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Messages - Doug Bissett

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1171
Setup & Installation / Re: Dreaded Desktop/blue screen SMP hang....
« on: November 26, 2014, 04:52:57 am »
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Doug: great advice regarding the DELAY.SYS driver...I had previously gone down exactly the route you suggested, "dumbed down" the CONFIG.SYS to literally the bare essentials, still got stuck. This time around I deployed the DELAY with a 30 sec pause however there are other drivers that load beyond this one, so in my case this had no imapct. I have XWorkplace installed here, so my native OS/2 startup folder has been replaced with the XWorkplace one, it is already on a 5 sec start-up delay, then each object has a 1 sec delay in-between...as best as I can tell the WPS boot never actually gets that far though. To rule our WarpCenter I had re-moved it from the "SET AUTOSTART=TASKLIST,FOLDERS,WARPCENTER" statement and tossed it in the XWorkplace start-up...still no go.

That is why I suggest using DELAY.SYS at the front, AND end, of CONFIG.SYS. It is a device driver, so it executes after the BASEDEV statements. If you use it at the front, it should delay starting other device drivers. At the end, it should delay the next step, and allow the device drivers to complete. There is no reason to delay more than a couple of seconds, unless you have something odd that is really in trouble. Of course, after the delay, you get STARTUP.CMD, the system sound, and other automatically started items. Your problem seems to be in that section.

XWorkplace folder should be okay, but I have to question why you would even consider using WarpCenter, which is known to be buggy, when you can use the far superior XCenter (perhaps even two of them).

I doubt if OS/4 will affect this problem.

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VIRTUALADDRESSLIMIT=2560

I have heard that the best value is 1536, but many things can affect that.

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Can anyone explain/identify any other methods I could use to actualy peak behind the covers here?

That is beyond what I have tried to do. I expect that you will need help from one of the real experts, and they don't have much time to work on such things.

One thing to try, is to complete your install (add all of your programs), using a limited number of cores, then open it up to see if it works. I had one system that was having real problems after the initial install. By the time I got it completely installed, it worked every time. (more stuff in CONFIG.SYS seems to help).

1172
General Discussion / Re: Arca Noae - just got my business!!!
« on: November 25, 2014, 04:32:59 am »
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Thanks for the compliment, Doug!

When you do something right, people notice. Maybe not as much as when you do it wrong, but it gets you more compliments.   ;D

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I'm sorry to hear about the webcam issue with the USB driver package. I did note your ticket, and I'm sure that David will follow up in due course.

David does wonderful work. I suspect that he just doesn't have a web cam to play with.

1173
Comments, Suggestions & Questions / Re: timeouts when posting
« on: November 24, 2014, 11:09:35 pm »
It sounds all like a timing issue. I had it here with all Mozilla apps new and quite old on OS/2. Maybe it won't happen without adblock plus or another extension - I haven't tried.

I use adblock plus, and I haven't had the problem, yet.

1174
General Discussion / Re: Arca Noae - just got my business!!!
« on: November 24, 2014, 05:06:39 am »
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There are new versions with a few changes of ACPI, USB, Multimac (NVETH) and Multimac (E1000E).

There are, and they all seem to work well, but the USB update has broken support for video cameras, that Wim Brule created (it is supposed to be included). You can use his usbres01.zip package to restore it to working order. (Reported).

Good looking web site, with a simple interface and no clutter. That makes it MUCH better than about 99% of web sites, anywhere. I am sure there are still a few things to work out, but it is an excellent start.

Well done, to all involved.

1175
Hardware / Re: New X600's for SNAP users in the UK
« on: November 24, 2014, 04:30:45 am »
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What is the fastest PCIx card supported fully by SNAP and vsvga.sys?

I am not sure if there ever was such a thing.

My suggestion is to use DOSBOX for DOS, and install the real Win31, with ALL of the extra bells and whistles, then use that for your DOS/WIN31 work. Some experimenting may be required to get it working the way you want it, but it seems to work okay for what I use it for (not much).

http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/emulator/DOSBOX0.74.EXE

Good luck...

I should note, that I don't even install the DOS/WIN support in OS/2 any more. DOSBOX doesn't need it.

1176
Comments, Suggestions & Questions / Re: timeouts when posting
« on: November 23, 2014, 11:03:24 pm »
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I'm using the latest Firefox for OS/2. What is everyone else using that has this problem?

I am using the latest Firefox, and I don't have the problem (yet). I suppose it could be something in your profile, or something else that you do, or don't do, that I do, or don't.

1177
Hardware / Re: New X600's for SNAP users in the UK
« on: November 23, 2014, 06:23:36 pm »
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I do have to ask who doesn't use SNAP?

Well, it depends on what the hardware is. On my old systems, where SNAP knows how to do acceleration, I use SNAP. On my newer systems, where SNAP can allow Doodle's Screen Saver to turn the screen off, I use SNAP. On other systems, (laptops), I use Panorama. Panorama seems to be a little faster than SNAP (in VESA mode), but it does not allow the DSS turn off (when it will work with SNAP). I also use VBox under windows, and the eCS guests use the modified GRADD driver (SNAP, or Panorama, simply adds overhead).

Apparently, SNAP is also not SMP friendly, although I can't say that I ever had a problem with it. I think that depends on exactly what the hardware is.

1178
Setup & Installation / Re: Dreaded Desktop/blue screen SMP hang....
« on: November 23, 2014, 06:04:40 pm »
This is not a Snap problem, and it is not even an SMP problem. It is not fixable by QSINIT, or OS4. It is a startup conflict that happens just as the WPS starts up. It is more likely to happen when you have many things trying to start, all at the same time (all of the CALL and RUN statements in CONFIG.SYS, plus STARTUP.CMD, plus the startup sound, plus whatever is in your STARTUP folder. The more things that you have starting, the more likely you are to have the problem).

On my quad core machine, it seems that the problem lies in the early part of starting the WPS. Most of the time, the sound plays, and STARTUP.CMD shows the window, with no controls, and that is the end. Reboot usually succeeds. It seems that there is a "window of opportunity" where something goes wrong. If you can make the "window" happen when it doesn't matter, you have bypassed the problem. If it gets moved to a time when something else is affected, you have a problem.

Some supporting observations:

I made a VBox install of eCS 2.1. After the install, I was having the blue screen hang, about 4 out of 5 boots. I used the VBox controls to limit the machine to about 60% processor usage. I tried booting 20 times, with no hang. I put it back to 100%, and it was failing 4 out of 5 tries. Okay, so I finished my install, and setup, at 60% processor usage. This included adding a number of things that put entries into CONFIG.SYS. After all of that, I put it back to 100%, and had no more trouble. The additional entries in CONFIG.SYS slowed down the boot enough to get whatever was causing the problem to cause the problem at a time when it doesn't matter. Doing that with a real machine is a little harder.   :(

Some things to try (any of these can cause, or bypass, the problem):

Put a file named AltF2on.$$$ in the root of the boot drive (this effectively does Alt-F2 without user intervention). Displaying the information slows the boot process a little, and sometimes it will change it enough to let it get past the problem (or, it can cause the problem if you don't have it).

Use http://www.tavi.co.uk/os2pages/utils/delay.zip to insert a one, or two, second delay at the beginning of your CONFIG.SYS, and/or at the end. That should allow all BASEDEV and DEVICE statements to complete, before proceeding to the next step.

Use REXX Autostart http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/wps/rxast1911.exe to delay starting the contents of the STARTUP folder. Unfortunately, on my system, this never gets started when I have the problem, so I assume that the problem lies in the CALL and RUN statements (but it is not caused by those).

I also use my Logical Config.Sys Sorter (LCSS) http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/config/lcss-0-4-8.wpi which seems to help (at least on all of my systems). READ the instructions.

Of course, there may be other things that can case the problem, and there may be other things that can move the "window" far enough to prevent it.  Good luck...

1179
Applications / Re: BrainStorm: Wish list for OS/2 and eComStation
« on: November 18, 2014, 11:00:44 pm »
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Make PMMail able to directly display Unicode text (a weakness which is rapidly rendering it unusable for modern work).

I don't understand this statement. PMMail has done Unicode for ages. If there is a problem with it, please open an incident in the Mantis bug tracker.

1180
Setup & Installation / Re: Help for QSINIT Ram Disk appreciated...
« on: November 15, 2014, 07:52:00 am »
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    By manually building the ramdisk with the F3 (I think that is right) to get to the qsinit shell,  when I reboot and not create the ramdisk I find the ramdisk left in place with the files I copied to it.

And, yes - this funny data saving after reboot is a feature, not a bug ;)
Actually, without hardware reset/power off - BIOS leave memory above 4Gb untouched, and HD4DISK.ADD can discover such disk on next boot if it will not be overwritten by RAMDISK or someone else :)
But, there is no any real guarantee of data safeness in this case..

I have noticed that "feature", but it is not reliable (about 1 in 10 seems to go AWOL). It even survives booting to windows 7 (32 bit, but not the 64 bit version, of course). This may depend on the machine BIOS, and what it does on a soft boot.

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Indeed, I can now format it JFS.  The format throws an error but the format is complete by then:
Format completed successfully.

5172898 kilobytes total disk space.
5151288 kilobytes are available.
R6000
- stack overflow
SYS1811: The process has stopped.  The software diagnostic code
(trap number) is  000D.

My guess would be that the disk geometry is not as OS/2 likes it. One suggestion: try limiting the disk size to something a little smaller.

Code: [Select]
RAMDISK Q: max=5000
Some experimenting may be required to find a good number. DFSEE may give you some useful information.

1181
Programming / Re: New OS/4 kernel :: SVN4227
« on: November 13, 2014, 03:50:53 am »
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Now 4248 works with Lenovo T410.

Seems to work with my Lenovo ThinkPad T510, and L530, now.

1182
Setup & Installation / Re: Help for QSINIT Ram Disk appreciated...
« on: November 12, 2014, 05:37:40 pm »
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I think your post should go directly into the WIKI!!!

Let's get it right first.

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I still do something wrong with the steps 10 to 13, so I do have a crash with these - have to figure out exactly why. I need some more time for this and will report.

Time. Yes, we all need more of that.   :( 

Where does it crash? What does it do? Chances are that the system is trying to do something with it, at a time when it isn't going to work, or, you are running into a startup conflict.

You might try using my LCSS package to sort CONFIG.SYS. It is in ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/util/config/.  Be sure to READ the instructions.

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ID 01 is HPFS386 with OS/2 Warp 4.52 + my additions + parts from eCS 2.2b2 (Driveletter C:)

I would suggest scrapping HPFS386, and use JFS for your boot drive. One MAJOR advantage is that you will eliminate a LOT of shared memory usage. I quit loading HPFS support a few years ago, and shared memory has not been a problem, until recently, when Firefox seems to be using a LOT more than it did earlier. I don't know how HPFS386 compares to HPFS, for shared memory usage, but it may be worth trying.

1183
Setup & Installation / Re: Help for QSINIT Ram Disk appreciated...
« on: November 12, 2014, 01:40:52 am »
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ramdisk /q nohigh size=4096 R:

Well, the first thing that you did wrong, was to tell it to create a 4 GB RAMDISK BELOW the 4 GB mark. You really don't want to do that. Then, "size" is not a valid parameter, and even if it was, you don't have 4 GB free below the 4 GB mark. The command that you want is: "ramdisk R:" (without the quotes). That will create a FAT32 drive (but I never tried more than about 1.5 GB, since I only have 5 GB on my biggest system).

I think the previous post takes you to the wrong place. There is some discussion, but that is not the thread where i described how to do it. The thread where I described how to do it is a bit confusing because it was created as I worked my way through the project.

A simple (I hope) summary:

1) Get the package. The latest should always be; ftp://212.12.30.18/public/QS/QS_LDR.ZIP.

2) UnZip it someplace.

3) Use ATTRIB -H -R -S to make OS2LDR visible, and not protected (you can put that back later, if you like, but it is not necessary). COPY your original OS2LDR file to OS2LDR.IBM

4) Put OS2LDR and QSINIT.LDI in the root of your boot drive (replacing the original OS2LDR file).

5) Put \ramdisk\hd4disk.add into \OS2\BOOT.

6) Create a file os2ldr.ini in the root of the boot drive. It should contain something like:
Code: [Select]
[config]
default=2
timeout=4
[kernel]
OS2LDR.IBM=Original boot, RESTART
os2krnl=Default boot
os2krnl=Show driver names, ALTF2
This creates your QSINIT boot menu, and it will default to make QSINIT boot the os2krnl (unless you hit a key), after 4 seconds. READ the docs for the details.

7) Create a file QSSETUP.CMD. This is effectively the STARTUP.CMD for the QSINIT loader. It resides in the root of your boot drive. You want a RAMDISK, above the 4 GB mark, using all available memory. QSETUP.CMD should contain one line:
Code: [Select]
RAMDISK R:
7a) (I almost forgot) Put the line:
Code: [Select]
BASEDEV=hd4disk.addin CONFIG.SYS. I put it immediately after AHCI, or Danis (depending on what I use).

8 ) Okay, now you should be able to boot, and a drive R: should be a FAT32 drive on your system (you do need the FAT32 driver installed, but I suggest that you do NOT use the FAT32 cache program (no point, and it only causes trouble).

9) I find that using FAT32 is probably not the most desirable solution, so I take a few extra steps to convert it to JFS. The trick here is that you need to format the drive, before the WPS starts up, then, you need to unmount, and mount, it again after the WPS starts up, but before you attempt to use it.

10) Make a file called makeR.cmd in the root of the boot drive. It should contain:
Code: [Select]
format R: /FS:JFS /V:RAMDISK < RAMFMTRESP.TXT
11) RAMFMTRESP.TXT contains the "Y" response to the format command. It should contain one character, a "Y", without the quotes.

12) Put the line:
Code: [Select]
CALL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE /Q /C C:\makeR.cmdnear the end of CONFIG.SYS. i suggest before you define %TEMP% (which can point to the RAMDISK, just don't try to use that until it  finishes doing step 13), and before you run DMT.EXE (if you use it).

13. Now, add the lines:
Code: [Select]
lvm /hide:[ Vol.00 ]
sleep 2
lvm /driveletter:[ Vol.00 ],R:
to the top of STARTUP.CMD (create the file if it doesn't already exist).

Now, a boot should cause the drive to be formatted as JFS, and the WPS should be educated to use it as a JFS drive. On really SLOW machines, you may need more than a 2 second sleep. It seems that all of my systems need at least 2 seconds. (SLEEP is a command that exists on newer versions of eCS - you may need to use REXX to do that on older versions of OS/2 and eCS).

Note, that is is possible to use HPFS, BUT, it seems that there is some sort of problem, that JFS does not have, so I suggest avoiding that option.

1184
Internet / Re: Firefox 17.0.11 - Couldn't load xpcom.dll
« on: November 09, 2014, 04:00:22 am »
The easy way is to use RUN! to start Firefox, and call that from PMMail (READ the RUN! docs). Otherwise, you may need to use a startup script for Firefox. Using RUN! (always, for the Mozilla group of programs) looks after a number of other problems too.

1185
Internet / Re: SeaMonkey 2.21b1 and Thunderbird 24.8.1b1
« on: November 07, 2014, 03:18:41 am »
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You need the SMP kernel with the patch from Holger Veith (14.106) to avoid the hang on DLL unloading.

Just to clarify: Does the 14.106 kernel already have the patch, or does it need it?

I am seeing Firefox hang the desktop when it closes, every once in a while. I haven't really figured out what triggers the problem, but I am thinking that it has something to do with viewing PDF files. It is only recently (since the 24 versions, I think) that PDF files have started to display, without messing around with other programs. At least that part seems to work okay.

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