Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ccicpg!uis-oc!ns!bob From: bob@ns.UUCP (Robert J. Mathias) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: OS/2 is dead? Message-ID: <38@ns.UUCP> Date: 20 Dec 90 18:49:31 GMT References: <28775@usc> <14887@ogicse.ogi.edu> <3078@canisius.UUCP> Reply-To: bob@ns.UUCP (Robert J. Mathias) Organization: Unisys Corporation; Irvine, California Lines: 46 In article pete@csc-sun.mckinsey.com (Peter Gaston) writes: > >Ok, there's been lots of religious ramblings against OS/2. Personally >I feel that most people aren't keen for IBM for whatever reason. > >What I'd like to know, does anyone have a fact base pro/con for >OS/2, esp. w/ regard to it's prime competitor, Unix (and future >derivatives). > I have worked on a product that is an I/O subsystem and maintenance processor for a mainframe processor. We have two versions of the product, one that uses OS/2 and the other Unix. The following comments to your specific remarks relate back to this product. >From personal experience: > - OS/2 appears slow, even on a 386 machine, but that may be more > an artifact of PM and the file system For our application running on the same machine, there is no significant difference in speed. > - it supports both 'normal' and real-time priorities, is the > real-time as useful as it claims? We found writing code for OS/2 to be much easier due to the real-time support in the OS/2 kernel. > - writing a device driver is a bear > Amen!!! >Any comments or additions to a fact base welcome. > In general the OS/2 programming environment is much richer than Unix when attempting to do real-time applications. The use of threads and DLLs makes life alot easier. Unix's 1 second resolution for delays is not adequate. I believe that I would not have any complaints with Mach-based Unix's, since it adds OS/2 features like threads and has better real-time support. -- Robert J. Mathias, Jr uucp: ...!uunet!ccicpg!uis-oc!ns.UUCP!bob Unisys Corporation voice: (714) 727-0323 A and V Series Systems Engineering fax: (714) 727-0350 Irvine, California