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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.001 Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu comp.sys.att:16586 news.answers:4747 Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!hri.com!noc.near.net!uunet!olivea!pagesat!spssig.spss.com!uchinews!machine!gagme!gagme!greg From: greg@gagme.chi.il.us (Gregory Gulik) Newsgroups: comp.sys.att,news.answers Subject: AT&T 3B2 (and related) Frequently Asked Questions and Answers Message-ID: <1992Dec21.223107.11981@gagme.chi.il.us> Date: 21 Dec 92 22:31:07 GMT Sender: usenet@serveme.chi.il.us Followup-To: comp.sys.att Organization: GAGME Public Access UNIX, Chicago, Illinois, USA Lines: 1775 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Originator: greg@gagme Archive-name: 3b2-faq AT&T 3B2 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS This article contains the answers to many Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) often posed to the net. It is posted because the same questions pop up time after time. This will hopefully help out by not having these questions posted over and over, and help new users know what questions there are to ask in the first place! 8^) This article includes answers to the following questions. Much of the information included in this article is compatible with the 3B2 series of WE32000 series based computers. First, the questions: Subject: 0 SPECIAL NOTE Subject: 1 How do I install a second ST-506 drive on my 3B2? Subject: 2 How do I create a second swap partition? Subject: 3 How can I get X11 for the 3B2? Subject: 4 How do I install a non AT&T SCSI drive on my 3B2? Subject: 5 How do I prevent data overrun errors when using a high speed modem on an EPORTS card at 19.2K baud or higher? Subject: 6 What does the 'NOTICE: File Table Overflow' error mean? Subject: 7 How do I set up anonymous ftp? Subject: 8 Is there a reposity of ftp-able 3B2 programs? Subject: 9 How do I run Unix from floppy (for example, to repair a damage hard drive file system)? Subject: 10 What is/was the 3B Journal? Subject: 11 What are the various models of 3B2s and their differences? Subject: 12 How do I build GCC on the 3B2? Subject: 13 What is the NVRAM SANITY FAILURE? Subject: 14 Is there an implementation of SLIP for the 3B2? Subject: 15 What are the known bugs in the Wollongong WIN TCP software? Subject: 16 Is there an implementation of NFS for the 3B2? Subject: 17 What are the pinouts of those phone-like serial connectors? Subject: 18 What is the u3b. newsgroup heirarchy? Now, the answers: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subject: 0 SPECIAL NOTE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you are going to be at all serious about the 3B2, and especially if you are relying on yourself for maintenance, the first thing you want to do is obtain the AT&T 3B2 Computer Maintenance Manual. It contains diagrams of all 3B2 computers up to the 3B2/600, parts lists, breakdown procedures, troubleshooting information, and sources of additional documentation. In addition, it contains the "3B2 Computer Maintenance Utilities" diskette called "idtools" (formerly known as "devtools"). This floppy is bootable, and once running, the following options are available: > format floppy diskettes > format hard disk drives > verifies hard disk format > disk-to-disk high speed copies > disk-to-disk copy by sectors > disk-to-memory copies > defect table builder > writes sanity track > change default boot information While some of these options are also available from UNIX, all the utilities here can be run on a machine with a damaged (or missing) hard disk, often allowing the drive to be repaired that is otherwise unbootable. This manual and disk can be ordered from the AT&T Customer Information Center in Indianapolis, IN. It has select code 305-395, and at press time it sold for about $125. The AT&T CuIC can be reached at: (800) 432-6600 Continental US (317) 322-6556 elsewhere The CuIC takes phone orders with a credit card, and with a purchase order for qualifying companies. They have many other UNIX-related books as well, so be sure to ask for their free "AT&T Documentation Guide", select code 000-011. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subject: 1 How do I install a second ST-506 drive on my 3B2? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 1989 by Owens-Laing Publications. Title: Disk Expansion on the 3B2 Author: Stephen Friedl (friedl@mtndew.Tustin.CA.US) Issue: 3B Journal, 4Q 1989 [Edited by Gregory Gulik] [ conventions are: *bold* and _italics_ ] Introduction ------------ The 3B2/400 family (/300, /310 and /400) computers use standard MFM disk drives, and it is possible to add or replace these drives yourself -- in this article we show you how to do this. The 3B2/500 and larger machines all have SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) disk drives, so these instructions do not apply to them. For the duration of this article, "3B2" means the 3B2/400 and below, and in the case where there are differences among these included models we will mention them. Before doing any drive replacement, you must obtain the _3B2 Computer Maintenance Reference Manual_ from AT&T. This document contains quite a bit of useful information about your 3B2 hardware, and it is helpful in its own right. What makes it so special is the "idtools" diskette that comes with it. This floppy disk contains numerous utilities that will help you diagnose and troubleshoot your computer, as well as the disk formatting tools we need for our expansion project. What we don't tell you ---------------------- This is a fairly technical topic, and it relies on substantial knowledge of UNIX system administration. Those steps directly related to the formatting operation are covered here, but others such as backup and restore from tape, disk space allocation, and rebooting the machine are prerequisite knowledge. AT&T's sysadm documentation covers a great deal of it, but if these things are new to you, perhaps you're not ready to give this a go just yet. Please keep in mind that if this is not done correctly (especially the backups), you could lost most or all of your computer's data in a very short time. You must have at least one full, verified backup of all filesystems, with _two_ backups being safer. In addition, it is a good idea to try this during an off time when you can afford to be down for while if things don't go so well. Finally, we have tried to present this information as accurately and clearly as we can, but we cannot guarantee that there are no bugs. Check everything, verify steps with the manual, and ask a local wizard if you get stuck. Of course, you undertake this procedure at your own risk. Selecting a drive ----------------- There are many drives on the market that are satisfactory, and we present some guidelines here for selecting one. We have our favorites, but most available ST-506 drives can be used in the 3B2. Note that these are suggestions only, not endorsements or guarantees of compatibility. The first restriction is that the idtools software will not format more than 1024 cylinders in a single drive, and a drive with more will simply have the excess cylinders ignored. This is an unfortunate but unavoidable waste of disk space, giving us a practical limit of about 135Mbyte. (15 heads x 1024 cyls x 18 blks/track x 512 bytes/block). Most of the drives found in the original 3B2 are made by Control Data (or their subsidiary, Imprimis), and these Wren II drives are of excellent quality, and they represent a very safe route. These drives are available with formatted capacities of 30 and 72 megabytes, and they have an average access time of about 28 msec. Other brands known to work include Maxtor, Miniscribe, Priam, Micropolis and others. Some of these drives have more than 1024 cylinders which allows them to be used, but at less than their advertised capacity. Disk types and the Equipped Device Table ---------------------------------------- Each drive in the 3B2 is formatted with a _disk type_, which is a small number that identifies the drive to the machine. The disk type indexes into a table of drive information, and this table is part of the /dgn/edt_data file. This file is used to fill the Equipped Device Table, a list of currently-available hardware devices maintained by the firmware. Part of this list, the _subdevice table_, describes the possible hard disk drives. Getting started --------------- Now that the formatting tools have arrived and a drive has been obtained, we are ready to do the installation. It is at this point that a full backup of the entire system is in order and to review the relevent portions of the Maintenance Manual. After backing up the current drives, shut down the machine, turn off the power, and remove the power plug. Open the case, note the current configuration of the drive cables, and remove them along with the power connectors. Select "drive 0" on the drive select jumpers, insert/enable the terminating resistor, and place the drive back in the cage. Connect drive zero's data cable (the thin ribbon cable), the last connector on the wide control cable, and the power cable to the rear of the drive. Pay particular attention to pin one orientation, and insure that all connections are snug. At this point you are ready to turn on the machine. Plug in the 3B2 power cable and turn the switch to "ON". The console should show a SELF CHECK, followed shortly by FW ERROR 1-02: DISK SANITY FAILURE EXECUTION HALTED SYSTEM FAILURE: CONSULT YOUR SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION UTILITIES GUIDE This ominous message is actually expected, and it just means that the disk drive is not formatted yet. At this point, type your current firmware password (usually "mcp") followed by RETURN, and you will be presented with the normal firmware menu. At this point you should boot "/idtools" from the floppy drive (load device 0, FD5). Once booted, idtools displays an informational message and asks that RETURN be hit. Note that this entire process is covered in Appendix B of the Maintenance Reference Manual, and we strongly recommend that you review sections Hard Disk Formatter (B-8), Defect Table Builder (B-33), and Writing Sanity Track (B-47) plus the introduction before continuing. Running Idtools --------------- At the first menu, "formhard" should be entered. It will ask which disk should be formatted, and the proper response is zero in most cases. If you are doing this procedure on a machine with two drives installed, be _very_ careful when answering this question. Next, you are asked for drive configuration information. You must enter the drive type (from a previous section) plus the drive dimensions, and the following table summarizes several models we know about. If your drive is not shown, consult your vendor documentation for this information. Drive type drv id cyls trk/cyl sec/trk byte/cyl abbrev --------------- ------ ---- ------- ------- -------- ------ Wren II 30MB 3 697 5 18 512 HD30 Wren II 72MB 5 925 9 18 512 HD72 Fujitsu M2243AS 8 754 11 18 512 HD72C Micropolis 1325 5 1024 8 18 512 HD72 Maxtor 1140 4* 918= 15 18 512 HD120 Maxtor 1190 11 1224+ 15 18 512 HD135 Miniscribe XXXX 4* Priam XXXX * selected by user + can only use 1024 cylinders on this drive = can usually be formatted out to 1024 cylinders, even though it is actually capable of 1224 cylinders, like the 1190. Note that "tracks/cylinder" means "heads", and the sectors/track and bytes/cylinder values the same for all drives. The drive ID is shown as 4 for high-capacity drives, and it assumes that this number was inserted into the Equipped Device Table subdevice listing. In the following examples, user responses are in *bold*, and the drive shown is a Maxtor 1140. Note that the default entries shown may vary from machine to machine. Format which disk [ 0 or 1 ] (0)? *0* Drive id: 3- ? *4* Number of cylinders: 687 - ? *918* Numbers tracks/cyl: 5 - ? *15* Number sectors/track: 18 - ? *18* Number bytes/sector: 512 - ? *512* Once these values have been entered, idtools shows where it will place various housekeeping areas on the disk, almost all stored on the first two cylinders. You need not concern yourself with the specific values printed. Defect Mapping -------------- The bad block listing (with various alternate names, such as "Flag Track Log") is usually found on a sticker on top of the drive. To simplify data entry, it is a good idea to photocopy this sticker while it is on the drive, because later the drive might not be in such a comfortable reading position (especially if it is in a drive cage). The first prompt in this section asks if the backup defect table should be modified. A formatted drive normally has two copies of the defect table on disk in case one is lost, but a blank drive has no such table. Answering "yes" to this question means that the data you enter here is stored in both places. To enter the defects, enter "new" when asked, then "bc" for the type of defect byte count. Then, for each bad sector, enter the cylinder number, the head number, and the byte count, all separated by spaces. This "byte count" field is often shown on the disk label as "BFIND" (bytes from index) or "BCAI" (byte count after index), and it is distinct from the sector number. Most entries have a block length of one, but if the label shows more than this then it must be the fourth field on the line. An entry of "q" terminates the input, and displays the entire list of blocks entered. It is vital that this list be checked completely, and edits made if necessary. An entry of just a RETURN accepts the current list and moves onto the next prompt. Format entire disk - type 1 Format single track - type 2 Format from selected track to end - type 3 Select type of format [1, 2, or 3] (1) ? Entering "1" followed by RETURN starts the formatting process, and when it completes it starts a verify pass where all blocks on the disk are examined for errors. This operation can take some time on a large drive, and idtools shows its progress with a message displayed every five cylinders formatted. After the format and verify, idtools writes the "sanity track" with the "fixdisk" program. The sanity track contains a special data pattern that validates the drive to the 3B2, and it takes just a moment and requires no input from you. With the conclusion of the fixdisk operation the drive is formatted. You can remove the idtools floppy and power the machine down. Closing up the machine ---------------------- The machine should now be put back together and the original drives reinstalled. It is important that all drive selects and terminating resistors be installed properly, following the rules mentioned previously. The first drive in the machine has the lowest drive select jumper (usually position zero) and connected to the zero data cable (usually the bottom drive). The second drive in the machine has the next drive select (usually position one) and the other data cable, and the control cable connects them both. The drive that is at the physical end of the control cable must have the terminating resistor. Disk drives installed into an XM expansion module have special rules on termination, and these are documented and diagramed on pages 6-23 and 6-24 of the Maintenance Reference Manual. Partitioning the drive ---------------------- The easiest case is adding a second drive to a machine that previously had only one. After installing the new unit, boot /unix from the hard drive and enter single-user mode (this is much easier if you have edited /etc/inittab). With the /usr partition mounted, run the "sysadm" command, and at each successive menu, enter "diskmgmt", "harddisk", and "partitioning" in turn. This enters the partitioning operation and it should prompt you for the relevant information. We do not discuss strategies for allocating filesystem resources, as this is covered in the AT&T system administrative documentation. Once the drive is partitioned, the added filesystems (say, /usr2 and /usr3) may be used immediately. All other cases involve replacing existing drives, and it most expedient to use the full restore procedure for this. A full backup is absolutely required here for this operation, and it should be verified once it is made. Boot the "Essential Utilities - Disk 1" floppy and select the "Full Restore" operation. This procedure includes a partitioning step that allows you to allocate your new disk resources. Follow the instructions shown on the screen. After the core set of floppies -- five or six disks -- you can interrupt this process, boot /unix from the hard disk, and restore all of your backups. You may have to install the Cartridge Tape Utilities if your backups are stored on that medium. WARNING: This "full restore" operation destroys all data on all hard disks during the partitioning, and you _must_ have a full set of reliable, verified backups before considering this step, and two full sets of backups would not be a bad idea. If these backups are not done properly, all data on the disks will be LOST. Please be very careful when doing this, as mistakes can be costly. Compatibility note ------------------ Some early models of the 3B2/300 do not permit a 72MB hard drive to be added to the system board. The recognizing signs for this restriction are documented in the Maintenance Reference Manual on page 7-21, and 3B2/300 owners should consult this information before starting this project. While the documentation does not mention the reason for this restriction, we speculate that any drive with more than eight heads cannot be used in these older machines. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subject: 2 How do I create a second swap partition? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ These are the steps I used to add a second swap partition to my 3B2/400. Why add a second swap area? By default, the SVR3.1 system disks (the version I use) make one swap area of 10196 blocks on the first hard disk (/dev/rdsk/c1d0s1). While this 5Mb area seems plenty for most uses, I managed to exhaust it. It was time to RTFM. While the manual gives you the confidence to say that you *can* increase the number of swap partitions, it doesn't clearly tell you exactly how to go about doing that. What follows are the steps you can follow to add another swap partition to your system. Are you adding this swap space "just to balance the load"? If so, forget it. The effect is negligible and clearly not worth the effort. I have been unsuccessful in conclusively proving whether or not SVR3.1 does perform balanced allocation of the swap space. It seems to knock a huge chunk off the first partition before it even touches the second one. I would not think of doing this unless you have SVR3.1 or SVR3.2. Earlier versions do not have the advanced swap handling functions, and may not even allow you to do this. Upgrade time. The only reason to add another swap partition is if you have a valid reason to do so (i.e. you have exhausted your present swap space). Remember that swap cannot be used for anything else, you take space away from your mountable filesystems when you add swap space. Please keep in mind that this is *your* system, and these steps can easily wipe out all your data files. Take adequate care to back up your data. Make sure your backups work before you start any of this. IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU HAVE A PAPER COPY OF THESE DIRECTIONS IN FRONT OF YOU AS YOU PERFORM THIS TASK. Step 0: BACK UP THE SYSTEM! I cannot stress this enough. If you have a tape drive, use that in preference over the floppy drive. Back up the /, /usr, and /usr2 partitions. While it is not mandatory, it's also a good idea to back up everything else just in case catastrophe strikes. Expect the worst and hope for the best. Step 1: Reload the Foundation floppies and select a custom partition setup. Pick the sizes you want for the new swap partitions. Since you are adding a second swap partition, it is up to you if you wish to add to (or keep) the original 5Mb swap partition. It is mandatory that you keep *some* swap space on the first disk. There is no rule that says the 2 partitions must be equal in size. Finish the full restore. For Your Information: the sizes of the partitions are dependent on the number of blocks per cylinder group. That means, you can specify size in units of (18 * number of heads). If you specify a number that is not a round figure, the machine will round it for you. RECORD THIS NUMBER!!! This new partition will be named /usrX (where X is a positive integer) and there will be a filesystem made upon it. Do not worry. Step 2: Bring up unix, log in as root, and bring the machine to runlevel 1. When the machine is in single-user mode, make sure that all disk partitions are unmounted (except for the root partition!) Step 3: Make a temporary file with the existing partition data: # prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/c1d1s6 > /tmp/disk.data Step 4: Edit the disk.data file. Make the following changes: change the tag field from 0 to 3 (from 'user' to 'swap') change the flags from 00 to 01 (unmountable partition) delete all the initial comments (lines with initial *'s) Double check this file to make sure you got it right Step 5: Save this data back to the hard disk. If you choose to chicken out, do it BEFORE THIS STEP: # fmthard -s /tmp/disk.data /dev/rdsk/c1d1s6 Step 6: Edit /etc/fstab to remove the reference to the now defunct filesystem. You don't have to do anything else to the actual partition to remove the filesystem - the system will page over the superblock and inode lists by itself. Step 7: Use /etc/swap to tell the system that the partition is ready for paging/swapping. The best way to do this is to make the system add this partition each time it boots. Create a file called /etc/rc2.d/S00SETSWAP. Link it to the file /etc/init.d/S00SETSWAP. In this file, add the following line: /etc/swap -a /dev/dsk/c1d1sYY 0 XXXXX In this case, the Y's in the disk name should be set to the disk partition that the new swap space is to be located on. Usually, this is partition 8 (if you specified the swap space as the first partition on the disk before /usr). The 0 (zero) signifies that swap activity is to start at the 0th block of the partition - the start. Replace the XXXXX with the number of blocks available in the partition. This is the number you recorded in Step 1 above. Step 8: Reboot and pray. If it all went well, the machine will come up in multi-user mode. Once again, log in as root and bring the machine down to single-user state. Make sure that the system is actually using the new partition with the # /etc/swap -l command. You should see the original swap partition (/dev/dsk/c1d0s1) as well as your new partition listed. If your machine did not boot for some bizarre reason, reload the system again (go to step 1), making sure that you do everything correctly. Step 9: Restore your data. If you backed up on floppy, just restore them in order and reboot. If you backed up on a CTC tape drive, you must install the Cartridge Tape Utilities disk, reboot, recover your data, and reboot one last time. IF you didn't back up your data, then you're SOL. A note to those with XDC and SCSI drives - the maneuvers you have just completed only messed up the data on the 2 internal disk drives. Any data on your 3rd (and higher) drives should remain untouched. There is another way to do this whole thing without reloading the entire OS. It involves having a boot floppy with prtvtoc, fmthard, swap, and a few other files on it. You would have to make this before hand (explained in a different question). In this instance, you would only alter the partitions on the disk you added the new partition to. This, however, would force you to re-create and restore filesystems on the partition(s) you borrowed space from. For my time and money, it was easier (and less error-prone) to add the swap partition by reloading the Foundation disks. True Blue Gurus (TM) can experiment with the second method. Comments and criticisms welcome. Jeffrey L. Bromberger ------- System Manager ------- Tramway Unix Systems jeffrey@squid.tram.com Anywhere!{van-bc,limbic,icus}!tram!jeffrey ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subject: 3 How can I get X11 for the 3B2? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: aj4640@dean1.usma.edu Robertson John MAJ at US Military Academy, West Point, N [Read the P.S. at the end of this message before attempting to ftp these files.] The X11 R4 distribution tape contains sources to run clients on a 3b1. Several of us have hacked those sources to enable clients to run on a 3b2. I wish I could offer the source patches directly but for various reasons, I can't. However, 3b2 users are more than welcome to have the clients, the libraries, the include files, and the pre-processor. This will get X-windows up on your 3b2 without the xdaemon stuff (as long as you have the Wollongong networking stuff.) With this stuff, you'll have a pile of ready-to-run clients as well as the tools needed to compile your own X11 applications. In addition to the default X11 R4 clients, bin.tar.Z also has a running copy of tgif, xdvi, xmahjongg [you'll need to do the fonts for your server. UTSL!], and lots of other neat stuff. The lib.tar.Z contains libX11.a, libXt.a, etc. In addition, the app-defaults for all the clients in bin.tar.Z are also here. include.tar.Z has all the include files. You'll need these if you want to compile your own stuff. cpp.tar.Z is a compiled version of the X11 distribution preprocessor. In this version, you'll need to define the symbol 3b2 before invocation. It will not gag on the big header files that many X applications use. The files can be obtained via anonymous ftp from euler.math.usma.edu. They are in pub/3b2. Other than unpaccking and installing the clients and lib stuff in the usual places, no other special work should be needed. I cannot offer any support for this stuff. Take it, hack it, and have fun. Even more, give the clients away to other suffering 3b2 users. It has made our 3b2's substantially easier to use. Jack P.S. The X11R4 clients for the 3B2 have been moved to Bradley University on erratic.bradley.edu in pub/3B2_X. If that system is down, you may want to also try ds3.bradley.edu, also in pub/3B2_X. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subject: 4 How do I install a non AT&T SCSI drive on my 3B2? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: geoff@ugc.uucp (Geoff Coleman) Installation of Third Party SCSI drive on AT&T 3B2 1. Hardware Addition The hardware installation is relatively simple. The SCSI address of the disk must be set via jumpers. If the disk being added is the first outside disk for the 3B2 then the you must use an "AT&T SCSI Connect Kit". 2. Telling the system about the disk After the disk has been physically attached the machine should be restarted. If the disk is one that is unknown to the 3B2 a message will appear on the console that there is an unknown scsi device "make" "model". The make and model information is important. Once the 3b2 is rebooted login as root and cd to /etc/scsi. At this point you should run ./edittbl -l to list all of the SCSI devices known to the system. Then run device table. The first entry is the make and must be padded with spaces to 8 characters. The second entry is the model and must be padded to 16 characters with spaces. The number of lu's is one unless it is a bridge controller.