First Impressions Availability (GA) release in several respects other than packaging: although it does run Windows applications, it runs them in a separate full-screen session; at GA, Windows applications will be run­ Better Than ning on the Presentation Manager (PM) desktop in what's being called "seamless Windows." Second, the LA build is still using the older 16-bit graphics Windows? engine; while the performance is quite good, the 32-bit engine in the GA build should be faster. Finally, the LA release is still beta; not everything You Decide! works quite right- and it does crash occasionally. OS/2 2.0 is IBM's attempt to gain greater accep­ tance of OS/2 with a dramatically improved prod­ uct featuring multiple virtual DOS machines By Douglas A. Hamilton (VDMs) and built-in support for Windows applica­ A is the Limited Availability release of OS/2 2.0 tions, true 32-bit code, support for clones and a being offered by IBM to selected customers new Macintosh-like desktop environment called who'd made plans based on IBM's earlier the Workplace Shell (WPS). Lpromises to ship 2.0 by year-end. It is not some­ This is a big system. The first thing you notice is thing you should expect to find at your local its sheer size. It comes in an enormous pile of 20 Egghead. Many customers received copies that were high-density disks (twice the size of OS/2 1.3), mak­ actually hand-duplicated by their local account rep­ ing for one massive install. It takes an hour just to resentatives, after being downloaded from IBM's feed in all the disks. A complete installation fills a internal mainframe network over the New Year's 30-megabyte disk partition. holiday. We were a little luckier here at Windows There are a couple different strategies for Magazine; the disks supplied to us in early January installing 2.0 on a system where you'd also like to were clearly professionally duplicated. Still, the run DOS or OS/2 1.3. If you already have DOS on manual consisted of piles of loose sheets run off on C: and go through the standard 2.0 installation a copier; they weren't even stapled together. (choosing not to reformat your hard drive for IBM's The LA build differs from the upcoming General high performace file system, which is not compati- compatibility under OS/2 considerations w hen copying and designating file attributes displaying file attributes error messages (cause and action) reatures under 0 S/2 rinding old data files finding old programs Spooler Scheme Palette Font Palette help for commands help for messages 0 ~ System Sound Migrate Applications Device Driver Install ""'V" Q ~ OS/2 version 2.0's Selective Install Keyboard Worskplace Shell is a very different environment than the Windows Program Manager. 60 WINDOWS M AGAZINE • APRIL 1992 First Impressions ble with DOS), you'll automatically end up with Boot Manager works well but is tricky to set up dual boot. Both DOS and OS/2 2.0 will coexist on and requires repartitioning your disk. If you're the same C: drive and, when you power up the sys­ going to use 3 systems like I did, figure a minimum tem, whichever you ran last will come up. To of 4 to 5 hours to get everything repartitioned, switch back and forth, there's a boot utility. To go reformatted, installed and configured and set up from OS/2 to DOS, type "boot /dos." To go from the way you want. DOS to OS/2, type "boot /os2." What the boot utility does is slosh the boot Installation record and configuration files for OS/2 and DOS in The rest of the installation is fairly simple, if the root directory in and out of the \os2\system time-consuming. Once you get past disk 4, there's a directory. It then automatically restarts the system, graphical install program with lots of options for booting the other operating system. selectively installing only as much of the system as If you need to run more than just DOS or OS/2 desired. It's a nice piece of work but it's not perfect. 2.0 on the same system, IBM has added an optional I have a Postscript printer on a serial port and it led feature called Boot Manager, a little program that me through a series of questions about what model sits in a speciall megabyte disk partition. At power printer I had and what port it was on... up, it puts up a menu asking which system you'd What it did not ask me about was the baud like to boot. On my system, I set it up for DOS 5.0, rate and handshake being used. Figuring out how OS/2 2.0 limited OS/2 1.3 and OS/2 2.0, but Boot Manager could to set those parameters wasn't easy since not even Availability also be used with AIX and potentially other operat­ the Master Help Index gave any clue. (Hint: dou­ IBM Corp. 1133 Westchester Ave. ing systems as well. The idea is to create separate C: ble click on the icon for comm port on the print­ White Plains, NY 10604 partitions for DOS and OS/2 1.3 and another parti­ er's Settings Output page.) (800) 426-2468 tion (either C: or D:) for OS/2 2.0. Once it's run­ But even if the install program were perfect, Price: Free upgrade from OS/2 1.3 ($150) ning, only one C: partition is visible at a time, but nothing is ever going to make a 20-disk install Circle Inquiry #355 all the other partitions (Drives D: or whatever) can something any of us wants to do more than once in always be visible. this life. I would have much preferred to see the The CEO wants to lmow The staff wants to know when it will be finisJh.ed. when they can start. A.B. Kaufman Novel Work Schedule March .. ~ .. ~~.- ~':23 .,.,.... "' " . ~ .... - . ... ...,. ..... -J ......,..,."'~ ,.... ~......., ·~u>$· M r..UIIN~ -• ____I _ _, ....,., .... f. __ [_ __, 1\'to""f ..tt<lto:tf ---- ~- --....~ .pi~ __J ~ ...........• y ...... mt ~aro- &...~ .......... 1- 1- . --~~~ ~.~ ~ ... """""'~~"' o-.. I~>L~_.wa- ~J ................ '*"'- - ~........... .-r~ As a project manager, you've seen things the way they want, but also lets you it all before. Everyone who needs to know, plan things the way you want. all too often, needs to know something dif­ Now you can enter and view data in ferent. Which is why there's new l\1icrosoft~ a variety of ways-Gantts, tables, graphs, Project version 3.0 for Windows~ forms and more. Microsoft Project also has It not only makes it easy to present a customizable Toolba( giving you access ©1992 Microsoft Corporatilm. All rights reseroed. Printed in the USA. Offer good only in the 50 United States. To order a Working Model for $9.95 or for more informotilm: In the United States, call (800) 541·1261, Dept. Y14 62 W INDOWS M AGAZINE • A PRIL 1992 First Impressions installation broken up into more manageable the clipboard. In a system this big, I'd have pre­ chunks-perhaps the base system, then the virtual ferred the installation not be larded up with so DOS machines, then the Windows support and all much stuff of such questionable merit. the applets separately. In the GA release, I'm told there will be options Workplace Shell for installing over a network. That will certainly The centerpiece of 2.0 is a new user interface. The make it less painful. Another option IBM should Workplace Shell (WPS) replaces the old Group Man­ consider is a CD-ROM version of OS/2. ager (similar to Windows' Program Manager) menus seen on OS/2 1.3. Under WPS the whole desktop Clunky applets functions as one giant menu, customized with icons The applets, the small sample applications bun­ for all your most frequently used applications. dled with 2.0 in answer to those offered with Win·· Individual icons represent objects such as pro­ dows, are, with a few exceptions, a clunky waste of grams, files, printers, folders (collections of objects) more than 6 megabytes. There is, for example, a and special objects such as the shredder (used to spreadsheet that is easily the worst ever devised. delete objects). Folders can be nested arbitrarily. To There isn't even a way to copy or format a cell. The put an object into a folder or move it back out, sim­ solitaire program does offer a cheat button, but the ply drag it, pressing and holding the right button as graphics are crude compared to the Windows ver­ you drag. It's also possible to copy an object, either sion. The music editor would annoy small children. by right-clicking and selecting copy or by dragging And most of the rest of the "productivity" tools, the it while pressing the Ctrl key. appointment and time management stuff, etc., One special folder is the templates folder; open struck me as junk. that folder, and you'll find templates for all the The only really useful applets seemed to be the objects you might have on the desktop. To install a drawing program by Micrografx, the enhanced text new program, one simply "tears off" a program editor, and some of the smaller utilities for search­ template, dragging it with the mouse to the desk­ ing files, editing icons or displaying the contents of top or perhaps dropping onto (into) a folder.