LinkRight for Lans Demo

This is a demo.  The software is slightly crippled.  Here are 
the restrictions:

  Only a single file can be transferred.  No directories or
  subdirectories.
  
  The file to be transferred must be less than 1.2 megabytes.  A
  file larger than this will not transfer.
  
  The LinkRight utilities described in the online help are not
  included.
  
  The Administrator version is not included.  This means no
  multicasting of files and no cloning features.  Only the
  User version is included.
  
  The OS/2 command line version is not included.  You cannot run
  this demo from OS/2 bootable floppies.  You need OS/2 completely
  installed to run this demo.
  
  There is no fancy installation routine.  It's a manual process
  to install this demo, but it's not too difficult.
  
These restrictions only apply to the demo version.  The shrink
wrapped version does not have these restrictions.  If you like
the demo and would like to purchase the product, please contact
Indelible Blue at (800) 776-8284 or (919) 834-7005 or OS/2 Express at 
(800) 672-5945 and (612) 823-6255. Street price for this product is 
about $79 for a 10 user license, $249 for a 100 user license and 
$995 for a 1000 user license.

Also available is LinkRight for parallel and serial ports.
The street price is about $70 without cables and $99 with cables.  
Distributor sales by Micro Central.  For more information, contact 
Rightware Inc. (301) 762-1151 FAX (301) 762-1185.

Installation

Installing this demo is easy.  You should unzip to a directory,
drag a Program template from your Templates folder to your desktop,
fill in the name and path, set the working directory, and LinkRight
for LANs is ready to roll.  No config.sys changes, no rebooting
necessary. (The shrink wrapped version has a GUI installation
procedure).

Using LinkRight For LANs

Included is the first pass at a manual.  It's in ASCII text format.
Look for LRMANUAL.TXT.  It's about the same as the online help, so if
you read one, you don't have to read the other (if your reading
comprehension is good and I wrote the documentation well).

LinkRight for Lans uses Netbios.  To get this installed, use IBM 
Network Transport Services/2 (NTS/2) for Lan Adapter and Protocol
Support (LAPS).  This is a subset of the standard OS/2 Requester, which
is available for IBM Lan Server 3.0.  For cloning, you will need
to use ThinLaps to get a minimal system for bootable floppies.

For Novell users or TCP/IP users, you can use this product if you have
installed support for IBM NetBIOS along with the other drivers.  It is
tricky and difficult and not something that Rightware will assist with,
so you're on your own.  Rightware will provide a NetBIOS test routine
that you can use to check out your NetBIOS.  If your systems can run
this test program, they'll run LinkRight for LANs OK.  Look for this
test program on Compuserve in OS2AVEN lib 1 filename LRNBIO.ZIP.  It is
also included with this package as LRNBIO.EXE and LRNBIO.TXT.

LinkRight use ASCNETB.DLL for network calls.  You will find this .DLL
mentioned in the Novell OS/2 Requester online help and methods of 
using applications that use this .DLL

If you can't get LRNBIO.EXE to run on your systems, you should probably
wait for version 1.1 of this product to use.  Version 1.1 will support
Novell SPX / IPX and TCP/IP.

Bugs and Gotchas.

(Some of this stuff is not applicable for this demo.  I included it
with this README merely for completeness so you'll know what to expect
if you buy the full version).

When you change the name of a system, you must close LinkRight and restart
it for the change to take effect.

When multicasting, if the file is not unpacked on the fly, it will be named
LRMULTI.DAT.  So if you will be doing multiple files, you should do them
separately and be sure to rename LRMULTI.DAT or it will be overwritten.

If "Packed Mode" is checked under Cloning Options on the Administrator's
Version and you are sending files from the Administrator's Version,
make sure it is a valid packed file or you will get wierd results.  When
you are receiving files in Packed Mode, all files will be packed into
LRPACK.DAT.  You cannot append files to LRPACK.DAT, instead LRPACK.DAT
will be overwritten.  In other words, every time you hit the Copy
pushbutton, a new LRPACK.DAT will be created.

You must leave disk 1 in drive A: after booting OS/2 bootable floppies 
to run LRLANCMD.EXE.  Because of this, the REBOOT option is useless.  
I had hoped to be able to let you clone a system, have it automatically 
reboot and bring up the OS/2 desktop.  It looks like the final reboot 
will have to be a manual step.

Two additional files are needed for Warp bootable floppies.  They are
DOSCALL1.DLL and NLS.DLL.  These are needed to set up the swapper and
for LRLANCMD.EXE to run.  You can find these files in C:\OS2\DLL on
a Warped system.  Copy them to diskette 1 of your modified bootable 
floppies.

LinkRight initializes the network once at startup immediately after
selecting Local or Remote.  If you have problems getting a connection,
close LinkRight and restart it to re-initialize the network.

It was found that strange and bizarre things happened if you exited
LinkRight during network initialization.  Rather than fix it, I just
disabled this, so if you start LinkRight then try to exit immediately,
you won't be able to.  Instead you'll have to wait 10 seconds or so
for the network initialization to complete before exiting.  Also, if
the network does not intialize properly, LinkRight will exit immediately.
You should run LRNBIO.EXE to make sure your NetBIOS installation is
working properly.

You should install the Administrator version and User version to the
same directory, but some things may work differently than you expect.
When you start the User version, it will turn off all the Administrator
version features.  When you then restart the Administrator version,
cloning options may not be the same as you last left them.  So, to be safe,
you should examine the Cloning options immediately after starting
the Administrator version.

When using the Administrator version, if you mark "Packed Mode", any
files received are packed into a single big file named LRPACK.DAT.  If
you send a file, it should be a valid packed file and it will be
unpacked on the fly by the receiving system(s) unless "Unpack At End"
is checked.

Good luck and let me know how it goes.

Jeff Tremble 
President Rightware Inc.
Compuserve ID 71033,3517
Internet ID jtrembl@ibm.net