ECMP 280: Logic Design of Digital Systems

Tips on Accessing Electronics Workbench


ALTERNATIVE METHOD for running EWB under WINDOWS 3.1

(thanks to Charles Bear!)

These instructions are for people who need an alternative to the official L.I.T. instructions.

First, there are a few general system things that must be ensured. Number one is that the "novell" program must have enough free environment space. To make this the case, you must go to config.sys, and insert a line that reads

shell=command.com /p /e:1024

If you already had a "shell=" line, you only need to ensure that the /e:xxxx switch is there, and that xxxx is 1024 or more.

The second thing that you might need to do is set up a temporary directory on your computer. This is good practice even if you don't need to run on the Novell servers. To do this, make a directory, like with the command

md c:\temp

(No need to do this if you already have such a directory, and of course you can set c:\temp to whatever you choose.)

Then in autoexec.bat, make sure the following two lines are present:

set temp=c:\temp
set tmp=c:\temp

(If you used something other than c:\temp, change it here too)

Making the above changes to your system will not hurt anything!

Now come the trickier parts of the installation. In order to get your computer into the Novell frame of mind, you must have three things loaded: a packet driver, IPX, and NETX. If you are using Windows 3.11, which has built in networking, the built-in networking may have to be disabled while you run Novell software; a more detailed discussion appears later in this document.

The first thing to do is to determine what file is your packet driver. For the Cabletron 2100, the program is e21pd. For other boards you may use pe3pd, or other packet drivers.

Then you need to determine how you have networking set up. Look in autoexec.bat to determine this.

Windows 3.11 NOTE: if you have "net start" in your autoexec.bat, you will have to disable this somehow, like by creating a boot disk. Do this by putting a blank or worthless disk in drive a, and typing "format a: /s". When you are done with the format, copy c:\autoexec.bat and c:\config.sys to a:. You can then remove net start from the autoexec.bat on the boot disk, and replace it with the packet driver

Everyone: If your packet driver is in autoexec.bat, you are OK, otherwise you will either have to add it to autoexec.bat, or just run it before you wish to access Novell software.

You are now ready to run Novell. So reboot your machine. If your packet driver isn't loaded, load it now by typing its name. Then type "novell software win."

Our goal on software win is actually not to run EWB, but to run KeyAccess, which must be working before EWB will run. It seems that only the copy of KeyAccess on software works for Win3.1, and that the one on software-lib does not.

Once inside Windows, open the File Manager, and look for the drive that is connected to \\Software\sys\public. Under it, you will find a directory called KSW32. This is where a working KeyAccess resides. First, though, you must run its setup program, "setup". Since the newer versions of KeyAccess require a newer TCP/IP Windows Sockets than is offered for Windows 3.1, you must set KeyAccess to use IPX and NetWare. This fixes the biggest problem. Also set the keyserver name to "keyserver" (a very original name).

As an optional, but suggested step, you can copy the files keyacc.exe and ipxtrans.dll to your networking directory, by dragging them around in File Manager. This will guarantee you always have a usable copy of KeyAccess. Then in Program Manager, go to CWRUNet for Windows, and then "File", "New...", "Program Item". Name it KeyAccess, and then hit Browse, and go through the directories until you find where you put keyacc.exe. Select keyacc.exe, and hit OK until you are back in the Program Manager. You should now have an icon you can use to run KeyAccess.

Test your ability to run KeyAccess now. It *should* work.

If it does, you are ready to run software form Software-lib. To do this, quit windows and reboot. Run packet driver if needed, and then type "novell software-lib win" When you are in Windows, KeyAccess may start. You can close this KeyAccess if it doesn't work properly, and run the one just copied from Novell Software. Then you can go through the Saber menu, and pick out EWB. Run the version for Win3.x, that's all I can make work even on my '95 machine.

Good Luck to you, and I hope this works.


Here is a link back to the ECMP 280 design projects page.

Here is a link back to the ECMP 280 home page.


Joan Carletta, carletta@ces.cwru.edu