Joe's OS/2 Tips - Number 5


 * A] The Service Pack.
 * B] BootManager
 * C] SCSI CD-ROM Drivers
 * D] DAP Developers Kit

THE SERVICE PACK HAS ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just in case you don't know, IBM has finally released the Service Pack (SP) for OS/2. Call IBM Direct Marketing for the upgrade, or your local OS/2 BBS Support Site (be prepared though, it is 14 meg in size!). In Australia the cost from IBM is $30 which includes 14 diskettes and courier fees to your door.

INSTALLING
IMPORTANT! If you plan to use the new windows 3.0a support (which is improved over GA) you must have it installed before applying the SP. This is the same for all other optional components to OS/2. As the SP only updates what it finds, and doesn't have a selective install. WHICH I believe is silly way to provide it, but maybe, when the final SP comes out, (with Win31) they may have rewritten the code.

Installing it, is dead easy. Open an OS/2 session, goto drive A and type SERVICE, and from there on follow the instructions. DON'T simply boot from DRIVE A with the SP disk 1, since the service package does changes to your system, that are required. People, who have had problems with this SP, are normally the people who have just thrown in Disk 1 and booted up rather than typing SERVICE.

WHAT'S IN THIS SP?
Apart from the bug fixes, this SP includes the amazing 32bit graphics engine, tighter code (uses memory more efficiently) and DOS/WINDOWS sessions Have a Host of new DOS_SETTINGS to play with.


 * COM_DIRECT_ACCESS:This will allows deactivation of VCOM.SYS (OS/2's Virtual DOS COM PORT Support) and allows the DOS program to directly address the com ports. This feature has also allows many DOS coms programs to function at 'full speed'.
 * COM_HOLD:This will allow a DOS session exclusive access to a com port.
 * COM_SELECT:You can specify which com port you wish to allow, for THIS session only.
 * INT_DURING_IO:Mainly for Multi-Media stuff, but I have found that just about any DOS program works better when I have this one on. BUT this can severely affect the performance of the whole machine, if you have 2 or more sessions at once open, with this option on.

What is a Boot Manager
I am often asked why and when to install the boot manager. Basically I use boot manager to run different operating systems, which is it's sole feature. Boot Manager occupies 1 meg on your hard drive and will ask on boot up which partition you wish to boot from.

It's ideal for a separate DOS and OS/2 Partitions for new users, so that they don't go changing the wrong Config.sys files. Also, with a bit of simple thinking, you DON'T loose space on your hard drive. That is, if your using a DOS and an OS/2 Partition, with LIMITED hard drive space, make both of them FAT partitions and set them up as the following. Startable          : Primary         BOOT MANAGER    1 DOS     Bootable           C: Primary         FAT            31 OS/2 2.0 Bootable          D: Logical         FAT            50 None              E: Logical         FAT           119 By Making your DOS partition as primary and the rest logical, you can then access all partitions, if and only if the file system is FAT, while under DOS. This is one solution to your backup needs, if you like say PC-Backup.

SCSI CD-ROM Drivers
IBM has released a Generic SCSI driver for CD-ROM (SCSI) drives. This May solve the problem for you and your drive. I have included this driver in with this issue.

Also I have obtained the the SoundBlaster Pro CD-ROM Beta driver. This works mainly on machines which do not have have SCSI Hard drive, at least, this has been my experience so far. It's also included. BOTH drivers replace the CDROM.SYS that comes with OS/2.

DAP Developers Kit CD-ROM
I have just received IBMs developers kit for OS/2, it contains 300 meg of data, programs, BETA CODE for various IBM products and sample source code. It has tones of interesting stuff that developers and end users will love. Call IBM Direct for Ordering Details ($60 Australian). It has a lot of documentation on the CD-ROM, which is great to read and draw information from, for any level of user/programmer.

Software inclusion
I have also include a very basic C program, for IBM's CSet/2, it just demonstrates the usage of a simple function to query the system about devices attached.

Software Version List
There are several brilliant new releases for OS/2 so take a look at the software revision list. At present I am only covering Shareware/Public Domain, but, if there's a willing body out there, I shall incorporate a Commerial listing.

NEWS FLASH
IBM and Novell have joined forces to produce the BEST industry standard server for OS/2 and the PC based Networks, Lan Manager ver 3.0. So Microsoft's alienation of Novell and other network products spells the death of NT, since neither Lantastic nor Novell have ANY plans for NT. So With Novell firmly entrenched with IBM, the future looks very bright and rosey for OS/2, whilst NT's network future is becoming greyish and restrained to Microsoft's own.

WINOS231 is scheduled for release in December, be prepared to have your socks toasted off your feet, and your mind to be blown away, with the speed/performance of this new addition to the OS/2 World.

Another Short and sweet production, I'd better thank IBM and others for their respective trademarks. Next Issue, most likely on Christmas Day I shall try and get a little comms program out for OS/2 with full source code. Till Next Time Happy OS/2ing it!