[SPARCbook] Help - THANKS

Fri Dec 15 02:32:24 CST 2000

see the book A Practical Guide to Solaris by Sobell at p. 166 for extended
discussion of .dtprofile, CDE and start-up configurations, with cautions.  Also see
AnswerBook2 on the Sun web sites for answers to most of your questions.

Oscar.G.Farah at census.gov wrote:

> Thanks to sunder at sunder.net, I have "bash" installed and working and
> Netscape working properly as well; and thanks to Russell, I have
> downloaded a lot of interesting information from http://www.kempston.net which I
> will use to try to get the modem working; in addition I found out
> in these downloaded files that the PATH variable is defined at boot by the
> file ".dtprofile" located in the home directory.
>
>  As I do not have my laptop here; it is at home; I hope that this is
> correct because I would like to modify the default path.
>
> Does ".dtprofile" also contain the selection of which shell to use at
> boot?  I would like to use the bash shell exclusively.  Thanks
>
> Oscar Farah
>
> Remember to select port c in the Admintool when you set up your
> communications
> package.  Use zsmon and 38400 baud.  Use PPP and dialup tips at
> www.tadpole.com/support-trdi/techtips/ except where they  disagree with
> Solaris info at http://www.kempston.net
>
> Oscar.G.Farah at census.gov wrote:
>
> > - I did try to run 'bash' but it was unknown to the machine. I assumed
> > that it would be there since it took forever to install Solaris 2.6!
> With
> > the command 'echo $SHELL' I discovered that I was running sh. Thanks for
> > the help; I will try to find bash at the URL suggested.
> >
> > - I am curious to know what browser most of the SparcBook owners use.
> > Solaris 2.6 has a browser and StarOffice 5.2, which I installed but have
> > not tried yet, seems to have a browser as well.  I downloaded Netscape
> > 4.72 (the version for Solaris 2.5.1; I did not find a version for
> Solaris
> > 2.6) and installed it easily, but (!), it does not want to run! it
> > complains that it cannot access the screen!  How do you allow it to
> access
> > the screen?
> >
> > - I discovered still another problem when I tried to use the internal
> > modem!  I issued the command "tip modem", the machine did a "file synch
> > operation" and informed me that I needed to run "fsck" which I did; I
> had
> > to correct some number that had to be 1 and was 2.
> > After rebooting the machine, I was able to run the sequence 'tip modem
> > atdtxxxxxxx';  when the machine connected, I could not read the
> response;
> > I believe, the number of bits and parity may have been set incorrectly.
> > But I could not determine how to set these.  There was a mention of some
> > config files in "man tip" but no indication of the format required to
> > enter the data in these files that must be created because they do not
> > exist.
> > Subsequently, I issued the command "~." to supposedly disconnect.  But I
> > could not get the prompt back ... so I killed the console.  WHEN I TRIED
> > TO RUN "tip" AGAIN THE MACHINE DECIDED TO RESYNCH THE FILES AGAIN; I
> again
> > had to run fsck  and reboot!
> >
> > - I went to the MicroCenter store and tried to find a book that would
> > explain some of the subtleties of UNIX.  After looking at a dozen or so
> > books, I came to the conclusion that UNIX instruction books were written
> > for people who already know UNIX and not for those who want to learn
> UNIX
> > without the help of a third party.  Can any one suggest a book that
> > contains instruction on how to do things rather than talk profusely
> about
> > them without showing how to use them!
> >
> > Oscar Farah
> >
> > Oscar.G.Farah at census.gov wrote:
> > >
> > > HELP!
> > >
> > > 1.  When using Linux or Windows 2000, I can press the up button and
> > recall
> > > previous commands; this is very useful to me since I am a lousy
> typist.
> > > Can you do that with UNIX on a 3XP??
> >
> > Keep in mind Solaris isn't Linux.  A lot of GNU utilities come
> > preinstalled with Linux.  These don't come with Solaris, but you can
> > download them.
> >
> > What you're looking for is bash or tcsh.  Go download and install these
> > from www.sunfreeware.com, and get them for the correct
> > version of Solaris that you're running.
> >
> > They'll be in compressed Sun Package format, so you'll have to have gzip
> > first.
> >
> > For example if you have  downloaded bash-2.0-Sol26-sparc.pkg.gz
> > type in gzip -d downloaded bash-2.0-Sol26-sparc.pkg.gz  Which will
> > uncompress the package to bash-2.0-Sol26-sparc.pkg
> >
> > You can then install it with pkgadd -d bash-2.0-Sol7-sparc.pkg
> >
> > It should show up as /usr/local/bin/bash
> >
> > You'll have to edit /etc/passwd to switch your default shell to bash,
> but
> > be careful when you type in the path or you won't be able
> > to log in.  Also you shouldn't switch the root account to use bash.
> Switch
> > your user account.  (You should only login as root to
> > fix problems.  It's a huge security risk if you run the wrong program,
> > etc.)
> >
> > > 2.  With Linux I can use the alias command to replace a long command
> > with
> > > a short string; viz. if I issue the command dir='ls -aFl ' then to get
> > "ls
> > > -aFl" all I need to do is issue the command "dir".  This does not seem
> > to
> > > work with the 3XP; when I issue the command dir='ls -aFl', the machine
> > > accepts it but when I type "dir" I get a "dir - not recognized"
> > response?
> >
> > Once you install bash, you can type in alias BLAH='ls'
> > Now when you type in BLAH it will give you a directory listing.
> >
> > --
> >
> ----------------------Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos---------------------------
> >  + ^ + :Surveillance cameras|Passwords are like underwear. You don't /|\
> >   \|/  :aren't security.  A |share them, you don't hang them on
> your/\|/\
> > <--*-->:camera won't stop a |monitor, or under your keyboard, you \/|\/
> >   /|\  :masked killer, but  |don't email them, or put them on a web  \|/
> >  + v + :will violate privacy|site, and you must change them very often.
> > --------_sunder_ at _sunder_._net_------- http://www.sunder.net ------------
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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