From: tcscs!zeta@src.honeywell.com (Gregory Youngblood)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Re: OS/2 NOT 32 Bit?
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 92 22:11:53 CST
Reply-To: zeta%tcscs@src.honeywell.com
Organization: TCS Consulting Services

ericb@ursula.ee.pdx.edu (FurryLogic) writes:

> tcscs!zeta@src.honeywell.com (Gregory Youngblood) writes:
> 
> -rommel@jonas.gold.sub.org (Kai Uwe Rommel) writes:
> 
> -> In article <92352.112713ASI509@DJUKFA11.BITNET> ASI509@DJUKFA11.BITNET wri
> -> >You are right and they are wrong. There are _some_ parts that are 16Bit. 
> -> >the only one I know of was the old (GA Version) graphics engine. Since th
> -> >service pack it is 32Bit. OS/2 has the old APIs for 16 apps and perhaps t
> -> >texmode I/O functions are 16Bit code. But as I understand IBM wants to mo
> -> >to PM-only operation, so it would be logical not to change that to 32Bit 
> -> 
> -> Actually, more parts of PM are still 16-bit, such as the Window
> -> Manager and apparently also the GPI. They will be converted to 32-bit
> -> over the next year, as far as I know.
> -> 
> -From my understanding, the HPFS file system is also 16 bit.  From what I've
> -seen there is still a large portion of OS/2 that is 16 bit.  I was under the
> -impression is was 100% 32 bit EXCEPT for the graphics engine...  needless to
> -say when I learned otherwise I was a bit disillusioned at first. 
> 
>   Well, the discussion seems to boil down to what is considered part of the
> operating system, and what is, well, 'fluff'. I don't really consider the
> graphical interface part of the OS, although many may argue against (let's
> not). But the basic kernel: memory management, process management, and their
> communication is (what I would say) obviously 32-bit. It would be a waste to
> do otherwise. Wait.... we're talking about IBM.... hmmm, I'll shut up now.
> 
I had not been keeping up with all the OS/2 things before GA was released.
I only knew what I had read in some magazines and what I thought I had seen in
the OS/2 groups about the entire OS/2 2.0 system was to be 32 bits.  To me, that
means any part of the system (the applets are not really part of the system,
but the GRE, kernal, file system, printing system, etc ARE).

Ignoring the graphics portion, when I think of an operating system (mind you,
I am not by any stretch of the imagination an operating systems expert) I
think of the whole package I see in the box.  Going to more detail though, when
I saw this mentioned it was fully 32 bit operating system, I fully figured that
the multitasking section and all of the OS specific stff would be 32 bit (I 
guess this would be the kernal, memory management and process management like
you mentioned above), but I also consider the disk file system part of that.
In my mind, to fully get the full benefit of OS/2 you need to use HPFS.  Wihle
the HPFS is wonderful and I feel deprived when I go back to DOS machines
at work, I was very disappointed to learn that the HPFS was 16 bit, and even
more so when I heard that IBM may charge for the 32 bit HPFS if/when it is
created.  While that bit about the charge for 32 bit HPFS is a rumor, I'd
like to find out if this is true or what is being done about updating the
HPFS to 32 bit.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy OS/2 immensely.  Sometimes I think of going
back to windows for certain things, but I use DOS and OS/2 things too 
much to do that.  Except for some annoying bugs things have gone quite well.
In fact, I'm still running GA (with 6/17 kernal---anyone know where I can get
the 8/17? kernal??  a tech support guy at IBM said he didn't like the 6/17
because it turned out not to be as stable as they thought it was, but 3/30
and 8/17 were better).  I had OS/2 running first install out of the box
also.  I feel quite fortunate that I had no difficulties getting the system
to install and run first try.

Greg

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Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc