OS/2 Tips and Tricks 1

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Article Info
Author Andrew J. Gnoza, III
Date 1993-10
OS Version IBM OS/2 2.0
Companion File N/A
Source


OS/2 Tips and Tricks #1

By:

Andrew J. Gnoza, III
Team OS/2
El Paso, TX


I have found a number of OS/2 tips and tricks from messages posted in OS/2 conferences on various BBS's and would like to share the ones that I found helpful with you. I hope you find them as helpful as I have and continue to use OS/2 to its fullest.

NOTE: RMB = right mouse button.


If you open an application from the desktop pop-up menu, "Desktop" is passed to the program as a parameter. Don't ask me the details of why or how, as I don't know them. To get around most error message problems add a % (percent sign) to the Parameters field on the first page of the settings notebook for the object that runs the application.

Andy Williams <Team OS/2> Middletown, CT


The reason you can't shred the Drive B icon on the WPS is that it really DOES exist. Remember that if there is only one physical floppy drive, the system allows you to address it as both A:

  • and* B:. Here's something you CAN do, however; leave the Drives

folder in the OS/2 System folder, and drag shadows out either onto the Desktop or into another Drives folder. Don't make a shadow for B:. Not terribly efficient, but it will work.

Mike Donehoo <Team OS/2> Alpharetta, GA


Subj: Adding to WPS pop-up menu

I found this immensely helpful and figured there would be people who would not have seen it. It comes from the San Diego OS/2 Users Group March '93 Newsletter.

1) Bring up the pop up menu (click on the right mouse button in an empty area of the WPS.

2) Open settings and go to the menu page of the settings notebook.

3) Go to the 'Actions on menu' and then the create another menu item.

4) Type in the Menu item name: OS/~2 Command Shell

5) Enter the Program name: C:\OS2\CMD.EXE

6) Then select OK.

After this, when you pop-up the desktop menu, you can hit the '2' key to bring up a copy of the command processor (or use your mouse to select the menu item).

I just discovered, a few days ago, (with a little help from a good friend), a neat way to expand on this idea a little bit, by adding cascading menus to the WPS pop-up menu!

1) Bring up the pop-up menu (click the RMB on an empty area of the WPS).

2) Open settings and click on the menu tab.

3) Under "Available Menus" (with Primary Pop-up Menu selected), select "Create Another".

4) In the "Menu Name" space, type whatever title you want (Tools, Utilities, Games etc)... then click "Conditional Cascade"... then "OK".

5) This will bring you back to the desktop menu.

6) Now when you look under "Available Menus", you'll see your new addition.

7) Click on this new addition, and under "Actions on menu:XXX", click "Create Another".

8) Again, this will bring up another menu.

    In the "Menu Item Name" type in a program name, and under
    "Name", type in the complete path.  You can also use the
    "Find Program", if you choose.  

9)Close the desktop menu, and you're ready to go! Now when you RMB on the WPS,

10) Your newest addition will show up, in all it's glory!

Until you get more than one program under the your new title, THAT single program will be the default. As you add more entries under the title, you'll achieve the cascading menu!

-=< Allan Wald >=- TEAM OS/2


If you are use to using the DOS text editor and are satisfied with it then feel free to use it in OS/2 to edit files.

Copy EDIT.COM & EDIT.HLP from your DOS to the \OS2 sub directory, then add a DOS editor object to the desk top and edit your ascii files. Editor works with HELP features


Subj: HPFS or FAT? Now, I'm running DOS apps using MS-DOS under the OS2 dir and *so far* everything I want to use runs fine. Why not just go 100% HPFS?

They say that to cover their butts and avoid irate phone calls from people who go all HPFS and then find an ill-behaved DOS app that won't run under OS/2.

If there are any DOS apps you haven't tested yet that you just CAN'T live without, either leave a small FAT partition or test them all now.

If not, blow it off and use HPFS; if you're like me, you don't particularly care to run anything that won't run under OS/2.


It is very easy to change an icon. First open up your ICON directory. Then drag (hold down mouse button 2) the new icon from the ICON directory to the GENERAL page of the "Settings" notebook of your program. When you drag a new icon over top the "Current icon" box, it will replace the old icon.

Shawn McMahon


Can I give a parameter on the SIO command line which will lock the baud rate of a specific port no matter what program (OS/2 or Dos) tries to change it?

I have my port locked at 19,200bps, using the following command line:

DEVICE=SIO.SYS (COM1:19200,3F8,IRQ4,-)

Steve ??????


To have a Window maximized on opening:

Hold SHIFT while selecting maximize icon with the RMB.


To have command prompts appear on "MENU" pull downs (RMB'S)

  • Open Desktop Settings
  • Open Menu Tab
  • Drag a command prompt icon onto "Actions on Menu" area
  • Save/Close Notebook
  • Now Command prompts will appear on pull down menu (RMB)

Vicci Conway <TEAM OS/2>


When I finally do upgrade to OS/2, what would be the best way to save/restore my existing applications from my DOS/Windows system to OS/2 HPFS? I'm using MS-DOS

I used ZIP and put 'em all on floppies, then unZIPped 'em on the OS/2 drive and migrated 'em. Worked peachy-keen.



I have a 32 Mb of RAM, but OS/2 uses only 16. Now I have only 9 tasks running, and MEMSIZE shows me that only 7 Mb are free

That is not a limitation of OS/2, but a restriction due to the design of the ISA bus (or a 24bit DMA "EISA" bus)........

If you had a full 32bit DMA EISA bus or MCA bus machine, you could use all of your memory, with no problems.....

Mike Zarek


I would like some help!

I have a 50MHz 486DX and I have been thinking of upgrading. Here's the deal, my current system has a local bus video board which is giving me problems (it's starting to fail). I thought I was buying a VESA local bus, but that isn't what was delivered. So I have been thinking about buying a new mother board and video card. That will also require me to buy a new drive controller. I am hoping someone can advise me as to a system which will be OS/2 compatible. Perhaps a local bus video board that I can find a driver for. Now, I wouldn't mind going to a Pentium board, but I am worried about compatibility. Is there a mother board that would allow me to move over my 50MHZ processor, and then upgrade it later to a Pentium?

The problem of upgrading to a Pentium compatible mother board using your 50mhz 486 chip is that you would end up with a "Pentium SX". 64 bit chip w/32 bit BUS. You can get a nice MICRONICS motherboard, BARE, for about $360. 00. That's ISA/VESA/EISA w/12 slots total, 128 meg of RAM available onthe motherboard. I, too, own a proprietary Local Bus Motherboard (LodeStar). 50mhz DX w/LB SCSI-II HDD Controller. I've looked into replacement costs, since LodeStar is no longer in business and my warranty is invalidated.

If you need to do something soon, I'd go with a ISA/VESA motherboard and move all your chips to it. If you can afford to wait, the new Local Bus standard from INTEL looks promising, although it is not widely available, yet, and the POWER PC is due out next year that looks, from the pre-release hype, to make everything else obsolete almost instantly.


Dan Casey, Indianapolis, IN


I thought you all might like a helpful hint about adding a prompt to your desktop menu. If you have added a OS/2 window, or a full screen session to your desktop menu, you might have noticed that you can only summon up one iteration of the menu selection. you can fix this by going to the settings folder of the desktop, 1. select "window" tab 2. And then selecting "create new window" in the object open

    behavior.

This will then allow multiple menu selections.

This one had me stumped for some time, and thanks to Denis of IBM, I have finally sorted it out. Hope this helps for some of you! I've had my prompts like this for some time.

There's one additional 'neat thing' that this setting allows you to do. Have you ever wished you could 'float' your desktop to the TOP?

After setting 'create new', you can now open a SECOND icon desktop. You can put it full screen or size it as a window (as I do). Now click on it and your desktop icons are now easy to reach.


I too, would like a scrollback very much. How you do dat?

This is a fix that takes a LOT of time to accomplish. . . about 5 million nanoseconds

RMB click on your OS/2 window icon, select OPEN, SETTINGS, Optional Parameters. Just put in the following line:

/k mode co80,102 -or anything less than 102. Save it

Then whenever you open an OS/2 *WINDOW* you will get scroll bars on the side, and have 102 lines of scrollback. Sure is NICE when doing an ls or a dir or anything that writes more than a screenful.

Jim Flannery, TEAM OS/2



Is there a way to obtain a printout of the DOS/WIN-OS2 Settings for a program?

Kari reported a clever way to do this.

1) Copy the icon to another folder (I usually use the desktop). 2) Open the copied icon and change the program name to '*'. 3) Open the icon -- you will get an OS/2 command line session. 4) Type 'set' and it will display any non-default settings. 5) Close the window and delete the copied icon.

David Kunz


Shopping for native OS/2 applications got you down? Do you find it almost impossible to find OS/2 software by mail order, let alone locally? Don't despair! Pick up the phone and you can choose from several OS/2 only mail order houses, stocked with the latest OS/2 apps, usually at discount prices. They carry not only IBM OS/2 products, but a wide range of other commercial apps, registered versions of several popular shareware products, OS/2 books, and OS/2 paraphernalia, such as buttons and shirts. Some even offer OS/2 compatible hardware!

Sound like something you're looking for? Call or write:

Indelible Blue Inc.  
PO Box 31306
Raleigh, NC 27622-1306
Orders: (800)776-8284
Fax: (919)783-8380
Inquires: (919)834-7005
The Corner Store
33 West Street
Litchfield, CT 06759

Phone: (203) 567-3394

MN OS/2 UG Newsletter


Can anyone tell me how to get a ramdrive under os2? There is "NO" mention of this in the manuals !

At an OS/2 command line type HELP VDISK and the parameters will be displayed

Andrew Gnoza <Team OS/2> Federal Users Group El Paso, TX


Hold down the shift key and drag any DOS or OS/2 command line session to the size that you want it. From then on, all dos and command line sessions will open to that size.

David Kunz



Here are some of the *.add files on my disk 1 of 5.25" floppy. Which ones are not needed on a clone machine for installation? Why do I ask? I want to delete as many as I can to load some other drivers. Any ideas  ?

IBM2SCSI.ADD IBM1FLPY.ADD IBM1S506.ADD IBM2M57.ADD IBM2FLPY.ADD IBM2ADSK.ADD

All the files with "2" in their name are IBM PS/2 specific. With a clone you can dump them all. That includes such files as CLOCK2. SYS, etc....

JD Brown


I hope you find these tips and tricks useful, I know I have. Thanx to all that have contributed to this effort. I will continue to "pack" up a "TNT" file when ever I have accumulated enough goodies.

This article is posted on various BBS's as OS2TNT01.ZIP

Andrew J.  Gnoza, III
TEAM OS/2
El Paso,  TX  

10/93