From: lkan@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Linus Kan)
Subject:  Questions and Comments 
Organization: University of Hawaii
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 06:33:34 GMT

HI THERE!  I'VE GOT A COUPLE OF (LONG) QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS:

1)  I'VE GOT A GENERIC TSENG ET4000 (TC6058AF CHIP) VGA CARD.  I RUN 0S/2 AT 
800X600X16--KNOW OF ET4000 DRIVERS FOR 256 COLORS; WHAT ABOUT SEEMLES
800X600 VIDEO DRIVERS?  YEAH, COULD SOMEONE SUGGEST A GOOD VIDEO
CARD THAT RUNS 800X600X256 ON OS/2 INCLUDING 'SEEMLES'.  ANYONE WITH 
UPDATES ON LOCAL BUS VIDEO CARDS?

2)  ARE THERE REALLY ANY i486 CHIPS THAT HAVE BEEN 'ROASTED' DUE TO
OVERHEATING...OR IS THIS JUST A PROMOTIONAL HYPE ABOUT GETTING 
ON-BOARD FANS.  I'VE GOT A 486 SYSTEM WITH DUAL FANS IN MY MID-TOWER
CASE--ANY INSIGHTS ON HOW I DETERMINE IF MY CHIP IS HEATING UP?  PLUS, 
IBM ADVICES TO REMOVE THE SHADOW RAM OPTION--WHAT SPEEDUP WOULD
I EXPECT IF I DO SO?

3)  MMMMMH...HOW DO I CREATE SEVERAL FOLDERS AT ONCE (AT THE SAME 
TARGET), IE. ENTERING MORE THAN ONE FOLDER NAME AT THE 'NEW NAME' BOX?
ALSO, IS THERE AN EASIER WAY OF CHANGING OBJECT/ICON NAMES BESIDES
GOING THROUGH OPEN->SETTINGS->GENERAL...THERE SHOULD AND MUST BE AN
EASIER WAY--LIKE THE MAC.  ...AND HOW DOES ONE DISPLAY THE PATHS OF A
FOLDER ON THE WINDOW TOP BAR?

4)  ARE THERE UNCOMPRESS EXECUTABLES (EG. PKUNZIP) THAT RUNS BY
'DROPPING' THE COMPRESSED FILES ON THE EXECUTABLE OBJECT/ICON ITSELF;
GOING INTO DOS TO RUN PKUNZIP.EXE IS QUITE INEFFICIENT.

5)  IS THERE A WAY TO ARRANGE OBJECTS/ICONS IN A GRID FASHION--IE. WHERE
ALL OF THE OBJECTS ARE ALIGNED IN STRAIGHT COLUMNS, LIKE WINDOWS?
ALSO, IS THERE A WAY TO MAKE A GLOBAL VIEW CHANGE TO DETAIL VIEW, IE. I
WISH TO VIEW **ALL** SUBDIRECTORIES AS 'DETAIL'ED WHEN I CLICK ON THE 
FLOPPY DISK OBJECT.   ...AND HOW CAN I MAKE FLOPPY DISK ACCESS FASTER?   

6)  FOR THOSE WHO ARE HAVING DEVICE INSTALL SYS ERROR FOR 'COM.SYS' AND 
'VCOM.SYS' DURING BOOTUP (LIKE I DID), I HAD A 'COM2' IN MY BOOT DIRECTORY
WHICH I DELETED AND IT SOLVED MY PROBLEM!  ACTUALLY, I'M NOT SURE HOW
THE 'COM2' FILE WAS CREATED--MAYBE DURING SELECTIVE INSTALL OPTIONS?

7)  DOES ANYONE KNOW WHEN IBM WOULD BE COMING UP WITH THE OS/2 FIX KIT?
I UNDERSTAND THAT IT'S COMING OUT IN OCTOBER; WHAT'S THE COST?  WOULD IT
BE ABLE TO DETECT SYSTEM RESOURCES AND THUS RECONFIGURE CONFIG.SYS 
FOR OPTIMUM SYSTEM PERFORMANCE?  ANY COMMENTS ABOUT THE SUBSCRIPTION
TO THE OS/2 MAGAZINES--ARE THEY INFORMATIVE AND ARE STUDENT SUBSCRIPTION
RATES OFFERED?

8)  WHEN I'M USING PROCOMM PLUS, I GET WEIRD CHARACTERS AT MY UNIX PROMPT
WHENEVER I MOVE THE MOUSE.  I HAVE MY MODEM ON COM2 AND MOUSE ON COM1--
I GUESS OS/2 SOMEHOW DIRECTS THE MOUSE SIGNALS TO COM2...ANYBODY KNOW OF
A SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM?

9)  IF PM_TERMINAL IS A 32-BIT APPLICATION, I'D LIKE TO EXPLOIT ITS STRENGTHS.
I'VE GOT A PRACTICAL PERIPHERAL PM14400FX V.32bis INTERNAL MODEM ON COM2.
COULD ANYONE SUGGEST THE SETTINGS I NEED TO CONFIGURE FOR MODEM
COMPATIBILITY?  BETTER STILL--DOES ANYONE KNOW OF A 32-BIT COMMUNICATION
SOFTWARE (MODEM AND/OR FAX CAPABILITIES) ON ANY FTP SITES?

10)  ANY INSIGHTS ON HOW RUNNING A PROGRAM THAT MEASURES CPU STATUS/LOAD
(EG. PULSE) WOULD AFFECT THE SYSTEM DURING NORMAL USE.  I HAVE PULSE AS MY
STARTUP...BUT I'M SURE IT CAUSES AN OVERHEAD ON THE SYSTEM--ANY STATS ON 
HOW MUCH OF AN AFFECT?

11)  I READ THAT WINDOWS NT LOOKS/IS EXACTLY LIKE 3.1 IN TERMS OF THE 
GRAPHICAL INTERFACE---NOW I WON'T BE TEMPTED TO SWITCH TO NT!  WINDOWS
PROGRAM MANAGER SUCKS--IT'S NOT TAILORED TO HOW I WORK WITH MY
APPLICATIONS AND STUFFS.  I REALLY LIKE THE MAC'S GUI, AND I FEEL THAT 
OS/2 IS AN EXTENSION OF THAT...EVEN BETTER! OF COURSE I WON'T DENY THAT
I'M STILL USING WINDOW PROGRAMS SUCH AS MS_WORD AND EXCEL--I DON'T
THINK I CAN GET AROUND THAT, BUT I HAVE DECIDED TO STICK WITH OS2/ EVEN 
THOUGH THERE AREN'T MANY USING IT AS OF YET (COMPARED TO WINDOWS)--WELL 
ITS TIME FOR IBM-PC SYSTEMS STANDARDS TO RISE!

12)  WE OS/2 USERS SHOULD AND MUST SPREAD THE 'EXCELLENT' NEWS ABOUT OS/2
SO AS TO GET WIDER SUPPORT AND ACCEPTANCE (EG. BETTER VIDEO DRIVERS).  
I SURE CAN UNDERSTAND WHY THERE ARE THOSE WHO ARE SCEPTICAL ABOUT OS/2
--FOR INSTANCE, I WAS REALLY DEPRESSED WHEN OS/2 RAN SUPER SLOW WITH 4M
RAM; I THEREFORE HAD TO UPGRADE TO 16M AND NOW IT RUNS GREAT!!!  I GUESS 
THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD TO UPGRADE THEIR SYSTEM SHOULD GET OS/2.   LIKE I SAID,

MANY ***THANKS*** TO THE IBMers ESPECIALLY THOSE AT ROCA BATON FOR THEIR
TIME AND EFFORT IN MAKING OS/2 V2.0 A TRUE SUCCESS!!!  KEEP UP THE GOOD 
WORK, AND I'M SURE I SPEAK FOR ALL OS/2 SUPPORTERS.

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME...AND REPLY.

lkan@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu