Joe's OS/2 Tips - Number 4

Hi there, This is a little late, but better late than never.

This issue is dealing solely in the new OS/2 Beta release (6.427).

WELL, IBM HAS DONE IT AGAIN. OS/2 is now much faster in booting and does everything faster. This is probably due to the new 32 Bit Graphics Engine. My Boot time, from pressing return at Boot-Manager to WorkPlace Shell, has gone from 80 seconds downto 50-55 seconds. Now that's a BIG improvement, considering I load Multi-media extensions, Irwin Tape drivers, BBS package and CD-ROM drivers, plus all normal OS/2 stuff......All running quite speedily, under only 8 megs of RAM. I feel that the people who are running more RAM than myself, will be surprised by their system's sudden speed increase.

After Numerous enquires, about how to get OS/2 to load faster, on lesser machines, IBM programmers have redesigned the code so that it's faster on small machines. I can't wait to try it out on my Co-Sysops machine (386SX-16Mhz system, 4 meg), since I feel it's going to be a nice lift in performance.

Since this was a totally new version of OS/2 I decided to install the works, boy, talk about speed, WinOS/2 now flashes on the screen. It appears to be (wait for it) at least 2-3 times the speed over the GA version (and this is beta code (it's meant to be slow! WOW!)). From the other Beta testers, around Brisbane agree, we that the new WINOS/2 is brilliant. And this isn't all.

Microsoft had better start thinking of bring out band-aids and other upgrades for Windows.....because OS/2 now does Windows 3.1, and I mean DOES IT ALL...Multi-media, TrueType Fonts, the Mini Windows Applets (eg Paint Brush, etc). And on top of this, IBM has made their implementation of WIN31 at least TWICE the speed of the real thing. My guess is that Windows fanatics will change to OS/2, once they see their favorite WIN31 apps running at around twice the pace.

Well did that wet your OS/2 hunger? Well, that's only the start of it all.

THE 32-BIT GRAPHICS ENGINE
As expected, the 32 bit graphics engine is fast, but I never expected it to be this fast. Screen updates (on WPS) are lightning, Even Games graphics are faster, and I feel that if I had a more powerful machine, I could rather enjoy games in a window (Someone please tell me about it's performance etc on a 486 setup running the beta). As it stands, the various PM applications I run, on a day to day basis, have doubled their speed, and this is due to 2 things, the new optimized coding of the entire OS/2 Kernel and the Graphics Engine update.

Good news, reliable IBM sources are saying that the CSD will be out in 2 WEEKS!

THE WINDOWS SUPPORT
You now have 2 choices for Windows, either 3.0 or 3.1 (with extensions back to win30). At present, the windows 3.1 installation is a separate package, not on the current beta, which I feel is a good idea, because it's got the Actual installation disks down to 14 (1.44meg size), with an extra 7 for Windows 3.1 stuff, which people tell me, is the same required for Windows 3.1.

Please, don't anyone quote me, but I quite enjoyed the speed of WIN31, it was a marked improvement of the DOS version ;-) But from what I hear, this is an early version of the actual code, so therefore, it will probably get faster with the next release.  I'd never thought I'd run any windows applications under OS/2, but with these MASSIVE improvements, it's well worth rubbing Microsoft's nose into the ground.

So far, I've run a few select applications under the new windows support, which specify win31 and they seem to run happily, more on this in next issue, once I get some larger applications to run. Maybe Microsoft's Visual Basic is the acid test? If so, I shall attempt to obtain a Dealer's evaluation copy, and tell you the results.

The expected arrival date is around 4 weeks, but this is just a guessimate, since it's still early for the code, but IBM are normally right on the button, at this stage. For example, they knew when they'd have GA ready for release, about 4 weeks before hand.

THE DOS SUPPORT
As promised, IBM has totally revamped their DOS support in this beta, many of the earlier applications, which were interrupt sensitive, now work. But there are still some which run slowly, especial applications which require the use of the smooth Talker voice generator. THIS is being looked at by IBM, so I expect to see it working correctly, in the next beta release.

There are few new DOS_SETTINGS.
 * INIT_DURING_IO: Allows Interrupts during Disk I/O
 * COM_DIRECT_ACCESS
 * COM_SELECT: You Specify which com port that Dos program is allowed to Find.

I've found that several Graphics intensive applications, have gotten an extra burst in speed, in a full screen window. This maybe due to the 32-bit Engine, but I don't know how. Maybe these programs where using the code, which was limited in the GA release, to a certain performance level, either way, it's most definitely faster all round on DOS applications.

Vital Stats
Item DISK             GA               6.427 OS/2 Install disks    15                 14 Printer Drivers        5                  5 Display Drivers       NA                  2 (expanded in future releases) WIN/OS2 3.1           NA                  7 Graphics Engine   16 bit             32 bit Windows Version      3.0            3.0/3.1

SPACE REQUIRED FOR OS/2
This has been a Hotly debated topic between OS/2 users and Windows users (Don't ask me why). To set the record straight, and to really show what's necessary to run OS/2, I've sat down and and worked out what was required etc for a text based OS/2 system.

You will require a minimum of 3 meg of hard drive space, for OS/2 to be usable, in that you have all the necessary support files for most OS/2 text based apps to run. Sure you can boot-up OS/2 on one 1.44meg floppy, but your limited as to what commands work. The base WPS system is just under 10 meg, with the guts removed, eg the help/Information files removed.

Commercial Software Updates
I've recently come across an installable file compression system, called DCF/2. I am currently waiting on delivery of this 'stacker for OS/2' to see what potential it has, so hopefully, by next issue I can give more details.

IBM has FINALLY released the Multi-media extensions in the USA so I can actually talk about them. As you'd imagine, all the popular things you can do under the windows environment, you can now do under OS/2. At present, there are no details on pricing for Australia, except in the US it's $149 List price. So by next issue, I shall have compiled my Multi-media review too.

A suggestion, from one of my BBS members, is to add a list of shareware reviews, so bundled with this issue is a file called SOFTDATE.TXT, which I will try to keep up-to-date with some reviews and revision numbers. Kind of like the File Avail list, you can get out of FidoNews.

Okay, I hope you've all enjoyed this issue, not much meaty bits, been too busy playing with the new beta, trying to crash it. So far, no bad news, except for a slight glitch in the 32 bit engine, where you lose control of the foreground application (happened twice over a period of 7 days running), which seems to only stop the foreground process. In that, all the other processes, which where visible on the desktop where still working away, so I simply waited for those processes (file archiving and virus checking) to finish, and rebooted, and no dramas. Which is a testimony of how OS/2 protects each process, from system crashes. Can other PC Based Platforms claim this? Normally if the main process dies, the system is long gone.

cuya All next time (opps NT is creeping in ;-) )