[2J[1m[37;41mĿ[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mA Common Man's Experience with OS/2 Warp.                                    [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mBy Ben Zell (ben.zell@swcbbs.com)                                            [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m      At  first I wanted a good 32-bit operating system that                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mwould  relieve me of the resource problems and  multitasking                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mlimitations of Windows for Workgroups 3.11.  I went over  to                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mmy  local computer store and picked up OS/2 Warp for $70  on                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mCD-ROM  hoping  this would solve all of  my  problems.   The                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mprocess:                                                                     [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mPROBLEM #1:  Compressed Drive Incompatibility                                [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m     I looked at the installation manual and noticed that it                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41msaid  that  OS/2  Warp would not install on  any  compressed                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mdrive  (besides special OS/2 compression utilities).   I  am                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41musing  DriveSpace,  which comes with MS-DOS  6.22,  so  that                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mmeans  I have to uncompress my hard drive, requiring  me  to                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mdelete some important things to free up space (Like Doom!!).                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mWell,  after  all  that,  I  installed  OS/2  and  no  major                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41minstallation problems occurred.                                              [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mPROBLEM #2:  Unsupported Printer                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m      I  am  finally  in OS/2 and am configuring  it  to  my                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mhardware  when I notice that it doesn't support my  printer-                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mnor  does  it  support Windows drivers, so I would  probably                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mhave  to call the printer manufacturer's BBS (long distance)                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mand download one... what a pain the ass!                                     [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mPROBLEM #3-5:  Windows Programs in General                                   [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m      Okay, now that all the installation is over, I'm ready                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mto try a Windows program (due to lack of OS/2 programs).   I                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mgo into the Win-OS/2 folder and double click Edit Master, my                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mtext  editor of choice.  Error!  Error! Error! I though OS/2                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mwas  supposed  to run Windows programs seamlessly?!?   Well,                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mthat program is made in Visual Basic, so I decided to try my                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mcommunications program (Procomm Plus for Windows).                           [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mPROBLEM #4:  Modem Trouble                                                   [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m      Well,  this problem adds a little to the previous  one                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mbut  here  goes...  Well immediately I spot  a  few  graphic                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mglitches  that  weren't there before, and the  size  of  the                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mtitle bar and min/max buttons are unusually large and out-of-                [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mproportion compared to the rest of the window.  So, I try to                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mdial  a  BBS  assuming at least that would  work,    CONNECT                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m9600.   What's  the deal here?!?  I have a V.34  28800  baud                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mmodem!   I  want my moneys worth and I want to  be  able  to                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mconnect  at  28800  (or one of the fallbacks).   Well,  that                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mblows.                                                                       [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mPROBLEM #5:  Sound Shut Off                                                  [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m      I  have  to  admit  that OS/2's 16-bit  system  sounds                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mimpressed  me on my Sound Blaster 16, but when  I'm  running                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41many  Windows program, it's as if my Sound Blaster were  off,                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mno sound in Windows, no sound in OS/2-- strange.                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mPROBLEM #6:  HyperACCESS (Bonus Pak)                                         [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m      A  terrible  overlooked bug!  How can  you  spell  Pak                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mwithout  the `c'?  Nah, just kidding... but after  all  this                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mmodem  trouble  I though that maybe I could  use  the  modem                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mprogram   that  comes  in  the  bonus  pak   from   now   on                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m(HyperACCESS).  It doesn't install - end of story.  It  just                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mwon't accept the CD-ROM as the source installation drive!                    [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mPROBLEM #7:  Unbearable Slowness                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m      This is definitely one of the more important problems.                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mWith  OS/2  my  harddrive is almost  constantly  loading;  I                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41malmost  feel  bad  for  it!  It never loaded  like  this  in                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mWindows, probably because of my 2-meg Smartdrv cache, but lo                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mand behold, there is no OS/2 equivalent of Smartdrv, causing                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mthings  to become incredibly slow.  One feature that  really                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mtakes a beating is multimedia.  I have a 10 second long  16-                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mbit  44.1khz stereo WAV file that plays a tenth of a  second                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mof  sound, then loads for a half second, then repeats  until                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mthe  file  is  over.  It's almost hard to tell  what  it  is                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mthat's  playing.   The  same thing happens  with  AVI  files                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m(multimedia video).                                                          [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mPROBLEM #8:  DOS is More Complete!                                           [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m      In  addition  to DriveSpace, I miss Scandisk,  Defrag,                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mSmartdrv,  Edit, and other utilities IBM failed to  include,                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mthey just throw in the bare basics.                                          [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mPROBLEM #9:  Incompatible with a lot of TSR's                                [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m      I  used to use Mcafee's Vshield TSR to protect  myself                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mfrom  viruses, but screw that; it's only useful if I'm gonna                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mstay  inside  the  DOS window I loaded it  from...  forever.                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mObviously similar TSR's won't work with everything either.                   [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mPROBLEM #10:  Inconsistency between standards                                [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m      All  of  my beautiful fonts, not compatible with  OS/2                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mprograms.   OLE isn't either!  Neither is DDE!   Great,  you                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mcan  have Windows, OS/2 and Windows on the same screen,  but                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mtoo bad they can't take advantage of eachother's features.                   [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mPROBLEM #11:  Colorado Jumbo 250                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m      I  paid a couple hundred dollars for my tape drive and                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mit's  not supported by OS/2!  That's pretty much all  I  can                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41msay!                                                                         [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mPROBLEM #12:  Uninstallation                                                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m      I'm  sick of this crap!  Now how do I get rid  of  it?                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mIBM  doesn't include an uninstall program with  it's  OS  as                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mMicrosoft does, so I have to format my hard drive and use  a                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mboot disk to reload everything onto my hard drive from tape.                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mThis is not exactly the "user friendly" way.                                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m     Well, to conclude these are problems that occurred in 2                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mdays  of  use, there has to be more problems, since I  still                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mnever got around to trying everything.  I never used much of                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mthe  Bonus Pak and I never got to try any games with  it  (I                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mhad  to delete them to fit OS/2).  Well basically OS/2  Warp                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mis  not  a  good  buy  and is not the future  of  computing.                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mUndoubtedly Microsoft's Windows 95 will not have most of the                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mproblems  listed  here, and I think that they  will  have  a                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mbetter chance... I can't say though since I haven't seen the                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mnew system.                                                                  [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m      But  anyways... please distribute this file everywhere                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mpossible and try to keep it in its original archive  if  you                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41mcan.  Thanks a lot.                                                          [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                             -Ben Zell (ben.zell@swcbbs.com)                 [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;41m                                                                             [1m[37;41m[40m
[1m[37;41m[1m[37;40m
