In <Bz2wD1.Ft8@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> cmick@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Baldy) writes:
>I am not very familiar with OS/2. From what I understand (I don't know if
>this is correct) one thing it does is gets rid of the DOS's 640k memory problem. I get tired of messing with EMM386 and all those other memory problems, just
>to run certain things. Is it true that with OS/2 you don't have those
>problems? I have 4 megs of Ram, which I also understand isn't quite enough
>to run OS/2 effectivly, but I also get the feeling I'm not getting full use
>out of them.
OS/2 doesn't have the memory limitations of MS-DOS. When you run
programs in a DOS box, you simply tell the box how much
extended/expanded memory to make available to the application. And
you probably need at least twice as much RAM. 4 MB really isn't
enough. I've run OS/2 in 6 MB and it seems a little sluggish, even
there.
>Also, do _all_ MSDOS applications run in OS/2? I'm willing to get more ram
>for OS/2 if I don't have to worry about DOS's 640k memory problems.
No, it won't run all MS-DOs applications, but it will run most of
them. The ones it won't run are things like programs that use their
own 32-bit extenders (like the DOS port of GNU C -- but there's a full
port of GCC for OS/2, so that's not a problem), things that use VCPI
for access to memory above 640k, some things that want to directly
access unusual hardware. Note that the DOS box still has the 640k
limit -- that's inherent in the PROGRAMS. However, there's a simple
graphical control page that you bring up where you specify how much
memory to give to what.
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world." -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
