On Wed., January 28, 2004 10:48 EST, Timothy A. Musson
> At 06:56 PM 1/27/04 , Mykal Funk wrote:
> >On Tue, January 27, 2004 16:42 EST, "Timothy A. Musson" wrote:
> >> At 03:59 PM 1/27/04 , Mykal Funk wrote:

> >Yes and No. Some of the data is in M$ Office, some in other oddball
formats.
> >As for X... my tastes run to older hardware and command line interfaces.
>
> Well, the suggestion was really to install it on your main machine and use
> it to convert documents to plain text, but I guess Office can probably do
> that, too.

Tools abound. The job is simple enough.

> >> What code?
> >
> >anything... i was working with pine and fetchmail, in particular
>
> OK
>
> >If i'm telnetting, the session simple stops responding. No error messages
> >The machine refuses to respond to a request for another session. When i
> >go to the box and physically look at what box is printing to the screen,
> >i find that is has rebooted itself. The machine has already dropped into
>
> OK. That wasn't clear before.
>
> >single user mode with warning messages scattered through the boot
messages.
> >I run the requested command, reboot back into multiuser mode and
everything
> >is fine. I admit that i am unsure as to how i can capture the what has
> >already
> >been printed to the screen after the dmegs output but before the login
> >prompt.
>
> Have you checked the log files under /var/log/  ?

No, I hadn't. hmmm...

> >After crashing the box via telnet three or four time, i enter the same
> >commands that caused the telnet crash, directly into the system. The
> >compile of fetchmail preceded further that when telnet stopped responded.
>
> To be expected, because it probably didn't lose much of its progress. It
> was probably picking up from where it left off.
>
> >then the system printed 'Memory Fault (core dumped)'. Nothing else. I
> >looked around the system for a file name *.core, as i had found on a
> >previous another. Perhaps i am just too inexperienced to properly capture
> >a core dump.
>
> man find (look at the --name option)
> Start a search from the root dir.

Thanks for the tip!

> >I've download the software, but i have to wait until i've sent this
message
> >so
> >i can build it.
>
> There should also be a floppy disk image (saves compile time and is great
> for putting in the troubleshooting bag).

I found the binary shortly after i sent the last message.

> >Tim, you've been a great help. As i have written this reply, i have been
> >able to more clearly define the problem. The result is that i have
learned
>
> Glad to help. One of the hardest things to learn is what info is relevant
> to include when asking for help. Including too much or too little will
> cause a number of people to ignore the request (but, there are more
> tolerant people on the netbsd-help list than on many other lists).
>
> >several very good troubleshooting techniques and discovered the problem.
> >The telnet client that shipped with bill95 is buggy. Somehow it causes
> >telnetd to choke while under the heavy load of compiling software. I
> >think the best and easiest solution is to chuck that telnet client and
> >use another one until i am ready to chuck this OS.
>
> Don't be too distressed (or surprised) if you find that switching telnet
> clients ended up coinsiding with a temporary reprieve from the symptoms of
> some other problem.
>
> Good luck.
>
> -Tim

Well, if it happens again i know what steps i need to take to track
down the problem quicker and more accurately.

Thanks,
mykalFunk