
                Network Enhanced Operating System - Version 1.51

                                 R E A D M E


Read this file before installing NeOS 1.51, Peer-to-Peer LAN for DOS
based PC-s.


  LICENCE AGREEMENT

NeOS 1.x is distributed as a POSTCARDWARE (i.e. FREEWARE).

With this copy of NeOS you can connect 5 computers, which is, I believe,
enough for personal use. Fell free to experiment and evaluate NeOS, and if
you find it usable, instead of sending me some money (which I know you
wouldn't) send me a postcard and become a registered NeOS user.


  FILES

After unpacking 'neos-151.zip', there must be 8 files:

 readme       -  this file
 neos.man     -  ASCII manual for installing and using NeOS v1.x
 neosh.hlp    -  NeOS help file
 install.exe  -  program for installing NeOS network
 config.exe   -  NeOS configuration program
 net.exe      -  logins, logouts, mail, message, ...
 neos.com     -  resident part of NeOS network
 ne2000.com   -  packet driver for NE2000 adapter


  HARDWARE & SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

 - 286 or higher microprocessor (*)
 - DOS 5.0 or higher
 - 256KB RAM
 - 350KB disk space (C:) (**)
 - NE2000 compatible card (or any other ethernet card with packet
                           or NDIS driver)

(*)  File "neos-xt.zip" contains 8088/8086 binaries and can be downloaded
     from this ftp site: CARNet.hr//pub/pc/networking/NeOS/neos-xt.zip

(**) File "neos-dl.zip" ("dl" stands for "DiskLess") contains modified
     binaries that can be installed on drive A:. This is a known NeOS
     limitation, and future versions will allow you to select target
     drive, i.e., drive C: will no longer be hardcoded.

     Both files can be downloaded from ftp site:

     CARNet.hr//pub/pc/networking/NeOS


  HOW TO INSTALL NeOS

 - Make a temporary subdirectory and unzip "neos-151.zip" in it.

   Example (assuming "neos-151.zip" file is on floppy A:)

     c:\>md tmp
     c:\>cd tmp
     c:\tmp>pkunzip a:neos-151.zip

 - Type INSTALL to install NeOS and follow the instructions (they
   are self explanatory)

 - Remove the temporary subdirectory because it is no longer needed
   and read the file NEOS.MAN located in C:\NEOS.NET. It is rather
   long (cca. 40 KB), and can be viewed with any text editor.

 - Run program CONFIG to share resources (must be started on each
   station that will share it's resources), and program NET to log
   on the network, etc...

 - Remember that each time you share new resource with program CONFIG,
   you must restart NeOS in order to make it visible for the network
   users. NeOS configure itself at boot time. You don't have to reboot
   but simply unload NeOS with parameter minus ("neos -") and load it
   again by typing "startnet" or "neos"

 - If you have network adapter other then NE2000, manually change
   startup file STARTNET.BAT in C:\NEOS.NET directory. Note that
   packet driver vector must be 0x60 !

 - In case you experience problems with NeOS when used with plain
   packet driver (immediate hangups), try with NDIS. You must have
   NDIS driver for your network adapter, and additional files that you
   can download from our ftp site:

   CARNet.hr//pub/pc/networking/NeOS/ndis.zip

   File "ndis.zip" contains files for setting up NDIS protocol stack
   for NeOS:

   1) PROTMAN.DOS  - protocol manager for DOS
   2) DIS_PKT9.DOS - packet driver protocol driver for NDIS (DOS version)
   3) NetBIND.EXE  - netbind utility
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   4) PROTOCOL.INI - sample configuration file
   5) AUTOEXEC.BAT - sample autoexec.bat file
   6) CONFIG.SYS   - sample config.sys file

   Some packet driver implementations slightly differ from original specs
   (particularly packet drivers for 3COM EtherLink III adapters). DIS_PKT9.DOS
   assures nothing is wrong with protocol stacks, and will function on wide
   range of ethernet network adapter, virtually all of them, the same way.

 - If installing "neos-dl.zip" (diskless version), installation procedure is
   slightly different. First unpack "neos-dl.zip" in a temporary subdir,
   insert a blank diskette in drive A: and execute SETUP and then INSTALL.
   You can optionally insert a boot diskette in drive A:, and you'll have
   everything you need to boot and run your network from a diskette.
   Next version will solve this mess with destination drive.


  NeOS FEATURES

 - NeOS is probably the first real peer-to-peer network in a DOS world.
   You will never see terms like "SERVER" or "CLIENT" (like in real
   distributed environments). Network resources are distributed across
   the network and this shouldn't bother you. Lots of actions are
   performed in the background without special notice - logins, logouts,
   resource mounting and unmounting, ...

 - NeOS is probably the only DOS network in which you can, for instance,
   access 250 CD-ROM drives with only one login. NeOS is not limited with
   23 available disk letters (it's really neat when you actually use it)

 - NeOS is very efficient. Some benchmarks showed 30% better results then
   NetWare Lite 1.10 (or Personal NetWare in Novell DOS 7.0). It's even
   faster then Lantastic 3.0. What benchmarks? XCOPY-ing large files from
   machine to machine simultaneously. Please, use COMMAND.COM with DOSKEY
   installed, because this speeds things when DOS is waiting on a command
   line.

 - NeOS uses standard disk-caching programs (SMARTDRV, NCACHE or SCPLUS).
   Probably the best of them is shareware HYPERDKX. You can pay the
   HyperWare 25$ after a 30 day period and use it instead of SMARTDRV.
   It's really, really fast and very robust.

 - NeOS is compact, requires very small amount of memory (typically
   less then 40KB) and can be loaded high (you must use QEMM386 or
   something similar)

 - And other unique features (bugs, undocumented interrupts, ...)


  FUTURE

We make every effort to produce this software as robust and stable as we
could. When used in controlled environments with "good" programs, NeOS
works perfectly. But, DOS is DOS, newer built for multitasking, and thus
very vulnerable. On the other side, DOS is at the end of it's career. It
will be widely used for at least 5 years, but new OS' are on the way. So,
the first thing we would like to do is to implement NeOS in other popular
OS', like WINDOWS, my favorite 32-bit OS/2 WARP and Linux. We will
"standardize" NeOS protocols (IP/UDP & NetBios) and even more simplify
network management. Today's networks are, after all, complicated to use
(think of average user - 90% of all). We have many ideas on how should
modern network look like and showed only a little with NeOS. With stable
and robust multitasking OS, things should look much fancier.

We cover OS/2 with documentation. MICROSOFT will publish IFS specs for
WIN 95 and WIN NT. So, our next project include NeOS for DOS/WIN 3.1,
OS/2 2.1/WARP and Linux environments. You may also expect NeOS for WIN 95
and WIN NT (in 1996).

                                Igor Bujanovic
                                e-mail: igor@srce.hr

                                Address for POSTCARDWARE:
                                SRCE (for Igor Bujanovic)
                                J. Marohnica bb
                                41000 Zagreb
                                CROATIA


Modifications:

November '94 (version 1.5):
---------------------------
 - Fixed Int24 (critical error) and problems with appending shared file.
 - Optimized writing to and reading from a network resource which results
   in up to 30% faster network file access.

WARNING: NeOS 1.0 and 1.5 can't be run simultaneously on the same cable!

February '95 (version 1.51):
----------------------------
 - Modifications in November '94 caused problems with network printing. Fixed.
