Xref: utzoo alt.msdos.programmer:103 comp.sys.ibm.pc:29691
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!orstcs!guille!harish
From: harish@guille.ece.orst.edu (Harish Pillay)
Newsgroups: alt.msdos.programmer,comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Is OS/2 viable w/o Hard Disk?
Summary: No not yet
Keywords: OS/2, floppies
Message-ID: <10969@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU>
Date: 3 Jun 89 03:30:53 GMT
References: <1170@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov>
Sender: usenet@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU
Reply-To: harish@guille.ECE.ORST.EDU (Harish Pillay)
Organization: Oregon State University, E&CE, Corvallis, Oregon 97331
Lines: 39

In article <1170@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov> raymond@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov (Eric A. Raymond) writes:
>Is it possible to run OS/2 from a floppy?  I saw in a recent PC mag
>directions for creating a bootable diskette, but me thinks you still
>need a hard disk for all sorts of wonderful (?) support files.
>
>Any of you OS/2 owners have an answer?
>
>If so, are you forced to leave the disk in the unit (or swap the
>system disk back in/out) if you want to run a program from another
>disk?
>
>-- 

I am user of OS/2 and NO you cannot yet run OS/2 off of a floppy.  This is
because, OS/2, unlike say MS-DOS, is implemented by Dynamic Link Libraries
(DLLs).  A DLL is loaded only when it is needed so that more memory is
available to do multitasking and such.  You might want to read Gordon Letwin's
book - Inside OS/2 - published by Microsoft Press. Letwin is the Chief 
Architect of OS/2 in Microsoft.

The main reason why floppies aren't viable at present is that the amount of 
space these DLLs occupy far exceed the current capacities of floppies.  When 
we get say 5 MB on a 5.25 floppy, then we should see the possibility of 
running OS/2 off floppies.  Then again, in a multi-tasking environment it is 
not advisable to run a machine WITHOUT a hard disk.  You might still get to 
run OS/2 on a bernoulli box - provided you can get the necessary OS/2 device 
drivers for the bernoulli box.  But if you are prepared to go to bernoulli 
box extent, you might as well get a harddisk!

Hope that answers your questions.

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Harish Pillay                               Internet: harish@ece.orst.edu
Electrical and Computer Engineering         UUCP: uunet!ece.orst.edu!harish
Corvallis, Oregon 97331                     MaBell:   503-758-1389 (home)
United States of America                              503-754-2554 (office)
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