From: Digest <deadmail>
To: "OS/2GenAu Digest"<deadmail>
Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 00:01:04 EST-10EDT,10,-1,0,7200,3,-1,0,7200,3600
Subject: [os2genau_digest] No. 759
Reply-To: <deadmail>
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**************************************************
Friday 26 December 2003
 Number  759
**************************************************

Subjects for today
 
1  Re:  Dial-Up ISP Problems : Dennis Nolan <denny at alphalink dot com dot au>
2  Re:  [eCS] Working with other OS groups, any benefit? : Daryl Pilkington <u3232 at home.dialix dot com>
3  Re:  [eCS] Working with other OS groups, any benefit? : Alan Heiser" <aheiser at ozemail dot com dot au>
4  Re:  Dial-Up ISP Problems : Daryl Pilkington <u3232 at home.dialix dot com>
5  Re:  Dial-Up ISP Problems : Daryl Pilkington <u3232 at home.dialix dot com>
6  Re:  [eCS] Working with other OS groups, any benefit? : Ed Durrant <edurrant at bigpond dot net dot au>
7  Re:  ISDN stuff : Mike O'Connor <mikeoc at dodo dot com dot au>
8   eCS Woes : Leigh Bunting <vh_gdn at internode.on dot net>
9  Re:  eCS Woes : David Forrester" <davidfor at internode.on dot net>
10  Re:  eCS Woes : Ed Durrant <edurrant at bigpond dot net dot au>
11  Re:  eCS Woes : John Angelico" <talldad at kepl dot com dot au>

**= Email   1 ==========================**

Date:  Fri, 26 Dec 2003 07:37:44 +1100
From:  Dennis Nolan <denny at alphalink dot com dot au>
Subject:  Re:  Dial-Up ISP Problems

Daryl Pilkington wrote:

> Hi Dennis,
> Working from a "Change Problem Determination" technique, either their 
> modem access server is not compatable with your modem or some obscure 
> TCP/IP setting is not compatible with their setup.
>
> Their are 2 areas that need to be tuned:
> 1)
> Tuning your modem to their access server.
> 2)
> Once this is done, tune the TCP/IP link.
>
> 1) deals with really low-level things like:
> Telephone line transmit level
> Compression protocol
> Error correction protocol
>
> 2) deals with TCP/IP parameters which are completely independent of 
> the modem:- but the modem needs to be tuned 1st!
>
> The technicians are pretty well on-track with their advice.
> They have changed their infrastructure which is not playing nice with 
> your modem. It is not practical or economic for them to fiddle with 
> that infrastructure. It has been tuned for a Windows world, it is 
> easier for you to fiddle with your modem to look like Windows Dial-Up 
> Networking, (DUN).
>
> O.K. with that said, could you be more specific with, "It drops off"
> Does this mean your modem link disconnects, or does it just become 
> slower with it finally disconnecting?
>
> Could you please let me know what dialer you are using & what modem.
> You can give me the exact modem information by issuing the following 
> command to your modem:
> ati3
>
> Tell me what comes back.
>
>
> Dennis Nolan wrote:
>
>> Hi All
>>
>> I am having terrible trouble with my Dial-In account.
>>
>> It drops off, this is especially bad during business hours or early 
>> evening.
>>
>> I had no problem until they changed to a national dial in number.
>> The local Rosebud number had no problems.
>>
>> I've talked to their helpline and sent e-mail to them, and am still 
>> working up the chain past the "Technicians" who seem to think my 
>> modem initialisation string or firmware is the problem.
>> Though they get upset when I point out that before the phone number 
>> change there was no problem, and that I didn't know that them 
>> changing the phone number changed my modem settings.
>>
>> I just thought that if someone else had heard of a similar problem 
>> that had been resolved, it may shorten my pain.
>>
>> Regards and merry Christmas to all,
>> Dennis.
>>
>
 
>
> 

>
> .
>
Thanks Daryl

OK the return from ati3 is ACER56HKC1

I am using eCSoNet that came with eCS 1.1

It is a standard serial connection, with no esoteric settings.

The only unusual settings is that the MTU is set to 500, this is
required by Alphalink.

And though they say they require PAP authentication I am using non of
the alternative authentication protocols.

I had tried PAP but never managed to log on with it.

Regards

Dennis.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

**= Email   2 ==========================**

Date:  Fri, 26 Dec 2003 13:37:50 +1100
From:  Daryl Pilkington <u3232 at home.dialix dot com>
Subject:  Re:  [eCS] Working with other OS groups, any benefit?

Hi All,
Thankyou for the helpful suggestions comments below:

-UPS
Thanks Ed, yes, the blazer 400.
Like you said, the Lone Peak solution with the Blazer is a kludge.
It really is a 3rd rate solution:- no ability to get any feedback from 
the UPS apart from loss of mains power.
Tripplite have a generic LAN-enabled monitor available at hobbes:
http://hobbes.nms.edu
search for tripplite
Code has been written for NUT to support the Blazer. This can be used to 
create a translation table for Tripplite's PowerAlert Plus 10.1
Better still, port NUT to OS/2!

-IP telephony
Thanks Ed, exactly, no eCS solutions. Hardware solutions are around $300 
software solutions cost $50. Gee, a WinXP licence is around $200 which 
means for $250 I've got a solution cheaper & more flexible than a 
hardware solution.
Stuffing around with ODIN with SJphone may be a possibility.

-Yahoo Messenger
Thanks Ed, Trillian is cross-protocol:- AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, MSN.
*Plus* it has unicode.
There is also Miranda, GAIM, probably others too.
Stuffing around with ODIN with Trillian may be a possibility.

-Pinyin
I don't know *anyone* anywhere in the world using a Chinese version of 
OS/2 on their desktop. Probably because they can't get a modern office 
suite to work on it ;) Google found a few things which I can research:- 
if I could justify the time. Love to talk to anybody using CJK on an 
OS/2 box.

-LAN Fax
Thanks Ed, Jim, Bill & Neils. I am really looking for a seamless send & 
receive solution that will work from desktop. Walking over to another PC 
to enter the fax send paramaters is resourceful but not good enough!
The Xerox DC440 I considered briefly, but found only 1 reference to it 
in Australia, creating a support problem. It also made me realise the 
client has enough hardware & really a software solution is what is required.

-DVD-RW
Ed, you can probably show me how RSJ handles this. I just want to use 
the DVD-RW to add & delete files just like a removable HDD. I'm pretty 
sure RSJ can do that. Using RSJ though, I've created my 1st DVD-RW 
coaster, can't even revive the disc using inCD4!

-ODIN & VirtualPC
Given time, I'll re-investigate what these can do, in the interim I'll 
just have to run Windows-only apps on W2k or WinXP, since I can install 
them & actually start to use them without stuffing around.

-MYOB
I'll run it on W2k & WinXP until its works on VirtualPC or ODIN.

-ECI
I'll run it on W2k & WinXP until its works on VirtualPC or ODIN.

-A relevant Office Suite
Thanks Ed, wonder what the costing for OpenOffice/2, (OO/2), will be?
Its free for download for W2k & Linux, it wouldn't want to be too 
expensive for OS/2, it might be cheaper to change the OS than get a 
licence for OO/2.

-XWindows
Actually, I meant a Windows Terminal Server Client, there is a Java one 
but it doesn't install out-of-the box on OS/2. Whilst 3 days later I got 
an updated script from the vendor, why they couldn't put it on the 
download section to start with is beyond me.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

**= Email   3 ==========================**

Date:  Fri, 26 Dec 2003 12:58:34 +1000 (KST)
From:  "Alan Heiser" <aheiser at ozemail dot com dot au>
Subject:  Re:  [eCS] Working with other OS groups, any benefit?

On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 13:37:50 +1100, Daryl Pilkington wrote:

>Hi All,
>Thankyou for the helpful suggestions comments below:
>
>-ODIN & VirtualPC
>Given time, I'll re-investigate what these can do, in the interim I'll 
>just have to run Windows-only apps on W2k or WinXP, since I can install 
>them & actually start to use them without stuffing around.

Virtual PC works a treat - but can you still get it?


>-MYOB
>I'll run it on W2k & WinXP until its works on VirtualPC or ODIN.


Runs in Virtual PC.  I would like to say it runs well but it is MYOB after all!



>-ECI
>I'll run it on W2k & WinXP until its works on VirtualPC or ODIN.
>
Runs well in Virtual PC


>-A relevant Office Suite
>Thanks Ed, wonder what the costing for OpenOffice/2, (OO/2), will be?
>Its free for download for W2k & Linux, it wouldn't want to be too 
>expensive for OS/2, it might be cheaper to change the OS than get a 
>licence for OO/2.


Lotus Suite runs well in Virtual PC though the native OS/2 is just as good.  Office suyites 
really are a matter of taste, but I can do in Lotus more than I can on MS Office, running in 
windows or on the Virtual PC

Alan






----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

**= Email   4 ==========================**

Date:  Fri, 26 Dec 2003 16:43:14 +1100
From:  Daryl Pilkington <u3232 at home.dialix dot com>
Subject:  Re:  Dial-Up ISP Problems

Hi Dennis, Happy Silly Season,
Could you do me a favour & change your replies to "start my reply above
the quoted text". Means I don't have to wade through the traffic to get
the meat.

Notice you are using Thunderbird 3.0, you can get to this setting with:
Tools/Account Settings/Composition & Addressing/Composition

Lets get the modem working properly 1st.
You can then tune the TCP/IP PPP link, (MTU for example).

O.K. Google is our friend...
ACER56HKC1
http://archive.humbug dot org dot au/aussie-isp/2001-03/msg00480.html

*************************************************************
[Oz-ISP] Bad Modem list
     * To: <aussie-isp at xxxxxxxxxx>
     * From: "Peter Court" <pc at xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
     * Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 12:43:28 +1000
     * Return-path: archive/bin/runmhonarc (autogenerated)
Time to check out my current Bad Modem list on all of you.
Feedback welcome ! and death to all V.92 satanists who want to change
all NAS and client modems AGAIN !
My list of Problem Modems is below along with the(Key identifying response).
Some of these are only a problem in a certain percentage of cases on
particular line conditions. These are the ones we tend to get reports from.
Notably absent are 3COM USR modems !

SNIP

Acer 56K surf (ATI3 ACER56HKC1)
*************************************************************
Hmmm... not a good start, looks like your modem is a lemon.
Lets see if there is a firmware update for it that may fix things.

O.K. Google is our friend...
+"Acer 56K surf" +firmware


AcerModem 56 Surf (AME-TG00)
AcerModem 56 Surf (AME-TG01)
AcerModem 56 Surf II (AME-ME00)
AcerModem 56 Surf III (AME-AE00)
AcerModem 56 Surf IV (AME-AE01)


Dennis Nolan wrote:

SNIP
>>
> Thanks Daryl
> 
> OK the return from ati3 is ACER56HKC1
> 
> I am using eCSoNet that came with eCS 1.1
> 
> It is a standard serial connection, with no esoteric settings.
> 
> The only unusual settings is that the MTU is set to 500, this is
> required by Alphalink.
> 
> And though they say they require PAP authentication I am using non of
> the alternative authentication protocols.
> 
> I had tried PAP but never managed to log on with it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

**= Email   5 ==========================**

Date:  Fri, 26 Dec 2003 16:45:58 +1100
From:  Daryl Pilkington <u3232 at home.dialix dot com>
Subject:  Re:  Dial-Up ISP Problems

Greetings Again,

Daryl Pilkington wrote:
SNIP

Oops, accidently pressed the send button too soon.
Which one of the below is your modem?
> 
> O.K. Google is our friend...
> +"Acer 56K surf" +firmware
> 
> 
> AcerModem 56 Surf (AME-TG00)
> AcerModem 56 Surf (AME-TG01)
> AcerModem 56 Surf II (AME-ME00)
> AcerModem 56 Surf III (AME-AE00)
> AcerModem 56 Surf IV (AME-AE01)
> 
SNIP

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

**= Email   6 ==========================**

Date:  Fri, 26 Dec 2003 17:27:55 +1100
From:  Ed Durrant <edurrant at bigpond dot net dot au>
Subject:  Re:  [eCS] Working with other OS groups, any benefit?

Hi Daryl,

 Can probably answer some/most of these tomorrow when we meet, however for those
others on the list, my comments interspersed with **

Ed.

Daryl Pilkington wrote:

> Hi All,
> Thankyou for the helpful suggestions comments below:
>
> -UPS
> Thanks Ed, yes, the blazer 400.
> Like you said, the Lone Peak solution with the Blazer is a kludge.
> It really is a 3rd rate solution:- no ability to get any feedback from
> the UPS apart from loss of mains power.
> Tripplite have a generic LAN-enabled monitor available at hobbes:
> http://hobbes.nms.edu
> search for tripplite
> Code has been written for NUT to support the Blazer. This can be used to
> create a translation table for Tripplite's PowerAlert Plus 10.1
> Better still, port NUT to OS/2!
>

   ** I guess it comes down to how musch you want to pay. The American Power
Conversion UPSes have in my experience always been the standard to measure others by.
They have come down in price compared to a few years ago, have OS/2 support software
and are supported by the Lone Peak software as well. If we buy the cheap solution on
any hardware, there's a good chance the support will also be based on this budget - ie
cheap or non-existant.

>
> -IP telephony
> Thanks Ed, exactly, no eCS solutions. Hardware solutions are around $300
> software solutions cost $50. Gee, a WinXP licence is around $200 which
> means for $250 I've got a solution cheaper & more flexible than a
> hardware solution.
> Stuffing around with ODIN with SJphone may be a possibility.
>

 ** Not sure where you can get "legally" a full comercial license of WinXP Pro for
AUS$200 but that aside, a hardware solution will normally appear to be more expensive
simply because it has to have the hardware as well. Your WinXP solution actually costs
AUS$ 999 (lets say) for the PC, AUS$ 200 for the XP license ? (possibly included in
the PC purchase price) and $50 for the IP telephony software, so around the AUS$1000
mark as opposed to AUS$300 for an independant, lower power and space consuming, more
reliable, longer life expectancy hardware solution. It's only if you go with a
compromise, shared system solution, that your price holds water. As always, it depends
on the customer requirements. A corporate would probably prefer the independant
hardware solution. A SOHO "shoestring" operation may have to go with the compromise.
That's business !


>
> -Yahoo Messenger
> Thanks Ed, Trillian is cross-protocol:- AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, MSN.
> *Plus* it has unicode.
> There is also Miranda, GAIM, probably others too.
> Stuffing around with ODIN with Trillian may be a possibility.
>

  ** Sorry, I didn't post the full reply to this question - what about the Java based
solution that was mentioned by someone else ?

>
> -Pinyin
> I don't know *anyone* anywhere in the world using a Chinese version of
> OS/2 on their desktop. Probably because they can't get a modern office
> suite to work on it ;) Google found a few things which I can research:-
> if I could justify the time. Love to talk to anybody using CJK on an
> OS/2 box.
>

    Evermore EIOffice is available in Chinese and runs under Java 1.4.1 (still working
out a couple of bugs with Evermore, but looks good under OS/2 & eCS).


>
> -LAN Fax
> Thanks Ed, Jim, Bill & Neils. I am really looking for a seamless send &
> receive solution that will work from desktop. Walking over to another PC
> to enter the fax send paramaters is resourceful but not good enough!
> The Xerox DC440 I considered briefly, but found only 1 reference to it
> in Australia, creating a support problem. It also made me realise the
> client has enough hardware & really a software solution is what is required.
>

  ** I guess my comments above about what the customer wants and what he or she is
prepared to pay for come in here as well.

>
> -DVD-RW
> Ed, you can probably show me how RSJ handles this. I just want to use
> the DVD-RW to add & delete files just like a removable HDD. I'm pretty
> sure RSJ can do that. Using RSJ though, I've created my 1st DVD-RW
> coaster, can't even revive the disc using inCD4!
>

  ** I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a couple of problems with RSJ and my DVD-RW
burner but these were more understanding how to drive the software and to understand
its limitations in the present version rather than any faults. Lets discuss what is
needed. If would be nice if we could get CDRECORD-PRODVD ported to OS/2 with a later
version than 2.0 (which has problems with both your and my Pioneer DVD writers)  -
we'd then have an alternative and I suspect it'll be far easier to get SmartBackup to
work with it rather than RSJ. By the way CDRecord/2 (the non-DVD version) does blank
DVD-RW disks.

>
> -ODIN & VirtualPC
> Given time, I'll re-investigate what these can do, in the interim I'll
> just have to run Windows-only apps on W2k or WinXP, since I can install
> them & actually start to use them without stuffing around.
>

  ** ODIN is still developing which has both positive and negative facets as some of
the modifications have caused WIN32 applications that used to work via ODIN to stop
working, however I believe this is now being addressed, so expect even more success
with ODIN in 2004. VirtualPC/2 is no longer available from Innotek, since Microsoft
bought Connectix. The "new" Microsoft VirtualPC for Windows still supports OS/2 Warp
as a client but support for Linux has now been dropped (it works still as a client OS,
but it does not appear as an option in the wizard and Microsoft will not address any
problems that Linux may have with Virtual PC). A new product from Netsys, based on
TwoOSTwo is due in Beta early in 2004. This will have Linux, Windows and OS/2 Host
versions.

>
> -MYOB
> I'll run it on W2k & WinXP until its works on VirtualPC or ODIN.
>

 ** I would expect it to work under VirtualPC/2 today - but if you haven't a license
then you can't try.

>
> -ECI
> I'll run it on W2k & WinXP until its works on VirtualPC or ODIN.
>

 ** I would expect it to work under VirtualPC/2 today - but if you haven't a license
then you can't try.

>
> -A relevant Office Suite
> Thanks Ed, wonder what the costing for OpenOffice/2, (OO/2), will be?
> Its free for download for W2k & Linux, it wouldn't want to be too
> expensive for OS/2, it might be cheaper to change the OS than get a
> licence for OO/2.
>

** US$30.

>
> -XWindows
> Actually, I meant a Windows Terminal Server Client, there is a Java one
> but it doesn't install out-of-the box on OS/2. Whilst 3 days later I got
> an updated script from the vendor, why they couldn't put it on the
> download section to start with is beyond me.
>

  ** Hmm, again "cheap option". Go to Citrix on the server and then use either the
fully supported OS/2 or Java versions of the Citrix client.

> 0

>  


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

**= Email   7 ==========================**

Date:  Fri, 26 Dec 2003 17:26:27 +1000
From:  Mike O'Connor <mikeoc at dodo dot com dot au>
Subject:  Re:  ISDN stuff

Ian Manners wrote:

>Reposted on behalf of Ken Laurie
>Whose mail server provider has been RBL'ed :-(
>==========================================
>Voytek
>
>I recently had ISDN connected and the charges for me are $45.50
>per month for the line rental and $16.50 per month for unlimited data
>calls to 01983 numbers. This means I can dial up my provider TSN
>as many times as I like and stay on for as long as my provider will
>allow all for $16.50.
>
>If you want good general information on ISDN, then go to
>www.whirlpool dot net dot au and visit the other in Forums, in particular the
>Other Internet Access forum ( http://forums.whirlpool dot net dot au/forum-threads.cfm?f=5 ).
>
>Hope this helps.
>
>regards
>Ken
>  
>

Hi Ken [via Ian?],

I have Telstra providing my ISDN line - do you have someone else e.g. 
Optus?.
I too have unlimited connection *time* with Dodo as long as there are 
available slots at nominal 5-hour session soft-limit, otherwise I have 
to dial-in again.  Download limits are 70MB/month included in the basic 
$9.90/month charge, but are capped above that [unlimited] to a maximum 
of $14/month for a total of $23.90.

In addition with Telstra I get charged $0.30 *per-64Kb-line* per hour of 
connection charge to 01983* numbers [$1.10 vice $0.30, IIRC for 
non-01983* numbers], which if I was able to remain online continuously 
for a month would result in a Telstra -ISDN-*usage* charge of 
$[30*24*0.30]=$216.00  for a typical 30-day month - in addition to the 
$45.50+$16.50 you would be paying, thus $278.00/30-day-month.

Because there are no *per-data-call* connection charges with ISDN, it's 
much cheaper to use Dial on Demand, as that $0.30 per hour connect-time 
charge is calculated on a per-second basis - any call less than [say] 
118 seconds is free, and it doesn't require many seconds online to check 
whether there is any new mail waiting, with short idle-timeout.

-- 
Regards,
Mike

Failed the exam for
--------------------
MCSE - Minesweeper Consultant and Solitaire Expert
--------------------
[ISP blocks *.exe attachments]
[Please use zipped versions of above]


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

**= Email   8 ==========================**

Date:  Fri, 26 Dec 2003 21:33:54 +1030
From:  Leigh Bunting <vh_gdn at internode.on dot net>
Subject:   eCS Woes

Hi All,

For the past couple of years, I haven't had a lot of time to mess with 
computers - been messing with aircraft instead. For the past 6 months 
I've had even less time.

However, after eCS 1.1 came out I purchased a copy (to do the right 
thing and support the creators)  and installed it on a spare partition 
but haven't had the time to configure things.

Having a quiet Xmas has allowed me to look at a few things on eCS. While 
I can see that it has some nice features, there are some issues that I'm 
about to spit the dummy on.

In fact, stone-the-crows, I haven't had to hit the reset switch so much 
since the days I used to muck around with Windows 3.1 ini files.

The first one that got my attention was that the moment anything tried 
to write to the floppy, the whole system froze - hit the reset. Read 
floppy OK, but if I don't have the  write-protect set on the floppy eCS 
scrambles it to make it unreadable and the system locks up. Funny thing 
is that my b: drive  -  an LS120 works fine. S...L...O...W but fine.

Then I set about discovering how to setup the sound card., which is a 
bog standard SB 16. Having  done that, rebooted and as the desktop came 
up. Sound!! Hooray. Then as the archive box came, the whole shebang 
froze. Hit the reset. After remming out the sound card device driver 
line in config.sys from the Warp partition. eCS started fine. Having 
disabled the archive feature and restarting  with the device driver line 
un-remmed, it locked up on changing a folder name. In fact, the system 
locks up pretty much doing anything including attempting to play a MM file.

I changed the line position in config.sys. Same result. Changed the line 
to what was in the Warp config.sys. Same result. Used the driver that 
Warp uses. Same result. Stuff this!! So no sound at this stage.

No 3 on the hit list. Installing Mozilla in Warp works fine. Starting it 
up, it asks if you want to import all the settings and mail from 
Netscrape. This works well.

In eCS, this import message (see attached) doesn't happen and the manual 
import isn't pretty.

Frankly, I don't feel like getting stuffed around with trying to get eCS 
up and running when I haven't had a problem with Warp. I have plenty of 
other things I would rather be doing.

So if you guys have no ready suggestions how to resolve these issues, 
then I'm probably gonna junk it and stay with Warp.

Leigh Bunting

[attachments have been removed]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

**= Email   9 ==========================**

Date:  Fri, 26 Dec 2003 22:27:51 +1100 (EDT)
From:  "David Forrester" <davidfor at internode.on dot net>
Subject:  Re:  eCS Woes

On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 21:33:54 +1030, Leigh Bunting wrote:

>
>No 3 on the hit list. Installing Mozilla in Warp works fine. Starting it 
>up, it asks if you want to import all the settings and mail from 
>Netscrape. This works well.
>
>In eCS, this import message (see attached) doesn't happen and the manual 
>import isn't pretty.

Unfortunately the attachment didn't come through.  But, the most common
reason Mozilla doesn't start on an eCS system, and an OS/2 system for
that matter, is that the IBM Browser has been installed.  This puts its
directories in the PATH and LIBPATH and the libraries conflict with the
libraries that Mozilla needs.  Taking these directories out of the path
should fix things.

--
David Forrester
davidfor at internode.on dot net
http://www.os2world dot com/djfos2/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

**= Email   10 ==========================**

Date:  Fri, 26 Dec 2003 22:31:23 +1100
From:  Ed Durrant <edurrant at bigpond dot net dot au>
Subject:  Re:  eCS Woes

Well Leigh, your experiences with eCS 1.1 are not normal.

Everone I know who have installed it haven't had these problems - transfering old
applications or where is this function now ? Type questions are common following an
install but floppy drive issues and the like are not.

I'll step back a little from the specific problems and take an engineers viewpoint and
ask:

"Are all Bios levels at the current level ?" - This includes motherboard, adapter
cards and even harddisks. It will depend upon the make of your PC as to where you get
all of these latest BIOS firmware updates from. If you built the system yourself, then
you're going to have some hunting to do.

"When was the last time that you scanned your PC for Viruses?". A virus in the boot
sector or elsewhere could be causing some of these issues.

"When was the last time you ran full systems diagnostics on the hardware ?" - I
suspect you may have faulty memory DIMMs.

"Have you checked for DMA (especially floppy) or IRQ conflicts" ?

"What hardware settings did you set at the start of the eCS 1.1 install?"

And before you say you have OS/2 Warp4 working flawlessly on another partition on the
same disk in the same machine, try wiping and re-installing that and you may well see
the same or similar problems. Files can get corrupted at install time and cause
problems later.

As you have bought a fully licensed copy of eCS 1.1, you have access to both the
support forums and to the supplier for assistance. If the suggestions above don't
highlight the problem, why not give Mark a call ?

Cheers/2

Ed.

Leigh Bunting wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> For the past couple of years, I haven't had a lot of time to mess with
> computers - been messing with aircraft instead. For the past 6 months
> I've had even less time.
>
> However, after eCS 1.1 came out I purchased a copy (to do the right
> thing and support the creators)  and installed it on a spare partition
> but haven't had the time to configure things.
>
> Having a quiet Xmas has allowed me to look at a few things on eCS. While
> I can see that it has some nice features, there are some issues that I'm
> about to spit the dummy on.
>
> In fact, stone-the-crows, I haven't had to hit the reset switch so much
> since the days I used to muck around with Windows 3.1 ini files.
>
> The first one that got my attention was that the moment anything tried
> to write to the floppy, the whole system froze - hit the reset. Read
> floppy OK, but if I don't have the  write-protect set on the floppy eCS
> scrambles it to make it unreadable and the system locks up. Funny thing
> is that my b: drive  -  an LS120 works fine. S...L...O...W but fine.
>
> Then I set about discovering how to setup the sound card., which is a
> bog standard SB 16. Having  done that, rebooted and as the desktop came
> up. Sound!! Hooray. Then as the archive box came, the whole shebang
> froze. Hit the reset. After remming out the sound card device driver
> line in config.sys from the Warp partition. eCS started fine. Having
> disabled the archive feature and restarting  with the device driver line
> un-remmed, it locked up on changing a folder name. In fact, the system
> locks up pretty much doing anything including attempting to play a MM file.
>
> I changed the line position in config.sys. Same result. Changed the line
> to what was in the Warp config.sys. Same result. Used the driver that
> Warp uses. Same result. Stuff this!! So no sound at this stage.
>
> No 3 on the hit list. Installing Mozilla in Warp works fine. Starting it
> up, it asks if you want to import all the settings and mail from
> Netscrape. This works well.
>
> In eCS, this import message (see attached) doesn't happen and the manual
> import isn't pretty.
>
> Frankly, I don't feel like getting stuffed around with trying to get eCS
> up and running when I haven't had a problem with Warp. I have plenty of
> other things I would rather be doing.
>
> So if you guys have no ready suggestions how to resolve these issues,
> then I'm probably gonna junk it and stay with Warp.
>
> Leigh Bunting
>
> [attachments have been removed]

>  


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

**= Email   11 ==========================**

Date:  Fri, 26 Dec 2003 22:47:58 +1100 (AEDT)
From:  "John Angelico" <talldad at kepl dot com dot au>
Subject:  Re:  eCS Woes

On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 21:33:54 +1030, Leigh Bunting wrote:

Hi Leigh

Seasoned greetings to you and all here.

Not quite but almost 20 Questions time...<g>

>Hi All,
>
>For the past couple of years, I haven't had a lot of time to mess with 
>computers - been messing with aircraft instead. For the past 6 months 
>I've had even less time.

Civvies or at Edinburgh base?

>
>However, after eCS 1.1 came out I purchased a copy (to do the right 
>thing and support the creators)  and installed it on a spare partition 
>but haven't had the time to configure things.

Some questions, please?

1. Have you used the quixotic Maintenance Tool to update the system? 

I installed and immediately updated, including latest kernel, and it now
shows ver 1.13.

2. Can you list your hardware configuration?

3. Did you let the install find any USB and install drivers?
Chances are if you did then the stupid USB drivers will have pinched some
interrupts that you need for other more essential devices - like maybe
screen or SCSI or network.

>Having a quiet Xmas has allowed me to look at a few things on eCS. While 
>I can see that it has some nice features, there are some issues that I'm 
>about to spit the dummy on.
>
>In fact, stone-the-crows, I haven't had to hit the reset switch so much 
>since the days I used to muck around with Windows 3.1 ini files.
>
>The first one that got my attention was that the moment anything tried 
>to write to the floppy, the whole system froze - hit the reset. Read 
>floppy OK, but if I don't have the  write-protect set on the floppy eCS 
>scrambles it to make it unreadable and the system locks up. Funny thing 
>is that my b: drive  -  an LS120 works fine. S...L...O...W but fine.

4. Which IDE drivers have been installed: DANI or IBM original?

>Then I set about discovering how to setup the sound card., which is a 
>bog standard SB 16. Having  done that, rebooted and as the desktop came 
>up. Sound!! Hooray. Then as the archive box came, the whole shebang 
>froze. Hit the reset. After remming out the sound card device driver 
>line in config.sys from the Warp partition. eCS started fine. Having 
>disabled the archive feature and restarting  with the device driver line 
>un-remmed, it locked up on changing a folder name. In fact, the system 
>locks up pretty much doing anything including attempting to play a MM file.

5. Is the sound card wired up through a CD card or combo IDE card?

>I changed the line position in config.sys. Same result. Changed the line 
>to what was in the Warp config.sys. Same result. Used the driver that 
>Warp uses. Same result. Stuff this!! So no sound at this stage.
>
>No 3 on the hit list. Installing Mozilla in Warp works fine. Starting it 
>up, it asks if you want to import all the settings and mail from 
>Netscrape. This works well.

Someone else has tackled this already.

>In eCS, this import message (see attached) doesn't happen and the manual 
>import isn't pretty.

I would recommend Firebird rather than the full Mozilla or the IBM Browser.

6. Do you have the Netscape 4.61 "legacy browser" installed? This is
essential for some tasks.

>
>Frankly, I don't feel like getting stuffed around with trying to get eCS 
>up and running when I haven't had a problem with Warp. I have plenty of 
>other things I would rather be doing.
>
>So if you guys have no ready suggestions how to resolve these issues, 
>then I'm probably gonna junk it and stay with Warp.

That is at least a perfectly satisfactory workaround - for now.


Best regards
John Angelico
OS/2 SIG
os2 at melbpc dot org dot au or 
talldad at kepl dot com dot au
___________________

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