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- Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
- Path: sparky!uunet!paladin.american.edu!auvm!HUJIVMS!SHALEV
- Message-ID: <NOTABENE%92091223241681@TAUNIVM>
- Date: Sat, 12 Sep 92 23:23:00 +0200
- Sender: Nota Bene List <NOTABENE@TAUNIVM>
- From: Michael Shalev <SHALEV@HUJIVMS>
- Subject: Multitaskers
- Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene
- Lines: 35
-
-
- by other people, naturally) is exciting. So too is the current
- discussion of multitaskers. I would very much welcome seeing more
- extended comments (general ones to the list, or specific things
- directed to me personally) on the pros and cons of Desqview (DV),
- DV/X, and OS/2--given that one's main application will be NB4.
-
- Those uninterested in the topic, delete this message now! For the rest
- of you, I'll describe my own situation. I'm currently using DV on a
- fast 486 machine with 4 megs of RAM and an oldish (sluggish) VGA card
- and screen. Typically, I will auto-load NB, Norton Commander and
- Quattro Pro (in graphical "wisywig mode") as my core apps. DV
- functions for me mainly just as a (very fast) task-switcher, but I do
- need it to actually multitask in two situations: when downloading a
- sizable file, or doing major number-crunching with SAS. (I shoould add
- though that neither of these operations can be relied on to work
- flawlessly, even after much tweaking).
-
- Here comes the confession of a SIN: my copy of DV is (as someone on
- this list recently put it) "borrowed". But--I'm ready to shell out
- some money and make an honest man of myself. So what to do? Right now
- I use no Windows applications and Win would put a big strain on my
- video hardware, so that route is not even worth considering (even
- though I am actually a legal owner of the thing). DV "Classic" is
- yesterday's technology. DV/X appears to replicate its capacities and
- add (among other things) the ability to run text-based DOS programs
- (read, NB, NC, Kermit) in proportionally-sized windows. On the other
- hand, OS/2 is apparently the only REAL multitasker of the bunch. But
- can it do DV/X's windowing tricks? How much of my hard disk will it
- grab? And finally, can either DV/X or OS/2 be implemented with only
- 4mb of RAM?
-
- Any feedback much appreciated.
-
- ..Michael
-