=== eComStation 2.0 beta 4 README ===

!!! WHEN TESTING BETA SOFTWARE, ALWAYS BE SURE TO HAVE A TRIED AND TESTED 
    BACK OF YOUR SYSTEM !!!

Thank you for your interest in testing the latest beta of eComStation 2.0. 
A great deal of effort has been made to improve the usefulness to the 
product. Please see the 'WHATSNEW.TXT' document for an overview of all 
changes.

This product is available for download to all registered users of Software 
Subscription Services for eComStation.  For more information, please 
visit:  http://www.ecomstation.com/subscription/

This beta offers a number of improvements that we would like to have tested
on a larger number of configurations.  These are:

** Preboot harddisk integrity check **

There are several situations which may cause installation problems with LVM
in the install process. In this Beta (4), it is possible to disable the 
integrity check at page 2 (miscellaneous) of the eComStation installer 
preboot menu.

- PBR problems:  Set when either the 'hidden sectors' or the geometry fields 
in a bootsector do not match the position of the partition or the used 
disk-geometry.

- CHS problems:  Set when the CHS-values in a partition-table for a 
  partition do NOT match the current disk-geometry used by the operating 
  system.  This may lead to error from (mini)LVM about the disk being 
  'corrupt'.  Another possible cause for this error is that if there are 
  any partitions present on a disk that have NO LVM information at all, 
  and are of a type that gets a default driveletter assigned in that case 
  (by OS2LVM.DMD/OS2DASD.CMD)

- Boot problems:  Set when extended-containers are marked ACTIVE, when 
  multiple primaries are marked ACTIVE, or if any non-standard flagbyte 
  values are used in the partitiontable.  These errors MAY lead to the 
  system failing to boot properly!

These will now be detected before the installer starts and an option to fix
them is being presented.  If you choose not to fix them, you are not able 
to proceed the installation. 

This technology uses a custom DFSee 'engine' and should be safe, however, 
neither Serenity Systems International nor Fsys can be held liable for any 
damages that may occur to the data on your harddrive.


** Harddisk volume resizing **

This beta has a custom DFSee engine that enables reliable RESIZING of FAT32 
and NTFS filesystems to allow shrinking an existing Windows installation to 
make room for eComStation on the same system.  While this functionality has 
been available in DFSee (and the OEM Engine) for quite a while, it was NOT 
considered reliable enough to offer to end users during eComStation install.  
Starting with DFSee release 7.12, and the OEM Engine based on that, the 
reliability of resizing has improved to the point where it can be used 
without hesitation for this purpose.  A Windows NTFS filesystem resized by 
DFSee will pass a subsequent Windows CHKDSK with NO ERRORS now. The engine 
included in Beta 4 is at level 8.08.

The GUI to this tool has been updated and is now using a graphical interface. 
To invoke it, please select 'Paritition Resizing Tool' from the Installation 
Volume Manager which can be called during installation (choose 'New Volume' 
to start MiniLVM). It will take a while to complete loading, when done, 
please select Next to show the list of resizable volumes. If the list is 
empty, this means there is no suitable volume detected that has enough free 
space for it to be resized.

** Genmac **

This package provides generic driver support for several network interface 
cards under OS/2 and eComStation.  Moreover, Genmac is enabled to support WPA 
encryption with the Wireless LAN Monitor 3.x or better.

Genmac and the Wireless LAN monitor will be installed when the appropriate 
hardware is detected by the installer.  If it is not detected, you can 
manually select the driver in the network installation dialog.

Note:  only the selected driver will be copied onto your system, in order to 
prevent problems with the MPTS installer later on.  This may seem confusing, 
when you run MPTS in a later stage, it will not show all Genmac supported 
NICs.

A full list of supported NIC chipsets can be found in 'WHATSNEW.TXT'. 
Support has been added to autodetect the 284 NICs that are using one of 
these chipsets.

** ACPI & APM **

Support for ACPI is available in this beta.  The current version is 2.18.  
ACPI will be automatically enabled if appropriate hardware is detected. 
You can manually enable or disable ACPI support at page 2 (miscellaneous) 
of the eComStation installer preboot menu.  Even if not installed, the 
corresponding documents are installed on your harddrive. You can find 
detailed information and testdocuments in \ECS\DOC\ACPI and \ECS\DOC\APM

Several tests can be performed, please refer to \ECS\DOC\ACPI\TESTER.DOC 
and \ECS\DOC\APM\TESTER.DOC

When ACPI is installed, there is a number of utilities from the ACPI 
Toolkit you can use, see the list below:

AcpiTree.exe            - Show ACPI tree
ButtonJin.exe           - Wait press Power Button (as demon), GUI
WaitButton.exe          - Wait press Power/Sleep button, VIO
PowerOff.exe            - Power Off (immediate!!)
SetGetThrtl.exe         - Get/Set throtlling CPU
UpTime.exe              - Show uptime via PM Timer
GetValue.exe            - Get current value from PM Timer
AcpiIRQ.exe             - Show current IRQ routing
IrqStat.exe             - Show IRQ calling statistics (SMP only)
SetGetState.exe         - Get/Set frequency/power state
EmbeddedEvent.exe       - Show events from Embedded controllers
GetNotify.exe           - Show notify
Thermal.exe             - Show temperature of thermal zone
ScanPCI.exe             - Show PCI devices
TmrTest.exe             - Test working of timer (testing IRQ0 timer 0)

** multicore CPU support **

This beta supports the installation of eComStation on a MultiCore CPU 
computer. This includes Intel Core Duo , Core2 Duo and AMD 64 X2. To enable 
this support, please select the appropriate feature in the installer 
hardware page. It is listed under ACPI support, and you will have to select 
what type of computer you are installing on. It is also possible to enter 
your own parameters for the ACPI PSD driver, for more information on those 
please refer to the document listed below. The SMP kernel will be installed 
and activated immediately, when that is appropriate.

Please note: many drivers are not SMP capable, which may cause instability 
or unexpected behaviour on your system. For more information please refer 
to \ECS\DOC\ACPI\ACPI_SMP.DOC

** SMP support **

It is also possible to install eComStation 2.0 Beta 4 on a regular SMP 
machine. To do so, please select this option under "System and Kernel 
Options" in the hardware page. This will *not* immediately install the SMP 
kernel, you will have to activate it with the Post Installation Tasks 
wizard that is started at the end of the installation. This should enable 
you to properly finish installation, before activating the SMP feature.

** eComStation Virtual File System (Samba client support) **

Samba is a SMB/CIFS protocols file and print sharing server/client set 
originally made for UNIX world to cooperate with corresponding Windows and 
OS/2 servers or clients.  eComStation has a native implementation of 
SMB/CIFS server/client set - IBM LAN Manager and IBM Peer.  These products 
have not been recently updated and may have some compatibility issues with 
modern Windows SMB/CIFS implementations.

Serenity Systems International has reached an agreement with Blueprint 
Software Works for the inclusion of the 'eComStation Virtual File System' 
driver which provides support for Samba Client.  Currently a GUI to 
configure it is lacking, but an example of how to mount a Samba resource 
can be found in \ECS\DOC\EVFS\REXX

** eSchemes **

eSchemes version 1.37 is included in this Beta (4). This provides a new way 
to configure the look and feel of the desktop.  eSchemes software is still 
in development and may create stability issues for the user. Because of 
this, eSchemes can only be installed with Advanced Installation, under 
"Experimental Features". The option to select is "Interface customization".  

Traditional "eStyler" functionality is lacking, for example the titlebar 
customization.  Feedback on eSchemes is highly appreciated.  You can find 
documentation on eSchemes in \ECS\DOC\ESCHEMES\. eSchemes can be applied 
by rightclicking them from the Appearance folder and select 'apply scheme' 
this wil take a while of diskactivity, but no progress indicator is shown.  
After application you should reboot to enable the scheme entirely.  A 
scheme can be edited after a doubleclick, but this functionality is not 
implemented entirely.

eSchemes' inclusion in the GA of eComStation 2.0 will be determined by 
the end-user feedback from this Beta (4).

== REPORTING ==

To tell us your findings, please create a report at:
 
http://www.ecomstation.com/support/beta4report/

You are also welcome to join the TestTeam if you want to discuss this beta 
and future developments.  See http://ewiki.ecomstation.nl/TestTeam for 
more details.


== DISTRIBUTION / CREATING CDS ==

This product is provided as a downloadable ISO file, this is a raw CD image 
that you can burn on CD-R media.  For instructions on burning the CD image 
to CD please consult the PDF document howtoburncds.pdf in the same 
directory.

The file to download is:  ecs20beta4_cd1_en.zip


== REGISTRATION KEY REQUIRED FOR INSTALLING ==

For the time being you can use the eComStation 1.2 (or 1.2R) key to install 
this beta release of eComStation 2.0.


(c) 2001-2007 Serenity Systems International

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