 Microsoft« Windows 95« - OEM
Service Release 2
Microsoft Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 (OSR 2) is an update to the
Microsoft Windows 95 operating system intended to add support for new and emerging
hardware, and to include various updates to Windows 95 which were formerly available
separately.
Because most of the new functionality in OSR 2 is applicable only to new
hardware devices, OSR 2 is only be available on new PCs. However, many components of OSR 2
are already, or soon will be available for download from the Internet.
The purpose of this document is to outline the features of Windows 95
OEM Service Release 2 and to identify which components are available to existing Windows
95 customers.
The following features will be covered in this document:
Features and Delivery Vehicles
Hardware
Support |
| Feature |
Description |
New PC |
Download |
| FAT32 |
Enhancements to the Windows 95 FAT file system designed to
efficiently support large hard disks, up to 2 Terabytes in size. Includes updates to
FDISK, Format, Scandisk, and Defrag disk utilities to support FAT32 partitions. |
Yes |
No |
| DriveSpace Update |
Windows 95 DriveSpace compression utility now supports
compressed volumes up to 2 GB in size. Note: DriveSpace compression is not supported on
FAT32 volumes. |
Yes |
No |
| Power Management Improvements |
Support for Advanced Power Management (APM) 1.2 BIOS,
wake-on-ring for modems, multi-battery PC's, drive spin down, and powering down of
inactive PCMCIA modems. |
Yes |
No |
| Storage Enhancements |
Support for IDE Bus Mastering, 120M Floptical disk drives,
removable IDE media, Zip drives, and CD Changers. Also adds the SMART predictive disk
failure API's. |
Yes |
No |
| PCMCIA Enhancements |
Adds support for new PC Card 32 (Cardbus) bridges, PCMCIA
cards that operate at 3.3 volts rather than 5 volts, multifunction PCMCIA network/modem
cards, and PCMCIA Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) devices. |
Yes |
No |
| CDFS Enhancements |
Support for ISO 9660 disks up to 4 GB in size, and CD-I
format CD-ROMs |
Yes |
No |
| PCI Bridging/Docking |
Support for PCI devices for use in PCI docking stations |
Yes |
No |
| IRQ Routing |
Support for new PCI interrupt routers. |
Yes |
No |
Internet and
Multimedia |
| Feature |
Description |
New PC |
Download |
| Internet Explorer 3.0 |
Microsoft's hot new Internet browser. Get the most from the
Internet with support for ActiveX, HTML style sheets, frames, Java and more. |
Yes |
Yes (IE 3.02) |
| Internet Connection Wizard |
A simple, easy to configure connection to worldwide
Internet Service Providers through a centralized service, as well as assistance in the
sign-up process. |
Yes |
Built into IE 3.02 |
| Internet Mail and News |
Send and receive email quickly with our new SMTP and POP3
mail client, and subscribe to your favorite newsgroups with our flexible newsreader. |
Yes |
Built into IE 3.02 |
| NetMeeting |
Make telephone calls over the Internet, including data calls with
several people. You can remotely view and control any program, share a whiteboard, chat,
and transfer files. |
Yes |
Built into IE 3.02 |
| Personal Web Server |
Allows publishing and hosting of HTML pages over the Internet/intranet. |
Yes |
Yes |
| DirectX 2.0 (including Direct 3D) |
High-performance 2D and 3D graphics, sound, input, and communications
for great games on virtually any PC. Will also ship with games that require it. Includes
some sound and display driver updates. |
Yes |
Yes
(DirectX 3.0a) |
| ActiveMovie |
Next generation video architecture for Microsoft Windows. Delivers high
quality and performance playback of video, including QuickTime and MPEG-1 formats. |
Yes |
Built into IE 3.02 |
| OpenGL |
Support libraries for OpenGL graphics standard, plus some cool screen
savers. |
Yes |
Available Soon |
| Intel MMX Support |
Support for third parties to build software that exploits the Intel
Pentium Multimedia Extensions (MMX) for fast audio and video support on the next
generation of Intel Pentium processor. |
Yes |
No |
Networking
and Communications |
| Feature |
Description |
New PC |
Download |
| Dial-Up Networking Improvements |
User interface enhancements, support for scripting, and
hands-free dial-up. Note: To get Dial-Up Networking Improvements download ISDN Accelerator
Pack 1.1. |
Yes |
Yes |
| Voice Modem Support |
Support for VoiceView and AT+V modems to allow switched
voice and data transmission to occur, and to allow the modem to answer voice calls. |
Yes |
Yes |
| Service for NetWare Directory Services |
Full client support for Novell NetWare 4.x, including
NetWare Directory Services. |
Yes |
Yes
(installation instructions for \patches\osr2\msnds\) |
| 32-bit DLC |
32 bit support for the Data Link Control protocol for SNA
host connectivity. |
Yes |
Yes |
| Infrared Support |
Support for Infrared Data Association (IrDA) 2.0 compliant
devices - includes Infrared LAN connectivity. |
Yes |
Yes |
| Desktop Management |
Support for Desktop Management Interface (DMI) 1.1 - allows
a desktop management application to monitor devices on the PC. |
Yes |
Available Soon |
| NDIS 4.0 |
Adds support for new NDIS 4.0 network interface card
drivers. |
Yes |
No |
Additional
Features |
| Feature |
Description |
New PC |
Download |
| Display enhancements |
Support for dynamically changing screen resolution and
color depth. Adapter refresh rate can also be set with most newer display driver chipsets. |
Yes |
Available Soon |
| Wang Imaging for Windows 95 |
View image data from a variety of different file formats,
including JPG, XIF, TIFF, BMP and FAX. Scan and annotate images with built-in TWAIN
scanner support and Imaging applet. |
Yes |
Yes |
| Fonts |
Support for HP LaserJet 4 grayscale fonts. |
Yes |
Available Soon |
| MSN 1.3 |
The latest version of the MSN client, which features
performance improvements. |
Yes |
Yes. Available from The Microsoft Network. |
| Fixes/updates |
Various Windows 95 updates including: updated OLE
components, enhanced Windows Messaging client with improved performance, and fixes to
Microsoft Fax. |
Yes |
Yes |
| Automatic Scandisk on boot |
In situations where the PC was not shut down normally,
Scandisk will automatically run at the next reboot in order to check for damaged files. |
Yes |
No |
| Online Services Folder |
Client software for America Online 3.0, CompuServe 3.0, CompuServe
WOW!, and AT&T Worldnet. |
Yes |
No |
⌐ 1996 Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, Windows NT and Win32 are registered trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation.
Other product and company names mentioned herin may be the trademarks of their respective
owners.
0996 |