Sun-Spots Digest, v6n139
William LeFebvre
Sun-Spots-Request at RICE.EDU
Fri Jul 15 03:03:05 AEST 1988
SUN-SPOTS DIGEST Wednesday, 13 July 1988 Volume 6 : Issue 139
Today's Topics:
Re: Error messages not appearing in console window on client
Re: Problems with Apple Laser-writer and Sun
Re: 4.0 vs kill -HUP 1
Re: Sun losing track of console
Re: Resolver based gethostby* in 4.0 (2)
vxWorks and dbxtool
4.0 vs kill -HUP 1
SunOS 4.0 on Sun2's
Problems with CDC EMD (368M) drives
Anyone have driver for Xylogics 772?
missed optimization?
Using a BITNET host as a gateway?
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 07:45:22 EDT
From: Chuck Musciano <chuck at trantor.harris-atd.com>
Subject: Re: Error messages not appearing in console window on client
> Under suntools ... error messages ... which should
> appear in the console window simply do not. Instead they appear
> splattered across the console as if no console window has been opened.
> Any ideas what might be wrong here?
Sounds like you might be creating a console window, then ANOTHER console
window (which steals the console attribute from the first window), and
then killing the second console window, leaving no console window.
Although the first console window is still around, it is no longer
attached to the console, and the messages just spill to the screen. You
may want to try "contool" (available from the archive server) which does
not prevent this problem, but does make it clearer that there is exactly
one console window which is not used for any other functions.
Chuck Musciano
Advanced Technology Department
Harris Corporation
(407) 727-6131
ARPA: chuck at trantor.harris-atd.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 07:58:51 EDT
From: Chuck Musciano <chuck at trantor.harris-atd.com>
Subject: Re: Problems with Apple Laser-writer and Sun
> The laser-writer randomly produces a test page, like the ones that are
> spit out when you first turn the sucker on.
I have never seen this happen. That page only comes out when we power
cycle the printer.
> We are also use Valid Logic Systems software, and I know that that can
> really screw up the laser-writer, because they didn't implement their
> postscript drivers properly. (Hear that, Valid?????)
Aha! We use "real" software, the TranScript driver from Sun. I believe
you have found the bug. No offense, but I am surprised by the number of
people who buy a LaserWriter (usually from Apple) but decline to get the
drivers from Sun, and then wonder why they can't get the printer to do
everything it's supposed to. We have several groups here at Harris who
have LaserWriters, and they have hacked up drivers to support "line
printer" mode for their LW. Thus, they lose troff, TeX, Frame Maker,
capability. Spend the money, get the right stuff, and use the device as
it was intended. Penny-wise and pound-foolish never wins.
Chuck Musciano
Advanced Technology Department
Harris Corporation
(407) 727-6131
ARPA: chuck at trantor.harris-atd.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 08:22:46 EDT
From: reg%lti.UUCP at bu-it.bu.edu (Rick Genter x18)
Subject: Re: 4.0 vs kill -HUP 1
Reference: v6n124
Careful here; changing speeds on a line and doing kill -HUP 1 has caused a
new getty to appear on that line for a long time (possibly dating back to
4.1 BSD). In fact, I don't think it is just changing speeds; if the line
is in any "significantly different" mode other than how getty likes it,
init will start a new getty, or at least it used to. I used to run into
this problem all the time if I had a terminal running an application in
CBREAK or RAW mode and someone did a kill -HUP 1. I believe the
CBREAK/RAW problem was fixed; line speed was not, however.
- reg
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 03:39:56 EDT
From: budd at bu-it.bu.edu
Subject: Re: Sun losing track of console
Phase-Of-Moon: LQ-0D,22H,0M,57S
strings of /etc/init and the sources only come up with /dev/console.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 12:31:47 EDT
From: Root Boy Jim <rbj at cmr.icst.nbs.gov>
Subject: Re: Resolver based gethostby* in 4.0 (1)
? From: libes at cme-durer.arpa (Don Libes)
? I mentioned previously that upon request Sun will give you a new sendmail
? (with MX), new yp, and appropriate libraries all using the resolver.
? ...
? The only drawback of all this is that if you don't run yp, this isn't a
? solution for you.
I agree with everything Don said except for the last sentence. The
nameserver kit also includes `nslookup' a program that translates host
names to internet addresses, among other things. One merely needs to use
nslookup to do this translation and then telnet or ftp to the appropriate
internet address directly. Unfortunately, this leaves out rlogin, rcp, and
rsh, since they use the host tables. But it would seem possible to add any
`invisible' hosts to ones localhosts file.
? Don Libes cme-durer.arpa ...!uunet!cme-durer!libes
(Root Boy) Jim Cottrell <rbj at icst-cmr.arpa>
National Bureau of Standards
Flamer's Hotline: (301) 975-5688
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 12:39:34 EDT
From: Root Boy Jim <rbj at cmr.icst.nbs.gov>
Subject: Re: Resolver based gethostby* in 4.0 (2)
Reference: v6n108
? From: franz!frisky!jkf at ucbarpa.berkeley.edu (John Foderaro)
? Beware, the 'struct hostent' (netdb.h) structure has changed form in 4.0.
? The last field is now points to a vector of addresses, not just one
? address....
Not only that, but the format of addresses that are returned is different.
The old addresses were returned in printable form, i.e. `129.6.48.63',
with a length of (in this case) 11, while the new addresses are returned
as the bytes (hex) 81 06 30 3f, with a length of four. Actually, I feel
this latter format is more useful, since it is easier to convert binary to
ascii than verse vica.
? [[ ...As for recompiling
? software: it is always a good idea to recompile as much as you can after
? installing a major system upgrade (such as 3.x to 4.0). What other
? include files might have changed? --wnl ]]
We live in interesting times, don't we? :-)
(Root Boy) Jim Cottrell <rbj at icst-cmr.arpa>
National Bureau of Standards
Flamer's Hotline: (301) 975-5688
------------------------------
Date: 5 Jul 88 15:27:52 CDT (Tue)
From: texsun!killer!linimon at sun.com (Mark Linimon)
Subject: vxWorks and dbxtool
When you are running vxWorks on your real-time target, and granted that
you compiled your vxWorks board support package for that CPU with the
INCLUDE_DBX flag turned on, then you can use a special version of dbxtool
(or dbx, really if you want), called dbxWorks. Actually you order it from
Sun Consulting as dbxWorks, but it installs on top of your old dbxtool, of
which it is a complete superset.
two commands are added:
vxdebug <vxhost> [ <function> [<kernel>]]
which reloads and restarts dbx in vxWorks debugging mode;
vxload <objfile>
which loads the specified file into vxWorks, updated the on-board
symbol table as it goes.
Some of the other commands change a little bit.
Since I do very little application work I don't use it much myself, but
customers go slackjawed when they see demos. I guess that after seeing
how solid vxWorks is I just expected it to work :-).
BTW, you need either vxWorks 3.21 or 4.0 (the latter currently "just
out"), the support in 3.20 was too rough.
I claim to be totally biased both in favor of VxWorks and Mizar. So be it.
Mark Linimon
Mizar Digital Systems
sun!convex!mizarvme!linimon
killer!linimon ;guest account
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 12:47:08 EDT
From: Root Boy Jim <rbj at cmr.icst.nbs.gov>
Subject: 4.0 vs kill -HUP 1
? From: Jean-Francois Lamy <lamy at ai.toronto.edu>
? ...
? Repeat-by: edit /etc/ttytab, change your terminal entry to some other
? speed and kill -HUP 1. You should get kicked out.
That's right, you should. Your two statements are inconsistent. What
happens if you change nothing? RTFM! Any change should kick you off.
As to what is desirable, it is arguable that logged in users should never
be kicked off, that init should merely remember the change for the next
getty, but that's how init works, and always has.
(Root Boy) Jim Cottrell <rbj at icst-cmr.arpa>
National Bureau of Standards
Flamer's Hotline: (301) 975-5688
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 10:07:42 PDT
From: stevo at jane.jpl.nasa.gov (Steve Groom)
Subject: SunOS 4.0 on Sun2's
We too have had great difficulty in getting SunOS 4.0 to run on 'elroy,' a
Sun 2/170 with the old ('non-prime') CPU board. It seems that there is a
bug in the *kernel* (not the hardware) that when reading some bus-related
register neglects to mask out some unwanted bits. These bits, when seen
as set, make the kernel very unhappy. The problem is identifiable as a
bus error when trying to boot either MUNIX or the miniroot like the one
given as an example by nosun!cvedc!opus!markh at sun.com (Mark Holm):
dump on ns0b fstype spec
:
trap address 0x8,pid 1,pc=470e,sr=2004,stkfmt 8,context 0
Bus Error Reg98<VALID,PROTERR>
access .... (ommitted for brevity)
traceback ... (ditto)
End traceback
Panic: Bus error
The problem is that the 701 jumper on the CPU board controls a bit in the
register, and when the jumper is removed, the bit is set and the kernel
gets upset. Installing the jumper turns the bit off, and the kernel is
happy.
My old Sun 2/170 manual (dated March 1984 - yes it's an oldie, but so is
elroy) says that this jumper controls how the CPU handles the Multibus
CBRQ/ line. If all devices on the Multibus support CBRQ/ correctly, the
jumper does not need to be installed. If not, it must be installed so
devices that don't support CBRQ/ can get the bus. When it is installed,
the CPU gives up the Multibus after every bus cycle. This configuration
also causes three additional wait states for every Multibus access.
Go ahead, read those last two sentences again. I didn't believe them
either, but that's what the manual says. We didn't have the jumper in
before (we didn't need it), but we have to have it in now, or nothing will
run.
Elroy has been running fine for more than 4 1/2 years, with only minor
problems with peripherals, but not with the CPU. It is slow compared to
the Sun3's and 4's that we now have, but when I came to work here in 1986
it was our group's only system and supported 15 (or so) users. For the
past year and a half it has bee devoted mostly to news/mail/networking,
not interactive use, but performance was still OK.
Elroy's performance under 4.0 is abysmal. It is running VEEERRRYYYY
SLLLLOOOOOOWWWWLLLLYYYY since the upgrade. We have at present two
theories about why. The first is the jumper problem, over which we have
no control, and can only wait for a fix from Sun.
The second possibility is that elroy just doesn't have enough memory to
run 4.0 comfortably. Elroy has the 4MB that Sun says is a minimum, but we
see *a lot* of paging and swapping activity that wasn't there under 3.4.
We have plans to borrow some memory and maybe a CPU from a neighbor and
try this out. However this could pose even more problems for us, because
our older version of the CPU (or maybe it's the PROMs?) has fairly low
upper limit on the amount of memory it supports, something like 6MB.
Then again, the increased paging and swapping might not be so much of a
problem if we didn't have to pay such a high (newly added) penalty for
using the Multibus!
COME ON SUN! FIX THE STUPID KERNEL! I DON'T WANT THAT JUMPER IN!
-steve
/* Steve Groom, MS 168-522, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA 91109
* Internet: stevo at elroy.jpl.nasa.gov UUCP: {ames,cit-vax}!elroy!stevo
* Disclaimer: (thick German accent) "I know noothingg! Noothingg!"
*/
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 13:08:44 EDT
From: Root Boy Jim <rbj at cmr.icst.nbs.gov>
Subject: Problems with CDC EMD (368M) drives
We have a bit different configuration(s). We have an early 3/160, with an
XY450 and an Eagle, and it works fine. We are running with 46 sectors per
track, using no slipping. We have a newer 3/180 with an XY451, also with
an Eagle (both eagles are the small ones, 2351's), using 47 sectors per
track, with slipping enabled.
Some time ago, the latter system started flaking out, with random errors.
We found that the 451 we had was not up to the current rev. I forget the
exact numbers (and I'm not going to shut down the system and pull the
board just for you :-), but you should call Xylogics and ask them exactly
what you need. I will hazard a guess that our version says Rev F2, and
another tag says something like 451009. The 451 is obvious, and the `9'
represents the specific mod that Xylogics made so that the controller
would handle less than 600 bytes per sector (I think it works out to 594
with 47 sectors).
In short, I was a little miffed that Sun sold us a configuration that
really wouldn't do the job. I felt we should have had the board replaced
for free. Fortunately, the repair took two days to diagnose, so we got the
seven day rate rather than the one day rate. I also talked the FE into not
charging us for the kluge board, just the controller, so that the total
bill was something like $1500. Your tax dollars at work.
? Andy Wilcox (ajw at beach.cis.ufl.edu):
? If anybody has this drive working, I'd love to hear from you.
Good luck, and let us all know what happens. It is possible that if you
run the drive without slipping, that the problems will go away. Let us all
know how you make out. Both machines were running 3.4 at the time,, and
now run 3.5 with no problems.
(Root Boy) Jim Cottrell <rbj at icst-cmr.arpa>
National Bureau of Standards
Flamer's Hotline: (301) 975-5688
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 06 Jul 88 09:47:21 -0400
From: erc <@vb.cc.cmu.edu, at GOLD.SCRIBE.COM:erc at astatine>
Subject: Anyone have driver for Xylogics 772?
Has anyone out there written a driver for the Xylogics 772 tape
controller? I am currently using SunOS 3.5 on a Sun 3.
- Eric Crane
Scribe Systems
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 06 Jul 88 05:24:12 -0400
From: Ken Yap <ken at cs.rochester.edu>
Subject: missed optimization?
On my Sun 3/50, running SunOS 3.4, I compiled a short C program to
assembly, with and without -O. The program is not important. Without -O
the generated prologue for a function was:
link a6,#0
addl #-LF39,sp
With -O, this became:
link a6,#-24
(LF39 =24, the size of the local frame.) My question is, why didn't the
compiler generate:
link a6,#-LF39
right away, even without -O? Surely it doesn't take lookahead to collapse
the link and the allocate instructions, since the assembler is taking care
for the forward reference?
Ken
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 17:59 U
From: <VIJAY at ITIVAX.BITNET>
Subject: Using a BITNET host as a gateway?
I have had previous success in soliciting help from Sunspotters about
e-mail problems so here goes another try...
My Suns sit on a LAN on which is a Vax that is our Bitnet node. We have
Wollongong's TCP/IP package, Gmail and Jnet software on the Vax. We are
able to exchange mail between the Suns and the Vax via the TCP mailers on
each side. Now for the interesting bit - how can I arrange things so that
I can use the Vax as a gateway to the wide world? No one here has any idea
how we might be able to do this. I am optimistic because I am sure that
others have faced and licked this particular dragon :-)
Please save me from having to log on to this yuk Vax every time I want to
talk to the world. ADVdankeANCE.
------------------------------
End of SUN-Spots Digest
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