To my knowledge, the software included does NOT violate any licence agreements or copyright laws. You can check that for yourself since I've included the original licence. There's no need for FTP site administrators or BBS sysops to delete this archive.
FreeIPX is a small subset of the Novell Netware Requester for OS/2 and as far as I understand the licence, this is allowed. But also it seems that you may only use FreeIPX if you have bought a previous version of the Requester (i.e. a copy of NetWare). Of course, nobody will be able to check if you did. Besides, methinks Novell is benefited by a more widespread use of the IPX protocol, with the SMB protocol (Microsoft) as a competitor. If Novell has a problem with this, well, there's a host of DOS gamers they have to take care of first...
I stole this disclaimer from Microsoft. They are very good at making disclaimers :-). See the full disclaimer on my homepage.
Any trademarks referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners.
An even more fundemental question is: why would you want to play DOS games under OS/2? Well, if the DOS game happens to run under OS/2 (most do) you don't have to reboot and start DOS. Of course, there are also disadvantages: the game will probably run a tiny bit slower under OS/2, and some recent games have a buggy soundsystem which gives problems with the digitized sound, unfortunately.
FreeIPX is a subset of the Novell NetWare Requester for OS/2. So why not install the full Novell NetWare Requester? Well, it's a bit of an overkill if you don't intend to connect to a NetWare server and only want to play a couple of games. In FreeIPX.ZIP you'll find the most relevant files so you won't have to go through the hassle of downloading, extracting, installing and deleting a couple of megabytes. The full Requester has a nice graphical install program, but it's a bit overwhelming. So I thought I'd leave out all the files which are not needed for basic IPX support and just assume that the user has enough brains to install it on his/her own by simply editing a CONFIG.SYS.
For simplicity, I assume in the following that your boot partition is C: and you put the contents of this archive in C:\FREEIPX. Change that if your situation is different. Use Info-ZIP's UNZIP, or PKWare's PKUNZIP2 with parameter -D, to unzip the archive with the original paths.
In short, here's what you'll have to do:
An ODI driver is a piece of software which provides a standard interface
to network cards. This means that makers of networking software can write
to the ODI standard and do not have to worry about each and every network
card. ODI is a standard of Novell.
For your convenience, I decided to include drivers for the 2 most popular network cards, the NE2000-compatibles and the 3Com EtherLink III. Especially NE2000 clones are inexpensive and very common among home users, students, etc. Vendor supplied OS/2 drivers for NE2000 clones are often buggy and/or slow. You could try this one instead. Both drivers can be found in C:\FREEIPX
You'll need an OS/2 ODI driver for your network card. You can use the one which was supplied with your card (if you're really lucky). Look for a file with the extension *.SYS in the directory \NETWARE\ODI on the driver disk supplied with your network card. Or if you downloaded a zipfile with drivers from the Internet, look in that zipfile. Copy the driver to C:\FREEIPX. If you can't find a driver, you may look for one in wsdrv1.exe. The following are included in that archive file:
3C507.SYS 3Com 3C507 EtherLink/16 3C5X9.SYS 3Com EtherLink III 3C770.SYS 3Com 3C770 FDDILink AM2100.SYS AMD AM2100 E21ODI.SYS Cabletron E21 E22ODI.SYS Cabletron E22 E31ODI.SYS Cabletron E31 EPROODI.SYS Intel EtherExpress(TM) PRO (82595TX) ES3210.SYS Racal InterLan ES3210 F30ODI.SYS Cabletron FDDI F30 F70ODI.SYS Cabletron FDDI F70 HP32ODI.SYS HP EISA HPFEODI.SYS HP 10/100VG LAN Adapter HPISAODI.SYS HP ISA EtherTwist, ThinLAN, StarLAN HPMCAODI.SYS HP MCA EtherTwist, ThinLAN, StarLAN ILANAT.SYS Racal InterLan AT/NI6610 ILANPCI.SYS Racal InterLan PCI MADGEODI.SYS Madge SMART Token-Ring NE1000.SYS Novell NE1000 NE1500T.SYS Novell NE1500T NE2.SYS Novell NE/2 NE2000.SYS Novell NE2000 NE2100.SYS Novell NE2100 NE2_32.SYS Novell NE2-32 NE3200.SYS Novell NE3200 NE3210.SYS Eagle NE3210 NI5210.SYS Racal InterLan NI5210 NI6510.SYS Racal InterLan EtherBlaster/NI6510 NI9210.SYS Racal InterLan MCA/NI9210 NTR2000.SYS Novell NTR2000 Token-Ring OCTOK16.SYS Olicom Token-Ring 16/4 PEOS2ODI.SYS Proteon p199x Token-Ring PIOS2ODI.SYS Proteon p139x Token-Ring PMOS2ODI.SYS Proteon p189x Token-Ring SMC8000.SYS SMC 8000 SMC8100.SYS SMC TokenCard Elite SMC8232.SYS SMC 8232 SMC8332.SYS SMC TokenCard Elite Master32 T20ODI.SYS Cabletron Token-Ring T20 T30ODI.SYS Cabletron Token-Ring T30 TCCTOK.SYS Thomas-Conrad Token Ring TCE32MCR.SYS Thomas-Conrad TC5046 TCNSR.SYS Thomas-Conrad ARC-Card TRXNET.SYS Novell Turbo RxNet & RxNet2 TRXNET2.SYS Novell Turbo RxNet & RxNet2As you can see, there's an unusual number of Token-Ring drivers. So, if you have an Ethernet network card and it's not an NE2000 or a 3C5x9, there's a big chance you don't have an OS/2 ODI driver for it. See below how you can use an NDIS driver if you have one.
In NET.CFG (a plain text file) you specify the settings
of your network card. I've included an example NET.CFG with FreeIPX (see
CFG\NET.1).
Copy it to the root of your boot partition (for instance, C:\NET.CFG).
It has 2 "sections": one for an NE2000 network card and one for a 3C5x9.
You'll have to add a section for your own particular network card. If you use the driver for the EtherLink III or the driver for the NE2000-compatibles (both already included in C:\FREEIPX), you don't have to add a section to the NET.CFG.
Edit the section for your network card in the NET.CFG. If you have an NE2000 clone for example, you'll need to specifify the Interrupt (the INT line) and the I/O base address (the PORT line). In the NET.1 included with this archive, I have set these to INT 10 and PORT 300 in the NE2000 section. Of course, they have to agree with the settings of your network card. In many cases, you set the interrupt and I/O base with jumpers on the card. Newer cards do not have jumpers on them, you have to use a DOS configuration program to change settings.
If you have an EtherLink III however, generally you don't have to edit the 3C5X9 section since this card is 'self-configuring'. It finds the INT and PORT on its own.
Also specify frame type(s) for your network card. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just keep in mind that you need to use the exact (sequence of) frame type(s) that the other network users are using. Take care that you don't confuse the Ethernet_802.2 and Ethernet_802.3 frame types. If you have a Token Ring network card, you may have to use the frame type "Token-Ring", i.e. use TOKEN-RING=YES instead of ETHERNET_802.x=YES
If you are in complete control of which frame type to use (which is normally the case if you play games with a couple of friends): I have no idea which frame type is best/fastest/etc. for game playing. Suggestions anyone? Most recent ODI drivers default to Ethernet_802.2 for IPX nowadays so that's what I am using.
The "NetWare Client"-manual (OS2BOOK.INF) included with the Novell Requester contains a description of all the "keywords" you can use in NET.CFG. You can change the settings if it is needed. Since every network card is different, I can't really tell what to do, but in many cases the default settings should work.
Before you continue, please make a safety backup of your OS/2 CONFIG.SYS.
An error in the CONFIG.SYS should not keep the system from booting. In
most cases, you will be able to press Enter and then the boot process continues.
However, it's better to be safe than sorry. So, should you not be able
to boot normally, you can restore the backup copy of your CONFIG.SYS. (You
do that by pressing Alt+F1 when the small white block appears at the upper
left corner of the screen, just before the OS/2 logo appears. Then you
get the Recovery Choices screen. Press 'C' to go to an OS/2 command line.
Now you can COPY the backup CONFIG.SYS over the current CONFIG.SYS).
Ok, you need to edit the CONFIG.SYS of OS/2. As a starting point, have a look at CFG\CONFIG.1. You can copy lines to your own CONFIG.SYS and then edit them from there.
First of all, C:\FREEIPX should be added to your LIBPATH, PATH, DPATH and HELP lines. Also add C:\FREEIPX\NLS\ENGLISH to your LIBPATH, DPATH and HELP lines. Next, copy everything between the lines marked NetWare Requester statements BEGIN and End to your CONFIG.SYS. Modify them if you installed FreeIPX in a different path than C:\FREEIPX.
Next, put in a DEVICE= entry for your OS/2 ODI driver. In CONFIG.1, the EtherLink III driver (3C5X9.SYS) is used. Put your entry on that line if you have an other network card. For example, if you want to use the driver for the NE2000-compatibles, change that line to DEVICE=C:\FREEIPX\NE2000.SYS
And then watch any errors you get. When the little white OS/2 block
occurs at the top left corner, you might want to press Alt+F2 so that you
can see the drivers being loaded. If an error occurs, you immediately see
which driver caused it.
If you got this far, don't you sit there waiting! Try it out! Start
with a simple case, such as by using the MS-DOS diagnostics program
MSD
in a command window. Look under "Network" if it detects the IPX/SPX support.
For simplicity, I assume in the following that your boot partition is C: and you put the contents of this archive in C:\FREEIPX. Change that if your situation is different.
In short, here's what you'll have to do:
Because of Novell's licence, I am not allowed to include other software
(these instructions don't count as software :-) with FreeIPX, which is
after all just a subset of the Requester. No problem, you can download
FREETCP.ZIP from various locations:
freetcp.zip,
Hobbes
etc. You don't need to read the documentation included with it, as long
as you read the following instructions. Not everything included in the
FreeTCP zip file is needed. You could for instance delete the C:\FREETCP\DOCS
directory.
An NDIS driver is a piece of software which provides a standard
interface to network cards. This means that makers of networking software
can write to the NDIS standard and do not have to worry about each and
every network card.
If you are lucky, the disk supplied with your network card contains an OS/2 NDIS driver. You can recognize the driver by its *.OS2 extension. In most cases, it is located in the directory \MSLANMAN.OS2 (or one of its subdirectories) on the driver disk supplied with your network card. Or if you downloaded a zipfile with drivers from the Internet, look in that zipfile. Copy the driver to C:\FREETCP\BIN. If you can't find a driver, you may look for one on Hobbes or elsewhere.
FREETCP.ZIP contains NDIS drivers for the 2 most popular network cards, the NE2000-compatibles and the 3Com EtherLink III. Since there are ODI drivers available for these network cards (you can find them in C:\FREEIPX) there's no need to use an NDIS driver and install FreeTCP if you only want to use IPX programs (DOS games). Go back and read the part about using the ODI driver. But if you have an NDIS driver and not an ODI driver, read on.
Again, because of Novell's licence, I cannot include this driver
with FreeIPX. However, you can download it from my homepage (odi2ndi.zip).
See also the end of this document for more locations.
There's only one file included in that archive (no documentation whatsoever):
IBMCOM\PROTOCOL\ODI2NDI.OS2.
Get rid of the path IBMCOM\PROTOCOL and unzip ODI2NDI.OS2 to C:\FREEIPX.
Example:
UNZIP -J NTSOD2ND.ZIP -D C:\FREEIPX
A later version of ODI2NDI.OS2 can be found on the Warp Connect CD, in the directory \CID\NIFS. This one contains a clear copyright statement, in contrast with the version I mentioned above.
When ODI2NDI.OS2 loads (described below), it prints out a couple of messages on the screen. Or error messages if your configuration is incorrect. However, ODI2NDI.OS2 driver does not contain the text strings of these messages, it prints out the message number and then gets the text string from a file called LT8.MSG. You can find this file (and LT8H.MSG) on the Warp Connect CD in \CID\IMG\LAPS\IBMCOM\IBMCOM.ZIP. This is illegal, of course. You don't really need them anyway, as you will see later. They just help to determine the problem if there is one.
You have to configure some settings (interrupt, DMA, I/O address
etc.) for your network card in C:\FREETCP\BIN\PROTOCOL.INI. You
can use the example CFG\PROTOCOL.2 as a starting point. Copy it
over
C:\FREETCP\BIN\PROTOCOL.INI. Note that a NET.CFG is not needed.
The example PROTOCOL.2 has 4 "sections": [PROTMAN_XIF], [ODI2NDI_NIF], and example sections for two network card: [NS2000_NIF] and [ELNK3_NIF]. Actually, if you have one of these cards (an NE2000-compatible or an EtherLink III) I advise you to use the ODI driver (see above) included with FreeIPX. The only reason I included these two sections in PROTOCOL.2 is so that you can see what a section looks like. If you really have to use an NDIS driver, then read on.
You'll have to add a section for your particular network card. See if the NDIS driver for you network card has an example PROTOCOL.INI. Add the section for your network card to C:\FREETCP\BIN\PROTOCOL.INI. In most cases, you'll need to specifify the Interrupt (the INT line) and the I/O base address (the PORT line). Of course, they have to agree with the settings of your network card. In many cases, you set the interrupt and I/O base with jumpers on the card. Newer cards do not have jumpers on them, you have to use a DOS configuration program to change settings.
For some network cards you don't even have to specify the settings (only the [SECTIONNAME] and the DRIVERNAME lines) because they are 'self-configuring'. They find the INT and PORT on their own. Since every network card is different, I can't really tell what to do, but in many cases the default settings should work.
The [ODI2NDI_NIF] section is the crucial one. Here you tell which NDIS driver to use and then it converts it to an ODI interface. You specify that NDIS driver on the BINDINGS line. In PROTOCOL.2 (which is just an example!) it points to "ELNK3_NIF". Fill in the name of the section you added for your network card. The next line, NETADDRESS, is also important. You need to specify the network address of the card. This is a series of 6 hexadecimal bytes (= in total 12 hexadecimal digits). For Ethernet cards you must add an I (India) in front of the address, for Token Ring cards this must be a T (Tango). So 13 characters enclosed in quotes in total. OK, where do you get that network address? Well, every network card has one, a unique address burnt in the hardware. Sometimes it is printed on a label, sometimes the DOS configuration program on the disk included with the card has an option to print it on the screen. If you have TCP/IP running (for instance through FreeTCP) you can issue a NETSTAT -N. It will print the physical address detected by the computer. If you really can't find the actual address, you could use the one already specified in the example. Just make sure it is unique, i.e. don't use it for another machines as well.
Also specify frame type(s) for your network card. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just keep in mind that you need to use the exact (sequence of) frame type(s) that the other network users are using. Take care that you don't confuse the Ethernet_802.2 and Ethernet_802.3 frame types. Look at the example PROTOCOL.2 how to specify the frame type. If you have a Token Ring network card, you may need to use the frame type "Token-Ring", i.e. use TOKEN-RING=YES instead of ETHERNET_802.x=YES.
If you are in complete control of which frame type to use (which is normally the case if you play games with a couple of friends): I have no idea which frame type is best/fastest/etc. for game playing. Suggestions anyone? Most recent ODI drivers default to Ethernet_802.2 for IPX nowadays so that's what I am using.
Before you continue, please make a safety backup of your OS/2 CONFIG.SYS.
I don't expect that an error in the CONFIG.SYS will prevent the system
from booting. In most cases, you will be able to press Enter and then the
booting continues. However, it's better to be safe than sorry. So, should
you not be able to boot normally, you can restore the backup copy of your
CONFIG.SYS. (You do that by pressing Alt+F1 when the small white block
appears at the upper left corner of the screen, just before the OS/2 logo
appears. Then you get the Recovery Choices screen. Press 'C' to go to an
OS/2 command line. Now you can COPY the backup CONFIG.SYS over the current
CONFIG.SYS).
Ok, you need to edit the CONFIG.SYS of OS/2. As a starting point, have a look at CFG\CONFIG.2. You can copy lines to your own CONFIG.SYS and then edit them from there.
C:\FREEIPX and C:\FREETCP need to be in a couple of PATHS of your CONFIG.SYS. Have a look at CONFIG.2 and you'll see which ones. Next, copy everything in CONFIG.2 between the lines marked NetWare Requester statements BEGIN and End to your CONFIG.SYS. Modify them if you installed FreeIPX in a different path than C:\FREEIPX. Dito for FreeTCP and the path C:\FREETCP.
Next, put in a DEVICE= entry for your OS/2 NDIS driver. In CONFIG.2, the EtherLink III driver (ELNK3.OS2) is used. Put your entry on that line if you have an other network card.
And then watch any errors you get. When the little white OS/2 block
occurs at the top left corner, you might want to press Alt+F2 so that you
can see the drivers being loaded. If an error occurs, you immediately see
which driver caused it. If you don't have the file LT8.MSG from the Warp
Connect CD (you shouldn't :-) you get a couple of harmless messages:
SYS0318: Message file \LT8.MSG cannot be found for message XXX
where XXX is a sequence of 0200, 0201, 0202, 0200, 197, 195, 196, 196. All it does is print a banner (IBM ODI2NDI v1.2 blahblahblah) and tell that you are using "adapter 0", maximum frame size 1514, frame type Ethernet_802.3 and Ethernet_802.2 and the network address you specified in the PROTOCOL.INI. So, you can really do without that LT8.MSG file.
If you got this far, don't you sit there waiting! Try it out! Start
with a simple case, such as by using the MS-DOS diagnostics program
MSD
in a command window. Look under "Network" if it detects the IPX/SPX support.
LSL.COM NE2000.COM IPXODI AOnce you have installed FreeIPX, these DOS programs are not needed anymore under OS/2! You now have a virtual IPX driver in DOS boxes. (If you like to switch off this IPX support in a particular DOS box, to save some memory for instance: there's a new entry in the DOS settings notebook, VIPX_ENABLED).
It's even possible to run NetWare Lite in a DOS box, if you have an old copy lying around in the closet. I found two floppies in the garbage and have been using them once in a while. But until FreeIPX, I had to boot to DOS. One note: I had to use a "Specific Version of DOS" (type HELP VMDISK in an OS/2 command window for more information on that) because NetWare Lite's SERVER.EXE would not run in OS/2's DOS emulation. There is a patch for NetWare Lite version 1.0 on Hobbes so you can run it in a normal DOS box. I have NetWare Lite v1.1 though, and I tried to adapt this patch to the new version but it doesn't work 100%. Anyway, it runs great in a 'real' DOS box. You need to specify an extra DOS driver in the CONFIG.SYS, DOSVIPX.SYS. I also had to use LASTDRIVE=Z and run SHARE.EXE. Here's what the configuration files for that specific DOS version look like:
A:\CONFIG.SYS: DEVICE=A:\FSFILTER.SYS BUFFERS=20 FILES=100 DOS=HIGH LASTDRIVE=Z DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\EMM386.SYS DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE DEVICE=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS DEVICE=C:\FREEIPX\DOSVIPX.SYSA:\AUTOEXEC.BAT: (has not changed)
STARTNET.BAT: (used to start Novell NetWare Lite) SHARE SERVER CLIENT NLCACHEX.EXE 15611
Before people start complaining that OS/2 doesn't start anymore when these configuration files are used: they are for the "Specific DOS version"! Which means you have to make a DOS boot floppy, copy these config files to it and then use VMDISK. Don't put them in the root of your boot partition(s)!!!
Again, there are two different schemes you can use to get both protocols running concurrently. One is based on using an ODI driver and the other on using an NDIS driver. I assume you already have FreeTCP or TCP/IP 2.0 working. If not, install it first. Since both use NDIS drivers, it's probably easier to follow the NDIS scheme.
The NDIS scheme is almost the same as "Installation using an NDIS driver". Please read that section for a better understanding. You need to download the ODI2NDI shim. See above how you can do that. Now examine CFG\CONFIG.3 and CFG\PROTOCOL.3. Add the FreeIPX paths to your CONFIG.SYS. The FreeTCP lines in your CONFIG.SYS (or IBM TCP/IP's lines) do not have to be changed. I only included them in CONFIG.3 as a reference. Next, copy everything between the lines marked NetWare Requester statements BEGIN and End to your CONFIG.SYS. Modify them if you installed FreeIPX in a different path than C:\FREEIPX. That was easy, eh? Now to the PROTOCOL.INI (should be in \FREETCP\BIN for FreeTCP or \IBMCOM for IBM TCP/IP). The only thing you need to add is the [ODI2NDI_NIF] section. See above on how to configure it.
The ODI scheme is a little bit different. It doesn't use ODI2NDI but ODINSUP, which converts the ODI driver to an NDIS interface. ODINSUP was included with the NetWare Requester so I added it to FreeIPX. The ODI scheme more or less following the "Installation using an ODI driver". The configuration files to examine are CFG\NET.4, CFG\CONFIG.4 and CFG\PROTOCOL.4. Add the FreeIPX paths to your CONFIG.SYS. Then make sure the NDIS driver isn't loaded anymore. For instance, if you have a line DEVICE=C:\FREETCP\BIN\NS2000.OS2 somewhere, put a REM in front of it. The rest of the FreeTCP lines in your CONFIG.SYS (or IBM TCP/IP's lines) do not have to be changed. Next, copy everything between the lines marked NetWare Requester statements BEGIN and End to your CONFIG.SYS. Modify them if you installed FreeIPX in a different path than C:\FREEIPX. Add a line for the ODI driver at the location indicated. In the example CONFIG.4 an Etherlink III 3C5x9 is used, change that if your network card is different. Now edit the NET.CFG as explained in "Installation using an ODI driver". As you can see in NET.4, there's one thing you need to add to the NET.CFG: a section that starts with PROTOCOL ODINSUP. Here you tell which network card you use. In NET.4, it binds to an Etherlink III. If you have an NE2000-compatible (for instance), change it to BIND NE2000. Finally, the PROTOCOL.INI. As you can see from PROTOCOL.4, it is very simple. The section for the network card is in fact a dummy. Add one for yours. If the ODI driver is called BLAHBLAH.SYS use [BLAHBLAH]. There's one exception to this rule and that is when the ODI driver's name starts with a number. Then place an X before the name, as I did with the entry for the 3C5X9. In the [TCPIP_XIF] section you see the line BINDINGS = "X3C5X9". Replace the "X3C5X9" part with the name of the section (network card) you want to use. And that's it.
First, install the LAN Manager Client as you normally would and get it to work. Carefully read my instructions before you begin to install. Installing FreeIPX on top of the Client goes almost the same as "Using FreeIPX and TCP/IP" (above). Just read LAN Manager Client where you read FreeTCP. Again, there is an NDIS scheme and an ODI scheme. I won't repeat myself here, I hope you got the hang of it by now! For the NDIS scheme you should turn up with something like CFG\CONFIG.5. There is one caveat, as you can see in that file: the line IFS=C:\LANMAN\NETPROG\NETWKSTA.SYS /i:C:\LANMAN must be loaded AFTER the FreeIPX statements!
OK, the easiest procedure is that you install the full Requester the normal way in, let's say, C:\NETWARE. And just get it to work. If you can't get DOS IPX programs (games) to work with the full Requester, it most certainly won't work if you throw away files either.
Once you have it working, you can delete all files in C:\NETWARE except for the following:
C:\NETWARE\DDAEMON.EXE C:\NETWARE\DOSVIPX.SYS C:\NETWARE\IPX.SYS C:\NETWARE\LSL.SYS C:\NETWARE\NWCONFIG.DLL C:\NETWARE\NWREQ.SYS C:\NETWARE\VIPX.SYS C:\NETWARE\NLS\ENGLISH\NWREQOS2.MSGOf course you must keep the network driver (such as NE2000.SYS or 3C5X9.SYS) too. If you are using an NDIS driver (for instance because you are using TCP/IP concurrently) you must also keep ODI2NDI.OS2. Now have a look at your CONFIG.SYS. REM the drivers listed between the lines NetWare Requester statements BEGIN and End which are NOT mentioned in the list above. Those are the drivers you just removed from the harddisk so you can remove then from the CONFIG.SYS as well. You can leave C:\NET.CFG as it is. Delete the C:\NETWARE\NETX.EXE line from the AUTOEXEC.BAT for DOS boxes. I'm not really sure about the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\TBMI2.COM line. I think it's for Windows. So it's probably not necessary if you're interested in running DOS games. I deleted it and didn't notice any effect.
You can also throw away the "Novell" folder located on the Desktop, if you want.
As far as I know, these are not needed for parallel network cards.
Several people have reported crashes with their vendor supplied
(old) driver. If your driver crashes, TRAPs etc, try to get a later version.
I mentioned two FTP sites above where you can find
more ODI drivers. If the vendor is on the Internet, bug them about a new
driver. If you have a cheap NE2000 clone, look no further. A driver has
been included in the directory C:\FREEIPX
FreeIPX (= Novell Requester) provides 'virtual' IPX support in DOS
boxes (mainly for games). There is no support for virtual LSL or ODI. It
is possible however to run one packet driver (or ODI driver) based application
in a DOS box. However, as far as I know only that particular app will have
access to the network card. OS/2 network applications will not work then.
Yes you can! Jay Cotton (jay@kali.net)
has written a shareware driver for OS/2 called Kali/2, which allows you
to use virtually any IPX-network based program over a TCP/IP network. To
run Kali/2 you need to install the Internet Access Kit included with Warp.
Kali/2 runs on top of Warp's TCP/IP support for DOS boxes, so FreeIPX isn't
involved. Kali has been used to play Descent, Doom, Doom II, Heretic, Hexen,
Command & Conquer, Apache, Rise of the Triad, Terminal Velocity, Warcraft,
VR Pool, Super Karts, Mortal Combat 3, Duke3D, Quake and other games over
the Internet with opponents from all over the world. For more information
see http://www.kali.net or search for
Kali/2 on Google.
If it takes you more than a couple of hours (or even days) then
don't hesitate to contact me directly. Please mention
"FreeIPX" on the subject line. Include the relevant files: your CONFIG.SYS,
PROTOCOL.INI and NET.CFG. Also mention what network card you have and which
driver you use.
Thanks must also go to Duane A. Chamblee (duanec@ibm.net) who had the original idea of using a subset of the Novell Requester for DOS gaming.
As you can see from its name, FreeIPX doesn't cost you anything (maybe a couple of frustrating hours to install it :-). However, I'd appreciate a little note if you got it to work.
I composed FreeIPX from several files I found on the Internet. If you prefer to have the complete works, here are the locations:
Novell NetWare Client for OS/2: ftp://ftp.novell.com/pub/updates/nwos/os2ct211/ ODI2NDI: ftp://ftp.leo.org/pub/comp/os/os2/lanserver/ntsod2nd.zip ftp://gigaserv.uni-paderborn.de/ftp/disk2/os2/muenchen/lanserver/ntsod2nd.zip ftp://ftp.urz.uni-heidelberg.de/pub/comp/os/os2/lanserver/ntsod2nd.zip Microsoft LAN Manager 2.2c Client for OS/2: ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/BusSys/Clients/LANMAN.OS2/ Instructions for installing the LAN Manager Client: http://huizen.dds.nl/~jacco2/lanman.htmlBack to top
A couple of times I received email from people who hadn't entered their return email address correctly, so I couldn't email them back with help. Please check your return address (especially if you're using a PC email client) or better yet, include it in the body of your email message.