VOGONS


First post, by fosterwj03

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I decided to spend some time with OS/2 Version 2.0 on my Pentium 4 Retro Rocket this last week. I haven’t seen much discussion on-line about getting such an early version of OS/2 running in any sort of optimum configuration on semi-modern hardware, so I decided to document some observations here. Sorry for the long post.

Bottom line up front:
- OS/2 2.0 can identify, partition, and format large IDE drives (greater than 128GB in size) with IBM’s updated disk drivers from 2003
- OS/2 2.0 can use IDE optical drives with IBM’s updated disk adapter drivers from 2003
- OS/2 2.0 can display at ultra-high resolutions and color depths with Service Pack XR06100 and OS/2 2.x display drivers for compatible hardware
- OS/2 2.0 can provide multimedia capabilities (16-bit audio and MIDI playback) with the MMPM 1.1 package from OS/2 2.1
- OS/2 2.0 can provide rudimentary TCP/IP support and applications with a compatible PCI network card (ISA cards as well)

Hardware in the build:
- Motherboard: DFI/Itox G7S620 (Intel 865P Chipset)
SATA ports set to emulate the Primary IDE channel in the BIOS
AC97 Audio Disabled
On-board LANs (2x Realtek RTL8110) disabled
“OS Select for DRAM > 64MB” set to “OS/2” in the BIOS
- Processor: Pentium D 945 (3.4GHz, 2 Core, 2 Thread)
- Primary IDE Master (SATA Port 1): SATA-to-SD Adapter; 16GB SD Card
- Secondary IDE Master: Generic DVD-ROM Drive
- Secondary IDE Slave: Generic CD-RW Drive
- Floppy: Gotek with FlashFloppy Firmware
- Display: Compaq QVision 2000+ (PCI, Matrox Impression Plus Chipset, 4MB VRAM)
- Audio: Sound Blaster 16 (ISA, CT2230)
- Networking: Dlink DFE-500TX (PCI; DEC 81140 Chipset)

Software:
- Initial OS: OS/2 2.0 General Availability (GA) Installed from Floppy
- Service Pack: XR06100 Installed from Floppy
- MMPM from OS/2 2.1 GA
- LAPS 2.1
- TCP/IP 2.1
- Windows Libraries for OS/2 Version 1.0

Drivers:
- IBM’s Updated Floppy Driver (IBM1FLPY.ADD) from 2003
- IBM’s Updated IDE Adapter Driver (IBM1S506.ADD) from 2003
- IBM’s Updated IDE CD-ROM Filter Driver (IBMIDECD.FLT) from 2003
- IBM’s Updated Disk Management Driver (DASD16.DMD replaces OS2DASD.DMD) from 2003
- IBM’s Updated CD Management Driver (OS2CDROM.DMD) from 2003
- Dlink DFE-500TX OS/2 NDIS2 Driver
- Matrox MGA OS/2 Driver Version 2.1
- Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 Driver Version 2.20

Initial Installation:
1) I started with the original OS/2 2.0 GA Floppy set from REMOVED.
2) I replaced the “IBM1FLPY.ADD” file on Disk 1 with the version from 2003 to overcome the timing loop error that prevents OS/2 from installing from a floppy drive on fast systems.
3) I replaced the “IBM1S506.ADD” and “OS2DASD.DMD” files on Disk 1 with the versions from 2003 to identify, partition, format, and install on a large disk drive (theoretically, a partition up to 500GB)
4) I booted from the Installation disk and proceed through Disk 1 to the Setup screens.
5) I exited from Setup (once pressing F3 became available to exit) to the OS/2 prompt.
6) I started FDISK.EXE from Disk 1 and created two partitions: 1x 2GB primary partition for the OS and 1x 2GB extended partition for drivers and software.
7) I restarted the computer and booted from the Installation disk and Disk 1 again. When available, I exited to the command prompt a second time.
8 ) I switched to Disk 2 in the Gotek and ran the FORMAT command on both partitions: HPFS for the primary boot partition and FAT16 for the extended partition. HPFS takes a super long time to format in OS/2 2.0. I format partitions outside of the Setup program because I’ve found it a little buggy in the past.
9) I restarted the computer again from the Installation disk for a third time and I proceeded through the initial installation of the OS without reformatting the boot partition.
10) After transferring the system files to prepare for installation, I rebooted with the Installation disk a fourth time. When available, I exited to the command prompt again.
11) Setup did not copy the updated floppy, IDE, and disk management drivers to the hard drive. I copied “IBM1FLPY.ADD”, “IBM1S506.ADD”, and “OS2DASD.DMD” to the “C:\OS2” directory. I removed the floppy from the drive (i.e. removed the USB key from the Gotek), and restarted the computer.
12) I proceeded through the GUI portion of the OS/2 2.0 setup and installed all available components except WIN-OS2 (I’ll explain why later).
13) I completed the installation and booted to a fresh OS/2 desktop.

Updating OS/2 2.0 GA:
1) I prepared a set of Service Pack disks from the XR06100 package (17 floppies).
2) I modified Disk 2 from the Service Pack by replacing “IBM1FLPY.ADD” with the version from 2003 to overcome the timing loop error that prevents OS/2 from installing from a floppy drive on fast systems. The disk did not have room to replace “IBM1S506.ADD” and “OS2DASD.DMD”, but the original Service Pack drivers ended up working well enough to service OS/2 as I partitioned the drive.
3) I booted the computer using Disk 1 of the Service Pack, and I proceeded through the update.
4) After completing the Service Pack installation, I rebooted without a floppy to an updated OS/2 desktop.

Multimedia Installation:
1) I turned the computer off to remove the SD card.
2) I used my daily driver computer to put drivers, software, and updates on the SD card’s FAT16 partition.
3) I re-inserted the SD card into the Retro Rocket and started the computer.
4) I navigated to the FAT16 partition (D: drive) and found the 2003 IBM disk drivers. I copied “IBMIDECD.FLT” and “OS2CDROM.DMD” to the “C:\Os2” directory.
5) I next edited “CONFIG.SYS” by adding the following lines to operate the optical drives:

IFS=CDFS.IFS /Q REM Already included in OS/2 2.0
BASEDEV=IBMIDECD.FLT
DEVICE=C:\Os2\OS2CDROM.DMD

6) I restarted the computer and two optical drives appeared in the “Drives” folder.
7) I next navigated to the D: drive where I placed the MMPM setup directory from Os/2 2.1. I launched MINSTALL.EXE and selected “Sound Blaster” and “CD Player” from the list of drivers.
8 ) During the Sound Blaster portion of the MINSTALL, I selected “Sound Blaster Pro 16” from the list and proceeded through installation. I restarted the computer after installation.
9) Sound didn’t work after the install. I next navigated to the updated Sound Blaster 16 drivers I placed on the D: drive and copied “SB16D2.SYS” to the “C:\MMOS2” directory and “SOUNDB16.DLL” to the “C:\MMOS2\DLL” directory.
10) I next edited the MMPM2.INI file in “C:\MMOS2” per the README.TXT file that came with the Sound Blaster 16 driver.
11) I restarted OS/2, and sound and FM synthesis functioned as expected. Analog CD audio did not play though the Sound Blaster 16, but OS/2’s digital CD audio did play through the Sound Blaster 16.

Display Installation:
Note: Very few video cards support the 16-bit video capabilities that shipped with OS/2 2.0 GA. Service Pack XR06100 updates OS/2 2.0 with 32-bit video capabilities. This service pack allows display drivers written for OS/2 2.1 (32-bit) to run on OS/2 2.0. Unfortunately, these drivers likely expect “Windows 3.1” for “WIN-OS2”. These drivers might (and in my case did in earlier tests) break WIN-OS2 functionality in OS/2 2.0 since it shipped with “Windows 3.0”. That’s why I didn’t bother to install WIN-OS2.

1) I next navigated to the Matrox OS/2 2.1 drivers on the D: drive for my Compaq QVision 2000+. I ran the installation program and replaced the “Primary VGA” driver with the “Matrox MGA” driver.
2) After completing the display driver update, I rebooted into OS/2 with a 640x480 256-color display.
3) The OS/2 “System” utility allowed me to select resolutions up to 1600x1200 in 16-bit color or 24-bit color depths up to 1152x882 resolution thanks to the video card's 4MB of VRAM. I selected 1024x768, 24-bit color for my tests.

Networking Installation:
1) I next navigated to the LAPS folder I placed on the D: drive and ran LAPS.EXE. This transferred the OS/2 networking setup to the C: drive (“C:\IBMCOM”).
2) The LAPS setup program does not allow you to add network card drivers from the GUI, so I existed the setup program at this point.
3) I navigated to my network drivers on the D: drive and copied all of the network cards driver files to “ C:\IBMCOM\Protocol”.
4) I restarted the LAPS.EXE program within “C:\IBMCOM” to configure networking. I selected my DLINK PCI card from the device list and added “IBM OS2 NETBIOS” as a protocol attached to the card. I saved the configuration and restarted OS/2.
5) OS/2 booted properly at this point with my network card configured for network services.
6) I next navigated to the TCPIP installation directory I placed on the D: drive and ran “TCPINST.EXE” from the directory and selected the “BASE TCP/IP Services” from the list of components. This transferred the TCP/IP protocols to the C: drive.
7) When the TCP/IP installation completed, I restarted “LAPS.EXE” from the “C:\IBMCOM” directory to reconfigure my networking. I added “IBM TCP/IP” as a protocol to my network card, manually configured the IP address and router information (except the “nameserver” wasn’t a configurable option at this point), and saved the configuration. I rebooted the computer.
8 ) OS/2 booted properly and the network configured my card for the assigned IP address before entering the GUI.
9) The TCP/IP installation program created a “TCP/IP” folder on the Os/2 desktop. The folder contains a “TCP/IP Configuration” program. I opened this program and configured the “nameserver” for my router in the “Services” tab.
10) I rebooted the computer, and OS/2 ran a nameserver update when entering the GUI. “PING.EXE” and “FTP.EXE” now ran properly with URLs instead of IP addresses.

Software Installation:
1) I navigated to my D: drive, and I ran “INSTALL.COM” file for Microsoft’s WLO applications. The installation routine transferred the WLO apps to the C: drive.
2) I tested several of the WLO Windows apps. Solitaire crashed with the Matrox drivers. Reversi and Clock only operate in 2-bit color. Paint sometimes causes an out-of-memory error depending on the image files size and the display color depth. Notepad and Write appear to operate correctly.
3) I also tried to install IBM’s WebExplorer Version 1.0 to try to get OS/2 on the Web. The program runs, but it crashes with a TCP/IP error when trying to access any website.
4) The only other program I have right now that seems to work with OS/2 2.0 is KLBENCH. It runs on OS/2 2.0 and completes the CPU and Video benchmarks without issue.

Observations:
I find that OS/2 2.0 works well on the Pentium D at 3.4GHz and the G7S620. With the exception the floppy driver replacement, OS/2 2.0 would run on this system without modification. I’m sure later boards that don’t explicitly support OS/2’s memory management would have trouble with OS/2, though.

A lot of documentation online about OS/2 2.0 got published long before IBM updated their drivers. You would get the impression that OS/2 2.0 can’t handle large drives (greater than 512MB, 2GB, 4GB, and/or 8.4GB depending on the article’s dateline) from reading the experience of authors in the mid-to-late 1990. I didn’t expect IBM’s disk adapter drivers from 2003 to work all the way back to OS/2 2.0, but they did. For good measure, I also added a 11GB extended partition and formatted it with HPFS (it did take an hour to format the partition, though).

I do need to mention that IBM’s ATAPI filter driver (IBMATAPI.FLT) from the 2003 driver package will crash OS/2 2.0 hard during boot. I can’t explain the incompatibility, but it just doesn’t work on my system. The IDE CD-ROM driver (IBMIDECD.FLT), on the other hand, works fine. I haven’t tested it yet, but I suspect that the IBM IDE CD-ROM driver will allow me to install OS/2 2.0 GA from a CD if I can define the directory structure on the source CD drive the way the Setup program expects. In fact, the DANIBOOT driver might even make it possible to CD-boot and install all from the same CD.

Finally, I haven’t seen any mention of OS/2 2.0 GA running multimedia applications anywhere on the net. IBM released a later version (2.0.1) for multimedia PCs, but it doesn’t seem like anyone bothered to try with an earlier version. I installed the multimedia features in this latest work after the service pack to save time, but I have installed the multimedia feature before the service pack in the past. Multimedia does work with the GA version without issue.

That’s about it for now. OS/2 2.0 is still a bit too old to be truly usable. Some 32-bit software I’ve found requires version 2.1 at a minimum, and most requires Warp 3.0 or later. Still, it’s always fun to experiment. I added a couple of photos from my monitor. If anyone knows a good screen capture utility that works in OS/2 2.0, I’d appreciate hearing about it.

Last edited by DosFreak on 2024-04-13, 19:25. Edited 7 times in total.

Reply 1 of 19, by fosterwj03

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More photos:

Reply 2 of 19, by Grzyb

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fosterwj03 wrote on 2024-04-06, 22:54:

If anyone knows a good screen capture utility that works in OS/2 2.0, I’d appreciate hearing about it.

PM Camera /2 claims to support OS/2 2.0 - https://ecsoft2.org/pm-camera2

Anyway, good work!
I'm only wondering if it's possible to use a PCI sound card - LGA 775 boards with ISA slots are rare...

Nie tylko, jak widzicie, w tym trudność, że nie zdołacie wejść na moją górę, lecz i w tym, że ja do was cały zejść nie mogę, gdyż schodząc, gubię po drodze to, co miałem donieść.

Reply 3 of 19, by fosterwj03

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Grzyb wrote on 2024-04-07, 00:15:
PM Camera /2 claims to support OS/2 2.0 - https://ecsoft2.org/pm-camera2 […]
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fosterwj03 wrote on 2024-04-06, 22:54:

If anyone knows a good screen capture utility that works in OS/2 2.0, I’d appreciate hearing about it.

PM Camera /2 claims to support OS/2 2.0 - https://ecsoft2.org/pm-camera2

Anyway, good work!
I'm only wondering if it's possible to use a PCI sound card - LGA 775 boards with ISA slots are rare...

Thanks. I'll try it.

I've wondered the same about PCI audio with OS/2 2.x. I don't recall if I've tried it before.

Reply 4 of 19, by fosterwj03

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Good call on PM Camera! It works like a charm.

Reply 5 of 19, by Jo22

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Really cool! 😎👍

Grzyb wrote on 2024-04-07, 00:15:
PM Camera /2 claims to support OS/2 2.0 - https://ecsoft2.org/pm-camera2 […]
Show full quote
fosterwj03 wrote on 2024-04-06, 22:54:

If anyone knows a good screen capture utility that works in OS/2 2.0, I’d appreciate hearing about it.

PM Camera /2 claims to support OS/2 2.0 - https://ecsoft2.org/pm-camera2

Anyway, good work!
I'm only wondering if it's possible to use a PCI sound card - LGA 775 boards with ISA slots are rare...

Hi, this posting suggests Terratec 128i and AOpen AW320.

https://archiv.os2.org/de.os2.org/forum/helpd … 3.html?id=25591

Be careful with the Terratec, though. The version with the CSxxx chipset is apparently required. The FM810x does not work, sayd another guy.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 6 of 19, by fosterwj03

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I'd say it's a no-go on PCI audio with OS/2 2.o. I tried several cards and drivers.

AOpen AW230 (Crystal CS4280): MMPM fails to complete the driver installation. It doesn't modify the MMPM2.INI and CONFIG.SYS files.

UNIAUD (multiple cards): MMPM fails to complete the driver installation. It doesn't modify the MMPM2.INI and CONFIG.SYS files.

SB Live! 5.1 (3rd-party driver): MMPM completes the installation. The SB Live! driver loads at startup, but fails to find the card and ends initialization.

Yamaha YMF744 (YMF724 driver): MMPM completes the installation. The driver loads at start-up without error. Media programs fail due to a "No Device Found" error.

I think these drivers expect a newer version of MMPM. Just a guess, although the driver DLL files might also have incompatibility issues with OS/2 2.x.

Reply 7 of 19, by Jo22

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Hm. Any chance to get a Windows Sound System (WSS) card working? Are there PCI cards with AD1848JP or CS4248-KL codec?
I'm wondering, because WSS was one of the oldest sound card standards, next to Sound Blaster, GUS and PAS.
And since WSS didn't use DMA (?) before 1.0a specification, I thought there might be a tiny chance for it to work on PCI.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 8 of 19, by fosterwj03

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I suppose it would depend on the card and the driver.

I have a number of different PCI audio cards, but I only have a couple that have any compatibility with OS/2 (Warp 3 and 4).

Reply 9 of 19, by Grzyb

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Jo22 wrote on 2024-04-08, 02:33:

Are there PCI cards with AD1848JP or CS4248-KL codec?

Probably not, as neither of those chips supports PCI.

And since WSS didn't use DMA (?) before 1.0a specification, I thought there might be a tiny chance for it to work on PCI.

WSS codecs can be used in PIO mode.
SB DSPs also have "Direct DAC" mode.
But it's a very bad idea to play PCM sound without DMA (or PCI bus mastering) in a multitasking OS.

Nie tylko, jak widzicie, w tym trudność, że nie zdołacie wejść na moją górę, lecz i w tym, że ja do was cały zejść nie mogę, gdyż schodząc, gubię po drodze to, co miałem donieść.

Reply 10 of 19, by Jo22

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.. I see. I had hoped that WSS would be less dependant on ISA-DMA, so that something like an "PCI to ISA bridge card" would work good enough.

(Because, some lower end PCI sound chips had been used on PCIe cards, too. By using some bridge.)

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 11 of 19, by dr.zeissler

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OS/2 is an interesting topic. I did several installs. I own the original Floppy Versions from 1.3 1.31 2.0 2.10 2.11 3.0.

With a good MGA 450/550 you still get OS/2 and WINOS/2 Drivers so you can run Win3x Apps with highres and true colors,
even if matrox dropped win3x support with G400 cards. I always use small desktops, so only AGP-LP are usable in my systems.

Normally I use OS/2 WARP4 and not the latest and the already patched setup disks from the IBM Notebooks.
This setup-disks copy the updated drivers automatically after installing the files from the normal diskset or cdrom.

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 12 of 19, by fosterwj03

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dr.zeissler wrote on 2024-04-08, 06:40:
OS/2 is an interesting topic. I did several installs. I own the original Floppy Versions from 1.3 1.31 2.0 2.10 2.11 3.0. […]
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OS/2 is an interesting topic. I did several installs. I own the original Floppy Versions from 1.3 1.31 2.0 2.10 2.11 3.0.

With a good MGA 450/550 you still get OS/2 and WINOS/2 Drivers so you can run Win3x Apps with highres and true colors,
even if matrox dropped win3x support with G400 cards. I always use small desktops, so only AGP-LP are usable in my systems.

Normally I use OS/2 WARP4 and not the latest and the already patched setup disks from the IBM Notebooks.
This setup-disks copy the updated drivers automatically after installing the files from the normal diskset or cdrom.

You make an excellent point. I use Matrox cards with Warp 3 and 4 not only for the great image quality, but also because I can specify custom video resolutions and signal timing in the Matrox monitor definition file (MGA.MON). That’s how I get widescreen resolutions (such as 1080p) in both OS/2 and WINOS2; resolutions that aren’t possible in Windows 3.x under DOS.

Now that I have the PM Camera/2 app, I can take some OS/2 screen shoots in 1080p resolution.

I have a Matrox G200 PCI for systems with PCI slots and a Matrox G550 PCIe for systems with PCIe slots. Wonderful cards in OS/2!

Reply 13 of 19, by fosterwj03

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It's a bit off-topic, but here's OS/2 Warp 3 in widescreen to provide plenty of screen real-estate for work (including WINOS2):

Reply 14 of 19, by fosterwj03

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Of course, the generic VESA GRADD driver can do high res and high color (including widescreen modes) in Warp 3 and 4 if your gaphics adapter offers those VESA modes. The Matrox cards and official drivers accelerate 2D graphics better in my opinion.

Reply 15 of 19, by Grzyb

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Last time I checked, the VESA GRADD driver had no acceleration at all.
Has anything changed? Like VBE/AF support?

Nie tylko, jak widzicie, w tym trudność, że nie zdołacie wejść na moją górę, lecz i w tym, że ja do was cały zejść nie mogę, gdyż schodząc, gubię po drodze to, co miałem donieść.

Reply 16 of 19, by fosterwj03

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I don't think the VESA driver accelerates at all. I don't know about the other GRADD drivers that came with IBM's driver update.

I still perfer the Matrox driver package.

Reply 17 of 19, by Jo22

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Grzyb wrote on 2024-04-09, 01:07:

Last time I checked, the VESA GRADD driver had no acceleration at all.
Has anything changed? Like VBE/AF support?

Not sure, it's a bit complicated. There was an updated GenGRADD or something else in 2004 or so.
I vaguely remember something from reading in a PDF.. Have to check.

Edit: Hm. So far, GRADD 0.97 (a) seems to be latest GRADD package, with normal, unaccelerated GenGRADD.
https://www.os2site.com/sw/drivers/video/gradd/index.html

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 18 of 19, by dr.zeissler

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Don't forget that up to G550 also native amithlon support for the matrox-cards up from mystique!

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 19 of 19, by dr.zeissler

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Came back to this because I am currently checking OS2 2.0 on Pentium 60 32MB.
What soundcard does work on OS2 2.0!

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines