARCENWPNDIV, China Lake

In article <1992Nov13.113839.25046@dlpinc00.rn.com> dlparker@dlpinc00.rn.com (David L. Parker) writes:
>In article <1992Nov12.144322.11444@ericsson.se> etxmesa@eos.ericsson.se (Michael Salmon) writes:
>>In article <6370@sersun1.essex.ac.uk>, 
>>peter@essex.ac.uk writes:
>>|> A quick question I was asked this morning. "Why is grep so called?"
>>
>>It comes from an ed command:
>>
>>g/re/p
>>
>>i.e. globally search for a regular expression and print those lines
>>that match.
>>
>
>Actually it's Global Regular Expression Parser.

I thought it meant Gorns Rarely Eat People...
-- 
Erik van Bronkhorst KC6UUT DoD#4342585443 AMA#[classified]
"Truth is false and logic lost, now the fourth dimension is crossed..."
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: jpm@Logix.DE (Jan-Piet Mens)
Subject: Re: Newmbox-length of mbox != spool mailbox length!!
Organization: Logix GmbH, Wiesbaden, Germany
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 16:21:36 GMT
Followup-To: comp.mail.elm

Note  Followup-To!

In <1992Nov12.072357.24534@news.ysu.edu> ae547@yfn.ysu.edu (Ronda Hauben) writes:

>when I type mail I get a message that says
>newmbox -length of mbox.! = spool mailbox length!!
>exciting leaving mailbox in tact

I'm looking for the problem myself. As a temporary solution, specify
the full pathname of your mailbox

        $ elm -f /usr/spool/mail/username

and if that doesn't work

        $ elm -f /usr/../usr/spool/mail/username
		     ^^^^^^^^
This seems to be the only way to fool ELM... :-).

[ BTW, I have only noticed this problem since installing 2.4PL8 last night]

	-JP
-- 
    __  _____   __  __ 
   |  ||  _  \ |  \/  |    Logix GmbH                             jpm@Logix.DE
 __|  ||  ___/ |      |    Moritzstrasse 50, +49-611-309797   jpm@logixwi.UUCP
|_____||__|    |__||__|    D-6200 Wiesbaden  ...!uunet!mcsun!unido!logixwi!jpm
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: kilroy@ms.uky.edu (Paul S. Kilroy)
Subject: Unix v. Dos (Re: IS UNIX DEAD?)
    <1992Nov12.144857.2092@global.hacktic.nl>
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 15:28:30 GMT
Organization: Big, Dangerous Ideas, Inc.

peter@global.hacktic.nl (Peter Busser) writes:

|sfkaplan@unix.amherst.edu (Scott Kaplan) writes:

|>Peter Busser seems insistant in his response that UNIX has the ability to be
|>all things to all people, if only programmers would make it as such.  Then all
|>the UNIX world has to do is make it commercially feasible.

First, Lets be honest, that is the _real_ subject, isnt it?

Second, Maybe the unix world doesnt want to make everything commercially
feasible. I, for one, love the fact my os and gui are free (see below).

Thirdly, This is mostly opinion, but here it goes. I dont think
unix is ready for the average user. Honestly, they are too ignorant.
Anyone who refuses to learn ls to replace dir is not ready to
try somethign new.. Can any of you remember back to when you first
got your 8086 and threw ibm-dos on it? I can. I can also
remember not knowing how to get a list of all the files.
I said, like most dos users are saying to unix, " This sucks
I cant even get a list of my files", I was trying every command
I knew from other os's, but none worked. Finally I read though every
command in the book until I came upon DIR. My point is, We have
all had to learn new things to move up in the world. Dos on a 8086
is a lot more powerful than a c64, and you had to learn new commands
to take advantage of it. And you did it, and your better because of it.
Unix is a lot more powerful than dos, no one can argue with that,
and you need to learn some new commands to take advantage of this too.

Fourthly, Unix is a lot more configurable..
With all the 100% free software on my computer, I can make Xwindows
go from a ms-windows looking machine, to a system7 looking machine,
to a nextstep looking machine back to the system defaults, only
changing a few text setup files. Plus all this is documented very
well in the man pages for these programs.

anyway heres some info on my 'puter if ya like it..
486/33, runing linux .98p2(see comp.os.linux and ftp tsx-11.mit.edu
/pub/linux/FAQ) I also have a program called xfm, which a freely
distributable file/applications manager, with drag and drop ect.
it is *very* nice for people learning unix, you really dont have
to youch a command line if the .xfmrc is setup right. 
ie. my wife doesnt have to touch the command
line cause I setup the file, please dont give me chicken and egg
stuff please..
 
well, thats it, flame away

disclamer, It is very possible that NOTHING  in this document
is spelled correctly.


paul

-- 
                       -Paul   (kilroy@ms.uky.edu)
Xref: sparky comp.unix.questions:13316 alt.folklore.computers:16163
From: jimf@centerline.com (Jim Frost)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Whence Unix? (was Re: IS UNIX DEAD?)
Date: 12 Nov 92 18:45:44 GMT
Organization: CenterLine Software, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: 140.239.3.202

rivero@mdcbbs.com writes:
>  The way I heard it was that the Bell Labs had a wide variety of machines
>which had accumulated, and UNIX was developed so that all the different
>machines would have the same "front end", thereby making it easier for
>users to move from machine to machine.

By now you've probably figured out that this is totally untrue.

The only bit I can add to this discussion (I can't remember if I heard
this from Ritchie or someone else) was that when they got the PDP-11
for the text processing system they spent almost all of the time
building the portable version of UNIX and built troff et al on top of
it at the last minute.  I can't help but believe this given the
comparative quality of the two sets of tools :-).

jim frost
jimf@centerline.com
From: pfcouvar@unix.amherst.edu (Peter F. Couvares)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: IS UNIX DEAD?
Date: 13 Nov 92 00:03:58 GMT
Organization: Amherst College

peter@global.hacktic.nl (Peter Busser) writes:
>dmcquaid@csws19.ic.sunysb.edu (Devin McQuaid) writes:

>>>Where can I get toll-free support for Linux?
>>
>>comp.os.linux
>>you won't get an answer in 20 min. but you will get your answer
>
>USENET costs $$$ too. And administration.

	That's a dumb response--so does a phone. The support itself is free,
which is what was initially asked for. Any kind of free support, be it via
phone, mail, or net account, will cost something to access.

-Peter
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,comp.unix.programmer
From: ronf@panther3.panther.mot.com (Ron Feigen)
Subject: Re: Reliable signals in Unix ?
Keywords: signal
Organization: Motorola Panther Project, Chandler, AZ
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 20:30:17 GMT

In article <1992Nov11.163624.10937@lambda.msfc.nasa.gov> bday@lambda.msfc.nasa.gov (Brian Day) writes:
>OK, time for a question from the brain-dead.
>
>I have two Unix processes: one sends a burst of signals to the
>other.  The receiving process misses several of these signals -
>i.e.  they don't get 'queued up'.
>
>I know I could set up a kluge with a semaphore to act as an up-down
>counter, but I was hoping for a more elegant solution.  This is
>on a Sparcstation 4 running SunOS 4.1.1.
>
>Any suggestions ?
>
>Many thanks,
>
>bd
>
>
>-- 
>Brian Day                                       bday@lambda.msfc.nasa.gov
>New Technology, Inc.                            (205) 461-4584
>Mission Operations Support Systems              Opinions are my own -
>Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntspatch, AL    May be fatal if swallowed

Signals will not queue up.  Reliable delivery means that they will be delivered
but once delievered the signal maybe ignored, as in the case of _burts_ of the
same type of signal.

What I have done in the past with SIG_CHLD is after servicing a SIG_CHLD (wait3)
I will _loop_ on wait3() assuming there might have been other SIG_CHLDs I missed
while processing the first SIG_CHLD if I get an ECHILD I exit.

You might try a pipe and use SIGIO.  You can then read from the pipe until it is
empty.


-- 

>
Ron Feigen
ronf@panther.mot.com
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: legend@cheshire.oxy.edu (Linda A. Malcor)
Subject: Date math
Keywords: date math shell utility
Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041 USA.
Distribution: comp.unix.shell
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 15:03:39 GMT

Simple question: Is there a simple utility to tell me what tomorrow is?
I want something like "date" which allows me all the formating in the
world and a simple +1 day/week/month type of math.

Thanks,
	Daniel Malcor
	Los Angeles Times - Editorial Library
	(213) 237-4590
	legend@cheshire.oxy.edu
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: papresco@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (Paul Prescod)
Subject: Re: IS UNIX DEAD?
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 12:57:43 GMT

>
>Haven't you ever heard of 80 character line lengths?  Let alone 72?
>Or are you using one of your snazzy GUIs that lets you have 132
>characters per line?


Actually, the GUI I was in was an NCD X-Term.  I won't make that mistake
again.  My "snazzy" Gui at home does VT-100 emulation MUCH BETTER.
>
>>>>3.It should install from floppy as well as CD.
>>>
>>>	Ah, you _are_ an idiot.
>>>	(Take a look at Linux.)
>>
>>NO, YOU are an idiot, if you see linux as the hope for the future.  
>
>What are you talking about?  You said that a "real" operating system
>should install from floppy.  Linux installs from floppy.  Conclusion:
>you lose.

As I recall, I was discussing a BUNCH of things a "real" operating system
has to have.  Linux has a few, SCO has a few, Nexstep has a few.  None of
them qualify as a "real" operating system (from a new users point of view)
because none of them have ALL of them.  Translation: You lose.

>Um, no ... I think most people say, "Cool!  What's the number?  What
>baud rate?"  What world are *you* living in?  One where Prodigy hasn't
>yet been introduced?

It is you that are living in a dream world!  Maybe 1 in 20 computers gets
sold with a modem standard!  The other 19 don't know what one is, or how
to use it!  Does Prodigy even carry Linux?
>
>You unzip it with PKUNZIP, Phil Katz's well-known dearchive program.
>Lots of people use it.  It's very popular among PC users.  But I
>understand the biggest complaint they have with it is that it doesn't
>have toll-free phone support.

And where do I get this?  Without a modem?  And how much does it cost?
And who is going to teach me how to use it?  How come OS/2 and Windows
uncompress themselves?

>Um, no ... you just install X from the SLS disks, I believe.

Where does one get these disks?  After months on the Internet, I've never
heard of them (plus reading Unixworld and Unix Review).  Where is Joe/Jane
user suppoed to have heard of them?  And where are they supposed to get them?

>Mm.  I know, not having a graphic interface for `ls' or `mkfs' is just
>*such* a hardship.  It is to weep.

How about VI?  OS/2 comes with a full fledged programmers editor, and 
Windows with a wordprocessor that is easy to use and makes EXCELLENT
graphical/font/picture output.  (I was amazed!)


Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions