From: buhr@umanitoba.ca (Kevin Andrew Buhr)
Subject: OS/2 Netware and TCP/IP in 8 Megs or Less
Organization: University of Manitoba, Canada
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 23:50:47 GMT

So, a networked OS/2 machine with 8 megs is masochistic, right?  Read on...

I'm running OS/2 SP (CSD level XR06055) with a Diamond Speedstar
(ET4000 chipset).  I have both the TCP/IP Base Kit (LAPS CSD level
WR06000, Base Kit CSD Level UB02274) and the Novell Netware Requestor
(with the first NSD applied) running off a Novell NE2000 16-bit card.

I am typing this into a Microsoft Word version 2.0a seamless Window on
a 1024x768x256 desktop.  I also have Microsoft Excel loaded and
running seamlessly.  I have a TELNET session open, and I am using
"FTPPM" to download the "DeScribe" demo from "hobbes" onto a Netware
drive.  You get the picture....  I'm doing a lot of stuff.

Now, I used to accept it at face value when people said that while
OS/2 could run in 8 megs, you'd need 16 megs to use it as a network
machine.  I mean, TCP/IP or the Novell Requestor alone are huge
programs, right?  And both at once?  Impossible.

But now I've tried it.  The machine is a Gateway 2000 with the new 486
motherboard but a 386DX-25 chip with **** EIGHT **** megs of memory.
Not 12, not 16, not 128, but 8 megs of memory running through a 32K
cache.

I know what you're thinking.  Kevin must be working with an incredibly
slow machine right now, and this little exercise is nothing more than
a parlour trick.  The fact is, OS/2's response is *great*.  The only
slow thing is scrolling in OS/2 windows (a common problem with IBM's
new SP ET4000 128-color drivers...  unfortunately, also very
irritating).  The WIN-OS/2 session is snappy, scrolling is as fast as
Windows 3.0 and slower than 3.1, as always.  Its performance is not
affected by the presence of the two network packages.
3~
I'm running a 9.5 meg swap file right now, but everything is working
slickly.  The only thrashing I get is when I pull up a program I
haven't used for a while.  Hoping back and forth between a WIN-OS/2
and my TELNET session, for example, doesn't even put a strain on the
machine.  Considering that, in general, my working set doesn't include
more than two or three applications, this is perfectly acceptable.

Now, to be honest, Excel just crashed with a GP fault when I tried to
close a document.  Interestingly enough, Microsoft Word stayed up,
even though it was running in the same WIN-OS/2 session.  But hell...
I've never gotten Microsoft Excel to run seamlessly for more than
about 15 minutes, anyway.  (And I've never gotten it to run for more
than half an hour under Microsoft Windows 3.0, but I think I work the
application pretty hard, so it's understandable.)  So, granted, OS/2's
seamless WIN-OS/2 support will have to improve.  Until then, Excel
works great fullscreen.

Anyway, running an 8 meg OS/2 Netware and TCP/IP client is possible.
What's more it's workable.  The response is fine.  Really...  it is!
I'm having trouble believing it myself.

OS/2 makes a *great* network client environment.  The Netware
Requestor looks great, the TCP/IP package is hot.  And it *does* work
fine in 8 Megs, whatever people who haven't tried it (and maybe some
who have) might tell you.

Kevin <buhr@ccu.UManitoba.CA>