Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!agate!garnet.berkeley.edu!andy From: andy@garnet.berkeley.edu (Andy Lieberman) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: what machines will run os/2 PM 1.1? Summary: Lots -- Here's the summary followup Message-ID: <26095@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> Date: 7 Jul 89 18:08:25 GMT References: <25904@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> Sender: usenet@agate.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: andy@garnet.berkeley.edu (Andy Lieberman) Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 143 In article <25904@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> I wrote: >A fried of mine is going to buy some software that only runs >on OS/2 Presentation Manager Version 1.1. The software >vendor said he will have to buy a real IBM or a Compaq. > >He doesn't actually need the machine until about September. >Is there any chance of being able to get OS/2 1.1 on a >generic 386 (e.g., Mylex) by then? Or is he stuck >paying the extra $ for a Compaq? > >Please e-mail responses and I will post a summary. > >Thanks in advance, >Andy Lieberman >Library Systems Office I've included all the responses I got because many have interesting tidbits which may be of interest to anyone looking into OS/2, even if they already have a machine to run it on: From: Henry Clark Tandy supposedly has a version of OS/2 for its computers, but I don't know what version it is or on which of its machines it'll run. Dell also has a version, I think, for their computers, but I think its SE 1.0. If you wait until fall, IBM is going to release OS/2 ver 1.2 with improved file system preformance and other upgrades. If you're going to use OS/2 EE, BE SURE to buy plenty of RAM (you'll need at least 3 Meg and you'll want double that) and be sure to run it on a 386 machine. Although it'll run on a 286, a 386 adds some pep to it. Henry henryc@cs.umr.edu Acknowledge-To: ---------- From: ames!scubed!ncr-sd!ncrcae!ncrclm!ekneidel@cad.berkeley.edu There are several other brands of PCs which have PM available. They are all premium machines due to the way that PM was licensed. Two that come to mind are NCR (my personal favorite) and Zenith. Both of these machines are good ones. I don't know if any other brands will have PM available. Eric Kneidel ---------- From: microsoft!leefi@uunet.uu.net "Generic 386" is often a vague term. OS/2 will work on the mythical machines called "100% IBM compatible". Many are like this, many are not. OS/2 is more hardware dependent than DOS. IBM's OS/2 release is very intimate with IBM hardware. An early release of the Microsoft OS/2 included in the OS/2 Software Development Kit when this was available, is much more forgiving with OEM hardware. As an example, the kernel shipped with SDK 1.06 was the IBM OS/2 1.10 standard edition release. It had problems on many clone systems (but ran fine on many others, too). The kernel shipped in SDK 1.1 was the Microsoft OS/2 1.10 release, equivalent in functionality to IBM's 1.10 standard edition release, but more forgiving to some OEM hardware, among other things. This has eliminated 99% of all compatibility problems with the machines of SDK owners. There have been very few (I can recall three) reported problems with this kernel on OEM hardware. And this Microsoft kernel is what OEMs use as a starting point when adapting OS/2 for their hardware. Note however that OS/2 is an OEM licensed product and is not available from Microsoft retail. (The SDK thing was basically a preliminary beta release; it is no longer available.) Contact your OEM for availability of OS/2. So, OEMs distribute OS/2 with their hardware (or as an upgrade to previous hardware customers of theirs); the OEMs ensure that OS/2 works on their hardware platforms. Were I buying a new machine and was interested in running OS/2, I'd get hardware from an OEM which ships OS/2; failing that, I'd test the system with OS/2 myself before buying it. -- Lee Fisher, leefi@microsoft.{wa.us,com,uucp,beaver.washington.edu} {uw-beaver,decvax,decwrl,intelca,sun,tikal,uunet}!microsoft!leefi disclaimer: Plch vlghajbe', vlta'pu'be', pa'jlHpu'be! -------------- From: chasm@killer.dallas.tx.us (Charles Marslett) I have run it on an Everex Step/20 (386 version) and it seemed to work correctly -- at least it behaved exactly like it did on the Compaq 386 box across the room. I have heard of some problems with older designs of 286 boxes (the AT&T 63xx machines prior to the WGS series, for example), but the newer ones all seem to handle the INT 15H calls well enough to keep OS/2 happy. A good EGA or VGA card will make things easier too. (I'll vouch for STB's, but almost everyone is under pressure to make sure their cards work with OS/2, so almost any name brand either does work, or you can get a free BIOS upgrade, I would expect.) =========================================================================== Charles Marslett STB Systems, Inc. <== Apply all standard disclaimers Wordmark Systems <== No disclaimers required -- that's just me chasm@killer.dallas.tx.us <== soon to be attctc.dallas.tx.us I think --------- From: Duncan Murdoch Take a look in PCMagazine (or was it Byte?) around March or April of this year. They had a pair of articles in successive issues about how to put together a cheap OS/2 capable machine. It is possible, but there are a lot of little details you have to be careful about; things like which chip is used for the serial port, which kind of video card, etc. Duncan Murdoch ----------- From: cdp!jeff@garnet.berkeley.edu There are lots of machines that run OS/2 -- just take a look at the fine print in the 286/386 ads of your favorite computer magazine. I just spent several months porting some software to OS/2, and the machine I was using was so generic that it didn't even have a nameplate on the front. ---------- From: thompson@galileo.arc.nasa.gov PC Magazine periodically review 386 machines. In recent reviews they list the availability of OS/2 from the hardware vendors of those machines in thier tables of information. I believe that a number of lower-cost vendors, such as AST, Everex, and Wyse, now offer OS/2 (in addition to IBM and Compaq). I'd suggest looking through the last few issues of PC Magazine in the library to find a company which sells inexpensive 386 machines and offers a version of OS/2 for them. In general you cannot take IBM OS/2 and run it on any 386 machine. I am now using OS/2 1.0 on my Compaq 386. It is distinctly friendlier than DOS (on line help for error messages and some operating system functions), and WordPerfect for OS/2 runs more briskly than WordPerfect for MS DOS did. I have had no difficulties with it so far, and DOS software seems to run pretty well in DOS compatability mode (but perhaps a bit more slowly than under DOS), although shelling out to DOS can cause a crash. I hope you find this helpful. Kevin Thompson thompson@galileo.arc.nasa.gov