89C51ED2

[krw]

Reminds me. What was IBM's GUI ? Many say it was vastly superior to Windows. I've seen it
once or twice. Wasn't it 32 bit from the off ? They fell out over it didn't they ?

The GUI was the WorkPlace Shell, part of OS/2. It was vastly
superior to anything today including Linux, but that's another
argument. ;-) The original (1.x) was 16bit, because the '286 was
still the target processor. While OS/2 was a good multi-tasker out
of the gate, it wasn't until 3.0 that it blew the doors off DOS/Win.

IBM and M$ fell out over NT. M$ was contracted to do OS/2 V3 but
reneged and did NT3 instead.

 

[Eeyore]

it once or twice. Wasn't it 32 bit from the off ? They fell out over it didn't they ?

OS/2 wasn't 32 bit from the off, rather the opposite.

IBM insisted that OS/2 ran on brain dead 80286's in many soon to be
obsolete PS/2 boxes owned by their hardware customers. That crippled its
ability to run DOS applications.

At the same time Microsoft embraced the 80386 and its virtualisation
capabilities with Windows/386 and later Windows 3.0 which allowed you to
run and multitask many DOS application alongside native Windows
applications.

IMO IBM's decision to provide backwards hardware compatibility for boxes
that would be obsolete within months at the expensive of backwards software
compatibility for applications which would remain useful for many years was
one of the most profound in the history of personal computing. It
effectively killed the only competition Windows had allowing it to
establish an insurmountable user and application base which remains today.

Fascinating what you discover when these threads ramble on !

Graham

 

[Eeyore]

Would be the shortest marriage: "..until crash do we part."

Actually I had something more subtle in mind. The 'PC' simply runs some rock solid 'desktop'.
The app contains the OS embedded in it. Wasteful maybe but at least there's only one vendor to
blame.

Graham

 

[krw]

THe IBM gooie was called OS/2.

No, it wasn't. OS/2 was the operating system. The GUI was called
the "Workplace Shell", and ran on top of OS/2.

 

[krw]

Never noticed. Can you give an example ?

It worked. Remember compression in MS-DOS?

 

[Eeyore]

[email protected] says...

It worked. Remember compression in MS-DOS?

Never enabled it. It sounded stupid.

Graham

 

[krw]

Never enabled it. It sounded stupid.

In MS-DOS it was. That's just one example of many (that I've long
forgotten). MS didn't want to sell DOS. They were off onto
Winblows.

 

[Eeyore]

[email protected] says...

In MS-DOS it was. That's just one example of many (that I've long
forgotten). MS didn't want to sell DOS. They were off onto
Winblows.

I've sampled Linux and quite liked what I saw, especially 4 desktops in Ubuntu IIRC ! Perfect for
untidy sods like me. Unfortunately due to a hardware failure elsewhere I had to put windoze back
on it.

Another day, I just need another case and I can build one more. Got loads of bits.

Graham

 

[Eeyore]

untidy sods like me. Unfortunately due to a hardware failure elsewhere I had to put > windoze back on
it.

Don't you have anything like a local Freecycle group?

http://www.freecycle.org/group/UK/

Not aware of one round here. Actually there does seem to be one. Thanks. Not sure It's accepting my
Yahoo ID though. Ah - sorted now.

Graham

 

[Eeyore]

blame.

Not too wasteful, because only some of the "services" of the hundreds
in WinOSes would be needed, and theu could be put together from (maybe)
a Linux Distro...

Could this be a future model for computing ?

Graham

 

[krw]

I've sampled Linux and quite liked what I saw, especially 4 desktops in Ubuntu IIRC ! Perfect for
untidy sods like me. Unfortunately due to a hardware failure elsewhere I had to put windoze back
on it.

I used multiple desktops on AIX. I found it quite useful when I was
logged into multiple servers or doing very different jobs
simultaneously but never found it all that useful normally.
Multiple monitors, OTOH, are essential. Unfortunately that's why I
gave up on Linux. I couldn't get it to work on SuSE 10.0 and
couldn't get any usable desktop on Ubuntu. Perhaps now that my life
is getting closer to normal I'll give it another try. The hardware
(my Opteron system) isn't doing anything but taking up desk space.

Another day, I just need another case and I can build one more. Got loads of bits.

I have enough for three more systems. I have the bits for an HTPC
sitting in the closet too. Haven't had time to even take the pieces
out of their boxes.

 

[Rich Grise]

[email protected] says...

I used multiple desktops on AIX. I found it quite useful when I was
logged into multiple servers or doing very different jobs
simultaneously but never found it all that useful normally.
Multiple monitors, OTOH, are essential. Unfortunately that's why I
gave up on Linux. I couldn't get it to work on SuSE 10.0 and
couldn't get any usable desktop on Ubuntu. Perhaps now that my life
is getting closer to normal I'll give it another try. The hardware
(my Opteron system) isn't doing anything but taking up desk space.

I've never had a problem with Xinerama on Slackware. I'm using KDE
now, but I've also run fluxbox and fvwm with Xinerama.

Be careful, though - Slackware is a computer geek's distro; it's not
Aunt Tillie-friendly.

Cheers!
Rich

 

[MooseFET]

I've never had a problem with Xinerama on Slackware. I'm using KDE
now, but I've also run fluxbox and fvwm with Xinerama.

Be careful, though - Slackware is a computer geek's distro; it's not
Aunt Tillie-friendly.

Right now I'm using KDE3 on my SuSE-11. IMO KDE4 is not ready for
prime time and is harder to work with that KDE3.

Lately, I have been running Puppy Linux a lot. It is very tiny but at
the same time amazingly powerful. I have made a Live CD with Open
Office, LTSpice, Qcad, dosemu and a bunch of other stuff. It all fits
in 450Meg. The nice thing is that if I carry a memory stick and a CD
with me, in effect, I'm carrying my PC with me.

 

[Eeyore]

for untidy sods like me. Unfortunately due to a hardware failure elsewhere I had to > >> put windoze
back on it.

Right now I'm using KDE3 on my SuSE-11. IMO KDE4 is not ready for
prime time and is harder to work with that KDE3.

Lately, I have been running Puppy Linux a lot. It is very tiny but at
the same time amazingly powerful. I have made a Live CD with Open
Office, LTSpice, Qcad, dosemu and a bunch of other stuff. It all fits
in 450Meg. The nice thing is that if I carry a memory stick and a CD
with me, in effect, I'm carrying my PC with me.

Oh yes, I think I tried Puppy once. There'as a lot to be said for keeping things simple.

Graham

 

[MooseFET]

Oh yes, I think I tried Puppy once. There'as a lot to be said for keepingthings simple.

The new version Puppy_400 is far from simple but is certainly is
small. It seems to to everything needed.

Where I work we have a huge amount of DOS code that is used for
various things in manufacturing. Running these programs on something
you can run out and buy at the computer store became impossible when
XP came on the market. Under XP the serial ports always drop
characters and the timing is erratic. The same programs work vary
nicely under "dosemu".

Back in the days of DOS, programs could run in the "the machine is
mine" mode and do all sorts of things with hardware.