rose@galtee.cs.wisc.edu (Scott M. Rose) (03/01/91)
Coherent Digest Vol. 91.1, No. 14 Fri Mar 1 09:35:04 CST 1991 Today's Topics: Help on RAM/DOS/TAR/TTYS/.Z/Screen blank help:tar format/rmdir/rm/fsck Help:FORMAT/DISKCOPY/fdformat/dd Help:no login prompt Gnutar Re: suggested change to mail for compat with smail Call For Votes NEW LIST: Coherent on ListServ@IndyCMS Intent of Coherent list on ListServ@IndyCMS smail and coherent's mail Administrivia: The Coherent Digest is a forum for discussion of the MWC Coherent 3.x operating system. Send submissions to "coherent@cs.wisc.edu" and administrivia to "coherent-reqeust@cs.wisc.edu". Previous issues are archived for anonymous FTP access on piggy.ucsb.edu in the directory "pub/coherent/mail-list". ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 16:08:45 -0500 From: chench@rrdstrad.nist.gov (Frank Chen) To: coherent Subject: Help on RAM/DOS/TAR/TTYS/.Z/Screen blank I recently install the Coherent to my AT compatible. The installation run without any problem. However, there are several problems during the customization. 1. My system has 1M RAM installed. During the boot up, the screen shows "...Protected Mode(mem=839 KB)". Where are the rest 185KB? (Display memory(64K for Hercules)?,BIOS ROM(64K)?) 2. Which command offers the screen blank feature after several minutes of idle. Can we turn it off? 3. After linking /dev/at0a to /dev/dos, the command 'dos x autoexec.bat' does not work. Is that correct? If this is not the correct syntax, the syntax in the manual should change from 'dos dlrtx[flag] [device] [file]' to 'dos dlrtx[flag] [device [file]]' 4. According to the manual, 'dos' command default will do recursively extract. But my experience is the reverse. Is this correct? What flag I should use to turn it on? 5. When I uncompress the file 'clam141.sh.Z', it report 'Error opening /dev/ram1','use the -w workf option'. What's wrong with this? The size of clam141.sh.Z is 163888 Bytes. If the size of ram1 is less than that, I can accept this error message. However the same thing happens when I change the ram1 size to 256KB. BTW, does ram disk size counted as part of the 839K in question 1? Using the '-w workfile' option took me more than 40 minutes to uncompress. This is not acceptable. Because I compress and uncompress the same file again. It tooks less than 4 minutes(I forget the exact time) And this time, no error at all. Does compress/decompress/zcat use ram as workfile only when using the 12 bit? 6. What's the difference between the tar format generated by Coherent and other Unix system(like Ultrix, SunOS). 7. Ultrix will swap high/low byte of an integer(like DOS). Will this cause any incompatibility in .tar and .Z files? 8. According to the manual, we should use 'kill quit 1' after changing the contents of /etc/ttys. The value of quit is 3. Is this the default for UNIX SYSTEM 7? Ultrix 3.x,4.x and SunOS 4.x all use 'kill hup 1' to reinitialize the init process.(HUP=1, and those system all have QUIT=3) 9. Are there any tools/utilities to show the usage of memory? How to decide the size of ram0 and ram1? I can use the 'mknod' command to change the size of ram disk. But what's the limitation? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 16:17:05 -0500 From: chench@rrdstrad.nist.gov (Frank Chen) To: coherent Subject: help:tar format/rmdir/rm/fsck Help!Help!Help! Problem:I am trying to port the 'arc' to Coherent from Ultrix. in Ultrix % tar cvf arc.tar arc in Coherent $ tar xvf arc.tar The screen is full of the text of each files with some place showing the checksum error. There are subdirectories (which have the same name of the files) reference to itself. Running fsck give me following error message. ># fsck > ax sel=0 paddr=0 lim=0 flags=0 > cs sel=B3D0 paddr=3D463 lim=5BFF flags=9B > ds sel=B668 paddr=43063 lim=C7FF flags=93 > es sel=B668 paddr=43063 lim=C7FF flags=93 > ss sel=B668 paddr=43063 lim=C7FF flags=93 > user trap: SEGV id=D00 ax=0 pid=60 > ip=2A86 sp=C308 > segmentation violation -- core dump > second fsck give me different result > ># fsck > . > . > Phase 2 > i-node 1393 is a multiply referenced directory i-node. > . > . > i-node 1393 is a multiply referenced directory i-node. > Phase 3 > . > . ># /etc/clri /dev/rat0b 1393 /* system hang */ Reboot shows the following message: > >(11.1) inode 1385 busy >(11.1) inode 1384 busy >/dev/root > Fix Superblock & Freelist Although I finally found out how to delete those file by # for i in /usr/local/* > do rmdir -f $i > done # Question: Can someone explain what's going on here? MWC, are you listening? Normally, 'rm -rf foo' can delete all files/subdirectories within the directory foo. But this won't work for this case. How comes rmdir works? What's the difference? Thanks! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 16:18:39 -0500 From: chench@rrdstrad.nist.gov (Frank Chen) To: coherent Subject: Help:FORMAT/DISKCOPY/fdformat/dd Question: What is the difference between Coherent format /etc/fdformat and the DOS FORMAT? I can use /etc/fdformat to format the diskette and later used in DOS and vice versa. Does this means the FAT are physically the same in both OS?(I use the term in DOS, I am not sure about that for UNIX(I-node,freelist?) The Coherent fdformat takes more time to format the diskette than DOS does.(ratio of 4 to 1). What kind of thing fdformat does but DOS FORMAT doesn't?(DOS FORMAT is actually a slow formater in DOS) After further experiment, I find out that using the DOS DISKCOPY I can duplicate the diskette prepared by the Coherent whether it is bootable or not. And it saves me lots of time. What's the difference here?( I can also duplicate DOS diskette using 'fdformat', and 'dd' commands in Coherent.) Is there any danger doing so? Is time overhead a must for UNIX? (or Coherent?, or SYSTEM V7?) Any help/explaination will be greatly appreciated. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 16:19:22 -0500 From: chench@rrdstrad.nist.gov (Frank Chen) To: coherent Subject: Help:no login prompt Help!Help!Help! Q: Is there escape character for comments in /etc/ttys file? Q: What commands are been executed for going from Single-user mode to Multiuser mode? I still trying to figure out how to let my modem answer for incoming call. So today I change the content of /etc/ttys. Since shell script and Ultrix /etc/ttys use '#' for comments and I am afraid of losing the original setting, I just put '#' in front of the com1/com2 entry. I then run 'kill quit 1' several times without really understand the meaning of the message shown in the screen. I use 'ps -ax' and the LED on the modem to check if I might have the correct configuration. I also change the parameter in /usr/bin/modeminit. After 30 minutes without any progress, I did a stupid thing-reboot the system(Although in my experience with other system, it is 'standard' to do so). The system came back without login prompt. I finally knew what the meaning of the message I saw when executing the 'kill quit 1'. I don't have any bootable floppy except the original boot disk from MWC. After /try and errors/fix Superblock/fix FreeList/, I finally found out the way to go into sigleuse mode-Hit '^C' immediately after seeing the message of 'goto Multiuser...'. After fixing the file /etc/ttys and reboot the system, the system seems does more things than before(By the sound of hard disk access). But I still can not get my login prompt. This time '^C' let me see the login prompt. After login as root and executing /etc/rc and /etc/profile , the system looks O.K. But I still can not login normally. Q: Could that be some programs get corrupt? Q: Is this the problem about init? The console entry in /etc/ttys looks O.K. to me. Any help/hints will be greatly appreciated. ------------------------------ Date: 27 Feb 91 12:37:00 From: hdrock!john@rex.cs.tulane.edu (John Welch) To: lafayet!coherent Subject: Gnutar I have been trying to use the Gnutar from mwcbbs to backup parts of the hard disk. The tar program does not prompt me to chage floppys when the first one gets full. There is a flag that I set to indicate a multivolume backup and also I tried outputing to both the raw and the character device Has anyone else had any luck with tar and multiple volumes? >/< John Welch Core Laboratories a division of ------------------------------ Date: 27 Feb 91 16:20:34 From: piggy@mwc.com (La Monte H. Yarroll) To: citrus!root@csusac.ecs.csus.edu (Joel M. Baldwin) Cc: support@mwc.com, coherent Subject: Re: suggested change to mail for compat with smail > Could you change it so that the mail program, when it checks argv[0] = 'rmail', > also checks argv[0] = 'lmail'. > This would make it more compatible with smail. The new COHERENT mail system (currently going into Beta test) is built around smail. There are seperate /bin/mail and /bin/lmail programs with this version. The routing agent is /bin/rmail aka /bin/smail. This version won't be available until the next full release. > This is because the mail is executed as /bin/lmail by smail. coherent's > mail program is looking for /bin/rmail, and thinking that a user is entering > a letter adds a valid From: header for the current user which is uucp. > This leads to comb ( and I would guess other mail readers ) listing > all letters from Spooler. I also saw your message about editing the /bin/mail binary to make it check for the name "lmail". May I suggest an alternate work around? Copy /bin/mail to something like /usr/lib/mail/rmail, and then when you compile smail, tell it the local delivery agent is /usr/lib/mail/rmail. > Joel M. Baldwin H ( 916 ) 383-9470 > N6NPL W " 452-1481 > uunet!csusac.ecs.csus.edu!citrus!root Sacramento CA. /\../\ La Monte Yarroll piggy@mwc.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Feb 91 13:31:19 CST From: Scott Rose <rose> To: coherent Subject: Call For Votes Lar asked me to post this to the list. For the benefit of those folks smarter than me who don't read news.groups and other groups of that ilk, or who may even know better than to read Usenet at all. Not to be self-defeating... >From uwvax!zazen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!tale Thu Feb 28 13:26:25 CST 1991 Article: 28691 of news.groups Xref: uwvax news.announce.newgroups:915 news.groups:28691 comp.os.mach:806 comp.os.minix:15267 comp.os.xinu:359 comp.os.misc:1685 comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc:6741 comp.unix.sysv286:141 comp.unix.sysv386:5844 comp.unix.msdos:386 comp.unix.misc:1053 Path: uwvax!zazen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!tale From: lark@greylock.tivoli.com (Lar Kaufman) Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,comp.os.mach,comp.os.minix,comp.os.xinu,comp.os.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.unix.sysv286,comp.unix.sysv386,comp.unix.msdos,comp.unix.misc Subject: CFV: comp.os.coherent Message-ID: <-Y3-3T+@rpi.edu> Date: 28 Feb 91 04:52:05 GMT Sender: tale@cs.rpi.edu Followup-To: news.groups Lines: 38 Approved: tale@rpi.edu Nntp-Posting-Host: cs.rpi.edu The request for discussion period for comp.os.coherent has ended. Only one item was in any way controversial - the name of the group. It was suggested that the group should be named comp.unix.coherent. This suggestion is not adopted because (1) Coherent is not Unix, having been independently developed, and (2) the proposed group name, comp.os.coherent, is consistent with the existing hierarchy of comp newsgroups. It is beyond the scope of the proposal to revise the hierarchy. Accordingly, this call for votes is for an unmoderated newsgroup named comp.os.coherent. The purpose of the group is to discuss and support the Coherent operating system and related topics. Coherent currently resembles Unix Version 7, and is ported to ISA-architecture 80286- and 80386-based computers. The voting period shall extend from the time of posting of this article until 11 PM GMT of March 27, 1991. Only votes received by me (lark@tivoli.com) before this deadline will be counted. HOW TO VOTE: The reliable way to vote is to send email to me, Lar Kaufman, at this address: lark@tivoli.com. Posted votes cannot be counted; you must send mail to me. The vote applies only to the specific proposal to form comp.os.coherent, and will not apply to any other proposal. The vote must be explicit and unambiguous. I favor the form "I vote for comp.os.coherent as proposed" or "I vote against comp.os.coherent as proposed". Please keep any further comments to a minimum. I will be pleased to hear other remarks in a separate message. Thank you for your interest. Lar Kaufman I would feel more optimistic about a bright future (voice) 512-794-9070 for man if he spent less time proving that he can (fax) 512-794-0623 outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness lark@tivoli.com and respecting her seniority. - E.B. White ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Feb 1991 23:50 EST From: John B Harlan <IJBH200@INDYVAX.IUPUI.EDU> To: Coherent Subject: NEW LIST: Coherent on ListServ@IndyCMS NEW LIST: Coherent Operating System list Coherent (Coherent Operating System list) is a public discussion and distribution list dedicated to the Coherent operating system produced by the Mark Williams Company. Coherent (the list) is completely independent of Coherent (the operating system) and Mark Williams Company (the manufacturer). It is hoped and anticipated that Coherent (the list) will include a bidirectional gateway to an eventual Usenet newsgroup, comp.os.coherent. List owners/coordinators: Phillip G Corporon F3PB88@IrishMVS (CREN) F3PB88@IrishMVS.CC.ND.Edu (Internet) John B Harlan IJBH200@IndyVAX (CREN) IJBH200@IndyVAX.IUPUI.Edu (Internet) To subscribe, send request to: ListServ@IndyCMS (CREN) ListServ@IndyCMS.IUPUI.Edu (Internet) Using the following message text: Sub Coherent Your_full_name [ Bitnet subscribers, are you listening? This service may well prove to be more reliable than the service I am providing. -Ed. ] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Mar 1991 08:07 EST From: John B Harlan <IJBH200@INDYVAX.IUPUI.EDU> To: Coherent Subject: Intent of Coherent list on ListServ@IndyCMS In response to a private inquiry, let me give a public clarification of our intent in starting up a ListServ-based list on Coherent: o Phil and I both think Coherent is a great operating system with tremendous market potential. By starting a discussion list on ListServ, we hope to make more BITNET and Internet networkers aware of the product and involved in its use and development. o Coherent on ListServ is in no way intended to replace Scott's excellent Internet-based list at CS.Wisc.Edu. Quite the contrary: we hope to perhaps gateway our list and his, so that traffic from each list is available to the readers of both (thereby making Coherent discussions accessible to the widest possible audience with absolute minimal duplication of effort or waste of network bandwidth). o Coherent on ListServ also hopes to bidirectionally gateway with an eventual Usenet newsgroup devoted to Coherent, comp.os.coherent (which we are confident will be approved either in this initial CFV or in a subsequent one). Such gateways are possible; I own/ coordinate another ListServ list which has recently been successfully gatewayed to a Usenet newsgroup. In short, Phil and I are attempting to make a contribution to Coherent and discussion thereof. All of us who are interested in Coherent are part of one team, not members of competing teams :-) ------------------------------ Date: 1 Mar 91 04:18:50 From: citrus!root@csusac.ecs.csus.edu (Joel M. Baldwin) To: coherent@csusac.ecs.csus.edu Cc: root@csusac.ecs.csus.edu Subject: smail and coherent's mail > > > > This is because the mail is executed as /bin/lmail by smail. coherent's > > mail program is looking for /bin/rmail, and thinking that a user is entering > > a letter adds a valid From: header for the current user which is uucp. > > This leads to comb ( and I would guess other mail readers ) listing > > all letters from Spooler. > > From: csusac!mwc.com!piggy (La Monte H. Yarroll) > > I also saw your message about editing the /bin/mail binary to make it > check for the name "lmail". May I suggest an alternate work around? > > Copy /bin/mail to something like /usr/lib/mail/rmail, and then when you > compile smail, tell it the local delivery agent is /usr/lib/mail/rmail. This is a much better idea than mine. Although I'd make it a link rather than a copy. So the line in defs.h: #define LMAIL(frm,sys) "/bin/lmail" /* SV local delivery agent */ gets turned into: #define LMAIL(frm,sys) "/usr/lib/mail/rmail" /* SV local delivery agent */ And then something like: ln /bin/mail310a /usr/lib/mail/rmail to make the link where smail will be looking for it. Substitute for mail310a whatever you've named the orginal coherent mail program. And forget everything in the previous postings of mine. Joel M. Baldwin H ( 916 ) 383-9470 N6NPL W " 452-1481 uunet!csusac.ecs.csus.edu!citrus!root Sacramento CA. /\../\ ------------------------------ End of Coherent Digest Vol. 91.1, No. 14 **************************************** -- Scott Rose rose@cs.wisc.edu (608) 238-3801