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NeXT-FAQ.os: Questions about the NeXT operating system

*** Subject: O1. What preliminary information is there about NeXTstep 486? 

See the separate FAQ file on NeXTSTEP-486!

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*** Subject: O2. Why does NeXTstep Release 1.0 hang a few seconds after  
attempting to boot?

Release 1.0 contains a bug that can corrupt the kernel /odmach if a user
attempts to launch /odmach from the browser.  The solution is to copy a clean
/odmach from another NeXT system. Be sure to change the permissions of the
newly installed /odmach to remove execute permissions to prevent future
occurrences of the same problem.  Release 1.0a and 2.0 do not have this  
problem.

It is possible for the sdmach to get corrupted in the same way. Boot from the  
OD,
copy an uncorrupted version of the kernel to the hard disk, and remove the
execute bits from sdmach. 

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*** Subject: O3. How much free disk space is available on the NeXTstation and  
NeXTcube?

For NeXTstep 2.n:

As shipped, the 105MB NeXTstation has less than 25 MB free. Note: The swap  
space
is by default configured to 16MB with a low water mark of 20MB (the system does
not attempt to reduce the size of the swapfile space until the swapfile grows
past the low water mark).

The extended release takes 179M, including a 16M swapfile, and not including
Mathematica or Sybase (this is from a virgin install of 2.0 extended from an
optical).  

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*** Subject: O4. What software is bundled with the new 040 NeXT machines?

Both the 105MB and 200MB systems come with Release 2.0 preinstalled. The
systems with larger hard disks have Release 2.0 Extended preinstalled.  The
price of all of the new systems includes the cost of the software license.   
Note
that the price of the 040 upgrade for 030 machines does not include the cost of
the software license. 


RELEASE 2.0 includes:

	*End User Applications
		Workspace Mgr(tm),
		NeXT Mail(tm),
		Digital Webster(tm) (9th Collegiate Dictionary(r)
		and Collegiate Thesaurus(r)),
		Digital Librarian(tm),
		Edit,
		Mathematica(r) [for higher education customers only],
		DataViz/Bridge(tm),
		Installer,
		FaxReader,
		Preferences,
		Preview for Post Script,
		PrintManager
	*Developer Tools
		VT100(tm) Terminal Emulator [based on Stuart]
	*System Administration Applications
		BuildDisk,
		InstallTablet,
		Mail Manager,
		NetInfo Manager,
		NetManager,
		Printer Tester,
		User Manager,
		Installer

RELEASE 2.0 (extended) adds:

	*End User Applications
		Oxford(r) Dictionary of Quotations,
		William Shakespeare-The Complete Works (DL),
		TEX(tm) Document Processing System (Radical Eye Software).
	*Developer Tools
		Interface Builder(tm),
		Objective-C(r) Language Compiler,
		C++ Language Compiler,
		Objective-C Class Definitions,
		56001 DSP Tools,
		GNU Emacs,
		GNU Debugger,
		BUG-56(tm) Debugger (Ariel),
		Malloc Debugger,
		AppInspector(tm),
		PostScript Tools,
		Application Kit(tm),
		Music Kit(tm),
		Sound Kit(tm),
		On-line technical documentation

You are allowed to copy software from the extended release from a friend if you
are licensed to run 2.0.

Digital Webster is not complete except in the "extended" release.

WriteNow(R) is no longer bundled as a full App. A crippled, read-only version
will continue to be bundled.  

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*** Subject: O5. Can I delete /odmach or /sdmach and save 700K?

Go ahead and delete it if you want.  However, you might as well leave it there
since sdmach and odmach are links to the same file (i.e. you won't save much
space by deleting it).

Better to look for random core files!  Icon.app generates quite a lot of core
dumps.  

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*** Subject: O6. NeXTstep 2.0 machines report an error on the console:  
"loginwindow: netinfo problem - No such directory."  Is this a problem?

The netinfo problem is because the /keyboard directory is missing. It's
benign...  

[EPS adds]

"But annoying.
	niutil -create . /keyboard" 

Fixed in 2.1.

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*** Subject: O7. Under NeXTstep 2.0 running UUCP and other incoming connections  
hangs the modem serial line: what can I do?

There is a bug in the serial driver which causes getty to get stuck. The
situation arises after a successful uucico connection, subsequent
connections via modem will get a connection with the modem, but no login
prompt.  This is caused by getty hanging.  A simple work around  is to have a
process run in cron to reset the getty every 15 minutes:  

	#! /bin/sh -u
	PIDS=`ps -ax | bm getty | grep -v bm | awk '{print $1}'`
	kill -TERM $PIDS

Of course trying to connect when the script is running will not allow you to
connect, try again a minute later.  This fix will not affect on-going UUCP or
interactive connections.  This will probably be fixed in the next kernel
release.  

This bug is corrected in 2.1

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*** Subject: O8. Applications installed in /LocalApps are not being found on my  
NeXTstep 2.0 system.

Workspace has its own internal application path.  In 2.0 /LocalApps was
omitted.  Improv needs to have /LocalApps in the Workspace path if you have
Improve installed in /LocalApps.  The work around in 2.0 only is:  

	dwrite Workspace ApplicationPaths  
"~/Apps:/LocalApps:/NextApps:/NextDeveloper/Apps:/NextAdmin:/NextDeveloper/Demo 
s
	(one continuous line! - pasc)

This bug is corrected in 2.1, and hopefully all subsequent releases. 

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*** Subject: O9. Why can't root login onto client machines?

A number of people have complained about the situation where root can log onto
the configuration server, but not its clients.  Login proceeds normally, then
a window with "Workspace error Internal error (signal 10)" pops up.  Other
users are not affected.

This scenario occurs with NetBooted clients that are not permitted root
access to / via the server's /etc/exports file, either via an explicit root=
option or [the most heinous] anon=0. For security reasons many sites will NOT
want to permit such access.

Note that what you're up against is only a Workspace Manager misfeature;
there's no problem logging in as root on the real UNIX console, or logging in  
as a
non-root user and then using "su" to obtain root privileges.  

Root access is needed to:

- Log in a root Workspace.
- Perform BuildDisk on a client.
- Run the GuidedTour demo for the first time subsequent invocations will not
autologin, but they will run just fine if you log in as NextTour (no password). 

It is not required to perform updates on the local NetInfo database, for any
normal user operations, nor to run programs requiring root access on the
server using -NXHost.  

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*** Subject: O10. How to boot a NeXT from the second (higher SCSI ID) HD?

	bsd(1,0,0) -a

which will then ask you for the drive to use as the root disk, or still easier, 

	bsd(1,0,0)sdmach rootdev=sd1

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*** Subject: O11. How to make swapfile shrink to the "normal" size?

The swapfile is located in /private/vm.  The only current way to make it shrink
is to reboot the machine.

Putting a space after the comma in /etc/swaptab (lowat=###,hiwat=###) makes
swapon ignore the hiwat entry. 

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*** Subject: O12. Does netinfo work between machines running NeXTstep 2.n and  
3.0?

Yes.


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NeXT-FAQ Editor:
Nathan Janette nathan@laplace.csb.yale.edu


--
Nathan Janette		"I'm a NeXTstep man,
Dept MB&B, Yale Univ	 I'm a NeXTcube guy"
New Haven, CT
nathan@laplace.biology.yale.edu (NeXT)