Ref: 99980153
Title: Customer Care Bulletin, March 1985
Date: 3/1/85

Copyright 3Com Corporation, 1991.  All rights reserved.

.h1;USING MULTIMATE IN PUBLIC VOLUMES

If MultiMate is used in a public volume, an error message may
appear when exiting the program which indicates that the user
does not have write permission to the volume. Using the command
"abort" or "ignore" is usually sufficient to allow exiting of the
program without damaging anything.

This error condition is caused when MultiMate tries to write the
printer queue file back to the volume upon exiting the program.
The Quality Control Manager at MultiMate has provided us
with a patch which will prevent this error message from
occurring.  This patch is for MultiMate Version 3.22.

To implement the patch:

Log in as the user who created the MultiMate volume and link
the volume containing MultiMate to a drive specifier.

Example: A>es login server1; link d:sys2; link e:mmate
         A>

Make the MultiMate volume's drive the default drive.

Example: A> e:
         E>

Rename the file WP.EXE to WP.TST. If you wish, you may use the COPY command
in place of RENAME.

Example: rename wp.exe wp.tst

DEBUG the WP.TST file.  If the DEBUG program is not on your
default drive, preface the command with the drive your system
volume is linked to.

Example: d:debug wp.tst

Change the file as follows(`-' is the DEBUG prompt):

- e cs:0682 E9 25 00

Write the changes to the file:

  - w
  Writing xxx bytes

Quit the DEBUG program:

  - q

Rename the file WP.TST to WP.EXE. If you used the COPY command
before, use it here in place of the RENAME command.

Example: rename wp.tst wp.exe

After making this change, you can login as any user, link the
public MultiMate volume and run the program. When you exit the
program, you will not receive any error message.  Our thanks
to MultiMates Quality Control Center for this information.


.h1;2.4 USER SOFTWARE - - INCORRECT SETUP FILE

Some EtherShare User's Software Version 2.4 was shipped with an
incorrect FDSETUP.BAT file. This batch file is used when loading
the user's software on to an XT or other hard disk system.

The incorrect FDSETUP.BAT file looks like this:

  ren config.sys config.old
  copy b:enet.sysa:
  copy b:config.sys a:
  copy b:es.com a:
  copy b:login.bat a:
  copy b:ep.com a:
  copy b:print.bas a:
  copy b:startvol.bat a:
  copy b:autostrt.bat a:
  copy b: bootrcrd a:
  REM     EtherShare Software Installation Complete

If your FDSETUP.BAT file matches the one shown above, you must
use EDLIN or any other editor to change every occurrence of
'a:'to 'c:' and every occurrence of 'b:' to 'a:'.

The correct FDSETUP.BAT file should look like this:

  ren config.sys config.old
  copy a:enet.sys c:
  co py a: config.sys c:
  copy a:es.com c:
  copy a:login.bat c:
  copy a:ep.com c:
  copy a:print.bas c:
  copy a:startvol.bat c:
  copy a:autostrt.bat c:
  copy a:bootrcrd c:
  REM     EtherShare Software Installation Complete

.h1;ETHERMENU - USING THE NETWORK VOLUMES AND PRINTERS MENU

As stated in the Release Notes (Jan 25, 1985, page 17), in order
to make use of the Network Volumes and Printers portion of
EtherMenu, you must first run two programs, TARBUF and MENUINIT.
These programs are loaded into the system volume when menus are
installed.

TARBUF must be run before running MENUINIT. TARBUF establishes a
memory buffer on our PC and MENUINIT polls the network server(s)
for information about users an printers. The information is then
stored in the memory buffer which was established by TARBUF. This
information will remain in the buffer until you reboot your
system.

The TARBUF and MENUINIT commands must be executed after you have
logged into the system. You may place them in either the
LOGIN.BAT file or the AUTOEXEC.BAT file by following these
examples:

 LOGIN.BAT

    echo off
    es login % 1
    es link d: sys.sys2; link e: in box
    d:
    tarbuf
    menuinit
    esmenu

When the user types "LOGIN USER 1", the LOGIN.BAT file will log
him into the system, link the system volume to drive D: and
the inbox volume to drive E:, make the default drive D:,
execute the TARBUF and MENUINIT programs, and run the menu
program.

or

AUTOEXEC.BAT

If you place TARBUF and MENUINIT in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you
must have an ES LOGIN command executed first.

    echo off
    es login userl
    es link d: sys.sys2; link e: in box
    d:
    tarbuf
    menuinit
    esmenu

When the system is booted, USER1 will be logged in, the system
volume will be linked to D:, inbox linked to E:, default
drive made D:, TARBUF and MENUINIT will be executed and the
menu program will be run.

If you try to run TARBUF and MENUINIT without logging into the
network first, the following error message will result:

  - 2 *** Server not responding

 not server not server not server not server not server
 not server not server not server not server not server

At this point do a CTRL - BREAK to stop the "NOT SERVER" messages
from scrolling over your monitor.


.h1;ETHERSERIES 2.4 0VERVIEW: MOST COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS

ETHERPRINT

What improved printer performance will I see?

EtherPrint has been rewritten to improve its performance in
Standard Mode. This improvement is most noticeable while programs
like Lotus 1-2-3 are being run by the local user. The new
EtherPrint is designed to work best with printers having
internal or external buffers, although non - buffered printers
can be used.  Results of tests at 3Com showed improved
performance of 300 - 500%, and more, over EtherPrint 2.2.

Any other suggestions for improving printer performance?

Yes, read the "Hardware Questions and Answers" section that
follows for the list of printers 3Com has tested with EtherSeries
2.4.  Using one of these printers will insure easy installation
and good performance.

Is printing affected by the number of printers on the server?

Overall printer(s) performance will be dependent on how many
printers are actively printing at any time. The server has only a
fixed capacity; therefore, as features are added, e.g., disk
sharing, local user, mail, printer 1, printer 2, each function
receives less of the overall server processing capacity.
However, we have taken steps to insure that all functions make
the maximum use of server resources.

How many printers can I have on a server?

in Standard Mode the server supports two parallel and one serial
printer. In Dedicated Mode the server supports two parallel
printers. 3Server supports one serial and one parallel printer.

What improvements have been been made to control single - sheet
feeding to the printer or forms control for preprinted forms
like checks and invoices?  Progress has been made in two ways.
First, a new mode has been added to EtherPrint called /DIRECT to
enable a user at a workstation to take direct control of a
server's shared printer for a given time. Also, use of the /PLOT
mode eliminates banner pages and form feeds from being generated
by EtherPrint.  The user now has complete control of the printer,
as if it were local, allowing single - sheet feeding/printing
under application control.

If the application has control of the printer, would special
forms printing such as checks be controlled through the direct
mode?

Yes.

What about other users who want to use the printer?

While one user has direct control of the printer, no other user
can be printing. However, any print requests sent to the
printer are simply spooled for printing when the printer is
released from the direct link.

Can one user monopolize the printer?

It's possible, but we have a built - in default timeout of 10
minutes (which can be changed by the user). If the printer is
directly linked but not used in that time, it automatically
unlinks and begins printing jobs in the spooled printer queue.
Users will have to follow good network etiquette in using the
DIRECT mode.


.h1;HARDWARE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Which personal computers have been tested to run EtherSeries 2.4
on the network?

While many other PC compatibles are installed on thousands of
EtherSeries networks, the PCs below are the ONLY ones we have
tested ourselves.

We have tested the following PCs as workstations.

    - IBM PC/XT
    - Compaq Portable
    - Compaq Plus
    - AT&T 6300
    - Compaq DeskPro
    - IBM PC AT
    - Zenith 150
    - HP 150*
    - TI Professional*

    *Test with Version 2.1 user software. Version 2.4 user and
     server software are not available.

What PCs can be used as servers?

Again, while many PC compatibles with hard disks are being used
today on EtherSeries networks, the ones we have tested are:

   - IBM PC with Tallgrass Mountain and Alloy PCstore hard disks
   - IBM XT with or without expansion chassis
   - IBM PC -AT
   - Compaq DeskPro with internal hard disk
   - AT&T 6300 with internal hard disk

What if I have a different brand I want to use for a server
or workstation?

If you call Customer Support we will give you information on the
product you wish to install, if we have knowledge on that product
(we are constantly testing new products on the network). HOWEVER,
beyond that we recommend that you install and test the product,
as we CANNOT give you direct support on products we have not had
the opportunity to test in - house.

What about third party hard disks, printers and plug - in boards?

First, about third-party harddisks. We have tested the Tallgrass,
Alloy PCstor and Mountain on the IBM PC.

For printers we have tested the following:

    Serial        Parallel
    HP Laserjet   Epson FX - 100
                  NEC P2/P3
                  TI Omni
                  Okidata Micro 92/93
                  C.Itoh Prowriter 11
                  Diablo 630

For boards, we have tested the AST 6 - Pack.

We believe the above lists of products are the most widely used
on our network.  This input has come from our resellers and
endusers.  There are certainly many other products on the market,
some more compatible with the IBM PC than others.  If you choose
other products, you will have to test it on the network yourself
to insure its compatability. We would like to know about these
products which do work, as shared information will benefit it us
all.

NOTE: Many of the higher performance PCs, such as the DeskPro and
AT, are so fast that our older versions of software have trouble
keeping up. If you have any of these in a network, we stronqly
recommend that you upgrade ALL workstations and servers to
EtherSeries 2.4, as several software changes have been
incorporated to handle these higher performance systems.

