Hands On - OS/2 - Warp factor 4

After months of Dial Other Internet Provider hegemony, this month's column sees the welcome return of networking questions and a timely reminder that the Year 2000 is just around the corner.

Gareth Beckett is responsible for maintaining a small LAN running an OS/2 server with a mixture of OS/2, Windows 95/98 and DOS clients, and he's had little luck asking IBM for authoritative advice. Gareth wants to ensure that his server and clients will be Year 2000-ready.

As part of his preparations he is considering upgrading the server to Warp 4, and wonders whether LAN Server 4 Advanced will run on Warp 4.

Finding the right IBM person to ask for information isn't easy unless you're one of the company's favoured large customers, like banks. But, to its credit, IBM does have a comprehensive Year 2000 readiness website with plenty of information on OS/2, at www.software.ibm.com/os/warp/ solutions/and/y2000/year2000.html.

This site takes you through a three-step plan to establish the compliance of OS/2 products you're using and to bring them up to readiness with replacements or FixPaks (see screenshot, above).

I can't find any definitive advice on whether LAN Server 4 will run on Warp 4, only anecdotal stuff in the newsgroups; but then again, I can't find any reason why it shouldn't. IBM confused everyone when it introduced Warp Server 4, because it doesn't include Warp 4. It's actually a packaging of Warp 3 and LAN Server 5. What's more, there are no major changes between the base LAN Server 4.0 and the base LAN Server 5 or, for that matter, between Warp 3 and Warp 4.

What does change is some of the additional functionality: for example, Warp 4 has a flashier GUI than Warp 3, and upgraded IBM peer networking.

IBM is always careful to maintain a consistent underlying base system so that applications don't break when people upgrade from one OS/2 base to the next. This can be seen from the way Warp 3 users can now run the latest Netscape and Java packages after applying a recent Warp 3 FixPak.

By applying the latest FixPaks to Warp 3 and LAN Server 4.0, the base systems of both can be brought up to Warp 4 and LAN Server 5 equivalence. So, it seems to me that if one did this, LAN Server 4.0 would run quite happily on Warp 4. I'd try it on a test machine before going live on the network, though!

And finally, since you can make Warp 3 Year 2000-ready with FixPak £32 or later, you don't really need to upgrade Warp 3 to Warp 4 after all.

- As easy as C: and D:

Janette has written in, enquiring about Windows support in Warp 3. She has added a second hard disk with DOS and Windows 3.1 to a running OS/2 system. Could she use the Windows applications residing on the new hard disk which was recognised as the D: drive?

Well, there's the hard way, and the easy way. Assuming that Warp 3 is the only operating system on the original drive, there's no easy way to swap the drives so that the DOS/Windows drive becomes the C: drive, which will allow it to boot into DOS and run Windows. Doing this will shift Warp to the D: drive, and as it expects to be on C:, it won't boot. There are ways of getting round this, but they're too much like hard work just to run some Windows applications. Backing up the data, reformatting and reinstalling is another option, but that would require the availability of the original installation disks.

The easy way is to use Warp 3's built-in support for 16-bit Windows applications. Use Selective Install to add Win-OS/2 support, and point it at the Windows directory on the D: drive.

Open the OS/2 System folder, then open System Setup and start Selective Install. Click OK to skip past System Configuration, as you won't be changing anything here. The next screen lists various supplementary features including Win-OS/2 Support. Click on it to select it, then click on the adjacent 'More ...' button. Choose the Advanced Configuration option, and OK to open the dialogue box which allows you to set the location of your Windows files.

Enter the location of the Windows 3.1 system (e.g. D:/WINDOWS) under 'Path to the existing Windows system'. You can leave it at this if you want the default Win-OS/2 desktop, or you can click on 'Copy Win-OS/2 Desktop from existing Windows Desktop' to use the desktop configuration files from D:/WINDOWS. Place a tick in the 'Update ...' box if you want any changes you subsequently make in Win-OS/2 to be reflected in D:/Windows as well.

Hit OK, Select Next, and make sure that 'Add existing programs to your desktop' is checked. That's it. Reboot, and you can run the Windows applications from the D: drive.

UPDATES FOR SERVERS

The question most people ask about LAN Server and Warp 4 is whether one can run Warp Server 4 on Warp 4: the answer is yes! See www. raleigh.ibm.com:80/ cgi-bin/ bookmgr/ BOOKS/ sg242125/5.3 for the gory details.

- If you're running Windows 95 and Warp Server, you can pop over to IBM Software Choice to download the latest Windows 95 client.

This site also has a Windows NT client for Warp Server and a browser enabler so that Warp Server resources show up in the Windows clients. See service.boulder.ibm.com/asd-bin/ doc/en_us/home.htm

SUMMER SHORTS

Ian Park has pointed out that BT Internet does in fact publish the IP addresses of its servers, but it was too late to include this information in the last column. Ian came across the details in a paper copy of the 'Welcome' mail which BT Internet sent to him. He still found it odd that the tech support people wouldn't reveal the information.

- The WarpUK user group continues to grow, as does its website. The group is now 'a fully-fledged fee-paying group with a constitution,' says group secretary Chris Lindley, and the mailing list has become a good problem-solving resource.

The group also produces a CD-ROM of current FixPaks and utilities.

www.warp.in-uk.net

- Philip Sheard offered his keyboard editor (KED) for inclusion on the cover CD. For legal reasons it's easier for me to point you at his website, where you can download it. It's only 50Kb. Go to www.sheardp.freeserve.co.uk/ Warp/index.htm where you'll also find a small collection of useful bits and pieces including advice on setting up a network over a null modem cable.

- Colin Haynes kindly helped me out by pointing me towards a selection of Numlock enablers on the Hobbes OS/2 file store at hobbes.nmsu.edu/.

They're in the /pub/os2/util/keyboard directory - no wonder I couldn't find them! I tried the most recent addition, NUMLOCK2.ZIP, a half-megabyte download, and couldn't get it to work. Maybe you can. It's shareware costing $12. But then I tried the older and distinctly unflashy NUMLOCK.ZIP (15Kb) and it works a treat. If you add RUN= NUMLOCK Set, it switches on Num Lock each time you boot up. Marvellous!

- Alex Don has a fast 300MHz PC with 32Mb RAM, but when he boots it up, it takes about a minute to go from the initial logo screen to the desktop, during which there is no hard-disk activity. Alex doesn't say what hardware he has, so I'm only guessing, but there are two potential culprits. One is the hard-disk driver, the other is networking.

You can have a stab at identifying the perp by pressing Alt-F2 at boot time when you see the 'OS/2 Loading' blob in the top left-hand corner of the screen. This makes Warp identify each driver as it loads and you should be able to see where the delay is occurring.

PCW CONTACTS

Terence Green welcomes your feedback on the OS/2 column. Contact him via the PCW editorial office or email os2@pcw.co.uk.

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