TITLE: Geoworks Ensemble 2.x and Novell DOS 7 DOCUMENT ID: TID800188 DOCUMENT REVISION: 1 DATE: 20JAN95 ALERT STATUS: Yellow README FOR: NA NOVELL PRODUCT and VERSION: Novell DOS 7 ABSTRACT: NA --------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: THE ORIGIN OF THIS INFORMATION MAY BE INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL TO NOVELL. NOVELL MAKES EVERY EFFORT WITHIN ITS MEANS TO VERIFY THIS INFORMATION. HOWEVER, THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR YOUR INFORMATION ONLY. NOVELL MAKES NO EXPLICIT OR IMPLIED CLAIMS TO THE VALIDITY OF THIS INFORMATION. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ISSUE: Customers may notice a few problems when running Geoworks Ensemble 2.0 and 2.01 with Novell DOS 7 (ND7). This is a discussion of known issues and what can be done about them. FLOPPY DISK CHANGE RECOGNITION When using Geoworks 2.0 and attempting to view the contents of floppy disks, customers may notice that Geoworks sometimes does not seem to read the contents of a newly inserted disk. It merely displays the contents of the last disk of the same capacity (720 K, 1.44 MB, 1.2 MB, 360 K). This behavior has been verified by Novell. One possible work-around is to set your BUFFERS in the config.sys to their minimum, which is three (ie BUFFERS=3). This has resolved the problem in Novell's tests. However, Novell only recommends this if you run a disk cache (for example, NWCACHE), as it would otherwise be detrimental to performance on all drives. It has been reported that keeping the buffers out of the High Memory Area (HMA) may also effect this issue. Specifying DOS=UMB in the config.sys instead of DOS=HIGH will keep the buffers out of the HMA. However, memory management will suffer. In Novell's testing, the location of the buffers had a slight impact on the severity of this floppy disk issue, but was not the determining factor. Another work-around is to upgrade to Geoworks 2.01. This seems to resolve the issue for the most part. Interestingly, in testing with Geoworks 2.01, Novell only saw this floppy disk recognition trouble when viewing the Geoworks install disks; however, further tests showed that this instance of the behavior happenned with MS DOS 6.2 as well. CHANGING A DISK'S VOLUME LABEL Both Geoworks 2.0 and 2.01 may give errors when trying to change a disk's volume label ("Could not rename the disk. Error Code FM-19"). This has not manifested itself when giving a label to an unlabeled disk; only when a volume label previously existed. USING GEOWORKS WITH TASKMGR Geoworks will function well with the Novell DOS Task Manager in some configurations. Please read the the task-swithing information below even if you are more concerned with multitasking. It will help you understand some refernces made later in the section on multitasking. Task Switching If you are using TASKMGR as a task switcher (not as a true multitasker), Geoworks should function well. In the Geoworks Preferences area, make sure that under "Task Switching" the "DR DOS TASKMAX" selection has been made. Although task switching with TASKMGR is slightly different than with DR DOS's TASKMAX, they are generally close enough as to function the same in this situation. Setting the preferences this way will allow TASKMGR tasks to appear in the Geoworks task menu. It will also allow DOS sessions launched from Geoworks to appear in the TASKMGR menu. Only one unusual behavior has been noted in this configuration: Normally, CNTL-n (where n is a number on the numeric keypad) will switch to the "nth" task under TASKMGR. However, when Geoworks' graphical environment is in the foreground, CNTL-n does not function. Multitasking Because of major differences between multitasking with TASKMGR and using DR DOS's TASKMAX, neither Novell nor Geoworks recommends using TASKMGR's multitasking with Geoworks. Neither company will support this practice. Novell has tested this and the findings are summarized below: (A) The system will sometimes lock, requiring a hard boot, upon deleting a task. (B) To maintain usable mouse response within the Geoworks graphical environment, the machine should be a 486DX50 or better and the TASKMGR foreground to background ratio should be set at its maximum (20). The mouse pointer halts when time is given to other tasks, then reappears in its correct location. By having a fast machine an a high foreground setting, this effect is minimized. (C) CNTL-ESC will not bring up the task menu from within the Geoworks graphical environment. It will function from DOS tasks, with one exception. See item (D). (D) CNTL-n (discussed in the section above on task switching) will function from within Geoworks. However, if you use this, CNTL-ESC will subsequently not function from the DOS tasks. In addition, once you return to the Geoworks graphical environment, mouse response may be temporarily lost. To regain response, hit CNTL-ESC or CNTL-n, where n is the number (on the numeric keypad) of the TASKMGR task which contains the Geoworks graphical environment. Because of items C and D, you should pull down the Geoworks "E" menu anytime you wish to change tasks from within the Geoworks graphical environment. As was mentioned above, attempting to use TASKMGR multitasking when Geoworks expects to see DRDOS's TASKMAX is not recommended or supported. It is essentially an attempt to interface two systems which were not designed for each other. However, a user who feels a urgent need to run the multitasker and also bring up Geoworks may be able to avoid the locking issue mentioned above by disabling the TASKMAX selection within Geoworks preferences. While this makes the system more stable, it is still not a supported practice and has obvious disadvantages. Items in the TASKMGR menu will no longer appear in the Geoworks task list. Likewise, DOS sessions launched from Geoworks will not appear in the TASKMGR list, greatly reducing the functionality of DOS task manipulation from Geoworks. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Any trademarks referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners. Consult your product manuals for complete trademark information. ---------------------------------------------------------------------