Linux-Misc Digest #28, Volume #19 Sun, 14 Feb 99 15:13:08 EST
Contents:
Linux Frequently Asked Questions with Answers (Part 5 of 6) ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Can't defrag disk - is this normal? (Roger@localhost)
Re: set up small word-processing system (steve mcadams)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crossposted-To: news.answers,comp.answers
Subject: Linux Frequently Asked Questions with Answers (Part 5 of 6)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 19:24:13 GMT
What mailing lists are there?.")
7.7 Can I have more than 3 serial ports by sharing interrupts?
Yes, but you won't be able to use simultaneously two ordinary ports
which share an interrupt (without some trickery). This is a limitation
of the ISA Bus architecture.
See the Serial HOWTO for information about possible solutions and
workarounds for this problem.
7.8 How do I make a bootable floppy?
Make a file system on it with bin, etc, lib and dev
directories--everything you need. Install a kernel on it and arrange
to have LILO boot it from the floppy (see the LILO documentation, in
lilo.u.*.ps).
If you build the kernel (or tell LILO to tell the kernel) to have a
RAM disk the same size as the floppy the RAM disk will be loaded at
boot time and mounted as root in place of the floppy.
See the Bootdisk HOWTO.
7.9 How do I remap my keyboard to UK, French, etc.?
For recent kernels, get /pub/Linux/system/Keyboards/kbd-0.90.tar.gz
from metalab.unc.edu. Make sure you get the appropriate version; you
have to use the right keyboard mapping package for your kernel
version.
For older kernels you have to edit the top-level kernel Makefile, in
/usr/src/linux.
You may find more helpful information in The Linux Keyboard and
Console HOWTO, by Andries Brouwer, at
metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO.
7.10 How do I get NUM LOCK to default to on?
Use the setleds program, for example (in /etc/rc.local or one of the
/etc/rc.d/* files):
for t in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
do
setleds +num < /dev/tty$t > /dev/null
done
Setleds is part of the kbd package ("How do I remap my keyboard
to UK, French, etc.?").
Alternatively, patch your kernel. You need to arrange for KBD_DEFLEDS
to be defined to (1 << VC_NUMLOCK) when compiling
drivers/char/keyboard.c.
7.11 How do I set (or reset) my initial terminal colors?
The following shell script should work for VGA consoles:
for n in 1 2 4 5 6 7 8; do
setterm -fore yellow -bold on -back blue -store > /dev/tty$n
done
Substitute your favorite colors, and use /dev/ttyS$n for serial
terminals.
To make sure they are reset when people log out (if they've been
changed):
Replace the references to "getty" (or "mingetty" or "uugetty" or
whatever) in /etc/inittab with references to "/sbin/mygetty."
#!/bin/sh
setterm -fore yellow -bold on -back blue -store > $1
exec /sbin/mingetty $@
[Jim Dennis]
7.12 How can I have more than 128Mb of swap?
Use several swap partitions or swap files--Linux supports up to 16
swap areas, each of up to 128Mb.
Very old kernels only supported swap partition sizes up to 16Mb.
Linux on machines with 8KB paging, like Alpha and Sparc64, support a
swap partition up to 512MB. The 128MB limitation comes from
PAGE_SIZE*BITSPERBYTE on machines with 4KB paging, but is 512KB on
machines with 8KB paging. The limit is due to the use of a single page
allocation map.
The file mm/swapfile.c has all of the gory details.
[Peter Moulder, Gordon Weast]
8. Miscellaneous information and questions answered.
8.1 How do I program XYZ under Linux?
Read the manuals, or a good book on Unix. Manual pages (type "man
man") are usually a good source of reference information on exactly
how to use a particular command or function.
There is also a lot of GNU Info documentation, which is often more
useful as a tutorial. Run Emacs and type C-h i, or type info info if
you don't have or don't like Emacs. Note that the Emacs libc node may
not exactly describe the latest Linux libc, or GNU glibc2. But the GNU
project and LDP are always looking for volunteers to upgrade their
library documentation.
Anyway, between the existing Texinfo documentation, and the manual
pages in sections 2 and 3, should provide enough information to get
started.
As with all free software, the best tutorial is the source code
itself.
The latest release of the Linux manual pages, a collection of useful
GNU Info documentation, and various other information related to
programming Linux, can be found on metalab.unc.edu in
/pub/Linux/docs/man-pages.
8.2 What's all this about ELF?
See the ELF HOWTO by Daniel Barlow--note, this is not the file
move-to-elf, which is a blow-by-blow account of how to upgrade to ELF
manually.
Linux has two different formats for executables, object files, and
object code libraries, known as, "ELF." (The old format is called
`a.out'.) They have advantages, including better support for shared
libraries and dynamic linking.
Both a.out and ELF binaries can coexist on a system. However, they use
different shared C libraries, both of which have to be installed.
If you want to find out whether your system can run ELF binaries, look
in /lib for a file named, "libc.so.5." If it's there, you probably
have ELF libraries. If you want to know whether your installation
actually is ELF you can pick a representative program, like ls, and
run file on it:
-chiark:~> file /bin/ls
/bin/ls: Linux/i386 impure executable (OMAGIC) - stripped
valour:~> file /bin/ls
/bin/ls: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1, stripped
There is a patch to get 1.2.x to compile using the ELF compilers, and
produce ELF core dumps, at tsx-11.mit.edu in /pub/packages/GCC/. You
do not need the patch merely to run ELF binaries. 1.3.x and later do
not need the patch at all.
8.3 What is a .gz file ? And a .tgz ? And ... ?
.gz (and .z) files are compressed using GNU gzip. You need to use
gunzip (which is a symlink to the gzip command which comes with most
Linux installations) to unpack the file.
.taz, .tar.Z, and .tz are tar files (made with tar) compressed using
compress.
.tgz (or .tpz) is a tar file compressed with gzip.
.lsm is a Linux Software Map entry, in the form of a short text file.
Details about the LSM and the LSM itself are available in the docs
subdirectory on metalab.unc.edu.
.deb is a Debian Binary Package - the binary package format used by
the Debian GNU/Linux distribution. It is manipulated using dpkg and
dpkg-deb (available on Debian systems and from ftp.debian.org).
.rpm is a Red Hat RPM package, which is used in the Red Hat
distribution. They can be found on ftp.redhat.com.
.bz2 is a file compressed by the more recent bzip program.
The "file" command can often tell you what a file is.
If you find that gzip complains when you try to uncompress a gzip'ed
file you probably downloaded it in ASCII mode by mistake. You must
download most things in binary mode--remember to type binary as a
command in FTP before using, "get," to get the file.
8.4 What does VFS stand for?
Virtual File System. It's the abstraction layer between the user and
real file systems like ext2, Minix and MS-DOS. Among other things, its
job is to flush the read buffer when it detects a disk change on the
floppy disk drive.
VFS: Disk change detected on device 2/0
8.5 What is devfs and what does it do?
The devfs implements a new way of naming block devices (disks) in late
2.1.x and 2.2.x kernels. Instead of limiting device names to the block
device files in the /dev directory, devfs allows block devices to be
named and accessed by virtual names, by non-root users, and from more
than one mount point.
The devfs home page and FAQ are located at
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/kernel-patches.html.
8.6 What is a BogoMip?
"BogoMips" is a contraction of "Bogus MIPS." MIPS stands for
(depending who you listen to) Millions of Instructions per Second, or
Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed.
The number printed at boot time is the result of a kernel timing
calibration, used for very short delay loops by some device drivers.
As a very rough guide, the BogoMips rating for your machine will be
approximately:
386SX clock * 0.14
386DX clock * 0.18
486Cyrix/IBM clock * 0.33
486SX/DX/DX2 clock * 0.50
586 clock * 0.39
If the number is wildly lower, you may have the Turbo button or CPU
speed set incorrectly, or have some kind of caching problem (as
described in "When I add more memory, the system slows to a
crawl..")
For values people have seen with other, rarer, chips, see the BogoMips
Mini-HOWTO, on metalab.unc.edu in
/pub/Linux/docs/howto/mini/BogoMips/.
8.7 What is the Linux Journal and where can I get it?
The Linux Journal is a monthly magazine (printed on paper) that is
available on news stands and via subscription worldwide. Email
[EMAIL PROTECTED] for details. Their URL is http://www.ssc.com/.
8.8 What online/free periodicals exist for Linux?
There are a number of recent additions to the list of periodicals
devoted to Linux.
* Linux Gazette. http://www.linuxgazette.com.
* Linux Weekly News. http://www.lwn.net.
* Slashdot. http://www.slashdot.org.
* Freshmeat. http://www.freshmeat.org.
[Jim Dennis, Robert Kiesling]
8.9 How many people use Linux?
Linux is freely available, and no one is required to register with any
central authority, so it is difficult to know. Several businesses
survive solely on selling and supporting Linux. Linux news groups are
some of the most heavily read on Usenet. Accurate numbers are hard to
come by, but the number is likely in the millions.
However, people can register as Linux users at the Linux Counter
project, which has been in existence since 1993. In August, 1998, the
project counted more than 70,000 users.
Visit the Web site at http://counter.li.org and fill in the
registration form. If you don't want to use the Web, send e-mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject line, "I use LInux at home,"
or "I use LInux at work."
The current count is posted monthly to comp.os.linux.misc, and is
always available from the Web site.
[Harald Tveit Alvestrand]
8.10 How should I pronounce Linux?
This is a matter of religious debate, of course!
If you want to hear Linus himself say how he pronounces it, download
english.au or swedish.au from ftp.funet.fi (in
/pub/Linux/PEOPLE/Linus/SillySounds/). If you have a sound card or the
PC-speaker audio driver you can hear them by typing
cat english.au >/dev/audio
The difference isn't in the pronunciation of Linux but in the language
Linus uses to say, "hello."
For the benefit of those who don't have the equipment or inclination:
Linus pronounces Linux approximately as Leenus, where the "ee" is
pronounced as in "feet," but rather shorter, and the "u" is like a
much shorter version of the French "eu" sound in "peur"
(pronouncing it as the "u" in "put" is probably passable).
9. Frequently encountered error messages.
9.1 Modprobe can't locate module, "XXX," and similar messages.
These types of messages mostly occur at boot time or shutdown. If
modprobe, insmod, or rmmod complain about not being able to find a
module, add the following to the /etc/modules.conf or
/etc/modutils/aliases file, whichever is present on your system.
alias <module-name> off
And use the name of the module that appears in the error message.
[J.H.M. Dassen]
9.2 Unknown terminal type linux and similar.
In early kernels the default console terminal type has changed from
"console" to "linux." You must edit /etc/termcap to change the
line reading:
console|con80x25:\
to
linux|console|con80x25:\
(there may be an additional dumb in there--if so it should be
removed.)
To get the editor to work you may need say
TERM=console
(for bash and ksh), or
setenv TERM console
for csh or tcsh.
Some programs use /usr/lib/terminfo instead of /etc/termcap. For these
programs you should upgrade your terminfo, which is part of ncurses.
9.3 lp1 on fire
This is a joke/traditional error message indicating that some sort of
error is being reported by your printer, but that the error status
isn't a valid one. It may be that you have some kind of I/O or IRQ
conflict-- check your cards' settings. Some people report that they
get this message when their printer is switched off. Hopefully it
isn't really on fire ...
In newer kernels, this message reads, "lp1 reported invalid error
status (on fire, eh?)"
9.4 INET: Warning: old style ioctl... called!
You are trying to use the old network configuration utilities. The new
ones can be found on ftp.linux.org.uk in
/pub/linux/Networking/PROGRAMS/NetTools/ (source only, I'm afraid).
Note that they cannot be used just like the old-style programs. See
the NET-2 HOWTO for instructions on how to set up the old-style
networking programs correctly. Even better, see the NET-3 HOWTO and
upgrade your networking software.
9.5 ld: unrecognized option '-m486'
You have an old version of ld. Install a newer binutils package--this
will contain an updated ld. Look on tsx-11.mit.edu in
/pub/linux/packages/GCC/ for binutils-2.6.0.2.bin.tar.gz.
9.6 GCC says Internal compiler error.
If the fault is repeatable (i.e., it always happens at the same place
in the same file--even after rebooting and trying again, using a
stable kernel) you have discovered a bug in GCC. See the GCC Info
documentation (type Control-h i in Emacs, and select GCC from the
menu) for details on how to report the error--make sure you have the
latest version, though.
Note that this is probably not a Linux-specific problem. Unless you
are compiling a program many other Linux users also compile, you
should not post your bug report to any of the comp.os.linux groups.
If the problem is not repeatable, you may be experiencing memory
corruption--see make says Error 139.
9.7 make says Error 139
Your compiler driver (gcc) dumped core. You probably have a corrupted,
buggy, or old version of GCC--get the latest release. Alternatively,
you may be running out of swap space--see My machine runs very
slowly when I run GCC / X / ....
If this doesn't fix the problem, you are probably having problems with
memory or disk corruption. Check that the clock rate, wait states, and
refresh timing for your SIMMS and cache are correct (hardware manuals
are sometimes wrong, too). If so, you may have some marginal SIMMS, or
a faulty motherboard or hard disk or controller.
Linux is a very good memory tester--much better than MS-DOS based
memory test programs.
Reportedly, some clone x87 math coprocessors can cause problems. Try
compiling a kernel with math emulation ( How do I
upgrade/recompile my kernel?.) You may need to use the "no387"
kernel command line flag on the LILO prompt to force the kernel to use
math emulation, or it may be able to work and still use the '387, with
the math emulation compiled in but mainly unused.
More information about this problem is available on the Web at
http://www.bitwizard.nl/sig11/.
9.8 shell-init: permission denied when I log in.
Your root directory and all the directories up to your home directory
must be readable and executable by everybody. See the manual page for
chmod or a book on Unix for how to fix the problem.
9.9 No utmp entry. You must exec ... when I log in.
Your /var/run/utmp is screwed up. You should have
> /var/run/utmp
in your /etc/rc.local or /etc/rc.d/*. See ("I have screwed up
my system and can't log in to fix it.") Note that the utmp may also
be found in /var/adm/ or /etc/ on some older systems.
9.10 Warning--bdflush not running.
Modern kernels use a better strategy for writing cached disk blocks.
In addition to the kernel changes, this involves replacing the old
update program which used to write everything every 30 seconds with a
more subtle daemon (actually a pair), known as bdflush.
Get bdflush-n.n.tar.gz from the same place as the kernel source code (
How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel?) and compile and install
it. Bdflush should be started before the usual boot-time file system
checks. It will work fine with older kernels as well, so there's no
need to keep the old update around.
9.11 Warning: obsolete routing request made.
This is nothing to worry about. The message means that your version
route is a little out of date, compared to the kernel. You can make
the message go away by getting a new version of route from the same
place as the kernel source code. ( How do I upgrade/recompile my
kernel?)
9.12 EXT2-fs: warning: mounting unchecked file system.
You need to run e2fsck (or fsck -t ext2 if you have the fsck front end
program) with the -a option to get it to clear the `dirty' flag, and
then cleanly unmount the partition during each shutdown.
The easiest way to do this is to get the latest fsck, umount, and
shutdown commands, available in Rik Faith's util-linux package (`
Where can I get Linux material by FTP?") You have to make sure
that your /etc/rc*/ scripts use them correctly.
NB: don't try to check a file system that's mounted read/write--this
includes the root partition if you don't see
VFS: mounted root ... read-only
at boot time. You must arrange to mount the root file system read/only
to start with, check it if necessary, and then remount it read/write.
Read the documentation that comes with util-linux to find out how to
do this.
Note that you need to specify the -n option to mount so it won't try
to update /etc/mtab, since the root file system is still read-only,
and this will otherwise cause it to fail.
9.13 EXT2-fs warning: maximal count reached.
This message is issued by the kernel when it mounts a file system
that's marked as clean, but whose "number of mounts since check"
counter has reached the predefined value. The solution is to get the
latest version of the ext2fs utilities (e2fsprogs-0.5b.tar.gz at the
time of writing) from the usual sites. (` Where can I get Linux
material by FTP?")
The maximal number of mounts value can be examined and changed using
the tune2fs program from this package.
9.14 EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached.
Kernels from 1.0 onwards support checking a file system based on the
elapsed time since the last check as well as by the number of mounts.
Get the latest version of the ext2fs utilities. "( EXT2-fs
warning: maximal count reached.")
9.15 df says Cannot read table of mounted file systems.
There is probably something wrong with your /etc/mtab or /etc/fstab
files. If you have a reasonably new version of mount, /etc/mtab should
be emptied or deleted at boot time (in /etc/rc.local or /etc/rc.d/*),
using something like
rm -f /etc/mtab*
Some versions of SLS have an entry for the root partition in /etc/mtab
made in /etc/rc* by using rdev. This is incorrect--the newer versions
of mount do this automatically.
Other versions of SLS have a line in /etc/fstab that looks like:
/dev/sdb1 /root ext2 defaults
This is wrong. /root should read simply /.
9.16 fdisk says Partition X has different physical/logical ...
If the partition number (X, above) is 1, this is the same problem as
in "fdisk: Partition 1 does not start on cylinder boundary."
If the partition begins or ends on a cylinder numbered greater than
1024, this is because the standard DOS disk geometry information
format in the partition table can't cope with cylinder numbers with
more than 10 bits. You should see "How can I get Linux to work
with my disk?"
9.17 fdisk: Partition 1 does not start on cylinder boundary.
The version of fdisk that comes with many Linux systems creates
partitions that fail its own validity checking. Unfortunately, if
you've already installed your system, there's not much you can do
about this, apart from copying the data off the partition, deleting
and remaking it, and copying the data back.
--
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: Roger@localhost
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Can't defrag disk - is this normal?
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 18:53:57 GMT
On Sun, 14 Feb 1999 01:54:41 -0500, "Charles Sullivan"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>I have Win 98 and RH5.2 sharing a 10 Gb drive, and boot
>without difficulty to either via LILO in the MBR.
>
>When I try to defragment the Win 98 (FAT32) partition, Win98
>says there's something wrong and to run scandisk
>
>scandisk says there's something amiss with my boot sector
>and offers to fix it. I suspect it's the presence of LILO which
>disturbs it and have thusfar declined the offer.
>
>Has anyone else with a similar setup encountered the same
>situation?
Similar, but not the same. 6.5G drive and Windows 95B (FAT32).
LILO in the MBR, like yours. Scandisk and Disk defragmenter work
without any difficulty. It could be a Windows 98 "enhancement".
--
Roger
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (steve mcadams)
Subject: Re: set up small word-processing system
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 19:09:10 GMT
I think the next thing I'll do is try to locate some simms and then
decide what to do based on how much memory I can come up with. Thanks
guys.
===================================================================
"If you wouldn't pay to do it, why would you do it for pay?" -steve,
http://www.codetools.com/showcase
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Misc Digest
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