Installing eComStation 1.0

eComStation is Serenity System Inc.'s first release of their version of OS/2. Released in July 2001, the software runs on Intel personal computers and servers. This version of the installation 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.

Installation Procedure

1. Boot the computer from eCS CD #1. The first screen to appear offers three boot choices. Select option 1 -- eCS Installation/Maintenance boot: default options.
2. Wait for all activity to stop. There should be window titled eComStation Installation Program. In the left frame of the window, click the icon labeled Install eComStation. On the right frame of the of the installer window press the Start Installation... button.
3. On the Select Major Components window, select the option Classic VGA. Suntan Special will install a better version of SciTech Display Doctor Pro. Click Next> to continue
4. Select the destination volume, then click Next>. If you need to adjust the destination volume, run LVM.
5. Leave the choice Format the volume using long format (recommended) alone and click Next>.
6. On the formatting Volume window press the Begin Format button.
7. Wait for the installer to format the volume and copy all of the files. When the credits screen comes up, press any key to continue.
8. On the Installing eComStation window, press the Reboot button.
9. On the Rebooting this Machine dialog window, press the Reboot Now button and wait for the machine to start booting, then remove eCS CD#1 from the drive.
10. Wait for the machine to reboot, and all activity to cease. A Window titled eComStation Installation - Phase 2 with five buttons arranged vertically should appear. Press the buttons in order from top to bottom. The first button is designated Verify video resolution. If you picked Classic VGA earlier you will only see one choice for screen resolution, so leave it alone. Click the Confirmations tab and check the box for Copy, move, create shadow. Close the System settings window.
11. The second button is labeled Install and configure local printer. It brings up a Create a Printer window. Press Next>. The next screen is Choose the Port, which you may leave set to LPT1. The Choose a Printer comes up; use the Have a disk option. Enter the directory of your printer driver, and a window titled Choose from the Printers Found window appears. Select from your printer from the available choices, and press Next>. The Name the Printer window appears; take the default name. When the Complete the Installation window appears, press the Install button. The installation may fail. Suntan Special will allow you to install a printer later.
12. The third button is labeled Install multimedia device and other system components. Pressing this button brings up the Selective Install for Other System Components window. Press Execute, and wait for the System Configuration window to appear. Take the defaults for all of the items in this area, and press Next. On the System Configuration (cont.) screen, take all of the defaults and press Next. On the OS/2 Warp 4 System Setup and Installation window, take all of the defaults and press Next. When the program invites you to shutdown, press OK, but do not shut down. Allow it to install. Suntan Special can upgrade drivers of some audio adapters later. When the eComStation Installation window appears, press Continue.
13. The fourth button is labelled Configure TCP/IP & install Netbios networking; Press this button to bring up the Important notes regarding configuring TCP/IP window. Press Execute to bring up the TCP/IP Configuration Notebook window. On the first tab, labelled Network, check the box labelled Enable Interface, then enter your IP address, netmask and routing information. You may ignore hosts and DNS, Suntan Special will configure those. Press OK to save TCP/IP changes. Press Cancel to skip rebooting after making those changes.
14. The eComStation Installation - Phase 2 window reappears. Press the Install Network Services button. Read the Important Notes screen and press Execute. The system should beep and complain that the OS/2 Warp version 4 CD-ROM was not found. Insert eCS CD#2, and press Retry.
15. When the OS/2 Warp Version 4 Setup and Installation windows appears, deselect Netscape and TCP/IP; click Next. A No Networking Services Selected dialog screen will appear; press OK to dismiss it.
16. A window titled Configuration will appear with a tree structure in the right frame. Click the botton icon on the tree, and work up to the top. The bottom icon is Network Adapters and Protocol Services. Click that icon to bring up the Adapters and Protocol Services frame. Press the Change Adapter... button to replace the eCS install temporary driver definition with your network card driver. If you have your driver on a floppy disk, insert the floppy disk and press Other Adapter. Press OK three times to let the system change the network driver. Finally, remove the IBM OS/2 NETBIOS OVER TCP/IP protocol unless you know you need it.
17. Click the next from the bottom icon on the left frame, which is labelled Error Logging Services. Leave this one alone. Click on the Books icon, and leave this alone. Click on the User ID and Password icon. Enter USERID and PASSWORD in these fields. Due to a bug, any information you enter here will be discarded, but some USERID and PASSWORD should be entered.
18. Click on the Network Adapters for File and Print Sharing icon. If you have only one network card, there is nothing to do here. Click on the File and Print Sharing Services icon, and enter the workstation name, workstation description and domain name. If this is a domain, check the Install LAN Server Administration checkbox. Now everything has been configured on this screen, so click Install. Click OK on the confirming screen. Click OK on the OS/2 Warp 4 Tuning Assistant comfirmation screen. Click OK to allow installation to shutdown your machine.
19. Allow the machine to shutdown. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot it. Wait for the machine to reboot, then press 2 for hard disk boot; select the correct boot volume. The OS/2 Installation program will run. The system will restart automatically.
20. Press 2 for hard disk boot. Wait for the eComStation Installation window to appear. Enter your real userid and password for Netbios networking, and press Execute.
21. When the Thank you for purchasing eComStation window appears, Enter your eCS username and product key. If you enter the key incorrectly, there will not be an immediate confirmation. If you entered the key correctly, a Please Wait... screen will appear.
22. When the Install Complete window appears, press Exit.
23. Remove eCS CD#2 and reboot the computer.
24. When the computer restarts, a message will appear saying The TZ string is not set correctly. Set the time zone correctly from the settings page, and press OK. The System Clock will report a sync error, and will not set the time to sync with a well known source. Suntan Special will fix this problem. Close the System Clock and shutdown the computer.
25. Make a backup of the installation volume.

Result

The resulting installation consumes 320.8 Mb according to my backup software, Back Again/2000.