home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
OS/2 Shareware BBS: 14 Text
/
14-Text.zip
/
tips_txt.zip
/
TIPS.TXT
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-07-23
|
62KB
|
1,454 lines
Person to Person Tips file
Author: Darius Fariborz
IBM UK Labs Ltd,
Hursley Park,
Winchester,
Hants SO21 2JN,
England.
Email: faribor@winvmb.vnet.ibm.com
Compuserve: 100141,3612
===============================================================================
Subject: P2P/ v1.0 to P2P v1.0.x Interconnectivity over TCP/IP
TCP/IP address within the same workstation, in P2P/2 v1.0.1, is 1376 and
5001 for P2P/2 v1.0. For example to convert address books from v1.0 to
v1.0.1, use 'Export' from the P2P v1.0.1 Address Book utility and then edit
the exported file (now in ASCII), and change 5001 to 1376. Next this should
be imported.
===============================================================================
Subject:WfWGs v3.1 and NETBIOS
Netware Requestor bundled with WfWGs has not got netbios.exe and needs to be
obtained and installed separately, if Novell netbios is required.
===============================================================================
Subject:ISDN - Called Party sub-addressing
If using CdPSA with IBM ISDN card, make sure it is properly configured at the
called station.
===============================================================================
Subject:ISDN - SCII Card
For SCii software and Hardware installation consult SCii pubs. Also refer
to P2P/Windows README file on diskette one for further practical tips.
===============================================================================
Subject:Installation "Serious Disk Error"
if Serious Disk Error msg is popped out during installation of P2P/W, then
decrease the size of virtual memory(swapper file).
===============================================================================
Subject:Async Reliability Problem
If P2P/2 v1.0 over Async used for a long time it may crash the system. To
get over this, specify a large swapper file (20MB). P2P v1.0.1 handles this
thru better memory management.
===============================================================================
Subject:ActionMedia without the Capture card
The effect of using AMII card without Capture card (the card that plugs on
to AMII), is that the Dual View will be greyed out. In addition only local
software emulation or remote software emulation/Video can be viewed at any
one time.
===============================================================================
Subject:ISDN - SCII card
SCii ISDN needs subscriber number. Note that SCII configurator doesn't give an
error and the NDIS MAC drivers that P2P uses, need this information.
===============================================================================
Subject:ISDN - SCII Card
If inadvertently made a voice call from Address Book and also had a
Data app checked, then the voice call will go thru, however the data call
starts but will fail, as expected.
===============================================================================
Subject:ISDN - SCII card
To remove SCii mac drivers from WfWGs Control Panel-Adapters listing, delete
\windows\system\oem0.inf file. Don't mistake INF with IBM's NIF file, though
they are similar.
===============================================================================
Subject:ISDN - SCII address
SCii Telecom, 4 Avenue Victor Hugo - 75116 Paris, France.
Tel:+33 1 44174417 Fax:+33 1 44174419
USA ....... Tel:(301) 7797490 Fax:(301) 7797281
UK ........ Tel:(0329) 664333 Fax:(0329) 664333
Germany ... Tel:(89) 5467570 Fax:(89) 54675732
===============================================================================
Subject:ISDN - SCII Data call Limitations
SCii cannot handle 2 data calls, however this is possible with the IBM ISDN
card. But you can have a data and a voice call with SCii. IBM ISDN doesn't
support voice explicitly.
===============================================================================
Subject:Fast Modems
P2P/Windows+P2P/2 is capable of supporting V.fast + V.turbo Modems, providing
your PC comport is speced to do so.
===============================================================================
Subject:Jovian LAN Card
P2P does not work with the Jovian adapter.
===============================================================================
Subject: P2P Clip & Windows for Workgroups clip/DDE Interoperability
- P2P's Clip provides for sharing of clipboard/DDE between communicating
workstations; Microsoft's Windows For Workgroups offers the same via
a different user model.
- This note confirms that P2P's Clip will happily co-exist with W4W,
and, furthermore, will interoperate as follows -
- Suppose we have 3 PCs, A, B & C; A & B are running W4W and
have shared a page in the Clipbook such that clipboard and DDE
operations are shared between them; B nows calls C using P2P and
shares Clip onto the call. If A and C each run an application such
as Excel, Lotus, or whatever, then if A copies cells to the clipboard,
C can Paste (clipboard) and/or Paste Link (DDE) and it will work.
(The reverse direction and any other combinations of machines will
also work).
- Note also that, in the scenario above, C can be running either OS/2
or Windows (the same restrictions would apply as in the general case
of two machines of differing operating systems for P2P Clip).
===============================================================================
Subject:P2P Clip & NEOS Peer LAN clip/DDE Interoperability
- P2P's Clip provides for sharing of clipboard/DDE between communicating
workstations; IBM's NEOS Peer LAN offers the same via
a different user model.
- This note confirms that P2P's Clip will happily co-exist with Peer
LAN, and, furthermore, will interoperate as follows -
- Suppose we have 3 PCs, A, B & C; A & B are running Peer LAN;
B now calls C using P2P and shares Clip onto the call. If A and C
each run an application such as Excel, Lotus, or whatever, then if
A copies cells to the clipboard, B then uses Peer LAN "Network
Clip/DDE" to "Copy" the clipboard and "Get" the data from A; then
C can Paste (clipboard) and/or Paste Link (DDE) and it will work.
(The reverse direction and any other combinations of machines will
also work).
- Note also that, in the scenario above, C can be running either OS/2
or Windows (the same restrictions would apply as in the general case
of two machines of differing operating systems for P2P Clip).
===============================================================================
Subject: P2P Clip & Windows for Workgroups clip/DDE Interoperability
- A minor snag has been uncovered with the way we got Clip to happily
coexist with W4W. These notes explain how W4W works, what we did
to cope with it, and why there's a small snagette. In the following
remember that "clipbook" is W4W's clipboard sharing utility.
- Suppose machines B and C are running W4W, and C and D are running
P2P with Clip.
- D copies something to the clipboard; Clip sends the list of clipboard
formats to C, where Clip copies them to the clipboard; W4W clipbook
notices this, and copies all the formats and the data (so Clip fetches
all the data across which was delayed up to that point and renders it)
onto its shared page for B; THEN (rot its socks) it ADDS a private format
called "Clipbook Preview" to the clipboard on C WITHOUT emptying it
first;
Clip gets a message saying the clipboard has been updated, reads the
contents and sends it all back to D (whence it originally came).
- That was considered undesirable, so what we did was: when the message
arrives to say "clipboard updated" we check to see if the format
Clipbook Preview exists on the clipboard and if it does we ignore
the update (so it's not "bounced back" to D).
- Then, however, suppose B updates it clipboard, W4W copies it to
C which gets its clipboard emptied and filled with new formats and
data, *including* "Clipbook Preview"; now Clip gets the update
message but ignores it because of the Clipbook Preview format.
- To fix that, we used the fact that whenever Clip fills a clipboard
it adds its own format (for Windows "P2P/W-CLIP") to the others.
So, now when Clip gets a "clipboard update" message, it checks to
see if the formats include Clipbook Preview *AND* P2P/W-CLIP, in
which case the message is ignored (because W4W must have added its
format without emptying, which it only does when it is *reading*
the clipboard to copy to its shared page). When B's page gets copied
to C, W4W empties the clipboard first, hence P2P/s format is
missing, so we then correctly pick up the message and send off the
contents.
- Snagette: Suppose we now add machine A which is connected by P2P
and Clip to B. (Remember B is sharing clipbook via W4W with C, C
is connected by P2P and Clip to D). Still following? Now A copies
some stuff to the clipboard; Clip sends it to B, adding its own
format of P2P/W-CLIP to the others (hear it coming..?..); B copies
it to C via W4W which adds its own format of Clipbook Preview;
Clip on C gets the "clipboard updated" message, but IGNORES it
because both formats are present.
- We have decided to live with the snagette. Why? Because -
1 it's a pretty unlikely scenario for anyone to hit.
2 since B and C are both running P2P, they could P2P call each other
over the LAN (they must have a LAN because they are connected
by W4W) making a 4 way P2P & Clip call, and do their clipboard
sharing that way; any shared page on the clipbook between B and
C should be unshared before doing it; then everything will be
fine. i.e. there is a work-around.
===============================================================================
Subject: Run-time DLLs for IBMC, and CommonView
Products which are sold, and include run-time DLLs from other products, may
encounter problems. For example, suppose P2P includes DLLs which are
part of the Glockenspiel CommonView product; those DLLs are installed on
the user's machine in his libpath and are used by P2P. Now suppose that
the user buys another product which includes the same Glockenspiel DLLs,
these new ones are installed on the libpath, maybe overwriting the P2P
ones, or maybe being put on the libpath before P2P's. Now when P2P runs
it will use the new ones. This may cause problems. Further, suppose that
the P2P ones were advanced ones with new features, and the second product
the user installed had older versions lacking the new features. Now P2P
will not run because the features are missing; worse, the P2P ones may have
been overwritten and P2P has to be re-installed; then the P2P ones may not
work with the user's second product (worst case!) in which case the user
cannot use both products on his machine at the same time.
P2P
---
There are two potential areas where we could hit this problem -
IBMC
----
Ibm C has a runtime DLL called CRTLIB.DLL. P2P does NOT use this, instead
we have a system (designed by Andy Key together with DCL) in which all
the ibmc run-time routines are kept in our own-named DLPCRT.DLL which thus
uniquely named will not clash with any of the user's CRTLIB.DLLs.
This was done because many applications are written in C (and the
particularly name CRTLIB is common to many C compilers other than IBM's)
and a clash was considered quite likely.
CommonView
----------
Glockenspiel's CommonView, as used by P2P, needs 4 DLLs, called -
GLFS31DP.DLL
GLCV31DP.DLL
GLSH31DP.DLL
GLTD31DP.DLL
P2P DOES use these, they are installed by the Install program and exist
in the C:\P2P directory along with all the other EXEs and DLLs.
If the user installs another product which uses the same DLLs, the problems
described above could occur.
It was considered unlikely that a user would install another product
written using CommonView and hit a clash problem. P2P uses CommonView
3.0 Beta 3 DLLs which are very recent.
===============================================================================
Subject: IBM Multimedia Hot Lines
The numbers for the ULTIMEDIA TOOLS SERIES order hotline are:
USA: 1-800-877-7771
UK: (0285) 641175
ActionMedia Support USA: 1-800-241-1620
===============================================================================
Subject:Wiring details for P2P NULL modem cables
The wiring for a NULL modem cable for use with P2P is thru PC/PS Async
port is as follows:
25pin(F) to 25 pin(F)
----- -------
2(TD) to 3(RD)
3(RD) to 2(TD)
4(RTS) to 5(CTS)
5(CTS) to 4(RTS)
7(GND) to 7(GND)
6(DSR) & 8(DCD) to 20(DTR)
20(DTR) to 6(DSR) & 8(DCD)
F = Female
9 pin to 9 pin
----- -----
3(TD) to 2(RD)
2(RD) to 3(TD)
7(RTS) to 8(CTS)
8(CTS) to 7(RTS)
5(GND) to 5(GND)
6(DSR) & 1(DCD) to 4(DTR)
4(DTR) to 6(DSR) & 1(DCD)
===============================================================================
Subject:TCP/IP checklist for P2P/2 v1.0 only
- Go to TCP/IP Config panel (from Call Mngr select View - Configuration
and then TCP/IP) and check "Use Slip" and "Enable" are ticked. Afterwards
click on Defaults. Also check the internet address is correct.
- Check that the following statements in CONFIG.SYS.
DEVICE=C:\TCPIP\BIN\INET.SYS ;assuming that TCPIP is on C: drive
DEVICE=C:\TCPIP\BIN\IFNDIS
SET SLIP.COM=COM1 ;com1 is the default
- Check that SETUP.CMD in TCPIP\BIN directory has the following line:
ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1
This is described in P2P/2 Using Guide v1.0 in Appendix A pp4.
- Make user that Slip is enabled within the TCPIP itself.
- Initially just let P2P to use TCPIP and not anything else for test
purposes.
===============================================================================
Subject:Address Book Format
P2P Address Book format (and content) are not consistent with any other
product like:
Time and Place/2,
Lotus Notes, (using Vendor Independent Messaging interface)
WPSHARE93 style (as on OS2TOOLS),
VM Names file style.
Address Book Synchronization/2
Lotus cc:Mail (VIM)
In P2P defence, the address book interface was coded to allow for using
various formats. P2P can accept interface DLLs (called Database Support
Modules) which allow it to access other address book formats.
The problem is not design but the fact that no other DSMs have been
written.
===============================================================================
Subject:Camera Awareness
To make sure that the AVK knows that you have a camera attached, run the
ActionMedia II Configuration Program and ensure that you have selected the
correct camera type under Capture Settings.
===============================================================================
Subject: Information on VideoLabs FlexCam Camera
From the FlexCam box...
-----------------------
FlexCam Desktop Color Video & Sound is a high resolution,
integrated color camera and microphone. FlexCam's video output is
industry standard NTSC or PAL. And Flexcam's low noise, directional
microphones deliver top-quality, line-level stereo audio. FlexCam's
60 degree swivel "head" and 18" flexible gooseneck offer precise
camera positioning. And the adjustable focus lens gives you razor sharp,
real-time color video from a quarter-inch to infinity.
Our experiences...
------------------
We used our Flexcam for the first time yesterday and we were amazed!
We've replaced our bulky camcord that we use with P2P with the FlexCam
and we were able to have 5 of us in the picture at all times. What was
really amazing is the level of detail you can get when you point the
Flexcam down onto a coin or at a large open room. We really were
amazed that for 500 we could get such a high quality camera. We haven't
used the mics yet, but if they're even half the quality of the video
image, they'll be better than anything we have to date. We'll be using
the FlexCam for video conferencing or for showing foils, etc. when we
can't get the images online.
Contact VideoLabs. Inc at :
5270 West 84th Street,
Minneapolis,
MN 55437,
USA.
Tel +612 897 1995
Fax +612 897 3597
===============================================================================
Subject:Poor Still Pictures
If you have problem with the quality of still pictures then consider the
followings:
- Ensure that the 'Enhanced Still' option ticked.
- When you are happy with the image you have captured, select Save as
and where you see the ComboBox, 'Save file as type:', select
8 bit per pixel OS/2 bitmap. This means the image will show up better
on the display.
If you select 24 bit per pixel OS/2 bitmap, the package/app. that you
use to display the image, should have the option to Halftone / Error
Diffuse the image.
===============================================================================
Subject: Cannot get the following applications to be mirrored to P2P Chalkboard
App 1:Micrografix ABC Flowcharter
This is a Windows app. and currently P2P cannot mirror
full-screen WIN-OS2 applications.
App 2:Lotus 123 for OS/2, Version 2.0
When trired to mirror a Lotus spreadsheet into P2P chalkboard, doing s
brings down Lotus with the following error message: SYS3175 A
program in this session encountered a problem and cannot continue.
A program generated an access violation at 15e1e1e3.
The solution is to add the following line to the CONFIG.SYS and reboot
SET P2P_MIRROR_BUTTON=OFF
or
SET P2P_MIRROR_BUTTON=FLOAT
For some reason, Lotus OS/2 apps all behave this way.
This will prevent the chalkboard from trying to subclass the
application frame to add the extra mirror icon and will cure the
problem for both 123 and Freelance.
===============================================================================
Subject:Interrupts for ActionMedia MCA and Token Ring cards:
Audio=Video=10, Capture=11
Token Ring =3
===============================================================================
Subject:P2P, 720C and Token Ring PCMCIA card
P2P was demonstrated on a 720c with PCMCIA Token Ring adapter at
Business Computing 93 and had no comms problems at all. In this case,
we were using software video but this looked great once we figured out how
to get the screen into 256 colour mode (we tried logic and installed the
SVGA driver but when this failed someone told us
that the VGA driver is the one to use !?)
===============================================================================
Subject:WACOM Tablet
Installed P2P (selected WACOM TABLET) and as a result, could not
use IBM MOUSE but the WACOM TABLET is OK. What can I do?
The WACOM tablet driver *replaces* the existing mouse driver.
To support multiple pointing devices, you need Pen PM.
Other 'solutions' require undocumented/unsupported features in MOUSE.SYS.
Try OS2TABLT FORUM...
Or request the PenPM package? This will give all the required support.
Look at PENPM_B FORUM for more details.
Not only does this gives full TABLET support for OS/2 and can also use
seamless Windows Apps.
Also try:
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MOUSE.SYS TYPE=IBMMOU* STYPE=TABMOU*
*=dollar sign
===============================================================================
Subject: WACOM Tablet
Let P2P Install programme do the necessary setup and modifications for
for you. The entries made to the config.sys file have to be in a certain order
so that the WACOM tablet may be used in conjunction with the mouse.
===============================================================================
Subject:Table of known Good initialisation strings:-
Hayes V Series Ultra 144 AT&FX0E0V0S0=0&D2
Hayes V Series Ultra 9600 AT&FX0E0V0S0=0&D2
Hayes Optima 288 Same as Hayes Ultra 96
IBM 7855 AT&FX0E0V0S0=0&C1\Q2\R2\N3&S0
Miracom Courier HST AT&FX0E0V0S0=0&A0&B1&H1&R2
Smartlink SM7714 AT&FX0E0V0S0=0&C1&K3&S0
Psion-Dacom PDM50F AT&FX0E0V0F0S0=0&K3
Twincom 144DFi AT&FX0E0V0F0S0=0&K3
WaveRunner AT&FX0E0V0\V0S0=0
IBM 14.4 credit card Data/Fax AT&F0TX0E0V0
Tricom Tornado 28/42 AT&FX0E0V0S0=0S2=43S12=50&R0
Tricom TravelPorte FAST Probably same as above
Motorola UDS, V.32b42i AT&FEVYXS0=0&C1&D2&R&S\V\Q3%B
ZyXEL U-1496 Series modems AT&FE0V0X0
ZyXEL series consists of:
1)U-1496+
2)U-1496E+
3)U-1496E
4)U-1496B+
5)U-1496B
Zoom FaxModem VFX 14.4Kbps AT&FE0V0X0&C1&D2&R0S03=013S25=005
V32.bis
US Robotics Sportster, AT&FE0&N0V0X0Y0&A0&C1&D2&K2&R2&H1
14,400 FAXMODEM,
External Version,
CCITT V.32 bis + V.42 bis
Switch settings for the US Robotic Modem
(situated on the rear of the modem) are as follows:
SW 1,3,5,6,7,8 DOWN
Sw 2,4 UP
Switch descriptions:
1 UP ..... Data Terminal Ready normal
DOWN ... DTR override
2 UP ..... Verbal result codes
DOWN ... Numeric result codes
3 UP ..... Suppress result codes
Down ... Display result code
4 UP ..... Echo offline commands
DOWN ... No Echo, offline commands
5 UP ..... Auto answer on ring
DOWN ... Suppress auto answer
6 UP ..... Carrier detect normal
DOWN ... Carrier detect override
7 UP ..... Load NVRAM defaults
DOWN ... Load factory defaults
8 UP ..... Smart mode
DOWN ... Dumb mode
AT&T 3810 AT&FE0V0X0&D2\D3\Q3&R0S0=0
Motorola 14.4 Cellect PCMCIA AT&FE0V0X0&C1&D2\Q3\D1S0=0
Hayes Optima 2.88 V.FC AT&FE0V0X0&C1&D2S0=0
IBM 14.4 D/F PCMCIA AT&FE0V0X0&R0S0=0
Intel 14.4 D/F PCMCIA AT&FE0V0X0&C1&D2&R0S0=0
Intel 14.4 EX AT&FE0V0X0\V0S0=0
Intel 400e SatisFaxtion AT&FE0V0X0\V0S0=0
Megahertz 14.4 CC3144 D/F AT&FE0V0X0&C1&D2&R0S0=0
PCMCIA
Microcom QX4232bis AT&FE0V0X0\D2&S0S0=0
Practical Peripherals 14.4 AT&FE0V0X0&C1&D2S0=0
Racal Datacom ALM3226 AT&FE0V0X0&C1&D2&R0S0=0
===============================================================================
Subject:Modem Call Clearing
The call clearing phase over Modems is rather longish sometime, even if
the Call Mngr reports that there is no call active.
The best indicator is to check whether OH (onhook) is active/lit, if so
then the modem is ready for i/g + o/g calls.
===============================================================================
Subject:Types of UARTs in Your PC
Under OS/2 simply type:
MODE COMn: BUFFER
It is highly recommended to enable extended buffering by simply typing:
MODE COMn: BUFFER=ON ..... where n comport number.
Under Windows use MSD (or the IBM equivalent, eg:QCONFIG) for UART
determination.
===============================================================================
Subject:16650 UARTS
When high quality fast modems and high speed UARTS (16550A) used then
use of P2P over modems is quite acceptable. Delays depend upon data
far less than on P2P. P2P compresses that data before it is sent to the
modem, all that is "missing" from P2P code is error correction but good
quality modems will provide adequate error detection and correction.
We recommend use of Modems with V42/V42bis.
===============================================================================
Subject:Chalkboard Mirroring
Under OS/2, seamless Windows apps do not have either the mirror icon
added to the title bar or an extra menu item added to the system menu,
what can I do?
You may like to consider using the floating chalkboard refresh button
to give a "remote" way of refreshing. This button can be positioned
anywhere on screen and when pressed will cause the chalkboard to
remirror its current target without pulling the chalkboard app into
the foreground.
===============================================================================
Subject:P2P/PCMCIA Modem on a ThinkPad
OS/2 v2.1 doesn't recognise the modems either so the operating system call
which tells P2P what modems are available doesn't report the PCMCIA
modems.......
===============================================================================
Subject:P2P and Novell Lan Work Place
Novell TCP/IP Winsock.dll doesn't support asynch comms and as a result
P2P\Windows doesn't operate on this package. This problem has been logged
with Novell by Hursley in Feb/94.
However if one uses Novell patch lwp189 together with a special BORLSMT.DLL
obtainable from IBM, then P2P would run over LWP v4.2.
===============================================================================
Subject:XGA-1 and XGA-2 cards
P2P/2 Chalkboard in a machine with XGA-1 or XGA-2 graphics cards configured
for 640x480 at 256 or 64K colours, has problem with the mouse. To get over
this, configure for 1024x768.
===============================================================================
Subject:P2P Packet Sizes
P2P uses different packet sizes for different network types. This is
hard coded internally and cannot be changed by the user.
Fast Networks(eg. Lan) packets around 60KBytes
Medium Networks(eg. ISDN) packets around 6KBytes
Slow Networks(eg. Async) packets around 0.5KBytes
===============================================================================
Subject:Chalkboard Printing
When printing bitmaps from Chalkboard using 4029-042 Postscript printer,
ensure that PPDS drivers are active, otherwise it takes a lot longer to
print and also with far lower quality.
===============================================================================
Subject:IBM ISDN Coprocessor - ISA Model
IBM ISDN Coprocessor ISA version and the software (ISDN Coprocessor Support
Program v1.2) is supported by Comms Manager v1.0, therefore P2P may be run
on this configuration.
===============================================================================
Subject:Modem Cable
P2P requires pins 2-8,15,17,20 and 22 to be connected between PC Commport
and the MODEM in a one to one manner.
===============================================================================
Subject:ISDN Software Requirements
To run P2P/2 with IBM ISDN card, the following SWs are required:
- Comms Manager v1.0+
- NTS/2 v2.11+
- ISDN Coprocessor support program v1.2+
===============================================================================
Subject:Chalkboard Cut/Paste
When dragging a Marked box out of P2P/2 v1.0 Chalkboard in order to do
Cut/Paste into another object, the object gets corrupted. This only occurs
in systems that running XGA or IA/A 32 bit graphics engine.
To get around this bug either redraw the Chalkboard or edit dlpchalk.exe
and change offset 0x36158 from 01 (dotted) to 00 (solid).
P2P v1.0.1 has a built in workaround for this.
===============================================================================
Subject:Video Free Format
If this message is displayed by P2P Video:
>>Cannot show remote view because the remote Video has not free compatible
>>formats
Then ensure that the ActionMedia video and P2P software emulation are
enabled.
===============================================================================
Subject:Green Bar on Video
If a Green bar appears on P2P Video this is due to downlevel ActionMedia
Capture card. Change/upgrade the hardware.
===============================================================================
Subject:Comms Line
If the communication link goes down during a call, then P2P cannot recover
from that call. This means that the call needs to be made and the required
applications shared again.
===============================================================================
Subject:ActionMedia Software
Most ActionMedia problems are due to downlevel SW, it needs v1.2 or later.
===============================================================================
Subject:Chalkboard Mirroring
When mirroring, ensure that the window that is being mirrored is not
covered by the Chalkboard. The areas that are covered do appear as blotches
in the Chalkboard.
===============================================================================
Subject:Video Performance
P2P Video data transmission and reception may be affected by the performance
of the machines, that are used with. For example, it is quite unfair to
connect Mod95 to Mod40 and compare the video performance of these 2 machines.
===============================================================================
Subject:ActionMedia - Black Line
If Video out of ActionMedia is suffering from a black line down the right
hand side of the P2P AM-II video window. Then in ActionMedia Configuration
program, under Configuration/Displays, there are a couple of spin buttons
marked Horizontal and Vertical.Tweaking the Horizontal value, say to 10,
should get rid of the bar. Note that there is a bug with AM Configuration
and you need to change save something else in order for the new Horizontal
value to be saved and used next time.
===============================================================================
Subject: Trumpet TCP/IP
We believe that Trumpet doesn't work with Token Ring cards but works with
with NE2000 type cards.
===============================================================================
Subject:Software Comport
P2P can use Software Comport, as long as no other application is using it.
===============================================================================
Subject:Chalkboard Formats
P2P/Windows v1.xx Chalkboard only pastes/copies CF-Bitmap and text formats
from system clipboard. DIB-Format will be supported in P2P v2.xx.
===============================================================================
Subject:Novell NETAPI
If using Novell NETBIOS (NETAPI.dll) under OS/2 and Comms Manager is also
on the same system, then ensure that the NETWARE directory appears before
MUGLIB\DLL on the LIBPATH line in the CONFIG.SYS file. Otherwise P2P/2 will
try to use the one in the MUGLIB\DLL directory which will malfunctions.
===============================================================================
Subject:Helper Address
For NETBIOS messages encapsulated in IPX/NETX packets to be transferred
across a Novell gateway (connecting two unlike LANs, eg: Token Ring and
Ethernet), the network administrator needs to setup 'HELPER ADDRESS'.
===============================================================================
Subject:ActionMedia Card part numbers
Part numbers for ActionMedia cards are as follows:
ActionMedia Display Adapter (MCA) = 69F9732
ActionMedia Display Adapter (ISA) = 69F9730
ActionMedia Capture Option = 69F9734
===============================================================================
Subject: Local video vanihes temporary
If the self-view temporarily drops out when Video app is active
but still the remote can be seen, this is probably due to loose
electrical connections. Xck that everything is tightly screwed on.
===============================================================================
Subject: Video Freeze
If video freezes for sometime (eg:5 to 20 seconds) while drawing/pasting
on the Chalkboard, this may be due to:
- Slow 386 SX machines
- Lack of memory
- Bridges between PCs
- Ethernet networks get heavily loaded when the usage gets above 30%.
- Video data has lower priority within P2P wrt Talk, FT, Clip and Chalkbroad
data. Therefore if for example chalkboard is used (eg:free hand drawing)
then obviously this higher priority data is transferred wrt video data.
- Set compression to None in the communication sub-system panel. This will
improve the performance if software emulation is used.
===============================================================================
Subject:TCP/IP
We recommend to use TCP/IP, for getting thru an enterprise LAN networks.
Other protocols (eg:NETBIOS) need bridges that can be programmed to know
where the users are situated. This however requires some naming convention
so that one LAN cannot flood another LAN with packets that are destined for
another user on another LAN.
===============================================================================
Subject:TCP/IP Packages
We have tested P2P with the following TCP/IP packages:
- IBM TCP/IP v2.11
- Chameleon
- SuperTCP/NFS v3R2
- Lan Work Place v4.2 (needs Novell lwp189 patch and a special module from us)
- PC/TCP from FTP v2.2
- Ungermann-Bass protocol stack v16.62
- Trumpet v1A (only over Ethernet card)
===============================================================================
Subject:NETBIOS
P2P network resource usage is similar to IBM Lan Req.
===============================================================================
Subject:Remote Debug?
Can P2P be used for remote debug? ie:Is it possible to "take control" of
the other person's system?
No, one needs DCAF (IBM Distributed Console Acces Facility).
===============================================================================
Subject:P2P Games
Can you play a computer game with a remote person with P2P?
The answer is No.
===============================================================================
Subject:No P2P Icon after Installation under OS/2
What is the cause of not getting the P2P icon on the OS/2 Desktop after
installation?
This is normally due to a corrupted OS2.ini file. Sometime it is possible
to edit OS2.ini file (eg: JPOS2INI utility) and remove the references to
P2P and re-install again and get the Icon.
===============================================================================
Subject:No P2P Icon after Installation under Windows
What is the cause of not getting the P2P icon on the Windows Desktop after
installation?
This is normally due to lack of available low memory. Free as much as
possible and check this under an appropriate tool (eg: below1mb.exe)
===============================================================================
Subject:DDE and Chalkboard Mirroring
Is it possible to have DDE support and Chalkboard mirroring with an
application running in the Windows Dos prompt?
The answer is YES, provided that the app is windowable then P2P should
mirror it to the chalkboard. With regard to DDE, if the app supports DDE
then P2P DDE should also work.
If both DDE and mirroring used at the same time, beware, the system
performance is impacted.
===============================================================================
Subject:Mirroring of WINOS2 Apps
P2P does not support mirroring of WIN-OS2 apps to the chalkboard if WIN-OS2
has been installed to run in full screen mode only. If however WIN-OS2 has
been installed so that it can be minimised to a window then mirroring is
possible.
If Win-OS2 has been installed to run in full screen mode, it is still
possible to mirror Windows apps but these should be run directly from OS2
desktop rather than from within Win-OS2. This is done by using the
program template.
===============================================================================
Subject:IBM Value Point PCs
Note that most PS/VPs are shipped with unbuffered UARTs and this probably
will cause P2P\Windows to malfunction at speeds of 9600bps and higher.
Lowering the speed may cure the problem.
===============================================================================
Subject :ActionMedia Error Message "01090626" at poweron
The cause is due to downlevel ActionMedia card.
===============================================================================
Subject :ActionMedia
This card is a power hungry card and possibly it extracts more power from
PS/2 +/-12V power rails than is allowed.
===============================================================================
Subject:DLL Names & Functions
???vsma.dll - ActionMedia II
???vsmn.dll - Software Video
dlplsmi.dll - IBM ISDN Comms
borlsmv.dll - SCii ISDN Comms
???lsms.dll - APPC/APPN
???lsmt.dll - TCP/IP
???lsma.dll - Async
???lsmn.dll - NetBIOS
???lsmx.dll - SPX/IPX
===============================================================================
Subject: LAN Bases Installation and Execution
This is only supported under P2P for OS/2 and the procedure is as follows:
1. Unpack all files from diskettes to a LAN drive.
UNPACK a:*.*
Note that unpack is an OS/2 utility.
2. Copy dlplrun.scr to dlpinst.scr
3. next type INSTALL and follow the installation instructions.
P2P/2 was installed on my C:\ drive, only taking some 260KB and my
config.sys LIBPATH was also modified to reflect where the rest of
P2P files were.
System SW: OS/2 v2.1, LAPs v2.11, OS/2 LAN Requester v1.91
===============================================================================
Subject: Data Security
Does P2P encrypt & decrypt data?
The answer is no. You need to rely on your communication devices to do
the encryption.
===============================================================================
Subject: Low Memory Error while running P2P/Windows Video
Sounds to me as if you have not replaced the KMVLWL.DLL file from the
ActionMedia II device drivers. The original one selfishly gobbles up
150K of low memory resulting in frequent "Not enough memory" errors.
On disk 3 of the P2P for Windows package, you will find a replacement
and instructions should be in the README.TXT from disk 1.
===============================================================================
Subject: P2P video size
Q1) What is the size and color capability of the captured video image?
===== I think that I read somewhere that the size is 128 x 120 x
256 colors. Can someone clarify this???
A1) Here goes for a confusing answer ! The video is captured from AM-II
as 128x120 pixel frames in YUV9 format. At first glance, this appears
to suggest 512 colours but the card does fancy processing on the images
and gives you a resulting image that looks pretty much like a 16 or 24
bit per pixel image (IMHO).
Video sent to other AM-II users is compressed using the RTV algorithm
then decompressed for display by the AM-II hardware in the receiving
machine. The situation here becomes rather complex, however, since the
displayed image does not look like 128x120 on your PM or Windows screen
due to the fact that the AM-II mixes its video plane with VGA or XGA
and that these 2 planes have different pixel sizes.
Imagine 2 similarly sized sheets of squared paper with different square
sizes overlaying one another. The top sheet represents the PM desktop and
the bottom one the AM-II frame buffer. A block of squares drawn on the
bottom sheet shines through to the top sheet but occupies a different
number of squares at different coordinates from the top sheet viewer's
perspective. (Does this help any ? It's difficult to explain without
drawing a diagram. Call me on P2P if you are still confused).
For a 128x120 (AM-II pixel) image, the perceived video image sizes (in
desktop pixels) are below. The 2 values for AM-II resolution give the
size of the whole "bottom sheet" depending upon whether or not you have
checked the "High resolution" box in the display controls dialog.
Remember that this "bottom sheet" represents the same physical screen
area as the PM desktop (the "top sheet").
PM desktop AM-II res AM-II res Apparent image size (PM pixels)
(high) (low) (high) (low)
640 x 480 512x480 256x240 160x120 320x240
1024 x 768 410x384 256x192 320x240 512x480
For example, with a VGA display showing AM-II video in low resolution
mode, the 128x120 AM-II pixel image looks to the user like 320x240
VGA pixels (ie quarter screen).
If using software video, the captured images are all 128x120 and use
either 256 grey levels (if you select mono images) or 256 colours. These
images are displayed using PM (or Windows GDI) and appear either as
128x120 PM or Windows pixels on the screen or stretched to fit the
supplied video window.
Q2) Is it possible to zoom the chalkboard so that a complete image can
be viewed
===== It has been my experience that the size of the image you see
is less that the real image and is dependent upon the
resolution of the display. My 8514/VGA appears to show about
25% of the total chalkboard capacity. I can find no zoom
feature. What is the size of the chalkboard in pels?
A2) There is no way of zooming in or out in the Chalkboard. In all cases,
the chalkboard contents are shown pixel for pixel on all connected
machines so if different resolutions are used on different machines
in the same call, people see different percentages of the chalkboard
area.
The chalkboard scales dynamically as you use it so if you draw off the
edge of the currently defined area, the chalkboard size increases to
accommodate the new drawing. I'm not sure what the maximum size is but, on
version 1.0 at least, it was enormous ! (Tip - don't zero the scroll bars
on 1.0 and draw in the top left. Your machine is likely to page forever
trying to allocate memory for an enormous image. This is fixed on 1.0.1
as far as I can see).
If you get lost on a large chalkboard, Ctrl-Home moves your viewing
position back to the centre and, if you are really desperate, someone
else using the "sync" control will retransmit the chalkboard contents to
you and move your viewing position to have the same centre as theirs.
===============================================================================
Subject:How PROTOCOL.ini is examined
Looking at the code, the algorithm is as follows:
open CONFIG.SYS and look for line containing PROTMAN.OS2
use the string starting /I: to locate the IBMCOM directory
read PROTOCOL.INI from the IBMCOM directory.
However it is recommended that you use LAPS.exe to view/change/delete the
contents of PROTOCOL.INI.
===============================================================================
Subject: NLS versions for P2P/2 and P2P for Windows
Languages supported for the new releases are French, German, Italian,
Spanish, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Kanji.
===============================================================================
Subject: XGA Cards & P2P
AM-II will work with both XGA and XGA-2 though you are limited to
640x480 resolution if you use an XGA-2 with one of the new ISO displays.
===============================================================================
Subject:LIST OF DOCUMENTATION AVAILABALE IN THE US FOR P2P.
SC331195-00 PERSON TO PERSON FOR WINDOWS, INSTALL AND USING GUIDE
SC331101-01 PERSON TO PERSON FOR OS2, INSTALL AND USING GUIDE
SC33-1196-00 PERSON TO PERSON FOR WINDOWS, QUICK REFERENCE
SC33-1013-01 PERSON TO PERSON FOR OS2, QUICK REFERENCE
GC330927-02 PERSON TO PERSON PLANNING GUIDE.
See your dealer or contact IBM Multimedia on 1-800-877-7771
===============================================================================
Subject: Chalkboard Questions
Q1 - When you share a chalkboard to a call for the first time, do you transmit
an empty Chalkboard, or simply some instructions is sent to the
destination to launch a Chalkboard.
- just sends instructions
Q2 - When C/Brd is partially updated, do you transmit whole of the c/brd or
just the updated area.
- just the updates
Q3 - What sort of display drivers would you suggest for the user to use for
optimum picture sharpness and faster transfer of images thru C/Brd:
OS/2 Display drivers
Tseng " "
S3 " "
Cirrus " "
- don't know. Obviously there is a trade off between
picture quality (bits per pel) and transfer times. The
more bits per pel the slower any updates are.
===============================================================================
Subject: Chalkboard Palette Manager Support
Chalkboard has palette management support which you may prefer to use if you
are dealing with high quality images and your machine supports it (typically
XGA or Super VGA only). To enable this feature add the following to your
CONFIG.SYS or enter it at an OS/2 command prompt from which you start
chalkboard:
SET P2P_PALETTE=ON
To disable this feature remove this line from CONFIG.SYS or enter at the
command prompt:
SET P2P_PALETTE=OFF
Please note that palette management may produce disconcerting effects if you
have modified your desktop colours.
===============================================================================
Subject: ActionMedia ISA Interrupt Settings
The AMII ISA version does not use Interrupt for transferring data,
to and from the PC bus. This is achieved thru I/O address which are set
by the E1 handbag type jumpers and the settings are described in the
Hardware Guide that comes with the card.
===============================================================================
Subject: AM II and Expanded Memory
It is recommended to use Extended memory with Actionmedia cards thru HIMMEM.sys
device driver.
===============================================================================
Subject: Intermittent Failure in VP machines
The cause may be due to half size Token Ring card, if it is not fully installed
in the adapter slot. Also plugging the LAN cable carelessly can unseat the card
===============================================================================
Subject: P2P and NETBIOS Kit supplied with TCP/IP V2.0
P2P does not work with this NETBIOS and also causes system lockup if the
TCP/IP NETBIOS is not installed as a sub-directory in the TCP/IP directory.
===============================================================================
Subject: AM video output 2
P2P Video application only works with Composite video output #1 and not #2.
The #1 is the one further out on the AM card bracket.
===========================================================================
Subject: How on earth do I make P2P work with PVM?
Below are the "optimum" values to define to Communications Manager for
TCP/IP comms, SNA/LAN comms, PVM/LAN comms and NetBIOS re-director.
Choose the first set of values if you have the normal 4 Mb/s IBM Token
Ring Adapter, choose the second set of values of you have a 16/4 Adapter
regardless of whether the adapter is configured to run at 4 or 16 Mb/s.
The 3rd/4th cols are for the two TRN adapters in a PVM/LAN gateway.
-------------IEEE------------- 4M 16M PVM/LAN GW
Maximum number SAPs 5 126 5 7
Maximum link stations 36 200 255 255
Maximum number group SAPs 0 0 0 0
Maximum members per group SAP 0 0 0 0
Maximum number of users 5 5 5 5
Transmit buffer size 2048 2048 2048 2048
Number of transmit buffers 2 2 2 2
Receive buffer size 96 96 96 96
Minimum receive buffers 49 50 50 50
Number of queue elements 1000 1000 1000 1000
------------NetBIOS----------- 4M 16M
Maximum link stations 30 128 254 254
Maximum sessions 128 128 254 254
Maximum commands 128 100 152 152
Maximum names 32 128 20 20
Query timeout value 1 1 1 1
Transmit query count 6 6 6 6
Maximum transmits outstanding 2 2 2 2
Maximum receives outstanding 1 1 1 1
==========================================================================
Subject:NETBIOS - Lack of Resources
When a couple of people try to run Person To Person/2 off a LAN
server, they get a message telling them that resources have run out
Because of the large number of DLLs in P2P, each person running off the
LAN
places a load of about 25 file opens on the server. As the standard LAN
server configuration only permits 64 file opens, they soon run out. Try
increasing the number of file opens; a figure of 256 will let up to
ten people access P2P, a couple of thousand will make the server logon
limit the first barrier rather than the file open limit.
Alternatively, get each user to install P2P for local use on their own
disk and just make the site directory shareable. Doing this makes P2P
faster as well.
===============================================================================
Subject:Jummy Video over LANs
When I make a call that crosses a LAN bridge etc the video seems
very jumpy and uneven.
The solution is to do with frame rates. If the user is using a network with
a slow link in it, for instance; imagine you have two users on separate
LANS communicating over a slow bridge, then although you can set the P2P
framerate as high as 15 frames per second, you will not necessarily get this.
In fact what you will get is uneven video delivery. You might get a few frames
quickly, followed by a wait of say a second. What I recommend the user do, is
to estimate how many frames a second he is ACTUALLY getting on average, this
can be done by counting how many he sees over say a minute, and reducing the
framerate on P2P to this amount. At least then the video delivery will be
even. An example is for ISDN; the ISDN maximum selectable framerate is
about 2 frames a second but when you first install P2P, the default is about
1 frame a second.
===============================================================================
Subject:Drawing Straight Lines
Why is there no tool for drawing straight lines on the chalkboard?
You can draw straight lines by drawing an unfilled box and making it
very thin or erase the parts that you don't want.
===============================================================================
Subject:SYS1804 System Error Message
When I try to start P2P I get the message:
SYS1804: The system cannot find the file .
This message may occur because P2P is not being executed from
its own directory or because the ".;" has been removed from the
libpath statement in config.sys.
===============================================================================
Subject: My ISDN calls seem to fail for no reason.
This sort of thing can happen if you unplug the ISDN cable from the line.
If a user running P2P is not in a call and for some reason tries unplugging
then reinserting ISDN cables, it can cause problems if they then try
to call someone. This is because the ISDN card may need reinitialising with
the ISDN exchange. If they experience such problems, and calls are failing,
they should restart P2P and try again.
This problem occurs because we cannot detect when a cable has been removed,
unless a call is in progress, in which case the call is dropped.
===============================================================================
Subject:Unsmooth Video Window
I have noticed that the video is less smooth when I overlap another
window over the video window.
If you partially obscure the video window, the video subsystem has to work
much harder working out where not to display video. To ensure smooth
video, avoid partially obscuring the window.
===============================================================================
Subject:Large Address/Phone Book
I have a large phone book (more than 500 entries) and manipulating it is very
slow. Is there anything I can do?
Yes; split your phone book into several logical elements, such as
alphabetically or by department, taking care to keep the size of each element
well below 500 items.
===============================================================================
Subject:Calculation of ActionMedia Frame Rate
How can I calculate the ActionMedia II video frame rate that will be
achieved given a particular link bandwidth or, conversely, how can I
calculate the bandwidth used by a given AM-II video rate ?
In general, with low quality video selected in AM-II VSM config panel:
1 fps = approx 3.5KBps = 28Kbps
This scales linearly with frame rate, so:
bandwidth = approximately (28 * frame_rate) Kbps
Note that this is for each video stream so the total bandwidth used will
be twice this if, for example, 2 users are viewing each other.
Using the above figures, the following values drop out:
Max rate over ISDN (64Kbps full duplex channels) = approx 2.3fps
Async (9600 baud = 960 bytes per sec.) = approx 0.25fps
Beware of bridged LANs or TCP/IP connections. In multi-hop communications
situations, the maximum frame rate is governed by the minimum bandwidth
link. Just because you are pumping out TCP/IP onto a 16Mbps Token Ring,
there is no guarantee that one of the hops to the final destination is
not being carried at 110 baud over a piece of wet string !
Over a normal LAN, video rates on 486 machines are limited to 15fps (if
you have an NTSC camera) or 12.5 fps (PAL camera). Rates will drop back
if running on a 386 machine (8fps is reasonable) or in a multiway call
(where the frame rate depends upon many factors involving the machines
in the call and the network topology).
If the high quality option is selected in AM-II configuration, then the
frame size increases to around 5.5KB. The remaining calculations are left
as an exercise to the reader !
===============================================================================
Subject: Problems with starting the chalkboard
I just installed P2P/2 v1.02 on my mod 95. I'm a
new user of P2P, and I'm noticing a problem when I try to start the
chalkboard. Even though I have 24M of RAM and the hard drive where
my SWAPPER file lives has 90M+ of free space, it seems like I still
have to shut down practically every application that's open before
starting the chalkboard in order for the chalkboard to start up
successfully. In the cases where I don't, a couple of different
things happen: after hearing a beep, I have to hit CNTRL-ESC
repeatedly until I get a popup that says that Person to Person
is not responding to system requests. After selecting ENTER to
end it, I then see the popup that indicates that there were
insufficient system resources (memory?) and to shut down some
applications and try again. After clicking on OK, one of two things
happen: either my desktop gets blown away and then comes back (the
good case), or my desktop gets all hosed up (PM windows garbled,
unable to access task list, etc.), and I have to reboot (obviously,
the bad case).
I'm using an Image Adapter/A with a 6091 monitor.
Using an IA/A makes a huge difference ! In their wisdom, the writers of
the original IA/A OS/2 drivers set a very low limit on the number of
bitmap handles that the driver could cope with (I can be nasty since all
these guys have now left IBM :-) ). In most cases, this limit doesn't
pose a problem but the person who wrote the chalkboard decided to use
up 49 (or was it 52 ?) bitmap handles, immediately blowing the IA/A
driver out of the water.
Although I can't be sure that this will work, you may like to try the
latest version of 2.0 IA/A display driver.
Well, I've got the 32-bit device driver installed, and P2P works *much*
better. I kept all of my normal applications active, and had no problems
at all starting up the chalkboard.
===============================================================================
Subject: What is H.320 and H.260 standard?
H.320 is a hardware standard from the CCITT (now ITU or something ?)
which defines audio/video/data (lip-synced) across ISDN lines and ensures
interoperability between different suppliers video conferencing equipment
(actually it doesn't since no-one thought to architect the protocols
to be used on the data channel. Each manufacturer uses a different
link layer packet protocol resulting in no-one talking data to anyone
else - work is ongoing to sort this out, though - see T.12x proposals
for more information).
H.320 is a wrapper for several other standards - H.261 for video, H.221
for multiplexing onto ISDN channels, G.7xx for audio, etc...
If you want to see H.320 in action with P2P for Windows v1.xx, take a look
at the PictureTel Live-PCS100 system. This uses P2P software and their codec
and gives an idea of the kind of thing to expect.
Lakes (P2P v2.xx) will support H.320 audio/video with the BT VC8000 card
(ScreenCall) though only in the UK under ISDN2.
===============================================================================
Subject: DDE pasting LINK between Word and Excel
I recently tried to paste DDE links between two systems running
the same version of P2P using Excel Version 5.0 for Windows and
Word for Windows 6.0. Both systems are running DOS 6.3, Windows
3.1, and P2P version 1.0.2. I tried pasting Excel to Excel, Word
to Word, Excel to Word, and Word to Excel. In each case I could
paste the information, but could not paste a link.
Apparently to paste a link in Excel, you must first select a region of
cells and then paste the link. Also the App. generating the link must
have this function. Word 6 and Excel 5 have this feature.
===============================================================================
Subject: Multiple Address Books - Copy/Paste Entries
How do you easily move/copy a name/entry from one book to
another? How do you move/copy multiple names/entries from one
book to another?
Looks like you have to "Export..." the address books, edit the files
using a text editor and "Import..." the resulting file as a new
address book.
===============================================================================
Subject: P2P AMII and Fast (Pentium) machines
To run P2P/2 Video over AMII card in Pentium or fast 486 machines,
please add the following to the AVK.INI file in \AM2\DRIVERS:
[Board 0]
Wait Retry=2000
===============================================================================
Subject: Async support and SPEAKER.DRV
Looking on Compuserve I see an append that warns against use of
SPEAKER.DRV as it is a badly behaved device driver and may well cause
problems with any program trying to use the COM ports. This append came
from Microsoft technical support staff.
===============================================================================