README for eComStation 2.0 beta 2

INTRODUCTION

This is the second beta release of eComStation 2.0.
This product is available for download to all registered eComStation
customers of Software Subscription Services.

For more information on that, please visit:
http://www.ecomstation.com/subscription/∞

1) What to expect from this Beta

This version of eComStation 2.0 is purely intended as a technology proof.
It adds and extends some of the items introduced in beta 1.
A small overview of the beta 1 additions:

- Updated snoopers
These will provide better hardware detection/activiation during boot
It may cause problems on your system though, which may result in hanging
bootprocess or other problems during systeminitialization.

- Removed installation phase 3
This results in a reduced number of reboots during installation

[ updated in beta 2 ]

- ACPI, This version installs and detects ACPI [updated to release 2.0.6]
If your system does not boot, check if ACPI is detected, you can disable
ACPI support in page 2 of the preboot menu

- SNAP/ENT the special licensed version of SNAP by Serenity is
in there, we boot Snap directly from CD-Rom [updated to version 3.1.5,
build 500]

- Bootable JFS, this version is able to install on bootable JFS volumes.
Installing onto a bootable JFS volume will show a dramatic performance
increase! [updated to revision 1.0.4]

- Updated UNIAUD to version 1.1.4 RC1

- Updated all USB drivers to 10.162

- Generally the system has been brought up to date to the eComStation 1.2R
release level

[ new in beta 2 ]

- Additional debugging tools for bootable JFS (see \ECS\BOOTJFS for the tools
and \ECS\DOC\BOOTJFS for documentation)

- Replaced Mozilla with Firefox 1.5 & Thunderbird 1.5. Currently they are both
installed together. Adobe Acrobat 4 plugin has been disabled, as it does not
work with Firefox.

- Replaced EscapeGL screensaver with DS Saver (which can be activated and
configured from the desktop properties context menu)

- Added Cairo library to enable the Cairo Screensaver modules.

- Added LIBC6 and LIBC61 libraries to support applications that need those (or
will need in the future)

- Added Firewall configuration utility. Installed by default when TCP/IP is
selected. Can be deselected in Advanced Installation, under "Additional
Features"

- Added FAT32 and NTFS (readonly) IFS under "Experimental Features"

- Added eSchemes application, a new way to configure the look and feel of the
desktop. This is considered highly experimental and as such can only be
installed with Advanced Installation, under "Experimental Features"

- Added additional eSchemes, as available from
http://en.ecomstation.ru/projects/eschemes/∞

[ warning ]

During our testing we found the WPS to become quite often unresponsive (with
eSchemes installed) - this can be resolved by resetting the WPS with CADH
(press ctrl-alt-del and select 'w' reset WPS)
You can find documentation on eSchemes in ?:\ECS\DOC\ESCHEMES\

WHAT TO TEST

We are especially interested in:

- stability of Bootable JFS, we know there are some issues with Bootable JFS not
being able to boot the system. Please note that if you boot to another volume
with 'classic' JFS, you may not be able to access/boot your newly created
Bootable JFS volume. To overcome this, you can boot from the eCS 2.0 beta 2 CD
and perform a checkdisk from the Maintenance Console.

- your experience with eSchemes. The developer needs feedback on the usability,
stability and overall performance of eSchemes. The program writes a logfile called
[es.log] to the rootdirectory of your bootdrive, which can be helpful for debugging
purposes. As that file grows significantly, it may be a good idea to wipe it before
changing eSchemes settings.

- ACPI. It is possible to enable eShutdown (via the desktop properties contecxt menu)
If enabled, and if ACPI is detected and installed on your system (automatically by
the installer) you will be able to power-off the system with the shutdown button.
If this succeeds, it effectively means that you have a working ACPI setup.

- Firewall configuration. The Firewall configuration tool may need some tweaking and
tuning in it's default values and settings.

REPORTING

To tell us your findings, please create a report at:

http://www.ecomstation.com/support/beta2report/∞

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 instruction on burning the
CD image to CD please consult the PDF document howtoburncds.pdf in the
same directory.

The file to download is: ecs20beta2_cd1_en.zip (579.826.553 bytes)

TESTING THE DOWNLOADED FILE

You can verify the integrity of the download ISO file using this MD5 checksum:

FD57-55AE-5D45-FBC3-FA50-244F-4200-1A19 ecs20beta2_en_cd1.iso

To generate the MD5 checksum of your downloaded file, please download from
Hobbes: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/util/encrypt/md5suml.zip∞

USING DIFF TO REDUCE DOWNLOAD SIZE

If you already downloaded vnext_en_us_a1.zip earlier, you can also download a so
called DIFF file, from which you can create the new ISO. This requires you to
already have the previous ISO file available. The following DIFF file is offered:

7C3F-E7F7-1C37-BBB8-4824-7CAC-570C-D12F ecs20beta1b-beta2.diff
which is contained in \diff\ecs20beta1b-beta2.zip (74.135.973 bytes)

Please verify that you have the proper MD5 sum of the DIFF file and the original ISO
file as well: 11C2-8EF1-65AB-D0D6-28CD-F48D-83D0-D447 ecs20beta1b_en_cd1.iso

In order to create the full ISO out of the older files, issue the
following command: (you can change the ISO names of course)

gdiff -u ecs20beta1b_en_cd1.iso ecs20beta1b-beta2.diff ecs20beta2_en_cd1.iso

GDiff is a tool of Daniel Hellerstein, more information can be
found in gdiff.doc or on the following website:
http://www.srehttp.org/apps/gdiff/∞

NOTE: Please verify the resulting ISO to have the correct MD5 sum, mentioned above.

For instruction on burning the CD image to CD please consult the PDF document
howtoburncds.pdf in the same directory.

REGISTRATION KEY REQUIRED FOR INSTALLING

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


(c) 2001-2006 Serenity Systems International

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