Subject: Linux-Misc Digest #812
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:     Mon, 14 Mar 94 23:13:16 EST

Linux-Misc Digest #812, Volume #1                Mon, 14 Mar 94 23:13:16 EST

Contents:
  Re: DOOM for X (Amancio Hasty Jr)
  Re: Windows for Workgroups crashes Linux ? (Alan Cox)
  Re: STRAW POLL: Linux groups automonitoring (Ian Jackson)
  Re: MINICOM will not work with my modem 7N1 (John Free)
  *Please* comment on Gateway P4D-66  (486/PCI) (Gisli Ottarsson)
  Re: I'm developing UMSDOS Linux Pkg. (Jacques Gelinas)
  Re: CDROM review/Slackware Q (Alex Freed)
  Re: Version 1.0 (Christopher Joslyn)
  Meta's e-mail address or phone please ? (Roman Yanovsky  roman@btr.com)
  Re: Network support changes? (Andreas Helke)
  #9 GXE Support in svgalib? (James F Small Jr)
  Re: BSD vs. Linux (Michael L. VanLoon)
  Prepare for DOOM (parody) (Jayme)
  Re: bug in out of band TCP (Charles Hedrick)
  Re: Upgradability? (Charles Hedrick)
  Re: "Reverse-engineering" (lilo)
  Re: Sparc vs. 486/Pentium [WAS:Re: Mail Order Linux Workstation Vendors] (Rick Kelly)
  Re: Seeking anecdotes about Linux supported sound cards + tape backups (Nick Vargish)
  Re: BSD vs. Linux (David Holland)
  Re: Panasonic 562-B drivers? (Eberhard Moenkeberg)

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.386bsd.apps
From: hasty@netcom.com (Amancio Hasty Jr)
Subject: Re: DOOM for X
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 07:58:45 GMT

In article <2m0h7a$3ck@u.cc.utah.edu> terry@cs.weber.edu (Terry Lambert) writes:
>In article <SJA.94Mar12174713@gamma.hut.fi> sja@snakemail.hut.fi (Sakari Jalovaara) writes:

>(1)    You can't necessarily map memory from the display adapter
>       directly.  There is often a "window" which you must use to
>       communicate with display memory that would be used instead.
>
Not sure what the above means. It is almost correct. 
In the case of svga, most cards support the concept of banking,
so that a program can map the vga's memory into the user space.
Some support 64k banking or 128k banking at a time. Full addressing
of the card is done by specifying a "vga bank" and the offset
into the start of the vga mapped address. BTW: vga banking 
is not really a standard so it varies from svga implementation
to svga implementation.

The S3 801/982/864/928 as well as a few other vga cards are fully
capable of mapping their entire video ram into the user space;hence,
there is no need for "vga banking". The S3 cards have registers 
which tell the card where to map the video memory to. 

Amancio





-- 
FREE unix, gcc, tcp/ip, X, open-look, interviews, tcl/tk, MIME, midi, sound
at  freebsd.cdrom.com:/pub/FreeBSD
Amancio Hasty,  Consultant |
Home: (415) 495-3046       |  
e-mail hasty@netcom.com    |  ftp-site depository of all my work:    
ahasty@cisco.com           |  sunvis.rtpnc.epa.gov:/pub/386bsd/X

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

From: iiitac@uk.ac.swan.pyr (Alan Cox)
Subject: Re: Windows for Workgroups crashes Linux ?
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 12:39:56 GMT

In article <1994Mar11.220615.9891@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> tmclink@nyx.cs.du.edu (The Toolman) writes:
>kranz@sent3.uni-duisburg.de (Christian Kranz) writes:
>
>
>>We are working with two groups at the same Net. The one group
>>use Unix / Linux with TCP/IP, the others Microsoft Windows 
>>for Workgroups (WfW).
>
>>Every one or two days, the process table in Linux is filled up
>>with rpc.portmap zombies and we have to reboot all Linux machines.
>>The other Unix-machines (NeXT, HP) are stable.
>
>>I suspect but can not prove, that WfW packages are the 
>>cause for this behavior. (We are on a very big net and
>>there can bee many other causes)
>
>>Has someone good or bad experience with WfW and Linux ?
>
>>  Ch. Kranz
>
>If you are using an IBM Network File System (NFS) it is claimed to not be 
>interoperable with Windows for Workgroups.
>

Quite.

Get a non-prehistoric rpc.portmapd. And above all will whoever is still
shipping Linux with the broken portmapper (if anyone) please fix the BSD
signal thing and get the up to date one.

Alan




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

From: iwj@cam-orl.co.uk (Ian Jackson)
Crossposted-To: news.groups,comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.development,comp.os.linux.admin
Subject: Re: STRAW POLL: Linux groups automonitoring
Date: 14 Mar 1994 16:34:49 GMT

Summary:
  I'm going for Subject line tags instead of Keywords lines.
  Please don't vote against the proposal because of technical
   difficulties with the Keywords header.

In article <1994Mar13.175238.15537@cs.cornell.edu>,
Ron "Asbestos" Dippold <voting@qualcomm.com> wrote:
>                       STRAW POLL (Last Call)
>                    Linux groups automonitoring
> PROPOSAL (Ian)
> ...
> It will send email to the posters of any messages which either
>  (a) do not include one of a set or recognised keywords in the
>      Keywords line or
> ...

A number of people have criticised this, saying that
1. newsreaders have a tendency not to pay any attention to Keywords and
2. some posters may have technical problems inserting such headers.

I've therefore been convinced to go for Subject line tags instead, as
are used in several newsgroups.  They often look like this:
  Subject: [keyword] rest of subject line
I'll be happy to see or receive comments on the exact format.

--
Ian Jackson  iwj@cam-orl.co.uk ..!uknet!cam-orl!iwj  These opinions are my own.
2 Lexington Close, Cambridge CB4 3LS.                        + 44 223 575512
Cambridge University Computer Laboratory, New Musems Site.   + 44 223 334676
Email also via: ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu   PGP2 public key available on request

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

From: free@manitou.com (John Free)
Subject: Re: MINICOM will not work with my modem 7N1
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 13:50:55 GMT

dawkins@ems.rz-berlin.mpg.de (Kyle Dawkins) writes:

>In article <1994Mar10.133918.7322@manitou.com> free@manitou.com (John Free) writes:
>>dawkins@sound.rz-berlin.mpg.de (Kyle Dawkins) writes:
>>
>>>Hi there. I just got hold of MINICOM 1.6 and I like it.
>>>The only problem I have is that I cannot get it to work with my
>>>2400 baud GVC (hayes compatible) modem in 7N1 mode: I need to use
>>
>       Sorry, I should have been clearer; I *am* using the dialing directory,
>       but I assume that *it* sends the AT commands to the modem; these are
>       not getting read by the modem if I set MINICOM to 7 bit... nothing
>       works because the modem does not understand... incidentally, the same
>       thing works with Telix under DOS... but kermit under Linux is fine.

Well, hmm. assuming that if kermit works, then your modem IRQ is set up
properly, and assuming that you have uugetty or some compatible getty
on the port so that minicom can share lock files with it (try and see
if 'cu' works). If it just hangs, then you know the problem is in your
getty settup -- there are tons of examples of how to set this up, but
I'd be happy to send you mine (I am using mgetty+sendfax on my Zycel).
Below is my minicom config file which uses 7E1:
======================================================================
pr port             /dev/ttyS2
pu baudrate         38400
pu bits             7
pu parity           E
pu updir            /home/src/Incoming
pu downdir          /home/src/Incoming
-- 
free@Manitou.com (John Free) 40 Manor Rd E., Toronto M4S1P8 tel:416-488-8681
uunet!uunet.ca!opeongo!free

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

From: gisli@timoshenko.eecs.umich.edu (Gisli Ottarsson)
Subject: *Please* comment on Gateway P4D-66  (486/PCI)
Date: 14 Mar 1994 16:40:46 GMT



I have just placed and order for a Gateway P2D-66 and
would sleep a little better if I could resolve a few
iffy areas.  I understand that Gateway is a moving
target so what works this week may not work next week.

Here are some questions:

  o     Are there any problems with the PCI mother-
        board used in this machine?  Does it work
        with Linux?  Would you buy (another) one?

  o     The 2Mb MACH32 video card that comes with the
        PCIs from Gateway uses DRAM.  This had been
        solved for the DRAM VLB-version called ATI CLX 
        a while ago and is supposedly OK in Xfree86 2.1.
        Can I expect to use this card for 1280x1024NI
        @ > 60Hz which is as high as the 17" CrystalScan
        will go?  Does it work at all with Xfree86 2.0?

  o     I've saw one report of problems with the 540Mb
        IDE hard disk available in this machine.  It 
        had something to do with Linux not seeing it.
        Can someone refute or substantiate this?  Is
        the 424Mb a better choice?

  o     Has someone ordered this machine with the Colorado
        Jumbo tape system?  Does it work with Linux and
        if so, at what transfer rate?

  o     My system will have a CD-ROM.  Some kind soul 
        posted info about which CD-ROMs work (according
        to this source Gateway uses three kinds).  I
        have lost this posting.  Any comments here?
        Should I order the Gateway sound card?  Is it
        any good under Linux?

Thanks for any comments.  Needless to say I will post a
summary if any of these things become sufficiently clear.
                                
                                        Gisli

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gisli Ottarsson                                    
Grad Student and a Gentleman                      
                                                   Delenda est Carthago.      
University of Michigan                                   
gisli@umich.edu

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development
From: jack@solucorp.qc.ca (Jacques Gelinas)
Subject: Re: I'm developing UMSDOS Linux Pkg.
Date: Sun, 13 Mar 94 01:21:52 GMT

Sounds like you do something in the line of L.A.D.R (Linux
Advanced Desktop Release) which is the followup to the simple
UMSDOS installation kit. Maybe we may split the job. I am
currently doing experience with the andrew multimedia system.
I hope to provide some sort of embeded help/administration system.
My goal is to cleanup all(most) rough edges in linux. Many are
show stopper for newbie and some experience users. These include
at least:

        swap
        user admin
        printers
        Networking
        Mail
        

In fact, I don't expect to make everything simple, but certainly enough
so a newbie will be able to make some use of linux (and be impressed).

-- 

========================================================
Jacques Gelinas (jacques@solucorp.qc.ca)
Maintainer of US4BINR jacques@us4binr.login.qc.ca

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

From: freed@europa.orion.adobe.com (Alex Freed)
Subject: Re: CDROM review/Slackware Q
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 19:22:08 GMT


>How 'bout a phone number or address for Trans-Ameritech? Sounds like

The email is roman@trans-ameritech.com
phone (408) 727-3883
-- 
 _______________________________________________________
| -Alex Freed (The opinions expressed are my own.       |                   
|               However everyone is entitled to them.)  |                   
| freed@adobe.com                                       |
 -------------------------------------------------------

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

From: joslyn@benji.Colorado.EDU (Christopher Joslyn)
Subject: Re: Version 1.0
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 17:04:05 GMT

In article <1994Mar14.132245.9833@lulea.trab.se>,
Anders Eriksson <anders@lulea.trab.se> wrote:
>A couple of months ago I saw a post about Linux version 1.0 and it said
>something like 'Version 1.0 will be available in about one month, when
>XXX have received sufficent patches for version 0.99 pl 15'. Since then
>I've hurd nothing! What's happening?

Version 1.0 is out as of today.  Checkout sunsite.unc.edu in
/pub/Linux/Incoming/linux-1.0*  Enjoy!

 - Chris
-- 
=====  Purgamentum Init, Exit Purgamentum  ====================================
Christopher M. Joslyn                    |  joslyn@cs.Colorado.EDU
University of Colorado - Boulder         |  Opinions - "I think, therefore
Voice - (303) 492-4932                   |              I disclaim."

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

From: roman@btr (Roman Yanovsky  roman@btr.com)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux
Subject: Meta's e-mail address or phone please ?
Date: 12 Mar 1994 23:33:41 GMT


Could anybody send me the e-mail address or the phone # of the
"meta"  (the net-jourlnal some of you may receive).

I resently lost it due to a disk crash :-(.

Thanks in advance.

Roman.

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

From: andreas@orion.mgen.uni-heidelberg.de (Andreas Helke)
Subject: Re: Network support changes?
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 94 20:39:02 GMT

Ron Smits (ron@draconia.hacktic.nl) wrote:
: Deryk Barker (dbarker@turing.camosun.bc.ca) wrote:

: : Somewhere between pl12 (which I am running now) and pl15 something
: : seems to have changed with regard to ethernet support.

: : I loaded the pl15(g?) kernel, compiled it and booted from floppy.
: : Everything was fine until rc.net, when I got a 'network unreachable
: : error'. By everything I include my ethercard's being correctly
: : identified, IRQ and port address just as before.

: : I posted in comp.linux.help and got mail from several poeople saying
: : they had the same problem and could I let them know what I found. So
: : far I have heard nothing else, except a suggestion to get the latest
: : pl15 or the pre-1.0.

: : So I got the pre-1.0 and guess what - same problem.

: : Some of my students tried to upgrade from pl12 to pl14 and had similar
: : problems. So - has anything in ifconfig or somewhere similar been
: : changed? Anybody any ideas?

: : --
: : Deryk.
: : =================================================================
: : |Deryk Barker, Computer Science Dept.       | Without music, life   |
: : |Camosun College, Victoria, BC, Canada      | would be a mistake    |
: : |email: dbarker@camosun.bc.ca           |                   |
: : |phone: +1 604 370 4452                     | (Friedrich Nietzsche).|
: : =================================================================

: --

: Between pl12 and pre-1.0, the networking material has undergone some heavy
: changes. I suggest you get the net-032 package and install it.
: It solved the problems for me after some midnight sessions

:               Ron Smits
:               ron@draconia.hacktic.nl
:               Ron.Smits@Netherlands.NCR.COM

In the pl10 to pl12 days there were in general obscure hacks necessary to
get the network working. I had the same problem, that the old obscure
network setup did no longer work with pl14, but cleaning it up brought
the connections back. For me the new kernels work together with old
networking binaries, but it might be a good idea to use the new route
binary in nic.funet.fi /usr/OS/Linux/PEOPLE/Linus.

I include the rc.inet1 from debian 0.91 as an example of the new routing
setup. 

#!/bin/sh
# rc.inet1: configure the network interface

# Attach the loopback device
/sbin/ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1
/sbin/route add 127.0.0.1

# Set hostname
/bin/hostname -S

IPADDR="129.206.51.34"  # Your IP address
NETMASK="255.255.255.0" # Your netmask
NETWORK="129.206.51.0"  # Your network address
BROADCAST="129.206.51.255"      # Your broadcast address (blank if none)
GATEWAY="129.206.51.1"  # Your gateway address

/sbin/ifconfig eth0 ${IPADDR} netmask ${NETMASK} broadcast ${BROADCAST}

/sbin/route add ${IPADDR}
/sbin/route add ${NETWORK}
/sbin/route add default gw ${GATEWAY} metric 1
--

Andreas Helke

Institut fuer molekulare Genetik, Universitaet Heidelberg
Im Neuenheimer Feld 230 
69122 Heidelberg

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

From: cavenewt@netcom.com (James F Small Jr)
Subject:  #9 GXE Support in svgalib?
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 17:36:11 GMT


I'm intersted in being able to view true color rendered files inside of
linux.  Now, unless I want to gludge my way through dosemu and give it
acces to video ports. I'll have to write a WORKING S3 driver for svgalib


Has anyone already done this?
Does anyone want to help??
Does anyone know of a way to view true color pictures without having
to reboot linux (WITH a #9 GXE graphics card)



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

From: michaelv@iastate.edu (Michael L. VanLoon)
Crossposted-To: comp.unix.bsd
Subject: Re: BSD vs. Linux
Date: 14 Mar 94 18:38:33 GMT

In <DHOLLAND.94Mar13163925@husc7.harvard.edu> dholland@husc7.harvard.edu (David Holland) writes:


>nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu's message of 11 Mar 1994 18:36:07 GMT said:

> > >Don't forget that a 15 year advantage also means 15 years of
> > >accumulated cruft.
> > 
> > *WRONG*

>Yes, it does. The Ultrix kernel (for example) has all sorts of cruft
>in it associated with supporting obsolete terminal hardware and stuff
>like that. Just for example. Are you going to convince me that BSD
>doesn't suffer from the same sorts of problems? Re(?)-read _The
>Mythical Man-Month_. All large systems eventually end up with lots of
>unnecessary junk.

NetBSD is *not* Ultrix.  While I like Ultrix, it is still heavily
4.2BSD based with extensions to make it 4.3ish.  DEC is not interested
in spending lots of man-hours making it a sleek modern Unix since it
has essentially reached its last version.  Because DEC has no interest
in updating Ultrix has absolutely zero relevance to the quality of
code in NetBSD.

NetBSD has had most of the cruft gutted and has been carfully
realigned with 4.3BSD and BNR2.  (The original 386BSD code was very
crufty, but NetBSD has very little of that code left.)  NetBSD is
currently about half way between 4.3BSD and 4.4.  As soon as 4.4BSD-
lite hits the streets, I'm sure the rest of it will be assimilated as
quickly as possible.

I do not speak for the core team of NetBSD developers.  These are
merely "facts" I've picked up over time as a NetBSD consumer and
contributor.  Corrections to my statements gladly accepted.


-- 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Michael L. VanLoon                 Iowa State University Computation Center
    michaelv@iastate.edu                    Project Vincent Systems Staff
  Free your mind and your machine -- NetBSD free Unix for PC/Mac/Amiga/etc.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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

From: jaymecox@coyote.rain.org (Jayme)
Subject: Prepare for DOOM (parody)
Date: 14 Mar 1994 13:02:54 -0800

        Well, it looks like the Doom port to linux (and quite a few
other Unix's also) is well on it's way. So I thought I'd just get you ready
for it by saying to prepare for at least 100+ articles with such exciting
titles as:

        HELP! DOOM slow over 14.4!!!
        Doom crashes my PPP!
        Doom crashes my SLIP!
        Doom crashes my Xwindows!
        Need XConfig for #9GE for DOOM!
        How to run DOOM over Term?!?
        Doom won't run on SLS1.0
        Doom doesn't work with 0.9.pl10!!! (who cares?!?)
        Doom is k00l!!! Play or Die!!

and many more!  :^)

-- 
JaymeCox@rain.org

"Angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the
 starry dynamo in the machinery of night."  --"Howl" by Allen Ginsberg

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

From: hedrick@farside.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick)
Subject: Re: bug in out of band TCP
Date: 14 Mar 94 18:44:39 GMT

genolini@westminster.ac.uk (Francois Genolini) writes:

>Does someone manage to have out of band TCP messages across ?

Yes, rlogin uses them and it works.  While the Linux implementation of
OOB data is probably not perfect, Linus made some real improvements in
the 0.99pl15 edits.  However there really is no such thing as an out
of band TCP message.  Berkeley has attempted to coerce "urgent data"
into playing this role.  But it's not well suited for it, and there
are going to be glitches if you try to use it in any serious way to
transmit out of band data.  The rlogin protocol is designed in such a
way that it minimizes the damage if some "out of band" data gets lost.
But I definitely wouldn't write any new applications that use this
technique.  If you really want out of band data, open a second network
connection and use that.

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

From: hedrick@farside.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick)
Subject: Re: Upgradability?
Date: 14 Mar 94 18:45:58 GMT

andreas@orion.mgen.uni-heidelberg.de (Andreas Helke) writes:

>BTW the official Linux kernel version 1.0 is out since sunday. Does anyone
>one know what has changed between pre-1 and 1 ?

I looked at diffs.  A very few bug fixes of a very "safe" sort.

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

From: lilo@slip-15-3.ots.utexas.edu (lilo)
Subject: Re: "Reverse-engineering"
Date: 14 Mar 1994 13:08:06 GMT

On Sun, 13 Mar 1994 20:46:56 GMT, Ian Jackson (iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk) wrote:

> >So when can we expect Linux v1.0?

> No more than two months....

Try, "the day you wrote this...."  ;)


lilo

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

Crossposted-To: comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit
From: rmk@rmkhome.com (Rick Kelly)
Subject: Re: Sparc vs. 486/Pentium [WAS:Re: Mail Order Linux Workstation Vendors]
Reply-To: rmk@rmkhome.com (Rick Kelly)
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 12:07:59 GMT

J Rozes (jrozes@allegro.cs.tufts.edu) wrote:
: >>>>> "JOHN" == JOHN FARMER <jfarmer@cs.utk.edu> writes:

: > Ok, now what about us that are looking at machines for other than X workstation
: > usage?  I'm setting up an Internet node where the load is mainly I/O bound
: > and is of more "classic" characteristics.  That is, I'm not really interested
: > in tweaking the fastest screen work out the box, I'm interested in responding
: > to serial and net I/O.  I mean I've got people that are going, "I wnat ISDN
: > to your system, now!"  They will be running the X apps (and Windoze apps, 
: > and Macdonald apps....) and they can worry about tweaking the graphic
: > performance!

: > So tell me, it appears that a 486DX2/66 _in numbers_ will outgun a Sparc 1+
: > or 2.  The Pentium will keep up with the Supersparcs (at least the mid range
: > ones).  Again, according to the _numbers_ (Specmarks, etc).

: > Now, I know that alot of the type of performance I'm interested in is related
: > to the I/O & memory bus's.  Ok, that means EISA/VESA/PCI.  Any performance
: > differences?  There certainly is pricewise!  But the CPU has an impact in the
: > total system performance (I knew that class in computer architecture would 
: > come in handy!).  What will the system _feel_like_ compared to the
: > classic sparcs?

: One thing you should know: Sun is not exactly know for it's I/O performance.
: I use a SparcClassic with 16megs RAM and it feels much slower than a 486/66
: with the same amount of memory in terms of system load. Despite the 16megs,
: the Sparc swaps like mad, even when not running OpenWindows. For the price,
: a 486/66 PCI machine will be your best bet, IMO. Don't forget that Solaris
: exacts a much heavier price on the hardware than Linux. Maybe somebody
: should get some numbers comparing Linux with Solaris x86? I'd be interested
: to see how they compare in practice.

Here is a real world case:

We have 450 to 500 people on site.

We are using a Sun SPARC ELC with 40 megs of memory and 2 gigs of disk.

We are running INN with 3000+ newsgroups.  Feed is by NNTP.  We also feed
some news out by NNTP to one of our European offices, with more to come.

Mail also goes through this system.

There are often 20 users connected to the system with xrn/nntp, and two
other systems running nnmaster point at this machine.

It is a robust, reliable system that chugs along 7 days a week, 24 hours
a day.  It is running SunOS 4.1.3.

You can get SunOS 4.1.3 for the Classic and the LX from Sun.  I have used
a Classic with 4.1.3 and it is quite fast.

I don't feel that Intel PC hardware would be reliable enough to do the
job in this case.

-- 

Rick Kelly  rmk@rmkhome.com  rmk@bedford.progress.com

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

From: vargish@yx.sura.net (Nick Vargish)
Crossposted-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Re: Seeking anecdotes about Linux supported sound cards + tape backups
Date: 14 Mar 1994 19:21:46 GMT

This is potentially flame-bait -- note the crossposting -- but since a
followup post also asked for information, I'll do wind-sprints where
angels fear to tread:

In article <jdlCMMIsC.475@netcom.com>, James D. Levine <jdl@netcom.com> wrote:

>For the sound card, my desire is first to enjoy my new copy of Doom 
>fully, then soon after Linux audio, PC multimedia.  Later than that I 
>want to do some musical composition, and maybe text-to-speech work.

I would unreservedly recommend the Advanced Gravis UltraSound (fondly
known as GUS). First of all, you can get one for less than $120 if you
shop around (less than I paid for my stock SoundBlaster many eons
ago). You can add RAM from _very_ inexpensive sources to bring it up
to 1Meg of RAM (I took RAM off a Trident 8900 videoboard).

Since this isn't really about Linux (yet! *pant* *pant*) See the end
of the article for comments about DOOM!*

The GUS is the premier card for Linux -- native sound support right in
the kernel. I know that other boards have native kernel support, but
none of them offer the quality of the GUS's signal to noise ratio or
clarity of sample replay (8-bit samples sound really good, 16-bit
samples are (very close to) CD quality). Since the GUS does all the
hard work in hardware, playing an 8-voice .mod file only uses about
0.1% of the CPU (less, if it's a long song).

You can't find a better board for .mods at any price, Linux or
DOS. period.

MIDI emulation is "quite good", but I can't comment personally, since
I don't know much about MIDI. The GUS keeps samples ("patches") in
RAM, so any patches you don't like, you can replace. There are a ton
of patches (and .mid songs) at the GUS ftp archives.

I can "cat bondtheme.au > /dev/audio" and it sounds better than it
does on the Sparc2 I use at work. Any text->speech under Linux will
probably be to /dev/audio, so it's up to the software more than the
sound driver to do a good job.  The only package I've heard so far is
primitive, but an admirable solo/first work.

>Tell me if I'm wrong, but it seems the main players are Sound Blaster and 
>Pro Audio.  Which narrows it down to about eight different models.  
>Sound Blaster has to be the most confusing product line I've seen in a 
>long, long time.  I've walked into my local electronics store a number of 
>times with the intention of purchasing a sound card, only to leave all 
>glassy-eyed and confused.  Help, please!

Go with the GUS -- only one model. (The "GUS-max" will be compatible,
backwards and forwards, just like the 16-bit daugherboard.)

Nick Vargish

* Let me tell you about DOOM on a GUS... 31 stereo
panning positions for each of _many_ digital voices at once (you can
edit the default.cfg file and bump the channels setting -- mine's at
12) -- since the mixing is on-board in hardware, it won't slow the
game down at all. The sense of being surrounded is unmatched.

For grins, I ran a long headphone wire out to my living-room amplifier
(110W Infiniti speakers) and cranked up DOOM. I'm surprised the cops
didn't show up after I let go with the shotgun a few times...

Compatibility with other games is getting better all the time, and for
the unusually hairy ones, there's a large GUS community on the
internet that is very helpful.
-- 
 ----------------------     ----------------------     -----------------------
 |.   Nick Vargish   .|     |.     SURAnet      .|     |. O: (301) 982-4600 .|
 |. vargish@sura.net .|     |. systems engineer .|     |. rust never sleeps .|
 ----------------------     ----------------------     -----------------------

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

Crossposted-To: comp.unix.bsd
Subject: Re: BSD vs. Linux
From: dholland@husc7.harvard.edu (David Holland)
Date: 14 Mar 94 16:43:02


sja@snakemail.hut.fi's message of 14 Mar 94 14:43:32 GMT said:

 > Unused hardware can be usually configured out of the kernel.
 > I seriously doubt that whatever unused hardware support remains
 > is going to make a big difference. 

That was just an example. There are all sorts of areas where excess
junk floats in.

Let's see:

 > $ ls -l /linux
 > -rw-r--r--   1 root     root       502276 Apr 25  1993 /linux
 > 
 > # ls -l /netbsd
 > -rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  491594 Feb 28 16:23 /netbsd

caylith# ll /vmlinux
==========   1 kernel   kernel     215556 Mar  4 23:03 /vmlinux

Of course, my kernel is compressed. Maybe yours isn't.

 > As long as kernel sizes are the same within a few hundred kB,
 > the "lots of kernel code for exotic hardware" theory has a
 > definite problem. 

Code size is only part of it. Speed is another part. The memory
requirements of the basic utilities, too. 

When your machine has 4 megs of memory, a "few hundred kB", as you
say, can mean the difference between a minute to compile and ten
minutes thrashing to swap space.

 > > Are you going to convince me that BSD
 > > doesn't suffer from the same sorts of problems?
 > 
 > Probably not.

Oops. I meant to say "are you going to TRY TO convince me..." :-)

As I said before, maybe NetBSD has gone on a diet, but when I went
looking I was told it required a more powerful system than I had,
whereas Linux didn't.

--
   - David A. Holland          | "The right to be heard does not automatically
     dholland@husc.harvard.edu |  include the right to be taken seriously."
   -  -         -         -       -         -  -    -     -        -
 This message shall NOT be quoted or copied out of the electronic medium
 in which it originated without explicit permission from the author. 

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

Date: Fri, 11 Mar 94 22:51:17 +0100
From: Eberhard_Moenkeberg@p27.rollo.central.de (Eberhard Moenkeberg)
Subject: Re: Panasonic 562-B drivers?


Hello JULIAN and all others,

on 09.03.94 JULIAN BOOT, UNI OF QUEENSLAND wrote to All in 
USENET.COMP.OS.LINUX.MISC:

JBUOQ> I am just about to install Linux and was wondering if there are any
JBUOQ> drivers for the Panasonic 562-B CD-ROM drive.  Any info on file name
JBUOQ> and/or FTP site would be appreciated.

Just get the recent kernel (0.99.14x or younger).

Greetings ... Eberhard


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


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