[1671] in Release_7.7_team
notes, 2/16
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mike Barker)
Tue Feb 16 23:15:07 1999
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 23:11:09 -0500
To: release-team@MIT.EDU
From: Mike Barker <mbarker@MIT.EDU>
Cc: mwhitson@MIT.EDU
Attending: Mike Whitson, Karl Ramm, Greg Hudson, Dan Winship, Oliver Thomas,
Abby Fox, Heather Anne, Bill Cattey, Mike Barker, Miki Lusztig
1. The problem with Telnet in the pre-login options allowing escape to a
shell has been stopped by using "telnet -E". This does mean Oliver may need
to figure out another way to login on some systems.
2. Most of the meeting was devoted to a discussion of LPRng. This is a new
printing system with a number of benefits, however introducing it will
require some care.
Bill has already circulated in separate email the analysis we did on the
board of costs and benefits for making this change. Four key ones: more
robust; better access control; year 2000 compliant; will allow us to set up
kerberized SAP printing support.
At present, the compatibility looks like:
Old clients work with old server and new server.
New clients work with the new server, but not with the old server.
Specifically, the problem only occurs with kerberized printing.
The desired plan, if possible, is to upgrade all print servers before May
1st, then upgrade the Athena clients for 8.3 (the summer release).
Steps towards this include:
1. Put the LPRng sources into the Athena release tree (Mike Whitson, Greg
Hudson)
2. Send mail to owners of klpd servers, cluster managers, etc. explaining
the issues (Mike Whitson will draft the letter)
3. Announce this in ACMG, OCMG, and other forums (Mike Barker)
4. Provide help for cluster managers etc. when doing the upgrade. some
automated aids may be possible, but we will probably have to send Mike
Whitson to some sites (and may need help from faculty liaisons and others).
The LPRng programs are available or can be ported easily to most Unix
variants. The existing Macintosh and PC clients have been shown to work
with it.
3. Ultra color depth
Ultra 5: some 8 bit only machines
24 bit machines -- operate either 8 or 24 bit
24 bit is reported to be only 1152x900 (instead of 1280x1024)
observed Ultra 5 hang ups
Ultra 10: as with SGI, 8 bit is default. 24 bit visuals are offered.
Applications picking a nondefault visual is hard.
Some questions: how do we reconfigure? How do we change the default visual?
Are there applications that break in 24 bit mode?
Action item: confirm whether 24 bit Ultra 5 really is limited to 1152x900
Steps:
1. Testing using Thomas Grayson directions
2. If possible, have 8.2 continue to use 8 bit default, but provide a way
to set to 24 bit
3. Consider having 8.3 use 24 bit default, with a way to set to 8 bit if
needed
Greg recommended that we discuss what new programs and/or features will be
in 8.3 at our next meeting.
