Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!interlan!backman
From: backman@interlan.UUCP (Larry Backman)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Subject: Re: New version of Advanced Netware(r) '286
Keywords: Netware 2.12 heard of it?
Message-ID: <556@interlan.UUCP>
Date: 9 Sep 88 12:13:30 GMT
References: <447@coplex.UUCP>
Reply-To: backman@interlan.UUCP (Larry Backman)
Organization: MICOM-Interlan, Boxborough, MA (1-800-LAN-TALK)
Lines: 58

>
>  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.