Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ucsd!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!umriscc!mcs213k.cs.umr.edu!mikep From: mikep@mcs213k.cs.umr.edu (Mike Prather) Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms Subject: Re: Another county heard from Message-ID: <1297@umriscc.isc.umr.edu> Date: 14 Aug 90 00:08:45 GMT References: <545@mstr.hgc.edu> Sender: news@umriscc.isc.umr.edu Distribution: usa Organization: University of Missouri - Rolla Lines: 100 In article <545@mstr.hgc.edu> nmiller@mstr.hgc.edu (norman miller) writes: > > blah blah blah deleted > >Watch this: "Standard mode is the normal operating mode for >running Windows. This mode provides access to expanded memory ^^^^^^^^ I think that the big deal about standard mode is that it provides direct access to EXTENDED rather than expanded memory. >and also lets you switch among non-Windows applications" (User's >Guide, p. 10). What are non-Windows applications? Why, nothing >much: just Word Perfect, Lotus 123, Quattro, Procomm, etc. Windows on a 286 is not great for running DOS applications. You get to swap between each, but I believe it has to put you into real mode in order to run a DOS application. That means it pretty much has to halt Windows completely, go into real mode, and fork a process to run the DOS program. >In >short, if you happen to own some of the most popular (and expen- >sive) software on the market, Microsoft will now enable you to >*switch* from one to the other, something that Software Carousel >has enabled one to do for at least 4 years. I imagine Windows will allow you to swap CHEAP programs as well as expensive ones. At least that's my experience. But, on a 286, swapping to DOS is not a great thing to do. It takes forever. Is Software Carousel limited by the 640k barrier? Windows 3 is not. As long as you're using Windows applications, you can fill up your extended memory with multitasking Windows applications. >And, where Carousel >is elegant and speedy, Windows--even with a mouse--is cumbersome >and unbelievably slow. So slow,in fact, that Windows 3.0 is >almost worth buying as a specimen of comically inept programming. If you're swapping DOS applications all the time, then yes, it is slow. I found it tolerably fast on a 286-12-0ws as long as I was running Windows applications only. >Multi-tasking? Only if you own a 386 machine. Multitasking of Windows applications on a 286 works quite well. To multitask DOS applications, you really need a 386. >Desqview >doesn't require that you wait as much as ten seconds--along with >hard-disk noises suggestive of a Mexican school bus climbing a >mountain--in order to read the help screen? How much memory do you have? I plan to get a total of 3 megs into my system before long. I imagine I'll set up a pretty big cache. That should take care of most of the drive thrashing. >Now if Microsoft had meant to play fair with its customers, it >would have warned potential users that a 386 was virtually a >necessity. Microsoft is in the business of selling products. If you wanted to be warned, you should have read some of the zillions of articles. Windows 3.0 was on the cover of just about every PC magazine out. >It would not have given the name of "standard mode" >to a manifestly sub-standard product. Standard mode is meant to say that the 286 is now (finally) running in the mode that it was designed for. I think it's great that SOMEBODY finally wrote a piece of software that takes advantage of the 286. The only other product I've seen that uses the 286 in protected (or standard) mode is the XENIX operating system. Try running DOS programs under THAT. >more blah blah blah deleted > >So, >while I'm pretty certain by now that I've given Windows a fair >test, I hope that some of you out there will either confirm that >I'm right or point out some silly dumb-head thing I did wrong. The dump-head thing you did was not research the product before you bought it. I think Microsoft did a pretty good job. I'm glad to know that my 286 is finally getting a real workout, and NOT in REAL mode. I am glad to see that Windows is taking off. Hopefully we'll see a large selection of software for it. If so, my 286 might not be dead just yet. > >Norman Miller Mike -- ***************************************************************************** mikep@mcs213k.cs.umr.edu Standard Disclaimer *****************************************************************************