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Filename....: FDTN-002.VFD; FrontDoor & RemoteAccess Technical Note #002
Rev.........: 001
Dated.......: 27-Feb-93
Subject.....: Using the OS/2 version 2.0x GA Release with relevant CSD
Service Pak with FrontDoor 2.02 and above, and RemoteAccess
1.11 and above.
Author......: John A.H. Barton
2:257/168@fidonet
jbionic@lonemb.demon.co.uk
Status......: This document may be used and distributed freely provided
no charge is imposed, this includes trading, other than to
recover the cost of the actual transfer; i.e. the cost of a
diskette or telephone call to transfer the document.
Abstract....: The purpose of this document is to provide one method of
implementation with regards to the use of OS/2 version 2.0
GA with FrontDoor v2.02 or above. The intent is to provide
a sample configuration with the options and settings with
regards to achieving the best settings for communications
and operating OS/2.
Copyright 1993 John A.H. Barton; All rights reserved.
All trademarks and registered trademarks are proprietary
to their respective owners.
The author wishes to thank all those who have contributed
ideas and corrections to this document.
Caveats
-------
The settings and techniques used in this document do not represent the
ONLY way to do this, and perhaps do not even represent the optimal
configuration, and the information in this document is subject to change,
based upon updated information, error corrections, increased or updated
modem capability, or FD and OS/2 updates.
The settings used are based upon OS/2 2.0 GA Release, and some options
may not be available on your systems yet. Where possible, I have noted
which settings may differ, however it is placed upon the reader to
examine and report the viability of the suggested techniques with regards
to the particular options in use.
For optimal modem settings for CCITT V.32bis modems refer to FDTN-001.
The contributors to this file make no warranties, neither expressed
nor implied. The aim behind the procedures described below is to
encourage experimentation within a wide range of PC configurations.
In no way can any of the creators of this file be held liable for any
losses in time, matter, service, expected profit, or patience!
It is *only* guaranteed to take up disk space :-)
Requirements
------------
o OS/2 2.0 GA release with CSD Service Pak applied (US or UK flavour)
(OS/2 2.10.beta Code may also be used with all settings below)
o COM.SYS (25000b, dated 93-01-25, 09.49)
VCOM.SYS (10240b, dated 93-01-25, 09.46)
o VFD050PR.ZIP - Virtual FOSSIL Driver - by Joakim Hernberg (2:270/3@fidonet).
o Some people have found that using SIO.SYS and VSIO.SYS from SIO with
VFD gives good results but remember to leave the MODE setting out as
they do not need it.
The Service Pak (US or UK flavour) files are essential as they contain
modified drivers especially MODE.COM from August that allows the COM
setting of 38400
CONFIG.SYS
----------
The important settings below are _dependants_ of the presence of the
above files and fixes on your system. There is absolutely no need to use
any other FOSSIL driver as VFD handles the FOSSIL calls. The example is
for using COM2 only at present.
MAXWAIT=2 (or 1 for 25MHz 386 or faster processors)
(if I understand correctly, this line controls the maximum time, 1 to
255 secs) that a process can be put on hold before OS/2 ups its
priority. This ensures that no process can hog the system).
PRIORITY=DYNAMIC
AUTOFAIL=YES (needed for unattended mode, and command below).
PAUSEONERROR=NO (this stops the popup box halting the BBS on error).
THREADS=256 (this is increased from 96, but if a lot of utilities or
other programs are used, this may be increased up to 4095.
The "cost" is 10kb per 1000 threads).
TIMESLICE=32,64 (this increases overall response time).
The MEMMAN setting:
I am recommending that if the system has more than 6 Meg of Ram used
as:
MEMMAN=SWAP,PROTECT
if less than 6 Meg of Ram be used as:
MEMMAN=SWAP,MOVE
PRIORITY_DISK_IO=NO
This setting determines if the foreground should be given a higher
priority to access the disk than the background tasks. I have no idea
what effect this setting will have on a BBS running in the background,
especially if the BBS has been given foreground server priority. I
think this setting should be tested in different real life situations,
before we say anything either way. With "NO", file transfer throughput
is improved by some 50 CPS and no CRC errors detected EXCEPT with
SEAlink on mailer file transfers.
Using VFD as the FOSSIL driver in CONFIG.SYS:
DEVICE=<path>COM.SYS
DEVICE=<path>VCOM.SYS
DEVICE=<path>VFD.SYS
RUN=<path>MODE.COM COM2 38400,n,8,1,,to=on,xon=off,idsr=off,
odsr=off,octs=on,dtr=on,rts=hs
(note that the parameters to the RUN command should all be placed on
one line. Also, if you have a 16550 compatible UART installed, append
BUFFER=ON to the end of the line).
RUNFD.BAT
---------
@echo off
set fd=h:\fd
path=f:\fd;%path%
<path>VFDU l2,ls p4,10
fd:
if errorlevel 299 goto unpack
exit
:unpack
<path>VFDU p2,-10
Used before processing to release the higher class and priority set
above (p4,10).
The last priority setting is a delta (difference), this means that you
add or subtract this value from the last value. The level value starts
up at 0 and goes to 31. I suspect that the priority settings might vary
from system to system, but for me p4,10 means that the mailer runs
before my foreground task, and never slows down. My foreground task slows
down for a sec or two, when doing an EMSI handshake, and it will stop
when FrontDoor enters a SEAlink transfer, but this may all change when I
get that part fixed.
Setting p4,10 will ensure that the BBS always runs, and if it's giving up
slices properly or not hogging the system in any other way, then you will
never notice it, but if it hogs the CPU, then your other tasks may stop
using p2,0.
Clearly it is a descision that you have to make, whether to give the BBS or
yourself priority.
OS/2 SESSION OPTIONS
--------------------
COM_DIRECT_ACCESS ON
(if using VFD (my personal preference) function 14 Watchdog is NOT
supported therefore if in a Type 7 menu and carrier is lost OS/2 has NO
way to detect carrier loss, and using this setting gives the called
program the opportunity to monitor the Carrier Detect Line). I have
found out whilst testing that at present any other Communications could
by an errorlevel within FrontDoor i.e. RoboComm etc. upon completion
losses the VFD FOSSIL setting - To overcome this till FOSSIL fixed I
now close the Runmail.bat (With this setting set OFF) and fire up
RoboComm seperately and then when it has finished - fire up the
Runmail.bat again. which has the above setting set to ON.
COM_FOSSIL ON
COM_HOLD ON
COM_SELECT ALL
IDLE_SENSITIVITY 75
IDLE_SECONDS 0
DOS_BACKGROUND_EXECUTION ON
DOS_BREAK OFF
DOS_FILES 60
DPMI_DOS_API AUTO
DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT 2
DPMI_NETWORK_BUFF_SIZE 8
EMS_FRAME_LOCATION AUTO
EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT 1024
HW_ROM_TO_RAM OFF
HW_TIMER OFF
VIDEO_ON_DEMAND_MEMORY ON
VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION ON
VIDEO_ROM_EMULATION ON
VIDEO_WINDOW_REFRESH 1
How to setup the Icon in PM to actually get FrontDoor working in OS/2
---------------------------------------------------------------------
At the OS/2 PM screen following this step by step guide will enable you
to have FrontDoor run as a seperate icon, references to LH means Left
Hand or button number 1. RH means Right Hand or either button 2 or button
3 on a 3 button mouse (Please note this is after amending CONFIG.SYS
etc detailed above and rebooting system to fire up OS/2):
1) Open OS/2 System Icon by LH double clicking with the pointer over the
icon.
2) Pointer on Command Prompts and LH Double Click
3) With Pointer on Full Screen DOS press
a) Press LEFT CTRL key on keyboard and hold
b) Press RH Button on mouse and hold
c) Move Icon outside the box to the PM area of choice
d) Release RH button on mouse
e) Release LEFT CTRL key on keyboard.
4) Move pointer to newly created icon and Press RH button
5) Move pointer to right facing arrow on option option
6) Press LH button on mouse
7) Pointer to Settings option
8) Press LH button on mouse
9) In path and filename put where exactly your batch file is
ie c:\fd\fd.bat
10) Pointer to Session Options
11) Press LH button on mouse
12) Pointer on DOS WINDOW
13) Press LH button on mouse
14) Pointer on Close window on exit
15) Press LH button on mouse
16) Pointer on DOS SETTINGS
17) Press LH button on mouse
18) Pointer on Default box
19) Press LH button on mouse.
20) Go through all the options above and amend them as shown
21) When completed - Pointer on Save
22) Press LH Button on mouse
23) Pointer on General
24) Press LH button on mouse
25) Via the keyboard amend the title to whatever you desrire it to be
ie FrontDoor Mailer
26) Pointer to small box on TOP LEFT HAND of settings box
27) Double press LH button quickly on mouse.
28) The session will have ended and your amended icon is ready.
29) Pointer to the new FrontDoor Icon
30) Double press LH button quickly on mouse.
// end of file "fdtn-002.vfd"