From: dabl2@nlm.nih.gov (Don A.B. Lindbergh)
Subject: Re: Startup Folder
Organization: National Library of Medicine
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 92 15:43:48 GMT

In article <1992Dec16.040714.138681@ua1ix.ua.edu> mhunter@ho13.eng.ua.edu (Mark W. Hunter) writes:
>
>I think I might have discovered a slight glitch (bug) in the way OS/2 deals withthe startup folder. Recently I moved the program DeskPic into the startup folderso it would automatically load whenever I booted OS/2. After awhile I got tired of it and decided to move it out of the startup folder. After I did this and rebooted, DeskPic reloaded even though the program object wasn't in the startup
>folder. It looks like OS/2 isn't recognizing when program objects are removed 
>from the folder, and subsequently not changing the programs that should be loaded on boot-up. 
>
>Mark

I saw the other replies on this and am in agreement.  Recently though, I've
become suspicious of the behavior of the startup folder in another way.
I was real interested in getting things to start in a certain order.  I know
you can do this with startup.cmd and one of the 'redbooks' has a VERY brief
explanation about how to achieve this with the PM startup folder, by changing
the view to anything but 'flowed icon' view (or something like that).  Then you
drag things to the startup folder in the order you want them to happen.  I 
think this works.  I was kind of impatient and found it a little difficult to
tell if stuff was really starting in the order I specified.  It sounds stupid,
but it *is* a little tedious testing these kinds of things, rebooting all the
time etc.  Anyway, I notice every once in a while, one of my startup programs
'bombs' and causes an error.  It needs a program to be run previous to it, and
this is why I am suspicious of the startup folder starting things EXACTLY the
same each time.  It may be another strange timing thing though.  Let me explain

I have a Mediavision PAS-16 which can 'emulate' a Sound Blaster once a certain
driver has been loaded in the config.sys  So in my startup folder, first thing,
is an object to a .cmd file which runs a DOS session using a specific 'settings
file (thanks to the startd utility) and exits.  Other stuff is 'started' 
including an OS/2 session in the background and minimized which copies a
.wav file to Michael Fullbright's OS/2 soundblaster driver and plays it.
The effect is a sound file playing each time the machine is started up, while
the desktop is getting itself together.  Yes, a *very* hacked multimedia
experience :)

Anyway, almost all of the time this all works fine, but every once in awhile,
the system balks when the OS/2 session tries to copy the .wav file to the
OS/2 SB driver, because the driver 'sees' no SB card, perhaps because
the dos session which 'wakes up' the SB part of the card hasen't run yet.
Maybe not though.... Of course I realize that playing a simple .wav file on
startup will probably work flawlessly when either the Mediavision drivers
come along.  But still I'm botherd by the whole startup thing.  One issue
I never got straight was:

Is it preferable to use the startup folder rather than or in addition to
a startup.cmd file?


thanks for any comments (other than making fun of my hack of course)

--Don Lindbergh
dabl2@lhc.nlm.nih.gov


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