[ntp:hackers] FreeBSD or die

David L. Mills mills at udel.edu
Thu Dec 16 11:24:42 PST 2004


Paul,

Wow; thanks a bunch. I've a couple of relatively new Alphae here, one on 
Linux athe other on Tru64. I may switch those lame ducks to FreeBSD.

Dave

Paul Vixie wrote:

>>Mort was a Linux. I just swept Linux away and sprinkled FreeBSD 5.3 on it
>>and am delighted with the results. I brought it up, installed latest ntpd,
>>rolled keys and lit it up. No fuss, no muss, even with Autokey, and I
>>didn't have to download anything except NTP. This machine is to replace
>>ageing rackety, an old Sun SPARC IPC. I would dearly like to hear advice
>>about:
>>    
>>
>
>you can run freebsd on old sun sparcs too if you want.  i'm REALLY excited
>that you're enjoying freebsd.  it's been my main OS for about five years;
>i completely bypassed the sunos and solaris era, going from 4bsd to ultrix
>to bsd/os to tru64 to freebsd, where i now feel quite at home.  welcome!
>
>  
>
>>1. I need to install PPS stuff. I thought that only required a kernel
>>recompile, but I can't find any reference to PPS in the kernel
>>configuration file.
>>    
>>
>
>it's a module now.  do this:
>
>#sa:i386# kldload pps
>#sa:i386# kldstat
>Id Refs Address    Size     Name
> 1   11 0xc0400000 643488   kernel
> 2    1 0xc0a44000 75ac0    ispfw.ko
> 3    1 0xc0aba000 51ac8    acpi.ko
> 4    1 0xcb35a000 4000     nullfs.ko
> 5    1 0xcb373000 7000     if_nge.ko
> 6    1 0xd6657000 3000     pps.ko
>
>the source is in /usr/src/sys/modules/pps/ which really just pulls in
>files from /usr/src/sys/dev/bus/ppbus, which is paul-henning's work
>based on the mogul pps api spec.
>
>  
>
>>2. I have installed a four-port serial card (SIIG Quartet Serial Plus PCI)
>>copying the configuration on albert, which currently runs Linux. John
>>Conner found a driver for it, but I need a FreeBSD driver. The 5.3 hardware
>>release notes include some of the SIIG models, but not this one. I suspect
>>one of those drivers would work. No help at the SIIG web.
>>    
>>
>
>you're probably screwed.  siig uses a different chip every time a cheaper
>one comes out.  as long as they ship working windows drivers they don't
>care.  i suggest a 4-port self-powered (laptop style) usb hub and four
>usb/rs232 converters, which freebsd sees under the "ucom" driver.  on one
>of our console servers this shows up in dmesg as:
>
>usb0: OHCI version 1.0, legacy support
>usb0: SMM does not respond, resetting
>usb0: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> on ohci0
>usb0: USB revision 1.0
>uhub0: (0x1166) OHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
>uhub0: 4 ports with 4 removable, self powered
>uhub1: Texas Instruments TUSB2046 hub, class 9/0, rev 1.10/1.25, addr 2
>uhub1: 4 ports with 4 removable, self powered
>ucom0: ATEN International Serial adapter, rev 1.10/0.01, addr 3
>ucom1: ATEN International Serial adapter, rev 1.10/0.01, addr 4
>ucom2: ATEN International Serial adapter, rev 1.10/0.01, addr 5
>uhub2: Texas Instruments TUSB2046 hub, class 9/0, rev 1.10/1.25, addr 6
>uhub2: 4 ports with 4 removable, self powered
>ucom3: ATEN International Serial adapter, rev 1.10/0.01, addr 7
>ucom4: ATEN International Serial adapter, rev 1.10/0.01, addr 8
>ucom5: ATEN International Serial adapter, rev 1.10/0.01, addr 9
>ucom6: ATEN International Serial adapter, rev 1.10/0.01, addr 10
>
>(which is two 4-port hubs ganged together and seven "ATEN" usb/rs232 blobs,
>all on a frame designed for us by david boggs... let me know if you'd like
>a signed edition for your lab.)
>
>  
>
>>3. At the moment mort mounts files okay and does NIS, but it doesn't find
>>the NIS passwd maps so has only root and mills, as added by adduser. Could
>>be the passwdpw file needs the +:*::::: like /etc/passwd, but I can't find
>>that file.
>>    
>>
>
>according to "man master.passwd", the answer lies elsewhere:
>
>   NIS SUPPORT
>     If `nis' is specified for the `passwd' database in
>     nsswitch.conf(5), then passwd lookups occur from the
>     `passwd.byname', `passwd.byuid', `master.passwd.byname', and
>     `master.passwd.byuid' NIS maps.
>
>  
>
>>4. I have a US Robotics 56K Faxmodem installed, intended for ACTS. It
>>looks like 5.3 supports it, but not clear if PCI.
>>    
>>
>
>bus modems are iffy.  i don't have any experience to help you here.
>
>  
>
>>5. I plugged a jumpdrive in a USB port and darn if it didn't light up. Cute
>>way to do archiving and my jumpdrive is 2 GB! Now, if I can figure out how
>>it works and how to mount it and the CD drive...
>>    
>>
>
>freebsd's hotplug support is iffy.  you might want to reboot while it's
>plugged in and then see what the kernel legend (later available in the
>file /var/run/dmesg.boot) calls it.  then just mount it up, it's probably
>factory formatted to FAT32.
>
>  
>
>>6. I need to use a serial port for the console. I know you can do this,
>>just need to fumble around in the faq or whatever.
>>    
>>
>
>usually you add a line to /boot/loader.conf that reads:
>
>console="comconsole"
>
>and add a line to /etc/ttys that reads:
>
>console "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600"   xterm   on  secure
>
>and reboot.
>
>  
>
>>Haven't had so much fun (?) since writing JCL scripts for an IBM System/360.
>>    
>>
>
>the freebsd people have really done a very fine job over the years.
>
>  
>
>>By the way, having apparently solved the jitter problem with refclocks on
>>my Blade 1500, be advised my Arbiter GPS and PPS are really down in the
>>weenieseconds, generally below 10 microseconds offset and jitter.
>>    
>>
>
>some day i'm going to get clepsydra's original GOES clock back online.  really.
>  
>




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