Linux-Hardware Digest #245, Volume #13 Sun, 16 Jul 00 17:13:07 EDT
Contents:
Re: RH 6.2 IDE Tape Drive ("Stefan Viljoen")
Digiboard setup (Dennis J Perkins)
Re: graphic tablet (Bruce Stephens)
Re: Two weird problems - 2: Memory ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: ADSL in uk - USB connector (Jonathan Follows)
Re: Please help me evaluate this hardware's compatability with Linux
([EMAIL PROTECTED])
geforce ("Darcron")
Epson Stylus 900 (Cokey de Percin)
Re: Are TSC's synchronized in an Intel P6 SMP configurations? (Bernd Paysan)
Re: Netgear FA-310TX with Tulip chip (heyday)
Help with cdrecord ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: hp colorado 20gig under linux (jon bird)
Re: Help with cdrecord (Dances With Crows)
Need cdrom writer advice (Anthony Ewell)
Re: Hang during boot (need advice) ("Vincent")
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Stefan Viljoen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: RH 6.2 IDE Tape Drive
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 20:45:39 +0200
Ron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> I'm in the ball park... dev/ht0 would not work here... used "ide-scsi"
> and I can now talk to the drive (via nst0)... I'm on a roll... time to
> play... tnx ALL for the info.
>
> Another helped newbie...
>
Maybe me too!
I have RH6 - it has ftape, right? What is the mount point to use with mt to
access Iomega DittoMax Pro on the DittoDash accelerator card?
Thanks!
Stefan
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: Dennis J Perkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Digiboard setup
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 12:16:29 -0600
Does anyone have experience setting up a Digi multiport board to work
with Linux? The board is an older, dumb board. I've compiled Digi
support into the kernel but it still doesn't work. Do I need to run
setserial for each port on the board? And what port numbers should I
use?
--
Dennis
------------------------------
From: Bruce Stephens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: graphic tablet
Date: 16 Jul 2000 19:50:48 +0100
ross <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> I've looked around a bit and can't find a definitive answer to the
> following.
>
> What graphic tablet can I easily use to drive gimp with a vanilla
> kernel 2.2.14 (without using IR or USB) i.e. serial or PS2
> connection. The wacom stuff seems to be most talked about and I'm
> aware there are modules for driving XF86 but is it a doddle ?
> Basically I don't want to spend the money on one if I can only use
> it in Windows like my bloody scanner !!
The Wacom tablets seem to work fine. The Graphire tablets are pretty
cheap, and you get a nice mouse as well as a pen. However, the
drawing area might be a bit small, depending on what you want it for.
The Intuos series gives you tilt sensitivity (and rotation, for the
mouse) as well as pressure (which is all the Graphire provides). The
Intuos tablets are significantly more costly.
USB support isn't nearly as good as the serial support. It's usable
once you've got it working (and it's not so hard, although you do need
to apply the USB kernel backport).
Serial support is easy: just replace the XF86 module with a new one,
and alter your XF86Config file as described.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Two weird problems - 2: Memory
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 19:12:31 GMT
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Martin Skj�ldebrand) writes:
> When ever I boot my machine (Dell 700 Mhz P3 128 MB RAM) and start up
> X I get a utilization of about 60 MB RAM. Which I can live
> with. However after running and shutting down some apps (Netscape,
> Xemacs, rocksndiamonds) I am at a memory utilization of 100+ MB
> RAM. It would seem to me that the process are not returning memory to
> the system when they are ended (in normal fashion).
A lot of OSes with proper VMM systems work like this. Probably what
is happening is that your daemons are all getting swapped out of
memory. Then, when your running programs terminate, the cache grows
to use up most of your physical memory.
> This results in bad performance in graphics intensive apps like
> Rocks and Diamonds - you really get seasick. Scrolling is "chopped"
> (and bits of graphics are not updated correctly) while the machine is
> so fast it moves the character along the screen at a fast tempo. (You
> get the picture ...).
Well... not really. If graphics are not being updated correctly, the
problem has nothing to do with memory management. (Unless the program
has some hairy code to time out whenever it has to wait for a page, in
which case you should be getting good framerates and bad graphics -
not bad framerates and bad graphics.)
> How do I make the system return memory as it should?
What version of Linux are you using? As a rule, Linux doesn't leak
memory, not to the extent required to cause the performance you
describe. If you're running a bleeding-edge experimental kernel, my
answer is going to be to use a stable kernel (2.2.x) or wait until
2.4.0 is stable. (It's still pre-release, isn't it?)
--
Eric P. McCoy ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
"Dude... my hands are huge. They can touch anything but themselves...
oh, wait."
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jonathan Follows)
Subject: Re: ADSL in uk - USB connector
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 19:30:47 GMT
On Sun, 16 Jul 2000 12:13:14 +0100, "Darren Eccles"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Does anyone have any info on connecting a linux router to a BT ADSL link.
>Apparently the modem has a USB connector.
>
>Thanks in advance
>
>
Darren,
It won't work. I don't know which hardware BT uses but it's probably
much the same as Bell South here in NC (Efficient) and there just
aren't any Linux drivers for this kind of setup yet. I'm shortly
returning to the UK so I'm very interested in BT ADSL but for now the
only flavour which is going to work is one in which you use an
Ethernet connection out of your Linux machine, which means that I
think you have to go for the "business" option and you will have to
pay an installation charge.
Jonathan Follows.
------------------------------
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Please help me evaluate this hardware's compatability with Linux
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 19:32:07 GMT
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (phil ossifer) writes:
> The biggest fly in the ointment so far: All configuration software
> requires W95+. And certain features like "soft off" are documented
> to be available only through W95.
Well... it's possible, certainly. However, power management features
like soft-off or suspend are typically managed through APM or ACPI,
which are controlled through the BIOS. I believe there's Linux
support for soft-off - ISTR installing Linux on my mother's laptop for
a week or two and it would power off on shutdown.
> VIA had a DOS version of the Ultra 66 driver on their web site, but
> no mention of Linux to be found on Vextrec's , DTK's, Epox's or
> Via's.
Linux is managing its own ATA66 driver development, I believe.
> Does anyone know if these manufacturers are under non-disclosure
> with MS? Do you forsee any problems (other than the winmodem)
> getting the drivers or at least the info to write drivers to use the
> features of this chipset/motherboard/BIOS?
Buying *any* preconfigured (to any extent) system is a danger. Often,
devices aren't proprietary to Windows, they're proprietary to the
computer manufacturer.
Nevertheless, the only rough spot I've ever had in terms of Linux
support is audio - the Aureal Vortex 2. If you have one of those
cards, your only option is to pay something like $25 for lousy,
worthless, closed-source drivers from "OSS."
> I hope to load Corel Linux (chosen because it is supposedly geared
> to "easy install" to "learn the ropes" then move to either Suse,
> Mandrake, or another "heavyweight" distribution later.
Depending on what you mean by "heavyweight," Debian may be a better
choice for you.
> But by Friday I will need to decide to keep the system or chuck a
> couple of week's work and start from scratch. What would you
> knowledgeable folk do?
Buy a copy of Linux (any distribution, they all have pretty much the
same basic hardware support) and try to install it and get everything
working. If you're missing some components, buy them from CompUSA or
another store that has a don't-ask-don't-tell return policy.
> The network card actually mentions Linux on the software disk!
> Wonder of wonders. The source code for the driver is there
> (rtl8139.c by Donald Becker.), but the only instalation instructions
> are Red Hat and Slackware. Is it safe to presume that with some
> help from here it will install on Corel/Suse/ or Mandrake.
Yes.
The driver is almost certainly also in the distribution Linux kernel.
(Didn't Donald Becker write the ne2000 driver, too?)
> The video cards I bought are Creative Labs Savage 4 AGP (S3 Savage 4
> 128-bit chipset) and KASER Trio-8 (S3 Trio3d/2d chipset). Neither
> manufacturer mentions Linux on their website nor would tech support
> offer any information about Linux drivers. Is the information
> needed available to the driver development team(s) or is Creative
> and KASER stonewalling them? Would you suggest returning these?
Creative and KASER have nothing to do with it. Try both cards with X
(it's the only thing that will care). The NVIDIA TNT2 is pretty cheap
now, and I know it has good Linux support. Be wary of the m64, as I
believe it's a low-end spinoff.
> Could anyone recommend a PCI video card with good Linux support
> _and_ drivers for Win3.x (I need this until I get fully up to speed
> on LInux.)
Didn't somebody make VESA drivers for Win3.x? That would just use the
VESA BIOS calls for SVGA? On a fast computer, you're not likely to
notice the slowdown.
> The Hard Drive is a WD Ultra 66. No biggie, but I see their "break
> the 8GB barier" software recognizes W9x/NT/OS-2 as other possible
> partitions, but no mention of Linux. Is there a possible problem
> here?
Don't use the software. You don't need it. Modern BIOSes will
support >8GB drives out of the box, and overlay software is
historically the source of 98% of all hard drive problems.
> The CDROM is a PINE PT-948A. Seems kind of standard, thing comes
> right up under DOS ( and "old" DOS is supported! good sign, no?).
> But of course no mention of Linux to be found in the documentation.
If it's an ATAPI drive (i.e., if your BIOS detects and can boot from
it), it'll work under Linux.
> So, being a "programmer with a soldering iron", I'd really like to
> keep an already running system it if it will be feasable to run
> Linux on it. Anyone have good experiences with
> VTI/DTK/EPOX/AWARD/VIA regarding information disclosure to the Linux
> development community? Anyone have any BAD experience?
I strongly dislike VIA, but I have to, because I own Intel stock.
A little more seriously, I've never run into a single problem with any
Intel product I've ever owned. However, I have run into problems with
every single Intel-alternative (VIA, AMD) product I've ever owned. I
know of a lot of people who run AMD processors on VIA chipsets quite
happily, but I will never do it.
--
Eric P. McCoy ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
"Dude... my hands are huge. They can touch anything but themselves...
oh, wait."
------------------------------
From: "Darcron" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: geforce
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 19:33:38 GMT
I have a problem with my geforce i can't set this video card to run
xwindows.
I have an error on x server anibody help me????
thanks
Dracron
------------------------------
From: Cokey de Percin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Epson Stylus 900
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 19:35:37 GMT
Anyone using this printer and if so, how is it working. What print
setup are you using.
Tnx
Cokey
--
==================================================================
Cokey de Percin, DBA Email:
Policy Management Systems Corp. Work - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Columbia, South Carolina Home - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: Bernd Paysan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.arch,comp.sys.intel,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.setup.hardware
Subject: Re: Are TSC's synchronized in an Intel P6 SMP configurations?
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 22:04:21 +0200
Maarten wrote:
> I think the speed of electrons travelling copper are not an issue. Not
> an issue compared to the time it takes for a component, like a
> transistor, to switch over. As it stands, there are several components
> between the clock cristal and the cpu; many, many transistors. Thus,
> the chipset, amongst others, must be well designed so that the paths
> of ALL (not just clock, but everything else, databus, addressbus) the
> signals arrive at the same time at both cpus. If one signal passes
> just ONE logic buffer more than the other there may already be a
> significant (or fatal) desync.
In fact, DLLs (or higher internal clocks) are quite common in chipsets.
E.g. if you have an EV6 style DDR bus, you probably have an internal
clock for driving, and one for sensing, and one that's between both to
communicate with the processor on the other side. E.g. (crude ASCII
art):
________ ________
drive _/ \________/ \________
________ ________
to cpu___/ \________/ \________
________ ________
sense _____/ \________/ \________
_ ________ ________ ________ ________
data _X________X________X________X________ (from chipset to CPU)
___ ________ ________ ________ ______
data ___X________X________X________X______ (from CPU to chipset)
The "X" phase of swing tents to be longer and longer compared with the
overall bus clock, so the drive and sense clock have to be carefully
delayed with the one on the other side. Rambus uses even a looped around
clock signal to take wire delays into account.
--
Bernd Paysan
"If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself"
http://www.jwdt.com/~paysan/
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Netgear FA-310TX with Tulip chip
From: heyday <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 12:53:42 -0700
Thanks for the info. I have my Netgear Cards hooked up to the
new Linksys Cable/DSL Router. It is a 10/100 Switch and works at
full Duplex. I will check my cabling also. I thout it was
Cat-5.
Thanks,
Heyday
http://www.phone4less.nu
===========================================================
Got questions? Get answers over the phone at Keen.com.
Up to 100 minutes free!
http://www.keen.com
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Help with cdrecord
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 20:02:20 GMT
I've got cdrecord set up on a Linux box, but for the life of me I can't
figure out how to tell it to record! What is the correct command?
Anybody?
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: jon bird <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: hp colorado 20gig under linux
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 21:11:33 +0100
In article <8kctt4$549$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Andreas Oppermann
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes
>jon,
>I have the same problem with the 14gig one. The colorado 14 GB was
>running with the older kernels until 2.2.10 (SuSE 6.2.)
>The problem seems to be an odd behavior to config the IDE interface.
>But I don�t also know what had been changed exactly.
>
>My traces stopped with the error message:
>kernel: proc_ide_write_settings(): parse error
>
[...]
>
>Let�s hope to find anybody who can fix this ether in an update of the
>firmware or patch the kernel for that problem.
>Andreas Oppermann
>
I've now got the 20gig drive working okay using a kernel built with SCSI
emulation for the tape drive. I did a complete backup (around 2gig)
using 'BRU' which logged no errors, including the verification pass and
none in the system log either.
Thanks everyone for the help/suggestions - as a bonus I know I can now
build new kernels okay - done 2 in the past 2 days.
--
== jon bird - software engineer
== <reply to address _may_ be invalid, real mail below>
== <reduce rsi, stop using the shift key>
== posted as: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
== email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
== web: www.onasticksoftware.co.uk
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Dances With Crows)
Subject: Re: Help with cdrecord
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 20:52:26 GMT
On Sun, 16 Jul 2000 20:02:20 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
<<8kt4c5$co6$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> shouted forth into the ether:
>I've got cdrecord set up on a Linux box, but for the life of me I can't
>figure out how to tell it to record! What is the correct command?
>Anybody?
"man cdrecord".
If you have an ISO image, then the command is
cdrecord -v dev=/dev/sgX speed=Y image.iso
If you have audio tracks named track01..track99, the command is
cdrecord -v dev=/dev/sgX speed=Y track*.wav
Replace X with the number of the SCSI generic device that corresponds to
your CD-R(W). Replace Y with the speed (usually 1, 2, or 4... 8 if you're
lucky). Read the man page for cdrecord if you have trouble, or look at
the CD-Writing HOWTO at http://linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/CD-Writing-HOWTO.html .
--
Matt G / Dances With Crows /\ "Man could not stare too long at the face
\----[this space for rent]-----/ \ of the Computer or her children and still
\There is no Darkness in Eternity \ remain as Man." --David Zindell "So did
But only Light too dim for us to see\ they become Gods, or Usenetters?" --/me
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 13:53:26 -0700
From: Anthony Ewell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Need cdrom writer advice
Hi,
Does anyone have a favorite cdrom writer
that they can suggest?
I am looking for:
1) scsi-2 bus
2) Linux friendly, and
3) has to last longer than 13 months (needs to be reliable)
Many thanks,
--Tony
aewell @ gbis . com (remove the spaces)
p.s. my old unit had a 12 month warranty and at 13 months ...
------------------------------
From: "Vincent" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems
Subject: Re: Hang during boot (need advice)
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 16:01:12 -0500
"Steve Goldman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:8jbo6f$qg$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Please give me 2 minutes of thought and your $.02. I know the information
> is light, but I'm just asking what to throw away and what to keep. Thanks
> in advance.
>
will do.
> 1. Computer was cheap PC clone with Cyrix 266 processor. Win98, Linux,
and
> FreeBSD ran fine (LILO boot loader).
>
Should not buy PC with Cyrix chip in the first place. You and I have
learned it the hard way.
> 2. It began to crash unexpectedly, run slow, behave badly. I took it back
> to seller.
Typical of Cyrix chip
> 3. After investingation, seller says, "You messed up the processor by
> playing with CMOS settings. It's all your fault. I'll fix for you
anyway."
> Note: I had never touched CMOS settings.
>
The seller is an as*****, and does not know what's he talking about. First
of all, playing with the CMOS setting does not mess up the chip. It's
properly the seller installed for you some cheap and old Cyrix when you
first bought it. By saying that, he wanted to maintain his credetial and
blame it on someone else who may not be knowledgable about computer. Wish
he tried to pull that on me, I would bury him alive. My advice: don't take
blame like that again when you did not do anything, but even if you did-
just say it was not you and you did not do anything.
> 4. I got machine back with Celeron 233 processor and new motherboard.
> Seller told me he could not get machine to boot unless he ran the
processor
> at 200 MHz, but that's all he'd do for me.
Propably, replace it with some broken motherboard.
> 5. Bad behavior became worse, the death rattle began. The machine began
to
> hang on boot every time. I gave up and bought a new, cheap PC clone.
The seller did not do anything instead took the part that may be working and
replaced with some funks.
> 6. A year went by, and I hoped that the machine might have magically
> repaired itself. Machine booted OK. I reformatted the HD and loaded
RedHat
> 6.2. It locked up during the install twice, but third time's the charm.
> The machine booted up and ran fine.
Personally, I think it's more of your memory than anything. Everything you
do in computer is ram-related, and typical symptoms like that are more to
defected memory.
> 7. After a day or two, hang on boot every time began again. The symptoms
> are this: Machine finds all 32 M RAM, seems to find all hardware OK.
Linux
> gets to INIT and then hang/crash occurs. Sometimes INIT reports processes
> are spawning too fast and it needs to wait 5 minutes (it never gets going
> again). Sometimes PANIC occurs and all sorts of ugly stuff appears on the
> screen (like register contents or something).
I would say memory again here.
> 8. I removed and reseated the processor and the memory (but not any other
> cards). No joy.
Memory. Maybe check to see if the jumpers and bus speed are set correctly
on the board.
> What's my next move? I would buy another motherboard and processor
(cheap)
> if I thought that would work. I'd like to have a second computer. Thanks
> again for your help.
Don't spend any more money on the system. I would buy it; what do you say?
If not, my friend, good luck to you.
Vinc.
------------------------------
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