Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!jarthur!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!csfst1
From: csfst1@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Charles S. Fuller)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Re: Any experiences with installing OS 10.2?
Summary: Update on tty corruption problem
Keywords: SR10.2 tty pty
Message-ID: <23547@unix.cis.pitt.edu>
Date: 14 Apr 90 14:36:36 GMT
References: <23005@netnews.upenn.edu> <1990Apr13.135346.2452@helios.physics.utoronto.ca>
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh, Computing & Information Services
Lines: 41

In article <1990Apr13.135346.2452@helios.physics.utoronto.ca>, petersn@physics.utoronto.ca (Mike Peterson) writes:
> 
> When I installed SR10.2 on both a DN2500 and a DN4000, there were/are
> bad problems with the /dev/pty's being corrupted at regular intervals
> by either telnet/rlogin into the system ...
>               ... the workaround is to rebuild the pseudo-devices
> with 'mkdev /dev pty' 

We've run into that on a DN10000 running sys5 as well, and currently
have an APR opened (along with a few other sites, I understand).  There
IS good news regarding one manifestation of the problem, though.  

Users at our site telnet into the machine via terminal server, and were
being prevented from logging in due to the tty corruption problem.  They
would be presented with the "login:" prompt, but after supplying their
username, they were being given no opportunity to respond to the
"Password:" prompt before the system responded with an "Improper login"
message.

Recently, we received a "patched" telnetd which seems to correct that
problem.  I quoted "patched", above, because the "new" telnetd actually
has an older timestamp than the "old" one.  If you're still seeing this
problem, I'd recommend calling Apollo ASAP.  They may have "patches"
for other machines, as well.

One other apparent manifestation of the tty corruption problem still
has us stumped, though.  At apparently random times/tty's, the system
arbitrarily chooses 24, 30, or 40 lines as the size of the terminal
being driven.  24 is not bad on a 30-line screen, but 40 ... well, you
get the picture.  We have found that by logging-in on top of your
current shell, you can get back to the proper number of lines.  

If anyone has any other hints for getting around the various
manifestations of this problem, please post them.  Although I am told
that Apollo is feverishly working to find a fix for this, my own
feeling is that it may be a while before a real fix is available, due
to the complexity of the problem.  Indeed, I hope that before a fix
IS released, it is QA'd to a much greater degree than the original.

Chuck Fuller
Westinghouse Electric Corporation