Hi, glad it works for now! 😀
Is there any down side to running it in /s?
If your programs run fine, then no.
Long answer: Standard Mode was meant for 286 PCs and lacks some features (Edit: It also was used for PCs with low memory).
Ironically, it was "invented" after the 386 mode (In the 80s, there was an an 8086 kernal and a 386 kernal -> used by Windows /386).
Standard Mode lacks all virtual features, which goes for virtual memory as well as virtual device drivers.
Win32s also doesn't work in Standard Mode. Some programs which use the Mem32 API may also not work.
Strictly speaking, there are two kinds of Standard Mode even. 😉
One is implemented in krnl286, the other one in krnl386 (along with Enhanced Mode).
The reason for this was probably performance and stability.
A real 286 has some quirks that need special threadment.
On Windows for Workgroups 3.11, there's only one kernal (krnl386).
Forcing its "Standard Mode" just disables loading of all virtual drivers and doesn't use virtual memory.
However, that only works on 386 and higher PCs.
Edit: keropi's post gave me an idea (thanks for that!).
Maybe using another COM port could be wise. By other, I mean another type of COM port.
486 PCs and before often used a 16450 UART chip which had some issues .
Back in the 90s it was common pratice to replace it by a pin compatible type (a later revision of 16550) in order to use a fast modem.
You can check the type of UART/FiFo in MSD. It can't properly differenciate between 8250 and 16450, though.
Anyway, I'm just mentioning it. A mouse should work with any type of UART chip (except, if say, the PC BIOS was made for a specific model).
On the other hand, though, I once read that the old 16450 generates a lot of interrupts in contrast to the newer 16550.
In Windows 3.1, this could cause some trouble or lower performance. In theory, at least. I don't know how the MS Mouse driver
and the Windows serial port device do interact which each others and how much 386 Enhanced Mode comes into play.
Some skilled person really should check this wth a debugger or some sort of utility sometime. 😀
Edit: Some typos fixed.
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