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OS/2 Shareware BBS: 30 fixes_v
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30-fixes_v.zip
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lr11e.zip
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README.TXT
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1994-12-15
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LinkRight 1.1E
****IMPORTANT******
LinkRight 1.1E requires the 1.1E driver. Don't try to use it
with the LRPAR from 1.1 or 1.1D, it won't work. Also, a system
running 1.1E can only connect to another system that is also
running 1.1E. In other words, make sure you update all your
executables and all your machines to 1.1E. So if you have any
problem, reboot both systems and watch as the drivers are loaded
and make sure you see a line that says "LinkRight Driver Installed
Version 1.1E". Next, start LinkRight. The first screen asks you
to choose Local or Remote. At the bottom of that screen is the
version number. It should say "Version 1.1E". LRCLONER and
LRDOS prominently display the version when started.
*******************
****IMPORTANT******
The MOST common user error for those using LRCLONER is starting
a clone operation and having the files transferred to C:\TEMP.
Some users try to fix this by starting LRCLONER from the root
directory of C:. This only causes other problems.
The proper method of cloning is to start LRCLONER from the
C:\TEMP directory. Once a connection is established, from the
Local system change directories on the Remote system by double
clicking on the line with ".." (you also have to change directories
on the Local system to get to the root). Now you can start
transferring files and they will go to the proper location.
*******************
Turbomode (in the Options menu of LinkRight when in Local mode)
should be turned off initially. Also, Turbomode is read and
set once when you establish a connection. To change Turbomode,
change the option, disconnect if you are currently connected,
and do a re-connect. If you have no trouble with Turbomode
off, you can try Turbomode on and get a speed boost.
The LinkRight parallel port driver can now be used in interupt
driven mode or polled mode. The default is polled, which matches
the default of PRINT01.SYS in OS/2 Warp 3.0.
Interupt driven mode has some problems. I've had some of my test
systems lock up completely when used in Turbomode with interupt mode.
The same system does not lock up when Turbomode is off. None of my
test systems have any problems when using polled mode. Many
gigabytes transferred successfully!!
For LRCLONER, you no longer need EAUTIL.EXE and CMD.EXE in the
C:\TEMP directory. This should make cloning easier. You still
need the temp directoy and LRCLONER.EXE should be started from
this directory. Although I said this for 1.1C it turned out not
to be true. I really mean it this time!!
The complete list of options for LRPAR.SYS are
DEVICE=LRPAR.SYS /Q:7 /P /A:3BC /M
where:
/Q:7 uses IRQ7 or /Q:5 uses IRQ5. These are the only IRQs supported.
Interupt driven mode can only be used if PRINT01.SYS or PRINT02.SYS
also uses the same interupt. If no /Q option is selected, polled is
assumed.
/P is for polled. This is a useless option, since it is the default.
/A:3BC or /A:378 or /A:278 select the address of the LPT port for
LinkRight to use. If this parameter is used, only one address can
be specified. Then, when you select Connect from the LinkRight
menu, no matter which LPT port you select, either LPT1, LPT2 or
LPT3, LinkRight will use the address specified. If this parameter
is not included, LinkRight reads the BIOS info at bootup time to
get the LPT addresses.
/M is to specify MicroChannel machines. For some MicroChannel systems
when booted from bootable floppies, LinkRight would not see that it
was MicroChannel and would assume an ISA bus. This caused the
driver to fail. So if you boot your MicroChannel system from floppies
and the LinkRight driver displays a message at bootup time saying
an ISA bus was found, use this parameter to fix the problem.
The preferred and suggested mode of use is no parameters on the
LRPAR.SYS line in CONFIG.SYS. You can add parameters if there are
any problems.
Serial mice and slow systems are a problem when using the parallel
port. Bump the packet size down to 128 bytes and turn Idle time
transfers on and it may improve response with the mouse. PS/2 style
mice are not a problem. If you find responsiveness is a problem and
you are willing to work with me, I'll create a special driver for
your particular systems to improve mouse responsiveness. It may take
a few tries to get it right, so patience would be required. Obviously,
when I get it working well on your systems, I'll incorporate it into
the full LinkRight product.
Bump up the Retry Warning Delay option to 9 and you will not get any
of those annoying Retry Warnings. LinkRight will try forever if this
value is 9. Of course, you won't know if there is a problem either.
Major bugs fixed with this version!! There is a bug with the C Set
compiler and Toolkit (I think) that caused previous versions of
LinkRight to sometimes not copy files or make the receiving file
zero bytes. I've worked around this compiler bug and now that I have
it fixed for LinkRight, I'll be reporting it to IBM. For the record,
IBM may already have a fix for this compiler bug (or I may not be
using the API call correctly), so I can't really complain too loudly
until I check into this. If you're interested in the details,
check the OS2DF1 forum where you'll see a complete report.
I used a different API and it seems to work OK now. My thanks to
Alan McClean in Vermont and Hans Joachim Lippke in Germany for pointing
this bug out to me. Also, my apologies to any users who were bitten
by this bug. It was not an easy bug to find (some users may disagree,
but they probably just automatically find any bugs) and I had to
transfer over 50 Megs at a time to get it to fail.
One user complained about updating the Remote system screen just to
display a "dot". I didn't see any problem on my systems, and it looked
like a minor nit. But during final testing of this version, I grabbed
my slowest system, turned the hardware turbo switch off on it, and
watched for about a second for it to refresh the screen. Very annoying.
There is a workaround available, though. From an OS/2 command prompt,
run LRCLONER T LPT1 on the Remote system. You won't lose any
functionality and won't be annoyed by the slow screen refresh.
For cloning systems, there is an alternative method that should be used
in some cases. Boot both systems from bootable floppies and run
LRCLONER T LPT1 from one system and LRCLONER S C: LPT1 from the other
system. Run LRCLONER with no parameters to check the proper usage.
Since both systems are booted from floppies, you don't have to worry
about locked files. I've been told you have to do this way if you're
using COMM manager or Extended Services.
As you can see, LinkRight is up to version 1.1E. A new version has been
appearing about once a month. I would encourage all users to check for
a new version occasionally because a new version with features you want
or bugs fixed could be available. If you have used most of the various
versions of LinkRight, you have seen substantial improvements in all the
new releases. Expect such improvements to continue.
I try not to bash IBM (I leave that to the Ziffers; they seem to enjoy it)
but something you should know about. Serial support is significantly
weaker in Warp than in previous versions of OS/2. The same systems that
support hi-speed serial transfers with LinkRight using 2.1 will lock up
Warp. Oops!! For serial port users of LinkRight, I would recommend
using Med speed (19.2 Kbps) rather than Hi speed (57.6 Kbps). I'll see
if I can get something for higher speed in a future release. For now,
I would urge LinkRight users to go to parallel ports if possible. It is
much faster, better tested, and more reliable.
There is an additional file called LRPAR1.SYS which only a very few users
will find helpful. It is a slower par port driver with extra delays for
users with 1994 style CPUs and 1985 style parallel ports. In other words,
if your CPU is a Pentium or perhaps 486 100Mhz and your parallel port is
ancient and slow, try this driver. I've only found one user who needed it
but thought I would include it just in case. You should probably call
Rightware Techie Support and try everything else before using this driver.
Good luck and happy computing!!
Jeff Tremble
President Rightware Inc.