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Text File | 1991-01-11 | 11.8 KB | 236 lines

S N A N O T E PTF 235 TBMI Windows DOS Compatibility Box for NetWare 3270 Workstation APPLIES TO: NetWare 3270 LAN Workstation Not to be used with 3270 LAN Workstation for Windows which will begin shipment in the Spring SUPERSEDES: PTF227 which contains a corrupted JUMP.EXE DATE: January 11, 1991 PTF 235 is a temporary work around prior to the release of the NetWare 3270 LAN Workstation for Windows, which will be a true Windows application. PTF 235 is a limited solution, it has far less functionality than will be contained within NetWare 3270 LAN Workstation for Windows. In addition, you must understand that PTF 235 is only provided as a convenience to you and is definitely not guaranteed to work in all environments. If you encounter problems which appear to be workstation related, you must reproduce the problem in a non-Windows environment prior to calling Technical Support. TBMI (Task switched Buffer Manager for IPX/SPX) and IPX.OBJ v3.02 correct problems running an application that makes direct calls to IPX or SPX (called a peer-to-peer application) under NetWare within a DOS box in a multitasking environment such as Microsoft Windows. With TBMI and TASKID loaded, you should be able to switch away from a running peer-to-peer application (such as 3270 LAN Workstation). INSTALLATION 1. See "LIMITATIONS" below 2. Generate IPX.COM from the v3.02 IPX.OBJ. 3. Remove VIPX.386 from the NETWORK=statement in the SYSTEM.INI Windows file. 4. Because Windows 3.0 uses some of the same key sequences as the NetWare 3270 LAN Workstation, you will need to redefine <Alt><SysRq> and <Alt><Esc> (if configured for host printing). These key sequences can be redefined in either the DEFAULT.PIF file for the DOS session in Windows or by using the KEYDEF utility for the NetWare 3270 LAN Workstation. 5. (OPTIONAL) Create one or more configuration files. TBMI reads configuration information from a configuration file in the current directory. Enter one parameter on each line in the configuration file. The file's name is NET.CFG by default; a different name can be specified using the /C parameter on the command line. (see APPENDIX for configuration file parameters. RUNNING 1. LOAD the new IPX 2. LOAD NET3 or NET4 (optional) 3. Login to file server (optional) 4. Enter "TBMI" on the command line, followed by optional command line parameters listed below. /? or /H Display help or usage information. /C <filename> Load TBMI using a configuration file. For example enter "TBMI /C TBMI.CFG" on the command line. /D Display diagnostic information and current allocation limits. /I Display version information. /U Unload TBMI from memory after exiting Windows. 5. WIN (from Microsoft Windows diskette) 6. Double click on the DOS icon and load TASKID, followed by WSLAN. > Run NetWare 3270 LAN Workstation in background and full-screen modes. Attempting to run the workstation software in a window may cause unpredictable results. 7. At the new DOS prompt, enter the command "TASKID" followed by optional command line parameters in each DOS session. This provides the two way communication needed for virtualizing asynchronous events in the DOS session. TASKID provides a unique ID to TBMI to be used in virtualizing IPX and SPX calls. Valid TASKID.COM command line parameters. /? or /H Display help or usage information. /D Display diagnostic information. /I Display version information. /U Unload TASKID from memory. We recommend that you unload TASKID from the DOS session's memory before closing the session. Do not unload TASKID before task switching. 8. Repeat step #5 for each DOS session you will be using before loading the 3270 Workstation. NOTE: Load WSLAN only once. If you attempt to load it more than once on the same workstation the machine will hang. 9. TO EXIT Before closing a DOS session with the EXIT command, remember to first type "TASKID /U" to unload TBMI from that session. Failure to unload TASKID from a session's memory before closing the session may result in loss of data buffers and machine hanging. It is not necessary to unload TBMI after exiting Windows, but you may wish to do so to free up memory. NOTE: The Windows Default for Background is 50 and for Foreground is 100. If you experience problems try setting Foreground to a higher number (perhaps as high as 1,000). Also double check "limitations". LIMITATIONS 1) You must run in 386 mode. Your machine should have at least 4 Meg of memory. 2) You must use LAN printer redirection for printing from the host session. 3) SNA must use either Definite Response (set in the bind image) or Pacing (set to a non-zero value in VTAM) if you do not set the window session for background processing. 4) Closing the host window task without unloading the workstation software will cause the host session to hang. This will prevent you from getting back into the host session. Therefore, it is recommended that you run WSEXIT, followed by TASKID /U, prior to closing the host window. 5) A limitation of Windows is that it may not reload special fonts when you switch between workstation sessions. This causes the host status line to appear corrupted if your host session is configured for Extended Data Stream. Simply jumping to DOS, then back to your host session, causes WSLAN to automatically reload the status line font. 6) Sometimes Windows needs to be reloaded several times when you have a TSR in place. If, when you load Windows, you are taken back to the DOS prompt, simply reload Windows. 7) The mouse is not supported in a host session. 8) Vector Graphics is not supported in a host session. FILES IN THE PTF TBMI COM 16817 12-19-90 4:34p TASKID COM 2623 12-19-90 3:48p IPX OBJ 19917 12-18-90 9:48a JUMP EXE 11161 06-07-89 12:38p READ.ME POSSIBLE BATCH FILE If you would like to create an icon to execute a batch file to load WSLAN, the following sequence of commands is recommended: TASKID WSLAN PAUSE JUMP (using JUMP.EXE included with PTF) WSEXIT TASKID /U EXIT This batch file is OPTIONAL and is only useful if you need just a single host session and do not wish to run Send/Receive or API applications. This is because when you jump back to the DOS session, WSLAN must be unloaded in order to prevent the host session from hanging. However, this BAT file illustrates the options available to customize the Windows environment. DISCUSSION The Windows environment in real and standard modes allows application switching (sometimes called swapping). Each application runs in a separate DOS session in 640K of memory. Part of this memory (global memory) contains drivers and TSRs such as COMMAND.COM, IPX.COM and NETx.COM. The other part of memory, (local memory) contains the application and application data. Windows switches from one DOS application to another by moving the contents of the current DOS session from conventional memory to extended memory (if present) or to disk, and then loading the contents of the new DOS session into conventional memory. Only the local memory is switched; the global memory with its drivers and TSRs stays intact and is used with the new session. This means that separate local memory segments exist, one for each DOS session, while only one global memory segment exists. When an IPX accessing application,such as the 3270 LAN Workstation (in local memory) wants to communicate with the network, it makes a call directly to IPX or SPX (in global memory), bypassing the shell. IPX or SPX then passes the call on to the network. If the application is then switched, IPX or SPX will lose contact with the application, being unable to use the program's data. With TBMI, the application (in local memory) calls IPX, but the call is intercepted by TBMI (in global memory), which passes the call to IPX or SPX and then to the network. TBMI maintains a buffer in global memory to hold calls received from the various local segments, and then remaps this buffer to the various sessions as they are switched. TBMI (in global memory) also receives ID information from TASKID (a copy of which is stored in each local memory) so that it knows which session it is receiving calls from. Without TBMI the application cannot be switched without failing. There is no need for TBMI in DOS sessions if you will not be switching between sessions. If you are not sure if there will be task switching go ahead and run TBMI; it will not affect operations in any way other than use a small amount of memory. APPENDIX The following are valid configuration file parameters: INT 64 This is similar to the IPX configuration parameter; it specifies that TBMI should support interrupt 64h IPX and SPX calls. This should be set to either OFF or ON. For example, enter the line "INT 64 = ON" in the configuration file. The default is ON for maximum compatibility. INT 7A This is similar to the IPX configuration parameter; it specifies that TBMI should support interrupt 7Ah IPX and SPX calls. This should be set to either OFF or ON. For example, enter the line "INT 7A = ON" in the configuration file. The default is ON for maximum compatibility. ECB COUNT This specifies how many nondata event control blocks (ECBs) will be allocated for use by DOS programs needing virtualization. These ECBs apply to most AES events. If TBMI runs out of nondata ECBs, data ECBs can be allocated for use. If no ECB can be allocated from TBMI's pool of ECBs, a failure will result with a completion code of FEh (or -2). The minimum allowed value for this parameter is 10, the maximum is 255, and the default is 20. For example, enter the line "ECB COUNT = 20" in the configuration file. Each allocated ECB requires 52 bytes of memory; the 20 ECB default will require 1040 bytes. The maximum allocation also depends upon available memory, and the total size of all ECBs must be less than 64K, which will normally limit the ECB count to less than 255. Use the /D command line parameter to verify actual allocations. DATA ECB COUNT Specifies how many data ECBs will be allocated for use by DOS programs needing virtualization. These ECBs apply to most IPX and SPX send-and- receive packets. If a nondata ECB request is made when none are available, a data ECB will be used. If no ECBs are available from TBMI's pool of ECBs, a failure will result with a completion code of FEh (or -2). The minimum allowed value for this parameter is 10, the maximum is 255, and the default is 60. For example, enter the line "DATA ECB COUNT = 60" in the configuration file. Each allocated data ECB requires 628 bytes of memory; the 60 ECB default will require 37680 bytes. The maximum allocation also depends upon available memory, and the total size of all ECBs must be less than 64K, which will normally limit the data ECB count to less than 255. Use the /D command line parameter to verify actual allocations.