Re: empty .ssh directory
Does anyone know if there are any drivers for non-laptop touchpads? I have a Cirque Power Cat touch pad for a Pentium box. Though I also have a mouse attached to the machine, I would prefer to use the touch pad for both Winders and Linux, not just Winders (if it matters, Winders is on one drive and Linux on another). David Kachel
Re: Pronounciation of Linux that important?
>Linus' own pronunciation of "linux" is not consistent. I've head >him use each of the main pronunciation forms at various times, and >often within the same conversation or speech. I say we settle it once and for all, and all agree to pronounce it "Fred"! That'll confuse those guys in Redmond, huh! David Kachel
Re: Shaazaaam!!! Success at last!
>That means that /etc/X11/XF86Config is missing (or maybe has >the wrong permissions). As root, try running "XF86Setup" or >"xf86config" which will build the file for you according to >your choices. Linux returns, command unknown. Do I need to go to the directory where it is located first? If so, where would I find it?
Beep?
I've lost track of how many Unix/Linux/???ix books I've bought now and none of them seems to be very thorough. It seems every author assumes you are using his/her particular flavor of Unix and don't need to know anything at all about any of the others. The one I am reading now says that the ^G command makes the system 'beep.' It doesn't. How do I produce the system sound/beep/warning, whatever you'd like to call it? David Kachel
Re: Shaazaaam!!! Success at last!
>Try: startx > >xinit is not intended as a user level program. Thanks. But when I did use startx, I go this: Fatal server error. No config file found! I must have missed something. Any suggestions? David Kachel
Shaazaaam!!! Success at last!
Ran dselect 'configure packages' for about the 6th time this morning. It finally finished doing its thing and had the "Quit dselect" line selected when I came back. This may be the longest install on record of any consumer system anywhere! When I try to run xinit, I get: "Could not find the config file!" Have I just not gotten that far along yet, or is there something wrong? David Kachel
Re: Pink text on white ground?
>I've you've got a bootable Mac System floppy/CD, try booting off of it to >check the >colors. I three-quarters expect that you've got a dead gun in your monitor or >something similar. Dead gun isn't it. The monitor works just fine when booted into the Mac OS and the same thing happens with another monitor, so the problem isn't the monitor. Does this mean that other people on 68K Macs do NOT have pink text on a white ground? C'mon folks, speak up please. ;-) David Kachel
Re: Pink text on white ground?
>setterm -foreground [color] >setterm -background [color] Hmm, these almost work! They change the colors, but not in the way one would expect. Foreground seems to change the background color and vice versa. Additionally the colors change to something very different from what is chosen (almost the opposite color, but not sufficiently opposite to be certain that is what is indeed happening). AND, the color changes that DO occur, don't last through the execution of the next screen refresh. Everything changes back to what I had before. Oh, and whatever color you have, pastel seems to be the rule. No darker colors, and black is completely out. What am I missing? David Kachel
Pink text on white ground?
How do I change the color of text? My Debian/68k Mac has pink text on a white ground. I can barely read it! Willl someone please tell me how I can change it? David Kachel
Re: Stumble near the finish line?
>Is this Slink (Debian 2.1)? If yes, teTeX has a date problem in the >original release. If you care about TeX, you should get the package >from the 2.1r5 release (somewhere on www.debian.org) and install >that afterward. Thanks. Would that have caused the failure I had? Another, general question. Are the kinds of problems I am experiencing with installing Debian/Linux common, or am I just lucky?! (Dare I mention it?) I installed netBSD a couple of weeks ago and got it right on the 2nd try. Of course, I didn't install anything but the base setup; no X or anything else of significance. I decided to install Debian/Linux instead because of the wider base and larger community. Besides, the Penguin is cuter . Are there any other Linux/Unix options for a 68K Mac besides Debian and netBSD? If so, how do they stack up against eachother? David Kachel
Two crashes so far with dselect configure
I STILL have not gotten to the end of the installation process!!! Though I am further along than I have gotten before. I chose one of the profiles from the dselect menu. Everything was installed. But I am unable to get all the way through the configure step of the process. Twice now, the machine has completely frozen, forcing a hard restart, on this step: install/tm : byte-compiling for emacs20 Oh, and another related question: Why does this thing install BOTH emacs19 AND emacs 20? Wouldn't one or the other be sufficient? Why two of them? David Kachel
Re: damn! I screwed up
>I think you need to reinterpret the semantics of "The first line of >that file is the Xserver that is used". In other words, if you screw >up the response to the question, you can just edit that file instead: >that's just what the post-installation script does. That's what I am trying to do; edit that file. But I can't do it without knowing the name of the Xserver. >I don't think there is a "default" server. It all depends on the video >card you have. However, I assume you have Hobson's Choice, because >dists/stable/main/binary-m68k/x11/xserver-fbdev_3.3.2.3a-11.deb >appears to be only xserver in slink/m68k. When the installer asked me for the name of an Xserver, there was a default name. I need to know what that name was so I can input it into the open Xserver file. Is it "xserver-fbdev" ? Is that the name I need to put on the first line of Xserver? David Kachel
Re: damn! I screwed up
>Look in your /etc/X11 directory for a file called Xserver. The first line >of that file is the Xserver that is used. No it isn't. I didn't set it remember! It says NONE. What I need is the name of the default Xserver. Does anyone know it? > Change that to whatever you >want it to be. Or, you can just use XF86Setup and select your video card >from the list and it will automatically make the needed changes. I'm on a Mac. XF86Setup apparently doesn't exist. At least, I get told there is no file by that name. David Kachel
damn! I screwed up
I answered no, when I should have said yes, when dselect asked me if I wanted ? as my default xserver. How can I fix this? David Kachel
Stumble near the finish line?
Well, my dselect session began almost exactly 12 hours ago! The proper packages for my chose profile have all been installed and the setup program has been running for a couple of hours. Suddenly I get the following on the screen: Running initex. This may take some time. ... fmtutil : 'tex -ini-progname=latex latex.ini' failed. Can someone tell me what this is all about? Thanx David Kachel
Odd screen
Why is the display for the install process set to pink letters on a white background? This is nearly impossible to read. I realize there is probably a way to change all that, but for a beginner, it is no doubt out of reach. Is it just my machine this happens on, or does everyone else get pink on white too? David Kachel
Re: STILL can't install!!!
I have dselect installing, but it seems to be taking an extraordinarily long time to work. About how long should the install of a 500+ meg profile take with a 68K Mac? It's been installing just xemacs for about an hour now, and it was working for a good two hours before that. David Kachel
STILL can't install!!! Part 2
Had to force a restart of my machine BTW, and got a message on startup that fsck could not fix my usr partition and that I would have to do it manually. I ran fsck, which seemed to deal with a lot of problems, but finally finished. Then tried to run dselect, and the machine said it couldn't find it. Rebooted. Now it can find and run dselect, but this message shows up at the beginning of the install process: dpkg : serious warning : files list file for package 'libc6-develop' missing. assuming package has no files currently installed. Can someone please explain what this means and if it means that I have to start over once again?! David Kachel
STILL can't install!!!
Well I spoke too soon! I finally got dselect going and actually installing files, only to come back an hour later and find the machine frozen solid. If anyone can help me determine what went wrong I would appreciate it. Background info: I have a Mac IIci with 48megs of RAM and a 700meg hard drive partitioned so: 100megs root, 550megs usr, 50 megs swap. I picked a basic (I think 405 meg) profile for installation and set dselect to work. Here is what was on the monitor when I found the system frozen: Unpacking libc6-develop (from.../ libc6-dev_2.0.7.19981211-6.deb) scsi : aborting command due to timeout : pid 45082, scsi0, channel 0, id 1, lun 0, write(6) 04 2b 3d 02 00 scsi0 : aborting command scsi0 : destination target 1, lun 0 command = Write (6) 04 2b 32 02 00 NCR380 : coroutine is running. STATUS_REG : 00 BASR : 0a, ATN ICR : 02, ASSERTATN MODE : 100 scsi0 : REQ not asserted, phase unknown. NCR5380 core release = 7 Base Addr : 0x0 io_port : 50f1+RQ : 19. NCR5380 : coroutine is running scsi0 : no currently connected command scsi0 : issue_queue scsi0 : destination target 1, lun 0 command = 10 (0x 0a) 04 2b 3d 02 00 SCSI disk error : host 0 channel 0 id 1 lun 0 return code = 5 scsi disk I/O error : develop 08:14, sector 56926, absolute sector 273213 scsi0 : wee - reselected after selection complete! - The fist thought that occurs to me is: does dselect know enough to put files on the usr partition, or did it freeze trying to stuff 400+ megs onto a 100 meg root partition? How does dselect know which files to put on which partition? Or does it know? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Coming up next: attempt number NINE to install this EASY to install system!!! David Kachel
Re: debs
>I'm afraid I don't know the answer to this. But, if I were you, I >wouldn't re-install, no matter what state dselect was in. Oops, too late. In a pique of fury I reformatted the drive in question and started clean. This time I triple-checked everything I entered before entering it and made it all the way to the screen that asks if I am installing from multi- or single CD. Having very carefully read the instructions (bought a book on installing Debian Linux which gave the same instructions and therefore reassured me), I chose the multi-CD method. As it asked me to input paths, I did, and am certain (how could I not after so much practice) I got them right. Then of course I hit the update button, and dselect prompty FAILED!!! I tried to just go ahead and install. Dselect failed again. Then I remembered that someone told me that once I had selected a package, that package remained selected, even if dselect was abandoned and started again later, so... I went back, chose the single CD entry, entered all the correct paths again, hit update and voila! It updated. Then I hit install and this time it is actually installing some of the files as it goes through the list, instead of skipping them all. So, there is absolutely no doubt about it. The CORRECT way is to select single CD, not multi-, as the so-called 'instructions' say, and to use multi- only if you actually HAVE the 2nd CD. No doubt about it... those authors really should do hard time! David Kachel
how did "Microsoft" get in here?
Several times during my numerous attemtps at getting the installation of Linux correct (it looks like this, the 8th time, may be the charm), I have seen this line pop up on the screen: ISO9660Extensions: Microsoft Joliet Level 3 What is MicroSloth doing in my supposedly nice clean Linux box??? Oh, and this one concerns me too: Unable to load NLS charset iso 8859-1(nls_iso8859_1) Can anyone tell me what that is all about and whether or not I should be concerned? TIA David Kachel
Debian instructions contradictory?
Below is a quote copied directly from the Debian web page FAQ for downloading CD images located at http://cdimage.debian.org/faq.html: >-?- But what CDs do I need? >-!- If you want to install Debian, you should get only the "Binary-1" >CD for your platform (e.g. "i386" for IBM-compatible PCs). The other >"Binary-X" CDs (X>=2) contain very specialistic software that is used only >by very few people -- these are not needed at all for fresh installs. > So that's what I did. I downloaded just that one CD. I have now read in 3 different places that Debian Linux will not install properly, or at all, without the 2nd CD. Could someone please tell me which one is the case? Do you have to have both CD's or not? Because I have only the one, AS INSTRUCTED, and I can't get anything to install after the base system. AND, if the web page is correct, that you only need the one CD, then why do the same Debian people tell you that installing from a single CD is passe', and you should install from the multiple set. This just makes no sense at all, and I would be very grateful to anyone who can explain it. Thanks, David Kachel
Re: RPM vs. Debian package format
>You can find out how robust (and picky) debs are by packaging >something. A couple weeks and a couple hundred pages of >developer docs later, you'll appreciate what goes into a deb. >The alien command will convert between rpms and debs and >you can compare the results. Would someone mind explaining to me just what a "deb" is? TIA David Kachel
dselect making me INSANE!
Help! I have tried 7 times(!) to install with no success beyond the base system. (And why the (*&&(& doesn't this thing install at least SOME man pages with the base installation?) OK, here's what's happening; I tell dselect to install from a single CD (if I tell it to install from a CD set, it bitches at me later that I don't have a set; Why is it that the web site says the single CD's are a thing of the past, but dselect refuses to recognize sets? I downloaded CD#1 only, because the web site told me I didn't need #2. But this damn installer won't recognize it as part of the set.) Then it asks me for directories that end in 'stable.' There is no 'stable' directory on the Mac68k cd. So I redirect dselect to the 'slinks' directory on the cd. It seems to be happy with that but then asks for the .deb packages in the contrib folder. There are no such files in the contrib folder, they are in the slink/mac-68k folder. But when redirected there, dselect can't seem to find them. So dselect suggests I tell it to search for them; I do. Then it asks me for the main packages CD file, which I find. Then it requests the contrib packages CD file, which I also find, but it is 0 k and when opened in a text editor, is completely empty!!! What is going on? Why does it want an empty file? Requests for: non-free non-US local packages, all get answered "none". At any rate, I've tried several (7 of them to be precise) times and it all results in the same two outcomes: 1. dselect grinds away for over an hour, listing file after file that it is NOT installing, then finishes, with NOTHING having been installed! OR... 2. I get this message instead: internal error - no filename at -e line 12, chunk 15. installation script returned error exit status 1. Is there ANY clearly explained and well thought out tutorial on how to do this? I have a 56K modem so the download method is out of the question. I have to install from this CD that a friend with a wider pipe was kind enough to download for me. TIA David Kachel
Re: help with dselect (on m68k)
>> OK, I've figured out (at least partially) what is going on. dselect is >> working just fine and so is everything else, except the actual CD. I gave >> up on dselect and rebooted, then mounted the debian CD and discovered >> that my system sees all the folders on it as just plain text files. >> That's why it can't find the directories when I direct it to them. >> This is probably my fault, though I'm not exactly sure why. I downloaded >> the cd image from the debian ftp site and made a CD. I was sure to make >> it 9660 format and can see all the files and folders on it with my Mac, I >> just can't get to them with the Linux box. >> >> Has anyone made a CD for 68K Mac from this image before? Is so, what is >> the secret. I tried making another disk at only 2x speed and that didn't >> work either. I know I have a complete valid CD image, I just can't copy >> it. >> >What command did you use to make the cd? You need to use a byte for byte >duplicator in order to make the cd from the image. Did you use Linux to make >the cd with dd if=[/file/cd/image] of=[/device/name/of/cdwriter] or did you >use a mac utility? A byte for byte duplicator will put the filesystem on >the >cd for you as it is contained in the image. I found the problem and made another CD last night (the third!). It works just fine. Now all I have to do is wrestle with dselect's intransigent march to the sea! Thanks. David Kachel
Re: help with dselect (on m68k)
OK, I've figured out (at least partially) what is going on. dselect is working just fine and so is everything else, except the actual CD. I gave up on dselect and rebooted, then mounted the debian CD and discovered that my system sees all the folders on it as just plain text files. That's why it can't find the directories when I direct it to them. This is probably my fault, though I'm not exactly sure why. I downloaded the cd image from the debian ftp site and made a CD. I was sure to make it 9660 format and can see all the files and folders on it with my Mac, I just can't get to them with the Linux box. Has anyone made a CD for 68K Mac from this image before? Is so, what is the secret. I tried making another disk at only 2x speed and that didn't work either. I know I have a complete valid CD image, I just can't copy it. David Kachel
Re: help with dselect (on m68k)
>Clyde was just trying to help you, you need to be more patient and read more >carefully. You're right. It's been a very frustrating day all around. Sorry. It seems I do indeed also have an issue with mounting the CD. Dselect asks me for the name of a block device. Since I cannot find that term anywhere in any of the documentation, I'm stuck! What is a block device, and how do I get its name? (Should I name it Shirly, Bruce, Albatross?) David Kachel
Re: help with dselect
This is really getting off the track. I'm getting advice on how to mount a CD and as far as I can tell, I am not having any trouble mounting a CD. I am having trouble determining what path dselect is asking for ON the CD. AFTER the CD is mounted, dselect asks me for the path to the folder / file it wants for installing from the CD. Anyone who has recently, successfully installed the current release version of debian Linux on a Mac 68K has to know the correct answer to this question or they couldn't have installed it... Please! What is the path I need to input? David Kachel
Re: help with dselect
>how did you mount the cd-rom? (what commands did you use?) > >here's how i do it: > ># mount /dev/hdc /bt > >(where /bt is a directory i created.) > >i can then type ls /bt and see what's on the cd (as long as it's not a >music cd). > >hth. I don't think dselect is going to let me ls a CD is it? Besides, everyone who has installed (recently) on a 68K Mac must have the same CD I have, and must already know the correct path to enter. It would be really helpful if someone would just tell me the path that dselect is asking for?? I can go backwards from there to figure out why I didn't get it. David Kachel
Re: help with dselect
>David, is the CD mounted? >If not, have a look at mount command. dselect says it's mounted. (after I enter: dev/cdrom in response to its query) What sort of input is it looking for? Could you give me at least an example? Maybe that would help to clear the fog. David Kachel
help with dselect
I've managed to install the base system and have gotten to dselect which first asks me to help locate the cd drive, with the prompt to enter: /dev/cdrom ...which I do. Then it asks me to help find the the dist on the CD. No matter what I enter, it says it can't find it. This is the standard Mac m68k CD #1, so it shouldn't have any trouble. What on earth is it wanting me to input? TIA David Kachel
Re: dumb question, sorry in advance
>in this case you would cd /usr/games ; ./nameYourGame ..the "./" tells >the system to run the command in the current directory, as the current >directory is not in your $PATH (it is considered a security risk if it >is). Thanks, that was it. I forgot that commands don't make it to files in the same directory. David Kachel
Re: dumb question, sorry in advance
>just type it in shell. I thought I was already in the shell when I typed it?!? As Yet Undetermined Pseudonym to be Inserted Here
dumb question, sorry in advance
I've just finished installing (a few days ago) Linux/Unix and am stuck on something really dumb. I have figured out how to change shells, explore the file structure, use sh (a bit) and several other things, but I just can't seem to launch a simple game. /user/games/nameYourGame ... I can't figure out any way to launch this and can't find anything in the man pages or in the THREE Linux books I have that tells me how to simply launch a program. I know I'm going to have to change my name after this, but I give up. How is it done? As Yet Undetermined Pseudonym to be Inserted Here
wrong CD!!!
Found a great looking book at the bookstore that had the added bonus of containing a Debian CD so I wouldn't have to spend the next 10 years downloading. Only one problem... it only has platform specific files on it for Wintel boxes. I have a 68K Mac. Now I assume that I can just use a handful of downloaded files along with this CD for an install (I hope), but need to know which files to put where to start, and if the setup will pull the files it wants off the CD. TIA for your help. David Kachel
B&W vs color, bsd vs linux
Do I understand this correctly? netBSD will boot only in B&W on the 68Kmac, while DebianLinux will boot in color??? Is that correct? David Kachel
help with ftp site please
I am trying to download a basic package for the 68K Mac from the Debian ftp site and could use some help please. Files seem to be spread all over with no rhyme or reason. As a result I can't be sure what I need or where to find it (and I've installed Debian once before and BSD once too). There seems to be a basic package that is not clearly labeled as such (just "Debian") and is, to my way of thinking, way too small to be a full basic install. (About 14 megs stuffed, including the Base2.1gz file which of course was somewhere else on the ftp site. WHY?WHY?WHY?). The minimalist information on the web site also seems to suggest very strongly that there are no man pages included with the above "package", but that the man pages must be downloaded separately, also difficult to make sense of, from a separate page. The packages page took me a couple of hours to find at all, then when I did, it made little sense. I opened the X windows page and found everything in there EXCEPT X windows!!! Unless the Debian folks have performed a Guiness class miracle in compact software design, Xwindows is certainly not contained in the "Debian" package, it also isn't in the X folder of the ftp site, so can anyone give me a clue as to where it might be? Why on earth can't they put together some basic packages and clearly label them?: 1. minimal system install 2. full system install 3. full system + Xwindows install 4. all the other stuff you might need or want thrown in a box Do they really think that someone wanting to install Linux might not want the man pages? Is that why they are off in some other corner of the web site? I can accept the argument, "Linux is difficult to install." I can also accept the argument that, "Linux is difficult to learn." But I find it hard to accept the argument that, "Because they're Linux files, it is difficult to clearly organize and label them on the ftp site." Thanks for letting me blow off steam. And TIA for helping me make sense out of this gibberish. David Kachel
