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WebSite Information => Comments, Suggestions & Questions => Topic started by: PAUL555 on 2008.01.19, 13:38:37

Title: Ecomstation on new hardware
Post by: PAUL555 on 2008.01.19, 13:38:37

Hi All , 

    Will Ecomstation install fine on any new hardware of today and in the future under the following conditions : 

(a) Networking not required - Disabled 
(b) Sound not required - Disabled   
(c) Display - Only default resolution required ( 640*480 )

I basically have a mission critical application written in Vispro Rexx Gold 3.0 which I need to ensure will run fine on the newer and future hardware. The alternative of course is to run it in a virtual machine. 

When do you think the limits of Ecomstation / OS/2 kernel will be hit ? If Ecomstation is installed on a PC with > 4 GB ram , does ecomstation ignore the extra installed memory or does it give a fatal error and abort / crash ? If I remember correctly , OS/2 Warp 3.0 could not be installed on a PC having > 64 MB ram !?

Regards

Paul   
Title: Re: Ecomstation on new hardware
Post by: Fahrvenugen on 2008.01.19, 18:35:00
For the most part, the specifications you've listed should be no problem.  In fact eComStation will work with most computers with networking, many sound cards, and you'll often be able to get a higher video resolution on just about any common video card.

The one limit you've asked about is memory.  eComStation is a 32 bit operating system, and due to limitations of that platform the maximum memory it can handle is 4 GB.  I have read reports that some users have had no trouble with 4 GB installed, I have also read some reports that some users have had difficulty with more then 2 GB.  This seems to be a motherboard issue (depending on what board you're trying to run ecomstation on).  But generally eCS uses much less memory then 2 GB (I have 1 GB in my own system and always seem to have free memory available).

The other thing to recognize is that, because eComStation is a 32 bit operating system, while there has been success running it on 64 bit processors (such as the AMD one), it will cause the processor to run in 32 bit mode. 

Title: Re: Ecomstation on new hardware
Post by: RobertM on 2008.01.19, 18:44:02
I've got a machine with 4GB installed, and am using Warp Server v4.52 CP2 PF (which is an earlier release with a far earlier kernel than eCS v1.2).

I have no problems with it. I did not install it with 4GB in though - I had 2GB installed in the machine when I installed WSeB. That wasn't because I suspected installation issues; it was because I decided to upgrade the machine later (though am wondering why... even with 1/2 a gigabyte used by disk cache, I always have more than 3GB free RAM doing nothing). My machine is an IBM server though, which was designed for (or WSeB was designed for) it, so your mileage may vary. OS/2 WSeB CP2 and later (including eCS) shouldnt have a problem with 4GB of RAM - unless...

ENSURE that in your BIOS (and too many still have this option), you DO NOT choose the "OS/2" setting for memory handling (I set mine to "non-OS/2"). This is for the rather archaic OS/2 v1.x series operating systems and will cause all sorts of interesting issues for any version of OS/2 from v2.0 up.

CORRECTION:

I DID install WSeB with 4GB installed in the machine. Sorry folks. My initial install was completed with 2GB of memory. 6 months ago, I switched from FW SCSI to a U160 SCSI RAID Array (RAID 1E via an IBM ServeRAID 4M card). At that time, I did a complete reinstall. The memory upgrade from 2GB to 4GB was done inbetween the initial install and the subsequent one.

As the machine only has 4 hot swap bays, and the RAID 1E setup I am using required all, and I have no neat external LVD cables (and an easy replicatable setup), it was easier to back up the data partitions, remove the old 9GB drives, throw in the new controller and drives and start a fresh install (as opposed to the preferred, tried but true method of hard drive upgrading using xcopy).

-Robert
Title: Re: Ecomstation on new hardware
Post by: PAUL555 on 2008.01.20, 12:41:41

At  what  speed  of  the  PC  will  the  latest  kernel  of  Ecomstation  have  problems ? . If  I  remember  correctly , OS/2  Warp 3/4  required  a  patch  to  the  kernel  to  run  on  the  Pentium  processor .

Regards

Paul
Title: Re: Ecomstation on new hardware
Post by: RobertM on 2008.01.20, 20:28:18
Quote from: PAUL555 on 2008.01.20, 12:41:41

At  what  speed  of  the  PC  will  the  latest  kernel  of  Ecomstation  have  problems ? . If  I  remember  correctly , OS/2  Warp 3/4  required  a  patch  to  the  kernel  to  run  on  the  Pentium  processor .

Regards

Paul

Warp 3 & 4 didnt need a kernel patch to run on a Pentium CPU. They did need a loader patch to address over a certain amount of memory on systems using certain CPUs and chipsets. That was long since resolved, as well as a similar related issue.

The speed (faster CPU) will not be (nor has been) an issue. Only too slow a speed is an issue (such as under a Pentium 120MHz for eCS... or a CPU too slow for Firefox (faster CPU the better). Neither of which will cause install issues... so dont worry, you should have no worries because of having a blazingly fast CPU....

:)

-Rob
Title: Re: Ecomstation on new hardware
Post by: mobybrick on 2008.01.21, 01:59:07
... Robert is correct.

The only 'kernel' patches due to a CPU that was too fast, was for OS/2 2.1+ when several customers tried to run OS/2 2.11 on 4-way Pentium Pro systems.

Don't worry, Windows NT 3.1 wouldn't run on those systems. And still won't.

Regards,
Moby.
Title: Re: Ecomstation on new hardware
Post by: Saijin_Naib on 2008.01.21, 02:03:35
Good thing we are up to NT 6 now, huh?