There's no way in OS/2 to have the NumLock key be on automatically when the machine finishes booting. However there are free programs that can set it for you. Don took an in-depth look at two them; his report is available here (RTF format, 12K). Basically he looked at NumL-OS2 ~JShifter and found that both work well. NumL-OS2 is simpler ~smaller, but JShifter can also control CapsLock ~ScrollLock. Read his detailed report, then pick the one that better suits your needs!
Postcript: Don later tried rxnumlock.zip and found that it did not compare well with the other two.
-- report by Don, summary by Steve
After a minor operator error, I found myself with eCS set to a screen resolution and refresh rate that my monitor could not display. Booting would proceed normally until the point the desktop should appear, then the display would go ominously blank. Booting from another partition ~poking around eventually led me to the SciTech display settings. They're in two files:
\OS2\Video.cfgwhere the drive letter is the one you booted from. It's not clear why there are two files, since their contents appear identical. Both are text files that contain a list of possible video modes, each with an identifying number and the settings for vertical resolution, horizontal resolution, etc. At the end of the file is a line identifying the currently selected mode. Depending on how bad things are you may want to just change the currently selected mode. I found the details for the current mode ~changed the refresh rate to something my monitor could handle. I made the same change to both files, just to be sure (and of course I made backups first). After rebooting I was back in business.
\OS2\Video.tfg
-- Steve
At the December 2001 Computer Fair/installfest, I ~some of the other members had problems when attempting to install the SciTech display drivers as part of the original install. The symptom was a system hang after the phase 2 reboot, typically after the loading of the \MPTN\Protocol\FWIP.SYS driver. The workaround we found is to do the original installation with the IBM GenGradd video driver, then install the SciTech driver afterwards. The SciTech driver has been working fine for me ever since. I've also been told that even if the installation doesn't hang, after it completes the SciTech drivers won't be installed ~you will still have to install them separately.-- Don
If you want to install eCS at the beginning of the free space on your hard drive, the secret is to switch LVM to the physical view ~create a partition before creating your installation volume. Then when you create the volume, tell it to use an existing partition ~pick the one you just created.
-- Steve
Fixes for eComStation GA 1.0
- If you get a "Trap 0000e" when connected to the Internet, the problem is in the TCP/IP stack. IBM has issued two fixes for this problem. The first APAR (ic27649.exe) is located on CD #3 of the eCS GA. It can be found in the FIXES\IBM-OFFICIAL\TCPIP\ directory. The date of the files within this fix is November 15, 2000.
Make a backup of the .sys files from the \mptn\protocol directory and .dll files from \mptn\dll directory. Copy ic27649.exe to a temporary directory and expand it. Change the attribute of ic27649.exe from "read only" and delete the file. The remaining files are now less than 1.4 Mb so you can store them on a floppy if desired or move them to a temporary directory on a maintenance partition.
This fix cannot be installed from the boot drive. It must be installed from a maintenance partition or from a minimal bootup mode. (i.e. when the machine is restarting and when the small white box appears on the top left corner of the screen, hit Alt + F1 and then F2). This will bring up a command prompt on the boot drive.
Copy the new .sys files to the \mptn\protocol directory and the .dll files to the \mptn\dll directory.
Restart the machine. The problem should now be fixed.
The second fix APAR (ic30667.ptf) is a replacement for (ic27649.exe) and is under current evaluation by Don. If you insist, it is located on the eCS site under "Fixes-Features", but you must be a registered user to get the file. The date of the same files contained in this fix is July 2001.
- If you get a PPP0 error in your dialer when trying to make the second connection to your ISP after bootup, look for the file "resolv" in the \mptn\ETC\ directory. If the file is not there, copy one from another drive or make one. The contents of the file do not matter. It is only used to store the domain name and DNS number of some ISPs. (i.e. Connectnet.com required the use of the file but Fastwave.net does not require it at all). This file was part of Warp 4.
- If you load eCS from CD #1 and end up with a working system that does not have sound under eComStation, the answer is to do a "selective install" under the eCS system\install/remove\ directory. During the "selective install", leave everything the same, but re-install "multimedia". You will be asked for the source CD. It is CD #2. When finished with the selective install and a reboot, you should have sound.
I have found one of the software bugs that causes Netscape to "hang". This is experienced when loading Netscape and only the peripheral image of Netscape loads and the desktop is still visible.
I saw this on several occasions when I was running Java 1.1.4 build 19980304.
I have since switched to Java 1.1.4 build 19980319. The problem goes away in this Java version; except that I then decided to install the "kill feature" of OS/2.
Of course this was done by adding the line "SET KILLFEATUREENABLED=ON" to the config.sys file. Immediately, the problem of the "hang" came back; I remarked out this last feature from my config.sys file and everything has been fine since. I have tested this for a week and I guarentee that there is a contention problem between the two programs!
-- Donald
At the March '98 meeting we had a demo of the Drag Text package. One of our members subsequently e-mailed the author of the package asking about the system overhead it imposed. This is the author's reply.
In DT's two-and-a-half years, I don't think anyone has ever asked me about the cost of using it, other than memory usage perhaps.
Overall, I'd say the effect on your system -at worst- is trivial. Remember, DT doesn't _do_ anything. It simply inserts itself into the chain of event handlers and waits for specific events to occur before it becomes active.
Here's the performance cost when DT is loaded but not being used:
there is one additional function call for each message:
- *sent* (not posted) to any window; no processing ensues.
- received by any supported window; msgs not related to d&d are subject to 3-6 comparisons before exiting.
- received by any VIO window; again 6 or so comparisons occur.
some unquantified, but relatively small, amount of processing the first time DT's dll enters a process; this usually occurs when the process creates its first window of any sort.
a trivial amount of initialization when each DT-enabled window is created.
The only "active" component in the DT package is DTClip's viewer window when its "always visible" feature is enabled. On a 486/100 whose L2 cache is disabled (read __slow__), one window that is already fully visible uses 1% of CPU capacity (per Object Desktop's CPU meter). Four windows stacked atop each other (requiring each to be redrawn every second) use 21% of CPU capacity.
Oh yes... Memory usage:
- 76k for code
- 4k for global data
- 4k per PM process for local data
DT also causes PM to use about 10k to store its icons and pointers. Of course, DT's two WPS classes also require some memory, but their demands are pretty modest.
In closing, I should note that DT was explicitly designed to be as sparing in its use of system resources as possible. It's written in C, but even that has been shorn of much of its usual runtime overhead. Overall, I'm sure DT could be somewhat better, but I *know* it could be a whole lot worse :-)
When I first installed the beta version of Netscape Communicator 4.04 for OS/2, I put it in a separate directory: E:\NetscapeBeta. The installer wanted to create a user profile, so I made one ~let it go at that. Some time later a completed version was released, and I installed it in E:\Netscape. Everything seemed to be working fine.
Then I decided to remove E:\NetscapeBeta. When I checked to make sure I didn't need anything in that directory tree, I was surprised to discover that my data was still being stored in E:\NetscapeBeta\Users\steveco! So I set about figuring out how Netscape determines what directory to look in, in order to change the setting. The mail ~news directories can be set from the Preferences dialog, but I couldn't find out how it new where to find its preferences file (prefs.js) or it's bookmarks file.
Solution
After numerous attempts, it finally occurred to me to search for files on C: ~E: containing the string "NetscapeBeta". This is what I found:
C:\OS2\OS2SYS.INII copied everything in the Users directory to E:\Netscape\Users ~began fixing up the files. I opened OS2SYS.INI with UniMaint, didn't understand what I saw, ~decided to leave it alone. Next I opened NSCP.INI with UniMaint, and there it was: in an "application" named Users there was a key named Steveco containing a path with NetscapeBeta in it. This is clearly the place Netscape looks to find its various files. I modified the path ~saved the file.
C:\OS2\NSCP.INI
C:\OS2\SYSTEM\EPFIHCNF.CNF
E:\NetscapeBeta\Users\Steveco\prefs.js
E:\NetscapeBeta\Users\Steveco\summary.dat
E:\NetscapeBeta\Users\Steveco\News\fat
The remaining files - EPFIHCNF.CNF, prefs.js, summary.dat, ~fat - are all text files. I was concerned about leaving configuration files in an inconsistent ~possibly conflicting state, so I opened them in a text editor ~modified any references to NetscapeBeta there as well.
Finally I renamed NetscapeBeta to NetscapeBeta_old ~tried to start Netscape. The browser worked, e-mail worked, ~the news reader worked. I am happy at last.
-- Steve Corwin
At the March '99 meeting, Keith distributed an updated version of Contrast, a graphical file comparison utility that was written for OS/2 1.1 ~never updated. Keith had finally given up ~created an updated version himself, using the source code distributed with the original.
Well... It seems there is an updated version, but they changed the name! It's now called GFC, and is available on Hobbes as os2gfc.zip.
What would you do with such a program? My most common use is finding out what modifications were made to my config.sys file when I installed a new application. Before the install I copy config.sys to another name, such as config.001. I do the install, then start GFC at a command prompt: "gfc config.001 config.sys". GFC shows the modified or added lines in different colors, making them easy to find ~examine.
-- Keith ~Steve
Creating an OS/2 Boot CD requires three steps:
1. Create a Virtual 2.88 floppy disk on your hard drive
2. Copy the essential boot files into the virtual floppy.
3. Burn an image of the virtual floppy onto a CD.
VIRTUAL 2.88 FLOPPY
Add the command: DEVICE=VFDISK 4 to your Config.sys file. The "4" makes the vitual floppy "drive Y"ESSENTIAL FILES
The file, VFDISK17.ZIP can be downloaded here.
A list of essential files can be found here:BURN BOOT IMAGE TO CD
In addition you will need to add the file DaniBoot.FLT
It can be downloaded by clicking here:
You also will need to create a Config.sys file. A sample config.sys can be found here:
Be sure and add the line: BASEDEV=DANIBOOT.FLT
Make an image of the virtual floppy using IMAGE.EXE or RSJ's CD Boot utility.Your computer will boot from the CD as Drive A: Drive A: will be remapped to Drive B:
If you want to add Restore and other utilities to the CD, they can be found on a different drive letter.
--Sandy
Last updated on 5/14/03.