From: das9674@usl.edu (Stephenson Daniel A)
Subject: Re: Dan flipped through an AmigaWorld, and:
Organization: University of Southwestern Louisiana
Date: Fri, 25 Dec 1992 22:16:05 GMT

In article <Steve_Halliburton.02sr@naraltd.raider.net> Steve_Halliburton@naraltd.raider.net (Steve Halliburton) writes:
>Hi, Mr. Stephenson!

Hallo to you, Mr. Halliburton!

>Since you seem to know so much about OS/2, I wondered if you could answer

<blush>  Jerry S. would be better in this regard, perhaps.

>me this question: How do I know what the files on my HPFS partition are?

Assuming you are familiar with DOS, you can open an OS/2 windows, and
see them.  You type 'dir' to get a directory listing.  But I
guess you already knew that.  Or, you can manage files with the file
manager for your hard drive.  It is in the Drives... folder of your 
OS/2 System... folder.  You can get a pure icon-based file managment, 
one that uses a directory tree, and one with a 'details' view that will
tell you more about your file specs. that you will want to know. :)

>You see, all I have are these things called objects, and a lot of them,
>while they look different, take me to the same place. I'm afraid I've lost
>my place in the metaphor. I just want to know how many files I have, so I'm

Gack.  I hate it when that happens.  How did you manage that?
I suppose one could get careless and make a bunch of icons for the same 
thing.  I do not know how, when I 'migrate' something, I only
do it ONCE.  If you in fact have to many, and are *sure* they are merely
duplicates, you could drag, or mass-drag them to the Shredder to get
rid of them.

>not surprised when the DISK FULL warning comes around. I think all these
>redundant links are eating away my system resources, but without a clearly
>visible file structure on my desktop, I'm confused. And I'm afraid to
>frivolously delete icons, because what if one of them turns out to be
>important?

Well, for basic file management, I *usually* use a CLI window.  Something,
though, it is better to use the "clearly visible file structure" of the
file manager in your Drives... folder.  True, it might get confusing at time
to know just *what* you've got- the introduction manual, for some unknown
reason, do not stress the difference between plain desktop icons, merely
used for launch apps, or for various palettes (see the Templates... folder
for more of these objects you can create), etc and the *actual* files
in the Drives... folder.  

But then again it did not matter TO much for me, since I was used to file     
management with a CLI anyway... and now that the OS/2 CLI brings me 
such innovative things such as MOVING files that MSDOS did *not*, it is
a lot more useable.        

>I'm sure that if I spent some more time learning OS/2, I'd know this stuff.

Perhaps.  There is a LOT to OS/2, and it may take time to become a
'guru' at it.  Check out comp.os.os2.misc.  That is the OS/2 'help help!'
group. :-)  Take UNIX, often hailed as a wonder of OSes.  You do not think that 
people become instant gurus with that overnight either, do you?  heh heh,
it took to me a year and a half to figure out and use GREP and CAT.  Hell,
I STILL don't know what 'AWK' is!

>But the thing is, I need to know NOW. You see, on the Mac, I know where to
>find stuff. Folders are not that hard to navigate. The same with drawers on
>the Amiga. OK, so maybe some things on the Amiga are not as convenient, but
>that's because it's more flexible and has to allow for a few more options.

Yes, using the Mac may be a lot more like ONLY using the Drives... folder
file manager.  I think having a icon-driven desktop like OS/2 and
Windows makes all those ZILLIONs of misc. 'crap files' invisible.

>But OS/2 is too flexible, and it's tied itself into a knot on my
>486DX/2-66. (Okay, it's not mine, it's the school's.)

Hee hee.  Don't fret.  If you're brave, you can reset your whole
WorkPlace Shell to the default (no apps migrated) by pressing Alt-F1
(at startup, I think).  Then, in |OS/2 System|System Setup there is a
Migrate Applications program.  Run it, it is pretty basic.

>OBJECTS ARE FINE IN OS DESIGN--NOT ON DESKTOPS.

Oh come now, it just depends on how well one knows a system.  NOT to 
make a comparison between the OSes, but if a person spent enough time
on VM he'd make it 'usuable', believe it or not.

>Steve_Halliburton@naraltd.raidernet.com
--
Dan Stephenson                                         das9674@usl.edu  
"Yes Dan, I have heard of Ultima Underworld.  From my point of view it
 appears to be a rather large stick which you seem to be using to beat
 everbody in this group with." -Mark Steyn, comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Xref: sparky comp.sys.amiga.advocacy:32318 comp.sys.amiga.misc:19187