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From: [e-mail] (Christopher Eric Hanson) ()
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Warpped LW
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In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
> I'm wondering WHY intel coded aps like LW won't run under OS/2.
> What's the difference?  What does the ap have to do with the OS
> running on a system?  I'm probably really stupid, but isn't Intel
> 80xxx code, 80xxx code?  What does the OS have to do with
> anything except provide the means to get that code to the CPU
> to execute?  I'm confused cuz OS/2 does run Windows aps, so
> why not LW?

  Sorry for the extensive quoting, but Dean asks alot of pertinent questions.

  Since Alan and Stuart aren't likely to drop by to answer this, I'll state
my qualifications here, and try to make a stab at this one.

  I'm currently the OS-guy responsible for porting World Construction Set
from the Amiga to the Windows platform. We're using similar techniques to
what other Amiga developers are using (Impact!, Lightwave, etc), so I
think most of what I've encountered holds true for Lightwave as well.

  Firstly, Windows 3.0, 3.1, and Workgroups 3.11 are not very 32-bit OSes.
Most of their important code is 16-bit code.

  Win95 is has somewhat more 32-bit code, and I'm told it runs 32-bit apps
faster than any other 16-bit Windows OS. Some people entertain themselves
by arguing about whether Win95 is REALLY 32-bit or not.

  WinNT is almost entirely 32-bit, excepting the sections required for
emulating 16-bit Windows for running 16-bit apps. As Darren Metcalfe
pointed out a few days ago on the list, you can save a bit of memory (like
4Mb!) by unloading the 16-bit emulation module in WinNT. (Note to other
NT'ers, this is unloaded by default on the Server edition of NT, but you'll
probably want to make sure that HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\
Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\LargeSystemCache is set to 0,
otherwise it wastes memory disk caching at the expense of virtual memory...)

  As I gather, OS/2 v3 is primarily 32-bit as well, with 16-bit modules
for emulation/backward compat.

  So, what kind of Apps can OS/2 run? Well, it can run 32-bit OS/2 binaries
that use the Presentation Manager GUI. It can also run 16-bit Windows 3.0
and 3.1 apps.

  It can't run 32-bit Windows-GUI applications.

  See, Microsoft did this weird thing. They came up with a whole new interface
to the OS for 32-bit apps. It's similar to the 16-bit OS functions, but
different in many ways. It's called Win32.

  Even Windows 3.0 can't run a 32-bit windows application. Windows 3.1 and
WfW (Windows for Workgroups, or Windows for Weenies after a bad day...)
can't run 32-bit apps out of the box. They need something called the Win32s
package. What Win32s is is a collection of library upgrades and additions
to slap (some of) the new 32-bit OS code into the sorta-16-sorta-32-bit
Windows OSes. The LightWave install includes this, and puts it on your
system if you need it.

  OS/2v3 does not have the capabilities of Win32 built into it, nor can
you just install the Win32s package onto OS/2. At least, no one has made it
work. IBM might pull a rabbit out of the hat, but it gets into some legal
junk at that point too.

  So where does this leave LightWavers? Well, Lightwave Intel is a Win32
32-bit application. It's the only sane way to write a modern app under Win.
Frankly, I'm surprised people ever got any programming done with the 16-bit
Windows interface. 32-bit apps are faster and easier to program. And, some
of the new capabilities of the recent Microsoft OSes (multithreaded apps,
etc) are only available through the Win32 interface.

  This means that LW will at this time only run on OSes that have Win32
built in, or have the Win32s package installed. OS/2 is not at this time
capable of either.

  Sidenote: The s in Win32s means it is a Subset of the full-blown Win32.
I don't believe the currently available Win32s for W3.1/WfW3.11 is capable
of some of the advanced Win32 tricks like multithreading. WindowsNT is
currently the only MS OS that supports the full Win32. Win95 incorporates
some of the Win32 directly into the OS (so you don't need to install the
Win32s) but last I heard it still didn't have the whole shebang.


#############################################################################
                                    Summary

  In short, Lightwave and other 32-bit Windows apps use new capapbilities
that are available in Windows NT and Win95, and can be retrofitted into
Win3.1 and Wfw3.11, but are not currently available or retrofittable
into OS/2v3-Warp.

#############################################################################




  I hope I managed to clarify this mess somewhat and not just muddy the waters
further. If this helped anyone, let me know.

  Weird footnote: Has anyone else noticed that the new packaging for
Allergen (I think...) contact lens cleaning products has a spiral-ray logo
almost identical to the new LightWave logo? Wonder who got to it first?
Of course, I think David Brin has precedence -- he described such an
emblem as the "Galactic Library" logo in his book _Startide Rising_ a few
years ago. ;)


> Dean
> [e-mail] sent this message.

Chris - Xenon
--
 Chris Hanson | [e-mail] | I've got friends in low latitudes!
 "There is no Truth. There is only Perception. To Perceive is to Exist." - Xen
--
[e-mail] (Christopher Eric Hanson) () sent this message.
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