Subject: A few observations
To: None <current-users@sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu>
From: Frank van der Linden <vdlinden@fwi.uva.nl>
List: current-users
Date: 04/29/1994 10:32:23
Currently, I am running a -current kernel as of 28-04. I upgraded
from an older version (had not kept my source up to date for a while)
via the latest snapshot, and souce tar files + updates of the files
changed after the latest once were made. The system I am talking
about is a 386/40, 8Mb, 2 IDE disks, 16Mb of swap (I also run NetBSD
on some other systems, but am not talking about those right now).

1. I still need to change wd.c to make it work for me. I make it work
   by having it use the normal status port in stead of the alt_sts port
   in wdcwait(). I know that this is the wrong way to fix it (since
   reading the normal status port clears the interrupts too), but it works
   for me. I'll try to make it work on my system in a decent way if I
   have the time.

2. The latest /sys/vm/vm_swap.c gave me a panic("swfree") shortly after
   kernel initialization (i.e. after the 'biomask' message). Reverting
   back to the previous version made it work fine again.

3. I compiled a kernel with pcvt, and it works ok, except that Xfree 2.0
   (yes, 2.0 a version that I compiled a while ago) sometimes jumps
   sidewards for about half the screen. Without immediate cause, as 
   far as I can see. XFree used to work flawlessly when I tried out
   pcvt in older kernels. Maybe it is something that has been fixed
   in 2.1. Moving the mouse cursor around to make XFree scroll it's
   virtual screen brings the screen back to normal again.

4. About the SLIP problems people reported: yes, I had those too. ftp-ing
   usually froze the connection, sometimes the whole system. I haven't
   used SLIP for a while, since using high-speed serial communication
   is still a problem with the current com driver (I have 16450s),
   silo overflows occur a lot, using zmodem over my 14k4 modem (which
   I give input at 57600 baud) is not possible. I have
   used the hacked version (which incorporates some ugly, but working
   things from what I think is Bruce Evans' stuff). Maybe the current
   com driver does work at 19200, or 9600, need to try that.

In the hope that these comments are useful to someone,

- Frank

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