Linux Frequently Asked Questions 1/4 [monthly posted]
cor...@labri.greco-prog.fr
Last-Modified: 92/11/20
Version: 1.11
*********************************************************
* *
* Answers to Frequently asked questions about Linux *
* *
*********************************************************
This post contains Part 1 of the Linux FAQ (4 parts)
Hi Linuxers!
The original FAQ 1st version was posted on Dec. 19, 1991 by Robert Blum.
Most credits of this work to Linus, Robert and Ted. The first X11
section was written by Peter Hawkins, the rest was either on the list
posted by many (real) activists, not me ;-), either in some other news
groups, or else by direct posting to me (thanks Humberto, Dan,
Michael, Drew, Audoin). I haven't systematically copyrighted them, so
thanks to every one who participated even indirectly to this FAQ.
Since September 1992, the FAQ is co-written by:
WHO (WHAT) E-MAIL
=============================================================================
Lars Wirzenius (META-FAQ) wirz...@cc.helsinki.fi
Mark Komarinski (DOS) koma...@craft.camp.clarkson.edu
Matt Welsh (GENERAL INFO) m...@tc.cornell.edu
A. V. Le Blanc (MCC, DOS) LeB...@mcc.ac.uk
Matt Welsh (INSTALLATION) m...@tc.cornell.edu
Drew Eckhardt (SCSI) headrest.woz.colorado.edu
Hongjiu Lu (GCC) h...@eecs.wsu.edu
Krishna Balasubramanian (X11) bal...@cis.ohio-state.edu
Jim Gifford (SERIAL) jgifford@{attmail,world.std}.com
Zane Healy (BBS INFO) hea...@holonet.net
Philip Copeland (NET INFO) p_co...@csd.bristol-poly.ac.uk
Rick Miller (DEVICE INFO) ri...@ee.uwm.edu
Peter MacDonald (SLS INFO) pmac...@sanjuan.uvic.ca
Rick Sladkey (EMACS) j...@world.std.com
Dirk Hohndel (PROOF READER) hoh...@informatik.uni-wuerzburg.dbp.de
Marc-Michel Corsini (FAQ collector) corsini@{labri,firmin}.greco-prog.fr
=============================================================================
If anyone is interested in participating with this FAQ, just send me a
note with: your name/e-mail and the section you want to maintain.
Many of the questions could be avoided, if people had read the FAQ of
the following newsgroups: news.announce.newusers, comp.lang.c,
gnu.emacs.help, comp.unix.questions.
[The last-change-date of this posting is always "two minutes ago". :-)]
This is the introduction to a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ
for short) about Linux with answers (Yeap!). This article contains a
listing of the sections, followed by the question/answer part.
This FAQ is supposed to reduce the noise level ;-) in the comp.os.linux
newsgroup, and spare the time of many activists. I will cross-post it each
month to news.answers. This FAQ is NOT an introduction to UNIX, there
are many books for unix, and there is *also* a FAQ for unix (it's the
one of comp.unix.questions which contains things such as "How do I
remove a file named -". I DO NOT WANT TO ADD SUCH THINGS IN THIS FAQ
DEVOTED TO LINUX.
Some books to read:
The C Programming Language: Kernighan & Ritchie.
Unix System Administration Handbook: Nemeth, Snyder & Seebass.
Unix for the Impatient: Abrahams & Larson.
Unix System V Release 4, An Introduction, by Rosen, Rosinski and
Farber; Publisher Osborne MacGraw-Hill.
The X Windows System in a Nutshell: O'Reilly.
.....
BTW This FAQ is available at the main Linux sites in the doc
directory, the addresses are given in section II. of this FAQ. There
is also an automated FAQ mailserver archive at pit-manager.mit.edu.
Send mail to mail-...@pit-manager.mit.edu with the word "help" in
the body.
Please suggest any change, rephrasing, deletions, new questions,
answers ...
Please include "FAQ" in the subject of messages sent to me about FAQ.
Please use li...@numero6.greco-prog.fr whatever will be the From part
of this message. Finally discussion about the FAQ can be done on the
DOC Channel (see section II below).
Thanks in advance,
Marc
Future Plan:
- reorganization of the FAQ. I don't know what will be the
next step of this, may be numbering and subsectionning.
================================8<=====8<==============================
CONTENTS
0. WARNINGS (part1)
I. LINUX GENERAL INFORMATION (part1)
II. LINUX USEFUL ADDRESSES (part1)
III. INSTALLATION and COMMON PROBLEMS (part1)
IV. LINUX and DOS (part2)
V. SOME CLASSICAL PROBLEMS (part2)
VI. MISCELLANEOUS HINTS (part2)
VII. MORE HINTS (part2)
VIII. FEATURES (part3)
IX. GCC MISC INFORMATION (part3)
X. SCSI SPECIAL (part3)
XI. X11, THE MINIMUM and MORE (part4)
XII. NETWORKING and LINUX (part4)
XIII. EMACS dor LINUX (part4)
0. WARNINGS
===========
The FAQ contains a lot of information sometimes I've put it down
in 3 different ways because people seems not to understand what they
read (or what I wrote, you know I'm just a froggy and english is not
my natural language). What I mean is that not all is in the FAQ but
many things are there, so please just take time to read it this will
spare a lot of the other linuxers [and if you think I should rephrase
some Q/A just drop me a note with the corrections].
As the Linux kernel changes monthly, I define 2 pseudo variables a la
C one for the version, and one for the date of the release.
#define CURRENT_VERSION 0.98 /* the current version */
#define PATCH_LEVEL 5 /* the patch level */
#define KERNEL_DATE 15, Nov. /* Date of the CURRENT_VERSION */
In what follows I'll consider CURRENT_VERSION as the current version.
Below is the information provided by Lars Wirzenius on the LINUXNEWS
Channel: "Linux News, a summary. Issue #5"
November 9. Linus announced kernel version 0.98 patchlevel 4.
The most important changes are:
* The inode caching bug (resulting in bad filesystem info when
mounting/umounting devices) should be gone for good.
* Bug fix of a race-condition in the filesystem (which may have
caused people to get occasional fsck errors).
* Math emulator fixes (mainly for the re-entrancy problem)
* NR_OPEN was changed from 32 to 256 (this will break GNU Emacs,
the term program, and possibly other programs; a recompilation should
fix things).
* the process kernel stack is now on a separate page (needed due to
* Changes in kernel data structures (these require a new ps)
* System call tracing
* Changes to networking (tcp/ip, some nfs)
FTP: nic.funet.fi: pub/OS/Linux/PEOPLE/Linus/ (presumably on other
sites too, by now), files linux-0.98.4.tar.Z (complete source),
linux-0.98.patch4.Z (patches against pl3). Also ps-diff.Z, patches by
Linus to ps-0.98 that should fix ps to work with 0.98.4.
(Source: <1992Nov9.1...@klaava.Helsinki.FI>)
November 15. Linus announced kernel version 0.98 patchevel 5.
This version fixes a swap-partition bug in pl4. The symptoms where
incorrect swapping with a partition, e.g. xterm could dump core when
swapping was enabled and you typed at the keyboard.
This version also checks against writing to the text segment (i.e.
program code). This will break some binaries, especially some very,
very old ones that were compiled using the estdio library (this
library is no longer used in Linux). If previously well-working
programs suddenly start to dump core, this might be the reason.
There are also some other changes.
See also 0.98.4 announcement above.
FTP: nic.funet.fi: pub/OS/Linux/PEOPLE/Linus/.
(Source: <1992Nov15....@klaava.Helsinki.FI>)
I. LINUX GENERAL INFORMATION
=============================
*** This section is maintained by Matt Welsh (m...@tc.cornell.edu). Mail
*** him if you have corrections, additions, other questions, etc.
*** Last update November 1992.
QUESTION: What is linux?
ANSWER: Linux is a small unix for 386-AT computers, that has the added
advantage of being free(*). It is still in beta-testing, but is slowly
getting useful even for somewhat real developement. The current
version is CURRENT_VERSION, date: KERNEL_DATE.
(*) Free means that you may use it, change it , redistribute it, as
long as you don't change the copyright. Free does not mean public
domain.
Linux is a freely distributable UNIX clone. It implements a subset of
System V and POSIX functionality, and contains a lot of BSD-isms.
LINUX has been written from scratch, and therefore does not contain
any AT&T or MINIX code--not in the kernel, the compiler, the
utilities, or the libraries. For this reason it can be made available
with the complete source code via anonymous FTP. LINUX runs only on
386/486 AT-bus machines; porting to non-Intel architectures is likely
to be difficult, as the kernel makes extensive use of 386 memory
management and task primitives.
QUESTION: Does Linux support GCC, TCP/IP, X-Windows, MGR, etc.?
ANSWER: Linux currently supports and uses a large amount of the GNU
software (i.e. GCC, bison, groff, etc) so all of that functionality is
there. X-Windows is also available, along with many client
applications. MGR is there too. TCP/IP is in testing, and is available
for you to try out.
(Dirk Hohndel:) TCP/IP is available. I use Linux boxes as Xterminals
and my "own" asterix has mounted half a Gig via NFS. Mitch DSuoza is
running an anonymous FTP server on his Linux box. This is definitely
more than testing. The newest SLS has a TCP/IP kernel by default.
See section VIII of this FAQ ("Features")!
In short, Linux supports many, many features and programs. One of the
biggest questions is:
"Does ***** work on Linux? Does Linux have *****?"
The answer, usually, is "yes". Just check out the rest of this FAQ,
the newsgroup, as well as the files on the FTP sites.
QUESTION: What is the current state of Linux?
ANSWER: read the comp.os.linux newsgroup, where the INFO-SHEET is
periodically posted.
QUESTION: I've just heard about linux, what should I do to get it?
ANSWER: FIRST read this FAQ, and especially section III (installation).
Choose a "release" of Linux (such as MCC, SLS, bootdisk/rootdisk, etc).
Download from your nearest FTP site, use the "rawrite" program as needed
to write the images to high-density floppies (5.25 or 3.5). Specific
instructions are given in section III and in the README files for each
release.
Note that some releases only give you the kernel and a few utilities, and
others give you everything you need (including X11, GCC, and more) in
that latter case the downloading is close to a douzen of SOFT. Just
check out section III for more info.
QUESTION: Does it run on my computer?
ANSWER: Linux has been written on a clone-386, with IDE drives and a VGA
screen. It should work on most similar setups. The harddisk should be
AT-standard, and the system must be ISA. (though *some* EISA success
has been reported [T. Koenig], Linux doesn't take advantage of the EISA
structure). A high density floppy drive -- either 5.25" or 3.5"-- is
required.
{Drew's information:
Linux supports anything that's register compatable with a WD1003 MFM
disk controller (ie, the original PC-AT disk controller.) Most AT
MFM, RLL, ESDI, and IDE setups look like this.
XT compatable disk controllers won't work.
Generally, the rule is if you have the disk configured into the
CMOS setup of your machine, it will work (because the BIOS is talking
to a WD 1003 compatable board), otherwise it won't.}
IDE and MFM seem to work with no problem. It works, also, for some
ESDI drive (you might have to comment out the "unexpected hd
interrupt"-message from hd.c). There exists a high-level SCSI driver,
under which low-level drivers are placed; a ST-01/ST-02 low driver has
been completed see the FEATURES and the USEFUL ADDRESSES sections.
Otherwise the requirements seem relatively small: a 386 (SX, DX or any
486). Any video card of the following: Hercules, CGA, EGA, (S)VGA.
It needs at least 2M to run (with SWAP), and 4M is definitely a plus.
It can happily use up to 16M (and more if you want).
BTW There are problems with some MAXTOR drives on high speed machines
(sometimes switching off "turbo" helps). There may also be a problem
with "slow" memory (under 60ns) on fast machines. Again, the solution
is to turn off "turbo". Mixed SIMMs (3 and 9 chip versions) have also
reported to be problematic.
NOTE1: It doesn't run (yet?) on a MCA machine
NOTE2: There is a driver for XT but not very useable.
NOTE3: There is also a support for 8514 and S3.
QUESTION: Why the suggested 4Meg, for Linux?
ANSWER: Linux uses the first 640k for kernel text, kernel data and
buffercache. Your mother board may eat up 384K because of the chipset.
Moreover there is: init/login, a shell, update possibly other daemons.
Then, while compiling there is make and gcc (2.01 ~770k).
So you don't have enough real memory and have to page.
QUESTION: How would this operate in an OS/2 environment?
ANSWER: Linux will coexist with *ANY* other operating system(s) which
respects the "standard" PC partionning scheme - this includes Dos,
Os/2, Minix etc.
WARNING: Linux and OS/2 *can* co-exist on the same machine. BUT, you
cannot use Linux's fdisk to make Linux partitions! See the warnings in
section III about Linux and OS/2.
QUESTION: Will linux run on a PC or 286-AT? If not, why?
ANSWER: Linux uses the 386 chip protected mode functions extensively,
and is a true 32-bit operating system. Thus x86 chips, x<3, will
simply not run it.
QUESTION: Will Linux run on a 386 Laptop?
ANSWER: It works, including X on most of them.
QUESTION: (Dan) How long has Linux been publicly available?
ANSWER (partial): Few months, v0.10 went out in Nov. 91, v0.11 in Dec.
and the current version CURRENT_VERSION is available since KERNEL_DATE.
But even it is pretty recent it is quite reliable. There are very few and
small bugs and in its current state it is mostly useful for people who
are willing to port code and write new code. As Linux is very close to a
reliable/stable system, Linus decided that v0.13 will be known as v0.95.
Believe it or not: the whole story started (nearly) with two processes
that printed AAAA... and BBBB...
BTW consult the digest#136 Vol2 for a complete story.
QUESTION: What is the proper pronounciation for "Linux"?
ANSWER: (Linus himself)
'li' is pronounced with a short [ee] sound: compare prInt, mInImal etc.
'nux' is also short, non-diphtong, like in pUt. It's partly due to
minix: linux was just my working name for the thing, and as I wrote it
to replace minix on my system, the result is what it is... linus' minix
became linux.
I originally intended it to be called freax (although buggix was one
contender after I got fed up with some of the more persistent bugs :)
and I think the kernel makefiles up to version 0.11 had something to
that effect ("Makefile for the freax kernel" in a comment). But arl
called the linux directory at nic.funet.fi pub/OS/Linux, and the name
stuck. Maybe just as well: freax doesn't sound too good either (freax
is obviosly free + freak + the obligatory -x).
(Rick's note for English speakers: Linux - "LIH-nuhks".)
QUESTION: What's about the copyright of linux?
ANSWER: This is an except of the RELEASE Notes v.095a: Linux is
NOT public domain software, but is copyrighted by Linus Torvalds. The
copyright conditions are the same as those imposed by the GNU
copyleft: The GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991 is part
of the source tree.
QUESTION: Should I be a UNIX and/or a DOS wizard to install/use Linux?
ANSWER: Not at all, just follow the install rules, of course it will be
easier for you if you know things about Unix. Right now Linux is used
by more than BIGNUM persons, very few of them enhance the kernel, some
adds/ports new soft, most of us are only (but USEFUL) beta testers.
Last but not least, various Linuxers work on manpages, newuser_help,
file-system organization. So join us and choose your "caste".
It is even used in production environments (Dr. G.W. Wettstein)
QUESTION: Does Linux use TSS segments to provide multitasking?
ANSWER: Yes!
QUESTION: If my PC runs under Linux, is it possible to ftp, rlogin,
rsh etc.. to other Unix boxes?
ANSWER: Kermit and ka9q have both been ported to Linux. Also, TCP/IP is
quite reliable, only a few clients are missing.
Read section XII. devoted to Ethernet and Linux.
QUESTION: Does linux do paging? Can I have virtual memory on my small
machine?
ANSWER: Yes, it does. Generally you set up a swap file or partition, and
enable it with the "swapon" command. Voila! Virtual memory.
QUESTION: Can I have tasks spanning the full 4GB of addressable 386
memory? No more 64kB limits like in coherent or standard minix?
ANSWER: Since 0.97pl? it uses 4 GB Process Space, 3 for userspace and
1 for the kernel space.
QUESTION: Does the bigger program sizes mean I can run X?
ANSWER: Yes! See section XI below for details on X11.
QUESTION: What are the differences, pros and cons compared to Minix ?
ANSWER (partial):
Cons:
- Linux only works on 386 and 486 processors.
- Linux needs 2M of memory just to run, 4M to be useful.
- Linux is a more traditional unix kernel, it doesn't use message
passing.
Pros:
- Linux is free, and freely distributable, BUT copyrighted.
- Linux has some advanced features such as:
- Memory paging with copy-on-write
- Demand loading of executables
- Page sharing of executables
- Multi-threaded file system
- job control and virtual memory, virtual consoles and pseudo-ttys.
- Linux is a more traditional unix kernel, it doesn't use message
passing.
QUESTION: What are the pros and cons compared to 386BSD ?
ANSWER: Linux and 386BSD started out as completely different projects,
with completely different goals and design criteria in mind. Personally,
my experience with 386BSD has shown that :
(a) its TCP/IP is more stable, and seems to work (on my NE2000 card,
which Linux doesn't support yet), but
(b) the interface and "feel" just wern't the same as Linux (which I liked
better :) ). You'll have to try it out for yourself. Here's information
from comp.unix.bsd, September 1992:
| This is a free BSD for the 386. It does NFS and X.
| Grab it from agate.berkeley.edu (128.32.136.1).
| Bill Jolitz is writing a book on it.
|
| It has a neat, small kernel, and is stable enough to run for a week or
| more without crashing/hanging. It works fine with 4MB RAM and 80MB
| disk. Running X however needs 8MB RAM, and supports only vanilla VGA.
| The TCP/IP implementation in this is functional, but not optimised.
| This means that FTP throughput is about 5KB/sec on Ethernet, when
| almost anything else gives you about 70KB to 100KB per second.
|
| Read comp.unix.bsd. That is almost entirely Jolitz's 386BSD now.
|
| 3. How much disk space for:
| *kernel
| *X
| *source to kernel
| *source to X
| Binary only: 49 M (30 disk, 5 swap, 14 extraction)
| Source: 125 M (49 bin, 37 disk, +6 extraction, 25 recompile)
| User software: +51 M
|
| X Binaries require about 61 Meg (?)
| I don't know about the sources.
To conclude this Q/A wrt Linux vs 386BSD, you should read the Linux News
Issue #5 of L. Wirzenius, where a true story of Mark W. Eichin is
reported.
QUESTION: How much space will Linux take up on my hard drive?
ANSWER: It depends on which release you choose. See the section
INSTALLATION below. Usually it's somewhere between 10 megs (for a
nominal system+swap space) and 30-40 megs (for everything plus space
for user directories, etc.).
BTW the full SLS needs around 60 MB (including TeX and other goodies).
II. LINUX USEFUL ADDRESSES
=========================
II.A. LINUX ON THE NET: ftp, mailing-list
II.B. OBTAINING LINUX FROM BBS'S: everything about bbs
II.A. LINUX ON THE NET
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUESTION: Where can I get linux?
ANSWER: Linux (all the software, binaries, sources, releases, and so on),
can be retrieved via anonymous FTP from :
[ Major sites ]
EUROPE:
nic.funet.fi (128.214.6.100):
directory /pub/OS/Linux
ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de (131.159.0.110)
directory /pub/Linux
US:
tsx-11.mit.edu (18.172.1.2):
directory /pub/linux
sunsite.unc.edu (152.2.22.81):
directory /pub/Linux
[ Mirroring sites (some of them, there are lots now) ]
AUSTRALIA:
kirk.bu.oz.au (131.244.1.1)
directory /pub/OS/Linux
EUROPE:
src.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.3.7):
directory /pub/os/Linux
ftp.mcc.ac.uk (130.88.200.7):
directory pub/linux
ftp.dfv.rwth-aachen.de (137.226.4.105):
directory /pub/linux
ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (137.226.112.172):
directory /pub/Linux
ftp.ibr.cs.tu-bs.de (134.169.34.15):
directory /pub/os/linux
US:
wustl.wuarchive.edu (128.252.135.4):
directory /pub/mirrors4/linux
ftp.eecs.umich.edu (141.212.99.7):
directory linux
JAPAN:
utsun.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp (133.11.11.11):
directory misc/linux
You might want to check out which of these is the most up-to-date.
Note that banjo.concert.net is no longer a Linux ftp site :(
If you have no FTP capability, you are in trouble. See the next Q/A.
Also, you'll need the "UNCOMP.EXE" and "RAWRITE2.EXE" programs for DOS
(to make your install disks). These are usually found in the Linux
directories on the above FTP sites.
QUESTION: I do not have FTP access, what can I do to get linux?
ANSWER: You can either read the next subsection related to BBS's
otherwise, read the following.
The SLS release is distributable by snail-mail on floppies for those
without net access; see the SLS section in section III of this FAQ for
more.
Try to contact a friend on the net with those access, or try
mailserver/ftpmail server otherwise contact ty...@ATHENA.MIT.EDU. You
might try mailing "mails...@nic.funet.fi" with "help" in the body of
the mail. If you choose ftpmail server (example: ftp...@decwrl.dec.com),
with "help" in the body, the server will send back instructions and
command list. As an exemple to get the list of files available at tsx-11
in /pub/linux send:
mail ftp...@decwrl.dec.com
subject: anything
reply <your e-mail>
connect tsx-11.mit.edu
chdir /pub/linux
dir -R
quit
In Europe ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de is accessible via e-mail (send
"help" in the body to ftp-m...@informatik.tu-muenchen.de)
QUESTION: Is there a newsgroup or mailing-list about linux? Where can
I get my questions answered? How about bug-reports?
ANSWER: The comp.os.linux newsgroup is literally *teeming* with postings.
So, to the first question, yes. :) The older newsgroup, alt.os.linux,
is being phased out and shouldn't be used anymore.
If you don't have news access you can get the digest of postings via
e-mail from: Linux-activ...@news-digests.mit.edu. This list is
gatewayed to the newsgroup as well. Only use the 'request' address for
subscribe/unsubscribe messages; don't post those to the newsgroup or to
the actual mailing list.
Questions and bug-reports can be sent either to the newsgroup or to Linus
himself at "torv...@kruuna.helsinki.fi", depending on which you find more
appropriate.
And last but not least there is the original mailing-list, which is
now a multi-channel list.
contact linux-activ...@niksula.hut.fi
QUESTION: Could you be more explicit about the multi-channel list?
ANSWER: Well, there are many things to say:
- these channels are rather devoted to hackers
- the ones I am aware of are: GCC, MGR, X11, SCSI, NEW-CHANNELS,
MSDOS (emulator discussion) , NORMAL, KERNEL, FTP, LAPTOP, DOC,
NET, CONFIGS, LINUXNEWS ...
- whenever you want to JOIN or LEAVE a channel you have to
contact the request address
- you have to use special header (X-Mn-Key and Mn-Admin); X-Mn-Key
is *ONLY* for regular post, the X-Mn-Admin is for *REQUEST*
(Ari Lemmke: 1 Nov. 1992):
Hmmm.... It seems our list has now about 1500 users
in 21 channels (mailing lists). 3960 without uniq.
"echo foo | mail linux-activ...@niksula.hut.fi"
to get the Mail-Net User Guide.
QUESTION: How can I join the channel XXX on the linux-activists
mailing list?
ANSWER: just send a mail to the request address with help in the body;
you will get back a mail which gives you the list of channels and the
way to join/leave them. Basically you send mail to the request address
with the line:
X-Mn-Admin: join <channel>
QUESTION: How can I leave the channel XXX on the linux-activists
mailing list?
ANSWER: Same as above, basically. You send mail to the request address
that contains the line:
X-Mn-Admin: leave <channel>
QUESTION: I'm not an hacker, what are the channels I could be interested
in?
ANSWER: Probably these are the most interesting for you (IMHO)
Channel NORMAL:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Channel normal is the former Linux-Activists mailing list
(all the people who were on the old Linux-Activists list
are moved to this channel).
Channel DOC:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
This channel is for Linux document "project". Discussion about Linux
documents, manuals, papers, etc.
Channel CONFIGS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This channel will be devoted to send submissions of systems that have
Linux already running, AND those that, for any reason, can't get it
to work yet.
Mainly, what it's need from all the channel users is to send their
hardware configuration list (as complete as possible). Include
anything that you feel pertinent for information: CPU,
motherboard, RAM amount, HD & floppy controller, BIOS, monitor,
video card & memory, network adapter, etc. If you are having trouble
with your current system, or you find out that a program doesn't work
properly on your system due to a HARDWARE problem, it may be useful
for us to know your configuration; maybe you can get a lot of help.
Channel LINUXNEWS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The LINUXNEWS channel will be used for distribution of Linux News, a
weekly (if I can find the time) summary of things that happen in the
Linux community. Discussion is not encouraged, if you have complaints
or suggestions, send them directly to me (Lars.Wi...@helsinki.fi).
Channel NEW-CHANNELS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the future users on this channel get the information about new
channels created.
By this way you can join the channels you want, and do not need to
send mail to Mail-Net info server or listen rumours.
QUESTION: Does there exist a place where the traffic of the newsgroup
is kept?
ANSWER: Yes, on nic and tsx-11 (see the ftp addresses above), and since
12th March, a Gopher server is up at beryl.daimi.aau.dk (130.225.16.86).
The archives go back to Nov. 18. 91. Also recently a WAIS server for the
linux mail archive has been setup at fgb1.fgb.mw.tu-muenchen.de. Contact
t...@fgb1.fgb.mw.tu-muenchen.de for more info.
II.B OBTAINING LINUX FROM BBS'S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*** This section is maintain by Zane Healy (hea...@holonet.net)
*** Last Update November 1992.
QUESTION: I don't have access to FTP, how can I obtain Linux?
ANSWER: Linux is available from various BBS's around the world.
QUESTION: I got this FAQ from a local BBS, or a friend, and I see there
is a newsgroup called comp.os.linux . I don't have access to USENET or
mail, so how can I get the messages?
ANSWER: Some of the BBS's on FidoNet carry comp.os.linux as a FidoNet
conference. Also some of the other BBS's carry it in some form or other.
QUESTION: Do BBS's offer anything that the Internet does not?
ANSWER: Yes, on the information side there are the UNIX conferences on
both the RIME network and FidoNet. Although they are not dedicated to
linux, a large amount of the messages are linux related. Also at least
one software package being developed for linux, and also one port is
available via BBS's long before they are available via anonymous FTP.
QUESTION: What is a BBS?
ANSWER: A BBS is a Bulletin Board System, it let's you transfer message's
and file's via your phone line and all you need is a computer with
communications software and a modem. Some BBS's transfer message's among
each other forming large computer network's similar to USENET. The most
popular of these in the US are FidoNet and RIME.
QUESTION: How can I get a (Near) complete list of BBS's that carry Linux?
ANSWER: I (Zane Healy) post a list of all known BBS's that carry Linux
to comp.os.linux as well as the RIME and Fidonet UNIX conferences on the
1st and 15th of each month.
QUESTION: Now that I have a phone number, how do I go about accessing a
BBS?
ANSWER:
1. You need a computer equipped with communications software and a modem.
2. For ALMOST all BBS's you will need to set the comm software up for:
8 - Data Bits
N - Parity
1 - Stop Bit
Although certain BBS's and Communication services require that the
software be set for:
7 - Data Bits
E - Parity
1 - Stop Bit
You will also need to set the comm software for the correct speed,
either the top speed, or the max speed for your modem.
3. Using the comm software, call the BBS. Once you connect with the BBS
(this may take awhile, as other people are likely to be using it), you
will be asked some questions.
If you are a registered user of the BBS it will normally only ask for
your name and password. However if you are not a registered user, it
will most likely require that before you do anything, you register. The
method of registration varies from BBS to BBS.
Normally the first thing that will happen is, you sign on to the BBS,
and tell it your name. It will then check it's list of user's and see
that you are not one of them. At which time it will ask you if you are a
new user, or if you wish to re-enter your name. When you tell it you are
a new user, it will then ask you some questions about yourself, such as
where you are calling from and your phone number. A lot of BBS's will
want some statistical info such as what type of computer you are using,
your communications software, your age, etc, etc.
After this, most BBS's require some sort of validation, this is for
the System Operator's (SysOp's) protection. One type is where you give
the BBS software your phone number, hang up, and the BBS calls your
computer to verify that you gave it legitament phone number. Some BBS's
require that you mail the SysOp a postcard. Most, however just require
that you give the SysOp the request info and then he upgrades your level
of access a couple of day's later.
For the most part you will find that the registration process is easy
to follow and well documented.
QUESTION: There is a local BBS that carries Linux, but it isn't on the
latest Linux BBS List. How do I go about submitting it for inclusion in
the list?
ANSWER: Send the following information on the BBS to me:
BBS Name:
Phone Number:
Modem Speed:
City and State/Country:
Whatever Network it's on (i.e. FidoNet, RIME, etc.):
First Time access to D/L Linux Files (Y/N):
Free Access to Linux Files (Y/N):
Allow File Requests (Y/N):
BBS Rating (1-5):
I can be reached at one of the following E-Mail Addresses:
Internet -- hea...@holonet.net
CompuServe -- 70332,14
Prodigy -- SCNN49A
Fido NetMail -- Zane Healy at 1:109/615
RIME UNIX Conference -- Zane Healy
QUESTION: What can I do to help ensure the continued development of
Linux?
ANSWER: PLEASE UPLOAD FILES TO BBS'S
I would like to point out that a very large number of the Linux
enthusiasts don't have FTP access. In fact it is possible that by now
most of the Linux fan's don't. So I would like to suggest that those of
us that do, find at least one BBS to post the Linux file's to. I, for
one post every file that I get to at least one of the local BBS's, and
from there they the file's tend to find there way to other local BBS's.
I've seen posts about the future of Linux etc., well here is a way to
help guarantee it. I think it's safe to assume that most people with FTP
access also have a modem. So how about doing other Linux fan's a favor
and finding a BBS to upload the Linux files to.
QUESTION: How do I read the data contained in the Linux BBS List?
ANSWER: The list uses the following format:
State YYY BBS Name Phone Number Modem Speed
Rating City Other data
The BBS's are rated by the number of Linux related file's that they
carry. This is so you can choose one's that has a better chance of
carrying the file's you are looking for if you are calling long distance.
The BBS's are rated on a scale of one to five.
1 -- Only enough the most basic of files
2 -- The basics and a little more
3 -- So, so
4 -- A respectable amount
5 -- Pretty much everything you need
Information about the boards access policies can be obtained by
checking a three digit field.
YYY -- Either a Yes/No/? answer to the question
|||
||Free access to Linux files
|Allow file requests (FidoNet)
First time D/L of Linux related files
NOTE: Just because a board has N's in the first two fields does not
mean that it is a board to stay away from. A lot of boards require
that you register and be verified before you can access most of their
features, hence the first N. The second field is, to the best of my
knowledge, limited to BBS's that are part of FidoNet.
QUESTION: What are some of the best BBS's to check out?
ANSWER:
In the US:
CA YNY hip-hop 408-773-0768 14.4k V.32bis/HST
5 Sunnyvale Login: guest (no password)
DC NNY When Gravity Fails 202-686-9086 14.4k
5 Washington
FL ??? Slut Club 813-236-1232 14.4k
5 Tampa/St.Pete Fidonet 1:377/42
GA YYY Information Overload 404-471-1549 9600 HST
5 FidoNet 1:133/308
ID ??? Rebel BBS 208-887-3937 9600
5 Boise
IL YYY EchoMania BBS 618-233-1659 14.4k HST
3 Belleville Fido 1:2250/1 (f'reg LINUX)
F'reqs from unlisted nodes, online callback verifier (works L.D.)
MD ??? Brodmann's Place 301-843-5732 14.4k
5 Waldorf RIME ->BRODMANN
NC ??? MAC's Place 919-891-1111 DS modem
5 Dunn RIME ->MAC
NY YYY Prism BBS,Middleton 914-344-0350 9600 HST/v.32
5 Middletown, NY Fidonet 1:272/38
NY YYY The Laboratory 212-927-4980 16.8k HST, 14.4k v.32bis
3-4 FidoNet 1:278/707
OR YYY Intermittent Connection 503-344-9838 14.4k HST v.32bis
5 Eugene, Ore 1:152/35
TX YYY Advanced BBS 512-578-2720 9600
5 Victoria, TX Fidonet 1:3802/215
VA ??? VTBBS 703-231-7498
5 Blacksburg
WA YYY S'Qually Holler 206-235-0270 9600
5 Renton Fidonet 1:343/34
And here are all the known BBS's outside the US:
AUSTRALIA:
NSW YYN Linux-Support-Oz +61-2-418-8750 2400
2-3 Sydney Intlnet, SBCNet
? ??? 500cc Formula 1 BBS +61-2-550-4317 V.32
? (2-3)
CANADA:
ON ??? EX-10 Kitchner 519-725-4400
?
ON ??? Ned's Ottawa 613-739-1591
2
ON ??? Bytown 613-236-1232
2 SmartNet
PQ ??? Synapse 819-246-2344 819-561-5268
5 Gatineau RIME->SYNAPSE
GERMANY:
??? bakunin.north.de 00 49 421 870532 9600
? D 2800 Bremen kra...@bakunin.north.de
??? ?????????????? +49-40-735-5349 14.4k
1
??? Hipposoft's Mail Server +49-241-875090 14.4k V.32bis/HST
3 D-W5100 Aachen Fidonet 2:242/6
IRELAND:
??? TOPPSI +353-1-711047 or 773547 9600
? Fidonet 2:263/151
NORWAY:
??? Thunderball Cave 472567018
? RIME ->CAVE ?
NETHERLANDS:
??? DownTown BBS Lelystad, Linux Support BBS 14.4k
? +31-3200-48852 FIDONET
SOUTH AFRICA:
??? Andre Skarzynski - Linux Activists of Southern Africa
? +27 2231 78148 (Is this voice or data?)
UNITED KINGDOM:
NYN The Purple Tentacle +44-734-590990 HST/V32bis
3-4 Reading Fidonet 2:252/305
??? A6 BBS +44-582-460273 14.4k
? Herts Fidonet 2:440/111
III. INSTALLATION and COMMON PROBLEMS
=====================================
*** Note: this FAQ section should be kept up-to-date, and should
*** be the most 'reliable' source for installation info. Please mail
*** any corrections or changes to this section's coordinator,
*** Matt Welsh (m...@tc.cornell.edu).
*** Last update November 1992.
III.A. WHERE TO START: What are the reliable sources of information
III.B. LINUX PACKAGES: Where and how install a complete Linux package
III.C. SOME COMMON PROBLEMS: Simple problems and simple solutions
III.A. WHERE TO START
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUESTION: I want to install Linux on my machine. Where do I start?
ANSWER: The first thing you should do is read through the various
introductory files, and ESPECIALLY the FAQ (this file). Especially
this section :). A lot of effort has been done on these intro files,
but note that some of them conflict with each other and cover older
versions of Linux. When in doubt consult this file.
These files are all found on tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/docs...
FAQ
The Linux Frequently Asked Questions list
It's sitting in your hands now. This section is probably the best
place to start to get the most up-to-date Linux installation
information.
INFO-SHEET
Linux Information Sheet, by J. Winstead
This is J. Winstead's general information sheet on Linux, and along
with this FAQ is a good place to start for info.
RELNOTES-xxxxx
Linux version xxxxx Release Notes, by Linus Torvalds
This is Linus's release notice for version xxxxx of the kernel.
guide.txt
Beginner's Guide to Linux for DOS Users, by C. Boyer
Last version was for Linux 0.95a. A bit dated, but still has
lots of useful information for getting started on Linux.
WARNING: Note that much information in this guide is OBSOLETE!
install.notes
Beginner's Installation Guide, by I. Reid
Last version was for Linux 0.95a. Generally covers how to install
Linux using the "bootdisk/rootdisk" combo (for a basic setup): this
is discussed below.
WARNING: Note that some information in this guide is OBSOLETE!
INSTALL-xxxxx
Install notes for version xxxxx of Linux, by J. Winstead
This is Jim Winstead's installation notes on the "bootdisk/rootdisk"
combo, much like "install.notes" above. The last version for this
was 0.96. More recent copies are on the rootdisk itself, so follow
the directions below and read the file ON the rootdisk for more.
CHANGES-xxxxx
Changes to the version xxxxx rootdisk, by J. Winstead
These are the notes on the changes to the most recent version
of Jim Winstead's "rootdisk". Notes on that are below.
README.kernel
Kernel compilation README file, by L. Wirzenius
This is the README notes for recompiling the Linux kernel from the
sources. You don't need it unless you're planning to upgrade
your kernel by compiling it yourself.
Others
Every "release" of Linux (such as MCC-interim, SLS, HLU's disks, etc.,
see below) has its own up-to-date README files and docs that explain
how to install that release. This FAQ section summarizes, but for more
info on how to install Linux, read the READMEs and docs for the release
that you choose.
QUESTION: Is there some kind of limit on how large my Linux partitions
and/or filesystems can be?
ANSWER: There's no limit on partition size (just the size of your drive),
but Linux mainly uses the minix filesystem which limits filesystems to
64 megs each. You can also use the extended filesystem (which is still
in testing, but has been included with recent kernel versions) which has
a limit of 4 terabytes. Probably enough unless you have a disk array. :)
III.B. LINUX PACKAGES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This section contains information about *SOME* of the possible Linux
packages available. The information related to the MCC package were
written by A.V. Le Blanc.
QUESTION: Does there exist a way to get all (or nearly all) of the Linux
stuff?
ANSWER: Yes. To install Linux, you're going to want to choose one of the
"releases" of Linux, all of which have a different method of installation
and set up. Each release also has its own README and installation docs,
which you'll want to read first. But I'll summarize here. The major
releases are:
* The "bootdisk/rootdisk" combo
Linus's "bootdisk" (a kernel) and Jim Winstead's "rootdisk"
which contains the tools for installing a basic Linux system
to hard disk. See below for more.
* H.J. Lu's "bootable rootdisk"
Essentially the same as the "bootdisk/rootdisk" combo, above, but
contains several disks: one bootable kernel/root filesystem disk, a
disk for GCC, and disk(s) for misc tools and GCC libraries. As HLU
himself puts it, this release is best used as a system backup (it
doesn't have installation scripts; if you want to install a system
from it you have to do it yourself). This is still a fairly new
release. The images and docs are found at tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux.
* The "MCC Interim Release" ("Manchester Computing Centre")
Several (at this point, seven) disk images that contain the
Linux kernel, root filesystem, and binaries for every major
program that you'll need, including GCC, file utils, bash,
everything. Everything, that is, except X11 (which is easy to
install on top of this release). The MCC interim release is
very easy to install, and contains all the programs you'll
need to partition your hard drive and create filesystems, etc.
first before installing the Linux system itself. See below
for more.
*LAST UPDATE* kernel 0.97.2, a bit dated :(
* The "Softlanding Linux System Release"
Also known as the "SLS" release, consists of 14 disks for Linux
and 8 for X11. The nice thing about this release is that you can
pick and choose which disks and packages you want to install. The
first 2 disks must be "rawritten" (using rawrite.exe) on floppies,
and the rest of the images are put onto DOS format floppies.
Contains all of the stuff in the MCC release plus a lot more
(like mail/uucp), and includes X11 on the last 5 disks. Is also
very easy to install for newcomers.
* Others
There are other releases and distributions of the Linux software,
such as the "sc.tamu" and "MJ" releases.
QUESTION: Where can I get these versions of Linux?
ANSWER: The "bootdisk/rootdisk" combo can be found at tsx-11.mit.edu:
/pub/linux/INSTALL, as well as at many mirror sites (which is true
for ALL of this software).
H.J. Lu's "bootable rootdisk" release is found at tsx-11.mit.edu:
/pub/linux/packages/GCC, as well as the mirror sites.
The MCC Interim release is at ftp.mcc.ac.uk:/pub/linux/mcc-interim. It's
also mirrored to nic.funet.fi: /pub/OS/Linux/images/mcc-interim, and
tsx-11.mit.edu: /pub/linux/mirrors/mcc-interim.
The MJ release (discussed more below) can be found at ftp.dfv.rwth-aachen.de:
/pub/linux/mj-bin.
The SLS release is at tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/packages/SLS.
The sc.tamu versions can be found at sc.tamu.edu:/pub/free_unix.
QUESTION: What should I get to install the bootdisk/rootdisk combo
release?
ANSWER: FTP to one of the major Linux sites, such as tsx-11.mit.edu
(directory /pub/linux/INSTALL) or sunsite.unc.edu (directory
/pub/Linux) and get the files (you may have to look through some
subdirectories):
rawrite.exe (or rawrite2.exe) -- DOS executable to write the
images to floppies
bootimage-CURRENT_VERSION.Z -- The kernel bootimage floppy itself
rootimage-CURRENT_VERSION.Z -- The root filesystem and installation floppy
Also get the associated README files.
Then transfer these files to DOS, uncompress the two images (you can
either uncompress them under UNIX using the "uncompress" command or
with the DOS executable "uncomp.exe"), and run rawrite on them.
Note that rawrite2.exe may have problems on some drives and setups;
rawrite.exe is older but more trustworthy. Rawrite will copy,
sector-by-sector, the two images to two newly formatted floppies (of
course when this is done the floppies no longer work under DOS).
Note: you can also just use "dd" on your UNIX system (if it has a
floppy drive attached to it) to copy the images to floppies. Something
like "dd if=bootimage-KERNEL_VERSION of=/dev/fd0" should work; consult
your system's manuals for the exact device name of the floppy drive.
You can also try "cat bootimage-KERNEL_VERSION > /dev/fd0"
Now you have two floppies: one with the bootimage and the other with the
rootimage. Boot off of the bootimage disk and, when prompted, insert the
rootimage disk. You're all set... look at the README files on the
rootimage disk. To install the system from this disk you generally
log in as "install" and follow the procedures outlined in the READMEs
to create and format Linux partitions on your hard drive, install the
software, and so on.
Note: with the bootimage/rootimage combo release, even though you
can install Linux on your hard drive, you can't BOOT Linux from your
hard drive (you have to boot from a kernel floppy, the only drawback
of which is that it's slower booting but afterwards you can take out
the floppy and everything). To boot from your harddrive you have to
install either the "LILO" program which changes the boot sector of your
harddrive. This program is included with the MCC Interim and the SLS
releases, or you can get is from one of the FTP sites seperately.
QUESTION: What are the files /bin/sh and /bin/tar provided on the
CURRENT_VERSION rootdisk image (rootdisk-CURRENT_VERSION)?
ANSWER: This image has been setup by Jim Winstead Jr, thanks to him.
The bin/sh is bash, the GNU tar is NOT on the root disk, instead the
PAX utility is there, NOTICE that this pseudo-tar does NOT handle the
'z' option for compressed tar files, instead you have to do the
following assuming the tared compressed file is myfile.Z and you want
to test it (flag t):
uncompress -c myfile.Z | tar tvf -
or
zcat myfile.Z | tar tvf -
But otherwise it works fine.
QUESTION: How do I get and install H.J. Lu's "bootable rootdisk" release?
ANSWER: Basically follow the directions above for the 2-disk "combo"
release (i.e. get the images, rawrite them to high-density DOS formatted
floppies, boot off the boot disk). This release doesn't contain
user-friendly installation scripts; it's meant for those who can install
the images from the disks by hand (the READMEs contain instructions on
doing this).
QUESTION: What is the MCC interim version of Linux?
ANSWER: The MCC (Manchester Computing Centre) versions of Linux are
designed to provide an installation/recovery system for Linux at
various release levels. As of Sept 92, five MCC versions of Linux
have appeared at intervals of 6-8 weeks. The current versions include
basic system utilities, many GNU utilities, man pages, groff, gcc and
g++, gdb, and full kernel sources. MCC interim Linux is distributed
entirely on floppy disk images, of which there are 7 in release
0.97p2 (boot, utilities, misc, comp1, comp2, g++, and gdb). The
original intention was to create a basic Linux installation on two
floppies, and other disks have been added in the course of time.
QUESTION: What are the advantages and drawbacks of using MCC or another
version over using the standard boot/root disks?
ANSWER: It is not possible to keep a large distribution like the MCC
interim versions absolutely up-to-date; if you want the very latest
copy of one or another program, you must get it from one of the ftp
sites yourself, and it might not cooperate with existing utilities.
On the other hand, MCC interim versions provide a large number of
utilities in a simple form, compiled in the same way, and integrated
into a fairly stable system. An MCC version of Linux will not have
its bugs fixed as rapidly.
QUESTION: How is installing MCC interim Linux different from installing
Linux from the standard boot/root disks?
ANSWER: The MCC interim versions of Linux do not use a floppy as their
root disk; instead they use a ramdisk contained on the boot image.
This means that more programs can fit on fewer disks, but that more
memory is used during installation. This may cause problems on
systems with only 2megabytes of memory. Also, parts of the MCC
interim systems may assume that some utility or library has been
installed from the same MCC interim system, and so may not work
properly if you have installed Linux from the standard root/boot
disks.
QUESTION: How can I find out more about the MCC interim versions of
Linux?
ANSWER: The file README in mcc-interim/0.97p2 at the various sites
mentioned describes the available files. The file README.install in
the same directory describes the installation in detail.
QUESTION: How do I go about installing the MCC Interim release?
ANSWER: FTP to ftp.mcc.ac.uk:/pub/linux/mcc-interim or one of the
mirror sites and grab all of the images and the gobs of README files.
Just rawrite these images to floppies and boot from the boot-US (or
boot-UK) image (read the Q/A above on the bootdisk/rootdisk combo for
instructions on using rawrite and so on). The reason you have a US and a UK
boot and util disk is that the keyboard codes are different depending on the
country.
After booting the boot disk, you'll be prompted to put in the util-US (or
util-UK) disk and proceed with the installation. The basic steps that you'll
take are:
-- run fdisk to create Linux partitions
-- reboot from the boot floppy, then put in the util disk when asked
-- run mkfs to make filesystems and mkswap to make swap space on those
partitions
-- Mount each of the disks in turn and run the install script on each
of them
It's actually pretty simple, and the installation scripts take care of
most of the work. The tough part is making the partitions and
filesystems, just read the "README.fdisk" with the MCC release on how
to do this.
QUESTION: Any information about the MJ-stuff ?
ANSWER: The MJ-release was meant originally to allow users to upgrade their
Linux system to the shared library structure. However, this setup has been
standard for some time, and the other releases already incorporate this.
You can still check it out: Following Wayne Davidson advice "the mcc-interim
distribution has slightly smaller binaries on it, so I only used the
mj set to fill in a few extra executables that I was missing. Now I
not only have more executables on my disk than before but more free
disk space than I started with." mj**** is the Martin Junius package
and can be found at ftp.dfv.rwth-aachen.de in pub/linux/mj-bin.
QUESTION: What's about SLS ?
ANSWER: (this is part of the FAQ written for SLS 0.98p5 by Peter
MacDonald).
SLS (Softlanding Linux System) Copywrite 1992, Softlanding Software.
which is NOT just an image dump of someones Unix system.
Also note that in the interest of preventing ftp storms, the version
of SLS that appears on the internet, is not quite the same as the
version distributed by Softlanding. Softlanding regularly gets a
whole new version which has the changes integrated. But the updates
to the Internet version are tailored to minimize the amount that has
to be downloaded to become current. That is why bugs manage to creep
in on me. I am not installing and testing the Internet version,
although, functionally, it should be quite close to the Softlanding
one.
So, why am I telling you this? After the next period of stability
(few changes to SLS), I will be uploading the Softlanding version of
SLS to tsx-11.mit.edu.
This distribution is freely available if you have internet
access, or an obliging friend with access to it.
The purposes of the SLS are the following:
0) provide an initial installation program (for the queasy).
1) utilities compiled to use minimal disk space.
2) provide a reasonably complete/integrated U*ix system.
3) provide a means to install and uninstall packages.
4) permit partial installations for small disk configs.
5) add a menu driven, extensible system administration.
6) take the hassle out of collecting and setting up a system.
7) give non internet users access to Linux.
8) provide a distribution that can be easily updated.
SLS is a binary mostly distribution (except for the kernel), and is
broken into multiple parts, or series, each of which is denoted by a letter
followed by the disk number as follows:
a1-aN: The minimal base system
b1-bN: Base system extras, like man pages, emacs etc.
c1-cN: The compiler(s), gcc/g++/p2c/f2c
x1-xN: The X-windows distribution
i1-iN: Interviews (doc and idraw)
t1-tN: TeX (document processing)
This scheme allows new disks to be added to the distribution without
changing the disk numbering. Also, the sysinstall program doesn't
have to be changed when new disks are added as the last disk is marked
by the presence of the file "install.end". And when interviews is
added, say as a new series "i", it can be installed with:
sysinstall -series i
Highlights of the base are: gcc/g++, emacs, kermit, elm/mail/uucp,
gdb, sc (spreadsheet), man pages, groff, elvis, zip/zoo/lh and menu.
Highlights of X are: X, programmers libs, 75 dpi fonts, games (spider,
tetris, xvier, chess, othello, xeyes, etc) and utilities like xmag,
xmenu, xcolormap and ghostscript. Approximate usage is as follows:
Tiny base system: 9 Meg (Series 'a')
Main base system: 25 Meg (Series 'a', 'b' and 'c')
Main base system + X11: 45 Meg (Series 'a', 'b', 'c' and 'x')
Please read the file COPYING which outlines the GNU copying
restrictions. The linux kernel is copywrite Linux B. Torvalds.
Various other copywrites apply, but the upshot is that you
may do whatever you like with SLS, except restrict others
in any way from doing likewise, and you must leave all copywrites
intact, and you can not misrepresent or take credit for others work.
AVAILABILITY
SLS is available from the address:
Softlanding Software
910 Lodge Ave.
Victoria, B.C., Canada
V8X-3A8
(604) 360-0188
More details about SLS can be asked to pmac...@sanjuan.uvic.ca
QUESTION: How do I go about getting and installing the SLS release?
ANSWER: Ftp to one of the Linux sites and check out the files in the
"SLS" directory (usually under "packages" in the Linux directory).
The README files there explain it all; basically you download the
images (which are almost all DOS format files), rawrite the boot
disk to a floppy, and boot from it. Because the SLS release files are
DOS format, you don't have to rawrite them: the SLS installation reads
them directly. You can also get the SLS release on floppies by
snail mail for a nominal fee (for non-netters). See the SLS README
file for details.
III.C. SOME COMMON PROBLEMS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUESTION: How can I boot Linux off of my hard drive?
ANSWER: You need to install the "LILO" program which changes the boot
sector of your hard drive to allow you to choose between a DOS or a Linux
partition to boot from. These programs are provided with most major
releases, or you can get them seperately from one of the FTP sites.
QUESTION: I have the previous Linux version, how can I upgrade it?
ANSWER: If you've never done this before, get the kernel sources from
your nearest FTP site (in a file named something like linux-*.tar.Z)
and unpack them into /usr/src/linux. Then edit the Makefile to your
taste, and run "make". Assuming you have GCC installed correctly, the
kernel should compile and you'll be left with a new "Image" which is your
new kernel: if you boot from harddrive, copy the Image to wherever you
told LILO to look for it, or if you boot from floppy dd the Image to a
new floppy. Make sure that you run "rdev" on the Image to make it look
for the correct partition for your root filesystem (if you specified
this correctly in the Makefile you don't need to do this).
Note: You may need to get the new sources for programs like "mount" or
"ps" corresponding to your new kernel version as well. These programs
tend to change with each kernel version, so after making your new kernel
make sure you have the most recent versions of these programs and compile
them.
If you HAVE done this before, you can just apply the source patches to
your old sources and then recompile (i.e. you don't have to get the
entire kernel sources all over again). Use the "patch" program to do
this.
QUESTION: How can I be sure I won't be writing over anything
important? I have to use DOS on my machine, and I don't want to
lose any files.
ANSWER: Back up everything. Just in case. Then, write some easily
recognizable pattern to the partition you have reserved for linux,
using some DOS tool. You can then use "cat /dev/hdX" under linux to
examine which of the partitions you used.
QUESTION: Linux mkfs doesn't accept the size I give the device, although
I double-checked with fdisk, and it's correct.
ANSWER: Be sure you give the size in Linux BLOCKS (1024 bytes), not
sectors. Also make sure that you have the right partition: partitions
are numbered "/dev/hda1", "/dev/hda2", and so on (and "/dev/hdb1",
"/dev/hdb2" for the second hard drive)... DON'T use "/dev/hda" or
"/dev/hdb" as they correspond to the entire disk, not just single
partitions.
QUESTION: I just rebooted my machine, and now Linux dies with a
"panic: trying to free unused inode". What's going on?
ANSWER: You probably forgot to "sync" before rebooting, which stores
on the disk physically the contents of the kernel buffers. You can
either run "fsck" on the partition to TRY to correct the problem (it
might fail), or re-mkfs and re-install the software on that partition.
QUESTION: I have a one partitionned 40Mb disk. If I run mkfs, what
happens?
ANSWER: If you do that, you will have an empty 40Mb Linux file system.
You should, at least, make on your hard disk, one partition per
operating system you want to use.
QUESTION: Can I use both OS/2 and Linux on my machine??
ANSWER: Yes! See the following two Q/A's about getting your OS/2 Boot
Manager to work. But, be warned: IF YOU USE OS/2, DO NOT USE LINUX's
FDISK TO CREATE LINUX PARTITIONS!! The problem is with a bug/feature in
OS/2's fdisk that tries to correct 'errors' in partitions that it doesn't
like... Linux partitions included. The solution: make your Linux
partitions with OS/2's fdisk, then use Linux's fdisk to change the
partition ID's to the right values (this is self-explanatory with Linux's
fdisk).
If you made your Linux partitions with Linux's fdisk, and OS/2 sees them,
it will think they have errors and end up trashing them.
QUESTION: I use OS/2's Boot Manager on my hard drive. How can I get it to
recognize Linux?
ANSWER: To do this, install LILO on your Linux root partition, NOT on
your hard drive's master boot record. The lilo command for this would be
(if /dev/hda3 is your Linux root partition, and your Linux kernel is in
/vmlinux):
/etc/lilo/lilo -c -b /dev/hda3 -v -v /vmlinux
Then use OS/2's fdisk to add it to the Boot Manager.
QUESTION: When I run Linux's fdisk it says "OPUS" for OS/2's Boot Manager
partition. Is this right? What's OPUS?
ANSWER: It's correct. OPUS is BBS software that used partition type 0x0A
long before OS/2.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# LaBRI | #
# 351 cours de la Liberation | e-mail: cor...@labri.greco-prog.fr #
# 33405 Talence Cedex | #
# | #
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--
There will be some sig, once our local net will be reliable.
Right now I rather stay anonymous.
cor...@labri.greco-prog.fr
Last-Modified: 92/11/20
Version: 1.11
*********************************************************
* *
* Answers to Frequently asked questions about Linux *
* *
*********************************************************
This post contains Part 2 of the Linux FAQ (4 parts).
It must be read *after* the first part.
================================8<=====8<==============================
CONTENTS (of this part)
IV. LINUX and DOS (part2)
V. SOME CLASSICAL PROBLEMS (part2)
VI. MISCELLANEOUS HINTS (part2)
VII. MORE HINTS (part2)
===================================8<====>8============================
IV. LINUX and DOS
=================
*** This section is co-written by Mark Komarinski, A. V. Le Blanc and
*** MM. Corsini. The official maintainer is Mark, if you have *any*
*** questions, critics \ldots, mail him at koma...@craft.camp.clarkson.edu
*** Last Update 15.11.92
QUESTION: Is is possible to access DOS from Linux?
ANSWER: Yes.
(1) The mtools package allows you to access DOS files;
it emulates the DOS commands CD, COPY, DEL, DIR, TYPE, and others.
(2) Since approximately version 0.97 of the kernel, you can mount
DOS file systems as part of your Linux directory tree, providing you
have an appropriate mount command.
(3) A DOS emulator is in alpha test, which will allow some DOS programs
and utilities to run under Linux.
QUESTION: Why use mtools if you can just mount a drive?
ANSWER: Mtools is good if you want to do something quickly. For
example, if you want to get directories on a bunch of floppies. The
mount procedure requires you to mount the drive, get a directory, then
umount it. Mtools lets you get the directory with one command.
(Dirk Hohndel:) Mtools is really fast when copying disks. I mount the
SLS directory of my SUN to my linux box and use mcopy to get the files
on the disks. 3 times faster than using xcopy under DOS
QUESTION: How do I get the mtools package set up correctly?
ANSWER: The mtools package is available in source form on most Linux
ftp sites. The most recent version (As of Sept 1992) is mtools.n2,
and there are linked binaries and library (.a) files available as
well (for example, as part of MCC interim releases of Linux).
In the n2 release of mtools, there is only one executable binary
which works differently depending on its name: you can create hard
or symbolic links to it named mcopy, mdel, mdir, mtype, etc; this
is how the Makefile in version n2 of mtools does it, and it saves
several hundred kilobytes of disk space. Finally, you need the
correct information in the file /etc/mtools, which is described below.
QUESTION: What is the format of the file /etc/mtools?
ANSWER: A complete entry in the file /etc/mtools contains the following
fields: drive, device, fat, cylinders, heads, sectors, offset. Two
examples of entries from /etc/mtools are
A /dev/fd0 12 80 2 15
C /dev/hda1 16 0 0 0
which defines the DOS disk A: as accessible through the device /dev/fd0,
having a 12-bit FAT, 80 cylinders, 2 heads, and 15 sectors per track;
DOS disk C: is accessible through the device /dev/hda1, has a 16-bit
FAT, and its geometry is simply that of the hard disk where it lives.
The last three numbers can be 0 if you wish; this allows mtools to
try to figure out the disk's geometry itself, and perhaps to fail.
A 12-bit FAT is common for floppies, but may occur in small hard
disk partitions. A 16-bit FAT is common for hard disks.
This is an extract of my /etc/mtools file:
A /dev/fd0 12 0 0 0 # 3.5 1.4 Meg (autodetect)
B /dev/fd1 12 0 0 0 # 5.25 1.2 Meg (autodetect)
C /dev/hda1 16 0 0 0 # 1st partition of my Disk
QUESTION: Where can I find out more about mtools?
ANSWER: There are two detailed README files in the mtools.n2 distribu-
tion. These files treat compiling and using mtools. There is a file
README.mtools which treats only using mtools, which is a part of the
MCC interim version of Linux.
QUESTION: How do I use the DOS file system?
ANSWER: The DOS file system is part of the kernel. If you have a
kernel of level 97.1 or above, and an appropriate mount command, type
mount -t msdos [-o conv=text] /dev/hda1 /dos
to mount the partition /dev/hda1 as an MS/DOS file system on the
directory /dos. You'll need a recent mount command, from at least
release 97 or later of the root disk. Recent mount commands also
accept the options conv=binary|text|auto (default is binary) to
specify that text end-of-lines in DOS files are to be converted to
UNIX end-of-lines (by omitting carriage return characters) in no cases
(binary) or in all cases (text) or in cases that don't have 'well-
known binary extensions' (e.g., .EXE or .COM) (auto).
QUESTION: I want to use the DOS file system with either conv=binary or
conv=auto, but I want to convert text files from DOS to UNIX format,
or from UNIX to DOS format.
ANSWER: Use the utility todos/fromdos which comes as part of the
dosfs package, currently (Sept 92) in released in version 8, or
use the flip utility by Rahul Dhesi.
QUESTION: Where can I find out more about the DOS file system?
ANSWER: There is a README file included in dosfs.XX.tar.Z (the current
value of XX is 8), and an abbreviated version of this in the MCC
interim package.
QUESTION: Whenever I use mtools to read a 720K in an 1.44MB drive, I
get a long sequence of reset-floppy-errors, why?
ANSWER: This is what happens if you use the /dev/PS0 device (b 2 28),
to read a 720k floppy you have to use another device, for example
/dev/fd0. Or you may use the setfdprm utility.
QUESTION: This sounds me like a chicken and eggs problem, how can I
install the mtools package at the very beginning.
ANSWER: You have to use the rawrite stuff or the mount procedure.
QUESTION: Could someone explain how to use rawrite?
ANSWER: Well, rawrite is a DOS util, which write sequential sector of
a formatted disk/floppy. When a floppy has been rawritten, you can
(under Linux) untar it (use x, v, z and f flags). As an example:
a) under Dos use rawrite
rawrite
source: kermit.z
destination: a
b) boot under Linux, and perform a tar
tar zxvf /dev/fd0
tar zxvp < /dev/fd0
You DO NOT NEED TO MOUNT a rawritten disk
QUESTION: What is as86.tar.Z ?
ANSWER: It's the port of Bruce Evans' minix assembler, you need it to
be able to recompile Linux at your convenience. In fact this is ONLY
used for boot/setup.S and boot/bootsect.S they create 80x86 REAL mode
code.
QUESTION: Turbo (Microsoft) Assembler won't compile the Linux boot
code. In fact, some of the opcodes in these files look completely
unfamiliar. Why?
ANSWER: The Linux boot codes are written in Bruce Evans' minix
assembler, which has the same opcodes as the original minix assembler
ported to linux get as86.tar.Z Anyway there are a few differences
between these and normal DOS assemblers.
QUESTION: What about the dos emulator (dosemu)?
ANSWER: Dosemu is in alpha testing now, so it is very unstable and crashes
easily. Some programs (such as earlier versions of Turbo Pascal; TP
5.5 too) seem to work fine, but other programs such as dir /p will
crash the emulator.
Look in your favorite FTP site for the dosemu kit.
V. SOME CLASSICAL PROBLEMS
==========================
QUESTION: While running du I get "Kernel panic: free_inode: bit
already cleared". Also, du produces a ENOENT error for all the files
in certain of my directories. What's going on?
ANSWER: These are both consistent with a bad file-system. That's
relatively easy to produce by not syncing before rebooting, as linux
usually has 1.5MB of buffer space held in memory (unless you have <=4M
RAM, in which case the buffers are only about 0.5MB). Also linux
doesn't do anything special about the bit-map blocks, and as they are
used often, those are the thing most likely to be in memory. If you
reboot, and they haven't been written to disk ...
Just do an fsck on the device, the -a flag might repair it otherwise,
the only thing to do is to reinstall the filesystem from the Images.
A sync is done only every 30 seconds normally (standard unix
practice), so do one by hand (some people think you should do 3 syncs
after each other, but that's superstition), or by logging out from the
startup-shell, which automatically syncs the system. Unmounting a
filesystem also syncs it (but of course you can never unmount root).
Another (sad) possibility is that you have bad blocks on your disk.
Not very probable, as they would have to be in the inode-tables, just
a couple of blocks in size. Again there aren't programs available to
read a disk for bad sectors and put them in some kind of
"bad-sector-file". On IDE drives this is no problem (bad sectors are
automatically mapped away).
QUESTION: How can I partition my hard-drive to use Linux?
ANSWER: There are (at least) two ways to answer this. The easy way is
probably to use a program which will do it for you, such as the MS-DOS
fdisk, Minix fdisk, Xenix/Unix fdisk, or programs such as edpart.exe
or part.exe. With the 0.95a distribution, there is pfdisk. To use it
have a look in the beginner's guide written by I. Reid, it's clear and
it had worked for me like a charm. In the mcc-interim release ther is
also fdisk, which runs under Linux and manages partition tables
(it also creates extended partitions).
On the other hand, you can use a disk editor and modify the contents
of the partition table directly. This has been already done, and an
extensive explanatory note can be found in the mailing-list archives
(25th Jan. 92). You must also edit the bpb on the Dos partition you
are shrinking, otherwise Dos will step on Linux.
BTW It might be useful to set three (3) separated partitions for
Linux, one for the root, another one for the usr and a third one for
swap, as an illustration, my root partition is 10Meg, the usr is 22Meg
and instead of a swap partition I use a swap file. As an experience I
have used MS-DOS fdisk to partition my two hd and got no peculiar
difficulties.
You can, as long as you stay within the 64MB per filesystem limit
(Minix-filesystem limitation), have swap, root, etc, ... all on there.
QUESTION: I heard something about repartition a hard disk without
deleting everything on it, any clue?
ANSWER: It's not a program but a partition procedure which requires
a) a partitionning program
b) a sector editor
The procedure itself can be found (at least) in digest#132 Vol2.
QUESTION: What must I do to mkfs a floppy?
ANSWER: blocks are of size 1K so 1.44 floppy is 1440 blocks. The
floppy has to be formatted before this will work (e.g., fdformat can
do this from within Linux).
QUESTION: I have some trouble with tar/untar; any clue ?
ANSWER: The tar provided on .96 and latter is Pax (don't know for .98)
which do not accept the z flag. You can download the GNU tar at tsx-11
in /pub/linux/binaries/usr.bin
QUESTION: I can do this as root but not as non-root, is it a bug?
ANSWER: Except for an early make utility, the problem is caused by an
incorrect permission flag. The most common problems are about /tmp
which should be 1777 and /dev/ttys? which might be 766. So as root do
chmod 1777 /tmp ; chmod 766 /dev/ttys?
QUESTION: "du" reports twice the size showed with "ls -l", is it a
bug?
ANSWER: No it is not, the report is 512 bytes multiple (due to POSIX
requirement), for KB you just add the -k flag. You can add a du
function in your .profile which does this automatically, something
like du(){ /usr/bin/du -k $* }
QUESTION: Sometimes, I get "mount can't open lock file"; what does this
means?
ANSWER: This can happened for two reasons:
A) You try to mount something as non-root. In that case you can either
retry as root, or set the setuid bit to mount as follows:
- be sure that mount belongs to root, if not do 'chown root /bin/mount'
- set the setuid bit with 'chmod u+s /bin/mount'
BTW you have to do the same with umount (in order to be able to unmount)
Remark that it is NOT safe to allow anyone to perform mount/umount,
you should rather write a small utility that will make any user able
to mount/unmount a (and ONLY a) *floppy*
B) You are root. mount wants to open /etc/mtab and /etc/mtab~ - the
first one for reading, the second as lock file. If there is already a
mtab~ remove it. This can happen if you used once gnuemacs on mtab.
To forbid that case, just add the following entry in your /etc/rc file:
rm -f /etc/mtab
QUESTION: When I try "mount /dev/hd?? /user", I get error 2.
ANSWER: Be sure, that your mount point /user does exist; if not perform
a "mkdir /user".
BTW the error numbering is explained in /usr/include/errno.h
QUESTION: Since I have upgrade my Linux kernel, ps won't work anymore,
why?
ANSWER: Each time you upgrade (or re-compile the kernel), you should
perform a 'ps -U' (-U is for update the /etc/psdatabase).
Every time you boot a new kernel you have to do a 'ps U' to update
the psdatabase, after doing this you can remove the system file or
do a make clean.
The pathname to the system binary [/usr/src/linux/tools/system] is
stored in the psdatabase, so you only have to specify it if you have
moved your source tree or if you are creating the psdatabase for the
first time. The psdatabase is always '/etc/psdatabase'. The system
file is obtained in compiling the linux kernel (which I assume is
rooted in /usr/src/linux).
BTW: sometimes a patch makes recompiling ps necessary. Sometimes you
even have to patch the ps-suite.
QUESTION: Since Linux 0.96b I have a lot of core file all over
my disk. How can I sweep them away ?
ANSWER: Use the following command
find / -name core -exec rm {} \;
BTW: think twice before using this command, there might be a John Core
user on your system; this command will erase his mail :)
(Rick) If you never want to see another core file, put this line into
your /etc/rc file:
ulimit -c 0
provided you are a bash user :))
QUESTION: I can only log-in as "root", is it normal ?
ANSWER: No, add "rm -f /etc/nologin" in your /etc/rc.local file
VI. MISCELLANEOUS HINTS
=======================
*** This section is maintained by Matt Welsh (m...@tc.cornell.edu). Please
*** mail me if you have any changes/updates/questions. Thanks -mdw
Special gcc information are located in section IX. A special section is
devoted to it since it's *the* compiler of Linux. I have subsectionned
this part in 3 subsections: Misc/Device Major-Minor/Serial Information.
VI.A. Misc information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUESTION: It seems that $#@! ported on linux don't run correctly, what
do I do about reporting bugs?
ANSWER: (Matt Welsh) It's possible that either the program itself has a bug
or that Linux has a problem that this program brings out. :) But first check
that the size of the file(s) corresponds that of the files(s) on the FTP
sites where it's available. If they're different, either you downloaded them
incorrectly (i.e. you forgot to turn on "bin") or whoever put them on the
FTP site uploaded them incorrectly.
If that's not the problem, then post to comp.os.linux asking about the
program, to verify that it is a bug. PLEASE: when posting possible "bug
reports" include all error and output information from running/compiling
the program. Just saying "it doesn't work" isn't very helpful. Also mention
your specific setup, Linux version, GCC version, etc. Some of these things
depend on running under certain versions and you may have missed that
information.
Note that my "ml-lin...@dg-rtp.dg.com" bug reporting list has been
phased out. It turns out that Linux has so few bugs, most of which are
resolved on the newsgroup or through Linus before I can accumulate them
and post. :) In short: if there's a bug in Linux or in Linux-ported
software, it will usually be fixed in the next patchlevel or version.
QUESTION: Has $#@! been ported to Linux?
ANSWER: First check out the FTP sites and read the monthly INFO-SHEET,
as well as the new "Linux News" and the META-FAQ's (all of which are
either available on the FTP sites and/or posted to the newsgroup as they're
written). Also check out the "Linux Project Registry" (posted to the
newsgroup and on the FTP sites) which lists ongoing/current Linux projects.
Also look in the "old" Linux digests and mailing-list archives, kept on
tsx-11.mit.edu and nic.funet.fi. Also, see if there's a GNU(*) version
of the program you're looking for (which are available everywhere).
Since Linux uses GCC as its native compiler, most GNU software ports
directly to Linux without problems. If all else fails, ask on the
mailing list or newsgroup if the program is ported and where it's
available.
(*) GNU stands for GNU's Not Unix, which (besides being a recursive
acronym) is a project started by the Free Software Foundation (the FSF)
to write a freely distributable version of Unix. The GNU kernel is
named HURD, and is based on Mach. It is currently being written, and is
not yet done. Many of the GNU utilities, however, are completed and are
much more functional than the original Unix utilities. Since they are
freely available, Linux is using them as well.
QUESTION: I've ported $#@! to Linux, what should i do to add it in the
standard distribution?
ANSWER: (Matt Welsh) First read the previous Q/A, then talk to the
maintainers of the various releases (MCC interim, SLS, and so on)
about including your program with those releases. The best way to make
programs available to the rest of the world is to upload it to one of
the Linux FTP sites (such as tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/incoming or
sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/Incoming).
BTW Whenever you submit binaries, please think that if you link them
with shared libraries, this might cause problems for those who (gasp!)
don't have the shared libraries installed. You can either link them
using -static, and if someone wants to build a shared version on their
own machine they can get the sources (which you should also make
available) and build it themself. Or else provide the shared lib.
QUESTION: I want to port $#@! to Linux, what are the flags?
ANSWER: Recall that Linux implements subset of SYSV and POSIX, so
-DUSG and -DPOSIX work in general.
NOTE1: SIGBUS is not there, and can be safely commented out in general.
NOTE2: see section related to GCC, in the third part of this FAQ, for
more details.
VI.B. Major/Minor device number
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*** This section is maintained by Rick Miller, any comments,
*** suggestions, remarks should be mailed to him at <ri...@ee.uwm.edu>
*** Last Update: 17 Nov 1992 16:00:20 GMT
QUESTION: What are the device minor/major numbers?
ANSWER: Here's a preliminary listing from Rick Miller <ri...@ee.uwm.edu>:
The Linux Device List
published by ri...@ee.uwm.edu (Rick Miller, Linux Device Registrar)
Many thanks to ric...@stat.tamu.edu and Jim Winstead Jr.
Majors:
0. Unnamed . (unknown) .... for proc-fs, NFS clients, etc.
1. Memory .. (character) .. ram, mem, kmem, null, port, zero
2. Floppy .. (block) ...... fd[01][dhDH]{360,720,1200,1440} or fd[01]
3. Hard Disk (block) ...... hd[ab] or hd[ab][1-?] (Extended>4)
4. Tty ..... (character) .. tty{0,1-8,63,64-127,128-?} or ttys{0-3,1-4}
5. tty ..... (character) .. special tty: owner of its calling process.
6. Lp ...... (character) .. lp[0-2] or par[0-2]
7. Tape .... (block) ...... t[0-?] (reserved for Non-SCSI tape drives)
8. Scsi Disk (block) ...... sd[0-?] or sd[0-?][0-?]
9. Scsi Tape (block) ...... st[0-?]
10. Bus Mouse (character) .. bm, psaux (mouse)
11. CD-ROM .. (block) ...... scd
Breakdown of minors by Majors:
------------------------------
0. Unnamed . (unknown) .... for proc-fs, NFS clients, etc.
Minors??? (Not yet implemented???)
1. Memory .. (character) .. ram, mem, kmem, null, port, zero
0. /dev/ram
1. (block): RAM-Disk (character): /dev/mem
2. /dev/kmem
3. /dev/null
4. /dev/port
5. /dev/zero
2. Floppy .. (block) ...... fd[01][dhDH]{360,720,1200,1440} or fd[01]
Minors are [drive + [4 * type]] where drive 0-3 == A:-D: (floppy)
and type is: 0: Autodetect 4: 720k in 3.5"
1: 360k in 5.25" 1.2M 5: 360k in 5.25" 1.2M
2: 1.2M in 5.25" 1.2M 6. 720k in 5.25" 1.2M
3: 360k in 3.5" 7. 1.44M in 3.5" 1.44
3. Hard Disk (block) ...... hd[ab] or hd[ab][1-?] (Extended>4)
0. First HD (/dev/hda), whole drive including Master Boot Record.
1-4. Partitions on the first HD.
5-8. Logical partitions within an extended partition on first HD.
64. Second HD (/dev/hdb), whole drive including Master Boot Record.
65-68. Partitions on the second HD.
69-72. Logical partitions within an extended partition on second HD.
Notes: BE *VERY* CAREFUL WITH /dev/hda AND /dev/hdb!! These two
devices signify the *entire* *drive*, not just one partition.
The only things that use /dev/hda or /dev/hdb are things that
need to read/change the partition table (like fdisk).
The names of the hard drives are not the same as under Minix.
Linux doesn't order anything. It perceives partitions in the
order in which they appear in the partition table. Thus,
/dev/hd?1 may be physically after /dev/hd?2.
4. Tty ..... (character) .. tty{0,1-8,63,64-127,128-?} or ttys{0-3,1-4}
0. /dev/tty0: This is the currently active Virtual Console.
1-63. /dev/tty#: Specific virtual consoles.
64-127. /dev/ttys*: Serial ports.
128-191. /dev/pty[??]: PTY Masters.
192-255. /dev/pty[??]: PTY Slaves.
Notes: There are several constants set in the kernel sources which
can be changed to compile a more customized kernel. They're
found in [/usr/src]/linux/include/linux/tty.h:
NR_CONSOLES The number of virtual consoles.
NR_SERIALS The number of serial lines.
NR_PTYS The number of pty's.
5. tty ..... (character) .. special tty: owner of its calling process.
0. /dev/tty: the tty that owns the process calling it.
6. Lp ...... (character) .. lp[0-2] or par[0-2]
1-3. Parallel (printer) ports. (Increasable in include/linux/lp.h)
Notes: The number of line printers is defined by LP_NO which is
found in [/usr/src]/linux/include/lp.h.
7. Tape .... (block) ...... t[0-?] (reserved for Non-SCSI tape drives)
This one's just getting started. No minor numbers are yet assigned.
It's not even in the source code.
8. Scsi Disk (block) ...... sd[0-?] or sd[0-?][0-?]
Minors numbers are [[16 * HostID] + partition]
Notes: The maximum number of SCSI drives is defined by MAX_SD
found in [/usr/src]/linux/kernel/blk_drv/scsi/sd.h.
Additional note (Eric Youngdale): In the new scsi drivers
there is no set maximum number of scsi disks, hence no need to fiddle
with sd.h Everything autoconfigures as the system boots.
9. Scsi Tape (block) ...... st[0-?]
Quoting from the source-code:
void do_st_request(void)
{
panic("There is no st driver.\n\r");
}
Notes: For future reference, the maximum number of SCSI tapes
is defined by MAX_ST which is found in
[/usr/src]/linux/kernel/blk_drv/scsi/st.h.
(E. Youngdale) The same is true here. There is no longer any
need to set MAX_ST, and it would be a bad thing to actually try. Even
though there is a MAX_SR in the cdrom code in the 0.98.5 kernel, the
new scsi code effectively eliminates this as well.
10. Bus Mouse (character) .. bm, psaux (mouse)
(If I recall, X Windows requires that
/dev/mouse be linked to one of these...)
0. /dev/bm: (Logitec?) bus mouse
1. /dev/psaux: PS/2 mouse port
2. /dev/bm: MicroSoft bus mouse
3. /dev/bm: ATI XL bus mouse
11. CD-ROM .. (block) ...... scd
Minors?
From: er...@tantalus.nrl.navy.mil (Eric Youngdale)
Date: 17 Nov 92 16:25:40 GMT
> For the cdrom, the minors are just the devices
> themselves. If you have one cdrom drive, the minor is 0. If you
> have two, then the minors are 0 and 1. Not much more to it than that.
> For a SCSI tape, each physical device has two minor numbers
> that are associated with it. If you have two tape drives, then
> minors 0 and 1 will refer to the first and second drives and the
> tape will be rewound when the device is closed. Minor numbers 128
> and 129 (i.e. 128+n) also refer to the first and second physical
> drives, but the tape will not be rewound after closing the device.
> If you have one tape, you could create the devices with the
> following commands:
> mknod /dev/rmt0 c 9 0
> mknod /dev/nrmt0 c 9 128
NOTE: all the numbers given are in decimal form (the one you can see if
you perform ls -l on /dev).
QUESTION: Could some one give me indication about the meaning of the
IRQ's ?
ANSWER: (alaw...@sobeco.com:)
Standard IRQ's :
IRQ 0 - Timer
IRQ 1 - Keyboard
IRQ 2 - Slave 8259 (AT)
IRQ 3 - COM 2 / COM 4
IRQ 4 - COM 1 / COM 3
IRQ 5 - (XT) Hard Disk, (AT) LPT2
IRQ 6 - Floppy Disk
IRQ 7 - LPT1
AT only IRQ 8 - Real Time Clock
IRQ 9 - Re-direct to IRQ 2
IRQ 10 - Not Defined
IRQ 11 - Not Defined
IRQ 12 - Not Defined
IRQ 13 - 80287
IRQ 14 - Hard Disk (AT)
IRQ 15 - Not Defined
QUESTION: (Chuck Boyer) Could some one clear up the devices meaning?
ANSWER: (Jim Winstead Jr)
>port
This allows programs to access the hardware ports directly. Not
something you generally mess around with much.
>ptyp0-3
>ptypa...tty
These are the pseudo-tty 'master' devices. Each pty connection uses
a slave-master set of tty devices.
>tty0...
tty[1-8] are the virtual consoles associated with Alt-F[1-8]. tty0 is
the current virtual console (so writing something to tty0 goes to the
current vc).
>tty64 I've figured out is the modem connection
Yes, that would correspond to COM1 under DOS. However, the tty64 name
is obsolete - ttys[1-4] should be used instead.
>ttyp0...
>ttypa...
These are the pseudo-tty 'slave' devices.
>ttys1...
These are the serial devices. ttys1 corresponds to COM1 under DOS,
ttys2 corresponds to COM2, etc.
VI.C Special Serial
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*** This section is maintained by Jim Gifford
*** (jgifford@attmail,world.std}.com
*** Last update October 1992.
Douglas E. Quale:
This has come up a couple of times already (including the case of
serial mice as well), but for the record stty acts on stdin not
stdout. Old stty's (from V7 through BSD4.3) used stdout, but this is
suboptimal and doesn't conform to POSIX. The GNU stty you are likely
using on Linux uses stdin, as does the stty distributed with BSD
Networking Release 2. (Also, ``stty -a'' is more informative about
possible parameters, although it's pretty hard for me to remember what
90% of that stuff does without refering to the man page.)
Jim Gifford:
However, there are a few older (of mysterious origin) stty's that work
on stdout(I have one myself!)
QUESTION: Is there a list somewhere where I can get help with serial
communications under Linux?
ANSWER: (Jim Gifford -- jgif...@world.std.com)
There is a list for the discussion of serial communications under
Linux. It is for problems, drivers, new developments, etc... with
the Linux serial devices. The list is: linux-...@stolaf.edu
To join, send mail to linux-seri...@stolaf.edu
I hope that this list will prove beneficial to the improvement of
Linux. This list is maintained by Michael K. Johnson as
linux-seri...@stolaf.edu
QUESTION: When I run kermit under Linux, I get "Warning, Read access
to lock directory denied". What am I doing wrong?
ANSWER: Nothing, you just need to create /usr/spool/uucp (kermit 4.6?)
or /usr/spool/locks (this is for the kermit5A), which is where kermit
like to lock files.
QUESTION: What are the major, minor numbers for the serial ports under linux?
ANSWER: Major 4, Minor :
64 /dev/ttys0 - com1
65 /dev/ttys1 - com2
66 /dev/ttys2 - com3
67 /dev/ttys3 - com4
QUESTION: can anyone give me a sample /etc/inittab entry for login
from a pc attached to serial line /dev/ttys2?
ANSWER: "Humberto speaking :), updated by Rick Miller"
First set up the modem to turn off echo and enable auto answer, I do
this in kermit by connecting to the modem and typing "ate0s0=1"
followed by enter (w/o quotes). Then setup inittab to spawn getty on
the modem
ttys2:vt100:/etc/getty -m 1200 ttys2
(Replace "vt100" with the name of the /etc/termcap entry for the
terminal type you will use, or use "dumb" if you don't have one.)
Then it should work. Some modems can be permanently set to disable
echo and set auto answer, see your manual.
Jim Weigand says:
disable all messages. This will prevent getty from hanging up
your modem.
Set For:
ATE0 No echo
ATQ1 No messages
ATS0=2 Answer 2nd ring
ATS7=60 1 minute to answer (shorter if 2400 baud)
You can use kermit to set these. Do an AT&W to save for power-up.
Michael K. Johnson says:
If you would rather not save these commands as defaults to come up
on power-up, perhaps because you want to use your current modem
settings under a DOS communications package, you can also shove
these command out ttys? from /etc/rc (or /etc/rc.local) using
the command:
echo "<modem_settings>" > /dev/ttys?
QUESTION: How do I set parameters like parity for serial login?
ANSWER: Use stty and redirect input from the serial line.
ex: stty parodd < /dev/ttys2 which gives ttys2 odd parity.
type stty -a to get an idea of possible parameters.
Or 'man stty' as well :)
VII. MORE HINTS
===============
This part try to keep track of the different information
that appeared in comp.os.linux and on the list since beginning of
March. I tried to update it for KERENL_VERSION, so there might be some
mistakes. Moreover take care to use the correct library and include
stuff, and the ad-hoc gcc you use !!!
QUESTION: How can I backup my Hd under Linux ?
ANSWER: I know at least two ways. One possibility is tar and mtools,
another possibility is the diskbackup/diskrestore of Diamano Bolla
(digest37 vol. #2) which saves big hd to floppies using the
stdin/stdout. These utilities have been uploaded to the major sites in
file disksplit.tar.Z.
An example usage (Roger Binns) is:
tar cvf - bin dev usr etc .. | compress | diskbackup
and to restore:
diskrestore | uncompress | tar xvf -
BTW: if you are on Ethernet you could send your files via tar..|rsh (tar...)
or even via NFS to a host which is regularly backed up !
QUESTION: Where is 'which' ?
ANSWER: It depends on the sh you are running:
in bash 'type -path'
in tcsh it's a builtin
for rc you can try the following (untested by me) script from
Kevin Brown:
#!/bin/sh
for i in `echo $PATH | sed 's/:/ /g'` ; do
for j in ""$@" ; do
if test -x "$i/$j" ; then
echo "$i/$j"
fi
done
done
QUESTION: How to use setterm: for the novice?
ANSWER:The setterm utility provides access to most of Virtual Consoles
(VCs) functionality. You can set your screen up to blank at 10
minutes using:
setterm -blank 10
You can set colors, and clear the screen. For a full list of commands,
just type "setterm" with no arguments.
There are a few tricks with the screen dumper can really make VCs go a
long way. Here are a few of the common ones that I use:
setterm dump
Dumps the contents of the current VC to screen.dump (in the current dir).
setterm dump 4
Dumps the contents of VC 4 to screen.dump
setterm -file mydumpfile -dump 4
Dump the contents of VC 4 to the file mydumpfile
setterm -file /dev/tty0 -dump 4
Dumps the contents of VC 4 to the current VC.
setterm -file /dev/tty4 -dump
Dumps the contents of the current VC to VC 4.
setterm -file /dev/ttys1 -dump
Dumps the contents of the current VC to the serial port.
Handy if you are logged on and want to paste a screen full without
having to resort to doing a file transfer.
setterm -file mydumpfile -append 4
Appends to instead of overwriting the dump file. Useful if you
have several screens you wish to concatenate.
QUESTION: I've tried clear/reset which exist on most of unix but it
doesn't work, have I missed something?
ANSWER: setterm -clear or setterm -reset will solve your missing. For
clear, you can also write a small script (which use the cl: part of
/etc/termcap wrt your TERM), or use bash where ctrl-l will do it for
you.
QUESTION: I know there are VC, but where is the setterm stuff?
ANSWER: It's in the current distribution (i.e. on the images), the
source can be found in virtcons.tar.Z at nic.
QUESTION: I know there are shared libraries; does there exist an easy
way to check an executable for sharing ?
ANSWER: (Josh Yelon & HJ Lu)
(J.Y.) An executable which shares a library is linked with an
(ordinary, non-shared) "stub" version of the library. One of the first
thing this stub does (when the executable is run) is to ask the kernel
to load the (big) "shared version" of the library (which is usually
named /lib/lib.XX.XX) The upshot of this is that in the code for the
stub (part of the executable), is the string "/lib/lib.XX.XX"; which
can be searched by using 'strings' or 'grep'.
(HJ. L.) if you have gcc2.11a or later the shared image is changed to
/lib/libxxxx_vyy_zzz. And you should better use nm to find
"__shared_lib" (nm failed on stripped executable). You can also write
a function for "file", which can even check the version number ....
(Claude Morin:) There exists at tsx-11 ldd.tar.Z If you follow
the instructions, you will be able to type "ldd <executable>" to List
the Dynamic Dependencies of the executables. In other words 'ldd'
prints the name of the shared libraries needed by the executable,
nothing appears for static one.
QUESTION: What is the rdev program provided in the images?
ANSWER: It's a program from Werner Almesberger of ETH. With no
argument it prints the first line of /etc/mtab. With one argument, a
boot-image, it prints the device configured as the root device, and
with two arguments, a boot image and a device, it sets the device as
default root in the specified image.
QUESTION: How to start Linux from drive B?
ANSWER: There is a DOS utility called boot_b.exe (look at DOS ftp).
Another simple way is to open the box and invert the cables.
QUESTION: The program boot_b works fine /but/ once the first disk is
read the system go back to the first drive, any hints?
ANSWER: Yes, change the bootimage in just the same way that you change
it to boot on the hard drive, execept that the major/minor pair is
different. All these information are in the file INSTALL-0.10.
Remember that if you use a sun or other endian machine, you will need
to reverse the byte order when you run the filter program (also in the
same file).
QUESTION: How can I get Linux to boot directly from the harddisk?
ANSWER: (Rick) The best option right now is LILO version ALPHA.6. It
has been generally agreed that the days of using "shoelace" are at an
end.
QUESTION: I use shoelace, but I want to change my root partition, what
is the process to get rid of it?
ANSWER: With Norton utility you can put back a standard boot sector.
Another possibility is to restore the old boot sector (the one you
should have backup *before* installing shoelace).
QUESTION: Sometimes, when I want to remove a directory, I get an error
message, is it a (known) bug?
ANSWER: No, There is no bug at all, you probaly have another shell
on another VC whose working directory is either the one you try to
remove, either a subdirectory of it.
QUESTION: I'm looking for init, getty, login, passwd stuff, where
can I find them?
ANSWER: You should find it in shadow.tar.Z (only sources), at least
at tsx in the usr.bin directory. Many people have reported some troubles
with the *OLD* shadow-passwd (shadow-bin.tar.Z and shadow-src.tar.Z, so
do not use them anymore); an alternative might be the mcc-interim
which contains standard passwd binary. There is also the Peter Orbaek's
admutil-1.?.tar.Z and poeigl-1.?.tar.Z which contains source for
shutdown, su, chsh, passwd and a system V init compatible.
QUESTION: How can I setup a user account other than root ?
ANSWER: You can either use the adduser program, either do it manually.
In the later case, you have to:
a) edit /etc/passwd as root and add a line of the following format:
user:passwd:uid:gid:user name:home directory:login shell
user is the login name; uid is the numeric user id, it should be
unique; gid is the numeric group id, this number should correspond to
an entry in /etc/group. The passwd field should be left blank 'cause
it is stored in an encrypted form [to set this field just use the
passwd program].
example
faq::200:5:Marc-Michel:/home/faq:/bin/sh
b) Still as root, you shoud now create the home directory and set the
correct ownership.
mkdir /home/faq
chown faq /home/faq
chgrp 5 /home/faq
QUESTION: I've been trying to get Linux to run on my [3/4]86 box. It
can't even boot. Any suggestions?
ANSWER: The most common error/problem is writing the bootimage to a
low density disk. It fits, but the bootstrap code will only recognize
high density disk. So try to format explicitely disk as high density:
- for 3.5", 'format a: /n:18 /t:80 '
- for 5.25", 'format a: /n:15 /t:80 '
QUESTION: Does there exist games, languages (other than C), and
anything which make the system more friendly?
ANSWER: Yes, among other things there are rogue and yahtzee; TeX;
Prolog, Perl.. but in general, if you want some extra tool port it to
Linux this is also a good beta-testing exercice.
QUESTION: Whenever I use uemacs 3.1X on a symlink, the symlink does
not exist anymore, why?
ANSWER: (Tristram Mabbs) Since ue3.10, uemacs uses 'safe save' mode,
writing the file to a temporary and moving it OVER the original. In
the process, this deletes the original. To prevent this just add the
following in your emacs '.rc' file: set $ssave FALSE
QUESTION: Uemacs doesn't work anymore with 0.95a, whenever I want to
save a file; what can I do?
ANSWER: ^S and ^Q are used for flow control. One solution is ^X^W
followed by the filename, or M-X save-file, try also ^XS it could work
for some version (not mine). Another possibility,
if you have download the stty.tar.Z file, is to do stty -IXON
before you first use uemacs (this can be included in your .profile).
And the last is to recompile the Peter Orbaek init-1.2 package.
QUESTION: I have an SVGA, but Linux detect an EGAc/EGAm; is it normal?
ANSWER: (Jim Winstead) This is correct actually. You have an EGA+ card
(SVGA) with a Color/Mono monitor. The only four possibilties are EGAc,
EGAm, *MDA and *CGA (according to the code in
kernel/chr_drv/console.c).
The true test, if Linux detects your video card, is if you press
<RETURN> at the "Press <RETURN> to see SVGA- ..." boot-time message.
If you have a SVGA recognized card, it will ask you to choose a
screen size. If not detected, the default is 80x50 mode.
BTW if you have no SVGA, press the <space> and you are in 80x25 mode.
If you have dowloaded the kernel, you can automatically skip this
query at boot-time if you set the SVGA_MODE variable in the main
Makefile before compiling a new bootimage.
QUESTION: How can I change the keyboard repeat rate?
ANSWER: (Michael K Johnson) In boot/setup.S there are the lines:
! set the keyboard repeat rate to max
mov ax,#0x0305
mov bx,0x0000
int 0x16
If you don't want to change the repeat rate at all, just comment out
these lines. If you want something in the middle, change the
mov bx,0x000
by mov bx,0x??yy
where ??yy is determined by (Ralf Brown's interrupt list)
bh= delay value (0x00 = 250ms to 0x03= 1000ms (one sec))
this is the delay before the repeat is performed
bl= repeat rate (0x00 =30/sec to 0x1f=2/sec; 0x0c=10/sec [default])
QUESTION: I compiled fdformat.c and ran it on 1.44Mb and 1.2Mb, the
results are unreadable, any clue?
ANSWER: (M. Pereckas) fdformat only low-level formats the disk. to use
the fdformatted disk with DOS filesystem, run mformat on the disk.
Mformat writes DOS filesystem information but is unable to low-format
:). In order to put a Linux filesystem on a (low)formatted disk you
have to mkfs it.
QUESTION: Is it possible to disable the 3-fingers salute
(ctrl-alt-del) ?
ANSWER: Yes, in kernel/sys.c you can read the following:
/*
* this indicates wether you can reboot with ctrl-alt-del: the deault is yes
*/
static int C_A_D = 1;
there is also a small utility written by Linus in digest242 vol#2
QUESTION: Could some one explain the information provided at boot-time?
ANSWER: (Jim Winstead Jr)
> serial port at 0x03f8 is a 16450
> serial port at 0x02f8 is a 16450 (what's that the uart chip?)
Right, the last number should either be 8250, 16450, 16550, or 16550a,
and on the two 16550 models, it will report that FIFO's have been
disable (16550) or enabled (16550a).
> 8 virtual consoles (that's how many alt-F's I can get going?
> but only F1-4 actually work)
You can get sessions running on Alt-F[1-8], but the 'standard'
/etc/inittab only runs getty/login on Alt-F[1-4]. You can start
sessions on the other consoles by using 'doshell' or adding lines to
/etc/inittab.
> 4 pty's (are these the consoles F1-4?)
No, those are 'pseudo' ttys, which programs like MGR use to simulate
tty connections. That's probably a gross over-simplification, but it
gives you the general idea, I think. :)
> p_init: lp1 exists (0) (is that the (l)ine (p)rinter?)
Right.
QUESTION: What is the meaning of files ended by .T.Z (or .taz) ?
ANSWER: The suffix Z is for compressed files (to uncompress them use
the command `uncompress file.Z`).
The suffix T indicates a "tar file" the usual suffix is tar but, the
14 chars filename limit of the Minix filesystem makes it cumbersome to
use .tar.Z (to untar a file ended by .T, use the command
`tar options file.T` (see the man page for more details).
For the .taz file, change them as .T.Z and go-ahead.
QUESTION: I have upgraded the kernel from XX to YY (XX > YY), however the
login screen still says YY.
ANSWER: Just change the message in one of these files: /etc/issue and
/etc/motd. The former contains the message before the login, the later
is the one after you are logged in.
QUESTION: What is doshell good for ?
ANSWER: It's an old program provided in the early Linux version (0.12)
when the getty was not already there, it spawns a shell on any tty's.
(Mattew Gream): I do this quite often ( getty on tty1, 2, 3 and my
rc.local spawns a shell on tty4 as follows
'/usr/bin/doshell /dev/tty4 /bin/tcsh &'
QUESTION: I don't have the kernel sources, how can I change the keyboard
language?
ANSWER: You can use the fixkbd program written by
laur...@hpgnse2.grenoble.hp.com. Its purpose is to fix the
keyboard map used in your kernel image. It works more or less a la
"rootdev" (or rdev).