The end of my week with 0.4.7
Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2018 7:27 am
I had always believed that I would eventually find a way to copy files out of Katrora without having to first shut her down. The method I have been persevering with is to insert a USB stick (at any time), copy files to it, shut the PC down, then remove the stick. Without shut-down, the PC will not boot again without a reinstall of ReactOS.
I had already spent hours trying to network Katrora (onboard LAN, driver 8169) to other PCs.
In both Katrora and Shellbone (Win7), I had URL'd by VDSL modem. In both PCs, the modem showed the connected devices:
"Unidentified Device 10.0.0.21" (Shellbone)
"KATRORA 10.0.0.99"
But they wouldn't talk.
Each of my PCs has its own RJ45 4-way switchbox. They can contact either the modem, or someone else's switchbox. This allows me to connect any websurfing PC to my storage PC (Bellbird, XP, offline, no AV) while ensuring Bellbird is unable to contact the modem.
Switching Shellbone and Bellbird together works perfectly. I hurry the connecting-up along by mapping (from within Shellbone) Z: \\bellbird\d.
Switching Katrora and Shellbone together results in them attempting to talk but not quite getting there.
Switching Katrora and Bellbird together results in them also attempting to talk.
I have tried with the PCs on Subnet mask 255.0.0.0 and 255.255.255.0. Nup.
I have tried to get Win7 to set up a new homegroup, which would include Katrora. Nup.
(I have already documented my attempts to network Katrora to my Laptop, using some 192 addresses).
I need to be able to remove a USB device without Katrora realizing it is missing. I had tried two card readers and a USB hub. None of them would install.
So, I decided to try a USB sata-bridge tail. I plugged in my single-power Apricorn tail without a drive. Then I plugged my Crucial C300 SSD (64GB), which had been formatted in FAT32 and had a few folders put in, into the tail. In Explorer, I checked its contents—the folders and files weren't showing. I closed Explorer, removed the SSD from the tail (hoping that leaving the tail plugged in would trick Katrora), then shut Katrora down.
Reboot. No POST screen boot-loop. Victory Nº1.
I then tried my Toshiba 160GB laptop spinner (NTFS), but the old ASUS mobo didn't have enough power in a single port to spin it up (even with a bridge in the spinner's start-up power-reduction pins). Unplug the spinner, shut Katrora down, unplug the Apricorn.
Boot. Plug in my dual-power el-cheapo tail. Plug in the spinner. In Explorer, check the contents. Everything shows, but the drive is read-only. Unplug the spinner (spinning), shut down.
Reboot. Perfect. Will the spinner now start up properly in another PC? Yep.
Using hot-unpluggable USB, I can copy things into Katrora, but not copy things out. Victory Nº2.
Using Shellbone, I reformatted the C300 in NTFS and plugged it into Katrora. It behaved the same way as the spinner.
I spent hours plugging the drives in and out of Bellbird and Shellbone, looking for some kind of 'sharing' issue before concluding the problem was neither a security thing or a permissions thing.
Now into the early hours of the morning, I ended up doing something that alerted Katrora to the fact that I had hot-unplugged a USB device. POST screen boot-loop.
Reinstall ReactOS (had to do it twice), leave her running, and go to bed.
I had already spent hours trying to network Katrora (onboard LAN, driver 8169) to other PCs.
In both Katrora and Shellbone (Win7), I had URL'd by VDSL modem. In both PCs, the modem showed the connected devices:
"Unidentified Device 10.0.0.21" (Shellbone)
"KATRORA 10.0.0.99"
But they wouldn't talk.
Each of my PCs has its own RJ45 4-way switchbox. They can contact either the modem, or someone else's switchbox. This allows me to connect any websurfing PC to my storage PC (Bellbird, XP, offline, no AV) while ensuring Bellbird is unable to contact the modem.
Switching Shellbone and Bellbird together works perfectly. I hurry the connecting-up along by mapping (from within Shellbone) Z: \\bellbird\d.
Switching Katrora and Shellbone together results in them attempting to talk but not quite getting there.
Switching Katrora and Bellbird together results in them also attempting to talk.
I have tried with the PCs on Subnet mask 255.0.0.0 and 255.255.255.0. Nup.
I have tried to get Win7 to set up a new homegroup, which would include Katrora. Nup.
(I have already documented my attempts to network Katrora to my Laptop, using some 192 addresses).
I need to be able to remove a USB device without Katrora realizing it is missing. I had tried two card readers and a USB hub. None of them would install.
So, I decided to try a USB sata-bridge tail. I plugged in my single-power Apricorn tail without a drive. Then I plugged my Crucial C300 SSD (64GB), which had been formatted in FAT32 and had a few folders put in, into the tail. In Explorer, I checked its contents—the folders and files weren't showing. I closed Explorer, removed the SSD from the tail (hoping that leaving the tail plugged in would trick Katrora), then shut Katrora down.
Reboot. No POST screen boot-loop. Victory Nº1.
I then tried my Toshiba 160GB laptop spinner (NTFS), but the old ASUS mobo didn't have enough power in a single port to spin it up (even with a bridge in the spinner's start-up power-reduction pins). Unplug the spinner, shut Katrora down, unplug the Apricorn.
Boot. Plug in my dual-power el-cheapo tail. Plug in the spinner. In Explorer, check the contents. Everything shows, but the drive is read-only. Unplug the spinner (spinning), shut down.
Reboot. Perfect. Will the spinner now start up properly in another PC? Yep.
Using hot-unpluggable USB, I can copy things into Katrora, but not copy things out. Victory Nº2.
Using Shellbone, I reformatted the C300 in NTFS and plugged it into Katrora. It behaved the same way as the spinner.
I spent hours plugging the drives in and out of Bellbird and Shellbone, looking for some kind of 'sharing' issue before concluding the problem was neither a security thing or a permissions thing.
Now into the early hours of the morning, I ended up doing something that alerted Katrora to the fact that I had hot-unplugged a USB device. POST screen boot-loop.
Reinstall ReactOS (had to do it twice), leave her running, and go to bed.