uTasker and Vista

[mark]

Hi All

Since laptops nowadays are no longer costing a year's salary (now only a few months' salary;-) ) I decided that it was time to get a new one exclusively for testing the latest releases of all software used by the uTasker project.

This means mainly together with Vista, VisualStudio2008 etc.

I will certainly continue most work using my trusted XP laptop with VS6.0 and all sorts of out-dated and not-at-all trendy programs (as long as not too many more keys fall off the keyboard....it is looking rather old recently) until I am sure that it is really safe to switch at some time in the future.

I have started testing and already have encountered first problems. I am sure that others have similar issues, which have been solved or worked around - and that, with time, more and more people will be upgrading - so the problem list (and hopefully some answers) may prove useful.

So - here's my list - any comments, additions or solutions are very welcome:

1. VisualStudio2008 (VS9.0 Express Edition) + WireShark 1.0.0. Installations much improved in comparison with previous versions - WireShark automatically installs WinPCap.
uTasker V1.3 + SP7 for Coldfire compiled (using SP7 config.h) with no errors.
Simulator runs and simulated device responds correctly to FTP, HTTP etc. from another PC on the network.
[I just noticed that WireShark is compiled using VS6.0!!]

Problem: Pinging of simulated device from same PC very unreliable - sometimes an answer - mostly none. No FTP / HTTP connection possible from own PC???

Solution: IPV4 offloading setting in the network adapter - see the following for full details and adjustment:
http://www.utasker.com/forum/index.php?topic=180.0

2. From DOS windows arp - a shows the all known entries.

Problem: arp -d returns an error "error deleting the ARP-entry: 87"


3. From DOS windows telnet 192.168.0.3

Problem: telnet 192.168.0.3 Vista doesn't recognise the Telnet command. This must mean that Telnet is not installed as standard. Does anyone know how to get around this?
Solution: In "system control", chose "Programs and Functions". Then click on the link "Activate/Deactivate Windows functions" [in German "Windows-Funktionen ein- oder  ausschalten" - hope the text is more or less correct on a English Vista system]. Then activate Telnet-client and OK. The missing Telnet client program will be installed.


4. HyperTerminal

Well, I know that HyperTerminal as a program was quite a disaster, but I am surprised to learn that it has been completely removed from Vista. Not that I wanted to use it seriously, but TeraTerm (a great freeware program which I have been using for a number of years) has a restriction of only COM1..COM4. With todays USB-RS232 converters you often get COM ports well outside of that range and so I have installed PuTTy for use when TeraTerm doesn't fit the bill.


Regards

Mark

[mhoneywill]

Hi Mark,

I'm running XP with VisualStudio2008 professional edition. For my testing I am using the Microsoft LOOPBACK adapter.

Just compiled utasker1.3 SP1 for LM3Sxxx and ping worked fine mostly <1ms replys. "Arp -a" and "arp -d" also seemed to work as expected.

Maybe its a Vista Thing, I'll try compiling to a standalone exe and run it on a vista machine.

Cheers

Martin Honeywill

[mark]

Hi All

I am wondering whether any Vista user is also using it together with VisualStudio 6.0?

Since the VS2008 express edition isn't supplied with all resources needed to use MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes) - see:
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=459044&SiteID=1
it limits what can be done with it - there are however no (known) limits for use together with the uTasker simulator.

I decided next to see how VS6.0 works together with Vista. The reason is that VS6.0 (although not the newest) is not a bad version, which can also (probably) be picked up second or third hand at discount prices (although I am astonished to see versions of 6.0 professional still being offered on Ebay for around $400 - rather more than a new VS2008 standard edition...?).
In addition I have recently noticed that WireShark releases are (still) build with VS6.0! Also my "Microsoft Windows DRIVER MODEL" (Microsoft press) book written by Walter Oney starts with his statements "I vastly prefer Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 integrated development environment for driver projects... it is almost up to snuff for building a WDM driver projet, so I elected to depend on it". So I am certainly not going to throw my present licences away in a hurry.

When I installed on my new Vista laptop I received warnings that there are known compatibility problems. Nevertheless I pressed on. When I run it I get the same warnings but, fortunately, the project that I want to be able to run on this PC (which does use MSN) seems to run OK.

Has anyone had negative experiences and can give examples of when VS6.0 can not be used together with Vista? Strangely, the link that Vista gives to get more information about the known incompatibilities leads to an non-existent web page, so this was not very informative.

Regards

Mark