Sun-Spots-Request@RICE.EDU (William LeFebvre) (08/29/88)
SUN-SPOTS DIGEST Sunday, 28 August 1988 Volume 6 : Issue 201
Today's Topics:
Re: Questions about Exabyte on Sun
sunview is sloooooooow
RAM shortage
More on color monitors
Transputers For Suns
SunOS 4.0 dump(8)
cmdtool fatalities
Concerning KSH-I, the 386i, and SUNOS 4.0
Problems with Sun 4 and SCSI 327 MB disks
why is system time so high for TeX on a Sun 4/110?
TeX/LaTeX => Framemaker?
Diskless clients booting SunOS 4.0?
Who has ported sps to SunOS 4.0?
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Date: Tue, 23 Aug 88 22:12:04 EDT
From: Peter G. Ford <pgf@space.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Questions about Exabyte on Sun
The Sun-supplied SCSI 3.5 driver will read all Exabyte tape files, and
will recover from many error conditions, but it won't let you switch from
reading (or skipping) to writing unless you are positioned at the
start-of-tape.
We bought an Exabyte and 3.5 driver from Perfect Byte. The accompanying
README mentions several error conditions that it reportedly handles better
that Sun. It also lets you switch from reading/skipping to writing, in the
following sense... (1) "mt fsf" to the end of an existing file, (2) "mt
bsf" to backspace over the file mark, (3) "mt eof" to rewrite the file
mark, without "damaging" the file. You can then rewrite the remainder of
the tape.
This driver is also able to sense when you come within 200' of the end of
tape. In fact, it generates a console message for each block subsequently
written. You may want to comment that out!
I don't know whether anyone (outside SMI) knows how to write a 4.0 driver.
Peter G. Ford Inet: pgf@space.mit.edu
MIT Center for Space Research Bitnet: csrpgf@harvarda
Cambridge, MA 02139 Span: MITCCD::PGF
+1 617 253 6485 Gte: [PFORD/NASA] NASAMAIL/USA:
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 88 20:44:52 EDT
From: hedrick@aramis.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick)
Subject: sunview is sloooooooow
I thought I had said something about this before. The Sun 4.0 version of
Sunview is slow. Simply copy all the executables from 3.2. They work
fine under 4.0, and at the same speed you're used to from 3.2. It appears
that it's not 4.0 itself that is slow but something about the new version
of Sunview.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 88 20:41:41 EDT
From: hedrick@aramis.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick)
Subject: RAM shortage
I'm certainly no expert in import policies, but there have been lots of
articles in the trade press about the RAM shortage, and no suggestion of
the government rationing them. There is plenty of evidence counter to
that. And even if there were rationing, they would not be so stupid as to
give every company the same quota. I think the real answer is that a
small company can always pick up a few chips on the spot market, but it's
much harder to do that when you need a large number, and particularly if
you insist on keeping your margins up.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 88 10:01:15 PDT
From: celeste@coherent.com (Celeste C. Stokely)
Subject: More on color monitors
I, too, am impressed with the Sony monitors, so I've been shopping around
for prices/availability. Now, jffowler@icarus.cns.syr.edu has heard that
Sony makes some modifications to their monitors (16"=GDM-1601,
19"=GDM-1953) before they send them to Sun, so I've got to look into that.
However, considering the quality of the picture, and the reasonable price
you can get from Sony, if the modifications are none or slight, the
decision is a no-brainer.
Sun list for Hitachi 19" color $5050
Sun list for Sony 16" color $3700
Sony list for 19" color $3400
Sony list for 16" color $2400
These Sony prices are "you pick them up from the Oakland, CA warehouse".
Sony warranty is 2 years on the tube, 1 year on parts, 90 days on labor,
but, frankly, if a Sony works out of the box, it's likely that it's going
to keep on working long after you tire of it. Sure beats Sun's 90 day
total.
The Sony contact I used is Jim Howell, in the San Francisco Bay area,
(415)866-8620.
I am not connected with Sony in any way. Include standard disclaimers.
..Celeste Stokely
Coherent Thought Inc.
UUCP: ...!{ames,sun,uunet}!coherent!celeste Domain: celeste@coherent.com
Internet: coherent!celeste@ames.arpa or ...@sun.com or ...@uunet.uu.net
VOX: 415-493-8805
SNAIL:3350 W. Bayshore Rd. #205, Palo Alto CA 94303
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 88 18:57:03 MDT
From: topologix!bashfull!rob@boulder.colorado.edu (Rob Savoye)
Subject: Transputers For Suns
We sell a 9U VME board for Sun3's that has four transputers on it with 16
M of memory per node. We support C, Fortran, and common LISP. We have
plans to port occam but at the present that plan has no time frame. We've
built libraries for our languages that let them do anything that occam
can. We also have a very high-level message passing system that functions
much like pipes in UNIX. We have built a full graphics a windowing based
system. Our user interface comes with 4 parts:
1. A full-featured mouse-driven editor as well as the Hemlock (emacs)
editor from CMU's Spice LISP.
2. A CAD program to draw network configurations. Our hardware can be
reconfigured into almost anything, grids, hypercubes, pipes, etc...
3. A graphics performance monitor used for load balancing the CPU
loads and link traffic.
4. A graphical interface to our operating system, which is derived
from Cornell's Trillium (Trollius) project.
Future release's for early 1989:
1. A window based parallel version of dbx.
2. An interpreter for prototyping code quickly.
3. More tools for assisting in the design and coding of large parallel code projects.
We have worked hard to make our compilers SunOS compatible. Our C, Fortran
and LISP are fully SunOS source code compatible. Basically, we built this
thing to look like a network of Sun's rather than some weird, complicated
piece of silicon.
Near future projects include porting X windows , X.11/NeWS and various
math libraries. Our message passing extensions are designed to mimic BSD
sockets and are easier to use than most other UNIX IPC and definetly
easier to use than occam and TDS.
We can mix languages like C and fortran on the same nodes. Lisp (due to
its internals) runs best with a node all to its self. We also offer the
capability to reconfigure the network topology on the fly through software
control. If you have any other questions let me know.
Rob Savoye
Topologix, Inc.
4860 Ward Rd.
Denver, CO 80033
(303) 421-7700
uucp: ..!hao!boulder!snowwhite!bashfull!rob
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 88 12:12:00 BST
From: "Martin Reed (eng-263" <mcvax!ritd.co.uk!mr@uunet.uu.net>
Subject: SunOS 4.0 dump(8)
This may not be news to some of you, but I have just realised that SunOS
4.0 dump(8) program uses multiple processes to overlap disk reading with
tape writing. Something faster in 4.0! Quote from "man dump":
Process Priority of dump
dump uses multiple processes to allow it to read from the
disk and write to the media concurrently. Due to the way it
synchronizes between these processes, any attempt to run
dump with a nice (process priority) of `-5' or better will
likely make dump run slower instead of faster.
It also assumes 64 blocks per write at 6250bpi (vs the usual 10 at
1600bpi) and has a "t" option that says how many tracks a cartridge tape
has (default 9 except 4 on a Sun-2).
Martin Reed, Racal Imaging Systems Ltd
uucp: mr@ritd.co.uk,{mcvax!ukc!ritd,sun!sunuk!brains}!mr
Global String: +44 252 622144
Paper: 309 Fleet Road, Fleet, Hants, England, GU13 8BU
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 88 09:33:24 MDT
From: erik@cadnetix.com (Erik Hyypia)
Subject: cmdtool fatalities
Our cmdtool deaths happen on a 3/110 (color) box. Suntools is started up
with no special parameters (i.e., type "suntools") and displays a cmdtool,
a shelltool and a console window in my case. To create the error, I run a
make in the cmdtool window, and forget to mount an nfs node which contains
files need by the make. The make terminates displaying *** Error code 4
and some fine not found messages. Blooey, the cmdtool window vanishes, a
repaint of adjacent overlapping windows occurs and the background appears
where the cmdtool was. We jokingly refer to this as the auto-quit
function. I believe that a core file is left behind in my home directory
(which is where I was when I started suntools). If you would like the
core file e-mailed (possible?) I can generate one for you.
Erik Hyypia (graphics group)
Cadnetix Corp., 5775 Flatirons,
Boulder, CO. 80302
erik@cadnetix.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 88 21:50:37 CDT
From: drl@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (David R. Linn)
Subject: Concerning KSH-I, the 386i, and SUNOS 4.0
My #1 ksh user has just gotten a 386i. It is the only 386i we have and it
has only a development system, not the full-blown distribution (91MB
disk). Has anyone else had any experience that they would share
concerning bringing up the ksh-i on a 386i under SUNOS4.0. I know I will
need the patches discussed in UNIX-WIZARDS but are there any other
problems of which I should be aware?
Mail to me and I will summarize to the list.
David
David Linn - drl@vuse.vanderbilt.edu - ...!uunet!vuse!drl
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 88 12:02:01 PDT
From: levine@parns.nsc.com (David LeVine)
Subject: Problems with Sun 4 and SCSI 327 MB disks
I recently received a Sun 4/260 with a 327MB disk and 1/4" tape drive. I
installed SunOS 4.0 on this machine with no problem (I don't think
suninstall is any worse than setup). When I halted the machine and booted
it, I received the following message 3 times:
sd: error: 70 .../* a string of numbers */
The machine then booted with no problem.
I called Sun since this looked like a hardware problem. After much wasted
time analyzing and formatting the disk, the problem still occurred. The
machine boots fine but this message is troublesome.
It turns out that for the particular combination of Sun 4 and 327MB disk
there is a PROM upgrade needed which isn't available yet. If you
encounter this message, you should report it to Sun so that you get the
upgraded PROM. Basically, you can just ignore the message.
David LeVine 408-721-5317
Internet: levine@cda.nsc.com
Uucp: {sun,decwrl,hplabs,uunet}!nsc!cda!levine
Snail Mail: National Semiconductor Corporation
P. O. Box 58090, MS D3677
2900 Semiconductor Drive
Santa Clara, California 95052-8090
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 88 13:50:30 PDT
From: jeff@kestrel.arpa (Jeff Kitson)
Subject: why is system time so high for TeX on a Sun 4/110?
I've got Common TeX running on both a Sun 3/160 and a Sun 4/110 -- same
source code. The question I have is why is TeX slower on the Sun 4/110?
Here are the timing results from running TeX on the GNU emacs manual.
Anyone know why the system time is so high on the 4/110, or what should be
done to improve it?
Sun 4/110, 20Mb memory, SCSI disks, OS 4.0
> time tex emacs
This is Common TeX, Version 2.9 (no format preloaded)
[tex output]
130.7u 344.4s 8:06 97% 0+1272k 22+174io 25pf+0w
Sun 3/160, 16Mb memory, SCSI disks, OS 3.2
> time tex emacs
This is Common TeX, Version 2.9 (no format preloaded)
[tex output]
420.7u 4.1s 7:13 98% 11+52k 157+221io 28pf+0w
Thanks, Jeff
jeff@kestrel.arpa
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 88 09:34:31 PDT
From: ries@trwrb.dsd.trw.com (Marc Ries)
Subject: TeX/LaTeX => Framemaker?
Before I rewrite history, does anyone know of a TeX/LaTeX to Framemaker
Intermediate File "filter". Has any net.hackers attempted such a beast?
Thanks in advance.
Marc Ries
trwrb!ries
------------------------------
Date: 24 Aug 88 00:35:44 GMT
From: jeff@tc.fluke.com (Jeff Stearns)
Subject: Diskless clients booting SunOS 4.0?
I'd like to correspond with other knowledgeable system administrators who are:
- running SunOS 4.0 on diskless clients
- on an Ethernet carrying other interesting non-IP protocols
such as DECNET, XNS, etc
I've been gathering detailed information about the sloooow booting
problems that our SunOS 4.0 clients have, and I'd like to cross-check it
with other sites.
Please drop me a note by mail if you fit the bill.
thanks! {microsoft,uw-beaver,sun}!fluke!jeff
Jeff Stearns
Domain: jeff@tc.fluke.COM
Voice: +1 206 356 5064
If you must: {uw-beaver,microsoft,sun}!fluke!jeff
USPS: John Fluke Mfg. Co. / P.O. Box C9090 / Everett WA 98206
------------------------------
Date: 24 Aug 88 00:46:52 GMT
From: jeff@tc.fluke.com (Jeff Stearns)
Subject: Who has ported sps to SunOS 4.0?
OK, now that we've all *tried* to compile sps under SunOS 4.0, who's going
to make herself a hero by hacking on it until it works?
[[ Not me! Although I will miss it dearly (for those who don't know,
"sps" is a much much faster version of "ps" with a much more informative
ouptut format). --wnl ]]
Jeff Stearns
Domain: jeff@tc.fluke.COM
Voice: +1 206 356 5064
If you must: {uw-beaver,microsoft,sun}!fluke!jeff
USPS: John Fluke Mfg. Co. / P.O. Box C9090 / Everett WA 98206
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End of SUN-Spots Digest
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