(This is the fourth time I've tried to post this article! It was written
this late morning.)

Hi Don!

> Hmm ... since these posts are covering a lot beyond the Sun
>hardware, perhaps you should try moving this to e-mail. My email
>address is valid -- but I don't know whether you fall into the IP ranges
>in Road Runner which I have blocked because of spam.

I just sent you an email. You can see whether you can receive my
email.

>> Can't find driver for console framebuffer
>
>Hmm ... do you use a console framebuffer at all?

Not so far as I know! :-O

Having looked at the Sun FAQ involving framebuffers, I really don't
know whether this hardware has some (older?) framebuffer card.

I really am not using the Sun for any kind of graphics specialties.
It works on the keyboard and monitor attached to the Sun, so I'm happy!

(And, NORMALLY, I seldom have the monitor attached to the Sun
even on, but I daily logged onto it from the Linux [rlogin].)

I don't remember whether I "used to" (in 2003, when I was turning it
into my mail host and router) get the error... I would think not...
because back then (I was laid off then and between jobs), I had time to
look into errors. I did, since I've been at ITT (since May of 2005) have
to purchase a different monitor for the Sun. I don't know whether it
started showing up then or not... (The Sun is rebooted so seldom! :-D)

Frankly, I couldn't care less about a "driver for console
framebuffer", because the Sun does (or at least used to do) everything I
want and need! :-)

>3) The Ultra 30 requires DC21153 Revision C. See BugID 4094903
>
> Going to the Sun site, I did a search on "bug 4094903" and came
>up with:
>
>
>
>but when I try to follow the links, it says that I need to be registered
>to read those. But the description says:
>
>
> ================================================== ====================
> Ultra 30 and Netra T1 200 don't power up with PCI_QFE cards
> ================================================== ====================
>
>and your system does power up, which suggests that it is not the problem
>that the BugID speaks about.

Yes, I get that, too. And, I also can't see the content.

But, I agree that the description indicates I likely don't have that
problem. And, presumably, there are PCI_QFE cards that work with the
Ultra 30.

> Did you change the names of the /etc/hostsname.hme? to point to
>hme1 and hme2?

As you probably figured out, as you read my additional replies, I had
not as of then, but I have now. (And, now hme1 and hme2 show up in those
error messages.)

> Try the following from a booted system:
>
># prtdiag -v | grep 'hme'

I had to type: /usr/platform/sun4u/sbin/prtdiag -v | grep 'hme', and
I get:

<<>>
0 PCI 33 1 network-SUNW,hme
<<>>

>So you should see five of these -- one for the hme0 in the system board,
>and the other four from the qfe card.

Nope. Only one!

(The path_to_inst file had entries for them all, but not that
command.)

> Also -- there is this other line from the FEH:
>
>3) Quad FastEthernet hardware uses the SUNWqfed device driver
>
> Does your system show something to a "man qfe"? Solaris 10
>does, and perhaps your Solaris 8 (IRRC) man page can show you something
>to enable it again.

Yes. A "man qfe" shows a man page with "qfe - SUNW,qfe Quad
Fast-Ethernet device driver" under NAME.

> And there should be a /dev/qfe entry if the system recognized it
>and installed it. (Hmm ... is it possible that you'll have to go back
>to the install CD-ROMs to find the driver for it?

If I type "ls -l /dev/qfe", I see:

<<>>
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 29 Jul 29 2003 /dev/qfe -> ../devices/pseudo/clone@0:qfe
<<>>

> And try:
>
> ifconfig -a
>
>and see what it lists.

I got:

<<>>
lo0: flags=1000849 mtu 8232 index 1
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000
<<>>

> Hmm ... does it have a captive power cord, or one of the
>plug-into-a-receptacle-on-the-back style? if the latter, look closely
>at that. If it is more than just barely big enough for the connector,
>you may see a pair of edge lines which hint that with the cord unplugged
>you can get a small screwdriver or a knife blade under it and pull out a
>fuse holder.

It does have a plug-into-a-receptacle-on-the-back style! Let me go
see...

It's out in the garage. I don't believe it does.

There is a female-style receptacle with two connectors into which the
power cord attached. And, just above that, in the same single "plastic
piece", is an outlet into which you could plug a 110-volt electrical cord,
that says "Switched". (And, above that, but it's another "plastic piece",
is where you can connect a 110-volt electrical cord, that says
"Unswitched".)

However, using a small screwdriver, I didn't see anyway to get under
it and pull anything out.

> As long as that tower is well grounded, it will probably pull
>the lightning away from the house

Both masts that go to the ground are metal, and there is *at least* a
2-foot hole. And, both have concrete around the mast within the hole in
the ground. (My father helped me with these, before he passed away.
Anything he does in this department is done good!) :-)

And, since the mast right at the back of the house has been done, I
have had a large concrete slab poured which also surrounds it, a couple of
inches above where it was grass/ground level, before.

> GC-1000? A general communications receiver? I'm trying to
>remember when Heathkit folded.

For 5, 10 and 15 MHz.

> Early 80's? Then solid state, not tube based I guess?

Correct.

> But you should have good documentation for it, if you kept all
>of the kit instructions.

And, I do. Actually, I have had it repaired, once, in the mid
1990's. I called around, and found someone who would repair it, even
though "Heathkit" no longer existed. (As of then, I didn't have any other
atomic clock monitor available for my computer.)

>> The scanner antenna is attached to the edge of my roof, about five or
>> six FEET from the entertainment center. On top of that is the mast that
>> had the wind anemometer on top of it.
>
> And how well grounded is that?

The scanner antenna itself is what is stuck into the ground, at least
2 feet and with concrete around it, as I described above. However, the
additional mast that had the wind anemometer is NOT connected directly
into the top of the lower mast. The scanner antenna is what is attached
on the top of that mast. It is actually metal-clamped to that mast on a
side where there was enough room between spokes of the scanner antenna to
go up through it without touching the spokes. It is metal clamped to the
lower mast, and I have a ground cable attached to it, although this just
connects to the mast that is "in the ground".

Where the wind anemometer is may not be quite as well grounded...

>> I have a ground cable attached to a ground rod beside my house which
>> is run up into the attic. The TV and another, though smaller, wire from
>> the inside connection of the wind anemometer where it connects to the
>> junction box is attached to it.
>
> How heavy a ground wire? With lightning, I'm not *really*
>comfortable even with the solid 8 gauge copper wire.

I'm afraid things like "8 gauge" doesn't tell me much. I purchased
it from Radio Shack in the first half of the 1990's, when I had this house
built. (They called it a ground cable.) I just measured the width, it is
about 1/8" of an inch thick. And, I don't think it's copper...

>> Yes. I'm east of Orlando, and about 40 miles from the eastern coast
>> of Florida.
>
> The projected paths mostly pass North of you -- except for one.
>:-(

It wound up going far further east than the forecasted track when it
came ashore over Florida. It's been fine, where I live. We got 3.40" of
rain yesterday (from a rain gauge that you stick in the ground and I can't
be as *precise* as my weather station rain gauge). :-)

It's on the eastern coast of Florida right now, roughly due east of
where I live. And, it is very close to Patrick AFB, which probably
explains why at this moment we're not working! (I heard that there are
power lines down on A1A right in front of Patrick AFB.)

A call around 8:00 PM last night indicated that we would NOT be
working this morning, and we needed to be alert to hearing whether we
would be working this afternoon.

Fay is moving a fast 3 MPH to the north, and it's not very far from
Patrick. I'm thinking we likely won't be working today.

> I was wondering about that -- but presumed that you found it
>with a search for "qfe" among other parameters.

Nope. I didn't have qfe in the search. I realized it wasn't talking
about the exact same type of interface, but I was just hoping! :-)

> You can try it, then look for a "/dev/qfe" entry, and check the
>"ifconfig" to see what you get. I would expect "hme1" to become
>"hme2001" and so forth, requiring changes in the names of the
>/etc/hostname.hme? files.

Ah! After I get back to this (probably in about another hour, unless
I'm called and told we can go to work), I'll look into that. (Right now
the path_to_inst is the only place where I see qfe stuff. But, I'll see
whether it looks like a change to my hostname.hme files is appropriate; I
hadn't thought of that...

Thank you, Don!

Barry
--
Barry L. Bond | http://home.cfl.rr.com/os9barry/
Software Engineer, ITT Corporation | (My personal home web page, last
bbondATcfl.rr.com | updated February 17, 2005)