Linux-Hardware Digest #972, Volume #9 Fri, 9 Apr 99 00:13:30 EDT
Contents:
Re: SCSI Tape drive, Linux ??? Info where ??? (Michael Meissner)
Re: Partition-table problem on my 1st harddisk (Wilhelm Wienemann)
Re: All the current OSes are idiotic (was Re: Is Windows for idiots?) (jedi)
PEL 1600 not working (Robodog)
Trouble installing XFree 3.3.3.1 (please help) (MoguI 55)
Current status of Adaptec RAIDport ARO-1130 card support for Linux? (Michael Hucka)
US Robotics 56K External Fax Modem ("Al")
Medium Error (Tom Ryan)
Re: Is this a Win Modem? (Andrew Comech)
Re: KDE Question (G O Economou)
FLOPPY cannot be accessed with SuSE 6.0 (Jean-Jacques GOLAY)
Re: Any reason to avoid VAResearch or Penguin Computing? (Michael Hucka)
Zoom ISDN adapter (patrick wong)
Any reason to avoid VAResearch or Penguin Computing? (Rodney Clang)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: SCSI Tape drive, Linux ??? Info where ???
From: Michael Meissner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 08 Apr 1999 19:29:45 -0400
"Richard F. Jr." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> I have bin trying to track information down on SCSI Tape drives for
> Linux for some time
> and all I keep getting is FTape < BLAAA
>
> So some one PLEASE tell me where to get GOOD info on SCSI Tape drive in
> Linux ?
> I run SuSE Linux 6.0 - kernel 2.2.5 ...
In a nutshell, you write to /dev/st<n> or /dev/nst<n> (where <n> is 0 for the
first scsi tape drive, 1 is for the second scsi tape drive, etc) is the
device. The /dev/st<n> device rewinds automatically when closed, the
/dev/nst<n> device does not (so if you want to put more than one dump on a
tape, you use the non-rewinding device). The mt program allows you to control
the tape, but the 0.5 version of mt is broken if you use the -f option and set
a numeric argument, so either upgrade to 0.5b, downgrade to 0.4, or set the
TAPE environment variable and don't use -f. Default block sizes (for DATs at
least) are 512 bytes. Common mt operations include:
mt -f /dev/nst0 setblk 0 /* set variable blocks */
mt -f /dev/nst0 setblk 8192 /* set 8k fixed size blocks */
mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind /* rewind tape */
mt -f /dev/nst0 offline /* eject tape */
mt -f /dev/nst0 rewoffl /* rewind + eject tape */
mt -f /dev/nst0 compression 0 /* turn off hardware compression */
mt -f /dev/nst0 compression 1 /* turn on hardware compression */
mt -f /dev/nst0 fsf 1 /* skip to beg. of next tape record */
mt -f /dev/nst0 status /* report current status */
Note, 2.2.x kernels changed things so if you are reading multiple tape records,
it leaves the tape at the end of the last block in the current record, while
2.0.x positions it to the first block of the next tape record (which is better
IMHO). Also 2.2.x really, really wants tapes blocked approprately.
Debian has a program called buffer, which speeds up tape writes/reads (though I
seem to get hangs with buffer when I try to read blocks > 8k and hardware
compression is on).
Maximum blocksize in the kernel is 32k without changing the source.
I tend to do backups as:
mt -f /dev/nst0 setblk 8182
find <disk> -xdev -depth -print | \
cpio -C 8192 -o -H crc | \
buffer -B -t -p 75 -s 8192 -o /dev/nst0
but you might want to look at other backup packages (kbackup, rhbackup, dump,
etc.).
--
Michael Meissner, Cygnus Solutions
PO Box 98, Ayer Massachusetts, USA 01432-0098
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Wilhelm Wienemann)
Subject: Re: Partition-table problem on my 1st harddisk
Date: 8 Apr 1999 23:28:52 +0200
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Wilhelm Wienemann)
Hello Jim!
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> informed
comp.os.linux.hardware with the following:
> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Wilhelm Wienemann) wrote:
> > After adding a new 10GB harddisk (2nd Slot as slave) and reboot the
> > system I got a problem with the first (oldest) 850MB harddisk (1st
> > Slot as Master) which I use to boot all my (4) systems.
> >
> > Now the linux 'fdisk -l' will show me the logical geometry of
> > my first harddisk:
> > -----------------------> cut here <------------------------ -
> >
> > Disk /dev/hda: 32 heads, 63 sectors, 825 cylinders
> > Units = cylinders of 2016 * 512 bytes
> >
> > Device Boot Begin Start End Blocks Id System
> > /dev/hda1 * 1 1 407 410224+ 6 DOS 16-bit >=32M
> > /dev/hda2 408 408 825 421344 5 Extended
> > /dev/hda5 408 408 509 102784+ 6 DOS 16-bit >=32M
> > /dev/hda6 * 510 510 591 82624+ 83 Linux native
> > /dev/hda7 * 592 592 660 69520+ 83 Linux native
> > /dev/hda8 * 661 661 747 87664+ 83 Linux native
> > /dev/hda9 * 748 748 825 78592+ 83 Linux native
> > Warning: invalid flag 0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite)
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > -----------------------> cut here <------------------------ -
> >
> > Unfortunately I can't correct the warning message from the partition
> > table with neither 'fdisk /dev/hda' and 'w'-(rite) nor with another
> > method.
> >
> > If I reboot, the system will show me 'Disk read failure'. :-(((
> > So I can only boot my system(s) with a boot/root-disk but that isn't
> > what I want.
> >
> > How can I correct the partition table to make it clean from
> > the invalid flag?
> > What's the meaning of '...partition table 4...' in the message above?
>
> Wilhelm,
>
> I assume the new disk is an UDMA disk.
Sorry, but what's a UDMA disk? I've never heard such a definition.
Here is what the boot-messages are telling:
=======================> cut here <======================== =
hdd: IBM-DTTA-351010, 9671MB w/466kB Cache, CHS=19650/16/63
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
hdd: hdd1 < hdd5 hdd6 hdd7 hdd8 hdd9 hdd10 hdd11 hdd12 hdd13 >
================================================================
Disk /dev/hdd: 16 heads, 63 sectors, 19650 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 bytes
Device Boot Begin Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdd1 1 1 19650 9903568+ 5 Extended
/dev/hdd5 * 1 1 8127 4095945 83 Linux native
/dev/hdd6 7168 8128 10159 1024096+ 83 Linux native
/dev/hdd7 9216 10160 11175 512032+ 83 Linux native
/dev/hdd8 10240 11176 12191 512032+ 83 Linux native
/dev/hdd9 11264 12192 12452 131512+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hdd10 * 12288 12453 15500 1536160+ 83 Linux native
/dev/hdd11 15360 15501 17126 819472+ 83 Linux native
/dev/hdd12 16384 17127 18142 512032+ 83 Linux native
/dev/hdd13 17408 18143 19650 760000+ 83 Linux native
=======================> cut here <======================== =
> In that case there may be a conflict between the system bios and the
> translation table for the new drive.
The partition table isn't translatet from physical to logical.
So, there isn't a translation table for this harddisk.
bye - Wilhelm
--
>>>>>>>>> Wilhelm Wienemann, Amselweg 10, D-47546 Kalkar/Germany <<<<<<<<<
==========>>>>> E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <<<<<===========
"And since you are the future keepers of everything, including music, we
hope you will keep it well, with love, and in joy." (Frederick Fennell)
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (jedi)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy
Subject: Re: All the current OSes are idiotic (was Re: Is Windows for idiots?)
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 18:14:32 -0700
On 8 Apr 1999 01:03:16 GMT, Steffen Kluge <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
>jedi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> vi certainly isn't necessary either.
>
>What do you mean, vi isn't necessary...
>Now you really start to scare me.
>;-)
My alma mater poisoned me forever... '-)
--
"I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die |||
while you discuss this invasion in committe." / | \
In search of sane PPP docs? Try http://penguin.lvcm.com
------------------------------
From: Robodog <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: PEL 1600 not working
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 22:37:19 -0400
I am trying to install starbuck (Redhat 5.9) on my system and am not
able
to get the 152x driver to recognize my board I have tried both autoprobe
and send the module arguments in the form =0x340,11,7,1 which is from
the
source for the 152x and the cd-r howto but this does not help, I have
checked to make sure there are no conflicts and that these are the
correct
settings, and the base address of the bios is the same as the adaptec
cards
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (MoguI 55)
Subject: Trouble installing XFree 3.3.3.1 (please help)
Date: 9 Apr 1999 02:57:59 GMT
i downloaded the file
XFree86-3_3_3_1-1_1_src.rpm
from RedHat FTP
I try installing it by typing
rpm -i XFree86-3_3_3_1-1_1_src.rpm
and it takes a couple seconds and then gives me my prompt again it seemed like
the installation went fine but when i type
rpm -qa | less
the XFree version that is installed is still the previous version....
Please help
Thanks in advance
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: Michael Hucka <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Current status of Adaptec RAIDport ARO-1130 card support for Linux?
Date: 08 Apr 1999 20:25:07 -0400
Some of the higher end server motherboards (e.g. ASUS P2B-DS) provide
on-board Adaptec SCSI that supports RAID through the Adaptec RAIDport
ARO-1130 card. I've been searching DejaNews and the web for information
about Linux support for the RAIDport, but so far all I've found is other
people asking the same question in comp.os.linux.hardware.
Does anyone know what the current word is on using the RAIDport with Linux?
The web sites discussing Linux RAID solutions that I've found so far (e.g.,
http://linas.org/linux/raid.html,
http://members.aa.net/~swear/pedia/raid.html) do not mention this item, so
I'm becoming increasingly pessimistic.
--
Michael Hucka, Ph.D. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
GENESIS Development Group, Division of Biology, Caltech
------------------------------
From: "Al" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: US Robotics 56K External Fax Modem
Date: Fri, 09 Apr 1999 02:58:25 GMT
Is the US Robotics 56K External Fax Modem supported by linux?
How do I send faxes to people?
Thanks
Al
------------------------------
From: Tom Ryan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Medium Error
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 21:49:41 -0500
Hi everyone,
I posted a query to comp.os.linux.misc last week about this problem, but
I didn't make my question clear.
In trying to boot Linux from a JAZ drive, I get the following error
message which interrupts and freezes the booting process:
The message I get is
MEDIUM ERROR on channel 0, cd 6, lun 0, CDB: Read (6) 16 00 48 02 00
Current error sd08:11 sense key medium error
Additional sense indicates Unrecovered read error
scsidisk I/O Error dev 08:11, sector 144182
Kernel Panic: Ext2-fs panic (device 08:11):ext2_read-inode unable to
read
i-node block - inode=178914, block=720916
Is there much of a chance that this is _not_ a hardware (JAZ disk)
error? Should I just go ahead and reformat the
JAZ disk?
Thanks for any advice or suggestions.
Tom Ryan
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Andrew Comech)
Subject: Re: Is this a Win Modem?
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: 8 Apr 1999 17:44:46 -0500
On Thu, 08 Apr 1999 09:09:06 -0700, Credence Ross wrote:
>Thanks for the info, guys. But is there no way to _definitively_ tell
>if any given modem is a Win Modem. For instance, if such-a-such a modem
>has a such-a-such chip/specification than it surely is/(is not) a Win
>Modem... I'll definitely need to know this if I have to replace this
>modem I just got, and don't want to shell out the dough for a fancy USR
>Modem or an external.
Hi,
In addition to the list of known modems or instead non-modems,
http://www.o2.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.html
let me also mention the list of vendors who sell true modems...
see below. Make sure you are buying a _particular_ model.
Cheese,
Andrew
--
Looking for a Linux-compatible V.90 modem? See
http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~comech/tools/CheapBox.html#modem
Expect to pay below $50.
------------------------------
From: G O Economou <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux.caldera,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: KDE Question
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 23:02:43 -0400
this is xF86Setup issue. Need to go to higher resloution, chances are you
are running at 800x600 & that's too low for your card & such. 1024 is
pretty good for most modern cards
Georgina Economou
James Liston wrote:
> Hi,
> How do I resize KDE so that it will fit on my screen better? I have
> already played with my monitor settings and that isn't it. I seem to
> be missing part of the right hand side where the clock is supposed to
> be. Or at least I think I am missing the clock. Maybe I should also be
> asking how to check to make sure the clock is turned on.
> Any info for resizing the screen would be helpful.
>
> Thanks,
> James Liston
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 18:34:02 +0200
From: Jean-Jacques GOLAY <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: FLOPPY cannot be accessed with SuSE 6.0
==============16F1F8939EA85B711EDB996B
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
I am quite desperate as I cannot make my floppy work with Linux SuSE
6.0.
I have installed this system using the SuSE boot diskette and everything
went OK until I decided to read a DOS formatted diskette ( using the
same diskette drive ).
I used the following command:
mount -t vfat /dev/fd0 /floppy and I heard that the floppy drive was
selected and the green light went on, but nothing happened next. My
system was hanging until I ejected the diskette. Then I got the
following message:
mount fs type, bad options, bad superblock on /dev/fd0 or too many
mounted file systems
I then decided to low format some HD diskettes:
I used fdformat /dev/fdu1440 and I got the following messages:
Double-sided 80 tracks, 18 sect/track Total capacity 1440kb
Formatting...done
Verifying...Read: Input/Output error
Problem reading cylinder 0, expected 18432, read -1
I tried also with low density diskette (720kb) but I got the same
message,
I have also used mtools with a diskette which was formatted under DOS
The command mdir gave me the following message: Can't open /dev/fd0:
Device is not configured
What is the meaning of not configured ?
At last I tried mformat a: and I got init: set default params
I used again mdir and this time I got: init: set default params Cannot
initialize A:
I do not know what to do next:
My floppy drive works fine with Windows 98 ( which is also installed on
my system)
In the /var/boot_msg file I have found <6>Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
so it seems that the floppy drive is indeed
recognized!
Can anyone help me as I am totally stuck.
JJ Golay / Geneva / Switzerland
==============16F1F8939EA85B711EDB996B
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
I am quite desperate as I cannot make my floppy work with Linux SuSE 6.0.
<br>I have installed this system using the SuSE boot diskette and everything
went OK until I decided to read a DOS formatted diskette ( using the same
diskette drive ).
<br>I used the following command:
<br><b>mount -t vfat /dev/fd0 /floppy </b>and I heard that the floppy
drive was selected and the green light went on, but nothing happened next.
My system was hanging until I ejected the diskette. Then I got the following
message:
<br><b><i>mount fs type, bad options, bad superblock on /dev/fd0 or too
many mounted file systems</i></b>
<p>I then decided to low format some HD diskettes:
<br>I used <b>fdformat /dev/fdu1440 </b>and I got the following messages:
<br><b><i>Double-sided 80 tracks, 18 sect/track Total capacity 1440kb</i></b>
<br><b><i>Formatting...done</i></b>
<br><b><i>Verifying...Read: Input/Output error</i></b>
<br><b><i>Problem reading cylinder 0, expected 18432, read -1</i></b>
<br>I tried also with low density diskette (720kb) but I got the
same message,
<br>I have also used mtools with a diskette which was formatted under DOS
<br>The command<b> mdir</b> gave me the following message: <b><i>Can't
open /dev/fd0: Device is not configured</i></b>
<br>What is the meaning of not configured ?
<br>At last I tried<b> mformat a:</b> and I got <b><i>init: set default
params</i></b>
<br>I used again <b>mdir </b>and this time I got:<b><i> init: set default
params Cannot initialize A:</i></b><b><i></i></b>
<p>I do not know what to do next:
<br>My floppy drive works fine with Windows 98 ( which is also installed
on my system)
<br>In the <b>/var/boot_msg file</b> I have found <b><6>Floppy drive(s):
fd0 is 1.44M</b> so it seems that the floppy drive is indeed
<br>recognized!
<p>Can anyone help me as I am totally stuck.
<br><b>JJ Golay / Geneva / Switzerland</b>
<br>
<br> </html>
==============16F1F8939EA85B711EDB996B==
------------------------------
From: Michael Hucka <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Any reason to avoid VAResearch or Penguin Computing?
Date: 08 Apr 1999 23:20:24 -0400
I'd also be very interested in people's opinions on this issue.
I've been doing some price comparisons between the Linux systems builders,
and at least based on what I've seen, IMHO the custom configurations by
Penguin Systems appear to be more expensive than what you can get through
aslab.com or apache.com. I base this opinion purely on the prices that I got
by trying to configure a similar system using each of the web-based forms
that these vendors offer; I have not purchased from any of them and so cannot
speak for their quality or service.
I especially like apache.com's custom system configurator; it offers a large
number of choices and it's easy to use. (The downside is that you have to
know what components you want.)
For those people who have bought from any of these places -- what is your
opinion of them? Are there other, better places from which to order custom
configurations?
>>>>> On 09 Apr 1999, Rodney Clang <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
rclang> I need to build a 200 user Samba server asap and browsed up to VA
rclang> Research and Penguin computing. Both seem OK, have heard more about
rclang> VA but Penguin points out that VA's usage of Mylex controllers
rclang> isn't as fast or wise as using ICP, ... and from what I've heard
rclang> they are right. But that may not make Penguin Computing the right
rclang> choice.
------------------------------
From: patrick wong <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Zoom ISDN adapter
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 19:34:44 -0700
Hi all,
Anyone knows how to get a Zoom ISDN adapter to work with RedHat 5.2?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Patrick
------------------------------
From: Rodney Clang <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Any reason to avoid VAResearch or Penguin Computing?
Date: Fri, 09 Apr 1999 00:56:11 +0000
I need to build a 200 user Samba server asap and browsed up to VA
Research and Penguin computing. Both seem OK, have heard more about VA
but Penguin points out that VA's usage of Mylex controllers isn't as
fast or wise as using ICP, ... and from what I've heard they are right.
But that may not make Penguin Computing the right choice.
Maybe I build my own from clone vendor?
Thoughts and experiences please?
I have deploye 50 workstations and found clones to be BETTER because I
can chose what I put in them. But I am chicken with servers and maybe
wrongfully so ?
Thanks,
Rod
--
Rodney Clang "People get annoyed when you try to debug
Lewan & Associates them." --Larry Wall
(303) 759-5440 x624
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Hardware Digest
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