Log of my early Linux installation and upgrades. Should be interesting for the digital archeology aspects of it.
| Date | Time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1997-04-15 | 12:00:00 | Installed Slackware 3.0 (Kernel 1.2.xx) on AT&T Globalyst 200S (486DX4/100MHz, 20MB RAM, 518MB disk TOSHIBA MK1924FCVw/128kB Cache LBA CHS=526/32/63, 10" Active TFT display. All is well, except that the disk developed bad sectors every now and then, and I had to recover by fsck -c in single user. |
| 1997-04-16 | 12:00:00 | Lack of CD-ROM is annoying, but I used the Sony Discman with Adaptec SCSI PCMCIA card. It is OK, but sometimes went to sleep for unknown reasons (maybe power save?) and processes accessing the CD would hang and cannot be killed. This caused sync to fail,and the only solution is to power off (Aaak!). |
| 1997-04-17 | 12:00:00 | Added Netscape 1.12 from [cousin]. Netscape 3.0 didn't run. |
| 1997-05-10 | 12:00:00 | Added latest PCMCIA Card Services (2.9.5) |
| 1997-05-10 | 12:00:00 | Added Xircom driver (alpha), was not yet part of PCMCIA |
| 1997-07-18 | 14:00:00 | Reinstalled System using RedHat 4.1 (Vanderbilt) |
| 1997-07-18 | 18:00:00 | Added latest PCMCIA Card Services (2.9.5) |
| 1997-07-18 | 19:00:00 | Added Xircom driver (alpha) |
| 1997-07-18 | 19:30:00 | Changed /etc/profile |
| 1997-07-18 | 20:00:00 | Configured kernel to remove unnecessary stuff and add sound support, and APM |
| 1997-07-19 | 10:00:00 | Loaded my home directory from tape |
| 1997-07-19 | 20:00:00 | Changed rc.local to prompt for external monitor |
| 1997-07-19 | 20:30:00 | Created script lessopen.sh and lessclose.sh, with env vars to point at them |
| 1997-07-20 | 09:00:00 | Got a bad block (245784) which caused fsck to fail. Ran fsck -c manually to mark the block as bad, then reloaded lost files from tape |
| 1997-07-20 | 15:00:00 | Keep changing the .fvwm2rc95.* files in my home directory. Can't get the terminal's icon on the upper left corner? |
| 1997-07-20 | 16:30:00 | Apache httpd is ok for local (in machine) connection, however,requests from remote clients are very slow, with half a minute to1 minute response. Is it IP Firewalling? |
| 1997-07-21 | 11:30:00 | Need to load: Amaya, a web authoring tool, seyon, xlock, xv, RHSContrib |
| 1997-07-21 | 11:40:00 | Need to remove un-needed packages |
| 1997-07-22 | 14:19:36 | Created log utility to use with this file (and others if needed) |
| 1997-07-22 | 14:48:53 | Need to add following apps: dosemu, wine |
| 1997-07-22 | 19:00:34 | Added to /etc/crontab a command that runs every 5 minutes toset the system time from the CMOS time, so if we go on laptop power save, the time is updated when we powerup again |
| 1997-07-25 | 13:30:00 | Installed (or upgraded) the following packages: NetKit-B a2psacm apmd bc cdecl crashme cvs dosemu dump e2fsprogs efax ejectflying freeciv fstool ghostview git gn indent jdk kernel-headerskernel-source lincity linuxthreads lsof lyx magicfilter mbmoonclock mpage mxp nenscript netload open paradise playmidipsacct rxvt samba seyon smbfs snag-o-rama timetool ttcp vimvim-X11 vim-ctags wavplay what wine xantfarm xbill xbmbrowserxdaliclock xdu xearth xevil xfishtank xformat xforms xfsm xgalagaxjewel xless xloadimage xlockmore xmorph xmplay xosview xp xpaintxpdf xphoon xpilot xpinguin xsar xscreensaver xsnow xsysinfo xteaxterm-color xtetris xtrojka xv xwpe xwpe-X11 |
| 1997-07-28 | 13:31:34 | Reloaded kernel source and relinked. Firewall code still in (causes unresolved symbols whne removed). Kernel is now smallerand supports only needed stuff |
| 1997-07-28 | 13:32:22 | Changed /usr/bin/efax and efix to be set uid so it can createthe required lock file. |
| 1997-07-28 | 13:32:54 | Tested "fax" and worked OK. Changed the /usr/bin/faxscript to have the correct header |
| 1997-07-28 | 13:33:48 | Tested LyX word processor. Quite good. It also prints remotely successfully on an lpd printer |
| 1997-07-28 | 13:34:45 | Compiled cardinfo (part of pcmcia package). Works well with X11 |
| 1997-07-28 | 13:36:29 | Changed /etc/vimrc to add "directory=/var/tmp" so that .swp file not be created in current directory |
| 1997-07-28 | 14:44:54 | Fixed the slow response time from httpd, ftpd, telnetd. This isin /etc/nsswitch.conf by adding [NOTFOUND=return] in all lines.The reason was that a NIS+ or NIS call was being done on everycall incoming to log the name of the person. Well I had to revert back by mid-August, since this caused other problems (can't remember exactly what they are). |
| 1997-07-28 | 21:39:30 | Removed the /etc/crontab entry to read the CMOS clock and set the system time every 5 minutes. The apmd installed earlier takes care of this, and reads the system clock |
| 1997-08-02 | 23:23:22 | Added "fax" as a printer using efax program (as per efax man page). This allows faxing by just printing to a printer called fax and -J contains the telephone number |
| 1997-08-02 | 23:24:11 | Added to rc.local use of the "tread" (timed read) command so asking about an external monitor waits fr 5 seconds,then takes a default answer |
| 1997-08-18 | 12:17:40 | Added TkDesk package - a fantastic Desktop Manager with excellent quality |
| 1997-09-10 | 21:05:00 | This is a delayed note. Installed TkZip (rpm fromwww.redhat.com). Installed "amaya-java" and "Netscape3.01". Upgraded "pcmcia-cs" to version 2.9.7, which includes a Xircom driver as part of it. |
| 1997-09-13 | 20:00:00 | Changed rc.local to call set-location, which displays a menu(adapted from the old "ipconfig" script) then sets all the TCP/IP parameters (IP Address, Gateway, DNS, ...etc.), sets the scheme for Card Services (via "cardctl scheme xxx"),then sets the screen type (LCD or CRT) so that X Windows would display correctly on external or internal monitors. |
| 1997-10-14 | 19:00:00 | NCR issued to me a new Toshiba 460CDT. This is a Pentium 133MHzwith MMX, 2.1GB disk, 12.1" active TFT LCD display, 32MB of RAM, and a CD-ROM. I installed RedHat 4.1 on it without problems,using the CD-ROM directly (no need for floppy. This is very nice).The benefits, apart from better speed, larger display, more memory, is that (a) I have a CD-ROM now, no more lugging bulky external CD, and its power supply, and (b) the large disk allows me to have both Linux and Windows 95 on the same disk. No more disk swapping!!! |
| 1997-10-14 | 21:00:00 | I configured XFree86 on the new Toshiba. It can do 800x600which is better than 640x480 on the AT&T Globalyst 200S. |
| 1997-10-15 | 11:00:00 | To copy my data from the Globalyst 200S, I used a remote tape backup, done by cpio to a remote server. First I backed up the/etc/fstab (since it contains the partition names for root, swap and windows95, and /etc/lilo.conf (for boot map, ...etc.), and/etc/X11/XF86Config (new Toshiba LCD 12.1"). I then loaded pcmcia-cs-2.9.7 to recognize the Xircom Ethernet card, then did as traight cpio -imud on top of the file system. Then rerun lilo,and reboot. All is well. |
| 1997-10-16 | 16:00:00 | I tried to use the Resume mode in Toshiba, but it doesn't seem to work with Linux (it was OK on the Globalyst 200S with Fn-REST,and is OK with Windows 95 on the Toshiba). The manual says that programs must use BIOS, and that some DOS games bypass the BIOS.So maybe Linux will never successfully use resume mode, since it uses BIOS only to load the kernel. |
| 1997-10-17 | 20:00:00 | In the /etc/pcmcia/config file, under the section: [ device"xirc2ps_cs" ], I added the clause [opts "card_type=1"] after the module. This forces the AT&T Xircom PerformanceSeries CreditCard to be recognized and work well, just like theXircom CreditCard IIps. This is because the AT&T one is wrongly recognized as a CE3 10/100 card, which doesn't work yet. |
| 1997-10-17 | 21:00:00 | Sound is not working. I built a new sound.o module, and will test it. |
| 1997-10-17 | 21:00:00 | Sound playback of .aud files is now OK. I set the DMAs from the kernels "make menuconfig" to 0 and 6. Recording is not working though. No errors are recorded by Kernel in/var/log/messages. |
| 1997-10-18 | 17:00:00 | Changed /etc/lilo.conf to display numbers for labels (1 forlinux, 2 for win95), and added /boot/message file that displays a menu. This provides a better effect instead of the usual "LILOboot" |
| 1997-10-21 | 17:00:00 | Wrote an apm-suspend script that issues a "card eject" command before doing an "apm -s". This allows the laptop to go to sleep mode, and power on does a good resume. The only problem is that it must be run as root. This solves the 1997-10-16problem of resume not working. |
| 1997-10-26 | 17:15:00 | Installed uudeview RPM from CD-ROM. This is a uudecode/uuencodeviewer. |
| 1997-11-04 | 18:15:00 | Installed latest pcmcia-cs package 2.9.11 from Internet. Idon't need the change of 1997-10-17 to /etc/pcmcia/config anymore,since the card works correctly and is recognized correctly as aCE2 10Mbps, not as a CE3 10/100Mbps card |
| 1997-11-09 | 14:00:00 | Fixed the /etc/conf.modules file so that modules are loadedcorrectly. Previously, /var/log/message reported that thenet-pf-4, net-pf-5, char-major-6 modules could not be found, sothe printer didn't work. |
| 1997-11-11 | 12:00:00 | Changed the net-backup script to be net-dump. It uses the dump(8) command with level 0 instead of the cpio(1) command. I did this to (1) learn more about dump, (2) dump has a file directory upfront in the tape, and doesn't need to read the whole tape to list files, (3) dump has a nice verify feature (the C option) that compares files on tape to files on disk, (4) it is faster than cpio. Drawbacks of dump are (1) cannot cross file system boundaries, so for example, if I have /usr and /home on separate files systems, I have to back them up on other tapes, and the same would apply to the Windows 95 partition. |
| 1997-12-12 | 20:20:00 | Changed the apmd daemon to add the following in apmlib.c infunction "apm_suspend": 'system("/sbin/cardctleject"); sleep(5);' which will stop the PCMCIA sockets first,wait for 5 seconds, then does a suspend. This is because even the apmd RPM package claims it does so, it doesn't, so I did this, and it works. |
| 1997-12-13 | 20:00:00 | Installed Netscape Communicator 4.04, Java Development Kit1.1.3, and Xelfi 0.93. I like all of them! |
| 1997-12-15 | 11:00:00 | Installed epan Protocol Analyzer. This is a great tool for LANmonitoring, not a Network General Sniffer, but good enough. |
Contents:
Most Comments
Most commented on articles ...