Re: how much processor time is allocated to a program

1999-02-23 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 23 Feb, Frankie wrote:
> I am sure that when I first started using debian/linux I had a program
> (I think part of another packages), and if you ran "thisprogram
> anotherprogram" then it would rum anotherprogram and tell you exactly
> how much time was allocated to the running of that program.
> I don't know where to look in dselect, so can anyone remember what it
> was called?
> 
> [maybe this would be a good time to suggest that dselect lets you search
> the descriptions as well]
> 
> cheers,
> frankie

time?

-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: dpkg and configuring packages

1999-02-16 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
On 16 Feb, J K wrote:
> Hello,
> 
>  I was wondering how to configure packages that I installed with
> dpkg -i .deb. After installing a package, I got a message 
> saying package depends on another file, and that that file was not 
> installed.  I have installed the other package now, and wonder how to 
> configure the first package.  Any help would be appreciated.
> 
Try dpkg --pending --configure

That (attempts to) configure every package that has been installed but
not configured yet.
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: Floppy Drive Alignment Software

1999-02-16 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
On 16 Feb, Person, Roderick wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> My 3.5 floppy is out of alignment, I know for other OSs there is software to
> help you align your drive is there any for Debian or Linux in general.
> 
> thanks 
> Rod
> 
> 
Alignment?  Are you sure?  I thought that alignment problems needed an
oscilloscope or at the least an expensive specially-made floppy. 
Anyway, I'm pretty sure I've never seen such a program for Linux.
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: NCR53C8xx Problem

1999-02-11 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 11 Feb, Tim Buller wrote:
> A bit more info...
> 
> It looks like the problem is being caused by the hot-swappable SCA bay
> that is part of the Intel Astor Chasis in which this system is installed.
> 
> Info from the Symbios boot-up sequence:
> 
> SCSI ID = 0 6
> Vendor = ESG SHV
> Device = SCA HSBP M5
> Sync = No
> 
> On Thu, 11 Feb 1999, Tim Buller wrote:
> 
>> I'm trying to install on a Dual PII 450 Intel 440BX-based system. This MB
>> has an integrated Symbios SYM53C876 SCSI controller, which uses the
>> NCR53C8xx SCSI driver. The 2 9GB drives are recognized by the BIOS, and by
>> the "integrated Symbios SCSI utility". Booting from the rescue disk (I've
>> tried the current disks from hamm, slink and potato), the kernel
>> recognizes both drives, and then goes into fits of the following until it
>> is rebooted or turned off:
>> 
>> ncr53c875-0: copying script fragments into the on-board RAM
>> SCSI host 0 abort (pid 23) time out - resetting
>> SCSI bus is being reset for host 0 channel 0
>> ncr53c8xx_reset: pid 23 reset_flags=2 serial_number=$INC \
>>  serial_number_at_timeout=$INC
>> ncr53x875-0: restart (scsi reset)
>> 
>> $INC is an integer that starts out 0 and increments by 1 each time this
>> sequence is printed.
>> 
>> Any ideas what I can pass to the NCR538xx driver to get it to work? Or
>> other ideas?
>> 
>> TIA,
>> 
>>  Tim

I'm not so sure that it's caused by the bay; I have a Diamond Fireport
40 (SYM53c875J-0), also in a dual PPro, and I get the same messages with
any of the 2.2 kernels, but not with 2.0.34.  I haven't tried anything
between 2.0.34 and 2.2.0.  I've tried shuffling my devices around, even
removing most of them, and it hasn't made any difference.
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: PCMCIA cards fail under 2.2.1

1999-02-11 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 11 Feb, Paul Nathan Puri wrote:
> I just rebooted my new 2.2.1 drive on my laptop.
> 
> Where my bios is set to defaults (i.e., PnPOS), it locks up
> at boot.  When I change my bios settings to enable serial port, and 
> enable parallel port it boots up, but gives the following warning:
> 
> cs: warning: no high memory available!
> cs: Request Window [something something]
> 
> When pcmcia-cs attempts to detect my modem and nic it fails.
> 
> Why would this be?
> 
> Thank You
> 
> NatePuri
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
> 

Are you running version 3.0.8 of pcmcia-cs?  Thre release notes for
both kernel 2.2 and pcmcia-cs 3.0.8 indicate that you need 3.0.8 to
work correctly under 2.2.x
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: my kernel does not assemble!

1999-02-05 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On  5 Feb, Mike Marsman wrote:
> Hey all ... I think I have a question for ya  (hopefully it's not
> completly stupid)
> 
> I'm running deb w/ the 2.0.34 kernel installed -- I want to recompile the
> kernel so I can add network support, but I've come accross a problem.
> 
> I can switch to /usr/src/linux and run 'make config' ... the I run 'make
> dep' and finally 'make zImage'.  The config/dep work fine, and all the
> components of the kernel compile too.. but then the make zImage falls out
> on me after trying to run 'as86 ...', as86 being some program that's not
> on my machine!  I've tried to search for as86, and have come up with
> nothing.  I've even decompressed the kernel-2.0.34 source again, but
> same problem.  Am I doing something stupid here, or is this legit?
> 
> I'm gonna try 2.2.1, and maybe that'll work okay.  It's just the as86 only
> appears in the Makefile for /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/kernel that has the
> as86 defined in it.  I've tried replacing it with just plain 'ol as, but
> the switches for as86 don't work -- and it won't compile w/o the
> switches.. do I have to run something like 'make archdep'?
> 
> .. many thanks from a confused user ..
> 
> 
> ..Mike
> 
> 
> 

I'm guessing (no, I'm positive) that you don't have the bin86 package
installed.  The long description for kernel-source-2.0.xx indicates
that on intel platforms, you also need the bin86 package if you
actually intend to compile the source.  Just grab that and install it,
and you'll be fine.  Also, unless you're compiling a kernel for a non-
Debian system, check out kernel-package.  It provides a script
(make-kpkg) that builds the kernel for you and makes a new Debian
package out of it, with a revision number that you specify; this
prevents dselect/apt/whatever from trying to replace your custom kernel
with a prepackaged kernel.  
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: kernel 2.2.0

1999-01-28 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 28 Jan, Anthony Campbell wrote:
> On a slightly different theme, will there be patches available to upgrade
> 2.0.36 to 2.2.0, or do we have to start afresh?  As this would be a 12 Meg
> download, it would take a long time and be expensive :(
> 
> 
> Anthony
> 
> 

I'm afraid that enough has changed that you'd have a 12 Meg patch. 
OTOH, rumor on the developer list has it that the 2.2 kernel source
will be included in slink, so it should be available if you get a slink
cd (if you can wait that long :-)

-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College



Re: MogoBIPS.

1999-01-26 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 25 Jan, Chris Wong wrote:
> Hmm,
> 
>   Is there a certain # I should get from different CPUs? I mean,
> my P200MMX is getting like, 400 or so, and my dual P2-300 is
> getting a total of like 700 or so. Is this right?
> 
> Chris Wong | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> AD Digital Media Inc. (c) 1998
> http://addm.com/
> 
> 

Yes, that's right.  Pentium MMX chips should get roughly 2xclock speed.
Pentium Pro / Pentium II chips get 0.99xclock speed  (all per CPU, of
course).  Check the BogoMIPS HOWTO (in /usr/doc/HOWTO, if you've
installed that package).
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: cdrom

1999-01-05 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On  5 Jan, ktb wrote:
> Hi,  I've been hard at work getting nothing done as usual.  I have
> three things I'm trying to accomplish but lets start with #1 and see if
> I can't get this to work.  I've been trying to figure out how to use my
> cdrom.  I have been reading the cdrom HOWTO.  This is what I've done so
> far:
> 
> crossyourfingers:/home/kent# ln -s /dev/hdd /dev/cdrom
> crossyourfingers:/home/kent# chmod 664 /dev/hdd
> crossyourfingers:/home/kent# ls -l /dev/hdd
> brw-rw-r--   1 root disk  22,  64 Jul 20 19:45 /dev/hdd
> 
> I can use the commands "cdplay" and "cdeject" just fine as a regular
> user.  I can listen to a music cd through my headphones.
> 
> I have an "extras" cd with my debian package and I would like to look at
> what it contains.  I put the cd in, used the command "mount /mnt/cdrom"
> and got a message back that said there wasn't anything in the
> "/etc/fstab" file (there was another file listed but I forget what it
> was) so I followed the directions in the HOWTO.  I put the following
> line in the file, "/dev/hdd  /mnt/cdrom   iso9660 user,noauto,ro"
> Tried again and got the error "mount: mount point /mnt/cdrom does not
> exist"  Went back into the file and removed the following line
> "/dev/hdd  /cdrom   iso9660noauto,nouser,ro 0 0"  Tried to mount
> again same error "mount: mount point /mnt/cdrom does not exist"
> 

Does this directory (/mnt/cdrom) exist?  Make it, put that line back in
/etc/fstab and try again.

> So that is what I have done.  What I would like to do is be able to
> listen to music cd's through my speakers.  I put a cd in I start it, I
> verify it is working through my headphones, I take the headphone jack
> out and no sound.  When I type an error (like try to backspace when
> there is no more space to travel) I get a beep that comes through my
> speakers.  I don't understand much about sound cards.  I don't have one
> in a slot.  I looked in windows and came up with "Crystal PnP Audio
> System" maybe that is my sound card.  It seems to me if Linux can use my
> speakers in one instance but not another there is a linkage problem?
> 

This sounds to me like a hardware problem - i.e., you need to have an
audio cable going from your CDROM to your "sound card".  Since you
don't seem to have an actual sound card, you should check to see if
there is a slot on the motherboard to plug an audio CD cable into.  The
Crystal PNP Audio System is in fact your sound card; IIRC, that
particular model is usually built into the motherboard.  Where do your
speakers plug in?  There might be a connector near there.  Also, does
playing a CD through the speakers work in Windows?

If that's all right, then check the volume setting in linux; after
that, I'm stuck.

> I would also like to view what is on a particular cd without having to
> install what is on that cd.
 

You should be able to look at the cd after you get the mounting bit
fixed.  

> thanks,
> Kent
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: can't use editor when su... why?

1998-12-22 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 22 Dec, Kirk Hogenson wrote:
> The problem is that "you" own the X session, "root" doesn't.
> 
> The easiest way to get this to work is to type
> 
>xhost + localhost
> 
> before you do your su.  This means that you'll let anyone
> from the host "localhost" (ie, your computer) connect to your
> X.
> 
> However, I recall there were some security risks associated with
> using xhost like this... maybe someone else will point them out.
> If you aren't connected to a network (or just dial up occasionally
> using, eg, ppp) then you should have no problems.  (Using
> "xhost + localhost" helps, lots of people just use "xhost +",
> which allows *anyone* from *anywhere* access -- bad idea.)
> 
> If you don't trust people who might be logging in to your
> machine remotely, you probably don't want to do this.
> 
> Kirk
> 
> 
> Jesse Evans wrote:
>> 
>> Hi, folks!
>> 
>> I like to use fte as my default editor, however, when I su to modify
>> my system I cannot use it. I get the following messages:
>> 
>> Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server
>> Xlib: Client is not authorized to connect to Server
>> Could not open display: :0.0
>> 
>> However, if I log in as root (as opposed to su from my users
>> account, it works just fine. Any ideas as to what's up?
>> 
>

xhost + localhost 

allows anyone logged in to open new windows on the display, capture
keystrokes, etc.  

An alternate method (without the security problems of xhost + __)
is to do 

export XAUTHORITY=/home/_user_currently_logged_in_/.Xauthority

after the 'su'.  This gives root the same permissions that the
currently logged in user has over the X display, without extending
those permissions to anyone else at the same time.
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: "card" selection in X for HP Kayak XC

1998-12-17 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 17 Dec, Richard E. Hawkins Esq. wrote:
> 
> I installed debian on a professor's  machine yesterday, but have hit a 
> barrier:  we don't know what the video "card" that it uses is.  Unix/
> linux tech support in our department is non-existent (which is why he 
> asked me for help).  It can't even tell us what card type to use in 
> configuration.  The best he could come up with is that "matrox" usually 
> works.  However, we've hung the machine (not just X) three times this 
> way.
> 
> Does anyone know what setting to use?
> 
> rick
> 

Is SuperProbe installed?  Can you use that?  SuperProbe is supposed to
identify the chipset for you.  It's in xbase.

HTH,
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: Accupoint Mouse Pointer

1998-12-15 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 16 Dec, Austanners Wet Blue Pty Ltd wrote:
> I have a Toshiba t211x series laptop with a pointer (accupoint) on the
> keyboard.
> Does anyone know how (if) I can configure this in X11?
> Regards,
> Stephen Lavelle
>

I think it looks like a PS/2 mouse, software-wise.  Try "ps2" as the
mouse type, and /dev/psaux as the mouse device.  I'm not familiar with
your exact model laptop, but most laptops have the built-in pointing
device work that way.

HTH,
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: wmaker

1998-11-03 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On  2 Nov, Debian-User wrote:
> can anyone tell me how to make images your background in wmaker? I dloaded 
> some of those
> themes from e.themes.org which are .jpg format then i converted them to xpm 
> with the gimp.
> But i can't figure out how to set it to my background.  Can anyone help?  Am 
> I doing anything
> wrong?  Thanks in advance.
> 
Don't bother converting them.  Just dump the .jpg's in your
~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Backgrounds/
directory, then choose it from the
Workplace->Appearance->Background->Images menu.

HTH,
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: linux crash when RAM > 128MB

1998-11-02 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On  1 Nov, Oz Dror wrote:
> Hi
> I have hust installed debian 2.0 on new P-II machine.
> MB ASUS P2B-S (with aic7890)
> I have 2 SDRAMS 128MB each.
> 
> When I try to boot linux with more then 128M linux crashes.
> 
> Is this a hardware or software problem.
> 
> -Oz

My guess is hardware.  I have 256M and it works fine.  One other thing
to try, first, though:  I'm assuming that you have the proper
append="mem=256M" line in your lilo.conf.  Try setting that to 255M
instead.  Some boards "borrow" a little bit of RAM and it makes Linux
very unhappy to not have all the ram it thinks it has.  I've seen a
couple of people suggest setting the mem= line to a little bit lower to
compensate for this.

You might also try swapping the DIMMS(?) to see if that changes
anything.

HTH,
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: lilo (linux only hd -> dos only hd), no solution possible?

1998-10-29 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 29 Oct, Kevin Grant wrote:
> Thanks for the help I've gotten on this so far.  Unfortunately it doesn't
> seem to be working.  I seem to be caught in a catch-22 situation as far
> as getting the system to behave as I want it to.  Here's the situation:
> 
> I have one dos/windows only hd.  I have one linux only hd.  I want to be
> able to boot up linux and then use lilo to move to dos if I desire.  The
> earlier problem was that I had the linux hd as /dev/hda and the dos drive
> as /dev/hdb and lilo couldn't get dos to boot off of /dev/hdb.  Apparently
> the dos hd has to be /dev/hda (drive C in dos terms) to boot.  So I could
> only get into dos by telling my bios to swap the boot sequence around and
> boot off of drive "D" (apparently this caused the system to treat the dos
> drive as if it were drive C).
> 
> To solve this I swapped the hd's around and made the dos drive /dev/hda and
> the linux drive /dev/hdb.  However I still want to boot off of the linux
> drive, so I set the bios boot sequence so that it would boot from drive D
> (/dev/hdb).  Unfortunately this seems to cause the bios to consider
> drive C not to be the master drive anymore so that when I try to use lilo
> to get into dos I get exactly the same error message as before, a sort of
> "disk not available or non-system disk in drive" sort of message.
> 
> The catch-22 seems to be: the only way to boot linux from a linux-only hd
> as the default when the machine is turned on is to make the linux-only hd
> /dev/hda, or to alter the bios boot sequence so that the system treats it
> that way (no, I don't want to use a boot floopy to boot up linux either).
> At the same time, in order for lilo to boot up a dos-only hd, the dos-only
> hd has to be /dev/hda.  Unfortunately both hd's cannot be /dev/hda at the
> same time.  So if my analysis is correct, and unless lilo has some way to
> make the system change the hd that it considers the primary drive, there
> is no way to accomplish what I wish to accomplish.
> 
> The problem is that I am a linux newbie and can't tell if I'm making sense
> here.  Comments and possible solutions, if any exist, are requested.
> 
> Oh, and my latest attempt has netted me a "cannot start virtual terminal"
> sort of error message on the linux side, followed by a freeze, so that I
> can't boot linux at all.  This raises another interesting issue.  Since
> the lilo.config I'm experimenting with now contains lines like
> "boot = /dev/hdb1", if I change the drives back the way they were (with the
> linux drive as /dev/hda) presumably I won't be able to boot linux because
> the lilo.config stuff will point to the wrong place.  On the other hand, I
> can't boot into linux now to change the lilo.config file.  So how do you
> get into linux to change a lilo.config file when you cannot get into
> linux until after you've changed the file? :)  I'm guessing I've got to
> resort to the boot floppies at this point, right?  Even if this is the case,
> there should be a sort of general solution to this problem, to let you
> experiment with the contents of lilo.config safely.  I.E. to write a new
> one that doesn't work, and then to be able to get into linux anyway,
> without having to resort to a boot floppy, by some command that tells
> lilo to boot up using a "safe" backup config file that you know works.
> Is this option around and being new I'm just not aware of it?
>  
> If you've actually read this far thanks for your attention,
> -Kevin
> 

Whew!  I'm not sure what to tell you as to how to get from where you
are to where you want to be, but:

Dos/Win really must boot from the "first" hard drive, i.e. hda.  So
that one has to go first, and linux has to go on hdb.  When you have
the BIOS switch things around, dos gets confused, so that won't do
either.  What you need to do is to put the hard drives in with the dos
drive as hda and the linux drive as hdb, with the BIOS set to boot from
hda.  From here, what you would like to have happen is to have lilo
boot from hda and boot into linux on hdb or dos on hda.  I think your
/etc/lilo.conf should look something like:

boot=/dev/hda(this line is the key)
root=/dev/hdb1   (or whatever)
.(regular linux boot stuff)
 (and any other stuff you need or want)
other=/dev/hda1  (or whichever partition dos is really on)
label=dos

The first line tells lilo to install itself on the master boot record
of hda, so that it will be called first in the boot sequence.  The rest
just tells it where everything lives, so that it can find it
appropriately.

HTH,

-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: couple of question..

1998-10-07 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On  7 Oct, tracheotomy_bob wrote:
> First the most important question. Does anyone have experience running a 
> Matrox Millennium G200? 
> I assume it needs special drivers as they're not standard in XFree86, so 
> where do I get them from? 
> Can anyone recommend a truly excellent card for X.

Not a G200, but I do have the original Millenium.  However, I
there are Matrox drivers for the G200 that have been tweaked by S.U.S.E.
and donated back to XFree86.  Try their web site
(http://www.suse.de/XSuSE/XSuSE_E.html).  There are a number of people
(including me) who swear by Matrox cards, especially the Millenium line.

> 
> If I install just the binary CD (cheapbytes) and run XF86Setup. Setup runs 
> ok, but when I exit, 
> I have no visible text when I type I have to log out and then everything is 
> ok. It's almost as 
> though the normal vga driver is being screwed. Has anyone else had this 
> happen? (I've got a 
> Videologic GrafixStar 600)
> 

Dunno 'bout this one, sorry.

> I'll keep ya posted...
> 

-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College



Re: some WindowMaker questions ...

1998-10-05 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On  5 Oct, Nuno Carvalho wrote:
> On Mon, 5 Oct 1998, Marcelo E. Magallon wrote:
> 
>> Make an ~/.xsession file and put "exec wmaker" on it. Then chmod +x it.
> 
>   I just commented the line with xterm on Xsession global (/etc/X11/) and
> it worked ! :)
> 
>> The file is /etc/X11/WindowMaker/menu.hook, but you don't want to change
>> that. If you want to modify an entry, copy it from /usr/lib/menu to
>> /etc/menu, edit it, and run update-menus.
> 
>  I'll do it ! :)
> 
>  Thanks for the help !
>  
>  Best regards,
>Nuno Carvalho
> 
> BTW: I want to start some aplication when wmaker starts. How can I do it ?
> I already tried autostart file but it didn't worked ! ;( Is there any
> sintax for it ?
> 
> $ cat > ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/autostart
> /usr/local/bin/xradiotrack
> $
> 

My ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/autostart is a shell script; i.e.,
starts with

#! /bin/sh

and permissions are set to 744 (i.e. owner read/write/execute, everyone
else read-only.

HTH,
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: CPU temp/fan tachometer for linux?

1998-10-02 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On  2 Oct, Peter S Galbraith wrote:
> 
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> 
>> Try lm_sensors.
>> 
>> http://appindex.freshmeat.net/view/904554804/
> 
> Cool.  Have you compiled this?
> (Which do you pick?  lm78-1.2.3.tgz or lm_sensors-1.4.6.tar.gz)
> 
> I get:
> 
>   # insmod ./lm_sensors.o
>   ./lm_sensors.o: kernel-module version mismatch
>   ./lm_sensors.o was compiled for kernel version 2.0.33
>   while this kernel is version 2.0.35.
> 
> It must be getting the wrong kernel version 2.0.33 from
> /usr/include/linux/version.h
> 
>   $ grep linux/version *.c
>   lmsysctl.c:#include 
>   smbus.c:#include 
>   
>   $ dpkg -S /usr/include/linux/version.h
>   libc6-dev: /usr/include/linux/version.h
> 
> If I force it:
> 
>   # insmod -f ./lm_sensors.o
>   Warning: kernel-module version mismatch
>   ./lm_sensors.o was compiled for kernel version 2.0.33
>   while this kernel is version 2.0.35
>   
>   ./lm_sensors.o: init_module: Device or resource busy
> 
> So no luck so far.  (This is why I love .debs !)

Jeff, I hope this answers your question as well.

Let's see, I have a lm_sensors-1.4.2.tgz.  I have compiled it, and I
have also gotten the same error; I have also fixed this.

In the Makefile, change the line 
CFLAGS = -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -I. -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer

to read 

CFLAGS = -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -I/usr/src/kernel-source-2.0.34/include -I. -O2 
-fomit-frame-pointer

instead.  (the above should be all one line; it'll probably wrap or
something in between here & there.)  Change the kernel-source-2.0.34 to
reflect whatever kernel you really are running.

After all this, I've found that my board is one of the few P6-based
boards that *doesn't* have these sensors on board.  :-( I'd love to be
proven wrong, but the lm_sensors module claims there isn't any such
thing present in my system (Tyan Titan Pro S1662D, FWIW). 
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: CPU temp/fan tachometer for linux?

1998-10-01 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On  1 Oct, Paul Reavis wrote:
> My latest motherboard has a CPU temp sensor and fan tachometer feature.
> Are there any linux drivers/programs for reading these?
> 

Try lm_sensors.

http://appindex.freshmeat.net/view/904554804/
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: pcmcia scsi

1998-09-22 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 22 Sep, Giuseppe Sacco wrote:
> Hi all,
> I would like to buy a pcmcia scsi card for my laptop. Can someone suggest me a
> model that is know it works with Debian linux?
> 

There is a complete list of supported cards at
http://hyper.stanford.edu/~dhinds/pcmcia/SUPPORTED.CARDS

Unfortunately, there is no information as to how well each one works.  

Anything listed as a supported card is supported by the pcmcia
package(s) distributed as part of Debian, though you may have to
recompile the pcmcia modules to match your kernel.  Anything listed as
supported by a contributed driver is not (yet) supported by the Debian
packages, though you can probably add the contributed drivers in
yourself fairly easily.  I have a recent New Media Bus Toaster, which
is only supported by a contributed driver; however, it was fairly easy
to rebuild the pcmcia package to include the new driver, and it has
worked well for me.  I've used a CDROM, a Syquest EZ-drive and a
Seagate tape backup with it.  The Bus Toaster was also relatively
inexpensive (I got mine at an auction), which made a big difference in
my decision.

HTH,
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: Modules problems

1998-09-19 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 19 Sep, Remo Badii wrote:
[snip]
> Manoj Srivastava wrote:
> 
> Possibly you did not build and install the pcmcia
>  modules? The pcmcia modules are added on to the kernel, and come
>  separately. Install the pcmcia source package and look for
>  instructions on using make-kpkg to create pcmcia modules.
> 
> I could not find instructions for the creation of pcmcia modules: have they
> been created in the original Debian setup while installing pcmcia-cs?
> If this is the case, I repeat my question above: must pcmcia-cs be
> reinstalled with the new kernel running?
> 
[snip]

Try /usr/doc/pcmcia-source/README.  
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: Proposed-updates subdir?

1998-09-18 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 18 Sep, Randy Edwards wrote:
>Could someone tell me exactly what the dists/proposed-updates
> subdirectory is for?
> 
>Yes, I know it's for "proposed updates" ;-), but what for what dist?
> Hamm?  Slink?  Does this subdir function as sort of a new "incoming"
> type of subdir so that the files are checked and then moved into Hamm or
> Slink?  Any details on what this is used for would be appreciated;
> thanks in advance.
> 
>
For now, hamm.  The idea is that unstable is, well, unstable, and
changing all the time.  Changes for unstable just get tossed into the
archive.  Stable, however, has been released and now *shouldn't* be
changing.  If it were to change without changing the version number of
the release as a whole, there would be a flame fest on debian-devel and
six more developers would quit over it*.  So proposed-updates holding
tank, if you will, to hold the changes to stable until there are enough
of them or there is a sufficiently severe bug fixed to warrant
releasing 2.0 r1 (or whatever they've decided to call it**).


* this has happened before.

** And there have been people threatening to quit over what to call the
new version number as well.
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


RE: debian 2.0 install

1998-09-16 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 16 Sep, Shane S. wrote:
> 
> Thanks for the response.
> 
> So do you think I should forget about recompiling the kernel
> and just install it as if there is 1 processor?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: Nathan E Norman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 1998 11:31 AM
> To: Shane S.
> Cc: 'debian-user@lists.debian.org'
> Subject: Re: debian 2.0 install
> 
> 
> On Wed, 16 Sep 1998, Shane S. wrote:
> 
>  : 
>  : 
>  : 
>  : I just downloaded debian 2.0 linux and I want to install it
>  : on a SMP Wyse7000i machine. This machine has 2 486 processor.
>  : After reading the documentation, I have a question.
>  : After downloading, do I install debian 2.0 first, and
>  : then re-compile the kernel to take advantage of the SMP,
>  : or should I recompile in the begining?
> 
> I don't believe Linux SMP code supports dual 486 processors (due to the
> lack of standards for such machines).   Pentium and above
> multi-processor systems are supported.
> 


Before you give up:  My impression is that Linux SMP doesn't support
dual 486SX boxes, because of something involving floating point
support, but that it does support some 486 dual processor boxes.  

>From the Linux SMP page (way out of date, but presumably correct as of
whenever it was written:

* Intel MP v1.1 compliant 486, Pentium and Pentium Pro hardware. 
* Intel MP v1.4 compliant Pentium and Pentium Pro hardware. 
* Multiprocessor Sun4m sparc machines. 
* 2.1 development on Alpha, PowerPC, Sun4d, Ultrasparc. 


I would suggest installing as usual, pretending you have a single
processor box, which should work.  Then install the kernel source and
compile a custom kernel which supports SMP, and put it in LILO as a
secondary kernel (second menu entry), so that you can try it out but
have something to fall back on (the single processor kernel) in case it
really doesn't work.  If it does work, shuffle the LILO configuration
around to boot the SMP kernel by default.

I've been really lucky with SMP support, but I haven't tried it with
486s.  I think I've run into one SMP related bug, and got around that
by not using the SCSI port on my (now replaced) PAS16 sound card.


-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College



Re: gimp &/or xv resize function?

1998-09-16 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 16 Sep, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Hi everybody, I just installed gimp and was trying to resize an image
> from 640x480 to 1024x768.  I can't seem to do it.  In gimp if you use
> the resize the image it resizes the window and leaves the image at
> 640x480.  Do you have any suggestions.  I can't seem to get this task
> done.  There are no features that I can find with xv to resize an image
> to a bigger size.  I have been to the gimp and xv site and could not
> find the answers there.  I am not an artist just a guy trying to
> customize his enlightenment desktop.
> 
> If any one can help me, I would really appreciate it and be greatful.
> Paul
> 
:-)

Just did this, trying to customize my WindowMaker desktop

Try "m", for "maximize" in xv, or (right click on image) -> Image ->
Scale in gimp.  You may need to uncheck the "Constrain Ratio" box to
get it to exactly the size you want.
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: KDE's Kedit and Kview

1998-09-14 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 12 Sep, Michael Beattie wrote:
> 
> I know that KDE is still in the development stages, but one small bug that
> bugs me is that when using the K file manager to open text, .c or image
> files, The respective viewers/editors take the file's path and location to
> be seperate arguments. For example, Kedit says "Cant open directory" with
> the first two program instances, and then opens the file in the third
> instance when passed the filename and path of "/home/userfoo/bar.txt"
> 
> The image viewer opens with "%m" and [filename] as available images to
> view.
> 
> I dont know if anyone understnds what I am describing, I haven't been
> motivated enough to ask until today.. Anyway, Is there a temporary fix for
> this, or do I have to wait till the next packaged release?
> 
> I hope I am not the only one with these problems!
> 

I had this problem with the older versions of KDE.  It went away when I
installed the version from slink. (1.0)  You can get it (probably
temporarily only) from slink, or from the KDE web site (they have the
.deb's someplace there).
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: KDE problems.

1998-09-14 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 14 Sep, Person, Rod wrote:
>   Anyone using KDE, do you have this problem, can you help..
> 
>   When I start KDE as the default window manager it takes 1/2 hour
> or more to load. Then once it does load it is take just as long to do
> anything.
>   I added kdmdesktop to my Xsetup_0 (as the last line, not sure if
> this is correct placement or not.) I made kde primary in the
> window-manger file. Other than that I made no modifications, I am
> thinking the is a problem in the search paths, but I am clueless to
> which config file to check. Any idea?
> 
>   By the way, please reply to me directly at this address, for
> some reason
>   I don't get the journal anymore. I think that my system admin,
> locked it out!!!
> 
>   Rod. 
> 

I'm replying to the list also, so that other people can follow along &
correct me if necessary.

I don't have this problem.  OTOH, I can't run KDE on the slowest system
I have, because it doesn't have a graphics card installed.  (Monochrome
text only!)  How fast is your system?  Which version of KDE do you
have installed?  How much RAM do you have?  Swap space?  KDE takes a
fair amount of memory, last time I checked.  I think my PPC box (PPC
604/150, 16M) goes from 11M used to 28M used when I start X & KDE, which
is bad because I have only 16M RAM, but it isn't anywhere near as slow
as what you're describing.

For starters, check /var/log/kern.log, /var/log/daemon.log and
/var/log/messages.  I'm not sure what else to check.
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: 2nd Try: Ctrl-Alt-Minus on Laptop

1998-09-14 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 14 Sep, Kent West wrote:
> Anyone know how to change resolution/screen size on a laptop that doesn't
> have a separate numeric keypad? I can lock the number keys on that are
> imbedded in the alpha keys, but that still doesn't let me do the
> Ctrl-Alt-Minus key combo. Nothing I've tried has worked. Is there another
> way to change res without this key combo?
> 

Are you using the minus key in the embedded numeric keypad when you try
this?  (Mine is on the 'p' key, and it works for me.)  Reorder the
resolutions in your XF86Config if that doesn't work. Maybe you'll have
to remove all but the resolution you want from the "Screen" section.
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: Help! CD-RW Media

1998-09-09 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On  9 Sep, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Hi, i'm trying to mount some CDRW media, but its not working. :(.
> 
> 
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]:/home/timothy# mount -t iso9660 /dev/hdc /cdrom
> mount: block device /dev/hdc is write-protected, mounting read-only
> mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hdc,
>or too many mounted file systems
> 
> .. So I suppose its not iso9660?
> 
> Now, man mount says that without the '-t' option, it will probe the
> filesystem type. But 
> 
> 
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]:/home/timothy# mount /dev/hdc /cdrom
> /dev/hdc: Input/output error
> mount: block device /dev/hdc is write-protected, mounting read-only
> /dev/hdc: Input/output error
> mount: you must specify the filesystem type
> 
> 
> Anyone happen to know whats wrong here? What kind of filesystem CDRW
> drives normally use. (This one was made in an 'omniwriter')? Or some other way
> that I can probe the filesystem and see what it is?
> 

You wouldn't happen to be trying to mount this one in a standard CDROM
drive, would you?  Not all CDROM drives are capable of reading CDRW
media, only some recent models.  In fact, not all CDROM drives are
capable of reading even CDR media, as I recently discovered to my
chagrin.  I get similar errors trying to mount a CDR in my (admittedly
ancient) CDROM, but if I put that CDR disc in my Mac, I can mount and
read it, no problem.  

I forget where I first heard about this, but I think it has something
to do with how reflective the metal layer inside the media is.
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: swap size

1998-09-02 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On  2 Sep, Max wrote:
> I'm about ready to setup a machine with 512 MB of RAM and I'm
> wondering how much swap space I should allocate.  I've read about the
> 2x rule, but 1 GB of swap seems somewhat excessive.  I've also been
> told that Linux will not use more than 128 MB of swap.  So, how much
> should I allocate?  Can I change it later without having to reinstall
> everything?  The machine is a dual-processor workstation that will be
> used by 4-8 people concurrently for number crunching and all sorts of
> simulations.
> 
> Also, is it possible to put /tmp within swap?  Is that the default?
> 
> Thanks,
> Max


1GB isn't excessive if you're going to use it all.  A better rule is to
try to figure out what you will need*, and make sure that real + swap is
at least as large as what you need. Of course, it really does help if
real > average need and you only need to hit swap on rare occasions.  If
it turns out that you only need 480MB, max., then you probably don't
need any swap at all.  OTOH, if you are running something really huge,
then you might need 2GB swap, although that might turn out to be simply
too large for your system.  I think there is some benefit to having some
swap available, but I'm not enough of a kernel guru to know exactly why.
I did have a situation recently where I didn't have any swap, and I ran
out of RAM, and the system shut down sshd, breaking my connection.
Dunno why.  

* - don't forget the kernel, all the daemons, etc.etc.etc.  

At any rate, so long as you have disk space available, you can change
the amount of swap by running "mkswap" and "swapon"  with suitable
partitions, and you can do this on the fly.  You can even do this with
swap files in the regular filesystem, but I understand this isn't
recommended, for performance reasons and security reasons.  I haven't
done this, so I don't know how, but I'm sure it's in a HOWTO or a man
page someplace.  Worst case, you could add another hard drive and use
it for swap space if it turns out you need more.

The "correct" way to set up swap involves separate partitions, with a
different partition type and a separate format; /tmp needs to be part
of the regular filesystem, mounted in the usual manner, so I doubt you
can share space between /tmp and the swap space.

HTH,
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: Sound card question, mouse question

1998-09-01 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 29 Aug, Christopher M. Wesneski wrote:
> I recently learned how to setup my Plug-and-Pray modem using pnpdump and
> isapnp.
> 
> pnpdump > /etc/isapnp.conf (then select the correct settings)
> isapnp /etc/isapnp.conf
> setserial /dev/ttyS1 port 0x2f8 irq 3 uart 16550
> 
> Everything works great. My question is, pnpdump also listed my sound
> card. When I edited isapnp.conf to select the correct settings and ran
> isapnp everything looks ok but the card doesn't work. Is there something
> similar to setserial that I have to do after I run isapnp?
> 
> Also I went out and bought a three button mouse so I could middle-click
> cut-n-paste in xterms but I can't seem to get it to work. I have gpm
> running and it works while not in X (at the console). But when I am in X
> the middle button does nothing. It is a $0.50 serial port mouse
> (GoldenImage) and it has a little switch on the bottom (which I have no
> clue what it does) with one side labeled MS AM (which is the only way it
> will work in Windows) and the other PC AT. Any suggestions?

You might get a better response with better information in your
question.  What model is your sound card?  Are the settings listed for
it in /etc/isapnp.conf correct?  Do you get any error messages when
trying to use the sound card or does it just fail silently?  I get a
"Interrupt test on IRQ5 failed - device disabled" when my sound card
doesn't work, meaning that Plug-and-Pray has in fact introduced an
interrupt conflict into the system.  Most importantly, does the kernel
you're running have sound support?  (I always compile custom kernels,
so I don't remember if the default Debian kernel has sound support or
not.)  You may need to recompile your kernel with sound support on.

As for your mouse, the switch on the bottom changes which protocol the
mouse uses; have you read the 3-Button-Mouse HOWTO? (It's in
/usr/doc/HOWTO/mini/, and may have the information you need to decide
where that switch belongs.)  Also, you need to make sure that the
information in your XF86Config matches your mouse hardware.  You should
tell X that you have whatever kind of mouse you have set the switch to.
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College



Re: sound card

1998-08-28 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 28 Aug, Brian Morgan wrote:
> Running debian 2.0 / 2.0.34 (stable) and having trouble getting my sound
> card to work.  I can get the cd rom player in X to run, but not through
> the sound card.  I didn't see anything in the device drivers setup when
> I installed debian, and wasn't sure how else to get it to work.  It's a
> creative labs soundblaster awe64e.  I installed all the sound files in
> the debian setup (using the easy to use custom menu for setting up:
> WORKS  GREAT!!!), but it still isn't working.
> 
> Any thoughts?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Brian Morgan
> BTW, nice job to all you developers out there who made vast improvements
> to the debian 2.0 setup.  So much easier now than in the frozen
> version!  I installed everything I needed right from the start
> (including x, samba, and mucho other packages . . .no problem!)  Look
> out NT!
> 

You'll need to patch the kernel source and compile a custom kernel;
fortunately, this is a) not hard, and b) well documented in the Sound
Blaster AWE HOWTO, by our very own Marcus Brinkmann and c) there are
Debian packages for everything you'll need.

/usr/doc/HOWTO/mini/Soundblaster-AWE.gz

(or search Yahoo for "Sound Blaster AWE HOWTO" - the first 22 matches
are to copies of the HOWTO)

This HOWTO made the difference for me - I needed to replace my sound
card, as the old one bumps into my SIMM slots.  The options were yank
half of my RAM (which I had just bought) or replace the sound card, so I
went shopping, and Marcus' excellent HOWTO was the deciding factor in my
getting a SoundBlaster 64 AWE.  Read the HOWTO, follow it, and yell for
help if you get stuck.

HTH,
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: Beowulf cluster

1998-08-28 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 28 Aug, Ossama Othman wrote:
>> from what I remember Beowulf uses PVM, and that is already packaged.
>> They basically seemed when I read their pages to be makeing "add ons" which
>> make PVM more powerfull 
> 
>>From what I recall, PVM is being superseded by MPI.  There is already a
> Debian packaged implementation of MPI called "mpich."  I'd suggest using
> MPI instead of PVM.
> 
> By the way, has anyone adopted MPICH since it was orphaned (poor little
> mpich :))? If not, I'll adopt it.
> 
> -Ossama

My impression, from having looked into them both, is that PVM is better
at some things and MPI is better at others, so both are still used.

BTW, in answer to the original question (which I've since deleted), is
that you can use SMP in a Beowulf cluster.  At least, there isn't any
technical reason that I know of why you couldn't.  Simply build the
Beowulf cluster out of SMP-capable systems, install multiple processors
in each one, and make sure to compile SMP into the kernels when you
set it up.  My guess is that most Beowulf class clusters don't do this,
because the limiting factor on computation speed in most clusters is
communication speed.  Having more than one processor in the same box
only exaggerates the communication speed problem.  Also, most PC-based
SMP implementations have difficulty with memory bandwidth.  I followed
the linux-smp mailing list for a short while; one of the things that
came up was that there were many SMP boxes which ran two memory
intensive processes slower in parallel than they did sequentially. 
That is, it was actually faster to not use the second processor!

My guess is that you haven't seen anything on SMP Beowulfs preciesly
because of the memory and network bandwidth problems, but I've never
built a Beowulf, so I don't really want to put words in the mouth of
anyone who has.
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: Custom boot Disk Creation?

1998-08-28 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 28 Aug, Young, Ed wrote:
> 
> I'll bet this has been covered, and I feel shame for not knowing and not
> being able to find out how, but
> How do I create a custom boot disk? Is there a utility, or just a sequence
> of steps? 
> 
> Thanx, 
> 
> Ed

The package you want it boot-floppies.  Be warned, there are some
things you need that are not listed in the dependencies for the
package.  Among other things, the kernel you are running when you build
the boot disks needs to have loopback support, minix filesystem
support, and possibly a couple of other things I've now forgotten. 
Worse, an upgrade to the boot-floppies package replaced the Makefile I
had customized with a standard one, so I'm not positive about
everything I changed to make it work.  You'll also need a local copy of
the Debian archive, probably on CD-ROM (I NFS mounted our local mirror
and that worked, too).

The boot-floppies package isn't as easy to use out of the box as many
of the other Debian packaged items are, but it does make nice boot
disks (I built a set for my laptop when PCMCIA support on the boot
disks was broken).

HTH,
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: Rescue disk is SLOW to load

1998-08-26 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 26 Aug, Mike Roberts wrote:
> I and a friend both have the same problem on our older 386 machines -
> the resue disk for hamm takes about 15 to 20 minutes to load the root
> filesystem and the kernel image.  These same floppies work just fine
> on newer systems.  We've both already completed the installs, but why
> does it take so long?  Granted, the processors are slower, but we
> didn't see this problem with 1.3.
> 

Which rescue disk?  Are you using "resc1440-fast.bin" or
"resc1440.bin"?  The "resc1440.bin" is known to be atrociously slow,
but safe.  "resc1440-fast.bin" is *much* faster at loading.
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College



Re: e2fsck error on boot

1998-08-15 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 15 Aug, Mark Wagnon wrote:
> Hi all-
> 
> I've managed to install the base system via floppies and I've spent
> several hours downloading packaged with dselect, and all seemed to
> be progressing nicely. I've only rebooted the system twice, and
> after downloading and installing something to do with the libc5
> libraries, dselect instructed me to reboot when it was finished. So
> after everything was installed and configured, I rebooted the
> machine with Ctrl-Alt-Del, but I didn't stop to think if that's okay
> with Debian (it's posed no problem with any other dist that I've
> installed), so the system rebooted and when fsck started to check my
> filesystems it barfed up the following:
> 
> ---Begin fsck message---
> 
> Couldn't find ext2 super-block while trying to open /dev/hda
  

> 
> The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
> filesystem. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
> filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the
> superblock is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an
> alternate superblock: e2fsck -b 8193 
> 
> fsck failed. Please repair manually and reboot. Please note that the
> root filesystem is currently mounted read-only. To remount it
> read-write:
> 
>   #mount -n -o remount,rw /
> 
> ---End fsck message ---
> 
> I entered my root password and typed e2fsck -b 8193 /dev/hda1 at the
  ^

> prompt. fsck ran and asked me to fix a few things, and exited
> without any error messages. I rebooted (this time with shutdown -r
> now) and was presented with the same error message. I tried again,
> this time mounting the root filesystem read-write as mentioned
> above, but then fsck complained that the system was mounted and
> asked me if it should continue. Not sure of the consequences, I
> declined.
> 
> The only thing that I can think of that affected the mounting of
> filesystems was I edited the /etc/fstab to include my cdrom,
> cdwriter, and floppy drive. I cleaned it up a little as it was
> "ugly", but I didn't modify any of the info on lines already present
> execept to format them nicer with tabs.
> 
> I've never been presented with an error like this before, so I don't
> know what to do or where to look. I can't even bring up a man page
> on e2fsck.
> 
> Am I screwed, or is there a solution to my dilemna? I would surely
> be disappointed if I had to trash everything I had accomplished up
> to this point. Heck I was proud of myself, because last year I
> couldn't figure out dselect!
> 
> Thanks for any help,
> 


Curious question - does the bootup message really say /dev/hda rather
than /dev/hda1?  If so, that may be your problem.  Check to see if in
editing your /etc/fstab, you didn't lose a "1" in the first line.

-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


Re: PC Card Modem and Printer Recommendations

1998-07-28 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 28 Jul, Justin Liu wrote:
> Hi -
> 
> I have an IBM Thinkpad 560 with Debian 1.3.1 (among other OS's) installed on
> it and I was looking for some equipment recommendations.  I plan an upgrade
> to hamm sometime soon.
> 
> I want to get a 56K PC card modem, hopefully one that will also work with
> OS/2 and Windoze if it needs to.  The Xircom 10/100 56K combo card looks
> interesting, just because it combines so much into a small package, but
> cost and ease of installation is more imporatant to me than throughput.
> 
> I'm also looking for a low-cost ink-jet with good quality, especially for
> the occasional color output.  I'll be a student again this fall, so I'll have
> use of the school's laser printers for black and white output, but I want
> something to turn out drafts at home.  I might consider a portable printer
> if the quality and price don't drop off that much.  Again OS compatibility
> is a major factor and speed is not.  The HP and Epson look OK.  Are
> multifunction devices worth it, or should I get separate scanner/fax/copiers?


http://hyper.stanford.edu/HyperNews/get/pcmcia/home.html

is the definitive source of information on PC Card anythings under
Linux.  Combo PC Cards are problematic under Linux, because there is no
standard for them in the way that there is a standard for
single-function PC Cards.  All of them come with drivers for Windows,
and most also come with drivers for OS/2 and NT, so Linux compatibility
is probably the hardest thing to come by.  Apparently, nearly any
single-function PC Card modem will work, as will nearly any
single-function PC Card Ethernet adapter.  However, for combo cards, if
the EXACT model is not listed on the above web page, it WILL NOT WORK. 
One of my friends found this out the hard way when he bought an
Ethernet/28.8 modem combo card that was not supported; the painful
thing was that the Ethernet/33.6 combo card from the same manufacturer
is supported.  Check the exact model number against the list on the web
page, since there are some Xircom combo models that are supported and
some Xircom combo models that are not supported.

Somebody else will have to answer the printer question, since I am a
student, using the school's laser printers for black and white output,
but my home printer is a 9 pin dot-matrix :-)

-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: problems with X in hamm

1998-07-18 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 17 Jul, Peter S Galbraith wrote:
> 
> "Carlo U. Segre" wrote:
> 
>> I have been trying to install a new machine with the frozen hamm
>> distribution and I am running into 2 problems with X11.
>> 
>> 1. No user outside root is allowed to start X11.  This may be a
>> configuration issue but I know that this did not happen in Debian 1.3
>> 
>> 2. I use a S3 ViRGE video card and I am noticing that I have a corrupted
>> text console screen when I exit X (running it as root, of course).  This
>> happens both when I am using the SVGA server and the S3V server.
>> 
>> I am about to drop back to 1.3 out of frustration but wondered if these
>> problems are just my incompetence...
> 
> A similar problem was reported by Stephen Ryan in the debian-devel list.
> If he figures it out perhaps he can help you.

For the first problem, I only know of two things - the fact that
/usr/bin/X11/X should be suid root, and the /etc/X11/Xserver should
have "Console" as the second line, to allow anyone logged into the
console to start the X server.  Anything beyond that, and I'm lost. 
Sorry.

For the second problem, I don't have a fix so much as a workaround,
discovered in trying to troubleshoot the cause for my problem - nobody
can run the X server, not even root, because it crashes every time with
a Bus Error.  This appears to be a bug related to some PCI based video
cards and certain types of PCI bus controllers.  In the course of
trying to troubleshoot this, Gregory Stark passed on this neat hack:



>Incidentally here's a useful hack:

>in /etc/kbd/default.map bind Spawn_Console to some unused key:
> control keycode 127 = Spawn_Console
>
>in /etc/inittab:
> kb::kbrequest:restoretextmode -r /var/tmp/restoretext.regs
>
>and run:
> restoretextmode -w /var/tmp/restoretext.regs
>
>Then you can press that key combination to restore text mode after an svgalib
>app, or now X, has messed it up. On a multi-user system /var/tmp might not be
>a good choice for security though.

I haven't tried this little hack for fixing corrupted text mode screens
yet, as I'm still rebuilding my system from the effects of the HP
"recovery" disk, which "recovered" my system by erasing all the
partitions; it looks to me like you might need the svgatextmode package
to use it.  

HTH,  
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: drm-1804x

1998-06-19 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 19 Jun, Babs wrote:
> Hiya People,
> 
> I work for an isp and am fairly new to linux still, but have some
> experience with recompiling the kernel and module installation and
> configuration. I'm looking for a drv and/or module for a drm-1804x scsi
   
> external. Have not had much luck finding even a hit of info. Hoping
  
> someone knows what direction to point me in?? Any info would be just
> great!
> 

What sort of device is this?  Who makes it?  As long as your controller
card is supported, then you shouldn't have much trouble with the devices
hanging off it.  There are options in the kernel configuration for SCSI
disk, SCSI CD-ROM, SCSI tape, and SCSI generic (for CD (re)writables
and scanners, among other things).  Also, since it's external, you
should probably make sure it is powered on when you boot up, so that
the controller will recognize it.
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: Building Kernel for Sound

1998-06-06 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On  6 Jun, Doug Thistlethwaite wrote:
> Thanks for the input George,
> 
> I have looked all through the bo archive (using dselect) for a package called
> make-kpkg.  I do not see one on my mirror by that name.
  ^  Try kernel-package instead.  The program to run (after you
  have installed kernel-package) is indeed called make-kpkg.

> 
> G Kapetanios wrote:
> 
>> Try the make-kpkg package.
>> Then make menuconfig
>> make-kpkg --revision (version nunber) buildpackage  in /usr/src/linux
>> and dpkg -i kernel-imagedeb
>> and you are done
>> It is much simpler than the standard procedure
>> George
>>

HTH,
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: Printing to appletalk printer?

1998-05-27 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 26 Apr, Asher Haig wrote:
> Is it possible to make linux print to an appletalk printer? I see papd 
> can spool from appletalk to an lp printer. Can it work the other way?
> 
> I want to print to an HP 6MP hooked up via a Jet Direct Plus to 10bT 
> ethernet. It does NOT have a specific IP address assigned to it --  I 
> only have 6 IPs on my subnet and they're all in use. They cost money b/c 
> they're for my ISDN router for internet access -- I don't need the 
> printer on the net, just my internal network. (Although Theoretically I 
> could set up a second subnet and put it on that with the printer and have 
> the printer have an IP on that subnet -- but I'd rather not if I don't 
> have to) What's the best way to go about doing this?

http://www.giub.unibe.ch/~eugster/appleprint.html

Install the netatalk package, then follow half the directions on this
web page.  You don't need the part about setting the Linux box up as a
print spooler for the Macs, just the part about getting your Linux box
to find and use the Appletalk printer.  Works great here!
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: X11 HELP!

1998-05-22 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 21 May, Doug Thistlethwaite wrote:
> Hello & help!
> 
> I hope someone can help me with this problem that is getting worse and
> worse...
> 
> I tired to install fvwm95 and all I got was a plain login screen that
> would log into a plain window with a single xterm.  I tried to remvoe
> the window manager and install another using dserver... Now I CAN NOT
> LOGIN to the computer at all from the console.  When I log in I get a
> colorful flash and another plain login screen.  The only way I can
> connect to the computer is via a telnet.
> 
> How do I disable the X11 so I can get my console back?  Also any tips on
> getting a WM working would be greatly appriciated!  I should have a
> pretty much generic installation, so I'm somewhat confused to why I am
> having all of this trouble.

Are you running XDM (the graphical login screen)?  If so, you can press
Control-R to kill it and go back to a text console login screen;
alternatively, you can login and press F1 after the password instead of
Enter to go into "safe mode", which doesn't start a window manager,
just an xterm so you can fix things; or, you can press Ctrl-Alt-F1 to
switch to a text console and login from there (this last one leaves XDM
running; you can switch back to it with (usually, if you haven't
modified the number of virtual consoles available) Alt-F7).  I don't
know how to restart XDM after the Control-R bit except (as root) to run
"/etc/init.d/xdm stop" and then "/etc/init.d/xdm start" - the person
I got the tip from didn't say if there was some way to get the XDM
screen back or not.

If you haven't changed it, the default is to start the first window
manager listed in /etc/X11/window-managers.  You could try to edit that
file to see if it has been corrupted or if the first window manager
listed actually exists.  You may also want to check to see if there is
a .xsession in your home directory, and if so, what is in it.  The
window manager should be the last line in it if it does exist.

Incidentally, the "safe mode" login is a good way to test new window
managers, because you can start a new window manager from the prompt
and kill it if it doesn't work out.  i.e. you could login in safe mode,
type "fvwm95 &" to start the fvwm95 window manager, and either quit it
or kill it if you start having problems.

HTH,
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: Help on installing Deb 1.3.1 on Toshiba laptop

1998-05-22 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 21 May, Philip Restuccia wrote:
> Hello.
> 
> I sent a request for help on this topic a few days ago, but have
> received no responses
> as of yet.  In case I wasn't clear enough on my needs the first time,
> I'm trying again.
> If you saw the first request and just don't know of anything that would
> help me, then I
> apologize for the duplication! :-)

I'm sorry.  I didn't see your question the first time.  I do try to
read most laptop-related questions.

> I purchased the Debian 1.3.1 binary/source CD set from LSL several
> months ago, and am
> finally getting to the actual installation (been *very* busy).  What I
> would *really*
> like to be able to do is install Linux on a 1.5GB cartride in my Syquest
> SyJet removable
> drive, which I have attached to my Toshiba Satellite 105cs laptop via an
> Adaptec APA-1460A
> PCMCIA SCSI adapter, to which is also attached a Teac SCSI 16x CD-ROM
> drive.  My laptop
> has a 504MB hard disk that has only the single partition it came with on
> it, and that has
> only about 170MB left on it; the Win95 stuff on it cannot be removed. 
> The laptop also has
> 24MB of RAM.
 
The hardware sounds like it should be good; AFAIK everything is
supported by Linux.

> Is there any way possible that I can accomplish the installation on the
> SyJet?  I have no
> real-mode card and socket services available on the machine, so my SCSI
> adapter (and thus
> the SyJet and CD-ROM drive) are invisible to DOS (at least to pure DOS;
> I can access them
> in a DOS-box under Win95 but this is obviously no good).  Do any of the
> Linux installation
> utilies by any chance have built-in access to the PCMCIA cards?  Is
> there any alternative?

OUCH!  My guess is you may not have gotten any answers because this one
is a hard one.  Problem number one:  booting.  In order to boot, you
will have to be able to see some of Linux at boot time. Not having any
experience with a PCMCIA SCSI card (I'm supposed to be getting a New
Media Bus Toaster in a couple of days), I don't know if you'll be able
to boot off that drive or not.  The BIOS has to be able to see the
drive in order to be able to boot off it.  Since the PCMCIA card hasn't
been initialized yet, it can't be recognized by the BIOS as a valid
 bootable device.  I suspect you'll need something to boot from the
internal hard drive and then bootstrap up to the external drive after
the PCMCIA drivers are loaded. Perhaps a boot floppy with a kernel and
the PCMCIA modules on it might do the trick, but I'm in *way* over my
head here.  I have no idea how to go about such a thing.  Even if you
boot from the internal hard drive, I think the kernel wants to mount
the swap partition and any other partitions you have *before* the
PCMCIA drivers are loaded :-(

Another major problem is that installation will be tricky.  In short,
the PCMCIA drivers have to be running *before* the installation program
copies anything to the disk; I've installed Debian on 4 laptops in the
past 6 months and I've always had to add the PCMCIA support in myself. 
This could be fixed by adding PCMCIA support and the appropriate SCSI
driver to the rescue disk, which I think amounts to solving the same
problem as the general booting problem with a floppy disk.  Again, I'm
in over my head here.  

Finally, on shutdown, the shutdown stuff wants to unload the PCMCIA
drivers before unmounting the drives; this means that every time you
boot up, you will at a minimum have to go through a fsck of the whole
Syquest drive.

The major difficulty is that the PCMCIA drivers have to be loaded
before you can get anything off the Syquest drive, and the PCMCIA
drivers are only available as kernel modules, and so aren't loaded
until too late in the boot process (and correspondingly get unloaded
too soon).  If you could spare 10-15 megabytes for a bare install on the
internal hard drive and could figure out how to a) load the PCMCIA
drivers early or b) delay mounting the swap, /home, /usr and /var
partitions until later in the boot process, you could probably get away
with it.  (On my system, I have just a little over 10 megabytes in
/boot, /bin, /sbin, /lib, /dev and /etc combined.  I have 22 megabytes
in /root, which I probably shouldn't have there, and some miscellaneous
stuff in /tmp (maybe this should get a partition on the Syquest drive,
too?); then there is 1 gigabyte in the /usr partition and 1.5 gigabytes
in /home.  /var needs some space because that is where new packages get
downloaded to before they get installed.  Correspondingly, I have a
small partition mounted as the root partition, and two very large
partitions mounted under /home and /usr, and a medium sized partition
mounted under /var.

I'm sorry that this comes out so negative sounding; what you've asked
is (I think) fairly difficult, and is going to involve changing the
boot sequence for anything to work.

> Also, on an unrelated topic, I've been monitoring this list for a few
> days now (watching for
> a response to my initia

Re: Toshiba and HP's GNU/Linux compatibility

1998-05-18 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 17 May, Stefan Baums wrote:
> Hi all!
> 
> I'll buy a notebook computer shortly, and one of my prime concerns is
> that GNU/Linux will not only run on it somehow, but actually use the
> available hardware features. At the moment, I'm considering the
> Toshiba Satellite 300 CDT and the HP Omnibook 2000 (+ internal CDROM
> for its accessory bay). To judge from the "Linux on Laptops" Page
> (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/), Toshiba in
> general seems to be quite compatible with Linux, and HP far less so
> (though, or maybe because, it has the more interesting hardware). But
> the exact models I'm interested in have not been reviewed there.
> 
> So, is anyone out there running GNU/Linux on one of these machines and
> can tell me about his experiences?
> 
> Many thanks in advance,
> Stefan

My guess is that the exact models you're interested in are not reviewed
there because someone (like me) sat down to try to write a web page
about how to use Linux on one of them, and had a great deal of
difficulty doing so.  Web pages that say "Follow the installation
instructions.  It works." aren't too helpful.  Just as an example, I
have an Omnibook 5500CT, and installation instructions consist of:

Follow Debian install directions.  Install the SVGA X server. 
Recompile the kernel for APM support and Crystal Sound audio support. 
Beg, borrow, or steal the XF86Config file (I got mine from David
Puryear - thanks again David!).  Turn off a couple of daemons that like
to hit the disk fairly often.

Absolutely nothing that doesn't apply to pretty much any laptop. As a
laptop-usage data point, there are 9 people in  the department here
running Linux on a laptop (at least 7 are using Debian, and it's
entirely possible that all 9 do); I think that there are 3 Toshiba's, 3
HP's and 3 "other".  As far as I know, we all have X, sound and power
management support.  Buy on features / price / durability / service /
whatever else meets your fancy.  Just make sure you don't get stuck
with one of those evil Neomagic chipsets and you should be fine.

In case you do go for the Omnibook, I have a (close to useless) web
page up at http://www.math.dartmouth.edu/~sryan/omnibook.html which has
the XF86Config file available for download; as the OB 2000 (I think)
uses the same graphics chipset as the OB5500, it might work.  I know it
worked on the OB 5000CTS, which is similar but not exactly the same.
If you want any other configuration files, feel free to write and ask
for them.

Sorry I don't have similar information on the Toshiba, but as you
remarked, Toshiba does seem to be quite compatible with Linux.
HTH,
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: Building a network at home

1998-04-22 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 21 Apr, Adalberto da Silva wrote:
> Hello!
> 
>   I wish my question is only a little bit ou of scope...
> 
>   My computer is a dual boot MMX230 with 120 MBytes RAM and three IDE
> hard disks (2 Megs for Win95 and 11 Megs for Linux - this is an
> indication for my choices. But I do use Netscape under W95...).
> 
>   My girlfriend is using an old 486DX with W95 and I have an 'spare' P133
> (almost complete, it lacks only a video monitor).
> 
>   I'm thinking about put all those guys to talk but I don't know where I
> may start. Well, I put an eye on Lars' "System Administrator.." and
> Olaf's "Network Administrators..." but I think my problems are at an
> ealier stage.
> 
>   Is this possible to put my P133 to make some work for me without a
> monitor? Is there any major difficulties to put a W95 'slave' machine on
> a Linux powered network?
> 
>   Is there a good book or manual I can start reading before begin the
> surgery inside my machines? Is there any suggestion about good and not
> so expensive network cards?
> 

Yes, you can use the P133 without a monitor - though you may want to
"borrow" the monitor from one of the other machines to get it set up
the first time.  After it is running, you can do most things through
telnet.  You shouldn't have any trouble using a Win95 'slave' machine;
I would probably use a private TCP/IP network (I am using the
192.168.1.x addresses for my home network) and Samba for Windows file
sharing.  You can also use telnet with your Win95 setups to the
headless P133.  If you turn on IP Masquerading in the Linux kernel on
the P133, you can have that machine be your connection to the Internet
for the other two, and have a single connection work for all of them.

Best of all, you can do all this with the very inexpensive NE2000 clone
network cards.  I'm using an inexpensive NE2000 clone card, an IBM Home
& Away (in my laptop) and an old SMC something-or-other that I got for
free in a box of old junk, hooked together with a cheap hub that I got
from ONSALE.com.


I would suggest looking through the HOWTOs.  There is a wealth of
information in there (Without actually knowing the contents right now,
Firewall-HOWTO, Intranet-Server-HOWTO, SMB-HOWTO, mini/IP-Alias and
mini/IP-Masquerade all look like they might have some information that
would help you.
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: Major Failure re-installing system!!!

1998-04-10 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On 10 Apr, John Maheu wrote:
> There is a good signal 11 reference on the web somewhere - unfortunatly I
> can't remember the address.

http://www.bitwizard.nl/sig11/
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: clean shutdown

1998-04-08 Thread stephen . p . ryan
On  8 Apr, Kenneth L. Summers wrote in reply to
> David B. Wilson
>> Is there a way to do a clean shutdown without becoming root?
>> (Preferably still restricting access to those who can push the power button.)
>> 
> 
> The method I tell folks around here to use is to go to a virtual console,
> press Ctrl-Alt-Delete and watch for the bios screen.  Then shut it off.
> If there is a better way, I'd be interested in hearing it (mostly so I can
> make sure nobody does it :)

ObDisclaimers: I have no idea what, if anything, I just broke. 

I have modified /etc/inittab and /etc/kbd/default.map.gz.  In
/etc/kbd/default.map.gz, I have Control-Alt-Insert mapped to
KeyboardSignal, and in /etc/inittab, I have added a line (okay, I
uncommented one that was already there and modified it) that runs
"shutdown -h now" when it receives a kbsignal.  This way, when I press
Control-Alt-Insert, it does something almost like Ctrl-Alt-Del, but
halts instead of rebooting.  On my laptop, or on some machines which
support power management, this turns off the power as well.  I suppose
you could modify the Ctrl-Alt-Del sequence to halt instead of
rebooting, but I like the option to choose rebooting or halting.

I can provide copies of the relevant parts of those files on request - I
have three machines running Debian right now, and I've made this
modification on two of them.  Guess which of the three has net access
:-)
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College



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Re: 1FA:

1998-02-22 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
On 22 Feb, Hamish Moffatt wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 20, 1998 at 11:33:03PM -0500, Stephen P. Ryan wrote:
>> On 20 Feb, Bruce Dobrin wrote:
>> > 1FA:   is what I get when I try to boot from My hard drive.  I had this 
>> > problem once before and the problem mysteriously went away. It hasn't gone 
>> > away yet on this box.  this disturbs me.  This is a new machine with a 
>> > 9gig cheeta drive,  1st (system) partition is 500meg.  Any Ideas???
>> > 
>> > Thank you
>> 
>> That is a prompt from your BIOS, wanting to know which partition /
>> drive to boot from.  You might get this from pressing a key too soon in
>> the boot sequence, or from not having a proper boot sector installed.
>> If you are using LILO, check to make sure that it is installed on the
>> boot sector rather than in the partition.
> 
> Actually it's a prompt from the package mbr, not your BIOS. The effect
> is the same though.
> 
> hamish

I stand corrected.  I  thought it was from the BIOS because I also
thought I got that message from one of my machines before I installed
Linux on it.  I just checked my motherboard manual and found no trace of
this; I just checked /usr/doc/mbr and read all about it.

Learning something new everyday,
--  
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College



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Re: 1FA:

1998-02-21 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
On 20 Feb, Bruce Dobrin wrote:
> 1FA:   is what I get when I try to boot from My hard drive.  I had this 
> problem once before and the problem mysteriously went away. It hasn't gone 
> away yet on this box.  this disturbs me.  This is a new machine with a 
> 9gig cheeta drive,  1st (system) partition is 500meg.  Any Ideas???
> 
> Thank you

That is a prompt from your BIOS, wanting to know which partition /
drive to boot from.  You might get this from pressing a key too soon in
the boot sequence, or from not having a proper boot sector installed.
If you are using LILO, check to make sure that it is installed on the
boot sector rather than in the partition.

-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: [OFF-TOPIC] Pentium II performance?

1998-02-17 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
On 17 Feb, Marcelo E. Magallon wrote:
> On 16 Feb 1998, Ben Pfaff wrote:
> 
>> Can you point me to the source code for the benchmark?  I can run it
>> on my PII/233 for comparison if you want.
> 
> and Alex Yukhimets:
> 
>> Same here, only with PII/300.
> 
> You can find the source code here:
> 
>http://www.efis.ucr.ac.cr/~mmagallo/flops_p.c
> 
> This is extracted from the flops program written by Al Burto
> ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). This is just module 1, using 7 sums, 6 mults, 1 div.
> I think I got this from http://www.hensa.ac.uk/parallel/ or netlib.
> 
> Compiling with gcc -O2 gives a bit more than 39 on the PII. Using egcc
> (1.0.1-0.3) with -mpentiumpro gives almost 40.9
> 
> Many thanks in advance.
> 
>   Marcelo

All right, if I was your professor, I'd ask for my money back.  I have a
dual PPro 200, and I get roughly 67, from gcc 2.7.2.3 and gcc 2.8.0. 
gcc 2.8 didn't help nearly as much as I was hoping it would.  I also
have access to a PII/266, and get roughly 81 from that.  Both of
these machines were running the distributed.net client in the
background, in case that matters.  For the person who was asking about
SGI's, we have an SGI Origin here (one of the little, 4x180 Mhz
processor ones), and get 72 from that, using just -O2 for
optimizations.  All of these numbers are per processor, as I've only
tested one process at a time.

I've spent $2800 on the dual PPro, $3500 if you count the peripherals I
brought over from my old 486.  I have no idea what kind of obscene
 amounts of money the SGI Origin cost. You may draw your own conclusions
 about cost effectiveness :-)
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: Hello

1998-02-17 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
On 16 Feb, Ben Pfaff wrote in response to someone else who wrote:
>I would like to know how debian handles in a machine with two pentiums. =
>Are two cpus quicker then one in any situation. I mean does every =
>program run quicker.
> 
> Generally any particular process will only run on one processor at a
> time, so particular programs won't run faster.  However, two programs
> can run simultaneously each with a whole processor to themselves, in
> theory anyway.  
> 
> Anyone with any experience in this want to comment?
> 

There are ups and downs to the SMP support in Linux; I have even heard
of situations where running two large memory-intensive applications at
the same time ran slower than one-at-a-time on a single processor
machine.  That said, though, I find that the X server runs on one
processor, and the application runs on another, leading to a *very*
responsive system.  You can have an application computing at full speed
on one processor, while the screen is being updated and you are
movinng windows around etc. on the other processor.

Multi-threaded applications run faster, of course, because they get
more CPU time; several single-threaded applications running
simultaneously depends on the applications and whether they are
compute-bound or I/O bound.  If the applications are I/O bound, then no
amount of extra CPU power will speed them up.  If your applications are
CPU-bound, then you should get nearly twice the performance from having
 two CPUs installed. If you are running only one application at a time
then the only gain you will see comes from having the background
daemons and the X server running on a different CPU from the one
running your application, and I think you'd be better off just getting
a faster video card or more RAM or a faster drive or just about
anything else.

Be warned - the extra speed is addictive.  The only reason I'm giving up
my dual PPro 200 is to get a faster multi-cpu system. 
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: [OFF-TOPIC] Pentium II performance?

1998-02-17 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
On 16 Feb, Marcelo E. Magallon wrote:
> Hi,
> 
>   I know this is off topic, but I don't have access to cola (and
> newsgroups in general) and I feel more confortable asking here, because I
> want Linux specific answers.
> 
>   Ten days ago a professor here bought a Pentium II/233 system. He
> promptly installed Debian on it, and let me use it for my (thesis) work.
> First thing I did was to benchmark the thing using a program of my own.
> This program says a Pentium MMX/166 (my old pc) gives about 24 Mflop/s. A
> Pentium/100 is about 16 Mflop/s. If the numbers are accurate or not, is
> not in dispute now. What's important is the relative speed, and I find the
> numbers quoted to be reasonable. (For those curious, it's 3 sums, 3
> multiplications, 1 division)
> 
> The PII says 39 Mflop/s. Over the weekend, I bargained a PMMX/233, which
> says 33 Mflops/s. I don't find this this reasonable at all! Taking as a
> reference the performance leap from a 486DX4 -> Pentium (same clock speed)
> I was kinda hoping something near 80 Mflop/s for the PII (yes, I know,
> it's silly to take that as a reference, but one can only hope) 
> 
> I know I'm not playing fair comparing the systems this way (different
> kernels, memory, chipset, ...) but I was hoping somebody could give better
> statistics on this.
> 
> I'd really appreciate if somebody can help me on this one. We are planing
> to build a Debian-based compute farm, and the cost difference between
> PII's and plain Pentium's could translate into a big difference in the
> number of hosts installed.
> 
> Side note: K5/133 = 9; K6/200 = 31; 486/66 = 4; RISC 9000 = 18; VAX
> 3000... oops, forgot about it, but it was surprisingly low.
> 
> TIA,
> 

Which compiler were you using?  Programs not specifically optimized for
the PPro/PII don't get nearly the performance gain that they could.  My
experience is something between a 30 and a 50% performance gain
possible from using code compiled and optimized specifically for a PPro.

I haven't had time to try it yet, but gcc 2.8.0 compiles for PPro/PII,
as does egcs (and I think, therefore, pgcc, as that is based on egcs(?)
- but its been a while since I checked either of these).
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: dual mode?

1998-02-06 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
On  6 Feb, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> I've been eyeing some multi-processor motherboards. After checking several web
> sites, I've come across a factiod that only Intel supports "dual mode". So,
> what is "dual mode"? And does one need "dual mode" to run Debian under SMP
> kernel option? Or can one use non-Intel processors?
> 


I think this refers to the fact that these motherboards will work with
either one or two CPUs installed, but only when using Intel CPUs.  
When using non-Intel CPUs, only one will work.  This is due to the fact
that Intel has some proprietary interest in the multiprocessor
specification and refuses to license it to competitors; my guess is
that something in the spec is patented, because the competitors haven't
bothered to reverse engineer it, instead coming up with their own
specification for multi-CPU support.  Unfortunately, I have yet to hear
of a motherboard (or chipset!) that supports the other spec.  Bottom
line: if you want to run multiple CPUs, you need to use Intel.  I do
not know if Linux supports the other multiple CPU hardware spec, but
since there are no products available, the support would be purely
academic anyway.

As for what actually does work with Linux, anything that says Intel
MultiProcessor Spec  v1.1 or v1.4 should work.  There is a web page at
http://www.uk.linux.org/SMP/title.html which explains what does work.
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: Installing Debian on Laptop

1998-01-29 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
On 29 Jan, David B. Miles wrote:
> New Debian User!
> 
> I have a Compaq Elite 4/75 CX laptop.
> I have an IC ethernet card (network card).
> 
> I installed Debian on the laptop using disks.
> I would like to make a network connection through the network card and
> then install the rest of the debian files through the network.

Ok.  You also need to install (still using disks) the pcmcia packages. 
You will need pcmcia-cs and pcmcia-modules to match your installed
kernel version.  Once you have installed these, it should then
recognize your network card and let you connect to the network.  Since
we have dhcp service here, I also installed dhcpcd when I did this not
too long ago.  This should give you enough network service to be able
to use dselect's ftp method to install the rest (or the NFS method, but
I didn't have an NFS server with Debian available when I did it, so I
just used the ftp method.)

After you install everything, you should compile a custom kernel (as
usual); install the pcmcia-source package and compile a custom version
of the pcmcia modules to match your new kernel.

You should also check out the Linux laptop home page at
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/ which has more
information about running Linux on a laptop than you wanted to know. 
It appears as though there is in fact a link to a page dedicated to the
Compaq Elite series there.   I found the Linux Laptop Home Page to be
invaluable in getting my laptop started and tuned under Linux.

HTH,
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: Debian max file size is 1GB instead of 2GB?

1998-01-24 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
On 24 Jan, Steve Hsieh wrote:
> 
> Sorry if my previous post on this made it out as well.
> 
> It seems that on Debian, the maximum single file size on ext2fs is 1GB and
> not 2GB.  Can someone confirm this, and suggest how to fix the problem,
> if possible?
> 
I no longer have the space to test this, but I did have a 2GB file in
a 2.5GB partition on a Debian 1.3 system several months ago.  
-- 
Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College



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* Formal call for the retention of Bruce Perens *

1997-10-26 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
--- "dc" wrote:
>Enough is enough.

I agree.  I'm sick and tired of debian-user being hijacked by whining 
"dissidents".   

>It is time for Bruce Perens to step down form the leadership position, and an 
>interim leader take his place until a new leader can be chosen at the formal 
>election.



  Not this again.  Stop pickin' on Bruce, willya?  Last time I checked,
Debian was the product of a huge number of volunteers;  larger, in fact, than
even the Debian group.  Debian is a product of all the Debian volunteers, plus
all of the people who wrote the Linux kernel, plus all the people who wrote the
software programs packaged by the Debian volunteers, plus the people at the
Free Software Foundation who wrote the C compiler and emacs and all the GNU
utilities, plus the people from The XFree86 Project, Inc., plus the X
Consortium, plus Donald Knuth who wrote TeX and Leslie Lamport who wrote LaTeX,
plus ad infininausem.  All of these people have allowed *you* to use their
work, in freedom.

Go read the GPL.  Read it very carefully.  On second thought, go get someone
literate to read it to you.  Find out what "free" means.  Hint:  "free" does
NOT mean "no charge".  It means "freedom".  Think about that for a while.  Then
go quit bellyaching and start your own distribution.  You can even base it on
Debian if you like.  Bruce can't stop you.  That's what free means for you.  On
the other hand, you aren't allowed to go spoil the party for the hard-working
developers.  That's what free means for them.  

>Much (private) discussion has gone on about 
>forming a new distribution based on how the old Debian used to be. This is my
last 
>attempt at my inclusion and 'fixing' the Debian distribution, and if it does
not 
>succeed I (and others with discontent) will turn my efforts to that. 


Please do.  I think it would be a really good idea if you created your own
distribution.  You could even give it whatever version number you like!  And
just so you don't feel left out, I'll complain about *your* version number for
you, right away.  I think it should be "i", the imaginary number, to represent
your own contribution to Debian.  Oh, and I think you should base it on Debian
1.0, too.  That one's not changing too fast for you, is it?  Maybe you should
try 0.96r3 then.


Look, if you want to express your discontent with a piece of free software, the
correct way to do it is in code, not in calling for others to stop.

Personally, I'd like to thank Bruce and the rest of the Debian team for an
excellent product.  We just installed the seventh Debian machine in the
department today, right here in the middle of Mac-mania.  

Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux 1.3
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College
who is installing a mail filter next week so he doesn't have to hear any more
of this nonsense


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Re: netatalk question...

1997-09-30 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
--- Jason Costomiris wrote:

Macs (using netatalk, of course) can file just fine, but can't
print.  What am I missing?
--- end of quote ---
I haven't tried this, as I'm sitting in the middle of more Macs than I care to
think about, and I need to print to AppleTalk printers (the reverse problem,
which I have successfully done).  There is, however, a sort of a HOWTO on this,
which I found at
http://artoo.hitchcock.org/~flowerpt/projects/linux-netatalk/ghostscript.html

The directions there are for using Ghostscript with netatalk, but I believe the
directions there should work with any printer defined in your /etc/printcap.

HTH,

Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux 1.3
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: hamm mirror

1997-09-30 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
--- Timothy Phan wrote:
  I've been mirroring the ftp.debian.org on the bo/ and bo-updates/ for
  months now.  The activities on this version seems to slow down quite
  a bit.  Now,  I'm thinking to mirror the hamm/ as well.  Would someone
  tell me approximately how much more disk space do I need for the hamm/
  mirror (giving that I've mirror the whole bo/ and bo-updates!)  Thanks
  in advance!
--- end of quote ---
I've been trying to run a mirror of bo/, bo-updates/ and hamm/ for people in
the department here.  (We have 5 people running Debian in the math department
now, right in the middle of the second-largest Mac network in the world!  One
more will start soon and I'm trying to convert another.)  I split off a 1Gb
partition on my hard drive for it, but it is nearly full now, and hamm has been
growing.  Figure on at least 1/2 Gb for hamm/ if you strip out all the non-x86
binaries and the source.  I don't know how much for a full mirror, because my
PC is out of disk space.

Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux 1.3
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: Multiple network cards. ARGH! Double ARGH! ;-)

1997-09-24 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
--- Alair Pereira do Lago wrote:

Perhaps, the driver must be compiled inside the kernel, since some drivers
have their parameters analised in boot time but not in loading module time.

If there is some PNP card, you may have problems.
--- end of quote ---
I think you can put the parameters in the /etc/modules file.  I'm guessing,
though, since I have no parameters in there and it works ok. 

I did have to compile NE2000 support as a module, though;  I never did get it
to work compiled into the kernel.

Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux 1.3
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: 2 CPU machines

1997-09-19 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
--- Jesse Goldman wrote:
I've just put Debian 2.0.30 with version 6 of the deadlock patch on a new
2 CPU machine. The messages file tells me that the two CPUs were
initialized OK and that the machine is running roughly at 400 MHz. If I
run "bogomips", however, I still get out 198 MHz. I'm guessing that
bogomips is not designed for 2 CPU machines. Is that right and, if so, how
would I find out on the fly how fast the machine really is going? 
Thanks
--- end of quote ---
You are getting the correct results.  BogoMIPS is the result of a single timing
loop, which will only execute on one processor.  The other number is actually
the sum of the BogoMIPS numbers for each processor.  Try cat /proc/cpuinfo to
see info on both CPU's.  There is also a kernel patch at
http://www-isia.cma.fr/~forissie/smp_kernel_patch/ which will allow patched
versions of top and xosview (and maybe other programs, if they support this) to
show you what each CPU is doing, and how fast.  This will also provide
additional information on each CPU in the /proc hierarchy.  However, the 2.0.x
kernels have a known bug which makes it very difficult to find out which CPU is
doing what (the second CPU is reported as all system time, and no user time). 
You can also use "top", which will report the sum of the two cpu's efforts. 
See the recent thread on "top doesn't understand multiple processors" for more
info.

Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux 1.3
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: graphics accelarator cards ?

1997-09-17 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
--- Marc Fleureck wrote:
Does somebody know what cards are compatible and give good 
performance ? Is e.g. Matrox a good choice (say Matrox Mystique or 
Matrox Millenium) ? What's the difference between Matrox Mystique and 
Matrox Mystique ii ?
--- end of quote ---
I think Matrox is a good choice, though you do have to be careful.  Current
support is excellent for the Millenium and the Mystique, alpha / early-beta
level for the Millenium II, and this is the first I've heard of the Mystique
II.  You need XFree86 3.3 for the Millenium or the Mystique and XFree86 3.3.1
for the beta driver for the Millenium II.  The Matrox / XFree86 home page at
http://www.bf.rmit.edu.au/~ajv/xf86-matrox.html leads me to believe that you
would be better served by a Millenium or Mystique if you need this now, as the
support for the newer cards will be a while in coming.  That also indicates
that newer Millenium I's have problems (revision 3), so caveat emptor there,
too.

The Millenium is a faster card, with better expandability, if all you are going
to do is Linux and X Windows.  If you also want to do dos games or Win95 games,
get the Mystique instead, as it has better 3D support. 
http://www.matrox.com/mgaweb/home.htm is the Matrox web page, and they say that
they just cut prices on their whole product line, which should be good news.  I
don't have a Mystique, but I do know that the Millenium driver is the current
speed king in X servers (1 million x-stones on xbench!)

I've been very happy with my Millenium and recommend it strongly.

Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux 1.3
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: top doesn't understand multiple processors

1997-09-17 Thread Stephen P. Ryan

--- You wrote:
When running top on my 2 cpu machine, I get some interesting states:

   12:12pm  up 18:03h,  5 users,  load average: 1.52, 0.76, 0.49
  65 processes: 61 sleeping, 4 running, 0 zombie, 0 stopped
  CPU states: 90.2% user, 107.5% system,  0.9% nice, 0.0% idle
  Mem:  128044K av, 110520K used,  17524K free,  37088K shrd,  42576K buff
  Swap: 129020K av,  0K used, 129020K free 30244K cached

The total is approximately 200%, which makes sense.  Is there anything
to be done about this?

   
--- end of quote ---
http://www-isia.cma.fr/~forissie/smp_kernel_patch/ has a kernel patch and some
patched utilities (top and xosview) to make use of the new information.  top
will then show separate lines for each cpu.  I was using this before, but I've
upgraded to 2.0.31-pre-9 & haven't repatched my kernel source.  It did work the
last time I tried it.  Otherwise, my top display looks remarkably similar to
yours.

As far as I can tell, it doesn't really cause any problems, except that it
looks weird.  The fact that one CPU is reported as system time only, and not as
user time, is a known bug in the 2.0.x kernels, fixed in 2.1.x. 

As far as your earlier message about what each CPU is being used for, I have no
idea how to track that down, though possibly you may be able to figure
something out with the kernel patch from the above web site.

HTH

Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux 1.3
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: Video card

1997-08-08 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
--- Karsten Bolding wrote:
Hi

Does anybody know if this card woks with XFree.

  Matrox MGA PowerDocEd 2MB PCI grafikkort
--- end of quote ---
Yes, it should.  That's a Matrox Millenium PowerDoc Edition, which is supported
by the SVGA server in XFree86 3.3

Stephen Ryan Debian GNU/Linux 1.3.1
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: Proposal and questions about chemistry Debian packages

1997-08-08 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
--- Frits Daalmans wrote:
...have recently obtained a new program for molecular modelling. It was
produced under the GPL and (very well) written in C (IMHO).
...

- If I contact the author of this 'moldy' program, Keith Refson, and
ask his permission to compile and package it for Linux (only i386 for
now), in which Debian mailinglists must I discuss this proposal to get
it accepted?
--- end of quote ---

It appears that others have taken up your other question(s), but not this one,
so I'll take a crack at it.

Probably the best source of information on this subject is at
http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/debian-faq-14.html
which answers the question, "How can I become a Debian software developer?" 
Since Debian is a volunteer effort, the packages included in Debian are mostly
the ones that somebody wanted badly enough to go ahead and package them.  If
this 'moldy' program is the one you were referring to as being under GPL, there
will be no problem - your package will probably go into the main distribution. 
Otherwise, the program may have to go into either contrib or non-free,
depending on how it has been released.

In any case, the official policy is that "development of Debian is open to all,
and new users with the right skills and/or willingness to learn are needed...",
so I would encourage you to go ahead and get started on making a package.  

I'm not in chemistry myself, so I don't know if this program will do it, but it
might be just the right thing to convince my father to try Debian - I know he's
been trying out molecular modeling programs for teaching purposes for a while,
and if the software was free, that would help a lot towards getting the
tightwads in charge of his university's budget to approve it :-)

Stephen Ryan Debian GNU/Linux 1.3.1
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: I really need some help

1997-07-02 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
The following files are corupt 
debmake.list
mgetty-docs.list
mgetty-fax.list
mgetty.list
mount.list
xmix.list 
These files reside in the /var/lib/dpkg/info directory
could someone or a few poeple even compress those for me
and send them this way ;-)
If they can't be sent, could someone point me in the direction of 
repairing these files
dpkg simply will not work if it can't read the data in files under info
--- end of quote ---

Sorry, I missed your message before;  then again, I probably wouldn't have
known what to do about it until late yesterday anyway.  I'm not going to send
you copies of the files, mostly since I think I only have one of the files you
are missing installed on my system.  However, I ran into the same sort of
problem trying to remove the DES-Solnet package.  I had removed some of the
package by hand previously and dpkg complained that the install was broken and
wouldn't remove the rest of it.  I eventually just deleted the .list file for
that package (and the .prerm and .postrm files, too, I think), then reinstalled
the offending package.  dpkg fussed about the lack of a .list file, but did go
ahead and install the replacement package, which I could then remove easily.  

I think you could probably just delete (or move) the .list files you mentioned,
along with the .prerm and .postrm files, then reinstall the packages in
question.  This would put fresh copies of those files back into
/var/lib/dpkg/info (Fingers crossed, knocking on wood).  This may or may not
work through dselect, depending on whether or not the version number of the
package you are installing is newer than the one it thinks is installed.  

In any case, the .list file is just a plain text file with a list of filenames
belonging to that package, and so should be editable with a plain text editor
(vi, emacs, etc.), but it sounds like the corruption is so bad that just
getting a new copy would be easier.

HTH and good luck.

Stephen Ryan  Debian GNU/Linux 1.3!
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: Debian 1.3 install enters a reboot cycle

1997-06-20 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
--- Peter S Galbraith wrote:
> However, I don't think your 2940U is the problem.  The no_reset
> parameter is to prevent the HBA from resetting the SCSI bus, which it
> does by default to allow all the SCSI devices on the bus to initialise.

Then I don't need the `linux' label anyway.

<...>

The last line I see during kernel bootup refers to IDE-1 or IDE-2
and then it reboots.

The PC is a Compaq Deskpro 6000:
  PPro 200, 64 MB
  Adaptec 2940U SCSI (IRQ 11) w/ one 4.3 GB disk attached.
  ATAPI PD-CD (The CD shows up as /dev/hdc on Slackware)
  Matrox Millenium graphics card, IRQ11
  SMC EtherPower 10/100 (Tulip-based) Ethernet card.
  PS/2 mouse.

Any help greatly appreciated.  I've been using Slackware since 1994
(and SLS before that), and was looking forward to trying out Debian.
--- end of quote ---
I had this sort of thing happen to me with a now-defunct PC.  It had an Adaptec
2840 SCSI controller in it, and the stock Debian install disks never worked on
that machine.  The Adaptec controller doesn't appreciate being probed by all of
the SCSI drivers in the standard kernel, AFAIK.  I was using mine for a CDROM,
so I just pulled it, installed without it, and put it back in after I compiled
a custom kernel.  It did work fine once I had installed a custom kernel.

Try the suggestion to build a custom kernel and put that on the install disk. 
I no longer have a working machine that can use that Adaptec controller, so
I've since misplaced the instructions on how to replace the kernel on the
install disk, but I think such instructions are available on the Debian web
page.  An install disk kernel needs to have ram disk support and a couple of
other things compiled in, so you probably want to check those before building a
custom kernel.

There also used to be alternate boot disks (at least in Debian 1.1), one of
which was for Adaptec users, but I haven't looked for or needed one in a while. 
 

HTH

Stephen Ryan
Debian GNU/Linux 1.3
Mathematics graduate student, Darmtouth College


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Re: Boot linux from two linux partition

1997-06-17 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Sorry for this silly question. I am new to both Debian
and Linux.

My disk has following partions:
   /dev/hda1DOS
   /dev/hda2extended partion
   /dev/hda3swap
   /dev/hda4Red Hat linux
   /dev/hda5Debian 1.3
By installing debian, my computer starts from /dev/hda2
and boot /dev/hda5. Can someone tell me how to setup
lilo so that I can also /dev/hda4 ? I know there are doc
about it, but I can not find them. :(  Here is /etc/lilo.conf
-
boot=/dev/hda2
root=/dev/hda5
compact
install=/boot/boot.b
map=/boot/map
vga=normal
image=/vmlinuz
label="Debian Linux"
read-only
other=/dev/hda1
label="Windows 95"

--- end of quote ---

Hmmm.  I'm not exactly new to Linux, though I feel like it sometimes, and I had
trouble with almost this exact problem.  I was trying to do Debian 1.2 and
Debian 1.3 rather than Red Hat and Debian 1.3, and I was using separate
physical drives, but I think the problem is the same.  The only solution I've
found (I would be *very* happy to hear from someone who had a better solution)
was to install LILO twice.  The first copy of LILO is almost exactly the same
as your setup above, with the addition of 
other=/dev/hda4
 label="Red Hat Linux"
 loader=/boot/chain.b

The second copy of LILO is installed in the boot block of /dev/hda4 (NOT in the
MBR), and just boots by default into whatever setup that copy of Linux uses. 
Since I experiment with new kernel versions from time to time (part of the
hazards of owning a dual processor machine), I also like to keep two kernel
versions available in /etc/lilo.conf, so that there is always an old, working
kernel available, no matter what sort of disaster^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H jdevelopment
kernel I try.  That complicates the scenario, but not by much (just an
additional entry in each lilo.conf).

email if you'd like copies of my two lilo.conf files.

Stephen Ryan   Debian GNU/Linux 1.3
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College


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Re: Has anyone used multi- cpu's on debian

1997-03-17 Thread Stephen P. Ryan
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
with the cost of multiple cpu motherboards going down i 
was wondering if anyone has created a super debian system?

allan

ps what apps are you runnning?
--- end of quoted material ---
Yes, I have.  2xPPro 200/256k on a Tyan S1662D, 128M RAM.  I pulled the hard
drives from my old 486 and plugged them into the new system - presto! instant
power!  I did have a little trouble because I put the two hard drives on
separate busses, so my Linux drive moved from hdb to hdc, but that was a
detail.  You do need to recompile the kernel after uncommenting the SMP=1 line
at the top of "Makefile" in /usr/src/linux/ (use make-kpkg for this) and reboot
with the new kernel, and you need to remove all references to "setserial" from
/etc/init.d.  Otherwise, no more trouble than installing Debian on a single
processor box, which is to say, easy.  The usual caveats with quality hardware
go double with a multiple CPU setup, but that's important for a trouble-free
setup under any circumstances.

One thing I have noticed is that the X server will run on 1 CPU, while your
application will run on the other.  This helps everything.  Programs which I
know aren't multithreaded still go over 100% CPU usage when the X Server is
involved.  For two CPU bound tasks (the RSA datasecurity challenge program is a
prime example), top reports 99.9% CPU usage for one process and 97.9% CPU usage
for the other.  I'm not going to complain about that :-).  For two memory
intensive programs the efficiency drops quite a bit, but is still faster than a
2 processor Sun Sparc Ultra (also at 200Mhz) with the same program.  My
understanding is that Pentium based multi-CPU boards lose even more due to the
shared cache vs. the on chip cache of the PPro.  Bottom line:  efficiency
varies, and how good it works out for you depends a lot on what you want to do
with it.  Try before you buy, with your applications, if you can. 

Personally, I just got this box a couple of weeks ago and haven't really done
much with it yet.  I've been busy teaching this term and haven't had time to
play.  However, I do have some research problems to work on, which is why I
bought this box in the first place; I'll be using custom-written software for
that.  Oh, and BTW, it is *real* nice to be able to run TeX at light speed.

I haven't really found any Debian-specific issues with a multi-CPU setup; they
seem to be Linux issues, and the linux-smp mailing list (send mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with "subscribe linux-smp", without quotes, in the
body of the message to subscribe) is a good place to get many of those
questions answered.

Good luck, and feel free to ask for more help if you do decide to go SMP.

Stephen Ryan   
Team-OS/2 Debian GNU/Linux
Mathematics graduate student, Dartmouth College