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Archive-name: pc-hardware-faq/gateway2000/part3
Last-modified: March 1, 2000 Last-Posted: Febuary 1, 2000 Next-Posting: April 1, 2000 Posting-Frequency: the first of every month URL: http://come.to/alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000.faq Maintainer: Timothy S. Brannan (Tbrannan@usa.net) See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
Section 3: Software Information
3.1) Windows Questions
3.1.1) Windows 3.1x & Windows for Workgroups.
3.1.1.1) How can I enable the 32 bit features of hard drives?
3.1.1.2) Why can't I install Windows for Workgroups with ATI drivers?
3.1.1.5) Why do I have a long delay when exiting Windows?
3.1.2) Windows 95.
3.1.2.1) Why does the Windows 95 installation abort on the second
diskette?
3.1.2.2) Any Windows 95 tips?
3.1.2.3) My System freezes after I disconnect from Dial-Up
Networking.
3.1.2.4) How can I transfer my Win95 system from one hard drive to
another?
3.1.2.5) How do I format and (re)install Windows95?
3.1.3) OSR2 / Windows 98.
3.1.3.1) What is FAT32 (OSR2)?
3.1.3.2) How do I get a copy of OSR2?
3.1.3.3) When will Gateway ship Windows98?
3.1.4) Windows NT.
3.1.4.1) Do Gateway systems work with Windows NT?
3.1.4.2) Where can I get WindowsNT information?
3.1.4.3) Will Gateway support Windows2000 (NT5)?
3.1.5) Windows 2000
3.1.5.1) How big is Windows2000 (NT5)?
3.1.6) How can I network two (or more) computers together?
3.1.7) Do you know of any good True Type Fonts?
3.1.8) Dual Booting.
3.2) Other Operating Systems
3.2.1) OS/2.
3.2.1.1) How do I install the CD-ROM version of OS/2?
3.2.1.2) Where can I get help installing OS/2 on a Gateway Handbook?
3.2.1.3) Where can I find more OS/2 information?
3.2.2) Unix & Linux.
3.2.2.1) Do Gateway systems work with Linux or other UNIX systems?
3.2.2.2) What about other system hardware and Linux?
3.2.2.3) Can I use Linux with a Promise UltraDMA 33 card?
3.2.2.4) Dual Booting Linux.
3.2.2.5) Where can I get a copy of Linux?
*3.2.2.6) Can I get Linux pre-installed?
*3.2.2.7) Where can I get an office suite for Linux?
3.3) Internet Software Questions
3.3.1) What do I need to get on to the Internet?
3.3.2) Where can I find good shareware?
3.3.3) Where can I find technical support?
3.3.4) How can I read a WWW page if I don't have a browser?
3.3.5) Can I get a Computer Virus through email?
3.4) General Software Questions
3.4.1) Why doesn't Borland's Turbo Debugger work right?
3.4.1.1) Why does Borland's BRIEF hang or crash?
3.4.2) What is the hidden file "quality.com" for?
3.4.3) Why do I get a GPF at MACX.DRV?
3.4.4) Why doesn't MYST work?
Section 3: Software Questions
3.1) Windows Questions
3.1.1) Windows 3.1x & Windows for Workgroups.
3.1.1.1) How can I enable the 32 bit features of hard drives?
The following is a repost of a message sent by Pat Thornburg of
Gateway:
"There have been many questions about the 32-bit features in
Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and enabling them with systems
having 540MB or larger drives. The features can be enabled
in different ways in most systems, though some setups do
require a loss of drive space to use them. With all of the
features, make sure you have the following line in the
Config.sys file:
device=c:\windows\ifshlp.sys
"The systems which can use the full drive size and the
features have Logical Block Addressing (LBA) settings in their
BIOS'. Currently, only those systems with the PCI buses,
Pentium and P486 systems, have these LBA settings. All other
systems have to lose some hard drive space to use the
features.
BIOS IDE LIMITATION
-------------------------------------------------------
Max Sectors/Track 63 255 63
Max Number of Heads 255 16 16
Max Number of Cylinders 1024 65536 1024
---------------------------------
Maximum Capacity 8.4G 136.9G 528M
"Does this mean that you won't have problems with the features
if you have LBA settings? Not quite true. Drivers for the
32-bit features were originally developed for the smaller
drives. When you try to enable the 32-bit Disk Access
feature, you will get a WDCTRL error. What can be done then?
"Western Digital has written an updated Fast Disk driver which
allows 32-bit Disk Access with the larger drives and LBA
translations. Gateway does have a BETA version of this file
available on its BBS. Western Digital does have two released
versions of the file. You can also upload the drivers from
Western Digitals WWW site at http://www.wdc.com.
"If you have the P486 systems, you may have problems as well
with the 32-bit Disk Access feature. This is because the
driver for the PCI interface uses the same software interrupt
the Windows
Fast Disk driver uses as well. You can remark out the PCI
driver in the Config.sys file or not use 32-bit Disk Access.
At this time, there is no other option.
"If you have the NEC IDE CD drive in your system and it is
installed on the same controller, you cannot enable 32-bit
Disk Access. This is because the file structures for the CD
and hard drives are different and the Fast Disk driver won't
recognize the CD file structure.
"If you have a Pentium system with two controllers, make sure
you have the most updated CD drivers and connect the CD to the
ISA controller and leave the hard drive connected to the PCI
controller. You do have to change the CD driver line to show
its movement from the primary to the secondary controller.
With this setup, you can enable 32-bit Disk Access.
"What do you do if you don't have a system which has the LBA
settings in the BIOS? You have to lose some of the hard drive
space to set the drive to the parameters the operating system
can work with. Here are the steps to follow:
1) Backup all of the information on your hard drive.
2) You have to delete the original partition by typing
FDISK and using STEP 3 from the main menu to delete
all partitions.
3) Get into the BIOS on booting and go to the hard drive
setup.
4) Change the hard drive from Auto Config to User Defined
and use the following parameters:
Cylinders - 1023
Heads - 16
Sectors -63
5) Save these settings and boot onto the first DOS disk.
Press F3 twice to exit the setup program.
6) Type FDISK to repartition the drive to the new
parameters. Create it with the new settings.
7) When this is done, press Escape to reboot the system
and load DOS on it. Have the software format the
drive for you automatically.
8) When the format is complete, reload your backup
software, then restore your system.
9) Before going into Windows, make sure this line is in
the Config.sys file:
device=c:\windows\ifshlp.sys
"You should now be able to enable both the 32-bit file and
disk accesses.
"The 32-bit File Access feature has some incompatibilities as
well. It won't work with some disk compression programs like
Stacker 4.0 and DOS 6.0 DoubleSpace. It will work with DOS
6.2 DoubleSpace. Just remember you may have problems with it
on compressed drives.
"Other problems can be found with trying to use the Windows
MS Undelete program. Since the 32-bit File Access changes the
file reads, you cannot use this program to recover files. If
you delete a file, you cannot get it back.
"What benefits does 32-bit disk access provide? There are a
couple of benefits. If you are running DOS based applications
through Windows you will notice a slight performance increase.
This may not be as much of an increase as actually running
your DOS based application in DOS.
"The largest benefit will be for those people running multiple
Windows applications concurrently. 32-bit disk speeds up the
paging to and from your swapfile, as well as to any file
accessed on the hard drive while in enhanced mode. If you only
run 2 or 3 applications at a time you may not notice any
difference in switching since your background applications
will be in memory and will not have been swapped to your
swapfile.
"But, if you do have a lot of applications running at the same
time you will be able to switch from your current application
to a background application faster if you have 32-bit disk
access. The program will not run any faster, but you can
switch to it faster. Performance is improved only for those
who must do a lot of switching between multiple applications.
"What benefit does 32-bit file access provide? Basically,
this feature tries to keep all of the calls for files from the
hard drive in 32-bit protected mode which allows faster
processing.
This is the VFAT driver. The VCACHE driver replaces the
SmartDrive disk caching scheme in Windows and allows faster
caching routines for files."
Those with the JX30G motherboards (not the JX30), can get an updated
BIOS from Gateway that will
support the larger drives:
ftp://ftp.gw2k.com/pub/hardware_support/bios/486/desktop/jx3012.exe
(Thanks to Jarrod Smith!)
3.1.1.2) Why can't I install Windows for Workgroups with ATI drivers?
Several people have reported that when you install Windows for
Workgroups over Windows 3.1, you need to be running a plain VGA driver
prior to upgrading. If you are running one of the ATI drivers, you
will need to switch to regular VGA (using the Windows setup program)
before doing the WfWG installation.
3.1.1.5) Why do I have a long delay when exiting Windows?
This problem has been experienced by people with newer Gateway systems
that have the PS/2 style mouse connectors (i.e. the round, plug in
type rather than the type that looks like a small RS-232 connector).
If you experience this problem, you can put this line into your
SYSTEM.INI file in the [386enh] section:
InitPS2MouseAtExit=False
and you will see significantly faster exit time.
3.1.2) Windows 95.
3.1.2.1) Why does the Windows 95 installation abort on the second
diskette?
Because you have a virus on your machine and it is trying to install
itself on the second diskette which is written to by the Windows 95
setup program in order to store your registration information. The
diskette has a unique high-density format. You need to replace the
diskette which will no longer work and to get rid of the virus. If you
want to keep the virus, when you get your new diskettes, flip the
write-protect tab on the diskettes. There will be a warning, but the
Windows 95 setup program should finish with no problem.
3.1.2.2) Any Windows 95 tips?
- Just as with Windows for Workgroups, you need to switch over to the
plain VGA driver from the ATI when upgrading from Windows.
- Sometimes when installing Windows 95 it may not recognize the CMS
tape backup unit. Either select "Redetect Tape Drive" in the options
of Microsoft Backup OR download the Colorado patch from HP, at
ftp://col.hp.com.
- Programs that had been in autoexec.bat that are needed only for DOS
(such as mouse drivers and real mode CD-ROM drivers) can be moved to
the DOSSTART.BAT file in the C:\WINDOWS directory. If it is not there,
create one. Windows 95 may still need some real mode drivers,
depending on the situations.
- MS Office 95 comes with new proofing tools. However, it does not
delete the old ones in the C:\windows\msapps directory, nor does it
remove the embedding features from the system.ini file. You can do so
manually if you need the space.
More Windows 95 tips can be found at,
- The BEST source of information is from Bill himself. Check out
Microsoft's page.
- An upgrade to HyperTerminal for Windows95 is available from
Hilgrave, http://www.hilgraeve.com.
- My Windows95 Tips page,
http://www.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000/WinTips.html.
- See Bob Cerelli's Win95 Page, http://www.halcyon.com/cerelli.
- Get a Win95 tip-of-day from http://www.tipworld.com/wintip.html.
- Don't like Windows 95, but not sure why? Go here to find out:
http://www.creativelement.com/win95ann/
3.1.2.3) My System freezes after I disconnect from Dial-Up Networking.
How can I fix this?
Go into windows/system, locate vnbt.386; rename it vnbt386.bak (or
anything you like). This 'fix' was found within one of the Microsoft
newsgroups. Thanks to Vince Kub.
3.1.2.4) How can I transfer my Win95 system from one hard drive to
another?
To transfer your Windows95 installation from one hard drive to
another, follow these steps:
1. Make a Win95 bootable floppy (FORMAT A: /S), and throw FDISK on it.
Put disk aside.
2. Install new drive as a slave
3. FDISK and FORMAT the drive (you may need to set up two partitions
on the new drive, if it's >2GB)
4. XCOPY C:\*.* D: /S/E (this will copy everything over) (do this in
Win95, since you want to make sure you've copied LFN's)
5. Take note of any files that DON'T copy. Should be just the
swapfile, and maybe some temp files.
6. Pull out old drive, and set new drive as "single"
7. Boot from the floppy you made in Step #1, and run FDISK. Make the
first partition on the new disk "active"
8. Reboot
(Thanks, as always, to Dave Grabowski)
I might add:
1. Make backups of your system.
2. Backup your registry to a floppy or floppies.
You should also check Microsoft's knowledge base at
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q166/1/72.asp
3.1.2.5) How do I format and (re)install Windows95?
Read these over before trying to reinstall windows.
1. Make complete backups of everything. This is so important that it
is also step 2.
2. Make complete backups of everything. See step 1.
You make complete backups because someday (and I can tell you from
experience) there may be a file you need and you might think you have
it somewhere else, but it is only on your hard
drive. Things I like to back up are my Documents folders, system
files, Visual Basic run time files (VBRUN*.DLL), CDPLAYER.INI (so you
don't have to re-enter songs) Internet Shortcuts and cookies. A full
back up usually takes care of all of this.
3. Printout all system related files. Run SYSEDIT.EXE and printout
your AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, and SYSTEM.INI. Bring up your
system properties (right click on "My Computer" click "Properties"
click the "Print" button). This is good when you have to re-
configure hardware.
4. Make a bootable system disk. Make sure it has your CD-ROM drivers
on it, as well as FDISK and FORMAT.COM. If you are upgrading to
Windows95B (OSR2) or Windows98 make sure you have FDISK32 as well.
5. Reboot your system with the floppy. Make sure it works and you can
access your hard drive and CD ROM Drive.
6. Get all of the necessary disks such as:
A. Your Windows95 CD
B. Any upgrades (Service releases, patches, Power Toys)
C. Disk #1 of Windows 3.1x IF you have the Windows 95 upgrade.
7. Say a small prayer to Codex, the Roman god of Computers. ...just
kidding ;)
8. Reboot using your system floppy.
9. FDISK (partition) and FORMAT your hard drive.
Use FDISK if you want to change your partion size or upgrade from
FAT16 to FAT32.
I should note at this point that Gateway had been partitioning hard
drives larger than 2 GIG in TWO separate partitions, C and D. (for
older computers) Your computer (and you) see them as two separate
drives. But you only have one physical drive. When you FDISK C you are
also erasing D. Reparation (using FDISK) the drives any way you like.
I personally like 1 to 2 GIG partitions.
FDISK will let you do 2 GIG partitions (Depending on your BIOS)
FDISK32 (Windows98)
will let you do larger ones. Make sure you set the partition to
PRIMARY and ACTIVE.
10. Rebooting from your now clean hard disk reinstall Win95 from the
CD.
If you got Windows95 from Gateway then this will be no problem. If you
bought Win95 as an upgrade then you will Disk #1 of Win 3.1x, put it
into your A drive. When the installation asks for the location of your
Windows files, direct it to the A drive. If you run into hardware
problems (e.g.: sound cards note working) then refer to your printouts
on their original set ups.
11. Reinstall any upgrades, patches or Service Releases. I'll include
Microsoft Plus! in this category as well. Make sure you have your
upgrades on a disk and not your hard drive!
12. If you plan on DriveSpacing (compressing) your hard drive, now is
the time to do it.
13. Reinstall everything else. Reinstall your application software and
move files from you back ups
you might need.
14. If everything is working, back up again to a different
tape/disk/whatever.
A good FAQ for this is the excellent Windows95 FAQ. It's web page is
http://www.orca.bc.ca/win95/faq2.htm. It can also be found at any of
the archive mirrors, like RTFM.
(Thanks to Natalie Brannan for writing the bulk of this article and to
Tracy Sudak for checking it out for me!)
3.1.3) OSR2 / Windows 98
3.1.3.1) What is FAT32 (OSR2)?
FAT32 is the upgrade to the Windows/DOS file system, FAT16. Currently
it is only available as part of
OSR2. FAT32 allows Windows95/98 to access hard drives of up to 2
Terabytes in size and uses a
smaller clusters for more efficient use of space.
FAT32 is currently incompatible with Windows95/DOS FAT16 files,
WindowsNT NTFS, and OS/2.
It is believed that WindowsNT 5.0 will support FAT32 to NTFS
conversion.
. Useful websites for FAT32 and OSR2 are,
- http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pr/fat32.htm
- http://www.compuclinic.com/osr2faq/
- http://www.orca.bc.ca/win95/faq2.htm
3.1.3.2) How do I get a copy of OSR2?
Currently the only way to get OSR2 (Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2)
is with a new computer. Windows98 will include all of the elements in
OSR2, possibly as OSR2.1.
3.1.3.3) When will Gateway ship Windows98?
Gateway plans to start shipping Windows98 on NEW computers at the end
of June. Users with Windows95 and an upgrade coupon should expect
their Windows98 in July.
3.1.4) Windows NT
3.1.4.1) Do Gateway systems work with Windows NT?
I can definitely state that Gateway systems work with Windows NT -- I
have one running NT here at work. [Tod Pike speaking.] The only
problem is that the Windows NT 3.x installer wants to
have a SCSI-based CD-ROM drive to install from, and the internal (Sony
or LMSI) drives are not supported. If you have a drive run from the
SoundBlaster board, you can get a driver from Microsoft
via ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/MKECR.EXE or
http://www.microsoft.com/kb/softlib/mslfiles/mkecr.exe.
I have received reports that the current version of the SoundBlaster
drivers for Windows NT 3.x do not work correctly. According to
information posted on the NT news groups, a new version is expected
soon. I will update the FAQ information when I hear more news.
Drivers for the Mitsumi CD-ROM drive are available on the Gateway BBS
system in the file MITSU.EXE. These drivers are *not* supported by
Gateway, but they do work and should allow you to use the Mitsumi
CD-ROM under NT. Tod Pike has also put the mitsu.exe file at
ftp.sei.cmu.edu.
I would like to solicit more information about available drivers for
NT on Gateway hardware.
3.1.4.2) Where can I get WindowsNT information?
The premire WindowsNT FAQ website would have to be John Savill's
NTFAQ.com.
Found at http://www.ntfaq.com, this site answers almost all of your
WindowsNT questions. Of course we shouldn't forget Microsoft's own
site,
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsNT/default.asp.
3.1.4.3) Will Gateway support Windows2000 (NT5)?
With the highly convenient name of Windows2000, one would suspect
Gateway to support this next version of Microsoft's OS.
However no details haven been released.
*3.1.5) Windows 2000
A lot off what we know about Windows 2000 (Win2k) is based on betas
and rumor. When there is more concrete information, I'll put it here.
*3.1.5.1) How big is Windows2000 (NT5)?
Windows 2000 is going to be huge. How big is still very much up in
ther air. Rummors from the Gateway mailing list put Win2k at 700 megs
and requiring 128 megs of RAM.
However no details haven been released.
3.1.6) How can I network two (or more) computers together?
If you have two or more Gateways (and who doesn't? :)) you may want to
network them together.
Their are plenty of good FAQs and Web pages that relate to this topic.
- Dave Grabowski's Windows Networking FAQ,
http://pw1.netcom.com/~lenoreg/networkfaq.htm
- Networking Issues with Windows 95 & NT,
http://micro.uoregon.edu/microsoft_networking.html
- The Windows95 FAQ, Networking in General,
http://www.orca.bc.ca/win95/faq7.htm
*3.1.7) Do you know of any good True Type fonts?
Nearly all of the major software websites have a true-type font
section.
Try these,
- TUCOWS, The Ultimate Collection Of Winsock Shareware.
http://www.tucows.com.
- WinSite, formerly the Windows archives at CICA at Indiana
University,
http://www.winsite.com.
- Windows95.com, http://www.winfiles.com/
I did find some Cow-Spotted fonts at
http://rover.wiesbaden.netsurf.de/~kikita/cool.htm.
3.1.8) Dual Booting
Generally speaking, Gateway does not support dual booting. They do
currently sell systems with
Windows95 *or* WindowsNT 4.0 pre-installed. Sometimes though you may
want to do things that one
OS alone can't handle; or least handle well. Here are some cases that
I know of.
WindowsNT 4.0 and Windows (95, 3.1x, NT3.x) or DOS or OS/2
Windows NT 4.0 supports a dual booting feature for other operating
systems from Microsoft. In most
cases all you need to do is install NT4.0 over the top of your
previous operating system. There are
some things you will need to consider.
- If you are starting out clean, partition your Hard Drive into at
least 2 partitions. Make one about
200 megabytes for DOS/Win3.1x or 500 for Windows95, and format it as
FAT. The Second
partition should be formatted as FAT or NTFS. Install DOS or Win95
then install
WindowsNT.
- When installing new software to a dual 95/NT system, you will need
to install the software
TWICE. Once for the Windows95 registry and once for the WindowsNT
registry.
- If you install NT 3.51 service pack 2, 3, or 4 to a dual NT 3.51 /
4.0 system you may receive
an Windows NT could not start because the following file is missing or
corrupt:
%systemroot%\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM. This is because the NTLDR file
included with
NT 3.51 service pack 2, 3, or 4 is incompatible with NT 4.0. Replace
the NTLDR file with the
one from the WindowsNT 4.0 CD-ROM. It is in the d:\i386\ntldr
directory.
- Microsoft does not recommend that you install other operating
systems over the top of NT.
- It should also be noted that MS-DOS upgrade leaves the NT boot
loader intact, MS-DOS
OEM setup does not.
- Windows NT does NOT have to reside on the C: (boot) drive. It will
place some files on the
boot partition.
Windows NT 3.1 and SCO Unix.
The NT boot loader does not support SCO Unix. You will need to boot
from Unix. Plus, just as NT
cannot "see" a Unix partition, Unix cannot "see" a NTFS partition. You
must install NT in a FAT patron.
Windows95 and Windows 3.1x/DOS
Windows95 can peacefully coexist with older versions of Windows or
DOS.
1. Backup system.
2. Install WIN 95 under separate directory. (Such as c:\Win95)
3. Remove read-only attribute on the file named MSDOS.SYS in the root
directory.
4. Edit MSDOS.SYS and add the lines:
- BootMulti=1
- BootMenu=1
5. Save the file and set it as read-only again.
6. When you reboot you should have a choice.
Keep in mind that older versions disk repair, anti-virus, and backup
software might work fine for
windows 3.1x but can ruin your Windows95 file system.
3.2) Other Operating Systems
3.2.1) OS/2.
First of all, Gateway does *not* officially support OS/2. This is
stated explicitly in several manuals.
Don't bother calling Gateway with a problem if you are running OS/2!
That said, here is how to install it:
3.2.1.1) How can I install the CD-ROM Version of OS/2?
From a post made by Charlie Collins on comp.os.os2.setup:
"I have a Gateway 486-66 with a Sony CDU-31A CD-ROM drive, so I
collected the CD-ROM
edition of OS/2 and went to install it. Unfortunately that drive is
not supported intrinsically. In order to
install OS/2, then, I had to:
1. collect a device driver from an ftp archive (I have forgotten which
one; the one called hobbes is
supposed to have the sonyb31a.zip file as well)
2. make a copy of installation diskette #1 (using the DOS command for
copying disks; transferring
files does not work, the whole disk must be copied)
3. copy the driver onto the disk (unzip the *.zip file, then put the
*.add file onto the disk)
4. and add the line "BASEDEV=SONYB31A.ADD" to the config.sys file on
the new diskette #1.
"Once this was done OS/2 installed itself just fine, but since the
CD-ROM drive was not recognized by
the operating system the support files were not copied into the C:\OS2
directory automatically. In order
to have the operating system recognize the fact that a CD-ROM did
exist, then, I had to copy the
support files from installation diskette #1 by hand. The three files
that are necessary are: the driver:
- sonyb31a.add (this was copied, but check anyway; I had to move it
into the C:\OS2 directory)
- cdfs.ifs (support for the cd file system)
- os2cdrom.dmd (instructs OS2 to look for a CD-ROM drive?)
"Once these are in the C:\OS2 directory, config.sys must be told to
make use of them. Make sure that
the lines
- IFS=C:\OS2\CDFS.IFS /Q
- DEVICE=C:\OS2\OS2CDROM.DMD /Q
- BASEDEV=SONYB31A.ADD
are in config.sys. The /Q stops the OS from writing all kinds of stuff
on the screen.
"If you install OS/2 onto some drive other than C you should
substitute the appropriate drive letter, of
course, and if you have a CD-ROM drive other than the Sony CDU-31A
then you should substitute the
appropriate device driver. Otherwise this process should be the same."
Also, OS/2 drivers for the Mitsumi CD-ROM drive are available on the
Gateway BBS system as
MITFIX.EXE. They can also be found at ftp.sei.cmu.edu.
3.2.1.2) Where can I get help installing OS/2 on a Gateway Handbook?
http://pccm46.anes.upmc.edu/handbook.html will help you get PCMCIA
support enabled for a
Gateway Handbook.
(Thanks to Joseph J. Quinlan!)
3.2.1.3) Where can I find more OS/2 information?
- IBM's personal software site for OS/2 and PC-DOS,
http://ps.software.ibm.com.
- See what the experts say at Team OS/2,
http://www.os2forum.or.at/TeamOS2/English/.
3.2.2) Unix & Linux.
Much like OS/2, Gateway does not officially support Unix or any of the
Unix variants (Linux, BSD,
Aix). However two of Unix's main strengths is it's portability and the
amount of information that can be
found on the 'Net about it.
I do have a Gateway 486 that I plan to put a copy of Red Hat Linux on,
but it has to wait till
after my Ph.D.! - Tim.
3.2.2.1) Do Gateway systems work with Linux or other UNIX systems?
I have received several reports that Linux works very well on Gateway
systems, as long as the video
board is properly supported. The ATI Graphics Ultra Pro (and most
other ATI boards) are supported
and work under Linux. The Diamond boards are now fully supported by
XFree86. However, the
Matrox Mystique cards are not supported by XFree86 although there are
3rd party X servers (about
$100-$200) with Matrox support. The Matrox Millenium are supported as
SVGA in XFree86 3.2
For more information about running Linux on a Gateway system, you can
read the comp.os.linux.help
news group. A FAQ is also available for this group. And there is a
Linux hardware compatibility FAQ
at: ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO
Other people have had success running NetBSD 0.9 on DX2-66V systems.
More information about all
of the *BSD systems is available from the news groups
comp.os.386bsd.{announce,bugs,development,help,misc}.
Links to more Unix information,
http://www.uic.edu/~tbrann1/Gateway2000/Unix.html.
Some information can be found on installing RedHat Linux on Gateway
laptops.
http://www.redhat.com/linux-info/laptop/ (Thanks to Mike Long for the
NetBSD information!)
(Thanks to Jesse Bennett for the Linux and XFree updates!)
(Thanks belatedly to Frits Daalmans!)
(Thanks to Rob Hoekstra for the RedHat laptop address.)
3.2.3) What about other system hardware and Linux?
From Esmail Bonakdarian, 20 Oct 1996
I'm running Linux 1.2.13 on my GW PP200. Two things to be aware of:
The Ensoniq sound card doesn't work with Linux - or at least not
easily.
Haven't found a good solution for this yet.
The Matrox video card GW ships (shipped?) does not work with XFree,
you would
need to get a commercial X server. I avoided that by getting my system
without
a video card and supplying my own #9 Video.
(Thanks to Esmail Bonakdarian (bonak@herky.cs.uiowa.edu) for this new
information)
Pete Kulupka adds,
No problem with Linux and the S3 based Trio 64, however, if you want
to use a
Matrox video you will have to buy a commercial X Server to run X. Most
other
cards including the Trio's can run on one of the included servers for
XFree86.
(Thanks to Pete Kulupka, pckulup@ilstu.edu)
Richard Mundell also adds,
If installing Linux and X-Windows on the new P200(MMX) multimedia
model
(featuring on-motherboard ATI Rage 3D graphics card) you'll need the
XFree86
3.2A beta (or later). This is freely available from
ftp://ftp.xfree86.org.
(Thanks to Richard Mundell, r.mundell@poboxes.com)
3.2.2.3) Can I use Linux with a Promise UltraDMA 33 card?
It has been noted that Linux will not install if you have your hard
drive connected to the Promise
UltraDMA 33 controller card.
To fix this plug your hard drive back into the built in IDE controller
on your motherboard.
Promise's web site is http://www.promise.com/Ultraatahome.htm.
3.2.2.4) Dual Booting Linux.
Linux is a very powerful OS, but sometimes you need to go back and
forth to Windows/DOS/NT. It is
possible to dual-boot Linux.
Check out the Linux HOW-TOs and the details of this major operation.
The address is, http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/mini/
The files you want are,
- http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/mini/Linux+WinNT
- http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/mini/Linux+DOS+Win95
- http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/mini/Linux+Win95
Also see,
- ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/Installation-HOWTO
- http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/iwj10/linux-faq/
It is also possible to dual boot Linux and 386 BSD.
3.2.2.5) Where can I get a copy of Linux?
Nowadays you can purchase Linux from various sources. Almost all
software stores and many
computer book stores sell RedHat or Slackware Linux.
You can also download Linux for free at Washington University's FTP
site.
ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/linux/. The site includes Debian,
RedHat, Slackware and other forms
of Linux. Many of the downloads are huge.
Other places to get Linux are:
- ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/distributions/
- ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/distributions/
- ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/linux
*3.2.2.6) Can I get Linux pre-installed?
Gateway is now in an agreement with Red Hat to install Red Hat Linux
6.0 on Gateway ARL Business Servers.
They are not yet offering it for home or personal systems.
You can get the full story at
http://www.redhat.com/about/1999/press_gateway.html
or reach Red Hat at http://www.redhat.com/ .
*3.2.2.7) Where can I get an office suite for Linux?
You can now download Star Office 5.1 for Windows, OS/2 or Linux from
Sun's website.
Star Office is a mostly full office suite from Star Division, now part
of Sun.
The website is http://www.sun.com/staroffice/
You can download it for free or purchase it for the cost of the media.
It is mostly compatible with Office 97 and the learning curve is low.
The site has been very busy this month.
3.3) Internet Software Questions
3.3.1) What do I need to get on to the Internet?
Well, if you are reading this, it is a pretty safe bet you are already
here. But maybe you want to know
more, or you need to explain it to a friend, or you got this FAQ from
some other medium, such as a
print out or a book.
The first thing you need is the hardware, such as:
- A Modem. (US Robotics or Gateway's Telepath II). OR/AND
- Direct LAN connection.
Now your hardware needs something to connect to, to get on to the
internet. Usually this is an Internet
Service Provider (ISP). This can be through AOL, Compuserv, MSN, your
school, your office, or even
a local service.
The next thing you need is some software to view or "Browse" the
internet with:.
- Netscape Navigator,
http://home.netscape.com/comprod/upgrades/index.html.
- Microsoft Internet Explorer, the new kid on the block,
http://www.microsoft.com/ie/default.asp.
Best for Win95.
- NCSA Mosaic,
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/NCSAMosaicHome.html the
elder statesman among browsers.
- Lynx, http://lynx.browser.org THE text based browser for DOS, UNIX,
Windows, Mac,
VMS, CMS...
To send and receive email, you will need an email program. Both
Netscape and Microsoft Internet
Explorer include email programs. But I find that a dedicated program
usually works better, and has
more features.
- Eudora Pro, http://www.eudora.com/.
- Peagasus Mail, http://www.pegasus.usa.com/.
To send and receive Internet News, also known as Netnews or the
Usenet, you need news reader.
Again both Netscape and Microsoft IE include these, and they are
usable.
Dedicated readers can be found at,
- Forte Free Agent, http://www.forteinc.com/.
To get other programs, or non-Windows versions, go to any of the
following shareware sites.
To get more information on connecting to the net then check,
Setting up and tuning a Winsock (great fun!), try these:
- http://www.webcom.com/~llarrow/welcome.html
- http://www.cerberus-sys.com/~belleisl/mtu_mss_rwin.html
Windows95 FAQ, Connecting to the Internet:
- http://www.orca.bc.ca/win95/faq8.htm.
3.3.2) Where can I find good shareware?
These have to be the best pages for shareware...
- TUCOWS, The Ultimate Collection Of Winsock Shareware.
http://www.tucows.com.
- WinSite, formerly the Windows archives at CICA at Indiana
University,
http://www.winsite.com.
- Windows95.com, http://www.windows95.com.
- Cybersite, http://www.rt66.com/~cbc/win95.
- Shareware.Com, http://shareware.com.
- ByteThis Shareware, http://www.bytethis.net/download.
- CSUSM's Windows Shareware site,
http://coyote.csusm.edu/cwis/winworld/winworld.html.
- Need a driver not found above? Go to Frank's Driver Page,
http://windows.rust.net.
- Get the latest virus scanning program from McAfee
http://www.mcafee.com.
3.3.3) Where can I find technical support?
- Netscape Technical Support,
http://www.netscape.com/assist/support/index.html.
- Forte' (Free Agent ) Technical Support,
http://www.forteinc.com/forte/agent/support1.htm.
- Qualcomm (Eudora) Technical Support,
http://www.qualcomm.com/ProdTech/quest/tech.html.
- Trumpet Technical Support, http://www.trumpet.com.au/support.htm.
- Director Viewer for Mosaic,
http://www.portal.com/~dwalker/davehome.html.
- Consummate Winsock App List, http://cwsapps.texas.net/.
3.3.4) How can I read a WWW page if I don't have a browser?
You can get the text part via e-mail. To find out how, send an e-mail
message with only the word
HELP to one of these e-mail addresses:
- web-mail@ebay.com
- webmail@www.ucc.ie
- agora@kamakura.mss.co.jp
Remember to turn off any automatic adding of a signature file!
Don't abuse these services. For more about such things, see this URL:
gopher://nisp.ncl.ac.uk/00/lists-
k-o/lis-iis/files/e-access-inet.txt
3.3.5) Can I get a Computer Virus through email?
There is no known way to get a computer virus from opening email.
You CAN get a virus through email if the email contains an attachment,
such a DOC or EXE file, and
you launch it. But the virus must be in the attachment.
You cannot get a virus from opening an "infected" email. Viruses like
"Good Times" and "Join the Crew"
are all hoaxes.
If you are unsure if a virus is a hoax or not, check Peter Norton's
Anti-Virus Hoax page at
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html.
3.4) General Software Questions
3.4.1) Why doesn't Borland's Turbo Debugger work right?
People have reported problems in running Borland's Turbo Debugger
(from C or C++ or any of the
language packages). They get stack failures or GPF (general protection
fault) failures when running. A
fix for this is available. You can get the fix from Borland directly,
either by calling and having them send
you a disk, or by calling their BBS:
- Borland ............... BBS ............... 408-439-9096
- Borland ............... Sales ............. 800-331-0877
- Borland ............... T/S ............... 408-438-5300
- Borland ............... T/S ............... 800-252-5547
If you have access to the Internet, you can get the fixes at
ftp.sei.cmu.edu.
Unpack this file into a new directory. You should now go to the
Borland bin directory and look for a file
called "tdw.ini". You should rename this to "tdw.xxx". Now copy
"svga.dll" from the directory you
unpacked the patch into to the Borland bin directory. Now go to your
windows directory and edit
tdw.ini. You should now set the VideoDLL variable to point to the DLL
file you should use. A line like
this should work:
VideoDLL=C:\BORLANDC\BIN\SVGA.DLL
Save the file and exit the editor. TDW should now work correctly. More
instructions are included in the
patch file.
If you are having problems with the debugger causing your monitor to
change video modes all the time,
a second patch is available which will cause the Borland debugger to
pop up a window instead of
changing modes.
This second patch is available from ftp.sei.cmu.edu.
Unzip this file, and check the README. You basically want to copy the
files "tdwgui.dll" and "cnfg.exe"
into your Borland BIN directory (C:\BORLANDC\BIN for example) and then
edit your TDW.INI file
to use:
VideoDLL=C:\BORLANDC\BIN\TDWGUI.DLL
Now, when you start up TDW, you should get a window on the screen with
the debug information in it.
You can run "cnfg.exe" under windows to set any options you need.
(Thanks to Roland King!)
If this doesn't help, try removing your mouse driver out of
AUTOEXEC.BAT. There is apparently a
conflict the Microsoft Mouse driver version 9.01 and some version of
Borland's DOS debugger.
(Thanks to Seth Tisue for this hint!)
3.4.1.1) Why does Borland's BRIEF hang or crash?
Some people have reported a "Divide by Zero" error after exiting
Borland's BRIEF text editor. This can
also cause your 486 computer to hang or to crash. This is a problem
recognized by Microsoft and
Borland in MS-DOS versions 5.0, 6.0, 6.2, 6.21, and 6.22.
According to PC Week, a BIOS upgrade from Gateway is needed to correct
this problem.
3.4.2) What is the hidden file "quality.com" for?
According to Gateway, this is a program used by their quality
assurance (testing) team during the system
set up and burn in. If you don't need the space, you should leave it
there, although it can be safely
removed (and you should edit your autoexec.bat to remove the call to
it). Quality.com updates the file
"uptime.dat" (also a hidden file) at frequent intervals. If you remove
quality.com, you can remove
uptime.dat also.
3.4.3) Why do I get a GPF at MACX.DRV?
This problem occurs when you run Quattro Pro for Windows v. 5 the
*second* time -- and start the
interactive tutor. It also occurs when
you use the Gateway CD-ROM Media browser (which comes with the Gateway
Sampler) to access
files on any other drive. The problem is the ATI-MACH64 drivers v.1.01
AND v.1.3. The problem
goes away if you switch to plain vanilla VGA drivers in Windows Setup.
ATI is aware of the problem
and actually said they were sorry and hoped that it would be fixed in
the next version of the drivers. It
was probably missed in testing because you have to open QPW twice.
(This hint is from Marily Shea - Thanks!)
3.4.4) Why doesn't MYST work?
Troubleshooting for MYST:
* Make sure that you are using the most current drivers
available for your video card, sound card, and DOS utility
MSCDEX.SYS. At this time there is a 95% success rate on
running the program successfully after ensuring all drivers
have been updated.
* Make sure that you do not have any TSR's running. Open up
your task list by pressing the Control and Escape keys and
close
everything except for Program Manager before running MYST.
* You may want to give this a try although you may not have a
Video 7 video card.... Go to the QuickTime init file and
change the "Optimize" selection from "hardware" to
"driver",
this will resolve screen split problems. To do this go
into
the QTW.INI file and you will see a line that says
OPTIMIZE=HARDWARE. Please change the hardware to say
OPTIMIZE=DRIVER. This may slow down your system.
* Sound Blaster 16 drivers:
The presence of SB16 drivers on disk was intended for the
convenience of the MYST customer, and presently they are
the
most current version provided by Creative Labs.
Please note: Do not install these drivers unless you have
a
SoundBlaster 16CSP (not the ASP) card.
* Error 10200 Initializing Timer Manager:
This error message happens during installation. This error
will result from a problem with Windows. This is a known
issue by Microsoft and requires Windows to be reinstalled
in order to run successfully. Unfortunately, there is no
alternate solution.
* Error 10315 Initializing File Manager:
Please make sure that all of your hard disk drives have
unique DOS volume labels. There are two methods for
checking
and changing the volume label of hard disk.
From DOS at the C: drive, type CD\ [hit enter]. To now
check
the volume label of a disk & type VOL [hit enter]. The
volume
label will appear on the screen.
To change the volume label, type LABEL [hit enter]. You may
use any name you would like as long as the name does not
exceed 11 characters in length.
* Shadow of KRNL386.EXE error:
Another error during installation. The error seems to have
various different wordings. Please review the MYST README
file on the MYST disk which states that the problem is in
the
drivers for the CORELSCSI driver. An update to these
drivers
from Corel corrects the problem.
Note: If you are sure you have the updated version, you
may
want to try the solution for the following GPF in module
KRNL.EXE below.
* Application has caused a General Protection Fault in module
KRNL.EXE:
To correct this problem, you will need to edit your
CONFIG.SYS
file and add the /U parameter to the end of the line that
has
SMARTDRV.EXE & restart your system. We recommend using the
DOS
utility EDIT to make these changes.
* Fatal Error at Script Line 0:
This was also related to the CorelSCSI driver being out of
date. Please refer to the above solution and contact Corel
for
an updated driver which corrects the problem.
* Maximum Color Depth:
MYST currently works with thousands of colors and 256 color
drivers. It will not work with a video driver that supports
millions of colors.
* Swap File Information:
For maximum performance in the MYST MPC program, please
make
sure that your Windows swap file is no larger than 2 times
that of your RAM. For example: If you have 4MEGs of RAM,
your Swap File should be no larger than 8,000K. Also, you
should use a Permanent Swap File rather than a Temporary
Swap
File.
You can make changes to your current swap file in Windows,
by
going to the Main Group and then to the Control Panel.
Select
Enhanced, and then Change.
* With an ATI video card, make sure you have the
DeviceBitmap=Off in the section of the System.ini which the
card uses. For the Mach64 video card, this section is
[Macx].
For the Mach32 video card, this section is [MACH].
Other video cards may or may not have this selection. You
will have to check and see.
(This is from Pat Thornburg at Gateway - Thanks!)
--
This Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) is Copyright 2000
Timothy S. Brannan.
All rights reserved.
Information has been checked to the best of my ability, but is not
guarantied or warrantied in any manner. Unless specificly noted all
information has been authored by Tod Pike, David S. Eitelbach, or
Timothy S. Brannan.
Gateway & Gateway 2000 are Copyright 2000 Gateway Inc.
All rights reserved.
All other images are copyrights owned by their respective companies.
This page does not represent the opinions of Gateway2000 or the
University of Illinois at Chicago.
-
Timothy S. Brannan, MS. Ed., Ph.D (ABD)
University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Medical Education
tbrann1@uic.edu tbrannan@usa.net tbrannan@iname.com
The alt.sys.pc-clone.Gateway2000 FAQ http://www.uic.edu/~tbrann1/gateway.html
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