Relevant Products

This document applies mainly to Charon-PAR 3.0.4 (up to build 21802).

This document also contains information about older versions. However, please always refer to the documentation for your product version.

Software and Hardware Requirements

See and Charon-PAR 3.0 for Linux - User's Guide (up to version 3.0.5).

Information about Version 3.0.4

Version 3.0.4 Build 21802

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.4 Build 21802

The following problem fixes and changes were implemented in this release:

Smalltalk application would not start because of reserved instructions error (ID#100194).

Please note: this patch release is not available on all platforms. Please contact your Stromasys representative regarding an upgrade to Charon-PAR 3.0.5 should you require this specific bug-fix.

Known Caveats in Version 3.0.4 Build 21802

See Caveats in Version 3.0.4 Build 21800

Version 3.0.4 Build 21800

New Features in Version 3.0.4 Build 21800

This version contains the following new features:

The Charon-PAR 9000/720 emulator supports HP-UX 10.20 and 11.00 (32-bit).
Additional log file configuration options, in particular improvements for log rotation.
The emulator is no longer stopped if CTRL-C is inadvertently entered in the emulator console window.

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.4 Build 21800

The following problem fixes and changes were implemented in this release:

The HP-UX catman command can hang or crash the emulator (ID#100171).
SCSI tape not working in HP-UX of some versions and specific environments (ID#100164).
Support for new SCSI commands implemented: SCSI Inquiry EVPD page 0x83 support for DASD (ID#100167).
Emulator could not start due to dit_kind dispatch failing with assertion (ID#100182).
Support for running a script in the emulator command console (ID#100179). A script with valid emulator console commands can be run using the command include <file-name> at the paX> prompt.
Suppress very verbose overflow messages (ID#100175).

Known Caveats in Version 3.0.4 Build 21800

Low network performance particular in Google cloud environments when a dedicated NIC is configured for the guest OS (ID#100117). This is related to the cloud environment not properly disabling offloading for the NIC as configured on the Linux level. Workaround: use a bridge/NAT configuration where the emulator uses a TAP interface.
HP-UX 11.11 -- lpmc_em CPU errors (ID#100084). Should this problem occur, the following workaround can be implemented:
# Stop diagnostics daemon
# /sbin/init.d/diagnostic stop
# Set config to disable diagnostics
# echo "DIAGNOSTICS=0" >> /etc/rc.config
HP-UX 11.11, "btlan: Invalid connection type in SROM" reported in dmesg. This message does not affect network operation (ID: 100118).
Under so far unclear conditions, Charon-PAR can exhibit a TOC reset during network tests (ID#100125).
MPE Virtual tape errors/timeouts when restoring large backup (ID#100130). Workaround:
Force the store to use sequential (instead of index read. Enter the following command before restoring the backup:
:setvar hpfastsearch false
HP-UX 11.23 may fail on boot in rare cases (ID#100031).
The following SCSI commands are not implemented in the emulator: A3 = Maintenance-in and 1C = Receive Diagnostics Results (ID#100143).
The emulator currently has no serial port flow control protocol on telnet port (ID#100080).
When using the signal_toc command on the emulator console, instead of writing a crash dump and reboot, the guest system sometimes hangs (ID#100176).
When installing the aksusbd package version 8.13 in some CentOS 7.x environments it was observed that the aksusbd service did not start automatically after a new installation or an upgrade. The following error was displayed during the installation: Failed to restart aksusbd.service: Access denied. If this happens, uninstall the aksusbd package and reboot the system. After rebooting the system, re-install the package. The cause of this sporadic problem has not yet been identified.
Command parameters entered at the PDC console are converted to lower case internally (ID#100177). This could cause problems with path names.

Information about Version 3.0.3

Version 3.0.3 Build 21701

New Features in Version 3.0.3 Build 21701

This release is a stability release with focus on performance improvements and problem resolutions.

New features and new behavior:

xhpterm is now provided as a separate RPM package (xhpterm-free).
FPU performance option:
The new option -F provides better floating-point performance at the expense of minor deviation in floating-point status reporting. When this option is enabled, all floating-point operations produce exactly the same values as the real hardware. The only deviation is that bit I (Inexact) in the Floating Point Status Register is not always accumulated between subsequent operations. Such differences cause FPU tests (ODE WDIAG and llmc_em) to report errors. However, it is highly unlikely that any real system or application software is impacted by this deviation.

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.3 Build 21701

Emulator crash happened during log rotation (ID#100173)

Earlier Builds of Version 3.0.3

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.3 Build 21700

DIT stability improvement (ID#100163)
HP-UX incorrect CPU frequency report, the value shown was only half of the correct value (ID#100160)
Correct and improve the emulator operation on hardware with and without FMA support (ID#100165)

Charon-PAR 3.0.4 - Release Notes

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