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Messages - Doug Bissett

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1531
Article Discussions / Re: eComStation 2.2 Beta First Impressions
« on: April 01, 2013, 06:08:42 pm »
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Please note: we have discovered that GenMAC is failing to install properly, which explains most if not all of the networking problems people have experienced after installation. 

Well, that is not the only network problem that exists. It is also not the most serious.

WARNING: If you install using the Multimac r8169 driver, supplied with eCS 2.2, it may disable the interface on your NIC. The symptom is exactly the same as if you had pulled the cable. The BAD part is, that the interface will not enable again (even in windows), until you remove ALL power from the NIC. On laptops, that usually means power off, pull the plug, and remove the main battery. On desktops, it means power off, and pull the plug. After a minute, or so, turn it all back on, and it should work again until you try the bad driver again. Then you start over.

Apparently, this does not affect all Realtek NICS, but I have at least two of them that have the problem, and I know of one other case where it has happened..

Many users are going to have the problem, and assume that eCS 2.2 has killed their NIC. At the same time, they will not be able to get on the internet to find out how to recover from the problem.

This problem existed before eCS 2.2 was released, and David A. (at least) knew about it. That driver (along with a few others) never should have made it into the eCS 2.2 beta.

1532
Article Discussions / Re: eComStation 2.2 Beta First Impressions
« on: March 31, 2013, 07:44:00 pm »
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Well the first hint the Q&A has taken place quite extensively is in the fact we first wanted to release the beta at the beginning of December and we where 3 months later.

I think you don't understand Quality Control. The first rule is to take action to be sure that nothing can go wrong. The second is to be sure that nothing did go wrong.

One thing that you could do, is create a database of files, versions, and file dates, for all files included on the CD/DVD. Use a program to verify that only files that have been verified to be working properly are included. If the program finds some other file, it needs to be thoroughly investigated, to find out why it is there. If it should be there, and has been verified to work properly, the database needs to be updated (then, you need to find out why the database didn't get properly updated). If it shouldn't be there, it needs to be replaced by a file that should be there, or it needs to be removed (and whoever put it there needs to have their hand slapped). Doing that would save many hours of testing, and problem analysis, when a wrong file gets inserted somehow. I would expect that it should be up to the file owner, to get the proper file submitted, along with the supporting documentation, and a statement that they consider the file to be stable. Then, somebody else needs to check it out, and put it into the master file repository, and update the database, when appropriate.

In the eCS 2.2 installer, it is obvious that the USB problems could have been averted, and the Dani driver problem probably could have been averted, without anybody actually having to spend an hour to install on a machine that might be affected, then spending another hour to try to figure out what is wrong. I expect that other problems may have been caught too.

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It's stored in the object setup string.  I don't think there's actually a GUI option to set it, although you can use a Setup String object (from the Templates folder) to try setting "DEFAULTVIEW=DEFAULT;".

OTOH, I just tried this and the results were... inconsistent, to say the least.

However, I've just suggested another possible solution in your ticket #3403.

Your suggestion from ticket #3403 seems to work, but I haven't used it much. I think I will leave the Setup String alone. If somebody comes up with a proper way to return to the old way of doing it, it would be good to automate it. I suspect that many users will find Split View to be "entertaining", but not very user friendly.

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Not my decision...

I know. I won't speculate on who might be responsible for the decision, but it is obvious that they were working with incomplete information, or it would not have been done.

1533
Article Discussions / Re: eComStation 2.2 Beta First Impressions
« on: March 30, 2013, 11:53:57 pm »
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Setting a drive view can be a problem - I find it best left blank which seems to default to opening in Tree View with directories opening in Icon View.
\

Yes, that is what it is in older instals. I tried your solution, but now the icon won't open with a double click. I need to play some more...

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On some older systems the DANIS506.ADD driver does not see the CD ROM and/or HDD. Regression in the code needs to befixed.

I haven't tried to verify it, but the Dani driver on the eCS 2.2 install CD seems to work, EXACTLY the same as the Dani driver on the DEMO CD. Mix up, perhaps???

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On some systems the USB driver don't work. eCS 2.2 ship with new USB host controller drivers and new mouse and keyboard drivers.

These problems have been known to exist for a couple of WEEKS before you released the eCS 2.2 install ISO. Why would they be on the install ISO?

Now, I installed to my main system, and the Multimac Realtek driver (v3.1) included, kills my NIC (a plug in card with a Realtek 8169 on it). The only way to get it to work again (even in windows), is to completely power off the machine, and pull the plug for a couple of minutes. If you load that driver again, you need to go through the same procedure. The Multimac Realtek driver 2.1 works, but it is noticeably slower than the other Multimac drivers. This problem was also known, more than a few days before the eCS 2.2 ISO was released.

When I first installed to my Lenovo ThinkPad L530, I tried to change the NIC driver to the IBMNULL driver, because I knew there could be problems with the Multimac Realtek driver. That, apparently, was completely ignored. After I had to REM the NIC driver, at each reboot, I ended up with an install that did not include the Big Icon feature. I had also selected that (there may have been other things). Anyway, I did a re-install, and those things got picked up. Then, I found that each drive icon had been set to use the Split View. Well, okay, but after trying to use it that way, it quickly became obvious that it is not usable with Split View. Why would that become the default?

Okay, so I installed to my main machine. An Asus M3A78-EM motherboard. It seemed to go well, but no network access. That was when I realized that the BAD Multimac NIC driver had been included. I had made exactly the same selections as for the L530. This time. the Drive icons are NOT defaulted to Split View. They work as they always have, which is much better than Split View. Why the difference??? Better yet, how do I get the Split View turned off properly? Every method that I have tried, causes other problems, which looks like I will have to change the menu properties for every directory that exists.  I suppose I could just try another install, and hope it does whatever it did on the M3A78-EM.

I still haven't decided what I can do to get eCS 2,.2 installed to my old test machine, which has a CD drive, not  a DVD drive (and, it seems that IDE DVD drives are getting difficult to find). A quick review of the DVD contents doesn't reveal where the extra space went, but i suspect that it is CUPS, and RPM/YUM, that use most of it. Both of them could be on a second CD, they are not necessary for the install, and many people will have no use for either one anyway. It also seems that there are a lot of things that could be ZIPPED, and almost as many that are duplicated.

To Roderick:

Overall, the installer works well, on new machines. It does not work as well on older machines. I find it difficult to believe that anybody actually tried it on older machines that need the Dani driver. Of course, that is what beta releases are for.

You also need some sort of Quality assurance, to be sure that incorrect drivers, or programs that have not been individually verified as working by a number of users, do not end up being distributed. It may sound like that would add to your workload, but I know that you would find otherwise, once it is in place. Having two, or three, people sit down and install to a couple of different machines, is just not going to please very many people, as you can see by the results from the first beta (which is more like an Alpha release IMO).

1534
Article Discussions / Re: eComStation 2.2 Beta First Impressions
« on: March 30, 2013, 05:23:47 pm »
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DougB, did you have some similar problems with the trackpoint/pad on your Thinkpad. Do you have a pointer to the USB drivers you are using?

I keep the touchpad disabled, when that is possible. In my Lenovo ThinkPad L530, there is no such option in the BIOS. The windows driver will do it, but that doesn't carry over to eCS. At the moment, I have a piece of cardboard taped over the touchpad to keep my hands off of it. The Trackpoint has always worked with eCS 2.2, using the AMouse driver. My external USB wireless mouse will work fine, after I get the USB drivers back to the 186 version. I think the version in eCS 2.2 is 189, and that doesn't work with the USB mouse (even a wired one).  I got 186 from HOBBES, but it seems to be gone from there. Lars E. has posted elsewhere, that he will probably go back to the 186 version, if he can't figure out what is wrong. I should note here, that the L530, and my T510, only have EHCI adapters, they do NOT have OHCI, or UHCI, adapters. The mouse problem seems to exist only when an EHCI controller is supposed to handle the mouse.

Quote
the installation procedure does not longer want to recognize the HDD

I have that problem on my IBM ThinkPad T43 (1871-W8M). It looks, to me, like the included Danis driver is badly broken. I haven't checked it out, but it acts exactly like the Danis driver for the DEMO CD, which is not supposed to be able to access the hard disk. It was suggested to try the IBM1S506 driver. I was able to go to the command line using that, so I expect that it will work, when I find the time to try an install (I may just wait for the next beta, which had better fix the problem).

To be quite frank, I don't see how anybody could have ever tried the included Danis driver, and got an install off the ground. Installation, using the OS2AHCI driver seems to be okay, but I had a few odd things happen (or not happen) on one of my attempts on my L530.

It needs work, and it needs wider testing, before they even call it a beta. Some of the new things should be optional, not default (SPLIT-VIEW), until they are deemed to be worthy of making them the default.

I am also undecided about the new icons. Every time I look at the Drives icon, it looks like a toilet bowl. The others seem to be a bit "washed out", and generally, they are all blue, which may be part of the "washed out" problem, when they are on the default blue background.

I have also had to report, again, problems that I reported in eCS 2.0, and 2.1, which were supposedly fixed. They are very minor, but errors are errors, and they should be fixed.

BTW, for those of you who have SMP machines, if you use EXECMODE.EXE with the sp parameter, on REGEDIT2.EXE (the registry editor), searches in REGEDIT2 will be very much faster.

It seems that quality control is not a high priority at Mensys. Too bad, because that seems to be creating a LOT of extra work for them, and it is creating frustration for their users.

1535
Utilities / Re: Making a RAW partition Image
« on: March 30, 2013, 03:13:30 am »
DFSEE.

1536
Article Discussions / Re: eComStation 2.2 Beta First Impressions
« on: March 30, 2013, 03:11:52 am »
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In other words, just change the 'DEFAULTVIEW=' setup string of each drive object.  All directories on the drive should pick up the change.

I can find nothing that says DEFAULTVIEW=, in each drive object. Care to be a little more specific? Where do I look?

If you mean the Default action, in the Open As menu, yes, I can set that to Tree View, but then every directory also tries to open in Tree View, when they used to open in Icon View (which is usually what I want). I can change each directory to open in Icon view, but it could take days to change all of them.

There is also inconsistent operation, if I leave it at Split View. If I open a directory created by the SAMBA client, it opens in Tree View, not Split View. This could be very confusing for those who don't know what is happening.

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This is a known issue at the present time.

Okay. If that is the case, I would suggest that Split View should not be the default setting.

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At least so far I have not heard  of any positings about ACPI failing.

ACPI, OS2AHCI, and Panorama, are working great. Thanks to all involved. It would be even better if Panorama would allow Doodle's Screen Saver to power off the screen automatically (especially on laptops), but that isn't essential.

1537
Article Discussions / Re: eComStation 2.2 Beta First Impressions
« on: March 28, 2013, 11:10:02 pm »
Okay, some progress, but some unexplained happenings too. I did a new install to my L530.

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I tried to change the NIC when it was first shown, to the IBMNULL driver, because I know that the realtek Multimac driver has a problem.

I have no idea what happened there. I did a new install, and it got it right. I am pretty sure that I selected the IBMNULL NIC driver, because I know that the Multimac driver for the Realtek 8169 does not work with the Realtek 8168 chip that is in the L530. The only one that does, sort of, work is the old RTGNDA driver (which is not included in the eCS 2.2 install).

I had also selected the new icons feature, and it was not installed. This time, it is installed.

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That appeared to go okay, but there are two optional lines required to make the driver work. I had previously modified the NIF file to default those two lines. The old MPTS does it properly. The new MPTS ignored the defaults,

Apparently, this is a bug, that will be fixed in the next release.

So, I now have a better install. Now, I am trying to figure out how to get the Drives folder to open drives in the Tree view (actually, I know how to do that), then how to get the Tree view to open directories in the Icon view, as it did before (I know how to do that too).

As noted, I know how to do both, the question is how do I do it globally, without having to change the properties of every drive, and directory, that I have?

I don't mind the new way of displaying data, BUT, if I go to a directory, and select a file that I want to COPY to another directory, I can't do it without opening an icon view in at least one of them. That seems to be an extra step that I shouldn't need to do. I also tried Pickup, and Drop/copy. The WPS hung, and wouldn't restart from CADH (it said that it did restart). I had to reboot.

Anybody else seeing this? Anybody know of a better way to do a copy, or move, using the Split View? Did I miss a setting somewhere?

1538
Article Discussions / Re: eComStation 2.2 Beta First Impressions
« on: March 28, 2013, 04:07:06 am »
Doug, is there a third version of the DVD? The latest DVD I tried did not install on a T43, with less than deselecting all USB choices. Do we have a new one ? If so..with which version of USB drivers?

I got three different ISO files. The first was pulled, just as I finished downloading it. I read about an update here at OS2WORLD (about the USB driver problem), so I scrapped the first download, and got the second one. Then, there was another notice, which also describes how to tell if you have the good ISO. I didn't have the good one, so I downloaded again (good thing I have lots of bytes, and a fast internet connection). Now, I have the one that checks out.

AFAICT, the shipped USB drivers are the 189 version, which will not run my USB mouse on my Lenovo ThinkPad L530, or on my T510. I need to go back to the 186 version before they work properly.

Now, I have a problem on my IBM ThinkPad T43 (1871-W8M), where the Danis driver will not "see" my disk drive. It was suggested to try the IBM1S506 driver. I did a quick check, just going to the command line, using that option, and I can "see" the disk drive. I don't have the time, at the moment, to try an install using that driver.

Other problems that I see (on the L530) are:

I tried to change the NIC when it was first shown, to the IBMNULL driver, because I know that the realtek Multimac driver has a problem. The change didn't take, so the second boot went part way through (to NETBIND.EXE), and the machine rebooted. I booted to an alternate system, REMed the r8169.OS2 line, in CONFIG.SYS, and Phase 2 completed. It did the same thing for the Phase 3 boot. Again, I had to REM the line in CONFIG.SYS. Then, phase 3 completed. Okay, so what happened? First, i found both REMed lines in CONFIG.SYS, which means that Phase 2, somehow, decided that I really did want the r8169.OS2 line, and put it back in.

After I got eCS 2.2 installed. I used the new MPTS (looks very promising) to change the NIC driver to the RTGNDA driver (which is the only one that works with this NIC, and RTGNDA is NOT included in eCS 2.2). That appeared to go okay, but there are two optional lines required to make the driver work. I had previously modified the NIF file to default those two lines. The old MPTS does it properly. The new MPTS ignored the defaults, and I had to add them to PROTOCOL.INI, manually. It looks like the driver loads okay, but it is not getting the DHCP address. I need to spend more time to figure that out. It works with eCS 2.1. The only difference, that I have seen, so far, is that the old PROTOCOL.INI file is terminated with en EOF, while the new one is not. Adding that did not help.

All of the above have been reported.

I am going to have to install again, on the L530. I thought I had selected the new icons, but they are nowhere to be seen (they did show up on the first attempt, with the bad ISO).  I may wait for another update though. First, to figure out why the NIC on the L530 won't connect. It works fine with eCS 2.1.

1539
Article Discussions / Re: eComStation 2.2 Beta First Impressions
« on: March 27, 2013, 08:59:03 pm »
So far, I have been doing quick installs, mostly to see what has changed. I did post:
Quote
First attempt was on an old machine. I can't get that thing to read the DVD (not sure why, it was working). Abandoned that, for now.

I did not realize, that that machine has a CD drive, not a DVD drive. Since I no longer have an IDE DVD drive (and it appears that my favorite computer store no longer has them either), I guess I cannot install to that machine. It is my main test machine, so I will probably make a modified installer disk that will fit on a CD.

At the moment, I am waiting for my IBM ThinkPad T43 (1871-W8M) to finish verifying the DVD. With this install, I am tracking what I am doing. It is really the first attempt, with the third download of the ISO, so I checked the disk. It just finished, and is  okay. This is also the first machine where I expect it to install properly. More later.

1540
Article Discussions / Re: eComStation 2.2 Beta First Impressions
« on: March 26, 2013, 11:05:47 pm »
I am really undecided about eCS 2.2, and the way that it installs. I managed to get the first version of the eSC 2.2 install CD ISO, just before it was replaced by what appears to be an older version (not sure what that is all about, I wish I had not erased the first download). The first version did a pretty decent install into VBox (latest) under Win7. However, since it was, apparently, an incorrect installer, USB wouldn't work in VBox, and I decided to change some options, I tried the second ISO. Five times, and I still couldn't get it to install properly. I use the ISO in VBox, and it does check out okay.

One of the problems was that I missed turning off the RPM/YUM junk (well hidden, in a not so obvious place). The installer crapped out in the middle of phase 2, because it couldn't install ODIN. ??????

Another problem, is that I set up VBox for two processors, and enabled the options that work with ACPI (works in eCS 2.1 in the exact same virtual machine). The installer would not recognize the two processors, and it would not install ACPI, even when I changed to Modern, with ACPI, instead of Virtual Machine.

Then, I changed VBox to use SATA/AHCI controllers.  The pre-boot stuff worked okay, but eCS stopped shortly after the logo went away. More work to do with that configuration.

So, back to the old default setup. ECS installed, without ACPI, without SMP,  and it somehow identified the virtual Intel gigabit NIC as an IBM NIC. Even eCS 2.1 got that right.

Okay. On to the real machines.

First attempt was on an old machine. I can't get that thing to read the DVD (not sure why, it was working). Abandoned that, for now.

Okay, try the Lenovo ThinkPad L530. First, there is a bad version of the USBEHCD.SYS driver, that won't work with USB mouses (at least on the two machines that I have that use that configuration). I am now looking at a "Press Enter to continue..." message, because Uniaud failed to load. This sort of works in eCS 2.1, but I need to use the later version of Uniaud, or it won't load (doesn't work properly anyway). Pressing Enter does nothing. Ctrl-Alt-Del does nothing. I guess it is power off, and start again, leaving sound out of it, but not today, I have other things that need to be done...

1541
Networking / Re: Wireless
« on: March 24, 2013, 12:36:14 am »
I found Neil's Documentation.
http://www.blondeguy.com/GenmacUnsupported.html

That is a good reference for wired NICS. It does not mention that loading a driver for wireless NICS will load the driver okay, but GENMAC, in UNSUPPORTED mode, fails to load the interface that XWLAN requires for wireless NICS. To accomplish that, GENMAC needs to think that the device is supported. That requires modifying GENM32W.OS2, and removing UNSUPPORTED from the NIF file (and/or PROTOCOL.INI). Since Willibald specifically forbids distributing patched versions of his software, I package those devices with a patch, which the GENMU or GENMU_TEST, installers automatically apply to GENM32W.OS2. The instructions for how to do the patch, are in the GENMU_TEST readme file.

1542
Games / Re: Mahjonng Solitaire 2.20
« on: March 23, 2013, 04:47:08 pm »
I would suggest turning off the sound in the actual game itself......am not in front of an OS/2 machine at present but am almost certain the option exists.
I remember doing it for OS/2 Solitaire (in a virtual machine) and the game was a lot more playable because it didn't have to wait for a sound to be played before it turned over every card. Hope this helps.
Conrad.

Actually, in both Mahjonng, and Klondike Solitaire, turning off the sound doesn't really turn off the sound. The game will still complain if sound support is not there (REM the driver,  reboot, and see what happens), and it will hog the sound card services, unless you have one of the very few drivers that will actually share the device (try loading one of the games while you are playing music). I think the sounds are used to time the game, and all they do is put the frequency high enough that people can't hear it (watch your pets, but it takes really good speakers to get that high of a frequency to actually play).

1543
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Let remember that for a DVD to read on eCS we require the UDF driver installed. Will the bluray will require something similar?

This is not entirely correct. CD, and DVD (and possibly BlueRay) can use one of UDF or CDFS as a file system. There is also a hybrid that combines both. I think there is a way to get DVDDAO to write UDF format (possibly a hybrid), but I never tried it. Normally, it write CDFS format.  BlueRay should use UDF format for most things (like movies).

You can read about the UDF capabilities in eCS 2.1. The doc is in C:\OS2\BOOK\UDF.TXT.

1544
Networking / Re: Wireless
« on: March 23, 2013, 12:39:01 am »
Hi Doug

Please excuse me but I didn't follow genmac mailing list. Is there some instructions or documentation on how to test drivers with GenMac? like which are the files you have update, where to put them, etc.

Please let me know, I want to test (on my own risk) the Intel Centrino and other PCI wifi adapter I found.

THanks
Martin

There are a couple of things from previous WarpStock  presentations, that may help. They seem to be a little out of date, but the basics are there. Just search in the WarpStock information.

You can also review the readmes at: ftp://genmac@ftp.os2voice.org/ (use your e-mail address as a password, if it asks), but they don't detail what needs to be done. I think you should find your device, or something very similar, in one of the two WarpIn packages. If it is the same, you can install GENMAC (either 2.20, or 2.21), with, or without, devices, and then install one of the GENMU packages for your device, or something similar. If your device is not in one of those packages, send me the appropriate information (see the readmes), and I will build an installer for you. Of course, that doesn't mean that it will actually work, but it will give you the basic install to work with.

1545
Programming / Re: Rexx?
« on: March 22, 2013, 06:38:26 pm »
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where exactly could one see a documentation on VX-REXX, or DrDialog?

I don't know about VX-REXX. There is some information at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VX-REXX.

DrDialog is at HOBBES (where many things are to be found): http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/dev/rexx/drdialog.zip with updates: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/dev/rexx/DrDlgFix.zip and: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/dev/rexx/DrDlgRc.zip.

HOBBES is at: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/, where you can search for things.

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