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Messages - Doug Clark

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1
Programming / Wdsibyl crash
« on: March 07, 2024, 10:14:30 pm »
Anyone know the solution to this crash when opening a previously saved project?

I also get error messages that major components are not available when trying to build a new application, such as TMain1 can't be found.


2
Programming / Re: SQL running total
« on: February 25, 2024, 01:30:57 am »
Oops - I realize that some of the entries in ODBCINST.INI still had the path to my Lotus SmartSuite install.   Which will cause an error of not being able to find the driver or setup routines.

These new files have the paths removed - because you really don't need to put them in either ODBC.INI or ODBCINST.INI.  ODBC can find them on the LIBPATH.

Sorry.

3
Hardware / Re: Netbios network speed pci-pcie adapter
« on: February 25, 2024, 01:25:56 am »
The connection between the card that plugs into the PCIe slot and the circuit board that contains the two PCI slots is actually a special cable that can only be plugged in to those two cards even though it uses a USB connector.  It cannot be plugged into a regular USB connector on the motherboard.  If it is it will ruin the motherboard and the expansion card - according to the vendor.

The vendor says it does not need a driver, but the instructions with the adapter say to plug the card into the PCIe slot first and wait until the blue light comes on the card/adapter, then plug in the PCI card into the adapter - you need to wait until Windows loads a driver for the adapter.  The tech support forums indicate that on some machines you have to make change to bios settings so that Windows will recognize the adapter.  So I am guessing they built it to use some driver that Microsoft distributes with Windows.

Strangely enough, when I tested it the Intel driver appears to recognize the Intel NIC on boot up  but I cannot connect to my server or transfer any data.

The other issue with this adapter is that they located the power connector right at the back of the PCI connectors, which means you cannot physically plug in any PCI card that is longer than the connector itself, because any power connector you plug in will stick up far enough to block the card from fully plugging into the slot.  The StarTech adapter uses a pig tail for the power connector so that you can fit a card into its slot without any clearance issues.

When I did my test with the Trotwei Blue two connector adapter I did not plug power into the adapter because the power connector would not fit with a PCI card plugged in.  And even then I could not use the same Intel NIC that I used with the StarTech, because of the location of the power connector.  So it is possible there was an incompatibility between the Intel NIC I used with the Trotwei Blue and that adapter.  I used a different Intel NIC with the StarTech.

The Intel Pro 1000 MT that I used in the StarTech is a PCI/PCI-X  card that fits in either a 32 bit or 64 bit PCI slot.  The extra "fingers"  on the card are for when it is plugged into a 64 bit PCI slot. (The card automatically detects which kind of slot it is plugged into.)  But those fingers will not allow it to fit in the Trotwei Blue adapter, even without power connected to the adapter.





4
Hardware / Netbios network speed pci-pcie adapter
« on: February 24, 2024, 05:39:43 pm »
I have an ECS machine acting as a file server and database server using both WSeB and SAMBA 3.6.12.  I have ECS, AOS, WinXP, Win7, and various Macs as clients - some of those are dictated by the driver requirements of various hardware I use.

The OS/2 machines use Netbios, the others use SAMBA to talk to the client.

When I installed AOS 5.1 on a new MSI Pro B550-VS/Ryzen 5600X I ran into a netbios speed issue with the RealTek 8111H gigabit LAN controller.  The netbios speeds are about 200 times slower than FTP or Samba speeds.  I have run into this speed issue with this chip set on other motherboards so I assume it is a driver issue.  This means, for example, the transfer time for a 1.5GB file goes from 50 seconds to more than 2.5 hours.  It also means that VLC cannot play a movie located on the server because the transfer speed is so slow.

I could not connect with the new ArcaMapper to Samba 3.6.12 on my server.  I have connected other OS/2 machines using Samba 3.6 to the server but I could not connect on AOS 5.1 with ArcaMapper.

So I tried FTPIFS on the AOS 5.1 machine and installed Peter Molyan's FTP server on the server.  That works pretty well, but some applications, like VLC, will not work with FPTIFS.

I know from past experience that Intel network drivers work very will with OS/2.  But it appears that the newer Intel chipsets - like the ones used on their PCIe adapters -  will not work with the older OS/2 drivers.  And my motherboard does not have any PCI slots.

So the solution was to use an older PCI Intel Pro 1000 NIC in a PCI to PCIe adapter. 

This PCI to PCIe adapter does NOT work:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYWLVYL4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

But this one does:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0024CV3SA?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

It plugs into a PCIe x 1 slot.

You just plug the adapter into the slot on the motherboard, and the PCI card into the adapter.  The only downside is I have to modify the bracket to fit the case since the combination adapter/NIC is taller than a standard full height card.

All the slots on my motherboard are PCIe x16 slots, two of those will support mode x1.  I have the adapter plugged into one of the x1 mode supported slots.  I do not know if the adapter will with in slots that do not support mode x1.

This required no changes in BIOS settings - just plug and play.

I have attached the speed of Win7 to ECS via Samba just for comparison.

5
Programming / Re: SQL running total
« on: February 23, 2024, 08:15:57 pm »
I have attached the program we talked about.

This is an app that I first wrote years ago to handle some specific database needs.  It is not complete and probably never will be.  But while it was a number of warts and is missing some features, it will run SQL queries against dDbase files using version 3 ODBC drivers.  Which means it will handle your SQL statement, and the version 3 driver supports renaming of columns in the result set with AS

To get line numbers for your results (what you call sequence numbers) type
SET SHELL ROWNUMBERS=YES before you execute your query.  They will appear on the left instead of the right as you show.


6
Programming / Re: SQL running total
« on: February 23, 2024, 08:00:13 pm »
Per,

Try the the ODBC drivers attached.  You need both files. 

Unzip ODBCINIFILES.ZIP in C:\OS2

Unzip ODBCFILES.ZIP in C:\

These will work with you Approach and other Lotus applications.  It contains all the drivers that I know about, including PostgreSQL, SQLite, etc. as well as dBase at ODBC version 3, as well as version 3 and version 3.5 ODBC Driver Managers.

You can use this installation to switch between your Intersolv drivers licensed for Lotus SmartSuite and other drivers including version 3.5 without rebooting.  Instructions are in the ReadMe.Txt in ODBCFILES.ZIP

If you want ODBC version 3 files that are evaluation license get ODBC_3-01.zip from hobbes.


7
Setup & Installation / Re: Install - screen goes blank when pmshell starts
« on: February 08, 2024, 06:47:33 am »
Rich:
Quote
You are booting UEFI using CSM base video drivers:
  SET VIO_SVGA=DEVICE(BVHVGA,BVHSVGA)
vs.
  SET VIO_SVGA=DEVICE(BVHEFI)
This turned out to be the magic info I needed. 

If
 SET VIO_SVGA=DEVICE(BVHVGA,BVHSVGA)
and I boot CSM then SNAP works correctly and I don't get the weird triangles  durning boot.

If
SET VIO_SVGA=DEVICE(BVHEFI)
and I boot UEFI I also don't get the weird triangles but DOS sessions do not work.

Dave:
I have given up booting directly, CSM mode, to AOS.  I have to press F11 on startup and select the drive from the menu.

I did try reFind (eEFInd), and used SCANFOR and UEFI_DEEP_LEGACY_SCAN options in refind.conf.  reFind will find the hard drive and will boot to it in CSM mode, but it requires an additional boot.  The sequence is :
1)  initial boot goes to reFind menu
2) on reFind menu select hard drive, press enter
3)  refind reboots the machine and this reboot goes directly into the drive I selected.

So I am pleased and impressed that reFind will boot to a drive in CSM mode, which its documentation says it won't do.
But since that requires an additional reboot (albeit automated), what's the point.

The good news is once I am in AOS and reboot the enhanced shutdown dialog lists the boot volume and selecting that allows a reboot to go directly into AOS.
So I am stuck with F11 on initial boot and reset.  Still worth it to get SNAP working.

Thanks again everyone for your help and suggestions.  I really appreciate it.

[edit/modify]
Correction - turns out I can boot directly to a MBR disk in CSM mode on initial boot.  Just had to move the hard drive to a different SATA socket (lower SATA number, i.e. from SATA 7 to SATA 1).  This then allows the drive to appear as an available drive in the boot priority list.  Putting it as the first drive in the priority list has it booting correctly.
[end edit modify]




8
Setup & Installation / Re: Install - screen goes blank when pmshell starts
« on: February 03, 2024, 12:55:17 am »
Afterthought... you say you installed AirBoot on the NVME. Did you _really_ reformat the drive as MBR? Argggh...

Naahh - it was always formatted MBR.  I figured life was complex enough without adding GPT to the mix.

 I used MiniLVM - Boot Menu - Remove to remove the UEFI boot "manager" and then Boot Menu - Install and selected AirBoot.  However the mouse doesn't work when booting through AirBoot, so I went back to MiniLVM to remove AirBoot and create the ESP partition and realized it was still there - the MiniLVM remove option doesn't actually delete the partition.

You keep making it worse for yourself.

With this experience I think I am going to adopt that as my motto.  I know my wife would agree.

You know this UEFI, UEFI/CSM  - boot stuff may not be rocket science but is still pretty complex.  There is quite good documentation with rEFINd that  goes into great detail about the booting - stuff I did not know.  I was pretty happy under my rock until I had to get a new machine.  Boy things have certainly changed in the last 10 years.

Thanks again Rich for your help - and everyone else.

[edit]
 I forgot to ask.  Does anyone recognize the boot menu/manager in the attachment?  After going back to UEFI boot on the first drive, and installing reFind, when I boot os2ldr.efi with reFind the OS/2 boot blob appears in the upper left corner of the screen and then this boot menu.  Which I think means this is coming from OS/2-AOS rather than the bios or reFind.
[/edit]

9
Thanks Rich.  I was just about to ask whether something like this existed and I saw your post.  I need it because I think I got rid of the files in the ESP.

Update on the install.  The AN installer will run with VisonTek Radeon HD 5450 video card installed. So I installed AOS to the NVME drive (drive c:).  Then installed AOS v 5.1 on a SATA SSD installed on an old, legacy only, Asus/AMD machine with the Radeo x600 and SNAP - as drive U:

Put the x600 in the new machine, along with the SATA SSD (drive u:) to use as a maintenance partition/drive so I can boot with the x600 installed.  Then installed SNAP on the  C: drive (NVME)

As for booting in CSM(legacy) or UEFI mode
It appears the BIOS setting "Boot mode select" (UEFI or LEGACY+UEF) does not determine the mode used when booting.  All Boot mode select does is change the devices that are listed as Fixed Boot Order Priorities (see attached screen shot).  If the boot mode select = UEFI the only devices listed are those with names that begin (in the list) with UEFI.  If boot mode select = Legacy+UEFI then the whole list appears - as shown in the screen shot.

What determine whether you boot in UEFI mode or legacy mode is whether the device name begins with UEFI in the Fixed Boot Order Priorities list.  If it begins with UEFI the system boots in UEFI mode.  If the name does not begin with UEFI the system boots in legacy or CSM mode (the terms are used interchangably in the bios)

SNAP works whether it is booted in UEFI mode or legacy mode - however when booted in UEFI mode the screen blanks and then shows static arranged as triangles spread across the screen for about 10 seconds - and then the desktop comes up normal as it should.  Weird.  When booted in legacy mode the desktop just comes up without the weird temporary static stuff.

The SATA SSD (containing drive u:)  does not show up in the Fixed Boot Order Priorities list and cannot be put in that list.  The only way to boot to that drive/partition is to use the BIOS boot menu (press F11 on startup)  AirBoot installed on the SATA SSD shows all the drives with primary paritions - including drive C: - and will boot to drive C:

So to avoid having to use the bios boot menu to get a legacy boot on my main drive (drive c:) I removed the ESP and installed AirBoot on the NVME.  Big mistake - because now the mouse doesn't work.   Hopefully I can fix this with Rich's CSMtoUEFI utility.

Thanks again to everyone for your help.

10
It is so painful being ignorant.

You were right Dave,
Quote
One other idea, can you fiddle with the PCI settings in the BIOS? Mine allows changing it from X3 to X2 or X1 or similar, slowing it down might be a workaround.

When the x600 video card is in slot 4 SNAP works correctly and is fast - see attachment one: multihead, 3840x1080.  When it is in slot 1 the WPS  Screen object shows the chipset as Vesa v 2.1 and the resolutions are limited to VGA and it is SLOW.    Apparently two of the slots support x1 and the other two don't - see attached excerpts from the manual.  And apparently x1, x4, x16 mean either the size of the connector, the number of PCIe lanes, or the speed.

When running the AOS install the video still goes blank before I get to the screen where I can pick System Management or Install.  Which I think means I can't create an install.log or test.log for AN.

You will notice from the screen shot that Win-OS/2 appears to work - although it takes 10 - 15 seconds from clicking on the icon before Program Manager shows up.  Once it is running it is fast. 

I say "appears to work" because I think something happened between AOS v 5.0 and v 5.06 that makes Win-OS/2 funky.  Funky meaning some apps freeze after being used awhile.  I was starting to try and track down what caused that when my motherboard crapped out - which set me down this path of a new machine.

If the install wont run it appears my work-around is to convert my v 5.1 legacy install from the crapped out motherboard into a UEFI install on the new machine.  BTW - getting the legacy install to boot is interesting.  It has Airboot on the hard drive.  If I touch the USB attached keyboard Airboot freezes - as in the clock count down stops and you can't move the cursor.  If I attach a keyboard to the PS/2 port on the motherboard Airboot works fine - and once AOS is up and running the USB attached keyboard works ok.


11
Arrrgh...

Yeah that 64 bit comment looks a little scary.

I picked this one based on comments from other users that it worked. 
https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php?title=MSI_B450M_PRO-VDH_MAX  (plus Ivan has something similar)
although this isn't the exact same board

However I purchased it from MicroCenter (a big computer store in the US) because of its return policy: I have another 7 days before my return period runs out.  So if this is wrong I can switch to something else.

I did pick up another video card (from MicroCenter) in case I need it to get the install working.  But I am holding off opening the package until I hear from AN - cause I don't want to abuse the return policy of the store.  It is a VisionTek Radeon HD5450 that says it can be installed on Windows 10.  ( https://www.amazon.com/VisionTek-Radeon-5450-DVI-I-Graphics/dp/B01CN1F1ZM )

While it doesn't say it supports GOP I figured that by the time Windows 10 came out most motherboards were UEFI - so I am hoping it will work with UEFI.  I was hoping to not have to purchase a video card for the sole purpose of installing AOS, but it won't be the end of the world if that ends up needing to be the case.  (I am working on the theory that once I get AOS installed I can switch to basic VGA, pull out the "install video card", put in the Radeon x600, install SNAP, and be off to the races.)

As for SNAP over Panaroma:  I am currently using a dual head/monitor setup - with a dual head kvm for switching between a Win7 machine and AOS machine (the previous one that died.)  I would like to keep the dual head setup.  Hence my fixation on SNAP.  I would be willing to buy any video card needed to run SNAP to keep the dual head setup.  But I suspect all video cards with chipsets supported by SNAP will be old enough to not have GOP/UEFI support. 

Dave - The test.log for the support ticket.  Could you please explain what you mean? 

And again - thanks all for you help and suggestions.






12
Dave (and Ivan) - thank you for your help.  I appreciate it.

I have attached the manual for the motherboard.

The message I saw about the video card was: "There is no GOP (Graphics Output Protocol) support detected in this graphics card.  We recommend you use a GOP/UEFI compatible graphics card."  I believe the system then turned on CSM itself.

I think I have two somewhat different issues: 1) the install program stops with a blank screen at PMSHELL, 2) whether SNAP and/or my Radeon X600 will run once the install is complete.

1) Install doesn't run
I THINK the issue with the AOS install is that AOS sets the resolution of the system to a mode that is not supported by the x600 when it switches to graphics mode during the install.  I am basing this on the message from the system diagnostic, and that the x600 card doesn't support GOP.  According to the web GOP replaces VESA as the method to communicate with graphics cards with UEFI.

If that is true, the potential fixes are: 1) buy a graphics card that supports GOP for the install, 2) get AN to add a option to the Boot with Own Values screens where you can specify a resolution for the rest of the install.  The new graphics card will obviously be the fastest solution.

2) Whether the Radeon x600 and/or SNAP will run in UEFI.
Since development on SNAP stopped before UEFI was wide spread I doubt that SNAP used GOP to query the video card.  And I seem to remember that the web said you couldn't use GOP to talk to the card once an OS was booted - although video type data built during the boot process could be accessed from the OS.

So the question is: can SNAP use VESA to talk to the video card installed on a machine using UEFI and CSM?   I would think it would have to in order to run correctly - otherwise how would it know the video resolutions supported by the card and monitor.

And how does the AOS system diagnostics know what the supported video modes are without talking to the card?


I am not opposed to buying new video cards, if that is needed. 

Once again - thanks

13
more info:

The System Evaluation (Alt-F1) at AOS boot from hard drive or Install/Maintain AOS menu says:

Display native resolution: 1920x1080  not in mode list.  The mode list shows: 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024.

14
Thanks Dave for the suggestions.  I did poke around in the bios and saw some settings for pcie - like x1, etc.  But I thought X1, X4, X16 signified the number of lanes or width of the pci "bus" and the size of the slot on the motherboard - I am probably not saying any of this correctly because I really don't understand much about pci.

But I did try an experiment.  I had installed AOS v 5.1 on another machine whose motherboard died after installation.  I had the same Radeon x600 card installed on that machine and also setup SNAP - which was working - before the motherboard died.  However that install was legacy bios.  I took that ssd and put it in the new machine (which is UEFI with CSM) and it booted to the desktop.

The system icon shows SNAP as the driver, but it says the chip type is VESA VBE 2.0   The available resolutions on the WPS system/screen object are the same as listed in the test  routine (alt-f1 at the first AOS install menu): 640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, and 1280 x 1024.  Since the desktop does come up on this new machine with the Radeon X600 board I assume the machine can talk to the board - at least in some manner.  But obviously the small system that is installed to the Z drive when booting off the AOS DVD/USB stick cannot talk to the x600 board.  Hummm.

15
Unfortunately there is no "legacy" option available in the bios - only CSM.  And with CSM turned on the video displays - at least enough to get the first install menu and logo.

It would be pretty easy for me to buy a different video card to get through the installation, if that would solve the problem.  And providing that I could then install SNAP and the Radeon X600 after I got AOS v 5.1 installed.

Does SNAP work with UEFI? 

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