
                  OS/2 Hardware Issues             (Fidonet)

                 Saturday, 23-Oct-1999 to Friday, 29-Oct-1999

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Steve McCrystal                                   22-Oct-99 06:54:21
  To: Linda Proulx                                      23-Oct-99 20:12:22
Subj: Question

;
In a msg of <Thursday October 21 1999>, Linda Proulx writes to Steve
McCrystal:
;
Linda,

 SM>>     SciTech Display Doctor for OS/2 Beta 8

 LP> Which means that it's video device drivers?

Essentially, yes.

-[Steve]-

--- GoldED/2 3.0.1/#
 * Origin: -[Steve's Place]- New Berlin, WI (FidoNet 1:154/731.2)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Daniela Engert                                    21-Oct-99 18:39:03
  To: Bryan Rubingh                                     23-Oct-99 20:30:10
Subj: 1868 & IDE port

Hi Bryan!

Thus quoth Bryan Rubingh to Daniela Engert:

 BR> I figured that since the sound & IDE enabler are separate drivers
 BR> in DOS they can be separate in OS/2 also.

Sure.

 BR> Thus, I'm more interested in the specs for the IDE port
 BR> (specifically the PnP specs) than in the sound specs.  Any ideas on
 BR> that?

Still the same tips as regarding sound.

 BR> I realize that there are places to obtain generic PnP specs, but
 BR> I'm assuming that the 1868 requires something special for the IDE
 BR> to be enabled.

The PnP specs (available from Microsoft f.i.) won't help you anything. They
just describe a general approach to resource management of ISA based boards.
They are a prerequisite in understanding the specs of ISA-PnP chips anyway.

You need something different: a description of the configuration registers
affecting both IDE base port addresses and - much more important - the chip
internal interrupt routing registers.

Then you have to write a SYS type BASEDEV which bumps the necessary bits into
the proper position. If the interrupt assigned to the IDE port is non-shared,
then any of the S506 base drivers can take this IDE channel over. But if the
interrupt is shared you'll have to write your own flavour of S506.ADD.

bye, Dani

--- Sqed/32 1.14/r01354
 * Origin: Nachtigall/2,Nuernberg/Ger,+49-911-861319,Z19+ISDN (2:2490/2576)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Daniela Engert                                    21-Oct-99 19:05:27
  To: Will Honea                                        23-Oct-99 20:30:10
Subj: DANIS506 driver question

Hi Will!

Thus quoth Will Honea to Daniela Engert:

 WH> As for the noise problem, I still use full size towers which means
 WH> relatively long parallel cables.  I had all sorts of grief with
 WH> about everything IDE until I picked up a handful of ferrite bars
 WH> that IBM used on some of their early SCSI cables.  Clamped those on
 WH> the cables and the erratic noise problems went away.

What a wonderful idea, indeed! Ferrite beads combined with 80-wire cables
might be the ultimate solution to 'tidy up' IDE channels.

 WH>   Looking at the signals it appears that the termination of the
 WH> IDC-type ribbon cables is not quite what the standard 130 ohm
 WH> terminations match (it's actually closer to 120 ohms into a CMOS
 WH> gate, anyway).

The latest spec (ATA5) sounds horrible to an electrical engineer: there is no
such thing as line termination which takes into account the inclinations of
waves travelling back and forth the channel even in the remotest sense. Some
of the connections just have a pullup or pulldown resistor in the some
kiloohms range, that's all. Now take your pocket calculator out, remember the
16MHz maximum clock, and you know where the 40cm maximum cable length comes
from.

 WH> Your drivers are working great with the older VIA bridges as well
 WH> as the 503 - and I have yet to see the dead-lock conditions I can
 WH> induce with IBM1S506.ADD.  One question: you stated (in one of the
 WH> readme's) that you have departed from the DDK model. May one ask in
 WH> what way and why?

The DDK sources are very old now. One of the old device driver fellows at IBM
noticed my efforts in the very beginning, and one fine day I found the latest
IBM internal only sources in my mail inbound :-)

Of the approximately 1MByte of source code more than the half is different
from these IBM sources, or totally new (to support chips other than Intel).
Most changes affect the initialization part of the driver, but other parts had 
their share of (mostly subtle) bugs as well.

In its present state, the driver runs on commercial OS/2 based internet settop 
boxes available in the consumer retail channels now here in Germany, and RSJ
bundles it with their CD writer software because it helps to cut down costs of 
their support lines.

bye, Dani

--- Sqed/32 1.14/r01354
 * Origin: Nachtigall/2,Nuernberg/Ger,+49-911-861319,Z19+ISDN (2:2490/2576)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Will Honea                                        23-Oct-99 22:40:00
  To: Daniela Engert                                    23-Oct-99 22:40:00
Subj: DANIS506 driver question

Daniela Engert wrote to Will Honea on 10-21-1999

DE> The latest spec (ATA5) sounds horrible to an electrical engineer:
DE> there is no  such thing as line termination which takes into account
DE> the  inclinations of waves travelling back and forth the channel 
DE> even in the remotest sense. Some of the connections just  have a
DE> pullup or pulldown resistor in the some kiloohms  range, that's all.
DE> Now take your pocket calculator out,  remember the 16MHz maximum
DE> clock, and you know where the  40cm maximum cable length comes from.

Ah, the sins of the fathers visited upon the children!  When IDC
(ribbon) cable was introduced TTL logic reigned.  The gate input
circuitry was such that the nominal impedance was approximately 125
ohms and the gate structure was such that there was bi-lateral active
diode clamping - very handy.  CMOS has no such structure, nor is the
impedance predictable but we still use cable that matches that
termination.  For the last 10 years or so I've had to use at least some
transmission line techniques when laying out PWB's.

DE> The DDK sources are very old now. One of the old device driver
DE> fellows at IBM  noticed my efforts in the very beginning, and one
DE> fine day  I found the latest IBM internal only sources in my mail 
DE> inbound :-) 

Sounds like something Sam D. would do <g>.  One of these days I have
to visit my son and figure out what his problem is: same FIC mb as
mine, same VIA chipset but his machine refuses to boot with your
drivers.  I was just curious about how you had changed the drivers
since the last copy I looked at was the DDK source from several years
ago. Thank you.

Will Honea <whonea@codenet.net>
--- Maximus/2 2.02
 * Origin: OS/2 Shareware BBS, telnet://bbs.os2bbs.com (1:109/347)


+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Matt Bedynek                                      23-Oct-99 23:34:04
  To: Ruth Argust                                       24-Oct-99 06:52:02
Subj: CPU change

Hello Ruth.

Friday October 22 1999 08:43, Ruth Argust wrote to Matt Bedynek:

 RA> Don't forget to give us the URL! You will probably have a lot of
 RA> visitors. I'll be glad to give you our business, piece by piece :)

Will do! Still working on the website.

Rgds, Matt.

   mbedynek@pdq.net
   ICQ No. 16568532

--- GoldED/2 3.0.1
 * Origin: Lunatic Fringe > 713.336.0969 < bbs.coastalwarehouse.com (1:106/2)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Stephen Haffly                                    23-Oct-99 22:13:24
  To: Will Honea                                        24-Oct-99 06:52:02
Subj: DANIS506 driver question

On (19 Oct 99) Will Honea wrote to Daniela Engert...

Hi Will,

 WH> As for the noise problem, I still use full size towers which means
 WH> relatively long parallel cables.  I had all sorts of grief with about
 WH> everything IDE until I picked up a handful of ferrite bars that IBM
 WH> used on some of their early SCSI cables.  Clamped those on the cables
 WH> and the erratic noise problems went away.  Looking at the signals it
 WH> appears that the termination of the IDC-type ribbon cables is not
 WH> quite what the standard 130 ohm terminations match (it's actually
 WH> closer to
 WH> 120 ohms into a CMOS gate, anyway).  Using the ferrite surpressors cut
 WH> the overshoot and reflection on the lines to essentially nothing.
 WH> Just one more trick for your bag if you ever just have to live with
 WH> narrow
 WH> noise margins.

Please expand on this.  What do these things look like, and where would
one be likely to find them?

As I mentioned to Daniela, using the PCLK:0 switch seems to have made
the difference for me.

 WH> Your drivers are working great with the older VIA bridges as well as
 WH> the 503 - and I have yet to see the dead-lock conditions I can induce
 WH> with IBM1S506.ADD.  One question: you stated (in one of the readme's)
 WH> that you have departed from the DDK model. May one ask in what way and
 WH> why?

Dead-lock condition?  What's that?


TTYL,

Stephen
Team OS/2, Team GEOS
OS/2 & New Deal Office 98 - A great combination.

... I don't have the time for a hobby.  I have a computer.

--- PPoint 3.00
 * Origin: Thunder Mountains Point (1:309/63.4)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Stephen Haffly                                    23-Oct-99 22:19:27
  To: Daniela Engert                                    24-Oct-99 06:52:02
Subj: DANIS506 driver question

On (19 Oct 99) Daniela Engert wrote to Stephen Haffly...

Hi Daniela,

 DE> This is not unlikely with a Cyrix. Some models have a 75MHz or 83Mhz
 DE> FSB speed which translates on some boards into 37.5MHz or 41.5MHz PCI
 DE> bus clock. If this is the case, setting the regular 33MHz based timing
 DE> values into the EIDE controller registers leads to heavy overclocking
 DE> of the EIDE channel. Most disks (with the regular exception of IBM
 DE> drives) just barf or exhibit data
 DE> distortions.

Really strange.  I have the motherboard jumpered for 66 MHz with a 2x
multiplier for the CPU.  I don't understand why the driver is detecting
41 MHz.  As long as it works though.

 DE> Ah! Beeps do indicate communication errors on the EIDE channel. Some
 DE> time ago I built this feature into the driver for debugging purposes
 DE> but as it turned out to be a good indicator of data at risk!

Yes, it was certainly handy.  With the new driver and settings, I have
not heard any beeps.  No beeps is good news for me.

 SH> On reboot, the drive would be corrupted.

 DE> Of course. Most likely, vital data structures just didn't get written
 DE> to disk.

That is what I suspected.

 DE> There *is* a better cable available, and I recommend it to everyone
 DE> running disks at high speed: the so called 80-wire cable (a
 DE> prerequisite for ATA66 operation). Basically it is a regular cable
 DE> with 40pin connectors, but in between each of the regular wires is an
 DE> additional ground wire which improves signal quality considerably.

I'll certainly have to check my local computer shop for one of these.

 DE> My hardware recommendation: taking into account the 1000+ reports I
 DE> got in the past few months I can see a clear pattern:

 DE> Apart from programming errors (my fault) there were *no* trouble
 DE> reports from people using

 DE> - either Intel chipsets (one exception: a particular line of PIIX3's)

 DE> - or IBM disk drives

 DE> Either one seems to prevent data errors. I've got several IBM drives
 DE> and never experienced any data corruption. They tolerate a
 DE> considerable amount of noise and heavy overclocking.

Interesting data to file away.  Thanks again for the assistance.

TTYL,

Stephen
Team OS/2, Team GEOS
OS/2 & New Deal Office 98 - A great combination.

... OS/2 Warp: Not just another pretty program loader!

--- PPoint 3.00
 * Origin: Thunder Mountains Point (1:309/63.4)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Neil Walker                                       23-Oct-99 21:55:11
  To: Mike Roark                                        24-Oct-99 15:20:13
Subj: avm & isdn & warp

Hello Mike!

Monday October 18 1999 21:05, you wrote to Andy Roberts:

 MR> AVM unfortunately doesn't support Os/2.

AVM have OS/2 drivers on their Website. I have had my BT Speedway card (a
re-badged AVM Fritz PCI PnP, I believe) working in OS/2. I must admit, though, 
that support is far better under Windows 9*/NT.


Be lucky,


Neil

--- GoldED/2 3.0.1
 * Origin: The Electric Pigeon - <01952 414247> (2:2500/509)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Will Honea                                        24-Oct-99 13:12:00
  To: Stephen Haffly                                    24-Oct-99 13:12:00
Subj: DANIS506 driver question

Stephen Haffly wrote to Will Honea on 10-23-1999

SH> WH> 120 ohms into a CMOS gate, anyway).  Using the ferrite surpressors cut
SH>  WH> the overshoot and reflection on the lines to essentially nothing.
SH>  WH> Just one more trick for your bag if you ever just have to live with
SH>  WH> narrow
SH>  WH> noise margins.
SH> 
SH> Please expand on this.  What do these things look like, and where
SH> would one be likely to find them?

These are ferrite castings (the dull gray metal you frequently see as
short cylinders around the leads near the phone line on modem cards or
as tranformer tuning slugs).  They are cast as 2 bars where one has a
channel for the ribbon cable with the other being a flat bar that mates
to completely enclose the cable. The castings are about 1 inch wide and
1/4 inch thick. I got these from some scrap PS/2 mod 77's but I've seen
them in a local eletronics surplus/junk store as well.  They have no
markings so I can't reference a mfg. but the larger electronic
suppliers have several pages of such items in their catalogs.  You can
get some of the effect by wrapping a 1 - 2 inch piece of a ferrous
sheet metal around the cable (be careful of shorting out something!)
but that's not nearly as effective as the ferrite.  Ideally, each lead
of the cable would be routed thru a small ferrite bead on each end but
that would be a pretty expensive cable.

SH> Dead-lock condition?  What's that?

Ever been in the position of arriving at the door just as someone else
did? "after you", "no after you" etc.  Basically, two events each
waiting one the other so that neither procedes. 

Will Honea <whonea@codenet.net>
--- Maximus/2 2.02
 * Origin: OS/2 Shareware BBS, telnet://bbs.os2bbs.com (1:109/347)


+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Alan Hess                                         24-Oct-99 13:41:13
  To: Daniela Engert                                    24-Oct-99 17:45:19
Subj: DaniS506.ADD

Hi, Daniela,

I'm using your drivers with no parameter other than /V.  Things are working,
but am I keeping myself from optimum performance by not using parameters?  

--- Msged/2 TE 05
 * Origin: Nerve Center - Source of the SPINAL_INJURY echo! (1:261/1000)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Daniela Engert                                    22-Oct-99 18:40:03
  To: Jean-Michel Dossogne                              24-Oct-99 22:12:00
Subj: avm & isdn & warp

Hi Jean-Michel!

Thus quoth Jean-Michel Dossogne to Daniela Engert:
 DE>> I'm working on an OS/2 CAPI for the Fritz! (ISA classic, ISA PnP,
 DE>> and PCI flavours),

 JD> Fritz cards have been widely sold and no os/2 support is a real pain.

There are many German users waiting for a CAPI solution. I have a Teles here
which needs a refresh as well...

 DE>> but due to time constraints progress is neglectable at present...
 JD> maybe with some beta-testers this could help, not?....

This is not a matter of beta testing, but of development. And I don't intend
to support this driver in any sense. The EDSS D-channel protocoll will be a
prerequisite.

bye, Dani

--- Sqed/32 1.14/r01354
 * Origin: Nachtigall/2,Nuernberg/Ger,+49-911-861319,Z19+ISDN (2:2490/2576)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Ray Hyder                                         24-Oct-99 20:29:00
  To: Dan Egli                                          25-Oct-99 03:10:02
Subj: Big Hard Drives & War

 
 * Reply to a msg from Dan Egli @ 1:270/101 on 09-29-99          
 
  -=> Quoting David Calafrancesco to Charles Bowman <=-
  DC> Type F I believe is FAT32 and no there is no nondestructive way that I
  DC> am aware of. Neither OS2 nor NT nor DOS will be able to access a FAT32
  DC> drive.
  DC> Dave Calafrancesco, Team OS/2
  DC> dave@drakkar.org
 
 DE> Shameless plug here, but Partition Magic can convert fat<>fat32 
 DE> nondestructively 
 
Partition Magic (4.0) here can't even find my Logitech PS/2 CE mouse.  It's
not likely that I would trust PQMAGIC with anything on this system. 
 
I rate Partition Magic in the mostly sucks category.  - ray  
 
--- PC-RAIN 1.00  (6)
 * Origin: Rasputin Compute's, Georgetown, Georgia  (1:3613/666)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Don Guy                                           24-Oct-99 23:15:24
  To: David Calafrancesco                               25-Oct-99 06:36:25
Subj: Fun with SCSI

Greetings David!

   A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a coded message from David
Calafrancesco to Don Guy was intercepted...

 DC> The SCSI was formatted originally under a different SCSI host adapter
 DC> or different OS.

That it was--originally had it attached to an Adaptec 1520, but switched over
to the Trantor after purchasing it with an external CD ROM.

I've tried pretty much every trick in the book so far; some of them eliminate
FDisk's claim that the partition table is corrupted, some don't.

 DC> Also, that Trantor T130B is one of the worst SCSI host adapters going.
You
 DC> would be better off with almost any other brand if you can swing it.

Thanks for the info...  Methinks I *will* be putting something else in that
system soon--ever since attempting to repartition the drive, it's been cranky. 
Claims of lost clusters and cross-linked files that change from one test to
the next, my Squish message base keeps getting damaged, etc.

Any recommendations for a replacement?  It must be ISA, have both internal and 
external connectors, and preferably a boot ROM.

 DC> It was considered barely useable for a CD, and then only if no other
 DC> CD drive or SCSI host was available.

Unfortunately it's my only option at the moment, unless I ditch the CD--the
Trantor is the only adaptor I own which has both an internal and an external
port.  :-/

-Don



... MICROSOFT: Most Intelligent Customers Realize Our Software Often Fails
Tests

---
 * Origin: EI/2 [Carleton Place, Ontario, Canada] (1:249/176)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Don Guy                                           24-Oct-99 23:25:08
  To: Coridon Henshaw                                   25-Oct-99 06:36:25
Subj: Fun with SCSI

Greetings Coridon!

   A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a coded message from Coridon
Henshaw to Don Guy was intercepted...

 CH> Use a DOS or Linux-based FDISK to wipe the partition table.  Reboot
 CH> to OS/2 and FDISK should now work.

See my note to David C.  It's looking an awful lot like the host adaptor is
suspect...

Not that I really object to changing it, mind you.  Until I modified the CD
instalation diskettes to load the Trantor drivers, and nothing else, I was
quite successful at hanging the system...


-Don



... Data overflow error at port 60h: Please remove cat from keyboard.
---
 * Origin: EI/2 [Carleton Place, Ontario, Canada] (1:249/176)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Holger Granholm                                   24-Oct-99 08:33:00
  To: Jean-Michel Dossogne                              25-Oct-99 06:36:25
Subj: multi changer

In a message dated 10-21-99, Jean-michel Dossogne said to Holger
Granholm:

JD>well.. been looking for it since I saw your message, but pathfinder
JD>on internet = mars mission!
JD>I have a nakamichi changer, as it came as OEM, it's
JD>software-less.... any idea where I could find that marvel?

Try E-mail: cdrom-support@nakamichiusa.com
        or: support@nakamichi.co.jp

Mountain in the USA should also have at least an e-mail address if not
a website.

 HG> BTW where is Zone 8 ?
JD>FamilyNet - we have cross-echoes

Thanks.

Have a nice day,

Holger

___
 * MR/2 2.26 * Join a proud minority.  Read the manual.

--- PCBoard (R) v15.22 (OS/2) 2
 * Origin: Coming to you from the Sunny Aland Islands. (2:20/228)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Peter Knapper                                     25-Oct-99 23:49:10
  To: Don Guy                                           25-Oct-99 12:13:14
Subj: Fun with SCSI

Hi Don,

 DG> That it was--originally had it attached to an Adaptec 
 DG> 1520, but switched over to the Trantor after purchasing 
 DG> it with an external CD ROM.

  <<< Text deleted >>>

 DG> Any recommendations for a replacement?  It must be ISA, 
 DG> have both internal and external connectors, and 
 DG> preferably a boot ROM.

I would go back to the Adaptec 1520 (if you can), it has both internal 50 pin
and external SCSI-1 (Centronics) interfaces and should do what you want
nicely, plus OS/2 comes with drivers for the 152x series. I run a 6 Disc CD
changer and Tape drive on a 1520 and it works great alongside my Adaptec
2940UW. 

Cheers.........pk.


--- Maximus/2 3.01
 * Origin: Another Good Point About OS/2 (3:772/1.10)
40

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Roy J. Tellason                                   25-Oct-99 11:33:00
  To: Don Guy                                           25-Oct-99 17:43:04
Subj: Fun with SCSI

Don Guy wrote in a message to David Calafrancesco:

 DG> Greetings David!

 DG>    A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a coded message 
 DG> from David Calafrancesco to Don Guy was intercepted...

 DC> The SCSI was formatted originally under a different SCSI host adapter
 DC> or different OS.

 DG> That it was--originally had it attached to an Adaptec 1520, but 
 DG> switched over to the Trantor after purchasing it with an 
 DG> external CD ROM.

Now *that* is interesting,  as that's exactly the board I was using when I
last encountered this situation...

 DG> I've tried pretty much every trick in the book so far; some of 
 DG> them eliminate FDisk's claim that the partition table is 
 DG> corrupted, some don't.

Do you still see weirdness when you look at the partition table with fdisk? 
The only way I could get rid of that,  once I switched to a 2842 card, was to
use the stuff built into the card's bios and low-level that sucker. 
Everything has been fine ever since,  and in fact I use that drive to hold my
message bases and nontrivial portions of the files section here (it's 2.25G).

--- 
 * Origin: TANSTAAFL BBS 717-838-8539 (1:270/615)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Steve McCrystal                                   24-Oct-99 07:49:09
  To: Stephen Haffly                                    25-Oct-99 17:43:04
Subj: DANIS506 driver question

;
In a msg of <Wednesday October 20 1999>, Stephen Haffly writes to Daniela
Engert:
;
Stephen,

 SH> The drive is an IDE connected 4 Gb compressed/2Gb uncompressed tape
 SH> drive that uses QIC-3080 Wide tapes.

Please, where do you get them?

 SH> Thank you for your help,

And to you, too!

-[Steve]-

--- GoldED/2 3.0.1/#
 * Origin: -[Steve's Place]- New Berlin, WI (FidoNet 1:154/731.2)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Bat Lang                                          25-Oct-99 23:36:28
  To: All                                               26-Oct-99 12:36:03
Subj: EIDE HDD >8.4Gb

I realize that the IDEDASD.EXE was developed to overcome the <subj>.
My question: Is there some level of FixPak, after which IDEDASD.EXE is
superfluous because it is accomplished in the FixPak? If so, what FP?

Reason: I am seriously looking at an IBM 10Gb HDD. Thanks for any info,
and Good Modeming!  /\oo/\


... FidoNet-Mail: 1:382/92 or E-mail: Bat.Lang@92.ima.infomail.com

--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30
 * Origin: Rendezvous!! 8gigs_20000files_500echoareas 512-303-1324 (1:382/92)
209/7211
292/854

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Daniela Engert                                    24-Oct-99 18:30:14
  To: Stephen Haffly                                    26-Oct-99 20:22:25
Subj: DANIS506 driver question

Hi Stephen!

Thus quoth Stephen Haffly to Daniela Engert:
 SH> With the new 1.0.9 driver, and using the PCLK:0 parameter, things
 SH> are very stable.

The latest one is rev 1.0 fixlevel 11

 SH> There is one problem remaining though.  The tape backup (Conner 4
 SH> Gb) is not detected during bootup.

Fix requests and problem reports by Internet email only, please. Add
/DEBUG:15, copy the boot messages into a file (a description is in the docs),
and send this file to me (dani@ngrt.de).

bye, Dani

--- Sqed/32 1.14/r01354
 * Origin: Nachtigall/2,Nuernberg/Ger,+49-911-861319,Z19+ISDN (2:2490/2576)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: Mike Roark                                        25-Oct-99 17:56:03
  To: Neil Walker                                       26-Oct-99 20:22:25
Subj: avm & isdn & warp

Hello Neil!

Saturday October 23 1999 21:55, Neil Walker wrote to Mike Roark:


 NW> AVM have OS/2 drivers on their Website. I have had my BT Speedway card
 NW> (a re-badged AVM Fritz PCI PnP, I believe) working in OS/2. I must
 NW> admit, though, that support is far better under Windows 9*/NT.

I just went on their site. The only drivers I could find for OS/2 were for the 
active cards. The AVM-B1 PCI active card at one of the local retail stores is
DM 974 IIrC. That's about $600 or so. The passive Fritz cards are much
cheaper, but I searched every directory, and found no such drivers for OS/2.
Dani said she would eventually be working on one, and if it ever shows up I
might try it. But she said she had a lot of other work to do.

Even Teles has dropped OS/2 support. The driver I use is from 1996. I guess it 
worked so well that they didn't see any reason to have them for their PCI
cards. ;(

Have a good day!!
Mike
Internet bcomber@cave.fido.de
This OS/2 system uptime is 0d 18h 55m 13s 750ms (en).

---
 * Origin: Finally Warped! (2:2490/8016)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

From: MIKE RUSKAI                                       26-Oct-99 11:52:00
  To: BAT LANG                                          28-Oct-99 11:07:21
Subj: EIDE HDD >8.4Gb

Some senseless babbling from Bat Lang to All
on 10-25-99  23:36 about EIDE HDD >8.4Gb...

 BL> I realize that the IDEDASD.EXE was developed to overcome the <subj>.
 BL> My question: Is there some level of FixPak, after which IDEDASD.EXE is
 BL> superfluous because it is accomplished in the FixPak? If so, what FP?

 BL> Reason: I am seriously looking at an IBM 10Gb HDD. Thanks for any
 BL> info, and Good Modeming!  /\oo/\

Here's what the text at the device drive repository says:

This package contains updates to the support in FP35 and FP6, extending
support to fixed Enhanced IDE drives greater than 8.4GB, fixing some prob-
lems, and adding additional documentation on removable media support. If
you install or have installed fixpaks newer than FP42 or FP12 then this
package is not required. FixPak 35 (FP35) for Warp 3 and FixPak 6 (FP6) for
Warp 4 extended support for fixed Enhanced IDE drives to sizes up to 8.4GB
and added new caching HPFS and FAT file system support for removable media
drives such as SCSI Syquest Syjet 1.5GB portable hard drive and the Iomega
jaz 1GB and 2GB personal hard drives.

Mike Ruskai
thannymeister@yahoo.com


... Beavis & Butthead: MST3000 for morons.

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From: John Thompson                                     26-Oct-99 15:52:00
  To: Ray Hyder                                         28-Oct-99 11:07:21
Subj: Big Hard Drives & War

In a message to Dan Egli, Ray Hyder wrote re: Big Hard Drives & War

RH> Partition Magic (4.0) here can't even find my Logitech PS/2 CE mouse. 
It's not
RH> likely that I would trust PQMAGIC with anything on this system. 
RH>  
RH> I rate Partition Magic in the mostly sucks category.  - ray

Geez...just copy your Logitech mouse drivers onto the Partition 
Magic diskette.  Works for me...



 * KWQ/2 1.2i * Internet: John.Thompson@attglobal.net


--- PCBoard (R) v15.3/M 10
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From: Stephen Haffly                                    25-Oct-99 11:43:24
  To: Will Honea                                        28-Oct-99 11:07:21
Subj: DANIS506 driver question

On (24 Oct 99) Will Honea wrote to Stephen Haffly...

Hi Will,

 WH> These are ferrite castings (the dull gray metal you frequently see as
 WH> short cylinders around the leads near the phone line on modem cards or

<SNIP>

Thanks.  There used to be a little electronics shop in town, but it went
out of business.  I'll have to try to find a catalog.  Thanks for the
description.


TTYL,

Stephen
Team OS/2, Team GEOS
OS/2 & New Deal Office 98 - A great combination.

... I tried to get a life, but got a Mailer instead

--- PPoint 3.00
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From: Daniela Engert                                    25-Oct-99 18:36:13
  To: Will Honea                                        28-Oct-99 11:07:21
Subj: DANIS506 driver question

Hi Will!

Thus quoth Will Honea to Daniela Engert:
 WH> Sounds like something Sam D. would do <g>.

100 points to candidate W.!

 WH>   One of these days I have to visit my son and figure out what his
 WH> problem is: same FIC mb as mine, same VIA chipset but his machine
 WH> refuses to boot with your drivers.

The same old tip: start with all busmastering disabled. This basically
switches my driver into IBM1S506 compatibility mode ;-) .If that still doesn't 
work you're really in bad trouble (but this is extremely unlikely). If you can 
boot without busmaster operation but the systems goes havoc with busmaster DMA 
enabled, you're still in trouble but the docs have a large portion dedicated
to them. Take proven DIMMs with you, they might be the solution.

bye, Dani

--- Sqed/32 1.14/r01354
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From: Ray Hyder                                         27-Oct-99 19:34:00
  To: John Thompson                                     28-Oct-99 11:07:21
Subj: Big Hard Drives & War

 
 * Reply to a msg from John Thompson @ 1:139/0 on 10-26-99      
 
 JT> Geez...just copy your Logitech mouse drivers onto the Partition 
 JT> Magic diskette.  Works for me... 
 
It would work for me also if I had DOS logitech mouse drivers to copy onto
the diskette.  I'm running an OS/2 only system here.  No DOS stuff. All I can
find scanning the Internet are Win/xx drivers. 
 
I'm running a Logitech PS/2 port scroll wheel mouse.  Works fine under OS/2.
No scroll wheel action but everything else works as expected. 
 
Everything I've tryed causes PQMAGIC to hang solid.  
 
I can delete all the mouse references from the diskette and come up in
keyboard mode.  PQMAGIC works in keyboard mode as near as I can tell.  Haven't 
tryed any of the magic yet. 
 
I JUST don't trust a product that put's you back in DOS mode and doesn't work 
right out of the box.  - ray  
 
--- PC-RAIN 1.00  (6)
 * Origin: Rasputin Compute's, Georgetown, Georgia  (1:3613/666)

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From: Lee Aroner                                        27-Oct-99 06:57:01
  To: Steve Mccrystal                                   28-Oct-99 11:07:21
Subj: Question

SM> ;
  > In a msg of <Sunday October 17 1999>, Linda Proulx writes to Bat Lang:

 LP> What does this program do actually?  The info does not actually
 LP> say.

SM> FWIW, from WarpCast:

SM>     SciTech Display Doctor for OS/2 Beta 8

SM>      You can download a copy of the beta from ftp.scitechsoft.com.


   Which, when installed, promptly boots up to a screen telling me 
   that the trial period has ended and prevents the OS from coming 
   up...68 seconds...the shortest approval period in history !

   I went back to the stock GRADD drivers for my ELSA Permedia-2 
   card.

                                               LRA


 -- SPEED 2.01 #2720:     ACK and ye shall receive.

--- Maximus/2 3.01
 * Origin: Top Hat BBS (1:343/40)

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From: George Fliger                                     27-Oct-99 06:17:22
  To: Mike Ruskai                                       28-Oct-99 11:07:21
Subj: Re: EIDE HDD >8.4Gb

On 26 Oct 99 11:52am, MIKE RUSKAI wrote to BAT LANG:

 MR> ... Beavis & Butthead: MST3000 for morons.

I thought MST3K *WAS* for morons! :)

George


... A diva who specializes in risqu'e arias is an off-coloratura soprano...
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From: Dan Egli                                          27-Oct-99 19:51:07
  To: Ray Hyder                                         28-Oct-99 11:07:21
Subj: Big Hard Drives & War

 -=> Quoting Ray Hyder to Dan Egli <=-

 DC> am aware of. Neither OS2 nor NT nor DOS will be able to access a FAT32

 RH> Partition Magic (4.0) here can't even find my Logitech PS/2 CE mouse.
 RH> It's not likely that I would trust PQMAGIC with anything on this
 RH> system.
 RH> I rate Partition Magic in the mostly sucks category.  - ray

I never sait it was PERFECT, just an option.

And about 3 days after I posted that, I found a Fat32 IFS module for OS/2.

... I know a good tagline when I steal one.

---
 * Origin: The Electronic Universe - 801-274-2049 - 24/7! (1:311/50)

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From: Stephen Haffly                                    26-Oct-99 11:33:00
  To: Steve McCrystal                                   28-Oct-99 11:07:21
Subj: DANIS506 driver question

On (24 Oct 99) Steve McCrystal wrote to Stephen Haffly...

Hi Steve,

 SH> The drive is an IDE connected 4 Gb compressed/2Gb uncompressed tape
 SH> drive that uses QIC-3080 Wide tapes.

 SM> Please, where do you get them?

I currently only have three of them.  I believe I saw them listed in a
Computer Shopper advertisement a while back.  I need to look for some
more myself.


TTYL,

Stephen
Team OS/2, Team GEOS
OS/2 & New Deal Office 98 - A great combination.

... I am positive that a definite maybe is probably in order.

--- PPoint 3.00
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From: George White                                      26-Oct-99 08:20:01
  To: Daniela Engert                                    29-Oct-99 13:33:07
Subj: DANIS506 driver question

Hi Daniela,

On 21-Oct-99, Daniela Engert wrote to Will Honea:

 WH>> As for the noise problem, I still use full size towers which
 WH>> means relatively long parallel cables.  I had all sorts of grief
 WH>> with about everything IDE until I picked up a handful of ferrite
 WH>> bars that IBM used on some of their early SCSI cables.  Clamped
 WH>> those on the cables and the erratic noise problems went away.

 DE> What a wonderful idea, indeed! Ferrite beads combined with 80-wire
 DE> cables might be the ultimate solution to 'tidy up' IDE channels

I prefer the ferrite bars, they're easier to apply.
There are standard solid (cheaper - for use when assembleing cables)
and split (for fitting over assembled cables) types available for
various flat ribbon cables. The RS catalogue lists a split type from
MMG Neosid, MMG Neosid part number 48-045-38, which is for a 50 way
cable (they don't list any for 40 way cables :-( ).
RS do have a German office/warehouse.
Mind you, I can see why the manufacturers don't fit them. Using them
would approximately double the component cost of a cable...

 WH>> Looking at the signals it appears that the termination of the
 WH>> IDC-type ribbon cables is not quite what the standard 130 ohm
 WH>> terminations match (it's actually closer to 120 ohms into a CMOS
 WH>> gate, anyway).

 DE> The latest spec (ATA5) sounds horrible to an electrical engineer:
 DE> there is no such thing as line termination which takes into
 DE> account the inclinations of waves travelling back and forth the
 DE> channel even in the remotest sense. Some of the connections just
 DE> have a pullup or pulldown resistor in the some kiloohms range,
 DE> that's all. Now take your pocket calculator out, remember the
 DE> 16MHz maximum clock, and you know where the 40cm maximum cable
 DE> length comes from

I feel ill. No wonder the ATA bus is so unrelible...
The spec must have been written by managers, no reasonably competant
engineer would specify it like that (though the stories of "production
ready" designs I and colleagues have had to redesign to make them fit
for production would fill a book).

George

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From: Leonard Erickson                                  28-Oct-99 01:42:04
  To: Stephen Haffly                                    29-Oct-99 13:33:07
Subj: DANIS506 driver question

 -=> Quoting Stephen Haffly to Will Honea <=-

 SH> On (24 Oct 99) Will Honea wrote to Stephen Haffly...

 SH> Hi Will,
 
 WH> These are ferrite castings (the dull gray metal you frequently see as
 WH> short cylinders around the leads near the phone line on modem cards or

 <SNIP>

 SH> Thanks.  There used to be a little electronics shop in town, but it
 SH> went out of business.  I'll have to try to find a catalog.  Thanks for
 SH> the description.

Actually, "ferrite" is a *ceramic* material. It looks a lot like the
metallic gray stuff they make those cheap magnets at Radio Shack from.

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