LANtastic Network Operating System Information Update File (README.DOC) -------------------------------------------------------- (C) Copyright 1990 Artisoft, Inc. (Revised 10/24/90) UPGRADING FROM V2.XX TO V3.XX OF LANtastic (Tm) NETWORK OPERATING SYSTEM When installing LANtastic NOS, a directory called LANTASTI is created when the workstation version is installed. When installing the SERVER version, two directories are created. One directory called LANTASTI contains all the program files. Another directory called LANTASTI.NET contains all the server configuration and user information. Inside LANTASTI.NET are two hidden directories. The hidden directories are called SYSTEM.NET and SPOOL.NET. There are also hidden files in these areas. You should NOT simply copy the new version of the software into the existing LANTASTI directory. You must run the INSTALL program to update the software. In previous versions, the printer control file, QCONTROL resided in the directory SYSTEM.NET. Version 3.00 and above require the QCONTROL file to reside in the SPOOL.NET subdirectory. The INSTALL program will automatically move the QCONTROL file to correct location in SPOOL.NET. If you simply copy the new version of the software into the LANTASTI subdirectory, NOS V3.00 and above will not be able to find the queue control file and will generate an error message. USING NOS V3.02 WITH PREVIOUS VERSIONS OF LANtastic DRIVER SOFTWARE NOS V3.02 is only compatible with the following versions and above of these LANtastic hardware drivers: AE2.EXE V1.15 LANBIOS.EXE V2.01 NE3.EXE V1.15 LANBIOS2.EXE V2.15 AILANBIO.EXE V1.15 Use the driver software on the disk with all network nodes. For example, if you are using LANtastic AE-2 adapters in your network, make sure all network nodes are running the most recent version of AE2.EXE AND AILANBIO.EXE. USING LANtastic NOS WITH OTHER MANUFACTURERS' NETWORKING HARDWARE LANtastic NOS V3.02 and above shipped with Artisoft starter kits (including LANtastic Z) will no longer work with non-Artisoft network hardware. To use other manufacturers' adapters, you must purchase the Adapter Independent (AI) version of LANtastic NOS. PRINTER TASKS AND PRINTER BUFFERS There are two new options in the Server Startup Parameters menu: "Printer Tasks" and "Printer Buffer." When you upgrade from NOS V2.XX to V3.XX, the INSTALL program will set the default number of printer tasks to 1 and the printer buffer size to 512 Kbytes. When the field, "Printer Buffer" is set to 0, it defaults to the smallest buffer size allowed, 512 bytes. When printer tasks are set to 0 it is the same as setting the field "Despooling" to DISABLED. USER ACCOUNTS AND SHARED RESOURCES PRESERVED WHEN YOU UPGRADE When upgrading from a previous version of LANtastic NOS, all existing user accounts and network resources are preserved. This allows you to use all the new features of LANtastic NOS, without having to set up your network again. REMOVING THE PEER PRIVILEGE As of V3.00, LANtastic NOS no longer allows you to assign a user the PEER privilege. If you are using an older version of NOS and have a user account with the P privilege enabled, the user will still be able to use this privilege after you upgrade. The P privilege will not be listed with the user's other privileges. To remove the PEER privilege for a user, do so BEFORE you install the new version of NOS. To remove the PEER privilege once you've upgraded, delete the user's account and create a new one. USING THE STARTNET BATCH FILE WITH LANBIOS AND NE3 The LANtastic INSTALL program provides you with the option of creating a batch file (STARTNET) to bring up the network software. It will run the NETBIOS for your adapter, SHARE (optional) as well as the Redirector and/or Server programs depending on whether the computer is to be a server, a workstation or both. It will also log you in to a server that you specify, and redirect a local drive for each available drive on the server. If you are using an NE3 Ethernet adapter, or a 2Mbps adapter card that uses LANBIOS, you may want to edit the INSTALL.FLS or the STARTNET batch file to make sure that the correct NETBIOS is run. NOTE: IF YOU ARE USING A LANtastic 2MBPS CARD THAT RUNS LANBIOS2, OR AN AE2 ETHERNET CARD, THE STARTNET PROGRAM WILL RUN THE CORRECT NETBIOS FOR YOUR ADAPTER. PROMPTING USERS FOR INFORMATION WITH NOS V3.XX In NOS V2.XX, prompting users for usernames and passwords was done using this syntax: NET LOGIN \\SERVER_NAME "?USERNAME: " "^PASSWORD: " In NOS V3.XX the syntax is as follows: NET LOGIN \\SERVER_NAME ?"USERNAME: " ^"PASSWORD: " Notice that the "?" and "^" appear outside the quotation marks. If you've created any batch files for V2.XX to prompt users for information, edit them to use the new syntax. MAINTENANCE RELEASE NOS V3.02 -------------------- AE-2.EXE V1.15 -------------------- * The AE2.EXE now supports the XEROX switch. When this switch is used, all transmitted packets will be in the XEROX format instead of the IEEE 802.3 standard. AE-2 will receive both XEROX and IEEE 802.3 packets whether the XEROX switch is used or not. WD8003.EXE and NE3.EXE also support this new switch. * IRQ conflicts with other hardware in a PC caused some computers to lock up. Although two devices should not share an interrupt, this will no longer lock up a PC. -------------------- AILANBIO.EXE V1.15 -------------------- * AILANBIO.EXE now properly supports up to 255 NCBs. -------------------- LANBIOS.EXE V2.01 -------------------- * The IRQ conflict problem described for AE-2 has also been resolved for LANBIOS. -------------------- LANCACHE.EXE V1.31 -------------------- * If there were a bad sector in a track, all the sectors in the track would be read as bad. This has been resolved in V1.31. * If AFTER_WRITE_DELAY and LONG_WRITE_DELAY were both set on the command line, sometimes their values were erroneously set to 0. * A warning message will now be returned if you try to cache disk drives larger than 65535 tracks. Drives with more than 65535 tracks will only have the first 65535 tracks cached; high track numbers will function as if no cache is loaded. Previously, data corruption could occur on these drives. * You can now use LANcache with programs that create a non-standard partition table for boot-up security. * LANcache now supports the SHUT_DOWN= switch described for SERVER. -------------------- LANPUP.EXE V3.02 -------------------- * Voice mail items cannot be read as text mail items and vice-versa. -------------------- NE3.EXE V1.15 -------------------- * NE3 now supports the XEROX switch described for AE-2. * The IRQ conflict problem described for AE-2 has also been resolved for NE3. ----------------------- NET.EXE 09-17-90 4:56pm ----------------------- * The NET COPY command now returns an error message if the disk becomes full during a copy. * The commands NET COPY, NET PRINT and NET DIR now function more like their DOS counterparts. -------------------- REDIR.EXE V3.02 -------------------- * When using DOS V4.0, REDIR now returns the correct drive letter in critical error messages. * Users of Clipper and similar programs may now use the COMMIT FILE command to flush data to disk. * Some older XT hard drive controllers were compatible with NOS 2.57 but not NOS V3.00. * "PRN " would not be recognized as "PRN" due to the extra space character. * COBOL applications would lock up when trying to execute an .EXE file from a COBOL compiled program. This error may also be responsible for problems with executing, copying or linking large files across the network. -------------------- SERVER.EXE V3.02 -------------------- * SERVER and LANcache now have a SHUT_DOWN= switch to assign the keystrokes for shutting down the server and flushing the cash. The default keystrokes are Ctrl+Alt+Del. When you use this switch, Ctrl+Alt will remain constant, but you can assign keys A through Z to be used in place of the Del key. For example, the command line: SERVER/SHUT_DOWN=S would assign the keystrokes Ctrl+Alt+S to shut down the server. This switch is useful when running software that traps Ctrl+Alt+Del commands and thus prevents you from shutting down the server or flushing the cache. * Verbose output for the SERVER program can now be redirected to a file. * COM3 and COM4 ports can be used locally. Previously, the SERVER program would control COM ports 1 through 4, even though LANtastic NOS only supports COM1 and COM2. * Users of Clipper and similar programs may now use the COMMIT FILE command to flush data to disk. * Improper tab expansion would cause the first print job sent to a server to have extra characters at the start of the print job. * Intermittent rename failures giving the DOS error "Duplicate file name or file not found" or the WordPerfect error "Cannot rename file" are resolved. * PKUNZIP with a D option and other programs would not correctly create files when the directory containing the files did not exist. LANtastic NOS will now function correctly with these programs. UPDATE TO THE LANtastic NETWORK OPERATING SYSTEM USER'S MANUAL Please substitute the following description of the LANCACHE AFTER_WRITE_DELAY switch for the one found in the section "Running LANCACHE With Command Line Options." AFTER_WRITE_DELAY-ddd (3) 0-3600 Every time LANCACHE writes to disk, this interval is reset. If the amount of time that you specify (in seconds) for AFTER_WRITE_DELAY expires, the cache flushes its data to disk. Setting the value to 0 will make the cache immediately write data to disk. The field must be set to a smaller value than LONG_WRITE_DELAY, or LANCACHE will use the LONG_WRITE_DELAY value.