Linux-Hardware Digest #478, Volume #12 Tue, 14 Mar 00 16:13:06 EST
Contents:
Re: How to build a parallel port tester? (Edward Lee)
Re: Excessive hard drive paging (Stefan Seyfried)
Re: Motherboard Configuration (Vivek Gupta)
Re: Promise Ultra66 drivers for Redhat 6.1 (Floris Martens)
Parallel Port External CD Burner with Linux ??? (Chih-Wei Chang)
BUS (Moisés Antonio Vázquez Arenas)
Re: Problem to install Mandrake 7.0 on the Toshiba 220CDS laptop (root)
Re: 3-button serial mouse (Jonathan Buzzard)
Re: how do you install new hardware once linux is already loaded (Tha Scraper)
Re: FTP Installation Problem (Codifex Maximus)
Re: ATA66 and Linux (Michael Kelly)
Nikon LS20 ("Roger Sach")
Re: differential card for Linux
Re: AMD-K6 475Mhz Processor Cache - Not Shown In System Information Tool (jwk)
Re: COM1 or COM2 for the ext. modem; whats optimal? (willbill)
Re: Is This HardWare of OS ..? (Jack Kelly Dobson)
New box, Athlon 650, Freetech P7F200A2, RH 6.1, install fails (Gary Bickford)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Edward Lee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: How to build a parallel port tester?
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 11:11:04 -0800
That depends on the type of parallel port you have. The old standard
port is output only, which is also the default mode for newer ports.
You have to enable the bi-directional port, AFAIK. Some ports require
pull-ups and/or buffers, depending on cable length. The 4 status bits
are the safest way to read back data, perhap serialized data. You need
to supply more information on your circuit. Furthermore, I only reply
to 2 of the 6 newgroups posted, since I don't read the others.
timo raty wrote:
> I need to build a simple tester for finding out
> the data on the parallel port of a PC. Currently I have
> two BCD 7-segment displays connected to the data outputs
> of the port and powered by an external power supply. The
> problem is that the OS (Linux) should see the device as
> a printer - or have some other means of simple programming
> on it. The OS, however, doesn't seem to see anything on
> the port. I guess this has something to do (with me being
> a sw guy and) with the acknowledges and port status information
> of the parallel port. The question is how do I pass this
> information from the simple device? Or what is the easiest
> way of driving a device through parallel port so that the
> software can be written totally in user space, i.e. no
> kernel modifications, nor module drivers needed?
>
> Please help me out with this hobby project! I do
> know that there is a FAQ for this somewhere but I haven't
> yet found it...
>
> regards,
>
> timo raty
> ps. please reply via mail if possible
------------------------------
From: Stefan Seyfried <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: Excessive hard drive paging
Date: 14 Mar 2000 10:48:18 +0100
Doug Bible <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Seagate drive (model ST39102LW). About every 5-10 seconds I heard the
> drive accessing. To see if I have some process running that is trying
> to access the drive I went through and shutdown/killed every process
> viewable using 'ps'. Having nothing left but those processes necessary
> for the system to even run, the drive access persisted. I get the
> feeling that it is something on the kernel level that is causing this to
it is the update daemon (/sbin/update, older kernels:
bdflushd/updated, newer kernels: kflushd/kupdate, normalli PID 2 and 3
> occur. I even recompiled to a newer kernel with no avail.
>
> My main question is this: Is there an application that would allow me
> to monitor the processes (even at the kernel level) that are accessing
> the hard drive? Any assistance would be appreciated, for this is
> driving me nuts having to sit and listen to this machine. If there is
> no help for me, my last course of action would be to get extra long
> keyboard/mouse/video cables and put the thing in the closet :)
AFAIK it is also a drive/controller issue, some drives/controllers
don't spin down because of this behaviour, even if the update daemon
has nothing to do, they still access the disk and keep running, others
do not access the disk when there's nothing to do and spin down / keep
quiet.
You can change the flush / sync timings of updated, "man 8 update"
HTH, Stefan
--
Stefan Seyfried, [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
hi, i'm a signature-virus! copy me to your .signature to help me spread!
------------------------------
From: Vivek Gupta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.setup,comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: Motherboard Configuration
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 11:15:31 -0800
Hi mregan,
Lets assume I am going to host 6-7 websites. I will have 5 computer
connected on one side and using
this computer as their proxy server.
With Pentium PIII 500Mhz, will 256 MB RAM be OK ?
Vivek
mregan wrote:
>
> > I want to built my own PC. I am not sure what are the features we
> > should look in motherboard for Server. In market motherboard ranges from
> > $80 to $500 which support Pentium III 500 Mhz/133Mhz.
> >
> > I will be hosting a Website/Nameserver/MailServer.
> >
>
> It really depends on the load on your website. The Nameserver and Mailserver
> are relatively light loads.
>
> We use AMD processors for our servers, but they only handle small intranets.
> I built one Pentium II server using the Aopen AX6B+ MB, and was quite
> pleased with the results. It will also support the Pentium III. The board
> costs about $300.00 Cdn - about $200US
>
> Look for memory slots. We have found that memory is as important and in some
> cases, more important than processor speed.
>
> --
> Michael Regan
> Black Cat Computer Systems
> PO Box 46
> Erickson, BC
> V0B 1K0
> http://www.bccs-ca.com
> Phone 250.428.8442
> FAX 250.428.7863
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 20:31:12 +0100
From: Floris Martens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Promise Ultra66 drivers for Redhat 6.1
Hi,
Ognjen Seslija wrote:
>
> Does anybody have Ultra66 drivers for Redhat Linux 6.1? Should I try
> those from Promise ftp site for Redhat 6.0?
> I can't continue instalation, Linux can't see my hard drive.
I think you should try the one from the promise ftp site.
Floris
------------------------------
From: Chih-Wei Chang <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Parallel Port External CD Burner with Linux ???
Date: 14 Mar 2000 19:43:16 GMT
Hi,
I bought a Micro Solutions parallel port external CD Rewriter
(Backpack). Is it possible to use this machine under Linux?
Thanks a lot for your help.
Jim
------------------------------
From: Moisés Antonio Vázquez Arenas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: BUS
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 19:30:42 GMT
wHAT IS BUS IN A COMPUTER?
MAY YOU GIVE ME A LARGE DESCRIPTION
--
Posted via CNET Help.com
http://www.help.com/
------------------------------
From: root <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Problem to install Mandrake 7.0 on the Toshiba 220CDS laptop
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 19:48:12 +0000
Alex S wrote:
> I am very new to Linux so...
> Here my problem:
> I try to install Mandrake 7.0 on my Toshiba Laptop.
> I downloaded the 500 MB to the hardrive under dos.
> There are two virtual hardrive on my laptop, one C: of about 1.9MB all
> Windows
> and one D: of 1MB all Linux (want to).
> I read the install guide line that come alone with the downloading
> I created a boot disk with the hd.img an everything.
> But when I booted, after the message Ramdisk loading and XfreeBDS loading,
> The screen just went black.
>
> So far I have no idea what is going.
> It is still black.
>
> Alex
Don't desperate, everything's OK. I have got the same laptop and replying you
from GNU/Linux (Debian)
Toshiba laptops (Tecra series specially) are a bit strange about booting
linux. I think Satellite series is
like Tecra ones. What you need is a special
boot floppy. I don't know how to make that floppy in Mandrake, only with
Debian.
Go http://www.debian.org and search in the distribution for an image called
tecra1440.bin. That should work.
If you don't want to install Debian, then you just can read the documentation
about tecra wich is in the
same place than the floppy image (/dists/slink/main/disks-i386/current).
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jonathan Buzzard)
Crossposted-To: uk.comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: 3-button serial mouse
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 19:30:13 +0000
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Simon Brooke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
[SNIP]
>
> The mice themselves were solidly made, comfortable in the hand, had
> nice, big buttons, and just worked - I didn't get interested in mouse
> quality until I moved onto things like Suns and PCs with inferior
> mice. But a good optical mouse beats a good mechanical mouse any day.
I can't avoid butting in here. You have obviously *never* used a mouse
that uses the Honeywell motion sensing mechanism. To anyone who has
they are simply the best way of sensing the motion of a mouse and it's
mechanical. They don't need a mouse mat and never need cleaning. One day
when the patent runs out all mice will be made like this.
Basically they method is to use two axially inclined disks. These are
sealed so no dirt can get inside. The only maintanence is to occasionaly
scrape the muck of the glide pads and disks (refered to as feet).
It would appear that Honeywell have sold the patent on to KeyTronic
and is avaliable as the LifeTime mouse in North America or the KT Mouse
in Europe. For details see
http://www.keytronic.com/products/mouse.htm
Unfortunately I can't find anyone in the U.K. that sells them. So far I
have tried Insight, SMC Direct, Dabs Direct, Watford Electronics, Simply,
Inmac, Action, MicroWarehouse, Global Direct, Tech Direct and
Software Warehouse. If anyone knows of a U.K. supplier please let me know,
I am would dearly love to purchase one of these mice.
JAB.
--
Jonathan A. Buzzard Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Northumberland, United Kingdom. Tel: +44(0)1661-832195
------------------------------
From: Tha Scraper <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: how do you install new hardware once linux is already loaded
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 20:58:09 +0100
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
boober wrote:
>
> i did not have a network card when i installed linux.. but now i do, i ahve
> the drivers for it.. but how do i install it.. and if you can reply make it
> really easy to understand.. for i am a new commer to linux
What distribution are you running?
Tha Scraper
------------------------------
From: Codifex Maximus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.setup,alt.os.linux,comp.os.linux.networking
Subject: Re: FTP Installation Problem
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 14:06:32 -0600
David Brown wrote:
>
> Hello all,
>
> I am trying to install Red Hat 6.1 via FTP onto 2 486 machines with no CD
> rom. I am using a WIn 98 machine as the ftp server . All three machines
> are networked via a 10baseT ethernet network. I am using generic Network
> cards. I am able to boot into the linux setup however when it asks for the
> driver I select "NE1000, NE2000, and compatible" and hit "OK". I then get
> an error saying:
>
> /tmp/ne.o: init_module: Device or resource busy.
>
> I get this error on both machines.
>
> I also tried using the Linux driver disk that came with the NIC but when I
> try to use the disk I get an error saying "Could not mount floppy disk."
>
> Does anyone have any ideas or help??
>
> Thanks in advance. Feel free to contact me by email or ICQ.
>
> --
>
> ---------------------------
> David Brown
> ICQ: 62636427
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
These NE2K cards, are they jumpered, jumperless or PnP? If they are
jumpered or jumperless, you need to make sure that they are not
conflicting with any other hardware. If they are PnP, then it *should*
be automatic... I haven't tried it though.
Usually, there is a floppy that comes with the cards... you boot into
DOS (required by the manufacturer's floppy), configure and test the
cards. If the cards are from the same mfg., then you may be able to
have the machines test connection with each other prior to saving the
cards config. This is usually what you do for Jumperless cards.
Codifex Maximus
------------------------------
From: Michael Kelly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: ATA66 and Linux
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 14:58:13 -0500
Reply-To: Michael Kelly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
On Tue, 14 Mar 2000 00:26:29 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Hal Burgiss)
wrote:
>UDMA66 drives work fine in UDMA33 mode. They can't run in UDMA66 mode
>(at least with RH6.x) since there is absolutely no support for this in
>the stock RH kernels. It was not even available at the time 6.0 came
>out. 2.3 kernels have this, and there is a patch for 2.2. Dunno about
>Mandrake, maybe the patch is in there. What does hdparm, hdparm -i, and
>hdparm -tT say for your drive?
Speaking of which, anyone know where to get a boot disk with a
shell and a few utils on it? I hear Mandrake 7 supports UDMA66
but I'd like to try a boot disk that didn't go right into an
installer. My Linux on my old machine is kind of out of data
as far as compiler and stuff so compiling from source is kind
of dicey.
TIA
Mike
--
"A man's only as old as the woman he feels."
-- Groucho Marx
------------------------------
From: "Roger Sach" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Nikon LS20
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 20:29:14 -0000
Hi,
Does anyone know the where abouts of a good non commercial LINUX driver for
this very good scanner???
TIA
Roger
------------------------------
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: differential card for Linux
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 20:30:21 GMT
Thanks!
--
Posted via CNET Help.com
http://www.help.com/
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (jwk)
Subject: Re: AMD-K6 475Mhz Processor Cache - Not Shown In System Information Tool
Date: 14 Mar 2000 20:36:18 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Mon, 13 Mar 2000 20:48:05 +0000, Risto A. Paju
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>I can't find any notice about cache either. My K6-2 has 64K of internal
>cache and 256K level 2 cache. Here's the /proc/cpuinfo:
>
>processor : 0
>vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
>cpu family : 5
>model : 8
>model name : AMD-K6(tm) 3D processor
>stepping : 12
>cpu MHz : 366.602512
>fdiv_bug : no
>hlt_bug : no
>sep_bug : no
>f00f_bug : no
>coma_bug : no
>fpu : yes
>fpu_exception : yes
>cpuid level : 1
>wp : yes
>flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mmx 3dnow
>bogomips : 732.36
>
>Any ideas?
>
This info is provided in /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/kernel/setup.c, search
for x86_cache_size.
As you can see then, it is setup with respect to some answer to cpuid. I
suggest adding a printk here and there to see what value n has, then
trying to code it in. I don't own such a processor, so I cannot help
you. You could also try a newer kernel, I'm looking at 2.2.15pre14 here,
perhaps 2.3.51 is better in this respect.
A question on linux-kernel mailing list would seem to be in order also.
If you just want to bolster your ego, add a
c->x86_cache_size=64;
before the "return 1;" line.
Good luck,
Jurriaan
--
Think for yourself and feel the walls
become sand beneath your feet
Queensryche - Anybody Listening?
Linux 2.2.15pre14 SMP up 7:38 5 users load av: 0.59 0.91 1.04
------------------------------
From: willbill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: COM1 or COM2 for the ext. modem; whats optimal?
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 12:45:20 -0800
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
3/13/00 13:04:20 GMT, Johan Kullstam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>if you care, irqtune can rearrange the priorities.
^^^^^^^
1. would you kindly post a web site that has irqtune?
2. for *CURRENT* pc's...
do you (or anyone else) know if there is any difference
in the "data rate" capabilities (and/or bandwidth)
of irq 3-or-4 vs. irq 9-thru-15???
tia, bill
------------------------------
From: Jack Kelly Dobson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.linux
Subject: Re: Is This HardWare of OS ..?
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 14:45:54 -0600
Not that anyone is going to believe my reason for asking but:
Are you by any chance in or around a military air base?
Met a guy once that was having simular troubles. His building was
being saturated with RADAR (no, I'm not kidding).
Highly unlikely that this is your problem, but stranger things
have happened.
j-
M On 14 Mar 2000 09:33:44 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Desmond
> Coughlan) wrote:
>
> >I'd like some advice, as we are experiencing problems with our Dell
> >Poweredge 6300. It's the main fileserver, so when it dies, people
> >start making loud noises ...
> >
> >Every two days or so, I come in early and find that odin (our server)
> >is not responding. Electrically, it appears to be running, but the
> >keyboard does not respond, the screen is blank (although switched
> >on) ... in short, nothing happens. I can't telnet into the machine,
> >and it doesn't respond to a ping.
> >
> >In short, I have only one option: switch the damn thing on and off. Of
> >course, because of this, it takes about half an hour to run fsck before
> >becoming available.
> >
> >Here is the output of /var/log/syslog, up to the point where the system
> >dies, and the first few lines when I reboot:
> >
> >Mar 14 00:26:32 odin dhcpd: BOOTREQUEST from 00:dd:01:20:2d:5f via 10.0.4.253
> >Mar 14 00:26:32 odin dhcpd: No applicable record for BOOTP host 00:dd:01:20:2d
> >:5f via 10.0.4.253
> >Mar 14 00:26:40 odin dhcpd: BOOTREQUEST from 00:dd:01:20:2d:5f via 10.0.4.253
> >Mar 14 00:26:40 odin dhcpd: No applicable record for BOOTP host 00:dd:01:20:2d
> >:5f via 10.0.4.253
> >^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
> >^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
> >^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
> >^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
> >^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
> >^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
> >^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
> >^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
> >^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@Ma
> >r 14 09:46:48 odin syslogd 1.3-3#31: restart.
> >Mar 14 09:46:48 odin kernel: klogd 1.3-3#31, log source = /proc/kmsg started.
> >Mar 14 09:46:48 odin kernel: Cannot find map file.
> >
> >... and this is /var/log/messages:
> >
> >Mar 13 23:45:11 odin -- MARK --
> >Mar 14 00:05:11 odin -- MARK --
> >Mar 14 00:25:11 odin -- MARK --
> >Mar 14 09:46:48 odin syslogd 1.3-3#31: restart.
> >Mar 14 09:46:48 odin kernel: klogd 1.3-3#31, log source = /proc/kmsg started.
> >Mar 14 09:46:48 odin kernel: Cannot find map file.
> >
> >The thing I find strange is that this *always* happens at the same time:
> >just after midnight.
> >
> >If anyone could tell me whether this is hardware-related (in which case
> >we can kick Dell's arse), or software (in which case, I have to delve
> >into the OS ... zoinks !!)
> >
> >All responses welcome ... thanks in advance. :-)
> >
> >--
> >Desmond Coughlan |Restez Zen ... UNIX peut le faire
> >[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >http://www.coughlan.net/desmond
--
Jack Kelly Dobson "Everything I say is factual,
Aggressive Media unless, of course, I'm wrong,
or lying."
"Providing technology solutions, whether you want them or not!"
------------------------------
From: Gary Bickford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: New box, Athlon 650, Freetech P7F200A2, RH 6.1, install fails
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 12:57:44 -0800
Can anyone point me to information on what to do to get my new toy
running? will a different distribution fix the problem, or is a
different mainboard the solution?
In the install from CD, I get one complaint:
PCI_IDE: unknown IDE controller on PCI bus 00 device 39, VID=1022,
DID=7409
PCI_IDE: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
ide0: BM-DMA at 0xd400-0xd407, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:pio
ide1: BM-DMA at 0xd408-0xd40f, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdd:pio
depending on BIOS settings (and possibly the phase of the moon...), it
may hang right there, or go on through startup in the RAMDISK, saying
"Greetings", "RedHat install .. 6.0", setting up the /proc, /dev and
/tmp stuff, saying "running install...", and "running /sbin/loader", and
hang.
I've been looking for information on which Athlon mainboards work. I
thought the FreeTech P7F200A2 board was among them - I thought I saw an
article in linux journal that I can't find now, reviewing different
Athlon motherboards.
Just to complicate life, I've got the ATI 128 Expert video board which
evidently isn't supported in RH 6.1 but is supported in SuSE 6.3.
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Hardware Digest
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