GBU - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

 GBU Version 1.09

What is GBU?

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

It is no secret that many people have had less than wonderful experiences getting OS/2 to work with sub-standard computer hardware. This document is an attempt to minimize these problems in the future. It can be used as a shopping list, or to compare against your machine to find if other people using the same hardware have had similar problems.

As is the case with any document of this type, it can only be helpful if it is supported by the potential users. This means that enough people must send in enough messages that a representative sample of the available hardware gets listed. Please email me new submissions at altstadt@mprgate.mpr.ca. New versions will be posted as additions are made to the list.

Feel free to upload this document to any ftp site, BBS, or online service that does not already have it, or that has an older version of it.

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Detailed Description

Since many of the problems people have had with OS/2 stem from semi-compatible PC hardware, I will maintain a live document of computer hardware with respect to its performance with OS/2. I will make this document available by uploading it to a local ibmNET BBS, ftp-os2.nmsu.edu, and ftp-os2.cdrom.com. It will be distributed both as a viewable INF file and as clear text.

Please send me messages about any hardware experiences you want to share. In particular I am looking for information on motherboards, video cards, multi-I/O cards, SCSI controllers, floppy drives, hard drives, CD-ROM drives, printers, modems, mice, track balls, graphics tablets, multi-serial port cards, and any other hardware you have had good, bad, or ugly experiences with.

The definitions I am using are:

GOOD hardware that caused no known problems, software drivers were available in shrink wrap either with OS/2 or with the hardware, or    drivers were freely available on BBSs.

BAD hardware that has proved to be incompatible with OS/2 due to    excessive numbers of trap messages, or OS/2 drivers do not exist. The hardware might still work in DOS or Windows sessions with appropriate drivers.

UGLY hardware that has had problems which could be corrected only after some serious work (changing jumpers doesn't qualify as serious), the available drivers take advantage of only some of the features of the hardware, only beta level (or worse) drivers exist, or the hardware works only in a "compatibility mode". If there are several messages with conflicting votes for a piece of hardware, it will automatically be placed in this category. The specific information I need includes: type of hardware (mother  board, video card, etc.), the manufacturer, model number, chip set, serial number range (if it matters), version of OS/2 used to test the hardware, and a vote on Good, Bad, or Ugly, with a specific problem report or glowing recommendation, and any caveats regarding the GBU vote.

To decide which category your submission fits in, ask yourself if you would recommend this hardware to someone who does not have any DOS or Windows programs. I may change the GBU designation based on the comments or caveats if they point to a different designation using the guidelines above.

Any script files or chunks of code supplied with a submission can be included as a footnote. Cross references to other submissions will be maintained as hypertext links.

If you wish to refute a previous category for a piece of hardware, please provide adequate documentation that the hardware should change from one category to another. It is almost impossible to promote something from Bad to Good directly without said hardware spending at least one release of GBU in Ugly. Likewise for the opposite (less likely) demotion.

Please send messages directly to me via Internet or the networked IBM BBS based in Canada. On the (Canada) IBM BBS, send messages to John Altstadt. Private messages may be sent via the Ibm.Bbsmsg forum or uploaded as files with a note to the sysop to forward the file to me. On Internet, send messages to altstadt@mprgate.mpr.ca.

To reduce the time required to generate a new edition of GBU, I prefer that messages are sent to me in IPF format, as I can just cut & paste them into the source files, and then bang out a new version quickly. If this is a problem for you, then send them in ASCII format and I will do  the appropriate conversion. Please use only one format for any submissions. These panels show example text that you would be replacing highlighted this way.

Not all fields will make sense for all hardware categories.

The examples given are for hardware that does not exist.

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IPF Source Format Example.

Select this window, press  to copy this text to the clipboard, then press  to paste it into your editor.

Category: CD-ROM drive GBU rating: good :p. :hp8. :dl break=all tsize=3. :dt.:hp2.Type:ehp2. :dd.SCSI-2 interface, octuple speed :dt.:hp2.Manufacturer:ehp2. :dd.Toshisonic :dt.:hp2.Model Number:ehp2. :dd.XJ-9/4000 :dt.:hp2.Chip Set:ehp2. :dd.Fish &amp. Chips :dt.:hp2.Comments:ehp2. :dd.Driver included with OS/2. Uses 25 disk cartridges. :dt.:hp2.Caveats:ehp2. :dd.The drive will overheat and melt the CD-ROM after 50 milliseconds if the liquid helium coolant hose is disconnected. :edl. :dl compact tsize=18.:dthd.:hp2.OS/2 Version:ehp2.:ddhd.:hp2.Rated by:ehp2. :dt.Warp 5.0 :dd.altstadt@mprgate.mpr.ca - good :edl. :ehp8.

A skeleton format without the sample text. Delete the text above before saving the file.

Category: GBU rating: :p. :hp8. :dl break=all tsize=3. :dt.:hp2.Type:ehp2. :dd. :dt.:hp2.Manufacturer:ehp2. :dd. :dt.:hp2.Model Number:ehp2. :dd. :dt.:hp2.Chip Set:ehp2. :dd. :dt.:hp2.Comments:ehp2. :dd. :dt.:hp2.Caveats:ehp2. :dd. :edl. :dl compact tsize=18.:dthd.:hp2.OS/2 Version:ehp2.:ddhd.:hp2.Rated by:ehp2. :dt. :dd. :edl. :ehp8. ====

ASCII Source Format Example.

Select this window, press  to copy this text to the clipboard, then press  to paste it into your editor.

Category: CD-ROM drive GBU rating: good Type: SCSI-2 interface, octuple speed Manufacturer: Toshisonic Model Number: XJ-9/4000 Chip Set: Fish & Chips Comments: Driver included with OS/2. Uses 25 disk cartridges. Caveats: The drive will overheat and melt the CD-ROM after 50 milliseconds if the liquid helium coolant hose is disconnected. OS/2 version: Warp 5.0 Rated by: altstadt@mprgate.mpr.ca - good

A skeleton format without the sample text. Delete the text above before saving the file.

Category: GBU rating: Type: Manufacturer: Model Number: Chip Set: Comments: Caveats: OS/2 version: Rated by: ====

Other Sources of Help

Check for the following documents on BBSs, Internet archive sites, Usenet news groups, and WWW sites.

PCMTAB.ZIP IBM's list of 3rd party hardware that has passed compatibility tests with OS/2. This is an excellent list, but each entry is limited to the information that can be contained on a single line. Information on    equipment that has failed the standard set of tests is not included. Much of the list covers complete systems as supplied to IBM by the various clone manufacturers, so it would be a good resource for people about to purchase a new system.

Patrick Duffy's PCI Lists Patrick Duffy posts several lists to the Usenet news group comp.os.os2.misc every week. These lists cover PCI chip sets, motherboards, video cards, and SCSI controller cards.

FAQxxx.ZIP The FAQ maintained by Timothy Sipples contains some tips regarding hardware and OS/2 in general.

http://pclt.cis.yale.edu/pclt/default.htm The PC Lube and Tune site has general information on the PC    architecture.

This is a list of anonymous ftp sites mentioned elsewhere in this document.

creative.creaf.com drivers and software for Creative Labs cards

ftp-boi.external.hp.com drivers for Hewlett-Packard printers

ftp.europe.ibm.com drivers for PCMCIA on Compaq Contura Aero

ftp-os2.cdrom.com, ftp.cdrom.com collection of OS/2 shareware, freeware, and information

ftp-os2.nmsu.edu collection of OS/2 shareware, freeware, and information

ftp.gate.net drivers for Optics Storage CD-ROM drive

microsoft.com Windows drivers, mscdex ====

What's New?

Ugly Audio cards: ATI (upgrade), Gravis, MediaVision Good CD-ROM drives: Teac, Toshiba Good Hard Disks: Quantum Good I/O cards: Kouwell, STB Good Keyboards: IBM Good Magneto Optical drives: Fujitsu Good Modems: Supra Good Monitors: NEC Good Motherboards: AMI Bad Motherboards: ASUS Bad Multimedia Kits: Media Vision Bad Notebooks: Toshiba Good Printers: Epson (upgrade) Good Removable Media: Iomega Good Scanners: HP  Bad Scanners:  Microtek Good SCSI Controller cards: QLogic Good Tape drives: HP, IOMega Good Video cards: ATI (upgrade), TechWorks ====

Good Audio cards

Type 8-bit mono card

Manufacturer CPS

Model Number Soundblaster Junior

Caveats Does work only with recent Soundblaster drivers. The CD audio connector has to be changed from 1234 to 2143 for use with a    Mitsumi FX001D CD-ROM drive OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             marc_van-woerkom@ac3.maus.de - good

Type 16 bit stereo with SCSI-2 port

Manufacturer Creative Labs

Model Number Sound Blaster 16 SCSI-2

Chip Set Creative CT174x

Comments Drivers supplied on MMPM diskettes. The card comes with DOS and Windows drivers and software. New drivers for DOS, Windows, and OS/2 are available via anonymous ftp from Creative Labs at    creative.creaf.com. The DOS drivers will let you change the IRQ and DMA channels, so the card can be set for IRQ10 under OS/2 and Windows, while older DOS programs can use IRQ 2, 5, and 7 inside a    BAT file wrapper. OS/2 will allow DOS programs to change the IRQ on the fly. See the Good SCSI Controller cards section for more info.

Caveats The SB16 cards are known for hiss, clicks, and pops when playing 8-bit wav files. Some of the system sounds skip the first chunk of    the file, but sound correct when using the Audio Player. The updated drivers from Creative Labs solve these problems. OS/2 will allow DOS programs to change the card IRQ on the fly, which has potential for serious problems. OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.11 - 3.0        altstadt@mprgate.mpr.ca - good

Type 8-bit FM synthesis card

Manufacturer Creative Labs

Model Number SoundBlaster "Value Edition"

Chip Set Creative Labs

Comments Very minimal card, but works fine. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Manufacturer MediaVision

Model Number Pro Audio Spectrum-16 Basic

Comments Requires 3rd party drivers for OS/2 2.1GA. Readily available. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             jim.royer@nmebbs.org - good

Type ISA 16-bit

Manufacturer Orchid ????

Model Number Sound Producer Pro

Comments Cheap!, Creative Sound-Blaster Pro emulation - runs Doom in stereo under DOS fine :) Works perfectly with the v2.1 and newer Creative     Labs SB drivers (OPL 3) with a wide range of IRQs and base     addresses.  Also includes a Panasonic CD-ROM ifce. and optional (and pretty useless) CD-ROM only Trantor SCSI chpiset.

The CR563 hitched without any problems as long as you remember (1) to turn on the CDROM interface and (2) ignore the CD drivers that come w/ the SP-Pro card (my disks are v1.1)! They didn't    work, but the CDROM drive came with IBM's ISA CDROM drivers which installed first time under DOS and seem to work fine. Under OS/2 I    have v2.11 (serviced v2.1) and installation was rather worse: Selective Install mentions the 563 but installation requires putting disks 3-9 in succession into the drive and very little is done. After reboot the SBCD2.ADD driver had NOT been copied to the OS/2 directory on my boot disk, so I did it manually and lo! the Feb 94 driver from Hobbes worked first time, though I think Selective Install damaged the file system slightly on my OS2 boot drive which CHKDSK subsequently fixed.

Caveats Only 8-bit sound. OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.1               j.c.w.price@qmw.ac.uk - good ====

Ugly Audio cards

Type 8-bit stereo

Manufacturer ATI

Model Number Stereo F/X

Chip Set Yamaha

Comments Run with driver for SoundBlaster (SBD2.SYS) included in OS/2. The card setup (Channel, IRQ, DMA) is done by DOS software - no    jumpers!

Caveats Not the whole functionallity of the ATI Stereo F/X is supportet by    the Soundblaster driver:  playback of MIDI, digital stereo and files with a sample rate of 44,1 kHz doesn't work. If many sounds are played in a short period of time, the WPS often hangs, due to bad driver programming. Quite old model, which is scarcely supported by    ATI. OS/2 Version     Rated by  Warp 3.0          gerber@kilo.emk.e-technik.th-darmstadt.de - ugly

Type 16 bit sound card

Manufacturer Advanced Gravis

Model Number Gravis Ultrasound

Comments I used a revision 2.2 board; there is little physical difference between the early 2.2 rev. board and the more recent boards, rev 3.X I     believe. The Gus Max is similar and uses the same drivers. The GUS ACE is a add on for the soundblaster series and may work differently under os/2 than the GUS card.

Caveats Only drivers available are _alpha_ Gravis drivers and shareware drivers. Winos2 support non-existant unless you register the shareware drivers because Windows drivers are VXDs. Emulation of    the soundblaster and roland cards under dos also not possible for same reason. Manley drivers, when registered will address this in a    future release. No Midi support for os/2 unless you have midi device attached. (Not tested) OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               homi@netcom.com - ugly

Type 8-bit mono

Manufacturer MediaVision

Model Number Thunderboard

Chip Set MediaVision Thunder

Comments Other soundcards which claim to be SoundBlaster 2.0 compatible (some using the Thunder chipset) do not work with the Warp SB 2.0 driver either. It has to be patched in order to work. See below.

Caveats Not the whole functionallity of the Thunderboard is supported by the Soundblaster driver, most notably playback of MIDI (FM synthesis    with OPL3).

o 2.1: search for the patch tbos2.zip on ftp.cdrom.com, etc. o 3.0: search for the patch sb2warp.zip on ftp.cdrom.com, etc.  OS/2 Version      Rated by  2.1, 3.0          leeuw@fwi.uva.nl - ugly ====

Bad Audio cards

Nothing supplied in this category.

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Good CD-ROM drives

Type AT-BUS, double-speed

Manufacturer Mitsumi

Model Number FX 001 D

Comments Good and cheap

Double Speed successor of the LU-Drive; driver kit available on    various BBSes (mitfx.zip; 17131 bytes). Includes MMPM/2-Support (CD-Player). Easy to install. Can use upper interrupts (10,11) or    software polling.

Caveats I had to change the audio connector from 1234 to 2143 to connect to    to my soundblaster clone. This may not be a problem mit other Soundcards

No OS/2 drivers shipped with the drive, To install OS/2 from CD-ROM you need to change the first boot disk (explained in the    mitfx.zip-archive). OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             marc_van-woerkom@ac3.maus.de - good < 3.0            Pascal.Gienger@uni-konstanz.de - GOOD

Type proprietary interface

Manufacturer Mitsumi

Model Number LU005

Comments Driver available from the usual sources. Caddyless.

Caveats Can't install OS/2 from CD-ROM unless you've modified the OS/2 installation disks to include the driver. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type SCSI-1 interface, double speed

Manufacturer NEC

Model Number CDR-84

Comments Driver included with OS/2. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type SCSI-2, triple speed, caddy

Manufacturer NEC (?)

Model Number CDR 510

Comments OEM version of NEC 3Xi. Cdthru says that the drive tops out at 401 kbytes/sec. OS/2 2.1 GA and later recognize the drive as either an    NEC Multi-Spin or as an NEC 3Xx right out of the box.

Caveats There are rumors that NEC doesn't support OEM drives in any way, and is even hostile to people that buy such drives. OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.10 - 3.0        altstadt@mprgate.mpr.ca - good

Type SCSI-2, Quad Speed, internal

Manufacturer Plextor

Model Number 4Plex (PX43-CH)

Chip Set

Comments Fast. 1Mb Buffer ram. Uses caddies. OS/2 Warp recognizes it    automatically. Software Eject.

Caveats No automatic loading, you have to push the caddy all the way into the drive by hand. For some reason it suddenly developed a    problem with spinning certain discs, but then the problem disappeared. Expensive. OS/2 Version     Rated by  Warp 3.0          tam@usc.edu - good

Type SCSI-II, double speed

Manufacturer Plextor (formerly TEXEL)

Model Number DM3028

Comments Driver included with OS/2 (use the Texel 3024 driver). Uses caddies. Self-cleaning lens mechanism. Software eject.

Caveats Does not support digital transfer on audio-CD's OS/2 Version      Rated by  < 3.0             paltiel@cnj.digex.net - good < 3.0            rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type proprietary interface

Manufacturer Reveal (Panasonic)

Model Number CD-620 (Panasonic CR-563b)

Comments Requires SBCD2.ADD or SBCD2PAN.ADD drivers to operate in OS/2 2.1 GA. Fully supported under OS/2 2.11. - jim.royer@nmebbs.org

Panasonic CDROM support under OS2 is excellent provided you have OS/2 v2.11 or greater which supports the 563 directly. The DOS drivers are out of date, but drivers that ship with the CDROM drive work fine. Appears to be a decent standard port, though there is    no support for IRQ-driven data transfer, which is supposedly quicker and less CPU-intensive than the pure I/O port stuff. -    j.c.w.price@qmw.ac.uk  OS/2 Version      Rated by  < 3.0             jim.royer@nmebbs.org - good 2.1              j.c.w.price@qmw.ac.uk - good

Type Quad speed, panasonic/creative labs interface

Manufacturer Teac

Model Number CD-55a

Comments Requires driver CD55os1.zip from Hobbes, found in /os2/drivers. Works with both Warp (under which I tested it) and 2.11.

Caveats Installation procedure on driver disk is both simple and thorough. Drive installs without incident, and seems to work well in OS/2, DOS, and Windows 3.1. (note: some users have reported that this drive     requires either the TEAC proprietary interface card, or a genuine     Creative Labs Soundblaster card.  Clones may or may not work     properly.) OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               farnold@alberich.duch.udel.edu - good

Type SCSI-2 Single Speed

Manufacturer Toshiba

Model Number 3301 OS/2 Version      Rated by  <=3.0             dguthrie@iisys.com - good

Type SCSI interface

Manufacturer Toshiba

Model Number 3401

Comments Driver included with OS/2. Uses caddies. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type SCSI Interface, double speed

Manufacturer Toshiba

Model Number 4101

Comments Driver included with OS/2. Caddyless OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             reinhard@ifki50.informatik.fh-muenchen.de - good

Type Proprietary interface, double speed

Manufacturer Wearnes

Model Number CDD-110

Chip Set Philips

Comments Includes interface card and DOS drivers. Caddyless

Caveats Sony OEM drive but it doesn't work with the Sony drivers. OS/2 drivers are available at ftp-os2.nmsu.edu in    /os2/2_1/drivers/wearnes.zip. This driver works with OS/2 2.1 and OS/2 3.0 Warp. OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.1, 3.0          peterpv@ice2.utwente.nl - good ====

Ugly CD-ROM drives

Type Proprietary interface, double speed.

Manufacturer Optics Storage

Model Number Dolphin 8000AT

Chip Set Philips

Comments Includes interface card & DOS drivers. Cadyless.

Caveats From what I can tell the drive is a Sony OEM. However, no drivers for OS/2 can be found nor do the current Sony drivers work with the card. However, the DOS drivers provided do load in a DOS box if    only someone can find a MSCDEX.EXE that will access the drive from a DOS box. [sandman]

Sony OEM drive but it doesn't work with the Sony drivers. OS/2 drivers are available at: ftp.gate.net /pub/users/pyle/dolat001.exe

This driver works with OS/2 3.0 Warp. [peterpv] OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             sandman@netcom.com - ugly 3.0              peterpv@ice2.utwente.nl - good ====

Bad CD-ROM drives

Nothing supplied in this category.

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Good Flopticals

Nothing supplied in this category.

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Ugly Flopticals

Type SCSI-II

Manufacturer Insite

Model Number Unknown (Only one revision, known)

Comments Driver support from 3rd party (Corel via CorelSCSI), reads and writes 1.44MB, 720K, 21MB 3-1/2" floppies, reads normal floppies at 2-3    times speed of a normal 3-1/2" drive

Caveats Software conflict with MMPM/2's system sounds, incorrectly formats 21MB flopticals, unable to format any media from OS/2 WPS, format created by OS/2 version of CorelSCSI unrecognizable by DOS based floptical drivers, unable to change size of floptical software cache, accessing drive locks WPS OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             paltiel@cnj.digex.net - ugly ====

Bad Flopticals

Nothing supplied in this category.

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Good Hard Disks

Type 513MB IDE HD

Manufacturer Fujitsu

Model Number M2624T

Comments Very fast, durable, reliable, 5-year replacement warranty OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             fredng@io.org - good

Type SCSI-2 interface

Manufacturer IBM

Model Number 1 GB SCSI-II HD

Chip Set

Comments Fast and reliable. Flawless installation and operation with ADAPTEC AHA 2842VL adapter.

Caveats A bit noisy when busy. OS/2 Version     Rated by  <= 2.11           100424.3441@compuserve.com - good

Type SCSI-2 / SCSI-3 / SCSI FAST 4GB

Manufacturer Quantum

Model Number Grand Prix 34301

Comments Super fast, great for multimedia server OS/2 Version     Rated by  <=3.0             dguthrie@iisys.com - good

Type Fast SCSI-II, 340MB

Manufacturer Seagate

Model Number ST3390N

Comments Audible high-pitched whine; makes loud popping noises when powered on or off. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type 340MB IDE HD

Manufacturer Western Digital

Model Number Caviar 2340

Comments Fast, reliable OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             fredng@io.org - good ====

Ugly Hard Disks

Type SCSI-II (?), 540MB

Manufacturer Quantum

Model Number LPS540S

Comments When used with a PCI-bus NCR chipset on a J-Bond or Asus motherboard, OS/2 2.1 refuses to boot from the hard disk unless the /!SN option is specified in the OS2CAM.ADD driver. OS/2 2.99 Warp Beta II will boot, but there's a 45-second delay during boot (operation is normal after bootup). Functions corectly when used with an UltraStor 34F VLB SCSI controller on a Diamond FastBus VLB motherboard with either OS/2 2.1 or OS/2 2.99 Warp Beta II.

Caveats In above OS/2 2.1 scenario with NCR SCSI chipset, the boot partition was occasionally WIPED OUT (OS/2 identified it as unformatted and    gave error messages when access was attempted). OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - ugly

Type SCSI-2 interface, 220 Meg

Manufacturer Seagate

Model Number ST3283N

Comments Overall, the performance of the drive is actually quite good. I've    had few problems with the drive itself, by itself.

Caveats It intensely dislikes other SCSI devices. It uses weird termination, which throws off the entire SCSI chain. You will only get three devices working, for example, by terminating every device in the chain. Needless to say, troubleshooting is an absolute nightmare. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             jcarmack@phoenix.sas.muohio.edu ====

Bad Hard Disks

Nothing supplied in this category.

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Good IDE cards

Type ISA bus, with floppy controller

Manufacturer Boca Research, Inc.

Model Number IDE002

Chip Set GoldStar

Caveats Tested for floppy controller only; IDE adapter disabled. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type ISA 16-bit 4xIDE HD/2xFDD controller

Manufacturer Promise

Model Number Promise DC200

Comments Caching HD controller for the lame ISA bus. Flawlessly handles 1-4 IDEs under DOS and OS/2 (v1.0 driver supplied for OS/2, 1.0C and v1.2    available by ftp), allows use of two IDE drives that wont master/slave properly. Takes 1Mb/4Mb SIMMS in pairs (3 chip or 9    chip 80 ns OK)

Caveats Shutdown does not write the cache immediately, so you must wait for the drive light to go out! v1.2 drivers seem to be for the VL-Bus version, loses support for the second IDE cable :( OS/2 Version      Rated by  2.1               j.c.w.price@qmw.ac.uk - good

Type ISA IDE Controller

Manufacturer Western Digital

Comments Not very fast, but rock solid OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             fredng@io.org - good ====

Ugly IDE cards

Nothing supplied in this category.

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Bad IDE cards

Nothing supplied in this category.

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Good I/O cards

Type 1 (bi-directional) parallel 2 serial (16550) ports, 1 game

Manufacturer Circo Technology 1-800-678-1688 818-369-5779

Model Number AT I/O for 2S 1p(bi-di). 1g

Chip Set 16550

Comments Cost $30.00 After trying many parallel printer ports that were NOT bi-directional and didn't work with WARP 3.0, I finally found one that works with my second printer. Most IDE/SCSI Multi I/O cards are already bi-directional; try finding a second printer port that is    however--good luck! OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               ged17r1@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu - good

Type serial/parallel/game port

Manufacturer Kentech

Chip Set 74LS series parts

Comments jumper selections for COM ports at 1/3 and 2/4, jumper selections to    put PRT at 1/2, one UART is socketed OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.0 - 3.0         altstadt@mprgate.mpr.ca - good

Type ISA bus

Manufacturer Kouwell

Model Number KV 66

Chip Set SMC

Comments One of the better I/O cards I've seen. This one has support for two floppies up to 2.88, two 16550 compliant serial ports, one EPP/ECP parallel port and one game port.

Caveats Limited choices when it comes to IRQ's. OS/2 Version      Rated by  3.0               sbowers@primenet.com - good

Type 4 port, 16554 chip

Manufacturer STB

Model Number 4-COM

Chip Set 16554

Comments Allows 4 com ports on 1 interrupt OS/2 Version     Rated by  <=3.0             dguthrie@iisys.com - good

Type 2S/1P/1G card

Manufacturer ZyXEL

Model Number I/O 16550-1

Chip Set One 16450, one 16550 UART for serial ports

Comments In contrast to fredng@io.org's account, my card has a GoldStar 16450 and a Startech 16550. Still works fine, though.

Caveats Game port can't be disabled. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good ====

Ugly I/O cards

Nothing supplied in this category.

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Bad I/O cards

Nothing supplied in this category.

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Good Keyboards

Manufacturer Focus

Model Number FK6000 OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Manufacturer Fujitsu

Model Number FKB4700

Comments full use of grey keys

Caveats keyboard driver would trap in version 2.0 GA + SP OS/2 Version      Rated by  2.0 - 3.0         altstadt@mprgate.mpr.ca - good

Manufacturer IBM

Model Number 1391401

Comments Rock solid! It's been dropped, had liquid spilled into it and it still runs great.

Caveats Required a 6 pin Mini DIN to 5 pin DIN convertor OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               sbowers@primenet.com - good

Type Programmable Keyboard

Manufacturer KeyPro

Model Number FK-9000

Chip Set

Comments Standard OS/2 drivers work great

Caveats Contains 12 programmable keys (limited to 14 characters though) and (my favorite feature) a built in calculator that uses the numeric keypad OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.1, 3.0          scott@wymer.demon.co.uk - good

Manufacturer Keytronics

Model Number E03601Q

Comments full use of grey keys OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             jim.royer@nmebbs.org - good

Manufacturer Monterey

Model Number K104 OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type 101-key

Manufacturer NMB Technologies

Model Number RT101+

Comments Sold as CompUSA "generic" keyboard; above manufacturer taken from label on keyboard, and does not appear on display shelf box. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type 101-key Enhanced

Manufacturer NorthGate

Model Number OmniKey/101

Comments Great tactile feeling, persistent to my abuse (I don't type, I pound on    my keyboard hard!), even better than IBM keyboards! [fredng]

Unusual keyboard layout, especially around cursor keys. Light but "clicky" feel. [rsmith] OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             fredng@io.org - good < 3.0            rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good ====

Ugly Keyboards

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Bad Keyboards

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Good Magneto Optical drives

Type SCSI-2 interface

Manufacturer Fujitsu

Model Number DynoMO 230

Comments Great, fully re-writeable technology. Drivers not included with OS/2 but can be found on Fujitsu BBS or Internet, contact Fujitsu for filename. After drivers are obtained install is as easy a 123. Works in DOS and Windoze sessions great.

Caveats Only gripe I have is that OS2 and DOS seem to need a bit of    customizing to get top performance, it may be my lack of experience with SCSI and Optical devices. Not that it is slow, it just claims to    be able to do 2 Meg per second (I think), and it doesn't seem to be     doing that. OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               myersd@cadvision.com - good

Type SCSI-2, 3.5in, 128Mb

Manufacturer Sony

Model Number SMO-F331 (internal)

Chip Set

Comments Good reliable performance. Tough, I accidentally dropped it 3-4 feet before I installed it and still works fine. Tested with Sound Blaster 16 SCSI-2 interface and Adaptec 2940 PCI. Worked flawlessly. Needs Optical.sys driver which I think could be found at hobbes. Has to be formatted the IBM way as one large floppy for OS/2 to read.

Caveats Termination cannot be set. Not that fast with only 220kb/sec transfer rate. OS/2 Version     Rated by  Warp 3.0          tam@usc.edu - good ====

Ugly Magneto Optical drives

Type 3.5", SCSI Interface

Manufacturer Fujitsu

Model Number M2511A

Comments OS/2 recognizes it's there, but thinks it's a 2.88MB floppy drive. I've    been unable to get it to work better, but haven't tried too hard, either. [rsmith]

Tested with an Adaptec AHA1542CF SCSI adapter. OS/2 recognizes that the M.O. drive it's there, but the WPS format utility apparently thinks it's a 2.88MB floppy drive. However a properly FAT formatted cartridge is obtained nonetheless.

Adaptec SCSI drivers included with OS/2. Available also at    ftp-os2.nmsu.edu. [marziani]

Caveats Only FAT seems supported. No HPFS for 128MB cartridges. Not all (i.e. very few) SCSI adapters and their respective OS/2 drivers seem to support this unit. Adaptec 1542CF works fine. [marziani] OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - bad < 3.0            marziani@vaxfe.fe.infn.it - good ====

Bad Magneto Optical drives

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Good Modems

Type external

Manufacturer AT&T Paradyne

Model Number Dataport

Chip set AT&T

Comments Flawless operation with both ZOC and Fax/PM

Caveats Does not come with OS/2 software. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type V. 34 28,800bps Fax/modem, internal

Manufacturer Practical Peripherals

Model Number PM288HC II V.34

Chip Set Rockwell

Comments Good, basic, reliable and fast. No fancy features like auto data/voice detection. Works with ZOC, Fax/PM, OS2CIM, and PPP. Built in 16550A UART. Computer to modem rates of up to 115,200bps. Connects to V.FC modems as well. Group 3 Fax under Class 1 and Class 2 operation at up to 14,400 bps. I've gotten CARRIER rates up    to 24,000bps only, but probably due to bad phone lines.

Caveats Manual is a little too brief. No Flash Rom for easy bios update. OS/2 Version     Rated by  Warp 3.0          tam@usc.edu - good

Type External

Manufacturer Supra

Model Number FaxModem 288

Comments Documentation excellent, configuration easy, new led display is    great. The power switch is on the front for very easy access. Performance is excellent and above average reliablility, compared to    my past Zoom 28.8 modem (which lost carrier often). The re-negotiating, due to line quality, is great, and with the led display it shows instantly what the current modem-modem speed is.

Caveats The Fax software it comes with is lacking, but Data software is just ok. OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               myersd@cadvision.com - good

Type 14.4k Fax Modem

Manufacturer US Robotics

Model Number 14,400 Fax Modem

Comments Supported by virtually all communication programs, inexpensive, reliable, although not a screamer in performance OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             fredng@io.org - good

Type internal v.32bis (14,400 bps) fax-modem

Manufacturer US Robotics

Model Number Sportster

Chip Set 80186 with DSPs

Comments User should change the default settings, since it's set up for COM3 with an IRQ shared with COM1. Includes built-in 16550 UART. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type 14.4 Fax/Modem 16550UART ISA (internal)

Manufacturer Zoom

Model Number VFP V.32bis

Chip Set Rockwell 14.4Kbps

Comments 20 Mhz controller and v.32bix data pump on board. 16550UART. MNP 5 and v.42bis. Group III, Class 1 and 2 Fax (V.17). Selectable port settings at (COM/IRQ): 1/4, 2/3, 3/4, 4/3, 3/2, 4/2, 3/5, 4/5 through jumpers. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             davmp@alumni.caltech.edu - good

Type external

Manufacturer ZyXEL

Model Number U-1496E

Chip set 68000 cpu & TI DSPs

Comments Flawless operation with many DOS, Windows, and OS/2 programs

Caveats Some versions of ZyXEL's Z-Fax DOS software don't run under OS/2; does not come with OS/2 software. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good ====

Ugly Modems

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Bad Modems

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Good Monitors

Type 15" SVGA

Manufacturer KFC

Model Number 1511

Comments Handles 30-60KHz horizontal, 50-90Hz vertical -- enough for 1024x768 at 70Hz but not (quite) 1280x1024 at 70Hz. Manual controls.

Caveats First two units I received were defective; the third seems OK. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type 17" Multisync

Manufacturer Mag Innovision

Model Number DX17F

Comments Large display area. Microprocessor controlled multifrequency. 100Mhz bandwith. 30-64kHz Horizontal Refresh, 50-100Hz Vertical Refresh. Supports up to 1280x1024. Good price. Supports DPMS

Caveats 1280x1024 Resolution will only work at up to 60Hz Vertical Refresh rate, non-interlaced. OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.1, 3.0          tam@usc.edu - good

Type 15" Multisync, supports up to 1280x1024

Manufacturer MAG

Model Number MX-15H (MX-15F in U.S.), 1992 model

Comments Microprocessor-based Multi-freq. monitor, 100MHz bandwidth OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             fredng@io.org - good

Type 15" SVGA

Manufacturer NEC

Model Number XE15

Comments Plug and Play compliant.

o VGA at 640 x 480 at 60, 72 & 75Hz o SVGA at 800 x 600 at 56, 60, 72 & 75Hz o 1024 x 768 Non-interlaced at 60, 70 & 75Hz

On-screen management, DPMS aware. Curently running with a    Techworks Thunderbolt VL:  using a Tseng ET4000 w32i chipset

Caveats None OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               sbowers@primenet.com - good

Type 14" SVGA

Manufacturer Panasonic

Model Number C1381

Comments Can (barely) handle 640x480, 72Hz or 800x600, 60Hz. Manual controls. Adequate, but not recommended for a new system. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type 17" SVGA

Manufacturer ViewSonic

Model Number 17G OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good ====

Ugly Monitors

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Bad Monitors

Type 17" SVGA

Manufacturer Samtron

Model Number SC-726V

Comments 70Hz up to 1024x768, .28dp, analog controls, cheap!

Caveats 1st unit was defective 2nd unit has had problems with a capacitor.. works good now though! OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.1               darryl.teichroeb@t8000.cuc.ab.ca - bad ====

Good Motherboards

Type 486 (any type) EISA/VLB, 486DX2-66, DX2-50, DX-50

Manufacturer AIR

Model Number 486EI

Chip Set SiS, AMI BIOS

Comments VERY solid board. Personally tested with no problems using DX50 and DX2-66. Takes nifty new 72-pin SIMMs. [greck]

Very stable from day one. No problems running OS/2 2.11, or 2.99. Uses 72-SIMMs. Good Docs [jaycee]

Caveats Only 5 of 8 EISA slots are master-capable. [greck]

Memory bank configurations are limited above 16M(28M). [jaycee] OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             greck@catt.ncsu.edu - good < 3.0            jaycee@emh.osan.af.mil - good

Type 486 EISA/VESA, SX/20, 25, DX/25, 33 or 50, DX2/50, 66, P24

Manufacturer AMI

Model Number Enterprise IV

Chip Set AMI

Comments Personally tested with a DX/33 and a DX/50. Uses 72 pin SIMMs. VERY good board! Stable on 2.1 and Warp. Has on-board floppy, 2 16550 compliant serial ports, 1 EPP compliant parallel port, PS/2 mouse port and IDE drive connector. Outstanding docs!

Caveats Six of the seven slots are Bus-Mastering (5 EISA, 1 EISA/VESA) OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               sbowers@primenet.com - good

Type 486DX/50, ISA

Manufacturer Amptron

Chip Set Opti, AMI BIOS, 08/30/91, 256K (20ns) RAM Cache

Comments The system has been used extensively (at least 16 hours a day,    sometimes on for a week or so without resetting), and yet is still operating with extreme stability

Caveats Never used with more than 16MB of RAM OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             fredng@io.org - good

Type 486 CPU, PCI bus

Manufacturer Asus

Model Number SP3G; motherboard revision 1.8

Chip Set Intel Saturn II (revision 4), 82420ZX; NCR 53c810 SCSI controller; Award flash BIOS version 4.50G

Comments Includes on-board SCSI, IDE, 2.88MB floppy, two 16550 UART serial, and parallel ports. Uses 72-pin SIMMs in pairs. Has 3 PCI and 4 ISA slots (1 shared slot). Takes 486DX, DX2, and DX4; and Pentium Overdrive CPUs. Includes "green" features (only work with Intel    CPUs). Comes with OS/2 drivers for the SCSI port.

Caveats This board reportedly doesn't work with AMD 486DXL-series CPUs, but does work with AMD 486DX-series CPUs, as well as Intel and Cyrix CPUs. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type ISA/VLB Multi-speed Intel Chip

Manufacturer BioStar

Model Number 1433/50AEA-V

Chip Set AMI

Comments 2 VL Bus slots. 6 ISA. 8 32-pin SIMM slots. No ZIF socket. Came with 256K cache. I run mine with an Intel 486DX-66 and 16MB of 70ns RAM - no problems. CMOS settings (and jumpers if I remember right) for setting of clock speed. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             davmp@alumni.caltech.edu - good

Manufacturer generic clone, Intel 386DX20

Model Number ECS 386/32, ISA Bus

Chip Set C&T 8230, 1991 AMI BIOS, no cache

Comments With 8 MB RAM, 2 IDE drives on generic ctrlr, VGA Mono. Just goes to show how primitive a system can still run OS/2 acceptably. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rwh@gov.on.ca - good

Type 486DX2-66 ISA/VLB

Manufacturer Gigabyte

Model Number GA-486VM

Chip Set UMC, AMI BIOS 256K 20ns cache, up to 32MB (2 simm banks)

Comments Reliable, small board

Caveats Not tested with more than 16MB; 1 bank of simms must be filled to    work (ie. for 4MB to work, 4 1MB simms must be used) OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.1               darryl.teichroeb@t8000.cuc.ab.ca - good

Type 486DX2-66 EISA/VLB

Manufacturer Gigabyte

Model Number GA-486TA

Chip Set SIS,AMI BIOS, 256K (20ns) Cache, upto 128M (standard SIMMS)

Comments The system has been extremely stable.

Caveats Not tested with more than 32MB. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             reinhard@ifki50.informatik.fh-muenchen.de - good

Model Number EISA486P, ME009

Chip Set HiNT, AMI BIOS, EISA/VLB OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Model Number G486HVL

Chip Set HiNT Caesar, AMI BIOS, "Super ISA"/VLB

Caveats "Super ISA" is a subset of EISA; most EISA boards work, but not all. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type PCI Pentium Motherboard

Manufacturer Intel

Model Number Premier/PCI II 90MHz Pentium

Chip Set Plato

Comments Fast. Very Fast!

Caveats Mine has the Pentium FDIV bug. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             Dave@OCCL-cam.demon.co.uk

Manufacturer Silicon Star, Intel 486DX33

Model Number AV433, ISA/VL bus

Chip Set SIS, AMI BIOS, 06/06/92, 256 K external cache

Comments One known problem (the Pentium APAR) corrected in CSD 2.11.

Caveats Not tested with more than 16 Meg of RAM. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             jim.royer@nmebbs.org - good

Manufacturer generic Taiwan clone, Intel 486DX33

Model Number Rev D2 486SC-P, June 1991, ISA bus

Chip Set Symphony, AMI BIOS, 07/07/91, 128 K external cache

Comments The system has been extremely stable.

Caveats Not tested with more than 8 Meg of RAM. OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.0 - 3.0         altstadt@mprgate.mpr.ca - good ====

Ugly Motherboards

Manufacturer Diamond

Model Number FastBus VLB, Flash EPROM revision 1.2I

Chip Set Chips & Technologies with Diamond-modified C&T BIOS

Comments Problems with speed of QIC-80 backup unit when UltraStor SCSI controller installed. Also some bugs in BIOS. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - ugly

Type VL SCSI

Manufacturer DTC

Model Number DTC 3270 VL SCSI

Chip Set SiS

Comments Card is *loosely* supported by OS/2. Using the latest *beta* drivers provided by DTC, access times for any units below unit 0 is    increased by 10 to 20 *times*. (It usually takes my OS/2 system) 10-20 minutes to boot depending on whether or not it has to run CHKDSK. Better support is gained by ditching current DTC .ADD files and using IBMINT13.I13 which supports only the first two DASD devices at a fairly large but usaeable performance hit (compare 3x    slower compared to 10-20x). Latest DTC .ADD files for 3270/3280 dated 11/7/94. DTC is aware of the problem but has *no clue* as    to when it will be fixed and a corrected driver released. (They've    been saying "A couple of months..." for the past *4* months.      Apparently users with 1 drive systems aren't experiencing problems     to this degree, however, there is still a slight slowdown even on 1     disk systems.  OS/2 Version      Rated by  3.0               cbwood@cbwood.beva.blacksburg.va.us - ugly

Manufacturer Unknown

Model Number Laser 9000

Chip Set Unichip U4800 with Ami BIOS, 256K external cache

Comments Machine operates with AMD 486DX40 CPU run at 50MHZ, jumper selectable CPU speed, otherwise very stable

Caveats System hangs and occasionally reboots when Mediavision PAS-16 uses 16-bit DMA channels, sometimes displays errors about not finding basic ROMS during 16-bit DMA induced reboot, PAS-16 sometimes works flawlessly if there is no hang on system boot-up. Not tested with more than 16MB of ram. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             paltiel@cnj.digex.net - ugly ====

Bad Motherboards

Type 486DX2-66/256K

Manufacturer ASUS

Model Number PCI/I-486SP3G

Chip Set Intel Saturn II, NCR 53c810 SCSI controller (BIOS V3.06) & PCI-SC200 (for external SCSI devices); Award bios V4.05G (flash Revision 3.02)

Comments Includes on-board SCSI, IDE, 2.88MB floppy, two 16550 UART serial, and parallel ports. Uses 72-pin SIMMs in pairs. Has 3 PCI and 4 ISA slots (1 shared slot). Takes 486DX, DX2, and DX4; and Pentium Overdrive CPUs. Includes "green" features (only work with Intel    CPUs). Comes with OS/2 drivers for the SCSI port.

Caveats Tried two different motherboards. Floppy based tape drives won't    work reliably, they hunt or fail on excessive errors(DOS included). Three different drives tried. Won't wake up on incomming calls on a    modem attached to built-in com port 2. NE-2100 network card just paused for 10 to 50 seconds at a time. Proaudio Spectrum 16 drops out after randomly. All boards used successfully on other systems. Internal IDE was disabled and only SCSI devices used on board. OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.1, 3.0          102176.16@compuserve.com - bad

Type 486 CPU, PCI bus

Manufacturer J-Bond

Model Number PCI400C-A

Chip Set Intel Saturn I (revision 2), 82420TX; NCR 53c810 SCSI controller; Phoenix BIOS

Comments Manufacturer attempted to blame drivers for the below problem, but changing to the IBMINT13.I13 driver doesn't help. Has 3 PCI and 5 ISA slots (1 shared). Comes with OS/2 drivers for the SCSI port.

Caveats Board occasionally crashes when doing SCSI I/O. Disabling the external cache seems to fix this. This is a known Saturn revision 2 bug. As of 9/27/94, J-Bond doesn't use the fixed (Saturn II, revision    4) chipsets. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - BAD

Type 486DX2-66, DX2-50, DX-50

Manufacturer Micronics

Model Number EISA-VL-Bus (Part #09-173-05 Rev A)

Chip Set Intel / Pheonix BIOS

Comments Very unstable from day one. Manufacturer support was poor (they    refused to call me back, said it was OS/2 and not their board, would     not provide RMA for return of Board for them to test; even after I     offered to pay for the testing and shipping to and from, etc). Continous Trap 000D, 000E, and 0002 when I was able to even get it    to load. Used built-in controllers, even worse. Used 3 different video boards, 2 different HDD/FDD boards, 8 differnt HDD, 4 different FDD, 3 different CPUs, 8 different SIMMs (56Meg, same manufacturer,    one of their reccomeded ones and Part #), etc.  The only thing I     didn't change was the MB itself (even changed the cache). Spent 4 months on this board, over 225 reloads before giving up (PC mag    gave this board a #1 reccomendation). Fair Docs

P.S. ALL of the hardware used works fine on another MB and my     current MB!  Some of the problems I am sure are also attributable to     the BIOS and not the MB.

Caveats When, for the short time periods, it was running it ran like a champ (Better than the AIR I currently use). Fast, clean, crisp. REALLY wish this board worked. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             jaycee@emh.osan.af.mil - bad ====

Good Multi I/O cards

Type VLBus

Manufacturer AIR

Model Number Q-Access

Chip Set Adaptec

Comments Supports 2 IDE, 2 Floppy (up to 1.44 MB), SCSI-II, 2 ser, 1 LPT. Included disk contains required drivers (replacements for OS/2's    AHA154x.ADD). With ver 1.0 BIOS, COM ports will not work under OS/2. Problem fixed with V1.01 BIOS.

Caveats ASIC emulates a 16450 and cannot be replaced by 16550 OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             jim.royer@nmebbs.org - good

Type VESA LB IDE Controller with Multi-Functional I/O

Manufacturer Data Technology Corporation (DTC)

Model Number DTC 2278VL

Comments IDE controller with 2 serial, 1 parallel and 1 game port. Jumper configurable ports, IRQ's, addresses, enable/disable feature. OS/2 2.x    drivers available on DTC BBS and found on ftp.cdrom.com.

Caveats 16450 UART. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             gsteckma@sdcc15.UCSD.EDU - good

Manufacturer GoldStar

Model Number IDE Plus-V3, December 1991, ISA BUS

Chip Set GoldStar

Comments jumper selections for primary, secondary, and disabled floppy and hard drives, jumper selection to disable game port, jumper selections to put COM ports at 1/3 and 2/4, jumper selections to put PRT port at 1/2, jumper selections to put COM and PRT ports at IRQ3, 4, 5, 7, 9, jumper selections to disable COM and PRT ports

Caveats ASIC emulates a 16450 and cannot be replaced by 16550 OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.0 - 3.0         altstadt@mprgate.mpr.ca - good

Manufacturer StarGATE

Model Number One Slot combination multiport board, ISA BUS

Revision Unknown (Not first revision, known)

Comments 4 COM and 3 PRT ports, jumper selections to put COM ports at    {4,3,3,3}, {4,3,4,3,}, {4,3,12,15}, {4 AND 3 - with interrupt sharing}, PRT ports at {7,5,5} and {7,7,5}, jumper selections to disable individual interrupts and addresses

Caveats Unable to get PRT3 to work under OS/2 2.1GA OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.1               paltiel@cnj.digex.net - good

Manufacturer ZyXEL

Model Number I/O 16550-1, ISA Bus

Chip Set HM82C11C, NS16550AFN (National Semiconductor 16550AFN, the real    McCoy), HM83450 (16450 clone)

Comments Jumper selections for COM ports at 1/3 and 2/4, jumper selections to    put PRT at 1/2, both UART chips are socketed. One game port (two    can be supported through a "Y" adapter cable). Highly recommended.

Caveats Extremely hard to find (my friends have been trying for eight    months to no avail) OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             fredng@io.org - good ====

Ugly Multi I/O cards

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Bad Multi I/O cards

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Good Multimedia Kits

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Ugly Multimedia Kits

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Bad Multimedia Kits

Type soundcard with integrated SCSI controller and external cd-rom drive attached to it

Manufacturer Media Vision

Model Number Memphis

Chip Set PAS16, Trantor SCSI, NEC CD-ROM

Comments according to documentation, OS/2 2.1 support exists. Not supplied however. In theory everything should work with the standard drivers supplied with Warp...

Caveats CD-ROM drive won't initialize; except when you turn the drive off and on again during boot-up. When you change a CD, OS/2 will hang. Had to go through lots of pain before making this conclusion... OS/2 Version      Rated by  3.0               reinout.van.schouwen@p25.f545.n281.z2.topnet.nl - bad ====

Good Notebooks

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Ugly Notebooks

Type Sub-Notebook

Manufacturer Compaq

Model Number Contura Aero (4/33C, 4/25, 84, 170 & 250MB HDD)

Chip Set CPU: intel 80486SLJ; VGA:  Tseng Labs ET4000, 256KB RAM, Compaq BIOS; PCMCIA: VLSI i82365 clone

Comments Works well overall. PCMCIA is supported (drivers at    ftp.europe.ibm.com in /pub/psmemea/os2drivers/pcmcia/cvlsi3.zip), but not at the same time as the floppy drive (although    plug-and-play with the PCMCIA floppy can be 'fudged' - e-mail     dcheong@student.ecel.uwa.edu.au for details).

note: there is a mailing list for the Contura Aero - send e-mail to     listproc@lassp.cornell.edu.au with message text "subscribe aero-l     "

Caveats You MUST install sp1073.exe from ftp.compaq.com (Flash BIOS) to get the floppy drive to work when the system is booted from the hard disk. Hence, you must install this BIOS to install OS/2 in the first placewith (although it is possible to do so by response file). This all stems from the lack of OS/2 PCMCIA Floppy drivers.

Unfortunately this BIOS does not correctly return the battery status to OS/2, but this is only a minor problem. OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.1-3.0           dcheong@student.ecel.uwa.edu.au - ugly ====

Bad Notebooks

Manufacturer Compaq

Model Number Contura 4/25, 4/25c

Chip Set Compaq AVGA

Comments No drivers for AVGA display adapter (640x480x256) OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             marc@igwe1.vub.ac.be

Manufacturer Toshiba

Model Number 1910 Satellite

Comments I saw this one at a friend's. Sorry, didn't write down the CPU etc.  I     wanted to try Linux since it can detect PCMCIA chipsets (it is     supposed to support the Toshiba PCMCIA chipset) but just never bothered after reading frustrated posts of people trying to talk to    Toshiba...

Caveats PCMCIA chipset not supported. OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               leeuw@fwi.uva.nl - bad ====

Good Pointers

Type mouse

Manufacturer CompuDyne (CompUSA house brand)

Model Number Serial 3-button mouse

Comments OS/2 doesn't automatically identify the mouse type when set to    3-button mode, and it's inactive until installation is complete, but it     IS supported by OS/2's drivers. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type Joystick

Manufacturer Gravis

Model Number GamePad

Comments 4-button game pad permits greater control in games like DOOM and Mortal Kombat

Caveats [Strictly speaking, this should not be listed under "good" since OS/2 does not support joysticks, but where else can it go? - ed.] OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             fredng@io.org - good

Type mouse

Manufacturer Logitech

Model Number MouseMan, Serial-MousePort, M-CJ13-9F

Comments the serial pointing device drivers supplied with OS/2 recognize that it    is a 3 button mouse, although the middle button is unused OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.0 - 3.0         altstadt@mprgate.mpr.ca - good

Type Serial 3-button Mouse

Manufacturer Logitech

Model Number First Mouse

Comments Works great with OS/2 mouse driver. Very reliable, mine is 2.5 years old and has had zero problems. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             walgate@umr.edu - good

Type trackball

Manufacturer Mouse Systems

Model Number Trackball II, GK-T321

Comments Full support in OS/2 2.1 OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             jim.royer@nmebbs.org - good

Type Optical Mouse

Manufacturer Mouse Systems

Model Number Optical Mouse, M411

Comments OS/2 recognizes the mouse out of the box, never needs cleaning

Caveats Mouse must be held perpendicular to pad or screen movement will be jerky OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             paltiel@cnj.digex.net - good

Type 3-button optical mouse

Manufacturer Mouse Systems

Model Number PC Mouse, 403533-001

Comments The mouse is inoperative during OS/2 installation, but becomes active after installation is complete. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type mouse

Manufacturer Z-Nix

Model Number Serial 2-button mouse

Comments OS/2 recognizes the mouse out of the box. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good ====

Ugly Pointers

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Bad Pointers

Type joystick

Manufacturer Advanced Gravis

Model Number Phoenix Flight and Weapons Control System

Comments

Caveats Completely incompatible with Warp, Gravis software will not recognize the Phoenix in a DOS session. Gravis' response: "Yep, it     won't work and we're not really concerned." OS/2 Version     Rated by  Warp              raddy@unf.edu - bad

Type Joystick

Manufacturer Logitech

Model Number Cyberman

Comments

Caveats Compatability with WPS and Win-OS2 not tested, I can't imagine this to be a good general purpose mouse. Its strength would be with DOS games that are designed to take advantage of it. Unfortunately, it cannot be used in DOS session, according to    Logitech. OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               raddy@unf.edu - bad ====

Good Printers

Type Bubble Jet, portable

Manufacturer Canon

Model Number BJ-10ex

Comments Driver is not included with OS/2 nor is one available for this model. However, it can be used in IBM Proprinter emulation of 180X180 dpi for OS/2 apps with poor results. Dos and Windows printing works fine for the printer in native 360X360 dpi mode. [walgate]

A driver is supplied with OS/2.1 GA, you use the IBM4070IJ driver! This gives you access to all functions and resolutions of this printer!! [rwalford]

Use the IBM 4070-IJ driver, which is include with OS/2 2.1 and later. Make sure the printer is in native Canon mode. Text performance is    acceptable, graphica performance tends to drag a little, so boost your PRINTMONBUFSIZE settings. [jdunlop] OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             walgate@umr.edu - bad < 3.0            rwalford@mogul.apana.org.au - good < 3.0            jdunlop@db-soft.wmeonlin.sacbbx.com - good

Type Bubble Jet

Manufacturer Canon

Model Number BJ-200

Comments Drivers are available through BBS and Internet.

Caveats Printing is almost as good as in MS-DOS/Windows, but not quite. Drivers are being worked on to improve performance. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             walgate@umr.edu - good

Manufacturer Epson

Model Number Stylus 800

Comments excellent resolution in printing words

Caveats OS/2 driver does not support high resolution (360x360dpi) graphics modes. Use a MSWindows or DOS based program with appropriate drivers to print complex graphics or high resolution CAD art. [mhinkle]

I never had any problems reaching this resolution. The Stylus 800 driver that comes with Warp is fine. Using JoeView I can print images just as neat as any windows program would do with the supplied windows-driver. [Reinout.van.Schouwen] OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             mhinkle@NMSU.Edu - good 3.0              Reinout.van.Schouwen@p25.f545.n281.z2.gds.nl - good

Type color ink jet

Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard

Model Number DeskJet 1200C

Comments Latest HP drivers available from ftp-boi.external.hp.com; these drivers support color printing from OS/2 applications.

Caveats Printer may run out of memory when printing large color images. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type laser

Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard

Model Number LaserJet 4L

Comments Latest HP drivers available from ftp-boi.external.hp.com. Printer is    supported directly by OS/2 out of the box.

Caveats Printer jams more frequently than it should. Jams intensify if    double-sided (two-pass) printing is attempted from a program which supports this (such as DeScribe). OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type 4PPM PCL5 laser printer

Manufacturer Hewlett Packard

Model Number LaserJet 4P

Comments HP quality, 600 dpi, Excellent printer drivers (4P drivers in 2.11) by    IBM OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             fredng@io.org - good

Type 300/600 dpi laser printer

Manufacturer Lexmark

Model Number 4039r

Comments Driver included with OS/2. Lexmark provides drivers and support software for OS/2

Caveats Rock solid printer, low maintanence, very versatile; PS and HP    laserjet emulation; VERY upgradeable, bios and PS interface on flash card, takes HP font cartridges, takes up to 16M RAM; GREAT tech support and manuals from Lexmark OS/2 Version     Rated by  tested with OS/2 2.1 and Warp scott@wymer.demon.co.uk - good

Type printer switchbox: automatic 1-computer/4-printer or     4-computer/1-printer

Manufacturer Computer Accessories (CompUSA house brand?)

Comments Works in 4-computer/1-printer mode with no special drivers or    hardware (except for extra cables)

Caveats Not tested in 1-computer/4-printer mode under OS/2; comes with DOS driver software for this, so functionality for this is uncertain. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good ====

Ugly Printers

Type B&W ink jet

Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard

Model Number DeskJet 500

Caveats Margin problems -- depending upon the program, the top margin is    from 0" to 0.5" too small, and the bottom margin is correspondingly too large. If it weren't for this, I'd call the printer "good," but this problem can be very obnoxious in some situations. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - ugly

Type Ink Jet

Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard

Model Number DeskJet 520

Comments Successor to DeskJet 500; capable of 300x600 resolution (but see    below)

Caveats OS/2 printer drivers don't support the 520's 300x600 resolution, only the 500's 300x300 resolution. They also have margins problems with many applications (see comments on DJ500). OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Manufacturer Hewlett Packard

Model Number PaintJet

Comments Contains instructions on cleaning, priming, and testing inside printer's    chassis on plastic coated quick-ref sheet

Caveats OS/2 driver does a bad job at dithering color images, leaving colors too dark, digital on/off switch does not automatically turn printer on    when power is supplied, external power supply required for use OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             paltiel@cnj.digex.net - good ====

Bad Printers

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Good Removable Media

Type SCSI-1 interface

Manufacturer Iomega

Model Number Zip 100

Comments Attached to an AMI Enterprise IV motherboard and an Adaptec 2740AT SCSI card. Drivers for OS/2 are not included. Must be    purchased seperate or downloaded from Hobbes, Compuserve.

Caveats Requires some type of lockdrv.flt driver.The Syquest drivers work better than the Iomega drivers. OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               sbowers@primenet.com - good ====

Ugly Removable Media

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Bad Removable Media

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Good Scanners

Type SCSI-2 / 1200 dpi / 24-bit / Flatbed

Manufacturer HP

Model Number IIcx

Comments Works with Galleria for scanning under OS/2. All windows apps supported. OS/2 Version     Rated by  <=3.0             dguthrie@iisys.com - good ====

Ugly Scanners

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Bad Scanners

Type hand scanner, 400 DPI by 16.7mil colors

Manufacturer Logitech

Model Number Scanman Color

Comments Not supported by OS/2--uses VxD in scanner software. Ancillary image editting and OCR software works in WinOS2, but you can't    scan anything. Uses it's own interface adapter which requires an IRQ. [jeff]

No OS/2 drivers supplied or available. The Windows drivers do not work under OS/2, because the are VxD drivers, which do not work under OS/2. And there are no DOS drivers supplied or available. [zalmstek]

Caveats Logitech support does not know if and when OS/2 drivers wil be    available. The current version of ImpOS2 (v1.2) does not support this scanner. [zalmstek] OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               jeff@advance.com - bad 2.1-3.0          zalmstek@euronet.nl - bad

Type PCY interface

Manufacturer Microtek

Model Number 600Z

Comments No known OS/2 drivers. Not many OS/2 graphics packages.

Caveats Using the notbook settings, DOS_Devices I am able to successfully load device driver and scan from Windows software. Some times after a couple of scans the scanner stops responding to the application (PhotoStyler V1.1, Picture Publisher V4.0). Just close the windows session and restart Windows, somtimes I must cycle the power on the scanner.Twain drivers have never worked with this scanner even in straight DOS/Windows (cause divide by zero error).. OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.0, 2.1, 3.0     102176.16@compuserve.com - ugly

Type hand

Manufacturer Reveal (Mustek)

Model Number HS150, 400 DPI Grayscale

Comments Not directly supported by OS/2. Works well in OS2 DOS or Win session. Uses it's own interface adapter which requires an IRQ. (5-12    supported) OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             jim.royer@nmebbs.org ====

Good SCSI Controller cards

Manufacturer Adaptec

Model Number 1542C, ISA BUS

Chip Set Adaptec

Comments Very reliable with OS/2 drivers, but not as fast as most VLB or EISA controllers. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type EISA bus-mastering SCSI-2 host adapter

Manufacturer Adaptec

Model Number 2740/2742/2742T

Chip Set Adaptec

Comments PhaseEngine(tm) coprocessor (support scatter/gather, tagged    queueing, etc.) really speeds along IO. The T version has two SCSI bussed (up to 14 devices). Uses new 50-pin high-density connector. OS/2 drivers in box work great.

Caveats No cache. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             greck@catt.ncsu.edu - good

Type VLB Host Adapter

Manufacturer Adaptec

Model Number AHA-2842VL

Chip Set Adaptec, PhaseEngine

Comments OS/2 drivers included in the card's box. Seems to work fine. [rsmith]

Very stable from day one. Worked great! Just plugged it in and it    ran. Great Docs and on OS/2. Drivers enclosed. Built-in BIOS support for a lot of SCSI devices (too many to list), eliminating the need for additional drivers for CDROM, HP scanners, etc. Very configurable too!!! If all cards were this easy you wouldn't GBU!!! [jaycee]

Caveats Installing OS/2 from a SCSI-based CD-ROM with this controller may require adding the drivers to the OS/2 boot disk and deleting one or    two unneeded drivers. [rsmith]

To the people and designers of this board, stupendous!!!! Cant think of any others. [jaycee] OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good < 3.0            jaycee@emh.osan.af.mil - good

Type SCSI-2 interface card for VL-bus

Manufacturer Adaptec

Model Number 2940 (VL-bus KIT)

Chip Set

Comments Driver included in the Kit. Very good documentation. One external SCSI-interface. Easy configuration as BIOS-settings can be modified during boot-time. Fast enough for the fastest available HD (e.g.    Seagate Barracuda). Runs stable for 12 month with several devices (CD-ROM, HD's, tape streamer, SYQUEST 250MB). OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               100424.3441@compuserve.com - good

Type SCSI-2 Bus Mastering PCI

Manufacturer Adaptec

Model Number AHA-2940

Chip Set Adaptec

Comments Fast, up to 10Mb/sec synchronous data rate. On board RISC Processor to handle the transfers. Bios support for HD's and other devices, computer can be booted from SCSI device. One external SCSI port. Easy configuration, BIOS settings could be changed at    boot up. PCI bus makes simple installation, just plug it in, no dip switches, no jumpers. Drivers for other devices (CD-ROM, MO,    Scanners, etc.) included in box, OS/2 Warp comes with drivers too.

Caveats Requires PCI IRQ A to be free. BIOS does not support that many different types of devices. OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               tam@usc.edu - good

Type ISA SCSI-2 with sound capabilities

Manufacturer Creative

Model Number Sound Blaster 16 SCSI-2

Chip Set Adaptec AIC-6360L

Comments OS/2 recognizes the card as an Adaptec 1510/1520 and installs the appropriate drivers. People have reported a 1 Meg/sec transfer rate using hard drives with this card. The card comes with DOS and Windows drivers and software. See the Good Audio cards section for more info.

Caveats MSCDEX is not included on the diskettes supplied with the card, so if    you want to use a CD-ROM with the card under DOS, you will have to obtain mscdex via anonymous ftp from microsoft.com, or other sources. OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.11 - 3.0        altstadt@mprgate.mpr.ca - good

Type EISA VL-Bus SCSI-2 interface

Manufacturer Data Technology Corporation

Model Number DTC3270VL

Chip Set ??

Comments Standard SCSI Driver included with OS/2 works well. DTC also provides OS/2 driver

Caveats Modest preformance but solid compatability and good price; very good tech support OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.1, 3.0          scott@wymer.demon.co.uk - good

Type PCI Fast SCSI-2 controller

Manufacturer NexStor

Model Number NXT-93N

Chip Set NCR 53C825

Comments OS/2 driver as shipped was for wrong card. Correct driver installed with no problems. Excellent performance and much cheaper than comparable Adaptec.

Caveats Make sure it is in a bus master PCI slot. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             Dave@OCCL-cam.demon.co.uk

Type SCSI-2 interface, VLB

Manufacturer QLogic

Comments Comes with OS/2 drivers, new drivers are available from QLogic BBS. Card also comes with Corel SCSI for DOS, Windows, and OS/2, which includes CD-ROM support. OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.1-3.0           pikus@physics.ucsb.edu - good

Manufacturer UltraStor

Model Number 34F, VLB

Chip Set UltraStor

Comments Reliable and fast. OS/2 drivers come with card, but may be old; newer drivers available from the usual sources. Does NOT include a    floppy port.

Caveats Older cards have an outdated EPROM that causes OS/2 to crash sporadically. This ROM has a sticker with a number ending in -005, and should be replaced with a -006 EPROM. UltraStor will ship a    new EPROM free of charge if needed. If installing OS/2 from a    SCSI-based CD-ROM, will need to modify the OS/2 installation disks to include the UltraStor driver. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good ====

Ugly SCSI Controller cards

Type Fast SCSI-II, Floppy controller, ISA Bus

Manufacturer Future Domain

Model Number TMC-1680 (SVP Package)

Chip Set Bios v3.2

Comments Driver included with OS/2. Updated drivers available from Hobbes FTP or Future Domain. Jumpered settings for:

o IRQ's 3,5(d),10,11,12,14,15 o Memory Address' C800,CA00(d),CE00,DE00 o I/O Address' 0140(d),0150, 0160,0170 o Floppy On(d)/Off Has Micro DB50 connector (SCSI-II connector)

Caveats Will not boot OS/2 v2.1, or Warp Beta I/II, off SCSI drive if set to IRQ 15, yet will happily run and access these drives if booted off of IDE drive. (Will boot DOS/Windows, Win NT, Win 95 Beta at IRQ 15.) IRQ14 and IRQ5 both allow OS/2 to boot off SCSI drive. Others not tested. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             davmp@alumni.caltech.edu - ugly ====

Bad SCSI Controller cards

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Good Tape drives

Type SCSI-based DC-6xxx drive (250MB max. capacity uncompressed)

Manufacturer Archive

Model Number Viper 2150S

Comments Works fine with UltraStor 34F using ASPI driver for GTAK 2.12b. Not tested with other software. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type SCSI-based DC-6xxx drive (500MB uncompressed)

Manufacturer Archive (now bought by Conner; advertized as either)

Model Number Viper 2525S

Comments Works fine with GTAK 2.40. Can read & write Viper 2150S tapes. Tested with UltraStor 34F (works fine) and NCR controller on J-Bond PCI motherboard (works fine, except for crashes due to Saturn    chipset bug on motherboard) and NCR controller on Asus SP3G motherboard (works fine). OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type QIC-80, floppy interface

Manufacturer Colorado Memory System

Model Number Jumbo 250MB

Comments Works great with Fastback Plus for OS/2 and BackMaster, with optional higher performance dedicated controller cards available.

Caveats Bundled DOS and Windows software don't work under OS/2, and no    OS/2 backup program is included. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             fredng@io.org - good

Type QIC-80, floppy interface

Manufacturer Conner

Model Number TapeStor 250

Comments Previously sold as Archive XL-80. QIC-80 tape format. BackMaster works with it quite well on four tested machines.

Caveats Does not come with OS/2 backup software. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type SCSI-2 / 4GB

Manufacturer HP

Model Number 35480A

Comments Works FastBack, Backmaster and more OS/2 Version     Rated by  <=3.0             dguthrie@iisys.com - good

Type QIC-80, piggy-back on floppy controller cable

Manufacturer IOMega

Model Number Tape250

Comments Comes with DOS/Win software. Supposedly IOMega is working on    OS/2 software. Works great with BackMaster 1.1a

Caveats None OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               cgraingr@hpb.hwc.ca - good ====

Ugly Tape drives

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Bad Tape drives

Nothing supplied in this category.

====

Good Video cards

Type Graphics accelerator

Manufacturer ATI

Model Number Graphics Ultra, ISA Bus, 1MB VRAM

Chip Set ATI mach8

Comments Although the drivers for mach32 and mach64 are pretty good, the one for mach8 is not worth the hassle to install it. It simply screws up the DOS sessions. [fredng]

I just want to state that I disagree with the 'ugly' rating given the ATI Graphics Ultra by fredng @ io.org. I have used this card with os/2 2.0, 2.1, 2.11, and 3.0. Some of the early drivers were less than ideal, but the recent ones work very well. [philb] OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             fredng@io.org - ugly 2.0 - 3.0        philb@noif.ncp.bc.ca - good

Manufacturer Cardinal

Model Number VGA700, 1991, ISA BUS

Chip Set Tseng ET4000, 1 Meg RAM

Comments Completely supported by drivers supplied with OS/2, need to use the supplied DOS support tools to set up refresh rates before running SVGA ON.

Caveats quite slow OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.0 - 3.0         altstadt@mprgate.mpr.ca - good

Type PCI bus accelerator

Manufacturer Cardex

Model Number Challenger

Chip Set ET4000/W32p

Comments Includes drivers for OS/2 2.x; Warp beta II includes TrueColor support for this board. Comes with 1MB of RAM upgradeable to 2MB OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type PCI 64-bit accelerated SVGA

Manufacturer Cirrus Logic

Model Number VI-720

Chip Set Cirrus CL-GD5434

Comments OS/2 drivers worked fine. Amazing performance for the price.

Caveats No OS/2 support for 1280x1024. Minor blitter bug seems to leave black rectangles occasionally. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             Dave@OCCL-cam.demon.co.uk

Manufacturer Cirrus Logic

Model Number CL5426

Chip Set Cirrus Logic 5426

Comments Drivers come with OS/2, but more recent and faster drivers are available by ftp and from BBSes.

Caveats More recent drivers give some people installation problems. Had to    re-install old seamless Windows drivers to get them to work on this system. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type PCI, Accelerator

Manufacturer Diamond

Model Number Stealth 64 PCI VRAM

Chip Set S3 Vision964, Brooktree Bt485 RAMDAC

Comments I have 4 Mb of VRAM. Fast with high resolutions. Max res. at    1600x1200. I don't know how many colors it does at this res. since my monitor can't support it and the manual doesn't say. At    1280x1024 it does 65k colors and it does 24bit color at up to     1152x864. I have my desktop at 1280x1024x65k and it runs at a fine speed. Tested with Intel Premier II motherboard and MAG DX17F monitor. The drivers that come with it works fine for OS/2, but you'll to download the updated installation script and readme file for Warp from Compuserve or the Diamond BBS. VESA bios compatability without software drivers. Supports DPMS. For people who uses straight DOS too, the DOS performance is good too.

Caveats I couldn't seem to be able to change my desktop to 1024x768x65k. Everytime I try it, my monitor won't sync to it. Haven't tried changing to other res. yet. Drivers seem to have a glitch when playing videos with MMPM/2. Sometimes the Digital Video Player would just display a blank video window and if you try to play it, the sounds would play, but the window remains blank. Rebooting the system would fix the problem. This card may be getting out dated with the availability of the Stealth 64 Video VRAM which uses the S3 Vision968 chip and accelerates video playback too. OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               tam@usc.edu - good

Type VLB

Manufacturer Diamond

Model Number Viper VLB w/2MB

Chip Set Weitek P9000

Comments Stable from day one. Their driver supports all resolutions I can think of and is available via Internet or their BBS. Zero Wait State is dis/enable/able. Also VGA (IRQ2) is dis/enable/able. Good Docs

Caveats Only works with 2.1, 2.11, Feringi, or Warp, not anything earlier. Instructions on how to use it with Feringi or Warp is not included with the VLB drivers but can be obtained from the PCI driver. Due its built in drivers some games won't run or require special configurations to run (SimCity 2000, Empire Deluxe) OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             jaycee@emh.osan.af.mil - good

Manufacturer miro

Model Number miroCRYSTAL 8S

Chip Set S3 805 (VL-Bus)

Comments Don't use the video drivers from S3 (version 2.2) as their WinOS/2 drivers don't work with this card. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             seidel3@wrcs1.urz.uni-wuppertal.de - good

Type VLB

Manufacturer National Design Inc.

Model Number Volante Warp10LB 1 or 2 MB DRAM

Chip Set Quadtel S3 86C805

Comments Fast enough for 640x480x16M 800x600x65536 1024x786x256, S3_16M drivers work superbly with this board, fast in DOS (48 FPS in    3DBENCH)

Caveats Anything above 1024x768x256 interlaces OS/2 Version     Rated by  2.1               darryl.teichroeb@t8000.cuc.ab.ca - good

Type VLB

Manufacturer Number Nine Computer Corporation

Model Number #9GXE Level 11 and #9GXE Level 12

Chip Set S3 928

Comments very fast, upto 76Hz refresh rate at a resolution of 1280x1024, runs with manifacturer drivers and IBM S3 drivers. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             reinhard@ifki50.informatik.fh-muenchen.de - good

Manufacturer Orchid

Model Number Fahrenheit 1280/VLB

Chip Set S3-805 (?)

Comments Drivers come with some recent OS/2 package; are available from usual sources for other packages.

Caveats Beta-level S3 drivers from IBM crashed one machine when installing; final S3_16M drivers gave no problems. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Manufacturer STB

Model Number Evolution, 1991, ISA BUS

Chip Set Cirrus Logic GD-5428, 1 Meg RAM

Comments Requires 3rd party drivers for use under OS/2 2.1. Directly supported under OS/2 2.11.

Caveats quite slow OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             jim.royer@nmebbs.org - good

Manufacturer TechWorks

Model Number ThunderBolt VL2 VESA bus

Chip Set Tseng ET4000w32i 2Mb DRAM

Comments This card is the most cross compatible I've seen. It runs with Windows 3.1, NT, Linux & OS/2.

Caveats Not the fastest but accapetable. Requires a bit of manipulation to    use its full capabilities. But this is a limitation of the chipset and not the card. OS/2 Version     Rated by  3.0               sbowers@primenet.com - good

Manufacturer "Color Designer" (generic)

Model Number ?? VL-bus

Chip Set Tseng ET4000, 1 Meg RAM

Comments Completely supported by drivers supplied with OS/2, need to use the supplied DOS support tools to set up refresh rates before running SVGA ON. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good

Type VLB accelerated

Manufacturer generic

Model Number ????

Chip Set Tseng ET4000/W32I

Comments OS/2 drivers included in the card's box (available on ftp.cdrom.com,    too). Installation went smoothly, but drivers not as feature-laden as    S3 drivers. Fast card (similar to Orchid S3-805 cards in this respect). OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             rsmith@psych.colorado.edu - good ====

Ugly Video cards

Manufacturer Diamond

Model Number Stealth 32 VLB

Chip Set Tseng ET4000W

Comments These boards are prone to conflicts with other devices in your system. In a few installations, I've had no trouble getting them to    run; in others, nothing would get them to work. They're really hit-or-miss. OS/2 drivers are included in the box.

In talking to the guy that puts together most of our systems, he said that the Diamond Stealth 32 seems to have the most problems with motherboards using the SSI chipset. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             bobdehn@mprcamnl.wr.usgs.gov ====

Bad Video cards

Manufacturer INFOTEL

Model Number Ultra DS600

Chip Set S3 801

Comments This board is a duplicate of the STB Powergraph board, and evidently the architecture of these boards uses an external clock that OS/2 cannot support. 1) no seamless windows, 2) cannot start DOS windows (but can windowize a FS DOS session), and 3) no    background processing to FS windows.  OS/2 Version      Rated by  < 3.0             CGaylord@vt.edu - bad

Manufacturer Prostar (taiwan)

Chip Set OTI-087 (Oak Technology)

Comments Does not work for DOS window or MS window in super VGA - Video sync problems.

Caveats OK with OS/2 windows. OK in VGA mode. OS/2 Version     Rated by  < 3.0             g-fulford@adfa.edu.au - bad ====

Publication History

Ver  Date      Release Notes 1.00 94/04/25  Initial release. 1.01 94/05/10  Removed graphics characters, added notebooks, floptical drives. 1.02 94/07/07  1.03  94/09/18  Added IDE controllers, hard disks, and monitors. Changed rodents to pointers. Removed file sizes from history since it was a pain to maintain. 1.04 94/09/24  Discovered the alphabet. 1.05 94/10/02  1.06  94/11/05  Changed introductory text. Added What's New section, pointers to other sources of help, and OS/2 version numbers. 1.07 95/05/13  Added submission skeleton. 1.08 95/06/17  1.09  95/07/16  Added Multimedia Kits, Removable Media.

