Sun-Spots-Request@RICE.EDU.UUCP (04/13/87)
SUN-SPOTS DIGEST Sunday, 12 April 1987 Volume 5 : Issue 7
Today's Topics:
Re: vt100tool
Re: Graphics packages a la Macpaint
Clearpoint boards
Sun 3.2 csh gotcha
3.2 GENERIC kernel can bash multiple drives on old Xylogics controllers
Improving performance on a 3/50
Re: arp problems (tftp timeout)
SunOS Release 3.3 is out, and you can even get it.
Extending Sun Keyboard and Mouse
Structural Design for SUN - GTSTRUDL
SMI 4MB memory expansion board memory chip layout (very long)
Re: nd and arp problems?
light-weight processes in Unix?
Very Large Framestores on Sun: addr?
getting load average from Sun-3?
Modula-2 for Suns?
I need ARPA hardware recommendations for Sun computers....?
Sunmicro for sale
docs. on X-windows and NeWS??
Plot10?
2 6250bpi tapes on a Sun 3/280?
vme bus extender?
Disk Query: Maxblocks/cylinder group parameter?
Installing SUN/OS 3.2 on a tapeless 2/50 server?
SCSI Disk Driver in public domain?
3rd party disks for 3/50?
3.2 upgrade breaks 2.9BSD rlogin?
A disk to SUN 3/50?
color X windoes on a SUN 3/110?
Shaky Sun 1 monitors?
Self hardware maintenance?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 09 Mar 87 15:16:43 EST
From: ted@braggvax.arpa <Ted Nolan>
Subject: Re: vt100tool
Edward L. Lafferty of Mitre has written a vt100tool for the sun. It
was apparently posted to mod.sources. I have a binary of it that is
reputed to work on sun3's (we don't have any yet). I also have a binary and
src for his sun2 version that definately does work (on sun 2.2 at least).
Ted Nolan
ted@braggvax.arpa
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 09 Mar 87 15:08:24 EST
From: ted@braggvax.arpa <Ted Nolan>
Subject: Re: Graphics packages a la Macpaint
>Is there a graphics package similar to MacPaint so that we can
>do pictures, transparencies, etc?...
> Charlie <boncelet@huey.udel.edu>
Island Graphics makes a pretty sharp looking package called Solarpaint.
I don't know if there is a color version, but if b&w is enough, it is
very good. It will only run on suns with the right (prearranged) hostid
though.
Also, on the 1985 SUG tape, there was a public domain b&w paint program called
bwpaint or gwpaint. It is kind of slow, but it is free and you get the source.
Ted Nolan
ted@braggvax.arpa
------------------------------
Date: 9 Mar 1987 10:42-EST
From: Ralph.Hyre@ius2.cs.cmu.edu <Ralph Hyre>
Subject: Clearpoint boards
Clearpoint thinks that some versions of the prom monitor (1.8, for example)
may be buggy. We're going to send the suspect ones to Clearpoint so they
can test them.
- Ralph
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 09 Mar 87 15:26:13 EST
From: ted@braggvax.arpa <Ted Nolan>
Subject: Sun 3.2 csh gotcha
Well it looks like Sun decided to do us a "favor" in 3.2 (and maybe before,
this is the first I've worked with 3.x). It turns out that an suid program
can no longer execute a csh script unless it is started with the -b flag.
Ie:
#! /bin/csh -bf
This breaks all sorts of things, most noticable for us, the imagen printing
software, which has lpd executing all sorts of csh scripts. (Ok, really only
one csh script with 33 hard links to it).
Ted Nolan
ted@braggvax.arpa
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 87 12:27:14 CST
From: wca@ngp.utexas.edu <William C. Anderson>
Subject: 3.2 GENERIC kernel can bash multiple drives on old Xylogics controllers
Fellow Sun-Spotters:
This is a note to inform Sun users who have older Xylogics controllers that
the GENERIC kernel in SunOS 3.2 can and will destroy filesystems if you
have multiple drives on your Xylogics 450. The problem is:
1 - Older revs of Xylogics firmware will not support overlapped
seeks for multiple drives.
2 - The GENERIC kernel is configured for overlapped seeks for the
Xylogics 450 device.
So, be warned! Don't mount that second filesystem until you have reconfigured
your server kernel by adding "flags 1" to the end of all disks on old (e.g.
Rev 'C', as told by diag) Xylogics controllers. For more information, see
the xy(4) man page.
Yours for truly GENERIC software,
Willie Anderson - Computation Center - University of Texas at Austin
PS - Yep, I found out about this the hard way. The horror, the horror.....
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 87 18:35:14 CST
From: craig%craig.uci.edu@rome.UCI.EDU <Craig Rolandelli>
Subject: Improving performance on a 3/50
You can greatly improve the performance of a SUN 3/50 by mounting /tmp
through NFS. Normally /tmp is in the root partition meaning that every
thing written to and read from /tmp must be done via ND. This is very slow.
If you add a line like:
server_name:/usr/tmp/client_name /tmp nfs rw,hard,intr 0 0
To your fstab, make the directory /usr/tmp/client_name, and reboot your
3/50,you will see a large improvement in your performance.
Craig Rolandelli (craig@ics.uci.edu)
University of California, Irvine
Computer Science Support Group
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 87 12:32:37 GMT
From: mcvax!reading.ac.uk!Jeremy.E.J.West@seismo.CSS.GOV <Jerry West>
Subject: Re: arp problems (tftp timeout)
I haven't seen any other replies on the net about this, sorry if
everyone else already knows.
Certain sites have been having problems booting Suns over an ethernet.
The arp entry for the client node gets mysteriously trashed, usually
to xx:0:0:0:0:0 or some such rubbish. The xx is the clue to what is
happening: it is inevitably the first two letters of the hostname and
they are also VALID HEX DIGITS.
You guessed it: this is feature of BSD (4.2 at least) - the "algorithm"
which distinguishes between a valid hostname and an internet/ethernet
address is so crude as to be obscene. If your hostname starts with two
valid hex digits (we had cezanne) - or possibly even only one hex digit -
it will confuse the Sun tftpboot procedure. I don't know how it gets into
the arp tables, but that's Sun's problem.
The workaround, of course, is to use a different hostname.
I did hear that this is one of the standard 3N library routines, so it
may bite your own code one day. It may also have been fixed.
Jerry West west@reading.UUCP west%rdg.cs@ucl-cs.ARPA (.EDU??)
Usual disclaimers: I don't know what I'm talking about, I'm just reporting
a workaround and some plausible reasoning !
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 87 11:14:05 PST
From: hoptoad.UUCP!gnu@cgl.ucsf.edu <John Gilmore>
Subject: SunOS Release 3.3 is out, and you can even get it.
Release 3.3 was announced at Usenix in January. It's just a bug fix
release for 3.2, including "a disconnect-reconnect capability, support
for subnets, enhancements to the Pascal compiler, and bug fixes" (from
the Read Me First). I ordered it a few weeks ago and actually received
it in a few weeks. Kudos to Jim Olson and Peter Randall, my sales reps,
the Sun order entry folks, and Wayne Briggs in tape duplication for
making this speed possible.
I didn't get the manuals yet -- only the tapes -- but it's still a
stunning performance considering how long it took to get other releases
from Sun.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 87 10:58:46 PST
From: brian@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu <Brian Kantor>
Subject: Extending Sun Keyboard and Mouse
We've got one Sun (2/170) here that we've extended the keyboard, mouse,
and screen over 100 feet from the rack-mount unit. After some testing,
I discovered that the TTL signals from the keyboard and mouse were ok
at the end of 100 ft of good old telephone premises wire, but the +5v
supply was gone, so I put a 5v 1amp supply at the keyboard location to
run it an the mouse. The mouse only needs 1 signal and 1 ground; the
keyboard needs 2 signal (one from it for keyboard codes, one to it to
run the feeper), and a ground which can be common with the mouse
ground. So 4 wires is enough (mouse, kbd1, kbd2, gnd).
The video extends ok with low-capacity 75ohm video cable - I used the
same stuff we wired our LAN drops with - RG6/U. There is a very slight
smearing of the edges of pixels, but the smears are less than 1/2 pixel
wide, so nobody notices. I played with some variable peaking
capacitors to sharpen the video but it wasn't worth it.
If the keyboard and mouse extension had experienced noise or flakey
signals, I was going to drive the line with either LS240 / LS14 chips
or good old 1488/1489 RS422 drivers. (The 1488/9 solution would have
required more power supply at the keyboard, since they need +/- 12v.)
Brian Kantor UCSD Computer Graphics Lab
c/o B-028, La Jolla, CA 92093 (619) 534-6865
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 87 10:51:09 est
From: allen%gitpyr%gatech.gatech.edu@RELAY.CS.NET <P. Allen Jensen>
Subject: Structural Design for SUN - GTSTRUDL
Please forward this to your Civil Engineering or Archetectural group
GTSTRUDL is a world-class software system for the design and
analysis of steel and reinforced concrete structures. A powerful
design system, GTSTRUDL completely integrates:
o Automatic Mesh & Data o Structural Data-Base Management
Generation o Structural Frame Design
o Finite Element Analysis o Interactive Graphics
o Static & Dynamic Analysis o Decision-Making Tools
For more information on licensing and availability, write
or call:
GTICES Laboratory
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0355
(404) 894-2260
{akgua,seismo}!gatech!gitpyr!allen
------------------------------
Date: 23 Feb 1987 12:09-PST
From: boyle@pescadero.stanford.edu <Patrick Boyle>
Subject: SMI 4MB memory expansion board memory chip layout (very long)
Here is the layout of the memory chips on the SMI 4 MByte
SUN 3 memory expansion board, part number 501-1132.
The board etch number is 270-1084-05 REV 51.
Look down on the component side of the board with the VME connectors
toward you and the rear of the board away from you.
There are 8 rows and 18 columns of 256Kx1 memory chips.
The rows are organized in pairs as follows (with P indicating the parity bit
for the byte to its right). The row numbers refer to the silk-screened letters
up the left side of the board. The column numbers refer to the
silk-screened numbers along the top of the memory array.
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 <- column number
P 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 P 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 <- bit numbers of
rows J,F,D,B
P 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 P 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 <- bit numbers of
rows H,E,C,A
The 4MB is divided into many 0x800 byte portions and distributed among
the row pairs as follows (where "n" is the base address of the memory board
in megabytes, e.g. for a board configured to be 4->8MB, "n" would be 4)
Row pair J,H:
(n)0000->(n)07FF, (n)2000->(n)27FF, (n)4000->(n)47FF,
(n)6000->(n)67FF, (n)8000->(n)87FF, (n)A000->(n)A7FF,
(n)C000->(n)C7FF, (n)E000->(n)E7FF
(n+1)0000->(n+1)07FF, (n+1)2000->(n+1)27FF, (n+1)4000->(n+1)47FF,
(n+1)6000->(n+1)67FF, (n+1)8000->(n+1)87FF, (n+1)A000->(n+1)A7FF,
(n+1)C000->(n+1)C7FF, (n+1)E000->(n+1)E7FF
(n+2)0000->(n+2)07FF, (n+2)2000->(n+2)27FF, (n+2)4000->(n+2)47FF,
(n+2)6000->(n+2)67FF, (n+2)8000->(n+2)87FF, (n+2)A000->(n+2)A7FF,
(n+2)C000->(n+2)C7FF, (n+2)E000->(n+2)E7FF
(n+3)0000->(n+3)07FF, (n+3)2000->(n+3)27FF, (n+3)4000->(n+3)47FF,
(n+3)6000->(n+3)67FF, (n+3)8000->(n+3)87FF, (n+3)A000->(n+3)A7FF,
(n+3)C000->(n+3)C7FF, (n+3)E000->(n+3)E7FF
Row pair F,E:
(n)0800->(n)0FFF, (n)2800->(n)2FFF, (n)4800->(n)4FFF,
(n)6800->(n)6FFF, (n)8800->(n)8FFF, (n)A800->(n)AFFF,
(n)C800->(n)CFFF, (n)E800->(n)EFFF
(n+1)0800->(n+1)0FFF, (n+1)2800->(n+1)2FFF, (n+1)4800->(n+1)4FFF,
(n+1)6800->(n+1)6FFF, (n+1)8800->(n+1)8FFF, (n+1)A800->(n+1)AFFF,
(n+1)C800->(n+1)CFFF, (n+1)E800->(n+1)EFFF
(n+2)0800->(n+2)0FFF, (n+2)2800->(n+2)2FFF, (n+2)4800->(n+2)4FFF,
(n+2)6800->(n+2)6FFF, (n+2)8800->(n+2)8FFF, (n+2)A800->(n+2)AFFF,
(n+2)C800->(n+2)CFFF, (n+2)E800->(n+2)EFFF
(n+3)0800->(n+3)0FFF, (n+3)2800->(n+3)2FFF, (n+3)4800->(n+3)4FFF,
(n+3)6800->(n+3)6FFF, (n+3)8800->(n+3)8FFF, (n+3)A800->(n+3)AFFF,
(n+3)C800->(n+3)CFFF, (n+3)E800->(n+3)EFFF
Row pair D,C:
(n)1000->(n)17FF, (n)3000->(n)37FF, (n)5000->(n)57FF,
(n)7000->(n)77FF, (n)9000->(n)97FF, (n)B000->(n)B7FF,
(n)D000->(n)D7FF, (n)F000->(n)F7FF
(n+1)1000->(n+1)17FF, (n+1)3000->(n+1)37FF, (n+1)5000->(n+1)57FF,
(n+1)7000->(n+1)77FF, (n+1)9000->(n+1)97FF, (n+1)B000->(n+1)B7FF,
(n+1)D000->(n+1)D7FF, (n+1)F000->(n+1)F7FF
(n+2)1000->(n+2)17FF, (n+2)3000->(n+2)37FF, (n+2)5000->(n+2)57FF,
(n+2)7000->(n+2)77FF, (n+2)9000->(n+2)97FF, (n+2)B000->(n+2)B7FF,
(n+2)D000->(n+2)D7FF, (n+2)F000->(n+2)F7FF
(n+3)1000->(n+3)17FF, (n+3)3000->(n+3)37FF, (n+3)5000->(n+3)57FF,
(n+3)7000->(n+3)77FF, (n+3)9000->(n+3)97FF, (n+3)B000->(n+3)B7FF,
(n+3)D000->(n+3)D7FF, (n+3)F000->(n+3)F7FF
Row pair B,A:
(n)1800->(n)1FFF, (n)3800->(n)3FFF, (n)5800->(n)5FFF,
(n)7800->(n)7FFF, (n)9800->(n)9FFF, (n)B800->(n)BFFF,
(n)D800->(n)DFFF, (n)F800->(n)FFFF
(n+1)1800->(n+1)1FFF, (n+1)3800->(n+1)3FFF, (n+1)5800->(n+1)5FFF,
(n+1)7800->(n+1)7FFF, (n+1)9800->(n+1)9FFF, (n+1)B800->(n+1)BFFF,
(n+1)D800->(n+1)DFFF, (n+1)F800->(n+1)FFFF
(n+2)1800->(n+2)1FFF, (n+2)3800->(n+2)3FFF, (n+2)5800->(n+2)5FFF,
(n+2)7800->(n+2)7FFF, (n+2)9800->(n+2)9FFF, (n+2)B800->(n+2)BFFF,
(n+2)D800->(n+2)DFFF, (n+2)F800->(n+2)FFFF
(n+3)1800->(n+3)1FFF, (n+3)3800->(n+3)3FFF, (n+3)5800->(n+3)5FFF,
(n+3)7800->(n+3)7FFF, (n+3)9800->(n+3)9FFF, (n+3)B800->(n+3)BFFF,
(n+3)D800->(n+3)DFFF, (n+3)F800->(n+3)FFFF
Hope this helps someone,
I wish someone else had posted this before I needed it!
------------------------------
Date: 13 Mar 1987 0842-MET (Friday)
From: mcvax!ethz!prl@seismo.CSS.GOV <Peter Lamb>
Subject: Re: nd and arp problems?
Condensed from:
> From: Craig Rolandelli <craig%craig.uci.edu@icsg.UCI.EDU>
> Subject: nd and arp problems? (2)
>> I have a SUN-3/75 which boots via nd from a SUN-3/180. While booting, the
>> ARP table entry for the diskless node changes from 8:0:20:1:3d:ee (good)
>> to da:0:0:0:0:0 (not good) on the diskless node and on the nd server. For
>> [stuff removed]
> We have this same problem. We have two fileservers each with 10 3/50's,
> but only one of the fileservers has the problem. Not all the diskless
> nodes are effected, but the same ones are always effected. One of the
> diskless nodes number gets changed to de:0:0:0:0:0 and the other two get
> changed to e:0:0:0:0:0. If you find out what is happening and/or how to
> fix it, please let me know ASAP. .....
> Do you get "spurious level 3
> interupts" on your server by some chance? I wonder if they have anything
> to do with it.
> Craig Rolandelli
We also get spurious level 3 interrupts on all 5 of our 3/180S servers.
However, we don't get the arp problems (on 3/160's and 3/50's or
between servers).
I have asked our service people about it and they mumbled something about
the backplane not being strapped correctly. This seems unlikely, and I have
since checked the backplane, and the right boards have the right straps out.
As far as I can see the `Spurious Interrupt' error is innocuous, but can
anyone satisfy my curiosity?
Peter Lamb uucp: seismo!mcvax!ethz!prl
Tel: (01) 256 5241 (Switzerland) eunet: prl@ethz.uucp
+411 256 5241 (International) earn: PRL@CZHETH5A
Institut fuer Integrierte Systeme Institute for Integrated Systems
ETH-Zentrum ETH-Zentrum
8092 Zuerich 8092 Zurich
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 87 14:21:32 EST
From: dms@hermes.ai.mit.edu <David M. Siegel>
Subject: light-weight processes in Unix?
We'd like to add some kind of light-weight process support to our Sun
3.2 system. What we would like to have is the ability to fork off a
procedure (not a fully linked program) that shares the full address
space of the parent process. The stack and heap for the child process
would be malloc'ed out of the parent's heap. There are, of course,
complications that would come up if both child and parent were using
shared data structures, such as the io buffers. Ignoring these (for
you could write code keeping this in mind), has anyone attempted to do
this?
Thanks,
-Dave
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 87 17:55:09 EST
From: Root Boy Jim <rbj@icst-cmr.arpa>
Subject: Very Large Framestores on Sun: addr?
Sun tech support can't help me, maybe someone on the net can!
Guy, what do you have to say about this and my answer?
I want to map a very large chunk of physical memory (32 Meg of video
frame-store) into my user process's virtual address space.
We wanted to map about 12-16 Meg of dual ported memory. Sunix (what didn't
you call it that instead of the boring SunOS?) doesn't know about it, but
our data gathering program does.
We have a Sun 3/75 connected to an external VME chassis with a bus
repeater capable of repeating a full A32 / D32 bus to the external
VME chassis.
We have a 3/160 with the same.
In this chassis we have a very large frame store that takes up 32 Meg
of physical memory.
We have been told that the only way to map the physical memory of the
frame-store into a user program is to first do a valloc which I
presume reserves pages in the MMU for a chunk of memory, and then an
mmap which maps the physical memory into the reserved virtual memory
chunk. This is how frame-store's are usually mapped in on the sun.
This is what we did as well.
The problem is that the valloc actually allocates the amount of
memory you are requesting. If you don't have enough swap space free,
the valloc fails. Thus not allowing you to get a chance to map the
physical to virtual address.
Hmmm. I see several problems here. First, after mmap'ing valloc'ed memory
the Sunix must reclaim the memory it originally allocated. Second, if
you *could* get past that stage, you might wind up arguing with the
hardware. The machine either wouldn't boot or the console had numerous
streaks when we attempted to use certain physical (vme32d32) addresses.
See below for details.
They say that this will be changed in version 4.0 of Sun OS....
Good. I see no reason to ?alloc memory in order to remap it.
There must be a more sane way to tell the operating system / MMU
hardware to do an explicit mapping today! What good is having A32
VME bus addressing if you can't talk to large chunks of physical
memory? I consider this a major failing if its true that a Sun can
not do this.
You could try allocating it in pieces. Perhaps 4M at a time. However,
we found that not all unreserved addresses are available. I would
guess that some devices only have partial address decoders. We found that
we couldn't locate our 2 Meg (0x00,200,000 commas added for clarity) boards
any *physical* address 0xYY,Z00,000 where Y is anything and Z is either
0, 4, or 8. We finally settled on locating board N at 0x0N,A00,000. Of
course, the virtual address *is* contiguous.
We had a similar `problem' on the Sequent, but they use a different
scheme for mmap'ing. You open a special file, do a funny ioctl on it,
and then mmap to it. You don't have to ?alloc anything, altho your
virtual address must be on a page boundary.
The other thing to keep in mind is that most Sun's don't get used in
this way. Nor do they make all their peripherals. This is a relatively
new thing to do (BSD still doesn't mmap). I am reasonably satisfied,
because there does seem to be enuf space left. Maybe all they need is
new boot proms, maybe stricter address decoding, who knows?
Let me know how you make out.
Bob Berger
Datacube Inc. Systems/Software Group 4 Dearborn Rd. Peabody, Ma 01960
VOICE: 617-535-6644; FAX: (617) 535-5643; TWX: (710) 347-0125
UUCP: ihnp4!datacube!berger
{seismo,cbosgd,cuae2,mit-eddie}!mirror!datacube!berger
(Root Boy) Jim "Just Say Yes" Cottrell <rbj@icst-cmr.arpa>
Why did Paul Simon name his album after Elvis Presley's house?
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 87 22:59:30 CST
From: wucs!chc@seismo.CSS.GOV <Charles Hampton Curley>
Subject: getting load average from Sun-3?
I'm trying to get load averages out of the Sun kernel on a Sun-3 running
Sun 3.0. The following program prints "load average: 0.0, 0.0, 0.0"
everytime its run:
#include <nlist.h>
#include <stdio.h>
struct nlist nl[] = {
{ "_avenrun" },
{ "" },
};
main()
{
int kmem;
double avenrun[3];
if ((kmem = open("/dev/kmem", 0)) < 0) {
fprintf(stderr, "No kmem\n");
exit(1);
}
nlist("/vmunix", nl);
if (nl[0].n_type==0) {
fprintf(stderr, "No namelist\n");
exit(1);
}
lseek(kmem, (long) nl[0].n_value, 0);
read(kmem, avenrun, sizeof(avenrun));
printf("load average: %.2f, %.2f, %.2f\n",
avenrun[0], avenrun[1], avenrun[2]);
}
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks,
Charles
------------------------------
Date: 15 Mar 87 14:57:25 EST (Sun)
From: campbell@maynard.BSW.COM <Larry Campbell>
Subject: Modula-2 for Suns?
Are there any Modula-2 compilers available for Suns? Public domain
would be nice, but commercial offerings would be OK too.
--
Larry Campbell The Boston Software Works, Inc.
Internet: campbell@maynard.BSW.COM 120 Fulton Street, Boston MA 02109
uucp: {alliant,think,wjh12}!maynard!campbell +1 617 367 6846
------------------------------
Date: 16 Mar 87 00:55:10 GMT
From: sundc!potomac!jtn@seismo.CSS.GOV <John T. Nelson>
Subject: I need ARPA hardware recommendations for Sun computers....?
Can anyone provide recommendations for hardware that will connect my
Sun to an ARPA IMP. I believe that Sun requires a synchronous clocked
line however I don't know what kind of "modems" or what type of line
I should order from C&P. Surely someone out there has connected there
Sun to the ARPAnet.
By the way, please reply directly to my mail address ....
UUCP: seismo!{sundc,doqlci}!potomac!jtn
Internet: jtn@ads.arpa
Thanks in advance as we say.
------------------------------
Date: 16 Mar 87 15:51:38 GMT
From: sjuvax!rbanerji@seismo.CSS.GOV <R. Banerji>
Subject: Sunmicro for sale
SUN 2/120 AVAILABLE
A Sun 2/120 workstation is available for sale. For details send
net mail to ...sjuvax!petragna or to sjuvax!jhodgson.
------------------------------
Date: 17 Mar 87 08:31:45 GMT
From: mcvax!daimi!jlk@seismo.CSS.GOV <Jorgen Lindskov>
Subject: docs. on X-windows and NeWS??
I am in the process of starting a research initiative on user interface
frameworks on Sun workstations (potentually MacII workstations later). I am
therefore looking for information on window-systems on the Sun's (and MacII's).
Currently, there seem to be two immediate proposals, namely X-windows and NeWS.
The only documentation we have on the two systems is:
"Xlib - C Language X Interface Version 9"
by Jim Gettys and Ron Newman, MIT Project Athena
and
"NeWS Preliminary Technical Overview"
2 October 1986, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Would any of you out there in net-land please fill me in on other available
information on the two systems (NeWS and X V11); both introductary material and
technical material. I would also be interested in information on frameworks
and toolboxes in the two systems. What about interfaces from different
languages. Finally, I would like to hear the latest rumors about the Apple
position with respect to the two systems and/or the difficuties of getting NeWS
running on MacII's. Is any of ouy actually using NeWS (on SUN's) --- and if
so, how did you get hold of it.
Regards,
Jorgen Lindskov Knudsen
Dept. of Computer Science
Aarhus University
DK-8000 Aarhus C
UUCP: jlk@daimi.uucp
or: ...!mcvax!diku!daimi!jlk
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 87 22:05:40 EST
From: km@emory.arpa <Ken Mandelberg>
Subject: Plot10?
Has anyone done a Plot10 compatible interface to Sunview?
I know I could compile against the standard plot10 subroutines
and use the Tektronix emulator to graph the output, but
this seems lees than elegant.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 87 17:31:26 EST
From: hays@BRL.ARPA <Art Hays>
Subject: 2 6250bpi tapes on a Sun 3/280?
I am considering placing two 6250bpi drives on a Sun 3/280.
Sun uses Fuji 2444AC drives, I believe, which have 256 KByte internal
caches. I would like to get in touch with anyone who has done this
to check some performance data, especially if a drive to drive tape
copy stays mostly in streaming mode.
Art Hays
(301) 496-7143
Nat Inst of Health
------------------------------
Date: 17 Mar 87 06:20:04 GMT
From: wrs@esl.esl.com <Bill R. Snow>
Subject: vme bus extender?
Has anyone used the Synergist III VME to VME bus extender from HVE
Engineering? We have been trying to connect a Sun-3 VME bus
with another VME bus that has multiple 68020 CPUs on it. We have had a lot
of problems with the Sun crashing.
One problem that we found was in the different requestor types--the Sun
uses "release when done", the 68020s use "release on request". This caused the
busses to lock up. We made a hardware modification to correct this, but
the Sun still keeps crashing.
Has anyone attempted something similar? What problems should we look for?
Thanks for any help,
Bill Snow
ESL Inc.
495 Java Drive
Sunnyvale, CA 94088
USA
(408) 738-2888 x5961 {ihnp4}!lll-lcc!esl!wrs
------------------------------
Date: 18 Mar 1987 17:23-EST
From: Ralph.Hyre@ius2.cs.cmu.edu <Ralph Hyre>
Subject: Disk Query: Maxblocks/cylinder group parameter?
According to the tunefs man page, there is a max blocks / cylinder group
parameter (set with the -e option) that defaults to 25% of a cylinder group.
We would like to increase this on our Image Storage filesystems (/visl /vism)
so we can read standard-size (256Kbyte or 768Kbyte for RGB) image files in as
few seeks as possible (preferably 1, if the disk geometry supports it.)
The actual default (reported by dumpfs) seems to be 256 blocks/cylinder group
on our Suns, regardless of drive type or geometry (Micropolis 1325 or Fujitsu
2351's and 2361's formatted with newfs.)
I'd appreciate any Sun or Vax-specific recommendations for these parameters
for particular drives.
Thank you.
- Ralph Hyre
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 87 12:02:23 gmt
From: mcvax!ssl-macc.co.uk!gdw@seismo.CSS.GOV <Grenville Whelan>
Subject: Installing SUN/OS 3.2 on a tapeless 2/50 server?
I recently attempted to install SUN/OS 3.2 on a 2/50 tapeless server. I set up
a standalone 3/52, (tapefull), as a server, (as described in Appendix B of the
"Installing Unix" manual, "Installing Unix on Tapeless workstations"). When
trying to boot "stand/diag" on the target machine from the remote host, i got
the boot message echoed back, and then a single question mark, and nothing
else.
I ensured i'd set up everything correctly, and then called Sun Software Support
as i was stuck as to what to try. Sun couldn't come up with anything other than
"it might not work if the remote host is running Yellow Pages" - (???)
Having given up with this installation, i installed 3.2 on a standalone 2/50,
which went OK. I then tried to use this 2/50 as a remote host to install the
tapeless 2/50 server. Having set-up this host exactly the same as i did with
the 3/52, i tried to boot "stand/diag" of this 2/50. It worked, and the rest
of the installation was a doddle.
I got back to Sun, and the only explanation we could come up with is that you
cannot use a Sun-3 as a remote host when installing 3.2 on a tapeless Sun-2.
Has anyone else had similar problems, or any suggestions as to why the first
attempt to install 3.2 with a Sun-3 failed? or have i encountered yet another
incompatibility problem with different Sun architectures.
--
/ Grenville Whelan | Software Sciences Ltd, \
/ TEL - +44 625 29241 | London & Manchester House, \
\ EMAIL - gdw@ssl-macc.co.uk | Park Street, /
\ UUCP - !mcvax!ukc!sslvax!gdw | Macclesfield, UK. /
------------------------------
Date: 12 Feb 87 22:34:58 JST (Thu)
From: kh%ulisvax.ulis.junet%utokyo-relay.csnet@RELAY.CS.NET <Kigen Hasebe>
Subject: SCSI Disk Driver in public domain?
I am looking for SCSI disk driver software in public domain for Sun-3.
I am going to use it with a CDC Wren III disk.
Please e-mail me the software or any information or pointer.
Thanks in advance for your kindness,
Kigen Hasebe
University of Library and Information Science
1-2 Kasuga Yatabe-mati ibaraki-ken
305, Japan
(E-Mail Address)
CSnet: kh%ulis.junet@utokyo-relay
UUCP: kh%ulis.junet@seismo.css.gov (..seismo!kddlab!ccut!ulisvax!kh)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 87 17:38:45 est
From: pwha@tut.cs.rochester.edu <Bill Haake>
Subject: 3rd party disks for 3/50?
We are considering the purchase of some Sun 3-50 workstations and would like
information about adding SCSI disks to these machines. The prices Sun wants for
"their" disks are quite high and we are probably going to go with a third party.
Has anyone added third party disks to 3-50's? Any problems to watch out for?
Where are we likely to find the best prices? Who actually manufactures the
disks Sun supplies with the 3-52? Please respond to me directly and I will
summarize in a followup posting. Thanks in advance.
Bill Haake
INTERNET: pwha@tut.cs.rochester.edu
UUCP: ...!{seismo|allegra|decvax}!rochester!ur-tut!pwha
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 87 16:02:35 EST
From: lamont!rbd@columbia.edu <Roger Davis>
Subject: 3.2 upgrade breaks 2.9BSD rlogin?
Our site just upgraded all of our Suns from Sun 3.0 UNIX
to Sun 3.2 UNIX. This upgrade has broken the rlogin on
our PDP 11/70 running 2.9 BSD. (Prior to this upgrade,
we never experienced any difficulty with rlogin between
these machines.) Symptoms are:
i) When rlogging in from a Sun to the PDP, the PDP
accepts the connection, prints out /etc/motd,
and then immediately logs you out with a
"Connection closed." message.
ii) Attempting to rlogin from the PDP to a Sun
crashes the PDP about 75% of the time with a
"panic: dtom" message, and
succeeds the other 25% of the time.
Telnet, rsh and rcp have all been working normally. The Sun 3.0
rlogin and in.rlogind also worked normally with the PDP when they were
restored from a backup tape. These facts, together with Sun's
admission that there were major alterations made to rlogin
and in.rlogind between 3.0 and 3.2 (mostly to pass along
window size information), seem to point the finger directly
at an incompatibility between the Sun 3.2 and PDP 2.9 rlogins.
Is this due to a lack of robustness in the 2.9 networking (possible
bug fix in 2.10?) or is Sun doing something to rlogin that is
incompatible with 2.9 and maybe other systems as well? We would
greatly appreciate hearing from other sites experiencing similar
problems. Does anyone have a fix for this?
Roger Davis
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory
Palisades, NY 10964
(914) 359-2900 x547
{seismo,decvax,ihnp4}!philabs!lamont!rbd
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 87 23:02:50 +0100
From: enea!erlang.sunet.se!rn@seismo.CSS.GOV <Richard Niklasson>
Subject: A disk to SUN 3/50?
Anyone who knows something about a big disk ( >= 175 Mb) to connect
to a SUN 3/50? Is it possible to connect a disk to 3/50?
Please send any comment on this to my mail adress and I will summerize
on the net later.
Richard Niklasson,
Lund Institute of Technology,
Sweden
...enea!agaton!erlang!rn
or
rn@erlang.sunet.se
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Mar 87 15:54 EST
From: CHRISTY%syr-nmr-aos1.csnet@RELAY.CS.NET <Christy Russell>
Subject: color X windoes on a SUN 3/110?
Anybody out there have X windows using color on a Sun 3/110??
Our lab is having problems - any help would be appreciated.
Christy Russell
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 87 12:08:31 PST
From: tre@sdcarl.arpa <Tom Erbe>
Subject: Shaky Sun 1 monitors?
About a year ago, someone posted a fix for Sun 1 monitors with shaky displays.
Could someone repost this fix or send it to me?
Tom Erbe (ucbvax!sdcarl!tre)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 87 11:16:57 est
From: tuba@tut.cc.rochester.edu <Jon Krueger>
Subject: Self hardware maintenance?
Are there any sites out there doing self-maintenance? We are
interested in buying some Suns, and one factor is the cost of upkeep.
We already have an in-house hardware support group that's successfully
maintaining Vaxen, Macintosh, and IBM-PC, so we're very interested in
other people's experiences in doing your own hardware support.
We'd like to know if anyone else is doing it, has tried it, is making
it work, is happy with it, is saving money this way, is achieving good
uptime, is getting good vendor support through training, technical
documentation, diagnostics, field updates, and so on.
Please mail, don't post, if there's enough interest I'll post a
follow-up.
------------------------------
End of SUN-Spots Digest
***********************