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Re: [Wlug] PXE 101 (summer school)

by Adam Keck

<oops... replied off list, reposting> http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/ has the PXE server source that most distros use and http://syslinux.zytor.com/pxe.php talks about how to setup PXE, tftpd, and dhcpd (ISC). -Adam On 5/22/07, Doug Mildram <doug.mildram(a)mindspeed.com> wrote: > > doug> I too use PXE at work, with some success. > I could stand to learn more, and I sure as hell am still > looking for the "pxe daemon source code"...buried by intel?who? > while still running a redhat binary pxe daemon here. > > If every box had a bootable CD, it'd be easier to > just do that ...whether the CD is the stock CD, or one that > you customize a bit, which I've done; which is separate from > customizing the kickstart config file... > but realize as an opening comment, I may recommend that you > ignore PXE until you need it; ignore the boot-from-NIC potential. > > You're VERY welcome to torture me with questions, or visit Westboro > (work/days..it's quiet enough here) for some hands on confusion. > > It may be easier to LEARN PXE after learning "kickstart" without PXE. > e.g. booting from CD with > "linux ks=nfs:nfsserverip:/path/to/yourconfigfile.cfg" > and the .cfg file has MORE info like > ....some intro omitted..... > network ... (static,dhcp...it can install static > while USING a temp-dhcp installaddr) > part .... (disk layout) > authconfig ... ( --enablenis is my option) > nfs --server servername-or-ip --dir /path/releasedir > skipx (no X, dumb terminal consoles best for servers, right?) > %packages... > ...... > % post > exec > /KICKSTART.log 2>&1 > echo "hello..." > mkdir /customdir > mount nfsserver:/exporteddir /customdir > ( grab things, even edit files in / ....) > chkconfig --level 345 ntpd on > chkconfig --level 345 nfs on > ..............and so on. Tends to be a few hundred lines long. > > PXE does all this, but without the CD...and with more flaky results > depending on NIC cards, mostly, i think...I find it > just complicated enough to confuse me, > and just odd enough to NOT work in some cases. > > Challenges: 1) can't find the source to the pxe daemon, > which seems to have fallen OFF of the distros. > I feel "stuck" running a redhat9 binary (which works usually-for-me > on a redhat3-or-4 based system, just copying /usr/sbin/pxe > and firing it up manually (it often crashes after getting its job done) > > 2) complex dependencies. It needs > 2a) DHCP server, can be your existing one > 2b) TFTP server (this part is NOT complex, after you > learn some of the bootfile/dir layout) > as well as the (nfs,ftp,youdecide) server to grab packages from. > > What's confusing is how the PXE daemon and DHCP daemon play together. > When my boot fails, the error whines about DHCP even when PXE is the > problem. > >

May 22, 2007

Re: [Wlug] It boots. Now what?

by sageman＠WPI.EDU

> Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 09:16:18 -0400 > From: ken jones <kjones(a)ziplink.net> > Subject: [Wlug] It boots. Now what? > To: WLUG <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org> > Message-ID: <4652ED22.5090802(a)ziplink.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > I would like to get X11 services. I did an "emerge xterm". Here's what > happened. > ------------start snip------------- > (chroot) livecd proc # emerge xterm > Calculating dependencies | > !!! All ebuilds that could satisfy ">=x11-proto/xproto-7.0.6" have been > masked. > !!! One of the following masked packages is required to complete your > request: > - x11-proto/xproto-7.0.7 (masked by: ~sparc keyword) > - x11-proto/xproto-7.0.10 (masked by: ~sparc keyword) > - x11-proto/xproto-7.0.9 (masked by: ~sparc keyword) > > For more information, see MASKED PACKAGES section in the emerge man page > or > refer to the Gentoo Handbook. > (dependency required by "x11-libs/libX11-1.1.1-r1" [ebuild]) > --------------end snip---------- > > What do I make of this? > > Another problem. My livecd prompt and my chroot prompt both see my > ethernet card, eth0. However my new boot does not see the card. Ideas? > > Ken Jones Ken, Pulling in xterm, it needs libX11, which, in turn, is pulling in xproto. For the sparc, a masked version of xproto seems to be required. This masking with the "~" is just saying it's in the "testing" set of packages, but it's not hardmasked (it would mention it if it was), meaning it *should* be stable. Regardless, you need the "unstable" version in order to get xterm. There's a number of ways to deal with this, but the suggested way is to add the necessary files, one by one, to /etc/portage/package.unmask. You can do this by adding a line with "x11-proto/xproto ~sparc", or, even better, using the flagedit utility (which you must first "emerge flagedit" to get), and just do: "flagedit x11-proto/xproto +~sparc". [http://damz.net/flagedit/] More info on masking: http://gentoo-wiki.com/Masked

May 22, 2007

Re: [Wlug] [Fwd: Re: Multiple RS232 Com Ports...]

by John Stoffel

Stephen> Lots of good info... I hadn't stopped to think about a Stephen> terminal server! They're a great way to get a bunch of serial ports, especially since they can be on the network and near the equipment to manage, but not near the server room, etc. Stephen> OK, lets see about answering some of the questions... Stephen> - - - - - - Stephen> Yes, cabling will be fun. The sondes are used for sampling Stephen> water... The sondes we use are cylinders approximately 2.5 Stephen> feet in length and about 3 inches in diameter (one, called Stephen> "big Bertha", is about six inches in diameter) . One end has Stephen> a data connection that uses a round, screw-on, water tight Stephen> serial connector, and the business end has several sensors Stephen> sticking out (optical, chemical, conductivity, a little Stephen> propeller for mixing water to be sampled, etc., etc.), all Stephen> within a screw-on cage that protects the sensors from stuff Stephen> like rocks passing by in the current (fast currents equate to Stephen> rather large rocks). Not a problem. If you already have the DB9 -> screw on connectors, you should be all set. Stephen> The idea is to have a tank of water (fish tank, cooler, Stephen> whatever) fitted with Plexiglas that has multiple holes Stephen> through which the several sondes are positioned upright, data Stephen> end pointing up, with a bunch of cables hanging in-place Stephen> above each sonde - think of the device that sets the bowling Stephen> pins in place at the end of the alley... Sounds like a good plan. Stephen> Anyway, you place a bunch of sondes into the tank (that has Stephen> circulating water being maintained at a precise temp, % Stephen> dissolved Oxygen, and so on), plug each sonde into the cable Stephen> available directly above it, and then go to the *insert Linux Stephen> solution here* and initiate communication, data upload, and Stephen> calibration routines. (By the way, the tank is just about Stephen> done - its is being debugged as we speak.) This is the key part here, and the one which I think is quite easy to do. As you mentioned before, the sondes have their own built-in menu structure, so they must provide some basic serial support. So I think that you'll be able to easily talk to them. Esp if you only need to use 'hyperterm' on Windows to talk to them. Heck, I bet you probably don't even need all the serial pins to talk to them, but getting hold of the documentation from the vendor is the key thing obviously. Stephen> After upload and calibration (using the water in the tank), Stephen> configure each sonde for the next deployment (how often to Stephen> sample, etc.), turn them off, unscrew the cables and screw on Stephen> a waterproof cover, remove them from the tank, and place the Stephen> entire sonde into another protective chamber (6" PVC pipe Stephen> with holes drilled in a specific pattern and capped on both Stephen> ends) for another few weeks in some river/lake/coastal Stephen> location. I'd seperate the calibration and the configuration steps, probably into seperate scripts. This way you can just say: calibrate 12 And the calibrate script knows how to go and find serial line 12, which is hanging over slot 12 and drive a sonde. Then you just have: config 12 -i <interval> ... Which again, knows how to talk to cable 12 to configure your settings. You can even have the script just prompt for all the settings and then it goes off and does the work. You hide all the knowledge of how you actually get to serial port 12 in either a library shared between the scripts, or in a configuration file. Something like: 1 /dev/ttyS1 2 /dev/ttyC0 12 termserver1:7001 13 termserver1:7002 This tells the script which port to access. The nice thing about a terminal server is that they're actually quite easy to drive over the network. Esp if the serial port doesn't need a ton of hand holding. And in this case, once you've got the configuration setup properly, you can just set *all* the ports to that setup and forget about it. Stephen> Yes, I may be confusing myself regarding "I/O device driver" Stephen> versus "driver" for the sonde... However, I'm pretty sure Stephen> that all I need is a vanilla "RS232 device driver" that will Stephen> "just work" for any number of "com" ports by allowing some Stephen> vanilla terminal emulation package (preferably one that has Stephen> scripting capabilities) to talk to multiple RS232 ports. Exactly. You just want some way to talk to a bunch of ports in a simple manner. Heck, I'd even look into using 'expect' to drive the 'c-kermit' program to do the serial port connections. I even found an article on the web which talks about using c-kermit as the scripting language itself. Also, there's an expect script which will follow along with you as you do a sample session, and then let you play back the session again and again. The script is called 'autoexpect' and can be found with a bit of poking... on my Debian box it's in /usr/share/doc/expect-dev/examples/autoexpect* which is a pain since you have to install the development package to get it. Oh well... Stephen> I could be wrong about this, in which case I may need to Stephen> write some code, or perhaps the manufacturer might be Stephen> thinking of supporting Linux. I don't think you'll need to get the manufacturer involved at all, beyond figure out exactly what the serial connection settings are, and the command language. But you will need to script out some stuff using something like 'expect' or 'c-kermit' to do the work. This shouldn't be too hard, esp if they calibration part is very mechanical and doesn't change. Stephen> I don't do the day-to-day instrumentation work, but I am Stephen> supposed to worry about it none the less. In terms of the Stephen> "sondes going to sleep", this is based on concerns expressed Stephen> by the lab along the lines of "if you hook-up the sonde and Stephen> let it sit too long, you have to start over because it will Stephen> turn itself off." Oh, this shouldn't be a problem, unless you have to do something funky to bring it back to life. I assume that the scientists hook up a sonde, run (walk, saunter...) back to the PC and start they're interaction over the serial line to configure sutff? And if they walk away for a coffee and the Sonde waits at a prompt too long, it shuts down? In that case, expect will do just great, since you'll be automating all the boring parts of talking to these things. Stephen> Also, I use the term "vanilla" a lot because the staff aren't Stephen> computer types - this has to "just work" like any other tool Stephen> in the lab. Dear lord - we are talking about biology types Stephen> after all! ;-) (Unlike engineering/geoscience types!!) Hey, Biologists are scientists too! They just like squishy living stuff more than the cold hard electrical stuff we like. :] Stephen> So, the other question was about the necessity of having Stephen> certain signals present. Again, I'm told that the sonde Stephen> needs all the signals present in a DB-9. I'm guessing this Stephen> may have more to do with not really knowing for sure and Stephen> erring on the side of caution, but since there is hardware Stephen> available that will do this and I can't spend all of my time Stephen> chasing this down, I'll assume the information I'm getting on Stephen> this topic is correct. (Biologists not withstanding.) Just do a quick test with a standard calbe and you'll know more. Stephen> I think this is where the multiport boards or a terminal Stephen> server would come in... One of the replies mentioned writing Stephen> a script, and that is what I was thinking about... Stephen> Specifically, I was wondering if it could be as simple as a Stephen> script sending the proper bit patterns to get the sonde to do Stephen> the right things, pipe the serial data through the script and Stephen> append the data to a file, and s on... (Was that you, John?) Yup, that was me. And don't get too low level here, you won't be sending bit patterns, not unless these things are more cryptic than has been made out to be. Could you fire up a copy of hyperterm and take a log of some sample interaction with these devices? THat would answer alot of questions. Stephen> Anyway, I'll have to take a look at the product references Stephen> mentioned and contemplate what I might need to do in the Stephen> world of scripting... I haven't heard back from the Stephen> manufacturer yet, but I'm hoping this will turn out to be a Stephen> simple project when all is said and done!! Also, I haven't Stephen> used a terminal server before, so that should be interesting Stephen> as well. Just hook one Sonde upto a linux box using serial port /dev/ttyS1 and fire up kermit like this: > kermit -l /dev/ttyS1 c-kermit> set speed 9600 c-kermit> c <hit return> a couple of times and see what happens. You can escape back to the c-kermit mode with Control-\ I think, It will tell you. Thne you can try other speeds. You might have to do: c-kermit> set carrier-watch off if it whines at you about that. Or change the speeds, etc. Just find out what settings they use in hyperterm and you'll be all set. Really, this isn't going to be that hard at all. And just automating this process will make you alot of friends down there in the lab. Cheers, John

May 22, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Setting up PXE/TFTBoot

by Mike Leo

no, but i bet these guys have some doc's for you http://www.ltsp.org/ ----- Original Message ---- From: Tal Cohen <wlug(a)cohen123.com> To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 9:34:32 AM Subject: [Wlug] Setting up PXE/TFTBoot  I know that this is not new technology….but I am having quite a time figuring this out. I was hoping that you guys could give me a hand. In my office, I want to setup a system that will provide a boot image over the network so that I can remotely setup and configure new servers. I am running Crux2.3. Does anyone have experience setting up remote booting systems? Thanks, Tal _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

May 22, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Setting up PXE/TFTBoot

by Adam Keck

Hello Tal, I use PXE frequently at work. Can you explain your process and where you run into trouble? -Adam On 5/22/07, Tal Cohen <wlug(a)cohen123.com> wrote: > > I know that this is not new technology….but I am having quite a time > figuring this out. I was hoping that you guys could give me a hand. > > > > In my office, I want to setup a system that will provide a boot image over > the network so that I can remotely setup and configure new servers. > > > > I am running Crux2.3. > > > > Does anyone have experience setting up remote booting systems? > > > > Thanks, > Tal > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > >

May 22, 2007

Re: [Wlug] It boots. Now what?

by John Stoffel

ken> I would like to get X11 services. I did an "emerge xterm". Here's what ken> happened. ken> ------------start snip------------- ken> (chroot) livecd proc # emerge xterm ken> Calculating dependencies | ken> !!! All ebuilds that could satisfy ">=x11-proto/xproto-7.0.6" have been ken> masked. ken> !!! One of the following masked packages is required to complete your ken> request: ken> - x11-proto/xproto-7.0.7 (masked by: ~sparc keyword) ken> - x11-proto/xproto-7.0.10 (masked by: ~sparc keyword) ken> - x11-proto/xproto-7.0.9 (masked by: ~sparc keyword) ken> For more information, see MASKED PACKAGES section in the emerge man page or ken> refer to the Gentoo Handbook. ken> (dependency required by "x11-libs/libX11-1.1.1-r1" [ebuild]) ken> --------------end snip---------- ken> What do I make of this? It looks to me like you've turned off X11 support into your Gentoo config file(s) somewhere. I haven't used Gentoo in years and years, but I remember there was some place to set up defaults. In this case, you could also just try doing: emerge x11-libs and see what happens. Hmmm... google is your friend here. Look at /etc/portage/packages* and add or remove the lines which are blocking the X11 install. ken> Another problem. My livecd prompt and my chroot prompt both see ken> my ethernet card, eth0. However my new boot does not see the ken> card. Ideas? Send the output of dmesg after boot from both a working and non-working setup. Sounds to me like you haven't compiled the proper driver in your kernel for the hardware. John

May 22, 2007

Setting up PXE/TFTBoot

by Tal Cohen

I know that this is not new technology..but I am having quite a time figuring this out. I was hoping that you guys could give me a hand. In my office, I want to setup a system that will provide a boot image over the network so that I can remotely setup and configure new servers. I am running Crux2.3. Does anyone have experience setting up remote booting systems? Thanks, Tal

May 22, 2007

It boots. Now what?

by ken jones

I would like to get X11 services. I did an "emerge xterm". Here's what happened. ------------start snip------------- (chroot) livecd proc # emerge xterm Calculating dependencies | !!! All ebuilds that could satisfy ">=x11-proto/xproto-7.0.6" have been masked. !!! One of the following masked packages is required to complete your request: - x11-proto/xproto-7.0.7 (masked by: ~sparc keyword) - x11-proto/xproto-7.0.10 (masked by: ~sparc keyword) - x11-proto/xproto-7.0.9 (masked by: ~sparc keyword) For more information, see MASKED PACKAGES section in the emerge man page or refer to the Gentoo Handbook. (dependency required by "x11-libs/libX11-1.1.1-r1" [ebuild]) --------------end snip---------- What do I make of this? Another problem. My livecd prompt and my chroot prompt both see my ethernet card, eth0. However my new boot does not see the card. Ideas? Ken Jones

May 22, 2007

Re: [Wlug] [Fwd: Re: Multiple RS232 Com Ports...]

by Stephen Daukas

Hi all! Lots of good info... I hadn't stopped to think about a terminal server! OK, lets see about answering some of the questions... - - - - - - Yes, cabling will be fun. The sondes are used for sampling water... The sondes we use are cylinders approximately 2.5 feet in length and about 3 inches in diameter (one, called "big Bertha", is about six inches in diameter) . One end has a data connection that uses a round, screw-on, water tight serial connector, and the business end has several sensors sticking out (optical, chemical, conductivity, a little propeller for mixing water to be sampled, etc., etc.), all within a screw-on cage that protects the sensors from stuff like rocks passing by in the current (fast currents equate to rather large rocks). The idea is to have a tank of water (fish tank, cooler, whatever) fitted with Plexiglas that has multiple holes through which the several sondes are positioned upright, data end pointing up, with a bunch of cables hanging in-place above each sonde - think of the device that sets the bowling pins in place at the end of the alley... Anyway, you place a bunch of sondes into the tank (that has circulating water being maintained at a precise temp, % dissolved Oxygen, and so on), plug each sonde into the cable available directly above it, and then go to the *insert Linux solution here* and initiate communication, data upload, and calibration routines. (By the way, the tank is just about done - its is being debugged as we speak.) After upload and calibration (using the water in the tank), configure each sonde for the next deployment (how often to sample, etc.), turn them off, unscrew the cables and screw on a waterproof cover, remove them from the tank, and place the entire sonde into another protective chamber (6" PVC pipe with holes drilled in a specific pattern and capped on both ends) for another few weeks in some river/lake/coastal location. - - - - - - Yes, I may be confusing myself regarding "I/O device driver" versus "driver" for the sonde... However, I'm pretty sure that all I need is a vanilla "RS232 device driver" that will "just work" for any number of "com" ports by allowing some vanilla terminal emulation package (preferably one that has scripting capabilities) to talk to multiple RS232 ports. I could be wrong about this, in which case I may need to write some code, or perhaps the manufacturer might be thinking of supporting Linux. I don't do the day-to-day instrumentation work, but I am supposed to worry about it none the less. In terms of the "sondes going to sleep", this is based on concerns expressed by the lab along the lines of "if you hook-up the sonde and let it sit too long, you have to start over because it will turn itself off." Also, I use the term "vanilla" a lot because the staff aren't computer types - this has to "just work" like any other tool in the lab. Dear lord - we are talking about biology types after all! ;-) (Unlike engineering/geoscience types!!) - - - - - - So, the other question was about the necessity of having certain signals present. Again, I'm told that the sonde needs all the signals present in a DB-9. I'm guessing this may have more to do with not really knowing for sure and erring on the side of caution, but since there is hardware available that will do this and I can't spend all of my time chasing this down, I'll assume the information I'm getting on this topic is correct. (Biologists not withstanding.) I think this is where the multiport boards or a terminal server would come in... One of the replies mentioned writing a script, and that is what I was thinking about... Specifically, I was wondering if it could be as simple as a script sending the proper bit patterns to get the sonde to do the right things, pipe the serial data through the script and append the data to a file, and s on... (Was that you, John?) - - - - - - - Anyway, I'll have to take a look at the product references mentioned and contemplate what I might need to do in the world of scripting... I haven't heard back from the manufacturer yet, but I'm hoping this will turn out to be a simple project when all is said and done!! Also, I haven't used a terminal server before, so that should be interesting as well. Thanks! If you have any more thoughts, please let me know!! Steve On 5/21/07, Stephen C. Daukas <scd(a)daukas.com> wrote: > > > > -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [Wlug] Multiple RS232 > Com Ports... Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 15:44:09 -0400 From: John Stoffel > <john(a)stoffel.org> <john(a)stoffel.org> Reply-To: Worcester Linux Users > Group <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org> <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org> To: Worcester Linux Users > Group <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org> <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org> References: > <4650752A.1020203(a)daukas.com> <4650752A.1020203(a)daukas.com> > <18001.54171.525952.976484(a)stoffel.org><18001.54171.525952.976484(a)stoffel.org> > <20070521181244.GH4900(a)angus.ind.WPI.EDU><20070521181244.GH4900(a)angus.ind.WPI.EDU> > > Chuck> On Mon, May 21, 2007 at 01:15:07PM -0400, John Stoffel wrote: > >> darn good things about the Cyclades stuff as well. Stay away from the > >> Legacy Avocent (who bought Cyclades...) serial port stuff, it's crap. > > Chuck> Hmm I have to disagree here. We have the Avocent/Cyclades ACS line > Chuck> and are very happy with them. They run Linux inside and support many > Chuck> connection protocols, like Telnet, SSH, Reverse Telnet, Bidirectional, > Chuck> etc. Full RTS/CTS control lines including DTR are available. They > Chuck> support console logging to RAM, PCMCIA flash card, or remote syslog. > > Chuck> Perhaps you are referring to their older Cyclades TS line. > > I'm talking about the old Avocent designed CPS line of crap. You're > talking about the Cyclades designed stuff, including the TS and the > ACS. > > I've got an ancient Cyclom-Y ISA 8-port serial card in my main home > computer and it's been working great for for years. Wish I could > afford the newer stuff. > > John > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > >

May 22, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Multiple RS232 Com Ports...

by John Stoffel

Chuck> On Mon, May 21, 2007 at 01:15:07PM -0400, John Stoffel wrote: >> darn good things about the Cyclades stuff as well. Stay away from the >> Legacy Avocent (who bought Cyclades...) serial port stuff, it's crap. Chuck> Hmm I have to disagree here. We have the Avocent/Cyclades ACS line Chuck> and are very happy with them. They run Linux inside and support many Chuck> connection protocols, like Telnet, SSH, Reverse Telnet, Bidirectional, Chuck> etc. Full RTS/CTS control lines including DTR are available. They Chuck> support console logging to RAM, PCMCIA flash card, or remote syslog. Chuck> Perhaps you are referring to their older Cyclades TS line. I'm talking about the old Avocent designed CPS line of crap. You're talking about the Cyclades designed stuff, including the TS and the ACS. I've got an ancient Cyclom-Y ISA 8-port serial card in my main home computer and it's been working great for for years. Wish I could afford the newer stuff. John

May 21, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Multiple RS232 Com Ports...

by Mike Frysinger

On 5/21/07, Stephen Daukas <scd(a)daukas.com> wrote: > The *how* is the heart of my question... If you mean how physically, that's > a matter of cable and such. what sort of magic cable ... ive seen implementations where it's a pci card that hooks up in the back to some octopus monstrosity which is where the rs232 comes in ... > The driver question is, again, what I was looking into. If Linux has > support for multiple RS232s built in > to one or more generic drivers in a given distro, then we are talking about > terminal emulation - a.k.a. > VT100 or ANSI or whatever. you're confusing things i think ... the kernel has drivers for different devices and that driver exports the multiple device nodes in /dev/ for userspace to utilize the important part is making sure a driver exists for your hardware in terms of other serial devices, there are no real limits in the tty layer > How do the RS232 FIFO/Interrupts get managed via USB? In other words, each > of the RS232s will need to have its "pin-outs" (DB-9) active so the sondes > believe they are connected in order to avoid their "turning off". the driver worries about it ? userspace just sees a serial device in /dev/ for it to open/configure/write ... if you're interested in looking at the actual implementation, you should just read the device driver in the kernel source -mike

May 21, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Multiple RS232 Com Ports...

by Chuck Anderson

On Mon, May 21, 2007 at 01:15:07PM -0400, John Stoffel wrote: > darn good things about the Cyclades stuff as well. Stay away from the > Legacy Avocent (who bought Cyclades...) serial port stuff, it's crap. Hmm I have to disagree here. We have the Avocent/Cyclades ACS line and are very happy with them. They run Linux inside and support many connection protocols, like Telnet, SSH, Reverse Telnet, Bidirectional, etc. Full RTS/CTS control lines including DTR are available. They support console logging to RAM, PCMCIA flash card, or remote syslog. Perhaps you are referring to their older Cyclades TS line.

May 21, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Multiple RS232 Com Ports...

by John Stoffel

Stephen> I'm wondering if anyone knows how many RS232 devices a Stephen> "vanilla" Linux kernel can manage simultaneously. I'd like Stephen> to be able to have up to 32 going at once, with data taken Stephen> from each device written to its own file via the standard I/O Stephen> subsystem. Not a problem, Linux can handle bunches of serial devices. But, the question to me becomes which way is more efficient: 1) buying multiport serial cards such as Cyclades Z series, or 2) buying a Cyclades or Digi terminal server instead, which has the number of ports you need. Stephen> As far as I know, wouldn't Linux simply fork the appropriate Stephen> number of driver threads to read as many RS232 ports as are Stephen> attached with each device's stream written to a "/dev" file? There's two questions here to answer. First, Linux is good at supporting lots of devices on a system. Second, reading each device is really a per-process thing, or you could have a single process reading each port in turn. It's a totally seperate issue really. Stephen> Why do I want to do this? Glad you asked... Actually, I was asking until you wrote this. Thanks for the interesting details! Stephen> I'm investigating an issue at work that involves our Stephen> instrumentation lab having to upload/download/calibrate Stephen> multiple sondes and have them ready for field deployment the Stephen> next day. Currently, we can do three at a time and this Stephen> takes about 8-9 hours providing everything goes well. Ouch. That must be some involved work you need to do here. Stephen> The manufacturer's software application claims to supports Stephen> the simultaneous upload/config of up to 32 sondes. The Stephen> application will scan "installed" COM ports looking for Stephen> recognizable sondes, and present those found to the user. Yes Stephen> - this is a windows solution, so I first began looking for Stephen> products that would play with Windows... Ugh... run screamming! Stephen> I began looking for hardware solutions (PCI boards, break-out Stephen> boxes, etc.) on the net and I found a few that will provide Stephen> 16 DB-9 RS232 ports with full pin-out support as well as Stephen> so-called "true" interrupt and FIFO support on the host (via Stephen> their own custom Windows driver, no doubt). Why are you looking for this in particular? Do the sondes require XON/XOFF or full RTS/CTS flow control? If they have/require full hardware flow control, most high-end multiport boards should be just fine. As well as any of the multiport terminal servers. I'm particularly partial to the Digi CM32 model right now. I've heard darn good things about the Cyclades stuff as well. Stay away from the Legacy Avocent (who bought Cyclades...) serial port stuff, it's crap. Stephen> And then I started wondering about how to get all of this to Stephen> work in a Windows environment where "IT" is the only group Stephen> allowed to install software and otherwise configure a PC for Stephen> most users whose biggest concern is email... The horrors of windows application support. Stephen> All this got me thinking about avoiding the whole Windows Stephen> issue and instead thinking about using Linux to take care of Stephen> the RS232 part, with the newly created files moved to a Stephen> Windows box (sneakernet to start with), with the normal Stephen> post-processing of the data taking place as usual in the Stephen> Windows environment the staff is used to... Stephen> I'm hoping an "out of the box" distro will be able to handle Stephen> say 16 RS232 ports and that Linux-based terminal emulation Stephen> software is available to simultaneously handle those ports as Stephen> well so I can capture the data using the appropriate Stephen> protocols... Anyone know of a similar application using Stephen> RS232 and Linux, or have some thoughts on this? None of this is a problem. And in terms of handling the ports, I'd probably just write a perl or expect script to do the actually driving of the ports and the handling of the on-sonode menus to grab the data you want. Basically, you'd just have a script which takes a serial port as the input parameter and just drives the port as needed. For example, make sure the Perl Expect::Bundle is installed: > sudo perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::Expect' And then you should be able to open up a serial port connected to a Sonde and talk to it. It's really pretty easy, once you get over the humps. :] Good luck! John

May 21, 2007

My Ultra sparc64 booted!!

by ken jones

Thank you everybody for your help. My sparc64 finally booted. I used genkernel with the livecd cdrom's kernel 2617 /proc/config.gz. The last piece of the puzzle was getting fstab correct. Here is proof. -----------snip of uname -a ----------------------- kjones-sun2 / # uname -a Linux kjones-sun2 2.6.20-gentoo-r5 #3 SMP Thu May 17 13:58:22 Local time zone must be set--see zic sparc64 sun4u GNU/Linux kjones-sun2 / # -------------end snip-------------- I am not sure whether I learned anything specific to gentoo or to sparc64. I did learn that creating good open source documentation is difficult and that finding one's way through unfamiliar documentation is daunting. Thanks, again. Ken Jones

May 21, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Multiple RS232 Com Ports...

by Karl Hiramoto

Stephen Daukas wrote: > > On 5/21/07, *Karl Hiramoto* <karl(a)hiramoto.org > <mailto:karl@hiramoto.org>> wrote: > > Mike Frysinger wrote: > > On 5/20/07, Stephen C. Daukas <scd(a)daukas.com > <mailto:scd@daukas.com>> wrote: > > > >> I'm wondering if anyone knows how many RS232 devices a > "vanilla" Linux > >> kernel can manage simultaneously. > >> > > > > there shouldnt be any real limit ... at work, we have ~24 > USB<->RS232 > > devices hooked up and we use them all simultaneously to interact > with > > some hardware > > > > > >> I'd like to be able to have up to 32 > >> going at once, with data taken from each device written to its > own file via > >> the standard I/O subsystem. As far as I know, wouldn't Linux > simply fork > >> the appropriate number of driver threads to read as many RS232 > ports as are > >> attached with each device's stream written to a "/dev" file? > >> > > > > i'd be more worried about *what* the devices are and *how* you > connect > > your 32 devices to the machine ... making sure linux has proper > device > > driver support for it > > -mike > > > The *how* is the heart of my question... If you mean how physically, > that's a matter of cable and such. > The driver question is, again, what I was looking into. If Linux has > support for multiple RS232s built in > to one or more generic drivers in a given distro, then we are talking > about terminal emulation - a.k.a. > VT100 or ANSI or whatever. Currently, the lab uses hyperterminal to > talk with the sondes - the sondes > are intelligent and provide a tty-based menu for command and control. > The devices are known, so the > *what* isn't really an open question. > > > > Yes, there should be no real limit.. At work i have use multile > Edgeport/8 http://www.digi.com/products/usb/edgeport.jsp > devices to have may rs-232 ports > > > How do the RS232 FIFO/Interrupts get managed via USB? In other words, > each of the RS232s will need to have its "pin-outs" (DB-9) active so > the sondes believe they are connected in order to avoid their "turning > off". Also, is it safe to assume the edgeport has its own drivers? > > Regards, > Steve Take a look at: /usr/src/linux/drivers/usb/serial/io_edgeport.c What do you mean by turning off Sondes? your sensors? Your sensors, may read the rs-232 flow control pins, If the port is open() then they probably won't turn off. What ever program you write will be a lot of string parsing to send and receive data. I believe it is the case with all the USB/Serial adapter drivers that the driver polls over USB the usb/serial converter device. -- karl.

May 21, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Multiple RS232 Com Ports...

by Stephen Daukas

On 5/21/07, Karl Hiramoto <karl(a)hiramoto.org> wrote: > > Mike Frysinger wrote: > > On 5/20/07, Stephen C. Daukas <scd(a)daukas.com> wrote: > > > >> I'm wondering if anyone knows how many RS232 devices a "vanilla" Linux > >> kernel can manage simultaneously. > >> > > > > there shouldnt be any real limit ... at work, we have ~24 USB<->RS232 > > devices hooked up and we use them all simultaneously to interact with > > some hardware > > > > > >> I'd like to be able to have up to 32 > >> going at once, with data taken from each device written to its own file > via > >> the standard I/O subsystem. As far as I know, wouldn't Linux simply > fork > >> the appropriate number of driver threads to read as many RS232 ports as > are > >> attached with each device's stream written to a "/dev" file? > >> > > > > i'd be more worried about *what* the devices are and *how* you connect > > your 32 devices to the machine ... making sure linux has proper device > > driver support for it > > -mike The *how* is the heart of my question... If you mean how physically, that's a matter of cable and such. The driver question is, again, what I was looking into. If Linux has support for multiple RS232s built in to one or more generic drivers in a given distro, then we are talking about terminal emulation - a.k.a. VT100 or ANSI or whatever. Currently, the lab uses hyperterminal to talk with the sondes - the sondes are intelligent and provide a tty-based menu for command and control. The devices are known, so the *what* isn't really an open question. > > Yes, there should be no real limit.. At work i have use multile > Edgeport/8 http://www.digi.com/products/usb/edgeport.jsp devices to > have may rs-232 ports How do the RS232 FIFO/Interrupts get managed via USB? In other words, each of the RS232s will need to have its "pin-outs" (DB-9) active so the sondes believe they are connected in order to avoid their "turning off". Also, is it safe to assume the edgeport has its own drivers? Regards, Steve

May 21, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Multiple RS232 Com Ports...

by Karl Hiramoto

Mike Frysinger wrote: > On 5/20/07, Stephen C. Daukas <scd(a)daukas.com> wrote: > >> I'm wondering if anyone knows how many RS232 devices a "vanilla" Linux >> kernel can manage simultaneously. >> > > there shouldnt be any real limit ... at work, we have ~24 USB<->RS232 > devices hooked up and we use them all simultaneously to interact with > some hardware > > >> I'd like to be able to have up to 32 >> going at once, with data taken from each device written to its own file via >> the standard I/O subsystem. As far as I know, wouldn't Linux simply fork >> the appropriate number of driver threads to read as many RS232 ports as are >> attached with each device's stream written to a "/dev" file? >> > > i'd be more worried about *what* the devices are and *how* you connect > your 32 devices to the machine ... making sure linux has proper device > driver support for it > -mike > > Yes, there should be no real limit.. At work i have use multile Edgeport/8 http://www.digi.com/products/usb/edgeport.jsp devices to have may rs-232 ports -- Karl Hiramoto http://karl.hiramoto.org/ US VOIP: (1) 603.966.4448 Spain Casa (34) 951.273.347 Spain Mobil (34) 617.463.826 Yahoo_IM = karl_hiramoto GTalk= karl.hiramoto [at] gmail [d0t] com -- I have that old biological urge, I have that old irresistible surge, I'm hungry.

May 21, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Multiple RS232 Com Ports...

by Mike Frysinger

On 5/20/07, Stephen C. Daukas <scd(a)daukas.com> wrote: > I'm wondering if anyone knows how many RS232 devices a "vanilla" Linux > kernel can manage simultaneously. there shouldnt be any real limit ... at work, we have ~24 USB<->RS232 devices hooked up and we use them all simultaneously to interact with some hardware > I'd like to be able to have up to 32 > going at once, with data taken from each device written to its own file via > the standard I/O subsystem. As far as I know, wouldn't Linux simply fork > the appropriate number of driver threads to read as many RS232 ports as are > attached with each device's stream written to a "/dev" file? i'd be more worried about *what* the devices are and *how* you connect your 32 devices to the machine ... making sure linux has proper device driver support for it -mike

May 20, 2007

Multiple RS232 Com Ports...

by Stephen C. Daukas

Hi all! I'm wondering if anyone knows how many RS232 devices a "vanilla" Linux kernel can manage simultaneously. I'd like to be able to have up to 32 going at once, with data taken from each device written to its own file via the standard I/O subsystem. As far as I know, wouldn't Linux simply fork the appropriate number of driver threads to read as many RS232 ports as are attached with each device's stream written to a "/dev" file? Why do I want to do this? Glad you asked... I'm investigating an issue at work that involves our instrumentation lab having to upload/download/calibrate multiple sondes and have them ready for field deployment the next day. Currently, we can do three at a time and this takes about 8-9 hours providing everything goes well. The manufacturer's software application claims to supports the simultaneous upload/config of up to 32 sondes. The application will scan "installed" COM ports looking for recognizable sondes, and present those found to the user. Yes - this is a windows solution, so I first began looking for products that would play with Windows... I began looking for hardware solutions (PCI boards, break-out boxes, etc.) on the net and I found a few that will provide 16 DB-9 RS232 ports with full pin-out support as well as so-called "true" interrupt and FIFO support on the host (via their own custom Windows driver, no doubt). And then I started wondering about how to get all of this to work in a Windows environment where "IT" is the only group allowed to install software and otherwise configure a PC for most users whose biggest concern is email... All this got me thinking about avoiding the whole Windows issue and instead thinking about using Linux to take care of the RS232 part, with the newly created files moved to a Windows box (sneakernet to start with), with the normal post-processing of the data taking place as usual in the Windows environment the staff is used to... I'm hoping an "out of the box" distro will be able to handle say 16 RS232 ports and that Linux-based terminal emulation software is available to simultaneously handle those ports as well so I can capture the data using the appropriate protocols... Anyone know of a similar application using RS232 and Linux, or have some thoughts on this? Thanks! Steve

May 20, 2007

Fwd: Urgent Need for Software QA Instructor in Boston, MA

by albutler33＠netscape.net

Hello all, Here's an opportunity I thought I'd pass along. Al Butler member of WLUG (haven't attended for quite a while) -----Original Message----- From: april01(a)o-s-tech.com To: albutler33(a)netscape.net Sent: Thu, 17 May 2007 8:59 PM Subject: Urgent Need for Software QA Instructor in Boston, MA Dear Aljerin, Open Systems Technology Services has an urgent need for an experienced Software Quality Assurance Instructor. Topics Software development life cycle-the product view Software configuration management (SCM) Software quality assurance Testing, validating and evaluating Special topics Planning, organizing, implementing and managing for SQA ------------------- Location: Boston, MA Date: June 11-13 Rate: $300 day/ 1099 Please let me know ASAP if you are available or know of someone who have experience teaching Linux. Classes will begin at 8am each day. Introduction to Linux, 3 days March 19th - 21st Linux Admin I, 5 days March 26th - 30th Linux Admin II, 5 days April 9th - 13t Rate: $500.00/day Job Description: . If you are available, email your resume (in word format) and availability with a contact number by 5:00pm, Monday, May 21, 2007. Thank you, April Washington Open Systems Technology Services, Inc. Email: April01(a)o-s-tech.com ________________________________________________________________________ Check Out the new free AIM(R) Mail -- 2 GB of storage and industry-leading spam and email virus protection.

May 20, 2007

ALSA hanging (Gentoo AMD64)

by Eric Stein

Hi all, I have a very strange problem. Last night I updated all my packages and rebooted. On boot, alsasound started (boot runlevel), but while trying to restore mixer levels, it hung. I had to boot to a livecd and remove alsasound from boot to even start my system. I tried removing the old state file (in case the format changed and it was breaking because of that), but it wouldn't start without it. glamdring ~ # /etc/init.d/alsasound start * One of the files in /etc/{conf.d,init.d} or /etc/rc.conf * has a modification time in the future! * Loading ALSA modules ... [ ok ] * Restoring Mixer Levels ... * No mixer config in /var/lib/alsa/asound.state, you have to unmute your card! [ ok ] glamdring ~ # cd /var/lib/alsa/ glamdring alsa # l total 9 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 152 May 17 16:26 ./ drwxr-xr-x 23 root root 568 May 17 03:17 ../ -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 May 17 16:26 .keep_media-sound_alsa-utils-0.9 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8073 May 17 12:50 asound.state.old drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 144 May 17 12:50 oss/ glamdring alsa # mv asound.state.old asound.state glamdring alsa # cd glamdring ~ # /etc/init.d/alsasound zap * Manually resetting alsasound to stopped state. glamdring ~ # /etc/init.d/alsasound start * Loading ALSA modules ... [ ok ] * Restoring Mixer Levels ... Which is where it hangs. Other alsa programs like alsaconf and alsamixer hang on startup, along with programs that attempt to use ALSA to output sound. I've tried reinstalling ALSA, I've tried revdep-rebuild, I've done modules-rebuild, and I'm at my wit's end. None of it seems to make sense, and Gnome isn't very happy about not having a sound output, so half of my GUI is missing. If anyone has some idea why this could be happening to me, please let me know. Eric

May 18, 2007

OT: HP9k E-class

by Desdinova

A bit OT, if you can reply off-list, that's fine. I just figure there's probably guys who know about crappy old minis here. I've got an E25 and I'm planning to replace the internal scsi drive, it shouldn't be any big deal, but this *is* HP. Are there any gotchas on drive geometry or size that I should watch for? Take care, des

May 17, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Follow-Up to Key Signing Party

by Jamie Guinan

On Thu, 17 May 2007, Eric Martin wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Thanks to everyone who showed up to tonight's key signing party. Now > that we verified everybody had the correct key info and identification, > we actually have to sign each other's keys. We are using the keyserver > pgp.mit.edu. If that isn't your default, you can set it either in > ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf or at the command line for each command by using the > argument > - --keyserver pgp.mit.edu Is the "hkp://" prefix needed in gpg.conf? keyserver hkp://pgp.mit.edu > Below is an excerpt from the gpg Key Signing Party HowTo that explains > things in detail.(http://www.rubin.ch/pgp/kspa/gpg-party.en.html#ss3.8): > > 3.8 How to sign others' keys > > Step 1: Get a copy of the key > > Normally, you'll be working from a keyserver. However if you are signing > the key that is not available on a keyserver, you can use simply import > the key with gpg --import. If you are working with a keyserver, the > following command will download the key from the keyserver into your > public keyring. > > bash$ gpg --keyserver <keyserver> --recv-keys <Key_ID> > > If you get a read error, it means the keyserver is overloaded. Please, > try again in a few seconds. That worked Ok. > > Step 2: Fingerprint and Verify the key > > bash$ gpg --fingerprint <Key_ID> That too. > GPG will print out the fingerprint of the Key with <Key_ID > (the key > you just downloaded). Check the fingerprint against the checklist that > you where given at the party. Note: Don't check the fingerprint on your > checklist against the fingerprint on the web page as the server may not > send you the same key it displays on the web page. > > Step 3: Sign the key > > bash$ gpg --sign-key <Key_ID> Ok. > > If you have multiple private keys, you can specify which of your private > keys to sign the other persons public key with like this: > > bash$ gpg --default-key <Key_to_use> --sign-key <Key_ID> > > Step 4: Return or Upload the signed key > > If you are working with an entity which does not want their key on a > public keyserver, you should at this point you should return their > signed key back to them by their method of choice - normally encrypted > email. You should not send a public key to a keyserver with out the > permission of the key's owner. Publicizing a public key slightly reduces > the security of a key pair, therefor it is considered rude to make a key > more public than its owner desires. > > Most likely you are working with a keyserver. If that is the case, you > can send the signed key back to the keyserver like this: > > bash$ gpg --keyserver <keyserver> --send-key <Key_ID> > > You should see a success message like this: > > gpg: success sending to `<keyserver>' (status=200) > Congratulations, the signature of the other entity's key is now complete > and your signature has been incorporated into their public key. A trust > path has been established. This looked different for me, $ gpg --send-key A9413B9F gpg: sending key A9413B9F to hkp server pgp.mit.edu $ No affirmative response, it just returned to the prompt. But the exit code was 0. $ echo $? 0 -Jamie [ not yet using gpg for mail ]

May 17, 2007

Follow-Up to Key Signing Party

by Eric Martin

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Thanks to everyone who showed up to tonight's key signing party. Now that we verified everybody had the correct key info and identification, we actually have to sign each other's keys. We are using the keyserver pgp.mit.edu. If that isn't your default, you can set it either in ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf or at the command line for each command by using the argument - --keyserver pgp.mit.edu Below is an excerpt from the gpg Key Signing Party HowTo that explains things in detail.(http://www.rubin.ch/pgp/kspa/gpg-party.en.html#ss3.8): 3.8 How to sign others' keys Step 1: Get a copy of the key Normally, you'll be working from a keyserver. However if you are signing the key that is not available on a keyserver, you can use simply import the key with gpg --import. If you are working with a keyserver, the following command will download the key from the keyserver into your public keyring. bash$ gpg --keyserver <keyserver> --recv-keys <Key_ID> If you get a read error, it means the keyserver is overloaded. Please, try again in a few seconds. Step 2: Fingerprint and Verify the key bash$ gpg --fingerprint <Key_ID> GPG will print out the fingerprint of the Key with <Key_ID > (the key you just downloaded). Check the fingerprint against the checklist that you where given at the party. Note: Don't check the fingerprint on your checklist against the fingerprint on the web page as the server may not send you the same key it displays on the web page. Step 3: Sign the key bash$ gpg --sign-key <Key_ID> If you have multiple private keys, you can specify which of your private keys to sign the other persons public key with like this: bash$ gpg --default-key <Key_to_use> --sign-key <Key_ID> Step 4: Return or Upload the signed key If you are working with an entity which does not want their key on a public keyserver, you should at this point you should return their signed key back to them by their method of choice - normally encrypted email. You should not send a public key to a keyserver with out the permission of the key's owner. Publicizing a public key slightly reduces the security of a key pair, therefor it is considered rude to make a key more public than its owner desires. Most likely you are working with a keyserver. If that is the case, you can send the signed key back to the keyserver like this: bash$ gpg --keyserver <keyserver> --send-key <Key_ID> You should see a success message like this: gpg: success sending to `<keyserver>' (status=200) Congratulations, the signature of the other entity's key is now complete and your signature has been incorporated into their public key. A trust path has been established. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGS+VsaiVxdKlBO58RAs3xAJ0W7SyjfbQtwHwDaHeWG5EgeWWXzgCfQ8pT W40gnhPVnkQ3u7E1jbXALvU= =GM/c -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

May 17, 2007

Re: [Wlug] PGP Key Signing Party

by Gregory Avedissian

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Here's my fingerprint: pub 1024D/5DC682A4 2004-04-17 [expires: 2009-04-16] Key fingerprint = 4DF6 E8E1 5521 6ECC 7A3E E7F0 BF02 ADEA 5DC6 82A4 Greg Avedissian -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGS8i0vwKt6l3GgqQRAui5AJ4my59DCPMhLXnwIsZSLvvL3Qh62ACeMLt1 hJHV/oml3PBTo5117s9YXOA= =NO0Y -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

May 17, 2007