From: sip1@ellis.uchicago.edu (Timothy F. Sipples)
Subject: Re: Ugrading to OS/2 from DOS now?
Reply-To: sip1@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: Dept. of Econ., Univ. of Chicago
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 22:03:28 GMT

In article <1992Dec8.124945.1769@dmp.csiro.au> lachlan@dmp.csiro.au (Lachlan Cranswick) writes:
>I want to upgrade to OS/2 as quickly as possible (sort of) from
>DOS and Windows.  The query is from previous replies from
>some very nice netters out there
>that I should wait for OS/2 2.1 release that incorperates all
>the patches for various problems.  Is this correct? - when does
>OS/2 2.1 come out?

Possibly January, but there's no definite word on this.

>My work is 486-33 PC has 20 Meg of RAM of 2 x 200 Meg hard disks so
>there is no problem with space and memory.  I also have
>an 8 bit Tseng labs card and a TI microlaser turbo postscript
>printer.  From previous advice I will be getting rid of 4 x 1Meg
>SIMMS to have a clean 4 x 4Meg SIMMS.

Very nice system, yes.

>Of the 400 Meg of Hard-disk how much should I keep as a separate
>DOS area?  I use various X-ray diffraction search match software
>and programs like SigmaPlot 5.0 for DOS.  Most of the other software
>is mainstream.  How will Xtree Gold for DOS work with OS/2?

Fine with those things you name, as far as I can tell.  If you have
the time to repartition, do so with Boot Manager, and leave about 50
to 80 MB for DOS (until you get comfortable).  Put OS/2 2.0 in its own
60 MB partition.  Then leave the remainder for data.  Use FAT
initially, then switch it over to HPFS when you're comfortable.

>My interrupts are :-
>3  com2
>4  com1
>5  WD elite plus ethernet card
>6  Floppy
>7  LPT1

Great -- no problem.

>How does OS/2 handle the memory addressing (excluding de00 - dfff
>in DOS) for the WD ethernet card and also the 280 memory address?  Is 
>it transparent?

It should be.  Like most other memory managers, OS/2 2.0 does its best
to figure out what space your card(s) need (and won't try to assign an
EMS page frame in the space).

>Does OS/2 run Windows and/or does it emulate it for Windows apps?

Yes.

>How fast will the windows apps work compare to a DOS system?

Marginally faster than Windows 3.0 (and probably much faster with disk
I/O), about 80% of Windows 3.1.  For now.

>On my home PC, I have a Sound blaster Pro instead of the ethernet
>card.  Is this easy to setup for OS/2 and can I still hear
>my 10 Megs worth of wavs in Windows?

Yes.  There's freely available OS/2 software (available via anonymous
ftp from ftp-os2.nmsu.edu) to play .WAV files and such.  However,
under Win-OS/2, the setup is a bit trickier.  Win-OS/2 doesn't come
with the multimedia DLLs, so you'll need to copy them over from
somewhere.  Win-OS/2 3.1, due shortly according to reports, will
include them.  (Just think of it like Windows 3.0 with ATM and the
Windows 3.1 error trapping.)

>If the above work PC goes well with OS/2, I will want to put it
>on 2 PC's that log data from Philips Powder X-ray Diffractometers
>using Philips APD software.  This gathers data through the 1st serial
>port.  These PC's use a MS bus Mouse which is on either IRQ 1 or 2?
>Any problems with this?

On IRQ 2, no.  IRQ 1 is a reserved interrupt on every system.

>The final PCs I would want to put OS/2 on would be the nastiest.
>These are PCs that each have a CD-ROM to read ICDD X-ray Diffraction
>data.  One has an external Hitachi CDROM and the other has 
>an internal Philips CDROM.  Both use CDROM interface cards
>to function.

Hitachi is working on native OS/2 drivers, by the way.  But see below.

>-Would I need OS/2 drivers for the CDROM which may not exist
>or can the DOS MCDEX?.SYS driver be use.  One of the CD-ROM programs
>uses a "standard filemanager" program for DOS.  Has this got a chance 
>of running in OS/2.  I haven't read much info in the internet
>about OS/2 and CDROMs - especially given the inconsistency
>of CDROMS in DOS.

You can use MSCDEX, provided you use what's called a "specific DOS
session."  Basically all you do is prepare a diskette which boots DOS
with your CD-ROM drivers, add an extra device driver, and then create
an image file of the diskette on your hard drive.  Harder than it
sounds, really -- see Appendix E of the OS/2 2.0 Installation Guide
for the full rundown.  (PC Magazine, in the December 9th issue, I
believe, also described the method.)

>Sorry for all the stupid questions, but I wan't as few
>suprises as possible when I shift to OS/2. Thanks for all
>the other replies to my questions on OS/2 in the past.
>Unless Microsoft introduce a DOS that gets around the 640k
>limitation in the next 6 months (highly unlikely) I will
>be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for memory limitation
>problems relatively soon.

Well, their only follow on non-DOS based product is NT, which isn't
impressing me yet.

-- 
Timothy F. Sipples      | Read the OS/2 FAQ List 2.0h, available from
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