From: v053qpgh@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Eric W Sarjeant)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc,comp.os.os2.apps
Subject: Re: *** Many important (to me) questions about OS/2 ***
Date: 16 Aug 92 21:36:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <BsxwvA.Eyr@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu>, bcrwhims@cayley.uwaterloo.ca (Carsten) writes...
>Hi all,
> 
>I have been using OS/2 on a 386sx16 w/ 6M for a while, and I have a couple
>of observations, and some questions:
> 
>- I was able to borrow 2M from a friend to see if the speed improved. It was
>  a noticeable, but small improvement, but nothing that I thought was worth
>  it.
> 

I would ditto this. After leaping from 6 megs to 8 megs, there was no
substantial increase in performance. However, when I moved to 12 megs on
a new 386SL machine, OS/2 performed splendidly.

The issue is the amount of free memory OS/2 apps really have to work with.
With 8 megs of memory, once you load the 4.5 meg kernel and all the other
operating features, there is only 2.5-3 megs left free and available.
Certainly you will have a tremendous amount of vitual memory, but this is all
on your disk drive and will invariably slow you down.

>- I have heard recently that a fast hard-drive makes a difference. Is this
>  true? In that case, I would love to replace my ridiculous 40M 27ms drive
>  with a 200M, 12-15ms IDE drive. Any comments? Will this enable me to make
>  better use of the extra 2M, if I upgrade to 8M?
>

The faster your hard drive, the faster OS/2 can swap real memory for virtual
memory. Remember, memory has an access time in the nanosecond arena,
magnetic media does not exceed 10-15 milliseconds. Imagine what happens when
you load just one Windows program, it will require at least 2 megs of
memory. If you're like me, you will want to set aside 4-6 megs for a Windows
app to work smoothly and this will require virtual memory when you only
have 8 megs.

>- I have a Plus hardcard w/ 100M and a cached 9ms access-time. Can I boot
>  and run OS/2 off this drive (d:)?
> 

I would take advantage of this for my SWAPPER.DAT file. On your hard disk,
OS/2 is storing all the virtual memory in a file called SWAPPER.DAT. In your
CONFIG.SYS file, there is a directive that tells OS/2 where to put your
SWAPPER.DAT file. In this case, just redirect it to drive D...this will
give you a substantial performance boost without any additional investment.

>- I have been using PmComm for a bit, toying with the idea of registering 
>  it, but it doesn't do scripts in the pre-registered version, and I don't 
>  want to have to pay 89.95 to find out that their implementation stinks.
>  Has anyone registered it, and how is it? Is there another shareware comm
>  program out there that is a little cheaper, and as functional, and nice?
> 

I have also used Pmcomm, but I shy away from it because I'm going to have
to register to get ZModem transfer. The only reason I say this is because
it has not done a flawless job with YModem and YModem/G, this finds me
back in QModem most of the time.

It is a very nice program, but after my Unicomm fiasco I think I'm going to
wait for the next generation. With a few additions, Pmcomm could emerge as
a very comprehensive communications tool.
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc