[geeks] UnixPC/3b1 Flashback...

[Lionel Peterson]

Here it is - thanks to google... (Search groups.google.com for - "What can
I DO with it?" Bradford - it's the third entry in the list)

I guess I can recycle my paper copy now... ;^)

Lionel

### Begin

In article <3sisl0$n... at ionews.ionet.net>,
Bill Bradford <mrb... at ionet.net> wrote:
>I finally got a 3b1 (2mb RAM, 40Mb HD), but it's been sitting on my
>kitchen table for about two weeks doing nothing.  Are there any
>"killer apps" or cool games out for the 3b1?  Any ports of
>Adventure?

        Certainly, adventure will compile and run on the system.  Here's the
contents of the /usr/games directory on the 3b1 which I currently have
running (with some comments):

total 754
-rwxr-xr-x  1 bin     bin       95569 Jul 27  1991 gdc

        This turns your whole screen into a digital clock.

-rwxr-xr-x  1 root    root      51440 Jun 30  1992 klondike

        A solitare game with good graphics

drwxr-xr-x  2 bin     bin          48 Oct 28  1992 lib
-rwxr-xr-x  1 bin     bin        9808 Jul 27  1991 life

        A fairly good implementation.

-rwxr-xr-x  1 bin     bin       16600 Jul 27  1991 mahjongg

        A port of the one which appeared first on the Sun under SunTools.
Obviously, it must be monochrome, but otherwise it has the same feel as the
version I have running on my SPARC systems.

-rwxr-xr-x  1 bin     bin        6148 Jul 27  1991 moire

        Graphics toy

-rwxr-xr-x  1 bin     bin      158365 Jul 27  1991 yahtzee

        ASCII graphics, so it will run on any terminal.

>            I need something that I can DO with this machine to
>justify it taking up the space on the kitchen table.  (otherwise
>the wife is going to slowly dismantle it and feed it down the
>garbage disposal to get it out of the way).

        This would require a replacement garbage disposal, too.  (Perhaps
she is trying to get a replacement one? :-)

>BTW, how do I create an account that goes straight to shell,
>without going into the UA?

        If you'll look at the .profile generated for your account, you'll
see:
 ======================================================================
#sccs   "@(#)install:.profile   1.3"

ENV=$HOME/.kshrc;export ENV
HISTFILE=$HOME/.kshistory;export HISTFILE
HISTSIZE=128;export HISTSIZE

if [ "$SHFLAG" != 1 ]
then
        exec /usr/bin/ua
 ======================================================================

        Note in particular the last three lines.  The /etc/profile goes
through a lot of shenanigins, and if it determines that they terminal you
are using is unlikely to support ua, it sets $SHFLAG to '1', forcing the
system to skip the last line, which is what throws you into ua.  You could
comment out those last three lines, or have it prompt you for a choice of
'u' for ua, or any other character for a shell login.

        Or ... you could import another shell, such as tcsh, and change the
entry in the /etc/profile line to point to your shell of choice.  In the
following example, my shell of choice is tcsh:

        csu:Not-Likely:0:0:Csu on faisdodo:/u/csu:/bin/tcsh

Since tchs does not use /etc/profile (or $HOME/.profile), it avoids all of
this, though you may need to go through and set up addtional environment
variables and/or paths since you will be bypassing the normal system
initilization.

>                            I assume the UA is so tightly bonded
>to the system that there's no way at all to run a shell-based,
>text-ONLY system...?

        Of course there is.  There are several ways -- except that system
administration is a bit easier with ua in place.  You can learn enough to do
it all without ua, but it is convenient to have it around for those tasks
which you do sufficiently seldom so you don't remember how to do them.

        To do without the window manager, you'll need to run the cron
daemon.  Normally it is wrapped into the window manager.

>Anybody wanna swap me a Voice Power board for a DOS-73 card?

        You mean give you a VP and receive a DOS-73 in exchage?  Not
likely!  I already have two DOS-73 cards, and don't use them.

>bill bradford * mrb... at ionet.net
>
>PS - how the HECK do I tell the system that I wanna use an external
>modem (14.4, but I'll run it at 9600) instead of the interal 1200
>for the comm program?  Is a null-modem necessary between the system
>and the modem?  I keep getting error messages saying something
>like "/dev/tty000 does not exist, define it".

        Check whether the entry in /dev actually exists.  It should look
like this:

        crw-rw-rw-  1 root    sys       0,  0 Jan  1  1970 /dev/tty000

Where the 'c' at the beginning of the modes indicates that this is a
character special file, and the "0, 0" in place of the size are the major
and
minor device numbers.  If the file is missing, you'll need to do:

        /etc/mknod /dev/tty000 c 0 0

to re-create it.  If it looks like a regular file, delete it and run the
above command line.

        Good Luck,
                DoN.

-- 
 Email:   <dnic... at d-and-d.com>  |  ...!uunet!ceilidh!dnichols
 Donald Nichols (DoN.)  |   Voice (Days): (703) 704-2280 (Eves): (703)
938-4564
        --- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---
### End


On Saturday, February 22, 2014, Andrew Jones <andrew at jones.ec> wrote:
>
>
> Well, aren't you going to repost it for us? :)
> _______________________________________________
> GEEKS:  http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/geeks
>


-- 
Lionel Peterson
lionel4287 at gmail.com