The NeXT-FAQ (Frequently asked questions)
Posted-By: auto-faq 2.4
Archive-name: NeXT-FAQ
Last-modified: Saturday, 26. September 1996
Posting-Frequency: monthly
The NEXTSTEP/OpenStep FAQ
_________________________________________________________________
THE NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP FAQ
OVERVIEW
* 1 Introduction
* 2 General information
* 3 What is ...
* 4 Miscellaneous information
* 5 Black (NeXT) hardware
* 6 White (Intel) hardware
* 7 Storage
* 8 Printing
* 9 Obsolete but still interesting?
CONTENTS
1 Introduction
1.1 About this FAQ
1.2 Submissions
1.3 Availability
1.4 Copyright
1.5 Disclaimer
1.6 Thanks
2 General information
2.1 Information available but not in the written FAQ version
2.2 Where to get answers?
2.3 How may I contact NeXT, Inc.?
2.4 FTP servers
2.5 Software on CD
2.6 What is the current status of NEXTSTEP/OpenStep?
2.7 Will there be a public implementation of OpenStep?
2.8 Are there differences between Openstep for Mach and other
implementations?
2.9 What information is available by NeXT
2.10 What is the correct spelling?
2.11 How do I start an official NeXT User Group?
2.12 Are there differences in the NEXTSTEP implementations?
2.13 What are the names of the ftp sites that have NeXT-related files?
2.14 Additional information sources
2.15 How to get FTP files via e-mail.
2.16 References on Objective C
2.17 How to contact music interested people.
2.18 How to announce upcoming events
2.19 Can I mix different hardware running NEXTSTEP?
2.20 Can I exchange software running on different hardware?
3 What is ...
3.1 NEXTSTEP
3.2 Mach
3.3 OPENSTEP
3.4 Objective-C
3.5 NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP Developer
3.6 D'OLE
3.7 PDO --- Portable Distributed Objects
3.8 EOF --- Enterprise Objects Framework
3.9 WebObjects
3.10 WWW Browser
3.11 Newsreader
4 Miscellaneous information
4.1 How do I get pictures of people from remote sites to appear in
Mail.app and NewsGrazer?
4.2 How to manipulate and examine default settings
4.3 How do I run NextApps remotely?
4.4 Why does UUCP hangs on outgoing connections after sending the
password, but other communications software do not have a problem
with it?
4.5 How do I access the NeXT's Digital Webster Dictionary from a
program?
4.6 How do I get the arrow keys to work in csh?
4.7 What default affects menu location?
4.8 How to get Gourmet to boot up the Mathematica 2.0 kernel?
4.9 Manipulating the Loginwindow
4.10 How does one set UNIX man pages to be viewed in nroff format with
DL like the standard manual pages in NS2.x?
4.11 Appending a signature and addition headers to your e-mail
4.12 How can I quickly find a file if I don't know its directory?
4.13 Mail.app suddenly stopped working!
4.14 Recycler doesn't work anymore?!
4.15 How to hear sound from CDPlayer.app thought NEXTSTEP system?
4.16 How do I decompress a file with the extension .compressed?
4.17 How do I change the Workspace compression app?
4.18 console: loginwindow: netinfo problem - No such directory.
4.19 Root login not possible on client machine
4.20 How to boot NEXTSTEP from the second (higher SCSI ID) HD?
4.21 How to make swapfile shrink to the normal size?
4.22 Does netinfo work between machines running NEXTSTEP 2.x and 3.x?
4.23 Why does the console user "own" the external disk filesystem?
4.24 How to limit coredump sizes?
4.25 What is the maximum value of nbuf that I can specify on bootup?
4.26 How can I change the mouse pointer shape and color?
4.27 How do I customize BuildDisk to create a bootable disk of my own
configuration?
4.28 Are there any more dwrites useful for the workspace, ...?
4.29 What is the @LongLink message from gnutar all about?
4.30 What stands the file .place3_0.wmd for?
4.31 How to create transparent icons with IconBuilder
4.32 How to access the MAC format of a mixed DOS/MAC CD-ROM
4.33 Is there a PPP for NEXTSTEP
4.34 NIS and OpenStep
4.35 System overloaded due to swapping
4.36 Swapfile issues
4.37 Garbage collection and Objective-C
4.38 Setting up an anonymous FTP server
5 Black (NeXT) hardware
5.1 What disk drives will work with the NeXT?
5.2 Will a 68030 NeXT Computer run NEXTSTEP 3.3?
5.3 How do I configure my HP 660 to boot properly?
5.4 What is the procedure for installing a Fujitsu M2263SA/SB SCSI
Disk as the NeXT Boot Disk?
5.5 How to mount a corrupted OD that won't automount?
5.6 What non-NeXT CD Players that work with a NeXT?
5.7 What are some other sources of toner cartridges and trays for the
NeXT laser printer?
5.8 What printers (laser or otherwise) may be used with a NeXT?
5.9 What can I do to prevent my NeXT printer from running all the
time?
5.10 What type of microphones will work with the NeXT?
5.11 How do I connect a modem to the NeXT?
5.12 What fax modems will work with the NeXT?
5.13 How may I attach more than two serial ports to the NeXT?
5.14 What is the best and/or cheapest way to connect a NeXT to a thick
Ethernet?
5.15 How can I connect my NeXT to the telephone line and use it like
an answering Machine?
5.16 What color monitors can I use with the Color NeXT machines?
5.17 Where can I get 13W3 to BNC adapters to connect third party color
monitors?
5.18 How may I attach Centronics or 16 bit wide parallel ports to the
NeXT?
5.19 Why does an unused serial port consume cpu?
5.20 How to adjust MegaPixel Display brightness and focus?
5.21 I want to emulate a macintosh, how?
5.22 My NeXT laser printer fails to fully eject the sheet - how to
fix?
5.23 What are the NeXT mouse connections?
5.24 What type of memory may be installed in a NeXT?
5.25 What is the NeXT SIMM tool?
5.26 Where can I purchase a NeXT machine?
5.27 Where to obtain hardware service?
5.28 What types of NeXT machines were manufactured?
5.29 What can be done about older 030 NeXT cubes that have a fan that
turns in the "wrong" direction?
5.30 Can I connect SONY MPX-111N to my 68030 NeXT Computer?
5.31 Why does the OD continually spin up and spin down?
5.32 How many colors can NeXT machines display?
5.33 Why is my machine so slow when I run the monochrome and
NeXTdimension displays?
5.34 Where to obtain replacement mouse parts?
5.35 Where to obtain extra batteries?
5.36 How to convert a Turbo system to use ADB?
5.37 68030 board in the same NeXTcube as a 68040 board?
5.38 How to expand DSP memory?
5.39 How to boot a NeXT without a monitor?
5.40 Where can I get black spray paint for my NeXT?
5.41 What makes aged NeXT monitors dim?
5.42 How to use two internal hard drives
6 White (Intel) hardware
6.1 What about support for NeXT Computer specific hardware features
such as the DSP?
6.2 Do Multi-Architecture Binaries take a lot of extra disk space?
6.3 How difficult is it to recompile existing NeXT applications over
to NEXTSTEP/Intel?
6.4 When developing programs, are there any portability issues I
should be aware of?
6.5 What is the difference between the NEXTSTEP/Intel User Environment
and Developer Environment?
6.6 If a specific I/O card is not supported by NeXT, can 3rd parties
write drivers for NEXTSTEP/Intel?
6.7 How is NEXTSTEP/Intel installed?
6.8 Will NEXTSTEP/Intel run on 386 machines?
6.9 Will NEXTSTEP/Intel run on the Cyrix 486SLC?
6.10 Will NEXTSTEP/Intel run on the future Intel Microprocessors in
the x86 family?
6.11 Will NEXTSTEP/Intel run on portable computers?
6.12 Will NEXTSTEP/Intel be able to run MS-DOS and Windows programs?
6.13 How will my DOS and Windows applications perform under
NEXTSTEP/Intel?
6.14 Is the window I use to run Microsoft Windows applications
resizable?
6.15 Will this DOS/Windows compatibility system allow me to run
several DOS programs at once?
6.16 Can I cut and paste between DOS/Windows sessions and NEXTSTEP
applications?
6.17 Can I use both DOS and NEXTSTEP/Intel partitions on the same hard
disk?
6.18 Can NEXTSTEP/Intel read, write, and format DOS and Mac floppies?
6.19 NEXTSTEP/Intel 3.1, DOS, Linux/NT multi-boot system?
6.20 NeXTSTEP on INTEL, KEYBOARD-ERROR ...
6.21 NS 3.2 Tseng ET4000 Video Driver doesn't work.
6.22 Accessing ROM monitor on Intel-System, how?
6.23 Adaptec 2940 Fast and Sync. SCSI explanation...
6.24 Do EIDE-Drives work with NEXTSTEP?
6.25 Anyone have a driver yet that does 8 bit color on an ET4000/w32p
card? (Hercules Dynamite Pro VLB)
6.26 Does a Glidepoint pointing device work with NEXTSTEP?
6.27 AppleTalk under NEXTSTEP/Intel?
6.28 Booting hangs with black screen
6.29 Why are the features of my graphic card useless?
6.30 How to use MIDI without the MusicKit?
6.31 Installation problems with EIDE and ATAPI drives
6.32 Error message during boot time
6.33 Does NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP run with ...
6.34 RAM greater 64MB, now I get a black screen!
6.35 Lost root password
7 Storage
7.1 Disktab help needed: ST15230N
7.2 Formatting DEC DSP3105 with 1024-byte blocks.
7.3 My formatted disk has much less space then advertised!
7.4 Can't initialise my disk within the Workspace
7.5 Initialing Opticals for NeXT
7.6 How to use a tape drive ?
7.7 How to recover from an partially formatted disk?
7.8 What about the ZIP drive?
7.9 How to partition a 4GB drive
7.10 How to mount/ignore a disk during boot
7.11 Can't read multisession CD-ROMs!
8 Printing
8.1 What printers (laser or otherwise) may be used with NEXTSTEP?
8.2 What fonts can I use with NEXTSTEP?
8.3 How can I save my printable documents to a postscript file?
8.4 How can I print only the even or odd pages of a document?
8.5 How do I get banner pages on my printer output?
8.6 How do I get [la]TeX files to print correctly on non-NeXT
printers?
8.7 What if I have a PostScript font has not been ported to NEXTSTEP?
8.8 What color printers (laser or otherwise) may be used with
NEXTSTEP?
8.9 How can I make the Page Layout default to A4 in all applications?
8.10 /usr/lib/NextPrinter/Server/pstf: syntax error at line 31: `end
of file' unexpected?
8.11 How to get TeX with NEXTSTEP to make proper fonts for a 600 dpi
laserwriter?
8.12 How to get printer description files (PPD)?
8.13 What are the Canon part numbers for ink cartridges equivalent to
those NeXT's Color Printer uses?
8.14 JetPilot does not work with my JetDirect box, why?
8.15 powering down NeXTprinter during bootup, printer still works
8.16 How to set up the HP LaserJet 4M?
8.17 Laserwriter NTX & NEXTSTEP
8.18 Problems with gray levels in printout
8.19 Can't print using additional fonts
9 Obsolete but still interesting?
9.1 Where can I get NeXT paraphernalia?
9.2 Is there any way to change the text in the title bar of a terminal
window?
9.3 I can't get my pictures in OmniWeb
9.4 How do I remap the and | keys on my keyboard?
9.5 How do I stop NeXTMail/Sendmail adding &Mcirc;s onto the end of
lines?
9.6 Why does NEXTSTEP 1.0 hang a few seconds after attempting to boot?
9.7 Modem hangs under NS2.0 by incoming calls
9.8 NS2.0 doesn't recognize /LocalApps path
_________________________________________________________________
This document was converted from LaTeX using Karl Ewald's latex2html.
The NEXTSTEP/OpenStep FAQ
! to the table of contents
_________________________________________________________________
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 About this FAQ
These are the frequently asked questions concerning NeXT, NeXTSTEP or
any other NeXT related topics.
This compilation is meant primarily as a service to the (comp.sys.next
and de.comp.sys.next) community.
NeXT Software,Inc. is a privately hold company, heading towards
software business. It sells NEXTSTEP its award winning OS and several
other software packages (most included with NEXTSTEP): EOF, NEXTSTEP
Developer, WebObjects, NetInfo, ...
With the coming 'open' version of NEXTSTEP, which is named OpenStep
and will run not only on top of Mach (as NEXTSTEP does) but also on
Solaris, Windows NT, Windows 95, HP-UX. The user of NeXT's software is
confronted with a wide range of different software and hardware.
To help in the unaware user, this FAQ was founded. But also
professional users might find some interesting information, which they
didn't knew already.
Note the NEXTSTEP and OpenStep questions often concern related topics
like Objective-C, UNIX, administration tasks, etc. for which already
separate FAQs do exist. See the new.answers newsgroup for additional
FAQs, if your problem isn't covered by this FAQ.
1.2 Submissions
As with all FAQs the quality of the information provided here is
mostly depending on the Usenet community, which in most cases serves
for the information resource. Feel free to e-mail the FAQ author to
contribute, or send error reports.
If you contact the author, use the following subject for submissions:
FAQ submission. To report errors use: FAQ error. Additionally you
might want to add the chapter where the submission/error report
belongs to.
1.3 Availability
This FAQ is published monthly in the comp.sys.next.* newsgroups and in
the near future news.answer.
It may be downloaded via FTP from
ftp://peanuts.leo.org/pub/comp/platforms/next/Documents/faq/. Special
additions for redistributors and homeusers do exist.
This FAQ may be accessed only through Peanuts as well:
http://peanuts.leo.org/
In the near future we want to implement an e-mail service for those
who don't have access to news. You may add yourself to the mailinglist
by sending an e-mail with subject: FAQ mailme. Note that this service
isn't available, yet completely, because there is too little
interested. However I keep a list of all the registered people and
they will still receive e-mail copies.
1.4 Copyright
This FAQ is copyrighted by Bernhard Scholz. (Internet e-mails:
scholz@informatik.tu-muenchen.de)
Mentioned trademarks belong to their holder and are not explicitly
listened.
We do not collect any royalties, charge any fees, or compensate anyone
in connection with this endeavor, but of course we would be happy
about each e-mail commenting on the FAQ, about pizzas (lasagne is
accepted, too :-) ), postcards, ...
Anyway we reserve a copyright on the the published information in this
FAQ. Any questions concerning other redistribution should be send to
the author of the FAQ.
Reprinting of this FAQ, even in parts, is prohibited without
permission by the author except for printings for private use.
Newsletter editors wishing to excerpt from this work for publication
should consider using local electronic bulletin boards to disseminate
this information rather than preparing hardcopies. This allows for
readers to access the most recent information, and perhaps save a
couple of trees.
1.5 Disclaimer
Of course there is no warranty in any case using the information
provided here. We haven't tested the information to be correct.
We are not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned in this FAQ.
1.6 Thanks
Especially we want to thank the Usenet community for contributing to
the FAQ and all the people who have written us.
Then I want to thank the people who worked on the FAQ before I did
take them over (in order of working): Pascal Chesnais and Erik Kay,
Nathan F. Janette, Maximilian Goedel (never released anything but
cleaned up some things for me).
Thanks also to Karl Ewald, who contributed his latex2html Perl script
which replaced the non working original latex2html version.
2 GENERAL INFORMATION
General information
2.1 Information available but not in the written FAQ version
pinout patches
There is additional information available for the following topics:
mouse pinouts, monitor cable pinouts, common addresses, mousepointer
patch, windowmanager patch.
These inforamations are not included in the written FAQ, because they
are considered rarely referenced resources and of not much use for the
written FAQ. However you'll get these information when you download
the whole FAQ via FTP or HTTP as a package for your computer. Please
look at http://peanuts.leo.org/faq/ for further information.
2.2 Where to get answers?
If you run into a problem, first read the FAQ of course :-) Second you
might consider asking NeXT directly through the electronic service:
nextanswers@next.com. Send an e-mail with subject: ascii help index to
start.
If all fails, post to the newsgroups concerning NeXT related topics:
comp.sys.next.*, de.comp.sys.next.
2.3 How may I contact NeXT, Inc.?
Next, Inc. Contacting NeXT, Inc. Address of NeXT, Inc.
NeXT, Inc. can be reached under the following addresses.
USA: NeXT, Inc.
900 Chesapeake Drive
Redwood City, CA 94063
Voice: 800-848-NeXT (Redwood City #)
Voice: (415)-366-0900
Japan: NeXT marketing div. of Canon - Japan
Phone: (81)-44-549-5295
Fax: (81)-44-549-5462
EUROPE: Munich:
Phone: (49)-89-996-5310
UK: Technology House
Meadowbank
Furlong Road
Bourne End
Bucks
SL8 5AJ
Phone: (44)-1628 535222
Fax: (44)-1628 535200
Note: numbers abroad are listed with the country codes first. You will
need to dial the international access number of your long distance
carrier before proceeding to dialing the country code, area code and
phone number.
2.4 FTP servers
FTP Software
The FAQ mentions a lot of software packages which you might find
useful. In general there are two big sites serving Europe and the US.
These sites keep most of the software available and do mirror
themselves to keep up to date (although the structure of the archive
differ). If the software isn't on one of these sites, the appr
opriate site is listed in the text.
If you get slow connections you might want to consider contacting a
mirror of the both sites. For the Peanuts archive (Europe) the WWW
pages http://peanuts.leo.org/ give you links to an updated list of
mirrors and other FTP sites.
The addresses are:
ftp://next-ftp.peak.org/ (formerly the ftp.cs.orst.edu archive)
ftp://peanuts.leo.org/ (Peanuts archive in Europe)
ftp://ftp.evolution.com/ (Peanuts mirror USA) ftp://ftp.eunet.ch/
(Peanuts mirror Switzerland)
2.5 Software on CD
There are currently two CD (sets) which serve you with
NEXTSTEP/OpenStep software:
Nebula. Nebula is published by Walnut Creek and mostly contains actual
recompiled software for all supported hardware platforms. It might be
the best choice for those who don't own a compiler. A big font
collection and a developer section complete the disk.
http://www.cdrom.com/
Peanuts Archive Disks. The Peanuts FTP Archive in Munich distributes
their complete NEXTSTEP/OpenStep archive on CD. This currently brings
you 4CDs full with software. Although the software isn't compiled for
each hardware (it is provided 'as uploaded') it is the most complete
software and information resource available on CD. (It includes the
NeXTanswers published by NeXT). http://peanuts.leo.org/,
cdrom@peanuts.leo.org
Fatted Calf CD-ROM. The Fatted Calf CD-ROM is published by Ensuing
Technologies, LasVegas, Nevada. Currently I don't know it's special
contents.
Big Green CD. Selected software for NEXTSTEP. Also this software is on
any other CD, too. It might be a good startes collection.
http://skylee.com/BGCD.html, ack@skylee.com
Font Garden for NEXTSTEP CDROM. Some more fonts for computers running
NEXTSTEP. These fonts should be capable of the NEXTSTEP encoding
sheme. However we got noticed that only very few are ISO-LATIN_1. So
it is possible of most interested to English speaking countries.
http://www.cdrom.com/
Clips for QuickTime. Quicktime is NeXT's native format for movies, so
some samples might be quite nice. Note: On the latest Peanuts Archive,
you'll get about 200MB of quicktime movies which might be enough, too.
http://www.cdrom.com/
2.6 What is the current status of NEXTSTEP/OpenStep?
status, NEXTSTEP status, OpenStep
The third production version 3.3, has been released for Intel
Processors (i486 and higher) as well as for NeXT hardware (not
manufactured any longer but still supported), HP workstations and Sun
workstations.
OpenStep versions are announced and will be available this year (1996)
for Windows NT, Windows 95, Mach, Solaris and hopefully HP-UX. The
status for DEC machines and their OS (OSF/1, OpenVMS) is unknown. At
least it is uncertain that there will be a port to OSF/1 or even
OpenVMS, because DEC is doing the port alone. At least you can run
OpenStep on DEC machines running Windows NT in the near future. For
Sun's Solaris systems OpenStep will probably be part of the
NeoDesktop.
There will be no NEXTSTEP 4.0, because NeXT changed the naming
conventions. NEXTSTEP 4.0 (also sometimes referenced as 'Mecca') is
now named 'OpenStep for Mach'
2.7 Will there be a public implementation of OpenStep?
Yes, there is a project by GNU. The so named GNUStep is available in
pre-alpha state from the archive sites. Be aware that it is not fully
functional and currently requires Motif.
In its current state, GNUStep is on it's way to port the FoundationKit
completely. This alone makes it worth to give it a try.
2.8 Are there differences between Openstep for Mach and other implementations?
Yes there are. OpenStep for Mach will include all the well known
features from NEXTSTEP (Services, Filters, SoundKit, ...) which the
other implementations will lack, due to the underlying OS.
To get all the benefits which is offered in NEXTSTEP today, you need
to go for OpenStep for Mach.
2.9 What information is available by NeXT
information NeXT
NeXT, Inc. now operates an automatic e-mail response system. Send
e-mail to "nextanswers@next.com" with the subject
"ascii help index"
to start.
If you do have access to the world wide web, you even want to try the
following URL: http://www.next.com/NeXTanswers/.
2.10 What is the correct spelling?
NeXT did (and probably will) change their naming conventions a lot.
E.g. NEXTSTEP is the current correct spelling for their operating
system. With the shipping of OpenStep, there will be no more NEXTSTEP,
but OpenStep for Mach/Solaris/HP-UX/Windows95/Wind
owsNT.
Incorrect spellings are: NeXTSTEP, NeXTstep, NeXTStep.
A common shortcut used in the newsgroups is: NS for NEXTSTEP.
2.11 How do I start an official NeXT User Group?
NUG user groups NeXT user groups To start a user group, just send
e-mail to user_groups@next.com.
2.12 Are there differences in the NEXTSTEP implementations?
No, there are no differences beside the DSP, which is a hardware
feature of NeXT computers. On other hardware platforms you have to buy
additional hardware.
2.13 What are the names of the ftp sites that have NeXT-related files?
FTP, servers
There are too many to list them all, so are here are just a few.
NEXTSTEP: cs.orst.edu
ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de (peanuts)
nova.cc.purdue.edu
sonata.cc.purdue.edu
umd5.umd.edu
ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de
MIT GNU: aeneas.mit.edu
MIT X: export.lcs.mit.edu
music: princeton.edu
2.14 Additional information sources
Additional information Information, additional Every NeXT machine
owner has access to manuals to a degree. Network and System
Administration (NSA), for example contains answers to many of the
questions asked to comp.sys.next. Some of the important man pages are
reproduced in the NSA as appendices.
User manuals were shipped with every NeXT. Additional copies available
from NeXT (N6002/N6003/N6014/N6026) $25.
The following books are available directly from NeXT:
* Operating System Software
* NeXTstep Concepts
* NeXTstep Reference, v. 1
* NeXTstep Reference, v. 2
* Development Tools
* Sound, Music, and Signal Processing: Concepts
* Sound, Music, and Signal Processing: Reference
* Writing Loadable Kernel Servers
* Technical Summaries
* Supplemental Documentation
Unix man pages, which are included in the online docs.
BSD unix documentation (MISC, PS1, PS2, SMM, USD). Available from to
USENIX site members. A lot of this has been integrated into the NeXT
documentation. Some of this is sorely missing. The SMM Unix System
Manager's Manual is really useful!
USENIX Association
2560 Ninth Street, Suite 215
Berkeley, CA 94710
USA +1 510 528 8649
fax +1 510 548 5738
office@usenix.org
* PS1 = Programmer's Supplementary Documents, Volume 1
* PS2 = Programmer's Supplementary Documents, Volume 2
* SMM = System Manager's Manual
* USD = User's Supplementary Documents
The SMM and the rest of the berkeley documentation are also available
directly and for free via anon ftp e.g. from
ftp.uu.net /packages/bsd-sources/share/doc.
To format them properly for viewing and printing on the NeXT use nroff
with the package indicated by the file suffix (e.g. to format the
documentation file 0.t use nroff -mt 0.t).
Adobe documentation. Available machine-readable by e-mail from
ps-file-server@adobe.com. Hardcopy available from Adobe Developer
Support Line +1 415 961-4111 for a nominal charge. NeXT last shipped
these as part of the 1.0a release; hardcopies appeared in 0.9
Technical Documentation, were omitted in 1.0, and have returned in
updated form in Supplemental Documentation of the 2.0 Tech Docs (which
is not available on-line).
Get NextAnswers for Digital Librarian from NeXT. The current versions
are actually on ftp.next.com or available via the mailserver at
nextanswers@next.com.
Get NeXT Support Bulletin from the archives. It is meant for support
centers.
Another good source of information is the archives of previously
posted notes from the comp.sys.next.* newsgroups. Note that since the
split of comp.sys.next, there is a group archive maintained at
peanuts.leo.org:/pub/comp/sys/next/.
NeXTstep Advantage book is available electronically from the archive
servers.
The file name is NeXTstepAdvantage.tar.Z; (its compressed size is
about 1.3 megabytes; uncompressed, it's about 9.5 megabytes). It is a
good introduction to the NeXT programming environment.
2.15 How to get FTP files via e-mail.
FTP, e-mail access Some ftp sites are configured as an e-mail archive
server. This means you can upload and download files via e-mail.
Send mail to: archive-server@cc.purdue.edu
------------- mail-server@cs.tu-berlin.de
(with the subject line help and you will get a complete description of
this service)
Submissions: Mail should be sent to archive-server@cc.purdue.edu with
the subject of 'submission' (no ticks) if a person is submitting
material to the archives. They need to include a 1-2 sentence
description of the submission, the OS release the product runs on, and
if it is source, binary, newsletter, etc.
2.16 References on Objective C
Objective-C, documents Objective-C and other useful Object-oriented
programming references:
Budd, Timothy, An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming
(Addison-Wesley) [It discusses Smalltalk, Object Pascal, C++ and
Objective-C]
Cox, Brad J., Object Oriented Programming: An Evolutionary Approach
ISBN 0-201-10393-1. (Addison-Wesley) [Note: 2nd edition - ISBN is
0-201-54834-8 and has coauthor A.J. Novobilski]
Huizenga, Gerrit, Slides from a short course on Objective-C available
via anonymous ftp from:
sonata.cc.purdue.edu:/pub/next/docs/ObjC.frame.Z, ObjC.ps.Z, or
OldObjC.wn.tar.Z
Meyer, Bertrand, Object-Oriented Software Construction
(Prentice-Hall).
NeXT Technical Documentation
Pinson and Weiner, Objective-C: Object-Oriented Programming Techniques
(Addison-Wesley). 350 pages, ISBN 0 201 50828 1, paperback.
User Reference Manual for Objective-C which is available from
Stepstone Corporation. (203)426-1875. Note: There are some differences
between Stepstone's Objective-C and NeXT's.
2.17 How to contact music interested people.
Music, contacts
Since NeXT has become for now the platform of choice for much of the
computer music composition and research community, the newsgroup
comp.music is one good place to find people with information and
interest in music on the NeXT.
There is also a mailing list specifically for NeXT music. For posting
to the dist list: nextmusic@horowitz.eecs.umich.edu
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change addresses, etc.:
nextmusic-request@horowitz.eecs.umich.edu
2.18 How to announce upcoming events
Announcements Please send any announcements of upcoming NeXT-related
events to next-announce@digifix.com These events will be posted to
comp.sys.next.announce. Be sure to send your announcement in plenty of
time to have it posted prior to the event. One to two weeks in advance
would be a good idea.
Since postings will be carried across many networks, commercial
announcements may be edited down to reflect network usage policies.
Look for current guidelines posted weekly in the newsgroup.
2.19 Can I mix different hardware running NEXTSTEP?
NeXT, networking Networking
Of course! NEXTSTEP is design to plug and play with existing NeXT
installations. NeXT has addressed interoperability between NEXTSTEP
systems in the following ways:
* NEXTSTEP systems share identical networking capabilities.
* NEXTSTEP systems share the same Distributed Objects.
* NEXTSTEP systems use the same system and network administration
services.
* NEXTSTEP systems use the same mass storage format. Yes, you can
take a external SCSI drive, removable media (e.g. Bernoulli etc)
or floppy disk and use it interchangeably between NeXT Computers
running NEXTSTEP.
2.20 Can I exchange software running on different hardware?
With the shipping of NEXTSTEP 3.x binaries are distributed FAT. This
means, that a binary might include different versions of the
executable for each hardware platform NEXTSTEP is running on. On the
archive sites you might easily recognize the supported h
ardware by a key letter: N = NeXT computers, I=Intel based, H=HP
hardware, S=Sun hardware. A FAT binary is runable by every supported
hardware listed in the binary file. NeXT ships tools to examine such a
fat binary and to add/strip different hardwa
re modules to/from a binary.
The correct spelling for a fat binary is: MAB binary (multi
architecture binary) but most commonly 'fat' is used.
With the shipping of OpenStep this will change. OpenStep applications
are only sourcecode compatible and have to be recompiled for each
architecture. This implies that you need a compiler for future
PD/SW/FW-software, although OpenStep for Mach will still
support FAT binaries and NEXTSTEP 3.x applications will continue to
run under OpenStep for Mach.
3 WHAT IS ...
What is ...
This chapter tries to give you some overview over NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP
software and related software. For a detailed description you should
contact the producer's WWW server. E.g. for more information about
OPENSTEP contact http://www.next.com/
3.1 NEXTSTEP
NEXTSTEP
NEXTSTEP is a complete development and user environment by NeXT it
provides an unique GUI (graphical user interface), which currently
gets copied by several other OS provider like Microsoft, combined with
the currently most advanced and tested OS, named Mach. NeXT applied
several changes to the Mach kernel to add special features which makes
NEXTSTEP unique.
NEXTSTEP comes with a lot of development kits (bundles of classes to
build on), like: Sound Kit, Indexing Kit, 3D Graphics Kit, Database or
EOF Kit and Application Kit.
Bundled with NEXTSTEP are several user applications which enhance the
daily use dramatically: NeXTMail (a MIME compatible mail application),
Edit (a simple but powerful editor), FaxReader (for reading incoming
faxes, you are able to send faxes from every application which
supports printing), DigitalWebster (Webster's Ninth New Collegiate
Dictionary and Collegiate Thesaurus), Digital Librarian (indexing and
full text search utility, usable over groups of files) Preview (a
PostScript and TIFF display utility), Terminal (UNIX terminal
application for VT100 and TN3270 emulation), TeX (a well known
compiler for formatted text), SYBASE and ORACLE adapters (to contact
to SYBASE and ORACLE databases within EOF applications).
One special thing about NEXTSTEP is the display system. NeXT uses DPS
(Display Post Script), which gives you true WYSIWYG on every NEXTSTEP
system. The window server supports PostScript Level II, Interactive
RenderMan and Photorealistic RenderMan (an distributed engine for fast
high quality rendering, based on Pixar's RenderMan).
To be used in networks, NEXTSTEP supports NFS, NetInfo, Novell Netware
(as client only), Ethernet and Token Ring and different filesystems
(Mac, DOS, ISO 9660, High Sierra, Rock Ridge).
For multimedia purposes NeXT uses Lempel-Ziv compression for text,
Audio Transform Compression for Sound (comparable to Sony MiniDisc),
JPEG for TIFF and Group 4 for Fax. Of course these are only standard
modes and NEXTSTEP is extensible to use other methods too.
For system administration (remember that NEXTSTEP is using Mach as an
UNIX derivate), NeXT supplies several administration applications
which make it easy to configure NEXTSTEP as needed, like:
SimpleNetworkStarter, UserManager, PrintManager, NFSManager,
HostManager, NetInfo Manager, BuildDisk, Upgrader and the complete
documentation and manual pages online.
3.2 Mach
Mach
Mach is the the basic OS layer NeXT uses for NEXTSTEP. It is a micro
kernel, which means it is extensible at runtime. Micro kernel often
stands for a small kernel size, too, but due to the compatibility to
BSD 4.3 Mach is currently about 1MB in size.
Features of Mach are: loadable kernel services (extensions during
runtime), different scheduling algorithms, an advanced messaging
system, an advanced memory allocation mechanism (copy on demand, world
wide message broadcasting), true multitasking, multi-threading and BSD
compatibility.
3.3 OPENSTEP
OPENSTEP
OPENSTEP is the latest release of NeXT's NEXTSTEP with the ability to
be OS independent (NEXTSTEP depends on Mach).
OPENSTEP is currently available for Mach, Windows NT and Solaris and
will get available for other operating systems in the future.
The architecture of OPENSTEP was made public in late 1995 and since
then GNU is working on a public port of OPENSTEP to e.g. X11 based
UNIX systems.
To express the new standard, 'OPENSTEP/Mach' is now the correct
spelling for the formerly named NEXTSTEP product by NeXT, but it is
known that NeXT itself is still using the same version numbering
scheme for at least the Mach product line, so the first release of
OPENSTEP for Mach is equivalent to NEXTSTEP 4.0 and in fact the first
OPENSTEP product is named 'OPENSTEP/Mach 4.0'.
OPENSTEP is supposed to be an industry standard for developing object
oriented, system independent, scalable solutions for client/server
architectures. It was adopted by Sun, Hewlett Packard and Digital. It
provides distributed applications through PDO (Portable Distributed
Objects) and D'OLE (Distributed OLE) based on CORBA. The usage of EOF
supplies object persistence with traditional relational databases. And
finally with WebObjects, objects are accessible through the internet
or in your own private network.
OPENSTEP, like NEXTSTEP 3.3 provides several kits for software
developers like: Application Kit and Foundation Kit as well as Display
PostScript.
Applications written for OPENSTEP are sourcecode compatible to all
other architectures running OPENSTEP, although fat binaries are only
available under OPENSTEP for Mach (because the binary format is
depending on the operating system).
For the NEXTSTEP user OPENSTEP doesn't take away old known features.
In addition with OPENSTEP for Mach you get Mach enhancements, an
enhanced workspace manager, Perl5, TaylerUUCP, PPP and Samba.
Old applications will continue to run under OPENSTEP for Mach and need
to be recompiled to run under Windows NT, Solaris, and other OPENSTEP
platforms. Which goes side by side to become true OPENSTEP
applications-
The following are some new advantages/disadvantages over the known
NEXTSTEP product:
* documented NEXTIME library for developing
* faster message handling
* handling of disks >2GB in automatically. Paritioning size is still
limited to 2GB.
* no Novell Netware support (supposed to be included with OPENSTEP
4.1)
* Renderman still included
* Indexing Kit available by third party (MiscKit)
* no more POSIX! (Hopefully included again in OPENSTEP 4.1)
3.4 Objective-C
Objective-C
To develop applications NeXT uses Objective-C as its native
programming language. Objective-C is a more strict OO language then
C++ but covers C as well as C++. Because NeXT uses the GNU C/C++
compiler, you go with the most spreaded and tested C compiler
available for most UNIX platforms of today. (Of course you can use
Objective-C on every platform on which gcc is available).
Objective-C is different to other languages in the way it executes
code. Objective-C uses a runtime library to dynamically access objects
at runtime. This allows you to change objects at runtime etc. All this
goes with nearly no speed penalty, because hashing mechanisms are used
to access the different methods of an object.
There is also ObjC which is an different product, available as a
commercial compiler for different operating systems. Don't mix up
things by using the expression ObjC instead of Objective-C. For
shortcut purposes the NeXT community also uses the term ObjC/Obj-C but
of course thinks of Objective-C by NeXT.
Objective-C isn't standardized, yet.
In Objective-C you are able to mix code. E.g. you can use C++ and C in
any Objective-C program.
Objective-C is a simple and concise object-oriented extension to
ANSI-C. It has a runtime messaging facility and offers dynamic
binding. Distributed objects are supported and the code is optimized
for native compilations.
It's syntax and programming technique is much like in SmallTalk. Using
Objective-C you can even message objects in other applications, also
over a network!
3.5 NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP Developer
NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP Developer
NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP Developer is currently the only way to develop
applications under NEXTSTEP because it includes all the necessary
include files and libraries.(Of course you can get any GNU C version
precompiled, but it won't help you without the include files and
linker libraries).
In addition to a precompiled GCC, include files and the linker
libraries you will get the famous NeXT developer tools: ProjectBuilder
(your commando center for building applications and managing sources),
InterfaceBuilder (for designing the application's GUI and making
object connections), an graphical addition to GDB (GNU Debugger)
integrated in Edit (NEXTSTEP) or ProjectBuilder (OPENSTEP),
MallocDebug (for seeking memory leaks), HeaderViewer (access class
information in header files and in documented form in a browser),
DBModeler (for building data models, based on Database Kit) (NEXTSTEP
only), Yap (an interactive PostScript interpreter and viewer),
IconBuilder (a very simple but extensible pixel-based editor for
creating icons) and popular UNIX utilities like GNU Emacs, yacc, lex,
vi...
3.6 D'OLE
D'OLE
D'OLE is a shortcut for Distributed OLE. OLE is Microsoft's standard
for Object Linking and Embedding and is currently not distributable
across platforms. With D'OLE you can distribute OLE objects across the
network like e.g. in SOM by IBM. But D'OLE is more. It uses NeXT's
object model PDO (Portable Distributed Objects) from Unix to Windows
platforms and enables OLE objects to communicate with OPENSTEP objects
natively, which means without changing the application. OPENSTEP
objects behave like OLE objects and vice versa.
D'OLE also supports EOF (Enterprise Objects Framework) which enables a
distributed computing environment to access database and provides an
infinitely flexible choice of application deployment of application
deployment strategies.
D'OLE uses the Foundation Framework, Distributed Object Framework and
other core classes. It comes bundled with C/Objective-C compiler and
GNU make, although Microsoft Visual C++ is required. Further you get a
portable nmserver, Mach emulation and on-line documentation.
3.7 PDO --- Portable Distributed Objects
PDO
PDO is a shortcut for Portable Distributed Objects. In the near future
PDO will become CORBA 2.0 compliant.
It is the industry's first product to provide a heterogeneous
client/server framework on objects. With PDO it is possible to deploy
objects on non-NEXTSTEP server Machines and therefore deployed
anywhere in a network, wherever they are most appropriate for a task.
PDO encapsulates low-level network protocols, making messaging a
remote object as straightforward as messaging a local object. You even
don't have to learn new programming tools or techniques, because PDO
is a subset of NeXT tools and objects. Because PDO makes object
location completely transparent to the application, the application
communicates with every object the same way regardless wether it is
local, in the local network or anywhere in the world.
Because of the free location of objects, objects may get moved to
other locations, e.g. to optimize performance, without modification of
the application using it.
PDO also runs on non-NEXTSTEP servers. It comes with it's own set of
classes, libraries and even an Objective-C++ compiler, etc. Neverless
you can build, maintain, etc. from any NEXTSTEP client connected to a
PDO server. The tools used for building the final objects however are
native to the server's OS.
PDO comes with Foundation Framework, Distributed Objects Framework,
DOEventLoop and other core classes. Bundled tools are: Objective-C++
compiler, GDB, libg++, GNU make, Portable BuildServer, Portable
nmserver, Mach Emulation, NEXTSTEP's default system, on-line
documentation. Currently supported platforms are: HP-UX, SunOS,
Solaris, Digital UNIX.
3.8 EOF --- Enterprise Objects Framework
EOF
EOF is the latest replacement for the DatabaseKit and available as an
extra product.
EOF bridges the gap between objects and relational databases. With EOF
you can bring the advantage of object oriented design etc. to
applications which use relational databases. (Therefore you don't need
an object oriented database!)
EOF clarifies many things. It supports a three-tier client/server
architecture by separating the user interface, business objects and
the database. In fact you can simply exchange the database (by
changing the adapter) and still use the same application!
Developing under EOF doesn't limit you to e.g. Objective-C. EOF allows
the integration of e.g. 4GL code as well as SQL etc. all combined
under the advantage of NeXT's developer tools.
EOF includes client and server software. It consists of the Enterprise
Object Modeler, runtime libraries and adapters for SYBASE,ORACLE and
Informix (other adapters available from the DBMS producers). It
currently runs under HP-UX, SunOS, Solaris, Digital UNIX and always
requires PDO. For client use you additionally need NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP.
3.9 WebObjects
WebObjects
WebObjects helps you building dynamic Web pages. It is targeted to the
server side of the Web and there mostly to the intranets, also most
people might find it very useful for the Internet, too. It is
operating system independent and runs under Windows NT, Solaris,
HP-UX, Digital UNIX and NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP.
WebObjects contains development tools to build components for your
application logic, as well as a set of reusable components to manage
the rendering of your application. Because WebObjects is Java
compatible, you even can integrate Java applets in your application
today. It supports the standard http servers which have to support CGI
or NSAPI interface. WebObjects supports database access to Informix,
Oracle, Sybase and DB/2.
What's unique about WebObjects is the ability to share the logic of
your Web application and your data with other internal applications.
It means that you are not required to maintain a dedicated database or
write specific application code for your Web application.
Currently there are three versions of WebObjects: WebObjects,
WebObjects Pro and WebObjects Enterprise. WebObjects itself is freely
available to anybody interested in. WebObjects Pro contains PDO and
WebObjects Enterprise contains PDO and EOF with a special license to
connect to the Internet. But because WebObjects is a brand new
product, look at http://www.next.com/WebOjects/ for further
information.
WebObjects is free for academic usage.
3.10 WWW Browser
WWW Browser Browser OmniWeb NetSurfer SpiderWoman NetScape
First: There is no Java capable browser.
Several NEXTSTEP browsers are available for NEXTSTEP. The currently
most advanced browser is named 'OmniWeb'. OmniWeb is commercial in the
way that you need a license to use it in a network. A single user
license is free. OmniWeb seems to be continuesly updated and support
is known to be good. OmniWeb is also supporting a lot of well known
Netscape features.
There is also a public domain WWW browser named 'SpiderWoman'. It's
plus is the NEXTSTEP look and feel (e.g. you navigate through the Web
like you navigate your filesystem with WorkspaceManager). Anyway
SpiderWoman is somehow unstable and it seems as if development
stopped.
Another commercial browser is NetSurfer. Demos are available on the
ftp sites. This browser is preferred by several people because it
integrates ftp access very well. Anyway you have to pay for it.
Netscape isn't available for NEXTSTEP and is unlikely to be ported.
3.11 Newsreader
Newsreader Alexandra NewsGrazer NewsFlash RadicalNews
There are currently four well known newsreaders for NEXTSTEP.
First there is Alexandra, a public domain newsreader and second there
is NewsGrazer (and unsupported NeXT product). You should test them to
get your personal favorite. The only real difference is the support of
NEXTSTEP 3.3J (Japanese) and flatfiles in NewsGrazer, while the
interface in Alexandra seems to be better for many people.
NewsFlash is a commercial product which adds several features. As
RadicalNews it supports article threading, automated posting and
extraction of multi-part files. Demos are available on the ftp sites.
E-mail inquiries should go to support@wolfware.com. Further info is
available at: http://www.wolfware.com/
RadicalNews is a commercial newsreader. It supports true article
threading, quoted text highlighting, japanese and Latin-1 support,
URL-support, an interface to Digital Librarian, a sophisticated
coloring scheme and much more. Info is available at:
http://www.radical.com/.
A note to both commercial versions: the community is very splitted
about which version is to prefer. In general it seems as if there are
no really 'killer features' so it prefers much to personal taste.
Demos are available and don't forget to test the free versions, too!
4 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
Misc Various Unsorted
4.1 How do I get pictures of people from remote sites to appear in Mail.app and
NewsGrazer?
Pictures, in Mail Pictures, in NewsGrazer Mail, remote Pictures
Newsgrazer, remote Pictures
You can do this in the following ways.
* Mail In /LocalLibrary/Images/People put a tiff (64x64) in the form
of person@remote.site.domain.tiff (all lowercase). In
/LocalLibrary/Images/People/passwd add an entry for the person:
person@remote.site.domain:*:-2:-2::/nodir:/noshell
(person and sitename need to be all lowercase as well) In the
future anytime you get mail from the person their picture should
appear.
You can include an "aliases" file in /LocalLibrary/Images/People
too. This allows you to use the same picture for somebody that
might send you mail from accounts on many different sites, or for
those people whose letters use several different routings.
To do this, you include entries in this local aliases file like
so:
bkohler@ucrac1.ucr.edu:bkohler.gonzo.ucr.edu
gonzo.ucr.edu!bkohler@uupsi2.uucp:bkohler.gonzo.ucr.edu
There should then be a .tiff file called
bkohler.gonzo.ucr.edu.tiff.
There can be no CAPITAL LETTERS in this file. So even if the
address in the From: field looks like
gonzo.ucr.edu!bkohler@uupsi2.UUCP, keep the letters lowercase in
the aliases file. As always, you have to restart Mail before these
changes take effect.
* NewsGrazer
In /LocalLibrary/NewsGrazer/People put a tiff (64x64) in the form
of person.remote.site.domain (all lowercase). This is a different
naming convention from what Mail uses.
There is a large archive of some 4000 or 5000 pictures prepared
for this purpose. The name of this archive is Faces3.tar.Z and it
is about 4.1 MBytes large. Currently it is available from several
anonymous ftp sites (e.g. sonata.cc.purdue.edu in:
/pub/next/graphics/Images/icons/people)
That image archive also contains a script which automatically
creates proper alias and passwd files.
4.2 How to manipulate and examine default settings
* A command line utility for examining defaults is available from:
sutro.sfsu.edu:/pub/wmdefaults1.0.tar.Z
* A PD App, DefaultMgr.app, is available on the NeXT ftp archives.
* A more brute approach (done by DefaultMgr.app):
Start the application under gdb, and then try the following
sequence of commands:
break *0x500976a
commands 1
silent
printf "%s: ", *$a2
output {char *}(4+$a2)
echo \n
cont
end
run
[Carl Edman ] adds:
DefaultMgr.app doesn't any longer work properly under 3.0. It still is
able to manipulate defaults but can't any longer "investigate" apps to
find out which defaults they use.
[eps@toaster.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott)] adds:
Needs to be revised for 3.x systems. wmdefaults is only for 2.x; it's
not needed for 3.0 and later.
4.3 How do I run NextApps remotely?
Remote running
On the local machine make sure you have public window server access,
this is set from the Preferences application. On the foreign NeXT
machine run the application from a terminal window with the -NXHost .
Both machines should be running the same version of NeXTstep.
[shayman@Objectario.com (Steve Hayman)]
NeXTSTEP 3.1 and higher includes a demo application called OpenSesame
that simplifies this. You can select a program in Workspace and use >
Service > Open Sesame > Open on Another Host ...to launch a program on
a remote machine. This is a way to run old, non-fat-binary software on
new NeXTSTEP/Intel machines.
4.4 Why does UUCP hangs on outgoing connections after sending the password, but
other communications software do not have a problem with it?
UUCP
What is happening is that the remote machine is waiting for you to end
your login or password by typing a "Return" (aka &Mcirc; or CR or
CARRIAGE RETURN). UUCP ends a line by sending a LineFeed (aka Ĵ
or LF). Since UUCP doesn't send the CR, the login sequence is never
completed, and you will usually get one of two error messages:
wanted "password:" (means that username needs to end with a CR)
imsg waiting for SYNC< (means that password needs to end with CR)
So how do you get UUCP to send CR, instead of LF?
End the send string with the sequence
n
c. For instance this line in L.sys will send a LF after login, but a
CR after password.
myfeed Any DIR 9600 cub "" ATTD19095551212 9600 \
"" ogin:--ogin: Unext ssword: secret\n\c
4.5 How do I access the NeXT's Digital Webster Dictionary from a program?
Webster
Get Jiro Nakamura's define program from the archiver servers:
define.tar.Z. This will allow you to access the database from the
command line. This program breaks under 3.x. For 3.x there are two
other programs which might be useful: Webster.a5 and websterd.
4.6 How do I get the arrow keys to work in csh?
csh, arrow keys
This is for people who use a terminal app that does vt100 keyboard
emulation - pasc
First, add these lines to your .cshrc (preferably between the if and
endif):
set editmode=emacs
set macrofiles=.macros
Then create a file called .bindings and put in it:
bind-to-key ExecuteNamedMacro '\e['
And, next, you need to make a file called ".macros". Using an editor
like emacs (which can insert control characters using a &Qcirc;
prefix), into this file put:
A^@^@^@^A^P
B^@^@^@^A^N
C^@^@^@^A^F
D^@^@^@^A^B
where ^@ means Control-@ and ^A means Control-A, etc. Also, don't
put in the leading spaces. This will set up the left and right arrows
to move back and forth on the line, and the up and down arrows will
cycle through your history.
On Intel machines these sequences are a little different:
A^A^@^@^@^P
B^A^@^@^@^N
C^A^@^@^@^F
D^A^@^@^@^B
Then source .cshrc and the changes should take effect.
4.7 What default affects menu location?
Menu, location Do the following.
dwrite GLOBAL NXMenuX <value>
dwrite GLOBAL NXMenuY <value>
4.8 How to get Gourmet to boot up the Mathematica 2.0 kernel?
Mathematica
Login as root, or get root privileges running su, and execute the
following five commands:
mkdirs /NextApps/Mathematica.app/Kernel/NeXT
cd /NextApps/Mathematica.app/Kernel
ln -s uuuuu/Mathematica.app/Kernel/Display Utilities
cd NeXT
ln -s vvvvv/math mathexe
where uuuuu is the directory where Mathematica was placed (typically,
/LocalApps) and vvvvv is the directory where the executable math was
placed (typically, /usr/local/bin)
4.9 Manipulating the Loginwindow
loginwindow dwrites
There are some for loginwindow:
[Jess Anderson writes:]
Here, I hope, is the quasi-definitive story on dwrites that affect the
loginwindow. I'm indebted to several people, notably Art Isbell,
Kristian Koehntopp, Dan Danz, Louie Mamakos, John Kheit, Felix Lugo,
and Paul Sears, for some of the information presented here.
Remember that dwrites are not supported by NeXT; they may change with
any subsequent system release. These I've checked out using 3.0; some
or all may work with earlier releases, but I can't vouch for most of
them.
All these dwrites must be done as root. You can also run as root and
use DefaultMgr to set them (which is a whole lot more convenient if
you're intending to fiddle with some of them).
After setting the things you want, restart the WindowServer by logging
out of the current session and typing exit on the login panel.
OK, here's what we know (or think we do :-):
dwrite loginwindow DefaultUser <login-name>
Most new machines have set to me. This dwrite logs in user
automatically. User must not have a password set, hence don't use this
in a networked environment!
dwrite loginwindow HostName "<host_name>"
dwrite loginwindow HostName localhost
These cause your host name to appear on the login panel. You need
quote marks only if there's a space in the name. The first form
hard-codes the name into root's defaults database. The second form
uses whatever name has been set as localhost in NetInfo, which is
convenient for networked machines.
The font, size, color, and position of the printed string are not
accessible (drat!).
dwrite loginwindow ImageFile <path/to/a/suitable.tiff>
This uses the tiff image pointed to instead of the standard one (in
/usr/lib/NextStep/loginwindow.app/English.lproj/nextlogin.tiff, .lproj
as appropriate for your main language) as the login panel. Be sure you
get the pointer right, though, or you'll have to boot single-user to
fix it. In practical terms, the image is constrained in various ways I
won't detail here.
dwrite loginwindow TimeToDim <integer_number>
No relation to the dim time set by Preferences. The units are odd, I
think. Felix reported them as 1/34 second. However, when I changed it
to 1020, I got 15 seconds to dimming, and 680 gives 10 seconds, that
I'm sure of. So I think the units are 1/68 second. Maybe Felix just
thought it was too damn long! We all know it seems longer when you're
not having fun waiting. :-) Whatever, the login screen dims to about
half after this length of time.
dwrite loginwindow MoveWhenIdle YES
This causes the panel to move around approximately in Backspace
bouncing-off-the-walls-tiff fashion. The point is to avoid burning the
screen phosphors, as a static image would tend to do. The animation is
controlled by the next couple dwrites.
dwrite loginwindow MovementTimeout <real_number>
The units are seconds. The panel starts moving (assuming the preceding
is set to YES) after this time. If you set it to be less than the
TimeToDim time, the movement starts before the dimming occurs. I did
not try zero. I can't stand waiting around for things to happen, so I
use 10 seconds for both times. The default appears to be 5 minutes.
dwrite loginwindow MovementScale <integer_number>
No movement occurs if this is set to 1. But it looks like the units
might be approximately pixels for each change of position (the
frequency of which is controlled by the next dwrite). If you put a big
number here, say 200, the image moves in big jumps, but I don't know
if the 200 is divided up somehow between change in x- and
y-coordinates. I wouldn't worry about it much, just set it to
something you like. Since my image contains readable text, I want it
to scroll smoothly around, so I use the apparently minimum value, 2.
The default appears to be 10.
dwrite loginwindow MovementRate <real_number>
The units are seconds. The image jumps by the amount above every this
many seconds. The default is 0.0666 seconds. Bigger numbers mean
slower motion. Since I don't like things being too jumpy or zooming
around, I set this to 0.1 seconds. This makes my image ooze at a pace
befitting an elderly person like me.
dwrite loginwindow PowerOffDisabled YES
This makes it a little harder to turn the machine off; you have to use
the monitor or the minimonitor (- ) if it's set, rather than the key.
dwrite loginwindow LoginHook <path/to/loginhook/executable>
dwrite loginwindow LogoutHook <path/to/logouthook/executable>
Pointers to the login and logout hooks, if used. It should be pointed
out that some of these things (login/logout hooks, for example) are
maybe more logically set where the loginwindow is invoked by the
WindowServer, namely /etc/ttys.
There are yet others. Here's the full list (thanks, Art):
NXGetDefaultValue("loginwindow", "DebugHook") => 0x0
NXGetDefaultValue("loginwindow", "DryRun") => 0x0
NXGetDefaultValue("loginwindow", "WindowServerTimeout") => 0x0
NXRegisterDefaults("loginwindow", 0x16024)
KeyMapPath: 0x12d97
"~/Library/Keyboards:/LocalLibrary/Keyboards:/NextLibrary/Keyboards"
Keymap: 0x12de1 "/NextLibrary/Keyboards/USA"
SwappedKeymap: 0x12e0a "No"
LoginHook: 0x0
LogoutHook: 0x0
HostName: 0x0
ImageFile: 0x0
DefaultUser: 0x12e41 "me"
PowerOffDisabled: 0x0
TimeToDim: 0x12e69 "2040"
MoveWhenIdle: 0x12e0a "No"
MovementTimeout: 0x12e8b "300.0"
MovementRate: 0x12e9e "0.06666"
MovementScale: 0x12eb4 "10"
[Christopher J. Kane kane@cs.purdue.edu]
Under NeXTSTEP 3.1, the login window has two buttons labeled "Reboot"
and "Power" that allow a user to reboot and power down from the login
window. In a public lab, this feature may be undesirable. The
PowerOffDisabled default can be used to disable the buttons, but they
are still shown in the window and push in when clicked (a bad user
interface decision, IMHO).
The program below patches loginwindow to eradicate the restart and
power buttons. It makes the loginwindow's LoginButton class instance
method initWithImage:altImage:andString: a no-op (just return nil).
This patch has been applied to the machines in the NeXT lab at Purdue
(like sonata.cc.purdue.edu for instance), and no adverse effects have
been noted.
This program must be run as root, since it writes to the file
/usr/lib/NextStep/loginwindow.app/loginwindow.
An archive with a compiled executable has been submitted to
sonata.cc.purdue.edu.
/*
* Patches the loginwindow.app to eradicate the restart and power
* buttons from the login window.
*
* Christopher J. Kane (kane@cs.purdue.edu)
* Released into public domain; August 13, 1993.
*/
#include <libc.h>
#include <errno.h>
void main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
unsigned char patch[8] = {0x0, 0x0, 0x42, 0x80, 0x4e, 0x5e, 0x4e,
0x75};
int file = open("/usr/lib/NextStep/loginwindow.app/loginwindow",
O_WRONLY);
if (-1==file)
goto error;
if (-1==lseek(file, 21170, SEEK_SET))
goto error;
if (-1==write(file, patch, 8))
goto error;
if (-1==close(file))
goto error;
exit(0);
error:
fprintf(stderr, "%s: %s\n", argv[0], strerror(errno));
exit(1);
}
FAQ-Authors note: We strongly recommend to do a backup of the
loginwindow application, because the patch alters the file directly
and will most likely not work on different versions of the OS.
4.10 How does one set UNIX man pages to be viewed in nroff format with DL like
the standard manual pages in NS2.x?
man pages, NS2.x
Beyond looking in the man pages under ixBuild, etc., what you want to
do is put a few files (contents listed below file name) the .index
directory:
.roffArgs:
-man
displayCommand:
tbl %s | nroff -man
ixBuildOptions:
-fman -Nwhatis -Ncat[1-8ln] -V
Other options that people suggested for ixBuildOptions:
-fman -Nwhatis -Ncat[1-8] -V /usr/local/man
-fman -Nwhatis -V /usr/local/man/man*
I don't think you need to explicitly name the directory in the first
alternative, but you do in the second unless you want the cat*
directories indexed as well.
Note: Do NOT leave a trailing return after the line in ixBuildOptions;
DL will barf. (I think someone said that, as shipped, the standard man
.index/ixBuildOptions had this problem.)
[From: Eric D. Engstrom ]
Can anyone tell me what the command line for this might be under
NEXTSTEP 3.0?
Short answer: RTM on ixbuild(1) - specifically the parameter "-g".
In addition, I'd like to inform the newsgroup of a simple hack I setup
on my own machine to create a unified DL target for all UNIX Manual
pages (including system, local, gnu, whatever). This was easier under
2.x because IXBuild (pre IXKit) had more hacks in it...
Basically, you need to setup a directory with sym-links to the various
man-page directories; For example:
(397)basilisk% pwd
/LocalLibrary/Documentation/ManPages
(398)basilisk% ls -alg
total 728
drwxrwxr-x 2 eric wheel 1024 Mar 28 18:03 ./
drwxrwxr-x 11 root wheel 1024 Mar 27 00:41 ../
-rw-r--r-- 1 eric wheel 370 Feb 27 22:01 .README
-rw-rw-r-- 1 eric wheel 872 Feb 27 17:11 .dir.tiff
-rw-rw-r-- 1 eric wheel 20 Feb 27 17:11 .displayCommand
-rw-rw-r-- 1 eric wheel 47 Feb 27 17:10 .index.iname
-rw-rw-r-- 1 eric wheel 6 Feb 27 17:10 .index.itype
-rw-r--r-- 1 eric wheel 729088 Mar 28 18:44 .index.store
-rw-rw-r-- 1 eric wheel 5 Feb 27 17:11 .roffArgs
lrwxrwxrwx 1 eric wheel 18 Feb 27 17:53 gnu ->
/usr/local/gnu/man/@
lrwxrwxrwx 1 eric wheel 14 Feb 27 17:53 local ->
/usr/local/man/@
lrwxrwxrwx 1 eric wheel 9 Feb 27 17:53 news ->
/news/man/@
lrwxrwxrwx 1 eric wheel 35 Feb 27 17:53 system ->
/usr/man/@
Notice that I also copied all the .[a-z]* files from the /usr/man/
directory as well.
Then, use ixbuild -gl to (re)build the index. If your any of the links
point to directories on other devices, add "d" to "-gl". "-v" will
give you verbose output (like my writing style ;-). RTM under
ixbuild(1) for more info.
Unfortunately, once the index is built, I've never successfully gotten
DL to update it correctly. Instead I have to do it by hand using
ixbuild -ogldvc (actually, I setup a cron job to reindex weekly.)
If you have troubles, try removing the .index.store file and
rebuilding the entire database. I've had intermittent problems with
ixbuild under 3.0.
4.11 Appending a signature and addition headers to your e-mail
.signature signature Mail
There is a bundle for Mail to which, beside other features, allows you
to add a .signature file to outgoing e-mails: EnhancedMail.bundle.
This software package is available by the FTP archive sites.
Here are other solutions which might serve you as well:
[Carl Edman ]
First create a simple text file the following content:
#!/bin/sh
{
if test -r ${HOME}/.add-header; then cat ${HOME}/.add-header; fi
cat -
if test -r ${HOME}/.signature; then echo "--"; cat ${HOME}/.signature;
fi
}| /usr/lib/sendmail "$@"
A good name for this file would be sendmail-addheader. If you want to
and can install it for system-wide use put this file in e.g. /usr/lib.
Otherwise your private /Unix/bin directory is also fine. Make certain
that this file has execute permission. To set that, use e.g. chmod 755
/usr/lib/sendmail-addheader.
Next, open up the preferences panel in Mail. Switch to the expert
options. Change the Mailer option from /usr/lib/sendmail (which it
should originally be) to /usr/lib/sendmail-addheader (or whatever the
name of the file you created is). OK this and you should be set.
From now on your file /.signature file should always be appended to
all mail sent out with Mail.app. In addition if you have a file called
add-header in your home-directory it should automatically be prepended
to your outgoing mail. To implement a reply-to line, you would simply
give it the following content:
Reply-to: My Real Human Name <name@my.real.address>
IMPORTANT: Make certain that you have one and exactly one newline at
the end of /.add-header. Anything might break outgoing mail. Beware!
BUG: The /.signature file is not added properly for NeXT mail
containing attachments. The headers will still be added properly. This
could be fixed but probably is more of a hassle than it is worth.
[From: jbrow@radical1.radical.com (Jim Brownfield)]
I have added a Terminal Service to terminal to add a signature file
whenever I type "0" (command/zero), and I thought this might be of
interest to people who read your FAQ. I have used this technique for
over a year with no problems, and it has the advantage of working both
with non-NeXT and NeXT Mail.
First, you must create a file with your signature containing the
characters "--" on the first line (there has been some discussion as
to whether this should be "-- " ("--" followed by a blank), but my
file only has the "--" as the first line. The rest of the file should
contain your normal signature. If you place the file in your home
directory, I recommend NOT using the filename ".signature" for this
file since it may conflict with other programs (like NewsGrazer). I
use the filename ".fullSignature". The file used for the signature
should be ascii and not RTF to allow the file to be used for NeXT and
non-NeXT mail.
You can create a "Get signature" service by launching Terminal and
accessing the "Terminal Services" window through the "Info/Terminal
Services..." menu item. Then perform the following:
1. Create a new service by clicking on the "New" button. Change the
service name to "Get signature".
2. Add the command "cat " and "0" (zero) to the "Command and Key
Equivalent" entry. The "0" is obviously arbitrary, but I've found
that it doesn't conflict with any of the commands I normally use.
3. De-select any items checked within the "Accept" grouping. Select
the "As Input" radio button under the "Use Selection" section.
4. Change the "Execution" popup to "Run Service in the Background".
Select the "Return Output" and "No Shell" radio buttons.
5. Click the "Save" button.
Now, when you type "0" (actually, from any application), your
signature will be added wherever your cursor is located (be careful
not to have text selected as it will replace the selected text with
your signature). I have found this to be very convenient for adding my
.sig to outgoing mail.
4.12 How can I quickly find a file if I don't know its directory?
searching, files find
The Unix find command on the NeXT has the capability of quickly
searching a database of all the files. This database is located in
/etc/find.codes and has to be generated periodically. You can
automatically generate this database, say twice a week at 3:15 a.m.,
by adding this line to your file /etc/crontab.local (you might have to
create this file).
15 03 * * 2,5 root /usr/lib/find/updatedb > /usr/adm/updatedb.err
After this has run, you can quickly find any file from a terminal by
typing find where is a part of the file name you want (it is
case-sensitive).
[Carl Edman ] adds:
Find still works under 3.0, but now has to match the entire filename
(including the path) for a match to be recognized i.e. where under 2.x
you would have find foobar, under 3.0 you have find '*foobar*' (The '
are necessary to prevent the shell from expanding the wildcards
itself).
[From: Geert Jan van Oldenborgh ]
I find the following script in /usr/local/bin very handy to bring back
the behavior that God Intended find to have:
#!/bin/csh
if ( $#argv == 1 ) then
/usr/bin/find \*$1\*
else
set noglob
/usr/bin/find $argv[1-]
unset noglob
endif
4.13 Mail.app suddenly stopped working!
Mail, doesn't start
When I double-click the Mail.app icon it loads and seems to start but
then just terminates. How can I fix this ?
Usually the problem is caused by Mail.app being terminated with
extreme prejudice such as by a power outage or kill -9. Under those
circumstances Mail.app may leave a lock file in your active mailbox.
Due to a bug 3.0 Mail.app doesn't ask for permission to override this
lock when started up again but just dies. Open a shell and look in
/Mailboxes/Active.mbox. If this directory contains a file called .lock
you have found the culprit. You can safely remove this file.
4.14 Recycler doesn't work anymore?!
Recycler
For some reason, after moving my home directory, my recycler no longer
works?
[From: eric%basilisk@src.honeywell.com (Eric D. Engstrom)]
Basically, when you dump a file in the recycler, the workspace manager
(attempts) to move it to one of the following locations:
(note: no order implied here, because I'm unsure of the actual order
used)
- $HOME/.NeXT/.NextTrash
(Should always exist; unsure what happens if it doesn't)
- /tmp/.NextTrash_$USER
Automatically created if non-existent)
- $MNT-POINT/.NextTrash/$USER
(.NextTrash NOT automatically created if non-existent)
Also, the workspace requires that the trash directory into which it
puts the to-be-deleted file be on the same disk partition that the
file originally came from (for speed, I assume).
Also, an example of the permissions for the external disk .NextTrash
directory (which is not automatically created) should be :
ls -aldg /private/mnt2/local/.NextTrash
drwxrwxrwt [...] /private/mnt2/local/.NextTrash/
Note: /private/mnt2/local is the mount point. Do chmod 1777 .NextTrash
to get the permissions right.
Thus, if you moved your home directory from one partition to another,
the one you left may not have a "recycler-repository" to use.
4.15 How to hear sound from CDPlayer.app thought NEXTSTEP system?
digital audio CDPlayer
To hear sound, the following info is important.
[Carl Edman ]
Hearing the sound directly on the NeXT can be done with the play3401
program from the archives if you have a Toshiba 3401 series drive.
Theoretically this can also be done with NEC [78]4-1s and Apple CD
300s, though I know of no NeXT program which supports them. Most other
drives (including the NeXT CD-ROM) just don't have the hardware to do
it.
There is another player available: CD_evil, which is based on play3401
but offers a GUI.
FAQ-Authors note: On Intel system it's very easy: just connect the
CD-Audio out (internal) to your CD-in of the soundcard (internal).
Anyway there are problems with different drives. E.g. we know, that
the Toshiba, Sony and Nec drives currently use the same instruction
set to access audio data. So be aware that there are drives which
simply can't be accessed through CDPlayer.
4.16 How do I decompress a file with the extension .compressed?
.compressed compress uncompress gnutar tar gzip gunzip
Do this with the following methods.
[From: sanguish@digifix.com]
.compressed files have been compressed in the Workspace Manager.
Basically, they are just .tar.Z files. Even single files are tarred as
well as compressed. There are several methods of decompressing these
files.
1. They can be decompressed by selecting them in the Workspace, and
Selecting uncompress from the file menu.
2. They can be decompressed by selecting them in the Workspace, and
bringing up the Workspace Inspector. (You can double click to get
there faster)
3. You can rename them to be .tar.Z and handle them the way you do
them.
FAQ-Authors note: use uncompress to access the .Z files and/or gunzip
to access .z/.gz files. Use tar to access .tar files. You might also
you gnutar to access both together, e.g. to access a .tar.gz
at once. Read the man pages for more information.
4.17 How do I change the Workspace compression app?
compress gzip gunzip dwrites
Change it with the given method.
[Stephen Peters ]
You can change the tools that the Workspace uses to create and read
its .compressed files by issuing the following commands in a terminal
window:
dwrite Workspace compress /usr/bin/gzip
dwrite Workspace uncompress /usr/bin/gunzip
dwrite Workspace AlwaysTarForCompress YES
[Reuven M. Lerner reuven@the-tech.mit.edu]
This is generally a good thing, except that people might follow your
advice and then try to send NeXTmail to someone who is still using
compress/uncompress. Changing Workspace/uncompress to gunzip isn't a
problem, since it uncompresses all sorts of files, but people should
be very careful not to change Workspace/compress to gzip unless they
will only be dealing with other gzip-equipped users.
4.18 console: loginwindow: netinfo problem - No such directory.
netinfo problem, /keyboard directory is missing. It's benign... but
annoying.
niutil -create . /keyboard
Fixed in 2.1 and up.
4.19 Root login not possible on client machine
root login
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.
4.20 How to boot NEXTSTEP from the second (higher SCSI ID) HD?
Boot, from higher SCSI ID Boot, from second drive
Use the following command.
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
In the boot command the name of the bootfile can be replaced by '-'.
This is very useful as the length of the bootcommand which can be
stored in the permanent memory is very limited (on NeXT machines
only). So the only way to eg. increase the number of buffers
permanently to 128 in the boot command is to use the following boot
command: sd- nbu=128 (sdmach nbu=128 would have been too long).
4.21 How to make swapfile shrink to the normal size?
swapfile
The swapfile is located in /private/vm. The only current way to make
it shrink is to reboot the machine.
See the man pages for swaptab for more information. Note, that putting
a space after the comma in /etc/swaptab (lowat=,hiwat=) makes swapon
ignore the hiwat entry.
There is a short trick which seems to work for several people: type
exit in the login panel. This will exit the window server and restart
it immediatly. If you are lucky, this will reclaim some space.
4.22 Does netinfo work between machines running NEXTSTEP 2.x and 3.x?
netinfo
Yes.
4.23 Why does the console user "own" the external disk filesystem?
filesystem, external
You need an entry in /etc/fstab so the disk will be mounted at boot
time, rather than being "automounted" when somebody logs in.
Automounted disks are owned by whoever logged in, fstab-mounted disks
are owned by root. Something like this:
/dev/sd0a / 4.3 rw,noquota,noauto 0 1
/dev/sd1a /Disk 4.3 rw,noquota 0 2
(assuming the external disk is to be mounted as /Disk)
fstab should be niloaded into the Netinfo database if it contains any
NFS mounts.
4.24 How to limit coredump sizes?
coredump, size limit
Limit it by the following command.
This will work for apps running from a shell.
limit coredumpsize 0
If your dock or workspace apps are dumping core, there's also:
dwrite Workspace CoreLimit <bytesize>
4.25 What is the maximum value of nbuf that I can specify on bootup?
buffers, ROM
I know the ROM monitor only allows twelve characters, but I use
something like this:
bsd sdmach nbuf=xxx
(NeXT machines only) Enter the hardware monitor. Hit 'p' to adjust the
configuration parameters. It will respond: Boot command: ? Enter sd-
nbu=xxx, where xxx is a number less than 256.
4.26 How can I change the mouse pointer shape and color?
Maybe this could point you into the right direction. Pipe it to pft
and see what happens....
%!PS-Adobe-2.0 EPSF-2.0
%%BoundingBox: 0 0 16 16
%%EndComments
0 0 16 16 Retained window
dup windowdeviceround
gsave
16 16 scale
16 16 4
[16 0 0 -16 0 16]
{<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>} false 3 alphaimage
grestore
gstate
nextdict /_NXSharedGrayAlpha get
NX_TwelveBitRGB 1 index setwindowdepthlimit
windowdeviceround
0 0 16 16 5 4 roll 0 32 Copy composite
nulldevice
termwindow
Maybe somebody wants to write some kind of "pointer editor"?
There is also a commercial application named 'MouseMagic' which
handles this and custom acceleration modes.
4.27 How do I customize BuildDisk to create a bootable disk of my own
configuration?
BuildDisk, customization The BuildDisk application is extremely
limited in terms of the types of disks configuration it knows how to
build. Essentially it "knows" about swapdisks, optical disks, 330 and
660 MB SCSI disks. If you wish to do custom configurations you should
look at existing BLD script files in /etc/BLD.* There is a script
which you can use to specify which BLD script you are using, which
disktab entry, and other useful parameters in /usr/etc/builddisk
Some things to note:
* the fstab installed on the target disk is specified in the
newclient command in the BLD script. standard fstabs are extracted
from /usr/template/client/fstab.*
* the BLD scripts do not put down a new boot block on the scsi disk,
you may want to install one by hand using the /usr/etc/disk
program.
* some disks boot fine but NeXTstep comes up with a blank window and
no login window. This is due sometimes to forgetting to install an
accessible /NextLibrary/{Fonts,Sounds}. In general you need quite
a lot of things to make a bootable disk.
You can build a minimally usable bootable floppy (for crash recovery
purposes). There is a modified version of builddisk (to make it
support building floppies, a minimal change) and a BLD script to build
the boot floppy available at cs.orst.edu in
next/sources/Bootfloppy.tar.Z. (I put this together in response to
several requests.) A newer version of Bootfloppy for 2.1 is on the
archives as next/sources/util/Bootfloppy2.1.tar.Z. Also available from
the archives is BootFloopy 3.x (for --- you guessed it --- NEXTSTEP
3.x). I might also add that one can improve on disk usage while
enhancing functionality. BuildDisk (which is used by the various
BootFloppy scripts) just copies the standard binaries for ls, mv, cp
aso. from /bin. These binaries are statically linked as shipped by
NeXT which makes them huge. (e.g. /bin/ls is 106496 bytes large.
/usr/local/bin/gls with more features is just 16268 bytes). If you
replace these binaries by the BSD or GNU equivalents you can save
several hundred kBytes on your boot floppy. This extra diskspace can
be used for tar, dump and more tools which makes the boot floppy
actually usable. Tested.
4.28 Are there any more dwrites useful for the workspace, ...?
dwrite, misc
There a lot of dwrite useful for you. (self explanatory)
dwrite Workspace compress /usr/bin/gzip
dwrite Workspace uncompress /usr/bin/gunzip
dwrite Workspace AlwaysTarForCompress Yes
dwrite Workspace DockOrginX (some number)
dwrite Workspace DockOrginY (some number)
dwrite Workspace DockOffsetX -1057 (leftmost)
dwrite Workspace DockOnTop (0 or 1 for true or false)
dwrite appname NXCMYKAdjust YES
dwrite Preferences 24HourClock yes
4.29 What is the @LongLink message from gnutar all about?
@LongLink gnutar
Because gnutar tries to be somewhat compatible to the old tar format,
it can't store pathnames longer than 100 chars. In order to store
files with longer names, it generates a special file entry containing
just the longer filename. These are the long links you see. Nothing to
worry about.
4.30 What stands the file .place3_0.wmd for?
.place3_0.wmd
The Workspace uses it to record the window attributes (sort order,
view type, icon positions and so on)
Switching the 'UNIX Expert' flag in UNIX Preferences panel off hides
all files which start by '.'.
4.31 How to create transparent icons with IconBuilder
IconBuilder icon, transparent
If you are repainting an icon on the filesystem e.g. .dir.tiff make a
copy and remove it first. Then reload the directory (the default icon
gets shown). This is needed because the system caches icons.
Now here comes how to create transparent backgrounds using
IconBuilder:
* Select Format->Document Layout (or New document layout)
* 'Has alpha' must be checkedus
* Open the color inspector
* UNcheck 'paint in overlay mode'
* Choose any color (I took white)
* Set Opacity to 0
* Use Paintbucket to fill the whole icon
* Now set Opacity back to 100
* Draw the icon
What 'Paint in overlay mode' does, is that when checked, it will use
both the alpha (opacity) of the existing pixel and the alpha selected
in the color inspector and combine both into a new color. When
unchecked the existing pixel will just be replaced with one using
color and alpha as selected in the inspector.
4.32 How to access the MAC format of a mixed DOS/MAC CD-ROM
Mac DOS CD-ROM
Some CD-ROMs are using multiple fileformats to adress more people.
This is done by putting two filesystems on the disk. With NEXTSTEP you
are able to acess both. But what to do if the Workspace only shows you
the DOS side of a disk, while the Mac side is often more convenient
(due to e.g. long filenames).
The solution is to change the priority the system is searching for a
usable filesystem. You need to rearange the filesystems in
/usr/filesystems to fit your needs. Here is how:
* ls -lR /usr/filesystems shows the actual searching queue.
* mv /usr/filesystems /tmp/filesystems to backup things
* mkdir /usr/filesystems recreate the directory.
* cp -p -r /tmp/filesystems/xx /usr/filesystems copy the filesystems
in order of searching back to the default location.
* chmod 4755 /usr/filesystems/xx.fs/xx.util reset SUID mode
* reset the links in /usr/filesystems/DOS.fs/.
4.33 Is there a PPP for NEXTSTEP
PPP
There is a commercial PPP and a public domain PPP implementation.
For the public domain PPP there is an additional FAQ available at:
http://www.thoughtport.com:8080/PPP/
The public domain PPP is based on the PPP-2.2 distribution. This
distribution offers several enhancements over ppp-2.1.2. Especially
noteworty is that it implements BSD packet compression. Using packet
compression can lead to higher throughput than you get using
compressing modems.
The port works on Motorola, Intel (both Mux and NeXT supplied serial
drivers), and HP systems running OS 3.2 and 3.3. It also works in
conjunction with Black and White's NXFAX software.
You may also want to join the mailing list for PPP. This will keep you
informed of new releases and will provide an arena for discussing
problems with the NeXT specific PPP port. To add yourself to the list
(or for any other administrative requests), send an email message to:
listproc@listproc.thoughtport.com requesting you be placed on the
list. Make sure to include your proper return email address. To send
mail to all the participants on the list, address your messages to:
nextppp@listproc.thoughtport.com
4.34 NIS and OpenStep
NIX lookupd
There's a new lookupd in OpenStep for Mach 4.0, which works a bit
differently than the old lookupd. The new lookupd has a number of
"agents" that do lookups from various information systems (NetInfo,
DNS, NIS, the Flat Files, and the internal cache). You can specify
which information sources should be consulted, and in what order. You
can also specify which information sources should be consulted for
different categories. There is documentation for all this in the file
/NextLibrary/Documentation/NextAdmin/ReleaseNotes/lookupd.rtf.
One change in NIS lookups is that a "+" in the /etc/passwd file does
not trigger a NIS lookup. If you want user lookups to consult both
/etc/passwd and the NIS passwd maps, you need to tell lookupd to use
both Flat File and NIS agents. For example, if you configure all this
in your root domain, you could set user lookups to use
Cache+NetInfo+Flat Files+NIS like this:
niutil -create / /locations/lookupd
niutil -create / /locations/lookupd/users
niutil -createprop / /locations/lookupd/users LookupOrder \
CacheAgent NIAgent FFAgent NISAgent
4.35 System overloaded due to swapping
Swapping CPU overload load
Several people discovered the problem, that their system get's
unusable due to swapping. This is extremely bad, because if this
swapping occurs, you can't even break the CPU load causing process,
because you can't even open a terminal window. There exists a
programmed solution to this problem.
Here it is! I should warn you that this will just kill the app --- it
will not give you a chance to save files, nor will it bring up a nice
panel asking if you really meant to do that. There is no warranty for
anything by using this code.
To use it, simple hold down alternate and right click on any window
owned by the application or its icon on the dock. This will not kill
some apps like Terminal because they run as root.
In order to install it, you will have to edit
/usr/lib/NextStep/windowpackage.ps. Make sure that you make a backup
of this file before editing it! It is owned by root, so not just
anyone can do this.
To apply the patch, search for a line stating: rmdownEvProc (the
procedure for processing right mouse button down events), and replace
it with the code named examples/windowpackage.patch in the FAQ
archive. For NS3.3 this code is located at line 1319.
Disclaimer: you should not attempt this if you do not know what you
are doing. You may be unable to log in (you will have to boot single
user to restore the windowpackage.ps) if you mess it up. You can kill
apps that you did not mean to kill. I cannot be responsible for what
happens!
Thanks to David Koski dkoski@cs.wisc.edu for supplying this code.
4.36 Swapfile issues
swapfile swap, speed swap, size
1. use 'mkfile' to generate the lowat file size of you swapfile. This
decreases the number of inodes used and keeps the permanent lowat
size defragmented.
2. on fast machines, compress the swapfile (only possible on the
primary file), on slow machines, disable compressing.
3. place the swapfile on the fastest hard disk drive you have. Use
'man swaptab' to learn more about configuring swap files.
4. to learn more about the never shrinking swapfile question, read
the NeXTanswers about it. http://www.next.com/NeXTanswers/
5. if your swaptab ignores some options: be aware that options must
not contain spaces!
4.37 Garbage collection and Objective-C
garbage collection memory allocation
Note that Boehm's conservative garbage collector from
ftp://ftp.parc.xerox.com/pub/gc/ works great with Objective-C, so you
can use GC also with the other compilers.
That GC could be enhanced a little by taking advantage of the
Objective-C runtime type information; the hooks are there for it.
4.38 Setting up an anonymous FTP server
ftp server
Many people suggested just to read the online manual to ftpd. Probably
a good idea. Anyway I included a not tested script in the FAQ
distribution package which might be convinient for most people.
5 BLACK (NEXT) HARDWARE
5.1 What disk drives will work with the NeXT?
disk drives
There are some situations in which there are problems. Here is a short
list which might help you in your disk drive quest:
* These drives don't work with NeXT hardware: FUJITSU 2684SAU,
SEAGATE ST51080N, IBM IB06H8891
* The SCSI driver for NeXT hardware only accepts asynchronous data
transfer. Although every new SCSI-2 drive should support this
mode, this isn't true for certain drives. Also sometimes there is
a hardware switch (a little jumper on the drive) which switches
between synchronous and asynchronous mode. You definitly can only
use asynchronous disks!
* There are also problems with sync negotiation on NeXT hardware. In
general there should be another jumper to toggle this are you
might change this with an SCSI utility. There are also problems
with the tagged command queuing option. Anyway all these problem
can be solved.
Most SCSI disk drives will work without modifying /etc/disktab.
There are problems with the installation of boot blocks and badly
formed fstab generated by BuildDisk of NEXTSTEP 2.0. A disk connected
to the NeXT will need to have a NeXT specific label written to it
before it can be properly recognized by the system. If you get an
error message "Invalid Label..." this indicates that the drive was
successfully seen by the NeXT machine but it does not have the proper
label, to install a label use the /usr/etc/disk program on the raw
disk device that the system assigned to the device and use the label
command to write the label onto the disk. [how the NeXT assigns disk
devices is explained in the N&SA manual]
NEXTSTEP releases 2.0 and up provide a low level disk formatter,
sdform, which does not offer much flexibility, but gets the job done.
Most drives are already formatted at the factory. You might look for
the utility sdformat on the FTP sites as well, which overcomes some
problems of sdform supplied by NeXT.
5.2 Will a 68030 NeXT Computer run NEXTSTEP 3.3?
NS3.3 and 68030
Yes, but note that NeXTstep 3.3 is be optimized for the 68040 CPUs.
NeXTstep 1.0 and 2.x were optimized for the 68030 CPU, 68882 FPU
machines.
5.3 How do I configure my HP 660 to boot properly?
HP 660, boot boot, HP 660
It has been reported that HP drives fail to autoboot on power on or
while other devices are on the scsi bus. The problem seems to be with
drives configured to spin-up automatically on power on do not get
recognized at boot time. To remedy this problem reliably with HP 660Mb
(HP97548) and 1Gbyte (HP 97549) drives remove the auto spinup jumper
on the back of the drive. Looking at the disk from the back with the
power connector on the lower left, it is the sixth jumper.
The official fix was an EPROM change to the HP drive from HP. The HP
drives took too long to wait up, so the system wasn't happy with the
other drives coming ready first especially when the HP was suppose to
be the boot device. (The EPROM is no longer available from NeXT).
5.4 What is the procedure for installing a Fujitsu M2263SA/SB SCSI Disk as the
NeXT Boot Disk?
Fujitsu M2263SA/SB
See Izumi Ohzawa's note in /pub/next/docs/fujitsu.recipe available via
anonymous ftp from sonata.cc.purdue.edu.
5.5 How to mount a corrupted OD that won't automount?
OD, corrupt OD, mount
If you can't automount an OD, and you can't fix it, you can still
manually mount it. Log in as root. Type /usr/etc/mount /dev/od0a /FoO.
It will ask you to insert the disk. Insert it. It is mounted.
This method WILL mount a corrupted OD so you can read its contents.
Since it is corrupted, it is not recommended to write to it. You
should copy the important files to something else, then reformat it.
5.6 What non-NeXT CD Players that work with a NeXT?
CD-ROM, NeXT
A USENET survey summary:
Apple CD-150
PLI 1035N for NeXT
SUN CD-ROM drive (Sony CDU-8012, Rev. 3.1a)
NEC 73M and 74 (transfer rates > of 300 KB/sec.)
NEC 84 S
NEC 4xi
NEC 6x speed
Apple CD-SC (Sony 541-22 mechanism)
Apple CD-300
Apple CD-300+
Chinon CDS-431 (with new drivers)
Eclipse CD-ROM from Microtech
Toshiba 3201
Toshiba 3301
Toshiba 3401
Toshiba 3501
Toshiba TXM3301E1
Toshiba XM-2200A external
Toshiba XM3601
Plextor Quadspeed
Plextor PX-63CS (6xspeed)
DENON DRD-253 external (data only, no music)
HP's LaserROM drive (Toshiba XM-3301TA drive in HP's box)
Texel 3024 (required a firmware upgrade to version was 1.11)
As with all SCSI devices, they just work. Some drives only get
problems with their audio support with CD-Player (due to not
standardized SCSI audio commands, but this isn't a NeXT specific
problem!)
In contrary the question should be: are there SCSI CD-ROMs which don't
work together with NEXTSTEP?
5.7 What are some other sources of toner cartridges and trays for the NeXT
laser printer?
toner, NeXT printer
The toner cartridge is a standard EP-S cartridge, the same that fits
the HP LaserJet III and some other printers.
Any HP LaserJet II or III will fit. HPLJ4mSI cartridges do NOT fit.
Any HP LJII or LJIII paper tray will fit. IIISI and 4 trays will not.
Confused? Read again :-)
5.8 What printers (laser or otherwise) may be used with a NeXT?
printers, on NeXT
If you plan to connect an HP LaserJet (II, IIP, III, etc.) you need to
make a special cable in order for the NeXT 040 and HP to get the
hardware handshaking correct. This is true for whatever version of the
OS you are running.
NeXT 68040 to HP LaserJet III Cable (not a Null-modem cable):
Mini-Din HP DB-25
1 (DTR) nc
2 (DCD) 4 (RTS)
3 (TXD) 3 (RXD)
4 (GND) 7 (GND)
5 (RXD) 2 (TXD)
6 (RTS) 5 (CTS)
7 (RTXC) nc
8 (CTS) 20 (DTR)
You may want to use hardware flow control for reliability (ie
/dev/ttyfa).
If you have problems with other printers, check the cable pinouts in
the printer's manual against the one recommended in the zs man-page!
Refer to Chapter 13 in Network and System Administration.
5.9 What can I do to prevent my NeXT printer from running all the time?
printer, turning off
The NeXT 400dpi printer powers up every time you boot up when the
print daemon is started (/usr/lib/NextPrinter/npd in /etc/rc). Apart
from not running the daemon at boot time (commenting it out and having
to run it by hand later), you can add the following lines to
/etc/rc.local:
if [ -f /usr/etc/nppower ]; then
sleep 3
/usr/etc/nppower off
(echo 'powering off NeXTprinter') >/dev/console
fi
Once you queue a print job the printer daemon will automatically power
up the NeXT printer for you. The printer daemon will not automatically
power off the machine after a print job, you will need to turn off the
printer by typing /usr/etc/nppower off.
5.10 What type of microphones will work with the NeXT?
microphone, NeXT
Some NeXT owners use the RadioShack (Realistic) Tie Clip Microphone
($19.95) cat 33-1052. NeXT Computer, Inc. uses the "Sony Electret
Condenser Microphone ECM-K7" in-house (available for $60). Some use
Sony Tie-Clip microphone, #ECM-144, which costs around $40. Others
have successfully used a WalMart brand microphone (available for $6).
5.11 How do I connect a modem to the NeXT?
modem, on NeXT
Previously, we suggested that people use Mac modem cables; however, it
has come to our attention that there is no one standard Mac modem
cable.
Since correct modem operation on a NeXT depends upon a correctly wired
modem cable, buying a Mac cable is not a good idea. Some Mac cables do
not allow dial-in and no Mac cable allows the use of hardware flow
control. For these reasons, we are recommending that only cables that
meet NeXT specifications be used. [however, if you have a Mac modem
cable lying around and don't care about dial-in or hardware flow
control, then by all means....]
These cables are available commercially from any store, how still
sells NeXT stuff, and from Computer Cables and Devices, or can be
custom built. Note that no off- the-shelf Mac cable will allow
hardware flow control. It is however possible to make a such a cable
from an Imagewriter II cable by replacing one of the mini-8 ends with
a DB-25 connector.
Hardware flow control is absolutely essential for all serial port
connections with speeds of 9600 bps and above. Make certain that you
cable supports it, your modem is configured to use it and you are
using the hardware flowcontrol devices /dev/cuf[ab], /dev/ttydf[ab]
and /dev/ttyf[ab], respectively.
Most people use tip or kermit to control the modem. SLIP and/or UUCP
may also be used (but are more complicated to set up and require the
remote machine to also have SLIP and/or UUCP (respectively)).
A version of the DOS-program pcomm can be found on
ftp.informatik.uni-muenchen.de
The 2.0 Network and System Administration Manual, which is available
in hard-copy (shipped with each machine) contains an extensive
description of how to use modems with the NeXT machine. Additionally
NeXT in their TechSupportNotes series called SerialPortDoc.wn and UUCP
for 1.0/1.0a systems . This document is available from most FTP sites
that carry NextAnswers. Also, try to obtain the about.modem.Z file by
Mark Adler in the pub/next/lore directory on sonata.cc.purdue.edu
5.12 What fax modems will work with the NeXT?
fax modem, on NeXT
Most available modems of today, don't work for with the general fax
driver available with NEXTSTEP. In this case you need to perchuse a
commercial solution: 'NXFax'. There are demos available. The following
information is pretty much old, and might probably be obsolete now:
The following fax modems are currently available for the NeXT
Computer:
Manufacturer, Model Supplier, Type
DoveFax for NeXT, Dove Computer, Class 1
HSD FaxMaster, HSD Microcomputer, Class 2*
mix fax, i·link GmbH, Class 2**
SupraFAXModem V.32bis, Supra Corp., Class 2
(requires DFax driver or NXFax driver)
ZyXEL U-1496E/E+/S/S+, ZyXEL USA, Class 2
(requires NXFax driver)
Telebit T3000 with fax option
Telebit WorldBlazer with fax option
(requires NXFax driver)
Neuron 1414/1414+ with ZyXEL ROM upgrade
(requires NXFax driver)
(Neuron 1414 and Neuron 1414+ modems are relabelled ZyXEL modems.
Contact ZyXEL USA for ROM upgrades. Neuron modems with 512K ROMs
should upgrade their ROMs and ROM sockets to 1 Mb ROMs. People with
1Mb ROMs should just order the new ROMs.)
(*) Note that the Class 2 is not yet approved; it is still out for
ballot, after having failed in an October 1990 round. The Abaton
InterFax 24/96 NX driver supports Class 2 as it was in that draft;
there are expected to be very few changes prior to approval.
(**) Note that mix fax works with both the October 1990 and October
1991 draft versions of Class 2, especially with the NeXT supplied
Class 2 modem driver. Upgrading to an approved version of Class 2
would be a matter of just a software update (holds true for any
forthcoming (class 3?) standard, for that matter).
In order to use a fax modem with the NeXT Computer, a NeXT compatible
fax driver must be available to operate the modem. Modem control
procedures may be proprietary or conform to one of the following
EIA/TIA standards:
Class 1: CCITT T.30 session management and CCITT T.4 image data
handling are controlled by the driver.
Class 2*: CCITT T.30 session management and image data transport are
handled by the modem. CCITT T.4 image data preparation and
interpretation are controlled by the driver.
Release 2.0 of the NeXT system software includes a Class 2 modem
driver which will work with any fax modem which meets the EIA/TIA
Asynchronous Facsimile Control standard. Other fax modems must supply
a NeXT compatible driver.
Note that there's a small bug in 2.0 (fixed in 2.1): a symbolic link
is missing for the file Class2_Fax_Modem_Driver in
/usr/lib/NextPrinter. The simple fix: create the link; it should
reference Interfax_Fax_Modem_Driver, also in the /usr/lib/NextPrinter
directory.
An alternative workaround for Class 2, especially useful for novices:
just use InterFax as the modem type in PrintManager, rather than Class
2*.
After installing a fax modem using PrintManager one must repeat
setting things in the Fax Options panel in order for them to be stored
correctly. In particular, these include the Rings to Answer and Number
of Times to Retry. This affects all fax modems being installed.
If one uses illegal characters in the Modems Number field in the Fax
Options when configuring an InterFax modem then the modem will not
answer the phone. Legal characters are digits, spaces, and plus signs.
This does not affect the Dove modem.
Modems from the german vendor Dr. Neuhaus also work with the internal
Fax-Driver. But only the FURY-series does.
5.13 How may I attach more than two serial ports to the NeXT?
serial port, >2 on NeXT
TTYDSP From Yrrid converts the DSP port into an additional serial
port.
Yrrid Incorporated
507 Monroe St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Voice: 919-968-7858
Fax: 919-968-7856
E-mail: yrrid@world.std.com
Unitnet has a device, the SLAT, that will connect to the scsi bus.
Uninet Peripherals, Inc.
Voice: 714-263-4222
Fax: 714-263-4299
Central Data Corporation made the scsiTerminal Server family of
products. However they stopped supporting NeXT hardwer. We are told
that Central Data may consider the solling or giving of the driver
source to an interested party.
Phone: 217/359-8010
Toll-free: 800/482-0315
FAX: 217-359-6904
Email: info@cd.com
support@cd.com
sales@cd.com
Also, one can use an IP terminal server. In a non-Internet
environment, inexpensive terminal servers, which don't control access
to the network securely, can be used. If your network is an Internet
subnet, you must use a terminal server that controls either: (1) who
can log into the terminal server, or (2) which machines the terminal
server will access. These tend to be more expensive (around $250/port,
but in 8-port increments), but it may be quite economical means of
sharing ports among many NeXTs (or other computers) on the network.
Particularly if one has a NeXT network, an Ethernet terminal server
may be the way to go. One that supports Linemode Telnet (such as the
Xylogics Annex III) will offer the best performance.
5.14 What is the best and/or cheapest way to connect a NeXT to a thick
Ethernet?
Ethernet, thick There are many possible solutions. For example, here
are three:
* The University of Waterloo (Audio Research Group) uses an old
door-stop PC XT clone with two Western Digital cards (WD8003E
Ethercard Plus, $250 CDN each; you should be able to get them for
under $200 (US$)) running Vance Morrison's PCRoute (available from
accuvax.nwu.edu). You will also need a thickwire transceiver and a
drop cable (about $300). In addition, you will need Internet
addresses for the NeXT and both PC Ethernet cards (and a subnet
address). The documentation for PCRoute contains quite a bit of
information on the performance of this setup. This solution
requires two subnets. There is another program called PCbridge
that allows the machines on the thin and thick wires to be part of
the same subnet. This product also does packet filtering, so that
packets destined to machines on the same side of the net do not
cross over.
* Cabletron sells a MR-2000C Singleport Repeater for $695 that does
exactly what you need minus drop cable and transceiver. Their
number is (408) 441-9900.
* The march 1992 INMAC networking and connectivity products catalog
lists thicknet to thinnet converters. Product number Z903071 price
$445. Claims full ieee 802.3 compatibility and diagnostic LED's.
* NuData (908)-842-5757 (USA) sells AUI10 base-T boxes for about
$149.
5.15 How can I connect my NeXT to the telephone line and use it like an
answering Machine?
answering machine A company that is selling both hardware and software
to allow you to do this:
SES Computing
13206 Jenner Lane
Austin, Texas 78729
Voice: (512) 219-9468 (Demo system number)
i.link, a european company, has a combined data/fax modem and
telephone answering machine. It uses the DSP port and is implemented
mainly in software on the DSP with a little bit of hardware to
interface to the phone line.
i.link GmbH
Nollendorfstrasse 11-12
D-1000 Berlin 30
Germany
Tel: +49 30 216 20 48
Fax: +49 30 215 82 74
E-mail: info@ilink.de
5.16 What color monitors can I use with the Color NeXT machines?
monitor, color
The important specs for the color monitor are:
Horz Scan Rate: 61 KHz
Vertical Scan Rate: 68 Hz
Resolution: 1280x1024 (NeXT uses 1120x832)
NON-INTERLACED
Displays may require alignment to adjust for the scan rate of NeXT
machines.
The Nanao T560i 17" color display has been used with NeXTstation Color
machines, and seems to work well.
Some larger NEC displays have also worked.
5.17 Where can I get 13W3 to BNC adapters to connect third party color
monitors?
13W3 to BNC BNC to 13W3
You can get them from:NeXT/Bell Atlantic: part number S4025.
NuData in New Jersey carries 13W3 female to 4 BNC male connectors. The
price is about $100.
NuData
Voice: 908-842-5757
DISCLAIMER: I take no responsibility for the following. If you can
source the bits yourself here's how it's built.
1 female 13W3 connector
3 Male BNC connectors
3 mini coax
ie. the pins to the coaxial are male and the regular pins are female.
Looks like this.
. o o o o o . . 13W3 FEMALE
A1 o o o o o A2 A3
| | |
| | |
| | |
Red Green Blue 3 BNC's
That's the coax part. The outer shielding of the coax's are grounded
on both pin 10 and the case.
5.18 How may I attach Centronics or 16 bit wide parallel ports to the NeXT?
centronics, NeXT parallel port, NeXT
Uninet has devices, the SLAT-2 and the SLAT-DRV11, that will connect
to the scsi bus.
Uninet Peripherals, Inc.
Voice: 714-263-4222
Fax: 714-263-4299
zardoz!sales@ics.uci.edu or uunet!ucivax!zardoz!sales
5.19 Why does an unused serial port consume cpu?
serial port, cpu power usage
Perhaps you've got a (probably fairly long) unshielded serial cable
attached to it, with either nothing at the other end or a powered-off
device at the other end. EE's call this an antenna. It's probably
picking up most of the radio stations in your area, which the serial
chip is interpreting as a continuous stream of garbage bytes, which it
feeds to getty, which tries to interpret them as login attempts.
How do you avoid this problem?
* leave the device at the other end switched on (even when it's not
transmitting, it will assert a voltage that overrides the noise)
* unplug the cable from the next when you're not using it
* use 'kill -STOP' & 'kill -CONT' to stop and resume the getty
process as needed
* buy an adequately shielded serial cable
5.20 How to adjust MegaPixel Display brightness and focus?
brightness, MegaPixel focus, MegaPixel
Adjust it using the following information.
From: Charles William Swiger
I have adjusted several monitors with no problems, but make sure you
know what you are doing before opening anything. I expressly disclaim
responsibility for any ill results that may occur.
In order to adjust NeXT's MegaPixel display (called 'the monitor'
hereafter), you'll need (a) the NeXTtool (or a 3mm Allen wrench), (b)
a plastic adjustment tool (preferred) or a thin bladed screwdriver,
and possibly (c) a Phillips-head screwdriver.
(NB: A similar procedure will work for color monitors, but you should
either know what you're doing or you'll probably be better off letting
a pro deal with it.)
Turn off the computer. Disconnect all cables to the monitor. Look at
the back of the monitor. There will be 4 screws there; use the
NeXTtool (or Allen wrench) to remove them. Remove the plastic back of
the monitor and put it out of your way.
Reconnect the cables and turn the computer back on. As the machine
powers up, examine the back of the monitor. You'll see a metallic box
(usually silver, though some are black) surrounding the monitor's
vitals. This protects you against the dangerous voltages inside, and
also insulates the monitor from electromagnetic noise. On the back of
this box are several holes for performing adjustments. There are two
focus controls (labeled 'focus' and 'dynamic focus'), a brightness
control (labeled 'brightness' or possibly 'black level') and several
others that adjust various things like screen size and position.
Depending on the exact placement of the controls on the circuit board
of your specific monitor, some of these controls may be difficult (or
impossible) to adjust from the back. If this is the case, I will
describe what's necessary below. Otherwise, adjust the appropriate
controls using either an adjustment tool or a screwdriver. Be warned
that a screwdriver probably will cause some interesting video effects
when it enters the case. Ignore this the best you can, or find a
plastic adjustment tool, which is what you *really* should be using
anyway. Using a flashlight will help you see into the hole so that you
can align the business end of the tool correctly.
Focus and position controls are fairly obvious. Adjust them slowly
until you're happy with the results. Don't muck with anything you
don't need to; the factory settings are usually pretty decent.
To correctly adjust the brightness, follow this procedure: Turn the
brightness of the monitor all the way down using the keyboard. Adjust
the brightness control on the back of the monitor until a barely
noticeable picture forms. Then turn the brightness down a little so
this picture disappears completely. Check that you can get adequate
brightness by using the keyboard to brighten the screen. If the
display isn't bright enough, adjust the brightness control on the rear
of the monitor high enough so that the monitor display is adequate.
Note that you won't be able to dim the screen completely from the
keyboard...sorry.
Once you're finished, shut down the computer, take off the cables,
reattach the back of the monitor, and reconnect the cables. You're
done.
If the control you need to adjust proves to be difficult, you may need
to enter the metal case. This happened on one monitor's focus control
and another's brightness.
WARNING: THE VOLTAGES INSIDE THE MONITOR'S CASE ARE VERY DANGEROUS,
EVEN WHEN THE MONITOR IS OFF. BE VERY CAREFUL, OR YOU CAN SERIOUSLY
INJURE OR EVEN KILL YOURSELF.
DO NOT PERFORM THE NEXT INSTRUCTIONS UNLESS YOU ARE CONFIDENT THAT YOU
KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. You'll have to power off the computer again,
and disconnect the cables.
Looking at the monitor from the back, notice a section of metallic
shielding on the right side of the metal box that extends to the
picture tube. This is where the flyback transformer is connected. It
shields a wire that is charged to about 25,000 V.
WARNING: DO NOT TOUCH THIS WIRE, IT CAN SHOCK YOU THROUGH ITS
INSULATION.
Being very careful of this, remove the metal case by unscrewing the
Philip's head screws that hold the case on. Don't touch the screws
that hold the picture tube into the front of the monitor's case.
Once you've gotten the metal box off, reconnect the cables. Figure out
what control you're going to adjust, and make sure that you can do so
without touching anything else inside. Again, *watch out* for the wire
that connects to the picture tube on the right side.
Power up the computer. I recommend that you use only one hand to make
the adjustment, and that your other hand be placed in your pocket (or
similar equivalent, if you're wearing clothes lacking pockets). This
precaution reduces the chances that you'll make a short circuit
between one hand, your heart, and the other hand --- a good idea.
Perform the necessary adjustment(s), being very careful not to touch
anything inside. Then shut down and reassemble the monitor, following
the directions given above.
Hopefully, these instructions will prove useful. Once again, please be
very careful...I don't want your death and/or injury on my conscience
(or a lawsuit, for that matter, either :-)
5.21 I want to emulate a macintosh, how?
MacIntosh, emulation emulation, MacIntosh
There is a nice way to run macintosh-software on your original black
hardware.
It works fine with dual-headed cubes and is optimized for the Apple OS
- Version 7.5. To get further information about daydream, please
contact:
QUIX Computerware AG
011-41-41-440-88-28
9 hour differential
Luzernerstr.10
6030 Ebikon
Switzerland
Next software - 011-41-41-34-86-80
quix@applelink.apple.com
There is another solution, completely in software: 'Executor' from
Ardi does the job, too. (http://www.ardi.com/
5.22 My NeXT laser printer fails to fully eject the sheet - how to fix?
printer, eject, NeXT laser NeXT laser, eject paper Fix it as follows.
If you continually get messages like, "sorry, the printer is jammed"
and you have to pull each page out the last inch, you probably need to
replace the 14 tooth gear in the output stage(fuse ass'y).
You can see this gear before you disassemble the printer, so that is a
good first step. Then read these instructions all the way through and
see if you want to attempt it. Next recommends replacing the entire
fuse ass'y ( big bucks) if the gear is damaged, but Chenesko, Inc., of
Ronkonkoma, NY sells the gears for $2.31. The part number is RS1-0132.
They recommended I also replace the 20 tooth gear, number RS1-0116,
but I don't know if it is really necessary. Their phone number is
800-221-3516.
PartsNow is also selling laserprint replacement parts. Their part
number for the a replacement roller part is RA1-84489-000 000. You
might contact them for further details.
To examine your gear, open the rear (delivery ) door and undo the
screw attaching the strap that keeps the door from opening down all
the way. The gear is on the side nearest the power input to the
printer.
There are two gears on the part of the delivery ass'y that swings
down. The suspect gear engages the top one, but is mounted on the
fixed portion of the fuse. Ours had several teeth missing and/or
damaged. To get the gear off you have to remove the fuse ass'y. To
remove the fuse you must open the printer lid fully, so it is straight
up. To open the lid fully you must remove the case. To remove the case
you must remove the plastic cover on the lid.
Are you getting the idea now? This will be a lot of fun, and take most
of the afternoon. I hope you have a spacious, well-lit area, because
there are a lot of screws, and a lot of them are painted black, so
they are hard to see when you drop them, unless you drop them inside
of the printer, where you might NEVER see them again.
Fortunately, as with all computer equipment, they seem to put lots of
extras in, so just make sure there aren't any where they might do
damage, like short out the mega KILOVOLT corona power supply, or grind
into the REGISTRATION rollers. You do want your printouts to be
straight, don't you?
So, if you're ready, here we go.
* PREPARATION Most mere mortals will want to power down everything
and disconnect the cables, etc. Remove the cartridge and paper
trays, etc.
* REMOVE THE LID COVER open the lid and remove 3 screws. They DO NOT
have any red paint on them.
* REMOVE THE BACK DOOR there is one screw that holds the strap. When
you can swing it clear down, you can squeeze the hinges together
and remove the door.
* REMOVE THE CASE There are maybe seven screws that hold the case
on. Four are right on top. Two are just inside the rear door area.
Two are