Lotus SmartSuite 4 on WinOS/2

[Olafur Gunnlaugsson]

One thing I have installed is this dos driver. Since Windows 3.1 is primarily a shell over dos, I figured this driver could only help.

It should not hurt, but this is rarely an issue with late Win3x programs as there were 4gb drives already available by then, so installers took them into account.

[Olafur Gunnlaugsson]

No problems encountered except PM groups were not created, did you guys remember to install from a full screen session?
Tried both the nordic and Lotus SmartSuite 4.0 (1996-08-02) (ISO) version from Winworld

I tried full screen, same problem. Plus the additional problem of full screen sessions with VBox, where my mouse cursor stays in the upper half of the virtual screen and moves half the distance it should vertically, making any control through mouse almost impossible..

Its just the install, most larger software packages will not install correctly under a win31 session, for reasons I cannot recall, so you always install from a full screen session even if you have to use the keyboard during install rather than the mouse. But the installed software works fine in a windowed session.

[Olafur Gunnlaugsson]

Isn't that what the line "LOADHIGH C:\sys\MDOS\BIN\2GBFIX.COM >NUL" in the autoexec.bat is supposed to do?  What is the difference between these two drivers?

That's correct, the 2GBFIX one is simpler, the sys driver more flexible if memory serves

[Glenn]

Isn't that what the line "LOADHIGH C:\sys\MDOS\BIN\2GBFIX.COM >NUL" in the autoexec.bat is supposed to do?  What is the difference between these two drivers?

That's correct, the 2GBFIX one is simpler, the sys driver more flexible if memory serves

I switched 2GBfix for V2GB. In my case somehow, it now sees my C drive with negative space, which does not help at all.. Is Bob Eager still coding for OS/2?

[Dave Yeo]

Bob's active on alt.folklore.computers, never mentions OS/2.
Are you using the latest, ver 1.3? Look at the readme.txt, at the end is the history. Or use bldlevel v2gb.sys.
Source is available and a BSD style license.

[Martin Iturbide]

Hi Glenn

....Plus the additional problem of full screen sessions with VBox, where my mouse cursor stays in the upper half of the virtual screen and moves half the distance it should vertically, making any control through mouse almost impossible..

Hey, I have the same issue as a VirtualBox Guest. Maybe someday I will try it as an UEFI VM and see if the problem got fixed. I' not sure today how hard/easy can be running ArcaOS 5.1 on a UEFI VM.

.. Is Bob Eager still coding for OS/2?

The last thing I know about him is that in 2016, when we shared some emails, and he did the awesome thing to public the source code of all his OS/2 software:
- http://www.tavi.co.uk/os2pages/v2gb.html
- https://github.com/OS2World/DRV-v2gb

Regards

[Glenn]

Bob's active on alt.folklore.computers, never mentions OS/2.
Are you using the latest, ver 1.3? Look at the readme.txt, at the end is the history. Or use bldlevel v2gb.sys.
Source is available and a BSD style license.

Build Level Display Facility Version 6.12.675 Sep 25 2001
(C) Copyright IBM Corporation 1993-2001
Signature:       @#Bob Eager:1.3#@V2GB.SYS driver
Vendor:          Bob Eager
Revision:        1.03
File Version:    1.3
Description:     V2GB.SYS driver

[Martin Iturbide]

Hello

Thanks for the testing. I always wanted to discuss more about Win-OS/2.

I still don't know if it is only an issue of a big HDD, or the format HPFS vs JFS. Or is it a mix of both?
Do you think a ticket should be open to Arca Noae? Do we have enough information to report some bug/limitation?

Can the 2GBFix issue be related to this ticket too?
https://mantis.arcanoae.com/view.php?id=3636

Regards

[ivan]

Hi Martin,

I may be getting old and have used OS/2 since v 1.20 (1989) but I have never heard of JPFS or do you mean JFS?

[Martin Iturbide]

Yes, I mean JFS. I just corrected it.

[Glenn]

Hello

Thanks for the testing. I always wanted to discuss more about Win-OS/2.

I still don't know if it is only an issue of a big HDD, or the format HPFS vs JFS. Or is it a mix of both?
Do you think a ticket should be open to Arca Noae? Do we have enough information to report some bug/limitation?

Can the 2GBFix issue be related to this ticket too?
https://mantis.arcanoae.com/view.php?id=3636

Regards

Maybe, but given that V2GB lets DOS programs see a negative amount of space on the drive, I'd say something changed in ArcaOS that prevents both 2GBFix and V2GB from "working properly". In a perfect world, ArcaOS would already include a driver to make programs in DOS / WinOS2 see just their 2GB or free space without users having to fiddle with these older programs.

[Dave Yeo]

Hello

Thanks for the testing. I always wanted to discuss more about Win-OS/2.

I still don't know if it is only an issue of a big HDD, or the format HPFS vs JFS. Or is it a mix of both?
Do you think a ticket should be open to Arca Noae? Do we have enough information to report some bug/limitation?

Can the 2GBFix issue be related to this ticket too?
https://mantis.arcanoae.com/view.php?id=3636

Regards

Maybe, but given that V2GB lets DOS programs see a negative amount of space on the drive, I'd say something changed in ArcaOS that prevents both 2GBFix and V2GB from "working properly". In a perfect world, ArcaOS would already include a driver to make programs in DOS / WinOS2 see just their 2GB or free space without users having to fiddle with these older programs.

V2GB seems to be broken on AOS, or perhaps AOS 5.1+. The negative sizes are expected without limiting the size. If you go to a DOS prompt and do a dir, the DOS session ends. Go to the properties and disable it, DSK_LIMIT_ENABLE, then DIR works.
In popuplog.os2 I see,

Code: [Select]

08-08-2024  19:15:08  SYS3170  PID 005c  TID 0001  Slot 0082
M:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
26990003
26990003
P1=3c990003  P2=d2e157fc  P3=e0990004  P4=ae990004
EAX=0000ffa8  EBX=002adff5  ECX=00000200  EDX=00006035
ESI=00007004  EDI=00006fac
DS=90b6  DSACC=1077  DSLIM=00025ec4
ES=90b6  ESACC=1077  ESLIM=00025ec4
FS=0000  FSACC=****  FSLIM=********
GS=0000  GSACC=****  GSLIM=********
CS:EIP=90b6:0000fbdc  CSACC=1077  CSLIM=00025ec4
SS:ESP=90b6:00006e18  SSACC=1077  SSLIM=00025ec4
and after trying again to install Lotus,

Code: [Select]

08-08-2024  19:15:29  SYS3170  PID 005d  TID 0001  Slot 0082
M:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
01e04584
f1740002
EAX=000011f6  EBX=002a88fb  ECX=00000200  EDX=00006035
ESI=00007004  EDI=00006fac
DS=90b6  DSACC=1077  DSLIM=00025ec4
ES=90b6  ESACC=1077  ESLIM=00025ec4
FS=0000  FSACC=****  FSLIM=********
GS=0000  GSACC=****  GSLIM=********
CS:EIP=90b6:0000fbdc  CSACC=1077  CSLIM=00025ec4
SS:ESP=90b6:00006e18  SSACC=1077  SSLIM=00025ec4
EBP=00000081  FLG=000a6246

JFS.IFS

Which might explain Martin's result with JFS.
Going to have to do some more experimenting and talk to Arca Noae, JFS shouldn't crash the PMSHELL. At least it didn't trap.

[Dave Yeo]

Yes, I mean JFS. I just corrected it.

Did you look in popuplog.os2?

[Glenn]

Which might explain Martin's result with JFS.
Going to have to do some more experimenting and talk to Arca Noae, JFS shouldn't crash the PMSHELL. At least it didn't trap.

I will retest on HPFS after disabling that DSK_LIMIT_ENABLE...

[Glenn]

Which might explain Martin's result with JFS.
Going to have to do some more experimenting and talk to Arca Noae, JFS shouldn't crash the PMSHELL. At least it didn't trap.

I will retest on HPFS after disabling that DSK_LIMIT_ENABLE...

Nope, still negative space and LSS not wanting to install. At least it does not crash the WinOS/2 session...