68
votes
Which "very esoteric processor instructions" are used by OS/2?
As far as I’m aware the difficulty in virtualising OS/2 isn’t due to esoteric processor instructions, but rather esoteric processor features. Specifically, OS/2 uses all the protected mode features ...
- 117k
34
votes
How was OS/2 supposed to be crashproof, and what was the exploit that proved it wasn't?
I'm not sure about the advertising, but OS/2 1.3 really was extremely stable. Later versions were also quite stable, though it never seemed to me that any of the others quite matched the last of the 1....
- 4,722
34
votes
Accepted
Was OS/2 a viable alternative for daily DOS and Windows tasks?
The short answer is yes, starting with version 2.0 and even more so with Warp, OS/2 was a viable alternative for daily DOS and Windows tasks, up to and including Windows 3.x.
Starting with OS/2 2.0, ...
- 117k
28
votes
Accepted
How many OS/2 viruses were there?
The cited source from the question is the source for the English Wikipedia page as well, that claims that there are only very few known viruses for that system.
But the low amount of viruses seems to ...
- 1,586
27
votes
How many OS/2 viruses were there?
I have not found a reference, but here's a search for OS/2 on Trend Micro's virus encyclopedia. That finds 30 entries, some of which are actual OS/2 viruses, and some of which are interesting OS/2 ...
- 11.3k
25
votes
How was OS/2 supposed to be crashproof, and what was the exploit that proved it wasn't?
SteveB went on the road to see the top weeklies, industry
analysts and business press this week to give our systems
strategy. The meetings included demos of Windows 3.1 (pen and
multimedia included), ...
14
votes
Accepted
Are there statements from IBM insiders revealing why OS/2 was dropped?
As others have noted, it's difficult to locate statements from IBM insiders dishing exactly why OS/2 was sidelined, but I did find this 1996 New York Times article which quotes John W. Thompson, "the ...
- 3,633
12
votes
What physical size and density floppies are the intermediate-capacity options for the /F switch of the DOS/Windows/OS/2 FORMAT command meant for?
KB entry Q75131 provides the following answer for MS-DOS FORMAT:
320: 320-KiB (40 tps, 8 spt) DSDD 5.25” floppy
360: 360-KiB (40 tps, 9 spt) DSDD 5.25” floppy
I don’t know about the Windows-only 640 ...
- 117k
9
votes
Accepted
Initial contents of CPU registers at OS/2 1.x program startup
My OS/2 manuals are currently in storage, but based on 2ine:
AX points to the environment segment,
BX gives the command-line offset,
CX gives the size of the auto data segment,
ES, DX, SI, DI, and BP ...
- 117k
9
votes
Was OS/2 a viable alternative for daily DOS and Windows tasks?
I recently installed OS/2 Warp on a vintage (late-90s) IBM PC 350 with a 200 MHz Pentium MMX CPU and 96MB of RAM. I found that OS/2 Warp works very well for running virtually any DOS or Windows 3.x ...
- 59.8k
8
votes
Are there statements from IBM insiders revealing why OS/2 was dropped?
IBM recognized that Microsoft was entrenched in the preinstalled retail and commercial markets, and wisely (sadly, but wisely, because I also loved Warp on my 486DX33) realized that Windows 3.1 ...
- 671
8
votes
What was IBM’s early attempt at an OS/2 office suite?
It was OfficeVision. From the link:
"The IBM OfficeVision/2 LAN Series provides office functions to
interconnected OS/2 Extended Edition and IBM DOS workstations on a
local area network (LAN). ...
- 951
7
votes
Accepted
Boot and run OS/2 1.x from floppy to run a few command-line tools
On OS/2 1.0, it's possible to boot from the programs floppy, which gives a command prompt after a few seconds.
On OS/2 Warp 4.0, it's possible to boot from the install floppy (and then swap floppies ...
- 1,415
7
votes
Accepted
What physical size and density floppies are the intermediate-capacity options for the /F switch of the DOS/Windows/OS/2 FORMAT command meant for?
In fact, you can use any of these formats (up to 1.44MB) on a 3.5" or 5.25" DSHD floppy disk. For the 40-track formats, an 80-track drive would need to double-step; for the single-sided formats, only ...
- 16.6k
5
votes
How was OS/2 supposed to be crashproof, and what was the exploit that proved it wasn't?
Is there any source beside your memory for this or a similar claim? It would be helpful to see a first hand source supporting that IBM made it, like an advertisement or some promotional matter or ...
- 207k
4
votes
Are there statements from IBM insiders revealing why OS/2 was dropped?
IBM in essence, is a hardware company, not a software one. We see that Gerstner was C.E.O., and IBM was loosing money. The lack-luster reception of first the PS/2, and then the PS/1 (which followed ...
- 712
3
votes
Are there statements from IBM insiders revealing why OS/2 was dropped?
I think that your question does not give quite enough credit to Microsoft, and the competitive advantage they established over OS/2 by making the Win32 API a common feature of both Windows 9x and ...
- 59.8k
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