From owner-linux-activists@joker.cs.hut.fi Fri Nov 6 16:47:54 1992
Status: RO
X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil]
["8057" "Fri" "6" "November" "92" "16:32:36" "+0200" "Lars Wirzenius"
"wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi " nil "217" "Linux News #4 (October 26 - November 6, 1992)"
"^From:" nil nil "11"])
Received: from joker.cs.hut.fi by hutcs.cs.hut.fi with SMTP id AA17156
(5.65c8/HUTCS-S 1.4 for < arl@cs.hut.fi>); Fri, 6 Nov 1992 16:47:51 +0159
Received: by joker.cs.hut.fi (5.65b/6.8/S-TeKoLa)
id AA27368; Fri, 6 Nov 92 16:32:34 +0200
Received: from kruuna.Helsinki.FI by joker.cs.hut.fi (5.65b/6.8/S-TeKoLa)
id AA27362; Fri, 6 Nov 92 16:32:29 +0200
Received: from klaava.Helsinki.FI by kruuna.helsinki.fi with SMTP id AA02576
(5.65c8/IDA-1.4.4 for < linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi>);
Fri, 6 Nov 1992 16:32:40 +0200
Received: by klaava.Helsinki.FI (4.1/SMI-4.1)
id AA27298; Fri, 6 Nov 92 16:32:36 +0200
Message-Id: <9211061432.AA27298@klaava.Helsinki.FI>
X-Mailer: Mail User's Shell (7.1.1 5/02/90)
Sender: owner-linux-activists@joker.cs.hut.fi
X-Note1: Remember to put 'X-Mn-Key: normal' to your mail body or header
From: wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi (Lars Wirzenius)
To: linux-activists@joker.cs.hut.fi
Subject: Linux News #4 (October 26 - November 6, 1992)
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 16:32:36 +0200
X-Mn-Key: LINUXNEWS
L i n u x N e w s
A summary of the goings-on of the Linux community
Issue #4, October 26 through November 6, 1992
"The rumors our demise are exaggarated"
**** Highlights in this issue
- comp.os.linux splitting in voting stage
- xsysinfo
- kernel 0.98 pl3
- LILO version alpha.6
- Updates to SLS
- tvtwm
- Xview3 libraries and tools
- poeigl 1.7 and admutil 1.4
- Linus got some money
**** Editorial
This issue is even more late than the previous one. I haven't had
time and energy to do very much about Linux News (and a bunch of other
things), so I missed last week completely, and even now this issue is
rather quickly done. Sorry about that.
A major thing happening in comp.os.linux right now is the vote for
splitting the group into subgroups. This has been discussed sometimes
quite heatedly for a long time, and I won't say much more about it,
except that I personally hope for at least the creation of
comp.os.linux.announce, if only because it would make it easier for me
to do Linux News (I wouldn't have to hunt for announcements, I could
just pick them from one newsgroup).
**** Legalese
Linux News can be copied, re-published, printed, hung on walls, used
as toilet paper, and used in any other way you wish. If you
distribute LN outside comp.os.linux and the LINUXNEWS channel, please
tell me: the more people I know are reading LN, the more eager I am to
put energy into it.
In fact, if you read Linux News, and think that it is a Good Thing,
and you want to make me happier, send me a post card to the following
address:
Lars Wirzenius
Ohratie 16 C 198
SF-01370 VANTAA
Finland
(Letter bombs, as long as they are marked as such, can go to the same
address. :-)
I take no responsibility whatsoever for any information in Linux News,
or any problems due lack of information. If you get killed due to
Linux News, mail me, and I'll feel sorry for you, but that's just
about all I can do.
**** Notices
Linux News is only a summary, if you want more information about a
given subject, please see the source that is referenced at the end of
each note (for Usenet articles, the reference is the Message-ID of the
article). I try to include all the relevant information, including
ftp sites and filenames, as given in the announcements (I probably
won't have the time or energy to check filenames, or to find pointers
to other ftp sites). If possible, I will try to indicate directories
with a trailing /, e.g. ``pub/linux/SLS/''.
I won't include announcements on mailing lists or testing releases,
only things that are meant to be used generally (I admit that the line
can be somewhat difficult to draw, since the whole system is
pre-release).
**** News section
October 27. Gabor Herr announced xsysinfo, a program for X that
displays information about kernel parameters in a graphical form. The
displayed values are CPU load, CPU idela, memory size, cache size, and
swap size.
The program requires Linux 0.98 (or later), a working ps (0.97.6 or
later), the 4.1 jump libs and XFree 1.1.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu: xsysinfo-1.0.tar.Z (in /incoming at time of
announcement, final directory not known);
sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/Incoming/.
(Source: <1992Oct27.111232.35261@news.th-darmstadt.de>)
October 27. Linus Torvalds announced version 0.98, patchlevel 3 of
the kernel. Both context diffs and full source are available.
0.98 pl3 fixes the following things:
* all known NULL-pointer problems (see announcement of 0.98pl2 in
Linux News #3)
* minor 387-emulation problems
* ASK_SVGA, broken by pl2
There are no new features.
IMPORTANT: There is a major bug in 0.98pl3. The bug will cause the
super-block to not be properly updated when mounting/unmounting
filesystems, which will destroy the filesystem.
FTP: nic.funet.fi: pub/OS/Linux/testing/Linus/
(Source: <1992Oct27.194952.14193@klaava.Helsinki.FI>
<1992Oct29.121938.16664@klaava.Helsinki.FI>)
October 28. Werner Almesberger announced LILO version alpha.6. LILO
is a generic boot loader Linux, which allows one to boot Linux from
the hard disk.
The new version fixes bugs. Also, it should be better at booting
other operating systems. Problems with bootin MS-DOS 5 should be
fixed.
FTP: sunsite.unc.edu: pub/Linux/incoming/ and tsx-11.mit.edu:
pub/linux/ALPHA/lilo/, files lilo.6.tar.Z (source and documentation),
lilo.6.ps.Z (documentation in PostScript format).
(Source: <1992Oct28.023703.10271@bernina.ethz.ch>)
October 28. Linux News #3 contained an announcement of Wampes for
Linux, but it didn't include a description. Olaf Erb described it
today follows:
``It is a package for packet-radio. It includes a program like
ka9q-net that allows logging into the unix machine over ax.25, NET/ROM
and telnet. It includes a convers-server, bbs program and some other
utils.''
FTP: see previous issue.
(Source: <1992Oct28.205832.22507@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de>)
October 29. Qi Xia announced bug fix version 0.9.1 of cksum. cksum
is a POSIX conforming checksum utility.
FTP: sunsite.unc.edu: pub/Linux/Incoming/ and tsx-11.mit.edu
(filenames or final directories not given).
(Source: <1992Oct29.162508.6753@sol.ctr.columbia.edu>)
November 1. Peter MacDonald announced new fixes for SLS. Check the
HISTORY file and obtain the packages that have been listed as changed,
especially the z?fix.taz packages (which are collections of patches
and fixes).
(Source: <1992Nov1.201314.11156@sol.UVic.CA>)
November 4. Peter MacDonald announced a new addition to SLS: the
Interviews programs idraw and iclass. They are in their own series,
in anticipation of the full Interviews environment.
(Source: <1992Nov4.175627.21814@sol.UVic.CA>)
November 5. Peter MacDonald announced new fixes for SLS. This should
fix the problems with permission problems in root. Also, ghostscript
with most drivers was added.
(Source: <1992Nov5.204626.314@sol.UVic.CA>)
October 30. R. Ramesh announced an upload of tvtwm, a window manager
for X.
All binaries were compiled with jump table 4.1, gcc 2.2.2d7 and
Xv2.1 shared libraries. tvtwm requires m4.
FTP: sunsite.unc.edu: /pub/Linux/Incoming/, files tvtwm-src.tar.Z,
tvtwm-bin.tar.Z and m4.Z.
(Source: <1992Oct30.161702.6567@utdallas.edu>)
November 1. Ed Rodda announced Pari 1.37 for Linux. It is a
sophisticated math solver.
FTP: math.ucla.edu: pub/pari (no binaries, but is reported to
compile easily).
(Source: <921031117@orca.wimsey.bc.ca>)
November 2. Kenneth Osterberg announced the Xview3 library and tools
ported for Linux. Xview is a user-interface toolkit for X. It
follows the Open Look GUI specification.
The package contains libxview.a, libolgx.a, olwm, olwmslave,
cmdtool/shelltool, props, textedit, and clock. Headerfiles for xview,
olgx, and pixrect, man pages, and online help files are also included.
This release contains binaries and diffs against xview sources.
Installation requires gcc.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu: xview3.tar.Z (directory not yet known),
sunsite.unc.edu: /pub/Linux/incoming/.
(Source: < lmfken.720695460@bluese2>)
November 3. Peter Orbaek announced poeigl 1.7 and admutil 1.4.
Poeigl contains init, getty, login, hostname, mesg, users, who, and
write.
Admutils contains chsh, ctrlaltdel, init, last, newgrp, passwd,
shutdown, reboot, halt, fastboot, fasthalt, su, and an example
/etc/rc.
This is a source code only release. It should be compilable with
Linux 0.97pl4 and gcc 2.2.2.
FTP: nic.funet.fi and tsx-11.mit.edu: poeigl-1.7.tar.Z and
admutil-1.4.tar.Z (directories not known at time of announcement).
ftp.daimi.aau.dk: /pub/Linux-source/ (presumably the same filenames).
(Source: <1992Nov3.090246.29076@daimi.aau.dk>)
November 6. Peter Anvin announced the final sum for the USA Linux
fund collection, $785 and $750 after wire transfer charges.
Linus thanks everybody, and reports that his computer has now been
paid in full. He has also received other donations (both money and
things), for which he is also grateful.
From owner-linux-activists%niksula.hut.fi@joker.cs.hut.fi Tue Nov 17 02:19:17 1992
Status: RO
X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil]
["17428" "Tue" "17" "November" "1992" "02:18:06" "+0900"
"owner-linux-activists@joker.cs.hut.fi" "owner-linux-activists@joker.cs.hut.fi" nil
"417" "" "^From:" nil nil "11"])
Received: from joker.cs.hut.fi by hutcs.cs.hut.fi with SMTP id AA00955
(5.65c8/HUTCS-S 1.4 for < arl@cs.hut.fi>); Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:18:55 +0159
Received: from joker.cs.hut.fi by joker.cs.hut.fi id <61517(2)>;
Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:18:22 +0900
Message-Id: <92Nov17.021822eet.61517(2)@joker.cs.hut.fi>
From: owner-linux-activists@joker.cs.hut.fi
To: tom@ksr.com
To: sdawson@sbcs.sunysb.edu
To: mh2620@sarek.sbc.com
To: phanson@well.sf.ca.us
To: simonm@dcs.gla.ac.uk
To: tor@tss.no
To: arl@cs.hut.fi
To: wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:18:06 +0900
to johnsonm@stolaf.edu
to pi@cs.sun.ac.za
to mdw@hojo.larc.nasa.gov
to obz@raster.Kodak.COM
to okir@mathematik.th-darmstadt.de
to SCOTT@cs.santarosa.edu
to etxmkhn@eulalia.ericsson.se
to m31z@jupiter.Sun.CSD.unb.ca
to mol@csd.uu.se
to williamsem@space.laafb.af.mil
>From cc.helsinki.fi!wirzeniu Tue Nov 17 02:18:04 1992
Received: from kruuna.helsinki.fi ([128.214.4.112])
by joker.cs.hut.fi with SMTP id <61513(2)>; Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:18:02 +0900
Received: from klaava.Helsinki.FI by kruuna.helsinki.fi with SMTP id AA12495
(5.65c8/IDA-1.4.4 for < linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi>);
Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:17:55 +0200
Received: by klaava.Helsinki.FI (4.1/SMI-4.1)
id AA05656; Tue, 17 Nov 92 02:18:02 +0200
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:17:48 +0900
From: wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi (Lars Wirzenius)
Message-Id: <9211170018.AA05656@klaava.Helsinki.FI>
X-Mailer: Mail User's Shell (7.1.1 5/02/90)
Sender: owner-linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi
To: linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi
X-Note1: Remember to put 'X-Mn-Key: normal' to your mail body or header
Subject: Linux News #5 (November 6 - 16, 1992)
X-Mn-Key: LINUXNEWS
L i n u x N e w s
A summary of the goings-on of the Linux community
Issue #5, November 6 through 16, 1992
**** Highlights in this issue
- spreadsheets for calculating numbers for X display modes
- new version of extended fs programs
- "shell-init" bug fixed in SLS
- new Xenix fs
- kernel version 0.98.4 and 0.98.5
- fig2dev binaries available
- tvgalib and joe sources on tsx-11
- Linux User Group in Albany, NY
- GNU Emacs 18.59
- Seyon 0.8, communications program for X11
- color xterm, system call tracer, SCM scheme on tsx-11
- EtherNet FAQ posted
- afio 2.3 available
- comparison between Linux and 386BSD
**** Editorial
I'm late again. But then you're probably getting used to that. :-)
It is possible that I may in the future change LN to a bi-weekly
publication, if it seems that doing it weekly will be too much work
and that I won't be able to do one issue per week.
Don't forget the on-going vote for the comp.os.linux split into
several groups! Let's get this decided one way or another. Vote now,
or you might regret it afterwards if the vote doesn't go like you
want.
In the last issue, I included my address and asked for post cards.
I've received several and one letter, thanks. I don't mind getting
more, of course (oh yes, I'm very much like a little boy who wants
attention :-).
**** Legalese
Linux News can be copied, re-published, printed, hung on walls, used
as toilet paper, and used in any other way you wish. If you
distribute LN outside comp.os.linux and the LINUXNEWS channel, please
tell me: the more people I know are reading LN, the more eager I am to
put energy into it.
In fact, if you read Linux News, and think that it is a Good Thing,
and you want to make me happier, send me a post card to the following
address:
Lars Wirzenius
Ohratie 16 C 198
SF-01370 VANTAA
Finland
(Letter bombs, as long as they are marked as such, can go to the same
address. :-)
I take no responsibility whatsoever for any information in Linux News,
or any problems due lack of information. If you get killed due to
Linux News, mail me, and I'll feel sorry for you, but that's just
about all I can do.
**** Notices
Linux News is only a summary, if you want more information about a
given subject, please see the source that is referenced at the end of
each note (for Usenet articles, the reference is the Message-ID of the
article). I try to include all the relevant information, including
ftp sites and filenames, as given in the announcements (I probably
won't have the time or energy to check filenames, or to find pointers
to other ftp sites). If possible, I will try to indicate directories
with a trailing /, e.g. ``pub/linux/SLS/''.
I won't include announcements on mailing lists or testing releases,
only things that are meant to be used generally (I admit that the line
can be somewhat difficult to draw, since the whole system is
pre-release). There will be exceptions.
**** News section
November 4. Mike Jagdis announced modegen.taz, two spreadsheets for
the `sc' spreadsheet program for calculating numbers for X display
modes.
FTP: nic.funet.fi, tsx-11.mit.edu: modegen.taz.
(Source: <43.2AF5C5E8@purplet.demon.co.uk>)
November 6. Remy Card announced version alpha 9 of his programs for
manipulating the extended filesystem.
The new version will hopefully fix the problems with bad directory
entries. There are also other, more minor changes.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu, ftp-masi.ibp.fr: /pub/linux/ALPHA/extfs/,
files efsprogs9.tar.Z (full source and binaries), efsprogs9.src.tar.Z
(sources only), efsprogs9.bin.tar.Z (binaries only), and efsprogs.p9.Z
(patch from version alpha 8 to 9).
(Source: <1992Nov6.120622.836@jussieu.fr>)
November 7. Peter MacDonald announced a small update for SLS. This
update should fix the "shell-init" bug, which causes trouble at
logins.
FTP: b5/zbfix.taz (ftp site not given, but should be on all sites
that carry SLS, in the normal places).
(Source: <1992Nov7.041759.8096@sol.UVic.CA>)
November 7. Doug Evans announced a new version of his Xenix
Filesystem for Linux. This version should work with 0.98.pl3.
You need to patch and recompile your kernel for this, of course.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu: /pub/linux/patches/xenixfs.tar.Z
(Source: <1992Nov07.064311.2087@sspiff.cygnus.com>
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: <1992Nov9.112201.14250@klaava.Helsinki.FI>)
November 9. Marcus Wunderlich announced a binary of fig2dev
(announcement didn't explain what it is).
FTP: ftp.dfv.rwth-aachen.de: pub/linux/wunder/
(Source: <1992Nov9.123327.29197@dfv.rwth-aachen.de>)
November 10. Michael K Johnson announced the availability of tvgalib
and joe sources on tsx-11. tvgalib is a graphics library for Trident
SVGA that does not use X. It is compatible with vgalib, which works
with generic VGA cards. joe is a small but useful editor that is
included on at least some versions of the rootdisk.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu: /pub/linux/sources/libs/, files
tvgalib-1.0.tar.Z and tvgalib-1.0.README;
/pub/linux/sources/usr.bin/joe.tar.Z.
(Source: <1992Nov10.202359.23502@athena.mit.edu>)
November 11. Daniel Russel (russed@rpi.edu) announced an informal
Linux User Group in the Albany, NY area and a mailing list. Contact
him for more information.
(Source: < j-q1l5=@rpi.edu>)
November 12. Rick Sladkey announced his port of GNU Emacs 18.59 for
Linux. This version works under Linux 0.98 patchlevel 4 (which breaks
the earlier version because of changes in select and NR_OPEN), but not
on earlier versions.
FTP: sunsite.unc.edu: the incoming directory. Files
emacs-18.59a.tar.Z (README, patches, and Linux support files),
emacs-etc-18.59a.tar.Z (GNU Emacs support binaries and files)
emacs-bin-18.59a.tar.Z (text-based GNU Emacs binary and its DOC file)
x11emacs-bin-18.59a.tar.Z (X11-based GNU Emacs binary and its DOC
file).
(Source: < JRS.92Nov12013048@lepton.world.std.com>)
November 13. M. Saggaf announce Seyon 0.8. It is a communications
package for X11.
FTP: sipb.mit.edu: pub/seyon/ (home site of Seyon)
(Source: <1992Nov13.035855.17713@athena.mit.edu>)
November 14. Michael K Johnson announced new files on tsx-11: A color
xterm, the new Emacs, a system call tracer, and SCM scheme.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu: /pub/linux/sources/usr.bin.X11/cxterm.tar.Z
(color xterm), /pub/linux/packages/emacs-18.59/, files
emacs-18.59a.tar.Z, emacs-bin-18.59a.tar.Z, emacs-etc-18.59a.tar.Z,
x11emacs-bin-18.59a.tar.Z (see the GNU Emacs announcement above)
/pub/linux/sources/sbin/strace.tar.Z (system call tracer),
/pub/linux/sources/usr.bin/scm4a12.tar.Z,
/pub/linux/binaries/usr.bin/scm4a12.bin.tar.Z (scheme).
(Source: <1992Nov14.201956.21550@athena.mit.edu>)
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: <1992Nov15.220138.5434@klaava.Helsinki.FI>)
November 16. Phil (Copeland?) posted an EtherNet FAQ. Future
versions will be posted every one or two weeks to the NET channel on
the linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi mailing list.
(Source: <1992Nov16.011245.18336@csd.uwe.ac.uk>)
November 16. Dave Gymer announced afio 2.3 for Linux. afio is a
cpio-style archiver which can create multiple volume archives on
floppies, compressing individual files if required, and is able to
recover from partially damaged archives.
FTP: sunsite.unc.edu.
(Source: <1992Nov16.095102.13125@cs.nott.ac.uk>)
**** Linux vs 386BSD
One often asked question is "which is better, Linux or 386BSD?". I
won't state my obvious bias, but I will include an article posted by
Mark W. Eichin to comp.unix.bsd which has a pretty good comparison.
Thanks Mark for allowing me to repost this. I have removed a few
lines from the beginning which were only relevant as part of the
discussion in which Mark's posting appeared, reformatted the text, and
also fixed a typo or two.
(The rest of this section comes from Mark.)
I got a 486 machine in January, immediately put Linux 0.10 up on it,
hacked with that for a while, then 386BSD 0.0 came out, so I blew
everything away and put that up instead. When 0.1 came out, I took the
kernel sources (since there hadn't really been major changes to
anything else, and the install program didn't impress me...) and
worked with those for a while... and then I needed (for work reasons)
to get a DOS partition again, to run djgcc/go32, so I put linux (SLS
0.98) up and started hacking on the networking code.
There are various ways to compare the two systems. It would be
impolite to treat them as being in competition; I'll merely try to
list things that "make a difference" between the two.
1) Networking.
386BSD has had TCP/IP support (Ethernet and SLIP) in kernel since 0.0
(after all, the socket interface was originally developed as part of
BSD.) Just about everything you or your sysadmin knows about
configuring unix networking will apply, which makes the setup seem
fairly easy.
Linux has had TCP support in the form of the KA9Q networking package,
though I seem to recall this is only "free" for educational or ham
radio use, since the early days; the 0.98 release actually has in
kernel TCP, which is still a bit rough, but serves a useful purpose as
an independent implementation. Great if you want to hack (like I do)
but not quite up for heavy use; this is changing rapidly.
2) File Systems.
386BSD has the Berkeley Fast File System; you can read research papers
on the implementation and design. It is quite robust, and fsck can fix
most problems due to sudden shutdown. There is a VFS layer, but not
many alternate disk-based file systems as of yet (NFS for both TCP and
UDP are included, though, and mostly work as of 0.1.)
Linux started with the Minix filesystem, but now has a VFS layer and
several additional filesystem types, most popularly the Extended
Filesystem (just stretch the Minix entries by a factor of two, but it
does work...) and the MSDOS filesystem type (a *major* win - none of
the inconvenience of mtools, just mount the floppy or hard drive and
use cp/mv/emacs and it just works.) There is also a /proc filesystem
(at least I think it is done as a filesystem type, haven't looked at
the code).
3) Utilities.
386BSD has the various Berkeley utilities included, as well as groff,
gcc (based on 1.39); it is easy to get most of the GNU utilities up
(and for some things it is necessary -- /bin/sh is a crippled shell
that doesn't handle quoting well enough to run Configure, so you'll
probably replace it with BASH right away.)
Linux comes with mostly GNU utilities, and what it doesn't come with
usually configures and builds cleanly. The "standard" gcc (at the
moment) is gcc 2.2.2d (lots of patches from 2.2.2) and I expect 2.3.1
to work with little effort.
4) Shared Libraries
Linux has them; 386BSD doesn't. This means that Linux can be installed
rather completely on a much smaller system (I've done kernel builds on
an AST 386sx/20MHz/2Mram/40Mdisk from inside of emacs, with everything
important installed... no X, no TeX, but there was room left for at
least one of those).
5) Hardware support
Linux seems to have more support for "low budget" hardware,
contributed by people who have it. There is a good deal of
cross-breeding here, however, with some people working on drivers on
both sides (since, after all, the *hard* part is actually talking to
the hardware, not talking to the O/S.) My personal experience has been
that Linux boots from scratch on more machines than 386BSD does.
6) Development "Life Cycle"
Bill and Lynne Jolitz manage the entire release very closely; this
results in reasonable quality control, but a long cycle between
releases (if I recall correctly, 0.0 came out in March, 0.1 over the
summer, and submissions for 0.2 are solicited now though no date is
even hinted at for a release.) It is also reported that the Jolitz'
have not been able to keep up with NetNews since Septmber 1.
Linus Torvalds keeps a very close eye on the kernel -- in fact, he
rewrites many submissions (though not all) to meet his coding
standards, improving them in the process. Other people handle the
release of installable systems, moving at various paces. Linus also
participates very actively in discussions on both comp.os.linux and
comp.unix.bsd. Improvements to the kernel come out at a rapid pace; I
was recently off at a conference for a week, and am about two
revisions behind on the kernel, to give you some idea of the pace --
the changes mostly involve the networking code, which is in active
flux right now, so this is a feature for developers who want it (and
those who don't simply stay with older versions.)
7) License and Politics
Linux is released under the GNU Copyleft; this means that if you sell
it to someone, you have to include sources with it. (I think this is a
great idea :-)
BSD is released under the various Berkeley copyrights which say that
you can do what you want as long as you don't hold the Regents liable;
also, the Jolitz' have asked for donations to some charity (their
"CareWare" program) if you wish to make them. They have also said that
BSD is simply not *ready* for commercial use, and advise against
making commercial use of it, simply for technical reasons.
There is also a pending lawsuit (AT&T vs. BSDI and UCB) which may
affect the ownership of the 4.3net2 release which 386BSD is based on.
However, no actual action has been taken by a court in this matter,
although UCB and CMU have apparently reacted to it anyway (UCB by no
longer shipping tapes of 4.3net2, and CMU by no longer releasing the
BNR2SS single-server for Mach.)
8) Availability
Linux and 386BSD are both available for anonymous ftp from numerous
sites; Austin Codeworks apparently resells both in source form; FTP
Software Inc was giving away a CDrom at Interop Fall 92 with 386BSD
source and binaries (as well as X11R5, the Crynwr Packet Drivers, and
the RFC's and IEN's) as a promotion. Linux has been uploaded to a
number of BBS'es around the world. I'm sure other forms are available,
essentially if you want it you can probably get it.
In summary, there are numerous differences between Linux and 386BSD;
it is entirely up to you whether they "make a difference" in your
situation.
_Mark_ < eichin@athena.mit.edu>
MIT Student Information Processing Board
Cygnus Support < eichin@cygnus.com>
ps. This posting ignores other 386 Operating Systems since, after all,
we're only discussing Free ones here. Also, I'm sure it is clear to
you that these are my opinions from my experience, and not meant to
represent those of MIT or Cygnus Support (although some of them
certainly coincide) particularly regarding any lawsuits in progress.
From owner-linux-activists@joker.cs.hut.fi Mon Nov 23 02:49:19 1992
Status: RO
X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil]
["6878" "Mon" "23" "November" "1992" "02:34:52" "+0200"
"Lars Wirzenius" "wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi " nil "194" "Linux News #6
(November 16 - 22, 1992)" "^From:" nil nil "11"])
Received: from joker.cs.hut.fi by hutcs.cs.hut.fi with SMTP id AA07518
(5.65c8/HUTCS-S 1.4 for < arl@cs.hut.fi>); Mon, 23 Nov 1992 02:49:15 +0200
Received: from joker.cs.hut.fi by niksula.hut.fi id <61721-1>;
Mon, 23 Nov 1992 02:35:29 +0200
Received: from kruuna.helsinki.fi ([128.214.4.112])
by niksula.hut.fi with SMTP id <61656-1>; Mon, 23 Nov 1992 02:35:12 +0200
Received: from klaava.Helsinki.FI by kruuna.helsinki.fi with SMTP id AA00971
(5.65c8/IDA-1.4.4 for < linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi>);
Mon, 23 Nov 1992 02:35:21 +0200
Received: by klaava.Helsinki.FI (4.1/SMI-4.1)
id AA03081; Mon, 23 Nov 92 02:35:20 +0200
Message-Id: <9211230035.AA03081@klaava.Helsinki.FI>
X-Mailer: Mail User's Shell (7.1.1 5/02/90)
Sender: owner-linux-activists@joker.cs.hut.fi
X-Note1: Remember to put 'X-Mn-Key: normal' to your mail body or header
From: wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi (Lars Wirzenius)
To: linux-activists@joker.cs.hut.fi
Subject: Linux News #6 (November 16 - 22, 1992)
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 02:34:52 +0200
X-Mn-Key: LINUXNEWS
L i n u x N e w s
A summary of the goings-on of the Linux community
Issue #6, November 16 through 25, 1992
**** Highlights in this issue
- Back issues on LN via ftp
- New efsprogs
- SLS upgrades
- TeX upgrad in SLS
- 8-bit clean bash and rc
- ImageMagick
- Joe 1.0.5
- Linux via Trickle
- BSD printer programs
- Sources for several Linux admin programs
- Seyon 1.1
**** Editorial
Back issues of Linux News are now available via anonymous FTP from
nic.funet.fi, directory /pub/OS/Linux/doc/Linux-News. This is an
archive of the LINUXNEWS channel on the linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi
mailing list.
I will no longer be sending back issues via mail.
**** Legalese
Linux News can be copied, re-published, printed, hung on walls, used
as toilet paper, and used in any other way you wish. If you
distribute LN outside comp.os.linux and the LINUXNEWS channel, please
tell me: the more people I know are reading LN, the more eager I am to
put energy into it.
In fact, if you read Linux News, and think that it is a Good Thing,
and you want to make me happier, send me a post card to the following
address:
Lars Wirzenius
Ohratie 16 C 198
SF-01370 VANTAA
Finland
(Letter bombs, as long as they are marked as such, can go to the same
address. :-)
I take no responsibility whatsoever for any information in Linux News,
or any problems due lack of information. If you get killed due to
Linux News, mail me, and I'll feel sorry for you, but that's just
about all I can do.
**** Notices
Linux News is only a summary, if you want more information about a
given subject, please see the source that is referenced at the end of
each note (for Usenet articles, the reference is the Message-ID of the
article). I try to include all the relevant information, including
ftp sites and filenames, as given in the announcements (I probably
won't have the time or energy to check filenames, or to find pointers
to other ftp sites). If possible, I will try to indicate directories
with a trailing /, e.g. ``pub/linux/SLS/''.
I won't include announcements on mailing lists or testing releases,
only things that are meant to be used generally (I admit that the line
can be somewhat difficult to draw, since the whole system is
pre-release). There will be exceptions.
**** News section
November 17. Remy Card announced efsprogs version alpha 10.1. There
was a version alpha 10 announced the day before, but that contained a
bug, which was quickly fixed and now alpha 10.1 is the current
version.
efsprogs consists of mkefs and efsck, i.e. mkfs and fsck for the
extended filesystem.
Changes since version alpha 9 include man pages, and better
checking in efsck.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu, ftp-masi.ibp.fr [132.227.64.26]:
pub/linux/ALPHA/extfs, files efsprogs10.tar.Z (source and binary
programs), efsprogs10.src.tar.Z (source only programs),
efsprogs10.bin.tar.Z (binary only programs), efsprogs.p10.Z (patch to
upgrade from version alpha 9).
(Source: <1992Nov17.100225.13013@jussieu.fr>)
November 17. Peter MacDonald announced SLS upgrades. Changes include
upgrading the kernel to 0.98pl5 (with the test TCP/IP included in the
compiled kernel), fixing some configuration and permission problems
(e.g. X11 fonts), replacing some broken binaries.
Kernel 0.98pl5 will break some binaries, since it checks against
writing into the text segment. At least sc is affected. It is a good
idea to keep an older version of the kernel around.
FTP: The usual sites, check the HISTORY file for what files you
need.
(Source: <1992Nov17.182124.3273@sol.UVic.CA>)
November 17. Thomas Dunbar announced a slight update to TeX in SLS.
Fixes some problems, including a problem with xdvi.
FTP: the usual sites, t1/texman.taz, t2/texbin.taz.
(Source: <9709@vtserf.cc.vt.edu>)
November 18. Janne Himanka announced 8-bit clean versions of the
shells bash and rc. Bash is version 1.10 (since there are no patches
for 1.12). Rc is a clone of Plan 9's rc shell; Janne's version
includes GNU readline.
8-bit cleanliness is preferred feature for most people who use
non-English languages, since their character sets are usually 8-bit,
instead of 7-bit ASCII.
FTP: nic.funet.fi:/pub/OS/Linux/util/shells/.
(Source: < JANNE.92Nov18231314@seita.oulu.fi>)
November 19. Andrew J. Cosgriff announced binaries of ImageMagick
2.0. These binaries require the jumptable jpeg and tiff libraries by
Rob Hooft.
ImageMagick is a program for displaying images and converting them
between various forms.
FTP: sunsite.unc.edu and tsx-11.mit.edu.
(Source: < ins217t.722142087@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au>)
November 20. Bruce Cheng announced diffs for ImageMagic 2.1. You
also need the original IM sources and the jump libs for different
image types.
FTP: export.lcs.mit.edu: /contrib/ (original sources),
sunsite.unc.edu: diff-imgik21.Z (diffs for Linux), libjpeg.a.Z (JPEG
lib version 3c), libtiff.a.Z (TIFF lib version 3.2b), liburt.a.Z (URT
lib version 3.1b).
(Source: < chengb.722231259@craft.camp.clarkson.edu>)
November 21. Joseph H Allen announced Joe version 1.0.5. Joe is a
small and fairly simple editor that has been on at least some versions
of Jim Winstead's rootdisk. There were several announcements for
versions 1.0.0 through 1.0.3 as well, but 1.0.5 seems to be the
current one. The summary of new features is too long to include here.
FTP: world.std.com: src/editors/joe1.0.5.tar.Z.
(Source: < By2LMM.JuI@world.std.com>)
November 20. Gustaf Neumann announced a Trickle server for Linux.
Trickle is a "caching file redistributor", which distributes files via
mail.
Addresses (all are the same machine, they just are for different
networks): TRICKLE@AWIWUW11.BITNET, TRICKLE@AWIWUW11.EARN,
TRICKLE@AWIWUW11.wu-wien.ac.at.
In order to use this, start by sending a mail to one of the above
addresses with a line containing "/HELP" and you should get a help
file in return mail.
(Source: <7222729118-34228@dec4.wu-wien.ac.at>)
November 20. Ross Biro announced a port of BSD's lpr package for
managing printer spools: lpr, lpq, and lprm.
FTP: sunsite.unc.edu.
(Source: <1992Nov20.211004.9713@leland.Stanford.EDU>)
November 20. Jim Winstead announced a set of sources for
miscellaneous Linux utilities. Utilities included are: doshell, ed,
fdformat, fdisk, frag, fsck, kill, makehole, mkfs, mkswap, more,
pathnames, setfdprm, setroot, setserial, setterm, sync, update.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu: system-0.98.tar.Z
(Source: <1992Nov20.213143.26320@muddcs.claremont.edu>)
November 21. M. Saggaf announced Seyon 1.1, a communications program
for X11. Version 1.0 was also announced recently. Note that there is
a Seyon channel on the linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi mailing list.
FTP: sipb.mit.edu: pub/seyon/
(Source: <1992Nov21.080717.5816@athena.mit.edu>)
From owner-linux-activists@joker.cs.hut.fi Sun Nov 29 01:16:11 1992
Status: RO
X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil]
["6449" "Sun" "29" "November" "1992" "01:15:03" "+0200"
"Lars Wirzenius" "wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi " nil "203"
"Linux News #7 (November 22 - 28, 1992)" "^From:" nil nil "11"])
Received: from joker.cs.hut.fi by hutcs.cs.hut.fi with SMTP id AA15937
(5.65c8/HUTCS-S 1.4 for < arl@cs.hut.fi>); Sun, 29 Nov 1992 01:16:08 +0200
Received: from joker.cs.hut.fi by niksula.hut.fi id <61662-3>;
Sun, 29 Nov 1992 01:15:40 +0200
Received: from kruuna.helsinki.fi ([128.214.4.112])
by niksula.hut.fi with SMTP id <61618-4>; Sun, 29 Nov 1992 01:15:24 +0200
Received: from klaava.Helsinki.FI by kruuna.helsinki.fi with SMTP id AA18059
(5.65c8/IDA-1.4.4 for < linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi>);
Sun, 29 Nov 1992 01:15:32 +0200
Received: by klaava.Helsinki.FI (4.1/SMI-4.1)
id AA04160; Sun, 29 Nov 92 01:15:31 +0200
Message-Id: <9211282315.AA04160@klaava.Helsinki.FI>
X-Mailer: Mail User's Shell (7.1.1 5/02/90)
Sender: owner-linux-activists@joker.cs.hut.fi
X-Note1: Remember to put 'X-Mn-Key: normal' to your mail body or header
From: wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi (Lars Wirzenius)
To: linux-activists@joker.cs.hut.fi
Subject: Linux News #7 (November 22 - 28, 1992)
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1992 01:15:03 +0200
X-Mn-Key: LINUXNEWS
L i n u x N e w s
A summary of the goings-on of the Linux community
Issue #7, November 22 through 28, 1992
**** Highlights in this issue
- linux-man and linux-serial are gone
- Rik Faith made new utilities binaries
- XConquer 5.5
- Ingres
- dvi2pcl
- shadow login suite
- new FAQ
- Linux CD-ROM
- DikuMud
- Joe 1.0.7
- SLS update
- ACM, a flight simulator
- Seyon 1.3
- mbase 5.0
- no new kernels
**** Editorial
Um.., the mind is empty and I'm tired. I guess there won't be an
editorial tonight.
**** Legalese
Linux News can be copied, re-published, printed, hung on walls, used
as toilet paper, and used in any other way you wish. If you
distribute LN outside comp.os.linux and the LINUXNEWS channel, please
tell me: the more people I know are reading LN, the more eager I am to
put energy into it.
In fact, if you read Linux News, and think that it is a Good Thing,
and you want to make me happier, send me a post card to the following
address:
Lars Wirzenius
Ohratie 16 C 198
SF-01370 VANTAA
Finland
(Letter bombs, as long as they are marked as such, can go to the same
address. :-)
I take no responsibility whatsoever for any information in Linux News,
or any problems due lack of information. If you get killed due to
Linux News, mail me, and I'll feel sorry for you, but that's just
about all I can do.
**** Notices
Linux News is only a summary, if you want more information about a
given subject, please see the source that is referenced at the end of
each note (for Usenet articles, the reference is the Message-ID of the
article). I try to include all the relevant information, including
ftp sites and filenames, as given in the announcements (I probably
won't have the time or energy to check filenames, or to find pointers
to other ftp sites). If possible, I will try to indicate directories
with a trailing /, e.g. ``pub/linux/SLS/''.
I won't include announcements on mailing lists or testing releases,
only things that are meant to be used generally (I admit that the line
can be somewhat difficult to draw, since the whole system is
pre-release). There will be exceptions.
**** News section
November 20. Michael K. Johnson annouced the demise of the linux-man
and linux-serial mailing lists at stolaf.edu. They have been
superseded by the DOC and SERIAL channels on the
linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi mailing list (send an empty mail to
linux-activists-request@niksula.hut.fi to get a help text).
(Source: <1992Nov20.021027.15187@news.stolaf.edu>)
November 23. Rik Faith announced a set of binaries of a number of
utilities. Included are bison 1.19, gawk 2.14, GNU fileutils 1.34,
groff 1.06, make 3.62, GNU's version of patch 2.0.12u8, GNU shellutils
1.8, GNU tar 1.11.1, GNU textutils 1.3, and assorted utilities from
BSD.
Man pages and info documents have been included when available in
the original packages. The programs have been compiled with gcc
2.2.2d and the 4.1 jump libraries.
The files should be in a form suitable for the SLS sysinstall
program and can also be installed by hand.
FTP: ftp.cs.unc.edu:/pub/faith/linux/utils/, tsx-11.mit.edu,
sunsite.unc.edu. Too many files to mention.
(Source: <17828@borg.cs.unc.edu>)
November 23. Andrew J. Cosgriff announced his upload of XConquer 5.5
binaries (presumably some kind of game). It needs the latest XFree
(libX11.so.2.1) and jumptables 4.1.
FTP: sunsite.unc.edu, tsx-11.mit.edu; source from
export.lcs.mit.edu: xconq5.5.tar.Z
(Source: < ins217t.722563113@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au>)
November 24. Zeyd M. Ben-Halim announced a new version of his port to
Linux of Ingres, the relational database manager. Sources only, no
binaries.
FTP: ingres03.lzh (you need lha to unpack this, and byacc to
compile it).
(Source: <1992Nov24.104348.22837@netcom.com>)
November 23. Thomas Dunbar announced dvi2pcl, a TeX dvi file
converter for HP PaintJet XL printers. May also work with a DeskJet.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu: /pub/linux/packages/TeX/dvi2pcl-bin.tz.
(Source: <9894@vtserf.cc.vt.edu>)
November 24. Ed Carp announced a port of John Haugh's shadow login
password suite (version 3.2.2) for Linux.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu:/incoming/shadow-3.2.2-linux.tar.Z (full
source), shadow-3.2.2-diffs.Z (patches against base distribution).
(Source: <1992Nov24.072848.2113@unislc.uucp>)
November 24. Marc-Michel Corsini uploaded and posted the newest FAQ.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu: pub/linux/doc/FAQ.
November 24. Monty H. Brekke announced his upload of xv 2.21
binaries. Xv is a program for viewing pictures; it supports several
image type.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu: xv2.21bin.tar.Z
(Source: < By7GDx.Jz6@news.iastate.edu>)
November 25. Adam J. Richter announced a Linux CD-ROM. It contains
full sources, Linux 0.98.1, X, gcc, TeX, among other things. The
format is ISO 9660. The price is $99. No shipment outside of
US/Canada yet. Contact
Yggdrasil Computing, Incorporated
CDROM sales
PO Box 8418
Berkeley, CA 94707-8418
for more information.
(Source: <3814@news.cerf.net>)
November 25. Byong Pak announced his upload of DikuMud for Linux. It
is a multiplayer text adventure game in D&D style.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu: diku-linux.tar.Z
(Source: < acVj02t82c1R01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com>)
November 26. Joseph Allen announced version 1.0.7 of the editor Joe.
This new version includes shell windows, better support for 8-bit
characters, and bug fixes.
FTP: world.std.com: src/editors/joe1.0.7.tar.Z
(Source: < ByBvGL.1D6@world.std.com>)
November 26. Peter MacDonald updated the version of SLS to the same
version that Softlanding Systems distributes. This should reduce a
few of the problems. As usual, if you want to upgrade, read the
HISTORY file.
(Source: <1992Nov26.210711.7078@sol.UVic.CA>)
November 26. John Hendrickson announced his upload of ACM, a flight
simulator for X.
FTP: sunsite.unc.edu.
(Source: < ByCJMs.DFG@news.cs.andrews.edu>)
November 28. M. Saggaf announced Seyon 1.3, a terminal program for X.
The new version contains bug fixes and a few new features.
FTP: sipb.mit.edu: pub/seyon/
(Source: <1992Nov28.024154.25143@athena.mit.edu>)
November 28. Zeyd M. Ben-Halim announced his upload of mbase 5.0. It
is a database.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu:/incoming, sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/Incoming,
file mbase.lzh.
(Source: <1992Nov28.110104.22179@netcom.com>)