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This document contains information about Blonde Guy computers that have been configured with the eComStation operating system. Current contact information for Blonde Guy is available on the web at http://www.blondeguy.com.
Blonde Guy offers eComStation users well designed computers that are ready to use. All the hardware listed on the computer's web page works, and has OS/2 device drivers configured. Furthermore, the hardware has been selected to give maximum performance under eComStation.
Blonde Guy computers have a large number of programs installed and configured for use. These programs allow users to perform most common tasks without installing additional software.
The software installed on Blonde Guy computers has been installed by Suntan Special. Blonde Guy's Suntan Special software can be used to install updates to the system and its applications and also to install additional applications. When newer versions of software are released, you can use Suntan Special to keep your Blonde Guy computer up to date.
To setup a Blonde Guy Desktop Computer for use, connect your own monitor, keyboard and mouse. Support is provided for both PS/2 and USB keyboards and mice. Connect your own network cable to the provided ethernet port. Connect your own speakers to the green mini-DIN connector.
Plug in the power cable and press the power switch. When the boot manager menu appears, select eComStation. When the desktop appears, check the network connection. The computer is configured for DHCP by default. The wireless network is configured to automatically connect to an available access point.
To activate the wireless card on Blonde Guy Laptop computers, find the WLan widget on the far right of the eCenter, and right click to bring up the context menu. Select the Enable Radio menu choice.
Routine backups are essential to keeping your files over the long term.
Blonde Guy Desktop computers are equipped with removable drives. It is easy to copy your files to a removable drive for backup. Extra removable drives can be ordered from Blonde Guy. The drives may be safely removed when the computer is off. Do not remove the drive from a running system.
The removable SATA hard drives provided with Blonde Guy desktop computers are one of the fastest, yet economical ways to back up your data.
The DVD-Writer drive in the laptop supports most available media. See the DVD-Writer specifications on the IBM website for more information.
Blonde Guy computers have a bootable maintenance volume, to make it easy to take care of backup, restore and other maintenance. A bootable restore DVD is also provided. The primary boot volume has a maintenance folder with useful utilities.
The Maintenance volume, E:, has sufficient tools to fix problems that occur over time. The factory backup image is stored in the E:\image\Factory directory. All of the maintenance functions have been collected in the Maintenance Folder.
The recovery DVD supplied is a bootable eComStation DVD with network support. You can boot the machine from DVD, connect to your home or office network, and perform maintenance functions. The maintenance folder is available on the recovery DVD. The factory backup is stored in the \image\Factory directory.
The Maintenance folder is found on the primary boot volume, the maintenance volume and the bootable restore DVD. The purpose of this folder is to put all maintenance and recovery options in one place. This folder is provided on all bootable volumes and on the Recovery DVD.
Backs up the computer to the e:\image directory and creates a bootable restore DVD. Only the eComStation (C:), Data (D:\home) and Maintenance (E:) Volumes are backed up.
The backup method supplied does not work well on a running volume. If you have booted from the Recovery DVD, you can backup and restore all volumes. Otherwise, if you have booted from the hard drive, the backup program will skip the booted volume. You may boot the computer to the maintenance volume to backup the eComStation volume.
Blonde Guy computers that have DVD drives are delivered with a Restore DVD. Those computers equipped with a DVD Writer can create a new Restore DVD using this program. You can configure the machine to your own satisfaction, then use this program to create a custom Restore DVD.
This program restores the eComStation volume. It can restore the original factory volume, or one that the user created. All information currently on the C: volume will be lost. This program can be useful for replacing the computer's hard drive.
The backups are simple zip files. You can use unzip to extract some or all of the files in a backup. Backups are located on the Restore DVD and on the Data Volume (D:) in the \image\Factory directory.
This program restores the Home directory on the Data volume. It can restore the original factory volume, or one that the user created. This program can be useful for replacing the computer's hard drive.
This program restores the Maintenance volume. It can restore the original factory volume, or one that the user created. All information currently on the E: volume will be lost. This program can be useful for replacing the computer's hard drive.
Icons to restore each disk are provided in the Maintenance Folder.
Starts networking. This icon is useful to start networking on the restore DVD.
Blonde Guy's installation and configuration utility. Suntan Special creates a well configured workstation or server by installing a sequence of fixes, patches, drivers and applications to your OS/2 or eComStation computer. Suntan Special also helps to keep your system up to date by downloading upgrades to your system and its applications.
DFSee is a generic disk, partition and filesystem utility for maintenance and data-recovery. It supports partition tables (FDISK, LVM), FAT, FAT32, HPFS, NTFS, and partly JFS, EXT2/3 or REISER filesystems. DFSee is commercial software which requires a license key for continued use.
The eComStation Maintenance Tool is intended to update an eCS installation with IBM Convenience Package updates (known as fixpacks), apply customized updates supplied by Serenity Systems, install selected features, or backout updates that have been applied. It is also capable of applying and removing updates from IBM and Serenity Systems that are not applied using the IBM service process.
PMVNC is an OS/2 implementation of VNC. Virtual Network Computing (VNC) is a desktop sharing system which uses the RFB (Remote FrameBuffer) protocol to remotely control another computer. It transmits the keyboard presses and mouse clicks from one computer to another relaying the screen updates back in the other direction, over a network.
PCI is a program to scan the PCI bus and report on the cards found.
SmartMon is a VIO program that can display and monitor hard disk status.
Sysbench is a comprehensive benchmarking program for OS/2. Measure the speed of the system using SysBench.
SystemInfo is a clone of the Norton SystemInfo for Windows originally by Alexey S. Smirnof, and continued by Yuri Prokushev. List lots of information about the system with SystemInfo.
If you choose to have Blonde Guy repair or upgrade your computer, please follow the following procedures to protect your data and to make your computer safe for shipping.
If you can back up your computer, please do so. Pack your computer securely. The original carton, if it is in good condition can be used for returns.
Blonde Guy will repair or replace your computer according to your preferences, while recovering your data, if possible.