Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rpi!clarkson!BETASVM2.vnet.ibm.com!KWB
From: kwb@betasvm2.vnet.ibm.com (Ken Borgendale)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Building a PC that can run OS/2
Message-ID: <9106281437.AA12473@grape.ecs.clarkson.edu>
Date: 28 Jun 91 14:15:42 GMT
Lines: 40

OS/2 is in fact very tolerant of variant hardware, and it is quite
easy to construct a PC which will run OS/2 from parts.  However, it
is possible to get hardware which it will not support.  It is not
possible to test all possible configurations, and IBM does not
claim to do so, and neither does anyone else.

OS/2 is an operating system (unlike DOS which just acts as a
program monitor) and therefore desires to control and exploit
the devices attached to the system.  To do this it requires a
driver for each device.  Other operating systems like Unix also
require this (as does Windows which must do this work because DOS
is not acting as an operating system).  OS/2 ships with a set of
standard device drivers.

When putting devices in a system, you can either use a "clone"
device which exactly matches a standard device, or you can add
a device driver which matches the device.  Problems come up when
you do neither of these.  Most of the "unsupported" device
problems come from clone devices which "almost" match the standard
device.

This is much more of a problem in OS/2 than DOS since OS/2 tries
to exploit the device.  Again Windows does the same thing and
has compatibility problems because of it.  The same is true of
any hardware/software combination.  A graphics program which
exploits features of a video adapter is much more likely to
have compatibility problems than a program which outputs in text
mode.

If you plan to put a system together from pieces, you must be
prepared for some of the parts to be incompatible.  This is true
for hardware and for software.  I have put together several such
systems, and in the last one I found that a video card and disk
adapter which worked fine apart, would not work in the same
machine, although they appeared to have no register/memory conflict.
I had to replace one of them.  The same is true for hardware and
software.  If you don't enjoy this sort of thing, then buy your
system from a dealer who will put it all together for you.

Ken Borgendale  (standard disclaimers and all that)