rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) (06/11/91)
Here's a question about OS/2 2.0 that I'd really like the answer to... Currently whenever I multitask DOS apps, accessing the floppy drives really grinds the rest of the system down. With Windows 3 it's not too bad, you can tell that something is going on and things move in little "jerks." With DesqView 386 it's _really_ bad, I can hardly do anything in the other windows until the disk access is finished. Luckily I don't need the floppies often, but when I need it it's a real pain. How does OS/2 2.0 do with floppies? -- Standard disclaimer applies, you legalistic hacks. | Ron Dippold
bking@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Barry King) (06/12/91)
rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) writes: > Here's a question about OS/2 2.0 that I'd really like the answer to... > > Currently whenever I multitask DOS apps, accessing the floppy drives really > grinds the rest of the system down. With Windows 3 it's not too bad, you can > tell that something is going on and things move in little "jerks." With > DesqView 386 it's _really_ bad, I can hardly do anything in the other windows > until the disk access is finished. > > Luckily I don't need the floppies often, but when I need it it's a real pain. > How does OS/2 2.0 do with floppies? > If you are happy with the pathetic performance of Windows when it accesses the floppy drive then you should be extremely happy with the way floppy access is handled under OS/2. This includes OS/2 1.x BTW. You can fire up two (more if you want - whatever) OS/2 windows, perform say a diskcopy in one window and type a file in the other. The typed file displays smoothly without jerks and spasms and the floppy diskette copy proceeds as expected. Copying a floppy under OS/2 has zero effect on communications performance. You get a barely perceptable slow down of the system as one might expect. OS/2 is a preemptive multi-tasking operating system and handles things much differently than Windows or Desqview - these latter products are really just fancy DOS extenders and not true operating systems. Barry King bking@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca Edmonton Remote Systems: Serving Northern Alberta since 1982
larrys@watson.ibm.com (06/13/91)
In <1991Jun11.001319.15018@qualcomm.com>, rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) writes: > >Luckily I don't need the floppies often, but when I need it it's a real pain. >How does OS/2 2.0 do with floppies? Ron, I don't know about 2.0 (although I could find out if you REALLY want to know), but 1.3 performs beautifully when accessing the floppy drive. Cheers, Larry Salomon, Jr. (aka 'Q') LARRYS@YKTVMV.BITNET OS/2 Applications and Tools larrys@ibmman.watson.ibm.com IBM T.J. Watson Research Center larrys@eng.clemson.edu Yorktown Heights, NY Disclaimer: The statements and/or opinions stated above are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of my employer. Additionally, I have a reputation for being obnoxious, so don't take any personal attacks too seriously.
GD.SAR@forsythe.stanford.edu (Sandy Rockowitz) (06/14/91)
In article <1991Jun13.130744.12992@watson.ibm.com>, larrys@watson.ibm.com writes: >In <1991Jun11.001319.15018@qualcomm.com>, rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) writes: > >Ron, I don't know about 2.0 (although I could find out if you REALLY want >to know), but 1.3 performs beautifully when accessing the floppy drive. > Larry, I think you're guilty of a litte hyperbole here. I wish it were so. The external floppy support is somewhat lacking. 1) When I went from 1.2 to 1.3, my third external floppy (accessed via EXTDSKDD.SYS) stopped working. I note that the bug list for CSD WR5015 contains a reference to a problem with external floppies, and I'm looking forward to installing the CSD to see if it clears up the problem. 2) EXTDSKDD.SYS supports 360K, 1.2M, and 720K floppies, but not 1.44! (Which is the real reason for this note: Does anyone know of a way to patch EXTDSKDD.SYS to support 1.44, or of a replacement?) 3) Lastly, and this is off the top of my head since I don't have the documentation here, if I recall correctly it is possible to support only 1 external floppy on AT class machines. Is this correct? If so, is there a way around this? Sandy Rockowitz gd.sar@forsythe.stanford.edu