Sun-Spots-Request@RICE.EDU (Vicky Riffle) (07/27/87)
SUN-SPOTS DIGEST Monday, 27 July 1987 Volume 5 : Issue 28
Today's Topics:
Administrivia: Sun-Spots archives
Re: Mounting /usr/spool/mail remotely on a SUN network . . .
Sun 3/50 Workstations and the IBM Cabling System?
Close(2) and quotas?
Multiprocess Debugger??
File system problems?
Disk on a Sun 3?
Bitnet on Sun?
boot problems?
slow windows?
3/260 and 4/260 comparison?
S Driver for SUN 3 ??
9-track tape for SUN?
VME or SCSI interface for phone/voice?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 87 16:32:01 CDT
From: rif@rice.edu (Vicky Riffle)
Subject: Administrivia: Sun-Spots archives
Sun-Spots archives are now available on titan.rice.edu via
anonymous ftp. To retrieve v5n1 for example, type "get sunspots/v5n1"
If you do not have access to the ARPAnet and need archives,
please send a request to sun-spots-request@rice.edu.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 18 Jul 87 08:40:24 EST
From: riedl@purdue.edu (John Riedl)
Subject: Re: Mounting /usr/spool/mail remotely on a SUN network . . .
Yet another problem with create file locking over NFS under 3.2.
We've got a different application that uses create file locking, and
we've observed that there is a delay of 15 to 30 seconds between the
removal of the lock file and the successful creation of the new lock
file. Presumably this is caused by client-side buffering (flushed by
update?) The effect was independently confirmed by Randy Smith
(elsie!ncifcrf!randy@seismo.CSS.GOV).
A succesful workaround is to attempt to touch the file from the client
before trying to create it. 'ls' from another window works; our final
solution is to do a stat on the file before attempting the create.
Unfortunately this is moot if correctness is essential since create
may not be atomic across NFS.
John Riedl
{ucbvax,decvax,hplabs}!purdue!riedl -or- riedl@mordred.cs.purdue.edu
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 87 12:11:06
From: whna%cgcha.UUCP%cernvax.bitnet@jade.berkeley.edu (Heinz Naef)
Subject: Sun 3/50 Workstations and the IBM Cabling System?
More and more terminal and workstation manufacturers offer the option of
connecting their products to an IBM cabling system, in addition to the
known LAN networks. What about the Sun 3/50's?
We know of possible solutions with IEEE802.3 10Base2 baluns at both sides
of the IBM wire, connected to a Thin Ethernet Multiport Repeater in the
wiring center. Does anyone have experiences in that area?
Any comments on these topics are gratefully appreciated, including those
related to other universal cabling concepts.
Heinz Naef UUCP: ..!mcvax!cernvax!cgcha!whna || whna@cgcha.UUCP
BITNET: whna%cgcha.UUCP@cernvax.BITNET
c/o CIBA-GEIGY AG, R-1032.5.62, P.O.Box, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland
Phone: (+41) 61 37 26 75 - Fax: (+41) 61 36 43 54 - Telex: 962 355 cg ch
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 87 15:39:36 EDT
From: Ralph.Hyre@ius2.cs.cmu.edu (Ralph Hyre)
Subject: Close(2) and quotas?
I'm having a problem with the quota system:
Users tend to lose data when over quota, since many programs don't
really check the status of the various close calls. (This is where the
error usually occurrs, since buffered I/O means the low-level system calls
don't really get called until fclose(3) time anyway.)
Does anyone have a patch for the stdio library (libc.a, and hopefully, the
kernel) that will prevent files from being opened for write or modify when the
user is over quota?
Does anyone out there really use quotas?
Thanks.
- Ralph
------------------------------
Date: 23 Jul 87 22:59:14 GMT
From: km@emory.UUCP (Ken Mandelberg)
Subject: Multiprocess Debugger??
Has anyone done a multiprocess/multiwindow debugger for the
Sun?
--
Ken Mandelberg | gatech!emory!km USENET
Emory University | km@emory CSNET,BITNET
Dept of Math and CS | km.emory@csnet-relay ARPANET
Atlanta, Ga 30322 | Phone: (404) 727-7963
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 87 01:46:25 EDT
From: KFL@ai.ai.mit.edu (Keith F. Lynch)
Subject: File system problems?
We have had a lot of problems with the Sun 3/260 (3.3) (4.2BSD) we have
had for two months. The file system has gotten totalled several times.
Our Sun representative has told us that if either disk partition becomes
more than 90% full, it is normal for all files on both partitions to be
trashed without warning. Is this right? If it is, is there a way to
prevent more than 90% of a partition from being used?
He also said it could be trashed if a program tries to use too much
memory, for instance with large arrays of real numbers. Is this true?
If so, how can we prevent this?
He has also said that after using doing a restore of a zero level dump,
it is necessary to immediately do another zero level dump or the file
system will get hosed again. Is this really needed? If so, can it be
done overnight, to /dev/null?
Please reply to me. I am not on both of these lists.
...Keith
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 87 0:40:21 MET DST
From: unido!iaoobel!bossix!woerz@seismo.css.gov (Dieter Woerz)
Subject: Disk on a Sun 3?
Hello,
We are considering buying a disk for our Sun 3/260 with the Xylogics
SMD controller. We are considering the the following disks (all with
the SMD interface):
Fujitsu M2333 335 MB
Fujitsu M2351 474 MB (Eagle)
Fujitsu M2344 690 MB
NEC D2362 801 MB
Hitachi 815-5 525 MB
CDC 97200-736 736 MB
I would like to hear all about goodies, flaws and caveats, concering
the connection of any of them to our sun. We like to get the biggest
disk for our money, but if they don't work with the suns, I like to
know about it.
I too like to know about disks, which can be connected to a Sun 3/50
with the Adaptec controller. The suns already have either a
Micropolis 1325 or a Fujitsu drive in a shoe box, but we want to
connect another disk, with as much space as possible to be put into
the shoebox (5 1/4").
Please reply by mail, I'll summarize, if there is interest.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dieter Woerz
Fraunhofer Institut fuer Arbeitswirtschaft und Organisation
Abt. 453
Holzgartenstrasse 17
D-7000 Stuttgart 1
W-Germany
BITNET: iaoobel.uucp!woerz@unido.bitnet
UUCP: ...{seismo!unido, pyramid}!iaoobel!woerz
------------------------------
Date: 24 Jul 87 14:49:04 GMT
From: km@emory.UUCP (Ken Mandelberg)
Subject: Bitnet on Sun?
Has anyone managed to connect a Sun directly to Bitnet?
--
Ken Mandelberg | gatech!emory!km USENET
Emory University | km@emory CSNET,BITNET
Dept of Math and CS | km.emory@csnet-relay ARPANET
Atlanta, Ga 30322 | Phone: (404) 727-7963
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 87 10:50:11 PDT
From: souza%telesoft.UUCP@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu (Steve Souza)
Subject: boot problems?
We've recently installed SunOS 3.2 on a Sun2/150, and there's a strange
problem I wonder if any of you folks have seen.
As the machine is going multiuser, and is about to print
hostname login:
many times it panics and reboots with the following messages:
panic: exec: EFAULT
syncing disks... 38 38 36 32 26 22 10 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 done
dumping to dev 301, offset 43328
xy0b: write retry (memory addr error) -- blk #757971, abs blk #774531
xy0b: write restore (memory addr error) -- blk #43329, abs blk #59889
xy0b: write retry (memory addr error) -- blk #43329, abs blk #59889
xy0b: write failed (memory addr error) -- blk #43329, abs blk #59889
dump i/o error
Rebooting Unix...
If you keep rebooting, it eventually makes it past, but you can't allow
users to work on the console -- when they logout, (and getty is re-exec'd?),
this same panic often occurs. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Steve Souza
TELESOFT Inc., San Diego, CA
(619)457-2700 x277
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 87 16:10:31 EDT
From: ndd@sunbar.mc.duke.edu (Ned Danieley)
Subject: slow windows?
I have a menu program that lets the user select an application,
input the arguments for that application, and then runs
the application. When the application exits, control returns to the
menu program. The application is run using system(3). The problem
is that when the application program opens its window, there
is a 5 to 10 second period when button clicks don't have any
affect. Usually that means that the users click 10 or 15 times,
with rather annoying results. If the same application is run
directly from a shelltool window, this delay doesn't happen. I
have tried fork(2) and execve(2) instead of system(3), but that
didn't seem to make any difference.
Sequence of events: execute vt_sun under suntools. vt_sun creates
a frame and a panel in that frame, and then several buttons in
that panel. When the user clicks on a button, the corresponding
procedure creates a frame, a panel, and some PANEL_TEXT items.
After the user has interacted with those text items, he clicks on
a button and the application is called. the application then
creates a frame, a panel, and a canvas. Clicks on the panel
buttons don't happen for 5-10 seconds, unless I run the application
directly.
All this is on a 3/280 running SunOs 3.3. Any thoughts?
Ned Danieley (ndd@duke)
Basic Arrhythmia Laboratory
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, NC 27710
(919) 684-6807 or 684-6942
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 18 Jul 87 19:00:48 CDT
From: Robert Fourer <fourer@eecs.nwu.edu>
Subject: 3/260 and 4/260 comparison?
Six of us here are about to order a Sun-3/260 and six 3/50 diskless
workstations -- at least, if we can agree on the details. It is
hoped that the 3/260 will be good for some late-night number
crunching, when it is not in demand as a server. In light of Sun's
recent new product announcement, some people are suggesting that we
hold back part of the money so that we can upgrade at some
appropriate later date to a Sun-4/260, which would presumably crunch
even faster. This leads to several questions:
(1) Will it ever be practical to run diskless Sun-3 workstations off
a Sun-4 server? If so, how much extra disk space will be needed
(at a minimum) because different binaries are required by the
Sun-3 and Sun-4 microprocessors?
(2) Presumably the floating-point accelerator board for the
3/260 will not be of any use in a 4/260. What about memory
boards?
The Sun-4 is new enough that even the Sun salesmen aren't sure what
to say about it. Any answers or comments would be appreciated.
-- Bob Fourer
Dept. of Industrial Engineering
Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois
ihnp4!nuscrl!fourer or fourer@eecs.nwu.edu
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 87 13:47:03 edt
From: booker@nrl-aic.arpa (Lashon Booker)
Subject: S Driver for SUN 3 ??
Does anyone have a SUN device driver for S that works under release 3.2? Thanks.
Lashon Booker
booker@nrl-aic.arpa
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 87 18:44:04 EDT
From: lj@spdcc.com (Len Jacobs)
Subject: 9-track tape for SUN?
What experience do people have with a 9 track tape drive for Sun 3/160s?
Price, performance, reliability are all of interest.
Thanks
Len Jacobs
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 87 16:19:55 EDT
From: ulysses!heh@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Harlan Husmann)
Subject: VME or SCSI interface for phone/voice?
I'm looking for *ANY* product in the market with a VME or SCSI
interface that interfaces with telephone lines or that does
digital voice recording and transmission. This product
(hardware/firmware/software) is expected to do any of the
following: initiate and answer calls, recognize and generate
touch tone, digitize, store, and play back voice files, and
to carry on dialogues with voice input and touch-tone control.
Products I'm looking for are similar to the Natural Microsystems'
Watson board or Dialogic Corp's Dialog board for PCs, and the
Voice Power board for AT&T UNIX PC 7300, but I'd like to use Sun
workstations.
Any information is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Harlan Husmann
{ihnp4,ucbvax,vax135,seismo}!ulysses!heh
(201)582-4834
------------------------------
End of SUN-Spots Digest
***********************