Suntan Special version 0.67
Suntan Special Web edition
eComStation 1.1
eComStation is Serenity System Inc.'s release of their version of
OS/2. Released in April 2003, the software runs on Intel personal
computers and servers. This version of the installation instructions
has been created especially for use with Blonde Guy's Suntan Special.
My copy of the eComStation comes on three (3) CD-Roms. I refer to these
CD-Roms as eCS CD #1, eCS CD #2 and eCS CD #3. Only CD #1 is used in these
instructions.
Installation Procedure
- Boot the computer from eCS CD #1. The first screen to appear offers
two boot choices. Select boot from eComStation CD-ROM.
If there are no bootable partitons on the hard drive, this screen
will not appear.
- On the second screen, choose boot with default values unless you
know that you need to do otherwise.
- When the screen named Begin the Installation appears,
read the screen and press Next.
- When the screen named License Agreement appears, check
the box labelled Agree, and press Next.
- The screen named Select the Installation Type will appear.
Select Advanced installation, and press Next.
- On the Select the Installation Volume screen, either
select the installation volume from those provided, or press the
New Volume button to bring up the Maintenance and Installation
Volume program. The new volume must be bootable to be
a valid selection. When you have selected the volume, press
Next.
- On the Format Volume page, uncheck Check for errors
while formatting and press Format. Unless you have a disk that
is pretty old, then you should not need to check for errors. If
you will install your applications on a separate drive from the
operating system, go back and format that drive, too. Press
Next when formatting is complete.
- When the Registration screen appears, you will need
to provide the license key. It is easiest to read this from a file.
Use Import Registration Data to read the data from a file
on the hard drive, a floppy, or a USB drive.
- On the Locale and timezone settings page, choose your
options. I only need to set the timezone. Due to a bug in the eCS
installer, you will need to set the timezone again later in the
installation process. Press Next when done.
- The system will detect hardware devices for a short time,
then display the Hardware and peripherals configuration
page. For a desktop machine, it is likely that you can just
take the defaults. To use the IBM serial port driver instead of
the default SIO2K serial port driver, navigate to the Standard
Devices->Serial port controller and select the Standard
driver (IBM). For a laptop or notebook computer, select the appropriate model.
Examine all of the choices just to make sure, then press Next.
- On the Select components page, select
Additional Features->Security enablement services.
Press Next when you have made your choices.
- On the Network Configuration page, make your
appropriate selection, depending on the type of connection
you have with the internet. Under Network Types, select
Network File System (NFS). If you
are not sure, leave the defaults, and press Next.
- On the Network Adapters and Protocols page, I have
two network adapters in my computer, and it often chooses the
wrong one. If this is the case for you, then select the adapter
and press Change adapter.... Select the right network
adapter from the list. If you have a newer version of your network
driver, select Other adapter..., and supply the floppy or
CD-ROM with the driver. Otherwise, no changes are likely to be
needed on this page. Press Next.
- On the TCP/IP settings page, I use DHCP, so I only
need to fill in the hostname for my computer. It is a good idea
to name your computer (one name with no spaces; case is ignored).
Click Specify address manually, enter the hostname, then
click Use dynamic address (DHCP).
If you use a static IP, then fill in the fields for that. If you
are not sure, then fill in the hostname and press Next.
- On the LAN settings page, fill out the fields. You
should name the computer (no spaces; 15 char max; case is
ignored). If you don't have a workgroup or domain, leave
the field alone, and press Next.
- On the Accept Configuration page, press Next
to start the installation process. The Copying files...
page will appear for some time, then the computer will reboot.
- When the computer reboots, allow it to boot from the hard
drive, which is the default setting. Note any errors during the
boot process -- the exact message will be helpful in resolving
any problems with the installation. If there are problems with
the boot that you can correct, wait for the Copying files...
screen to appear, then check the box Start Management Console.
Wait for the management console to appear, then make any
changes to fix the installation. When you are done, shutdown the
computer and reboot to continue the installation.
- After copying more files, the computer will reboot again.
Once again, allow it to boot from the hard drive. A dialog box
will appear stating Multi-media Installation Completed.
Dismiss this dialog box.
- The End of eComStation installation page will appear.
The first tab of the page, Installation Complete announces
the end of the installation. Press Next to go on.
- On the Screen tab, press the Screen button to
bring up the Screen settings. Set the resolution colors and
refresh that are appropriate for your display adapter and
monitor, then close the Screen settings. Press Next to
go to the next tab.
- On the Network User ID tab, fill out all the fields.
Fill in the username and password. This will be your administrator
account. Even if you do not currently use networking, enter these
fields. Also check Allow your computer to be seen by others on
the network and Allow sharing of resources in a peer
network. Press Change to make the changes, then press
Next to go on to the next page.
- On the DHCP tab, change the DHCP start wait time
to 0 (zero) seconds. This means that the computer will not
stop and wait for you to press enter if the network is not
present. Unfortunately, eCS will change the value 0 seconds to
5 seconds. You will need to manually edit X:\mptn\bin\setup.cmd
to set the correct value. Press Next to go on.
- On the Clock tab, press the Clock and select
your timezone. Press Next to go on.
- On the User Interface tab, make the changes that
give you a system you like. My preference is to open the
Workplace Shell settings and check the box Confirm
on Copy, move, create shadow. Under eSytler Preferences,
I prefer to set titlebar to bitmap. I also set the shutdown to
include power off and suspend on machines that support APM.
When you have made your changes, press Next to go on.
- On the Printer tab, I do nothing. Suntan Special will
configure the printers. If you prefer to set up with this page,
that is fine, too. Press Exit when the printer changes
are complete.
- Remove the eCS CD-ROM from the drive. Shutdown and reboot
the computer, and note any errors during the boot process. When
the computer has rebooted, check the screen properties to make
sure they are suitable. On the Screen settings, do any
centering that is needed (under the Advanced). When the screen
settings are OK, reboot from the CD-ROM, or from an alternate
boot partition.
- If booting from the eCS CD-ROM, choose the management console,
and open a commandline. (Tools->Command Window). Back up
your new installation with the following command.
zip -rS9 xdrive.zip X:\* -x WP?ROOT.?SF
Replace X with the drive letter of your installation.
Keep this zip file handy to restore your original installation.
Results
After performing the above steps, I had 6312 files, taking up
359,485,839 bytes with 2,566,704 bytes of extended attributes. The
zip file took 195,710,974 bytes.
Last Modified: 10 Sep 2018
Graphics by Colorful Language
Copyright 2018 by Blonde Guy