From: MLONG@isucard.card.iastate.edu
Subject: Re: A Practical Question of OS/2 Performance
Organization: CARD
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 00:18:08 GMT

In article <1992Apr10.092543.2028@burrhus.harvard.edu>                                                                                                
kl@isr.harvard.edu (Kun Lee) writes:                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
>                                                                                                                                                     
>Hello, OS/2 users,                                                                                                                                   
>I am sorry for cross posting this by accident.                                                                                                       
>                                                                                                                                                     
>I am new to this group and thinking about moving to OS/2. I just upgraded                                                                            
>to Windows 3.1 and disappointed. I am basically a DOS 5.0 user. I don't run                                                                          
>any Win3 applications other than the ones provied with the pacakage. I use                                                                           
>WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS, Quattro Pro 4.0 for DOS, PCtools 7.1 for DOS, and                                                                           
>some other utilities. Whenever I tried to run these applications in Windows                                                                          
>things were not smooth. It has not been reliable, cursor movement has been                                                                           
>jumpy, screen scroll has been jumpy, and most of all floppy access has been                                                                          
>too slow from the DOS applications. I've also used Desqview. This is not so                                                                          
>much an exception either. All my movements in applications were jumpy.                                                                               
>Will these symptoms disappear if I use OS/2?                                                                                                         
>                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
I can say with much certainty that OS/2 is a very smooth multitasker, and                                                                             
your jumpies should disappear.                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
>As an average PC user, it is nice to have a multitasking environment                                                                                 
>with a reliable performance. I don't even ask for super fast OS or a                                                                                 
>fancy GUI. What I, like most people I know, want to do is to write my                                                                                
>materials and do some calculations at the same time. Windows and Desqview did                                                                        
>not provide me this function with reliability and tolerable level of                                                                                 
>smoothness. I hope OS/2 can give me a multitasking environment for my DOS                                                                            
>applications with smooth cursor movement, mouse movement, screen scroll,                                                                             
>tolerable floppy drive access speed through  DOS application's gateway to                                                                            
>DOS prompt, and no sudden crash or freez..                                                                                                           
>                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
Yes, OS/2 should deliver on all.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
>BTW, I am using a Dataworld 386DX - 20MHz, 4M RAM, 40M Conner drive (I                                                                               
>know I have to upgrade the drive), and a 14" VGA color monitor with                                                                                  
>Orchid ProDesigner Plus w/ 512K. Would you recommend an upgrade of the                                                                               
>motherboard?                                                                                                                                         
>                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
Sounds like you will need more DASD, plus I would stuff as much RAM as possible                                                                       
on your motherboard.  A 20MHz 386DX should run fine with OS/2.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
>Thanks in advance.                                                                                                                                   
>--                                                                                                                                                   
>Kun Lee                                                                                                                                              
>Dept of Sociology, Harvard Univ, Cambridge, MA 02138                                                                                                 
>InterNet: kl@isr.harvard.edu		 BITNET: kl@harvunxw                                                                                                   
>                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
Your Welcome                                                                                                                                          
Mike Long                                                                                                                                             
Iowa State University