Windows 98SE

[wolf]

According to the help for DataViewer, it's supposed to work with windoze 98. My old laptop, with 98SE will not start DV, and gives the following error: The procedure entry point SHGetFolderPathA could not be located in the dynamic link library SHELL32.dll.

[johnc]

I had to add that method to ensure that the DataViewer worked with Vista. Looks like I need to add SHFolder.dll to the DataViewer install for Windows 98 systems.

You can either google up the DLL yourself and get it working, or wait a few days until I get around to it.

[wolf]

John, I have the most up to date SHFolder.dll file installed. I guess I'm waiting for your DV update.

[johnc]

Wolf, do you have Internet Explorer 5.0 (or later) installed on your computer? I am still investigating this.

[wolf]

IE v 6.0.2800.1106, not that I use it though, I'm an Opera guy.

[johnc]

Sorry for the delay. The workaround was a little more trouble than I initially anticipated. Please try this:

http://www.diablosport.com/beta/DataViewer_3.1.6.3.exe

Let me know if this works on your machine and I will put it into production.

[wolf]

that fixed it! I haven't had the chance to hook it up to a Predator and do live streaming/logging (ideally this Saturday), but the program now opens without error, and plays the demo logs with no problems. Great work John!

[johnc]

Thanks for reporting back, glad it is working now.

[wolf]

Well, I wouldn't say it works yet. It was crasherific trying to log realtime from a U7151 with my windoze 98 laptop. Even when I saved a log on the handheld, then downloaded it later and played it back on the PC, it still froze up the program, or crashed the computer (even my XP box got a blue screen when playing back the log later). To finish that job I had to use Livelink with an XCal 2. Nothing like having buggy software make you look incompetent in front of a customer...

BTW, it really riles me that the program keeps creating directories in My Documents, when I DON'T want them there.

[johnc]

With the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft no longer allows applications to create files under the Program Files tree. This also applies to some installs of XP, probably with the advent of SP2. The only place an application CAN create files (without running with Administrative privileges) is under My Documents and in the common application data folder. This includes runtime log and the parameter database. If you are deleting these directories then that is probably what is causing the application to crash, as it no longer can find the parameter database.

As for getting riled, you should take that up with Microsoft. Any application written to be compatible with Vista has these same constraints.

If you like, email me your log file and I will see if I can open it here. I recommend you uninstall and reinstall the DataViewer so that the installer can replace any critical deleted files.

Finally, your Windows 98 laptop may not have the horsepower to run the DataViewer. What are the RAM and CPU specs on it? The National Instruments libs we use for the charts and gauges are resource hogs.

[wolf]

With the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft no longer allows applications to create files under the Program Files tree. This also applies to some installs of XP, probably with the advent of SP2. The only place an application CAN create files (without running with Administrative privileges) is under My Documents and in the common application data folder. This includes runtime log and the parameter database. If you are deleting these directories then that is probably what is causing the application to crash, as it no longer can find the parameter database.

XP crash happened before I discovered the files being written to My Documents, so it wasn't a missing file issue. However, since that first blue screen, I have been unable to duplicate the problem. Likely more to it, see below...

As for getting riled, you should take that up with Microsoft.

I'm way ahead of you there John. There's a reason I still have win 98 boxes around here: the newer windoze sucks even worse. I wish you guys would write your software for Linux. DOS 5.0 was the last good thing from M$.

Finally, your Windows 98 laptop may not have the horsepower to run the DataViewer. What are the RAM and CPU specs on it? The National Instruments libs we use for the charts and gauges are resource hogs.

I bet that's it exactly. I was using an old box for the win 98: 333 MHz, 1 meg RAM. When streaming, both the laptop and handheld tool froze up. Not sure which one initially caused the problem, but when in doubt, blame windoze...

As for my XP box blue screen, that box is newer (about the newest laptop you can get and still have a for real serial port), and has some decent horsepower, but I had lots of other apps going at the time I tried DV (including a bunch of wireless internet apps), and it had been running for a good week without a reboot, so....draw your own conclusions...

I suppose I just won't be able to use my old laptop for logging (too bad, since I don't care if that one gets dropped, stepped on, etc.). I also re-installed an older version of DV I had on the XP box, which doesn't write to My Documents, so I'll be using that one until I'm forced to change.

Thanks for the help.

[johnc]

I've been lobbying to make the next rev of tools cross-platform I don't imagine I will have much luck swinging that with the decision makers.

If you have a PDA that you hook up to the XP box, that might have something to do with the blue screen. The softwares such as Active Synch and Palm Desktop that are used to communicate with the PDAs can cause issues. They do these periodic checks for attached devices that cause problems with anything else trying to use a USB port.

So, other than that, on the XP box the DataViewer is working good for you? Let me know if you have further issues. The blue screen thing is unique, so I would like to stay on top of that.