HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: lfm@pgroup.com (Larry Meadows)
Subject: Disk/tape duplication hardware/software
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 20:35:20 GMT
Organization: The Portland Group, Portland, OR

Does anyone know of a source of disk duplications drivers with sun drivers
(if needed) for SCSI?  I'm looking for highly reliable, fast drives, probably
for QIC-24, QIC-150, 3.5" HD, and 5.25" HD.  There are a number of fast
disk duplicators available, but I really need something that lets me make
lots of DIFFERENT things from master copies residing on a hard disk.  I
would also like something that will format disk as it goes, with simultaneous
transfer to both disks (i.e., say create a 1.44MB disk in <30 seconds).
Tape speed is less important.  However, reliability and verification is
very important.

Thanks.
-- 
Larry Meadows		The Portland Group
lfm@pgroup.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: rmilner@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (Ruth Milner)
Subject: Re: Trouble with CD
Reply-To: rmilner@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (Ruth Milner)
Organization: National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro NM
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 20:28:28 GMT

In article <1992Nov11.040902.27947@spock.UUCP> jburne@spock.uucp (John Burnette) writes:
>
>Our CD drive suddenly doesn't want to respond (sr0 isn't 
>recognized as valid device.)  SCSI setting is 5.          

Check your kernel. The SunOS default for sr0 is SCSI ID 6. If your drive
*used* to work at ID 5, it means you had a custom kernel which has now been
replaced.

Either that, or someone changed the ID of the CD (or something broke somewhere
so it doesn't read it correctly).
-- 
Ruth Milner                          NRAO/VLA                  Socorro NM
Computing Division Head      rmilner@zia.aoc.nrao.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: ckd@eff.org (Christopher Davis)
Subject: Re: NFS Performance?
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation Tech Central
	<15439@auspex-gw.auspex.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 02:11:26 GMT

Guy> == Guy Harris <guy@Auspex.COM> 

 Guy> on the BSD file system, "create", "unlink", etc. are to be thought
 Guy> of as write requests, as they involve writes to the disk, and
 Guy> those writes are done synchronously (even if the requests *don't*
 Guy> come from NFS).

This means that rm, especially rm -r, performance is much greater with a
PrestoServe installed.  This may or may not be construed as a feature
(especially if you tend to forget what directory you're in when you're
running as root :).

(But it does mean that if you have PrestoServe on your news machine,
expire will probably run much, MUCH faster...)
--
Christopher K. Davis      | ``Usenet seems to run much like the Kif (or,
<ckd@eff.org>   EFF #14   |   for the TV generation, Klingon) high command.
System Administrator, EFF |   Whoever takes action and can be heard wins.''
+1 617 864 0665  [CKD1]   |   --Peter da Silva <peter@ferranti.com>
From: matt@centerline.com (Matt Landau)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
Subject: Re: How does the new 2000+MIP Sun server compare against a Cray/XMP?
Date: 13 Nov 1992 16:57:40 GMT
Organization: CenterLine Software, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: 140.239.1.32

In <1e0f40INN65d@milk.Warren.MENTORG.COM> tal@plts.uucp writes:

>Another difference is that you can buy a Cray today.

Yeah, I was pretty surprised when I read the fine print of the announcement
and found that the 20-processor version of the SparcCenter-2000 was slated
for delivery "2H93".  In other words, Sun preannounced the high-end of the 
product line something like a year in advance.  

Gee, I used to work for a company whose hardware division did that with 
its new products (long before the products actually existed -- I wonder 
how many processors they've got working in the biggest *existing* version
of the SparcCenter-2000).  

Now the hardware division of that company doesn't exist anymore.  It's not 
that I expect Sun to fade away and close its doors or anything, but it's 
more than a little depressing to see Sun adoping the IBM/DEC strategy of 
announcing machines months or years before they are actually known to work.
From: lupe@ukw.uucp (Lupe Christoph)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
Subject: Re: Who makes differential SCSI adapters for sbus ?
Keywords: scsi differential
Date: 8 Nov 92 21:38:19 GMT
Distribution: comp.sys.sun.hardware
Organization: cic

john@conexch.uucp (John Falkenthal) writes:

>Are there any vendors who make differential SCSI adapters for suns ??  
>All I have been able to find, are the common single-ended variety.
>BTW, I am interested in SCSI-I, not SCSI-II.

Tell me what you *mean* with SCSI-I. Connectors? A board incabable
of running in Fast Mode? Lack of a common command standard?
I see no reason why you would want to buy something that is
outdated.

If you can live with SCSI-2 hardware, you can buy from Sun
(DSBE, Differential SCSI + Buffered Ethernet). I don't know
about the availability of this board. It has been announced
few days ago.

The other manufactourer of differential host adapter I'm aware
of is Performance Technology. Look at the SBS430-D.
Here are the contact details from one of PTI's announcements:

Contact: Don Turrell
Performance Technologies, Incorporated
Computer Products Division
315 Science Parkway
Rochester, NY  14620  U.S.A.

Tel: (716) 256-0200
Fax: (716) 256-0791
Internet: wpg@pt.com
-- 
| ...!unido!ukw!lupe  (German EUNet, "bang")     |  Disclaimer:            |
| lupe@ukw.UUCP       (German EUNet, domain)     |  As I am self-employed, |
| suninfo!alanya!lupe (Sun Germany)              |  this *is* the opinion  |
| Res non sunt complicanda praeter necessitatem. |  of my employer.        |
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: beaulieu@bose.com (Larry Beaulieu)
Subject: Re: SPARCClassic
Organization: Bose Corporation
	<rhoward.721487512@matd>
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 14:31:22 GMT

In article <rhoward.721487512@matd> rhoward@matd.gatech.edu (Robert L. Howard) writes:

>   Also interestingly, the OS does NOT come pre-loaded.  Since 2.1
>   contains "Jump-start" which is supposed to be so easy (you can

	Sun figured out that most people reload the O/S anyways
	as soon as they get a workstation instead of using the
	preloaded O/S.  'Jump-start' is supposed to make it
	easier by using pre-defined configurations.  It also
	is supposed to support the ability to select which version
	of the O/S you want to load (Solaris 2.x).  The configuration
	files are intended to define a class of machine which you
	create.  There is also a mechanism to allow you to customize
	the installation process (create mount points, copy your rc.local,
	etc.).
		
	The overall result is similar to using a clone disk, but
	with the added capability of allowing you to choose which
	version of the operating system you want to load on
	the new system (and of course you don't have to create
	a clone disk).  Speed is about the same as loading the
	O/S over the network.

--



--
Larry Beaulieu			beaulieu@bose.com
Bose Corporation		Phone: 508-879-1916 x6479
Framingham, MA 01701-9168	FAX:   508-820-4865	

		All flames gleefully ignored.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: corporon@wizard.helios.nd.edu (phillip corporon)
Subject: Micropolis 1558 Jumper Settings
Organization: OUC, University of Notre Dame
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 14:44:22 GMT

I need the proper jumper settings for a Micropolis 1558-15 when
installed in a Sun Shoebox.  I'm replacing my 1355 with a 1558.
The 1558 is the only hard drive in the system and the shoebox
has a 60MB tape.
The jumper are as follows:
     W1    Hard/Soft Sector Option
     W2    \
     W3     } Default Sector Configuration
     W4    /
     W5    Spindal Control Option
     DA1   \
     DA2    } Drive Selection
     DA3   /
Thanks...Phil.

 ********************************************************************
    Phillip G. Corporon - Computer, Electronic & Network Specialist
    Department of Computer Science and Engineering              
    University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN 46556
     internet..: phil@cse.nd.edu         Voice.: 219/239-5893  
     applelink.: A0393                   Fax...: 219/239-8007  
     bitnet....: f3pb88@irishmvs.bitnet
 ********************************************************************


Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: mfr@Informatik.Uni-Bremen.DE. (Michael Froehlich)
Subject: Re: SPARCClassic
Reply-To: mfr@Informatik.Uni-Bremen.DE.
Organization: University of Bremen, Germany
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 11:15:03 GMT

In article 721487512@matd, rhoward@matd.gatech.edu (Robert L. Howard) writes:
>mfr@Informatik.Uni-Bremen.DE. (Michael Froehlich) writes:
>>There is no "academic price" :-(.  We have to pay the same price as everyone.
>
>Not so, there is academic pricing.  It won't be 35-40% off, more like
>20%.  Check with your sales-type...

Yep, your right. 20%. That's the number I've heard from SUN yesterday (Wednesday).
But we have to wait until Friday for the details. My first informations came from
the announcement last Thuesday.

Michael

---
	Dipl.-Inform. Michael Froehlich
	University of Bremen - Department of Computer Science
	PO-Box 330440, W-2800 Bremen 33, Germany
	Tel.: 	x49 421 218-4228
	e-mail: mfr@Informatik.Uni-Bremen.DE
				
I'm a recycled .signature virus. The characters of my source code
are 100% extracted from old foolish articles.

Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: corporon@wizard.helios.nd.edu (phillip corporon)
Subject: Re: Sun is violating the Ethernet-Spec with its
Organization: OUC, University of Notre Dame
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 13:44:46 GMT

In article <1992Nov4.165432.4917@news.duc.auburn.edu> elling@eng.auburn.edu writes:
>In article 6670@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE, bartel@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE (Elmar Bartel) writes:
>>
>>Hi folks,
>>This are bad news. 
>>
>>If you happen to administer a network with more then 30 or 50
>>suns (ie SparcI, SLC) on one ethernet segment, you will probably
>>observe an abnormal high collision rate.
>[description deleted]
>
>I run several networks this size and don't see significant collision
>rates.  Since Elmar doesn't describe the physical implementation of
>his ethernet, his detailed description doesn't really help describe
>the problem.  It may also lead to widespread panic and unwarranted
>finger pointing.
>
>Elmar, are you measuring the voltages on the AUI side or the trunk 
>side of the transceiver?
>
>Are you using thin net (10base2)?  If so, the limit is 200 meters
>of cable with no more than 30 nodes.  There are many bad things that
>happen to thin net that can cause severe collision problems.
>
>Rule #1 for ethernets, turn off SQE.  I know of no hardware made in a
>*long* time that needs SQE.  Unfortunately, many vendors ship ethernet
>transceivers with SQE enabled.  If you have SQE enabled, the transceiver
>can put extra junk on the trunk that may contribute to collisions.
>
>---
> Richard Elling                          Manager of Network Support
> Auburn University                       Engineering Administration
> richard.elling@eng.auburn.edu   KB4HB [44.100.0.72]  (205)844-2280
>

With respect to SQE, IBM Xstations, at least the 130, *do* require
SQE when booting remotely.  If there is a valid work around this I'd
be interested in hearing about it.  Thanks...Phil.
 ********************************************************************
    Phillip G. Corporon - Computer, Electronic & Network Specialist
    Department of Computer Science and Engineering              
    University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN 46556
     internet..: phil@cse.nd.edu         Voice.: (219) 239-5893  
     applelink.: A0393                   Fax...: (219) 239-8007  
     bitnet....: f3pb88@irishmvs.bitnet
 ********************************************************************
From: psanders@everest.srd.bt.co.uk (Paul Sanders)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.hardware
Subject: Re: SPARCClassic
Date: 11 Nov 92 09:15:30 GMT
Reply-To: psanders@srd.bt.co.uk
Organization: British Telecom

From article <1dpbvnINN1j5@almaak.usc.edu>, by ajayshah@almaak.usc.edu (Ajay Shah):
> harthc@ntmtv.UUCP (Howard Hart) writes:
> 
>>Just caught the official announcement this morning. $3995 for
>>a 15 inch color, 200MB SPARC (Tsunami). Did I just hear
>>a collective heart attack at Intel and Microsoft?
> 
> I'm a bit puzzled (only read wall street jnl so far).
> 
> The price is $4k "in qtys of 12+".  Does that mean the list price
> is $4.5k or so?  What would the academic price be?  ($4k with 40% off
> would be quite attractive at $2400).
> 
> I don't like the 15" color screen -- would have far preferred a bigger
> mono screen.  I do nothing with colour :-(
> Is there a 17+" mono option to replace the 15"?  (Is the ELC still
> what it used to be?)
> 
> Is Solaris 2 now standard with all these systems?

At a pre-announcement briefing I attended we were told that the new machines
would ship with Solaris 2.1 and, furthermore, would be incapable of running
4.1.x. 

Paul.
--
   Paul Sanders      psanders@srd.bt.co.uk		Tel: +44 473 645716
     Software Research, BT Laboratories, Martlesham Heath IPSWICH IP5 7RE
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.admin
From: fornax@opal.cs.tu-berlin.de (Rolf Dietze)
Subject: pcnfs: help with "rtm"
Keywords: rtm prevents local printing?
Organization: Techn. University of Berlin, Germany
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 20:25:40 GMT

Hi, I am running a pc with pcnfs4.0 as a "network-terminal" and "printer-spooler":} 
in a sun-workstation based environment.

My problem is, that if I start "rtm" on the pc I can use the pc-printer from the net,
but I am unable to print locally. If I do not start "rtm" I can use the printer locally
(meaning to use it from the pc), of course no use over the net.
I am pretty sure it is due to a configuration error , but I don't see what it it could be
If someone has any idea please let me now.

btw: the pc is some 386-flavor with dos4.1 and mswindows3.1

thanks, rolf
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.admin
From: carl@montebello.ecom.unimelb.EDU.AU (Carl Brewer)
Subject: Re: The case of the symbolic link traversal in 4.1.3
Organization: Dept. Engineering Computer Resources, Melbourne Uni.
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 13:51:07 GMT

In article <1992Nov4.143520.22406@newsgate.sps.mot.com> mario@wdc.sps.mot.com (Mario Nigrovic) writes:
>In article <398@ftms.UUCP>, brown@ftms.UUCP (Vidiot) writes:
>|> 
>|> Over the weekend I upgraded a bunch of our SPARCstations to 4.1.3, from 4.1.1
>|> and 4.1.2.
>|> 
>|> In the past, if one did a 'ls -lga dir_name' and the dir_name was a symbolic
>|> link, one could see the contents of the linked directory by appending / to
>|> the end and doing ls again (ls -lga dir_name/).  Used to work great.  Now
>|> 4.1.3 comes along and still only reports the link.
>|> 
>|> Why the Hell did Sun change ls so that it doesn't work the same as it used to?
>|> It came in very handy to be able to traverse the link by adding a / to the path.
>|> 
>|> It doesn't matter if I use zsh or csh, it don't work.
>|> 
>|> How do I get the old method back???????  Don't say to use the -L option to ls
>|> either.  If I have that as part of my alias, then I will never know if it is
>|> a link or not.  Is there a patch to restore it the way it shoudl be?
>|> 
>|> Thanks.
>|> 
>|> (Yes, I'm pissed :-)
>
>I know it's a kludge, but how about ls -l dir_name/. ?
>
>Seems silly for sun to have made that particular change, but maybe there were some
>other ramifications of the old style?  (Like "Won't work in Solaris2.0"?)
>
>Anyone out there have any more input?


maybe their phasing in sys V ....

blergghhh ...


>
>
>							Mario
>
>Mario Nigrovic <mario@wdc.sps.mot.com>		voice: (602) 821-4264
>Motorola Western MCU Design Center		fax:   (602) 821-4058
>*  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -*-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  *
>Turnaucka's Law:
>	The attention span of a computer is only as long as its
>	electrical cord.
>*  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -*-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  *


-- 
 Annal  Natrach, Usthvah Spethed,         carl@ecr.mu.oz.au (IRC: Bleve)
 Dochoel Dienve                           carl@munagin.ee.mu.oz.au
					  carl@montebello.ecom.unimelb.EDU.AU
 Merlin, where are you?  Call your dragon, to weave a mist...
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.admin
From: guy@Auspex.COM (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.admin
Subject: Re: what is prestoserve??
Date: 5 Nov 92 05:15:49 GMT
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara

>I am not sure at what level the write caching is done in the PrestoServe, but
>in an Auspex file server, their SPIII option which has a similar battery
>backed write cache feature, even if your NFS write mix is not high, the write
>cache can have a dramatic impact on total throughput. In the Auspex, the write
>cache is done at a very low level, caching ALL disk writes.

It's done the same way in Prestoserve (we shamelessly stole the idea,
although not the implementation, from Legato :-)).

In case some readers don't know why a non-volatile RAM option stuck
between the file system and disk can speed up stuff other than NFS
writes, remember that *all* NFS operations are supposed to be done
synchronously (yes, Vernon, I know; calm down :-)), not just writes, and
that many NFS operations other than write do writes to the disk -
create, remove, create directory, rename, etc..

Those operations can also be sped up by a non-volatile RAM option, at
least in file systems such as the BSD file system, because in those file
systems, operations that update file system control information are
often done with synchronous writes, to ensure that they're done in a
particular order.  That's done to minimize the extent to which the
on-disk data structures can be in an inconsistent state at any point
during the operation, in order to reduce the chances that "fsck" will
find a *really* messed-up file system requiring a human to decide what
to do to fix it.

If "synchronous" means "wait until the data's been written to
non-volatile RAM" rather than "wait until the data's been written to
disk", the wait can be shorter.  (Yes, if it has to write out a block
from the non-volatile RAM in order to make room for the new data, it
won't be; as far as I know - no, I haven't looked at our code lately,
nor do I remember what the Prestoserve code does - writes aren't
buffered up until somebody needs the buffer, but are done "in the
background", so that you don't always stall out waiting for the disk. 
If you're familiar with the way memory subsystems work on, say, modern
fast microprocessors, think of it as being more like a very large write
buffer rather than like a write-back cache.)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.admin
From: ckd@eff.org (Christopher Davis)
Subject: Re: Strange MOTD
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation Tech Central
	<TOMA.92Nov12192857@db.TC.Cornell.EDU>
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 03:04:28 GMT

Rory> == Rory Toma <toma@db.TC.Cornell.EDU> 

 Rory> Perhaps deleting this [chmod 666 /etc/motd in /etc/rc.local], and
 Rory> doing a chmod 400 on /etc/motd would keep /etc/mtab out?

Perhaps.  It also would tend to defeat the purpose of the motd :)
--
Christopher K. Davis      | ``Usenet seems to run much like the Kif (or,
<ckd@eff.org>   EFF #14   |   for the TV generation, Klingon) high command.
System Administrator, EFF |   Whoever takes action and can be heard wins.''
+1 617 864 0665  [CKD1]   |   --Peter da Silva <peter@ferranti.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.admin
From: vic@cd.com (Vic Serbe)
Subject: can't bar/tar across ether from floppy??
Organization: Central Data Corp., Champaign, IL
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 15:23:14 GMT

I can bar/tar from machine a to machine b if the bar/tar file is on
the hard disk, but I get directory checksum errors from tar and bad
header messages from bar. What's the deal??? I use the command below:

rsh -n othermachine dd if=/dev/rfd0  bs=20b  |  tar tvBfb  - 20

I've tried different blocking factors, rfd0c, bar, tar,... no friggin'
luck. *HELP*.

--
Vic Serbe	"Makers of the scsiTerminal Server"
Central Data scsiSupport | PH# (800) 482-0315 x237 |
vics@cd.com		 |     (217) 359-8010 x237 |
uunet!cendata!vics	 | FAX (217) 359-6904	   |
From: doug@foxtrot.ccmrc.ucsb.edu (Douglas Scott)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.admin
Subject: OS 4.1 1 GB disk limit caused by faulty format.dat only??
Date: 10 Nov 92 17:21:23 GMT
Reply-To: doug@foxtrot.ccmrc.ucsb.edu
Distribution: usa

The README file for the Sun patch that fixes the bug limiting disk formatting  
size to under 1 GB indicates that, for a Sun 4, all that needs to be replaced  
is the /etc/format.dat file -- no rebuilding of the kernel is necesary:

> B) FOR SUN4 :
> 
>  If customer' system has 4.1.1 installed and NOT 4.1.1RevB, copy
> the format.dat file . As root
> 
> cp sun4/format.dat /etc/format.dat
> 
> There is no need to remake the kernel in a sun4 architecture.

Our system is a Sun 4/330 running "SunOS Release 4.1_PSR_A".  I would prefer to  
just fix this bug rather than upgrading to 4.2.  Could someone verify that  
simply replacing the /etc/format.dat file on this kind of system allows you to  
correctly format and use larger disks?

Thanks!

--
Douglas Scott                              (805)893-8352
Center for Computer Music Research and Composition
University of California, Santa Barbara
Internet: (NeXTMail ok)   <doug@foxtrot.ccmrc.ucsb.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.admin,comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: sma@disney.com (Steve Acheson)
Subject: Help with diskLESS nodes, 2 3/60s off a 4/110.
Summary: 3/60s dont get their IP address from the 4/110.
Keywords: Help, no boot, sigh.
Organization: Walt Disney Imagineering
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 01:19:02 GMT

OK, I setup a small net with a SUN 4/110 and two 3/60s.  The 3/60s are
diskless (No disks at all) and they are supposed to boot from the 4/110.

Obviously they are not.  I have set up the files necessary, ethers, hosts,
etc. The rarpd and bootparamd are running.  The client directories are
setup and the /tftpboot is correctly configured with their hex IP address
boot files.  tftpd is listening under inetd.  The client software was
installed from CD-ROM (4.1.1) with add_service, and setup with add_client.


With all of that checked and re-checked, the 3/60s don't even get an IP
address.  I have run etherfind on the 4/110 to see what is coming across
the wire, and the machines are RARPing for their address, and the address
checks out in the ethers file.  I don't have any other ethernet devices to
put on the net, so I can't check to see if the SUN is responding.

The response from etherfind is that it has received an old style broadcast,
is what you would expect from a SUN.  But I don't think the 4/110 is 
responding to the 3/60s.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I realize that it
is probably something stupid, but it has been five years since I setup
diskless 3/60s.  So I'll plead temporary stupidity.  

Thanks,

Steve