Linux-Hardware Digest #849, Volume #12 Fri, 12 May 00 18:13:06 EDT
Contents:
Re: PCI Ethernet cards and Athlon 700 with K7V (Tellplace)
Trident 9750 AGP 4MB on Linux (theBuddy1)
Help needed with sound ("Renee Lopez")
MTRR, what's that? SMP question. Abit BP6 2*400MHz Celeries (Keith Rhodes)
Re: Pizza box ATX cases? (JEDIDIAH)
Re: Sound in KDE question ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: tape drives (David C.)
HP695 and banners (Jeff East)
Help me find a driver for my modem please!! ("Marina")
Linux vs. CR(A,E,?)Y II (BEN BulleT.)
Re: hardware incompatiblility or kernel problem? (Yuzheng Ding)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Tellplace <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: PCI Ethernet cards and Athlon 700 with K7V
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 22:30:54 -0100
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Laurence Oberman wrote:
> Hi,
> I just bought a new Athlon 700 machine with an ASUS K7V motherboard.
> I have tried both Kernel 2.2.12 and 2.2.14 to try and get Ethernet cards to
> work. I have a Dlink and an SMC ethernet card, both worked fine on the old
> Celeron.
I also have an ASUS K7V, Ahtlon 700 and am using a DLINK (DE-528CT) ethernet
card with no problem.
Linux Mandrake 7.0 reconices the card as having an "RealTek RTL-8029" chip.
I'm using the NE2000-PCI drivers (ne2K-pci).
I have tried to ping, telnet, and use NFS to other machines.
Regards
Tellplace
------------------------------
From: theBuddy1 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Trident 9750 AGP 4MB on Linux
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 20:31:24 GMT
Hi,
I have a Trident 9750 AGP/PCI 4MB Video Card and i am running red hat
linux. now, i cant seem to change the resolution from 640X480 to some
decent higher resolution. can u please suggest what i should do or suggest
a different version of linux to install so i can get about 800X600 or
1024X768(which i am currently running on windows 98).
please, this is the only reason i am not using linux. please help
--
Posted via CNET Help.com
http://www.help.com/
------------------------------
From: "Renee Lopez" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Help needed with sound
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 20:34:35 GMT
Yes I am running Slackware 4.0 kernel 2.2.6 and I have trouble playing sound
files. I have an ESS1688 sound board. Whenever I try to play a sound file,
the file will play for about 5-15 seconds and then stop. Whenever I try to
play the file again, or any sound file, the card wont work at all, unless I
reboot.
I think it has something to do with my IRQ. In Windows and DOS, my
souncard works fine under IRQ 5, but in Linux, the soundcard wont work
unless it is on IRQ7. What the hell is this? Why does linux insist I use
an incorrect IRQ? Is some thing is toying around with my IRQ 5 when I'm in
Linux but not in windows? Please any help or clues would be greatly
appreciated.
------------------------------
From: Keith Rhodes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: MTRR, what's that? SMP question. Abit BP6 2*400MHz Celeries
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 22:05:44 +0200
Abit BP6, with two 400MHz Celeron (Mendecino) CPUs, Mandrake
7.0 (2.2.14)
At boot, I get a message:
kernel: mtrr: your CPUs had inconsistent fixed MTRR settings
kernel: mtrr: probably your BIOS does not setup all CPUs
What does this mean?
KR.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (JEDIDIAH)
Subject: Re: Pizza box ATX cases?
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 20:37:25 GMT
On Fri, 12 May 2000 13:35:58 -0500, Pete <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Hmm,
>
>I didn't see any at www.krex.com...
They're on the frontpage of the online catalog.
>You have any links to them?
>
>Thanks,
>-P
>
>
>JEDIDIAH <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
>news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
>> On Fri, 12 May 2000 05:39:07 -0400, Gary Gapinski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> >I haven't seen any under $350. I've been looking for some ever since my
>> >wife asked how we might rid ourselves of several regular cases scattered
>> >about. Cabinets are even more expensive after power distribution and
>> >cooling is added.
>> >
>> >A typical selection can be seen at
>> >http://www.tesys.com/rackmount/systemenclosures/index.html.
>> >
>> >I have yet to figure out how to get a good high-resolution monitor feed
>> >from a remote rack at least 15-20 cable feet distant from the work
>> >position. I think I'll have to retain one desktop/deskside unit.
>>
>> You might want to look for NLX or PC Book systems instead.
>> Krex.com has some. The PC Book barebones systems start at
>> $190.
>>
>> --
>>
>> In what language does 'open' mean 'execute the evil contents of'
>|||
>> a document? --Les Mikesell / |
>\
>>
>> Need sane PPP docs? Try penguin.lvcm.com.
>
>
--
In what language does 'open' mean 'execute the evil contents of' |||
a document? --Les Mikesell / | \
Need sane PPP docs? Try penguin.lvcm.com.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Sound in KDE question
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 20:42:56 GMT
Another way is to create a link to the sound card
file.... I used
ln -s /etc/sysconfig/soundcard
/etc/sysconfig/sound
It worked just fine.......
Stephen McConnell
In article
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Bob Machan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> You can just put the file in /etc. Works for
me.
>
> Bob
>
> Josten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >You need to go into /etc/sysconfig and make a
file called sound. In
> >that file just put one line
:CARDTYPE=3Danythingyouwant Mine is
> >cardtype=3Dsblive
> >
> >
> >--
> >Josten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (David C.)
Subject: Re: tape drives
Date: 12 May 2000 17:01:11 -0400
Ross Litscher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> I would like to get some sort of backup media to use in linux. not a
> cd-burner. I thought tape a tape drive just because maybe over the
> past few years they have gotten inexpensive, but i'm not sure.
> Basically i just want to schedule periodic backups.
A tape drive is your only viable alternative.
Removable media (like Zip, Jaz, CD, etc) are too expensive to make a full
backup of your system. My Linux box, for example, has about 3G of files
on a 9G drive. Assuming a typical compression ratio of 1.5:1, this 3G
of data will require about 2G of storage. This means:
- 20 Zip disks (about $200 worth of media, and you'll have to
change disks 19 times during the backup run)
- two 1G Jaz cartridges (about $180 and one disk swap)
- one 2G Jaz cartridge (about $110 worth of media)
- four CD-R disks (about $6, three disk swaps, and not reusable)
or - four CD-RW disks (about $12, and three disk swaps).
Only the CD solution is really affordable, and you still have to swap
media three times, which means you either need a CD burner that can hold
multiple disks (they are expensive) or can't go too far from the
computer while the backup is running.
Furthermore, at 8X speeds, this backup (onto CD) will take 30 minutes to
complete. (1 hour at 4X, 2 hours at 2X, and 4 hours at 1X). Time isn't
usually a significant factor if everything can fit on one disc/tape, but
it is a real factor if you must swap media periodically.
Of course, if your hard drive has more than 3G of data, increase all
these numbers proportionally.
Tape, on the other hand is much cheaper. The 2G of compressed data will
consume:
- one 90m DDS DAT cartridge ($6)
- One Travan TR-4 cartridge ($33)
Larger tapes (when used in appropriate drives) will hold more, if you
have more than 2G of compressed data:
- 120m DDS-2 DAT holds 4G ($12)
- 125m DDS-3 DAT holds 12G ($20)
- 150m DDS-4 DAT holds 20G ($45)
- Travan TR-5 holds 10G ($40)
Some people say "I'll just back up my documents". Sure, that will make
the backup much faster and cheaper, but you're in for a lot of work if
you suffer a hard drive failure afterwards. You'll have to reinstall
and reconfigure the OS and all your applications. I never want to have
to do that on my system!
> My question is, can someone recommend a reasonably priced tape drive
> that is supported nicely?
Anything SCSI-2 compliant is supported very nicely. I use a SCSI based
DDS-2 DAT drive.
DAT is probably too expensive for you, but Travan drives are fairly
affordable.
SCSI will cost more than other interfaces, but I think it's worth it.
Other interfaces are supported as well, though. See below.
> I don't have SCSI interfaces and i've heard things get pretty slow
> with non-scsi tape drives. is this true?
There are a lot of different kinds of interfaces that you can find on
tape drives these days:
- SCSI - the old standard. Works great, but you pay for it. It's the
price of the drive where you pay the most. I wouldn't worry
about the cost of the SCSI card if you don't have one. Tapes
are relatively slow devices (expect between 0.25 and 0.75 MB
per second transfer speed) compared to hard drives (which can
transfer 30MB/s.) In other words, any SCSI card you find will
be fast enough for a tape drive - you can get inexpensive SCSI
cards for $30.
- ATAPI - Attaches to an IDE interface. Pretty fast. Fast enough that
it won't really be a concern. (Again, tape drives are
relatively slow devices.) I think there is good Linux support
for ATAPI drives.
- Parallel - your parallel port is a very slow device. I don't know if
there is Linux support for parallel-port tape drives. If
there is any support, I'd expect it only for specific
brands and models of drive. Only use this if you have no
other choice.
- Floppy - These used to be very popular. They're relatively slow, but
not nearly as slow as your parallel port. The annoying thing
about floppy-based drives is that you need to format the tape
before using it. This is a _VERY_ time consuming procedure
(it may take 24 hours or more!). Fortunately, you can buy
preformatted tapes. There is Linux support for many brands
of floppy-based tape drives.
- USB - This is the newest idea. I suspect it will work very well in
the future. Right now, however Linux's USB support is still
under development, so I don't know if these drives will work
yet.
I'd recommend SCSI or ATAPI. I don't think you'll have any problems
with either kind.
In terms of what kind of drive to get, shop around. There are many
different kinds of media. Given that you're on a budget, you probably
want to look at drives based on Travan mechanisms. There are five
versions of Travan:
TR-1 holds 400M (uncompressed) on a cartridge
TR-2 holds 800M
TR-3 holds 1.6G
TR-4 holds 4G
TR-5 holds 10G
A Travan drive can only write to its own kind of tape (TR-1, -2, etc)
although it can read from any tape smaller than its own kind.
There are also variations on Travan that you can find in stores which
may or may not be compatible with the standard kinds of tapes.
Travan is based on the QIC mechanism that has been a standard for
decades. It uses a "serpentine" drive mechanism. There is one head,
which moves vertically across the width of the tape. When you start
writing to a tape, it writes one continuous stripe across the top of the
tape. Then it moves down slightly, and writes another stripe across the
tape in the opposite direction (so it doesn't have to rewind between
stripes), and so on, until you're done or the head moves to the bottom
position.
This kind of mechanism is very reliable.
The one downside to Travan is that the tapes are expensive. Part of the
reliability of the drive mechanism is that the tape-transport mechanism
is entirely contained within the tape cartridges. This results in media
costs of $25-40 per tape.
The other kind of drive you may consider is 4mm DAT. DAT drives come in
several standards:
DDS supports 60m tapes (1.3GB) and 90m tapes (2G)
DDS-2 supports 120m tapes (4G)
DDS-3 supports 125m tapes (12G)
DDS-4 supports 150m tapes (20G)
A DAT drive can both read and write to its own kind of tape (DDS, DDS-2,
etc) and anything smaller than its own kind.
DAT drives use a "helical scan" mechanism. It uses a rotating head that
is positioned at an angle to the tape. Much like a VHS VCR mechanism.
This allows the data to be packed very densely, and can write the entire
tape in one pass. The downside is that it's a rather delicate mechanism
(especially given that the head in a 4mm DAT is much smaller than a VHS
head).
Because the transport mechanism in a DAT drive is not in the tape
cartridge, the tapes cost much less than Travan tapes. Unfortunately,
the drives themselves cost more - sometimes MUCH more.
Other kinds of drives include 8mm (which is a helical scan mechanism
similar to the 8mm drive in camcorders), and DLT (which uses a
serpentine mechanism). These standards can pack even more data onto
single tapes than DAT, but the drives can get to be very expensive.
They're probably beyond your budget. (Although you can sometimes find
old 8mm drives at flea markets - if you can find a working one, they're
very nice.) Like DAT, 8mm drives are often used on mainframes and
workstations.
> what does it take to get a scsi interface and is it worth it if i'd
> only be using it for a tape drive?
It is definitely worth getting. I wouldn't get a high-performing card
for a tape drive (since the drive is too slow to really take advantage
of the card anyway), and slower cards are pretty inexpensive.
Just keep in mind that a SCSI-based drives (of all kinds, not just tape)
tend to cost more than their ATAPI, equivalent drives. On the other
hand, many of your high-end drives aren't manufactured with any other
kind of interface.
> is there something like a scsi pci card? sorry, but i know nothing
> about scsi. Just glanced at the hardware howto and it seems like scsi
> might be the way to go with tape drives.
You can get SCSI cards for all kinds of busses. PCI-based ones will
probably be easier to set up and configure than ISA-based ones. Also,
PCI-based SCSI cards will be able to reach SCSI's theoretical top
speeds. (Top speeds are 10M bytes/s for fast-SCSI, 20M for fast-wide-
or Ultra-SCSI, 40M for Ultra-Wide, 80M for Ultra2, and 160M for
Ultra3). The ISA bus has a theoretical top speed of 8M bytes/s, and
usually doesn't achieve better than 5MB/s.
I run my DDS-2 DAT drive off of an ISA-based Adaptec 1542B card. I
would not recommend this card, since it is ISA based and can be a bit
tricky to install and configure. But they can be gotten for under $10
at computer flea markets everywhere, which you may find attractive.
> I'll consider any other non-tape drive recommendations but probably
> not zip/superdisks.
IMO, there is no other alternative that is both convenient and cost
effective.
Zips, superdisks and CDs are great for transporting files. CDs are
great for archiving data. But IMO, only tape is really suitable for
backing up hard drives.
> well, thanks for any info you can share or other references you can
> point me to.
Given that you said you are on a budget, I'd recommend an ATAPI Travan
drive (preferably TR-5, but I'd also consider TR-4.) You can get these
in a lot of computer stores as well as mail-order.
-- David
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jeff East)
Subject: HP695 and banners
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 17:33:21 -0400
This printer can (and I have) print banners on continuous form
paper. But I can't print on that paper under linux. So far I'm just
trying plain text. I get the 60 or so lines on one page with margins,
then the printer tries to eject/load the next page, stops, and blinks.
Can anyone suggest a PCL3 command for the printer?
__________________________________________________________________________
"You know the old story: girl meets boy, girl modifies boy's subroutines."
- Captain Janeway, speaking of an Irish barkeep
------------------------------
From: "Marina" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Help me find a driver for my modem please!!
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 14:47:52 -0700
Just to let you know I am new to Line. I have a Aztech Labs modem in my
system but am unable to use in when running Linux. It works fine with
Windows, I think I just need a driver for it that is compatible with Linux.
Can any one help??
I love working with Linux, it's a wonderful OS! I absolutely hate needing
to go into windows to access the internet!! I need help soon.
Thanks,
Marina
------------------------------
From: BEN BulleT. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.linux,comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux
Subject: Linux vs. CR(A,E,?)Y II
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 21:35:41 GMT
(yawn) OK. Powers of 0 and 1 (groan):
So since vectors are so small, I guess I'll sneak in a few under your
argument (hehehe) in order to get 'OR' going. Well,
3^0=3
((X1,Y1),(X2,Y2));OOCOCC.""
((0,0),(2,1));.''
((2,1),(3,0));.''
((3,0),(3,3));.''
((3,3),(0,0));.''
The only thing that get's under might be quarks, but quarks mark the
center of a 6x7... Also, 6x7 is an F2 argument.
The instruction pointer is a vector as well, but it is supported on an
octagon in the forward dimention. In other words, an octagon edge is the
square root of two line. The instruction pointer is basically the reason
why octagons are a separate type of graph paper. OK. I had a hard and
fast rule that orange was always first before followed by red and then
yellow (when I used to play this game from before. Red doesn't enclose
any space worth counting on. Red is just basically a shadow of orange
most of the time.
ORANGE:
((X1,Y1),(X2,Y2));OOCOCC.""
((1,0),(2,0));.''
((2,0),(3,1));.''
((3,1),(3,2));.''
((3,2),(2,3));.''
((2,3),(1,3));.''
((1,3),(0,2));.''
((0,2),(0,1));.''
((0,1),(1,0));.''
RED:
((X1,Y1),(X2,Y2));OOCOCC.""
((2,0),(3,1));.''
((3,1),(3,4));.''
((3,4),(2,4));.''
((2,4),(0,2));.''
((0,2),(2,0));.''
YELLOW:
((X1,Y1),(X2,Y2));OOCOCC.""
((0,1),(1,3));.''
((1,3),(3,4));.''
((3,4),(2,4));.''
((2,4),(0,2));.''
((0,2),(0,1));.''
Now, I'm taking a rest from nuclear physics to be with you guys. They
know all of this stuff anyways because it is Feynman's. Nuclear physics
can get under DoD and if they don't then God help us all.
--
Kevin B. Murphy, Homo(nid) sapien superior,
Also, I have postings as author:[EMAIL PROTECTED],I was kicked off of
the science
groups apparently because network managers are way smarter then any
physicist ever
born.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: Yuzheng Ding <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: hardware incompatiblility or kernel problem?
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 17:30:17 -0400
Now the more interesting --
I have been doing "gzip -dtv" on lots of gzip'ed files form other machines;
most would give me
"invalid compressed data--crc error". Then I tried "gzip -atdv" which
naturally gives me
"gzip: option --ascii ignored on this system", but guess what? no crc error
anymore!
And this happens only on this machine as I said before; moving the harddisk to
another machine and this trick in unnecessary.
Anyone has an explnation?
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Hardware Digest
******************************
