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eCS 2.04 RC4

Started by Saijin_Naib, 2007.12.27, 07:41:33

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Saijin_Naib

Hey, just released not too long ago! I am downloading now, testing in VPC later tonight (?) or tomorrow. 11%, 74kbps.

Updated eComStation Wiki page to reflect this newest release.
Some infos:
==== WHATSNEW for eComStation 2.0 RC4 ====

-=# The Christmas 2007 release #=-

New Features:

* Network reconfiguration now functions properly
* Detection of wired vs wireless NICs will be in proper order
* Added tool to configure a not-connected wired NIC interface (llaecs)
* Disk resizer has progress bar for improved usability
* New bootlogo and desktopbackground, reflecting "RC4" status

Updated Applications:

* Updated GenMac to "Release Version 2.20 RC1"
* Updated XWLAN utility to version 3.10 RC1
* Updated ACPI to version 3.05
* Updated both Firefox and Thunderbird to version 2.0.0.11
* Updated RSJ CD writer to 6.02
* Updated UniAud audiodriver to 1.1.4RC4 release
* Updated UnixLike utilities to support wildcard notation
* Updated tar (to 1.18), gzip (to 1.3.6) and bzip2 (to 1.0.4)
* Updated DOS kernel to 14.103
* Updated Time zone update for Java 1.4.2 to 2007H
* Updated MPTS Wrap to version 0908

Fixes since the previous release:

* 1686: [installer phase 2] Problem with OBJECT ID of mouse object
* 1796: [installer phase 2] GenMac needs to be installed completely on HD
* 1190: [other] APM Installation: config.sys missing: SET ENH_SUSPEND=2
* 1626: [booting of CD] XUL disc resizer
* 1633: [installer phase 1] Broadcom NeteXtreme Gigabit NIC not detected
* 1704: [other] If both GenMAC wirless interface and second inteface have
        TCPBuei enabled, Peer will not start
* 1625: [installer phase 2] eCS 2.0 rc2 error code 85 when USB CD-ROM
        support is requested
* 1800: [other] Apply ABIOS patch to OS2LDR
* 1700: [installer phase 3] ecs 2.0 it_it rc3: finalization wizard writes
        USER variable uppercase
* 1583: [other] Included versions of archiving utilities like tar, gzip,
        bzip2 are not the latest versions
* 1572: [installer phase 1] SEINST install failed
* 1711: [installer phase 1] System crashes without /!BIOS
* 1752: [installer phase 1] Trap E in OS2KRNL on starting install
* 1672: [other] Shutdown menu (estyler) does nothing if no selection is made
* 1707: [other] selecting panorama causes finish.cmd to run makewps.cmd
        from snap
* 1685: [other] Network reconf no longer works
* 1795: [other] Selective installer for networking destroys system
* 1738: [other] After successful installation, 'Selective Install for
        Networking' causes a loop in phase 2
* 1607: [installer phase 1] Broadcom 10/100 network adapter not present in
        macs listing.
* 1198: [other] Do not run CFGSORT on (network) reconfiguration
* 1732: [other] NIC not detected on HP compaq NC6320
* 1659: [booting of CD] Experimential features
* 1564: [other] (eCS 2.0 RC1) WPSEXTS missing
* 1781: [other] wpsh.ir is down level.
* 1669: [other] Amouse needs /SMP switch in SMP mode
* 1712: [installer phase 2] LAN not working, IBMLVL.INI not readable by
        MPTS.exe
* 1789: [other] JUNE.LNG misses texts and one sentence needs modification.
* 1504: [other] On this system V2.0B4 using GenMac for Broadcom NetXtreme
        NIC failed to install ANY copy of mptn.msg
* 1631: [other] mptn.msg missing
* 1580: [other] changing video drivers results in an unstartable system
* 1720: [other] Missing menuitems: Create another.., Create program object
* 1746: [other] Need to update the Samba client code in the EVFS package
* 1777: [installer phase 1] LVM fingerprint check text needs fixing
* 1722: [installer phase 2] Trap 000e ThinkPad R61
* 1724: [installer phase 1] Due to HW detection order Wireless is put on lan0
* 1641: [installer phase 1] Dual Core CPU installs W4 Kernel with "/SMP"
        option in ACPI.PSD. Result: stop at bootlogo.
* 1750: [other] FAT 32 IFS
* 1779: [other] WinOS2 apps lost during migration.
* 1688: [booting of CD] Install eCS 2.0 RC 3 in Virtual PC
* 1693: [installer phase 2] eCS 2.0 rc3 hangs loading drivers at phase2
* 1708: [installer phase 2] System hangs
* 1705: [installer phase 2] /APIC not filtered from ACPI.PSD line in phase2
* 1740: [other] MPTS does not work
* 1706: [other] x:\ibmcom\macs contains too many NIF files, causing MPTS to
        fail
* 1695: [other] MPTS crashes after easy install eCS 2.0 rc3
* 1733: [other] ACPI Wizard parameter parsing logic
* 1767: [other] Selective install *still* has OS/2 Warp 4 background and
        titlebar
* 1776: [other] UCLIP locations
* 1775: [other] en_us\ecs\install\install.zip contains a duplicate of itself
* 1758: [installer phase 1] Configure Network page references "Netware"
        instead of "NetWare" and needs additional fixes
* 1759: [installer phase 1] Network types text needs cleaning and consistency
* 1765: [installer phase 2] Disk inactivity warning text
* 1754: [installer phase 1] Language on resistration info page should be
        modified
* 1757: [installer phase 1] Registration screen text needs more polish
* 1751: [other] Unix-like commands in ecs\klibc (coreutils)
* 1761: [installer phase 1] When adding IPX, it is only available for binding
        to the first NIC
* 1742: [other] Couldn't configure MPTS .
* 1684: [other] Scheme Palete doesn't contain a setting for current colors
* 1703: [other] Default locale is still not correctly set during install.
* 1718: [installer phase 2] hang loading BASEDEVs

Updated / added drivers:

* Updated ACPI to revision 3.05
* Updated APM to revision 1.20
* Updated UniAud audiodriver to 1.1.4RC4 release
* Updated JFS code to match eCS Bootable JFS 1.0.7
   The updates for the latest IBM JFS support (14.105) have been merged
   into this release.  It is valid for both HPFS and JFS systems.
* applied IBM APAR PJ31116/PJ31056 Comet Cursor/Suspend (@@fixes 1781)
* samba plugin code at level 3.0.26 @@fixes 1746

=== eComStation 2.0 RC4 README ===

-=# The Christmas 2007 release #=-

!!! WHEN TESTING BETA SOFTWARE, ALWAYS BE SURE TO HAVE A TRIED AND TESTED
    BACKUP OF YOUR SYSTEM !!!

** Netware installation from CD1 **

It is now possible to add Netware client support to eComStation, straight
from the installation CD. This is especially important for those customers
that have a Netware networking environment.


** Preboot harddisk integrity check **

There are several situations which may cause installation problems with LVM
in the install process. In this release, it is possible to disable the
integrity check at page 2 (miscellaneous) of the eComStation installer
preboot menu.

- PBR problems:  Set when either the 'hidden sectors' or the geometry fields
in a bootsector do not match the position of the partition or the used
disk-geometry.

- CHS problems:  Set when the CHS-values in a partition-table for a
  partition do NOT match the current disk-geometry used by the operating
  system.  This may lead to error from (mini)LVM about the disk being
  'corrupt'.  Another possible cause for this error is that if there are
  any partitions present on a disk that have NO LVM information at all,
  and are of a type that gets a default driveletter assigned in that case
  (by OS2LVM.DMD/OS2DASD.CMD)

- Boot problems:  Set when extended-containers are marked ACTIVE, when
  multiple primaries are marked ACTIVE, or if any non-standard flagbyte
  values are used in the partitiontable.  These errors MAY lead to the
  system failing to boot properly!

These will now be detected before the installer starts and an option to fix
them is being presented.  If you choose not to fix them, you are not able
to proceed the installation.

This technology uses a custom DFSee 'engine' and should be safe, however,
neither Serenity Systems International nor Fsys can be held liable for any
damages that may occur to the data on your harddrive.


** Harddisk volume resizing **

This version has a custom DFSee engine that enables reliable RESIZING of FAT32
and NTFS filesystems to allow shrinking an existing Windows installation to
make room for eComStation on the same system.  While this functionality has
been available in DFSee (and the OEM Engine) for quite a while, it was NOT
considered reliable enough to offer to end users during eComStation install.
Starting with DFSee release 7.12, and the OEM Engine based on that, the
reliability of resizing has improved to the point where it can be used
without hesitation for this purpose.  A Windows NTFS filesystem resized by
DFSee will pass a subsequent Windows CHKDSK with NO ERRORS now. The engine
included in RC4 is at level 9.04.

The GUI to this tool has been updated and is now using a graphical interface.
To invoke it, please select 'Paritition Resizing Tool' from the Installation
Volume Manager which can be called during installation (choose 'New Volume'
to start MiniLVM). It will take a while to complete loading, when done,
please select Next to show the list of resizable volumes. If the list is
empty, this means there is no suitable volume detected that has enough free
space for it to be resized.

The GUI has been updated to be more intuitive to the user and will only show
resize panes when there is an actual volume available for resizing. If you
know you have freespace available on your Windows volume, but they do not
show up, you can consider running (multiple times) "defrag" under Windows,
this will rearrange the file layout on disk and may yield in more space
that can be actually freed up. The diskresizer now will show a progress
bar during resizing.

If the entire disk is occupied by a Windows Vista preload installation,
installation of eComStation will not be possible and the installer will
abort (the preboot integrity check will prevent further booting).
You can create freespace on the drive by using the tools supplied by Windows
Vista to manage your disk. In 'FAQ.TXT' a small howto is included.


** Bootable JFS **

This release of eComStation contains the option to install the operating
system on a JFS volume. The advantage of doing this is that the amount of
diskcache is only limited by system memory (typically 10% of available
memory is assigned)
This increased cache size gives a huge gain in overall system performance.
To install onto a Bootable JFS volume, you will have to select 'JFS' as
filesystem type in the 'Format Volume' page of the installer.

A number of analysis tools are available on the install CD:

in \ECS\BOOTJFS

cachejfs.exe   - query and set parameters of cache
cstats.exe     - query usage of cache

in \ECS\BOOTJFS\DEBUG

chklgjfs.exe - show results of last chkdsk
dumpfs.exe   - dump internal structure of JFS
logdump.exe  - dump current state of log to \JFSLOG.DMP
validfs.exe  - show current state of JFS
xchkdmp.exe  - show results from chkdsk.new
xchklog.exe  - dump results of last chkdsk to \chkdsk.new
xpeek.exe    - utility for interactive work with structure of JFS


** Genmac 2.20 RC1 **

This package provides generic driver support for several network interface
cards under OS/2 and eComStation.  Moreover, Genmac is enabled to support WPA
encryption with the Wireless LAN Monitor 3.x or better.

Genmac and the Wireless LAN monitor will be installed when the appropriate
hardware is detected by the installer.  If it is not detected, you can
manually select the driver in the network installation dialog.

Note:  only the selected driver will be copied onto your system, in order to
prevent problems with the MPTS installer later on.  This may seem confusing,
when you run MPTS in a later stage, it will not show all Genmac supported
NICs.

Version 2.20 rc1 of GenMac now supports the NETBEUI protocol.

Version 2.20 rc1 of GenMac now offers suspend & resume on a limited set of network
adapters (when used in conjunction with ACPI) - this is an *experimental*
feature. More details can be found in \ecs\doc\genmac\

Please note that UniAud has known problems with suspend & resume, so if you
want to use this feature, you should not activate the UniAud driver currently.

A full list of supported NIC chipsets can be found in 'WHATSNEW.TXT'.
Support has been added to autodetect over 300 NICs that are using one of
these chipsets.


** ACPI & APM **

Support for ACPI is available in this release.  The current version is 3.05.
ACPI will be automatically enabled if appropriate hardware is detected.
You can manually enable or disable ACPI support at page 4 (USB & ACPI)
of the eComStation installer preboot menu.  Even if not installed, the
corresponding documents are installed on your harddrive. You can find
detailed information and testdocuments in \ECS\DOC\ACPI and \ECS\DOC\APM

Several tests can be performed, please refer to \ECS\DOC\ACPI\TESTER.DOC
and \ECS\DOC\APM\TESTER.DOC

When ACPI is installed, there is a number of utilities from the ACPI
Toolkit you can use, see the list below:

AcpiTree.exe            - Show ACPI tree
ButtonJin.exe           - Wait press Power Button (as demon), GUI
WaitButton.exe          - Wait press Power/Sleep button, VIO
PowerOff.exe            - Power Off (immediate!!)
SetGetThrtl.exe         - Get/Set throtlling CPU
UpTime.exe              - Show uptime via PM Timer
GetValue.exe            - Get current value from PM Timer
AcpiIRQ.exe             - Show current IRQ routing
IrqStat.exe             - Show IRQ calling statistics (SMP only)
SetGetState.exe         - Get/Set frequency/power state
EmbeddedEvent.exe       - Show events from Embedded controllers
GetNotify.exe           - Show notify
Thermal.exe             - Show temperature of thermal zone
ScanPCI.exe             - Show PCI devices
TmrTest.exe             - Test working of timer (testing IRQ0 timer 0)


** multicore CPU support **

This release supports the installation of eComStation on a MultiCore CPU
computer. This includes Intel Core Duo , Core2 Duo and AMD 64 X2.
To enable it, you can do so in the ACPI Wizard that is launched from the
Post Installation tasks at the end of the installation. Alternatively you
can start the ACPI Wizard at any time from the install/remove folder in
the Local System folder on the desktop.

The ACPI Wizard will try to determine your system configuration and set
parameters accordingly. You can manually change them of course.

Please note: many drivers are not SMP capable, which may cause
instability or unexpected behaviour on your system.

For more information please refer to \ECS\DOC\ACPI\ACPI_SMP.DOC


** SMP support **

It is also possible to install eComStation 2.0 RC4 on a regular SMP
machine. You will have to activate it with the ACPI Wizard from the
Post Installation Tasks wizard that is started at the end of the
installation. This should enable you to properly finish installation,
before activating the SMP feature.


** Uninstall SMP support **

It is possible to undo a SMP installation, for example because your system
seems unstable or does not properly function with SMP activated.
For instructions on how to perform uninstallation, please refer to 'FAQ.TXT'
in the root of the CD.


** eComStation Virtual File System (Samba client support) **

Samba is a SMB/CIFS protocols file and print sharing server/client set
originally made for UNIX world to cooperate with corresponding Windows and
OS/2 servers or clients.  eComStation has a native implementation of
SMB/CIFS server/client set - IBM LAN Manager and IBM Peer.  These products
have not been recently updated and may have some compatibility issues with
modern Windows SMB/CIFS implementations.

Serenity Systems International has reached an agreement with Blueprint
Software Works for the inclusion of the 'eComStation Virtual File System'
driver which provides support for Samba Client.  Currently a GUI to
configure it is lacking, but an example of how to mount a Samba resource
can be found in \ECS\DOC\EVFS\REXX

** EVFS GUI **

There now is a GUI that will make it easier to configure network access
using the Samba protocol. There is one big limitation though, the tool
cannot determine if a network connection was properly created - so it
will not provide sensible feedback on that, instead it will always
create a mountpoint which may be empty if the actual connection fails.
The object for this tool is placed in the "Local Network" folder and is
called "Virtual Filesystem for SMB"

Saijin_Naib

Initial Impressions are good. Install goes well under VPC2007, everything works and auto-detects except for the Sound card. Once its up and running, its very much the same in functionality as the previous RCs. I tried the Samba NFS front-end, it seems mostly intuitive, but since I have no other computers on the home network currently, its hard for me to test its usability. I await returning to school and installing on hardware there to test that.

bjorso


I have tested this release on two laptops and one desktop computer. On my T42p everything is running as expected. This is the first time I try eCS on my Z60M with Widescreen. The only thing I can't get right is graphics, it looks rather ugly but everything else is OK. I'v tried both Panorma and SNAP, no difference. On both laptops I use WiFi and wired LAN through Genmac and it's just great. Niether machine is Dual Core.

The desktop system is a Shuttle and the latest ACPI gives a Kernel trap when running on two CPU kernels. When I use the debug version of ACPI it's working? Chipset and LAN-adapter is VIA, NIC must be set to use IRQ above 15 and that is fixed from the installation in rc4, thanks. Graphics is just fine with Panorama.

Connection to a share on my Samba-server (Debian) works perfect with the new GUI in Networking folder. It's even easier than using Samba from XP. ;D

//bjorso

DavidG

#3
The graphics on you other laptop, what resolution is it set at?  See what resolution Windows runs at on it and set it to the same resolution using SNAP, provided you can run another resolution besides VGA.  Once done reboot and then go to a command line and type

cd snap <enter>
gaoption lcdusebios off <enter>

reboot system ans see what you have.

bjorso


The resolution is set to 1680x1050, the same as in Windows XP. Graphics is ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600 and it's detected on page 2 of SNAP settings. The problem is that the virtual screen is bigger than the real screen so I have to scroll to see the edges. Besides that it's looks quite raw compared to the T42p that is perfect on 1600x1200. But that is another chipset, of cource. A reboot after changing lcd bios doesn't change anything I am afraid!

//bjorso

melf

Quote from: bjorso on 2007.12.28, 10:53:05



Connection to a share on my Samba-server (Debian) works perfect with the new GUI in Networking folder. It's even easier than using Samba from XP. ;D

//bjorso
New GUI works fine here to, easy to use. But, the mounted shares are not possible to save anywhere as I can see. Am I missing something?
/Mikael

RobertM

#6
Quote from: bjorso on 2007.12.28, 12:06:37

The resolution is set to 1680x1050, the same as in Windows XP. Graphics is ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600 and it's detected on page 2 of SNAP settings. The problem is that the virtual screen is bigger than the real screen so I have to scroll to see the edges. Besides that it's looks quite raw compared to the T42p that is perfect on 1600x1200. But that is another chipset, of cource. A reboot after changing lcd bios doesn't change anything I am afraid!

//bjorso

Hi bjorso,

If the resolution is set correctly, but you have a virtual screen that is larger than the "physical" screen, it means that SNAP is not truly setting the resolution correctly (SNAP is thinking that the physical screen resolution is actually less than what it really is, setting the LCD to that resolution - and assigning the remainder to a virtual area). So for instance in your case, the actual screen resolution the driver may be using is 1280x1024, and assigning the virtual screen 1680x1050 - thus creating a larger virtual screen (and then the hardware is scaling the 1280x1024 viewport to the actual screen resolution). That will be what is causing the ugly screen presentation as eCS is actually sending a lower resolution than the screen wants, and the hardware is scaling the "viewport" to the correct resolution.

I don't know what the solution is to that. I had heard though, that Panorama will work - but there is a configuration option or something similar that you need to edit for it to actually use the widescreen mode. Hopefully someone else here can chime in on how to do that.

-Robert


|
|
Kirk's 5 Year Mission Continues at:
Star Trek New Voyages
|
|


melf

/Mikael

DavidG

Quote from: bjorso on 2007.12.28, 12:06:37

The resolution is set to 1680x1050, the same as in Windows XP. Graphics is ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600 and it's detected on page 2 of SNAP settings. The problem is that the virtual screen is bigger than the real screen so I have to scroll to see the edges. Besides that it's looks quite raw compared to the T42p that is perfect on 1600x1200. But that is another chipset, of cource. A reboot after changing lcd bios doesn't change anything I am afraid!

//bjorso

I have the same video card in my laptop with the exception that my screen resolution is 1440x900.  Always after installing eCS,  I encounter the same problem you have.  The WPS desktop is actually bigger than the screen and I have to move the mouse around to reach the corners of the desktop.

By running the "gaoption lcdusebios off" from the SNAP directory and rebooting, it has always corrected the problem for me.

Saijin_Naib

I was very excited today when I got WinXP and eCS to network together without having to jump through hoops, pray to various deities, sacrifice my firstborn, etc etc. All I did was install eCS with NFS, boot it up, log into IBM Peer (Workstation) share something. Then, I went to WinXP and enabled file/folder sharing and just shared the standard Shared Docs folder and my printer objects. Lo and Behold, XP saw eCS and eCS saw XP! I had to do NOTHING. It worked like I dreamt it should, seamless, through the file and folder browser. Amazing. I cant wait to get back to school and hop on my network and see what kind of results I get there.

This was home network, eCS in VirtualPC2007 and WinXP in hardware.

bjorso

#10
Quote from: melf on 2007.12.28, 17:48:37
New GUI works fine here to, easy to use. But, the mounted shares are not possible to save anywhere as I can see. Am I missing something?

No, you have not missed anything Melf. This GUI is probably only a teaser! It will be more complete in a later version I think.

I tried to log on to my Debian Sambadomain from eCS with the normal requester. It works just fine, the only glitch is a NET8191 message that tells me that it can't find my home directory on the server. That problem is a pure PC problem since eCS can't do shares without calling them something like H: etc. Unix/Linux is not using such things.

I solved it with configuration of an automatic remote share that starts after a successful logon. Use the icon "Sharing and connecting". This will mount your home directory or other shares every time. I can live with the NET8191 message!

On the other hand, the shares are only working well from a tool like FC/2. They don't work from WPS and it seems to be problems with EA's, as expected. It's only useful as a place to store and fetch files for now.

//bjorso

kim

Quote from: Saijin_Naib on 2007.12.28, 09:02:49Initial Impressions are good. Install goes well under VPC2007, everything works and auto-detects except for the Sound card.

Agree, first impression is very positive; the installation on my ThinkPad T60 (2007-FRG) goes like a charm and everything works fine. No audio still and the Panorama makes the system workable since the SNAP is really a pain to use in VESA mode. Multicore support works well also. So compared with RC3 that I couldn't install at all and compared with the issues that I had with RC2 and now RC4 that installs on 15 minutes it looks great.

One big issue though is that my GPU is getting really hot and I can only assume that Panorama are beating the crap out of it since the fan goes on constantly after a while. That is really a downside.

When looking at the cosmetic wrapping of the eCS I really hope that they spend some time to clean out the old icons since they've now mixed 3 generations of icons within eCS v2.0. There are several individuals here on this forum that have showed that they know how to create great themes and icons; I would suggest the Serenity make use of their skills since they sure could need it.


melf

Quote from: kimhav on 2008.01.02, 21:25:58

When looking at the cosmetic wrapping of the eCS I really hope that they spend some time to clean out the old icons since they've now mixed 3 generations of icons within eCS v2.0. There are several individuals here on this forum that have showed that they know how to create great themes and icons; I would suggest the Serenity make use of their skills since they sure could need it.

I really agree. They should spend some time to make an overall nice and up to date desktop show up after install. I think it's an underestimated factor attracting new users.
/Mikael

Saijin_Naib

Its very much underestimated since everyone I show eCS to only remarks on how it looks "old" and basically refuse to give it any further consideration because their initiail impression has already been formed. eSchemes is a step in the right direction, but I think (especially with the Linux crowd) we would need something more like Beryl or Compviz to make the WPS look more modern. Its usability is really quite good, but it looks like its from, well, when its from (1990s).

kim

Another essential feature for me is the Samba support that seems to work, but misses out a few administrative features with the provided Samba utility. Check following thread about the eCS Samba support.