Linux-Development-Sys Digest #602, Volume #6 Fri, 9 Apr 99 01:14:15 EDT
Contents:
Re: Newbie ("D. Stimits")
Re: How to test if /dev/fd0 exists (Phil Howard)
Re: Device driver cleanup (Phil Howard)
persistent heap design advice please ("Keith Morgan")
Re: Arrgghh! How MUCH does it cost to set up Apache? (Andrew Bates)
Re: is there any hope for my Mwave? ("Keith Frechette")
Compaq Smart SCSI - NCR 53c7xx ("Jorge M. Rodrigues")
Re: CodeWarror for Linux (was: Re: Programming tools for ...) ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
libz.so.1 missing? (Alan Hobesh)
Re: You can now use Winmodems in Linux!!!!!!! ("Keith Frechette")
Re: You can now use Winmodems in Linux!!!!!!! ("Keith Frechette")
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 17:47:08 -0700
From: "D. Stimits" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Newbie
Craig Christensen wrote:
>
> I resized my resolution in XWindows and after rebooting it is gigantic
> and I can't read anything. How do I resize to where I want it by using
> XWindows and by using the root?
>
> Please help, I am a newbie and am very frustrated.
>
> Craig
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
This is only a partial answer, but will help start things on the way.
If you set your virtual resolution, via either a configuration utility or editing
/etc/XF86Config,
to match your desktop size, then you have the essential part of making your desktop
the same size as
your screen.
If you set the resolution to higher modes, e.g., going from 640x480 to 800x600, it'll
place the same
number of dots on the screen, but place them more compactly...it'll appear to shrink.
You may have settings for these for each color depth, so you might want to change this
in more than
one place to see the results everywhere.
Note that any mode that is not within your listed scan rate ability for your monitor
will be
rejected summarily. So if modes are there that should do the job, but they are
rejected, likely they
call for something the server thinks is outside your monitor or video card specs.
You can also edit your modelines to do some fine tuning. You can get new modelines by
viewing the
results from xvidtune, and noting what it tells you for a particular mode. Then
comment out your old
mode lines for that scan size/rate, and enter those instead (again, /etc/XF86Config).
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Phil Howard)
Subject: Re: How to test if /dev/fd0 exists
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 22:11:32 GMT
Unfortunately, /proc/devices shows:
Block devices:
2 fd
even if the floppy drive physically is not there. So this test does not
work. I have a machine here with no floppy, and this shows up.
The output from the "dmesg" command also shows the floppy even if it is not
physically there. Apparently the floppy driver doesn't actually care if the
physical drive is really there or not. So modprobe may well give a false
indication that the floppy is present when it is not because the driver may
well load even though the floppy drive isn't there. I'll go ahead and try
making the floppy be a module anyway and try it just in case. A quick look
at drivers/block/floppy.c doesn't look very promising.
Interestingly, on a machine with an empty floppy drive, attempting to read
gets a quick error. This is fully satisfactory. If I could get the same
thing to happen with the drive not there, that would be the solution.
I may have to find a way to literally do some sort of I/O machine instruction
to probe the status of the floppy base address to see if it is there. Even
then I don't know if I'm waiting for some interrupt that won't come back.
Alternatives?
The purpose of this is to have a cheap place to store a small set of config
data for a system that is booting up from a CD into ramdisk, with the CD
mounted as /usr, and some things in / being symlinks to a subdirectory on
the CD. What I plan to do with the data on the floppy is to untar it into
a /tmp subdirectory, pick certain files from it to replace corresponding
ones in appropriate places, and then remove the /tmp subdirectory. This
will be happening before /sbin/init runs (so I can even get /etc/inittab
from the floppy).
I am considering flash disks. But a cheap removeable media would be highly
preferred. Are there any removeable flash devices that work with Linux as
an ordinary device (e.g. emulates a floppy or IDE drive)?
On Thu, 8 Apr 1999 14:12:07 +0200 Michael Knigge ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
| Phil Howard schrieb in Nachricht ...
| >I need to test to see if /dev/fd0 exists or not. Not the node file,
| >not the driver, I mean the actual physical device. What happens when
|
| Maybe it helps to check the file /proc/devices. There is one line
| indicating the presence of Floppy Devices (I checked against 2.0.35,
| I don\264t know about 2.1.x and 2.2.x)
On 8 Apr 1999 14:45:09 GMT Andreas Peetz ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
| You could test if the block device fd is listed
| in /proc/devices. In case floppy-support is build
| as a module you may want to do a "modprobe floppy"
| before this.
| - Andreas
|
| Phil Howard wrote:
| >
| > I need to test to see if /dev/fd0 exists or not. Not the node file,
| > not the driver, I mean the actual physical device. What happens when
--
Phil Howard KA9WGN
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Phil Howard)
Subject: Re: Device driver cleanup
Date: Fri, 09 Apr 1999 02:33:45 GMT
On 7 Apr 1999 17:43:43 GMT Justin Carlson ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
| The most likely thing I can think of is that the kernel goes ahead
| and calls close() on all open file handles when the process terminates,
| giving the driver a chance to clean up.
|
| This runs into some problems, though, when a process is fork()ed and
| bypasses the open() calls for its file handles. In this case,
| the kernel better not call close on that file descriptor with one
| of the processes terminates, since the usage count in the driver
| would get quite confused.
If you have a process that opens a file/device/whatever and forks,
now you have 2 such processes with it open. So what if one of them
now closes it, as might well be done by the parent when the intent
was for the child to work with it? Clearly the device driver must
not attempt to clean up on the parent doing the call.
Conceptually this is made easy by the notion that the two processes
are sharing a single instance of openness. One process doing a
close() disassociates that process from the open object, but the
object actually remains open. As far as I know, the driver never
even gets called in this instance. If it was open through some
library, such as stdio, then the buffers might be flushed (this is
a thing to avoid but that is generally easy), but the driver does
not need to take any closing action until the open object is now
closed by the last remaining process to have it open.
This is different than if two processes separately did open() calls
on the same object (which may or may not be supported).
This sharing is essentially similar in _concept_ to how two different
directory entries can share a reference to one file inode. You can
remove the file from one name first, but that only removes a link and
decreases the reference count. Only when the file is removed via its
last name (reference count is 1) does it actually clean up the space
held by the file data, and mark the inode available.
Test your driver by doing some printk() calls to watch it go through
it's motions. Try out some "toy" virtual device first to get a feel
for how it really works. Have it print a message when it gets a
close call, and then run a process that opens it, forks, and both
processes close it. I bet you get the close call only once.
--
Phil Howard KA9WGN
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: "Keith Morgan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: persistent heap design advice please
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 09:47:53 -0500
I am interested in creating a persistent heap library and would appreciate
any hints or
suggestions on how to proceed. The 'persistent heap' would be a region of
virtual memory
backed by a file and could be expanded or contracted.
In order to build my 'persistent heap' it seems like I need a fundamental
facility that isn't
provided by Linux. Please correct me if I'm wrong! It would be something
like a blend of
the mmap() and kernel virtual memory facilities. The facility (call it
phmap) would:
-map virtual addresses to a user-specified file
-coordinate the expansion/contraction of the file and the virtual address
space
-provide ram cache of user-specified number of pages (cache itself is
nonpagable)
-provide load-on-demand of data from the file into the cache
-provide LRU 'paging' back to the file when cache full
I an interested in writing at the highest possible level to create the phmap
facility. At this
point my questions are very broad (I'm not looking for a cookbook, just
trying to prune the
search space):
-Is is possible to hack the mmap() source to create it?
-If not, are there kernel/vm hooks that can be used to create it?
-If not these, how can it be done? (hopefully without hacking into the
kernel)
I've read the LDP documents on the memory architecture and Linux Device
Drivers is on
its way. I am also starting to read the mm and arch/../mm source but I must
admit that I don't
have a coherent picture of memory management yet. Thanks for any insight.
Keith Morgan
------------------------------
From: Andrew Bates <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: linux.admin.isp,alt.comp.linux.isp
Subject: Re: Arrgghh! How MUCH does it cost to set up Apache?
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 19:41:23 -0600
maybe so you wouldn't need a router on the network?
"Walter B. Burke" wrote:
>
> Why would you need any more than one IP address?
> Clay Reiche wrote in message ...
> I've set up an Apache web server in Florida using a 384kbs ADSL. The
> phone company charged $99 for the installation AND the modem! Not bad! For
> ADSL they charge based on the amount of band width you require. 384kbps
> costs me $55 a month from the phone company. Then there's the ISP charge...
> I shopped for a week to find the best rate... $199 a month and they gave me
> a block of 64 static IP addresses!(Don't know what I'm gonna do with them
> all, but I'm sure I'll find something...) They charged $49 for installation.
> I found one company that was cheaper, $149 a month, but they only gave me
> one IP address...(they would charge $5 per additional IP) and the
> installation was $149! So, my monthly expense is $250 and the installation
> expense was $104. I know that you don't live in Florida, but maybe this can
> give you an idea...?
> Clay
> PS: I didn't even consider T1, prices are outrageous.(and I'm running
> this out of my apartment.)
> Wayne Chunn wrote in message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> I've been poking around for a bit on the relevant newsgroups,
> and
> trying search engines, but can't seem to get any information at
> all
> about how roughly much it would run to start a small web hosting
> service,
> exclusive of the hardware. I mean some idea, *any* idea, of
> current
> rates in the Rochester, NY area or thereabouts, for T1, ASDL
> (yeah, I
> know -- but it might be okay if there were multiple lines,
> perhaps
> cheaper than the same capacity from a single T1 if I understand
> the
> racket the telephone companies are running on T1/T3 etc.), or
> whatever.
> The telephone company sites simply refuse to provide this
> information,
> and I've been through this sort of wild-goose chase enough times
> to know
> that if the first few conceptually related sites will not
> provide
> some piece of information, then they're *all* going to be hiding
> that information, or will be wanting to play head games on you
> before
> finally grudgingly admitting to even some vague price or
> another.
>
> Fuck that crap. I'll read the FAQ, if I can ever find one, or
> a book.
> ANYTHING is better than a predatory salesman trying to probe my
> mental
> armour for a chink or flaw he can exploit to screw me for all he
> can get.
>
> Speaking of which, a FAQ pointer or book recommendation for
> setting
> up Apache under Linux, to run a small server network with
> perhaps
> four or five 200MHz Pentium class junkers with maybe only 64M
> each,
> would be very useful. :)
>
> -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network
> ==----------
> http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start
> Your Own
>
> I can't help you much with your primary request (pricing) but for
> your request in
> the last paragraph I would suggest the Special Edition of Using
> Linux Part 7, Chapters
> 35-37. Also, if you have access to several 200 MHz Pentiums you may
> be interested
> in experimenting with Parallel Processing. Search the web for info
> on current PP Linux
> projects if that interests you, there are quite a few.
> Later,
>
> Wayne
------------------------------
From: "Keith Frechette" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: is there any hope for my Mwave?
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 00:03:47 -0400
For which Mwave modem?
-- Keith
------------------------------
From: "Jorge M. Rodrigues" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Compaq Smart SCSI - NCR 53c7xx
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 23:08:15 -0400
Does anyone know the parameters to setup a CPQ Smart SCSI controller with
NCR 53c7xx chip set during the installation process.
Thanks
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.help,comp.unix.programmer
Subject: Re: CodeWarror for Linux (was: Re: Programming tools for ...)
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 23:24:55 -0500
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
says...
> Mark Weaver wrote:
> > Way back in the stone-age (e.g. the late 80's) I wrote DOS, OS/2, and Unix
> > programs using character-based and command line tools (vi, emacs, make,
> > etc--for DOS and OS/2 we had clones of unix utils). Sure, I could give up the
> > power, convenience, and productivity of modern IDEs and go back to writing
> > code the old way if I had to, but why would I or anyone else *want* to? It
> > amuses me up to read Linux advocates suggesting that emacs and make are
> > somehow the wave of the future in programming.
>
> I agree :)
>
> People that think using only GNU tools is somehow "right" or "morally
> sound" are simply living in a world different from most. Computers are
> tools, not moral or ethical decisions. And as such, noone says "find a
> good rock, you can hammer in a nail just fine and its free and natural!
> don't use that damn, corporate hammer!" why do people act like this for
> computer software? I'm a huge fan of free software. I think if
> something doesn't provide unique value worth marketing, it should be
> free, with nothing in between. But when I hear people tell me that the
> command line is always as productive as the commercial IDE's I laugh. I
> laugh as I run a compile of hundreds of class files on Windows using
> VCafe in about 4 seconds while they watch javac churn away... I watch
> as they edit a makefile and I press F2 and rename a file while the
> internal makefile is auto-updated with the change...
What I don't understand is why the low level syntax of, say, make hasn't
been used as a foundation to build upon in an IDE. Most professional
developers would then use IDEs that are based upon an open standard so no
proprietary lock-in could occur (many IDEs would be available that
basically just produce a make file and interface gcc and RCS e.g.).
Personally, I think UNIX people like things complex for job security or
some bull like that. Perhaps it just goes back to the failing of UNIX:
no simple GUI std??
Don
------------------------------
From: Alan Hobesh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: libz.so.1 missing?
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 20:49:43 -0700
==============11AB1C327B367C2F38E56E19
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Hello,
I want to run Java on my Slackware 3.5 (Linux version 2.0.34)system, so
I started to upgrade to glibc-2.06.
Everything compiled, but I got the message
can't load library libz.so.1.
when the make tried to make the manual.
I thought I might fix the problem by upgrading my texinfo, but on 'make
install' of that package I go the same error.
In fact the GNU info program gives me the same message!
I've reinstalled all the developer utilities from my Slackware
installation cdrom, but I still can't find this library.
Anybody know where it lives?
Thanks,
Alan Hobesh
==============11AB1C327B367C2F38E56E19
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
<HTML>
Hello,
<P>I want to run Java on my Slackware 3.5 (Linux version 2.0.34)system,
so I started to upgrade to glibc-2.06.
<BR>Everything compiled, but I got the message
<BR><FONT FACE="Courier New,Courier">can't load library libz.so.1.</FONT>
<BR>when the make tried to make the manual.
<P>I thought I might fix the problem by upgrading my texinfo, but on 'make
install' of that package I go the same error.
<P>In fact the GNU info program gives me the same message!
<P>I've reinstalled all the developer utilities from my Slackware installation
cdrom, but I still can't find this library.
<P>Anybody know where it lives?
<P>Thanks,
<P>Alan Hobesh</HTML>
==============11AB1C327B367C2F38E56E19==
------------------------------
From: "Keith Frechette" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: You can now use Winmodems in Linux!!!!!!!
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 23:56:34 -0400
In the case of IBM DSP modems, the DSP handles all the true modem control
and protocol logic, so snooping won't get you too far. :-) The bulk of the
driver software is used for managing the DSP's memory and MIP resources and
for loading the firmware onto the DSP at boot and during dynamically during
run-time. One modem-related task that is handled by the device drivers is AT
command processing. Interesting, huh?
(Don't worry -- I didn't give away any trade secrets!)
-- Keith
Keith Frechette
Software Development Engineer
IBM DSP Integrated Solutions
------------------------------
From: "Keith Frechette" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: You can now use Winmodems in Linux!!!!!!!
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 23:55:34 -0400
In the case of IBM DSP modems, the DSP handles all the true modem control
and protocol logic, so snooping won't get you too far. :-) The bulk of the
driver software is used for managing the DSP's memory and MIP resources and
for loading the firmware onto the DSP at boot and during dynamically during
run-time. One modem-related task that is handled by the device drivers is AT
command processing. Interesting, huh?
(Don't worry -- I didn't give away any trade secrets!)
-- Keith
Keith Frechette
Software Development Engineer
IBM DSP Integrated Solutions
Daniel Robert Franklin wrote in message ...
>This is true. What would be interesting would be to see exactly what the
>computer is sending to the modem. If you could look at it with a spectrum
>analyser, you could probably figure out what part of the protocol is
>implemented by software & what is done in hardware. I suspect the winmodem
>is essentially a DAC, ADC and associated anti-aliasing filters, with some
>analog glue electronics thrown in. The actual V.90 (or V.34) would be
>implemented in software - and since the V.90 uses pretty simple modulation
>(but very complex training) it shouldn't be *too* heavy a load on the PC
>to generate this signal in real-time. A dual CPU machine would be good :-)
>
>- Daniel
------------------------------
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