XWorkplace 1.1.0 README (W) Ulrich M”ller, Feb 7, 2000 Last updated June 7, 2008 0. CONTENTS OF THIS FILE ======================== 1. INTRODUCTION 2. REQUIREMENTS 3. INSTALLATION 4. UPGRADING 5. NATIONAL LANGUAGE SUPPORT 6. GETTING STARTED 7. LICENSE, COPYRIGHT, DISCLAIMER 8. CONTACT 1. INTRODUCTION =============== Welcome to XWorkplace V1.1.0 XWorkplace is a complex set of replacement classes for the OS/2 Workplace Shell to enhance the WPS's behavior in many ways. This README has additional information which is not included in the XWorkplace User Guide. Please read through all of this before installing. After installation, you can find this README in the main install directory. About this release ------------------ This is the first release off the 1.1 trunk with the bugfixes that have piled up here since the last 1.0 branch release. For details, refer to the "Version Notices" in the "XWorkplace User Guide". To extract the documentation only, see "3. INSTALLATION" below. 2. REQUIREMENTS =============== XWorkplace is developed and tested only under eComStation 1.x, which is equivalent -- as far as the OS/2 code base is concerned -- to the Merlin Convenience Package 1 (MCP1). NOTE: As opposed to previous releases, XWorkplace 1.0.0 and higher will NO LONGER work on OS/2 Warp 3. SO DO NOT TRY TO INSTALL THIS ON WARP 3. There have also been reports that XWorkplace has problems on Warp 4 if the latest fixpacks are not installed, but I have not confirmed this. The following OS/2 versions should be safe, since they are based on roughly the same IBM code: -- Warp 4 FP 15 -- WarpServer for e-Business -- Merlin/Aurora Convenience Packages -- eComStation 1.x XWorkplace 1.0.4 and higher provide access to additional information about drivers. The following requirements apply: -- The CFGDAT.INF file from the ConfigTool freeware package must reside in a directory on the path that is specified by the BOOKSHELF environment variable in CONFIG.SYS. -- The enhanced help viewer NewView must be installed as either a complete replacement of VIEW.EXE or as a stand-alone tool with the executable residing in PATH and the DLL residing in LIBPATH. 3. INSTALLATION =============== XWorkplace must be installed using WarpIN. After all files have been copied, WarpIN will restart your Workplace Shell to make sure the changes become active. A reboot should not be necessary. If you are still unsure whether you should use XWorkplace at this point, you can select the "Documentation" package in this archive only. This way can then read through XWorkplace's documentation first and decide then whether to actually install all of it. To install later, simply double-click on XWorkplace's .WPI archive again. Some WARNINGS: -- In any case, before installing, MAKE A WPS BACKUP. -- It was reported that the Workplace Shell hangs itself up after the restart if you have the "Automatic lockup on startup" setting enabled. In that case, disable that setting before allowing WarpIN to restart the WPS. Installing on eComStation 1.x ----------------------------- If you are installing on eComStation 1.x, note that the "Desktop enhancements" of that version include a special version of XWorkplace that will conflict with the standalone version. Do one of the following: * Install this release of XWorkplace over the version that comes with eCS 1.x -- that is, when WarpIN asks you about the target directory, enter ?:\ecs\system\ewps (on your boot drive). Note however that this will overwrite the version that comes with eCS, which cannot easily be recovered. * Alternatively, exit this XWorkplace installation now and deinstall the eCS version first by running ?:\ecs\system\ewps\install\deinst.cmd Restart your desktop (or reboot), and then install XWorkplace to any directory. 4. UPGRADING ============ Upgrading from XWorkplace ------------------------- IMPORTANT: If you are installing while the WPS is running (which is most probably the case), WarpIN will show you confirmation dialogs about various files that are currently in use, most importantly, XFLDR.DLL. This is normal because those modules are loaded while the WPS (and thus XWorkplace) is running. In those dialogs, you MUST select "Unlock (DosReplaceModule)", or your installation will not be fully updated. If you get this message for a help file (.HLP extension), the XWorkplace help file is currently held open by the WPS. Unfortunately, with OS/2, it is impossible to unlock data files automatically. To unlock the help file, while the "locked" dialog is showing, simply open any standard WPS help panel (e.g. by clicking on an empty space on the desktop and pressing F1), which will unlock XWorkplace's help file. Besides, you will probably get a notification message that XWPDAEMN.EXE is running and must be killed. Have WarpIN kill that program (which is the XWorkplace Daemon). This has the unfortunate side-effect of making all your XWorkplace Startup Folders start if you accept WarpIN's offer to restart the desktop at the end of installation, even if they are set to start on reboots only. If this is a problem, then you should decline the offer to restart the Desktop, and you should reboot manually after installation has completed. If upgrading doesn't work, have WarpIN remove the installed XWorkplace version first, restart the WPS, and install the new version then. Upgrading from XFolder ---------------------- XWorkplace is the successor to XFolder V0.85. XWorkplace and XFolder cannot coexist, since XWorkplace provides all the features of XFolder 0.85 plus many bugfixes and even more features. As a result, if XFolder is installed, XWorkplace will disable your XFolder installation. Still, you should install XWorkplace to a directory OTHER than your existing XFolder directory to make sure no file conflicts occur. Several people have reported that installing to the same directory can hang your WPS. XWorkplace can take over your existing XFolder 0.85 settings, if present. You will be prompted for that during the first WPS restart after installation. However, many new settings have arrived, so many will be initially disabled. If you prefer to go back to your existing XFolder installation later (after all, this is a developer's release), have WarpIN de-install XWorkplace and install XFolder again, using INSTALL.CMD in your XFolder directory. Your old XFolder settings remain untouched by XWorkplace. 5. NATIONAL LANGUAGE SUPPORT ============================ This archive contains XWorkplace National Language Support (NLS) for English only. However, XWorkplace is prepared for supporting additional languages via additional NLS packages, which are maintained and released by people other than me. Some are listed on www.xworkplace.org on the download page, but you will probably find more up-to-date information about NLS packages on the mailing lists (see CONTACT below). 6. GETTING STARTED ================== In any case, after installation, open the new "XWorkplace Setup" object first and go to the "Features" page. This is the most central place to enable XWorkplace features. Press the "Help" button there to get more information. 7. LICENSE, COPYRIGHT, DISCLAIMER ================================= Copyright (C) 1997-2008 Ulrich M”ller, Martin Lafaix, Paul Ratcliffe, and others. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as contained in the file COPYING in the installation directory. The full source code is available. See XFLDR001.INF for details. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. For details, refer to the "Notices" section in XFLDR001.INF. 8. CONTACT ========== We have created two mailing lists at netlabs.org for contact. Please use these lists for general discussion about XWorkplace: For XWorkplace users: xworkplace-user@netlabs.org For XWorkplace developers and those who are interested: xworkplace-dev@netlabs.org For details, see "Notices" --> "Contact" in XFLDR001.INF. A bugtracker for XWorkplace is available at http://xtracker.netlabs.org Please use that beast for reporting bugs instead of posting them to the mailing lists. Thank you.