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Date:	Sun, 27 May 2001 18:00:54 PDT
From:	jr_fox@pacbell.net
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: ECS, System Cmdr., etc.

Content Type: text/plain

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{from Steven's response to Peter} :

> >I use System Commander. Why won't it work with MCP or eCS?
>
> LVM updates sectors not saved/restored by SC.

I don't follow this. Wasn't aware that SC saved or restored anything. I thought it just juggled several alternate
MBRs.

Peter wrote to me :

> I like to have everything able to see and
> > access everything else... JFS would mess that scheme up
>
> It's time for a network and a Keyboard-Video-Mouse (KVM) switch box.

> put eCS on a different machine and use the switch box so you can look at
> either the older Warp machine or the eCS machine. (The cheap KVM boxes
> are $15-$25 plus a cable and don't have electronic switching. They
> sometimes lock up a machine due to the keyboard-mouse switching, so you
> may want to use a separate keyboard and mouse for each machine and just
> switch the monitor. Expensive KVM's start at a couple hundred bucks.)
>
> Each machine can have a "compatible" Maintenance Partition.

No, that's not an acceptable solution for me. It's way too complicated, and, with the sort of system I favor (i.e.,
premium all the way), redundant and way too expensive. I have no real need for a network here, and don't have room in
my office for another box . . . although I have considered someday adding a laptop, at which point the network idea
might be worth another look.

If this was the only choice open to me, without hesitation I would say 'Bag ECS,' even though I've already paid for it.
The setup I have now works well for me. Don't mess with success, and all that.

> The network will allow file access to all. Of course, that can be a
> problem if you're connected to the Internet . . .

Always am.

from Steven:

> if this is correct it would be very bad news for my
> >multiboot system. I planned to add ECS at some point after receiving the
> >GA release, which hasn't turned up yet.
>
> That's my current understanding. LVM writes the drive letter assignments
> to some otherwise unused sectors on the MBR track. SC, may or may not
> preserve these correctly when switching. Others have said it won't work.
> I'm not saying it won't work. I'm saying you need to test carefully.

A couple of the regulars on Compuserve's IBMforum have multi-OS setups not too dissimilar from mine, and successfully
added ECS. However, I don't know what they are using to mediate the OS-switching . . . possibly something other than
System Commander. I'll inquire.

> >ECS one -- or vice-versa -- but there wasn't time for him to elaborate as
> >to Why. Back when I put in Warp 4, I turned the prior Warp 3 partition
> >into my Maintenance
>
> This again is and LVM vs. non-LVM issue. Since Warp4 knows nothing about
> LVM, there's a potential for fdisk like utilities running under Warp4 to
> do things that confuse the LVM-aware eCS or MCP.

Not sure what qualifies as an "fdisk-like" utilities. I have DFSEE, but have never fired it up. Any partition
adjustments with Partition Magic 3.0 for OS/2 would have been finished _before_ ECS goes on, and I might as well take
the program off entirely at that point. If there are other things to avoid using, I'd like to i.d. them ahead of time.
On the other hand, there was an article in VOICE not that long ago, stating that it was possible to retrofit Warp 4 to
be LVM-aware.

> JFS is irrelevant. It would be invisible to your Warp4 systems, just as
> FAT32 partitions are, without loading an IFS that understands them.

Right, but I want to be able to see _everything_, at least within the Warp family, and that's why I wouldn't use it.

> >in another partition. Is there any reason this will no longer be
> >possible or advisable, once ECS is added to the mix ?
>
> Jan van Wijk, the author of DFSEE, is scheduled to be the presenter at the
> June meeting. He and Daniela are the de-facto LVM experts. Assuming,
> Murphy doesn't mess up the scheduling, ask Jan ask the meeting.

I'll do that also. Thanks, Steven.

Jordan

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