A/UX Frequently Asked Questions

[ChristTrekker]

A/UX FAQ, updated for the 21st century

[redpro]

I'm replying because nobody else did. I clicked on the link and read the information. The question is "What is the point of all of it'???

[Unknown_K]

The point is people tinker with A/UX sometimes on their old Macs and having a FAQ lets them know what it will run on, and some common things they need to do to install it.

Mac OS is a bit more straight forward to setup then A/UX.

[QuadSix50]

Maybe this would be worthy of becoming a Sticky? That way it would always be available to those interested right off the bat. I have a copy of A/UX and I might actually give it another go in the future.

EDIT: Just noticed that it's now a sticky, but I don't know if it was already one or not before my post. I'm getting too old for this...

[aftermac]

I have a question. The following is from the A/UX FAQ:

Upgrades

Is it worth getting a cache card for the IIci?

Absolutely! The card makes an amazing difference in performance. However, this performance increase is reduced when an external monitor is used. For more information about extensive benchmarking with the IIci and cache cards, you can snag the benchmarking results via anon-ftp on redstar.dcs.qmw.ac.uk in archive/papers.

External monitor?

Is this statement intending to say "add-on video card"? Any IIci monitor will, of course, be external. This just happens to the exact configuration that I have: A/UX 3.0.1, IIci, and a cache card. Could someone clarify this?

Thanks!

[Unknown_K]

Maybe they meant the cache card speeds up the built in video (which uses RAM instead of VRAM), and that if you use a Nubus video card the cache card does not speed up video.

[pee-air]

What is 'catsearchd'?

Under A/UX, 'catsearchd' is a Unix process that maintains a cache of MacOS File System information. Having this cache available greatly increases the performance of catalog searches made from the MacOS and an AppleShare client.

For each file cached, 'catsearchd' requires 200 bytes of memory, so if your File Systems are large, 'catsearchd' can be a real memory hog. One way to avoid this is to use the 'nocats' option in 'fstab' for mounted file systems.

Unless you are running A/UX as an AppleShare server, there's no need to run 'catsearchd'; in fact, it's better not to run it due due to it's memory and performance hits. (How does one disable it?)

Howto Disable catsearchd:

To disable catsearchd you need to edit your /etc/inittab file. As root, type the following:

vi /etc/inittab

Then look for a line that looks like this:

csd:2:respawn:/etc/catsearchd # start catsearch daemon

And change it to look like this:

csd:2:off:/etc/catsearchd # start catsearch daemon

Then simply restart A/UX. catsearchd will no longer be running and you'll have some free memory for other more important things.

[ChristTrekker]

csd:2:off:/etc/catsearchd # start catsearch daemon

Then simply restart A/UX.

Does init q work on A/UX? That should rerun inittab stuff without needing to reboot.

[pee-air]

I don't know. I'll have to give it a try and find out.

[ChristTrekker]

I've put parts of the ToC into multiple columns to reduce scrolling, but I'd appreciate feedback on whether this has helped usability or not. Thanks.

[joshc]

Thanks for putting the effort into this...now if only I had the necessary hardware for it.

[Sloar]

Found this while looking for MPW, http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/030 ... AUX301.pdf
a manual for A/UX. Also found some updates and drivers for NeXTSTEP and more, http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Su ... nterprise/

hope this helps someone.

[deus_the_programmer]

hello can anyone supply me with email software to run on a/ux ?
thanks, ed.

[ChristTrekker]

New home for the A/UX FAQ list. Should be more reliable than the previous site.