Subject: Linux-Misc Digest #887
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, 28 Mar 94 08:13:09 EST

Linux-Misc Digest #887, Volume #1                Mon, 28 Mar 94 08:13:09 EST

Contents:
  Re: STRAW POLL RESULT: Linux groups automonitoring (David Dyer-Bennet)
  DEC pcs and S3 805 - Xconfigs? (Ivan Griffin)
  Does Linux handle IDE drives over 1024 cylinders? (Joe Pannon)

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Crossposted-To: news.groups
From: ddb@terrabit.uucp (David Dyer-Bennet)
Subject: Re: STRAW POLL RESULT: Linux groups automonitoring
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 1994 06:59:28 GMT

byron@cc.gatech.edu (Byron A Jeff) writes:

>In article <1994Mar27.051510.538@terrabit.uucp>,
>David Dyer-Bennet <ddb@terrabit.uucp> wrote:
>>byron@cc.gatech.edu (Byron A Jeff) writes:
>>>Look. It's an unmoderated newsgroup. That means there should be no 
>>>repercussions to what I post other than folks ignoring it. 
>>
>>This has never been true in the history of usenet.  Your post always
>>has repercussions.  People read it and respond.  Most of the responses
>>come via email.  What's the big deal?

>The big deal is that the first is from actual human beings whose responses
>are solicited. In addition the human people respond about the content
>of the message and not its structure. The auto mail is unsolicited, automatic
>and gives no info about the content of what I'm posting. So why exactly
>am I supposed to like this?

Have you been around Usenet long?  Responses from humans primarily or
exclusively about the form, rather than the content, of a post are
quite common.  I've received some, and sent some, over the years.  And
the auto mail may well give information relevant to the contents of
the posting which triggered it; as I understand it it will include
pointers to the faqs and such.  If the poster doesn't know about them,
this will help.

>>>Putting an automatic program that tells act like Miss Manners
>>>infringes on my ability to post to an unmoderated, unrestricted
>>>newsgroup.
>>
>>I certainly hope so.  That's the whole point -- to influence people's
>>behavior by a mechanism less heavy-handed than moderation.

>I say it's more heavyhanded than moderation because a) posters to an
>unmoderated newsgroup certainly do not expect unsolicited auto posts.
>b) the poster does not get any choice about the form of their posting.

Let me get this straight; A message suggesting you post in a different
form is *MORE* heavy-handed than rejecting your message outright?  I
think we're going to have to agree to differ on this one.  At least, I
can't imagine how I could ever come to share your opinion.  You're
welcome to a piece of mine if you change your mind in the future.

And since when does the poster get no choice about the form of his
posting?  My postings, over the last 13 years, have pretty routinely
come out in the form I put them in.

>>>I'll keep shouting: CREATE A MODERATED NEWSGROUP WITH ALL THE
>>>KEYWORD, TAGS WHATEVER RESTRICTIONS YOU WANT IN THE CHARTER! LET
>>>PEOPLE CHOOSE FOR THEMSELVES WHERE AND HOW THEY WANT TO POST! STOP
>>>TREATING US LIKE 3 YEAR-OLD!

>>Stop behaving like a three-year old.  You're clearly having a tantrum.

>Yes. It was about 4 in the morning and I was clearly tired when I wrote it.
>My apologies. However I must point out that you're acting just like the
>autodaemon that Ian's proposing: you commented on the form of my "tantrum"
>and not it's content.

Yes, I did.  I think I've kept reasonably close to addressing the
content of your message more than the form in general.  The specific
paragraph (mostly caps) seemed to me to have rather more form than
content, and I responded to that portion.  

In some sense this whole debate is about form, not substance.  Many of
us are suggesting that if the form is set up correctly, we see no need
for strong controls on substance; the form will allow us to find the
parts we're interested in and cheaply skip the rest.  

Didn't this start as a proposal to avoid the "draconian" step of
moderation?  I'm somewhat amused at the number of people saying that
this is wrong, but real moderation would be right.  

I'd be perfectly happy with the parallel moderated group, except
perhaps for the delay in setting it up.  I'm inclined to continue the
argument, since I still fail to comprehend the other side.  While I
can't always come to *agreement* with people, I really do like to at
least come to understand their position before giving up.  We could,
of course, continue arguing the principles while setting up either
group. 

A couple of us seem to be trying to start a discussion of what
keywords would be useful.  This seems relevant both to Ian's proposal
and to a new moderated group.  Also, the points raised in that
discussion seem likely to be relevant in shaping people's opinions of
how well this idea would really work for filtering the news flow.  I
hope that discussion proceeds productively.

-- 
David Dyer-Bennet, proprietor, The Terraboard            4242 Minnehaha Ave. S.
ddb@network.com, haapi.mn.org!terrabit                    Minneapolis, MN 55406
Don't waste your time arguing about allocating blame;           +1-612-721-8800
There'll be enough to go around.                            Fax +1-612-724-3314

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

From: griffini@ul.ie (Ivan Griffin)
Subject: DEC pcs and S3 805 - Xconfigs?
Date: 28 Mar 1994 05:19:01 -0600

I am having major problems getting a working Xconfig file for my
DEC LPx's...

It works fine using the mono X server but I really would like it
to work in colour.  I have 1Mb Video Ram, and XFree86 2.1 installed.

Could anyone with a working setup possible e-mail me their xconfig file?
Thanks in advance,

Ivan Griffin.

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

From: danubius@coho.halcyon.com (Joe Pannon)
Subject: Does Linux handle IDE drives over 1024 cylinders?
Date: 28 Mar 1994 10:54:40 GMT


I've just installed the SlackWare 1.2.0 distribution on my new 540MB
Western Digital IDE HD and noticed some strange "disagreement" between
the OS/2 FDISKPM and Linux fdisk programs.

I use this HD as the 2nd drive, housing OS/2 on drive D: with 127 MB
allocated to it.  The rest of the space is dedicated to Linux root and
swap partitions.

This HD can be configured with up to 1048 cylinders, but because of the
BIOS and DOS limits, I chose to use the 1024-cyl. configuration.  Under
this setup, the total HD capacity went down to some 504 MB and in the
OS/2 FDISKPM I allocated the last 12 MB of that for the swap partition.
The remaining 374MB went for root which was also added to the OS/2 boot
manager.

So far so good.  The surprise came when I ran the Linux fdisk during the
SlackWare installation.  That fdisk showed my root partion ending cylinder
to be almost the last "legal" one (1023!), and the swap partition
essentially taking up the rest of the HD up to cyl. 1048!  The fdisk did
give me a warning message that the logical and physical ending cylinders
for the swap partitions differed, but otherwise seemed to accept it OK.

What my question is then: does Linux handle cylinder numbers above 1024
and if so, should I have upped the cylinder number to that limit in the
fdisk advanced (x) option?  Would that have any adverse effect to my
other op. systems had I done so?

Right now everything looks fine, but I wonder if it will be when I really
get into a swapping situation.  If it will be OK then, too, then I
actually gained in the size of both my root and swap partitions compared
to the size I allocated by FDISKPM.  ... and at least those extra 24
cylinders don't go to waste.

I wonder if anybody has any experience with this kind of situation.

Thanks,
Joe Pannon

P.S.:
BTW, this new SlackWare 1.2.0 color installation program is something
else!  It made the whole installation a child's play compared to what one
had to go through with SLS over a year ago.  Oh, and that ftape, too!
Finally a means for tape backup with those QIC-80 drives running off the
floppy controller!  Many thanks to those who are responsible for such fine
piece of work!

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


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