Linux-Misc Digest #673, Volume #21 Sat, 4 Sep 99 21:13:08 EDT
Contents:
Re: Advantage of ext2 over vfat??? (Justin B Willoughby)
Re: I WANT TO DITCH WINDOZE BUT I CANT!!! (Robert Heller)
Re: bypassing fsck (Robert Heller)
Re: full backup minus content of CD (Robert Heller)
Re: Amiga, QNX, Linux and Revolution (Kai Henningsen)
Re: You think I shouln invest in Red Hat? (William Burrow)
Re: any RAMDISK programs out there? (William Burrow)
Re: Advantage of ext2 over vfat??? ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: 3-d plotting ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: PPP Speed problem ("Matthew O. Persico")
Re: PPP Speed problem ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Y2K T- Shirts 4837 ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Justin B Willoughby)
Subject: Re: Advantage of ext2 over vfat???
Date: 4 Sep 1999 23:10:54 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Justin B Willoughby)
Jason Bond ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) writes:
> I'm thinking of taking back a vfat partition from
> the evil empire and giving it back to the good.
> But windows doesn't access ext2 partitions (right?)
> and there wouldn't be much room left to work
> in windows (if the terrible day ever came) if I did so.
> Linux can write and read from vfat partitions, so my
> questions is: what [speed, other] benefits
> are there to running linux off of a ext2 partition
> rather than a vfat? Thanks much,
You cant really `run` Linux off of a vfat partition unless you used UMDOS
(sp?). One big reason for this is vfat does not support file permission
like ext2 does. So unless you are using something like UMDOS you can't
really run Linux off of a vfat partition.
- Justin
--
_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ RULES!! * LINUX RULES *
_/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ Justin Willoughby
_/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ http://justinw.net
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/ _/ _/ ---- Jesus Is Lord ----
------------------------------
From: Robert Heller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: I WANT TO DITCH WINDOZE BUT I CANT!!!
Date: Sun, 05 Sep 1999 00:12:14 GMT
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Azzy),
In a message on Fri, 3 Sep 1999 13:02:17 -0500, wrote :
A> I am getting ever-closer to that point of no-return where one completely
A> removes Windoze and goes 100% Linux. However, I need a little help. A
A> lot of the services and conveniences of Wintel has pretty much become
A> ingrained in my life, and I'm not sure what (if any) alternatives are
A> available yet in Linux. If you fine fellows could edumicate me on the
A> following, it would be most helpful:
A>
A> 1) Software. Certain applications are critical to my job and life. I
A> need to know if there are Linux versions or adequate replacements for
A> these in Linux--
A> * Quicken 98
gnucash is coming along, but I am not sure where it is at at
this point.
A> * Cold Fusion Studio (aka Homesite.. the best HTML editor I have seen)
Check out TkHTML -- not too bad.
A> * Microsoft Outlook 2000 or Symantec ACT
A> * A good Java IDE (Visual Cafe Pro or VisualAge for Java are among my
A> favs)
I have heard rumors that Visual Cafe will be ported to Linux
*soon* (by the end of the year). There is also Code Warrior available
for Linux. I don't know if this includes support for Java or if it is
only C/C++/Pascal.
A> * Visio Professional
A> * Adobe Illustrator
A> * Adobe Photoshop
GIMP is freely available and pretty much does everything
Photoshop does.
A>
A> 2) A shared printer. I have several machines on my home network, all
A> Windoze, which share a central HP LaserJet 3100 printer over the network.
A> I need to know if it is possible, and how to do, for a Linux machine to
A> print to this printer which is served by Windows NT. Is this Samba
A> functionality? Would HP need to make a driver specific for Linux for it
A> to work?
The HP LaserJet should speak lpd -- your Linux box should be
able to talk directly to it, except that the special HP print filters
are only available for DEC UNIX (it is possible that you won't need
them). OTOH, your Linux box can run Samba and *replace* your NT print
server -- your other MS-Windows boxes would talk to the Linux box as if
it were your NT server and the Linux box can speak the lpd protocol to
the printer. *I* don't know if you can wire a print spool to Samba and
use an NT server as a print server -- I've never don't this, *but* with
RH 5.2, the printer control panel fusses that I don't have Samba
installed and complains that I might be unable to do some print setup
options (I have no MS-Windows boxes on *my* network, so I don't need
that functionality). At UMass where I work, all of the print servers
are UNIX boxes on one flavor and all of the MS-Windows boxes run NT and
use Microsoft's LPD services to speak to the UNIX print server, which
talks to the printer via lpd (or LAT on the older printers, now
retired).
A>
A>
A> And that's really it. If I can get suitable replacements for those above
A> programs, and resolve the printer issue, I would feel quite confident in
A> scrapping NT and going Linux all the way.
A>
A> Thanks for your help,
A> -Azzy
A>
--
\/
Robert Heller ||InterNet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://vis-www.cs.umass.edu/~heller || [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.deepsoft.com /\FidoNet: 1:321/153
------------------------------
From: Robert Heller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: bypassing fsck
Date: Sun, 05 Sep 1999 00:12:15 GMT
(Posted and Mailed)
[EMAIL PROTECTED],
In a message on Fri, 03 Sep 1999 19:09:23 GMT, wrote :
c> How can I set things up so that certain partitions are never checked at
c> boot time? (They are not written to, and several are normally not read
c> from either. I just don't want to have to mount them by hand in the rare
c> but occuring case that I need something from them, so they are in
c> /etc/fstab.
>From 'man fstab':
The sixth field, (fs_passno), is used by the fsck(8) pro-
gram to determine the order in which filesystem checks are
done at reboot time. The root filesystem should be speci-
fied with a fs_passno of 1, and other filesystems should
have a fs_passno of 2. Filesystems within a drive will be
checked sequentially, but filesystems on different drives
will be checked at the same time to utilize parallelism
available in the hardware. If the sixth field is not pre-
sent or zero, a value of zero is returned and fsck will
assume that the filesystem does not need to be checked.
You can also list file systems as 'noauto' in fstab. The won't be
automatically mounted, but mounting (as needed) is easier, since all of
the mount options are stashed in /etc/fstab, so you can mount the fs
with a 'simpler' mount command (mount [-v] /mount-point).
Even if you set the fs_passno to zero, you should *manually* call e2fsck
from time to time to make sure the file system is sane (like every 10-20
mounts or after a system crash which had the fs mounted).
c>
c> By the way, for those partitions that I want checked, can I arrange fsck
c> to run at shutdown time instead of boot time?
This makes no sense. You only need to run fsck in the event of an
abnormal shutdown (i.e. a crash or power failure). A *clean* shutdown
will leave the disk clean, and fsck at boot time won't actually do
anything, unless it is the umpteenth mount, in which case it will force
a check, just to be sure some problem didn't randomly creep in. If your
problem is 'mount count exceeded, check forced', you are re-booting more
often than expected -- you can change the 'maximum mount count' with
tune2fs to be larger and you will get this message less frequently.
Running e2fsck *manually* after umounting a manually mounted fs is not a
bad idea. I do this from time to time when I unmount a Zip disk (my zip
disks are all re-partitioned and formated as e2fs file systems).
c>
c> System is RH5.2, KDE, kernel 2.2.
c>
c> --
c> Replies please cc my email (since the Deja Tracker
c> does not seem to work for me): [EMAIL PROTECTED]
c> No spam please.
c>
c>
c> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
c> Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
c>
--
\/
Robert Heller ||InterNet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://vis-www.cs.umass.edu/~heller || [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.deepsoft.com /\FidoNet: 1:321/153
------------------------------
From: Robert Heller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: full backup minus content of CD
Date: Sun, 05 Sep 1999 00:12:18 GMT
(Posted and Mailed)
[EMAIL PROTECTED],
In a message on Fri, 03 Sep 1999 19:38:15 GMT, wrote :
c> Since I will be upgrading a certain OS made by Microsoft on my machine,
c> I thought I'd backup my Linux partitions first. Of course the question
c> is: How? I don't have a CDR, so must be selective. For example, I am
c> interested in backing up all files on the system EXCEPT those that come
c> from the Linux CD and are unmodified. How do I find out which ones are?
c>
c> This selection procedure of course has to be automatic - there's 1000's
c> of files on the system.
*If* you did you linux install properly, this should be easy: backup the
root (/), /var and /home and /usr/local file systems. Otherwise it is
basically a pain in the butt.
Good Linux partitioning scheme:
/, /var, /usr, and /home should be on separate partitions -- this makes
all sorts of things easier, such as backups and rescuing a broken
system. Typically, I make / 64meg, /var 64meg, /usr 1 gig (1.5 or 2gig
on a heavy RH6.0 system, smaller if the disk is small or for a 'lite'
install), and /home is whatever is left. A separate /var/spool for a
mail or news server is a good idea, but not necessary for a desktop
box.
If you don't have things partitioned like this, there is not really
going to be a *good* fool-proof way to back ALL of the modified files.
A random assortment of files in and under /etc will be customized as
part of the install, but are generally static -- worst case is that you
can probably live *without* a backup of these files, if you remember
what your setup is -- they can be re-created when you re-install in the
event of a catastrophe. Almost everything under /home will be *your*
files. Some of it will be junk like the vanilla anon-FTP and httpd docs,
which are small -- backing this up redundantly is harmless. There is
stuff under /var that is customized as part of the install and also
contains files that are modified as the system runs (log files, etc.).
Some packages have their configuration files under /var (like the magic
X server sym-link). /usr/local is a common place where random odds and
ends stuff gets installed (packages you downloaded and did a manual
build and install, as opposed to RedHat RPMs from the CD or elsewhere).
Now, if you did a full backup just after the base install, you can just
do an incremental backup from that and catch all of the files not part
of the base install.
c>
c> System is RH5.2, KDE, kernel 2.2.
c>
c> --
c> Replies please cc my email (since the Deja Tracker
c> does not seem to work for me): [EMAIL PROTECTED]
c> No spam please.
c>
c>
c> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
c> Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
c>
--
\/
Robert Heller ||InterNet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://vis-www.cs.umass.edu/~heller || [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.deepsoft.com /\FidoNet: 1:321/153
------------------------------
Date: 04 Sep 1999 13:54:00 +0200
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Kai Henningsen)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.qnx,comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: Amiga, QNX, Linux and Revolution
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Rennie Allen) wrote on 03.09.99 in <7qpeuh$2pv$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> In article <7qp61e$73i$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Linus Torvalds) wrote:
> > In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, John Birch <nospam>
> wrote:
> > >
> > >QNX does a number of things right that Linux does flat wrong (true
> > >_uncrashable_ (almost) micro kernel, real time performance etc)
> >
> > Ehhh..
> >
> > Sure, teh QNX microkernel is pretty uncrashable. But have you ever
> asked
> > yourself why? Maybe because it doesn't do all that much.
>
> Wouldn't be a microkernel otherwise.
>
> > Put it in a general-purpose system, do some real work with it, open it
> > up to people who aren't polite, and see what happens. Not many people
> > care that the microkernel hasn't crashed when everything else has.
>
> Ah, the "everything else" in this statement are memory protected
> processes just like in Linux; no more or less likely to crash on either
> platform. The main difference is that drivers are also memory protected
> processes in QNX.
So what do you get there that you don't get in Linux?
I've seen Linux boxes where the disk interface was crashed. Everything
that didn't use the disk still worked - wasn't all that much, of course.
Hell, I've seen a Linux box that was just about completely dead but still
routing packets just fine - nothing else worked.
I'm not saying QNX is bad. But I really don't see how *it's architecture*
makes much of a difference with crash protection.
(Hint: forcing good hardware goes a long, long way to reduce crashes. But
that's completely independent from the software runmning on that
hardware.)
Kai
--
http://www.westfalen.de/private/khms/
"... by God I *KNOW* what this network is for, and you can't have it."
- Russ Allbery ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (William Burrow)
Subject: Re: You think I shouln invest in Red Hat?
Date: 4 Sep 1999 23:57:13 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
On 4 Sep 1999 18:26:10 GMT,
Ian Falu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>I need an opinion from the technical side!!!
Don't you have a student loan to contribute to?
--
William Burrow -- New Brunswick, Canada o
Copyright 1999 William Burrow ~ /\
~ ()>()
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (William Burrow)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: any RAMDISK programs out there?
Date: 4 Sep 1999 23:52:59 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Sat, 04 Sep 1999 16:09:23 GMT,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Exactly. I don't want my HD to spin up when something is auto-saved or
>some program creates a lockfile or similar small stuff. And I am willing
>to take the risk that unsaved data is lost when I lose power. My system
>does not crash as far is I can tell, so there is little concern.
>
>What I want is to allow my programs to read and write files whenever
>they want, but only from and to ramdisk, so that the HD stays spun down.
>(A major concern for a laptop user.)
You can also try fiddling with the disk cache flush parameters, such as
making the update interval one day instead of the current 30 seconds.
If you don't impinge on disk cache, cache won't be written out more than
once per day -- a good safety measure for a machine that is up 24/7.
Laptop users might want to issue a sync whenever they feel it is
suitable.
See: man 8 update
Inspect your init scripts to see where update is being started.
--
William Burrow -- New Brunswick, Canada o
Copyright 1999 William Burrow ~ /\
~ ()>()
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Advantage of ext2 over vfat???
Date: 5 Sep 1999 00:05:31 GMT
Jason Bond wrote:
>
> I'm thinking of taking back a vfat partition from
> the evil empire and giving it back to the good.
> But windows doesn't access ext2 partitions (right?)
> and there wouldn't be much room left to work
> in windows (if the terrible day ever came) if I did so.
> Linux can write and read from vfat partitions, so my
> questions is: what [speed, other] benefits
> are there to running linux off of a ext2 partition
> rather than a vfat? Thanks much,
>
> Jason
It's slower.
It doesn't support permissions.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: 3-d plotting
Date: 5 Sep 1999 00:51:17 GMT
Mark Hovey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Does anybody know a program running under Linux/X that will plot a
> function of two variables f(x,y) and also print it out nicely, perhaps
> as postscript? I have tried grapher-3d, but that doesn't print, and
> xplot, but xplot won't compile on my machine (RH6.0)--the compile fails
> with multiple errors.
Octave is an open source package which closely resembles Matlab. It
is a very powerful package for a great number of things. See:
http://www.che.wisc.edu/octave/
> Probably it would be best to send replies directly to me.
Reply in newsgroup for all to see.
--
Joshua Baker-LePain
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Duke University
------------------------------
From: "Matthew O. Persico" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: PPP Speed problem
Date: Sat, 04 Sep 1999 21:05:59 -0400
ORRIN wrote:
> Not a port problem... I can connect successfully to the BSDI host at
> all the higher speeds but when it comes time to switch to PPP, the
> negotiation fails. The logs indicated that the pppd and the host are
> not communicating. At 19200 or slower, everything works fine.
>
I had similar problems. Solved them all when I reset the initialization
string to:
AT &F M0 +MS=12,1,300,57600
where
&F = factory defaults, which, in this day and age, is probably the right
choice.
M0 = shuts off the sound (personal preference)
MS = automode
12 = v.90 - WARNING: THIS IS NOT DOCUMENTED ANYWHERE I COULD FIND, NOT
EVEN HERE: http://styx.phy.vanderbilt.edu/~fishbone/tech/extat.html
However, I guessed that since 11 is v.34, 56 is kflex on my modem, once I
upgraded to a true v.90, it had to be 12. As a test, I tried a 13, 14, 15,
etc and got error messages. 12 seems to work.
1 = Negotiate with remote modem (same as N1 command)
300,57600 are min, max speeds.
HTH
--
Matthew O. Persico
You'll have to pry my Emacs from my cold dead oversized
control-pressing left pinky finger. -- Randal L. Schwartz
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: PPP Speed problem
Date: Sun, 05 Sep 1999 01:01:12 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
ORRIN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>On 4 Sep 1999 16:47:54 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bill Unruh) wrote:
>
>>In <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ORRIN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>>
>>>Hello all,
>>
>>>After more than a month of tearing out what little hair I've got, I
>>>finally managed to get pppd to negociate a session with my ISP. When I
>>>reduced the connection speed to 19200 bps, everything worked!
...<snip>...
>Not a port problem... I can connect successfully to the BSDI host at
>all the higher speeds but when it comes time to switch to PPP, the
>negotiation fails. The logs indicated that the pppd and the host are
>not communicating. At 19200 or slower, everything works fine.
...<snip>...
OK, you may have already tried this. I may have even posted this advice
to you (I know I posted it to somebody recently), but since you seem
to be running low on ideas, I risk the redundancy. The initialization
string that pppd uses. On my modem, I can't get pppd to get it going
at higher speeds. Minicom can, so what I do is run minicom then exit
without resetting the modem (the 'Q' command to minicom). I've tried
having pppd use the same initialization string that minicom does, but
I've never gotten that to work. See if you can get those higher
speeds with some other program, then _Without Resetting the Modem_,
run pppd.
--
No statement is wholly true, not even this one.
also: remove "UhUh" and "Spam" to get my real email address -----
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Y2K T- Shirts 4837
Date: Sun, 05 Sep 1999 00:13:38 GMT
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------------------------------
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