eric@mks.com (Eric Gisin) (03/21/90)
I've been learning about OS/2 1.2 recently, and have a few questions that the Microsoft people on the net may be able to answer. Does the OS/2 Command Reference manual that you have to order separately answer any of these questions? (1) SYSINSTX.EXE on the install disk. This is the equivalent of the SYS command in DOS. I used it successfully in 1.1, but the 1.2 version trashed the DOS 3.3 partition on C: when I tried it. Can this command be used safely? Are there options I should know about? (2) IBMVGA.DDL and BVHVGA.DLL. These are the VIO or GPI display drivers, right? The IBM* file is copied to DISPLAY.DLL. The BVH* file is new to 1.2. Why are there two files, and how is display driver functionality split between the two? (3) VGA800.DLL. The 1.1 SDK had this file, which I assume is a 800x600 VGA driver. Is such a driver available for 1.2? Does OS/2 use the bios to switch video modes? (4) Extended attributes on EXE files. When OS/2 1.2 installs, it searches your C: partition for all .EXE files and sets extended attributes on them. They are the application type and an icon for PM applications. I had 500 .exe files and this resulted in 1MB of attributes in the hidden "/ea data. sf" file. Is there a way to recreate these extended attributes if they are lost? Can I recreate them only for .exe files under /os2? (5) Icons. I don't know much about PM programming. Can I attach an icon to a non-PM application in the desktop manager groups? (6) SYSLEVEL.EXE. What does this do? (7) Dos DEVICE= The device=ega.sys and device=ansi.sys in CONFIG.SYS apply to the DOS box. Are these special OS/2 drivers or can other DOS device drivers be loaded from CONFIG.SYS?
alistair@microsoft.UUCP (Alistair BANKS) (03/28/90)
In article <1990Mar20.210649.20363@mks.com> eric@mks.com (Eric Gisin) writes: >I've been learning about OS/2 1.2 recently, and have a few questions >that the Microsoft people on the net may be able to answer. >Does the OS/2 Command Reference manual that you have to order >separately answer any of these questions? > the answers come in many places - and in no places except collective heads. The device driver kit contains os/2 device info - some of the commands you mention pertain only to the install program and are not supported for any other version of os/2. yet others are in a user manual. >(1) SYSINSTX.EXE on the install disk. >This is the equivalent of the SYS command in DOS. >I used it successfully in 1.1, but the 1.2 version trashed >the DOS 3.3 partition on C: when I tried it. >Can this command be used safely? This is provided only for use by the install program, and will only support a subset of all FAT file systems - that subset supported by IBMs versions of DOS - some other oem versions of DOS have created other FAT deviants. >Are there options I should know about? basically sysinstx drive: and thats it. No gurantee it will stay that way for any future version - but its been tru in 1.2 to date. > >(2) IBMVGA.DDL and BVHVGA.DLL. >These are the VIO or GPI display drivers, right? >The IBM* file is copied to DISPLAY.DLL. The BVH* file is new to 1.2. >Why are there two files, and how is display driver functionality >split between the two? bvh* are 1.2 base video drivers - they really only know how to do mode switching/preservation. VIO is done elsewhere but only needs bvh support. vga cga ega bga .dll are copied to display.dll and are the pm screen drivers. gpi makes deep down calls to these .dlls which export defined 'engine' apis as documented in the os/2 device driver kit - available through microsoft or IBM. > >(3) VGA800.DLL. >The 1.1 SDK had this file, which I assume is a 800x600 VGA driver. >Is such a driver available for 1.2? 1.1 om drivers work on 1.2, although it is preferable to have a 1.2 driver since they have extra functionality to make 1.2 faster and prettier. >Does OS/2 use the bios to switch video modes? No. the bios is 8086 code which might GP fault etc - we cannot call it from protect mode - the BVH drivers do this. > >(4) Extended attributes on EXE files. >When OS/2 1.2 installs, it searches your C: partition >for all .EXE files and sets extended attributes on them. >They are the application type and an icon for PM applications. >I had 500 .exe files and this resulted in 1MB of attributes >in the hidden "/ea data. sf" file. Is there a way to recreate >these extended attributes if they are lost? >Can I recreate them only for .exe files under /os2? You may set data file and application types though the file manager File..Properties dialog > >(5) Icons. >I don't know much about PM programming. >Can I attach an icon to a non-PM application in the desktop manager groups? You may attach icons to .exes or any other file, including data files and dirctories in the file manager - file...properties.. dialog 'icon' button. > >(6) SYSLEVEL.EXE. >What does this do? reports a build level string. There is no API that provides this information. >(7) Dos DEVICE= >The device=ega.sys and device=ansi.sys in CONFIG.SYS apply to the DOS box. >Are these special OS/2 drivers or can other DOS device drivers >be loaded from CONFIG.SYS? very clean dos stream device drivers can be loaded - not block device drivers though. Clean means doesnt bang on hardware that os/2 owns. Alistair Banks OS/2 Group Microsoft Newsgroups: comp.os.os2 Subject: Re: 1.2 questions Summary: Expires: References: <1990Mar20.210649.20363@mks.com> Sender: Reply-To: alistair@microsoft.UUCP (Alistair BANKS) Followup-To: Distribution: Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA Keywords: undocumented features In article <1990Mar20.210649.20363@mks.com> eric@mks.com (Eric Gisin) writes: >I've been learning about OS/2 1.2 recently, and have a few questions >that the Microsoft people on the net may be able to answer. >Does the OS/2 Command Reference manual that you have to order >separately answer any of these questions? > the answers come in many places - and in no places except collective heads. The device driver kit contains os/2 device info - some of the commands you mention pertain only to the install program and are not supported for any other version of os/2. yet others are in a user manual. >(1) SYSINSTX.EXE on the install disk. >This is the equivalent of the SYS command in DOS. >I used it successfully in 1.1, but the 1.2 version trashed >the DOS 3.3 partition on C: when I tried it. >Can this command be used safely? This is provided only for use by the install program, and will only support a subset of all FAT file systems - that subset supported by IBMs versions of DOS - some other oem versions of DOS have created other FAT deviants. >Are there options I should know about? basically sysinstx drive: and thats it. No gurantee it will stay that way for any future version - but its been tru in 1.2 to date. > >(2) IBMVGA.DDL and BVHVGA.DLL. >These are the VIO or GPI display drivers, right? >The IBM* file is copied to DISPLAY.DLL. The BVH* file is new to 1.2. >Why are there two files, and how is display driver functionality >split between the two? bvh* are 1.2 base video drivers - they really only know how to do mode switching/preservation. VIO is done elsewhere but only needs bvh support. vga cga ega bga .dll are copied to display.dll and are the pm screen drivers. gpi makes deep down calls to these .dlls which export defined 'engine' apis as documented in the os/2 device driver kit - available through microsoft or IBM. > >(3) VGA800.DLL. >The 1.1 SDK had this file, which I assume is a 800x600 VGA driver. >Is such a driver available for 1.2? 1.1 om drivers work on 1.2, although it is preferable to have a 1.2 driver since they have extra functionality to make 1.2 faster and prettier. >Does OS/2 use the bios to switch video modes? No. the bios is 8086 code which might GP fault etc - we cannot call it from protect mode - the BVH drivers do this. > >(4) Extended attributes on EXE files. >When OS/2 1.2 installs, it searches your C: partition >for all .EXE files and sets extended attributes on them. >They are the application type and an icon for PM applications. >I had 500 .exe files and this resulted in 1MB of attributes >in the hidden "/ea data. sf" file. Is there a way to recreate >these extended attributes if they are lost? >Can I recreate them only for .exe files under /os2? You may set data file and application types though the file manager File..Properties dialog > >(5) Icons. >I don't know much about PM programming. >Can I attach an icon to a non-PM application in the desktop manager groups? You may attach icons to .exes or any other file, including data files and dirctories in the file manager - file...properties.. dialog 'icon' button. > >(6) SYSLEVEL.EXE. >What does this do? reports a build level string. There is no API that provides this information. >(7) Dos DEVICE= >The device=ega.sys and device=ansi.sys in CONFIG.SYS apply to the DOS box. >Are these special OS/2 drivers or can other DOS device drivers >be loaded from CONFIG.SYS? very clean dos stream device drivers can be loaded - not block device drivers though. Clean means doesnt bang on hardware that os/2 owns. Alistair Banks OS/2 Group Microsoft