IMPORTANT INFORMATION. READ THIS FIRST Release Information 2 November 1994 CONTENTS 1. Warning....installation will remove old files. 2. Error with floating point operations on some systems - how to fix. 3. How to create a bigger container file. (bigger C drive) 4. Problems with colors on HX based graphics systems. 5. Foreign keyboards 6. MOTIF missing button problem. 1. WARNING about INSTALLATION Installing this new version of SoftWindows will remove the old components it finds. For the most part - this is all right - however - if you have installed a lot of software on your hard C: disk...and you have kept its file name as MS-WIN-31.HDF, then it will be deleted. If you need to keep this file - then rename it to something else before reinstalling SoftWindows. Do not continue to use this container file as your C drive on the new version of SoftWindows. Certain system files have changed and unpredictable results will occur. 2. Error in IEEE floating point handling. There is a problem in the IEEE run time handler in OpenVMS on 6.1 that will cause SoftWindows to generate errors when running certain applications. The fix is to replace a module in OpenVMS called VMS$IEEE_HANDLER.EXE. Procedure: 1. Log in as system manager 2. install SoftWindows 3. set def sys$library 4. rename VMS$IEEE_HANDLER.EXE VMS$IEEE_HANDLER.oldexe now copy a new version of VMS$IEEE_HANDLER.EXE which you will find in the SOFTWIN$SYSTEM directory into sys$library. 5. Copy softwin$system:VMS$IEEE_HANDLER.EXE []VMS$IEEE_HANDLER.EXE/log This replaces the defective module with a good one. 3. How to create a bigger container file. The C drive (container file) that comes with SoftWindows is about 33,000 blocks in size and much of it is already used. It contains MS-DOS as well as a full MS Windows kit. Now the user will most likely want to add extra applications and there may not be enough room to do this. General advice is to install your applications on C drive or E drive. Try to avoid the E thru Z drives since there are certain restrictions on those drives. Most applications will work if installed from E but there are some that will not. What you need to do is create a bigger C drive. Here's how to do it. 1. Decide on the size you need - for this example let us say a 120mb drive is required. 2. Install SoftWindows in the normal way and bring it up. 3. Go to the top of the SoftWindows window and select options. 4. Select Disk drives 5. Select new drive 6. put the destination and name of the new drive container file. example: dka300:120Mb.hdf 7. slide the bar to 120Mb 8. Type OK 9. Wait for it to reboot. There will be several seconds wait at this point. 10. At the C:> prompt type FDISK 11. Select 5. (Change current fixed disk drive) 12. It should now show you that disk 2 is 0% usage. Say 2 13. Select 1 (Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive) 14. Select 1 (Create Primary DOS Partition) 15. Select Y 16. Press Escape 17. Press escape again 18. Press any key 19. type C:\>format d:/s (This formats drive D: and puts a system onto it) 20. type yes 21. type in a volume name or hit CR 22. type C:\>xcopy c: d:/s ( this copies all files and subdirectories from C: to D:) ( it may ask you if command.com should be overwritten...say yes) 23. type C:\>makeboot 1 (this makes the new drive bootable) 24. now you have to tell SoftWindows to boot your newly created drive 25. Go to options and select Disk Drives 26. Select Open Drive 27. delete the old value in C drive name 28. put the current D drive name into the C drive name 29. delete the D drive name 30. say OK 31. The SoftWindows will now reboot and you will have a much bigger C: drive onto which you can install new software. remember - if anything goes wrong - you can always delete your new drive and start again using the MS-WIN-31.hdf as supplied with the kit. 4.0 Color problems with HX graphics card. There is a problem running certain applications on AXP systems running the HX graphics card. The problem manifests itself in a couple of different ways. When selecting items by pushbutton - certain icons 'highlight color' will not revert to its normal color when deselected. Another manifestation is in MS Paintbrush - the spraycan sprays the incorrect color. Both these problems are due to a problem in the VMS device dependent X driver supplied with OpenVMS 6.1 The fix is as follows: $ set def sys$share: $ $ rename DECW$SERVER_DDX_SFB.EXE DECW$SERVER_DDX_SFB.OLDEXE $ $ copy SOFTWIN$SYSTEM:DECW$SERVER_DDX_SFB.EXE sys$share:*/log $ This copied a fixed version of the X driver from the softwindows directory into sys$share after first saving the old driver. 5.0 Foreign keyboards In the initial installation - you are asked which keyboard and country you wish to load as your default. The kit only contains pre-configured templates for the following LK201, LK401 or PCXAL (PC) style keyboards. US keyboard, UK keyboard, French keyboard, German keyboard The DOS and Windows drivers for other keyboards are in the kit - but they will have to be loaded manually. If you take a look at how the French or German keyboards are set up - you can make equivalent commands to set up the other countries. 6. MOTIF missing button problem. At times, you may experience a warning or error message with no visible action buttons. The button function is there and a carriage return will activate the default.