Linux-Hardware Digest #353, Volume #12 Sun, 27 Feb 00 01:13:07 EST
Contents:
Re: Initrd doesn't work ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Burned system!? (ajam)
Help installing StarOffice........ (Fairway Fatty)
Re: Challenge: Install Linux on a 386sx25, 40 megs HD and 1 Meg ram (Carl Fink)
Re: USB on VIA MVP4 (Compaq Presario) (Rod Smith)
FLOOPY HELP !!!!
Re: Burned system!? (Robert Redelmeier)
Configuration of Apple LaserWriter IIf? (Ken McCord)
Debian Error.: Need Help Quick (Lucky)
Re: FLOOPY HELP !!!! (Dances With Crows)
Re: MSI K7 Pro, anyone running one? (Ryan)
Re: IDE tuning (Greg Leblanc)
Re: Xfree86 3.9.17 and Matrox g400 (Kevin Wheelock)
Linux and IEE1284 parport standard (Martin Brown)
Sound card help! ("John E. Maynus")
Re: video card problems with XFree86 3.3.6 and ati rage fury 128.. ("anon")
VIA Apollo MVP4 chipset mother boards. (steve)
Re: Linux on a Sparc 1000? (Greg Leblanc)
Re: Burned system!? (lf11 at @linuxstart.com)
Getting the hp9100i working under RH 6.1 (Justin McPeak)
Re: Burned system!? (ajam)
How do i clear ttyS's so i can install new modem ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Initrd doesn't work
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 02:59:50 GMT
I noticed there is a bug in the ramdisk module. If you specify
a ramdisk size, then the initrd functionality is disabled and the
boot sequence proceeds as if booting from disk.
Initrd is a hack anyway. Better just to learn how to use inittab.
In article <87s5r5$j9l$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> I'm trying to create an initrd boot image and running into a wierd
> problem.
>
> I'm using these options in the syslinux.cfg
> append=load_ramdisk=2 initrd=rootfs.gz ramdisk_size=32767
root=/dev/ram
>
> I also have a two line /linuxrc that looks like this:
> #!/boot/ash
> echo "Test linuxrc"
>
> When I boot the image I get a kernel message about no init being found
> and the "Test linuxrc" message never gets displayed. I.E. /linuxrc
> doesn't seem to get executed and yes the file is mode 777
and /boot/ash
> exists and is linked statically.
>
> If I add init=/linuxrc to my syslinux.cfg it runs the /linuxrc script
> fine. The question is why doesn't it run it like it's supposed to.
>
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.
>
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: ajam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Burned system!?
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 22:20:01 -0500
Thanks for your response!
If it had a brain, possibly the latter. But these guys are as dumb as it
get; that's why the can even run Windows!
Actually, your description sounded pretty similar to what happened to
me...with the smell part and everything! The funny thing is that the
machine had been working fine until the night before. I simply turn it on
before going to work the next morning, and that's when it happened. Damned
little men, always playing with my stuff! :)
Either way, the deal now is that I just bought the exact same board, and
still nothing. I changed the video board for another one (big deal!) and
put back the same processor since I don't have another one to swap for.
Like I said before, nothing! Thus, I've come to the point of believing that
the processor (AMD K6-2/350) went to hell. Still, I did try starting the
board w/out the processor, but nothing happened. Also, the BIOS is Award,
and these guys are known to emit the least amount of beeps.
Well, I shall continue!!!
Cheers, ajam
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> According to ajam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>
> > I have a machine booting both Linux and NT. The power-on switch in the
> > machine is one of these ones that does not really click. You just push
> > the damned thing really deep, and as the internal spring pushes the
> > button out, the thing turns on. I've been meaning to change the box,
> > but I've been procrastinating about it. Either way, Yesterday I turned
> > on the machine, and it did not turned on. It instead started making
> > this strange sound; possibly by the power supply fan.
>
> I lost a machine in a similar fashion a few weeks ago. I was
> re-organizing some of my machines and was going to put windows on a
> machine that had previously running as a Linux server. After being
> off for several days, I powered it up to the sound of sparks and the
> smell of burning components. Turns out every component in the box was
> fried with the exception of RAM. I did a post-mortem and discovered
> that the fan in the power supply has seized. I wonder if this caused
> a short inside the PS which caused it to overvoltage on the outputs.
>
> Or perhaps the machine decided that death was better than windows...
>
> -p.
------------------------------
From: Fairway Fatty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Help installing StarOffice........
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 03:28:30 GMT
Hello........! I d'loaded StarrOffice but cant figure out what to do
with the tar file.... i unzipped it i think (at least it looks that way
in to directory i creatd called staroffice on root) I just dont seem
to be able to run or install it....... or make it do anything...help?
Also can anyone tell me how to get my network printer going? I keep
getting a error message telling me to install " ncpfs" ...... i dont
have a clue as to what or where it is let alone install it...... ive
searched for ti in every directory and i cant find it.... any help would
be great thanks, Fairway
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Carl Fink)
Subject: Re: Challenge: Install Linux on a 386sx25, 40 megs HD and 1 Meg ram
Date: 27 Feb 2000 02:36:39 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Sat, 26 Feb 2000 10:12:16 -0500 Patrick Brochu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>Anybody could tell me if i'm dreaming or if it's possible?
It's possible, but why would you? If you're just using it as a
terminal, you might be better off with freeDOS and Kermit.
The killer is the single meg of RAM.
You can buy a 486 with 24 MB of RAM and a 500 meg HD for under $100
if you look around -- some are even being given away free.
--
Carl Fink [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I-Con's Science and Technology Guest of Honor in 2000 will be Geoffrey
A. Landis. See <http://www.iconsf.org> for I-Con information.
------------------------------
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Rod Smith)
Subject: Re: USB on VIA MVP4 (Compaq Presario)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.portable
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 03:35:18 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Hamid Misnan) writes:
> On Fri, 25 Feb 2000 20:03:41 GMT, Rod Smith wrote:
>>Hi,
>>
>>I recently acquired a Compaq Presario 1200-XL106 notebook computer. This
>>machine uses a VIA MVP4 chipset. I've been trying to get USB working on
>
> Have you tried loading ohci instead of uhci? From the config help, it is listed
> as Compaq machines use OHCI instead. I'm still having hard time to get backport
> to work on my notebook.. something about IRQ wasn't assigned by BIOS etc.. work
> OK using dev kernel tho'.
The OHCI driver fails, too; I get a message about a resource being
unavailable (I don't recall the details). The Compaq Presario 1200-XL106
uses a VIA chipset, and the UHCI driver supposedly works with VIA
chipsets. Therefore, despite the fact that Compaq was involved in the OHCI
specification, it's been my assumption that the UHCI driver is the more
appropriate one. If somebody's got the OHCI driver working on a Compaq
that uses the MVP4 chipset, though, I'm perfectly willing to give the OHCI
driver more effort.
--
Rod Smith, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.rodsbooks.com
Author of books on Linux networking & WordPerfect for Linux
------------------------------
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: FLOOPY HELP !!!!
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 03:30:22 GMT
hi...i tried to access my A:/ drive from RH6.1 but i get an error
message " to many devices mounted"... i have no clue what that means, any
suggestions for fixing this problem? ( i'm a newbie so i need specs on how-
to)
thanks in advance,
Y.L
--
Posted via CNET Help.com
http://www.help.com/
------------------------------
From: Robert Redelmeier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Burned system!?
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 21:16:38 -0800
ajam wrote:
>
> Thanks again for the reply. Like I said before, I'm certain it is either the BIOS
> or the board, since I disconnected all peripherals + microprocessor from board and
> I still did not get any beeping sound from the BIOS. It is my understanding that
> the BIOS does not need the microprocessor to boot. Although the BIOS that I have
> is Award, which supposedly has the least amount of beeping sound configurations
> available, I believe that something should have happened at this point. Thus, I'm
> on my way of getting a new board today. At least for me it is really sad to loose
> a motherboard like this, but c'est la vie!
No, no, no! A board without working CPU will _not_ boot. It might power up,
but booting is out of the question. Something's got to execute the BIOS
instructions. It's just flash EEPROM memory. It is theoretically possible
to get a board to boot partially without RAM, but no mobo I'm familiar with
will even give a non-blank screen.
-- Robert
------------------------------
From: Ken McCord <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: linux.debian.user
Subject: Configuration of Apple LaserWriter IIf?
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 04:11:03 GMT
Has anyone set up an Apple LaserWriter IIf to work with Linux? Having a
hell of a time trying to get this thing to work. Can't seem to get the
protocol setup working correctly ( cat README > /dev/ttyS0 ) only gets
the ready light to blink. I've got the system set up to setting #2
(19200 baud, xon/xoff, N81 and using the RS232 port).
Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Ken McCord
------------------------------
Subject: Debian Error.: Need Help Quick
From: Lucky <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 20:13:24 -0800
I did a fresh install of Debian twice but have an error I found
in the Deb bug reports for
the problem file Libc6. I don't understand the fix for this. He
says readlink can easily be replaced.
Please tell me what choices I can put after sed in the command
ls -l | sed.. . . here is the bug report.
>>Libc6 now predepends on debianutils, and run the "readlink"
binary when
installing. The problem is that debianutils predepends on libc6
2.1, and
readlink gives coredump with libc6 2.0. I've got this problem
when upgrading
from a Corel distro, this may impact slink users too. readlink
could esily
replaced with "ls -l | sed ...." (or expr, or even bash
builtins).
BTW, it wouldn't be such a bad idea for libc6 to have static
binary
postinst/preinst files...
* Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network *
The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Dances With Crows)
Subject: Re: FLOOPY HELP !!!!
Date: 26 Feb 2000 23:30:09 EST
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Sun, 27 Feb 2000 03:30:22 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
<<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> shouted forth into the ether:
>hi...i tried to access my A:/ drive from RH6.1 but i get an error
>message " to many devices mounted"... i have no clue what that means, any
>suggestions for fixing this problem? ( i'm a newbie so i need specs on how-
The full text of the error message is "wrong fs type, bad superblock on
device, or too many mounted filesystems." These 3 things are not usually
what's wrong, though!
Insert an MS-DOS formatted floppy, and as root, do
# mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
and see what error messages are generated (if any). Read the manual that
came with your distro to find out what they mean and how to fix them.
If that works, then add the following line to /etc/fstab:
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,user 0 0
Then you can mount floppies as a normal user and such.
--
Matt G / Dances With Crows \ In the MS-DOStrix,
There is no Darkness in Eternity \----\ there is no fork().
But only Light too dim for us to see \
===== Usenet: ceci n'est pas une guerre des flammes =====
------------------------------
From: Ryan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: MSI K7 Pro, anyone running one?
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 04:30:07 GMT
I have a MSI K7PRO motherboard! I bought one, because they are a lot
cheaper than the KX133 motherboards, and are not too much slower.
Espically since I did not have the money to upgrade to PC133 memory and an
AGP 4x Card.
My system consistes of a 600mhz Athlon, 196meg RAM PC100, a 13.6gig
MAXTOR ,and a Monster Fusion Voodoo Banshee graphics card. But, this
thing kills my K6-2 350 I used to have!
--
Posted via CNET Help.com
http://www.help.com/
------------------------------
From: Greg Leblanc <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: IDE tuning
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 04:49:12 GMT
In article <899pm3$79m$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Mike Castle) wrote:
> So, I pulled the IBM drive and moved the newest Maxtor from slave to
master
> on the 2nd controller. Now, according to hdparm, it gets 6.6 MB/sec,
just
> like the IBM did.
>
> Any suggestions on what configurations item I might be missing here?
Just a couple. HDparm is on CRACK. NOT at all useful as a benchmarking
tool.. as a matter of fact, BAD as a benchmarking tool. Look at
bonnie, or even better tiotest. bonnie should be easy to find, tiotest
is at http://www.icon.fi/~mak/tiotest/.
Try those, see if you get some more realistic numbers. And, if you want
to play with some cool stuff, send a message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with a body (I think) of subscribe
linux-raid.
You could set up some software RAID partitions out of all those drives,
for redundancy, and/or for speed.
Greg
--
It's pronounced "sexy" not "scuzzy"!
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: Kevin Wheelock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.matrox,comp.os.linux.x
Subject: Re: Xfree86 3.9.17 and Matrox g400
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 05:00:30 GMT
Try this:
http://www.scitechsoft.com/sdd_linux.html
I was amazed at how well it worked. Good luck.
K.
--
======================================
Caution: Reading this email will increase the entropy of the universe.
------------------------------
Subject: Linux and IEE1284 parport standard
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Martin Brown)
Date: 27 Feb 2000 05:01:02 GMT
I'm thinking about getting an HP color printer that has an IEEE1284 par
port. I know that this printer will work with the standard par port, but
I'd still like to know...
Does Linux care about the par port protocol?
Can Linux take advantage of IEEE1284 par port?
Other suggestions?
Thanx
--
- Martin J. Brown, Jr. -
- BEAUDESIGN.COM -
------------------------------
From: "John E. Maynus" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Sound card help!
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 00:08:27 -0500
I have a Aureal A3D Vortex sound card. I tried sndconfig in Redhat 6.1 toda
y and it said the card was unknown, and wouldn't let me use it. I went to li
nux.aureal.org or com whatever it was and got the Linux drivers for the card
but I'm so new to Linux I'm clueless as to how I unzip this file and to wher
e. The readme file on the site said
tar xvzf au88xx*.tar.gz
change to the driver dir & become root:
cd au88xx*
su
then to type
install10
Also told me to disable PnP in BIOS, do I disable it for good or just till I
get card working? Cause I still use Windows and thats a PnP OS.
Tried that but no help, said no such dir. Help if anyone can!!!!
------------------------------
From: "anon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: video card problems with XFree86 3.3.6 and ati rage fury 128..
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 00:18:53 -0500
>From Caldera's web site ( I had the same problem with COL2.2 ) - the faq
says:
I can't get anything other than the Generic Unsupported VGA X-Server to work
with my ATI Rage128 based video card. How do I get this card to work?
Solution:
To install the X Server for the ATI Rage128 based video cards, first
download the rpm package from SuSE at
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/SuSE-Linux/suse_update/X/XFCom/xrage/xrage.rpm
next, logged in as root, install the rpm with the command:
rpm -U --nodeps xrage.rpm
then type:
rm /usr/X11R6/bin/XF86_SVGA
ln -s /usr/X11R6/bin/XFCom_Rage128 /usr/X11R6/bin/XF86_SVGA
lizardx
requirements for your particular installation may differ - worked great for
mine
rixix
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"plato" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:38b5bbb7.0@news...
> please help! i have an ati rage fury 128 video card and so i had to
download
> XFree86 3.3.6 which has support for it. after installing the XFree86,
> everything worked fine but the fonts were unreadable..like bar codes! i
was
> told that there's a patch for this but i don't know where to get it or how
> to install it..please help.
>
>
>
>
------------------------------
From: steve <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: VIA Apollo MVP4 chipset mother boards.
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 23:11:53 -0500
Hi:
Does anyone know how the following all-in-one motherboards work with
Linux? Especially the built in Video(Color depth and resolution) and
Audio?
Thanks.
Steve
===================
FIC PAG-2130
With on 2D/3D accelerator embedded
and Sound Blaster Pro-compatible embedded
Tekram P5M4-M - Super Socket 7 Mainboard featuring 100Mhz FSB for AMD
K6-III
MMX CPU support, built-in AC97 Sound and Trident AGP
3D Video!
Epox EP-MVP4A
Supports sharing 2/4/8MB for display RAM with system RAM. Supports
built-in Trident AGP 2x
graphics.Supports built-in AC97 Digital Audio.
------------------------------
From: Greg Leblanc <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Linux on a Sparc 1000?
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 04:59:10 GMT
In article <Wjft4.387$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
"Robb Harris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I recently picked up a SS1000, (4) SM51 processors and 256 meg ram.
It
> sounded like a great Linux box, but I can't find a release that
supports it.
I know at least one person who is running Linux on this hardware. Try
either one of the Sunhelp.org mailing lists, or the sparc-linux mailing
list. a search on google should turn up the latter, the former is a
very nice site for help on suns.
Greg
--
It's pronounced "sexy" not "scuzzy"!
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: lf11 at @linuxstart.com
Subject: Re: Burned system!?
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 00:20:26 -0500
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, ajam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Robert,
>
> thanks for taking the time and responding to my question. I actually did all
> that. The video board and everything else does not get recognized; the
> speaker is not beeping; and after the power goes on, it won't off using the
> switch. At this point, I'm pretty certain that the problem is the BIOS chip,
> but will certainly prefer to hear other people's view on this matter. Blowing
> a board or BIOS chip is not so uncommon. Thus, I wonder if anyone has run
> into this problem before.
>
> Cheers, ajam
>
>
This stuff happens all the time for me. About 1/3 of the time, I flip the power
switch,
the fans power up, the HD powers up, .... and nothing happens. The solution is
usually to unplug *everything*, and see if the speaker beeps. That means vid
card, hd, cd, floppy, all pci cards, all isa cards, everything except power to
the motherboard and the speaker. If it still plays games, (none of mine
ever have), you probably have a bad motherboard, or at least one you won't
be able to use.
I have no idea about the BIOS chip. I have very little experience with actually
dead motherboard components...usually just replace the motherboard.
------------------------------
From: Justin McPeak <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To: linux.apps.cdwrite
Subject: Getting the hp9100i working under RH 6.1
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 05:13:07 GMT
Recently purchased a hp-9100i, after reading the Cd Write Howto's and
the Module HowTo's I determined that my kernel (2.2.12smp) had all of
the modules necessary for ide to scsi emulation.
So there wasn't any need to recompile my kernel.
Currently Redhat 6.1 detects my drive as an atapi /dev/hdc device.
I understand that it needs to be scsi to write. I appended the
following lines to my /etc/conf.modules file:
alias scd0 sr_mod
alias scsi_hostadaptor ide-scsi
options ide-cd ignore=hdc
Is this all that shoiuld be needed? Apparently not, I know my drive
*does* work, what else do I need to do. Am I right assuming I don't
need to recompile my kernel because all the necessary moduales are
already installed in my installation kernel 2.2.12smp? Do I have to
completely remove my atapi support?
I have been stuggling with this for the past week so any help would be
nice, and yes I did read the howto's but I couldn't get everything I
needed out of them. Any help would be greatly appriciated. Thanks
Jesse Walters
------------------------------
From: ajam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Burned system!?
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 01:05:41 -0500
Thanks for responding!
You're totally right, but sometimes it gets to a point where you try anything! Either
way, got brand new motherboard, exactly like the older one, and install only the
processor and memory. Guess, what! Nothing! My assumption at this point is that
the processor is dead, which is hard to believe or at least to swallow. There is no
burn mark on the processor, not is it cracked. Could this be the case?
Cheers, ajam
Robert Redelmeier wrote:
> ajam wrote:
> >
> > Thanks again for the reply. Like I said before, I'm certain it is either the BIOS
> > or the board, since I disconnected all peripherals + microprocessor from board and
> > I still did not get any beeping sound from the BIOS. It is my understanding that
> > the BIOS does not need the microprocessor to boot. Although the BIOS that I have
> > is Award, which supposedly has the least amount of beeping sound configurations
> > available, I believe that something should have happened at this point. Thus, I'm
> > on my way of getting a new board today. At least for me it is really sad to loose
> > a motherboard like this, but c'est la vie!
>
> No, no, no! A board without working CPU will _not_ boot. It might power up,
> but booting is out of the question. Something's got to execute the BIOS
> instructions. It's just flash EEPROM memory. It is theoretically possible
> to get a board to boot partially without RAM, but no mobo I'm familiar with
> will even give a non-blank screen.
>
> -- Robert
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Subject: How do i clear ttyS's so i can install new modem
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 06:06:41 GMT
Saturday February 26 2000 22:30, Dave Brown wrote to All:
DB> think my old modem is still installed for some reason...How can i
DB> clear the ttyS's?
ttyS's what?
KS
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Hardware Digest
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