Next you will need to alter DESQview's setup slightly. Go into you
DESQview directory and run SETUP.
Next, select "Performance".
Your screen should look something like this:
1 Advanced Setup: Performance
Task Processing Time (in Clock Ticks)
Foreground: 2
Background: 2
Memory Usage (in K)
Common Memory: 17
DOS Buffer for EMS: 16
Optimize communications? (Y/N): N
Allow swapping of programs? (Y/N): Y
Manage printer contention? (Y/N): N
Next field Tab
Backup menu Esc
DONE <
Foreground and Background Processing Time: It is very important
that you set the foreground and background ticks to an equal value.
Otherwise, your system will likely suffer a performance degradation
which callers may perceive as an intermittent, jerking display.
The exact value for these two values varies, depending on how many
nodes you are running and the processing speed of your computer.
Avoid setting these values to 1:1, which may result in sluggish
system performance. You can experiment with this value to see
which works best on your machine, though 2:2 or 3:3 usually seems
to be a good choice.
Two of the most important settings you will change are "Optimize
Communications" and "Manage printer contention". Set both of these
to N to help avoid possible system lockups. N
Node PIF configurations Node PIF configurations
Now you must define PIF files for each node. To do this, select
"Open Window" from the DESQview manu menu. Then select "Add
Program" and "Other (Add program not found in list)". You will
then be asked to specify a path to the program. Supply a node
directory for each program you add. For example, enter
How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 8 How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 8
C:\PCB\NODE1, C:\PCB\NODE2, etc. Next, you are presented with the
standard PIF editing screen.
Add a Program Screen: Add a Program Screen:
Now you need to set up PIF files for each node. You can specify
anything you choose in the "Program Name" and "Keys to Open"
fields. The recommended values for the remaining fields follow:
Memory Size: 450K 450K
Program: C:\PCB\NODE1\BOARD.BAT (Change value for each node)
Directory: C:\PCB\NODE1 (Change this value for each node) C:\PCB\NODE1
Writes directly to screen: N N
Displays graphics info: N N
Virtualize text: T T
Uses serial ports: N N
Requires floppy disk: N N
When you are finished editing that screen, select F1 for advanced
options. You will be presented with another screen.
Change the values in the "Change a Program - Advanced Options" to
resemble the following:
System Memory (in K): 0 0
Maximum Program Memory Size (in K): BLANK
Script Buffer: 0 0
Max EMS Memory: BLANK
Close on Exit: N N
Uses own colors: Y Y
Allow Close: N N
Runs in background: Y Y
Uses Math Coprocessor: N N
Keyboard Conflict: 0 0
Share CPU foreground: Y Y
Share EGA foreground: N N
Can be swapped: N N
Protection Level: 0 0
System Memory: This should remain 0 unless you are running a
program written expressly for DESQview.
Script Buffer: You will not be using scripts inside of PCBoard so
set this to 0. 0
Close on Exit: Set this to N. The last line of the new BOARD.BAT
(exit) will take care of closing the window.
How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 9 How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 9
Uses own colors: Unless you have no objections to DESQview's odd
color assignment set this to Y so you can see PCBoard in all its
glory.
Allow Close: By setting this to N you do not allow a 'Close
Window' command to be executed from the DESQview menu. Remember,
it is always best to properly exit a program whenever possible.
Runs in background: Set this to Y on all dial-in nodes and set this
to N on any local maintenance nodes you may have. By setting any
local nodes to not be active in the background you can save
precious processor time should you accidently leave your
maintenance node running in the background.
Uses Math Coprocessor: This field should be set to N. You will
save precious memory and may even slightly improve performance.
Can be swapped: This should be set to N on any communications
program you run. If you set this field to Y you will cause a hard
system lock.
Starting Up PCBoard Nodes Using a DESQview Script Starting Up PCBoard Nodes Using a DESQview Script
In order to have all of your nodes load up every time you start
DESQview you will need to use a script. The following key sequence
will create a script for starting up to 4 nodes on one machine.
Initiate DESQview's script learning mode by hitting SHIFT-DESQview
(usually ALT).
Select "Start Script", and when prompted for a key to define, hold
down ALT while pressing 255 on the numeric keypad. By assigning it
to an obscure key you lower the chances of accidently activating
the script.
Now you must give your script a name. Make sure it starts with an
! (exclamation point) or it will not be executed when you start up
DESQview. Now just open up all of your nodes manually. When you
are finished, hit ALT-Shift to tell DESQview to "Finish script".
Upon doing this, the windows will close; you will need to reopen
the script learning window, select "Save scripts", and then save
the script you created. It is recommended that you save this
script under the name DESQVIEW.DVS.
How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 10 How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 10
EXAMPLE DOOR BATCH FILES AND ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES EXAMPLE DOOR BATCH FILES AND ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES __________________________________________________
Setting up DOOR programs in a multitasking environment may prove
tricky at first, but with a little help your batch files will be
easy to create.
You can set up your doors to each have their own individual
DOORS.LST and have each node call a separate batch file. However,
you will assuredly find maintenance a time-laboring chore.
Instead, we recommend that you create one batch file using ___
environment variables.
First of all, it is suggested that you do not have a copy of the ___
door for each node. Instead you should only have one copy of the
door for the multitasking machine. Therefore, we have to
compensate for a situation where two nodes try to run the same door
at the same time. Below you will find various generic examples.
NOTE: Since there are so many DOOR programs available
specific configurations for specific DOOR programs will
not be covered. Instead generic examples will be given
for the most popular types of configuration.
Doors that allow configuration files on the command line: Doors that allow configuration files on the command line:
ECHO OFF
cd\DOORS\GAME
GAME GAME%PCBNODE%.CNF
%PCBDRIVE%
cd %PCBDIR%
BOARD
This example will replace PCBNODE with the value PCBoard V14.5a
sets it to in your environment.
ECHO OFF: Turns echo off so command lines are not echoed to
the screen
CD\DOORS\GAME: Changes to the directory which contains the DOOR
GAME GAME%PCBNODE%.CNF: Executes the DOOR using configuration file
GAMEn.CNF (n is replaced by the value of the
PCBNODE environment variable).
%PCBDRIVE%: Changes to the drive where you run PCBoard node
from. (For example: C: ).
CD %PCBDIR%: This changes to the directory where you run the
PCBoard node from. (For example: \PCB\NODE3).
How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 11 How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 11
If you have PCBoard set to swap you should not rely on the
environment variables being in place. Therefore, you should place
the following statements beginning at the second line of each
node's BOARD.BAT file. For example, node 1's
C:\PCB\NODE1\BOARD.BAT file would have these line added:
set PCBDRIVE=C:
set PCBDIR=\PCB\NODE1
set PCBNODE=1
As an additional example, on node 2 you would add the following
lines to the C:\PCB\NODE2\BOARD.BAT.
set PCBDRIVE=C:
set PCBDIR=\PCB\NODE2
set PCBNODE=2
Make these modifications to each node's batch file.
By setting the environment variables within each node's BOARD.BAT
file, you eliminate the difficulty of managing 4 separate batch
files which all run the same DOOR.
It is absolutely critical that you do not rely on 14.5a's new
environment variables being in the environment space if you have
set PCBOARD to swap on shells to DOS.
DOORs Which Do Not Accept Configuration Files on the Command Line: DOORs Which Do Not Accept Configuration Files on the Command Line:
Unfortunately, in a situation such as this you will need to create
separate copies of the DOOR for each NODE or scrap the DOOR and
replace it with one that will work in a multitasking environment.
How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 12 How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 12
THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE SETUP RECOMMENDATIONS THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE SETUP RECOMMENDATIONS __________________________________________
DSZ (ZModem transfer protocol) DSZ (ZModem transfer protocol)
Your PCBRZ & PCBSZ batch files should resemble the following
examples:
PCBRZ.BAT
echo off
if exist PCBERR.FIL del PCBERR.FIL
if exist PCBDSZ.LOG del PCBDSZ.LOG
DSZ port %1 F pY129 handshake both estimate 0 %5 pB4096 pd0 z
pr1 rz -p %3
PCBSZ.BAT
echo off
if exist PCBERR.FIL del PCBERR.FIL
if exist PCBDSZ.LOG del PCBDSZ.LOG
DSZ port %1 F pY129 handshake both pB4096 estimate 0 %5 z sz
%3
The F and pY129 parameters are new to the 'normal' DSZ command
line. These parameters will help improve performance and will
cause DSZ to use less CPU cycles during DSZ transfers which will
speed up the other PCBoard nodes.
NOTE: All DSZ commands are case sensitive and should NOTE: All DSZ commands are case sensitive and should
be entered just as you find them in this example. be entered just as you find them in this example.
NOTE: These commands should only be used in NOTE: These commands should only be used in
conjunction with a NS16550AFN UART. conjunction with a NS16550AFN UART.
NOTE: If you are using a non-standard COM3 and/or COM4 NOTE: If you are using a non-standard COM3 and/or COM4
delete PORT %1 from both batch files and use the delete PORT %1 from both batch files and use the
"portx" parameter instead. As an example, if you were "portx" parameter instead. As an example, if you were
using a base address of 3e8 and IRQ 5 on COM3 instead using a base address of 3e8 and IRQ 5 on COM3 instead
of port %1 you would replace this with "portx 3e8,5". of port %1 you would replace this with "portx 3e8,5".
Please note that you need to make sure that you only Please note that you need to make sure that you only
use this specific batch file with the node that is use this specific batch file with the node that is
using this non-standard COM port or you will have using this non-standard COM port or you will have
problems getting DSZ to run properly. problems getting DSZ to run properly.
How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 13 How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 13
HOOKING UP A MULTITASKING MACHINE ON A NETWORK HOOKING UP A MULTITASKING MACHINE ON A NETWORK ______________________________________________
Items to keep in mind when hooking a multitasking machine onto an
existing network:
* Check your file location and conference setup.
Change the path for those files you wish to share with
the network; for instance, the user file.
* Set "run_burst=1" in your call to your AILANBIOS _____________
line. This will give more processing time back to the
CPU and will help speed up your task switching. This
parameter only works with Lantastic. If you are using
a different network, consult your manual.
* Increase your tasks in QEMM. To do this add
"tasks=nn" (where nn is the number of tasks to
allocate) to your QEMM.SYS line in CONFIG.SYS. Set
this value to 16 times the number of nodes you plan to
run.
* If you want to slightly increase network speed and if
you have some conventional memory to spare, load REDIR
in low memory.
ANSWERS TO COMMON QUESTIONS ANSWERS TO COMMON QUESTIONS ___________________________
When I make a change to one of the conferences (including the Main When I make a change to one of the conferences (including the Main
Board) the change shows up on all of the nodes. Why? Board) the change shows up on all of the nodes. Why?
This is because all of your nodes point to the same CNAMES file
(located in PCBSetup, File Locations #1). The CNAMES file contains
all conference information and since you are using one CNAMES file
you see the changes reflected on all nodes.
The obvious solution would be to specify different CNAMES files on
each node. This is not recommended though because any time you
made a change to any conference you would have to make that same
change on each node. Instead use relative addressing.
Relative addressing depends on where you are. For example relative
addressing looks like this:
DOORS.LST
Absolute addressing, on the other hand, looks like this:
C:\PCB\GEN\DOORS.LST
How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 14 How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 14
Notice that the relative addressing example is missing the drive
letter and the complete path from the root. Relative addressing
then depends on the current directory to find the DOORS.LST file
within it.
Why is it that whenever I open up a node's window it loads the Why is it that whenever I open up a node's window it loads the
wrong node and sometimes gives a modem reset error? wrong node and sometimes gives a modem reset error?
This is most commonly caused by changing to the wrong node
directory in your BOARD.BAT. Make sure you change to the correct
node directory before you execute PCBoard so that the correct
PCBOARD.DAT (setup) file is read.
How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 15 How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page: 15
CONCLUSION CONCLUSION __________
There are countless ways to set up a multitasking system
(especially when placing it on a network). This article covers
just a few.
As you can see, setting up a multitasking system can be
complicated, but the cost advantages for running this type of
system can be an advantage for some. However, if you plan on
expanding to a system with more than 4 nodes, you should consider
what a true Local Area Network has to offer.
DISCLAIMER DISCLAIMER __________
The information provided in this document is provided 'as-is'
without any warranty of any type or guarantee of fitness of use.
The configurations detailed in this document have been used by some
systems however results may vary from system to system and you
assume full responsibility for trying any of the above suggestions
on your system. It is suggested that before you attempt any of the
suggestions listed that you completely back-up your system.
PCBoard is a registered trademark of Clark Development Company.
QEMM and DESQview are trademarks of Quarterdeck Office Systems.
Lantastic is a trademark of Artisoft.
How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page:16 How to Run Up to Four Nodes With PCBoard and DESQview Page:16
