jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau) (07/10/89)
I puttered around with my friend's Miniscribe 6053 and Minix 1.3 and I found
this nice problem in giving the /usr file system a 20 Mb partition. mkfs
coughs on file systems > 10000 blocks. It will not create them. Do I have to
use a prototype file or what? I removed /dev/hd[0-4] to make sure I had block
special files with infinite sizes and no dice...mkfs coughed again. I went
snooping around mkfs.c for something like...
#define NR_BLOCKS
I found N_BLOCKS, and that's set to 32000. So mkfs is written (I assume) to
handle file systems up to 32000 blocks (or zones). The partition table isn't
big enough to handle several 10 Mb file systems, especially if you have a big
drive such as an ST4096 and you want to give Minix 40 Mb for /usr or something
like that with your huge hard drive.
40 Mb hard drives are becoming cheaper all the time...if there are any patches
out there to make the file system utilities work with huge file systems and
building file systems at a relative sector > 65535 I would like to hear from
you. One of the reasons I have taken it upon myself to install Minix on my
friend's Miniscribe 6053 is because of the fact I'm going to be in the market
for a large hard drive (by Minix's standards) soon. Minix (like Unix) is
space, especially for applying patches and recompilation.
And now a bug report...
Minix 1.3 will work with the NCL FD/HD controller providing you don't use
Minix's fdisk. Apparently the NCL controller has a difficult time writing
absolute sectors. My advice to anybody who is looking for a drive controller,
play it safe, get a real Western Digital! Fortunately my friend has a WD
controller and it worked just fine.
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*--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/jds@mimsy.UUCP (James da Silva) (07/10/89)
In article <4594@crash.cts.com> jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau) writes: >I puttered around with my friend's Miniscribe 6053 and Minix 1.3 and I found >this nice problem in giving the /usr file system a 20 Mb partition. mkfs >coughs on file systems > 10000 blocks. It will not create them. Do I have to >use a prototype file or what? John, I've got a Minix filesystem with somewhere above 18000 blocks on the second half of my 40 Meg Miniscribe. I don't recall having any trouble making the filesystem. I did happen to use a prototype. Several of the Minix utilities have the disk geometry hard-coded. I beleive the list is: mkfs, fdisk, and fsck. Check for constants giving the number of heads and number of sectors/track. It's my guess that this is what is biting you. >40 Mb hard drives are becoming cheaper all the time...if there are any patches >out there to make the file system utilities work with huge file systems and >building file systems at a relative sector > 65535 I would like to hear from >you. Are you referring to the trouble that standalone fsck has with filesystems out beyond the 32 meg (64k sectors) mark? Forget about the standalone fsck. You can build fsck to run under Minix, where it doesn't give a hoot about absolute sectors; it just works on the /dev/hdx file. I've modified my tools/Makefile, changing what is currently the `fsck' binary to `fsck.stand', and adding (from memory): fsck: fsck.c cc -o fsck -Di8088 fsck.c So I have both versions around. fsck goes in /bin, and fsck.stand is used to build boot images. You do have to be careful about fsck'ing an active filesystem. I check my 18 Meg /u partition before mounting it. >And now a bug report... > >Minix 1.3 will work with the NCL FD/HD controller providing you don't use >Minix's fdisk. Apparently the NCL controller has a difficult time writing >absolute sectors. Are you sure? Check the constant for the # of heads in fdisk.c. Jaime ........................................................................... : domain: jds@mimsy.umd.edu James da Silva : path: uunet!mimsy!jds
jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau) (07/12/89)
jds@mimsy.UUCP (James da Silva) writes: >John, > >I've got a Minix filesystem with somewhere above 18000 blocks on the second >half of my 40 Meg Miniscribe. I don't recall having any trouble making the >filesystem. I did happen to use a prototype. > >Several of the Minix utilities have the disk geometry hard-coded. I >beleive the list is: mkfs, fdisk, and fsck. Check for constants giving the >number of heads and number of sectors/track. It's my guess that this is >what is biting you. > All file system utilities have been recompiled with the appropriate hard coded disk parameters (only the defines dealing with the numbers of heads is appropriate here). I have triple checked this. So no, this is not what is biting me. >Are you referring to the trouble that standalone fsck has with filesystems >out beyond the 32 meg (64k sectors) mark? Forget about the standalone >fsck. You can build fsck to run under Minix, where it doesn't give a hoot >about absolute sectors; it just works on the /dev/hdx file. I've modified >my tools/Makefile, changing what is currently the `fsck' binary to >`fsck.stand', and adding (from memory): > >fsck: fsck.c > cc -o fsck -Di8088 fsck.c > >So I have both versions around. fsck goes in /bin, and fsck.stand is used >to build boot images. You do have to be careful about fsck'ing an active >filesystem. I check my 18 Meg /u partition before mounting it. > Standalone fsck won't work from the Minix shell prompt because it makes calls to the BIOS. If you're using standalone fsck by mistake, you get interrupt traps left and right. My friend who has the problem system first tried compiling fsck himself and found this out. I compiled it in the manner you described. It works yes, my peeve is with mkfs, not fsck. Mkfs has no parameters hardcoded that I can see other than N_BLOCKS, I will try it with a prototype file next time. I know the i-node limitation is 8192 for the current mkfs. >>And now a bug report... >> >>Minix 1.3 will work with the NCL FD/HD controller providing you don't use >>Minix's fdisk. Apparently the NCL controller has a difficult time writing >>absolute sectors. > >Are you sure? Check the constant for the # of heads in fdisk.c. > Yes, I am absolutely sure because the NCL AT FD/HD controller will NOT do an absolute sector write under Norton Utilities 4.0 and 4.5. If something doesn't run with a very solid MS-DOS utility it sure as hell isn't going to run under Minix. NCL screwed up in designing their AT FD/HD controller. You can, however, edit the partition table under Norton if you do a cluster write. Due to my problems with my OMTI 5520A and DMA, I am almost about ready to throw in the towel on that thing and get a WD controller. Until a smart method such as what is used under SCO Xenix is devised for installing the OS to the hardware configuration, my advice is to ONLY use 100% compatable Western Digital Controllers or real Western Digital Controllers. The latter obviously being the safer bet on compatability. /*--------------------------------------------------------------------------* * Flames: /dev/null (on my Minix partition) *--------------------------------------------------------------------------* * ARPA : crash!pnet01!jca@nosc.mil * INET : jca@pnet01.cts.com * UUCP : {nosc ucsd hplabs!hd-sdd}!crash!pnet01!jca *--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
regisr@well.UUCP (Regis RAMPNOUX) (07/17/89)
With an AMSTRAD and file card PS30 mkfs work fine on partition 1 but
not on partition 2 and 3 !
also cp /dev/fd0 /dev/hd3 don't work ( write error )
--- Regis ----
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Regis - UUCP : {ucbvax,lll-crg,apple,hplabs}!well!regisr
CIS : 74010,141 CALVACOM : rr24
Regis RAMPNOUX 104 boulevard Arago 75014 PARIS FRANCEmml@m-net.ann-arbor.mi.us (Mark Lacey) (07/20/90)
I seem to be having problems upgrading from 1.3 to 1.5.9. I took the patch program in the 1.3 -> 1.5.9 upgrade kit and compiled it successfully. However, when the program runs, the computer locks up (after a few minutes). What is the latest version of Minix out there? I have the 1.3 diskettes from P-H (after 4 months, they finally got there act together), and I would like to patch up to the latest version. Is there an upgrade kit from 1.3 to 1.5.10 (1.6?). Thanks. Please mail replies to: mml@m-net.ann-arbor.mi.us