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February 2001
editor@os2voice.org

Letters, Addendum, Errata

If you have any comments regarding articles or tips in this or any previous issue of the VOICE Newsletter, please send them to editor@os2voice.org. We are always interested in what our readers have to say.

January 2, 2001 - Here's an update on a problem I experienced during my review of the IBM Wireless LAN kit - IBM Wireless LAN kit -http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL0600H/vnewsf5.htm, with having both a hardwired network adapter and the wireless adapter in my laptop at the same time. The following is from Dominique Pivard who had some success with the problem:
It is possible to use both the wireless LAN and the hardwired LAN adapters at the same time in a laptop and have access to the net over which ever LAN is active, without rebooting and without removing one of the LAN adapters.

In my setup, lan0 is the interface for the hardwired LAN and lan1 the interface for the wireless LAN. The key thing when you are not connected to the hardwired LAN and you want to force everything to go through the wireless LAN is to disable lan0 by issuing "ifconfig lan0 192.168.0.5 delete". I found that otherwise data intended for 192.168.0.* (in my case, the ADSL router providing access to the Internet is on that subnet) would try (unsuccessfully of course) to go through lan0, regardless of the routes defined through the base unit.

So I ended up creating two versions of setup.cmd, one for wireless only (setup1.cmd), one for wireless+hardwired (setup2.cmd). I run one or the other, depending whether I'm connected to the hardwired LAN or whether I have to rely only on the wireless LAN.

The files are as follows:
setup1.cmd:

REM Only wireless LAN (interface lan1) is in use
REM we use the base station (0.3/1.3) as the default gateway
route flush
arp -f
ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1
REM we delete lan0 (if it exists), otherwise requests to subnet 192.168.0
REM will go through it, even though we have defined a default route to
REM 192.168.1.3
ifconfig lan0 192.168.0.5 delete
ifconfig lan1 192.168.1.5 netmask 255.255.255.0 metric 0 mtu 1500
REM we define a default route to the hardwired subnet 192.168.0 via the base unit
route add -net 192.168.0 192.168.1.3
REM we define the base unit as the default gateway
route add default 192.168.1.3
setup2.cmd
REM Both the wireless LAN (lan1) and the hardwired LAN (lan0) are in use
REM we want to use the faster hardwired LAN by default
route flush
arp -f ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1
ifconfig lan0 192.168.0.5 netmask 255.255.255.0 metric 0 mtu 1500
ifconfig lan1 192.168.1.5 netmask 255.255.255.0 metric 0 mtu 1500
route add default 192.168.0.7

January 14, 2001 - Here's a letter from Jesper Nee of Sweden:
Hi,
I'm from Sweden and have been using os2 since 1995. I really appreciate VOICE but there is one problem and that is the timezones. While it is easy for us in Europe to read the articles it's much harder to be up at 02:00 am and join the IRC sessions.

I will try and contribute somehow, perhaps an article, and I have begun visiting #VOICE.

Keep up the good work! With all the new open source software and eCS coming along
(I am actually writing this with the preview version and Pmmail) things seem to shape up for warp. I believe it's going to be a good year.

Regards

Jesper Nee

Mark's reply:
We periodically try to schedule events at European friendly times, but unfortunately these have been poorly attended in the past. If there is a particular speaker you think would be of interest to European OS/2 users please let our liason (Judy McDermott - judy@moon-scape.com ) know and she can try to set up a Speakup event at a more preferred time. It's been difficult for at least one of our board members to attend IRC meetings as well, as he is in England, and we have been considering switching at least the monthly VOICE Board of directors meeting to accommodate him. It's just a problem finding the optimum time. People tend to be busy on weekends, and weekdays people work. If you have any suggestions please let me know.

We can always use articles for the newsletter. :-)

Mark

I recently described installing an Adaptec 29160N SCSI adapter in
my system, mentioning along the way that my Yamaha 4416S drive no
longer worked. This report is an update which may save you a ton
of grief, should you be thinking of installing the same board.

January 25, 2001 - Here's a letter from to Timothy F. Sipples regarding Matt Pierce's article in the January 2001 VOICE Newsletter - Guidelines for configuring OS/2 Warp 4.0 for Access to a Routed NT Domain - http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL0101H/vnewsf4.htm:
Dear Editor:

I read with great interest the article in the January newsletter describing
how OS/2 Warp can participate in routed (TCP/IP) networks with other file
and print sharing systems, such as other OS/2 Warp systems, Samba systems
(Linux, UNIX, etc.), and Windows systems. I'd like to expand on that
article in a couple areas and offer your readers some additional
information.

Starting with MPTS level 08700, OS/2 Warp now supports using ordinary
TCP/IP DNS servers to perform NetBIOS name lookups. Provided the NetBIOS
computer name of the server or peer you're trying to reach is registered
with the DNS server (as well as the domain name of the domain controller,
if necessary), your OS/2 Warp system should be able to find it now without
resorting to using names or broadcast lists. (This feature is also
sometimes called "RFC Unencoded NetBIOS name lookups.")

More information on this feature can be found in the documentation
accompanying MPTS 08700, as well as in the help screens in the
configuration panels for the NetBIOS over TCP/IP protocol. MPTS 08700 also
introduced other new and significant TCPBEUI features, so it's worth
reading up on them.

MPTS level 08700 is available as part of the IBM TCP/IP Version 4.3 package
for OS/2 Warp, Warp Server for e-business, and WorkSpace On-Demand.
(TCP/IP 4.3 is a "reserved feature" on Software Choice, meaning that it is
only available to those with current Software Choice or Passport Advantage
subscription plans.) It is also provided in eComStation from Serenity
Systems (http://www.serenity-systems.com) -- yet another reason to take a
look at that package.

Note that TCP/IP Version 4.3 also includes the latest and greatest version
of NFS (client and server), a popular TCP/IP-based file sharing protocol
from the UNIX world.

Your readers should be aware that there are a small number of problems with
MPTS level 08700, including problems with dialers such as the AT&T Business
Internet dialer (formerly IBM Global Network dialer) and InJoy. (Fixes are
available and will undoubtedly be incorporated into later service levels.)

DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name System) is not only for OS/2 Warp-based networks,
as the article states. The DDNS client in OS/2 Warp can be used in
conjunction with DHCP, so that systems which get different numeric IP
addresses via DHCP maintain the same DNS registered names. DDNS has been
accepted as an Internet (RFC) standard, and Warp Server Version 4, which
happened to include a DDNS server beginning in early 1996, was perhaps the
first commercial implementation of that standard. (Several UNIX platforms
now support DDNS, and Microsoft has moved to support it in Windows 2000,
replacing its proprietary WINS protocol.)

For further reading on NetBIOS over TCP/IP with OS/2 Warp, I recommend
consulting these references:

"Beyond DHCP..." (IBM Redbook, available at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com)

"Timmy's Simple Guide: Connecting Warp to Windows" (Published at 32 Bits
Online,

http://www.32bitsonline.com/article.php3?file=issues/199809/netbios&page=1)

Keep up the good work!

- - - - -
Timothy F. Sipples
IBM Business Connect Software (Chicago)
E-Mail: tsipple@us.ibm.com
[Sent with Lotus Notes for OS/2 Warp]


January 25, 2001 - Here's an update to Andrew Stephenson's article in the December 2000 VOICE Newsletter - Adventures in Adaptec U160+ Land -http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL1200H/vnewsf4.htm:
In early December (2000), I checked with Adaptec's helpline (in
Belgium, but their English was good) who told me that the problem
was a known bug in SCSI BIOS 2.57 and that the fix, for now, was
to downgrade to 2.55, using the utility obtainable from Adaptec's
Web site. Version 3 is due in February 2001 and should cure the
problem. Until then, BIOS 2.57 (my board had 2.57.2) is apt to
refuse to work with some units.

Following the instructions, I reduced the adapter to a confused
state, so that if it was plugged in, my computer would not even
boot from a floppy. IOW the BIOS replacement procedure, simple
on the face of it, failed. My fault? Theirs? Who knows?

The board went back for replacement under warranty. (BTW Adaptec
UK said they do not repair boards; it's not cost effective.) Two
days ago the new board arrived, after over six weeks of being off
line. I am hoping BIOS 3 will upgrade nicely, as the replacement
board also has 2.57.2...

HTH.
--
Andrew Stephenson


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