Sun-Spots-Request@RICE.EDU (Vicky Riffle) (06/22/87)
SUN-SPOTS DIGEST Monday, 22 June 1987 Volume 5 : Issue 19
Today's Topics:
RE: Sun 3/50 hardware problems and Franz Lisp
``Sun Builds PCs; Eyes IBM Deal''
Update on IPC problems
problem with SunWindow Icons?
I/O in ttysubwindow?
Dynamic SunView objects generation?
Help me with SunCore problem!
Fujitsu M2344 Disk?
SunCore 3d transformations
SunCore 3d transformations?
3/160 disk errors?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed 10 Jun 87 06:19:27-PDT
From: MORAN@warbucks.ai.sri.com (Doug Moran)
Subject: RE: Sun 3/50 hardware problems and Franz Lisp
This is a second-hand report of a possible fix to a problem reported in
SUN-SPOTS DIGEST v5n8 (16 April 1987),
> I just finished talking to Alan Kostinsky from Sun Microsystems about the
> problem many franz users have discovered running lisp on 3/50 clients.
> The problem was that between one third to one half of the time, lisp will
> get a memory error. ...
> I found out that Sun has recently diagnosed this hardware problem with the
> 3/50. They didn't say when the fix would be out, but I've been told this
> problem is being given a high priority.
>
> Charley Cox
Some Franz users that I know had a 3/50 on which Franz would fail
during loading and one on which they had no problems. Their Sun
engineer pulled the boards from the two machines and started comparing
them. The only difference that he found was that the one on which
Franz ran had the MC68881 floating-point co-processor chip and the
other didn't. The one without the 68881 had a socket for the chip, so
he moved the chip from one board to the other, and, lo and behold,
Franz now ran on the 3/50 on which it previously failed.
They are getting their board upgraded to include the MC68881 (contrary
to the statement in Sun's price list that the MC68881 option "must be
ordered at the time of initial 3/50M system purchase").
Disclaimer: I am not a Franz user nor do I have a 3/50, so I cannot
independently confirm the above diagnosis.
Doug Moran
Cambridge (UK) Computer Science Research Center
SRI International
moran@sri.COM
------------------------------
Date: 2 Jun 87 10:25:23 PDT
From: elroy!minnie!ihm@seismo.css.gov (Ian Merritt)
Subject: ``Sun Builds PCs; Eyes IBM Deal''
[from Computer Systems News]
Develops Line Of Technical PCs With DOS, Unix
By Rick Whiting
BILLERICA, MASS. - Sun Microsystems Inc. is developing a line of
microcomputers at its facility here in a bid to become a contender in
the technical personal computer market.
The new systems will be able to run both Unix and MS-DOS, according
to a Sun source. The computers may not use Motorola Inc.'s 68020
chip, as have previous Sun offerings. Instead, Sun is reportedly
considering Intel Corp's 80386. [...]
I think I have just lost my respect for Sun Microsystems.
--i
------
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------------------------------
Date:Tue, 2 Jun 87 19:13:36 PDT
From: HUDGENS%FSU.MFENET@nmfecc.arpa
Subject: Update on IPC problems
> We are using a Sun3/280 with an IPC board installed. When running
> pctool remotely, sometimes large blocks of the screen are not displayed
> and remain blank.
Sun advised us to replace the CPU board (on the 280) and that fixed the
problem. Amazing how much better it works. Our initial impression of the
product was extremely negative. That has changed quite a bit since it has
been fixed. Thanks to the service reps. at Sun.
------------------------------
Date: 11 Jun 87 18:21:16 GMT
From: stc-auts!kak@seismo.css.gov (Kris Kugel)
Subject: problem with SunWindow Icons?
I was trying to set up a blinking Icon for an application we are working on
here. I set it up using the notifier to call a routine which changes the
icon associated with the frame using window_set. What happens is that after
running for a while, the process eventually dies with a segmentation
violation (SIG 11), after a time interval which varys from process to process.
My biggest problem in tracking down the bug is that it occurs in
_tool_copy_attr, about four layers down from the last routine I have in the
stack, and I don't have source for the library (that I know about, anyway).
Any suggestions on how to track this bug down? Has anyone done something
like this that they could tell me about?
Thanx in Advance,
Kris Kugel, Storage Technology Corporation
{hao,nbires,ihnp4}!stcvax!stc-aut!kak
{hao,nbires,wldrdg}!hicntry!kak
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 87 14:22 EDT
From: <SAITO%sdr.slb.com@relay.cs.net> (Naoki Saito)
Subject: I/O in ttysubwindow?
Hello! I'm making my own tool based on SunView including a ttysub-
window and canvas etc. I want all I/O to pass through this ttysubwindow, not
the shelltool from which usually this tool is executed. In other words, I
would like to connect stdin/stdout to this ttysubwindow in my tool.
There's an example so called "typein" in the SunView Programmers Guide
where a ttysubwindow reads keyboard inputs, prints out something, and draws
vectors in a canvas from these inputs. But unfortunately, in this example,
the ttysubwindow is dedicated only for these special inputs/outputs, and it
does not interpret shell commands anymore.
Can anyone show me how to do this? Maybe, I have to use dup2, but I'm
not sure. I would really appreciate your suggestion and advice!
Regards,
Naoki Saito (Schlumberger-Doll Research)
saito%slb-test.csnet
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 87 13:42:47
From: nancy%WISDOM.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu (Alex Polyak)
Subject: Dynamic SunView objects generation?
We are implementing SunView application that M U S T dynamicly create
windows ( Frames ) and Subwindows ( Panels, Canvases, Text W ...).
I didn't find any useful info on the subject in SunView manuals.
All examples I saw, so far, are defining all windows and subwindows
that they intend to use, before calling window_main_loop() to
start themselves.
So, the question is:
Is it possible to create SunView subwindows and windows dynamicly ?
And if the answer is YES, how this may be implemented.
Please mail me personally and I will post the summary ( If there will be
enough interest of course ).
Thank you.
Thank You
Alex Polyak
E-mail: ihnp4!talcott!WISDOM!nancy
uucp: ihnp4!talcott!WISDOM!nancy
ARPA: nancy%wisdom.bitnet@wiscvm.wisc.edu
BITNET: nancy@wisdom
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 03 Jun 87 13:48:54
From: JMC%NOCMI.bitnet@berkeley.edu (Jeremy Cook)
Subject: Help me with SunCore problem!
I've been struggling through the documentation recently to try and get
SunCore to work within SunView windows. So far I've achieved some success
and am able to draw SunCore graphics within a canvas. My problem now is to
try and open two view surfaces in two user specified canvasses. The code
which doesn't work is something like this :
/* Set WINDOW_GFX to be the canvas device */
we_setgfxwindow((char *)window_get( canvas1, WIN_DEVICE_NAME ));
if (initialize_view_surface( &vwsurf1, FALSE)) exit(1);
if (select_view_surface( &vwsurf1 )) exit(1);
:
:
:
/* more code to draw on view surface */
/* Set WINDOW_GFX to be the canvas device */
we_setgfxwindow((char *)window_get( canvas2, WIN_DEVICE_NAME ));
if (initialize_view_surface( &vwsurf2, FALSE)) exit(1);
if (select_view_surface( &vwsurf2 )) exit(1);
:
:
:
/* more code to draw on view surface */
The shell variable WINDOW_GFX is allocated to the correct device in each
case. The first initialisation initialises SunCore in canvas1 as expected
but the second time round SunCore thinks that im re-using the same
WINDOW_GFX device (even though it's changed) and won't initialise a surface
in canvas2. Instead it opens up a new view_surface tool. If I was using the
same canvas each time, this is behaving as described in appendix B of the
SunCore reference manual . As the device name referred to in WINDOW_GFX has
changed between initialisations I consider this to be a bug. Has anyone
else encountered the same problem and is there any workaround/fix. I really
don't want to use the view_surface tool, I'd much rather run in my own
windows.
I would greatly appreciate any feedback, both positive and negative.
Thanks -- Jeremy Cook (JMC@NOCMI.BITNET)
Acknowledge-To: <JMC@NOCMI>
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 87 19:32:41
From: leonid%virgo%TAURUS.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu (Leonid Rosenboim)
Subject: Fujitsu M2344 Disk?
Has anyone of you had any experience with the new Fujitsu M2344 8" drive
which is 575MB formatted capacity and a price of about 30% lower than the
M2361 Super-Eagle. I would like to hear about those disks on SUN or any
other computer. Please reply to me directly and I will summerize them for
the list.
Leonid Rosenboim, Math, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
BITNET: LEONID@TAURUS
Internet: Leonid%Taurus.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Leonid@Taurus.TAU.AC.IL
UUCP: ...!mcvax!humus!taurus!leonid
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 87 11:20:26 EDT
From: kml%beach.cis.ufl.edu@relay.cs.net (Kevin Lahey)
Subject: SunCore 3d transformations
I hope you will excuse me if this has been brought up before,
as I am new to this news group.
I am trying to write a simple flight simulator, similar to the one
supplied in /usr/demo/gp1/flight*. As we do not have the Graphics
Processor, I am trying to use SunCore, with limited sucess. I am trying
to draw a simple grid and transform it to simulate "flying" across the
surface. It will rotate fine, and translate on the X and Y axis, but
fails to move relative to the Z axis; i.e., I cannot fly across the
surface.
As I am rather stumped at this point, I would really appreciate any
sample SunCore programs that do this sort of manipulation of 3d images.
I imagine I have just managed to miss some of the fine print in the
manual, and have set up something wrong.
Thanks,
Kevin
Kevin Lahey
University of Florida, CIS Department
ARPAnet:kml@beach.cis.ufl.edu
Running on a Sun 3/280 with Sun UNIX 4.2 Release 3.2
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 87 19:51:03 EDT
From: kml%beach.cis.ufl.edu@relay.cs.net (Kevin Lahey)
Subject: SunCore 3d transformations?
I hope you will excuse me if this has been brought up before,
as I am new to this news group.
I am trying to write a simple flight simulator, similar to the one
supplied in /usr/demo/gp1/flight*. As we do not have the Graphics
Processor, I am trying to use SunCore, with limited sucess. I am trying
to draw a simple grid and transform it to simulate "flying" across the
surface. It will rotate fine, and translate on the X and Y axis, but
fails to move relative to the Z axis; when I translate it, it does not
move.
I am using the set_image_segment_transformation_3() to try to modify a
retained segment which is essentially just a grid with ten lines per
direction. This grid extends from 0.0 to 1.0 along the X and Z axis.
When I modify the X and Y axis, the picture changes. When I modified
the Z axis, it did not.
Am I making some fundamental mistake about the nature of SunCore? Is it
incapable of displaying an object, then letting me "fly" over and around
and into the object? Am I missing some vital point in the manual? If
this is impossible to do in SunCore, can anyone suggest an alternate
graphics library (I'd rather not have to write a graphics library in my
not-so-copious free time)? Has someone already written a wonderful
flight simulator without the graphics processor?
Thanks again,
Kevin
Kevin Lahey
University of Florida
kml@beach.cis.ufl.edu
Running on a Sun 3/280 with Sun UNIX 4.2 Release 3.2
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 87 09:00:14 EDT
From: pwha@kirk.cc.rochester.edu (Bill Haake)
Subject: 3/160 disk errors?
We have been having some problems with our Sun 3/160. We get the
the following error messages at the rate of about 2 or 3 per day.
These are examples only, the error can occur on any partition
and it can be either a read or write reset.
xy0g: read reset (lost interrupt) -- blk #266528, abs blk #336448
xy0h: write reset (lost interrupt) -- blk #207452, abs blk #718052
The only noticeable effect of these errors is a lag of about 1-2 seconds
during which disk access does not occur. The system configuration:
Slot Board
1 Sun 3/160, 4 Meg
2 Color Console
3 FPA
4
5
6
7 SCSI Tape
8 1/2" Tape
9 Xylogics 450 and Fujitsu Eagle 2351
10 Graphics Processor
11 Graphics Buffer
12
The machine is configured as a standalone workstation running SunOS 3.2.
Does anyone know what causes these errors? Any help would be greatly
appreciated. Thanks.
Bill Haake
University of Rochester Computing Center
INTERNET: pwha@kirk.cc.rochester.edu (128.151.224.3)
UUCP: ...{seismo|allegra|decvax}!rochester!ur-tut!pwha
PHONE: (716) 275 2811
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