All applications included in the GBM package should be used with the included GBM.DLL version. So far all programs can also be used with earlier GBM.DLL versions higher than 1.11. Some functional restrictions might apply then.
If you're using eComStation 1.2/1.2R or 2.x please read the notes at the end of this page.
There is no special installation required. Simply copy the files into an empty directory.
GBM.DLL can be installed at a central location of the system so that it is found in the paths defined by LIBPATH in CONFIG.SYS on OS/2 or eCS or the user environment on Windows. Thus sharing between all programs of this package and the programs from the GBM package is possible.
Note:If the GBM command line tools should be run from everywhere and not only from the installation directory, it is necessary to add the installation directory to some environment variables (on OS/2 in CONFIG.SYS, on Windows in the user environment settings).
The following changes are necessary: (It is assumed that the installation directory is D:\GBM)
Add D:\GBM to the end of the line beginning with SET PATH separated
by ; to the previous parameter.
(e.g. SET PATH=C:\OS2;D:\GBM
)
Add D:\GBM to the end of the line beginning with LIBPATH separated
by ; to the previous parameter. This step is necessary on OS/2 and eCS so
that the system can find GBM.DLL. It can be skipped on Windows.
(e.g. LIBPATH=.;C:\OS2\DLL;D:\GBM)
If your system is OS/2 or eCS, reboot. You may skip the reboot when running Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8.
For this step you need gbmver.exe. It is included in the GBM package.
Open a command line and go to a directory OTHER THAN the installation.
Then start gbmver.exe as if it would be in this directory.
It should report the location and the version of GBM.DLL.
Verify that the reported version is the installed version. If the
reported version is found in a different path, do a file search
for GBM.DLL on your system and check for duplicates or older versions.
If an older version is found (version must be higher than 1.11 !!!),
you can replace it with the GBM.DLL from this package after verifying
it with gbmver tool. Especially on Windows DON'T just assume that
a file called GBM.DLL is a Generalised Bitmap Module library.
Alternatively modify the LIBPATH statement in CONFIG.SYS so that
the correct path to GBM.DLL is placed before all other versions.
After the changes are done, check again with gbmver.exe.
eComStation 1.2/1.2R and 2.x ship with an old version of GBM.DLL (1.12) that is loaded on startup of the WPS already. Thus other applications requiring a newer version of GBM.DLL cannot use it as the operating system will provide the functionality of the loaded DLL only.
The good news is that the GBM.DLL shipped with eCS can be safely replaced by the latest version provided here (or on Hobbes). It doesn't hurt to make a backup of the old gbm.dll before!
This also has some advantages. Some mechanisms of the eCS 1.2/1.2R/2.x WPS will automatically make use of the enhanced features. Namely the bitmap preview in the desktop folders will show many more TIF and PNG previews, especially those with colour depths larger than 24bpp. The bad news is that the MMECS subsystem does not make full use of the GBM features yet and thus for some bitmaps previews will be shown but the system provided image viewer cannot show them.
Note: If you cannot override the eCS shipped GBM.DLL because it is in use, run
unlock C:\OS2\DLL\GBM.DLLfrom a command line first and try it again (adapt the drive letter to your eCS installation drive). Don't forget to reboot afterwards to activate the new gbm.dll.
As an alternative the tool RUN! from Rich Walsh can be used for running programs using different gbm.dll versions in parallel. Get it from Hobbes.