From: chip@chinacat.unicom.com (Chip Rosenthal)
Subject: October CACTUS Newsletter
Organization: Unicom Systems Development, Austin, TX
Date: Fri, 09 Oct 1992 08:42:11 GMT

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                        CACTUS Newsletter

             Capital Area Central Texas UNIX Society

              Volume 8, Number 10  -  October 1992


      _______________________________________________________
      |                   Next Meeting                      |
      | Time:     Thursday, October 15 at 7:00p.m.          |
      | Place:    Dell Computer Building - Arboretum        |
      | Agenda:   The BSD/386 Operating System              |
      |           Tutorial - Building a 386/486 Unix System |
      |_____________________________________________________|


                        In this Issue...
                         From the Editor
                      This Month's Program
                         August Program
                         cactus.org News


           The CACTUS Newsletter is published monthly.
           Your comments and submissions are welcome.
           Our email address is newsletter@cactus.org.

   UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories.

































CACTUS Newsletter            page 2                  October 1992


*** From the Editor ***

    There are some significant technical barriers getting Unix on
a PC platform.  Let's face it, PCs were designed to run some very
lightweight operating systems.  Somehow, in spite of it all, not
only can we shoehorn Unix onto a PC system, we can do so quite
nicely, thank you very much.  In fact, we end up with the best of
both worlds:  inexpensive commodity hardware combined with niche
market equipment to furnish those functions not applicable in the
single-user world, such as multi-port serial cards.

    This month's meeting focuses upon multi-user PC systems.
We've talked about this before, and we'll do it again.  Clearly
there are many, many situations where a PC system won't cut it.
However, if you haven't seen what can be done with a PC and Unix,
you might be surprised.

    I think there must have been 68 different strains of the flu
running around last month - and I caught all of them.  Four weeks
ago, I was at home sniffling in bed instead of working on the
CACTUS Newsletter.  No newsletter was published in September.
That was my fault, and I apologize.


*** This Month's Program ***

    Our next meeting will be Thursday, October 15th, in the Dell
Computer Building at the Arboretum.  The meeting is free and open
to the public.  Doors will open at 6:30pm, and the meeting will
begin at 7:00pm.  Our main topic for the evening will be The
BSD/386 Operating System.  A tutorial entitled Through the
Monitor Glass (or Marc's Adventures in Clone Land) will precede
the main presentation.

    BSD/386 Version 0.9.3 (also known as Gamma.3) is the pre-
release version of BSDI's ground-breaking operating system for
your PC or compatible.  BSD/386 Version 0.9.3 supports ISA
compatible peripherals and the Adaptec 1742B EISA SCSI adapter.
A future version will support MicroChannel Architecture (MCA).
It includes features and capabilities from the Berkeley Computer
System Research Group's Networking-II release in addition to
MIT's X Window System and other software from a wide variety of
sources.

    A unique aspect of the BSDI release is that complete source
code is furnished with the base operating system.  BSD/386 is an
IEEE POSIX-compliant operating system that contains no code
licensed from Unix System Laboratories (USL). BSD/386 contains a
multitude of software from many different sources, including
Berkeley's Computer System Research Group (CSRG), MIT's Project
Athena, the Free Software Foundation (GNU), and various
individual contributors.  BSDI's engineers have integrated and
improved these pieces to create BSD/386.

    Tony Sanders of Berkeley Software Design, Inc. will introduce
us to the BSD/386 operating system.







CACTUS Newsletter            page 3                  October 1992


    The main presentation will be preceded with a tutorial by
Marc Wiz.  Marc will describe his experiences researching
products and manufacturers in order to put together a high-end,
Intel-based PC that will run Unix.  He will cover how to choose
equipment manufacturers of adapters, monitors, etc., and how to
research the components to make an informed decision.


*** August Program ***

    The August CACTUS meeting was held on Thursday, August 20,
1992 in the Dell Computer Building (at the Arboretum).  The main
topic for the evening, The Status of Electronic Freedom in
America, was presented by local best-selling author Bruce
Sterling.  A tutorial on Stupid Korn Shell Tricks by Jim Cox of
IBM preceded the main presentation.

Stupid Korn Shell Tricks

    Jim started the show discussing the standard ksh setup
configuration - or lack thereof.  When the Korn shell begins it
looks for a startup file to run, usually called .profile or
.kshrc.  However, these files are not supplied with the ksh
distribution.  They are setup by the site administrator or the
user, so ksh might not work and look exactly the same on
different systems, or even among users on the same system.

    Until recently, the Korn shell was not included in the
standard Unix distribution.  Some vendors offered it as a value
added feature, but more likely if you had it then your
organization purchased a source license through the AT&T
Toolchest.  Furthermore, there have been several versions of the
Korn shell.  Together, this means some scripts might not port
well among these versions or to other vendors' implementations.
This is becoming less of a problem because the Korn shell is now
included in System V Release 4 and has been accepted as the POSIX
shell.

    Jim talked about several useful environment parameters.  You
can point ENV to a file with initializations to run whenever a
subshell is started.  The HISTSIZE variable can be used to extend
the size of the command history.  The HISTFILE variable can
change the name of the command history file, and allows you to
keep separate histories when running multiple login sessions
across a network or through X-windows.

    Most people know about the built-in history editing features.
A neat trick is that in vi mode you can use the v key to call up
the editor to work on a very long command line.

    Jim talked about some of the tricks you can do with the cd
command.  He distributed a handout with a set of shell functions
for use with the cd command, including implementations of the
popular C-shell pushd and popd commands.  He also explained that
you can set the CDPATH environment parameter to a list of
directories to search when doing a cd.







CACTUS Newsletter            page 4                  October 1992


    Jim concluded with a discussion of Korn shell functions.  Not
only can you define shell functions in your .profile or .kshrc
file, but also you can create a library directory of functions.
Simply point the FPATH environment parameter to that directory,
and if you type an unknown command the Korn shell will look in
that directory for a filename matching the command name.  The
contents of that file will be loaded and executed.

The Status of Electronic Freedom in America

    Bruce provided a passionate and entertaining report on the
state of electronic freedom of expression in America.  The
cyberspace which links us all electronically is starting to get
crowded, and civilization always follows the first few explorers.
Our question is how do we want cyberspace to be civilized?  The
answer to this effects our expectations for freedom of speech,
freedom of the press, and freedom of expression in this new
frontier.

    Bruce started with some background on American freedoms and
the effects of extending them into the electronic world.  He
pointed out that freedom of the press is important to Americans,
but it's been ages since anybody has used a real printing press.
At one time printing presses belonged to only the rich and
required a large capital investment.  These days, freedom of the
press extends to anybody with inexpensive access to a
photographic copy machine.  Does it also extend to people who own
their own low-cost ``printing press,'' say a Commodore personal
computer?  Bruce thinks so.  Computer speech is speech and
electronic publication is publication.

    Bruce marveled at the extent to which Americans truly enjoy
freedom of speech.  To illustrate, he compared our situation to
that of other nations in the world.  We Americans guard that
right jealously, although we often take it for granted.

    Freedom of speech and freedom of the press open up a number
of thorny problems such as libel, slander, obscenity, copyright,
confidentiality, national security and many, many others - and
that's even before considering computers and networks.  Computers
and networks do not get rid of those problems, they only
intensify them and introduce new problems.  Bruce stated that we
are the pioneers of the electronic frontier, and we had better
take that role seriously.  He outlined the foremost threats to
our freedoms in the electronic frontier.

    There have been several cases were law officials have
performed search and seizures of computer equipment without ever
filing charges.  They bust into the site, shutdown the equipment,
load it up, and haul it off to a government warehouse for later
analysis.  Sometimes the business is left struggling for its
life.  Although the victim should have legal recourse against
such actions, it is cheaper to buy replacement equipment than it
is to bring suit.  On the other hand, some of the computer
crackers don't want to file suits since they really did break the
law.







CACTUS Newsletter            page 5                  October 1992


    Prosecuting computer crime is difficult.  Bruce exclaimed,
``The justice system will collapse if they have to teach people
Unix in the jury box.''  The layperson doesn't understand the
language, much less the circumstances, so winning for either side
seems distant.  The law enforcement agencies sometimes feel the
situation is out of control, and their frustration can foster a
``whatever works'' attitude.  This makes the problems even worse.
The use of extra legal harassment by the enforcement agencies is
a crime in itself.

    Bruce ended his presentation with a statement about the
cyberspace world, ``Networks are a place that need to be
governed.  They're a place where people live.''

    If you're interested in additional information on the
evolving cyberspace or want to be involved in the efforts to sort
out the laws which will govern our rights in cyberspace, you may
want to contact the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).  You
may contact EFF-Austin at:

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation
    Austin Chapter
    Box 18957
    Austin, TX 78760
    Membership is $5-student and $10-regular membership
    email: eff-a@tic.com

    Bruce has a new book, The Hacker Crackdown - Law and Disorder
on the Electronic Frontier, that will be released in October.
This book takes an in-depth look at cyberspace, the crimes
committed there, the people who live there, and the legal
authorities trying to govern it.  He has also authored, co-
authored, and edited numerous ``cyberpunk'' science fiction
books.

    Our thanks to Bruce and Jim for their presentations, and Dell
for hosting the meeting.


*** cactus.org News ***

    Congratulations to Jim Knutson on the birth of his new son!
As you might imagine, he's been spending most of his time
attending to that baby and cactus.org has been in autopilot mode.
A backlog of requests has formed during this time.  Hopefully
CACTUS members will be patient a bit longer to give Jim a chance
to catch up on these chores (and his sleep).

    Older children are sometimes resentful of the new sibling.
Unfortunately, cactus.org has been throwing some temper tantrums
lately.  It has been crashing and rebooting regularly with
corrupted filesystems and hung serial ports and modems.  The
Xylogics 472 tape controller died, taking out the 9-track reel-
to-reel tape drive.  If anybody has a spare controller they can
donate to the cause, please contact knutson@cactus.org.  Please
bear with us as we sort through the problems and backlog.







CACTUS Newsletter            page 6                  October 1992


*** CACTUS Membership Information ***

    CACTUS membership is open to all people interested in Open
Systems such as Unix.  We meet the third Thursday of every month.
Meeting topics and locations are announced in the newsletter.  We
currently offer members access to the cactus.org computer system,
that includes electronic news and mail capability.  CACTUS
Membership/Account forms may be obtained at the meetings or by
request.  Please send your request to:

    CACTUS
    P.O. Box 9786
    Austin, TX 78766-9786

or via electronic mail to membership@cactus.org.  Please be sure
to include your USPS mail address in your request.  Annual dues
are $20 for regular memberships, $96 for sponsor memberships.

    Note:  Please examine the upper-right corner of your mailing
label.  It shows your membership status and will note when your
membership expires.


*** CACTUS Contacts ***

    Your comments and suggestions are welcomed.  Electronic mail
may be directed to the following addresses.

    officers@cactus.org     Comments to CACTUS officers.
    programs@cactus.org     Meeting ideas, suggestions and comments.
    membership@cactus.org   Membership questions and suggestions.
    staff@cactus.org        cactus.org questions and suggestions.
    newsletter@cactus.org   Newsletter submissions and comments.


*** CACTUS Officers ***

President    Tom Painter        painter@cactus.org          835-5457
Publicity    Jim Baty           baty@cactus.org             837-7539
Scribe       Robert Felps       felps@cactus.org            873-9060
Finance      Mike Cato          mikec@amd.com               837-2916
Programs     Ray Schafer        schafer@cactus.org          823-9968
Membership   Michael Cheselka   cheselka@cactus.org         452-9412
Newsletter   Chip Rosenthal     chip@chinacat.unicom.com    482-8260
Members      Michael Cerda      cerda@bongo.cc.utexas.edu   471-3241
  at Large   Jim Knutson        knutson@cactus.org          338-3362

















CACTUS Newsletter            page 7                  October 1992


*** CACTUS Sponsors ***

American Interface Computers
  Wolf Metzner        327-5344

Applied Formal Methods, Inc.
  Susan L. Gerhart    794-9732       gerhart@cactus.org

Austin Code Works
  Scott Guthery       258-0785       acw!info

Clinical Resource Systems, Inc.
  Andy Galewsky       258-1977       andy@crs.com

Computation Center
  Mike Cerda          471-3241       cerda@bongo.cc.utexas.edu

Control Data
  John Herczeg        467-0588

Data General
  Jana Stein          835-9771

Dell Computer Corporation
  Charlie Sauer       338-4400

Hewlett Packard
  Bill Sumrall        338-7221

Interactive Systems
  Jim Kelsey          343-0376       jimke@itx.isc.com
  Network technology, software development, consulting.

Majec Systems Inc.
  Maryanne Moore      452-1138
  Contract programming services, multimedia development.

O'Keefe & Assoc.
  John O'Keefe        343-1134

Objective System Solutions
  Charles A. Richter  218-5182       richter@cs.utexas.edu
  Consulting and training in object oriented systems.

Pencom Systems Inc.
  Tom Morgan          343-1111       pencom!psitx!tom
  Recruiting, programming, software development, test services.

Pencom/IBM
  Steven P. Talmage   838-8613

Power Assist
  Leigh R. Power      219-9215       leigh@power.com
  Consulting, training, evaluation, and programming services.

Schlumberger
  James Johnson       331-3781
  Technical services and products in over 100 countries.





CACTUS Newsletter            page 8                  October 1992


Sun Microsystems Computer Corp.
  Roger Waak          343-0293       roger.waak@central.sun.com
  Supplier of Unix client-server computing solutions.

Silicon Graphics
  Don Williams        459-0994

Tandem Computers
  Steve Senator       244-8000

Texas Internet Consulting
  Smoot Carl-Mitchell 329-1047       smoot@tic.com
  TCP/IP networking, Unix, and open systems standards.

Unicom Systems Development
  Chip Rosenthal      482-8260       chip@chinacat.unicom.com
  Unix business and technical system sales, support, engineering.

VideoTelecom Corp.
  Marian Keith-Stasney               834-2700










































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-- 
Chip Rosenthal  512-482-8260 | I got the blues so bad one time
Unicom Systems Development   | it put my face in a permanent frown.
<chip@chinacat.Unicom.COM>   |   - Taj Mahal
Newsgroups: austin.general