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New user / CD installation problems


Dear list members,

I have installed Cygwin on Windows 98 and want to do a CD installation
onto Windows 95.  I would just like to compare notes on the problems I
have encountered.

I normally use Linux.  I need to install TeX and friends at work to
correct reports that I write at home.  I am paid to draft and type
them at work on Microsoft Word (on Windows 95), but that program can't
produce the quality of work that I require, and doesn't support the
degree of report automation I achieve with TeX macros.  It is
time-wasting.

After writing the report in TeX (with emacs) I produce a PDF file
which I take to work to print out.  It has to be checked there before
being issued, and if some small correction is needed I can't do it on
the spot, it means at least a day's delay.  Hence Cygwin as a
solution.

I can't do a direct, network installation of Cygwin at work, I have to
install it on a test computer that I have at home, which has Windows
98 installed.  This is not the computer on which I run Linux, but it
has an ext2 partition on it, and I boot it from Linux rescue floppies
as needed.  From there I have to burn Cygwin onto a CD and carry that
to the workplace.

Now the problems.  If this is just "how it is", tell me, and I'll be
happy.  If I can fix some of them, that will be even better.  Most of
these appear in the direct network installation.  The CD installation
problem (only one) I will come to.

1.  Cygwin is very slow.  Remarkably so.  I guess this might be just
    how it is when a Unix environment is being emulated by Microsoft
    Windows, but I haven't seen it (the slowness) alluded to in this
    list, so maybe not.

I have had no problems with emacs using X11, except that the speed
(lack of) problem is exacerbated in the graphical environment.  But it
is not worth the time needed to get X11 set up nicely, if that is
possible at all. (But I have fvwm working: it looks promising, given
unlimited time and some way to get rid of the clutter of frames).  I
will be using Cywin in text mode.

2.  In text mode, I can't exit emacs with Ctrl-X Ctrl-C.  To get out I
    have to background it with Ctrl-Z and then find its process number
    with ps and kill it.

3.  In emacs in text mode, Control-Space prints a space instead of
    setting a mark.  Is there another way to set a mark?

4.  The terminal emulation is screwed after leaving X.  Pressing Enter
    does not produce a line feed: everything is on one line.  This is
    not fixed with reset.  I have to log out of Cygwin and run it
    again.  Is there a command that I haven't thought of that will fix
    this?

5.  Sometimes, xterms are dead, no terminal command prompt, no
    response.  One has to quit X11 (and because of 4, quit Cygwin) and
    try again.  Then, it might work.

To burn a CD I boot the Windows computer with the Linux rescue floppies,
cpio.gz Cygwin into a file in the ext2 partition, copy that back to
the MS-Windows partition (which is "D:"), and, using MS-Windows, ftp
the file to the Linux computer which has a CD burner.

It is the runnable installation, the "cygwin" directory tree, that I
am talking about.  Some time ago I tried it with the source tree on
the CD, running setup and trying to install from that, but it was a
total failure (the setup program refused to look at the CD and I could
find no way of directing it to do so.)

In my tests, I have deleted Cygwin and either (1) reinstalled directly
from the cpio.gz file (using the gzip and cpio on the rescue
floppies), or (2) copied the cygwin tree from the CD.  The resulting
installation works, to my relief.  There is just one more problem
particular to this method of installation.

6.  File names that are all lowercase in the standard installation
    switch to all uppercase when copied either from the CD or the
    cpio.gz file.  Can anyone explain what is happening here, and if
    there is something that I can do to fix this generally?  I should
    add that they are lowercase under Linux (rescue boot), but appear
    uppercase when Cygwin is run.

7.  Here is another problem that relates to the attempted installation
    on my employer's W95 computer at the worksite.  The cygwin tree as
    installed at home, and on the CD, occupies about 380 MB.  On the
    work computer I have by drastic means cleared 800 MB of free disk
    space, but run out of space when copying the 380 MB from the CD.
    I noticed (booting the computer from the rescue disks) that an
    empty directory occupies 32 kB on this computer.  I guess there
    has been some overgenerous allocation block size configuration so
    that every directory entry requires 33k.  Could this be correct?
    If so I might need the resident MS-Windows gurus to reinstall
    Windows 95.

Apologies for all the dumb user questions.  I am not in a position to
help with Cygwin development.  I just want to exploit you guys.

Regards,
Michael Talbot-Wilson


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