From: frampton@vicuna.ocunix.on.ca (Steve Frampton)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Re: How to increase speed of communications in OS/2 2.0
Keywords: os2 waffle 165
Date: 13 Dec 92 23:57:50 GMT
Reply-To: frampton@vicuna.ocunix.on.ca
Followup-To: comp.os.os2.misc
Organization: Vicuna Systems, Kingston, ON (613) 547-5066
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Steve Frampton <frampton@vicuna.ocunix.on.ca> writes:

> However, the CPS transfer times for Waffle have fallen *dramatically* -- 
> about 1/2 of the way it was under DOS!  This is even with Waffle running 
> in the foreground as the only application.
> 
> I have disabled idle detection for this application, and have tried this 
> with and without the X00 Fossil program (better results under Fossil, but 
> not much) to no avail.  This is going to get expensive for me because I 
> get my mail and majority of my news via long distance!
> 
> I am surprised at how slow this is, considering having Waffle run in the 
> foreground and alone!

Here, as promised, is my follow-up on this subject of improving the
speed of communications under OS/2 2.0.

I received *tons* of responses to this query, so much that I had to
resort to a cold, unappreciative-looking "form-letter" type thank you
addressed to all en-masse.  Please forgive!

The responses boiled down to several points:

     - Install the CSD.
Hmmm.  I'm not sure whether I should do this or not.  I had a friend
take a look via FTP, and he reported that the CSD consists of over 15
diskettes worth of material!  With the next release of OS/2 imminent,
perhaps it is worth my while to be patient?

     - Install a 16550AFN (buffered UART) chip to increase throughput.
I went out and purchased a 16550AN (notice, no 'F' -- is that a problem?)
and installed it.  To date I have noticed *no* improvement.  This may
(hopefully) be due to requiring a new COMM driver (see below).

     - Get an updated COMM driver.
I am still waiting for the OS/2 version of unzip to arrive via ftpmail,
then I shall be able to try the newest COMM driver out -- but preliminary
results do not look promising!  I tried a driver called, '16550.SYS'
and my system reported, 'IRQ is unavailable.  Driver was not loaded'
(or something to this effect).  I was trying to use this driver for
COM1 with an IRQ of 4.

     - Use native OS/2 software.
By far the best solution wherever available, however in my situation
there is no equivalent OS/2 version of the application I wish to use.
But I shall keep my eyes open to such a possibility.

     - Make sure the following options are set (some require the CSD
     upgrade.
          COM_DIRECT_ACCESS         OFF
          COM_HOLD                  ON
          COM_SELECT                port number
          HW_TIMER                  ON
          DOS_BACKGROUND_EXECUTION  ON
          IDLE_SECONDS              60
          IDLE_SENSITIVITY          100

     - Turn v.42bis off for UUCICO sessions.
The majority of UUCICO traffic is compressed news batches, compressed
uuencoded material, etc.  Even though v.42bis is supposed to be smart
enough to not make transfer times for already-compressed data even
worse, in the case of UUCP-g it doesn't seem to work very well.

     - Add one of the following lines to CONFIG.SYS:
          CALL=C:\OS2\MODE.COM COM1:19200,N,8,1,,TO=OFF,XON=OFF,IDSR=ON,
               ODSR=ON,OCTS=ON,DTR=ON,RTS=HS,BUFFER=AUTO

          or

          RUN=C:\OS2\MODE.COM COM1:19200,N,8,1,,IDSR=ON,ODSR=ON,OCTS=OFF,
              DTR=ON,RTS=ON,BUFFER=AUTO

I don't know which one is correct, nor why they are slightly different,
except that in my situation, my system states something to the effect
of, "Buffer option not supported by this device." -- a problem which,
I hope, is related to the need for a new COMM driver.

All the above, in a nut-shell, is basically all I have learned.  I am
unfortunately experiencing much the same poor performance problems, but
I am going to apply the new COMM driver, and wait for the new release of
OS/2 before I start to get desparate.

Thanks to all who responded!

+--------+< Unabashed Shabba Ranks Fan! >+------+--------------------+
| Steve Frampton - frampton@vicuna.ocunix.on.ca | Steve Frampton     |
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Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc