HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: b4101ai@sun12 (Holger Busse)
Subject: Wanted: Driver for Introl CD-DRIVE
Organization: Leibniz-Rechenzentrum, Muenchen (Germany)
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1993 15:46:12 GMT

Hello Netters,

for our optical disk-drive made by INTROL we need a suitable driver to
work unter IRIX 4.01 or higher. It is an read-and-write-many optical disk-
drive with 300MB capacity each side. SGI here in Germany was not able yet
to get into contact with Introl, however SGI did recommend this drive. 
Perhaps someone got the same problems.

Thanx for help

Holger Busse


  _________________________________________________________________________
					|
  Mail					|  Yellow Mail
  busse@vax.rz.uni-wuerzburg.de		|  Holger Busse
  or					|  Waffenschmiedstrasse 6
  b4101ai@cd1.lrz-muenchen.de		|  8000 Muenchen 81
                                        |
  ______________________________________|__________________________________

     ****** CHEMISTRY ISN'T ALWAYS FUN, IF THERE WASN'T THE THEORY ******
  _________________________________________________________________________

QUIT
__________________________
From: achim@video1.han.de (Joachim Gothe)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: System-CDROM to DAT ??
Date: 23 Dec 92 09:58:19 GMT
Reply-To: achim@video1.han.de  (Joachim Gothe)
Organization: Mix Broadcast Video and Computer
X-Newsreader: Arn V1.00

Hi,

we just got an Upgrade to 4.0.5.F for our Indigos at University.

One of our Indigos is at a Professor in Africa. :-\

I want to make a copy of the CDROMs on DAT, so that I can sent
the Upgrade to him. He has a DAT, but no CDROM.

Is it possible, to copy the CDROMs, that he can use INST from the
DAT and that he can install the Upgrade?

Thanks,

Achim

--------------------------------__
   Joachim  Gothe	       ///   Home: achim@video1.han.de
  Haltenhoffstr. 237	  __  /// !!NEW!!:-------^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  FRG 3000 Hannover	  \\\///     Work: FH-Hannover, FB Kunst & Design
VOC +49 511 7975-15 FAX-16 \XX/ * Waiting for a Mac-Emulator on Indigos *
From: sundar@fiber-one.ai.mit.edu (Sundar Narasimhan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: what kind of an SGI box / configuration makes sense under 10k?
Date: 30 Dec 1992 20:39:57 GMT
Organization: MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Distribution: world
Reply-To: sundar@ai.mit.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: fiber-one.ai.mit.edu

Hi, I'm considering getting an SGI machine. I'm trying to find out if there
exists a configuration that would satisfy me for under 10K$. 

Here's what I would like:
Hardware: at least 8-bit color double-buffered graphics with Z-buffer.
	  24-32 Meg of memory
	  ~1Gig disk
	  19" monitor
Software: C,C++.

Is there any machine/configuration that will fulfill my price constraint? 
I'm willing to consider used machines if a new one is out of this price
range.

Is it common for SGI buyers to get memory and disks from 3'rd party vendors? 

Thanks much in advance,
-Sundar

(I'll summarize if there's interest)


Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: fish@daacdev1.stx.com
Subject: at what 4.0.5 rev was MAKEDEV fixed for dualIO3 / jag prob???
Organization: Goddard Space Flight Center
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 19:43:40 GMT

what 4.0.5 rev (A-F?) was MAKEDEV fixed - i have the 4.0.1 one
and w/ dual IO3 it numbers our four jag boards at 0,2,4,6 instead
of 0,1,2,3

i fooled it by hacking 4.0.1 MAKEDEV into thinking there are
more jag boards that there really are (only results in extra
device files i don't need so it was pretty successful)

			fish
--
John R. Vanderpool                INTERNET: fish@daacdev1.stx.com
NASA/GSFC                         VOX: 301-513-1683                
Hughes/STX Corporation            FAX: 301-513-1608
all this science, i don't understand; its just my job 5 days a week - rocket man
From: olson@anchor.esd.sgi.com (Dave Olson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Re: Frustrated with SGI support..
Date: 1 Jan 93 18:35:33 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA

In <1993Jan1.173056.23814@arbi.Informatik.Uni-Oldenburg.DE> Thomas.Weihrich@arbi.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de (Thomas Weihrich) writes:
| SGI support ? I guess it really depends on who you talk to.

This is unfortunate, but somewhat true (both within offices, and between
support centers).  You can *always* ask for a support problem to be
escalated, as all support centers have a mechanism for this.  Whether
they will do that if you don't have a support contract, I don't know,
but you can try.

Even more suprising to some people is that the international support
centers are quite autonomous in being able to set their own policies.
About all you can do is escalate up the chain (international headquarters
is in Geneva, Switzerland).

| BTW: I did not get a quote for a 1.2 GR chip or an upgrade to a 4D25 or
| 4D30 or just a couple of additional bitplanes. If SGI USA is remarketing
| used items or upgrades, I'd appreciate it if someone from SGI US could
| give me a quote on these items.

I don't think upgrades to the 25 are available anymore, since they haven't
been built for quite a while (almost a year now?) but there are still be
boards in inventory for system repair, and they may be available for
upgrades as well.

The cost of the 1.2 GR chip in the US is about $100 US (or was last year).
I don't know what it is now, or what it is in Europe.  It does help a lot
for some kinds of X operations.

Most SGI hardware and software can be telephone ordered through SGI
Express through an 800 number (which I know is a problem for Europe),
but I don't know if they handle upgrade kits (I suspect not).  The
number is 1-800-800-7441.  I don't even know if they will handle 
international orders, perhaps Stan or one of the other folks more familiar
with the policies can correct me on this.
--
Let no one tell me that silence gives consent,  |   Dave Olson
because whoever is silent dissents.             |   Silicon Graphics, Inc.
    Maria Isabel Barreno                        |   olson@sgi.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: joes@lpi.liant.com (Joe Stewart)
Subject: Re: GL - SGI - PHIGS
Keywords: PHIGS
Reply-To: joes@lpi.liant.com
Organization: Template Graphics Software
Distribution: comp.sys.sgi
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 14:41:02 GMT

In article <1992Dec17.085643.8570@edf.fr>, philippe@cli52gs.edf.fr ( Philippe SUIGNARD     ) writes:
|> I have heard that the U.S. goverment want to develop the use of
|> PHIGS and GKS. That is why SGI is searching a PHIGS to put on
|> top of its GL library.
|> 
|> Is it true ?
|> 
|> Philippe Suignard

Hmm, how to answer such a question?  

I can't say whether a person in the U.S. Government wants to "develop 
the use of PHIGS and GKS."  I also can't say if a person at SGI is 
"searching for a PHIGS to put on top of its GL library".  

I can say, however, that Template Graphics Software has been delivering 
FIGARO+, our enhanced implementation of the ISO/ANSI PHIGS standard 
with both C and FORTRAN bindings, on top of GL for years.  In fact, if 
you order PHIGS from SGI, you get FIGARO+.

By the way, we also deliver FIGraph, our charting and graphing two-call
toolkit, and FIGt, our intrinsic toolkit for PHIGS/PEX, on top of GL.  

So, if you want the usual marketing literature, just send a note to 
info@tgs.com.  If you have technical questions, drop a note to me, 
joes@tgs.com.

Joe

-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 Joseph Stewart
 Senior Applications Engineer (FIGARO+, FIGt, FIGraph)
 Template Graphics Software (TGS)
 959 Concord Street 
 Framingham MA 01701-4613 (USA)
 508-872-8700 x340
 joes@tgs.com -- tgs!joes
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: olson@anchor.esd.sgi.com (Dave Olson)
Subject: Re: can you make the kernal know a new device is present w/o rebooting???
Organization:  Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 92 04:34:35 GMT

In <fish.725060686@news.gsfc.nasa.gov> fish@daacdev1.stx.com writes:

| i was just wondering if that was possible:
| can you make the kernal know a new device is present w/o rebooting???
| 
| i was adding a tape drive this morning and i didn't want to have to
| kick all of the users off
| 
| i guess i'm pipe dreaming

Well, aside from possibly blowing termpower fuses (assuming
this is a SCSI drive), or temporarily taking out the PTF
(like a selfresetting circuit breaker) for a while, things
should pretty much work, except for hinv.

If the /dev devices don't already exist, try:
	su root -c 'cd /dev; ./MAKEDEV tape'
--
Let no one tell me that silence gives consent,  |   Dave Olson
because whoever is silent dissents.             |   Silicon Graphics, Inc.
    Maria Isabel Barreno                        |   olson@sgi.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: dynaflow@eng.umd.edu (Georges Chahine @ Dynaflow Inc.)
Subject: Exception Handling in SGI Fortran 3.4.1
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 92 13:44:02 GMT
Organization: Project GLUE, University of Maryland, College Park
Distribution: na

Is there any way to control IEEE floating point exceptions (which
generate NaN and Infinity etc.) in the FORTRAN from SGI? I know Sun fortran
allows you to call several system routines which allow one to control 
this.

I have not been able to find if there are similar routines in SGI
FORTRAN (3.4.1). Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Ramani Duraiswami
From: olson@anchor.esd.sgi.com (Dave Olson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Re: Launch program at boot time??
Date: 1 Jan 93 22:52:51 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA

In <1460@shrike.com> flash@austin.lockheed.com (James W. Melton) writes:

| My solution is to put a script in the /etc/init.d directory. This
| script should be able to be invoked with an argument of "start" on
| system startup, and "stop" at shutdown time. Look around at some of
| the scripts already there for help. There is also a symbolic link
| required somewhere (sorry, not on the SGI and my memory is fuzzed)
| that tells the system where in the order of scripts your is to run.

You want links into /etc/rc2.d and /etc/rc0.d

Your solution won't work correctly if it needs the window system
running (particularly the window manager).

| My problem with a turnkey system is that my system has an annoying
| tendency to come up with the "Do you want to automatically
| reconfigure the system?" prompt. NOTHING happens until this
| question is answered. How do you make it go away????

You answer yes ;)

If that doesn't do it, some files are dated in the future, most likely
because the date was set wrong during a software install.  Fix those
dates that are in the future, and all should be well.  The ones
you want to look at are in /usr/sysgen.  None of them should be newer
than /unix (or /unix.install, if you just answered yes to the question
and haven't yet rebooted).
--
Let no one tell me that silence gives consent,  |   Dave Olson
because whoever is silent dissents.             |   Silicon Graphics, Inc.
    Maria Isabel Barreno                        |   olson@sgi.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi,comp.sys.sgi.bugs,comp.unix.ultrix
From: kinch@valve.heart.rri.uwo.ca (Dave Kinchlea)
Subject: Re: tmpnam/tempnam 
Organization: University of Western Ontario, London, Ont. CA
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 14:31:24 GMT

In article <BzKIrq.GqI@world.std.com>, cmr@world.std.com (Charles M Richmond) writes:
|> 
|>   All of this discussion about tmpnam/tempnam has lead to small bits of
|> foolishness on the part of a lot of people, myself not excepted.
|> 
|> Lets discuss the proper use of tmpnam/tempnam.  After creating the filename
|> one should open the file as quickly as possible , inorder to preclude the
|> creation of an a same named file by another process. Naturally enough one
|> would also want to verify the uniqueness of the file name at the start. The
|> tmpnam/tempnam duo handles this quite nicely by testing for you. The proper 
|> sequence of code would then be thus:
|> 
|> 
|> fname = tmpnam(arg);
|> if (errno == ENOENT)
|>    {
|>    open(.....
|> 
|> You can massage this in many ways.  As an example one could add on a while
|> loop for errno != ENOENT to continuously try new names until a unique one
|> is found.
|> 
|> Charlie
|> 
|> -- 
|> *****************************************************************************
|> *  Charles Richmond 	Integrated International Systems Corporation        *
|> *  cmr@world.std.com	(Temporary) cmr@koneko.shr.dec.com		    *
|> *  Specializing in UNIX, X, Image Processing, and Communications.           *

UGG, this is NOT the `proper sequence of code' at all. As others have pointed out,
testing errno in this fashion is WRONG! This is closer:

if ((fname = tmpnam(arg)) != NULL) {
	if (( filedes = open(fname,O_SomeWriteMode)) == -1) {
		/* Now check errno to your hearts content */
		
	}
} else {
	/* Here (and only here) it is valid to check errno for the tmpnam call */
}

You can argue style if you like but the point is that errno is not tested
until it is known that an error has occured. 
Just because ENOENT was probably generated internally in tmpnam() doesn't
mean that it will be that after the call. It would be perfectly reasonable
and legal behaviour to clear errno (or set it to a completely bogus value)
if the call succeeds.


Just trying to keep the misinformation down to a minimum.

cheerskinch
From: lapique@siisg1.epfl.ch (Francis Lapique)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: exceeded its maximum process
Date: 23 Dec 92 16:54:17 GMT


Process [fl] pid 24849 sent SIGSEGV because it exceeded its
maximum process/stack size

Any ideas what's going on ?
-- 
Francis Lapique-EPFL/Computer Center
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology-Lausanne 
E-Mail : lapique@siisg1.epfl.ch
Voice-Mail : (41)-21-693-45-96
Fax: (41)-21-693-22-20
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: olson@anchor.esd.sgi.com (Dave Olson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Re: Help!Syquest help needed!
Date: 3 Jan 93 21:22:34 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA

In <1993Jan3.175923.20174@newssrv.edvz.univie.ac.at> R5321GAB@vm.univie.ac.at writes:
|      I need help installing a SCSI Syquest compatible 44MB drive to an
| Indigo. Is this possible? I normally use this drive on my Macintosh, but
| I need to render things and have no room on the Indigo's internal. Could
| some kind soul out there step me through this? I looked through the device
| drivers and didn't see anything to do with cartridge drives. Is it possible
| to just "mount" the drive? If so, how? Ugh, why can't Unix be as simple
| as using a Mac, or at least a NeXT. I speak Unix, but not that well. I can
| program C so don't worry about getting technical on me. I just have little
| (read "none whatsoever") experience hooking up drives to Unix machines.
| Thanks for any help in advance!

It isn't simple because the Syquest drives violate the SCSI specs
(firmware bugs, and possibly hardware).

You have to disable sync scsi, and possibly scsi disconnect to get the
drive to work at all (edit /usr/sysgen/master.d/scsi, see comments
therein), and then run /etc/autoconfig -fv, then reboot

After that, if you want to put a filesystem on it, you'll have to put
an SGI volhdr on the media (use fx, it should be sufficient to bring fx
up, answer yes to the 'create volume header' question, and then exit,
and then use mkfs (you can use the Add_disk script instead of mkfs).
After *that*, you can mount and unmount it manually, or from the system
manager.

Some 3rd party is working with syquest to try and get the firmware
changed, and to add a more 'user friendly' front end on the whole
procedure, but I don't remember who it is, or when it will be
available.

'apropos disk mount' will find some of this; apropos is a good command
to use when looking for info, although it may take a while to learn how
to use 'good' keywords (those which find things, and don't find too
many things!)

--
Let no one tell me that silence gives consent,  |   Dave Olson
because whoever is silent dissents.             |   Silicon Graphics, Inc.
    Maria Isabel Barreno                        |   olson@sgi.com
Xref: sparky comp.sys.sgi:18244 comp.sys.sgi.graphics:47
From: cm9@prism.gatech.EDU (MCKEITHAN,CLIFFORD M.)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi,comp.sys.sgi.graphics
Subject: Subwindow Problem Solved
Date: 21 Dec 92 16:32:48 GMT
Followup-To: poster
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

A problem was discovered with getting graphics output to a newly
created subwindow.  The default setup
when calling swinopen() does not seem to work properly.
It was found that using ortho2() to reset the the orthographic
projection will fix the problem.

Thanks to those who sent possible
solutions.
From: olson@anchor.esd.sgi.com (Dave Olson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Re: System-CDROM to DAT ??
Date: 27 Dec 92 21:59:55 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA

In <bt0bs*OU0@video1.han.de> achim@video1.han.de (Joachim Gothe) writes:
| we just got an Upgrade to 4.0.5.F for our Indigos at University.
| 
| One of our Indigos is at a Professor in Africa. :-\
| 
| I want to make a copy of the CDROMs on DAT, so that I can sent
| the Upgrade to him. He has a DAT, but no CDROM.
| 
| Is it possible, to copy the CDROMs, that he can use INST from the
| DAT and that he can install the Upgrade?

Yes, and yes.

Make sure you use the byte swapped, fixed block device for the DAT
(neither are the default!), as that is what all the SGI proms
expect, for historical reasons, if you want the tape to be bootable
(as it must be to install eoe*).

Mount the CD somewhere (for the sake of the instructions below,
assume the CD-ROM is SCSI ID #4, and the DAT is SCSI ID#2), either
manually, or with cdromd via the system manager; manual instructions
are included here, then use distcp to copy from the CD to tape.

	mkdir /cdrom
	mount -o ro /dev/dsk/dks0d4s7 /cdrom
	cd /cdrom/dist
	distcp -v . /dev/rmt/tps0d2 '*'
	# (verify it)
	distcp -cv /dev/rmt/tps0d2 .

Indigo's will recognize the DAT automatically, if you use the
Install choice on the PROM menu.
--
Let no one tell me that silence gives consent,  |   Dave Olson
because whoever is silent dissents.             |   Silicon Graphics, Inc.
    Maria Isabel Barreno                        |   olson@sgi.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: atems@igor.physics.wayne.edu (Dale Atems)
Subject: Re: Frustrated with SGI support..
Organization: Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 16:34:02 GMT

In article <34842@adm.brl.mil> andersen@marvin.ama.ttu.edu (Kim Andersen) writes:
>I have several SGI systems, all different models.  I was very happy with
>the hotline service the first couple years - they were very speedy and
>knowledgable.  HOWEVER, response time has increased dramatically (coupled
>with a seeming decrease in competence) over the past year and a half.
>Ever since 4.0.X was released.  Now I don't bother to call the hotline
>anymore because on the rare occasion that I get a return call, they have
>no clue anyway.

I have not been impressed with the technical competence of the call
administrators you get via the hotline -- but I never expected to be.
Unless I am mistaken, they aren't engineers. Whenever I've had the good
fortune of speaking directly to an engineer, I've never had cause to
question his competence. My experience with the hotline and basic support
breaks down as follows:
 
1). Hardware problems. My first call has always been returned within 24
hours, the part always arrives within 2 working days of when the order
was placed. I have had cases where the diagnosis was wrong or the new
part was defective so a second part had to be sent. In these cases I have
only paid for shipping to return the *original* part, SGI picks up the tab
the second time.
 
2). Software problems. Can take 48-72 hours before the first call is
returned, though it's usually within 48. After describing the problem,
I don't hear from anyone for weeks. This is frustrating. If the problem
is a critical one, I insist on being kept posted. If the CA doesn't
return my calls, I raise hell. My experience (admittedly limited) is
that if I raise enough hell, I will get a cooperative CA.
 
Given the number of different SGI platforms and 4.0.X releases, I am not
surprised the OS has bugs, even serious ones, that show up on certain
platforms. And I'm not surprised that these bugs can be very difficult
to reproduce. I recently worked directly with a software engineer to try
to find a way to reliably reproduce a nasty system crash. I don't question
his competence just because he needed help. The willingness to work directly
with a small-fry customer like myself tells me that these people are
committed to supporting their customers.
 
All in all, I rate SGI's tech support as very good. It doesn't always work
smoothly, but it works. That's my experience, anyway.

------
Dale Atems
Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Department of Physics and Astronomy
atems@igor.physics.wayne.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: manyin@helene.gsfc.nasa.gov (Michael Manyin)
Subject: PM_ADD24 on RE
Reply-To: manyin@helene.gsfc.nasa.gov (Michael Manyin)
Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 19:12:53 GMT

We are porting a program from a VGX platform to a Crimson/RealityEngine,
and have been finding it difficult to make full use of the 4096-entry
colormap when lrectwrite'ing  8-bit images.

Specifically, we suspect that the call

pixmode( PM_ADD24, 256 );

on the RealityEngine, is the problem.


In fact, any integer offset greater than 0 produces anomalous behavior.

The pixmode manual page claims that "Pixel addition can...
be used to offset the range of a color map image",
and our code  works fine on VGX and Indigo Elan machines.

Any hints or suggestions, posted or mailed, would be appreciated.
Thanks!

Mike Manyin

-------
cross posted to:
comp.sys.sgi
comp.sys.sgi.graphics

--
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Manyin                         NASA/GSFC
manyin@helene.gsfc.nasa.gov            Lab for Atmospheres, Code 912
US: (301) 286-7825                     Greenbelt, Maryland  20771
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
From: cliff@shadow.phys.ucalgary.ca (Cliff Marcellus)
Subject: Re: Frustrated with SGI support..
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 92 17:51:04 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Institute for Space Research
Keywords: Upgrade, Irix, Indigo

In article <BzzAsK.DGq@ccu.umanitoba.ca> ies@access.mbnet.mb.ca (Integrated Engineering Software) writes:
>HI,
>   I am sorry for this posting, but hopefully some SGI staff
>   will notice.
>   We have been trying to get the SGI support to send an
>   invoice to upgrade to Irix 4.0.5. Inspite of repeatedly
>   contacting the SGI represenatatives in Toronto &
>   Winnipeg  a few times we still do not have the invoice.
>
>	Does SGi have a bad track record in these issues.
 [ trimmed ]

 Gee, I've had nothing but splendid service from both the Calgary and
 Toronto SGI offices.  Perhaps your problem is local to the Winnipeg
 office?, or they're suffering a backlog what with it being the Christmas
 season and all...  Perhaps you should ask for a FAXed invoice.  This is
 what I do and the best turnaround I've had has been within the hour and
 the worst was the next day! {-8

Cheers
Cliff
-- 
Cliff Marcellus                       |  Internet : cliff@phys.ucalgary.ca
Department of Physics and Astronomy   |  SPAN     : CANCAL::CLIFF
The University of Calgary             |  Phone    : +1 403 220 7193
OPINIONS EXPRESSED WITHIN ARE MY OWN AND NOT THOSE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi