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Messages - DougB

#61
Hardware / Re: Video driver
2012.05.22, 16:10:37
I think that Mensys is not optimistic about using the SNAP code to add acceleration to more modern video adapters (could be that they are just trying to keep expectations down). They also haven't got anybody available to even look at the project. Everybody is busy with other things.

As for OpenOffice (one of the "other things"), I expect to see version 3.4 sometime soon (probably with eCS 2.2, when it becomes available). For those who got eCS 2.1, OpenOffice came as part of that (included on CD2, but possibly not with all packages), so a separate subscription is no longer required (Mensys will still sell it to you, if you purchase it).

FWIW, I would not mind if they put FLASH on hold, in favor of working with SNAP, but I suspect that the FLASH developer may not be interested in doing work with SNAP.

We need more, interested, talented, developers. Everybody go to programming school, now.   ;D
#62
QuotePlease send me the evfsgui.err file found in the directory of evfsgui.exe

I added it to the netlabs TRAC for SAMBA, in incident #194.

QuoteThat's the purpose of a WINS server: Using broadcasts is like somebody entering a populated room shouting "I'm here" -

If I put "wins" first in the list, I get hangs, and very slow network neighbourhood population. Using "bcast" first gives me pretty good response, but not what should be possible.

At the moment, I don't have the time, or the resources, to do any comprehensive testing.
#63
WINS server would not seem to be suitable for my mode of operation, simply because I never know which machines might be turned on at any given time.

QuoteEVFSGUI 2.5 creates and manages the LMHOSTS file from the network neighbourhood

So it does, but trying to use EVFSGUI 2.5 seems to introduce a few problems. Never ending hangs, while trying to populate a drive directory, is one of them. Another is that there is an error popup when I attempt to mount a new share:

QuoteLine 40 of CB_MOUNT_Change in evfsgui.VRM:

There is a button (END?) that closes the program.

File-> Load seems to work, as long as the mount was saved earlier.

I don't have the time to try to sort it out now, so I have gone back to EVFSGUI 2.13, which works good, after adding the "magic line" to smb.conf.

ALT seems to have an interesting approach, that I will have to try out when I find more time, but it would seem to require a WINS server. I think that my own router might have WINS support, but I don't think my brother's router has it.

So many possibilities, and so little time.
#64
Well, I have tried some other combinations, and the only one that works anywhere near acceptably, with eCS, is to use broadcasts, and have "bcast" as the first option in the name resolve order. Putting "wins" second helps windows to work better. Having "wins" first really messes up eCS, for some reason.

Looking forward to your updates.
#65
QuoteDoug, may I ask, why are you using broadcasts?

Some years ago, when I first tried SAMBA, I was having trouble, and somebody suggested using that, and it worked. I never tried changing it again.

QuoteA short explanation: WINS = Specific DNS for SMB networks.

I have never heard any mention of WINS, other than in a windows context. Since i rarely have a windows machine attached, and there was nothing to suggest that SAMBA supported it, I never even thought about it.

Okay, How does SAMBA handle being a WINS server? If I have machine A on, and running SAMBA server, then turn on machine B, I assume that machine A is still the WINS server machine. Now, what happens when I turn off machine A, turn on machine C, and attach to machine B?

The same question for LMHOSTS, and I suppose I also need to ask about HOST in the name resolve order line.

I think that some, or all, of this should be in the Wiki.
#66
QuoteWhich smb.conf file did you put that line in?

\mptn\etc\samba\smb.conf

Apparently both the server, and the client, use the same file (possibly not a good thing). I did make a typo the first time I added the line, and the client complained about it, so it does use it.

FWIW, the performance is many times better than before. I still get some 5 to 10 second pauses when trying to populate the drive tree of a large drive, for the first time but, so far, no hangs.

Quotehow does it work?

If I knew that, I probably would have fixed the problem long ago. Perhaps herwigb can enlighten us.
#67
QuoteJust make sure there not a second ndpsmb.dll lurking somewhere.

The only other one is in the other boot system, that hasn't been updated yet. It should not be accessible in any way.

QuotePlease read http://svn.netlabs.org/samba/ticket/178 - might name resolution be an issue in your network?

Now that is interesting. I added a line
name resolve order = bcast host lmhosts wins
to the smb.conf files, and the whole thing seems to be much better. I will need to do more testing with that. My setup should be using broadcast, and the order may explain why I have few problems when using windows, which probably adds lmhosts support. I put "host" second but none of my HOSTS files is set to do anything (other than localhost) because of the logistics of keeping them up to date.

Okay, so i tried windows XP as a client. It seems to be hung, then it had an error. The eCS SAMBA server had 5 SMBD instances running. After restarting the server, WinXP now "sees" it, but the logon doesn't work (that might have something to do with changes I made to allow Win98 to log on). Using the eCS client to log onto winXP works better than it did before too.

I will do more testing, when I have the opportunity. Thanks...
#68
Quoteif reading the directory is slow, you likely have a version of the plugin that does not have caching  built in (earlier than plugin version 2.x).

This is what I am using now, on all systems. AFAIK, it is all pretty current, and the combination seems to work best.
Samba Client Versions:
File system EVFS Version 1.002
Plugin file M:\ecs\dll\ndpsmb.dll
Plugin Vendor Netlabs.org
Plugin Revision 2.01.1.1
Plugin Date/Time 24 Jan 2012 15:52:45
Plugin Build Machine HerwigB
Plugin Language Code en
Plugin File Version 2.1
Plugin Description NDPSMB - SMBFS NetDrive External Plugin Build GA
Commandline utilities Version 3.3.16-eCS 1.1.1-675
EVFSGUIVersion 2.1.3 [2011-09-13]

I have tried almost everything that has been released for the client.

I **think** that the main problem is that I share whole drives. Small drives seem to work a LOT better than large drives. I have played with just sharing individual directories, but that does not really do what I want to be able to do.

QuoteIt looks like you seem to have a "habit" when setting up Samba Client that introduces the problems you see

I have exactly the same problems immediately after a new eCS 2.1 install, without changing anything. I find that it works better if I change the "cache timeout" to 420 seconds, and the "listings to cache" to "80" (max - it looks like 2000 might be better). Under Global settings, I use "Refresh network neighbourhood immediately", and "Use broadcasts instead of local master browser". Changing those doesn't seem to make any difference.

QuotePlease open a ticket and help us work it out - you got both our attention (diver and me) - let's get this fixed.

I will see if I can find some time to put it all together, later today. I am not at home, so it is more difficult to find the time, and the resources to get it done.
#69
Quotethere must be something really broken on your EFVS installation.

I would say that there is something very broken, but I am seeing exactly the same thing on 4 eCS 2.1 installs, and 4 eCS 2.0 installs. It is worse with older versions of the EVFS stuff. The really odd thing is, that every once in a long while, I do get a good session, with few problems, but most of the time, I have trouble. I may never have opened a ticket, but I thought I did, a few years ago. I keep trying the updates, but nothing ever changes.

If you have any suggestions, I would like to hear about them.
#70
I feel compelled to discuss SAMBA for eCS. The latest server implementations seem to work pretty good, but trying to use it with EVFS as the client is very flaky. I can use WinXP, or Win7, as the client (I can't get Win98 to work with it), for hours, and with larger file transfers, with little trouble. When I try to use it with EVFS, I am lucky if I can get to the point where I can transfer a file, before it hangs, or has some other weird problem. One of the main problems seems to be that transferring the directory information is extremely slow (5 to 10 KB/S, according to the IP Monitor widget), and it tends to just stop for minutes at a time (often, never starting again). The system also locks out everything else while it attempts to get a file directory, and if you do try to do something else, the system almost always locks up, requiring a reboot. Once the actual file transfer starts, it seems to go at a reasonable speed, but it almost stops between files. This is very frustrating when trying to transfer a lot of small files. It is often faster to copy the files to a USB stick, and copy them to the client that way.

I have got to the point where I am planning to quit using SAMBA, and replace it with RSync. It does make it a little more difficult to manage the data, but it works a LOT better.

The bottom line is, that the SAMBA server works fine. The eCS client (EVFS) doesn't work very well. I am not sure how that compares to the product from BSW, and I am not likely to spend any money to find out.
#71
Be aware, that "T43", and probably "T60" are a series of machines, and they can be quite different. I can comment on the foillowing:

IBM ThinkPad A22e (I don't remember the exact model number, and it is ancient), works better than the newer models (even with eCS 2.1). Suspend/Resume works perfectly (done by BIOS with APM support). SNAP works perfectly. It has an INTEL 100 mbs NIC, with an INTEL driver. No wireless, but it works with my (now old) Asus Wl-330g wireless adapter. The biggest "problem" is that it only has 256 meg of memory, and it only has Win98. I think it might run Win2K, but I am pretty sure that WinXP would be unusable.

IBM ThinkPad T43 (1871-W8M). It will not work with APM (no BIOS support), but ACPI works reasonably well. Suspend/Resume appears to work, but it never turns the video back light on after a resume, so I can't tell for sure. I am using Panorama with it because it is faster than SNAP in VESA  mode. The Broadcom 1 GB NIC and the Intel 2915abg wireless (8086:4224) are well supported by GENMAC. It comes with WinXP PRO, and works well with eCS 2.1.

Lenovo ThinkPad T510 (4313-CTO). The latest ACPI works well, but it has the same problem with Suspend/Resume as the T43. The video back light never comes back on. I am not sure that it actually does the resume, since it always does the long chkdsk at  reboot. The INTEL 1 GB NIC works well with the Multimac INTEL driver. I can get GENMAC to load a driver for the RTL8191SEvB Wireless LAN (10EC:8172), but GENMAC always thinks it has been assigned IRQ0, while everything else thinks it got IRQ17. If I ever try to do anything with it, the machine hangs. For wireless support, I simply use my old Asus WL-330g, and hope that the Multimac project will pick it up, soon. The machine comes with Win7, and it was a bit of a battle to convince Win7 to cooperate with eCS, but it can be done. AHCI 1.22 (with /r /s /n) seems to work well, which should make that project a little easier. Again, I use Panorama for better support than SNAP in VESA mode.

So, what you get may, or may not, work with eCS. All you can do is try it, and be prepared to do a lot of experimenting to get some of it working.
#72
I give up.

I can make a new backup, with BA/2 1.10, delete the catalog file, and recover it, with no problem. Trying to recover data from that backup, using BA/2K 4.10 gives me the errors that martin describes at the beginning of this thread, so it seems that the files need to be recovered, using the version of BA/2 that created them (and, I am doing it properly). The file dates are 1997/98, so it would be BA/2 v 1.0, or 1.10 that created them. I do not have BA/2 1.0, so I can't try that. I did try v2.10, 3.10, and 4.10, and got the same results as Martin did. It appears that the DAT files are damaged somehow (or they are not BA/2 backup files).

If anybody has any other ideas (or BA/2 1.0), please contact Martin, or post here.

I will leave it up to Martin to discuss the contents of the two ZIP files, that do have valid data in them.
#73
Hardware / Re: Hyperthreading & SMP
2012.04.25, 08:16:32
Just to update this (the development team knows about these problems):

Suspend Resume does not work on my Lenovo ThinkPad T510 (4313-CTO). Suspend seems to work, but resume fails somehow. The screen backlight never turns on, so I can't see what is going on (if anything). Ctrl-Alt-Del does something (it should get me to CADH, and the disk light flashes), but a second Ctrl-Alt-Del does not reboot the machine, so it would seem that it is not in CADH. I need to hold the power switch for more than 4 seconds, to force a power off. After power on, the disks do the chkdsk.

On my IBM ThinkPad T43 (1871-W8M), it appears to suspend okay, but the screen backlight does not come on when I resume. This machine appears to be alive (other than the screen), and Ctrl-Alt-Del seems to go to CADH. A second Ctrl-Alt-Del does initiate a reboot, and the disks are clean when it does it.

FWIW, Doodle's screen saver also can't turn those two screens off.

The really sad part is, that I also have an ancient IBM ThinkPad A22e. It knows nothing about ACPI, but suspend/hibernate/resume works perfectly with the old APM. It is actually the BIOS, with a little help from the drivers, that does the suspend/hibernate/resume. The BIOS also turns off the screen, and turns it back on again, properly. It seems that the newer machines are losing capability, and ACPI can't turn on a light switch.
#74
Hardware / Re: Hyperthreading & SMP
2012.04.24, 17:34:29
Quotepowermanagment worked bad.

Did you enable it using the ACPI Power Manager program? It is turned off if you don't. You will also find that a single processor needs some adjustment under the CPU tab. I am using Slow below 50% and Speed up above 75%. The default parameters are okay for a quad core system, but they are not aggressive enough for single core machines. If you insist on using CoolMan, make sure that Throttling is disabled in ACPI Power Manager, or they will fight with each other.

S/R is something that I haven't bothered with. I suppose that I should try it.
#75
Hardware / Re: Hyperthreading & SMP
2012.04.23, 18:54:54
I will present a few observations:

If you use ACPI, and you have access to Software Subscription, get the latest version 3.20.01.

Then, to use power reduction (highly recommended on a portable, battery operated, system), you need to enable the Throttling in the ACPI power object, which will be in the ACPI folder. ACPI 3.19.14 did not create that program object correctly. It has the wrong path in it.

Definitely, remove the POWERMAN.EXE line, in CONFIG.SYS. That will conflict with the new ACPI.

Melf: Also remove the older CoolMan that I gave you (that was the prototype for POWERMAN, for those who don't know). The new power controls in the new ACPI work good.

Hyperthreading: If you have a single processor, with that feature, I recommend that you don't use it. The SMP overhead will never be made up. If you have a processor with two real processors, you already have that overhead (unless you only use one processor). The new ACPI specifically says to turn off that feature, but I have seen no difference between having it enabled, or not, other than eCS thinks it is a quad core, rather than a dual core (and Win7 works faster). That is on my Lenovo ThinkPad T510. I suspect that some systems may have problems with using HT, which is why they say to turn it off.

Quoteit started acting really strange, with both cpus often going up to 99%, and I could not load any apps or shut down the system.

That is more likely to be a startup conflict of some sort. I have seen many different ways that that shows up, and your description is one of them. Two things that have "fixed" that sort of thing (recently), is to add the line:

BASEDEV=BOOTDLY.SYS /D:2

immediately after the:

PSD=ACPI.PSD

line. I also "fixed" another problem (the CONFIG.SYS is held open, so it can't be edited), by installing the Desktop Management Tool (DMT).

The main "problem" seems to be that there is a short period of time, usually at about the time that the GUI is starting up (but it can be earlier, or later), where the file system is blocked. Depending on exactly what is going on at that time, almost anything can happen. The new ACPI does seem to bring out that sort of problem (as they warn you about), because it starts up quicker than the old one. One thing that can help (and I think it is essential, when you have more than about 3 things started from the startup folder), is RXAUTOSTART. That starts the contents of the startup folder, one program at a time, after waiting for the desktop to be initialized, and that definitely reduces the chances of having startup conflicts.

7cities.net/~mckinnis/rxautost/index.html

Some experimenting with timings is probably required.

FWIW, I find that the more things that get installed (adding things to CONFIG.SYS), the more stable the system gets.

You may also find that sorting your CONFIG.SYS properly will make a difference. You can use the sort that comes with eCS, or you can use my Logical Config.Sys Sort tool, which make CONFIG.SYS much easier to understand for humans (the machine doesn't care, it will sort it out itself anyway). I found that my systems were somewhat unstable after installing the new ACPI, and the cause seems to be that the installer put the ACPI lines right at the top of CONFIG.SYS. After I sorted (using LCSS, of course), all of my ACPI capable systems have been quite good.

hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/config/LCSS-0-4-4.wpi