is it 32bit like windows9x and can i use a 3dfx voodoo3 3500 video card and how much is it

According to IBM, "OS/2 Warp is an advanced 32-bit operating system that runs both 16-bit and 32-bit applications on systems with as little as 4 MB of memory. OS/2 Warp is a multitasking operating system that runs DOS, OS/2, and [some] Windows 32-bit applications." OS/2 isn't supported by IBM anymore, because they sold the license to another company, Serenity Systems International, which has renamed it eComStation. Nevertheless, if you can handle the often difficult installation procedure, I've heard OS/2 Warp is well worth the effort. Some advantages to OS/2 Warp: It hardly ever crashes. It's arguably more stable than Windows 2000. Driver support is fairly good, but I would recommend calling your graphics card company about compatibility. IBM probably has a driver for it, but it may be just good enough to give you 640x480 with 256 colors. A lot of developers that are now focused on Linux have experience with OS/2, and ported versions of many programs (GIMP, McIDAS, PageMaker) exist and are being updated. You can run most Windows programs in OS/2 if you have the right DLLs (similarly, you can run surprisingly many OS/2 programs in Windows NT4). I've heard that even MS Office 2000 will work. OS/2 Warp uses the HPFS file system, which is similar to Windows' NTFS but probably superior. The little-known OS/2 Warp 5.0 and eComStation use an even better file system called JFS, which is a journaling file system, similar to ReiserFS for Linux. OS/2 has a powerful Command-Line User Interface (CLUE) that allows the user to do much more than the DOS shell will allow. You can even run the command prompt full screen if this pleases you. Despite its powerful CLUE, OS/2 uses its Graphical User Interface (called "PMS") to perform many tasks that are still text-based in Windows 2000. For example, you can see the actual desktop of one OS/2 computer from another with a Java-based utility called "Desktop On Call". Java is big in OS/2, and the integration is better than with any other OS. There is a chance that if eComStation doesn't turn a profit, the operating system may become open-sourced (in several years, that is), and if this happens OS/2 will be competing with Linux. The manual that comes with OS/2 Warp 4.0 is over 1,200 pages long, so you won't often have to search the Internet for answers to basic problems. Disadvantages to OS/2 Warp: It is incredibly difficult to install and to update. Even in 1994, IBM admitted in their 1,200-page manual that there were bugs in the installer that they didn't have time to fix. You need to have a hard drive with LESS than 8 GB to install Warp ... you can update it after installation to recognize larger drives, but during installation it simply won't work. Linux developers may have OS/2 versions of their programs available, but for the most part the OS/2 user base is concentrated in Germany and a few other European countries, and not in the USA. OS/2 software is very hard to find, even if it's freeware. One version of OS/2 is called "WSOD" ("Warp Server (something something)", which most people know also stands for "White Screen of Death", something that happens when you make a mistake flashing your computer's BIOS. Once IBM's marketing team realized that Microsoft was going to win with Windows, they focused their OS/2 advertisements on large businesses and banks, not individual home users. It is likely that Serenity Systems will do the same. OS/2 Warp 4.0 is out of date — it's like the counterpart to Windows NT 4.0. Warp 4.0 can usually be bought for $ 30 or so, but the eComStation version costs $ 350 from Serenity. Serenity Systems International is essentially an unknown company with no proven history. IBM has been around for over 100 years. There is a chance that future versions of eComStation will not have support for Windows applications as did OS/2. Judging by Serenity's non-existent reputation, there is a chance that there may not be any future versions of eComStation at all.

lispeb.....wow....that's some reply to a one line question. nice & informative effort.

thanks for the help

Hi there, I've noticed what I believe to be several inaccuracies in Lispeb's post (snippage not explicitly mentioned): > OS/2 isn't supported by IBM anymore, because they sold the license to another > company, Serenity Systems International, which has renamed it eComStation. Not quite right. OS/2 is still in fee-based support from IBM, mainly for the benefit of their large accounts. They have not sold the license to Serenity (which happens to be 'Serenity Systems International', SSI). To be precise, SSI has acquired the right to develop and distribute a new bundling of OS/2, targeted at the SOHO and home user market. > It hardly ever crashes. It's arguably more stable than Windows 2000. Correct. > Driver support is fairly good, but I would recommend calling your graphics card > company about compatibility. IBM probably has a driver for it, but it may be > just good enough to give you 640x480 with 256 colors. You're in luck with your card. I have a Voodoo 3 2000 (which is just the same thing as your card) and it runs like a charm at 1024*748*lotsa colors at 100 Hz. > A lot of developers that are now focused on Linux have experience with OS/2, and > ported versions of many programs (GIMP, McIDAS, PageMaker) exist and are being updated. Lispeb, I'm not aware of ongoing developement of PageMaker and have never heard of McIDAS. Could you please care to provide links? Thanks. > You can run most Windows programs in OS/2 if you have the right DLLs (similarly, > you can run surprisingly many OS/2 programs in Windows NT4). I've heard that > even MS Office 2000 will work. Or, to put it more concise: OS/2 runs all Windows 3.x programs out of the box, most Win32s progs (up to Win32s 1.25). Furthermore, there's an implementation of a Win32 binary translator called ODIN, with which many Win32 apps can be run. It's getting better all the time, details can be found at http://odin.netlabs.org. > OS/2 Warp uses the HPFS file system, which is similar to Windows' NTFS but > probably superior. The little-known OS/2 Warp 5.0 and eComStation use an even > better file system called JFS, which is a journaling file system, similar to > ReiserFS for Linux. Note that the architecture of OS/2 allows for 'pluggable' file systems (terminus technicus: installable file system, 'IFS'). There are some nifty things to be done with this technology, check out http://www.abyte.de/os/os2ifs.htm. (Damn, I just noticed that the page is mostly in German, you might want to use the fish or do some hunting youself, sorry). Anyhow, IFS is a way cool thing. > OS/2 has a powerful Command-Line User Interface (CLUE) that allows the user to > do much more than the DOS shell will allow. You can even run the command prompt > full screen if this pleases you. Though I don't regard this as a technological marvel. What is noteworthy is that OS/2 includes a very powerful batch language called REXX. Blows 'Windows Scripting Host' clear out of the water. > Despite its powerful CLUE, OS/2 uses its Graphical User Interface (called "PMS") > to perform many tasks that are still text-based in Windows 2000. Oops, that should be 'WPS', for 'WorkPlace Shell'. And OS/2's GUI is still the most powerful ever. Another _GREAT_ thing about OS/2 is that all maintainance work can be done on the command line, making it very easy to remote-support. This is a real boon when you only have a 9.6k line going into the middle of nowhere where a server is acting up. > For example, you can see the actual desktop of one OS/2 computer from another > with a Java-based utility called "Desktop On Call". Java is big in OS/2, and the > integration is better than with any other OS. The utility is not Java based. It enables you to remote control a computer with any Java-enabled browser. It's not a core part of OS/2, but eCS will be distributed with it as a goodie. It's possible to purchase DToC from IBM seperately. > There is a chance that if eComStation doesn't turn a profit, the operating > system may become open-sourced (in several years, that is), and if this happens > OS/2 will be competing with Linux. That's speculative. > Disadvantages to OS/2 Warp: > You need to have a hard drive with LESS than 8 GB to install Warp ... you can > update it after installation to recognize larger drives, but during installation > it simply won't work. I beg to differ. Though you have to get some fixes before installation, I've installed OS/2 on disks >30 GB with no problems. There are some caveats though: OS/2 has to have it's bootable parts in the first 1024 sectors of the disk (as do all versions of Windows, and Linux if LILO doesn't trick around for it). > Linux developers may have OS/2 versions of their programs available, but for the > most part the OS/2 user base is concentrated in Germany and a few other European > countries, and not in the USA. OS/2 software is very hard to find, even if it's > freeware. A good place to check for OS/2 software is http://hobbes.nmsu.edu. There aren't many vendors of commercial software left, but there's enough to keep my computer busy. I do all my work with OS/2. > One version of OS/2 is called "WSOD" ("Warp Server (something something)", which 'WorkSpace on Demand', a lean client concept originally developed on OS/2, now also available for Windows. Not interesting for the home user, but very nice for huge installations. > most people know also stands for "White Screen of Death", something that happens > when you make a mistake flashing your computer's BIOS. I fail to see the connection. > Once IBM's marketing team realized that Microsoft was going to win with Windows, > they focused their OS/2 advertisements on large businesses and banks, not > individual home users. It is likely that Serenity Systems will do the same. No! IBM is still serving the large customers with OS/2, while SSI has taken it upon themselves to serve the SOHO and home user. SSI is in no position to fool around with IBM's key accounts. > OS/2 Warp 4.0 is out of date   it's like the counterpart to Windows NT 4.0. Warp > 4.0 can usually be bought for $ 30 or so, but the eComStation version costs > $350 from Serenity. Technologically, Warp 4 is not out of date, though the original distribution media will need a whole slew of fixpaks before being up to date. There's an offer limited till March 31st (I think) to upgrade Warp 4 to eCS at a lower price. > Serenity Systems International is essentially an unknown company with no proven > history. IBM has been around for over 100 years. And we've seen how a behemoth simply ignores it's assets and lets great technology go to naught. I've gotten the impression that SSI really wants eCS to succeed, since their business depends on it. A large part of the discussion on the eCS mailing list revolves around getting new users to migrate to eCS - something IBM hasn't attempted for years and never will again. > There is a chance that future versions of eComStation will not have support for > Windows applications as did OS/2. Not by any chance. There will be nothing taken out of OS/2, just a bunch of things added (this is a statement by SSI). Tried-and-true DOS and Windows 3.x support is in there to stay, while the Win32 efforts (Odin) are an open source project anyway. > Judging by Serenity's non-existent reputation, there is a chance that there may > not be any future versions of eComStation at all. Serenity is working on bringing out a demo of eCS. It should be ready around March at the latest and the news of it will surely come around to this group (you might also want to check out http://en.os2.org/news), so you could have a look at it then with little financial involvement. (leave out Pi to reply, keep the dot)

Good come back Andy. I've noticed Lispeb has made a number of similar replies to newbies, I'm still learning my self, interested in finding info on Warp. It's a pity he does'nt tell the FULL story and mybe putting people off trying it out for themselves. I got my copy of Warp 3 a number of years ago and was inpressed by it's the superior programming compared with Windows, ie less bloat. So when an Australian PC Mag had Warp 4 on a cover CD I grabbed not one but two copies of it. There ARE plenty of proggies for it, they may not be as PRETTY as Windows ones but they get the job done.

Thanks, Mark P! Nice to see that my input got acknowledged. BTW, I've seen it in a newer post that Lispeb has referred to this one (http://computing.net/os2/wwwboard/forum/611.html) to correct some of his statements - he's not bad at all, he just needs to get off his 'try Linux' trip.