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Messages - Doug Bissett

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931
Programming / Re: OS4 question
« on: July 12, 2016, 12:09:08 am »
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Will using the OS4 kernels possibly do away with the 4gb limit for files? .vdi files, and others commonly run in excess of 4gb and up tp 8gb in many cases.

The kernel has nothing to do with file size limits. That is the file system that does that. Mentioned above, FAT32 (in OS/2) is limited to 4 GB (had a fight with that recently).

JFS is limited to something larger than the 25 GB ZIP file that I have for one of my backups (and, yes I can restore it).

I copy those files across my LAN to another eCS machine using RSYNC.

I also copy them to a couple of JFS formatted USB devices, using copy, or RSYNC.

SAMBA will also allow me to copy them to other machines over the LAN (including using win 10 as the client), but the eCS SAMBA client is pretty flaky, while the SAMBA server seems to be rock solid.

FWIW, I have quit using HPFS, which saves me some very valuable shared memory space. I use JFS for everything except sharing files with windows, which requires FAT32. JFS is noticeably faster, and far more reliable, than HPFS IMO. It is recommended to get the latest version from Arca Noae, because it fixes a rare, but very damaging, problem.

I did play with OS/4 for a while, but once it started interfering with my normal system, I quit using it, although I still have it in a virtual machine (which I haven't used for more than a year).

932
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I'm to the point now where I'm going to leave it installed on that partition, but will not use it unless I have to.

I would suggest that you fire it up after the second Tuesday of the month, to get the updates. It seems that windows can get itself tied in knots if it doesn't stay up to date. Updates will probably take about an hour, but if you let it go two months, it can take 4 hours, and eventually it can get to the point where it just won't do it.

A couple of other tips: I use AVAST! free antivirus https://www.avast.com/index, SpywareBlaster http://www.brightfort.com/spywareblaster.html, CCleaner https://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER, and MyDefrag (which is no longer maintained, but still works better than any other defragger that I know about, although Degraggler is a close second) http://download.cnet.com/MyDefrag/3000-18512_4-10701976.html. All are free, and even my nephew who likes to play some serious games (and look at porn sites) has managed to stay out of serious trouble for about 6 years, by using them.

Disclaimer: I have no interest in any of them, other than as a satisfied user.

I keep windows installed so I can help out those who get themselves in trouble by using it, and to do a few things that eCS won't do. I seem to spend more time maintaining windows, than working with eCS. If they ever get VBox for ArcaOS working properly, I will seriously consider using that to run windows.

933
I have done 8 win 10 installs (mostly free "upgrades"). Only one went well, and that was on a newly installed win 7, with nothing else installed.

Some tricks:

Early in the install sequence, they offer to set up a lot of settings for you. There is an obvious NEXT button, and an almost invisible "Customize" link. Select Customize, and turn off everything that even hints that it will send data to Microsoft (or anybody else).

When it comes time to make a user and password, DO NOT connect to Microsoft's cloud. Use a local ID and password. This will prevent a few things from working, but not enough to make it worthwhile selling your soul to Microsoft (you can change your mind later, but be sure that you understand what it does).

After you get the whole thing installed, go through ALL of the settings panels, and turn OFF anything that even stinks of sending data to anybody. When you find the panel that shows programs that run in the background, turn most (or all) of them OFF.

Some things that I found:

Code: [Select]
Turn off forced updates

If you're anything like us, you set up previous Windows releases so that
they wouldn't install updates automatically - one forced reboot is one
too many. To be fair to Microsoft, Windows 10 handles post-update
reboots much more elegantly, but we'd still rather be in control from
the outset.

There is a workaround for users running Windows 10 Pro: from the Start
Menu, search for 'gpedit' and run the Group Policy Editor. Expand
Computer Configuration in the left-hand pane, and navigate to
Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update. Double-click
Configure Automatic Updates in the list, select the Enabled radio
button, and in the left-hand box select 2 - Notify for download and
notify for install. Now click OK, and you'll be notified whenever there
are updates - unfortunately, they'll be a daily irritation if you're
using Windows Defender.

The Group Policy Editor isn't available on Windows 10 Home, but we'd
recommend you at least open Windows Update, click Advanced options and
select Notify to schedule restart from the Choose how updates are
installed list. While you're here, all Windows 10 users might want to
click Choose how updates are delivered, and ensure that Updates from
more than one place is either off, or set to PCs on my local network.

Where's Safe Mode when you need it?

Nothing gets you out of Windows trouble like Safe Mode, which is why
it's inexplicable that you can no longer enter it by pressing F8 or
Shift+F8 at boot. Although it's still available in Windows 10, you have
to boot into Windows first, then either restart holding the left Shift
key or via an option within Update & Security in the Settings app.
Neither method is helpful if your PC can't boot into Windows in the
first place.

You can't get around this, which is why it's helpful to create a boot
time Safe Mode option before trouble arrives. Hit Win+x and select
Command Prompt (Admin), then type bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Windows 10
Safe Mode" and hit Enter. From the Start Menu type msconfig, run System
Configuration in the results, and navigate to the Boot tab. Highlight
the Windows 10 Safe Mode option you just created, tick Safe boot and
select Minimal under Boot options and - if necessary - reduce the
Timeout value so you won't be inconvenienced - the minimum is three
seconds. Tick Make all boot settings permanent (in fact you can simply
return here to delete the Safe Mode entry) and click OK.

Enable System Restore

Another inexplicable choice in Windows 10 is that System Restore isn't
enabled by default; we wouldn't hesitate to turn it on. Search for
'Create a restore point' in the Start Menu and select it in the results,
then highlight the system drive, click the Configure button and select
Turn on system protection. Use the slider to set an appropriate amount
of maximum disk space - about 5GB ought to be enough. Note that,
annoyingly, the upgrade to Windows 10 version 10586 turns this off again
- you'll need to turn it back on.

Fix slow boot times

Like Windows 8 before it, Windows 10 uses a hybrid boot to enable fast
boot times. When you shut the system down, apps and app processes are
terminated, but the Windows kernel itself is hibernated to allow for a
faster restart. In theory it's great, but it seems to still be very slow
for some Windows 10 users.

Disable it by searching for Power Options in the Start Menu and running
the matching Control Panel applet, then in the left-hand pane click
Choose what the power buttons do. Click Change settings that are
currently unavailable, scroll down and un-tick Turn on fast start-up,
then click Save changes. This should prevent very slow starts on
affected PCs. Some users report that if they subsequently reboot,
re-trace their steps and re-enable fast start-up the problem remains cured.

If you're dual-booting between Windows 10 and Windows 7, switching fast
start-up off will also fix the problem where Windows 7 checks the disks
each time you boot it: With fast start-up enabled, the earlier operating
system doesn't recognise that the disks have been properly shut down by
Windows 10.

The lock screen gets in the way

Return to a locked Windows 10 device and you'll see a pretty picture.
That's nice, but it's a needless obstacle in the way of logging in. If
you're as impatient as we are, disable the lock screen by searching the
Start Menu for regedit, and running the Registry editor.

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows. If
you don't already see a key named 'Personalization', select the Windows
key, right-click it, choose New>Key and rename this new key to
Personalization (sic). Right-click the Personalization key, choose New
again then select DWORD (32-bit) Value. Select New Value #1 in the
right-hand pane and use F2 to rename it NoLockScreen, then double-click
it, change the value data to 1 and click OK. After a reboot, the lock
screen will be gone.

There are many more tips out there, but doing all of this seems to make win 10 work almost as well as win 7 does, and it keeps your data on your own machine. Especially important when sharing a FAT32 drive between win 10 and OS/2 (eCS), is to turn OFF Fast start.

934
Storage / Re: MTP plugin for Netdrive?
« on: June 27, 2016, 06:51:48 am »
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Can't have you copying stuff that the powers that be say not to.

There will always be a way to do it.

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As for wi-fi, here my computer is on the other side of the wireless router so some things just don't work and even those that do, I have to use my 207.xxx.xxx.xxx external address which is always changing, rather then my 192.168.0.x address that I've assigned to my lan card.

You do have an "unusual" internet connection. There may be a way to work around that, but it could be more work than it is worth.

935
Storage / Re: MTP plugin for Netdrive?
« on: June 26, 2016, 09:09:10 pm »
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I just tried mediatomb, dies with,

It was a few years ago (2011?) when I set it up, so I don't remember what I did. It still works perfectly, for me. The basic setup was to assign a user ID and password, then attach the file structure. FWIW, your ifconfig shows exactly the same as what I have (except for the address), so it is probably a program setup problem.

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MTP support would allow connecting devices much like a MSD.

I am not sure that I understand the need. I can connect my android phone as a MSD device, if I want to bother doing it. WiFi is easier, and the speed is reasonable.

To make it even easier, Lenovo has a program, available to all, called ShareIt. It doesn't run in native OS/2, but it does run under windows (as well as Android and IOS, including windows in VBox). See: http://shareit.lenovo.com/. It says it uses WiFi, but it also uses wired connections, or even VBox to host networks. The "worst" part about it is that they keep changing the user interface, but it is usually not too difficult to figure it out.

Perhaps the code is available for ShareIt???

936
Storage / Re: MTP plugin for Netdrive?
« on: June 26, 2016, 06:45:34 pm »
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Wondering how many people would find a MTP plugin for Netdrive useful?

Wondering why you don't just use Mediatomb (http://os2ports.smedley.id.au/index.php?page=mediatomb), which seems to work with my android phone, as well as with all of my other devices that have a browser and a network connection to the "server" (over WiFi, which is easier to use than USB, and it doesn't require additional software). The Mediatomb that is available is version 0.12.0, but I see that 0.12.1 is available for other platforms.

I don't have netdrive (other than what the SAMBA client for eCS supplies), and I haven't seen any compelling reason to acquire it.

I am not trying to discourage you, but I suspect that you could spend your time doing more useful things (WiFi comes to mind).

938
Applications / Re: Firefox 38.8.0 for OS/2 Beta 7
« on: June 19, 2016, 07:22:18 am »
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Or perhaps compile YUM/RPM/ANPM so that it uses its own set of DLLs, or compile so that it uses no DLLs, and build in the ability to unload DLLs in use - which is really needed anyway for an installer.

I will point out that ANPM uses RPM/YUM, but can do nothing that RPM/YUM won't do by the command line. RPM/YUM will update DLLs that are in use, but that may not take effect until the user reboots. It is known that RPM/YUM has many problems, but that is the method that was chosen to do updates for packages that originate in the Linux world.

There was a problem, some time ago, where RPM/YUM could not update itself. Please see: https://www.arcanoae.com/wiki/anpm/non-updated-systems/ for instructions to fix the problem.

939
Setup & Installation / Re: Need help with QSINIT
« on: June 02, 2016, 07:45:48 pm »
I changed qssetup.cmd to uppercase and it works now....

Now, how do I boot OS/2 from this environment? I have a zipped up minimal OS/2 partition.

What do I call it and where should it go?

Read the last section of PAEDISK.TXT. It is a little more complicated than what you need, but it tells you exactly what to do.

940
Networking / Re: Cannot start peer services
« on: June 02, 2016, 07:17:12 am »
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Any ideas on why I can't use netbios?

A lot of newer devices (routers, WiFi, etc.) do not pass NETBIOS packets. Try NETBIOS over TCPIP.

941
Setup & Installation / Re: Need help with QSINIT
« on: June 02, 2016, 07:13:59 am »
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What I can't work out is whether QSINIT can load OS2KRNL and boot OS/2 from a ramdisk....

Yes, it can. READ the instructions in the documentation.

You DO need to use a FAT16 RAMDISK, and your ZIPed system needs to have all 8.3 file names. QSINIT unzips the ZIPed system into the RAMDISK, then it can boot from it. FAT16 is necessary because QSINIT cannot unzip into a HPFS RAMDISK, and OS/2 cannot operate a FAT32 RAMDISK before it loads the FAT32 driver.

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Can you give me an example of a QSSETUP.CMD which does something, anything at all...

Mine has this:
Code: [Select]
RAMDISK min=1536 max=2047 R:
log save c:\log.txt

It creates a RAMDISK with minimum size of 1536 meg, and a maximum size of 2047 meg, then assigns LVM drive address R:. Then, it copies the QSINIT log file to what QSINIT sees as the C: drive, which is seen by OS/2, after BASEDEV=hd4disk.add loads, as the R: drive.

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and placed it in the same directory as QSINIT.LDI expecting it to run automatically but see no output. How do I get it to run?

You are still missing the concept that QSINIT is an OS (similar to DOS). It runs when you boot, and shows you the menu options. I am not sure if the menu shows before QSSETUP.CMD is run, or after, but it is all done by the time it starts to load OS2KRNL. You should be able to see it if you use F3, when the menu is showing, and drop to a command line in QSINIT. I doubt if "pause" is a good thing to do (hopefully, it does nothing). I also doubt if "echo" does anything useful. Remember that QSSETUP.CMD is an "AUTOEXEC.BAT" for the QSINIT OS, and the QSINIT OS is all done by the time OS2KRNL loads.

942
Setup & Installation / Re: Need help with QSINIT
« on: May 31, 2016, 06:40:40 am »
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I am still not clear what you mean....

I think you are expecting something after you boot OS/2. QSINIT does it's work in place of OS2LDR. When you see the menu (as posted a few posts back), that has the option to drop to the QSINIT shell (F3 will drop you to the QSINIT command line - it is an OS in itself). QSINIT can use some files from the root of the boot drive, as documented. I suggest that you start with a less complicated setup, and get that working, then add whatever else you want.

943
Applications / Re: Firefox 38.8.0 for OS/2 Beta 7
« on: May 29, 2016, 08:24:26 pm »
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couldn't find a package for unrpming.

Apparently 7ZIP will do it, but I seem to recall that it takes two passes.

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In several occasions with early eComstation installations all rpm installations failed with at the end a chaos on the computer.

That is why you should get, and use, Arca Noae Package Manager (and avoid the experimental repository). It cannot compensate for poor RPM/YUM packaging (which happens far too often), but it almost always stops before any damage can be done.

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They make the same mistake as with eComstation, when other language packs are coming out they are behind compared to the native English one, which will lead to differences in what you can do at programming level.

That is not necessarily a "mistake". It is the reality that there just aren't enough people to do the job. The English version appears first, simply because that is the language that is already done during development. It takes some time for other languages to be done, and verified, before they can be released. It is not an ideal situation, but I don't know of any good way to speed up the process.

944
Internet / Re: Firefox & temporary files (etilsq_*)
« on: May 29, 2016, 07:59:52 pm »
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Just delete them, preferably with FF closed otherwise some may be locked. They seem to be sqlite3 temporary files and really Mozilla should  clean them up when closed.
Ideally is a script to clean %TMP% when booting up or what I did is have %TMP% on a ramfs.ifs volume.

Okay, that explains why I didn't find any. I use the PAE Ramdisk from the QSINIT package for %TEMP%, and it, of course, gets wiped clean at every boot.

The %TEMP%, %TMP% and %TEMPDIR% entries in CONFIG.SYS usually point to the same place, and that location should contain only currently open temporary files. Programs are supposed to clean up after themselves, but there are a number of reasons why they don't. As noted, a user should take steps to clean that out, on a regular schedule (at each boot is good).

I have heard of people who use the %TEMP% directory as temporary file storage, and that is a very BAD idea.

There are a couple of other places where files collect. SAMBA leaves log files in C:\MPTN\ETC\samba\log\Archive and C:\MPTN\ETC\SmbBackup, forever. You may want to keep a few of the latest ones, in case you need them, but hundreds of them are a bit much.

945
Applications / Re: Firefox 38.8.0 for OS/2 Beta 7
« on: May 29, 2016, 07:45:41 pm »
I will point out that it took a couple of minutes, using Arca Noae Package Manager, to get this right, and I used my latest WarpIn installer (at Netlabs, and Hobbes) to get Firefox 38.8.0 properly installed. The WarpIn installer no longer makes any attempt to verify that the user has the proper DLLs (and other things) installed. ANPM (recommended), or the YUM command line, will do that properly. Trying to do it yourself is probably possible, but I suspect that it will turn into an exercise in frustration, before you figure it out. It seems that even the developers don't know what you need.

FWIW, I installed FF 38.8.0 last night, and it seems to be working well. The only anomaly, that I have noticed, is that it insists that I haven't used FF for a while, it welcomes me back, and it offers to clean up Firefox. I haven't let it do that, yet.

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