Subject: Linux-Misc Digest #407
From: Digestifier <Linux-Misc-Request@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU>
To: Linux-Misc@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: Linux-Misc@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU
Date:     Fri, 10 Dec 93 15:13:32 EST

Linux-Misc Digest #407, Volume #1                Fri, 10 Dec 93 15:13:32 EST

Contents:
  Re: How to nuke C.O.L without killing C.O.L.* (David Barr)
  [WANTED] Info on CDROM Writers (Peter Galbavy)
  Re: Security (Roger Books)
  Re: Kermit and csh macros for Term (Bill C. Riemers)
  Re: Linux on a Token Ring (Marc ter Horst)
  Does LINUX support Magneto-Optical (MO) drives ? (Sohail M. Parekh)
  Re: Yet another benchmark results.. (Matthew Donadio)
  Linux crashed frequently [HELP] (Jesper Honig Spring)
  GUS Sound Card - Anyone know... (Karl Keyte, ESOC Darmstadt)
  Re: Yet another benchmark results.. (Timothy D. Shoppa x4256)
  Adaptec--1542C--Where to get? (Chuck Meo)
  Re: EXT2FS problems (Eduardo Kaftanski)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: barr@pop.psu.edu (David Barr)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: How to nuke C.O.L without killing C.O.L.*
Date: 10 Dec 1993 15:26:55 GMT

In article <CHs4pH.FyE@icarus.ci.net>,
Michael A. Irons <mirons@icarus.ci.net> wrote:
>option is ... you guessed it 'n' for No you can't post there. Another
>easy way to get rid of it is to just delete the C.O.L line
>altogeather,

Yes, this is the correct thing to do.

>but news will complain when incoming news tries to get
>deposited there.

No problem.  It's a normal occurance in Usenet.

--Dave
-- 
"History is a vast early warning system" - Norman Cousins

------------------------------

From: peter@micromuse.co.uk (Peter Galbavy)
Crossposted-To: alt.cdrom,com.periph.scsi,comp.os.386bsd.misc
Subject: [WANTED] Info on CDROM Writers
Date: 10 Dec 1993 12:36:37 GMT
Reply-To: peter@wonderland.org

(Please note the cross-post list, and my change of Reply-To: header)

Possible FAQ alert - but I don;t know which group :)

Hi all,

I have a requirement for writing CD-ROM's in the next few months. I am
interested on info on the available hardware for this. The software I
will be generating the RRIP format CD's with is Eric Youngdale's
mkisofs (god-sent software !). Thanks Eric.

What I want to know is:

a)      What is available, with contacts, maybe even in the UK :-)
b)      Can I treat this like a write-once optical driver under
        *NIX likes - (NetBSD and Linux specifically), or do I need
        to write/find special adaptations of SCSI drivers (Do NOT
        tell me about DOS drivers please !)
c)      How much !!! Cheaper the better, no frills just hardware.

The ones I have seen info on etc are: JVC (half height, 5 1/4", about
#4000 UK pounds = $7000), and I know Sony, Phillips, Ricoh and Chinnon
are advertised. Which ones are badged versions of the others. Ideally
I would like something like the JVC that can go internal to a PC
cabinet.

Thanks for any info, I will summarise and post if there is anough interest,
-- 
Peter Galbavy                                   work: peter@micromuse.co.uk
+44 81 875 9500                                 home: peter@wonderland.org
===========================================================================
"Bad planning on your part does not constitue an emergency on mine." - 
                                        Please attribute this quote. Thanx.

------------------------------

From: books@mailer.cc.fsu.edu (Roger Books)
Subject: Re: Security
Date: 10 Dec 1993 16:15:13 GMT

Dan Mattrazzo (dcm6986@ritvax.isc.rit.edu) wrote:

:       I think the larger issue of BIOS protection, is just to 
:       understand that with enough time, someone could open the case,
:       disconnect the battery, and the CMOS would be gone (after a hour
:       or two, some less, some more).  Then the person could boot w/o
:       a password.  

You cannot defend your computer from someone that has access to it and
knows hardware and software.  This holds for a PC running Linux to a
workstation running *nix to one running VMS.  I'm not an expert on 
mainframes, but I would be willing to bet it holds there also.  The only
way I know around this might be to encrypt everything on the disk and
have the os decrypt things on the fly with your provided password.  

Roger
--
For e-mail use books@nucmar.physics.fsu.edu
/****************************************************************************
 *             I love my country, but I fear my government.                 *
 *      When guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns.         *
 ****************************************************************************

------------------------------

From: bcr@bohr.physics.purdue.edu (Bill C. Riemers)
Subject: Re: Kermit and csh macros for Term
Date: 10 Dec 93 16:37:39 GMT

In article <2e853j$gnn@klaava.Helsinki.FI> et@madmax.aa.nps.navy.mil writes:
>I have put together some kermit and csh  macros.  With
>them I just click a button from my fvwm menu and  get
>my first trsh prompt.
>
>I really had all kind of difficulties with setting up
>Term and frankly I did not get much help.  I wish
>there were some help from the people who had the
>experience.  I also think these kind of macros make
>life much easier, and should be included in the 
>distribution package.

Hmmm, I don't seem to remember you asking.  But with hundreds of
messages, it is very easy to miss a question...

>THe following is my .kermrc, you need to make
>necessary changes like the phone number, modem init
>commands, the way you connect to the remote site  and
>your PASSWD..

Nice idea, I had been doing this with a seyon script.

>put the following line in your .cshrc file to run
>.trshrc with your trsh's (this works pretty good but I
>am not sure if it is good idea. Since I use  
>"# /bin/csh -f " with all my csh scripts, it does not
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Don't you mean:
"#!/bin/csh -fb"

>cause any problems and does not slow me down.. )

Neet trick, whish I had thought of it.

>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>set trshrc=`ps -u et | grep  -c "term"` ; if ($trshrc != 0) source ~/.trshrc
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

>set ntx=`ps -e | grep  -c "txconn"` ; if ($ntx == 0) txconn

This is going to have to be changed depending on whether the system uses
BSD or SYS V ps syntex.

>The following are  two entries to my .fvwmrc menu 
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Exec  "NPS-term"   exec rxvt -T Term -n Term -e /usr/bin/kermit -C "nps-term" &
>Exec    "Trsh"     exec rxvt -T Trsh -n Trsh -e /usr/local/bin/trsh &
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is my favorites
 Exec "xterm (bohr)" exec trsh -s 'xterm -display bohr:9' &
 Exec "xbiff (bohr)" exec trsh -s 'xbiff -display bohr:9' &
 Exec "Close connection" exec tcsh -c 'echo 00000>/dev/modem;sleep 1;echo 00000>/dev/modem' &

On my remote system I have 00000 aliased to 'echo -n ""'.  It seems the second
00000 is needed locally, but is also passed to the remote machine as a shell
command.

                                        Bill


------------------------------

From: mht@nuclint.nl (Marc ter Horst)
Subject: Re: Linux on a Token Ring
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1993 14:31:58 GMT

In article <2e34ut$na@piston.ecp.fr> adjihc4@cti.ecp.fr (Cedric Adjih) writes:
>From: adjihc4@cti.ecp.fr (Cedric Adjih)
>Subject: Re: Linux on a Token Ring
>Date: 7 Dec 1993 23:51:57 GMT

>Christopher J Bienert (cjbiener@iastate.edu) wrote:
>: I would like to set up a Gateway2000 computer running Linux on a Token Ring.
>: I'll be using a Madge Token Ring card.  Is this possible and if it is, are
>: there any special problems that I should be aware of before starting the
>: project.  Also, I've seen help files for using Linux on an Ethernet network,
>: are there similar files available for Token Ring?  (I've checked out the 
>: ftp sites, but I haven't found anything.)  Thanks in advance.

>  Alas ! There is no Token-Ring driver neither for Linux or for 
>{386|Free|Net}BSD (I suspect there is no source of driver available anywhere),
>the dos drivers (dxma0mod.sys dxmc0mod.sys ...) do not work even under
>DOSEMU, and the Technical Reference Card for IBM adapter costs $$$$.
>  So it seems that the networking part of Linux should stay for a certain
>amount of time a dream, for Token-Ring users :-( 

>(by the way is the Madge card hardware compatible with IBM card ? is there
>any non-IBM card hardware compatible ?)
They have a compatible card range (called True Blue I think), but all the 
smart Type cards aren't. 
If I remember correctly all cards that use the Tropic chipset are IBM 
compatible, that is, essentially every card priced at or below $ 500 US. 
Madge uses a TI chipset in the Smart cards, and does a code download to the 
card adapted to the network os you use (if supported of course :-)). 
Under ms-dos Madge drivers can supply a LLC interface if you need it (a la 
DXMA0MOD.SYS etc.).
You might be able to convince them to get you some programming info, they 
definitely have the know-how. If you're smart you check out the ibmtoken.com
packet driver, it converts token <-> ethernet, that would (hopefully) make 
extensive kernel rewrites unnecessary. 
MADGE UK phone & fax numers : 0494 765651 and 0494 764595 respectively.

Good Luck,  Marc

P.S. I volunteer to beta test if you get anything off the ground
>: -Chris
>: -- 
>: Christopher J Bienert
>: cjbiener@iastate.edu

>--
>Cedric Adjih / Internet : adjihc4@cti.ecp.fr
>Disclamer : concerning my English.

------------------------------

From: sohail@trixie (Sohail M. Parekh)
Subject: Does LINUX support Magneto-Optical (MO) drives ?
Reply-To: sohail@rhonda.jsc.nasa.gov
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1993 17:18:30 GMT

Does LINUX support Magneto-Optical (MO) drives ? I am looking at the
Fugitsu 3.5 inch drive that supports 128M on each drive. I have
read a little bit on the technology and the drive and it looks good. As
you all know MO optical drives are READ/WRITE drives  where the READ/WRITE
access is much slower then a normal magnetic drive but you can you use the
media like normal floppy drives. Although its expensive then DAT Tapes but
the media life is much longer. Any way, the drives provide a standard SCSI
(or SCSI-II) interface.

I have the following questions:

a) Since the drives have standard SCSI interface and will be connected
   to my standard scsi card, do I even need any additional driver support ?

b) How will the MO-floppy change detection will take place ? Is it gonna be
   similar to the way floppy driver detects floppy drive change ?

c) Last but not least, has anyone dared to use these drives on Linux yet ?


Sincerely,

Sohail


--
     Sohail M. Parekh                Grumman  Data Systems
     sohail@rhonda.jsc.nasa.gov      12000 Aerospace Ave. 
     (713) 483-5912                  Houston, TX 77034

------------------------------

From: donadio@mxd120.rh.psu.edu (Matthew Donadio)
Crossposted-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: Yet another benchmark results..
Date: 10 Dec 1993 17:31:40 GMT

J. D. McDonald (mcdonald@aries.scs.uiuc.edu) wrote:
: In article <CHqIHq.9pw@dscomsa.desy.de> kruse@zow.desy.de (Andres Kruse (NIKHEF)) writes:
: >- It is using the time(2) function... check your man pages to 
: >  see what that means...
: Yes, indeed . This means that it measures the ACTUAL time the program takes.
: This is what ACTUALLY MATTERS to the user.

Not really.  I will be the time elapsed since the program began.  Take
two scenerios:

1.  I am running this "benchmark", Crack, a few raytraces, a program
to factor a 100 digit number, and I'm using trying to find all tilde
files on all filesystems.

2.  I only run the "benchmark" on my machine.

Which "benchmark" will run faster?  It will be two.  In the first
scenerio my machine will be swapping something fierce and there will
also be a ton of other disk activity.  Without the "benchmark", the
system load would be somewhere around 6.  If you really want to see
how this program runs on different machines you should use a utility
like time(1) which will measure actual time elapsed, CPU time, and
user time.  Then you only have to take into consideration differences
in compilers, libraries, etc.

--
Beaker aka Matt Donadio   | Life is short,     ---   __ o    __~o    __ o
donadio@mxd120.rh.psu.edu |    ride like    ----    _`\<,   _`\<,   _`\<,
--- Penn State Cycling ---|      the wind.    ---  ( )/( ) ( )/( ) ( )/( )

------------------------------

From: spring@diku.dk (Jesper Honig Spring)
Subject: Linux crashed frequently [HELP]
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1993 16:26:51 GMT


Hello

This problem is very weird. After running Linux for a while
my XMEM window disapears. After that when trying to start any
sessions nothing happens. And also when trying to execute
'ls -AlF' I get an error message which almost sounds like

      Can't find /lib/lib.4.0

.. eventhough the file exists.
Notice; I can't remember the exact error message, but it is
something like this.
Some of the sessions which are running report an error almost
like
         core dumped (file ?????)

Have anyone experienced this?

Please help

Thanks

-- 
===============================================================================
     jesper honig spring                    department of computer science 
         spring@diku.dk                    university of copenhagen, denmark  
===============================================================================

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1993 17:26:08 CET
From: Karl Keyte, ESOC Darmstadt <KKEYTE@ESOC.BITNET>
Subject: GUS Sound Card - Anyone know...

Is anyone out there using the GUS soundcard?  Can anyone tell me
what the Linux support is like?  Does it work in emulation (SB)
mode or do the drivers use it as a real GUS?  Is the support for
thinks like WAV, /dev/audio, etc. in for the GUS?

Any other comment, experiences, information, etc. would be
greatfully received.

Thanks for your time & help.


------------------------------

From: shoppa@almach.caltech.edu (Timothy D. Shoppa x4256)
Crossposted-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.os.vms,comp.benchmarks,relcom.talk,relcom.fido.su.general
Subject: Re: Yet another benchmark results..
Date: 10 Dec 1993 09:25 PST

In article <2ea5jd$8mn@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>, walk@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (Todd Walk) writes...
>viznyuk@mps.ohio-state.edu (Dragon Fly) writes:
> 
>>    Notwithstanding possible critique from alleged
>>computer specialists the insightful observer might note
>>that the "benchmark" code is pretty typical for scientific
>>calculations. Whatever other merits the system might have,
>>if it's dragging its feet on this test it means the system
>>from the point of view of consumer [insightful observer] is
>>a crap. As many insightful observers probably have already
>>noticed, the crap is being limited mainly to two mainstreams:
>>SUN Sparcs and DECs running VMS.
> 
>Well I'm not an "alleged computer specialists", I'm a PhD.
>candidate at UTK, and I'm in agreement with the others that
>say that your benchmark is "crap".

I wouldn't go this far.  The "benchmark" tests exactly what it looks
like - the ability of the c math library to do sin, cos, exp, and log.

I would violently disagree with the originator of the benchmark that
this is "typical for scientific calculations", of course.  No calculation
I know of does only transcendental functions.  The vast majority of
the cpu time I use is spent doing matrix algebra.  This benchmark
tells you nothing about the speed of doing this.
Perhaps a high school student would propose that sin, exp,
and log are "typical" of scientific computation, but that would only be
because these are buttons on his calculator that do "scientific" functions.

The allegation that the wall time is what matters only shows that the person
proposing the use of wall times has never even been involved with serious
scientific computation. 

The observation that the "crap" is predominately "SUN Sparcs and DECs
running VMS" is the STUPIDEST thing I've ever heard.  The originator
of the benchmark doesn't know the simplest thing about benchmarking if
he compares the wall time of poorly specified CPU's with an unspecified
number of users and jobs and an unspecified operating system and an unspecified
amount of memory.  You can get any number you want by loading the system
down, changing the priority of the process, etc.  

It's about as useful as comparing the 0-60 time of a
"Volkswagon" in unspecified traffic with the 0-60 time of a "Ford"
in unspecified traffic.  You'll obviously get different numbers
depending on if you have an old Volkswagon Microbus competing agains a
Taurus SHO, or if you have a Volkswagon Jetta going against a model T.
And depending on the traffic, the situation could be again reversed.
The variation in CPU speed between different VAX 3100 models is actually
*much* greater than the performance difference between a Model T and
the Taurus SHO, as a matter of fact.


> 
>Inaccuarate benchmarking is easy.
>Accuarate benchmarking is something that the Federal Government
>spends millions of $$$ on for grants to university professors
>who then work for YEARS refining test suites.
> 
>(At UTK here Jack Dongarra does a lot of work on benchmark programs,
>esp. Linpack.  He's one of those million $$$ professors.
>Take a good look a Linpack and then compare it to your little
>code blurb, then if you're still interrested come back
>with a new, more reasonable program.)

Linpack is the standard used in my circle for benchmarks, too.
I don't think it says anything about math library functions, though.
(I could stand corrected on this point.  The only Linpack benchmarks
I regularly see are the matrix ones - are there special function ones as
well?  I kind of doubt it, considering what Linpack was written for.)

Some computer systems do have crippled math libraries.  In particular,
our Alpha's ( OSF 1.2 ) have a FORTRAN exp function that runs 30 times
slower doing single precision exp than double precision exp.  Our benchmarks
didn't show this, because they were all double precision.  We were
extremely confused when a particular code, that did do a good number of
single precision exp calls, ran slower on our Alpha's than our old
VAXen.  Modifying the calls to be all double precision sped things
back up to our expectations!  

                                Tim (shoppa@altair.krl.caltech.edu)

------------------------------

From: meo@solbourne.com (Chuck Meo)
Subject: Adaptec--1542C--Where to get?
Date: 10 Dec 1993 10:28:25 -0700

It looks to me like this controller is the way to go. Does anyone care
to suggest what a reasonable price to pay for this thing might be and
where?

Either Denver area or mail order.

Chuk
-- 
lifefollowsartfollowslifefollowsartfollowslifefollowsartfollowslifefollowsartfol
and then there's reruns

------------------------------

From: ekaftan@ing.puc.cl (Eduardo Kaftanski)
Subject: Re: EXT2FS problems
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1993 17:59:01 GMT

In article <2e61cb$rqd@osceola.cs.ucf.edu>, Trenton Tuggle <tuggle@sg4> wrote:
>hey,
>
>I've also experienced some problems with Ext 2.  I'm not sure
>whether or not it was caused by a hardware problem, but I
>doubt it.  Everything runs fine in DOS.
[lots deleted]

        OK, I had the same problems, including the sporadic corruption of
the filesystem. My problem was a faulty SIMM. I was using non-parity SIMMs with
my machine (and still do!) so a bad chip wen't undetected. Everything worked under DOS because only the first 640K were used and they were good ones.

Hope it helps.



------------------------------


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