eComStation 2.0 RC2 available

August 31, 2007 by Joachim Benjamins

Serenity Systems International and Mensys BV are pleased to announce the immediate availability of eComStation 2.0 RC2.

This release is available to customers with an active Software Subscriptions Services subcription. It adds a few new features and contains a lot of updated drivers and fixes.

More details can be found at http://www.ecomstation.com/subscription/

== BACKUP ==

As always, the following applies:

!!! WHEN TESTING BETA SOFTWARE, ALWAYS BE SURE TO HAVE A TRIED AND TESTED BACKUP OF YOUR SYSTEM !!!

** Netware installation **

This version of eComStation allows the installation of the Netware client software and utilities straight from the regular installer. It is integrated in the network pages and makes it easier to setup eComStation as a workstation in a Netware environment.

** Disk Resizer GUI **

This beta has a custom DFSee engine that enables reliable RESIZING of FAT32 and NTFS filesystems to allow shrinking an existing Windows installation to make room for eComStation on the same system.

The GUI to this tool has been updated and is now using a graphical interface. To invoke it, please select 'Paritition Resizing Tool' from the Installation Volume Manager which can be called during installation.

** GenMac support **

This package provides generic driver support for several network interface cards under OS/2 and eComStation. Moreover, Genmac is enabled to support WPA encryption with the Wireless LAN Monitor 3.x or better.

Genmac and the Wireless LAN monitor will be installed when the appropriate hardware is detected by the installer. If it is not detected, you can manually select the driver in the network installation dialog.

** Bootable JFS **

This release of eComStation contains the option to install the operating system on a JFS volume. The advantage of doing this is that the amount of diskcache is only limited by system memory (typically 10% of available memory is assigned) This increased cache size gives a huge
gain in overall system performance.

To install onto a Bootable JFS volume, you will have to select 'JFS' as filesystem type in the 'Format Volume' page of the installer.

** ACPI 3.01 **

ACPI support has been updated to the latest available version (3.01) which results in varying successrate. For example, AMD Opteron multicore CPU is now reported to be supported.

Installation of ACPI has been improved by the use of the ACPI Wizard, which tries to determine system configuration and set parameters accordingly. You can manually change them of course. It will be run after regular installation has completed.

** multicore CPU support **

This beta supports the installation of eComStation on a MultiCore CPU computer. This includes Intel Core Duo, Core2 Duo and AMD 64 X2. To enable it, you can do so in the ACPI Wizard that is launched from the Post Installation tasks at the end of the installation. Alternatively you can start the ACPI Wizard at any time from the install/remove folder
in the Local System folder on the desktop.

** eComStation Virtual File System (Samba client support) **

Samba is a SMB/CIFS protocols file and print sharing server/client set originally made for UNIX world to cooperate with corresponding Windows and OS/2 servers or clients. eComStation has a native implementation of
SMB/CIFS server/client set - IBM LAN Manager and IBM Peer. These products have not been recently updated and may have some compatibility issues with modern Windows SMB/CIFS implementations.

Serenity Systems International has reached an agreement with Blueprint Software Works for the inclusion of the 'eComStation Virtual File System' driver which provides support for Samba Client. Currently a GUI to configure it is lacking, but an example of how to mount a Samba
resource is available.

== REPORTING ==

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

http://www.ecomstation.com/support/rc2report/

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.

== SOFTWARE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES ==

Please note that although some subscriptions have expired by now, you are not required to purchase a renewal to obtain the GA version of eComStation 2.0. If you want to try this RC2 release however, you are encouraged to renew your Software Subscription Services contract.

More details can be found at http://www.ecomstation.com/subscription/

Enjoy!


Serenity Systems International