[comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc] IBM vs. MS DOS 5

woan@exeter.austin.ibm.com (Ronald S Woan) (06/18/91)

In article <1991Jun19.222610.21158@panix.uucp> nina@panix.uucp (Nina Yuan) writes:
>OK, I guess the obvious question is: what's the difference between
>PC-DOS 5.0 and MS-DOS 5.0?  Is there a difference?  In previous
>versions, the only difference I can recall is BASICA vs. GW-BASIC,
>which shouldn't matter now that Microsoft is including a QuickBasic
>complier.  Any comments?  (btw, I have an IBM AT with PC-DOS 3.1).

Let's see, aside from the differences in the install process where
IBM's version allows you to take your chances and not backup your old
system and MS allows you to do a full backup of all of your data, IBM
PC DOS doesn't come with all the same third party drivers, i.e.
Ontrack and Speedstor (I learned this the hard way, as I have
Speedstor partitioned drives), and also all of the BASICs (including
the Quick BASIC, I believe) require the ROM hooks found in all real
IBM BIOSes... The bootup hidden files are stilled named differently
from those of MS, so MS can be used for OS/2 RIPL.

Also IBM PCDOS comes with an IBM warranty as well as 800 defect
support...
-- 
+-----All Views Expressed Are My Own And Are Not Necessarily Shared By------+
+------------------------------My Employer----------------------------------+
+ Ronald S. Woan                woan@cactus.org or woan@austin.vnet.ibm.com +
+ other email addresses             Prodigy: XTCR74A Compuserve: 73530,2537 +

nina@panix.uucp (Nina Yuan) (06/20/91)

In article <8578@awdprime.UUCP> woan@cactus.org writes:
>Egghead sells the IBM PCDOS upgrade version for the same price as the
>MSDOS version. The higher price is for the licensed IBM PCDOS,
>assuming that you didn't have an earlier version/license to upgrade
>from. I don't think that MS has a non upgrade version of 5.0 yet.

OK, I guess the obvious question is: what's the difference between PC-DOS 5.0
and MS-DOS 5.0?  Is there a difference?  In previous versions, the only
difference I can recall is BASICA vs. GW-BASIC, which shouldn't matter now
that Microsoft is including a QuickBasic complier.  Any comments?  (btw, I
have an IBM AT with PC-DOS 3.1).


-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nina H. Yuan            
Harvard College                            PANIX -- Public Access Unix of NY
yuan1@husc9.harvard.edu                    nina@panix.com

schuster@panix.uucp (Michael Schuster) (06/20/91)

In article <1991Jun19.222610.21158@panix.uucp> nina@panix.uucp (Nina Yuan) writes:
>
>OK, I guess the obvious question is: what's the difference between PC-DOS 5.0
>and MS-DOS 5.0?  Is there a difference?  In previous versions, the only
>difference I can recall is BASICA vs. GW-BASIC, which shouldn't matter now
>that Microsoft is including a QuickBasic complier.  Any comments?  (btw, I
>have an IBM AT with PC-DOS 3.1).
>

I've heard the IBM version requires the basic ROM to run QBASIC (can you
believe that???!!!) and has 8514A support in the DOSSHELL (MSDOs only
supports up to VGA resolution).

-- 
                Mike Schuster                      |   -CIS: 70346,1745
-NY Public Access UNIX:  schuster@panix.com        |   -MCI Mail, GENIE:
-The Portal (R) System:  schuster@cup.portal.com   |           MSCHUSTER