HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: pfenning@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de (Joerg-Thomas Pfenning)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc,comp.unix.sysv386
Subject: Re: My disk is faster than your disk (was Re: New viking sparc processor?)
Date: 15 Apr 92 17:24:13 GMT
Organization: Universitaet Bielefeld, Technische Fakultaet.

In article <hue.703187870@coney>, hue@island.COM (Pond Scum) writes:
|> cpcahil@virtech.uucp (Conor P. Cahill) writes:
|> >jim@ferkel.ucsb.edu (Jim Lick) writes:
|> >>>    # time dd if=/dev/rsd0b of=/dev/null bs=10240k count=1
|> >>>	   10.5 real         0.0 user         2.2 sys  
|> >on a 486/33 EISA system with light load:
|> >	   12.0 real         0.0 user         0.6 sys
|> 
|> coney# /bin/time dd if=/dev/rsd3c of=/dev/null bs=10240k count=1
|> 1+0 records in
|> 1+0 records out
|> 	4.4 real         0.0 user         1.0 sys  
|> 
Tests like the above are not useful to show anything. It's a bit like the
much loved saxerdisk benchmark which couples linearly on the available
buffer space. If you perform the above test on a DECstation you will see
fairly good result with a fast disk, but if you run anything through the
filesystem code, the I/O is limited by this code and you won't go any faster
than a bit above 1MB/s with Ultrix up to 4.2A. 

From my poor knowledge a good disk I/O benchmark named bonnie was written
by Tim Bray. It does not bypass the filesystem code does some clever things
to average out buffercache effects. And most important in environments
where the pure data rate is not relevant (NFS!) it checks for the transaction
rate of the disk subsystem. 

I would like to see data of this benchmark for the UNIX's on Intel platforms.
We tried BSD4.3 on top of mach2.5 on a 33MHz 486 with an Adaptec
SCSI-controller and the results were clearly unacceptable.
-- 
Postal: Thomas Pfenning, University of Bielefeld, Technical Computer Science
        Universitaetsstr. 25, W 4800 Bielefeld 1, Germany
E-Mail: pfenning@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de
Phone:  +49 521 106 2918
Fax:    +49 521 106 6328
From: merlin@neuro.usc.edu (merlin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: Re: I/O bottlenecks (was Re: New viking sparc processor?)
Date: 10 Apr 1992 20:11:57 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: neuro.usc.edu

In article <1992Apr11.000639.16964@wsrcc.com> wolfgang@wsrcc.com (Wolfgang S. Rupprecht) writes:
#cpcahil@virtech.uucp (Conor P. Cahill) writes:
#>I'm sure they also blew away your 486 system at home with respect to cost.
#
#Oh?  How much does a 486PC with a 1152x900 pixel display *and* a full
#development Unix license cost?  Last time I looked seriously (2 years
#ago) it was much more than one has to spend for a bottom-of-the-line
#Sun.

No one is offering inexpensive 1152 x 900 pixels for PC's (the MATROX
board which does something like this is about $3,000).  But I do a lot
of three dimensional image processing -- and it's a bit of a squeeze
-- but I can live with 1024 x 768 if it's dedicated to my use -- and
doesn't have to be shared with other users.

#Remember the I/O bottleneck problem is not limited to the disks.  It
#is the same bus as the ethernet card, video card are on.  For example,
#xsetroot with a 1/4 screen (400x600) image took 3.5 minutes when I
#tried it.  Using a non-stipple root window is a test of patience on a
#PC.  Copying files over the net is *slow*.  I recall 66k bytes/sec was
#just about all I could squeeze out of the net.  Thats for data that
#was in core.  Its slower if one has to get it from disk.

Try getting a decent ethernet card (i.e. wd8003ebt / wd8013ebt) with
at least two NFS packets worth of on board buffer.  The 3c501's with
no on board buffer are slow as mud and miss a lot of packets.  But a
decent ethernet card will vastly improve your ethernet performance.
Also, get a coprocessed video card (i.e. ATI Graphics Vantage) and a
X11 server which exploits the coprocessor.  The SCO X11R4 paints 256
colormapped root window in a small fraction of a second on a Vantage
via a WD8003e on a 386SX-25.  

Something (probably ethernet hardware and video card choice -- maybe 
some tuning parameters [i.e. for the wd8003e you must set wsize=4096 
and rsize=4096 on NFS mount requests or the more common 8192 byte NFS 
packets will overrun the low end WD8xxx card's buffer]) went wrong
with your benchmark.  Even low end 386SX's with low end ethernet will
do at least three orders of magnitude better than your measurement.
From: farber@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Henry Farber)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: What printer for a Sparcstation?
Date: 6 Apr 92 22:02:43 GMT
Article-I.D.: Princeto.1992Apr6.220243.19373
Organization: Princeton University
Originator: news@ernie.Princeton.EDU

I am about to buy my first Sparcstation (an IPX), and I am confused about
printers.  Currently, I use an HP laserjet II on my 486 machine running
system V unix.  I know this printer will work with the Sparc, but will
it be slow through the serial port?  Is there a reliable way to get a
faster (parallel) connection to the printer?

What is the story on the Sparc printer?  It seems to be relatively fast but
dumb.  Is the Newsprint software any good.  What about postscript and
other (HP?) compatibility?   Will sun soak me on for the disposables
(toner, etc.)?

Someone suggested an Apple laserwriter.  How can I hook that to the
Sparcstation.  Is it a serial device?  Is the link fast enough?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Hank Farber
farber@princeton.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
From: zaval@athena.mit.edu (Antonis)
Subject: vmunix: HW cursor rop err 1! What?
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 00:41:21 GMT


The title says it all. Could a kind soul out there explain to me, what does:
"vmunix: HW cursor rop err 1" mean? This error has appeared repeatedly 
on our Sun4/70.

Thanks

Antonis (zaval@athena.mit.edu or zaval@prager.mit.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
From: jim@ferkel.ucsb.edu (Jim Lick)
Subject: Re: New viking sparc processor?
Organization: University of California, Santa Barbara
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 09:36:06 GMT

In <1992Apr6.234647.3669@raid.dell.com> sblair@upurbmw.dell.com (Steven C. Blair "Unix Network Services") writes:
>>    Any real operating system is going to live or die by the disk
>> transfer rate.  Even with a super cache controller card, the PC
>> disk transfer rate can at best be about 1/5 as fast as the Sparc. I 
>> don't care how fast the 586 is, PC will still be a piece of sh*t unless
>> they do something about their bus.
>> 
>> -Anthony

>bzzt, but thanks for playing. you really shot yourself, because the disks
>in MANY workstations, as well as PC's are the same ones. From the same
>vendors. Gee, that means that there is the potential for them to run
>at the same rate. 

Go back an read what he said.  He was complaining about BUS, not the DISK.
Maybe you can explain why disk access on my 486 system is much slower than
the SAME drive in a Sun 4/330 system?

>I've run logic/VHDL simulations on a SS2, 64MB RAM, 2x650MB SCSI, and a
>486-50 with 64MB RAM, 2x650MB SCSI, and guess what, the Intel beats
>the SPARC in 90% of the tests.

And presumably doesn't need to swap much, especially with 64 megs memory.
On many systems, there is a significant amount of swapping, so disk transfer
speed is very important.  Memory is cheap, but not matter how much you have,
you'll always want to run something bigger.

>Bus is the only effective issue, and with most w/s's running at 32Mhz
>on their bus'es, then what is the difference in EISA running at 33Mhz ??

Yes, this would be significant.  However, ISA motherboards are still the
rule in the PC compatible market.  Nevertheless, I do plan on upgrading
to EISA one of these days.

The fact of the matter though is that there is a lot about PC compatible
systems which go against high performance computing.  The standard bus
is terrible, many boards can't have more than 16 megs memory because of
the stupid DMA.  You gotta have that hole in the 640-1024k area so that
it will be PC compatible.  The SVGA standard has terrible performance on
graphics.  There are solutions to these problems, but many vendors are
only interested in supporting what is standard.  Until this changes, and
until the user's attitude that CPU speed is all that matters changes, it
will be hard for the 386 and 486 systems to be taken seriously in the
workstation world.

>*DON'T CONTINUES THIS DISCUSSION HERE*.

Eh?  Why not?

                            Jim Lick		       
Work: University of California	| Play: 6657 El Colegio #24
      Santa Barbara		|       Isla Vista, CA 93117-4280
      Dept. of Mechanical Engr. |	(805) 968-0189 voice/msg
      2311 Engr II Building     | "when you gonna make up your mind?
      (805) 893-4113            |  when you gonna love you as much
      jim@ferkel.ucsb.edu	|  as i do?" -Tori Amos
From: paul%oberon@econ.yale.edu (Paul McGuire)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: Re: OW3.0 - spider program
Date: 11 Apr 92 18:35:32 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.1992Apr11.183532.4618
Organization: Economics Department, Yale University, New haven, CT.
Originator: paul@oberon.econ.yale.edu

In article <1992Apr11.100420.28865@ukw.uucp> lupe@ukw.uucp (Lupe Christoph) writes:
>se@comp.lancs.ac.uk (Steve Elliott) writes:
>
>>In the demo directory of OW 3.0 there is a program
>>called spider.
>>It is a card game for one, using 2 packs.
>>Can anyone enlighten me with the rules of this game?
>>I've managed a score of 257 out of 1000 without
>>knowing how I did it!
>
>I suggest you use the "Help" button, the second button
>from the right. It will pop up a window with buttons
>for all the help sections.

I'd suggest that you not use help since I had fun working out the
rules and how to win by what it would let me do.  After all, real
computer wienies don't read documentation.  I've been
addicted ever since.  My help button is grayed out anyway.

Paul McGuire
Yale Economic Growth Center
From: wolfgang@wsrcc.com (Wolfgang S. Rupprecht)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: Re: Voice over IP and/or OSI?
Keywords: software voice ethernet IP OSI
Date: 11 Apr 92 00:09:06 GMT
Organization: W S Rupprecht Computer Consulting, Fremont CA

johnson@trwacs.fp.trw.com (Steve Johnson) writes:
>Am looking for information on software/hardware to allow voice transmission
>over IP and/or OSI stacks.  Please post or mail direct.  Thanks in advance.

cat /dev/audio | rsh 'cat > /dev/audio'

(It works fine on this Sun SLC.)

-wolfgang
-- 
Wolfgang Rupprecht    wolfgang@wsrcc.com (or) wsrcc!wolfgang
Snail Mail:           39469 Gallaudet Drive, Fremont, CA 94538-4511
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc,comp.lang.c
From: kherron@ms.uky.edu (Kenneth Herron)
Subject: Re: Why aren't my floats passing as doubles?
Distribution: na
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 02:17:59 GMT
Organization: University Of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences
X-Bytes: 

lmb@netcom.com (Larry Blair) writes:

>I'm using Sun's ANSI C compiler on a SS2 under SunOS 4.1.1.

If you use new-style function declarations (ie, prototypes), then
a parameter declared as a float will actually be passed as a float.
If you want a double, declare the function to take a double.  The same
goes for char/short/int/long, and it also applies to function return
values.
-- 
Kenneth Herron                                       kherron@ms.uky.edu
University of Kentucky                                  +1 606 257 2975
Department of Mathematics
                                              Flame early, flame often.
From: templ@inf.ethz.ch (Josef Templ)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: how to generate shared objects libraries ?
Date: 17 Apr 92 11:41:19 GMT
Organization: Dept. Informatik, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)


Could anybody give me a hint how to generate shared object ibraries (.so)?
"man ld" explains only how to use .so libraries, but not how to generate them.
Is there any documentation about the linking stuff beside "man ld" ?

Any comments are welcome.
- Josef Templ
From: pbh@jake.cc.wayne.edu (Patrick Haggood)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: News Suns this year?
Date: 6 Apr 92 15:06:07 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.1992Apr6.150607.6380
Organization: Wayne State University, Detroit
Originator: pbh@jake

Grapevine has it that Sun will be introducing a color Sparc at $5000 
to compete with the new Decstation, while lowering the price for the SS2
to compete against the faster Rs6000.  Anyone know when and the 
details of these machines? 
-- 
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net," | DoD #1966	
	Matthew 13:47                              | 81 Honda CB400T Hawk
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
From: vijay@iti.gov.sg (Vijay Shah)
Subject: Re: reading hp9000 tar tape on sun
Keywords: tar tape hp
Reply-To: vijay@iti.gov.sg (Vijay Shah)
Organization: Information Technology Institute, National Computer Board, Singapore
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 06:02:19 GMT


[ First posting to net - please excuse errors. ]

HP uses preformatted cartridge tapes (formatted at the factory by 3M) which
means that certain markers have been placed on the tape media magnetically.
HP is the only major vendor I know of that uses this standard. If you write on
one of these tapes in a standard Sun cartridge tape drive or degauss the tape
the formatting will be lost and the tape will be unusable on HPs forever more.

If you stick a Sun-usable tape in a HP drive, the tape may unspool. Don't do it.

So how do you move data from HP to Sun?
1) Use compatible tape drives as suggested by another reader.
2) Use comm facilities (ethernet, serial lines).
Don't know any other ways.

We have HPs and Suns here on the same network. Lotsa folks who know us keep
making use of us to do exactly this task. So here is option 3:
3) Find friendly folk to do it for you.

NB information about tape compatibilities are recollections of an article
in some HP pub that went into gory details about tape standards, their meanings
and the messy effects of ignoring these.
From: azoun@cormyr.att.com (Joe Preiser)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: Re: OW3.0 - spider program
Date: 13 Apr 92 17:58:49 GMT
Article-I.D.: cbnewsd.1992Apr13.175849.2016
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville

In article <1992Apr13.093918.29717@comp.lancs.ac.uk> se@comp.lancs.ac.uk (Steve Elliott) writes:
>In article <1992Apr11.183532.4618@news.yale.edu> paul%oberon@econ.yale.edu (Paul McGuire) writes:
>>In article <1992Apr11.100420.28865@ukw.uucp> lupe@ukw.uucp (Lupe Christoph) writes:
>>>se@comp.lancs.ac.uk (Steve Elliott) writes:
>>>
>>>>In the demo directory of OW 3.0 there is a program
>>>>called spider.
>>>>Can anyone enlighten me with the rules of this game?
>>>
>>>I suggest you use the "Help" button, the second button
>>>from the right. It will pop up a window with buttons
>>>for all the help sections.
>>
>>I'd suggest that you not use help since I had fun working out the
>>rules and how to win by what it would let me do.  After all, real
>>computer wienies don't read documentation.  I've been
>>addicted ever since.  My help button is grayed out anyway.
>>Paul McGuire
>
>Like Paul, my help button is grayed out too. Why do you think
>I asked the net  for help?
>Anyway, thanks to all those people who sent me mail.
>
>Steve
>

I sent email on this, but it appears relevant to the Net.

I found that the directory set for help (at least in OW2.0) is wrong by
default.  In the properties section under File you can change the path
to the correct Spider help directory.  I set the path to
/usr/openwin/lib/help/spider and then apply the changes.  The Help
button will then be active.

This change will only affect the current game and will be reset to the
default the next that Spider is run.

Does anyone know how to change this permanently?

					Joe
-- 
 Joe Preiser					AT&T Bell Laboratories
 azoun@cormyr.att.com				Room IH 6G-329	
 cormyr!azoun					2000 N. Naperville Rd.
 (708) 979-4152					Naperville, IL 60566
From: smith@acpy01.att.com (Bob Smith (CXNIXPT1))
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.apps
Subject: Re: reading DOS diskettes (softpc)
Date: 10 Apr 92 15:33:02 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T IMS - Piscataway, NJ (USA)

In article <ku99mtINN224@needmore.cs.utexas.edu> scheng@cs.utexas.edu (Sheila Cheng) writes:
>Hi,
>
>I am looking for software to read/write DOS formatted diskettes
>from/to Sparc2.  Someone told me something about softpc.
>How do I get a copy of it ?  
>
>Sheila

I use a set of utilities called 'mtools' that works well on the Sun.
These were posted not long ago on the net.
I think a copy resides on the OSU archive machine.

Bob Smith
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.apps
From: eric@pencom.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.apps
Subject: Using somehting other than crt1.0
Date: 14 Apr 92 17:04:25 GMT
Organization: Pencom Software

How do I use a module other than crt1.o for the first
module used with ld.
From: brown@ftms.UUCP (Vidiot)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.apps
Subject: Re: reading DOS diskettes (softpc)
Date: 15 Apr 92 19:51:39 GMT
Article-I.D.: ftms.159
Reply-To: brown@ftms.UUCP (Vidiot)
Organization: Vidiot's Other Hangout

In article <9712@s3.ireq.hydro.qc.ca> robin@fractal.ireq-num writes:
<In article 7436@zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu, jadkins@iceberg..mps.ohio-state.edu (Jeff Adkins) writes:
<>In article <ku99mtINN224@needmore.cs.utexas.edu> scheng@cs.utexas.edu (Sheila Cheng) writes:
<>>Hi,
<>>
<>>I am looking for software to read/write DOS formatted diskettes
<>>from/to Sparc2.  Someone told me something about softpc.
<>>How do I get a copy of it ?  
<>>
<>>Sheila
<>
<>SoftPc is a product for Macintosh.  It allows Macs to read MS-DOS disks.  If there is a version for the Sun, I would be intrested in knowing.
<>
<>Jeff
<
<Yes, there is a version for the Sun.  It costs approximately $500 and could
<run in VGA mode.  You have nearly a 286/7 PC on your Sun.

If you are running SunOS 4.1.1 and later (it could be 4.1), you have all the
tools that you need to read/write MS-DOS 3.5" floppies on a SPARCstation 2.
You need to be root though.

The tools that can be added to your system so that non-root personnel can
access MS-DOS diskettes is a suite of software called mtools.  It is
available for ftp access from a few places and anonuucp access from uunet.

We distribute mtools to our customers (yes, free of charge).
-- 
harvard\
  ucbvax!uwvax!astroatc!ftms!brown  or  uu2.psi.com!ftms!brown
rutgers/
INTERNET: brown@wi.extrel.com  or  ftms!brown%astroatc.UUCP@cs.wisc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.apps
From: blight@eeserv.ee.umanitoba.ca (David C Blight)
Subject: Re: Enabling accounting in NeWSprint 1.0
Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 15:47:10 GMT

brown@ftms.UUCP (Vidiot) writes:

>In article <SETZER.92Apr6143424@math.ncsu.edu> setzer@math.ncsu.edu (William Setzer) writes:
><I have a couple of SPARCprinters running NeWSprint 1.0.  I've been
><trying to get the accounting stuff to work, but haven't even gotten
><close.  Has anyone else gotten NeWSprint to "account"?  I'm beginning
><believe that it never had, never will.  (Everything seems to revolve
><around the undocumented program `psof_rd' and the undocumented file
><`job.data'.  I have `af=/var/spool/sparc/acct' in printcap, and the
><file exists, owned by daemon, but it never grows.)

>No accounting until you upgrade to NeWSprint 2.0.
>-- 
With some modifications to some newsprint files it
is possible to get a accounting info. Instructions
are available by anonymous ftp from
ftp.ee.umanitoba.ca in /pub/sparcprinter/sparcprinter_fix.tar.Z

--
David C Blight                               blight@ee.umanitoba.ca
Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering  (204) 474-6758          
University of Manitoba                       (204) 261-4639 (FAX)
Canada
From: wimsey@milton.u.washington.edu (Andrew Creighton)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.apps
Subject: Looking for outliner
Keywords: outliner
Date: 10 Apr 92 17:18:24 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Apr10.171824.13394
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

Does anyone know of an outlining program/utility for OpenWindows,
similar to the many such programs that run on Macs and PCs?
Thanks.

Andrew Creighton
wimsey@milton.u.washington.edu
Xref: sparky comp.sys.sun.apps:759 comp.sys.sun.admin:2546
From: dug@athena.cs.uga.edu (Douglas Brown)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.apps,comp.sys.sun.admin
Subject: Re: CorelDraw for Unix Tektronics driver.
Date: 16 Apr 92 13:28:52 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens

In article <1992Apr14.231541.8223@cunews.carleton.ca> rjkoop@sebastian.carleton.ca (rjkoop) writes:
>We just got CorelDraw! for Unix on our Sparc 2s.  We have a Tektronics
>colour printer.  CorelDraw! provides support for only Postscript printers
>and HP PCL printers.  How can I get the Tektronics to work with CoreDraw?
>Do I have to write a filter to translate Postscript into the Tektronics
>printer language?  If so how?

CorelDraw does support the Tektronix Phaser III.  There are a series of *.pan 
files that help "emulate" certain printers.  The support file for the
Tektronix is TEK-4693.pan what you need to do is this.  Go to your Corel
directory then issue the following command:

  % rm CORELDRW.ink
  % cp TEK-4693.pan CORELDRW.ink

By the way, if you ever want to return the original CORELDRW.ink file, it
is saved as CMYK-150.pan in that same directory.

All of this is documented in the Technical Reference manual that came with
Corel Draw for unix.  Page 59 in the section labelled *.pan files.

We've been using Corel Draw with our Phaser III for about 3 1/2 months now
and the output is SUPERB! Of course don't forget that you can change the
output of the Tektronix with the Postscript files that come with it, and
sometimes true blues don't print correctly, but that can be easily fixed
by reading the documentation on Tektronix.

I hope this helps...


Dug
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.apps
From: optdes@alaska.caedm.byu.edu (Alan Parkinson)
Subject: Motif to Openlook 2.0 -- Window title Problems
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 92 12:30:11 MDT
Distribution: world
Organization: Brigham Young University, Provo UT USA
Keywords: olwm Openlook Motif
Originator: optdes@alaska.caedm.byu.edu


We are trying to get our Motif 1.1 application to run under Openlook 2.0.
All of our windows use an XmDialogShell and do not communicate properly with
the OLWM.  Through the use of XChangeProperties we have been able to
modify the decorations of the OLWM but when we remove the close box from
the decorations the window title disappears.  Upon resizing the window
the title appears to be justified more to the right than centered.  Does anyone know of a way to fix this problem without changing the shell class.  Any advice
would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

Brandon W. Busacker
GUI Developer -- Design Synthesis, Inc.
Brigham Young University
From: andrewm@assip.csasyd.oz.au (Andrew  Moffat)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.apps
Subject: SPARCWorks/Ada
Keywords: release date
Date: 16 Apr 92 01:51:53 GMT

We are getting conflicting stories about whether or not SPARCWorks/Ada 1.1
has actually been released or not. Has anyone seen or heard anything
about this product? Can you confirm what its actual FCS date was/is?


Thanks,


Andrew.

-- 
-----------------------------
Andrew Moffat,				E-mail: andrewm@assip.csasyd.oz.au
Systems Administrator,
ASSIP, CSA, Sydney.			Phone:  +61 2 901-1226
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.apps