'Fas' Repair Will Make Login Process Faster

Students logging in to the Harvard Arts and Science Computer Services (HASCS) "fas" computer will find the process a little faster, thanks to a "patch" applied to the machine's operating system this weekend.

A "patch" replaces pieces of the operating system's code to remove bugs that can cause instability, including the frequent crashes and slowness that have plagued fas this year.

Problems with the login program may have caused some of this year's crashes, according to a Monday harvard.general post by HASCS Director Franklin Steen.

Steen said the computer's manufacturer, Sun Microsystems, sent the patch after HASCS notified the company of problems with the login program.

"We complained to Sun and they said they were aware of the problem and had a fix or 'patch' to the system," Steen said yesterday.

Fas was installed this summer to replace the old husc computers, which couldn't keep up with anticipated demand. HASCS has continued to fix, or "tweak," fas in an effort to improve performance. The patch, the most involved tweak yet, altered the program on fas that controls logging in. Previously, the program was not quitting correctly.

Steen said that Sun officials were not surprised to hear the complaints about the new computer.

"Sun did not tell us about these fixes when we bought the system," Steen said. "Instead, they told us when we ran into a problem."

This type of exchange is rather common when dealing with large operating systems, said Eugene E. Kim '96, president of the Harvard Computer Society.

"You basically just release it," Kim said. "If people find a problem, they report it, and you fix it quickly."

News Server

HASCS is also speeding up its newsgroups reading process by combining two slower computers' functions onto one new machine.

"The way it was set up before was obsolete," Kim said. "We had two computers: a slow VMS machine responsible for news outside Harvard and a relatively slow UNIX machine for news within Harvard.... HASCS is combining both news servers onto one very fast UNIX machine."

Steen said the new server, called fas-news.harvard.edu, is available for student use, although it does not yet offer all newsgroups.

"The [new] news server is a high powered DEC Alpha computer," Steen said. "It should make news reading go much faster in the FAS community."

"In particular the Clarinet news groups, a commercial service, has not yet been transferred," he added.

According to Steen, HASCS will announce when the news server is completely ready, which he said should be "soon.

This type of exchange is rather common when dealing with large operating systems, said Eugene E. Kim '96, president of the Harvard Computer Society.

"You basically just release it," Kim said. "If people find a problem, they report it, and you fix it quickly."

News Server

HASCS is also speeding up its newsgroups reading process by combining two slower computers' functions onto one new machine.

"The way it was set up before was obsolete," Kim said. "We had two computers: a slow VMS machine responsible for news outside Harvard and a relatively slow UNIX machine for news within Harvard.... HASCS is combining both news servers onto one very fast UNIX machine."

Steen said the new server, called fas-news.harvard.edu, is available for student use, although it does not yet offer all newsgroups.

"The [new] news server is a high powered DEC Alpha computer," Steen said. "It should make news reading go much faster in the FAS community."

"In particular the Clarinet news groups, a commercial service, has not yet been transferred," he added.

According to Steen, HASCS will announce when the news server is completely ready, which he said should be "soon.