newbie: cygwin initial usage crashes machine

[marco atzeri]

On 2/10/2012 3:12 PM, jss pop wrote:
> cygwin newbie. This is going to seem very low-key compared with the
> level of posts I see here but would really appreciate some help with a
> few things just to get started pls. I have checked the FAQ and lists but
> they are too advanced for where I am right now with cygwin.
>
> I  installed cygwin( CYGWIN_NT-5.1)without any problems at all. Clicked
> the Win desktop icon and the up came the Window and bash prompt.
> However I then tried:-

Hi newbie

that just told us that you are running cygwin on XP (=NT-5.1)

$ uname -a
CYGWIN_NT-6.1-WOW64 xxxxxxxxxxxx 1.7.10(0.259/5/3) 2012-02-05 12:36 i686 
Cygwin

cygwin version 1.7.10 running on W7/64 (=NT-6.1-WOW64)

>
> find / -name “*.c” –print  (and again later with –type  f argument)
> This ran, found a few .c files but continued running for a very long
> time – longer that expected. Even from / I though it seem too long.
> Many files appeared seemingly (from the displayed path name) as
> “registry-type” (UUID’s in pathname)  under  /proc.   The machine
> eventually crashed!  I do mean the machine   itself btw and not just
> cygwin.

/proc is a virtual file system and it includes the windows register.
/cygdrive is a mount of all windows drive, so a search on /
is a search on all disks plus the register and something more,
no surprise is very long

A search with find should not crash the machine, but other software 
other than cygwin could cause it.
For the time being restrict your find to a specific portion
of the tree

find /home -name “*.c” –print
find /usr -name “*.c” –print

and avoid /proc and /cygdrive
>
> The PC is running Win XP sp3 on a FOXCON mobo with 4Gb installed Crucial
> ram (passed by memtst).
>
> The disc layout is “unconventional”. For historic reasons,  the boot
> partition is on F: and the system partition on C:   This F: partition is
> in fact a logical partition residing in an extended partition. Cygwin is
> installed in F:\cygwin

That should be not a problem if the partition is NTFS one.
FAt32 will provide insufficient capability on file permissions

>
> I later tried running vi and that hung within the cygwin terminal window
> – but I think maybe that is because  not one of the installed programs
> as I cannot find the vi exe anywhere. I would though have expected a
> “not found” error. (And using “find” to find it crashes!).
>
> I tried
> “which vi” and that gave /bin/vi
>
> Finally, I just tried running “ed!” and got this:-
> $ ed
>        1 [main] -bash 1580! _pinfo::dup_proc_pipe: something failed for
> pid 0: re
>
>                        s 1580, hProcess 0x6E1, wr_proc_pipe 0x758 vs.
> 0x758, Win32 error 6
>
> I’d like to use cygwin – can someone pls help?
> thanks

please follow
> Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
about the data we need to understand the status of your cygwin
installation and that of your windows.

ed is probably not the easiest editor to start with.
I suggest to install at least vim ( Vi IMproved 7.3)
that at least has a tutorial mode.

Regards
Marco

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