Sun-Spots Digest, v6n30

William LeFebvre Sun-Spots-Request at RICE.EDU
Fri Mar 18 02:10:53 AEST 1988


SUN-SPOTS DIGEST         Wednesday, 16 March 1988      Volume 6 : Issue 30

Today's Topics:
                        Re: problem with "pr_load"
                          Hardware flow control
                      Problems with Sun FPA hardware
              Problems rewinding a cartridge tape on a SUN-3
                       Mysterious Ethernet problems
                    Need advice on a SUN Configuration
                      Need TCP / UDP utility sources
                        Adding a cgtwo to a 3/75M?
                          Third party keyboards?
                               HPTermtool?
         Experience with Tektronix 4693D, Parallax Graphics Proc?
                             colored buttons

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 2 Mar 88 08:18:50 EST
From:    Chuck Musciano <chuck at trantor.harris-atd.com>
Subject: Re: problem with "pr_load"
Reference: v6n22

The mistake you made is that you did not allocate the map vectors in the
colormap before calling pr_load().  The Sun Pixrect Manual says (on page
46, under "Read Colormap from Raster File") that "the caller is
responsible for looking at the raster file header and setting up an
appropriate colormap struct before calling this routine."  Although you
are not calling this routine directly, pr_load() is.  You simply need to do

	colormap.map[0] = (unsigned char *) malloc(256);
	colormap.map[1] = (unsigned char *) malloc(256);
	colormap.map[2] = (unsigned char *) malloc(256);

This makes space for the colormap entries read in by pr_load().  You
should also set colormap.type to RMT_EQUAL_RBG, and colormap.length to
256.  Note that the colormap length is dependent upon the image depth, and
is really (1 << depth).

Chuck Musciano
Advanced Technology Department
Harris Corporation
(305) 727-6131
ARPA: chuck at trantor.harris-atd.com

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 2 Mar 88 15:26:02 GMT
From:    Steve Platt <steve at mrc-applied-psychology.cambridge.ac.uk>
Subject: Hardware flow control

All MTI lines have this, there's no problem.

If the port is a CPU serial port, SUN UK consulting services have a
"product" which provides CTS control of o/p ... so you could ask your
local tech-support in case they have it too!

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 2 Mar 88 10:32:14 PST
From:    calius at composite.stanford.edu (Emilio Calius)
Subject: Problems with Sun FPA hardware

This is a request for assistance.

The FPA in our Sun-3/160 has stopped working. When we boot the system, it
calls /usr/etc/fpa/fpa_download as part of /etc/rc.local, which decides
that there is a hardware problem and leaves the FPA offline.

We can't find anything on /usr/etc/fpa/fpa_download in Sun's documen-
tation. It produces the following messages in /usr/adm/messages:
(initially)

        fparamtest: pipe is hung
        FPA RAM test fails, FPA is shutdown!

(the last time we booted after a power down)

        fparamtest: nonstable after delay 300 us.
        FPA RAM test fails, FPA is shutdown!

The message seems to indicate that there is a faulty RAM chip on the FPA
board. We'd like to try to replace it, if we could figure out where it is!

Does anybody out there have any documentation or knowledge that would help
us make more sense out of these error messages and/or track down the
possible faulty components?.

Since we do quite a bit of number-crunching, we would really like to fix
this, preferably without paying Sun $900 for a $50 fix (we just got a
surprise budget cut).

Prize for assistance in solving this puzzle is our undying gratitude (you
know what that's worth).

Emilio P. Calius
(415) 723-3524
Structures & Composites Lab -- we make it, you crash [in] it
Aeronautics & Astronautics
Stanford University

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 02 Mar 88 14:21:45 PST
From:    Stuart Cracraft <cracraft at venera.isi.edu>
Subject: Problems rewinding a cartridge tape on a SUN-3

On a SUN-3, of virtually any flavor seemingly, the rewind of a
tape-cartridge causes the entire system to screech to a halt.

Is SUN planning on fixing this? Is it fixed in the SUN-4? How could they
let a bug like this creep out to literally everyone?

Stuart

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 13 Mar 88 14:36:44 +0200
From:    leonid at TAURUS.BITNET
Subject: Mysterious Ethernet problems

We are running release 3.4.2 on a SUN-3/180 server and we are experiencing
a strange problem. First, we get on the console something that looks like
this:

        ie0: WARNING: if_snd full
        ie0: Ethernet jammed
        ie0: lost interrupt: resetting
        ie0: lost interrupt: resetting
        ie0: lost interrupt: resetting
        ...
and thereafter, each packet that the server attempts to transmit causes
the last message to repeat, and nothing goes off the wire.  Packets do get
received in small ammounts, but nothing is transmitted.

I have considered this problem to be hardware related at first, but the
problem appeared on both our servers at different times. I even got this
problem to repeat itself by using "spray -i" between the two servers on a
loaded net, and got BOTH or them stuck as described above.

The only cure seems to be to reboot the system that is stuck, while part
of the net is disconnected, and then reconnect it back again.  If I try to
reboot with all network connected, the problem tends to repeat itself.

NOTE: Our Ethernet consists of one think segment (short) 3 thinwire
segmennts, one ISOLan concentrator (DELNI like) and one ISOLan Multi Port
repeater.

Leonid Rosenboim, System Manager

------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 1 Mar 88 21:55:51 PST
From:    hplabs!hp-sdd!sdsu!polyslo!lchirica at sun.com (Laurian Chirica)
Subject: Need advice on a SUN Configuration

We are looking at breaking the ice and getting our first SUN network.  For
starters we are considering buying 6-3/50's 2-3/60's and a 3/280 (as a
file server).  Looking at prices and discounts it appears that the 3/280
could be replaced by a 4/280 for just a little bit more $$.  The question
is: are we asking for trouble by mixing the SUN3's with the SUN4 server?
Could someone, PLEASE, with experience in running this kind of environment
give some advice?  We are surely aware of the power of the SUN4 as a ten
MIP machine, but how much of that power translates into its function as a
file sever?  How much the code duplication will eat into our disk storage
(we are getting 900MB)?  I read some reports that in a "mixed" (SUN3/4)
netowrk, there are some "I/O retries" on the net due to the SUN3 not
keeping up with the SUN4.  Is this true?  How easy/difficult is to port C
code written for SUN3 to SUN4?  Any other helpful hints you could give us
would be greatly appreciated.  Please forward mail directly to
lchirica at polyslo.UUCP.  TIA,

Laurian M. Chirica  (lchirica at polyslo.UUCP)
Computer Science Department
California Polytechnic State University (CAL POLY)
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 - (805) 756-1332

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 2 Mar 88 23:57:01 PST
From:    tsunami!nswed5!efb at sun.com
Subject: Need TCP / UDP utility sources

Have a project underway developing SYS1131, with AT&T / Motorola's 5.2 /
5.3 system.  Trying to do distrib network between Mot 1131 and Sun_3s.
The common suppliers of 6U VME Bus cards for 5.x UNIX do not provide
handlers for but a very minimum few sockets.  Anxious for pointers to
source for TCP and UDP utility socket code.  Thank you ...

 Everett F. Batey II    - USNSWSES - Port Hueneme,CA  805/982-5881
 sun!tsunami!nswed5!efb - tsunami!nswed5!efb at Sun.COM

------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 1 Mar 88 16:27:47 MST
From:    brentb%newton at boulder.colorado.edu (Brent Browning)
Subject: Adding a cgtwo to a 3/75M?

We have several 3/160C file servers on campus that we now want to convert
to essentially 3/180s by taking out the cgtwo and hanging the color
monitor off other Sun 3s.  The keyboard and mouse will be replaced by a
terminal hanging off ttya as the console.

What I want to know is if it is possible to plug a cgtwo into the spare
slot in a 3/75M.  I spoke briefly with Sun hardware support about this and
they said that the power requirements for the cgtwo might not allow it.

Also I have an older 3/160 hardware installation manual dated Oct 1985
that contains some vital switch and jumper settings that are not
documented in the newer documentation (or so I've been told).   There is a
table on page 52 that explains settings for the cgtwo.  It mentions
jumpers J100, J200, and J1700.  Where are these located on the board?  The
board that I have does not have any jumpers labeled at all.

Brent Browning                 Internet: brentb at boulder.Colorado.EDU
Dept. of Computer Science      UUCP: ...!{hao,nbires}!boulder!brentb
University of Colorado
Boulder, Colorado 80309-0430   Phone: (303) 492-6096

------------------------------

Date:    Tue 1 Mar 88 16:10:11-PST
From:    Doug Bryan <Bryan at sierra.stanford.edu>
Subject: Third party keyboards?

We have a bunch of Sun-3's (110s, 140s, and 60s).  The keyboards are
wearing out at an alarming rate; keys stick, the space bar breaks, etc...

Does anyone know if there is a 3rd party vendor who makes compatible
keyboards?

doug

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 02 Mar 88 15:51:21 -0500
From:    gfoster at vax.darpa.mil
Subject: HPTermtool?

Has anyone out there seen or heard of a program that that creates a
Sunview window and emulates an HP terminal in the window?  I have heard
that Sun has used HP minis in the past for their MIS stuff, perhaps
someone out there hacked up a terminal emulation?

Since this is probably not of general interest, please reply by mail and I
will summarize if responses warrent it.

Thanks in advance,
Glen Foster

------------------------------

Date:    2 Mar 88 15:20:01 GMT
From:    mcvax!cernvax!cui!pun at uunet.uu.net (PUN Thierry)
Subject: Experience with Tektronix 4693D, Parallax Graphics Proc?

Does anyone have experience (directly or indirectly) concerning
 * the thermal transfer color printer Tektronix 4693D 
   (claimed at a full 16.7 million colors);
 * the Parallax Graphics Processor Series 1280, which allows
   display of a live video image in a workstation window.

More particularily, these two devices can be hooked-up to a Sun.  Has
anyone tried it?  Thanks in advance for any reply!!

        Thierry Pun
        Centre Universitaire d'Informatique, University of Geneva
        12, rue du Lac
        CH-1207 Geneva SWITZERLAND          Phone : (22) 87 65 82

        EAN    : pun at cui.unige.ch
        UUCP   : seismo!mcvax!cernvax!cui!pun
        BITNET : pun at cgeuge51

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 29 Feb 88 14:11:10 EST
From:    sunrock!keene!dick at sun.com (Dick Keene - Tech Support - Rochester)
Subject: colored buttons

Here is the code to get coloured buttons in SunView.  Actualy what this
does is "tint" any pixrect and is used with the panel_button_image() call
to make colored buttons.

[[ This program is almost short enough (3500 bytes) to include in a
digest.  So why not?  For those who are not interested in the program:
this is the last article in the digest.  --wnl ]]

/* This program does colored buttons in a panel */
/* Richard Keene, SUN Microsystems, Rochester N.Y. office */
/* compiled with: */
/* cc -g colored_buttons.c -lsuntool -lsunwindow -lpixrect -o colored_buttons */

#include<stdio.h>
#include<pixrect/pixrect_hs.h>
#include<suntool/sunview.h>
#include<suntool/panel.h>

#define NUM_COLORS 8

Frame base_frame;
Pixwin *base_frame_pw;

Panel panel;
Pixwin *panel_pw;
Panel_item normal_button,
	   red_button,
	   green_button,
	   blue_button,
	   yellow_button,
	   turquoise_button,
	   purple_button,
	   quit_button;

int color_array_set = 0; /* flag to show the array is initialized */
unsigned char red[NUM_COLORS],green[NUM_COLORS],blue[NUM_COLORS];

set_colormap()
  {

  if(color_array_set)
  	return;

  /* white background */
  red[0] = 0;
  green[0] = 0;
  blue[0] = 0;

  /* red */
  red[1] = 255;
  green[1] = 0;
  blue[1] = 0;

  /* green */
  red[2] = 0;
  green[2] = 255;
  blue[2] = 0;

  /* blue */
  red[3] = 0;
  green[3] = 0;
  blue[3] = 255;

  /* yellow */
  red[4] = 255;
  green[4] = 255;
  blue[4] = 0;

  /* turquoise sic? */
  red[5] = 0;
  green[5] = 255;
  blue[5] = 255;

  /* magenta (purple) */
  red[6] = 255;
  green[6] = 0;
  blue[6] = 255;

  /* black foreground */
  red[7] = 255;
  green[7] = 255;
  blue[7] = 255;

  color_array_set = 1;
  }

set_pw_map(pw)
  Pixwin *pw;
  {

  set_colormap();
  pw_setcmsname(pw,"buttonmap");
  pw_putcolormap(pw,0,NUM_COLORS,red,green,blue);
  }

/* This is the routine that returns the colored button image */
struct pixrect *color_button(pr,color)
  struct pixrect *pr;
  int color;
  {
  struct pixrect *color_pr;

  if(pr == NULL)
  	return(NULL);

  /* make new pixrect */
  color_pr = mem_create(pr->pr_size.x, pr->pr_size.y, 8);

  /* copy pr to color_pr with color added */
  pr_rop(color_pr, 0, 0, pr->pr_size.x, pr->pr_size.y,
  	PIX_SRC | PIX_COLOR(color),
  	pr,0,0);

  return(color_pr);
  }

quit_proc()
  {
  exit(0);
  } 

main(argc,argv)
  int argc;
  char *argv[];
  {

  /* make frame and set map */
  base_frame = window_create(NULL,FRAME,
  	FRAME_LABEL, "Colored Buttons Demo",
  	0);
  /* base_frame_pw = (Pixwin *)window_get(base_frame, WIN_PIXWIN);
  set_pw_map(base_frame_pw); */

  /* make panel and set map */
  panel = window_create(base_frame, PANEL, 0);
  panel_pw = (Pixwin *)window_get(panel, WIN_PIXWIN);
  set_pw_map(panel_pw);

  /* make buttons */
  /* Note: none of these (except quit) have PANEL_NOTIFY_PROC lines */
  /* Usualy they would. */
  /* a normal button create (just like in the manuals) */
  normal_button = panel_create_item(panel, PANEL_BUTTON,
  	PANEL_LABEL_IMAGE, panel_button_image(panel,"Normal",0,0),
  	0);

  red_button = panel_create_item(panel, PANEL_BUTTON,
  	PANEL_LABEL_IMAGE, 
  		color_button(panel_button_image(panel,"Red",0,0),1),
  	0);

  green_button = panel_create_item(panel, PANEL_BUTTON,
  	PANEL_LABEL_IMAGE, 
  		color_button(panel_button_image(panel,"Green",0,0),2),
  	0);

  blue_button = panel_create_item(panel, PANEL_BUTTON,
  	PANEL_LABEL_IMAGE, 
  		color_button(panel_button_image(panel,"Blue",0,0),3),
  	0);

  yellow_button = panel_create_item(panel, PANEL_BUTTON,
  	PANEL_LABEL_IMAGE, 
  		color_button(panel_button_image(panel,"Yellow",0,0),4),
  	0);

  turquoise_button = panel_create_item(panel, PANEL_BUTTON,
  	PANEL_LABEL_IMAGE, 
  		color_button(panel_button_image(panel,"Turquoise",0,0),5),
  	0);

  purple_button = panel_create_item(panel, PANEL_BUTTON,
  	PANEL_LABEL_IMAGE, 
  		color_button(panel_button_image(panel,"Purple",0,0),6),
  	0);

  quit_button = panel_create_item(panel, PANEL_BUTTON,
  	PANEL_LABEL_IMAGE, panel_button_image(panel,"Quit",0,0),
  	PANEL_NOTIFY_PROC, quit_proc,
  	0);

  window_main_loop(base_frame);
  }

------------------------------

End of SUN-Spots Digest
***********************



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