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Note: This website is using CSS and other modern web techniques. Just as you migrated from DOS to a more modern operating system, perhaps it is time to use a newer browser. Anyway, we have tested this site with a variety of old browsers (1.0 browsers my have some trouble) and, while most of them will display the site's content, it may not be very pretty.
In recent months, it has become necessary for me to purchase and install a scanner, principally for use by my artist wife who is taking a course in digital imaging. It was also necessary to install Windows 98, the graphics program used in her course and an inkjet color printer.
The principal concern was to identify a scanner and supporting hardware and software which would provide satisfactory operation under OS/2 as well as the Windows operating system.
After some rather lengthy investigations and questions put to users of OS/2 systems who also have scanners operating under OS/2, the choice was made to purchase and install a UMAX Astra 1220S scanner and an Adaptec PCI-to-UltraSCSI Host Adapter AHA-2940UW, a combination which was reported to operate very reliably in an OS/2 environment. Although the scanner interfaces only at the 8-bit SCSI mode, the greater capabilities of the SCSI card will be useful for subsequent purchases of full UW SCSI devices.
A 2-foot 50-conductor ribbon cable was used to connect the male 50-pin 8-bit SCSI card connector to the internal male 50-pin connector of a 50/25 bulkhead adapter. The external connector of this adapter is a female DB25, same as the scanner connector. The external cable which comes with the scanner has male DB25 connectors on each end. The 50/25 SCSI bulkhead adapter was a bit difficult to find. I found one from a vendor at a local area computer show for $11.00.
No problem installing the Adaptec card, using OS/2 selective install. Then replaced the original IBM driver AIC7870.ADD of 1996 vintage with a very recent update which can be downloaded from Adaptec's web site.
There were two choices for scanner drivers: SANE or TWAIN.
Others have reported success with the CFM TWAIN driver, a commercial product (about $50 from BMT Micro), but I wasn't able to get the free demo version to work. TWAIN was consequently scrapped in favor of the free SANE drivers.
Latest SANE drivers located on hobbes and other sites are SANE v.101B1 and PMSANE v.0.52. SANE is non-PM, necessitating command-line execution which didn't particularly appeal to me. One might also set up a series of objects for the various choices normally used, but this also didn't seem too attractive to me.
So the only choice left was PMSANE v.0.52. Unfortunately, the SANE drivers included in this PM version are older than SANE v.101B1, and didn't work with the UMAX Astra 1220S. Next step was to replace 3 of the older files with more recent ones from SANE v.101B1: scanimage.exe, libsane.dll and umax.conf. That did it. It's now working.
PM SANE has a nice graphical presentation. Fairly simple and straightforward. However, this version of PMSANE is still a beta, and several features are inoperative: specifically, gamma, brightness, contrast, etc. But if you use PMVIEW as the default viewer in conjunction with PMSANE, it doesn't matter because PMVIEW includes all these setting features, thus permitting corrections/adjustments to be made at the viewer level.
In summary, with a bit of practice, the scanner performance seems to be quite satisfactory. It works well with a wide variety of input materials, including letters, color photographs, printed matter from publications, etc. The trick is to specify a scanner resolution consistent with the material being scanned and the ultimate purpose of the operation.
FAX transmission of scanned material was also successfully performed directly from PMVIEW to the FAXPrint function of FaxWorks.
Submitted by Larry Lavins
From the December 1999 Data Bus
DESCRIPTION
This procedure will document the steps used to successfully install Windows 98 (Second Edition) Upgrade on a PC in which OS/2 Warp 3 (Red Spine), OS/2 Warp 4, MSDOS 6.2.1 and Windows 3.1 had been previously installed. After installation, all operating systems have booted and operated reliably, and with no interference or degradation due to the presence of other operating systems on the same PC.
Users of PC's with different HD partitioning than that described in this instance should nevertheless be able to adapt the following procedures to their own configurations to install Windows 98 into a PC, alongside of OS/2, without inflicting any damage upon OS/2.
INSTALLATION REQUIREMENTS
Partition Magic 3.0 (or other similar utility) will be required if the need arises to resize partitions, as was the case here.
An MSDOS boot diskette which includes a CDROM driver will also be necessary for use in Step 6 below.
OS/2 boot diskettes or the OS/2 Warp Installation diskettes should also be on-hand for use in Steps 6 and 7 below.
Windows 98 (First Edition) Upgrade CDROM. The Windows 98 (Second Edition) readme file on the CDROM clearly states that Windows 98 (Second Edition) Upgrade can be installed only over the original (First Edition). The original Windows 98 (First Edition) is an absolute necessity.
NOTE: The Windows 98 Upgrade version is specified here. Use of the Windows 98 "Full" version may delete some or all partitions and/or cause other damage to the existing system.
An earlier Windows 3.0, 3.1 or 95, etc. should be present (installed or uninstalled) somewhere on the system. The Windows 98 Upgrade setup will look for one. It may not install if one such isn't found.
Windows 98 (Second Edition) Upgrade CDROM. Second Edition was installed in this example, but installation will be limited to the original Windows 98 version if the Second Edition isn't available.
PRIMARY CONSIDERATIONS & EXCEPTIONS
PRE-INSTALL HD PARTITIONS (WD Caviar AC36400 6.4 GB EIDE)
NOTE: One C: drive is always active, the other is hidden.
* Designations C:1 and C:2 are used here only for identification.
Total HD Capacity ... 6147MB
INSTALLATION PLAN & PREPARATION
Windows 98 and all its applications/utilities/etc. will be installed into partition C:1. FAT16 format will be retained in C:1
NOTE: Consideration was given to establishing a new K: partition, which could be either FAT16 or FAT32 for storing all major Windows 98 applications, etc. But not done at this time. A new K: partition may be installed at a later date, if desired, by taking unused capacity from C: and other partitions. Also decided against use of Kelder's FAT32IFS for OS/2 access to a future FAT32 K: partition due to Kelder's warning of the danger of possible unreliable operation of FDISK, Partition Magic, or other partition maintenance tools.
REVISED HD PARTITIONS & USAGES
NOTE: One C: drive is always active, the other is hidden.
WINDOWS 98 INSTALLATION Part 1:
Windows 98 (First Edition) Upgrade
Prepare an MSDOS boot diskette which includes a CDROM driver. Boot from this MSDOS floppy diskette. Install a bare MSDOS system (IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, COMMAND.COM) on the otherwise empty C:1 FAT16 partition. Alternatively, leave C:1 empty. A bare MSDOS system on C: will allow you to boot it, if need be.
NOTE: Windows 98 (First Edition) Upgrade setup will look for any (earlier) Windows product somewhere in the system, and will ask to overwrite or install elsewhere. In this instance, Windows 3.1 was installed on the D: partition. If Windows 95 is installed, it will similarly be found. If none such is found, insert an uninstalled Windows installation CDROM or diskette into a drive, and try again.
Insert a Windows 98 (First Edition) Upgrade CDROM. Execute setup.exe from the Windows 98 (FE) CD-ROM.
NOTE: At the beginning of the Windows 98 installation, a message may appear to indicate that OS/2 HPFS partitions were detected (if there are any) and that these partitions will not be usable with Windows 98. If there is an OS/2 Boot Manager, a caution note will also pop up to state that the OS/2 Boot Manager will not be usable after Windows 98 has been installed. These notices may be disregarded. OS/2 will continue to recognize HPFS as usual, even though Windows 95/98 and MSDOS do not recognize HPFS partitions. Boot Manager will also be reinstalled later in the procedure.
Installation will then begin. In this case, it found Windows 3.1 in D:, but permitted the installation drive to be changed. (The same process will occur if Windows 95 is found in lieu of Windows 3.1). Drive C: was selected. The default installation was also selected, and was successful, taking about 25 minutes altogether. At the completion of the installation, shutdown Windows 98.
NOTE: The following two paragraphs recommend reinstallation of the Boot Manager by booting OS/2 from a diskette and using OS/2 FDISK, rather than an MSDOS FDISK which may be brought up from Windows 98 [Programs, MSDOS], in order to insure the safety and integrity of the OS/2 Boot Manager. Use of the MSDOS FDISK runs a risk of introducing alien Microsoft code into Boot Manager or elsewhere in the system.
Reboot with OS/2 Warp 4 boot diskettes if you have them, or alternatively, use the OS/2 installation diskettes to the point where you can get an OS/2 command prompt.
Then execute FDISK from the OS/2 command prompt. Delete the (disabled) Boot Manager partition, and then immediately reinstall Boot Manager, and make sure that it is "startable." Then shut down completely.
Turn the system on again, and Boot Manager should come up. It's now a good idea to test the boot of all operating systems from Boot Manager: In this case, OS/2 Warp 4, MSDOS 6.2.1 and Windows 98.
IF YOU HAVE WINDOWS 98 (Second Edition) Upgrade CDROM, go to Step 7.
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE WINDOWS 98 (Second Edition) Upgrade CDROM, you're all done here. You can register your Windows 98 online via Microsoft website. You should also download and install all the fixes for the Windows 98 (First Edition). External peripheral devices which were not automatically detected during installation must also be manually installed.
WINDOWS 98 INSTALLATION Part 2:
Windows 98 (Second Edition) Upgrade
into the CDROM drive. Execute setup.exe from the Windows 98 (Second Edition) CDROM.
Installation of the Windows 98 (Second Edition) will now proceed in a manner similar to the First Edition, with similar notices about OS/2 HPFS partitions and OS/2 Boot Manager. Second Edition installation will overwrite the First Edition. It should take 20-25 minutes.
Again, as before, reboot with OS/2 Warp 4 boot or installation diskettes to reach an OS/2 command prompt. Execute FDISK, delete the (disabled) Boot Manager partition, then immediately reinstall Boot Manager, and make it startable. Then shut down completely.
Turn the system on, and Boot Manager should come up. Now retest boot of all operating systems from Boot Manager: OS/2 Warp 4, MSDOS 6.2.1 and Windows 98. Windows 3.1 will also function under MSDOS if it was in a separate partition, as in this system, and not overwritten.
The installation has now been completed. Any of the operating systems should boot up and operate independently, without interference or problems arising from any of the others.
Please remember that neither MSDOS nor Windows 98 will recognize any of the OS/2 HPFS partitions which may exist in the system.
You can register your Windows 98 online via the Microsoft website. You should also watch for any future fixes for Windows 98 (Second Edition) which may be posted by Microsoft. External peripheral devices not automatically detected during installation must also be manually installed.
Undoubtedly you've noticed the Letters To The Editor in various main computer magazines complaining about how quickly the hard drive can fill up - even though it has an impressive size: 1.5, or 2.5 Gigs. This is due to the ancient file system called FAT, which is the only one that can be used by DOS, WIN 3.x and WIN 95. This ancient system would guarantee that for example if you are placing an icon collection of 500 icons on your system and each icon is a size of 1000 bytes, you will definitely spend 32000 bytes of storage to store each of the 500 icons. (Now multiply 500 by 1000 and compare that number to 500 multiplied by 32000!)
Now, OS/2 gives the option of using a more modern file system called HPFS, which is much more happily compatible with the large hard drives of the world of the late 90's. There are two advantages which I'll mention here.
First, its design completely avoids the idiotic situation mentioned above (because hard drive space is parceled out in units of only 512 bytes regardless of the size of the partition--so if you are storing a memo which is 400 bytes in size, you will consume only 512 bytes; if your memo is 1400 bytes, you will consume 1536 bytes; you noticed that both numbers are smaller than 32,000, eh?)
Second, you can optionally store DOS programs and Windows 3.x programs on your HPFS partition and run them from there under WARP. This does imply a space advantage, clearly!
One important fact to take into consideration is that when you boot from real DOS or Windows, the HPFS partition cannot be accessed--remember it is more modern than the standard FAT file system (now, are there utilities which enable read access to HPFS partitions--yes, there are; but that is a different discussion), and so everything it contains is not visible. But if you can accommodate this fact in your plans, you can still have this advantage. The advantage is that HPFS makes the gigantic disk storage of modern hard drives as gigantic as it really is--the space doesn't mysteriously vanish!
There are a number of related topics which may be helpful in your planning: what partitions are; utilities to adjust partitions; planning your installation.
Submitted by Tom MacKnight
An option you have (if you're using a HPFS drive - which IS a good idea) is to use long file names, such as:
Vacation_1997_May_Expenses
Vacation_1997_May_Arrangements
These documents/spreadsheets would need to be read by an OS/2 (or JAVA) application which can deal with long file names, of course. The word processor and spreadsheet in IBM Works which comes with WARP are really convenient possibilities; there are other well-liked OS/2 applications available now, and more are about to be released.
Naturally you would want to have these informative names appear within a folder perhaps named:
which you can open perhaps from a principal folder-screen which you created, named:
In addition, if you consider it helpful, your Home_Documents folder could have an additional folder named:
which would have an icon for the:
document but also the:
document and also the:
So the idea is clear--long file names are one very helpful option among the resources which OS/2 offers for a very practical and mature organization of your records.
Submitted by Tom MacKnight
Since installing Warp 4, I have found the WarpCenter more and more useful, but the "OS/2 Warp" button annoyed me. Although it automatically shows all folders on the desktop, it does so by displaying cascading menus, a la Windows 95. I discovered, however, that by right clicking on any folder displayed on a WarpCenter cascading menu, the actual folder opens! This ability (which Windows95 does not have) has made the WarpCenter much more useful to me!
Submitted by Tim Howey
Downloading multiple files
Ever try to download Warp FixPak files using Netscape? All you get is a screenful of garbage, because Netscape doesn't know what to do with the filetype involved, so it keeps displaying the file on-screen, instead of writing the file to disk. This is easy to fix. In Netscape, select Options, General Preferences, and then click on the Helpers tab. Click on the Create New Type button, and on the "Mime Type" line, type in Application. On the 'Mime Subtype' line, type in Fixpak. With the new "Application,Fixpak" file type highlighted, type in all the typical FixPak file extensions separated by commas, with no spaces:
1dk,2dk,3dk,4dk,5dk,6dk,7dk,8dk,9dk,adk,bdk,cdk,ddk,edk,fdk,gdk,hdk.
You may want to add a few more, since some FixPaks might contain more disks. Then be sure to select the "Save to Disk" button in the "Action" section, and click on OK to save your changes. You can save yourself some typing by copying the preceding file extensions to the clipboard, so you can paste them into the Helpers dialog box! Now, when you bring up a FixPak ftp web page, the files you click on will be saved to disk. Netscape makes it very convenient to download multiple files simultaneously, and that enables you to get the most from your Internet connection. Try downloading 14 files at the same time - No problem!
Submitted by Tim Howey
Entering a user id and password for a web site
If you regularly access a web site that requires the entry of an id and password, there are a couple of ways to automate the process:
Bookmark: Create a bookmark to point to the URL where you get the password
prompt; modify the URL properties of the bookmark (CTRL-B, then RMB on the bookmark,
then click on Properties) so that instead of pointing to:
http://www.mypage.com/directory/
it points to:
http://userid:password@www.mypage.com/directory/
Desktop object: Drag a URL template or drag an open web page to the desktop to create a web site object; in Properties, enter the complete URL with id and password at the Web Page tab. Go to the Icon tab to change the name of the object.
My thanks to Mike Williams, SysOp of the Netscape Forum on CompuServe for describing this procedure.
Submitted by John Davey
Closing Navigator when it misbehaves
I, as well as some other PASUG members have had problems with NS for OS/2 for a number of versions. Netscape seems to lock up and cannot be shut down or killed with any of the task killer apps that I've found. The Netscape window stays up, and if something else overwrites the window, its image is also left on screen within the NS area. Switching to a fullscreen app and back will leave a Black area where NS was. The only cure was to re-boot. The following tip comes from Seth McFarland in OS2Voice Newsletter:
Download PMTREE, available at Hobbes and RPS.BBS (215-624-8960) and extract into a directory. Create a program object on the desktop and place in an area that would not be covered by the NS window. (This program can also be run from a command line if you don't want the program object.)
When you get the NS crash, Run PMTREE and select from the menu: Window->object, then Window->Top Child.
Hold down CNTRL-S until NS/2 goes away.
Note: "PMTree may hang itself during this once or twice, but all you need do is just kill PMTree, start it again, and repeat the above until NS/2 goes away."
I've had success with the above without the stuff in the note. Much better than rebooting.
Submitted by Murray Weismer
Run Java via Internet Without a Browser
It's possible to run Java applets from Internet without the necessity of running Netscape Navigator, HotJava or other browser. All that is needed is a normal Internet connection and Java, preferably the latest Java 1.1.4.
As an example, some folks are having problems running the Pendragon CaffeineMark 3.0 benchmark test under Netscape. Here's an alternative way to do it which might be more successful:
(1) Connect to Internet in the normal way with your OS/2 dialer.
(2) Open an OS/2 command line session.
(3) Key in this line, then press [ENTER]:
As can be seen, it's not necessary to have a browser. Java recognizes the applet command, and then retrieves the code over Internet, just as if the code resided on a hard drive. It then opens its own window(s) to load and run the Java code.
Here's another example, albeit somewhat risque. You can bring up the well-known "Foxy Java" applet complete with bumps & grinds and sound effects.
Just connect to your Internet provider and then open a full-screen OS/2 session. Now enter the following line, and press [ENTER]:
After it loads, you'll soon see Foxy doing her thing in a small rectangular window, entitled: "Applet Viewer: Animator.class." Make the width as small as possible from the right side. Then click on "Applet" immediately beneath the title bar and just above Foxy to get the pull-down menu, and select the clone entry. This will generate another Foxy window on the screen. You can make as many clones as you like, and move them anywhere on the screen. Try overlapping them to cover the white space on the right side of the windows. It's an impressive demonstration.
These applications could just as easily have been a Java-based web browser or a Java-based home banking progam or a Java-based e-mail program or a java-based terminal emulator to connect to your office mainframe.
The implications for the present personal computing model are substantial. Consider that today some cable companies are offering internet connections at well over 1 meg per second (some 10 megs/sec). Consider a suite of Java-based applications like Smartsuite or a simple Lotus Kona residing at the cable company and served up without internet backbone delay. Such an application suite could be run with no need for Windows at all. You could order up the apps you want just as you would order up premium channels, and you could run the apps on a very simple but fast computer with simple and minimal local storage. An OS stub could even be in an EPROM. You could easily use storage available at the cable company if you wanted.
Submitted by Ben Bowers and Larry Lavins
Originally published on the OS/2 Source BBS (610) 337-9119
and the December 1997 Data Bus.
Streaming audio and video are available with the RealPlayer from RealNetworks. I have used version 3.0 (audio steaming only) for some time, but I recently installed version 5.0. In doing so, I relied heavily on advice that users posted on CompuServe and in the news groups. Below is a collection of steps that may not be necessary or useful on every system, but they worked for me. [My system is a Pentium 166, 40mb RAM, Matrox Mystique 220 video card, 56k modem, Warp4 with FP5.]
Uninstalled RealAudio ver. 3.0.
Downloaded the RP16_50.EXE file (16 bit version) and Microsoft's Video software WV1160.EXE from the Download RealPlayer site. These files are self-extracting, so I put each in its own temporary sub-directory and executed each.
Used the setup programs to install MS Video first and then RealPlayer (RP) in seamless WinOS2 sessions. Setting the RP session to Enhanced Compatibility was necessary, but otherwise I found the install to be smoother than with version 3.0.
Verified that the Warp 4 DOS TCPIP drivers and path were correct. Copied RESOLV from \MPTN\ETC into \TCPIP\DOS\ETC.
Some users who have tried to use RP v5.0 under WinOS/2 have reported getting this message:
A user suggested doing the following:
In WIN.INI, look for [drawdib]. Add or edit a line to say: DVA=0
In SYSTEM.INI, go to [386Enhanced]. Comment or delete the line that says device=dva.386
I did each of those steps.
Set the XMS memory limit for RealPlay.EXE to about 12 mb (the program documentation says it requires 16 mb), then started the program in seamless mode. I tested its operation with the Start.ram and Thankyou.rm files in the File pulldown menu.
Used a template to create a program object for RP on the desktop, and increased the XMS memory limit for that as well.
A user by the name of Gary Drag suggested at this point to disable the RP plug-in by renaming the DLL in the NETSCAPE\PLUGINS directory before setting up RP as a helper in Netscape--I did not do so, but I may go back and test this idea.
When I did those steps satisfactorily, I set up RP as a Netscape helper, and increased the memory there as I had done previously.
I then dialed the Internet and logged onto the ABC Internet Hourly News. The new version of the player took a little longer to load than version 3.0 had, but it worked. I then went to PC World News Radio, which came in better than with version 3.0, and CNET Radio, which was about the same. There was still static, and there were delays as information was downloaded, but those may just be par for the course with today's technology.
The big test was whether I could now do streaming video. I logged onto the Bob Dylan site and watched a music video. The sound only came through as mono, and the video was not real clear, but again, that might be the best I can expect at this time.
I was regularly getting the Win Sock error message: "WSAAsyncSelect() unable to locate CB for this socket!" I could click "OK", and the message closed with no adverse effects, but the solution was to update winsock.dll. To do so, download DOSBOX.EXE, put it in a temporary subdirectory, and enter: "DOSBOX ." to unzip it into the current path (note the space and "." which are important). Then follow the directions in the Read.me file. I was still getting the error messages after this update until I found that I had another version of winsock.dll in directory \os2\mdos\winos2\; when I renamed that file, the error messages stopped, and I have not seen any adverse consequences so far.
Occasionally RP crashes with an error message, but usually I can just restart it without a problem.
To improve performance, I may play with the memory, try Enhanced Compatibility for RP as a helper, and disable the RP plug-in as suggested above.
Submitted by John Davey
Procedure 1
The frequent fix paks which OS/2 publishes for OS/2 present a couple of dilemmas. The first is whether to install them at all. One theory is to install each new pak so that your system remains as current as possible and has all improvements made by IBM. The other school of thought is that if it ain't broke, don't fix it: Unless there is something in the fix pak that will make your system work better, don't risk bringing in new bugs.
Since I figure there must be some improvements that will help me, and since there is always something in my system I wish would work better, I have become a regular user when it comes to FP's--I almost always install them.
That brings up the second dilemma--how to install the fix paks. I used to be a firm believer in making the floppy disks from the image files, figuring that this method was safest and would leave me with a set of floppies if I had to reinstall the FP in the future. With fix paks coming out as frequently as they do, however, the time consumed by this method was becoming an imposition.
I then tried one of the several methods for installing FP's from a hard disk, and that worked fine--the first time. When I tried it again for the next fix pak, the process stalled every time I reached a certain point. I finally borrowed a CD with the FP on it, and that install went fine. I concluded that I had had a corrupted file among my downloads, but I had no way of knowing which one.
I still like the immediacy of downloading the FP's as opposed to waiting for a CD to arrive in the mail. But with over a dozen file in the pak, I was not about to do multiple downloads if I had a corrupted file. Fortunately, an OS/2 user by the name of Jon Saxton has provided a solution with QuickFix 1.0. This REXX script unpacks the FP diskette images and installs them from the hard drive. What distinguishes this utility from others like it is that it performs a CRC validation of the diskette images before running the installation program. You can therefore know before you start whether you have any corrupted files.
I used QuickFix to install FP9. I did not have any corrupted files, so I cannot say what information is given if there is corruption. According to a message from the author, if any error is encountered in the CRC validation phase, the program does the most intelligent thing it possibly can: It stops. You can then download the relevant image files again. When I used QuickFix, the process worked as expected and gave me a clean install quickly and efficiently.
To use QuickFix, you will obviously have to download the fix pak image files--FP9 is available here. (For download suggestions, see Netscape/2 Tips on this page.) Download QuickFix at Hobbes. And download the latest fix tool (FIXT139.EXE as of FP9) from the IBM site. The instructions are easy, and you will find applying fix paks to be safer and less of a chore than ever.
Submitted by John Davey
Procedure 2
A second way of installing FP's from a hard drive is provided with permission by Tim Martin, "The OS/2 Guy" at Warp City (http://www.warpcity.com):
STEP 1 - PREPARATION
Create a temporary directory on a drive with at least 100 MB of free space. (To be absolutely safe, 125 MB might be better.)
Download the latest fix pak from the IBM Boulder FTP site. FP9 is located at ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/fixes/v4warp/english-us/xr_m009/
FASTK139.ZIP (approx 560 KBytes) is the only other software needed for this procedure. Add it to the temporary directory. It's available at hobbes: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu
STEP 2 - OPENING THE FILES
From an OS/2 command prompt, unzip FASTK139.ZIP in the temporary directory (12 MBytes). Open all the disk images by typing the following command at an OS/2 prompt (another 23 MBytes):
STEP 3 - THE INSTALL
Type the command: FIX to initiate the FixPak installation. The program will take you through several easy menu steps. The program may also stop several times with quick questions. At one point it will ask if you want to unlock certain locked files. Say Yes or Continue. If it stops to report files on your system that are NEWER than those inside FP-9, DO NOT OVERWRITE them. Select CANCEL and continue.
When done, it will tell you to reboot. Shutdown in the normal manner, and reboot.
When your system returns, go to an OS/2 prompt and type:
The expected response is:
The Operating System/2 Version is 4.00 Revision 9.033
If so, FixPak-9 has been successfully installed.
For additional confirmation, type: SYSLEVEL, and press ENTER] repeatedly until the following appears:
X:\OS2\INSTALL\SYSLEVEL.OS2 IBM OS/2 Base Operating System Version 4.00 Component ID 5639A6100 Type 0C Current CSD level: XR0M009 Prior CSD level: XR04000
Your current CSD level should be: XR0M009 indicating that FixPak-9 has been successfully installed.
Submitted by Larry Lavins
If you are attempting to install OS/2 Warp 4 on (an IDE) hard drive greater than 4.3GB, original Warp 4 installation Diskette 1 must first be updated. (There are 3 installation diskettes, labeled as Installation Diskette, Diskette 1 and Diskette 2)
It's also a good idea to update the installation diskettes each time a new FixPak is installed. This will insure that these diskettes will be ready for use, if and when needed. Proceed as follows to update your installation diskettes.
Make a copy of the original Diskette 1 (D1).
Copy new versions of IBM1S506.ADD, IBMIDECD.FLT & OS2DASD.DMD device driver files to the new D1 diskette. These overwrite earlier files of same names. The most recent releases are in your x:\OS2\BOOT directory if the latest FixPak is installed and the FixPak itself. Also at ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com/ ps/products/os2/os2ddpak/idedasd.exe
Add line: SET COPYFROMFLOPPY=1 to CONFIG.SYS on the new D1.
Save the changes to the updated Diskette 1. Verify inclusion of new device driver files and added line in CONFIG.SYS.
See OPTIONAL UPDATES below ...
Proceed with the installation, using updated diskette(s).
If connection to the hard disk or CDROM is lost during the installation process or when restarting the system, make sure that the device driver statements are in the CONFIG.SYS file and the new versions of these three device drivers have been copied to the x\OS2\BOOT\ directory. Use the file dates to distinguish the newer versions.
OPTIONAL UPDATES TO INSTALLATION DISKETTE (D0)
It's highly beneficial, but not absolutely necessary, to also update the Installation Diskette (D0).
Make a copy of the original Installation Diskette (D0).
Copy a new version of the OS2KRNL file as OS2KRNLI to the new Installation Diskette (D0). Then copy new versions of OS2LDR and OS2LDR.MSG files, keeping the same name, to the new D0 diskette. These will all overwrite earlier files of the same names. Save changes to the updated Installation Diskette (D0).
NOTE: You can use XCOPY [filename] /T to copy the OS2KRNL and OS2LDR files conveniently from the root directory of your boot drive. Then use the ATTRIB [filename] -S command to remove the "S" attribute from these files on the diskette. Or alternatively, first remove the "S" attribute from these two files in the root directory, then copy to the diskette, and then restore the "S" attribute.
If you have a maintenance partition on your system, it may also be beneficial to copy all 6 aforementioned files from your boot partition to the appropriate directories in this maintenance partition. If you don't yet have a maintenance partition, do yourself a big favor and make one now!
An additional device driver, IBMATAPI.FLT, isn't included on the original Diskette 1. It was added by IBM at a later date via FixPak and is now regularly included in the idedasd.exe archive updates mentioned above, along with the other three. This driver supports removable media (eg, ZIP, LS120 drives) If FixPaks have been applied to your system, it's located in the x:\OS2\BOOT directory. Copy this file to the maintenance partition also. Unfortunately, sufficient space doesn't exist on D1 to add this driver to D1.
In addition to IBMATAPI.FLT, several other new device drivers have also been provided by FixPaks in support of various new devices, and there may not be enough unused space to add any such device drivers which may be needed to D1.
Users are advised to determine all the new drivers required for their specific hardware configurations and which are not included on the original Diskette 1. Any such drivers can be beneficially added to D1 and to the maintenance partition.
Additional space on D1 to accomodate new drivers can be made available by deleting device drivers from the original D1 group of files which are not needed for your system.
For example, all AHA* and AIC* files relate only to Adaptec SCSI controllers. All AHA*.ADD and AHA*.SNP can be deleted in systems which don't use Adaptec controllers. Similarly, BT*, FD*, DAC* and DPT* device driver files which support other proprietary hardware products may also be deleted if they aren't needed.
If any of these files are deleted, corresponding statements in the CONFIG.SYS file (on D1) which refer to deleted files must also be REMmed out. Don't neglect this. And conversely, BASEDEV=[driver] statements must be added to the CONFIG.SYS file on D1 for all newly added drivers. Also, don't forget to update the driver files and CONFIG.SYS in your maintenance partition.
Return to Step 6 above ...
Submitted by Larry Lavins
From the February 1999 Data Bus
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Content updated
05-06-2007 04:51am