*BSD News Article 19389


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From: burgess@hrd769.brooks.af.mil (Dave Burgess)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: Re: NetBSD - Few Questions
Date: 11 Aug 1993 10:00:29 -0500
Organization: Armstrong Laboratory, Brooks AFB, TX
Lines: 120
Message-ID: <24b1ir$9ra@hrd769.brooks.af.mil>
References: <24aju2$d67@jadzia.csos.orst.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: hrd769.brooks.af.mil

In article <24aju2$d67@jadzia.csos.orst.edu> cntrline@CSOS.ORST.EDU (Centerline Computers) writes:
>
>Now for the questions:
>
>I plan to set up the box with the following ports used, and I plan on running
>XFree86 1.3 with an ET4000 board, and Viewsonic V4 SVGA Monitor...
>
>US Robotics 14.4 External Modem (for dial-in/out)
>Telebit Trailblazer Plus (for UUCP Xfers with a T2500)
>Logitech Bus Mouse
>Connection to a MS-DOS 486 machine
>
>ok.. my questions are:
>
>1) Could someone either give me a simple roadmap to the proper files to modify,
>   and or utilities to run to enable the ports, for the proper settings
>   (most likely, com0=14.4, com1=PEP)
>

There is documentation for this 'kind' of thing in the uucp directory, I
think.

In addition, the man pages for ttys and getty should be able to move you
along a little further.

>2) I want to use a network board to connect the two machines (or should I just
>   use a serial connection between the two units?)  I've seen quite a few
>   ethernet boards, and I'm thinking of a 3COM 3c509, or NE2000 board from 
>   Arcnet, or others.  The main thing I'm interested in is driver support for
>   NetBSD because it's the only thing I'm going to run it with.  Please suggest
>   the least hassle free board, with the best driver support (if possible)...
>

Some of the old, old, old FAQ stuff is about the ne1000 and ne2000 cards
not working 100% well.  The newer drivers for these cards may work
better.  I am using a wd8003 card and have had no complaints whatsoever.

>3) Is it possible to run X on a DOS machine, with the above network board?  Is
>   there any PD software available to do this?  If not, what are the commercial
>   packages, and who makes them, or which one is the best?  [optimally, is there
>   one that will run X in a windows 3.1 window? -- dreaming?]
>

There are several commercial packages that do 'X'.  Desqview X is
available for a lot more money than I can afford, but we have some at
work, and it seems to work adequately.

>4) What is a good 4 or 8 port board with 16550's, and lines for modem support?
>   I plan on eventually running multiple modems, (14.4's), and I'd like to have
>   a board that would support modems rather than terminals, as I plan on setting
>   up other nodes on the network with ethernet boards rathern than serial dumb
>   terminals.
>

The ast multiport boards have been rumored to work.  There is a section
in the FAQ (I wrote yesterday) about it.  You can get the most
up-to-date version of the FAQ from hrd769.brooks.af.mil:~/pub/FAQ.

>5) Is there any work being done on a driver for Colorado's Trakker 250 tape drive
>   (Parallel Port QIC Tape Drive for DOS)?  
>

There is some work being done on the QIC-40/80 drives through the floppy
controller and 386bsd-0.1.2.3.  Of course, you have the source already;
do you have the specs?  They should be available from Freeman and Assoc
in California (E-Mail and I will dig it up).


>6) Is there a specific CD-ROM Distribution system (like SLS for Linux), for NetBSD?
>   (I'm going to get NetBSD 0.9 on August 23rd! <crossing fingers>, but I'd like
>    to know of it for future reference)
>

There are several places that have put TinyBSD on CD-ROM (Infomagic
springs to mind), but I haven't heard about any more recent than that.

Of course, if you are running NetBSD and are connected to the network,
you could run sup and get the most up-to-date sources every night.

>7) Does anybody know if NetBSD 0.9, or any patch kits for 386BSD are available for
>   allowing 4 serial ports (I've loosely followed the sio questions), if I change
>   the IRQ to a unique one for each of the ports?  (the I/O boards I'm using allow
>   for com0-3, and several IRQ's...) just an idea.
>

There are no patches for it (for NetBSD).  It should work fine straight out
of the box. 

386BSD 0.1 (The original version) might need to have the patchkit
installed to get the defines for the IO ports defined right.  Of course,
if you are trying to do anything (including rebuild 386bsd) you are
going to need the patchkit anyway.  

The patchkit is available on agate, somewhere in the ~/*/unofficial tree
someplace.  It is also available from about a kajillion other places
too.


>
>That does it for me for today!  I sure hope some kind soul will wade through the
>questions, and provide me with a proper direction to go to!  I'm one of these
>"point me in the right direction, and I'll keep going till I get it" kind of guys <g>
>

In /usr/share/doc there is more stuff than you could wade through in a
month.  In the FAQ (which is available by anonymous FTP from 
hrd769.brooks.af.mil:~/pub/FAQ) there is the combined experience and 
knowledge of the equivalent of at least three second-graders.  The
source is also an interesting source for more information, although I
have to admit it is still WAY! too deep for me to get much out of it.

>Thanks for the help!

Anytime.

-- 
------
TSgt Dave Burgess
NCOIC AL/Management Information Systems Office
Brooks AFB, TX