ROTFLMAO, Freaking hilarious... I sooo didnt need another headache :) I planned on using a Digi port server for the Eltron printer, I hope that works :) I was going to use newer drivers, but now I am worried! I best use the old ones on FedEx's site. So lame...
This info rocks though, thanks! jlc ________________________________________ From: Ben Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2008 1:56 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: FedEx Ship Mangler On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 2:49 PM, Joseph L. Casale <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Anyone use this? Unfortunately, we have to use FedEx Ship Manager (FSM) here. That software is a giant pile of steaming canine excrement. It's hugely bloated. We run it on Pentium 4 computers with 1 GB RAM, and it's still very slow to start. (UPS WorldShip is nice and speedy on the same PC.) FSM is fragile and falls apart spontaneously. The UI is clunky and counter-intuitive. It's hard to find things. It keeps all its data in a database server they've licensed (Sybase Adaptive SQL Anywhere), but the only approved way to back it up is using the program UI. If you're using it with a thermal label printer, it sends printer control codes directly. It apparently decides which control codes to send by looking at the name of the Windows printer object (icon). So if we rename the printer from "Eltron LP2844" to "FedEx label printer", it formats the labels incorrectly. When you start the application, it actually starts several other processes which run concurrently with it. That includes the database server, which runs as a tray icon. If and when the main application crashes, you have to run a special utility to close all the other processes down before you can restart the main process properly. Their phone support varies from "well meaning but unable to help" to "totally incompetent". Circa 2000, while on a tech call, I said I was running Windows 98, and the phone tech asked, "Windows 98... is that like Windows 95?". They expect you to run it as administrator, and they get confused when you explain about things like "security" or "user accounts". It expects to be able to write to the FedEx registry branch(es) under HKLM. It also expects to be able to write to a few directories under the program install directory. So far, I've found that granting <Modify> permission to <Users> on the files and registry branches in question will make it work okay. The objects are: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\FEDEX HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\FedEx Services C:\Program Files\FedEx\ShipManager\Rate C:\Program Files\FedEx\ShipManager\ROUTE C:\Program Files\FedEx\ShipManager\Temp\ > For the client/server model, the software has to apparently be running on > the console as it doesn't run as a service? Correct. Welcome to hell. Here's your copy of FedEx Ship Manager. -- Ben ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~ ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~
