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- Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!linac!uchinews!ellis!sip1
- From: sip1@ellis.uchicago.edu (Timothy F. Sipples)
- Subject: OS/2 2.1 Bugs Uncovered
- Message-ID: <1993Jan6.195924.20641@midway.uchicago.edu>
- Sender: news@uchinews.uchicago.edu (News System)
- Reply-To: sip1@midway.uchicago.edu
- Organization: Dept. of Econ., Univ. of Chicago
- Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 19:59:24 GMT
- Lines: 258
-
- I'm going to forward a copy of this report to CompuServe. Here it is
- on the Internet for those curious.
-
- ----------
-
- Here's a list of OS/2 2.1 beta bugs I have uncovered. If I've heard
- about the bug already it's not listed below. (Like references to OS/2
- Version 2.0 in various places.)
-
- First let me say that I am quite impressed with this beta release.
- The only major stumbling block was getting the desktop migrated
- properly. I tried installing OS/2 2.1 beta over an existing OS/2 2.0
- (plus Service Pak) installation. Not recommended, in my opinion. (I
- did delete every OS/2 file I could find, from an OS/2 floppy boot, but
- I left the twin INI files and the desktop directories on the hard
- disk. I renamed the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files as well. The
- beta did a decent job bringing the existing desktop forward, but there
- were a couple oddities. Details below.)
-
- (1) "Enable Print Manager" bug. In Win-OS/2's Control Panel ->
- Printers, the "Use Print Manager" checkbox is not functional. Try the
- following:
- 1. Uncheck the checkbox.
- 2. Try to close everything up. You get "Print Manager is
- still running. You must close Print Manager before you can disable
- it." So far so good.
- 3. Close Printer Manager.
- 4. Close Win-OS/2 desktop.
- 5. Restart Win-OS/2 desktop.
- 6. Print Manager is loaded -- shouldn't happen.
- 7. Go to Win-OS/2's Control Panel -> Printers.
- 8. Check the checkbox.
- 9. You get "Print Manager is still running. You must close
- Printer Manager before you can disable it." Again, shouldn't happen
- -- it makes no sense, since you are reenabling Print Manager at this
- point.
-
- (2) The beta fails to recognize a Trident 8900C 512K adapter. This
- adapter supports 640x480 in 256 colors (at least). SVGA ON, whether
- executed by Selective Install or manually, does not list this mode in
- SVGADATA.PMI. The card is recognized only as a 256K adapter.
-
- (3) Sytos Plus still fails to operate under the beta. (It broke with
- the Service Pak.) Hardware: Compaq 150/250 tape drive (Wangtek 150MB
- PC-02 equivalent). Locks the system hard midway through backup --
- CTRL-ALT-DEL, Shutdown, and CTRL-ALT-NumLock all nonfunctional.
-
- (4) Selective Install has a problem. On this system that fails to
- identify a Trident 8900C 512K adapter (problem in BVHSVGA.DLL?),
- selecting Selective Install, checking the checkbox next to Primary
- Display (to install SuperVGA support) and continuing yields a dialog
- that says something like, "Adapter does not support attempted video
- mode -- Continue?" However, this dialog does not appear in the
- foreground. Instead, the Window List pops up and this dialog is
- buried beneath another window.
-
- (5) Wrong pointer when flipping through notebook pages. Select Open
- -> Settings for the OS/2 Desktop (by clicking with mouse button two on
- the desktop background) or for any print object. Flip through the
- pages by repeated clicking on the right arrow (lower right). With
- both notebooks, the first time the General page is displayed the mouse
- pointer is the character insert bar, not the arrow. Move the mouse
- pointer off the arrows, then back on -- now the mouse pointer is the
- correct type. With the OS/2 Desktop notebook, this also occurs on
- File page. Evidentally the mouse pointer is not being properly
- initialized on those pages.
-
- (6) Extraneous files dumped in root directory. These files include:
- XGA$DMQS directory (installed even on non-XGA system)
- ACLLOCK.LST
- ATTRIB
- OS2DUMP
- REXX
- SYMBOLE.FON (also placed in \OS2\INSTALL -- what is this
- file?)
-
- (7) Enabling DELDIR environment variable (DOS, OS/2) causes traps.
-
- (8) Desktop migration problems from previous version.
- (a) Shadow of README file installed in Information Folder even
- when it already exists.
- (b) Two duplicate templates installed in Templates Folder.
- (c) Neither Win-OS/2 3.1 Setup object nor notebook settings for
- program objects had WIN_RUNMODE (or similar) control; Selective
- Install of DOS and Win-OS/2 support required to get it.
-
- (9) Line DEVINFO=SCR,VGA,C:\OS2\VIOTBL.DCP not placed in CONFIG.SYS.
-
- (10) Examples buttons in online Command Reference still require double
- click. (This violates CUA '91 guidelines; buttons should be single
- click. Either change to pale blue hypertext links, perhaps with some
- sort of highlighting, or change to single click.)
-
- (11) In the online Command Reference, the MODE COMx information is
- vastly improved. However, there are three inconsistencies that
- remain. In one of the Examples, the TO parameter is described
- incorrectly. The example says that TO=ON enables write infinite
- processing (disables the 60 second timeout). This is not correct, and
- it is contrary to the information obtained by double clicking on the
- TO parameter in the main screen (which is correct). Also, the OCTS
- Example is incorrect (in similar fashion -- it has it backwards).
- This error is duplicated in the example given when you double click on
- the OCTS parameter in the main screen and scroll down through the
- window. (The contradiction is made there right in the same window!)
-
- (12) Cosmetic errors in "Start Here" program.
- (a) Start Here -> Customizing Your Desktop
- "Desktop:description" should be "Desktop, description"
- (b) Start Here -> Doing Everyday Tasks
- Under "Working with Objects," "Objects:types of" should be
- "Objects, types of"
- (c) Start Here -> Using the Help Facility
- Under "Related information," "Help Menu Bar Choice."
- should have the trailing period removed.
-
- (13) At install time, there is no warning message displayed when the
- system is building the desktop. A "Please wait..." would be helpful.
-
- (14) Install still has various problems in user friendliness. For
- example, the Logitech Mouse selection should refer to specific mouse
- models (it should say "Logitech C7 and C9 Serial, Mouse Systems PC
- Mouse Serial, or Compatibles"). Include some good instructions in the
- manual along with this change. Also, the new master device setup
- dialog, while much improved, is still confusing. It isn't clear how
- to make changes -- it takes some time to figure out that you check the
- boxes of the items that you want to alter. It is probably the case
- that you want the printer option checked by default. Also, there are
- not enough "Please wait..." messages. (For example, after migrating
- applications and building the Win-OS/2 desktop, you click OK on a
- dialog to continue. This itself is confusing, but then the hard drive
- churns for quite some time, interpreting the existing desktop
- evidently, with no indication as to what is happening.)
-
- Dialogs also like to pop up at unexpected times. The classic example
- is where you check "Migrate applications" and "Create Win-OS/2
- desktop" (or similar) at that dialog, then select OK. The Win-OS/2
- desktop dialog comes up, then, about three seconds later, the Migrate
- Applications dialog comes up. It is easy to get confused here and to
- start trying to deal with the Win-OS/2 desktop dialog.
-
- (15) Tutorial violates CUA guidelines. In the initial screen, it
- should have a grayed out "Previous" button to the left of the "Next"
- button. This prevents having to move the mouse after clicking on
- "Next." Might be similar violation at last page of Tutorial (not
- checked).
-
- (16) Various references to "Windows" or "Microsoft Windows" instead of
- "Win-OS/2" or "IBM Win-OS/2."
- (a) Program Manager -> Help -> Win-OS/2 Tutorial.
- The entire Tutorial refers to "Windows" throughout. Change,
- if possible, to "Win-OS/2."
- (b) Open a DOS full screen command prompt. Try to execute any
- of the applets directly (e.g. PROGMAN). You get:
- "This program requires Microsoft Windows."
- First off, is there any way to change that message in the
- applets you ship to:
- "This program requires IBM Win-OS/2 or Microsoft Windows"?
- Better yet, can you get such applications to run, by starting
- up a Win-OS/2 desktop?
- Other, third party applications will contain this wired-in
- message, no doubt. Is there any way to prevent that? (Getting them
- to run would be ideal, of course.)
- (c) The help screens for Registration Info Editor
- (REGEDIT.EXE) include references to Windows. Change to Win-OS/2.
- (d) The following text or Write files refer to Windows 3.1,
- Windows, or Microsoft Windows and possibly contain information which
- is not applicable to OS/2:
- NETWORKS.WRI
- PRINTERS.WRI
- SYSINI.WRI
- WININI.WRI
- README.ATM
- SETUP.TXT
- (e) Type WINOS2 /R from full screen DOS command line. Gives
- message: "This version of Windows..." Change to "Win-OS/2." By the
- way, what happened to real mode?
-
- (17) Program Manager -> Help -> About Program Manager. (Or the About
- screens from many other applets.) "Your serial number label is on the
- inside back cover..." Make darn sure that this manual actually exists
- in the shrinkwrap, and that it does indeed contain the serial number
- in the specified location.
-
- (18) Print Manager did not start in second, separate Win-OS/2 desktop.
- Could not replicate.
-
- (19) Entering WINOS2 from the command line of a DOS window causes that
- window to stall (but it can be shut down from the Window List). Is
- there any way to change that behavior?
-
- (20) Starting the "DOS from Drive A:" object in the Command Prompts
- folder when there's no floppy disk in the drive results in a task
- which cannot be killed from the Window List (although the system keeps
- running). This prevents Shutdown (Shutdown won't go through when
- there's a zombie process -- can this be fixed, too?). Automatic
- application restart brings it right back up as well, so the
- CTRL-SHIFT-F1 trick at bootup is required to keep it from restarting.
-
- (21) "Win-OS/2 Window" setting (in program object settings) not grayed
- out when driver does not support such operation. (This may be
- peculiar to my system due to the aborted driver install, due to the
- system's inability to correctly identify a Trident 8900C 512K
- adapter.)
-
- (22) Some minor screen corruption problems with full screen Win-OS/2.
- Hard to replicate consistently.
-
- (23) Arrange from the Desktop menu does not prompt for "Are you sure?"
- Can you add this? Just add it for any work area -- it isn't
- necessary, I think, for regular folders. How about: "You are about to
- Arrange the work area (name; fill in the blank). Continue?"
- OK/Cancel.
-
- (24) Can a confirmation for CTRL-ALT-DEL be added? I recommend:
- "Press CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot the system without saving your desktop,
- ESC to abort."
-
- (25) Hard lockup suffered with Copy Disk for Drive B -> CTRL-BREAK
- when window appears. Could not replicate.
-
- (26) Can the Copy Disk feature copy to the same diskette (e.g. Drive A
- to Drive A) if the drives use different media sizes? Better yet, can
- this be selectable using a dialog (user selects source and target
- drives, OK/Cancel)?
-
- (27) Sometimes text windows (OS/2, DOS) open with the contents of the
- window shifted about half a character to the left of the extent of the
- borders. Screen image available on request.
-
- (28) MSD.EXE shipped with Win-OS/2 requires DOS version fake to
- operate. Should add MSD.EXE,5,0,255 to default DOS_VERSION, or remove
- the version check in MSD.EXE (best).
-
- (29) Include tab on OS/2 Desktop notebook settings still does not have
- page numbers (e.g. "1 of 2") at lower right -- there are two pages for
- the Include section.
-
- (30) Type QBASIC /EDIT from a DOS session. "Cannot find EDIT.HLP
- file." Since QBASIC /EDIT is now included in the migration database
- for applications, should this file be added to \OS2\MDOS?
-
- (31) File IBM2M57.ADD placed in \OS2 on non-IBM machines.
-
- (32) Selective Install still prompts for all diskettes, 6 through 19
- (on the 3.5 inch set; the corresponding ones in the 5.25 set) even
- when it requires only a few or one file from a few or one diskette.
- Can this be made more efficient?
-
- That's it for now.
-
- Timothy F. Sipples
- Internet: sip1@ellis.uchicago.edu
-
- --
- Timothy F. Sipples | Read the OS/2 FAQ List 2.0h, available from
- sip1@ellis.uchicago.edu | 128.123.35.151, anonymous ftp, in /pub/os2/all/info
- Dept. of Econ., Univ. | /faq, or from LISTSERV@BLEKUL11.BITNET (send "HELP")
- of Chicago, 60637 | [Read the List, THEN post to ONE OS/2 newsgroup.]
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