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{{IBM-Reprint}}
By [[Edward Duhe']]. IBM Corporation. Roanoke, Texas  
By [[Edward Duhe']]. IBM Corporation. Roanoke, Texas  



Revision as of 23:32, 18 October 2017

Reprint Courtesy of International Business Machines Corporation, © International Business Machines Corporation

By Edward Duhe'. IBM Corporation. Roanoke, Texas

On October 11, 1994, IBM introduced OS/2 Warp Version 3, the next evolution of its premier 32-bit operating system. As its name implies, OS/2 Warp is fast and full of state-of-the-art features. This article describes the new features of OS/2 Warp, including performance enhancements, installation enhancements, usability improvements, printing enhancements, new applications, and more. Read on, and see what it's like to operate at warp speed!

OS/2 Warp Version 3, the eighth release of IBM's award-winning 32-bit OS/2 operating system, continues the tradition of running DOS better than DOS, Windows better than Windows, and OS/2 better than previous versions of OS/2. OS/2 Warp builds on the mature, stable environment that comes from years of refining the OS/2 operating system.

You can run OS/2 Warp on an entry-level computer system, typically 386 or above, with 4 MB of RAM. Although OS/2 Warp is targeted for the home and small business user, all users can benefit from its great performance, new function, and outstanding BonusPak applications.

This article outlines what is new in OS/2 Warp, focusing on the enhancements and changes in OS/2 itself. Also, it briefly describes the applications included in the OS/2 BonusPak that comes with OS/2 Warp. The BonusPak is an exciting addition to OS/2; it gives you full-function business and productivity applications and outstanding connectivity applications that will connect you to the information superhighway.

Two OS/2 Warp Products

OS/2 Warp Version 3 is available today, and OS/2 Warp Version 3 with WIN-OS/2 will be available in the first quarter of 1995. The only difference between these two products is how you get support for running Windows applications.

With OS/2 Warp Version 3, you must have Windows installed on your computer to run Windows applications on the OS/2 Desktop. OS/2 Warp dynamically links into your Windows code, when needed, to run your Windows applications.

OS/2 Warp Version 3 with WIN-OS/2 does not require Windows to run Windows applications. This version comes with WIN-OS/2, which provides the support for Windows applications.

Both of these products can be installed in three different environments that provide different capabilities.

  • No operating system previously installed: If you install OS/2 Warp Version 3 on a computer that does not already have an operating system installed, you will be able to run both DOS and OS/2 applications on the OS/2 Desktop. If you install OS/2 Warp Version 3 with WIN-OS/2, you will be able to run DOS, OS/2, and Windows applications on the OS/2 Desktop.
  • DOS previously installed: Either OS/2 Warp Version 3 or OS/2 Warp Version 3 with WIN-OS/2 can be installed on a computer that already has DOS 3.3 or higher installed. OS/2 Warp will automatically install the Dual Boot feature in this environment. This feature enables you to boot your computer to run either native DOS or OS/2.
If you install OS/2 Warp Version 3 in this environment, you can run both DOS and OS/2 applications on the OS/2 Desktop. If you install OS/2 Warp Version 3 with WIN-OS/2 in this environment, you can run DOS, OS/2, and Windows applications on the OS/2 Desktop.
  • DOS and Windows previously installed: This is the environment for which OS/2 Warp Version 3 was really designed. By installing OS/2 Warp Version 3 on top of DOS and Windows, you will be able to run DOS, Windows, and OS/2 applications on the OS/2 Desktop. You will also be able to take advantage of the Dual Boot feature to run in a native DOS plus Windows environment.
OS/2 Warp Version 3 installs over Windows 3.1, Windows 3.11, Windows for Workgroups 3.1, and Windows for Workgroups 3.11.
OS/2 Warp Version 3 with WIN-OS/2 will also install in this environment, giving you the same capabilities described for OS/2 Warp Version 3.

Also scheduled to be available during the first quarter of 1995 is OS/2 Warp Version 3 LAN Client. This member of the OS/2 family is targeted at the LAN-connected user. OS/2 Warp Version 3 LAN Client will include OS/2 Warp Version 3 with WIN-OS/2, the OS/2 Warp BonusPak, plus LAN Server Requester, NetWare Requester, LAN Distance Remote, System Performance Monitor/2 (SPM/2), and many other features designed for the connected user.


Enhanced Performance

OS/2 Warp has been re-engineered to appeal to a much larger audience, including users of entry systems--those that are typically found in the home or small-business environment. These systems usually have few resources, including limited memory. The re-engineering of OS/2 focused on accommodating these entry systems.

Reduced Memory Requirements

One main design focus was performance and system requirements. When OS/2 2.x was announced, the minimum system requirement was stated as 4 MB of RAM. Although it was possible to run OS/2 2.x in 4 MB, the performance was, for the most part, unsatisfactory. By adding just 2 MB of RAM to your 4 MB OS/2 2.x system, you could gain significant performance advantages.

You will find that OS/2 Warp's performance on an entry-level 4 MB system is comparable to OS/2 2.11's performance on the same system with 6 MB.

Even on computers with 8 MB, 16 MB, 32 MB or more of RAM, you will still see a faster-running system under OS/2 Warp. On a high-memory system, OS/2 Warp's windows pop up faster, the populating of objects in a folder is faster, and the system runs more efficiently overall.

With its increased performance and decreased system requirements, OS/2 Warp is an excellent operating system choice for most personal computers shipping today.

Tuned-Up 32-Bit Window Management

The OS/2 Warp developers have extensively re-programmed and tuned the OS/2 kernel so that the system operates more responsively. Even though the kernel requires fewer system resources to run, it does not lack any features found in earlier kernels.

Performance gains were achieved by rewriting the OS/2 window-management system (PM-WIN) as 32-bit code and combining several of the PM-WIN dynamic link libraries (DLLs).

The 16-bit version of PM-WIN was a performance bottleneck, because on either side of the 16-bit PM-WIN component were the 32-bit shell (PMSHELL) and the 32-bit graphics engine (PMGRE). This scenario caused a large amount of "thunking" (converting 32-bit addresses to 16-bit, and vice versa) between the 32-bit components and the 16-bit PM-WIN.

Merging PMWIN.DLL with PMGRE.DLL and PMSHAPI.DLL into a single DLL called PMMERGE.DLL improved PM-WIN's performance as well. The logic is that the fewer DLLs required for the PM-WIN function, the less overhead required.

Improved Paging Subsystem

The paging subsystem was tuned to improve performance. It now uses memory more efficiently so that the most frequently used pages are in memory when needed. This reduces the amount of paging or swapping to disk, thereby reducing the overhead and time necessary to perform paging.

Enhanced Workplace Shell

The Workplace Shell includes performance enhancements, particularly during loading. The time it takes to populate folders, open objects, and load applications is faster than in earlier versions of OS/2.

There is now a fast-load option for Windows applications. In OS/2 2.x, when loading a Windows application, DOS was loaded first, then a Windows kernel, and finally the application. Once your first Windows application was running, and if you were using a shared Windows kernel, the next Windows application would load more quickly. This happened because DOS and the shared Windows kernel were already loaded by the first application.

With the new fast-load option enabled in the WIN-OS/2 Settings notebook, OS/2 Warp starts an OS/2 Windows session at startup. This OS/2 Windows session does not show up in the window list but is used by Windows applications that are started from the Desktop, allowing them to load more quickly. Windows programs that are set to run in a separate OS/2 Windows session do not benefit from the fast-load option.