paulcn@idsvax.ids.com (Paul Coen) (06/28/91)
Has anyone out there done it? How feasable is it?
I've heard & read that OS/2 is fussier about the hardware it runs on than
DOS (which is easy enough to believe).
Does anyone have motherboard, disk controller, video card, etc.
recommendations? What types of motherboards will it work with (ie micro
channel, ISA/AT Bus, EISA)?
Is the hardware support/requirments very different between versions of
OS/2?
And finally :-), is any of this likely to change with OS/2 2.0 -- that's
what I'm thinking of moving to, once it's finally released.
Please, don't bother doing the "OS/2 is junk" flames, or "Just run Windows
3.0" (bleach, retch, gasp), or any other product that is essentially a hack
thrown up on top of MS-DOS. I don't care how good the hack is, I want
protected memory, and I really don't want to run Unix. That leaves
OS/2, unless I want to invest in a used VAX/VMS system. Which I don't, at
the moment. Thanks!
-------------------
Paul Coen -- pcoen@drunivac.drew.edu, paulcn@idsvax.ids.com
Disclaimer: It must be my opinion, since I'm looking for a job.wayne@csri.toronto.edu (Wayne Hayes) (06/28/91)
This shouldn't be too difficult. OS/2 2.0 and even OS/2 1.x should run on most clones. Why bother building one when you can buy them ready made from clone dealers for excellent prices? Just find a clone dealership that'll guarantee their clone will run OS/2 (it's not that hard, most dealers I've dealt with said they'll guarantee it'll run OS/2), and buy from them.
snowden@sequoia.cray.com (Jim Snowden) (06/28/91)
Sort of connected with this subject, am I right in thinking there is currently an MS-DOS version of OS/2 1.3 and an IBM version? If that is true, which one would be best to get to run on a PC clone? And which version can be updated to OS/2 2.0 for free. Thanks for the info, -Jim Snowden
snowden@sequoia.cray.com (Jim Snowden) (06/28/91)
Sorry, I didn't mean MS-DOS version, I meant Microsoft version. -Jim Snowden, snowden@sequoia.cray.com
kwb@betasvm2.vnet.ibm.com (Ken Borgendale) (06/28/91)
OS/2 is in fact very tolerant of variant hardware, and it is quite easy to construct a PC which will run OS/2 from parts. However, it is possible to get hardware which it will not support. It is not possible to test all possible configurations, and IBM does not claim to do so, and neither does anyone else. OS/2 is an operating system (unlike DOS which just acts as a program monitor) and therefore desires to control and exploit the devices attached to the system. To do this it requires a driver for each device. Other operating systems like Unix also require this (as does Windows which must do this work because DOS is not acting as an operating system). OS/2 ships with a set of standard device drivers. When putting devices in a system, you can either use a "clone" device which exactly matches a standard device, or you can add a device driver which matches the device. Problems come up when you do neither of these. Most of the "unsupported" device problems come from clone devices which "almost" match the standard device. This is much more of a problem in OS/2 than DOS since OS/2 tries to exploit the device. Again Windows does the same thing and has compatibility problems because of it. The same is true of any hardware/software combination. A graphics program which exploits features of a video adapter is much more likely to have compatibility problems than a program which outputs in text mode. If you plan to put a system together from pieces, you must be prepared for some of the parts to be incompatible. This is true for hardware and for software. I have put together several such systems, and in the last one I found that a video card and disk adapter which worked fine apart, would not work in the same machine, although they appeared to have no register/memory conflict. I had to replace one of them. The same is true for hardware and software. If you don't enjoy this sort of thing, then buy your system from a dealer who will put it all together for you. Ken Borgendale (standard disclaimers and all that)
lwilliam@asc.slb.com (Laird Williams) (06/28/91)
I built a system last year that runs OS/2 without a hitch.
AMI 80486 Motherboard, Paradise 8514/A+ and Video 7 1024i
video cards worked fine. My experience so far has been
positive, as have the experiences of my friends who
did the same thing. The primary source of glitches seems
to be the drive controllers. A couple of folks bought
big HDDs and DUMB drive controllers. BAAAAADDD NEWS.
To be safe, I bought an UltraStor ESDI controller
because it 1) REMAPS CYLINDERS > 1024
2) LOOKS like a WD to everything else
I have had no compat. problems of any kind with it.
Not so for my friends. Anyway, if you are getting a
big disk drive, get a SMART controller that looks
to the rest of the system like one that is WELL UNDERSTOOD
(WD1003A, WD1007A, several others...)
As for the 8514 card:
If you get one, be sure to get a VGA card WITH a pass-thru
connector AND which uses that connector properly. The ATI VGA
Wonder did not. (Here's some VGA card logic for you...
If I can't tell what monitor is out there
AND since I am a VGA card
I'll produce an EGA (TTL..jeez) signal when
no monitor is plugged into my monitor port)
This glitch may have been fixed in the Wonder+, but the point is
for you to make SURE that the passthru connector on you VGA choice
works properly.
Hope this helps. -Laird
lwilliam@magnesium.asc.slb.com
Transcript show: (Smalltalk at: #StandardDisclaimer)lwilliam@asc.slb.com (Laird Williams) (06/29/91)
>This shouldn't be too difficult. OS/2 2.0 and even OS/2 1.x should run >on most clones. Why bother building one when you can buy them ready >made from clone dealers for excellent prices? Just find a clone dealership >that'll guarantee their clone will run OS/2 (it's not that hard, most >dealers I've dealt with said they'll guarantee it'll run OS/2), and buy >from them. I'll second that. I built mine as much for fun as for $$$. We bought Northgates and Gateways at my old job and had no problems doing IBM (with the Big Blue Letters, not OEM MS) OS/2 on them. -Laird