amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) (09/13/90)
A word of warning and an atonement to lotus. The version 3 Install program is my nomination for the worst work of the year. The distribution is on high density media, (in my case 1.2M) and gets worse from there. The files are compressed to save space. All 3 copies I opened were missing the card to request 360K disks. No mention of 3.5 drives. The software requires a AT & about 1 MB, and the only computer with all the media resources I needed was a XT. The install program also requires a AT. Why is beyond me. The Install program crashed time after time, for reason after reason. Each time ruining or almost ruining the 1.2 M disk. After everything, there isn't any option to install all the drivers the first time so just about any change requires the original distribution media to change the selected hardware. What's worse, the program MUST use the same drive media as the distribution disks. If you upgrade to 3.5 in drives, you basically won't ever be able to change the selected equipment without paying lotus for new disks.... The whole ordeal was a mess, and I abhore the thought of trying to manage multiple copies of this stupid thing on a variety/ mish-mash of patched up hardware. I strongly stand behind lotus's rights to be paid for their products, etc. But, in this case the 'copy protection' deal is a terrible mess. I must add that the customer service (I called) was VERY helpful and took care of the problem almost without comment. Still it's the very idea of that stupid mess. I also must add that now that I seem to have the whole thing patched up and running, I can say that I know just about everything anyone would ever need to know about getting it to work. I'll also add that with 640 base, and 128 extended there was enough to do basic work like with 2.2. I'll be playing with minimum memory configs for awhile, but have read that it will actually work in 640 too (not from lotus). al -- Al. Michielsen, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Syracuse University InterNet: amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu amichiel@sunrise.acs.syr.edu Bitnet: AMICHIEL@SUNRISE
JCS120@psuvm.psu.edu (09/13/90)
Your primary problem is that LOTUs 3 is designed to ONLY run on an 286 or higher machine. This is because of the 3-D capabilities that require more memory and **maybe** a 16 bit bus. Lotus recently released 2 simultaneous versions, 2.2 for XT's, and 3R3 for 286 and up. If all you have are XT's then you bought the wrong version. If you wanted to upgrade and don't need the 3-D capabilities, then you might be better off running 2.2 on both your XT's and AT's. I agree with the problem your having with the media types. In their efforts to cut costs, LOTUS used 1.2M disks, rather than stacks of 360K or expensive 1.44M disks. If you want more info, I think PC magazine ran an article which compared 2.2 and 3r3. Good Luck and I hope that I could help you. PSUVM JCS120 Jonathan Shultz
bkd@pc.usl.edu (Dore Brian K) (09/14/90)
amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) writes: >A word of warning and an atonement to lotus. >The version 3 Install program is my nomination for the worst work >of the year. The distribution is on high density media, (in my case 1.2M) >and gets worse from there. The files are compressed to save space. >All 3 copies I opened were missing the card to request 360K disks. No >mention of 3.5 drives. The software requires a AT & about 1 MB, and the >only computer with all the media resources I needed was a XT. The install >program also requires a AT. Why is beyond me. The Install program crashed >time after time, for reason after reason. Each time ruining or almost >ruining the 1.2 M disk. After everything, there isn't any option to install >all the drivers the first time so just about any change requires the original >distribution media to change the selected hardware. What's worse, the >program MUST use the same drive media as the distribution disks. If you >upgrade to 3.5 in drives, you basically won't ever be able to change the >selected equipment without paying lotus for new disks.... >The whole ordeal was a mess, and I abhore the thought of trying to manage >multiple copies of this stupid thing on a variety/ mish-mash of patched >up hardware. I have installed over 12 copies of Lotus 3.0 in the last 6 months. I ordered both directly from Lotus and from mail order distributors and always received the software on the media I requested. If you bought or received the wrong media, it is your own fault. I have installed the software on a pair of 286 machines, a 386SX, and the rest 386 clones of different types and never had the install software fail to work. The requirements for a 286 or 386 are clearly explained on the package. Lotus has provided version 2.2 for the XT class machines. Lastly, the software already takes up a tremendous amount of disk space on its' own, I sure wouldn't want to waste hard drive space on drivers for devices I didn't own. While I agree that there are cases where it would be convienient to have all the executables, data, drivers, etc. available in unencrypted format and available to move to any media so that the software could be moved between different machines, the software is liscensed to run on A particular machine and use in this manner would be usually illegal. If this bothers you, you obviously haven't tried installing DOS 4.0 from the original diskettes have you? I would have sympathized if you had complained about THAT. :^)| -- Brian K. Dore' Internet : bkd@pc.usl.edu Programmer /Analyst U.S. Mail : PO Box 42770 Computing Center Lafayette, LA 70504 University of Southwestern LA Telephone : (318) 231-6868