johnv@coplex.UUCP (John Vaccaro) (09/08/88)
Hello NetWorld; My LAN vendor called me yesterday to say that my upgrade to Advanced Net- ware '286 would be to version 2.12 and not 2.11. In addition he said that the rep from Novell told him that as of 2.12 the keycard/copy protection scheme has been removed. You >>supposedly<< no longer need a KEYCARD!! I believe that the new versions starts shipping either today or Monday. Has anyone else heard ANYTHING about version 2.12? Email me any info you might have and I'll summarize to the NET if interest warrants. Also, I'll post my impres- sions of the new version as soon as our upgrade is finished. thanx +---------------------------------------------+------------------------------+ |"...I've miles & miles of files pretty files | John Vaccaro | |of your forefathers fruit and now to suit | Hi-Tek Polymers Inc. | |our great computer....you're magnetic ink!" | 9800 E.Bluegrass Pkwy | +-------------------------------+-------------+ Louisville, KY 40299 | |DISCLAIMER: | UUCP:mit-eddie!bloom-beacon!coplex!johnv | | These are my opinions....... | BELLNET: 502-499-4020 | +-------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
backman@interlan.UUCP (Larry Backman) (09/09/88)
> > My LAN vendor called me yesterday to say that my upgrade to Advanced Net- >ware '286 would be to version 2.12 and not 2.11. In addition he said that >the rep from Novell told him that as of 2.12 the keycard/copy protection scheme >has been removed. You >>supposedly<< no longer need a KEYCARD!! I believe >that the new versions starts shipping either today or Monday. Has anyone >else heard ANYTHING about version 2.12? Email me any info you might have and >I'll summarize to the NET if interest warrants. Also, I'll post my impres- >sions of the new version as soon as our upgrade is finished. > [] Yes, I've heard about Netware 2.12; in fact I can tell you more than you care to know. Briefly, V2.1 was a fiasco, our gateway is still suffering the reprecussions. V2.11 fixed bugs, V2.12 fixed more bugs and most importnatly to the poor user, removed the keycard protection scheme. But, all is not well in Mudville, for mighty Novell has struck out... We have been getting complaints from our users as to the inability to run the gateway with version 2.1 on certain server configurations. Investigation proved that we ran better without transaction tracking (TTS), and that the gateway ran best with "dumb" card subnets. Interestingly, the more stuff linked into the Netware OS, the more likely it was to fail. In fact, I made on fail with 2 DCB's and 4 subnets, without the TCP gateway. So, I started looking at the size of the operating systems that failed versus those that didn't fail. Lo and behold, something strange happened when the OS got # larger than 460-500K. "Aha", said I, "The *#*! cold boot loader is hard coded somewhere". "Can't be" said Novell. "Prove it". I did..They scrambled, and sent me a patch; it works, but..is not in V2.12. So what does it all mean? The cold boot loader for Netware (in V2.12) will fail with large OS's. It loads the OS in real mode, does fixup's, builds a Global descripto table, and then shifts into protected mode. The problem here is that they boot in real mode and only have 640K to play with while they do their setup. Whats the solution? A different Netware boot architecture. How does that affect 2.12? I don't know. Netware 2.15 is due out sometime with MacIntosh support, that OS will be huge, and will undoubtably have to have a new boot loader. What am I saying? Buy Netware, but do so with caution, get yourself up to 2.12 to take advantage of bug fixes, and keep in contact with your sales rep. More bug fixes will be forthcoming... Larry Backman Interlan, Inc.
ugogan@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Jim Gogan) (09/14/88)
According to the official notice from Novell, the following are
the specifics (at least the "official" specifics) about NetWare
2.12:
" (1) This versino of NetWare is not copy protected nor does it
require a key device in the file server. Each copy of the
Operating System is uniquely serialized however. A separate
NetWare license is still required for every file server
running NetWare.
(2) The GENDATA diskette, which is still used during the
installation process, is no longer copy protected. NetWare
installers are instructed to make a backup copy of the GENDATA
diskette prior to proceeding with the installation just as is
done with all the NetWare diskettes.
(3) Support for IBM's new model 50z and model 70 as file
servers or workstations are included with v2.12. Please note:
An Operating System update is required in order to run an IBM
model 50z in non-dedicated mode.
(4) The drivers that provide support for IBM's model 50z and
model 70 as dedicated file servers are included with v2.12 or
they can be downloaded from NetWare or obtained from Novell's
LANSWER support group.
[Point (5) refers to pricing for new copies]
(6) NetWare HELP, which consists of a limited version of
a text retrieval utility and the elctronic nversion of the
NetWare User and Supervisor Manuals, is included with this
version of NetWare. A listing of applications that run
on NetWare as well is also included as part of NetWare HELP.
Users who have NetWare v2.1 or v2.11 are able to obtain a free
copy of the NetWare HELP utility. FOr further details, please
contact your assigned Novell account representative.
Hope this helps.
--
Jim Gogan mail:ugogan@ecsvax (UUCP/BITNET)
Microcomputing Support Center
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599