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Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.announce:76 comp.os.386bsd.questions:3378 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!agate!agate!usenet From: burgess@hrd769.brooks.af.mil (Dave Burgess) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.announce,comp.os.386bsd.questions Subject: FAQ_00 Date: 29 Jun 1993 18:40:47 -0700 Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 427 Sender: cgd@agate.berkeley.edu Approved: 386bsd-announce-request@agate.berkeley.edu Message-ID: <9306282146.AA16600@hrd769.brooks.af.mil> NNTP-Posting-Host: agate.berkeley.edu Content-Type: text Folloup-to: comp.os.386bsd.questions X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL22beta4] Content-Length: 18041 Status: RO Here is section 0 of the FAQ. Those of you with FTP access can get the most recent, up-to-the-minute version from hrd769.brooks.af.mil by anonymous FTP. There are still sections of this document that need to be completed, and I am pretty clueless about where to proceed from here. Anyone want to help? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Frequently Asked Questions 386BSD 0.1 EXTREMELY UNOFFICIAL Original FAQ by: Terry Lambert terry_lambert@gateway.novell.com terry@icarus.weber.edu New FAQ by: TSgt Dave Burgess NCOIC Armstrong Laboratory Management Systems Office Brooks AFB, TX burgess@hrd769.brooks.af.mil Last Update: 24 Jun 1993 Section 0. (Basic FAQ information) 0.0 Introduction The 386BSD 0.1 operating system is a derivative of the Berkeley Net/2 release. The definitive "man without whom we would have nothing" in this effort has been William Jolitz. For more information, download the code. 386BSD is fully redistributable and is intended as a research OS. As such, many contributions to the system are provided through interaction by people who communicate via many means. Many new and innovative features have been added to 386BSD since it's original release in June of '92. There is an 'unofficial' patchkit which is available from many anonymous FTP sources which makes 386BSD more stable and usable. Many problems associated with the use of 386BSD Version 0.1 can be solved through the application of patches from the patchkit. In addition, many common Unix packages have been ported with varying degrees of difficulty. 386BSD is available completely free of charge. It is also available on CD-ROM and many other methods, most of which end up charging for 'media and handling costs'. It is available by Anonymous FTP and through FTP-Mail. 386BSD comes in three distinct pieces, each of which is exclusive of the other two. These distributions are called the 'bindist', 'srcdist', and 'etcdist'. The bindist can be unloaded from its native form (on about 10 diskettes) and loaded onto a 42Meg hard drive partition. It is a fully functional system, including gcc 1.39, all executables for normal Unix style operation, and many other things. The etc distribution includes MANY additional programs (all with source) which extend the functionality of 386BSD. The srcdist is the source code for 386bsd, along with all of the header files not included in the bindist. All of the distributions and compilation files will fit onto 180Meg of hard drive (barely). 0.1 About this FAQ. This FAQ consists of 11 parts: Section 0. Basic FAQ information Section 1. General Network Information Section 2. Common installation questions Section 3. Kernel Building and Maintenance Section 4. Kernel Additions Section 5. Kernel Replacement Parts Section 6. Interaction with MS-DOS Section 7. System Communication Section 8. "Supported" Hardware List Section 9. "Supported" Software List 0.2 Is 386bsd better than (your favorite operating system name here)? I decided to put this in section 0, primarily because it by far the most asked and least useful question in comp.os.386bsd.*. You will often see this question veiled as a request for a brief description of the differences between 386bsd and (YFOS). This type of request, while seeming to be a reasonable one, is usually looked upon as either an attempt by some folks for the net to do their homework, or as an attempt to start yet another flame-war. What is the answer to this question, then? No. It is not. Nor is it any worse. It is DIFFERENT. There are alternative Operating Systems available, both free and commercial. 386bsd, NetBSD, and Linux are examples of "free" Unix style Operating Systems. Here are a brief list of differences between 386bsd and other systems: 1. 386bsd will not run DOS applications (yet). There is currently no DOS emulator. People are working on it. If you want to help, contact Nate (nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu) and tell him. He will put you in contact with the right people. 2. 386bsd is not binary compatible with anything but NetBSD. If you want to add binary compatibility with some other system, contact Bill and Lynne, or Nate, and volunteer. NetBSD 0.8 (right now) is actually 386bsd in a new suit. It comes with many different utilities, and will probably look A LOT like 386bsd Version 0.1.5 when it comes out (IMHO). The documentation that comes with NetBSD goes into a great deal of detail about this. BTW, this binary compatibility is become backwards compatibility. The newer versions of NetBSD are implementing a new type of executable format, wherein references to NULL will cause a core dump. The format of the executable is said to be close to (if not compatible with) BSDI's BSD/386 product. 3. 386bsd does not feel like SysV; Linux does. It feels more like SysV than 386bsd does because of its strict compliance with POSIX than any actual links with SysV. Linus Torvalds wrote Linux from scratch while a student in Finland. Because of the nature of Linux, it has been extended (through the liberal application of BSD utilities) to feel more like a "University" SysV system than a commercial release. 4. 386bsd feels like BSD; Linux doesn't (for the most part). Clifford Stoll talks about the 'West Coast/East Coast' feeling of BSD/SysV in his book "The Cuckoo's Egg". In keeping with that, BSD feels like BSD/West Coast, Linux feels like SysV/East Coast (actually, Finland is what it says on the passport, but stay with me for a minute). If you don't believe me, just look at the primary U.S. archive sites. Linux is available from MIT, BSD is available from Berkeley. Can't get much more 'Coast' than that. :-) 5. Linux, NetBSD, and 386bsd share two vitally important facets. All are free and all include source. They are all excellent, and all fill a niche that the others would gladly leave available. Also, don't forget one of the most important things; get what your friends have. Then they can help you. 6. Finally, remember that this FAQ and the comp.os.386bsd.* groups are intended as places for 386bsd users and developers to meet and discuss topics which are germain to the further development of 386bsd. For more information about Linux, you can read the comp.os.linux newsgroup. 0.3 How to add your pet answer to the FAQ. This is the trickiest part of this section of the FAQ. There are only two criteria for getting an entry made into the FAQ: 1. Your answer should answer a question that seems to come up with some regularity, or at least perplexes a group of people from time to time. 2. Your answer should be technically correct. In other words, answers like 'RTFM' and 'everybody knows that' are not really good candidates for the FAQ. These answers should spell out, in a reasonable level of detail, precisely how to fix the the question asked, or explain the basis for the answer and leave the implementation of the answer to the questioner. All answers MUST include a question. This is not as obvious as it would seem at first glance. An answer could solve many problems, especially in the realms of system halts or other catastrophes. Since I (Dave) am no Unix guru, I rely HEAVILY on the input of other people to make the FAQ a success. Many questions in the FAQ have been made largely irrelevant through the patchkits, but that doesn't means they may not reappear. That is why the old FAQ questions are still here. New FAQ questions should be added. I will try to attribute the question/answer to the author, but I personally think this is a waste of good disk space. As long as the answers get out, that should be reward enough :-) 0.4 Administrivia. Send all question/answer pairs to burgess@hrd769.brooks.af.mil. If you are going to post the Q/A to the net, then do that, but be sure to mark it as a FAQ entry. I will get it from the net as easily as I do my E-Mail. Your Q/A will be formatted to look more or less like the others and be added. Corrections, deletions, flames, snivels, and whines should be addressed directly to me here. Either way, I will be sure to send out a reply letting you know what I have done with your submission. To get the absolutely most up-to-date (like to the minute) FAQ set, you will need access to anonymous FTP. FTP to hrd769.brooks.af.mil and get the entire set out of ~/pub/FAQ. I have implemented the advanced FTP server, so you can request the files be compressed and/or tarred. The file 'master.index' is the list of all of the questions in the entire set. One last thing. I will assume that I am infalible. :-) I will not notice any mistakes that you may find. If you find a mistake and don't tell me, it will very likely stay a mistake. 0.5 Master Index. 0.0 Introduction 0.1 About this FAQ. 0.2 Is 386bsd better than (your favorite operating system name here)? 0.3 How to add your pet answer to the FAQ. 0.4 Administrivia. 0.5 Master Index. 1.0 What is 386BSD? (Taken from the INSTALL.NOTES by the Jolitz's) 1.1 Feature summary 1.2 The future of 386BSD. 1.3 386BSD software projects in progress 1.3.1 Contacting software authors 1.4 Minimum hardware configuration recommended 1.5 Where to get the source and binaries 1.5.1 Forms available (floppy, FTP, CDROM) 1.5.1.1 Where can I get the distribution on floppy or tape? 1.5.1.2 Where can I get the distribution via FTP? 1.5.1.3 Where can I get the distribution on CD ROM? 1.6 Electronic Information Groups for 386BSD 1.6.1 Usenet newsgroups 1.6.2 Newsgroup archives. 1.6.3 386bsd mailing lists. 1.6.4 Other electronic resources. 1.7 Documentation available 1.7.1 BSD manuals 1.7.2 BSD books 1.7.3 The Jolitz Book 1.7.4 Dr. Dobbs' journal 1.7.5 Other FAQ's on the net that are relevant 1.8 FTP sites for 386BSD 1.8.1 FTP Site List 1.8.2 Official distribution sites 1.8.3 Reference sites 1.8.4 Unofficial archive sites that have neat stuff! 1.8.5 X for 386BSD 0.1 Ported Software List 2.0 Install process 2.0.1 Tiny boot disk (versions and media formats) 2.0.1.1 Where does extract go when I reboot? 2.0.1.2 I put the floppy in and try to boot, and nothing happens. What now? 2.0.1.3a The floppy booted, but now the hard disk won't boot? 2.0.1.3b I am trying to reinstall. I run install and it loops asking me if I want to use the whole disk? 2.0.1.4 There are a bunch of flashing colored things on the screen. Now what? 2.0.2 Fix-it boot disk 2.1 Binary distribution 2.2 Source distribution 2.3 Additional software distribution 2.4 Patch-kit 2.5 Configuration 2.5.1 Partitions 2.5.1.1 What is a 'disklabel' and why do I need one? 2.5.2 Common Disk Label Problems. 2.5.2.1 Swap space. 2.5.2.2 Increasing the 386bsd partition size. 2.5.3 How do I set up the system so that I can boot from more than one operating system/file-loader without using floppies? 2.5.4 How do I disklabel my second hard drive? 2.6 Common installation problems. 2.6.1 Swap space not identified correctly. 2.6.2 Endless reboot cycles. 2.6.3 The computer just sits there, or 'that isn't right'. 2.6.3.1 The boot disk works all right on one computer but not another. 2.6.3.2 The screen has "flashing multicolored characters and ptdi81061 prompt" error? 2.6.3.3a I get the error "isr 15 and error: isr 17" on an NE2000 card. 2.6.3.3b I have some card on IRQ2 and it doesn't work; why? 2.6.3.3c I am getting lousy performance out of my network card. What are some of the other possibilities? 2.6.3.4 Some of my SCSI devices (like a tape drive) don't work; why? 2.6.3.5 I try to run 'ps' or 'w' and get ': cannot get namelist' from the TinyBSD kernel. What did I do wrong? 2.6.3.6 Why don't the man pages for "magic" and "file" work? 2.6.3.7 Why is apropos broke? 2.6.3.8 I get a 'Floating point constant out of range' when I try to compile package 'n'. What is broke? 2.6.3.9 I want to use the Adaptec 1542C SCSI controller. What are the problems/tricks you need to know to get it working? 3.1 Kernel 3.1.1 How do I build a kernel? 3.1.2 I want to do one of the following things: * add a device not in the distributed kernel (third com port, additional disk or tape, line printer driver, etc). * use a patch from the net or the patchkit to fix a kernel bug. * add another swap device. * recompile the kernel to remove extraneous devices so that 3.1.3 I don't have the source distribution -- how can I rebuild the kernel? 3.1.4 Now that I have a kernel, how do I install it? 3.1.5 After installing the patchkit and recompiling the kernel with the option "WD8013", i am no longer able to reboot the machine. A cold boot (power on) runs fine, but after a reboot no boot drive is found by the BIOS. Besides having a 16-bit WD/SMC Ethernet card installed the machines try to boot using either a Adaptec 1742 or 1542 SCSI board to boot from. 3.2 What exactly is this config file, anyway? What are all of these cryptic notations? 3.2.1 Okay, fine. Why shouldn't I just add every device I can find to the kernel, so I'll never have to recompile this again? 3.2.2 What should I remove from the kernel? 3.2.3 I can't get enough remote login sessions or xterm sessions. What can I do? 3.2.4 How do I get ddb, the kernel debugger, compiled into the kernel and running? 3.2.5 Can I have more than one config file? Should I rename it to something else? Any other hints? 3.2.6 What is the meaning of the trap codes I get in panic messages? Sometimes this message appears in the form "trap type nn". 3.2.7 Where can I learn more about all this? 3.3 X11/XFree86/XS3 3.3.1 What options should I define to get the X extensions included? 3.3.2 Where can I get the FAQ for 'X'? 3.4 Compiler and Library routines 4.0 Introduction 4.1 Common Kernel-related problems 4.1.1 Where are the commands "rpcinfo" and "rpcgen"? 4.1.2 Where can I get a working "netstat"? 4.1.3 How can I fix NFS to work with my NE2000 board? 4.1.4 How can I get "ps" and "w" to work? 4.1.5 Where are re_comp and re_exec? 4.1.6 Where are stty() and gtty()? 4.2 Available kernel add-ons 4.2.1 The Patch-Kit 4.2.2 Shared Libraries 4.2.3 Sound Blaster Drivers 4.2.4 Bus Mouse Drivers 4.2.5 PPP Support 4.2.6 re_comp and re_exec library functions 4.2.7 Intel i82586 Ethernet Controller driver 4.2.8 PC Speaker driver for Nethack 5.0 Introduction 5.1 Available Kernel Replacements 5.1.1 keycap/codrv 5.1.2 pcvt 5.1.3 syscons 5.1.4 Fast Symbolic Links 5.1.5 npx fixes 5.1.6 CGD's COM drivers 5.1.7 Tom Ivar Helbekkmo's wd.c replacement 5.1.8 Interruptless LPT Driver Kit 5.2 Floppy Disk problems. 5.2.1 How do I get a bootable floppy? 5.3 Unit Record 5.3.1 Printers 5.3.2 Terminals/Keyboards 5.3.3 Modems 5.4 Network 5.5 Marc Mengel's <mengel@fnal.gov> driver list 6.1 Formatting a floppy 6.2 Sharing the Disk with MS-DOS 6.2.1 How can I partition my drive for both MS-DOS and 386bsd? 6.2.2 I can install using the whole disk, but I can't install when I try to share the drive between 386bsd and MS-DOS. Why? 6.2.3 I can use either MS-DOS or 386BSD on my hard drive, but shutdown -todos doesn't seem to work. 6.3 Accessing the MS-DOS filesystem 6.4 PC-NFS support 6.4.1 Can I use 8K packets for NFS? When I try, I have all kinds of problems. 6.4.2 How do I get around the NFS "Permission denied" error? 6.4.3 What does the message "BAD MNT RPC: RPC Authentication error; why = Invalid client credential" mean when I try to mount something from another machine? 6.4.4 Is there any PC software that will allow me to use my enormous PC with all of the unsupported hardware as a PC-NFS server? 7.0 Communications 7.1 SLIP 7.2 CSLIP 7.3 PPP 7.4 TCP/IP 7.5 UUCP 7.5.1 TIP/CU 7.6 Terminals 8.0 What hardware is 386BSD known to run on and support! 8.1 System brand names 8.2 Motherboards 8.3 Video cards 8.4 Mice 8.5 Serial Cards 8.6 Disk Controllers 8.7 SCSI Controllers 8.8 Network Cards 8.9 Printers 8.10 TAPE Drives 8.11 CDROMs 9.1 Software known to run under 386BSD 9.2 List whether patches are needed 9.3 List version/release of program 9.4 List who is supporting it if anyone 9.5 List where you can get it -- Please send submissions for comp.os.386bsd.announce to: 386bsd-announce@agate.berkeley.edu