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## OS/2 Tips

We scan the Web, Usenet and the OS/2 mail lists looking for these gems. Have you run across an interesting bit of information about OS/2-eComStation recently? Please share it with all our readers. Send your tips to tips@os2voice.org. If you are interested in joining a particular OS/2 Mailing List, check out the VOICE Mailing List page for subscribing instructions for a large variety of existing Lists - http://www.os2voice.org/mailinglists.html.

Editor's note: these tips are from OS/2-eComStation users and in some cases can not be verified by myself. Please heed this as a warning that if you are not sure about something, don't do it.

July 21, 2001 - Our first tip of the month is from Munson Hinman, on IBM OS/2 Unedited Discussion List. Some folks have problems with Adaptec SCSI controllers, especially with external devices like scanners. Some driver versions work better then others. Munson found a site that offers several different versions of AIC7870.ADD you might want to try:

> I found a site called ftp://asavage.fdns.net/drivers/adaptec/29xx/ where there were six versions of AIC7870.ADD, from 1996 to the present. I downloaded them all and tried them one by one (getting "failed to load" message) until I hit version 2.4.

> It reported my scanner and told me all about it before I could read it! The scanner works, and now I'm in PMView and CFM Twain learning mode.

July 21, 2001 - Hey speaking of Al Savage's web site, here is a tip from Al himself. Here is a tip he posted on comp.os.os2.apps about HPFS386:

> I've been running Warp Server Advanced's (WSA's) HPFS386 file system on my client boxes (HowTo: http://asavage.fdns.net/OS2/Warp4Install/HPFS386.html ) to allow an HPFS cache size larger than 2mb, and I recently needed (again) to boot from floppies to copy data to a larger HDD.

> If you're running Peer on a box that has HPFS386 installed as the file system, and you share a drive, then the std OS/2 W4 boot floppies will not work -- at the command prompt, you can run DIR and see any files in the root, and the initial subdirs, but if you attempt to access a file you'll receive, "SYS0005 Access Denied". And you cannot see any files via DIR in the subdirs, either.

> The fix is to make another set of boot floppies, and load the HPFS386 file system from the boot floppies. I've done it before, but neglected to take notes or archive the resulting diskettes. This time I negate the neglect! Instructions on how to create the HPFS386 Boot Diskettes for W4: http://asavage.fdns.net/OS2/Warp4Install/HPFS386.html#Create_Boot_Diskettes Pre-built diskette images for the lazy (like me), complete with updated large IDE HDD driver, updated CHKDSK, 0508 kernel, and updated FDISK from FP15:

> Disk0 (same as std HPFS) ftp://asavage.fdns.net/images/HPFS_0.dsk

> Disk1 ftp://asavage.fdns.net/images/HPFS3861.dsk

> Disk2 ftp://asavage.fdns.net/images/HPFS3862.dsk

> Disk3 (Utilities (TEDIT, FORMAT, FDISK, CHKDSK, etc., same as std HPFS, some of which had to be removed from Disk2 to make room for the HPFS386 files)) ftp://asavage.fdns.net/images/HPFS_3.dsk

> Use the LOADDSKF.exe utility to recreate the diskettes from the image files: ftp://asavage.fdns.net/OS2/LOADDSKF.EXE For example: [D:\]loaddskf hpfs3861.dsk a: Testing, Corrections, Typos, Dead link reports, Comments welcome.

July 23, 2001 - On the eComStation Yahoo mail list Britt Turnbull offers this tip on how to bypass subscribing to the eComStation Yahoo Group via the web interface.:

> Not being very pleased with the Yahoo group environment I added a comment to that effect to my one and only post.....

> Iain Allen kindly responded with instructions of how to use my existing mail reader to monitor the group.....

> It works, and like a charm.....

> This is a re-cap of what I did, which I hope will help others...

> Open NS Messenger (which is what I use at the moment)

> Create a new folder... eCs-Yahoo in my case
> Highlight the Inbox
> Menu=>Edit=>Message Filters
> define a new filter that looks for 'Yahoo' in the to line and moves
> it to the newly created folder

> Send an empty new message to ecomstation-normal@yahoogroups.com

> As posts are placed on Yahoo, they will be sent to your InBox, and moved automagically from there to your new folder....

August 5, 2001 - Here's another eCS tip. This from Glenn Hudson on the ecomstation.support.networking news group on the Mensys eComStation news server - news://news.ecomstation.nl:

> Please everyone take note: It is not necessary to remove the protocols to change network cards. In mpts

> > select the new card in the top box
> > select the old/current card in the bottom box
> > click "Change" button
> > click "OK" button

August 14, 2001 - Yea yet another eCS related tip for the month, but still all OS/2. :-) Arthur Menu talks about how he got a problem resolved running Norman's Anti-Virus on the eComStation mail list:

> Because I will be continuing to use Warp 4 while I slowly install all my apps on my eCS partition, I updated the Norman Virus Control I have on my Warp 4 partition from the NAV version that is on the eCS CD#3. The version on the eCS CD is a later version (4.9) than the one I had (4.72). The NAV install also installed the Cat's Claw beta 5, which is a module separate from NAV (has its own icon), which is the on-access scanner. My first attempt to install Cat's Claw failed. When I rebooted I got an error message regarding Cat's Claw. I contacted Norman and they suggested I reinstall NAV and update it from a file found on the the Norman web site where eCS updates reside: <http://www.norman.com/update_ecomstation.shtml>. I did this, rebooted, and Cat's Claw is now working as it should.

> I will soon install Norman AV on my eCS partition. I am delighted to have an on-access scanner for eCS (OS/2). If eCS becomes the success we all hope it will, we should be prepared for OS/2 specific viruses to appear.

August 16, 2001 - On the eComStation mail list Chris Stumpf offered this help to someone asking about the version of Stellar Frontier included in eComstation and how to make it a registered version (what is called the Admirals Club):

> Not a stupid question, but the answer is not exactly obvious. The version of SF that comes with eCS had a bug in the detection code and therefore presented the user with the AC registration screen and blocked access to the AC features. This bug has been fixed for a while, but only in non-public releases. Now that 1.02 has been released, getting rid of the registration screen is easy. Here are the instructions:

> > 1.) Start SF
> > 2.) Click on the Play Game button on the AC registration box.
> > 3.) Click on Play on the Internet.
> > 4.) You should see that an upgrade is available. Click the upgrade button.
> > 5.) After the upgrade completes, the SF will restart and you will never see the AC registration screen again and you will have access to all the AC features.

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