The Hitchhikers Guide To OS/2


About The Guide  


Here and Now


SoftViews


TechnoWatch


OS/2 Tips 


Trivia Question 


How to Submit

About The Guide


The Hitchhikers Guide To OS/2

     Issue #5 
     
      Published On 3/22/94  

         This guide is meant to give a concise report on current
OS/2 events.  Any and all contents are solely my opinion.  If you
don't agree with them run around the net and delete every copy
you can find.  Otherwise sue me, but all I have is a 2400 baud
modem and a bunch of credit card bills.  Anyone is welcome to the
latter :).  Read on and I hope you enjoy another issue of the
HitchHiker's Guide To OS/2.

       Any Comments Regarding The Guide or monetary donations can 
be directed to:

sdudas@austin.onu.edu

Steve Dudas.

       Special Thanks go to Dr. V. Phaniraj for letting me know
that wp2ipf/2 exists.  
       In you haven't guessed that is what this is done with. 
Thanks to Kim Kruse Hansen for the great job he has done with
this application.

       Copies of the HHGOS2 will be available for anonymous ftp
from ftp-os2.cdrom.com.  
look in /pub/incoming/hhgos2_#.zip 
every other Saturday for a new release or look in
/pub/os2/2_x/info/newsltr/hhgos2_#.zip  For back issues.
The .zip file will contain both a .txt and a .inf version of the
HHGOS2.
 Here and Now

The Hitchhikers Guide To OS/2
     
     IBM and Cyrix have completed a landmark chip manufacturing
deal.  Cyrix will design chips and IBM, who has the most advanced
chip fabrication plants in the world, will mass produce them. 
Currently only 486 CPUs will be made but plans are in place to
begin building Cyrix's pentium class M1 CPU before the end of
this year.
     The effect of this will be rock bottom 486 prices, I would
expect them to dip to the cost of today's 386-DX40 for the low
end.  If they can mass produce the M1 and bring it to market and
while meeting their current price estimates the Pentium is in for
a major price cut.  Cyrix claims that the runs 486 code M1 as
fast the pentium runs P5 optimized code, and 30% faster if code
is recompiled for the M1. They also project a final chip cost of
around $280.  Life is going to get real interesting at Intel.
     The deal also leaves IBM an option to sell up to 50% of the
486 chips themselves.  This should enable Ambra and IBM's other
direct marketing divisions prices to drop even lower.
SoftViews

The Hitchhikers Guide To OS/2
    
File Managers under OS/2

Review submitted by: Gunmundur J. Helgason

     In this little paper of mine I will compare 4 native OS/2
file managers. They are:

    DirMaster  1.20                            shareware    $20
    DirectoryManager /2  (demo version)      shareware    $35
    File Manager /2 1.31                       shareware    $35
    Norton Commander 1.0 for OS/2            commercial   $??

    * All prices are base US prices add $5 to $10 elsewhere.

    Ok. first the individual apps:

                               DirManager/2

    This is my favorite when it comes to looks, very polished
interface which I greatly like and easy to manoeuvre around it.
The demo I tested has this incredible annoying nag feature which
is an About box which pops up at fixed intervals. I find this
the most powerful of these 4 and keep in mind that this is just
a *demo*! :) It is dated in Dec 1993 and there is likely a new
update out there. It alone has the power to scan an entire drive
for a file spec. (like *.doc) and then copy them all to a target
drive/dir, great feature! Also like FM/2 it's colors can be
changed via the Color Palette for that custom look. If you run
multiple jobs in it (i.e. view contents of 2 directories) you
can have two windows open (likely more in the full version)
besides the tree view. It is easy to change the settings of file
display, look, etc. in the Settings menu. In short: this is
great file manager with lean looks and very fast operations and
there are no surprises in how it does it business. TRY IT. The
file name is: <dm2demo1.zip>

                           DirMaster 1.20

    DirMaster 1.20 is a small little app from Alexander Wilkens
of iLogic Software, Norway. The .exe is dated at March 6 1994 so
it's quite new. In looks DirMaster is similar to Norton
Commander, except Norton has less buttons to play with. It's mem
requirements are about 1620kb's. It has a flexible app launcher
which would allow to have your own apps in the button bar and
launch them with a single click. This takes some fine tuning of
your part, but that is one time only job. This is a little and
mean file manager which I like but I'd like to see more punch
packed into future versions (more object oriented actions,
container boxes etc.). The file name is: <ilgdm120.zip>


                       FileManager/2 1.31

     This is a frequently updated file manger to say the least :)
 It is written by M. Kimes of Bare Bones Software, Shreveport,
 USA.I have tested it somewhat and like it. It's mem requirements
 area bit high, 2429kb, but that is due to it's icon look.
 Everyfile is displayed as an icon, either the actual icon or
 areplacement (folders or papers depending on the file
 format).Changing the icons to mini icons didn't seem to effect
 the memory use. However you can display the files in DOS
 format(called Details in FM/2) in which the mem use drops to
 about 2050kb and this method I prefer. One great OO feature of
 FM/2 is that you can change the colors of the app via the Color
 Palette. This is a very good file manager which I would
 encourage you to try out, the latest version is: <fm2_135.zip>
 Norton Commander 1.0 for OS/2
    Ok, here it is: Symantec's first OS/2 product (and likely the
 last if my former DOS hero Peter Norton has anything to say
 about it). It closely duplicates it's DOS brother and uses
 almost none of OS/2 advanced options; there is no right-mouse
 container of any kind, if you have seen DOS Norton Commander
 you've seen this one. Straight port, that's all. This is a 1992
 software which in OS/2 world is *old news*. I have really
 nothing more to say about his one, you most likely know it and
 just look at the benchmarks to see how it stacks against the
 others.

                            Mr. File PM 4.5

    Here is another FM written by IBM employee, it is very
 efficient in mem usage (uses only about 540kb). It has some odd
 looks and usage that I cant get used to. Also it rapidly found
 all *.doc on my HD but refused to copy more than 97 of the 245
 for reasons that I cant understand. It seems very fast and
 efficient in operations. It uses the right mouse button for Drag
 and Drop instead of using it for container box like DirManager
 and FM/2 do. I find it too Windows-like for my taste (i.e. all
 operations take place from pull down menus). Try it, however, 
 you might like it. I wont include it in the tests for various
 reasons.

The file name is: <mrfile45.zip>

                         Testing:

     DirManager     DirMaster     FM/2 1.31    Norton

Memory requirements in KB:   
     1940kb         1620kb         2050b      1805kb



Rescan C:\ (405MB FAT):
     2.80 sec(1)    1.18 sec      2.16 sec     1.03 sec
     1 click        1 click       1 click      1 click

Find *.doc on c:\
     3.43 sec         N/A        N/A         15.89 sec
     3 clicks         N/A        N/A         2 clicks

Copy *.doc on c:\ (2):     
     52.00 sec       N/A        N/A           N/A
     6 clicks        N/A        N/A           N/A

Copy dir (94 file /3.6MB)  
     23.78 sec     26.00 sec     25.93 sec    24.09 sec
     6 clicks      9 clicks      8 clicks     8 clicks

delete dir(94 files/3.6MB) 
     21.97sec      52.90sec (3)   8.09sec(4)  22.04sec
     4 clicks      4 clicks       6 clicks    4 clicks

Display contents of dir:    
     0.98 sec      1.72 sec      2.86 sec     1.15 sec
     1 click       1 click       1 click      1 click

Total time for 4 tasks:
     49.53 sec     81.80 sec     39.40sec     48.31 sec
     12 clicks     15 clicks     18 clicks    14 clicks


1)   It creates a nice little icon tree 
2)   Copy *.doc from all over the drive to one dir.
3)   The program has this nice bar display which slows it down
greatly.
4)   This figure I just don't get, FM/2 must something very
strange here.

    CONCLUSION:   None of these 4 can totally do what I want as
I am former power user of DOS. I still do most of my file
management in DOS or OS/2 windows (uncompressing/decompressing
etc.). I am *much* quicker to, say, move 40 files from one
dir to another by command line that to start a FM, select the
dir, the files, target dir, and closing the FM.  Some cases
however are almost impossible to do or take forever without a 
FM, like I am beta testing a new brilliant data compression tool
and often  have to move large amount of various files from all
over the HD to a target  dir. This is piece of cake with, say,
DirManager (the other 3 cant do this task). Just select the
search (like *.doc) and it finds them for you, then just select
them all and select the target dir. Easy and fast. Also to edit 
a Directory tree is much more pleasant and easy (often safer
as well) to do than via command line.
    DOS or OS/2 command line is still faster and more flexible
but if you don't want to remember complex command lines like
below then FM's are for you :)
          uc a -m -tst -f -i sample.uc2 #test\new\files !*.doc

    These 4 FM's will all do just fine. If you're after small 
size and simplicity get DirMaster 1.2 but if you are after power
and are willing to spend another 300kb or so, get DirManager. Of
the 4 I think that  Norton's is the worst and FM/2 some- where
in the middle. DirManager is the winner in my book (and no I
don't get a free copy for writing this, I wish :). However, if
you choose one of these 4 then you'll most likely enjoy it and
accept it's shortcomings and learn how to circumvent it's
limitations. Moving between these 4 is easy so if you want to
try another one out go ahead, they are in ftp.cdrom.com
/pub/os2/2_x/.

     WINNER: DirManager    

     LOOSER: Norton Commander 1.0 for OS/2

    Tools Used: Gateway2000 486/66 256k cache, 405MB IDE Western
Digital,    Diamond Viper 2MB VRAM VLB, OS/2.11, PMP 2.11 (for
seeing the mem use),  and my professional stopwatch :)
TechnoWatch
The Hitchhikers Guide To OS/2

     IBM has recently made information available about the
upcoming releases of OS/2.  They have many versions coming out to
suit many needs, while it may be a bit confusing at first I think
this strategy will win over the most users.
     First OS/2 2.2 or OS/2 Lite will ship in late summer.  This
version trims down the RAM requirement to 4 megs and includes a
install program dubbed "one button install".  Must be a mighty
big button :)
     If IBM markets this as strongly as they have OS/2 for
Windows and if Chicago has not shipped yet (Like this is even a
remote possibility) IBM has a pretty good chance of winning over
a large number of users.  Especially if they are smart and sell
it for $50.
     IBM also has plans to ship a version of OS/2 for the PowerPC
sometime in the next 12 months.  This product is probably the
least understood, current information says that this will be
based on a generic microkernel.  This kernel is capable of
providing all basic needs to any operating system.  Thus you buy
the base OS, then buy modules to run your favorite software, say
a Windows+DOS module or an AIX module.  From what is being
released IBM has a complete dominance over MicroSoft here. 
Microsoft hasn't even announced vaporware capable of this.
     The last major version of OS/2 announced to date is OS/2 2.2
server edition.  This version will have Lan Server integrated
into the package and will also support plug and play.  IBM has
also talked about adding a new user interface to this
version.While the current OS/2 interface is quite nice, what
better place to test a new one out?  If it bombs it would not be
too much of a problem since not many people do work directly on
the server, and if its great IBM will get tons of positive
feedback.
OS/2 Tips

The Hitchhikers Guide To OS/2
     
     A couple great new little programs have come out and I
thought I would tip everyone off to them.  The first is IBM
Employee written software, or EWS, the program is called
excal.zip and provides one of the most Work Place shell
interfaces I have ever seen.  The entire app can be almost run
from the mouse alone.
     The second is a PM Mpeg player written by Mike Brown.  Its
only version 1.0 but its very well done and looks to have a
promising future. 
     Both of these programs can be found on ftp-os2.cdrom.com in
the /pub/2_x directory.
Trivia Question

The Hitchhikers Guide To OS/2

     Who is credited with naming UNIX?
        
     Answer to last Issues Trivia Question:

     The first Nuclear power plant to use software to guide the
shutdown of its reactors in emergency situations was _____.
     Yup you guessed it, someone borrowed the book that had that
in there.  Look for 2 answers in the next issue.
   
     Yes I know these are hard... but stop by the library and
look it up! Who knows, you may learn something.
How To Submit an Article

The Hitchhikers Guide To OS/2


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