This document should give older information (ordered from new to old) about
the Computer System and has been constructed for internal use in the
Sternwarte - guests from outside are not able to
read this page.
The latest pieces of information is available at the main
Computer System Homepage of the Sternwarte.
You may also refer to the System News web page
containing mails to all members of the Sternwarte about our Computer System.
Please note that:
On 09.-23.03.2001 we got three new workstations
(1 GHz AMD Athlon, 256 MB RAM,
one Maxtor HDD [81.4/81.4/40.9 GB]) available as 'aibn81',
'aibn97', and 'aibn98'.
The Zip from old 'aibn39' had been buit in the new
'aibn97', with 'aibn39' being the new burner station
accessible via remote login and having 9 GB of space on the HD.
Feel free to use it (or the burner at 'aibn75')!
The color printer 'phaser2' is down and may be repaired in two
weeks [from now, 15.09.2000] (or ....).
We got (for some not specified time) a similar printer from MPI, as
repair costs are higher than its value.
Two new workstations (800 MHz PIII with 256 MB RAM;
one with two 60 GB HDDs and an eIDE burner, the other with
one 46 GB HDD) are ordered (04.09.2000) to fill the gap
between number of astronomers to number of (powerful) workstations,
so we will have full coverage till end of the year (uff!).
Obelix (alias 'aibn75') will move to the neighbouring room
to be available for guest and anyone who wants to burn a CD or
scan some documents.
It has been proposed (JMB) that we should have a machine representing
our domain 'astro.uni-bonn.de', getting Mail, FTP, and Web Server
functionality - maybe best suited to be installed in our library.
New plans arise for an FTP/Web-Server to be in common use in the
CISCO room - maybe till end of 2000?
The new workstation 'aibn78' (Intel PIII 500 MHz,
256 MB RAM, 1x 25 GB + 2x 36 GB HDDs) has arrived
(22./23.11.1999) and replaces 'aibn46',
which itself replaces 'aibn34',
thus available for guests.
A second new workstation named 'aibn77' will arrive tomorrow
(Wednesday; Intel PIII 500 MHz, 128 MB RAM, 1x 25 GB +
1x 36 GB HDDs).
Additionally our old burner at 'aibn75' is dead and has been
replaced by a new burner (which can write with 6x = 900 kB/s transfer
rate instead of only 4x = 600 kB/s).
The burner is now (14.05.1999) installed in the new 'aibn75'
(Obelix) and data for burn has to be stored ONLY on the disk
'aibn75_4'. Please use the script 'burncd' to create
data or audio CD (see the short help
instructions).
Do never use one of the eIDE frives to ensure that both components
(HD and burner) are addressed by the SCSI controller and thus don't
disturb the work at Obelix - which is at the moment installation
and testing.
This work will result in a totally new system - so stay tuned!
Further information about the scanner will follow soon - there has to
be further installations to get it work convenient (i.e. using system-wide
configuration files).
The huge computer 'aibn75' - better known as Obelix,
has arrived (07.05.1999).
It is a dual PII 450 MHz (Symmetric Multi Processing: SMP),
512 MB RAM, 3 × 17 GB HDDs, SCSI interface (for external
devices like scanner and tape).
We will try to install the latest Debian (Potato version still marked
as unstable) and will also transfer many of the general tasks to it
(CD burnung, printer managing, hosting some big SCSI disks no longer
supported by the 'updated' Alphas) - so please be patient.
Two new PII machines (400 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 17 GB HDD) had
been ordered (21.01.1999), which are now to be installed
(19.03.1998) replacing 'aibn43' (the old machine will
be prepared to control the movements of the
1 m at
OHL) and 'aibn33'
(which is used now without the noisy disk in
room 3.17).
This means that at the moment we have 4 'next generation' workstations
(the 5th generation at the Sternwarte after
VAX, Ultrix, [old Alphas], Pentium 200 MHz [started end of '96]
with at least 256 MB RAM and 333 MHz PII [i.e. circuit-scale
of ≤25μm]), namely 'aibn36, 43, 44, 46'
(with 'aibn38' as combination between 4th and 5th generation).
A fifth machine will be ordered which will really demonstrate
'state of the art' until the Intel (/Hewlett-Packard) Merced processor
will emerge.
Until now the Alpha Problem caused by the OS 'update' is not solved (see
older Computer System Notes, 13.01.1999),
so some Alpha harddisks are not available.
We have planned to migrate with the latest bigger SCSI disks to
the more professional Pentium/Linux platform; at the end the Alphas
should only have internal HDs (reducing the noise) and should be used
directly or preferably as simple X-Terminals (at least this should be
possible with these machines).
Our Duplex-Printer 'lps3' has no toner (14.01.1999),
so we have to print on another printer till we got a new one.
Please note that for printing ASCII files, one should type e.g.
'text2ps filename | lpr -Plj4'
(no filter program available).
the OSF/1 (i.e. DEC Unix) version will be updated to 4.0 on all Alphas
by Oliver and Georg;
'aibn34' (testing phase from 13.01.1999 to end of
January), 'aibn33', and 'aibn31' have been updated
and had caused problems (no MO on 'aibn34', no 'user3'
at 'aibn31') - which has proven to be caused by the new OS.
'aibn32' will follow after the problems have been solved.
All new software packages for v4 will be available in
'/usr/local' (exported from '/aibn31_0'), see the actual
list of all new
software packages already installed.
we got two 10 GB harddisks for the Sternwarte, which have been
installed (on 18.12.1998) as 'aibn43_2' (replacing the
two old 3 GB disks 'aibn43_2' and 'aibn43_3') and
'aibn44_3', and a new machine for Klaus Reif with the old
computer and disks going to the OHL
to controll the 1 m CCD.
the new Din A4 laserprinter (Hewlett Packard LaserJet 4000 TN,
1200 dpi, 100 MHz RISC processor, 16 pages/min, PostScript
Level 2 emulation, HP PCL6, duplex-option, and 24 MB storage;
delivered by H&G) is now (10.11.1998)
installed replacing the old 'lps3'.
The default is duplex-mode which should be sufficient (a document
containing just one Din A4 page will be printed one side on a sheet,
e.g. for transparencies).
Please note that we have to order paper by our institute, so save
paper when possible. Please make doublesided prints and copies,
this will also save space!
The color scanner (near the window side) in the terminal
room at the 2nd floor (room 2.04) should work
now (if one does not want to scan a Din A 4 page in true color with more
than 250 dpi [= 2900×2050 pix2]).
You can scan by saying 'win' at the DOS prompt to start
Win 3.x, than clicking on the "Paint Shop Pro" icon
in the 'Applications' folder.
Scanning is started by 'File - Acquire - Prescan|Scan'.
You should save your images on 'F:' in your own directory.
If there is no space left, delete the older files.
If there will occur problems in future, please note the following data:
Scanner Type
IMAGERY 2400 SP
SCSI Driver
16 DI Adapter
(DTLD - 436 jumperless controller)
Port
280 H
There is always one idiot who plays with the configuration - next time
we will search this guy:
dead or alive!
it had been planned and is now realized to buy two other Linux
Workstations this year.
333 MHz Pentium II (PII) Workstations with 256 MB
RAM, the new 'aibn44' (the old machine will go to the
secretary) and 'aibn46' located on Oliver's desk (the last
Ultrix machine, 'aibn70', can be found next to 'lps2').
Both machines came from MBS.
'aibn25' (with its two harddisks) is used
exclusively for the CCD project (BUSCA: Bonn University
Simultaneous CAmera), so it is no longer in the cluster.
all Alphas ('aibn31-34') and 'aibn70' use now
(October '98) the Shell 'tcsh' instead the old
'csh' (standard on all Linux workstations).
Thus the old escape sequences in the prompt (e.g. for boldface font)
do not work - use the Linux prompt instead
(see '~sysstw/conf').
'aibn25' (with its two harddisks) is used now (September
'98) exclusively for the CCD project (BUSCA: Bonn
University Simultaneous CAmera), so it is no longer in the cluster.
I have ordered (29.03.1998) two new Pentium II PCs
('aibn37' for room 3.02 and a
new 'aibn38' replacing the old 'aibn38' and getting all
its disks, while the old 'aibn38' (then called 'aibn35')
will come with one 12 GB disk to the desk of Philipp,
room 3.08.
The two 19" screens had been delivered (27.03.1998),
the 2 workstations had been waiting for the 12 GB disks to
arrive.
The new 'aibn35' should get an eIDE Zip drive as slave at
the 2nd channel for 200 MB disks as soon as these drives get
available.
The new 'aibn38' will get 128 MB from the machines
'aibn35' (old 'aibn38') and 'aibn39'
(which can only have 64 MB cachable RAM because of the TX chipset
- so 128 MB in these machines was a mistake due to wrong information
by MBS).
we have additionally ordered two SCSI 9 GB harddisks which are now
(25.03.1998) connected to 'aibn34' and 'aibn32',
and the old 4 GB disk 'aibn32_4' went to 'aibn34'
(called 'aibn34_4', exchanged with the DAT tape) and
the 6 GB disk 'aibn34_3g' went to 'aibn33'
(called 'aibn33_1').
The two 2 GB data partitions 'aibn33_0c' and
'aibn33_0d' were combined to a 3 GB partition
'aibn33_0', leaving 1 GB for the system.
This should solve the most urgent needs concerning disk space for a
while.
'aibn45' will be moved from my desk to Klaas' office
(room 3.10) at the end of March '98.
'aibn44' has broken down again - it was repaired until
19.03.98 by exchange of the motherboard (2nd time).
Lets' hope that now 'aibn44' is connected to the lucky wire!
'aibn44' had a defect (25.02.98; dead PS/2 RAM chip) and
had been repaired till Friday (let's hope that the problem is gone).
the Ultrix machine 'aibn71' has died on 05.02.98,
the data on the four disks (now connected to 'aibn94') are now
available at the normal directories.
The repairing of the old Ultrix machines would be too expensive.
Both machines would need a new motherboard.
Let's hope that 'aibn70' will stay alive.
two weeks ago the disk 'aibn38_1' has died - including the
account for 'sysstw'.
Now (29.01.98) we are trying to get all data back and set the
latest changes, but this will take some time.
Sorry for the resulting inconvenience.
we have got (on 21.11.97) 2 new Linux PCs
('aibn38' and 'aibn39', 233/200 MMX Pentium with big
HDs) delivered by MBS,
which have been installed in the rooms
3.04 ('aibn39') and 3.05 ('aibn38').
On the 'aibn39' we have a new Zip drive for 100 MB
disks.
Additionally we got (on 30.10.97) a 4.33 GB harddisk named
'aibn32_4' delivered by ACHSE.
At the beginning of next year we shall get (at least) a new Linux
workstation 'aibn46' for
room 3.10 and a huge
8 GB harddisk for the old Alpha 'aibn33', with the old
disk (i.e. the 2 partitions 'aibn33_0c' and
'aibn33_0d') then mounted on 'aibn32'.
the new workstation "replacing" the 'aibn25' has
arrived and is already installed (with all programs, 08.10.97)
as 'aibn42'.
We test the automounter there, but this has no consequences for
the normal user (now the automounter is installed on all Linux
machines).
the two 6.4 GB SCSI harddisks (Quantum Fireball Stratos) arrived, the
one is the '/aibn34_3g' (users: maltmann, prichter),
the other is now the new '/user3' at the 'aibn31'
(16.09.97).
The former '/aibn34_3c|d' are now '/aibn31_9c|d',
the former '/user3' at the 'aibn70' have been changed
to '/aibn70_1' and made 'read only';
the data of all users of the '/aibn70_1' (old '/user3')
had been deleted until the end of October.
This disk can now be used as a replacement for the dead 0.9 GB
disk '/aibn71_1' (it died on 10.07.97 with 82% used
space).
All users should transfer their WWW directory
'~/public_html' from the linked datadisk directly to the
new '/user3'.
We have to figure out the maximum disk space allowed for each users -
I think something around 150 MB for active members and
75 MB for former members with programs/homepages of general
interest.
The machine 'aibn72' has died (10.09.97,
R.I.P.), but its' data disk '/aibn72_1' is accessable in the
normal way (behind the scenes it is served by the 'aibn71', which
also died [see above] and is now served by 'aibn94').
The bridge of the 3rd floor has broken down, so the
network traffic in the 2nd and 3rd floor is combined leading to a worse
performance than normal (this is really possible).
the workstations on the second floor will be transferred back
into room 1.11 on Monday, 16.06.1997.
Furthermore, there has some work to be done within the 'aibn55'
and on the local network. Hence, the workstations and the LAN will be
out of service between 9:00 and 18:00.
we have installed Supermongo 2.4 (see this HTML
helpfile or type 'man sm' on Linux machines), updated to MIDAS
NOV96pl2.1 and changed the inbuilt DAOPHOT to be capable of
2048×2048 pix2 CCD frames on all 3 Linux
Workstations (aibn43, 44, 45)!
This is now true for all Linux Workstations.
we had a computer seminar at the AIUB
on Tu. every two weeks at 10:00 (s.t.).
The next time (7. COSA) was planned at the beginning of WS 97/98,
but there was not enough interest.
In the long run (as you know I would not be able
to do it until beginning of 1999) we should revitalize a seminar,
but probably a local one at the Sternwarte like the former
computer seminar of the Sternwarte by
Jean-Marie Will
(the last was 8. COSS on 09.07.1996), which took place every
Tuesday at 13:00. Copies of these lessons are still available.
Every interested person may be encouraged to give a talk at the next
Computer Seminar!
Addresses of Computer Shops already used by the
Sternwarte:
New Cyber World
Inhaber: N. Berg
Weiherstraße 18
53111 Bonn
Tel.: 0228 / 69-7011
Fax: 0228 / 69-4823
(small tower computers 'aibn43', old
'aibn44' and the original 'aibn45' now at
OHL [e.g. all 3 GB eIDE Quantum
Fireball harddisks], etc.;
NOT my favorite)
VOBIS
Copyfax Weber & Prick GmbH
Breslauer Str. 61+61a
56566 Neuwied
Tel.: 02631 / 353540
Fax: 02631 / 353545
('aibn45_3' and private PC
'wotan')
All components more expensive than 1 000 DM must go via the desk
of the 'UNI Beschaffungsstelle', and for larger sums than
10 000 DM it is necessary to make an 'Ausschreibung'
(wich will need much time, so should be avoided):
