Internet Info 1997 December/Internet_Info_CD-ROM_Walnut_Creek_December_1997.iso/faqs/comp/answers/386bsd-faq/part6

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From: [e-mail] (Dave Burgess)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.announce,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.announce,comp.answers,news.answers,comp.unix.openbsd.announce
Subject: [comp.unix.bsd] NetBSD, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD FAQ (Part 6 of 10)
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Posted-By: auto-faq 3.1.1.2
Archive-name: 386bsd-faq/part6

Section 5.    (Kernel Replacements)

5.0    Introduction

5.1    A replacement curses program/library.

    It is generally accepted that the NetBSD curses can be easily
    replaced by the ncurses package.  It is more complete and offers
    much better support for shared libraries and other advanced
    features.  The current (early 1995 version) is 1.8.5 and is
    available from ftp://ftp.netcom.com:/pub/zm/zmbenhal/ncurses/

    OpenBSD comes with a different curses package, called XSI
    curses and uses the termlib library for user code.  The original
    curses code is still available in the <ocurses.h> include file
    and the -locurses library.  The code in the termlib library is
    smart enough to recognize and handle both termcap and termlib
    database parsing.

    (Ed.Note)  The X/Open curses standard is becoming the de facto
    standard (or perhaps imposed standard) for curses under Unix
    systems.  XSI implements this X/Open curses completely, and is
    being used by lots of folks.  FreeBSD and NetBSD will either
    develop their own compatible version or will use XSI like
    OpenBSD does.


5.2    Floppy Disk problems.

5.2.1    How do I get a bootable floppy?

    Several ways, ranging from brain-dead-but-works to simplest.
    Classification into categories is left to the reader (is there
    really a difference between 'brain-dead' and 'simple'?:')

    1) rawrite (or dd) dist.fs (or fixit.fs) to a disk,
       mount it, cd to the mount point, and execute:

        rm -rf .

       you now have a bootable floppy!;^}

    2) Take your existing dist.fs or fixit.fs boot disk and
       diskcopy it on a DOS machine.  Mount and rm as in 1)
       above.  Again, you have a bootable floppy!;^}

    3) Run disklabel on the floppy, e.g.:

        disklabel -w -r fd0a floppy5

       where 'floppy5' is a 'name' for an entry in the /etc/disktab
       file.  You'll get a couple of ioctl errors because writing a
       label to a floppy isn't supported (yet?), but the boot blocks
       have indeed been written.

    4) Write the boot blocks to the floppy:

        cat /usr/mdec/fdboot /usr/mdec/bootfd | dd of=/dev/rfd0a

       or, more simply:

        cat /usr/mdec/fdboot /usr/mdec/bootfd > /dev/rfd0a

    Methods 3) and 4) require you to run newfs on the floppy, e.g.:

    newfs /dev/rfd0a floppy5

    If you have a floppy that was originally bootable, but the boot
    blocks were somehow damaged, you can use method 3) or 4) to
    restore boot-ability (do _NOT_ run newfs).  You _could_, through
    the convolutions of copying a floppy whose boot blocks are damaged
    to a temporary location and then re-copying to a bootable floppy,
    use method 1) or 2) (if you really want to!;^})

    5)  If the disk is already newfs'ed and is otherwise ready to use,
    disklabel will write the boot blocks on the disk.  Read the man page
    for disklabel.


5.2.2    How do I maximize the space on a mountable floppy disk.

    As you all know, when you are working with a floppy, it is usually
    more important that the floppy have a lot of room, rather than a
    lot of other 'stuff'.  Here is the magic incantation that will
    maximize the amount of free space on the disk.

        newfs -Tfloppy[35] -i[4096 | 8192] -c 80 /dev/fd[0|1]a

    This leaves the disk with fewer inodes and only one cylinder group.


5.3    Character Device Driver info

    These devices are also often referred to as character devices.

5.3.1    Printers

    NetBSD and FreeBSD both include both an interrupt and
    non-interrupt driven parallel driver in their stock
    manifestations.

    It is possible to connect a serial printer to either.  This brief
    tutorial is provided by Daryl Berryhill
    ([e-mail])

    The way I got my printer to work.

    1) connect a 25 pin to 9 pin null modem cable to printer and
       computer.
    2) set printer to 9600 baud, 7 data bits, even parity.
    3) configure /dev/com1 (DOS COM2) port the same way as the printer
    4) add a line to /etc/printcap that says:
           lp|local line printer:\
          :lp=/dev/com2:wq:sd=/var/spool/lpd:lf=/var/log/lpd-errs:\
          :br#9600
    5) type "lpr <add filename here>"
    6) type "lpd"
       and it should start printing.

    An obvious point, but make sure that you do NOT start a getty on
    on the com port.  Check the /etc/ttys file and make sure that
    the com port you select is not active.

    There have been many reports in the past of people not being able
    to get their parallel port printer working.  One of the problems
    seems to be cables.  Another problem may be with the hardware.
    A seemingly stupid suggestion is to replace your printer card with
    the cheapest parallel port card you can find.  I am using a $10
    single parallel, two serial port card that I got from Altex.
    Works great.

    In addition, there are people that want to set up multiple printer
    queues using the BSD queuing mechanism.  Here is a brief tutorial:

    Lpf is mainly intended for processing text and nroffed output...it
    isn't anything clean...it will do certain games that will mess up
    PCL output.

    If you're producing straight PCL or PostScript (assuming your LJ
    takes it), then you want to print directly to the printer w/o any
    processing.

    What you really want is a "physical" queue that does no processing,
    and several logical queues that map back to the physical queue and
    do processing...or one "smart" queue that does file content
    recognition and then maps to the raw queue.

    I do something like this for my DeskJet.  There is one raw queue
    and several logical queues (some postscript that do different
    resolutions and color depth, some text that do various formatting,
    etc).  When I get the time I'll be trying to set up a "smarter"
    queue using aps and maybe some bits from flexfax.

    To map logical to physical queues either use a filter that pipes
    back into lpr -P<rawqueue> itself, or just point it at the "raw"
    queue using something like:

    textlp|Text Printing:\
        :lp=/dev/null:\
        :if=/usr/libexec/lpr/lpf:\
        :rm=localhost:\
        :rp=lj.raw:

    And other entries as needed, you get the idea...to use an output
    filter instead of the rm/rp approach (more efficent), you can get
    away with something like:

        :of=/usr/local/bin/printraw:

    where /usr/local/bin/printraw looks like this:

    #!/bin/sh
    cat | lpr -h -Plj.raw


5.3.2    Terminals/Keyboards

    Terminals are relatively simple to add.  It involves making sure
    the /etc/ttys file identifies the com port (com0, com00, or tty00
    depending on your configuration) as an active port and a getty is
    running.  The man page for ttys and getty help explain this.

    Many people report that there are sometimes problems running some
    programs on a remote terminal.  There are some known bugs in the
    terminal handler where the parity and bits per character are
    concerned.  They are being worked on.


5.3.3    Modems/FAX Modems

5.3.3.1    How do I add a modem to *BSD:

5.3.3.4    Adding a Dial-in/Dial-out FAX to NetBSD or FreeBSD.

    First, here is the known working configuration for these
    instructions:

      - HylaFAX 3.0 beta 100.
      - Zoom VFX V.32bis Faxmodem;
      - Rockwell datapump.

    1: Start faxq from rc.local, no options on the command line.

    Add a line to your /etc/rc.local which starts up the faxq
    program.  Do not include any options on the command line.

    2: Stary faxgetty from init, i.e. a line in /etc/ttys.

    I use the non modem control device; however, it's nonstandard
    hardware and I've modified the driver to always return sighup
    on lost carrier to solve some sticky problems with non modem
    control devices never getting SIGHUP's.

    Basically, I just did as the directions said to do. I ran
    'faxaddmodem' script to configure the type of modem. I did
    have to simplify some lines in the script (the ones executed
    in a subshell) since I think my version of bash doesn't handle
    subshells correctly.

    RTFM and you should be OK unless your modem is brain dead and
    stupid, not too unlikely to given the current state of Fax
    modems... B^(.


5.3.4    What is the trick for getting Kermit to work with rz and sz?

    Add these lines to your .kermrc file.  They should do the trick.

    define sz !sz \%1 \%2 \%3 \%4 \%5 \%6 \%7 \%8 \%9 < \v(line) > \v(line)
    define rz !rz \%1 \%2 \%3 \%4 \%5 \%6 \%7 \%8 \%9 < \v(line) > \v(line)


5.4    Tape Drives

    This section should help out for those of you that have either
    never used tape drives before, or only have experience with them
    as non-Unix devices.


5.4.1    Does the tape need to be formatted?

    It depends, but I think usually not.  And when it is necessary,
    I don't know how it would be done.  One thing is for certain,
    though, first....  NEVER use the block devices..  erase them and
    forget you ever saw them.  All operations on tape should be to
    the character device (rst0).


5.4.2    If I execute the command 'st -f /dev/st0 status', I get:
        Archive/Tandberg? tape drive, residual=0, blocksize=512
        Density: high = 16 (0x10), medium = 15 (0xf), low = 5 (0x5)
        ds=0
        er=0

    so to write to tape at high-density (QIC-150), presumably I want
    to use a device with minor number +4 (in st.c, density is computed as
    minor >> 2 & 0x03, where low density == 3 and high == 1):

    You have the idea.. density is controlled by bits 2 and 3

        00 = default
        01 = hi density
        10 = medium density
        11 = low density,

    Unless the driver knows about you kind of drive the density values
    may need to be set by hand before they make any sense.


5.4.3    When is erst0 used?

    e stands for 'eject' and is bit 1 of the minor..
    e.g. eject on close.. many devices can't actually do this.

    There is actually a method to this whole thing:

        r = raw        (rst0)
        e = eject    (erst0)
        n = No rewind    (nrst0 or maybe nerst0)


5.4.4    How is density (bpi) computed?  I am using 3M DC 6250 cassettes
    which have a 250MB capacity on the Viper 150.  But computing the
    bits/inch based on 250MB/tape-length (1020 ft.), I get a density
    of 171335 bpi, which is nowhere near the 10000 bpi associated
    with QIC-150 in the st(1) man page.  Why the discrepancy?

    These cartridge tapes are written in narrow tracks which
    alternately begin at opposite ends of the tape.  Track 0 starts
    at the beginning of the tape, and Track 1 starts at the other
    end, etc.

    So, how many times does the tape go backwards and forwards?  If
    there are 17 tracks, your density is 170000 bpi if it is 10000
    bpi per track.  The more tracks, the lower the bpi/track.


5.4.5    How is an appropriate block size determined (and in what units
    are they specified in the st(1) command)?

    QIC 150 and below should stick to 512 byte blocks a write of
    1024 bytes from the program will be written as 2 512 byte blocks
    with no speed penalty.  dd will think it's writing a 1024 byte
    block but on tape it's 2 x 512.

    Stick to 512 on QIC 150 or less if you ever hope to swap data
    with anyone else.


5.4.6    From the 4.3BSD mtio(4) man page, it sounds like data is typically
    (traditionally?) stored on tape in eof-terminated sequences of
    1K records.

5.4.6.1    Is st's notion of "file" the record sequence between two eof marks?

5.4.6.2    What about a "record"?

5.4.6.3    Is a "record" one "block", as determined by st's "blocksize" command?
    If not, what is the connection between them?

5.4.6.4    Can I change the "record" size?
5.4.6.5    When would I want a block size that is different from the default?
    1KB is the size of writes used by dd or whatever.  QIC specifies
    512 byte records (well at least its what people use..)  Whatever
    you write in will be broken into 512 byte sections.  They must be
    multiples of 512 though.

    If you have written to a tape, a close will automatically append a
    filemark (eof mark).  You may read the 512 byte blocks back as
    512 byte records or as 1024 byte records (in which case you'll
    get 2 at once).  The bigger the unit, the more efficient.

5.4.7.1    How do I write several archives to a single tape?  I tried without
    success:
        $ st -f /dev/rst4 rewind
        $ tar cf /dev/nst4 archive1
        $ st -f /dev/nrst4 weof
        $ tar cf /dev/nst4 archive2
        $ st -f /dev/nrst4 weof

    First:  throw away the block devices.

    'n' stands for 'No-Rewind-on-close' and will leave the tape
    positioned ready for another file e.g.

        tar -cf /dev/nrst0 archive1
        tar -cf /dev/nrst0 archive2


5.4.7.2    Later, I would expect to be able to access, say, archive3 via the fsf
    directive to skip over the first two archives.  What is the correct
    sequence?

        st -f /dev/nrst0 rewind
        st -f /dev/nrst0 fsf 2
        tar -xf /dev/rst0 {files}


5.4.8    Since the Viper 150 writes on QIC-150/120, I guess I don't need
    to worry about writing variable-length records?  How about reading
    a tape written with variable-length records.  Is this possible
    with the Viper?  If so, what's involved?


    Who would have written it? :-)

    Presently you can't.  You`re right.  Don't worry about it.

    The new 'st' changes will change this somewhat, though.


5.4.9    The very scant documentation that came with my drive mentions
    a "selectable buffer disconnect size," whose default is 16K.
    This is evidently the "maximum number of bytes that can be
    sent over the SCSI bus during a single data transfer phase."
    What's that?  How is it connected st's "blocksize" command?
    Do I want to use 16K blocks, or might I even want to set the
    disconnect size to a higher value?

    This suggests that 32 512 blocks will be written at a time.
    This jives with the tape format for some of the lower density
    cartridges (QIC-40 and 80, for example).  The tape is written
    in blocks of 32 512-byte blocks, with the last three being used
    for Error Correction Codes.

    Use dd or tar with 16 k blocks and 32 x 512 byte blocks will be
    written.

    Also see 5.4.15 (below) for more information if you are using an
    Archive Viper tape drive.


5.4.10    What is "streaming"?  When I tar a directory of files to tape,
    I notice that the tape often stops.  Streaming means it doesn't
    stop?  How would I get the viper 150 to stream using tar or cpio
    or dump?

    Use a bigger write size... (more efficient)  Try 16k blocks.

5.4.13    My tape drive doesn't work.

    OK.  There are lots of reasons why it may not.  The most obvious is
    that there are no devices associated with the device in the kernel.
    You can check this through the use of the 'dmesg' command.  Look
    for tape drives.

    If your tape drive is connected to your floppy controller, it may
    or may not be supported.  Several manufacturers of QIC-40/QIC-80
    mini-cartridge drives are supported natively in FreeBSD and
    experimentally in NetBSD.  Some aren't (mine for example, is not).


5.4.14    I am trying to restore a tape from a FreeBSD machine on a Sun.
    What kinds of problems should I expect?

    The default blocksize should not be a problem, since they are
    both 20K.  You may need to use "dd if=/dev/rst0 conv=swab |
    <archiver>" instead of extracting directly from tape, just
    in case the byte order causes a problem.  This is especially
    true if you don't use the 'a' and 'c' options in cpio, for
    example.


5.4.15    What are the jumper settings for the Archive Viper tape drive?

    Vipers can't do auto-detection. You have to create different
    devices for different densities. Minor number 8 = 120Mb,
    4 = 150Mb and 12 = QIC-24 (60Mb).  At least this is the only
    way it works for me, and since it do I haven't bothered to
    find out why minor 0 doesn't.  If you have a 2525 (525Mb)
    it uses  ST_Q_SENSE_HELP quirk but it might not work.

    The cfg0-2 switches is for setting the disconnect size, e.g.
    the maximum size transfered before disconnect to allow other
    SCSI devices to access the bus. Jumper in sets bit to 1.

        0 = 2kb
        1 = 4kb
        2 = 6kb
        3 = 8kb
        4 = 12kb
        5 = 16kb
        6 = 24kb
        7 = 32kb

    I'm using my viper at id 4 and disconnect size 16k. Works
    perfectly.

5.4.16    My Viper-150 auto-detects fine; however, the first attempt to
    read a tape fails after a boot due to an "illegal SCSI
    command".  What could be the problem?

    I assume that the driver is trying to use some SCSI-2
    command to set the default density -- but after that, the
    drive is perfectly happy to do the tedious density check and
    off it goes.  I've read all three densities on the drive.  Once
    the drive is set up and the driver realizes there is no density
    command, it just brute forces the drive density and off it goes.


5.4.17    Why haven't we changed the defaults in rdump and rrestore to
    something that makes sense?  I was trying to dump a filesystem
    to a remote tape and ran into an error complaining about being
    unable to execute /etc/rmt.

    Of course, if you get this error, this program doesn't exist.
    This information comes from ../src/sbin/dump/pathnames.h.  The
    reason we still use /etc/rmt and /dev/rmt8 is because the
    rdump and rrestore protocol call for those names.

    This problem usually won't show up unless the original
    installation of the system was done before NetBSD 0.9 *AND* the
    etc.tar.gz distribution was never done.  This distribution fixes
    this problem by creating the symbolic link from where rmt lives
    to /etc/rmt.  The Makefile for rmt should also create this link
    (I'd check before assuming it does.)


5.5    Network Stuff

    Network devices for NetBSD and FreeBSD include many types of
    Ethernet cards, as well as Serial Line IP and Point to Point
    Protocol.


5.5.1    How can I get my system to work as a network router?

    The first hurdle to overcome is that the default kernels do not
    have the GATEWAY option compiled in.  Without this, it is very
    nearly impossible to use the kernel as a router.

    Once you have the GATEWAY option compiled in, all sorts of things
    magically start to work.  If you haven't got the GATEWAY option
    enabled, you can also use 'sysctl -w net.inet.ip.forwarding=1'
    if you are using FreeBSD or NetBSD versions that support that.
    Remember, once you build the new kernel, you will need to
    install it in the root directory and reboot.

    Once you have the forwarding option set, you will need to make
    certain that you have not included the '-q' option to routed.
    This should be in the routed_flags keyword in /etc/netstart.  If
    you are using multiple internal LANs, you may also want to
    invest in gated instead (see below).

    For those folks that are not using routed, you will need to make
    certain that you have a static route to your network provider
    established.

    To test your network capability, try running the following
    command:

        traceroute -s YOUR_ETHERNET_ADDRESS 129.186.150.150

    Check to see where your packets are hanging up.  It might be
    that someone upstream from you has something broken instead of
    simply assuming it is your fault.


5.5.2    I recently had a problem where I got a message that said "panic:
    kmem_malloc: mb_map too small".  What is the solution to this
    problem?

    The second hurdle is that sometimes you run out of cluster
    allocation space in the kernel. This is probably network-related
    and usually shows up when something is being done using the
    network (like NFS).  The way to get around this would be to
    change the value of NMBCLUSTERS in your config file. NMBCLUSTERS
    is set at 256 by default, and increased to 512 when the GATEWAY
    option is active. To be very safe, you could add

        options     NMBCLUSTERS=1024

    to your config file, and recompile. This is reported to work
    with systems that crashed as soon as a large number of people
    (75+) were connected to it.


5.5.3    Does anyone have an example of a working gated.conf file? I
    can't figure these instructions out at all.

    Here is a sample config file for a machine which has two cards,
    one of the cards has an alias created like so:

    ifconfig de1 inet 199.232.137.65 mask 255.255.255.192 alias

    Gated is running with this config:

    interfaces {
        interface de0 passive;
        interface de1 passive;
    };

    ospf yes {
        backbone {
        networks {
            199.232.136.0 mask 255.255.255.0;
            199.232.137.0 mask 255.255.255.0;
        };
        interface de0;
        };
    };

    export proto ospfase {
        proto direct {
            199.232.136.160 mask 255.255.255.224;
            199.232.137.0 mask 255.255.255.0;
        };
    };

    All routing and networking is fine right after I start gated.
    However, if I leave out the 'interface passive' section, gated
    shuts down the two routes on de1 after a couple of minutes.


5.5.4    How do I set up Multicasting on my system?

    If you're trying to join the Mbone, you need to find someone
    willing to provide you with a "feed", and that person's router
    will be at the other end of your tunnel. If you're just trying to
    set up your own private little multicast domain, then you need to
    set up other such routers on other subnets and interconnect them
    with tunnels. If you just want to run a little multicast testbed
    on a single subnet, you don't need any multicast routers at all!
    See the Mbone FAQ at:

       http://www.mediadesign.co.at/newmedia/more/mbone-faq.html

    for more detailed information on all of this...


5.6    I want to use my ZIP drive.  Are there any weird things I need
    to know?

    One of the things that "just work" are ZIP drives.  The -current
    code for both FreeBSD and NetBSD handle ZIP drives very cleanly.
    One of the unusual things about ZIP drives is that most people
    don't know (and the man page is deliberately vague about) is
    once a person has permission to write to the ZIP drive, they can
    mount it onto a directory in their space.  This is new with the
    adoption of BSD 4.4, so it isn't really surprising that it is
    new.
--
Dave Burgess                   Network Engineer - Nebraska On-Ramp, Inc.
*bsd FAQ Maintainer / SysAdmin for the NetBSD system in my spare bedroom
"Just because something is stupid doesn't mean there isn't someone that
doesn't want to do it...."