Caldera DR-DOS FAQ
Caldera Support Staff, support@caldera.com
This document contains Frequently Asked Questions for Caldera DR-DOS.
This document is updated as new questions are asked (and answered by
Caldera's technical staff).
______________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
1.1. Where can I obtain the latest version of this document?
1.2. Are there other resources for answering questions about DR-
DOS?
2. Availability
2.1. How do I get a copy of Caldera DR-DOS?
2.2. When will the source code be available?
2.3. When will Internet connectivity features be included?
2.4. Your site doesn't work! (or, why can't I download the
software?)
3. System Requirements
3.1. What does the DR-DOS binary include?
4. NetWare Client and Utilities
4.1. What NetWare support is included?
5. Miscellaneous Questions
5.1. Can I access the Internet using DR-DOS?
______________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
This document lists frequently asked questions, with their answers,
for Caldera DR-DOS. This document is a work in progress.
1.1. Where can I obtain the latest version of this document?
To obtain the most recent version of this document, please refer to
Caldera's web site at:
http://www.caldera.com/tech-ref/opendos/faq/faq.html
Also, this list can be obtained from caldera's FTP site at:
ftp://ftp.caldera.com/pub/opendos/info/faq.txt
1.2. Are there other resources for answering questions about DR-DOS?
Yes. The Caldera DR-DOS mailing list provides a forum in which users
of Caldera DR-DOS can discuss issues amongst themselves. It is not a
formal support channel. Though Caldera employees may occasionally
please don't expect responses from Caldera. For more information
about the Caldera DR-DOS mailing list see the DR-DOS Mailing List Info
page.
Formal support for Caldera DR-DOS is available via email at
dos.support@caldera.com.
Finally, a number of non-Caldera web sites which provide information
about various aspects of DR-DOS have started to appear. Here are a
few which may be helpful:
+ The Unofficial OpenDOS Page
+ DOS FreeWare and ShareWare packages [German] by Matthias Paul
2. Availability
This section of the FAQ contains questions and answers about pricing,
ordering, and availability of Caldera DR-DOS.
2.1. How do I get a copy of Caldera DR-DOS?
The DR-DOS binary may be downloaded from the Caldera web site by
accessing http://www.caldera.com/dos/. For more information on DR-DOS
or other Caldera products and technologies, please call (800) 850-7779
in the US, (801) 269-7012 internationally or by E-mail at
orders@caldera.com.
2.2. When will the source code be available?
The source code for the kernel components of DR-DOS is avaiable now,
at http://www.caldera.com/dos/html/dload.htm
<http://www.caldera.com/dos/html/dload.htm> This is a form you will
need to fill out in order to obtain the code from Caldera. After
filling out the form, you will be able to download the binaries or
source code.
The kernel components available now are IBMBIO, IBMDOS and
COMMAND.COM. Additional source code will be made available as it is
readied for public use.
2.3. When will Internet connectivity features be included?
Caldera has announced that it is considering including Internet
connectivity features (like a TCP/IP protocol stack, and a suite of
Internet tools) in DR-DOS in future releases. However, Caldera has
not announced a time frame for the next release of DR-DOS.
This first release of DR-DOS fulfills Caldera's promise to make the
base distribution of DOS that it acquired from Novell available.
2.4. Your site doesn't work! (or, why can't I download the software?)
The response to the release of DR-DOS has been overwhelming.
Due to a variety of factors, some users have experienced difficulties
downloading the DR-DOS files. Here is some brief information about
the first few weeks of the release which may explain some of the
problems:
For the first few days of the release, Caldera served the DR-DOS files
from its web server. The web server timeouts were not configured high
enough for some of the slower connections, and many people were only
able to download a part of the file they were interested in. When
users tried to extract the files by running the file they downloaded,
these partially downloaded files would report a problem with the ZIP,
and would not perform the self-extraction properly.
For the next few days, the web server timeouts were configured higher
on the web server, but we eventually decided to put the files on our
FTP site instead. At the same time this change was made, Caldera put
in place the form which requests user information prior to the
download. This form was put in place to help us get a better feeling
for who was interested in the software, and also collect the
information necessary for us to keep our customers up to date on new
releases (like the upcoming source release). In violation of any sane
web server administration practice, we also changed our web server
software during this same period.
Although the form apparently worked OK with our prior server, running
it under the new server revealed a subtle bug in the handling script's
CGI processing, which caused new, form-related, problems for the next
few days.
Finally, we received notice from our service provider that a rare and
unprecedented series of failures led to service problems for our
Internet connection during this same period.
All of these factors, coupled with the huge demand and our current
bandwidth constraints (we are currently connected to the Internet via
a T1 line), has resulted in slowness and download failures over the
last few weeks.
We have resolved several of the problems mentioned above, and are
closely monitoring the download rate (and download failure rate) to
see if additional measures are required.
Please let us know if you continue to be unable to download the DR-DOS
software. To do so, contact the account at webmaster@caldera.com, and
include information about the client software you used to attempt the
download, the time and date of your attempts, the speed which the
download was progressing at before it failed, etc.
Thank you for your continued patience as we try to make this product
available over the Internet.
3. System Requirements
This section lists information about system requirements for Caldera
DR-DOS.
3.1. What does the DR-DOS binary include?
The DR-DOS binary includes:
+ Full-featured DOS
+ Full Multitasking--Pentium, 486 and 386
+ Novell Personal NetWare (client/server) --easy peer-to-peer
networking for the end user (SERVER.EXE)
+ Leading Memory Management--DPMS and DPMI
+ Stacker Disk Compression--safely and reliably doubles disk capacity
+ NetWars--new and improved version of the popular ``arcade'' game
+ Power management and ROMming
4. NetWare Client and Utilities
This sections lists the questions about the NetWare client.
4.1. What NetWare support is included?
DR-DOS includes the Novell VLM client, which supports all versions of
Netware, including Personal NetWare and Advanced Netware versions 2.x,
3.x and 4.x. The complete Personal NetWare product is included for
full DOS peer-to-peer networking. This includes the Personal NetWare
server, the NetWare VLM client mentioned above, and a large number of
DOS network card drivers.
Virtually every network card manufacturer provides a Novell-compatible
DOS ODI driver with the card when you purchase it, which can be used
with all of DR-DOS' NetWare connectivity software.
5. Miscellaneous Questions
This is a list of questions that have yet to be categorized.
5.1. Can I access the Internet using DR-DOS?
Yes. Caldera is currently working on a set of Internet access
programs (TCP/IP stack, web browser, etc.) for the next release of DR-
DOS. In the mean time, there are several programs you can obtain
today to access the Internet from DOS.
You may want to look at one of the following sites for a list of
programs you can use now:
+ FDISK.COM DOS Internet Pages <http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx>
+ RealmSpace for DOS
<http://www.best.com/~darknerd/realmspace/rsdos.htm>
+ The Best Free Internet Software <http://www.afn.org/~afn45694/>