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EXECUTOR FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS 04 Jul 1995 Cliff Matthews <questions@ardi.com> This is the list of Frequently Asked Questions about Executor, the commercial Macintosh emulator for DOS, Windows, OS/2, Linux and NEXTSTEP [see Q1.1 `What is Executor?' for more details]. This set of answers to Frequently Asked Questions is not designed to take the place of our Executor manual. However, currently our manual is not available on-line, so this FAQ does briefly touch on some issues that are covered more in depth in our manual. In addition to this FAQ, there should be README files bundled with Executor and there is also an Executor/DOS document that describes how to get started with Executor/DOS from a DOS user's point of view, which may be useful to users of Executor on other platforms as well. That document is called "ERNSTOUD.TXT", since it's hard to come up with useful names when constrained by the DOS 8.3 filename limits and the author of the document is Ernst J. Oud. Please check out these documents and this FAQ, before sending e-mail to <questions@ardi.com> [see Q1.33 `Why shouldn't I send e-mail to <ctm@ardi.com>?'] or the Executor Interest mailing list [see Q1.31 `What's the best way to keep informed about Executor?']. See Q5.3 `In what formats are this FAQ available?' for details of where to get the PostScript, Emacs Info, HTML (WWW) and plain ASCII versions of this document. A new version of this document appears frequently. If this copy is more than a month old it may be out of date. =============================================================================== Index Section 1. Executor in General Q1.1 What is Executor? Q1.2 How can I get more information about Executor? Q1.3 On which platforms is Executor available? Q1.4 How much does Executor cost? Q1.5 Who makes Executor? Q1.6 How do I order Executor? Q1.7 Pronunciation? Q1.8 Does Executor require ROMs or System Files from Apple? Q1.9 How long has Executor been in development? Q1.10 What techniques were used to rewrite the OS and Toolbox? Q1.11 What limitations does Executor 2.0 have? Q1.12 If I have 800 KB floppies, what can I do? Q1.13 Does Executor run all applications? Q1.14 A particular program doesn't run now; will it under 2.0? Q1.15 Will Newton Toolkit run under 2.0? Q1.16 Will Think C or Think Pascal run under 2.0? Q1.17 What percentage of applications will run under Executor? Q1.18 What do the various Executor version numbers mean? Q1.19 Where can I pick up the Executor demos? Q1.20 Where is the Cmd (Clover) and Option key? Q1.21 How do I use my authorization key? Q1.22 Is Executor shareware? Q1.23 How do the demo versions differ from the commercial versions? Q1.24 What's next? Q1.25 When will 2.0 be out? Q1.26 How can I get in ARDI's beta program? Q1.27 Does Executor have networking support? Q1.28 How do you install Fonts and Desk Accessories (DAs)? Q1.29 Will Desk Accessories work under Executor? Q1.30 Does Executor run xxx? Q1.31 What's the best way to keep informed about Executor? Q1.32 What's the Executor Interest mailing list? Q1.33 Why shouldn't I send e-mail to <ctm@ardi.com>? Q1.34 What is an HFV file? Q1.35 Can I launch applications directly from the command line? Q1.36 What are all the command line switches? Q1.37 Are there other parameters I can adjust? [aka "Preferences Panel"] Q1.38 Can I have Executor use more than 8 MB for the application zone? Q1.39 An application I'm trying crashes. What should I do? Q1.40 How do Executor's "license keys" work? Q1.41 Don't your "license keys" allow people to pirate Executor? Q1.42 I want to bundle Executor on a CD-ROM. Can I do that? Q1.43 Why do some applications claim I don't have an FPU? Q1.44 Can Executor run Japanese system software? Q1.45 Why does Compact Pro have trouble with multi-volume archives? Q1.46 What is makehfv? Q1.47 How can I create my own HFV files? Q1.48 How can I use Mac software from the internet? Q1.49 How can I use Mac software from Bulletin Boards? Q1.50 How can I use Mac software from AOL? Section 2. Executor/DOS Q2.1 Which FTP sites will carry stable versions of Executor/DOS? Q2.2 What are the hardware requirements for Executor/DOS? Q2.3 What do I do if my Super VGA card isn't VESA compliant? Q2.4 E/D dies during startup. Why? Q2.5 Why does my screen look funny when I run Executor? Q2.6 What's "GrSetMode ; unknown adapter type in driver." mean? Q2.7 Does E/D require an ASPI driver to access SCSI? Q2.8 Have you released Executor for OS/2 yet? Q2.9 Why won't Executor/DOS work with my Diamond Viper PCI card? Q2.10 Why doesn't my mouse work when I run Executor under OS/2 Warp? Q2.11 Any OS/2 Warp suggestions? Q2.12 Does Executor work under Windows '95? Q2.13 How do I get E/D to see my CD-ROM drive? Q2.14 Executor dies, what should I do? Q2.15 Should I have sent in my registration card? Q2.16 How does printing work under E/D? Q2.17 Why does E/D under Windows 3.x have problems hot-keying? Q2.18 Why can't I eject or format my DOS formatted floppy? Section 3. Executor/Linux Q3.1 Can I buy the Linux version now? Q3.2 Are we ready to hear about Executor/Linux bugs? Q3.3 Should bug reports be sent one at a time or in a big list? Q3.4 What kernel do you recommend? Q3.5 Why is there no Executor for NetBSD or FreeBSD? Q3.6 Where are the bitmaps stored on the Linux version of executor? Q3.7 Will there be an SVGALIB version of Executor/Linux in the future? Q3.8 Why do other windows get creepy colors when Executor is running? Q3.9 How does printing work under Executor/Linux? Q3.10 Why does Executor complain that it cannot find 'libXt.so.6'? Q3.11 Which FTP sites have E/L? Q3.12 Why does Lemmings' splash screen take so long to be drawn? Q3.13 What free projects has ARDI supported? Q3.14 Is there an ELF flavor of Executor? Q3.15 Is Executor localized for languages other than English? Q3.16 Can I Macintosh format disk drives? Section 4. Executor/NEXTSTEP Q4.1 Why hasn't there been an Executor/NEXTSTEP release in a while? Section 5. Administrative information and acknowledgements Q5.1 Can I buy stock in ARDI? Q5.2 Is Feedback Invited? Q5.3 In what formats are this FAQ available? Q5.4 Who wrote this FAQ? Who helped? Q5.5 Is this FAQ Disclaimed and Copyrighted? =============================================================================== Section 1. Executor in General Q1.1 What is Executor? Q1.2 How can I get more information about Executor? Q1.3 On which platforms is Executor available? Q1.4 How much does Executor cost? Q1.5 Who makes Executor? Q1.6 How do I order Executor? Q1.7 Pronunciation? Q1.8 Does Executor require ROMs or System Files from Apple? Q1.9 How long has Executor been in development? Q1.10 What techniques were used to rewrite the OS and Toolbox? Q1.11 What limitations does Executor 2.0 have? Q1.12 If I have 800 KB floppies, what can I do? Q1.13 Does Executor run all applications? Q1.14 A particular program doesn't run now; will it under 2.0? Q1.15 Will Newton Toolkit run under 2.0? Q1.16 Will Think C or Think Pascal run under 2.0? Q1.17 What percentage of applications will run under Executor? Q1.18 What do the various Executor version numbers mean? Q1.19 Where can I pick up the Executor demos? Q1.20 Where is the Cmd (Clover) and Option key? Q1.21 How do I use my authorization key? Q1.22 Is Executor shareware? Q1.23 How do the demo versions differ from the commercial versions? Q1.24 What's next? Q1.25 When will 2.0 be out? Q1.26 How can I get in ARDI's beta program? Q1.27 Does Executor have networking support? Q1.28 How do you install Fonts and Desk Accessories (DAs)? Q1.29 Will Desk Accessories work under Executor? Q1.30 Does Executor run xxx? Q1.31 What's the best way to keep informed about Executor? Q1.32 What's the Executor Interest mailing list? Q1.33 Why shouldn't I send e-mail to <ctm@ardi.com>? Q1.34 What is an HFV file? Q1.35 Can I launch applications directly from the command line? Q1.36 What are all the command line switches? Q1.37 Are there other parameters I can adjust? [aka "Preferences Panel"] Q1.38 Can I have Executor use more than 8 MB for the application zone? Q1.39 An application I'm trying crashes. What should I do? Q1.40 How do Executor's "license keys" work? Q1.41 Don't your "license keys" allow people to pirate Executor? Q1.42 I want to bundle Executor on a CD-ROM. Can I do that? Q1.43 Why do some applications claim I don't have an FPU? Q1.44 Can Executor run Japanese system software? Q1.45 Why does Compact Pro have trouble with multi-volume archives? Q1.46 What is makehfv? Q1.47 How can I create my own HFV files? Q1.48 How can I use Mac software from the internet? Q1.49 How can I use Mac software from Bulletin Boards? Q1.50 How can I use Mac software from AOL? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.1. What is Executor? Executor is a commercial emulator that allows non-Macintosh hardware to run some applications originally written on a Macintosh. Executor has many limitations [see Q1.11 `What limitations does Executor 2.0 have?'], but surprisingly, speed is not one of them. Executor can perform integer computation on a 75 MHz DX4 at about the same speed a 25 MHz 68040 based Mac (like a Quadra 605) can. NOTE: Lately some people have begun calling 25 MHz 68040s "50 MHz 68040s", but we're not using that trickery in our description. The paper /pub/SynPaper available on ftp.ardi.com describes how we can run mc68040 code so quickly on an 80x86. Graphics performance depends on which version of Executor you have, and what type of video card you have. Executor runs fastest when it can grab the frame buffer and write directly to it. We have recently rewritten much of our low-level graphics and do not yet have a rule of thumb for systems in general, although one of our testing machines is a 66 MHz DX2 with a built-in VLB video card and in 256 color mode it displays graphics at about the same speed as our 25 MHz 68040 based Quadra 605. If your only experience with emulators is Soft-PC or Soft-Windows making a Mac emulate a PC, please check out a demo of Executor [see Q1.19 `Where can I pick up the Executor demos?'] to see just how quickly we can do the reverse. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.2. How can I get more information about Executor? This FAQ contains much information, but it is pale when compared to a demo of Executor [see Q1.19 `Where can I pick up the Executor demos?']. Beyond the demo, almost all the publicly available information on Executor is found either at our official ftp site, ftp.ardi.com, or in our unofficial WorldWide Web pages: http://vorlon.mit.edu/arditop.html. Eventually we'll have an official set of WWW pages, but currently all our WWW are done by an Executor Enthusiast, rather than by ARDI staff. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.3. On which platforms is Executor available? Executor/DOS (E/D) is an implementation that runs under DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows '95 and OS/2. Executor/NEXTSTEP (E/NS) is an implementation that runs under NEXTSTEP, both on original NeXT hardware and Intel based hardware running NEXTSTEP. Executor/Linux (E/L) is an implementation that runs under Linux, using X-Windows, with an SVGAlib version in the works. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.4. How much does Executor cost? Effective July 1, 1995, Here are the Executor 1.99 licensing fees: who E/NS E/D E/L 1.99 student $99 $49 $49 1.99 educational $99 $49 $49 1.99 commercial $199 $99 $99 Shipping is free within the U.S. International shipping (USPS Int'l Express) is $20 An Executor/Linux license allows you to use either the X-Windows version, or the SVGAlib version (not yet released), but you can not use one and let a friend use the other at the same time. Eventually we'll merge the two versions, but this may not happen until after 2.0 is released. Students are full-time students, proof may be required before we accept a student order. Educational users are faculty or staff at educational institutions (grade schools, high schools, colleges, universities) purchasing Executor for use with the educational institution; everybody else requires a commercial license. A 1.99 Student licenses allows the holder to use both E/D and E/L for the same $49 price (i.e. buy E/D as a student and you get to use E/L for free and vice versa). Educational and Commercial licensees can pay an additional $25 to the E/L fee to receive an E/D license as well and vice versa (i.e. buy a license for E/D and E/L as an educational instution for $74 total). NOTE: these dual use licenses still only allow one user at a time to use Executor. You may not keep the DOS license for yourself and give the Linux license to a friend. All 1.x owners, even those who bought Executor 1.0 a year and a half ago, are entitled to free upgrades through and including 2.0.x, as long as the upgrades are picked up electronically. 2.0.x releases will fix bugs in 2.0, but will not add new functionality. Beyond 2.0, when new functionality is added, there will be a small upgrade fee if you want the the newer versions with the new functionality. Once 2.0 is in beta, the 1.99 prices will no longer be valid. 2.0 will be a shrink-wrapped product available from a variety of sources. The manufacturer's suggested retail price for 2.0 is: who E/N E/D E/L 2.0 student N/A N/A N/A 2.0 educational $249 $125 $125 2.0 commercial $499 $249 $249 It is unknown whether there will be be student pricing for 2.0, but if so, it will be at least as expensive as the 1.99 student pricing. All prices are subject to change. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.5. Who makes Executor? ARDI Suite 4-101 1650 University Blvd., NE Albuquerque, NM 87102 +1 505 766 9115 Phone +1 505 247 1899 FAX <questions@ardi.com> e-mail <bugs@ardi.com> bug reports <orders@ardi.com> information about ordering ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.6. How do I order Executor? Before you order, please read and understand Executor's current limitations [see Q1.11 `What limitations does Executor 2.0 have?'] and Executor's price [see Q1.4 `How much does Executor cost?']. While Executor is still in development, we specifically make demo versions [see Q1.19 `Where can I pick up the Executor demos?'] available so you'll know exactly what you're getting. If you like what you see, you can mail us a check [see Q1.5 `Who makes Executor?'], FAX us credit card information (VISA, MasterCard or EuroCard only) or call us up so we can take down your credit card information. We do not currently run PGP, so sending credit card information via e-mail is not recommended. We accept purchase orders from most universities and most large companies, but we reserve the right to refuse any purchase order. NOTE: All checks and money orders must be payable in U.S. funds and be written from a U.S. bank. NOTE: Credit Card orders must specify the name that is on the credit card, the credit card number and the credit card expiration date, *and* you must write down the amount of money you are authorizing us to charge, and why (i.e. we don't want to inadvertantly bill you at the wrong price). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.7. Pronunciation? Ig-zek'-yu-tor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.8. Does Executor require ROMs or System Files from Apple? No. Executor reimplements from scratch the Macintosh Operating System and Toolbox. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.9. How long has Executor been in development? Work began in September of 1986. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.10. What techniques were used to rewrite the OS and Toolbox? Entirely clean-room techniques. That is to say none of the Apple ROMs or Apple System File were ever disassembled. Instead ROMlib (the section of Executor that emulates the OS and Toolbox) was written from the manuals "Inside Macintosh", and Tech. notes. That isn't sufficient to get the degree of compatibility that we need, so tests were written and run on Macs to see what a real Mac would do. In addition, we run applications under Executor and when they deviate from how they would behave on a Mac, we take a look at what is going on and fix Executor accordingly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.11. What limitations does Executor 2.0 have? Because the OS and Toolbox have been rewritten from scratch, Executor 2.0 has many limitations, including no serial port access, no AppleTalk, no sound, minimal System 7 support, no INITs, no CDEVs and no Internationalization. Due to limitations in PC hardware, Executor can read and write 1.4 MB Mac formatted floppy disks, but can *not* read or write 800 KB floppy disks. E/NS and E/L can print directly to a printer, E/D can only print to a Postscript file that you can then send to a Postscript printer. Although Executor 2.0 will provide minimal System 7 support, Executor 1.99n, the latest experimental version of Executor available, does not yet support this feature. We hope to support sound and serial port access within six months of releasing Executor 2.0, but currently all our effort is concentrated on preparing 2.0 for release, so that is only speculation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.12. If I have 800 KB floppies, what can I do? Very little. It is not ARDI's fault and there's nothing we can do about it, but the way that Apple squeezed 800 KB onto floppies when PCs were only getting 720 KB on floppies was to write more data on the floppy tracks far from the center than on the tracks near the center. This was clever, but extremely incompatible. There *are* ways to squeeze more information onto PC floppy drives than PCs usually use. However, these methods *cannot* be used to write or even read 800 KB Macintosh formatted floppies. Luckily, very little is supplied on 800 KB floppies anymore, but if you have some, you're almost definitely going to need the use of a Macintosh somewhere to copy the contents onto "HD" 1.4 MB formatted floppies (PCs and Macs use the same low-level format for 1.4 MB floppies). One Executor Enthusiast suggested using Kinko's public Macs for this purpose, and this description was given: 1. Moving 800 KB Mac Files onto 1.44 MB Macdisks. The easiest thing that I have found when working on a real Mac is to preformat the Macdisks to 1.44 MB. Insert the 1.44 MB disk and eject it with (Cmd-E). Then insert the 800 KB mac disk. Drag the icon of the 800 KB disk over the 1.44 MB disk. All the files will be transferred as will the file names. The Mactools fastcopy program can also copy beteween densities. 2. Kinko's Public Machines. Kinko's public Macs are equipped with a program known as "Desk Tracy" which is designed to stop people from pirating Kinko's software from the harddisk. The problem is that when you are copying files between your own disks the program will still trigger if the file has a namesake on the Kinko's machine. What you will need to do is get a Kinko's employee to shut the program off, which is obviously a discretionary call with them. I didn't have a problem and have done it twice, but we obviously will be using different Kinko's. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.13. Does Executor run all applications? Currently, no. In addition to applications that won't run because they require something that we currently don't support (e.g. System 7), due to our rewriting of the OS and Toolbox, there is room for enough incompatibility that many large programs do not work. For this reason, we make demo versions of Executor available for potential customers to run before purchasing Executor [see Q1.19 `Where can I pick up the Executor demos?']. We are in the process of cataloging what we have tested. A partial list is available on ftp.ardi.com in /pub/AppNotes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.14. A particular program doesn't run now; will it under 2.0? That question is very hard to answer here. If the program relies on a feature that won't be supported in 2.0, the answer is no; it won't run. Programs that require QuickTime, QuickDraw GX, INITs, CDEVs or serial port support are all examples of applications that won't run, even when 2.0 comes out. This includes Newton Toolkit, an application that many of our customers and potential customers have asked about. In addition, the more esoteric and large an application is, the more likely that if it has problems now, it may continue to have problems when 2.0 finally ships. Large programs often are written by people that have far more knowledge of the insides of Macs than we do, because they have access to confidential information that we don't [see Q1.10 `What techniques were used to rewrite the OS and Toolbox?']. In addition, the larger the program, the greater the chance that the program does something that Executor did not anticipate -- remember, we have coded Executor in accordance with the public specifications, but not all specifications are necessarily public. For common applications (business applications, home productivity applications, games, etc.) we overcome this problem with huge amounts of debug time. We run the application in question and if it dies, we spend long amounts of time figuring out just how it died. By seeing what the application was doing and what didn't work, we can usually figure out what the application *wanted* to do, although it's as time consuming as being blindfolded and putting together a large jigsaw puzzle -- when you're drunk. However, for some applications, such as programming environments, which are very complex, but have comparatively few end-users, we can not yet afford to put in the amount of time that it takes to get these applications to run. After 2.0 is shipping, we'll have greater revenues and be able to hire more engineers. Then we can attack all known bugs simultaneously, but until then we have to prioritize, and as such, it's quite possible that Think C and Think Pascal and other programming environments won't run under Executor. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.15. Will Newton Toolkit run under 2.0? See Q1.14 `A particular program doesn't run now; will it under 2.0?'. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.16. Will Think C or Think Pascal run under 2.0? See Q1.14 `A particular program doesn't run now; will it under 2.0?'. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.17. What percentage of applications will run under Executor? This is another question that is tough to answer. In fact, we wouldn't even volunteer an answer, were it not for an unsolicited contribution from an Executor Enthusiast. For those interested in a workable programs for your 199m get Wayzata Best of Macintosh Shareware for 19.95 from Tiger Software. It has 1500 programs all areas. I've tried about 500 and over 60% work on my comp. It is a CD-ROM. Just make sure your CD-Rom drive letter is H or lower for Executor to 'see' it. Most of the programs I've tried are 1990 or earlier, even though I did get one which required Sys 7.0 to work. NOTE: this is not an endorsement of that particular shareware disk, but 60% for 1.99m (higher for 1.99n) is in keeping with what we see when we take CD-ROMs filled with software and try the software under Executor. However, when someone tests 500 applications, it's quite possible that the testing is minimal and even an application that seems to work may have trouble when you use a particular function. As ARDI grows, we'll do more and more testing in house, but we are upfront about Executor's current limitations and, as such, encourage people to test the Executor demo themselves. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.18. What do the various Executor version numbers mean? Any 1.x release other than 1.99 is a black and white release. Any release that ends in a lower case letter is technically an "experimental" release. In general, experimental releases are pre-beta or beta releases that will eventually be released with a higher version number. The most recent non-experimental release of Executor/NEXTSTEP is version 1.3. The most recent non-experimental release of Executor/DOS is 1.2. There has not yet been a non-experimental release of Executor/Linux. Currently, with the recent addition of color support to Executor, Executor is experimental for all platforms. We are trying to release new versions for all platforms in lockstep, so 1.99b has roughly the same feature set and bug set under DOS, Linux and NEXTSTEP. Unfortunately, we haven't released a NEXTSTEP release in a while; see Q4.1 `Why hasn't there been an Executor/NEXTSTEP release in a while?' for an explanation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.19. Where can I pick up the Executor demos? The canonical place to find Executor demos is ftp.ardi.com. However, ftp.ardi.com is currently only connected to the Internet via a 28.8kb modem, and as such is really only useful to provide data for mirror sites. When you connect to ftp.ardi.com it will give you a current list of those mirror sites. As long as they put up with us, the primary mirror site for ftp.ardi.com is ftp.cs.unm.edu in /pub/ardi. However, ftp.cs.unm.edu does not have the bandwidth to accept many simultaneous users, so now that we're happy with the stability of our color experimental versions, we also make them available on the traditional sites for commercial demos of the given platform. See the platform specific answers for a list of these sites. We don't mind people making our current experimental versions available on other sites, but *please* be sure to include all the READMEs and FAQs which will allow users to find more current versions of Executor as they're released. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.20. Where is the Cmd (Clover) and Option key? On a PC keyboard, Executor uses the left "Alt" key as a Cmd key and the right "Alt" key as the Option key. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.21. How do I use my authorization key? If you've paid the license fee [see Q1.4 `How much does Executor cost?'], you will be issued a serial number and an authorization key. To get to the panel that allows you to enter these, click on the initial "Info" button, and read the information on each of the screens that is presented to you. You will have to click on the "Next" button after you are finished reading each panel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.22. Is Executor shareware? No. Executor is a commercial program available from ARDI. Unregistered demo versions are the only versions that should be found on bulletin boards or FTP sites. If you find a non-limited version of Executor available to download, it was put there illegally. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.23. How do the demo versions differ from the commercial versions? Prior to Executor 1.99j, ARDI released two separate versions of each Executor/DOS and Executor/Linux release: a time-limited demo, and a full-fledged commercial version. NEXTSTEP versions could be "unlocked" by entering a serial number and registration key purchased from ARDI. Starting with 1.99j, all versions of Executor have been released in a "locked" demo form. The locked demos are time limited to ten minutes of use. Once your ten minutes are up, you are thrown out, but you can restart the program again and run for another ten minutes as many times as you want. See Q1.40 `How do Executor's "license keys" work?' for more information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.24. What's next? Our immediate goal is to get Executor 2.0 out. Back before 1.99 was out, we had a set of goals for what would be in 2.0. We have had enough trouble implementing 32-bit color QuickDraw that we have had to pare some features out of what we had orginally proposed for the 2.0 feature set. Features present in 2.0 are *still* subject to change, but our current plans are to add: * NEXTSTEP port * International keyboard support * Support for thousands of colors and millions of colors (16 & 24 bpp) * Minimal System 7 support (Apple Events, System 7 file manager calls) * Better documentation * Browser improvements * Better error messages We also have a set of general and platform specific bugs that we need to have fixed before we can freeze 2.0. Beyond 2.0, we want to make Executor compatible with Apple's System 7.5, so you'll be able to purchase a copy of System 7.5, install it on top of Executor and get even more compatibility and features. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.25. When will 2.0 be out? The answer here is embarrassing. Our original target was summer of 1994. It is now looking like we'll go beta in August of 1995 and have a shrink-wrapped product in October of 1995. Here's what is planned between now and when 2.0 ships: 1.99o will have most of what's mentioned in Q1.24 `What's next?'. Tentatively, 1.99o is the last of the 1.99<x> experimental releases. Beyond 1.99o we will fly one of our three core engineers out to Albuquerque (he normally works out of Boston) and have two separate two week "hackathons", where without having to worry about getting a new version out the door, and without any of us having to add new functionality or chase DOS extenders, we'll work exclusively on making more applications run. After the "hackathon" is finished, Executor will go into a six week beta period where we only fix major bugs. We will document minor bugs. During this time we'll also be working on our packaging and documentation, working on our list of how well apps work, lining up our distributors, writing our press releases and placing our ads in popular magazines. After those six weeks have elapsed, 2.0 will ship. That's the plan, anyway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.26. How can I get in ARDI's beta program? Our beta program is really boring. The only thing that you get that you can't get over the net is an actual set of floppies that contain installation scripts. As such, we really don't need new beta members. Just pick up the experimental versions and keep us informed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.27. Does Executor have networking support? Currently, no. Nor, will it be available in Executor 2.0. Networking support is planned for release 3.0, but we do not yet have an estimated date of completion for 3.0. The first platform to have networking support built in will probably be Linux. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.28. How do you install Fonts and Desk Accessories (DAs)? Starting with 1.99n, you just drag them into the hot-band and our browser will do the right thing. However, even in 2.0, we only support bit-mapped fonts, not Type 1 or TrueType fonts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.29. Will Desk Accessories work under Executor? Currently Desk Accessory support is very weak; most will not run. Now that 1.99n has been released, we'll spruce up our DA code and work on insuring that some of the more popular DAs work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.30. Does Executor run xxx? With all the rush to get 2.0 out the door ASAP, we're putting our testing people to work testing new experimental versions, instead of testing 1.2. There is plenty that 1.2 will not run, and as such, we recommend people try out the demo before purchasing Executor. We will be making a list of what runs and what doesn't available on ftp.ardi.com in /pub/AppNotes. There is another similar list in our unofficial WWW pages [see Q1.2 `How can I get more information about Executor?']. When we provide official WWW pages, we'll merge both lists. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.31. What's the best way to keep informed about Executor? Join the Executor Interest mailing list. That's where the Executor Enthusiasts are. Send a message to <executor-request@nacm.com>. Make sure your subject line is blank and your message body says: subscribe We try to post important events to the net, and send new release information via U.S. mail to our current customers, but the Executor mailing list is where we post news about our experimental versions and where you can send mail to talk with other people who are using Executor. If you'd rather get the Executor Interest information in a daily digest form, send the same subscribe message to <executor-digest-request@nacm.com>, instead of <executor-request@nacm.com>. To remove yourself from either mailing list, send a message to the address that you used to subscribe, saying: unsubscribe This will work only if you send the unsubscribe message from the same account that you used to send the subscribe message. You can also send a message of "help" to executor-request and more information about how to use it will be e-mailed to you. If you are still having trouble, you can send e-mail to <majordomo-owner@nacm.com> and that will be processed by a person, although it may take a few days for the person to get around to to your request. Even after you have unsubscribed to the list, you will continue to get any messages that were posted to the list before you unsubscribed but were not actually sent immediately, but once you have unsubscribed, any new messages that come in will not be sent to you. The Executor Interest mailing list is administered by a Executor Enthusiast. We do not directly control the list. Lately there has been a request that we operate a mailing list for announcements only. Although we can't provide that right now, we're hoping the digestification will make such a separate list much less needed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.32. What's the Executor Interest mailing list? See Q1.31 `What's the best way to keep informed about Executor?'. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.33. Why shouldn't I send e-mail to <ctm@ardi.com>? Cliff gets tons of e-mail. E-mail sent to <questions@ardi.com> is answered much more punctually. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.34. What is an HFV file? Executor has the ability to store an entire Macintosh "volume" (i.e. filesystem corresponding to a disk drive or a partition within a disk drive) in a DOS or UNIX file. Under DOS, this feature is very handy because there is no way to have files with long names and upper and lower case characters in their names unless you use an HFV file. See Q1.46 `What is makehfv?'. In general, HFV files should have filenames that end in ".hfv". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.35. Can I launch applications directly from the command line? Yes. If an application resides within a UNIX or DOS filesystem, you can specify the name of the application, and documents that you would like the application to open when it starts up, on the command line. Applications that reside in HFV files are specified using colons to delimit the pathname, e.g. "MyVolume:directory:application". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.36. What are all the command line switches? If you run executor "-help" it will list all the command line switches it knows about and give a brief description of what they do. Here is a list of the most useful switches. The relatively new switch "nobrowser" prevents Executor from trying to run the file browser upon startup. Sometimes this is a handy to start an appliction a little more quickly and other times it can be useful if the browser save file gets corrupted and the browser refuses to run. The switches bpp, refresh and shadow all affect how the screen is emulated. The number of bits per pixel that the program running under Executor sees is specified by bpp. If bpp is set to 1, then there are only two "colors" (black and white) available. If it is set to 8, then 256 colors are available. For Executor/DOS, you need a SVGA board with a VESA compatible driver to get 8 bits per pixel and screen sizes larger than 640x480. When Executor first starts up, a "splash screen" is printed. You can omit this splash screen with the nosplash switch. One of the hardest things to emulate properly is the internal timing mechanisms of a Macintosh. Sometimes it is desirable to turn off our clock emulation. The noclock switch does this. When Executor displays a standard "get" or "put" dialog box, there is a button marked "drive" that allows you to cycle through the Macintosh volumes that Executor knows about. You can use the drivecheck switch to have Executor examine your DOS drives each time you click the "drive" button. In general, this is more annoying than it is useful. The switches applzone, syszone and stack control how much memory is allocated to the application, the system, and the application stack. In general, if you have more memory, you should override the default applzone and allow Executor to use more memory. For X windows users, privatecmap specifies that Executor should use a private colormap. This is the fastest graphics mode and gives you the most accurate colors, but at the expense of radically changed colors in your other windows whenever the cursor is in the Executor window, and radically changed colors in the Executor window whenever the cursor is outside of it. Because this is annoying, this mode is not the default. When not in this mode, the pixels in Executor's internal frame buffer are converted to the nearest X colors before being drawn to the screen. Executor 1.99<x> uses a new "synthetic CPU" which is much faster than the synthetic CPU in previous releases of Executor. The speed increase is due to our use of native code; Executor now translates the 68k code being emulated into 80x86 code "on the fly" and runs the 80x86 code. However, like anything that is new, there's a chance that our improvement has some hidden drawbacks. You can turn off the use of native code by specifying nativecode 0. Here is an example of some of those switches: executor -applzone 4096 -noclock -nativecode 0 That would allocate 4 MB of memory for the applications use, turn off our clock emulation and revert to a slower type of 68LC040 emulation -- an unlikely combination of switches. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.37. Are there other parameters I can adjust? [aka "Preferences Panel"] Yes, When Executor is running, you can hold down Cmd-Shift-5 and get a preferences panel. That panel will let you adjust various settings, similar to, but not as slick, as a Macintosh Control Panel. If you Save a preferences panel configuration, the values are saved for the particular application you are running at the time. This is handy, because some games need to be run in 16 colors mode, so you can have Executor do that automatically. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.38. Can I have Executor use more than 8 MB for the application zone? In 1.99n and previous releases, no. We are reorganizing our memory layout to allow you to do this starting in 1.99o. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.39. An application I'm trying crashes. What should I do? Perhaps the most common avoidable cause of crashes is insufficient memory for the emulated application. You can fix this by increasing the "applzone" parameter. For example, many programs which normally die quickly will work with "executor -applzone 4096" (which allocates 4 MB of space for the emulated application; see the list of command line switches and their meanings elsewhere in this document). Some programs are unhappy when they discover that Executor does not provide sound support, and crash. You can turn on the "pretend sound" option before running the application in question and see if this helps. In addition, some programs have menu items, or preference check boxes that can be used to disable sound. It is always recommended that you disable sound from within a program in addition to using the Executor sound preferences. One example of a program that will have problems with sound is "Ultimate Solitaire". If you do not disable sound from within Ultimate Solitaire, the game will play fine, until you win. At that point it will tell Executor to start playing a sound and request that Executor notify it when the sound is done playing. Even with "pretend sound" enabled, this will result in Ultimate Solitaire hanging after you win a game. Some programs also save preferences in a file, and if something bad happens to that file, the program can then get confused and will not run properly. Occasionally this happens to Microsoft Word, and you need to use HFS_XFer to delete the file "Word Preferences" from your "System Folder". Although it should not happen, even our file browser keeps a file around that can cause trouble if it becomes corrupt. That file is "godata.sav". It stores which folders you have open and the contents of your "hot-band". If that file gets corrupt, the file browser may not run. In the rare case that the browser won't run, you can use the "-nobrowser" switch when you start Executor to bypass the browser, then you can run a program and from that program you can bring up HFS_XFer and find and rename "godata.sav" and see if that fixes the problem with the browser. The "noclock" switch has also been known to help. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.40. How do Executor's "license keys" work? We have now added this "unlocking" capability to the DOS and Linux versions. NEXTSTEP versions have always had license keys. Now any Executor owner can pick up the latest Executor release from the Internet, "unlock" it with his serial number and registration key, and take advantage of the latest features and bug fixes. This does not mean that all future upgrades will be available for free in this mode, but we intend to make "minor" upgrades free. The "unlocking" process actually modifies your copy of Executor, stamping *your* serial number into it permanently. For this reason, once you have registered a copy of Executor, you may not redistribute it, nor should you leave it on an unprotected machine, where someone may illegally copy it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.41. Don't your "license keys" allow people to pirate Executor? No. If the proper license fee has not been paid to ARDI, then the use of a fully registered copy of Executor is illegal, no matter how it was acquired. It is true that since license serial number, authorization key pairs are small bits of text, it is easier to disseminate unauthorized serial key pairs than it is to disseminate unauthorized Executor binaries, but that's beside the point. We decided to use serial numbers and authorization keys as a convenience to our customers, especially while we're still pressing toward the release of 2.0 and each new experimental copy is (usually!) much better than the one that preceeded it. We prefer prosecuting the pirates to punishing our patrons. Our demo mode allows the honest person to evaluate our product before making the decision to purchase it and become a customer. The use of an authorization key allows our customers to automatically participate in our beta and even pre-beta testing. This leads to faster development cycles and a better product. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.42. I want to bundle Executor on a CD-ROM. Can I do that? The short answer is "yes". You are able to freely copy and distribute demo versions of Executor, as long as you follow the restrictions set forth in Executor's license panel: Complete, unregistered distributions of Executor may be copied and redistributed as long as all copies are unmodified and contain all of the original files in their entirety. Once it is registered, Executor may be copied only for backup purposes. Licensee may not modify or create derivative works based on Executor or any part thereof. A suggestion: contact us to make sure you have the latest version of Executor. We can tell you if a new release is imminent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.43. Why do some applications claim I don't have an FPU? The problem is probably that the applications you are trying to use try to directly manipulate the FPU unit that some Macintoshes have. The key words are "directly manipulate". Apple warned software makers to not directly manipulate the FPU, but to instead use their numerics library ("SANE" Standard Apple Numerics Environment). Programs that don't use SANE, but directly manipulate the FPU run faster on macs that have FPUs, but don't run at all on Macs that don't have FPUs. If that is actually the source of your problems, then such programs also wouldn't run on Apple machines like the Quadra 605. This limitation is also present on Apple's PowerPC based Macs. One workaround for this problem is an "INIT" called "SoftFPU". SoftFPU will make a Mac without a co-processor work as though there is one there, however the floating point computation will be done very slowly. Unfortunately, SoftFPU can't be used with Executor, because, currently, Executor doesn't support INITs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.44. Can Executor run Japanese system software? Not in 2.0, and 3.0 will not be out in 1995. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.45. Why does Compact Pro have trouble with multi-volume archives? Executor versions 1.99n and earlier take a short cut that causes trouble for some programs; Compact Pro is one of them. The problem is that a real Macintosh can keep track of volumes that are not physically in the drive. That is why Macintoshes sometimes tell you to put one disk in their floppy drive, then they eject it and ask for another one, then eject it and ask for the first one. Executor currently isn't so clever. When a disk is ejected, Executor forgets about it. Few programs count on the behaviour of a real Mac, but those that do currently won't work with Executor. In Compact Pro's case you can just copy all of the pieces of the archive to your hard disk, then open the last piece from the hard disk and everything will work properly. This workaround requires more hard disk space than you'd need if you could just read the pieces off a succession of floppies. This problem probably will be fixed by the time 2.0 is released, although since it affects very few programs, it's not as high priority as some other known bugs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.46. What is makehfv? The program makehfv (formerly called mkvol) allows you to create virtual Macintosh volumes [see Q1.34 `What is an HFV file?']. It is now part of all Executor distributions, although it is more useful under DOS than under Linux or NEXTSTEP. To use makehfv you need to pick a name for the new HFV file, a name for the Macintosh volume that your new HFV file will represent and the number of 512 byte sectors that you want the HFV file to use. Here's an example that creates a file named "bigtest.hfv" that will appear in Executor as "BigTest" and will have 10 MB (1 MB = 2048 512 byte blocks) of space in it. makehfv bigtest.hfv BigTest 20480 Executor/DOS will automatically see HFV files if they are placed in the same directory as executor.exe, which is usually C:EXECUTOR and their names have the suffix ".hfv". Executor/Linux will automatically see HFV files if they are placed in the same directory as ExecutorVolume (NOTE: *not* in ExecutorVolume itself), which is usually /usr/local/lib/executor and their names have the suffix ".hfv". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.47. How can I create my own HFV files? See Q1.46 `What is makehfv?'. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.48. How can I use Mac software from the internet? Find a site that legitimately has Mac software for use. There is a Macintosh FAQ that lists many sites, here are some them: * grind.isca.uiowa.edu : /mac/infomac (USA) * wuarchive.wustl.edu : /systems/mac/info-mac (USA) * ftp.technion.ac.il : /pub/unsupported/mac (Israel) * ftp.sunset.se : /pub/mac (Sweden) * src.doc.ic.ac.uk : /packages/info-mac (UK) Before transferring a large application, you might want to see what the requirements of that application are, most sites have a collection of small notes about applications that you can look at first. Use BINARY mode to transfer the files that you want to use. Files whose names end in ".hqx" are usually the easiest to handle. Under DOS, you need to make an HFV file [see Q1.46 `What is makehfv?'] that will be large enough to hold the files as you've downloaded them and also hold the files after they've been expanded. Once you've made the HFV file, copy all the files you've downloaded into it, then follow the remaining directions. Under all operating systems, your next step is to run Stuffit Expander ande use the "Expand..." menu item from the "File" menu to open each of the files you've downloaded. In general, especially when dealing with files whose names end in ".hqx", Stuffit Expander will do the right thing. However, some sites do not store files in ".hqx" format, and Stuffit Expander may fail. Remember, under DOS, you must do the Stuffit Expansion inside an HFV file. If Stuffit Expander fails, you can try using the Get Info option of Executor's browser to change the creator and type information of the file. If you believe the downloaded file in question is a Stuffit Archive, you can change the type and creator each to "SIT!" and then try Stuffit Expander again. If you believe the downloaded file is a Compact Pro archive, you can change the type to "CPCT" and the type to "PACT" and then try Stuffit Expander again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.49. How can I use Mac software from Bulletin Boards? In general, follow the procedure in Q1.48 `How can I use Mac software from the internet?' -- know the limitations of what Executor can run, transfer in binary mode and use Stuffit Expander to unpack the files you download. Just like with files downloaded from the internet, sometimes you'll need to change the file type and creator, first. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1.50. How can I use Mac software from AOL? AOL uses a format that Stuffit Expander under Executor has trouble with. For DOS/Windows users, use this workaround. Get a copy of unstuff.exe (available on AOL compressed as unsitins.exe) and use the -mb tag to convert your downloaded files to MacBinary format before ever moving them into Executor. E.g.: unstuff -mb somefile.sit And you'll get somefile with a different extension. Then start up Executor and use BinHex's Download --> Application function to convert the file to an application and move it into an Executor volume simultaneously. =============================================================================== Section 2. Executor/DOS Q2.1 Which FTP sites will carry stable versions of Executor/DOS? Q2.2 What are the hardware requirements for Executor/DOS? Q2.3 What do I do if my Super VGA card isn't VESA compliant? Q2.4 E/D dies during startup. Why? Q2.5 Why does my screen look funny when I run Executor? Q2.6 What's "GrSetMode ; unknown adapter type in driver." mean? Q2.7 Does E/D require an ASPI driver to access SCSI? Q2.8 Have you released Executor for OS/2 yet? Q2.9 Why won't Executor/DOS work with my Diamond Viper PCI card? Q2.10 Why doesn't my mouse work when I run Executor under OS/2 Warp? Q2.11 Any OS/2 Warp suggestions? Q2.12 Does Executor work under Windows '95? Q2.13 How do I get E/D to see my CD-ROM drive? Q2.14 Executor dies, what should I do? Q2.15 Should I have sent in my registration card? Q2.16 How does printing work under E/D? Q2.17 Why does E/D under Windows 3.x have problems hot-keying? Q2.18 Why can't I eject or format my DOS formatted floppy? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.1. Which FTP sites will carry stable versions of Executor/DOS? The first place a new version of E/D will appear is ftp.ardi.com in /pub/Executor_DOS. However, when you log on to ftp.ardi.com, a list of mirrors will be provided and the mirrors are usually much faster than ftp.ardi.com. However, once we're happy with the stability of an Executor/DOS release, we put a copy on the SimTel mirrors. The primary SimTel mirror is oak.oakland.edu, and you can find the Executor/DOS demo within the "SimTel/msdos/emulator" directory. Look for exec199?.zip (where ? is a letter, the further into the alphabet the letter, the more recent the experimental release). Other SimTel mirrors are: * wuarchive.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4) : /systems/ibmpc/msdos (St. Louis, MO) * archive.orst.edu (128.193.2.13) : /pub/mirrors/simtel/msdos (Corvallis, OR) * archie.au (139.130.4.6) : /micros/pc/oak (Australia) * src.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.2.10) : /pub/packages/simtel (England) * ftp.funet.fi (128.214.248.6) : /pub/msdos/SimTel (Finland) * ftp.ibp.fr (132.227.60.2) : /pub/msdos (France) * ftp.uni-paderborn.de (131.234.2.32) : /SimTel/msdos (Germany) * ftp.cs.cuhk.hk (137.189.4.57) : /pub/simtel/msdos (Hong Kong) * ftp.technion.ac.il (132.68.1.10) : /pub/unsupported/dos/simtel (Israel) * ftp.cyf-kr.edu.pl (149.156.1.8) : /pub/mirror/msdos (Poland) * ftp.sunet.se (130.238.127.3) : /pub/pc/mirror/SimTel/msdos (Sweden) * ftp.switch.ch (130.59.1.40) : /mirror/msdos (Switzerland) * NCTUCCCA.edu.tw (140.111.1.10) : /PC/simtel (Taiwan) * ftp.nectec.or.th (192.150.251.32) : /pub/mirrors/msdos (Thailand) See also Q1.19 `Where can I pick up the Executor demos?' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.2. What are the hardware requirements for Executor/DOS? For Executor/DOS 1.2 you need a '386 or better, VGA, 7 MB disk space, a 3.5" 1.44 MB floppy drive, and 4 MB RAM. A SCSI Controller is needed only if you want to access external Macintosh hard disks or PowerBooks. Executor/DOS 1.99<x> should work in sixteen colors on any VGA, although we do not have the facilities to test more than a few in house. In addition, if you have a Super VGA that is VESA 1.0 compliant, Executor/DOS should be able to provide 256 colors and a range of screen sizes. Beginning with E/D 1.99n, if you have a video card that is VESA 2.0 compliant, Executor's graphics will be even faster. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.3. What do I do if my Super VGA card isn't VESA compliant? There is a shareware SVGA utility that provides VESA compliance for SVGA cards that normally are not VESA compliant. At the time this FAQ was last modified, univbe51.zip was the most recent release of this extender. It is not a product of ARDI, but as a convenience to people picking up experimental versions of Executor, the file univbe51.zip is available on /ftpon ftp.ardi.com in /ftpin /pub/ardi/Executor_DOS. If you use it, you should pay the shareware fee as described in the documentation included in the zip file. If you have a recent SVGA card you probably don't need univbe. There may be a more recent version of univbe on /ftpon oak.oakland.edu in /ftpin /SimTel/msdos/graphics. This directory also has several other card specific VESA drivers, some of which can be found in vesa-tsr.zip and vesadrv2.zip. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.4. E/D dies during startup. Why? The most common cause of E/D not running under DOS is the lack of file descriptors that you might get if you don't have the line: FILES=30 in your config.sys. If Executor is giving you trouble and you don't have such a line in your config.sys file, please add it, or if you have a smaller number than 30, please increase your number to 30. There is no reason to decrease your number if it is greater than 30. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.5. Why does my screen look funny when I run Executor? Your video driver may not be fully VESA compliant. If Executor detects VESA compliance, it will try to use VESA modes. In general, this is a good thing, however, if these modes have bugs in them, Executor will invoke the bugs, and Executor may fail. Try getting a newer driver for your video card if this happens [see Q2.3 `What do I do if my Super VGA card isn't VESA compliant?']. NOTE: If you run Executor with the "-info" switch, Executor will print out information it finds out about your video card. That information may be helpful in tracking down your problem. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.6. What's "GrSetMode ; unknown adapter type in driver." mean? You must be running an *old* version of Executor; this error cannot occur in versions >= 1.99h. 1.99b had problems when Microsoft's display.sys driver is in config.sys. We have updated the code that had this problem and hope that the problem is now fixed. If it is not, you must remove display.sys from the config.sys section you use when you're using Executor/DOS. Please report this bug if you see it in E/D 1.99e or later. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.7. Does E/D require an ASPI driver to access SCSI? If your SCSI drivers patch the "INT 13" BIOS calls, then an ASPI driver is not needed. As long as "INT 13" can allow Executor to read a SCSI drive, there is no need to use ASPI. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.8. Have you released Executor for OS/2 yet? We plan on making an OS/2 specific version of Executor, but only after we get Executor 2.0 shipping. However, Executor 1.99l is reported to work well under OS/2 Warp. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.9. Why won't Executor/DOS work with my Diamond Viper PCI card? Executor/DOS requires VESA compliant graphics cards. Many cards are not directly VESA compliant and need a tsr to be run before they will work with Executor/DOS. On a Gateway computer, you can do this with the "vprmode VESA" command [see Q2.3 `What do I do if my Super VGA card isn't VESA compliant?']. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.10. Why doesn't my mouse work when I run Executor under OS/2 Warp? If it's not already there, you may need to add this line: DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VMOUSE.SYS to your CONFIG.SYS. This, and related issues, are described on pages 206-207 of _User's Guide to OS/2 Warp_. This line should already have been added for you when you installed Warp. Also, you may need to load MOUSE.COM in your AUTOEXEC.BAT, for example: LOADHIGH C:\OS2\MDOS\MOUSE.COM You can also create an AUTOEXEC file specifically for Executor, place it in the same directory as Executor, and configure Warp to execute that file whenever you launch Executor. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.11. Any OS/2 Warp suggestions? We have not yet installed our copy of OS/2 Warp (our particular SCSI adaptor isn't supported by default, and we've been swamped with other things), but an Executor Enthusiast sent this advice: I haven't been having any problems with running Executor/Dos in OS/2. What he needs to do (assuming he has Warp) is to run "Add Programs" object in the "System Setup" folder. This will make a object for Executor on his desktop (usually in the "Additional Dos Programs" folder). Go into the settings for that object, and select the "Session" tab. Set it to "Dos Full Screen", and choose "Dos Settings". He wants "All Dos Settings". Primarily, Executor needs the "DPMI Memory Limit" set to 16 megs, and "DPMI Memory Limit" set to enabled. Since it defaults to 4 megs and automatic, it won't work. For additional performance, he should set "Dos High" to on, "EMS Memory Limit" to 0, "Video 8514a XGA IOtrap" to off, "Video Retrace Emulation" to off, "XMS Memory Limit" to 0, and "XMS Minimum HMA" to 63. The biggest boost comes from "Session Priority". Set this to at least 16, and if he is going to run no other programs, set it higher. If he is going to run other programs, this should be left at 16, and the "Dos Backround Execution" needs to be set to on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.12. Does Executor work under Windows '95? Several users have reported that Executor/DOS 1.99l works well under Windows '95. We have not yet created a version of Executor specifically for Windows '95, but we plan to do so in the future. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.13. How do I get E/D to see my CD-ROM drive? Executor accesses CD-ROMs through the Microsoft CD-ROM Extensions (mscdex). You need to have mscdex installed on your machine for Executor to see your CD-ROM. Furthermore, Executor is fussy and will not deal with MS-DOS drives that contain Macintosh formatted media, unless the drive letter is "J" or less. If your CD-ROM drive letter is higher than J, you will need to renumber it to be less than or equal to J. Under Windows '95, there is a different way to access CD-ROMs -- a way that Executor doesn't use. However, Windows '95 can also use mscdex. To do so, you need to find and remove the: rem - By Windows 95 Setup portion from fthe mscdex line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. You will also need to edit your CONFIG.SYS file and make sure the CD-ROM driver is also not commented out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.14. Executor dies, what should I do? If Executor dies even running the demo applications, try temporarily moving your config.sys and autoexec.bat files aside and create minimal versions of each, leaving only the lines that you need to initialize your mouse driver and the FILES=30 line in your config.sys. Then try running Executor. If Executor then starts working, you will have to slowly add back the things that are in your normal autoexec.bat and config.sys files until you know exactly what is causing the problem. Once you know that, you should send information to <bugs@ardi.com>. If Executor only dies on a particular application, try increasing the amount of RAM dedicated to the application by using the "-applzone" switch when you run Executor. Also try turning on "Pretend Sound" [see Q1.37 `Are there other parameters I can adjust? [aka "Preferences Panel"]'], or if the screen seems to be only partially updated, try turning on "Refresh". Once you've done as much as you can to figure out the problem, send a bug report to <bugs@ardi.com>. Run Executor with the "-info" switch and include that information. Make sure you also include the version of Executor you're running (e.g. Executor/DOS 1.99n), the name and version of the application that is dying (e.g. HyperCard 2.1), the name and version of the operating system you're runing (e.g. DOS 6.22) and enough details to reproduce the crash (e.g. "start the application, choose the "more Elvis" from the "adjust music" menu and the applicaton will crash"). If the application you are running is publicly available via anonymous ftp, telling us where we can pick it up for testing purposes also helps. We accept bug reports from everyone, although paid customers bug reports are almost always higher priority than those of potential customers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.15. Should I have sent in my registration card? Yes. We use that card to assign your serial number and authorization key so you can continue to download and unlock experimental versions of Executor. In general, we do not assign such numbers when you first purchase Executor because we do not know if you're purchasing Executor as a gift for someone else, or if it's being purchased through a company purchasing department, or what. We want to make sure that we have the address of the eventual owner of Executor and the surest way to avoid mistakes is to send in that card. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.16. How does printing work under E/D? Executor/DOS prints to a PostScript file. The first time you print, the file will be named execout1.ps and will be located in the same directory that executor.exe is located in. You can then print this file on a PostScript printer, or if you have a PostScript compatible driver, you can use a non-PostScript printer. Two popular PostScript compatible printer drivers are "GhostScript", available for free, and "ZScript", a commercial program from ZenoGraphics. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.17. Why does E/D under Windows 3.x have problems hot-keying? When you use a hot-key to switch away from Executor, Windows 3.x doesn't know how to save the screen, because it only knows about the original VGA screen modes, but Executor uses SVGA/VESA screen modes. So when you switch back, Windows 3.x doesn't know how to replace the screen with what it used to contain. This problem is further compounded by the fact that Executor has no way of knowing when it's been switched out and switched back. To make matters worse, some Windows drivers (ATI Mach 32, for example) don't even restore the mode properly, so not only will the screen be incorrect, but Executor will die shortly after you switch back. Luckily this is not a problem in Windows '95 or OS/2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2.18. Why can't I eject or format my DOS formatted floppy? 1.99n is the first version of E/D to allow you to see DOS drives other than the drive you install Executor on. It's also the first version to allow you to format floppies in the Macintosh format (it used to read and write Mac formatted floppies, but it wouldn't do the formatting itself). Currently, the two abilities conflict. What we do is if a DOS formatted floppy is in the drive when E/D starts, we treat that drive as a fixed drive from that point on. You can no longer eject the floppy, nor can you convince Executor to consider that floppy as a Mac formatted floppy or a candidate for Mac formatting. This is confusing and ugly; we hope to change it in 1.99o. =============================================================================== Section 3. Executor/Linux Q3.1 Can I buy the Linux version now? Q3.2 Are we ready to hear about Executor/Linux bugs? Q3.3 Should bug reports be sent one at a time or in a big list? Q3.4 What kernel do you recommend? Q3.5 Why is there no Executor for NetBSD or FreeBSD? Q3.6 Where are the bitmaps stored on the Linux version of executor? Q3.7 Will there be an SVGALIB version of Executor/Linux in the future? Q3.8 Why do other windows get creepy colors when Executor is running? Q3.9 How does printing work under Executor/Linux? Q3.10 Why does Executor complain that it cannot find 'libXt.so.6'? Q3.11 Which FTP sites have E/L? Q3.12 Why does Lemmings' splash screen take so long to be drawn? Q3.13 What free projects has ARDI supported? Q3.14 Is there an ELF flavor of Executor? Q3.15 Is Executor localized for languages other than English? Q3.16 Can I Macintosh format disk drives? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.1. Can I buy the Linux version now? (Technically, our software is licensed, not sold). You can now license Executor/Linux and be provided with a serial number and license key from ARDI and "unlock" the experimental Executor 1.99<x> releases as well as Executor/Linux 2.0.*. However, currently there is no printed manual available for Executor/Linux. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.2. Are we ready to hear about Executor/Linux bugs? Yes. Send them to <bugs@ardi.com> and make sure that you identify what version of Executor you're running (i.e. Executor/Linux 1.99k) as well as what kernel and X-Windows you're using. Please mention what Mac software you were running when you encountered the bug and explain whether the bug is reproducible or not. If Executor provides some sort of debug output, please include that as well. Our NEXTSTEP version has a bug-sending facility that automatically fills in all that information for you. If we get some time, we'll incorporate that code into Executor/Linux. Executor/Linux is bundled with a "send-pr" package that allows you to submit bug reports directly into our "gnats" bug tracking database. We prefer that you use this tool, although it's not necessary. See Q3.3 `Should bug reports be sent one at a time or in a big list?' for more information. If you don't use send-pr, read Q2.14 `Executor dies, what should I do?' for more information about sending bug reports. Luckily, you won't have to fiddle with your config.sys and autoexec.bat files. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.3. Should bug reports be sent one at a time or in a big list? In general, it's easier for *us* if you send them one at a time. Internally we use "gnats", a free bug-tracking tool and we need to separate each bug into a single file for tracking. On the other hand, since by providing us with bug reports you're helping us out, we won't refuse bug reports that are collections. In fact, if you're particularly brave, you can pick up the file "send-pr.tar.gz" and install a program "send-pr" which will allow you to send us bug reports pre-formatted for gnats. This will save us time and also give you a bug tracking number that you can refer to in further e-mail to ARDI about the bug. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.4. What kernel do you recommend? We do not know of any problems with kernles 1.2.0 and greater. 1.1.72, and presumably older kernels didn't allow Executor to get SIGIO messages when X-events arrived, so kernels with that problem result in Executor that doesn't necessarily see events as quickly as we would like. In fact, with 1.99m, kernel 1.1.72 would result in Executor hanging. We believe this is fixed in 1.99n, but we haven't taken the time to test it under kernel 1.1.72 and that particular bug never reared its head locally. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.5. Why is there no Executor for NetBSD or FreeBSD? We don't currently have the manpower to support it. NOTE: "support" is different from "port" -- porting it is easy. Training tech. support and buying more dedicated equipment is what we can't do quite yet. The Linux release is a byproduct of the fact that we use Linux in house. After we've released Executor 2.0, we'll look into the feasibility of Executor for NetBSD and FreeBSD. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.6. Where are the bitmaps stored on the Linux version of executor? All versions of Executor maintain an internal bitmap corresponding to the actual screen. We accrue a "dirty rect" as the program draws to what it thinks is the screen via Executor's QuickDraw implementation. We periodically update the _real_ screen (e.g., the X window) by transferring the "dirty rect" across. So basically our graphics interface to the host machine consists of nothing more than blitting rectangles to the screen, which aids our portability. Under X, we use shared memory extensions for speed, but we don't do anything fancy like trying to cache Mac fonts on the X server side. Spending time trying to do so would be a bad idea for a number of reasons we won't go into. "Refresh" mode is useful when the program directly manipulates the frame buffer itself. In this mode, we periodically analyze the internal screen memory to decide what has been changed, and transfer the changed data to the real screen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.7. Will there be an SVGALIB version of Executor/Linux in the future? Yes. Most of the work has already been done. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.8. Why do other windows get creepy colors when Executor is running? This is no longer true for recent versions of Executor. Executor/Linux can run in two modes on 4 or 8-bit X servers. "private colormap" mode: In this mode, Executor "takes over" all colors on your screen when the cursor is in the Executor window. That means that the colors for all your other windows will suddenly change radically. This is the fastest mode, and provides the most accurate colors, but it can be a real eyesore. Still, if you're playing Wolfenstein 3D or some other interactive game, you may want to maximize performance by using this mode. You can enable this mode with "-privatecmap". NOTE: some X Window managers have problems and "-privatecmap" winds up doing the wrong thing unless you also specify "-geometry". We do not think this is an Executor bug, but if anyone has information to the contrary, we'd be happy to read it. "non-private colormap" mode: In this mode (the default), Executor coexists nicely with other X windows by not mucking about with the colors they use. This mode loses some accuracy and speed, because Executor cannot set the entire color table to exactly what it wants and it must convert its internal graphics representation to one appropriate for the X screen whenever it updates your display. We have carefully optimized this conversion process, so you won't notice the performance penalty most of the time. The "-privatecmap" flag is irrelevant to 16, 24, and 32-bit X servers, since they don't have a color table. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.9. How does printing work under Executor/Linux? Executor expects to print to a PostScript printer, or to send output to a PostScript compatible filter, like GhostScript. When an application prints under Executor, a PostScript stream will be created and sent through the program "executor_filter" which you can create by hand to "do the right thing", or "lpr" if there is no "executor_filter" for Executor to run. On our systems, "lpr" automatically does the right thing, so other than occasionally setting our "PRINTER" environment variable, we don't have to do much to print from Executor. If you need to write your own filter, you can test it by typing: myfilter < myfile.ps where "myfile.ps" is some PostScript file you have lying around. The "<" is VERY important! Executor does NOT give your filter any command line arguments; it just "pipes" the PostScript file through it. CAVEAT #1: The PostScript that is currently produced relies on some "Encoding" changes that appear not to work with GhostScript. As such, certain characters are improperly mapped. Word output for example can not print apostrophes! Yes, we know this is very bad and are looking for a remedy. CAVEAT #2: Different apps running under Executor have different levels of success when printing. As always, *especially* with the experimental versions, try first to make sure Executor will do what you want it to. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.10. Why does Executor complain that it cannot find 'libXt.so.6'? If Executor complains as soon as you start it up, you are either running an old version of Executor (prior to 1.99e, at least) or you are running XFree86 2.x instead of XFree86 3.x. Currently we do not have the time to create two separate versions of E/L, so use the "current" XFree86 server/libraries. It has been reported that you can install the XFree86 3.x shared libraries and still use an XFree86 2.x server. We have not verified such trickery here at ARDI -- you're on your own. When E/L 2.0 is released, we'll reevaluate our "3.x" only policy and if there are a significant number of XFree86 2.x users that would like to run E/L, we'll consider offering a version that links with the XFree86 2.x libraries. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.11. Which FTP sites have E/L? Other than ftp.ardi.com:/pub/Executor_Linux (too slow) and ftp.cs.unm.edu:/pub/ardi/Executor_Linux, you can also find Executor/Linux on sunsite.unc.edu in /pub/Linux/system/Emulators/executorlinux199?.tar.gz. See also Q1.19 `Where can I pick up the Executor demos?' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.12. Why does Lemmings' splash screen take so long to be drawn? As mentioned in Q3.8 `Why do other windows get creepy colors when Executor is running?' Executor/Linux by default now tries to cooperate with X-Windows when assigning colors. That leaves X in charge of "the colormap", which means Executor can't quickly change the colors in the colormap itself. If you use the "-privatecmap" option when you start Executor, you'll find that Lemmings splash screen will come up much quicker, but you'll also experience the "creepy colors" problem in other windows. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.13. What free projects has ARDI supported? ARDI has sent a copy, with the appropriate legal release, of its HFS implementation to Paul Hargrove to aid him with his implementation of a true HFS filesystem under Linux. When we have more time, if Paul hasn't finished and would like it, we'll be even more active in helping get a free implementation of HFS that can be used with Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD and GNU. ARDI has also done a minor rewrite of checker to make it much faster and fix many bugs. This rewrite should be available soon. ARDI is not in the black, so allocating a portion of its profits (losses) towards free software is not yet a good idea. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.14. Is there an ELF flavor of Executor? Not yet, but we're keeping an eye on ELF with the intent to switch over. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.15. Is Executor localized for languages other than English? Not yet. In fact, we don't yet have international keyboard support, so using Executor outside the U.S. can be troublesome. We fully intend to support foreign keyboards by the time 2.0 is released. Romantic language localization should happen soon after 2.0 is released, but support for multi-byte characters is still at least six months away. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 3.16. Can I Macintosh format disk drives? Yes, but if you do not consider yourself a UNIX wizard, you probably shouldn't do it. All you have to do is find out the formatted disk capacity and then run makehfv [See Q1.46 `What is makehfv?'] with arguments so it writes directly to the disk drive you want formatted. You can only do this if you have write permissions on the drive in question. Obviously all data currently residing on that drive will be lost, and if you make a typo and inadvertently specify the wrong drive, you'll erase the data on the wrong drive. =============================================================================== Section 4. Executor/NEXTSTEP Q4.1 Why hasn't there been an Executor/NEXTSTEP release in a while? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 4.1. Why hasn't there been an Executor/NEXTSTEP release in a while? Several months ago, we revamped how Executor handles graphics internally. This broke our NEXTSTEP support, so we have not released a NEXTSTEP version in a while. Since we had to rewrite that part of Executor anyway, we spent some time looking into some NeXT tools that allow programs to implement very fast graphics. NeXT has been helpful, and in the meantime we revamped our low-level graphics once more. This was done after receiving some help from NeXT, so our new mods are in keeping with what we'll be doing under NEXTSTEP. Now that 1.99n is out, the NEXTSTEP port is the highest thing on Mat's to do list. We apologize for the repeated delay associated with this (re)port. =============================================================================== Section 5. Administrative information and acknowledgements Q5.1 Can I buy stock in ARDI? Q5.2 Is Feedback Invited? Q5.3 In what formats are this FAQ available? Q5.4 Who wrote this FAQ? Who helped? Q5.5 Is this FAQ Disclaimed and Copyrighted? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 5.1. Can I buy stock in ARDI? ARDI is not publicly traded. That means, you can't buy stock in ARDI from a stockbroker. However, if you have $100,000 or more to invest and are serious about wanting to do so in ARDI, send e-mail to <questions@ardi.com> and it will be forwarded as appropriate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 5.2. Is Feedback Invited? ARDI profits tremendously from feedback. Bug reports can be sent directly from Executor/NEXTSTEP or be nicely formatted and sent with send-pr under Linux, or can be sent by hand to <bugs@ardi.com>. Comments on this FAQ can be sent to <faq-comments@ardi.com>. This FAQ is built with tools that automatically number the questions [see Q5.4 `Who wrote this FAQ? Who helped?'], so please recognize that question numbers themselves do not uniquely identify questions or answers when you send in FAQ comments. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 5.3. In what formats are this FAQ available? Thanks to the tools we use [see Q5.4 `Who wrote this FAQ? Who helped?'], this FAQ is available as an ASCII file, as an Emacs info document, an HTML World Wide Web page and as a PostScript document. Our ftp site, ftp.ardi.com, contains /pub/executor_faq.ascii, /pub/executor_faq.info, and /pub/executor_faq.ps. The Web page can be accessed as http://vorlon.mit.edu/executor_faq/index.html. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 5.4. Who wrote this FAQ? Who helped? This FAQ was written and is maintained by ARDI employees. After learning about them via the Caldera FAQ (http://www.caldera.com/caldera_faq/), we rewrote our existing FAQ to use the same tools that the Linux FAQ is built with. Those tools were written by Ian Jackson <ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu>. We've also had contributions from many Executor Enthusiasts worldwide -- Thanks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 5.5. Is this FAQ Disclaimed and Copyrighted? This document is provided as is. The information in it is *not* warranted to be correct; you use it at your own risk.