mah@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Mike Honeycutt) (09/24/88)
Does anyone push Windows 386 to its limits?? My problem:
I have a Zenith 386 computer with 2 mb ram, 40 mb hard
disk, MicroSoft Bus Mouse, and Zenith's FTM monitor.
Windows 386 works find with Microsoft Windows products
(Write, Notepad, Calendar, Paint programs) and some other
third party programs but will not consistently work with
popular programs like WordPerfect, Procomm, Supercalc.
We have attempted to create PIF's for the programs but
can't find a combination that works.
I've talked to both Zenith and MicroSoft and both tell me it should
work but the bottom line is it does not. I know all 386 machines
are not standard and I wonder if software compatibility problems
are common to the other brands as well. BTW, the machine works
fine when we run programs outside of Windows and works with
Desqview (not perfectly though). Any thoughts??
I will post a summary if I get any responses.
Mike Honeycutt UNC Asheville Computer Center mah@ecsvax.BITNETwtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (09/29/88)
<< Windows 386 on a Zenith problems >> 1. Make sure that you have the most recent version of Windows. It is now up to at least version 2.10 (latest major revsion we have). The first version we got was 2.03. 2.03 had quite a few bugs. 2.03 would often crash when switching from one window to another. It would occasionally crash for no discernable reason at all (on a model 80 IBM). We were running with 2 megs. We upped to 6 megs (talk about $$ ) and it helped a lot. Version 2.10 is also somewhat faster opening Windows, etc. I didn't feel like things were terribly faster in actual use, however. One thing I've noticed is that trapping of misbehaved applications that try to write directly to the screen is much better under 2.10. Amazingly, 2.10 seems to get along well with most popular TSR programs. You can load the TSRs before windows to have them available in every application. You can also run a TSR in a window after loading windows. The TSR then goes away when the window closes. Neat. That is one of the best features so far. One thing that still is sorely needed is some sort of window depth arranger like the Amiga has. On a "dinky" 16 inch monitor, it quickly gets to be a hassle trying to wade through a piple of 6 or so windows. I'm not terribly enamored of using the ALT-TAB to toggle the windows. I don't know why, but the inconification method in Sunview seems less of a hassle. At least, if necessary, the windows can be dealt with without touching the mouse. All in all, windows has come a long way in the last year or so. --Bill
dan@rna.UUCP (Dan Ts'o) (10/04/88)
In article <1356@neoucom.UUCP> wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) writes: >2.03 had quite a few bugs. 2.03 would often crash when switching >from one window to another. It would occasionally crash for no >discernable reason at all (on a model 80 IBM). Yes, I noticed that... >One thing that still is sorely needed is some sort of window depth >arranger like the Amiga has. On a "dinky" 16 inch monitor, it >quickly gets to be a hassle trying to wade through a piple of 6 or >so windows. I'm not terribly enamored of using the ALT-TAB to >toggle the windows. I don't know why, but the inconification >method in Sunview seems less of a hassle. At least, if necessary, >the windows can be dealt with without touching the mouse. If I understand what you're asking for, the MSWINDOWS enhancement that I mentioned before, COMMAND POST, does this quite well. I really think that MSWINDOWS straight out of the box is pretty lame and that something like COMMAND POST is a minimum to get MSWINDOWS to be friendly enough for my use. It is shareware. Let me know if you want to grab a copy. Cheers, Dan Ts'o 212-570-7671 Dept. Neurobiology dan@rna.rockefeller.edu Rockefeller Univ. ...cmcl2!rna!dan 1230 York Ave. rna!dan@nyu.arpa NY, NY 10021 tso@rockefeller.arpa tso@rockvax.bitnet