On Tuesday, January 27, 2004 21:27 EST, Richard Rauch wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 27, 2004 at 08:36:33PM -0500, Mykal Funk wrote:
> > on Tuesday, January 27, 2004 19:07 EST, "Richard Rauch" <rkr@olib.org>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > No answers for why you're seeing what you're seeing.  I'd lean towards
> > > guessing hardware problems.  Can you try putting the 8MB back in and
> > > see if the problems go away?
> >
> > I am currently testing my 486's memory with MemTest86. Its on its 3rd
pass
> > without any errors. The hardware i believe the hardware is okay.
>
> Probably.  (^&  On the other hand, over on current-users, someone related
> that they have had systems that passed memtest86, but where gcc still
> indicated bad memory.  (I presume that they verified that by replacing
> the memory and observing that all problems went away.)

Even if the memtest86 does miss a few rare core glitches, i doubt it will be
too significant. I this machine built its own kernel well enough. I think it
will be a little while before i start playing around it -current source.

> > > Re. the OpenOffice suggestion: Be advised that OpenOffice is big and
slow.
> > > I don't know if it will work well on a 486.  (Though if your Evil
Empire
> > > machine is more powerful, it might run acceptably there.  On an 800MHz
> > > Athlon, I found OpenOffice so painfully slow that I would try to avoid
it
> > > if at all possible.)
> >
> > My tastes run to command lines and old hardware. I like pushing the
limits
> > of what the machines can do. Under the Evil Empire it wasn't to
exciting.
> > But under NetBSD... oh the development possibilities. I have a few ideas
> > but i need to learn a little more before squawking about them.
>
> Sounds like you'll have lots of fun with NetBSD.  (^&

Oh! I do!

> > > You could dual-boot you Evil Empire box.  (I did that when initially
> > > converting to NetBSD after a very brief stay in Evil Empire land.
> > > I found that I very (very) rarely needed anything from the Evil Empire
> > > side.)
> >
> > I dual boot my Compaq 586 laptop (which is no longer mobile due to a
hinge
> > defect that makes the screen distort when the machine is
vibrate)</tangent>
>
> (nod)
>
> I have a laptop that doesn't move much because its battery is ~dead.
> I'm thinking about getting a second ethernet card for it and turning
> it into a firewall.  Or I might turn it over to being a bedroom terminal
> (a duty that it served for a while last year).
>
> It's a nice, low-power-consumption device that has lots of utility in
> it.  I actually wish I had several just like it...
>
> (Then again, I might splurge on a new battery, get it a wireless
connector,
> and take it to a cafe' where I can do useful things while I drink coffee.)

I find that my laptop, which also has an almost dead battery, makes my
desktop
a little less crowded. Or, more likely, it gives me my horizontal space for
pieces of salvaged computer hardware and bits of treeware.

> > > One thing that you might try is configuring NetBSD to support a serial
> > > line.  For allowing logins, it should be enough to add/modify a line
in
> > > /etc/ttys to allow one or both of /dev/tty00 or /dev/tty01 for logins.
> > > Then hook up a null-modem cable (or standard serial cable and a null-
> [...]
> > The boxen aren't in the same room.
>
> So?  Serial cables can run a pretty good length.  (^&
>
> Years ago, my dad installed a nullmodem cable from the basement to
> the groundfloor of my parents' house.  He used two standard phone lines
> to get a fullish nullmodem cable, drilled a hole through the floor,
> fed the wires through, and soldered the basement connector together in
> the end.  (I believe he assembled the upstairs connector and wires first,
> not wanting to solder on the carpeted floor.  (^&)
>
> (You drill the hole at the edge where it meets the wall, of course,
> and pull back the carpet first...)
>
> Not being the soldering type myself, I would probably content myself
> with wire-wrapping if I had to do that kind of thing.  Then I just
wouldn't
> tug hard on the cable.

Yeah.

> ...though if your system seems stable again, it probably isn't worth all
of
> that trouble just to get a slower connection and perhaps save a few bytes
> of memory.

M$ software has some strange bugs. I think telnet may have send some odd
control charecters to telnetd while in su mode. Doesn't matter anyway.
They don't care about supporting 95 anymore so why should NetBSD worry
about crazy bugs in bogus software? Just build it so that it does the
Right Thing. There will always be strange edge cases that will make
even the most well design program choke and panic. Perhaps that why
M$ keeps getting worse. The software expects to deal with horrific
can't-happens, then trips over simple errors? Perhaps a little over
thought? </tangent>

> > > Last: You could install CygWIN on the Evil Empire machine.  From
there,
> > > you can run an X server and use ssh over ethernet to connect to the
> > > 486.  You might or might not find it bearable to try to run graphical
> > > X window client software on the 486, over ethernet.  (You can disable
> > > the encryption, I suppose, if the 486 is too sluggish; I don't know
> > > how much that will buy you.)
> >
> > Like i said early GUIs are 'gooey'. ;)
>
> (^&  If you switch to making it your primary system, you may find that
> you miss having multiple windows to flip between (if you do that with
> telnet).  A resizable xterm is the single biggest thing I like about X.

Theres always wscons. Virtual terminals are so handy for keeping that man
page just a keystroke away!

On Tuesday, January 27, 2004 21:29 EST, Richard Rauch wrote:
> Your last message was sent to me and to:
>
>  netsd-help@netbsd.org
>
> ...I believe.  (Or was that netbsd-help@netsd.org?  Anyway, you were
> missing a letter somewhere, as you may have found out.  I didn't notice
> until my reply to both you and the list bounced from the non-existant
> list.  (^&)

PEBKAC
mykalFunk