Computer Help References version 1.19.95 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 O S / 2 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 As new information is added, it will appear at the beginning of each specific section. All new information will have the date it was added in the header. If you find something you've read before that is marked as a new addition, it is due to a correction, or addition to that topic. 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 Making IDE CD-ROM Drives Work ============================= -> Added on January 3, 1995 Even if you use the brand new IDE CD-ROM drivers for OS/2, you still may not be able to access the CD-ROM after installation is complete. Here's IBM's official fix: After OS/2 is installed, edit the CONFIG.SYS to include DEVICE=C:\OS2\OS2CDROM.DMD IFS=C:\OS2\CDFS.IFS You might have to copy those two files from one of the install disks. Those two lines got the CD recognized on my system. * Jon Simola @ 1:342/74 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 OS/2 2+ CONFIG.SYS File Description =================================== -> Added on January 3, 1995 Attention Power Users! I currently run a 486 66 with 16 meg of ram (I just dropped down from 20) with an enhanced IDE controller. The tips revolve around a system of similar ram and capabilities with notes for other configurations. I run WARP. UPDATE: 3 What follows are a collaboration of several people. I would like to thank Bob Hess and Glenn Reimche for their additional tips. 1) IFS=C:\OS2\HPFS.IFS /CACHE:2048 /CRECL:64 /AUTOCHECK:CD Only include this line if you actually have a partition formatted HPFS rather than FAT. If you are strictly FAT, rem this line out. HPFS eats a chunk of memory--particularly on low memory systems--[BH] If one runs both FAT and HPFS, don't go excessive with the cache settings. Give more to the most commonly used file system.--[CJ] 2) Removed IBM2FLPY.ADD (saved me some memory)--[CJ] Only needed on Microchannel PC's.--[manual] 3) Removed XDFLOPPY.FLT It appears that many people would have no use for this--[GR] If one wants to use selective install from diskettes, this needs to be reenabled. You can save a little mem without it.--[CJ] 4) SET RESTARTOBJECTS=STARTUPFOLDERSONLY If you have an annoying program that won't shutdown, when you reboot it is likely to still be running. This will only run, at bootup, those programs in the startup folder--[CJ] 5) SET KEYS=OFF This saved me a little memory--[CJ] Preference here, if you like recalling past commands, you may want to consider leaving it ON. 6) PRIORITY_DISK_IO=YES When my BBS is up or I'm doing intensive communications I prefer NO--[CJ] 7) FILES=30 For DOS sessions. The default is fine. I just have the memory to waste and some DOS programs get a little finicky for some reason--[CJ] 8) BUFFERS=90 Good for bringing up those icons when using the drives objects. Helps out the floppy access. Of course, on good memory systems this is acceptable. If one has lower memory, consider 60 at 8 meg and no more than 30 for smaller configurations--[CJ] 9) MAXWAIT=2 (consider (1) when multitasking comm programs) Things are a little more responsive. When my BBS is up I use 1. I also found that I removed all forms of ZERRORS when I was multitasking with Livewire 2.2 when I used MAXWAIT=1--[CJ] 10) RUN=C:\OS2\CACHE.EXE /MAXAGE:7500 /DISKIDLE:60000 /BUFFERIDLE:60000 Check it out. It's going to be a seat of the pants feel--[CJ] 11) SWAPPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM 2048 8192 This is personal preference. I saw mine go to 8 once--[CJ] In the book OS/2 unleashed it states, "This is not the optimal location for the file. The swap file should be moved to the root directory of the most frequently used partition of the least used hard drive."--[BH] I personally think this advice is only good if one has 2 or more physically different drives. Don't confuse this with partitions. I saw no improvement on just one drive partitioned out to two drives. The theory is that the heads on the other drive will already be placed on the swap file. That is why it makes no use on one drive--[CJ] 12) THREADS=512 I have the memory to waste. Threads don't take an alarming amount of memory so I chose 512 for that RARE moment. Most users will find that 256 is more than sufficient for them down to 8 megs. Below 8 one should consider the default values or around 128-[CJ] 13) PRINTMONBUFSIZE=2048,134,134 Awesome! Anything lower than 16 megs should consider 1024 or 512. Experiment with this one and see how it impacts printer performance versus system performance. I use an EPSON Laserjet.--[CJ] 14) FCBS=4,2 FCBS is an old cow. I save a little memory by reducing the value.--[CJ] 15) I REM'd out all references to TCPIP as I don't have a local provider and saved a sizeable amount of memory.--[CJ] 16) I REM'd out the reference to DISKCACHE as I don't run FAT. Saved 2 meg when I was at 20meg on the system due to the "D" switch being enabled. --[CJ] As you can see, I scrunched memory where I could and placed it in areas that are starving for it, ie CACHE, BUFFERS, PRINTMONBUFSIZE, ETC... System Information says I have 4.2 meg allocated to OS/2 and the rest is available. Before I did the fine tuning, I had 7.5 meg allocated to OS/2. [This advice should be good for 16 meg machines. On 12 meg machines, I would consider bringing down the THREADS and CACHE a notch. On 8 meg machines I would go no more than 1024 cache and 256 threads.]--[CJ] As you can see, once you do some fine tuning, there is very little left for you to do. That is the beauty of OS/2. Do some changes and leave it alone! Don't get caught up running benchmarks everyday like you used to do in the DOS days. There is very little you can do to make it your dream screamer without purchasing that Pentium 100 you always wanted! Have fun and be productive. If this helps out anyone out, let me know! Also, if anyone wants to add some advice, feel free to email me the info. This advice isn't gospel, but it is the collaboration of several people on this net. I will compile the advice and give updates as people we haggle, discuss, and come to terms on certain performance issues. Discussion does not need to be limited to Config.sys. Desktop folder settings could be added too. * Chris Johnson @ 1:208/610 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 OS/2 2+ CONFIG.SYS File Description =================================== -> Added on December 12, 1994 ** NOTE: This file has been heavily edited from the original format. Any references to programs to be used with this text will not work! Also, there may be places where lines have been trimmed to fit into the 79 columns available. For any critical information, or if you would like the exact original, you are advised to find the original archive available on almost any OS/2 Bulletin Board System. ** My sincere apologies to Rick Meigs for re-formatting his documentation, but it fits the scope of "Computer Help References" better in this format presented to you here. All information was kept the same, except in places where "trimming" was needed. An example is some of the "PATH=" lines have been trimmed and ended with " ..." to indicate that something is missing. This is all the more reason to obtain the original. OS/2 2+ CONFIG.SYS FILE DESCRIPTION - Version 9 - Nov. 25, 1994 by Rick Meigs, 7032 SW 26th Street, Portland, OR, 97219 - rick.meigs@nwcs.org CAUTION, WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. <<=CAUTION=>> Because of the way in which OS/2s Enhanced PM editor (EPM.EXE) handles word wrapping and its restricted line length, using it to edit your CONFIG.SYS file is unwise. For best results, use OS/2s System Editor (E.EXE) <<=WARNING=>> If you plan on changing any line in your current CONFIG.SYS file, please be sure to create a backup --BEFORE-- you start experimenting! This has saved me more than once. Remember, make the backup --BEFORE-- you change your CONFIG.SYS file. If you are viewing this information using CNFGINFO.EXE, use its backup option before you proceed any further. A procedure for restoring a damaged CONFIG.SYS is included at the end of this complete section. <<=DISCLAIMER=>> I CAN'T BE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR SYSTEM OR YOUR CONFIG.SYS FILE BASED UPON WHAT YOU MAY LEARN FROM THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS FILE. EVERY EFFORT HAS BEEN MADE TO MAKE THIS FILE AS ACCURATE AS POSSIBLE, BUT NO WARRANTY OR FITNESS IS IMPLIED. THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS. USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. COMMENTS. This whole process started in 1992 when I began researching what many of the CONFIG.SYS file commands were for. This ever growing file is the result of that ongoing research. It briefly describes most of the common and some of the more obscure commands. Naturally, not all possible commands are listed (especially the many hardware device drivers), but there is a lot here for you to work with. Version 6 was the first version updated for OS/2 2.1 and version 9 was the first updated for OS/2 Warp. Even with all the hours I've put into this description, I still find the CONFIG.SYS file to be somewhat of a mystery. Still, mystery or not, to get the most out of OS/2 and your system you just may need to spend a little time editing your CONFIG.SYS. ----------------- IMPORTANT NOTE AND WARNING -------------------- Unlike the DOS CONFIG.SYS file which is read sequentially, OS/2 reads the entire file before it invokes the commands listed. Therefore, except for several exceptions which have been noted, it really doesn't matter where a command is placed. On several of the "nets" and in a file called CNFGSORT.ZIP it has been suggested that if you organize your CONFIG.SYS file in a certain way, you can significantly shorten the boot time of OS/2. I find this sorting to be of little or no help for the vast majority of OS/2 users. Further, you can cause yourself problems if you do it incorrectly. So be very careful and have a backup CONFIG.SYS file ready. THE PROGRAM CNFGINFO.EXE I'm really not much of a programmer, but I have written a program called CNFGINFO.EXE which allows you to analysis your own CONFIG.SYS file. After it reads in your CONFIG.SYS file, you just point and click on any line and information from this file is displayed. It also will backup, edit and print your CONFIG.SYS file. You can also print this file. Its Freeware (that means you can use it at no cost and pass it on to your friends), but its not in the public domain. The "" symbols are used by CNFGINFO, so please do not remove them from this file. The latest version of CNFGINFO.EXE can be downloaded as CFGINFO3.ZIP from the same BBS where you found this file. This version fixes several bugs, including the one which would not allow you to load any CONFIG.SYS file from a drive other than "C". Many additional features have also been added. ** NOTE: This file has been edited ... and therefore will -> NOT <- work ** with Rick Meigs' CFGINFO3 program. Please obtain the ORIGINAL if ** you would like to use this excellent program! BEGINNING OF CONFIG.SYS FILE DESCRIPTION The order of this description area generally follows that of a "standard" CONFIG.SYS file. CALL=C:\OS2\XCOPY.EXE C:\OS2\INSTALL\*.BK1 C:\OS2\INSTALL\*.INI /T /R /O CALL=C:\OS2\XCOPY.EXE C:\OS2\*.INI C:\OS2\INSTALL\*.BK1 /T /R /O Two files are essential to the operation of OS/2: OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI. If these files should get trashed, OS/2 isn't going to function. Backing them up is very important. In OS/2 version 2.0, once booted, OS/2 will not let you access or copy these critical files. One way to circumvent this is to create your backups BEFORE OS/2 is booted. This CALL will do the trick. It creates first a backup of your backup and then creates a backup of the original files. This gives you a two generation backup. This process will add time to your system boot. Generally OS/2 does not care where you place something in the CONFIG.SYS file. This CALL is an exception in version 2.0. It must appear before any other line because you need to complete this backup process before OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI load. <<=NOTE=>> In version 2.1, the INI files can be copied after the system is booted by using OS/2s COPY command, but you may wish to consider adding this CALL to your CONFIG.SYS file to automate the process. <<=NOTE=>> In OS/2 Warp, IBM provides a archive feature which can be activated by opening your Desktop settings, click on the Archive Tab, and then click on "Create archive at every system restart". You do not need this CALL if you use this archive feature. <<=TIP=>> OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI can also be reconstructed at boot by holding down Alt-F1 during boot BEFORE the OS/2 logo appears. You may need to hold the keys down for at least 20 seconds. During your initial installation of OS/2, the installation process stored a copy of its original INI files in the folder called INSTALL. When you press Alt-F1 at boot, OS/2 moves these "backup" files into the OS/2 folder to replace the current versions. The "CALL" shown above keeps the INI files in your INSTALL folder current. <<=WARNING=>> If you are using a version of OS/2 before Warp, use the Alt-F1 key combination as a last resort because you may lose all customizing and changes you have made to the WpS. <<=NOTE=>> The switches used mean the following: /T -- allows xcopying of files with System attribute /R -- allows xcopying of files with Read-only attribute /O -- allows xcopying *onto* a file which has System, Read-only, or Hidden attribute. Thanks to Melissa Woo for pointing out the need for these switches. IFS=C:\OS2\HPFS.IFS /CACHE:512 /CRECL:4 /AUTOCHECK:CD IFS stands for "Installable File System". This OS/2 command installs the High Performance File System (HPFS). The syntax is the following format ... IFS=DRIVE:PATH\FILENAME,SWITCHES. There are three switches: /CACHE:nnn sets up a disk cache and its size. The default on most systems (shown in Table 1.0 below) is low in my opinion. <<=TIP=>> Change the size of your disk cache based upon the information provided in Table 1.1 below. This great stuff was provided by Proportional Software based upon a great deal of OS/2 system tweaking done by the DCF/2 development team. <<=Warning=>> Keep this one truth in mind about cache size: an excessive cache takes memory available for programs and therefore could have a negative impact on overall system performance. For example, if you set a 2MB cache on a 6MB system, you will notice a substantial negative performance hit. OS/2s Command Reference and other IBM sources indicate that the maximum cache size for HPFS is currently 2MB (2048), but IBM does not recommend using a cache larger than 1.5MB (1536). Personally, I have 16MB of RAM and have my HPFS cache set to the max: 2048. If this switch is omitted, the default is 10% of the available RAM. ========================== Table 1.0 =========================== If you have formatted your system with only HPFS partitions, the cache size in this statement, as set by OS/2 during installation, is that noted under ONE FILE SYSTEM in the table below. If you have both FAT and HPFS partitions, then OS/2 sets the cache sizes to those noted under TWO FILE SYSTEM. The file system which uses the greatest amount of your disk space gets the larger default value. MEMORY SIZE IN MB TWO FILE SYSTEM ONE FILE SYSTEM 4 128/64 128 5 128/64 128 6 256/64 256 7 256/128 256 8 256/256 384 9 256/256 384 10 - 16 512/512 1024 17 - 32 1024/1024 2048 ========================== Table 1.1 =========================== You can get better performance from your system by using your available RAM in the most efficient and effective way. Select the case that best describes the file system or amount of RAM you use. CASE 1: You use only HPFS or only FAT, but not both. HPFS only! FAT only! System memory of at least: Set CACHE to: Set DISKCACHE to: 16 MB 2048 2048 12 MB 1536 1536 8 MB 1024 1024 CASE 2: You use both HPFS and FAT with HPFS active and FAT passive. System memory of at least: Set CACHE to: Set DISKCACHE to: 16 MB 2048 512 -1024 12 MB 1536 256 - 512 8 MB 1024 128 - 256 CASE 3: You use both HPFS and FAT with HPFS passive and FAT active. System memory of at least: Set CACHE to: Set DISKCACHE to: 16 MB 1024 2048 12 MB 768 1536 8 MB 512 1024 <<=NOTE=>> For purposes of the table above, "active" and "passive" are descriptors for the way a partition is used. If it is seldom used, it is "passive." If a lot of disk intensive I/O occurs on the partition, it is "active." /CRECL sets the maximum record size for caching, from 2k to 64k in multiples of 2k with a default of 4k. This parameter may not exceed 1/4 of the total cache size set with the /cache parameter. /AUTOCHECK:nn tells the system to run CHKDSK and sets the drives to be checked at start up. <<=WARNING=>> If you don't include the AUTOCHECK switch in this command, the system will not boot. <<=TIP=>> If you are using only FAT partitions, then you should REM this IFS statement and save yourself some RAM. How much? I've seen figures from 130k to 500k, but the HPFS.IFS file is 136k in size. <<=TIP=>> If you have drive partitions larger than 80MB, then HPFS should give you better performance than FAT. On partitions of less than 80MB, most authorities indicate that there is only a small performance difference between HPFS and FAT. Consider the following when comparing the relative merits of the HPFS versus FAT: On large partitions of identical size, the HPFS will generally give you about 15% more space and improve performance by about 28% (Information provided by Proportional Software). <<=NOTE=>> Lazy write is on by default. If you want lazy write off, see the RUN=C:\OS2\CACHE.EXE command later in this file. PAUSEONERROR=YES This command tells OS/2 to pause after it finds any error in your CONFIG.SYS and displays an error message. If you don't include this statement in your CONFIG.SYS file, the default will be YES. This is generally the best choice since the error message will appear and scroll off the screen so quickly with a NO setting that you may not notice it. PROTSHELL=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE This OS/2 command tells OS/2 what program you want to use as the protect mode shell (the program that determines what your user interface looks like and how it operates.) This is the first program OS/2 will execute. PMSHELL.EXE is the program which initializes OS/2 Presentation Manager. If you delete this line from your CONFIG.SYS file, OS/2 will load PMSHELL.EXE by default. <<=NOTE=>> There are at least two alternatives to PMSHELL.EXE. One is OS/2s own CMD.EXE. If you replace PMSHELL.EXE with CMD.EXE, you will get a full screen OS/2 session only and will not be able to run PM programs. A second alternative is TSHELL.EXE. TSHELL is a text-based, protected-mode shell for OS/2. Any one remember OS/2 1.x? TSHELL makes OS/2 look something like OS/2 1.0. OS/2 1.0 did not have a graphical user interface. With TSHELL you can start and switch full-screen sessions only. These can be OS/2, DOS, or WINOS2 sessions depending on your systems configuration. You use Alt+Esc to switch around sessions and Ctrl+Esc to pop up the task list. But please note, like OS/2 1.0, there is no Presentation Manager. Thus, OS/2 PM applications will not work. You can download TSHELL.ZIP from most OS/2 BBSs. SET COMMAND: The SET command in the CONFIG.SYS file sets up environment variables for the entire system. These environment variables are stored by OS/2 in memory and are shared by any applications which calls on them. <<=TIP=>> If you want to see what variables are set in your system, at an OS/2 command prompt type the word SET and press . You'll get a list like the following: WP_OBJHANDLE=87103 USER_INI=C:\OS2\OS2.INI SYSTEM_INI=C:\OS2\OS2SYS.INI OS2_SHELL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE AUTOSTART=PROGRAMS,TASKLIST,FOLDERS RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE COMSPEC=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE PATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;C:\OS2\INSTALL ... DPATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;C:\OS2\INSTALL ... PROMPT=$E[1;33m[$P]$G HELP=C:\OS2\HELP;C:\OS2\HELP\TUTORIAL; GLOSSARY=C:\OS2\HELP\GLOSS; DIRCMD=/ON /P IPF_KEYS=SBCS KEYS=OFF SOMIR=C:\OS2\ETC\SOM.IR;C:\OS2\ETC\WPSH.IR;C:\OS2\ETC\WPDSERV.IR;SOM.IR SOMDDIR=C:\OS2\ETC\DSOM BOOKSHELF=C:\OS2\BOOK;C:\MMOS2;D:\VXREXX EPMPATH=C:\OS2\APPS; VIDEO_DEVICES=VIO_SVGA VIO_SVGA=DEVICE(BVHVGA,BVHSVGA) ZOCDEVICE=COM4 MMBASE=C:\MMOS2; DSPPATH=C:\MMOS2\DSP; NCDEBUG=4000 VXREXX=D:\VXREXX WORKPLACE__PROCESS=NO SET USER_INI=F:\OS2\OS2.INI Tells OS/2 the name and locations of the file that contains your desktop setup information and the options saved from various OS/2 applications. OS2.INI is the default file name. <<=NOTE=>> OS2.INI is a critical file for the proper operation of OS/2 and should not be deleted or modified. It is not an ASCII file and, if it should become damaged, cannot be modified with an ASCII editor. You should consider backing up this file by using the CALL lines shown above or with a program such as WPSBKUP. It is one of several shareware programs design for this purpose. Check your favorite OS/2 BBS. You can also use MAKEINI.EXE, which ships with OS/2, to build a new set of INI files. See your OS/2 documentation on how to do this. SET SYSTEM_INI=G:\OS2\OS2SYS.INI Tells OS/2 the name and location of OS2SYS.INI. This file tells OS/2 what kind of equipment your system uses. NOTE: OS2SYS.INI is a critical file and should not be deleted or modified. It is not an ASCII file. You should consider backing up this file by using the CALL line shown as the first line above or with a program such as WPSBKUP, a shareware program you can obtain on many OS/2 BBSs. You can also use MAKEINI.EXE, which ships with OS/2, to build a new set of INI files. See your OS/2 documentation on how to do this. This file remains open the entire time OS/2 is booted and operating. It only closes upon shut down. If it should become "trashed", MAKEINI.EXE, which ships with OS/2 and is in the OS2 directory, can be used to build a new set of INI files. You will have to boot from an OS/2 floppy to do so. SET OS2_SHELL=D:\OS2\CMD.EXE OS2_SHELL directs OS/2 to load the command line shell (CMD.EXE) when you ask for an OS/2 command line from the WpS. <<=WARNING=>> Be careful with this line, OS/2 will not start without it. <<=TIP=>> If you wish to run some other command line shell, such as 4OS2, change this line and the SET COMSPEC=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE line, substituting the appropriate EXE file for CMD.EXE. <<=TIP=>> If you have a need to have a .CMD file invoked when you launch any OS/2 full screen or windowed session, just as AUTOEXEC.BAT is invoked for DOS sessions, modify this command line as shown below and it will cause AUTOEXEC.CMD to be invoked each time you start an OS/2 session. SET OS2_SHELL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE /k C:\AUTOEXEC.CMD You can choose any file name you wish for the CMD file. AUTOEXEC.CMD is used just as an example. SET AUTOSTART=PROGRAMS,TASKLIST,FOLDERS,CONNECTIONS,LAUNCHPAD The AUTOSTART command contains a list of WpS components which will be started (or restarted) when the system is booted up. There are currently four possible options: PROGRAMS: Tells OS/2 to start applications, that were running when the system was shut down, to restart. This option will be ignored if SET RESTARTOBJECTS=NO. TASKLIST: This parameter enables the OS/2 task list that appears when you press Ctrl+Esc. Why this parameter is available I don't know, because even when removed, I have still been able to press Ctrl+Esc and get the task list. Oh well, another OS/2 mystery. FOLDERS: Opens the desktop and any other folder which was open when the system was shut down. <<=WARNING=>> If you remove the FOLDERS statement, OS/2 will NOT open your desktop (which is a folder). CONNECTIONS: This parameter restarts any network connections that were in use when the system was shut down. <<=NOTE=>> This parameter can be removed if your system is not connected to a network. Leaving it in your CONFIG.SYS file will NOT cause any problems. LAUNCHPAD: Restarts the new Lauchpad supplied with Warp. SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE This line tells the system what interface program is to be used. In this case it is the Workplace Shell. <<=TIP=>> If you want to run OS/2 with only a command line interface, you can do so by changing this line to read SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE This brings OS/2 up without the WpS and gives you one screen session. You can start other sessions using the START or DETACH command. Otherwise, operated just like you were in DOS. If you have started more than one session, switch between them using Alt+Esc. For those who want the power of OS/2 and like to work only from a command line, give this a try. I'm running in this mode as I write this as a test and it appears to work fine. This is also a way to improve performance on 4MB RAM systems, since the WpS take up LOTS of ram. When running without the WpS, I generally free up from 4 to 5 megs of RAM on my 16MB system. <<=WARNING=>> You can't perform a "shut down" from a command line. To do a shut down type PMSHELL and press enter. This starts the WpS. Once the WpS is open, you should be able to perform a standard shut down. You can also download one of several shut down programs available on most OS/2 specific BBSs. I use one called SHUT32.ZIP. <<=TIP=>> MSHELL.EXE is another alternative. It is a simple mini shell for OS/2 that uses the replaceable shell architecture of the WpS. MSHELL is a program launcher which provides one list of programs to start. This list can be modified by creating a plain text file called MSHELL.INI. In addition to starting programs, MSHELL can save the desktop, interact with the spooler, and do a system shut down. MSHELL is IBM Employee Written Software and can be downloaded from most OS/2 specific BBSs or ftp.cdrom.com SET RESTARTOBJECTS=YES This command tells OS/2 what applications to start after you suspend operations with or without doing a shut down. If this statement is not in your CONFIG.SYS, then the default is YES, i.e., start all objects that were running at the time of shut down or reboot. Other options are: NO = do not start any applications that were running at time of shut down or reboot. STARTUPFOLDERSONLY = start objects only in the Startup folder. This parameter is also handy for another purpose. Lets assume you have one or more programs in your Startup folder and do a shut down without closing those programs. If you have Restartobjects set to yes, OS/2 will restart the programs left open AND the Startup folder will start another copy of the same programs. Thus you will have two copies running. Using this parameter eliminates this. REBOOTONLY = Start objects only if the OS/2 WpS is starting from a reboot (Ctrl-Alt-Del) or at power on. Objects will not restart if the WpS is restarted as a result of its own error correction recycling. <<=TIP=>> You can also circumvent the auto-starting of programs by holding down Left/Ctrl-Left/Shift-F1 all at the same time during boot. It must be done right after the clock appears just before the desktop loads, but before any icons appear. SET COMSPEC=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE This line identifies what OS/2 command line shell is to be used and its location. In DOS, COMMAND.COM is equivalent to CMD.EXE. <<=TIP=>> If you wish to run some other command line shell, such as 4OS2, change this and the SET OS2_SHELL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE line, substituting the appropriate EXE file for CMD.EXE. LIBPATH=.;C:\OS2\DLL;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\;C:\OS2\APPS\DLL; Tells OS/2 where to locate Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs). LIBPATH is similar to DPATH and PATH, but the statement can only be used in the CONFIG.SYS file and OS/2 does not search the current directory for DLLs unless you include it in the LIBPATH statement. You don't need to use the SET command with LIBPATH. It is not an environment variable. <<=TIP=>> To reduce the search time, be sure that the various PATH statements contain the correct path to your program and other files. You can also have OS/2 search the current directory by including a period "." right after the equal "=" symbol. This causes OS/2 to look in the current logged directory first. One final item that will reduce search time: Be certain that the PATH, LIBPATH and DPATH statements in the CONFIG.SYS are arranged with the most frequently accessed sub directories listed first. SET PATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;C:\OS2\INSTALL; ... Just like in DOS, it tells OS/2 where to find programs. For DOS sessions, set the PATH in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. <<=WARNING=>> Your path statement should contain at least the following directories: \OS2, \OS2\MDOS, \OS2\SYSTEM. SET DPATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;C:\OS2\INSTALL; ... This is an OS/2 command. It tells OS/2 programs where to look for data files. It is similar to the DOS APPEND command, but unlike APPEND, DPATH only works with programs designed to use it. SET PROMPT=[$P]$G Like the same DOS command, this line sets how your OS/2 command prompt will appear. (This is for OS/2 only. Set the DOS PROMPT default in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.) In the setting shown here, the command prompt will appear showing the current directory of the default drive enclosed in [] followed by the greater than symbol, i.e. [C:\]>. Having brackets [] around the drive and directory information lets you quickly know when you are at an OS/2 command line verse a DOS command line. If you type PROMPT without a parameter, OS/2 will return its default prompt. Options include: $B = The | character $C = The open parenthesis ( $D = Current date $E = ASCII code 27 (escape) so you can work with ANSI - see below! $F = The close parenthesis ) $G = The "greater than" > symbol $H = BACKSPACE over the previous character $I = Turns help line on $L = The "less than" < character $N = Default drive $P = Current directory of default drive $Q = The equal = character $S = The space character $T = Current time $V = OS/2 version number $_ = Carriage return or line feed <<=TIP=>> You can also add ANSI control sequences to your prompt. For example, to help me know visually whether I'm working with an OS/2 command line, I've add $E[1;33m to my prompt line, i.e. SET PROMPT=$E[1;33m[$P]$G. This sets text to display in bold yellow characters. SET HELP=C:\OS2\HELP;C:\OS2\HELP\TUTORIAL; Tells OS/2 where the help files are located. OS/2 will only look for its help files in the path shown. SET GLOSSARY=C:\OS2\HELP\GLOSS; Tells OS/2 where Glossary and Master Help files are located. SET DIRCMD=/ON /P An undocumented command that is the OS/2 equivalent of the DIR command in DOS. Since DOS 5, you can tell DIR how to present file information. To do this in OS/2, use the DIRCMD command. For example: SET DIRCMD=/ON /P tells OS/2 to display the DIR information in alpha order and place a pause at the end of each page. <<=NOTE=>> This is for OS/2 only. Set the DOS default in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Options include: /A list files with specific attributes. E.g. /AH list only hidden files. Other options are S A & R. If you place a negative (-) sign in front of your specified attribute, all files will list except those with the attribute specified. E.g. /A-H-S will display all files except hidden and system files. /B list directories and files without heading and summary information. /F list files with the full drive and path information. Date, time and size are omitted. /L displays information in lowercase. /N lists files on a FAT drive in the same format used for a HPFS drive i.e. date, time, size, name. /O list files according to sort option specified. Sort options are: G = Display directories first. N = alphabetize by file name -N = reverse-alphabetizes by name E = alphabetize by extension -E = reverse-alphabetizes by extension D = by date, oldest first -D = by date, newest first S = by file size, smallest first -S = by file size, largest first /P pauses after a full screen of files is listed. /R displays long file names if applicable. /S searches and displays all directories. /W displays file names across the screen. Date, time and size are omitted LASTDRIVE=H Specifies the maximum number of drives that are accessible. The value you specify with LASTDRIVE represents the last valid drive that is recognized. SET IPF_KEYS=SBCS The character set for most languages can be represented as data using an 8-bit byte since their characters sets are each less than 256 characters. These are called single-byte character sets (SBCS). Languages such as Japanese (Kanji), Korean and Chinese (both Traditional and Simplified) can only be represented using two 8-bit bytes or 16-bits. These are double-byte character sets (DBCS). This command tells the Information Presentation Facility (INF and help files) which type of character set is being used, i.e., Single or Double Byte Character Set. This is an environment variable. Removing it from my system did not seem to have any impact. PRIORITY_DISK_IO=YES This command determines whether programs running in the foreground have priority access to disks. The default is YES. If you want a program running in the background, like a BBS, to have equal access to your disks, then change this statement to NO. If you change this command to no and then find that your communications program does not work, change back to yes. PRIORITY=DYNAMIC OS/2 automatically assigns processing priorities to each thread of a program as it begins processing. A thread running in the foreground will generally have priority over a thread running in background. Thread priorities are adjusted, generally based upon how active they are, by OS/2 on an ongoing basis to make sure each thread has adequate processing time. On the rare occasion that you need to run a program which must never change in priority, you should set PRIORITY=ABSOLUTE, otherwise, don't mess with it. <<=NOTE=>> This command does not have to be in your CONFIG.SYS. If it isn't OS/2 defaults to PRIORITY=DYNAMIC. Here are some interesting and comments posted by David Page. "I strongly suggest that you read "The Design of OS2" by Deitel and Kogan; Addison Wesley. It goes into great detail on this topic. "To summarize: The highest priority thread always has the machine. If there are two equally high threads, they timeslice having the machine. Note that there are many Operating System threads, like the scheduler itself, that are higher priority than any program. Now, if PRIORITY=ABSOLUTE in the CONFIG.SYS file, that's all there is to it. But usually, PRIORITY=DYNAMIC, and OS/2 keeps gradually increasing the priority of a starved thread until it gets to run. Maxwait determines the maximum time, in seconds, before the scheduler intervenes to raise a low priority thread up high enough to run." FILES=20 This is a standard DOS command which sets the maximum number of files that DOS can access at the same time. OS/2 sets the install default is 20, but some DOS programs may require an increased number. The maximum parameter is 255. The FILES command is for DOS only and has no effect on OS/2 sessions which can have up to 64,000 files open at the same time. DEVICE=C:\OS2\TESTCFG.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\TESTCFG.SYS <---- In Warp TESTCFG.SYS is used during the install process to test your systems configuration. It is also used by the Selective Install process and during device driver installations. <<=NOTE=>> Because this driver is used by the Selective Install process, it should not be deleted. DEVICE=C:\OS2\PMDD.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\PMDD.SYS <---- In Warp OS/2 loads and uses this driver to provide pointer draw support along with POINTDD.SYS. <<=WARNING=>> OS/2 will not start without this line in your CONFIG.SYS file. BUFFERS=30 Tells OS/2 how many disk buffers to set aside. Range is from 3 to 100. Each buffer takes up to 512 bytes of RAM. The install default usually works well. If you are using HPFS only, see <<=Tip=>> below. Disk buffers are blocks of memory set aside by OS/2 for use in reading and writing blocks of data. For example, if a program wants to change 80 bytes of a file, it needs to read the 512 byte sector that contains the original data, change the information and then write the corrected 512 byte sector back out. A "buffer" is the 512 byte temporary staging area for this partial sector operation. According to a source at IBM, "OS/2 allows multiple simultaneous I/O operations to be queued up for both diskette and hard disk. Each 'concurrent' operation may need a buffer. If there are not enough buffers, overlap can be inhibited. Because OS/2 has more 'simultaneous' queued I/O than DOS, it needs more buffers." <<=TIP=>> Generally, you can speed up your system by increasing the number of BUFFERS. But, keep in mind that as you increase the number, you reduce available memory. Be careful about using a lower number unless you only have 4MB of RAM. With 4MB of RAM you may wish to set BUFFERS to 20. <<=TIP=>> If you are using only HPFS (i.e., no FAT partitions), try setting BUFFERS to 3. With HPFS you generally don't need BUFFERS. Remember that 3 is the minimum parameter. If you set BUFFERS to 1 or 2, OS/2 will default to 30 since 1 and 2 are out of range. There is one exception to this tip. If you access your floppy disks a lot, then a reduced BUFFERS setting could impact floppy performance. IOPL=YES When set to YES, this command lets programs that need to bypass OS/2 (and its device drivers) and work directly with hardware devices, to do so. One example is Lotus 123/G. YES means that all programs can access the hardware directly. NO means that no program can access the hardware directly. YES is the default and is generally best, since its hard for most of us to know when a program is written is such a way as to need direct access to hardware. IOPL stands for Input/Output Privilege Level. <<=TIP=>> You can also specify a list of programs that are allowed to work directly with the hardware. For example, IOPL=WS.EXE,123.EXE would allow only these two programs to access hardware directly. RUN=C:\OS2\CACHE.EXE /MAXAGE:2500 This line runs CACHE.EXE which allows you to modify the parameters for the HPFS cache. CACHE.EXE is only used for HPFS partitions. (The DISKCACHE command sets up a cache for FAT.) There are four switches for CACHE.EXE: /LAZY: Determines if lazy writes is ON or OFF, that is, whether the contents of the cache will be written to your hard disk immediately (/LAZY:OFF) or when your hard disk is idle (/LAZY:ON) The default is ON. I like lazy writes ON because it improves performance, but keep in mind that since the system delays writing data to your hard disk, you can lose data if your system should crash. In the CONFIG.SYS file line above no switch is specified therefore the default remains in effect, which is ON. <<=TIP=>> Lazy writes can also be turned ON or OFF at an OS/2 command prompt. <<=WARNING=>> If you include the /LAZY switch, then the CACHE statement will IGNORE ALL OTHER SWITCHES in the line. Therefore, if you want to turn lazy writes off (or on) and also change some other parameter, you will need two RUN statements. <<=WARNING=>> There is a bug in OS/2 version 2.1 which does not appear to have been fixed in Warp. You can't turn lazy writes off from the CONFIG.SYS file. The WpS always turns lazy writes ON when it loads regardless of what your CACHE.EXE command sets. So, if you want lazy writes off, you will need to run the CACHE command AFTER the WpS starts. Create a CMD file to turn it off and place it in your Startup folder. The WpS has already done it's thing when the objects in the Startup folder are opened. You can also turn it off from a command prompt. (Thanks to Denis Tonn for this critical information) /MAXAGE: Sets how long data waits in the cache before it is moved to another area of the cache where less used information is stored, or how long data waits in the cache before it is written to the hard disk. It is expressed in milliseconds. The default is 5,000 or about 5 seconds. In the CONFIG.SYS file line above, the wait is set at 2,500 milliseconds or about 2 1/2 seconds. /DISKIDLE: Sets how long your hard disk must be idle before it will accept data from the cache. Express in milliseconds and the default is 1,000 or about one second. In the CONFIG.SYS file line above no switch was specified so the default remains in effect. /BUFFERIDLE: Sets how long the cache buffer must be idle before its contents MUST be written to your hard disk. Express in milliseconds and the default is 500 or about 1/2 second. In the CONFIG.SYS file line above no switch was specified so the default remains in effect. According to one source at IBM, there are two other undocumented parameters. /DIRTYMAX: The threshold number of dirty buffers before immediately flushing of least recently used (LRU) data blocks. /WRITECACHE: The threshold number of bytes that HPFS will cache for a lazy write. <<=NOTE=>> The HPFS IFS CONFIG.SYS file line sets up the cache and uses the system defaults. This CONFIG.SYS file line is only used to modify the cache parameters. <<=TIP=>> You can check to see what parameters the HPFS cache is currently set at by going to an OS/2 command prompt and keying in the word CACHE and pressing the enter key. <<=TIP=>> Table 2.0 contains information on optimum settings for each of the main parameters. This great stuff was provided by Proportional Software based upon a great deal of OS/2 system tweaking done by the DCF/2 development team. ========================= Table 2.0 =========================== Parameters: LAZY WRITES /LAZY:ON MAXAGE >7,500 DISKIDLE 60,000 BUFFERIDLE 60,000 =============================================================== DISKCACHE=256,LW,32,AC:C If you are using one or more FAT partitions on a hard drive, this command sets up a disk cache for those partitions. The DISKCACHE line noted here sets up a 256k cache. The default cache size used by OS/2 during installation is based on how much RAM your system contains. See Table 3.0 The minimum cache size is 64k and the Maximum FAT cache size is 14MB. <<=IMPORTANT NOTE=>> Under Warp, during installation the letter "D" (for Default?) is used instead of the usual numeric value. This is either an error or an undocumented parameter. On the "nets", several users have reported that their disk I/O was significantly reduced when they replaced the "D" with a value as was the case in OS/2 2.x. I suggest you change this setting based on the optimum cache sizes as shown in Table 1.1 above. <<=NOTE=>> This command is for hard drives only. DISKCACHE does not cache FAT based floppy drives. <<=TIP=>> If you have the RAM, increase the size to improve system performance, but don't get carried away by using to much of your RAM; this can hurt performance. See the information on optimum cache sizes contained in Table 1.1 above. <<=TIP=>> If you are only using HPFS, then you should REM this statement and save 64k of RAM (don't delete, you may need or want it later). If you have a FAT partition on your hard drive and you REM this statement, OS/2 will automatically set up a 64k cache by default. ========================= Table 3.0 =========================== If you have formatted your hard drive(s) with only FAT partitions, the default cache size in this statement will be that noted under ONE FILE SYSTEM. If you have both FAT and HPFS partitions, then OS/2 defaults to the cache size noted under TWO FILE SYSTEM. The file system which uses the greatest amount of your disk space gets the larger default value. MEMORY SIZE IN MB TWO FILE SYSTEM ONE FILE SYSTEM 4 128/64 128 5 128/64 128 6 256/64 256 7 256/128 256 8 256/256 384 9 256/256 384 10 - 16 512/512 1024 17 - 32 1024/1024 2048 =============================================================== LW: Enables lazy writes. If you don't want lazy write enabled, then ",LW". 32: Sets the threshold size. It is express in number of sectors which are 512 bytes each. Data requests from your disk that are larger than this number will not be cached. The default is 4. Thirty two (32) is said to be an optimum number. One hundred twenty eight (128) is the maximum allowable. This setting has no impact on RAM. AC:C: If you want CHKDSK to automatically check your start up partition (usually C), then add this switch to end of the DISKCACHE command: AC:n where n is your start up partition, e.g. AC:C. MAXWAIT=3 This command sets the longest period a program will have to wait to execute before OS/2 ups its priority. This makes sure that no program is put on hold forever while some other program hogs the system. You can set MAXWAIT from 1 to 255 seconds. The default is 3 seconds. <<=TIP=>> When running heavy background programs, such as a BBS, change the setting to 1, i.e. MAXWAIT=1. This will keep the BBS software or other background programs running at top speed. For general use, it appears that setting MAXWAIT=2 makes the system a little livelier. <<=NOTE=>> MAXWAIT only has an effect if PRIORITY=DYNAMIC. MEMMAN=SWAP,PROTECT OS/2 can run more programs and use more data than can actually be stored in memory at any given time. This is done by swapping large amounts of memory to your hard disk and then reading the data back into memory when needed. This is called virtual memory. For example, if you have 4MB of memory you will see lots of disk activity while you are working with your system. A lot of this is OS/2 swapping memory to and from your hard disk. Lots of memory swapping slows down your system and can cause your hard disk to fragment quicker than normal. The MEMMAN command controls the swap process. The syntax is ... MEMMAN=s,m,PROTECT,COMMIT where s=SWAP or NOSWAP; m=MOVE or NOMOVE. The default is to have virtual memory on. To turn off virtual memory, which is NOT recommended, the CONFIG.SYS file line should read: MEMMAN=NOSWAP. See <<=CAUTION=>> below. PROTECT allows the allocation and use of protected memory. Unless you are a programmer who needs this set to NOPROTECT, leave the default. <<=NEW 2.1+ PARAMETER=>> A new parameter with version 2.1 is COMMIT. With this parameter included, OS/2 will allocate space in the swap file whenever a program commits memory. Increase your SWAPPER.DAT file (in the SWAPPATH line below) by the amount of memory you are likely to use when using the COMMIT parameter. <<=TIP=>> You can also use the COMMIT parameter another way. Without COMMIT set, the minimum free noted in you SWAPPATH specified the point at which OS/2 gives you a message warning that your disk space is running low. When you set COMMIT, the minimum free value noted in your SWAPPATH statement becomes the amount of hard disk space that will always remain free on the swap file partition. Thus, with COMMIT set, you can never run out of disk space on your swap file partition. <<=CAUTION=>> When messing with the MEMMAN line, I changed it to MEMMAN=NOSWAP. As a result, I had to boot from my OS/2 installation disk and recover my backup CONFIG.SYS file to get the system to boot. According to Blake Stover, "The reason MEMMAN=NOSWAP,PROTECT chokes is because of the hat tricks OS/2 does while loading the WpS, Desktop, Bitmaps, Folders, Cache buffers, MMPM/2, etc.. OS/2 likes to load all of these, then swap or discard the inactive code. If there is no where to swap to it dies during boot, unable to initialize the resources it needs. NOSWAP,PROTECT should only be used for boots from floppy to do maintenance, in most cases. (People who use TSHELL on a machine with a good amount of RAM may also use it to speed operations). <<=NOTE=>> The MOVE/NOMOVE parameter is only provided for OS/2 1.x compatibility. <<=NOTE=>> NOPACK PARAMETER. When OS/2 initially loads a 16-bit OS/2 application, it packs the segments into pages and copies them to the swap file for faster recovery when needed. This can be disabled by using the NOPACK option on the MEMMAN line. However, the performance decrease and larger working set will rarely offset the potential of a reduced swap file size. <<=NOTE=>> DELAYSWAP. No information at this time. SWAPPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM 512 4096 OS/2 can allocate more memory than it actually has available. It does this by swapping memory to a hard disk file called SWAPPER.DAT. The syntax is SWAPPATH=DRIVE,PATH,mmm,nnn where DRIVE,PATH is the location where you want the SWAPPER.DAT file to be placed and mmm is a number from 512 to 32767 which specifies how large the SWAPPER.DAT file can grow before it stops consuming hard disk space. The size is stated in the negative. In other words, if you have the mmm set to 512, then the SWAPPER.DAT file can grow until there is only 512k left on your hard disk. The variable nnn is the starting size of the SWAPPER.DAT file. The install default SWAPPER.DAT size is set based on the amount of RAM your system has available as shown in Table 4.0. ============================ Table 4.0 ============================ MEMORY IN MB MINFREE (KB) INITIAL SIZE (KB) 4 4096 6144 5 4096 5120 6 4096 5120 7 2048 4096 8 2048 4096 9 2048 3072 10 2048 3072 11 - 32 2048 2048 =================================================================== <<=TIP=>> When your swap file grows beyond the initial size you have specified, OS/2 starts to manage the swap file. This increased overhead can negatively impact your systems performance. Therefore, if your swap file always exceeds its initial size, consider increasing the files initial size. For example, if your swap file usually grows to 8MB, set the initial size of 8MB. <<=TIP=>> Normal operation of OS/2 can involves considerable disk activity as operating system functions are loaded and pages are moved in and out of the swap file. Here are a couple of tips to improve performance. (1) Consider dedicating a separate partition for the swap file. This helps avoid fragmentation of the swap file, because other files will not be added or deleted from the dedicated partition. (2) If you have both FAT and HPFS partitions, put the swap file on the HPFS partition to take advantage of the better performance of HPFS. (3) If you have a system with two hard disk controllers, put the swap file on a disk managed by the least used controller. (4) Keep your swap file on the MOST used partition of the LEAST used hard drive. <<=WARNING=>> Never put your swap file on a networked drive. <<=NOTE=>> Your swap file will grow (in 1MB increments), but it also shrinks when two conditions are met. One, when the amount of free space in the swap file is greater than 1.5MB, the swap file will be compressed during system idle time. (It will not shrink if there is a constant "hit" on the drive by a program such as a swap file monitor.) Two, during the compression, free space is moved to the end of the swap file. When this free space at the end of the swap file exceeds 1MB, the swap file will be shrunk. <<=NOTE=>> See the discussion of the new COMMIT parameter for the MEMMAN CONFIG.SYS line including the <<=TIP=>>. <<=WARP NOTE=>> Your swap file in Warp will be larger than in earlier versions of OS/2. This is normal. The most significant change that has been made is how system DLL's get loaded and what is now valid data for swapping. System DLL's include: DISPLAY, SOM, PMMERGE, PMWP, DOSCALL1, PMATM, PMMLE, IBMDEV32, PMCTLS, PMSPL, IBMVGA32, PMGPI, and PMVIOP. In the previous versions of OS/2, dll code was never copied to the swapper file. In WARP, code for system dll's can be written to the swapper file and, in adition, during boot, PMMERGE, DOSCALL1, PMGPI, PMWP and PMVIOP will be swapped out. This means that there will be an overall increase in swapper size. This was done to increase overall system perfomance. BREAK=OFF For DOS programs only. Many DOS programs can be stopped by holding down the Ctrl key and then pressing the Break key. BREAK controls how quickly DOS programs stop when you interrupt them with the Ctrl+Break sequence. If BREAK=OFF, DOS will stop the program only when the programs next reads a character from the keyboard or writes to the screen or printer. With BREAK=ON, DOS will check for the Ctrl+Break on a more frequent basis. Remember that this extra checking can make your DOS programs run slower. THREADS=256 OS/2 programs can have several different processes running at the same time. These are called threads. This command sets the maximum number of threads, from 32 to 4095, that OS/2 can run at the same time. If this command is not included in your CONFIG.SYS file, OS/2 will default to 64. <<=TIP=>> On systems with only 4MB of RAM, set THREADS to 128 to free up memory. <<=TIP=>> If you have more than 8MB of RAM and run lots of OS/2 specific programs, you may be able to improve system responsiveness by increasing the number of threads. Why? Because well written OS/2 programs will use threads to improve program performance. Therefore, the more well written OS/2 programs in use, the more threads that could be needed. But still keep in mind that this only holds true only when you are using a fair number of OS/2 specific programs at the same time. Even when I opened the Enhanced Editor, AmiPro for OS/2, ZOC, and KWQ Mail/2, I was only using 57 threads. The most threads I've ever recorded at one time was 62. PRINTMONBUFSIZE=134,134,134 This command sets the size of the print buffers for your parallel ports. The syntax is PRINTMONBUFSIZE=LPT1,LPT2,LPT3 where LPT1 is the buffer size for the parallel port LPT1, LPT2 is the buffer size for LPT2 and LPT3 is the buffer size for LPT3. The default and minimum is 134 bytes and the maximum is 2048 bytes. <<=Note=>> You must define a buffer for LPT2 and LPT3 even if you don't use these ports. You will get an error message at start up if you don't. <<=TIP=>> You may be able to improve printer throughput by increasing buffer size. I have my LPT1 set to 2048. On systems with less than 6MB of RAM, don't increase the size of these buffers. <<=TRIVIA=>> Ever wonder where IBM got a parameter like 134? I did and Lynn Nash passed along the following in response to my question: "Obviously you have no background on the big iron or it has disappeared into historical memory :-). Mainframe line standard of 132 columns plus 2 for carriage return and line feed characters. That is why all the wide carriage dot matrix printers also had 132 column lines, to be able to use that wide green bar paper. Anyone that had an early Okidata 83 dot matrix even had an electronic format tape, but that is a story for another time." COUNTRY=001,C:\OS2\SYSTEM\COUNTRY.SYS Customizes your system for the country you wish to use. It establishes which defaults to use when it comes to decimal separators, date and time formats, currency symbols, etc. The syntax is COUNTRY=xxx,PATH,FILE NAME. xxx is a three-digit code number that tells what country to use. The number is usually (but not always) the same as the international telephone dialing prefix for the country desired. Table 5.0 contains various country codes. =========== Table 5.0 ============= COUNTRY COUNTRY CODE Arabic-speaking 785 Asia (English) 099 Australia (English) 061 Belgium 032 Canada (French) 002 China 088 Czechoslovakia 042 Denmark 045 Finland 358 France 033 Germany 049 Hebrew-speaking 972 Hungary 036 Iceland 354 Italy 039 Japan 081 Korea 082 Latin America 003 Netherlands 031 Norway 047 Poland 048 Portugal 351 Spain 034 Sweden 046 Switzerland 041 Taiwan 088 Turkey 090 United Kingdom 044 United States 001 Yugoslavia 038 =================================== SET KEYS=ON When using the command line, KEYS tells CMD.EXE whether to remember previous keystrokes so they can be recalled with the up arrow key. OS/2 maintains a 64k buffer for storing keystroke history. KEYS can be ON or OFF. <<=TIP=>> On systems with only 4MB of RAM, SET KEYS to OFF, you need the memory more than this feature. Even with 16MB of RAM, since I don't use the feature I have turned it off to get a small memory boost. SET SOMIR=C:\OS2\ETC\SOM.IR;C:\OS2\ETC\WPSH.IR;C:\OS2\ETC\WPDSERV.IR;SOM.IR No information on this new Warp command at this time. SET SOMDDIR=C:\OS2\ETC\DSOM No information on this new Warp command at this time. SET DELDIR=C:\DELETE,512; To use OS/2s UNDELETE command, you must first establish a directory to store the deleted files. To do this, create a directory called DELETE on each drive you have and then remove the "REM" from this CONFIG.SYS file line. This command points OS/2 to the directory you created to place deleted files in. It also indicates the maximum number of files that will be stored in the DELETE directory. If the number of deleted files exceeds the maximum number that you specified, then files are automatically removed from the directory on a first-in-first-out basis. BASEDEV=PRINT01.SYS BASEDEV installs a base device driver used by OS/2 when it is first started. The statement cannot contain either a drive or path because OS/2 cannot process such information at the stage at which these statements are process. These base device drivers include: PRINT01.SYS supports attached printers on non-Micro Channel PC's. PRINT02.SYS supports attached printers on Micro Channel PC's. IBM1FLPY.ADD supports diskette drives on non-Micro Channel PC's. IBM2FLPY.ADD supports diskette drives on Micro Channel PC's. IBM2SCSI.ADD supports SCSI disk drives on Micro Channel PC's. OS2SCSI.DMD supports non-disk SCSI devices. IBM1S506.ADD supports non-SCSI disk drives, non-Micro Channel PC's. OS2DASD.DMD is a general purpose driver for disk drives. IBM2ADSK.ADD supports non-SCSI disk drives on Micro Channel PC's. IBMINT13.I13 supports non-Micro Channel SCSI adapters. OS2CDROM.DMD supports CD-ROM drives. FD16-700.ADD support driver for Future Domain 1670 SCSI. FD8XX.ADD supports Future Domain FD8XX devices. TMV1SCSI.DMD supports Media Vision CD-ROM/ProAudio SCSI. SONY31A.ADD supports the Sony CDU-31A & CDU-33A CD-ROM drive. SONY535.ADD supports the Sony CDU-531 & CDU-535 CD-ROM drives. MITFX001.ADD supports a Mitsumi CD-ROM drive. AHA154X.ADD supports SCSI on Adaptec 1542C controllers. AHA174X.ADD supports SCSI on Adaptec 1742 controllers. OS2ASPI.DMD Adaptec ASPI support. HITCDS1.FLT supports Hitachi CDR-1750. SBCD2.ADD supports Panasonic CD-ROM drives. LMS206.ADD supports Philips CD-ROM drives. <<=TIP=>> Try adding the following switches to the BASEDEV=IBM1S506.ADD line: BASEDEV=IBM1S506.ADD /A:0 /U:O /SMS, and use /V (/V=verbose) to see if the /SMS works. This will improve performacne on those IDE drives that support the SMS feature. It will not work on all IDE drives, but it will not damage anything either. <<=TIP=>> If you wish to prevent users from using the floppy drives under OS/2 (to keep them from loading non-authorized programs or in a workstation situation), REM the BASEDEV=IBMxFLPY.ADD line (where x is 1 for ISA and EISA machines, or 2 for Microchannel). <<=NOTE=>> In Warp, the install program may have placed both IBM1FLPY.ADD and IBM2FLPY.ADD BASEDEV drivers in your CONFIG.SYS. Remove IBM2FLPY.ADD if you don't have a Micro Channel PC. <<=WARP TIP=>> With Warp, the default transmission protocal use by PRINTO1.SYS and PRINTO2.SYS is the polling transmission method. The protocal used by previous versions of OS/2 was the interrupt transmission method. In Warp, you can change back to the interrupt method by adding the /IRQ switch. SET BOOKSHELF=C:\GAMMA32;C:\OS2\BOOK This command points to the on-line documentation (INF files) provided with OS/2 or other OS/2 programs. I have the GAMMATECH utilities installed on my system which contains on-line documentation. <<=TIP=>> If you have an HPFS partition, copy all of your on-line documentation (INF files) to this partition. Then change this parameter to reflect the new path. You will notice a substantial improvement in search speed since HPFS is much faster than FAT. SET EPMPATH=C:\OS2\APPS Replaced SET EPATH=C:\OS2\APPS in version 2.0. According to one source in IBM, EPMPATH is used by the Enhanced Editor (EPM.EXE) to locate its files. DEVICE=D:\OS2\VASPIDD.SYS DEVICE=D:\OS2\VASPI.SYS Adaptech ASPI device drivers for SCSI support. DEVICE=C:\OS2\APPS\SASYNCDB.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\APPS\SASYNCDA.SYS This device driver loads communications support for the PM Terminal applet. The PM Terminal applet, and this device driver, were dropped in OS/2 Warp. <<=TIP=>> If you don't use PM Terminal, REM this line to save a little memory. In fact, if you are not using PM Terminal applet you may wish to consider deleting the files to save some disk space also. PROTECTONLY=NO Allows you to choose between a shared DOS and OS/2 operating environment or just an OS/2 environment. If you plan to run only OS/2 programs, then set PROTECTONLY=YES. If you plan to run DOS programs (including Windows), then set PROTECTONLY=NO. <<=NOTE=>> Jonathan de Boyne Pollard relayed the following: "Part of the difficulty of talking about OS/2 2.x, as opposed to OS/2 1.x, is that *all* processes run in *protected mode*. The 386 never runs in real mode in OS/2 2.x. "Virtual DOS Machines are run in v8086 mode, which is still *protected mode*, as the paging mechanism is still active. The major difference between v8086 and normal protected mode is that the segment base addresses in linear memory are fixed, instead of being determined by the entries for each selector in the LDT and GDT." "So PROTECTONLY in OS/2 2.x means *don't use v8086 protected mode*. For a while there we thought that it meant *don't use real mode* and so was useless to OS/2 2.x, but it seems after all that it retains its original OS/2 1.x semantics, if not its original mechanism." SHELL=C:\OS2\MDOS\COMMAND.COM C:\OS2\MDOS /P This line identifies and loads the DOS command processor COMMAND.COM which you must have to make DOS sessions work. The /p switch keeps the command processor in memory until shut down. <<=NOTE=>> This is the line where you can also specify the size of the DOS environment variable. The range is 160 through 32768. For example, to set a 1024 byte environment you would add the following to the end of the SHELL command line: /E:1024 <<=TIP=>> You can also load and run other command processor's such as 4DOS. To do so, just put 4DOS in your MDOS directory and change the SHELL line to read 4DOS.COM instead of COMMAND.COM. FCBS=16,8 File Control Blocks (FCBS) are an outmoded holdover from old versions of DOS. The blocks are an internal holding area for data about concurrently open files. In newer versions of DOS, these FCBS have been replaced by File Handles, but some DOS programs still use them and you need this statement for compatibility. The command tells an OS/2 VDM how many FCBS can be open at once, or, when DOS needs to open more FCBS than are available, how many currently open but not active FCBS may be closed to make room for new ones. The syntax is FCBS=a,b where a=the number of FCBS that DOS can have open at one time and b=the number of FCBS DOS cannot close to make room for new FCBS. "a" can be as high as 255. "b" can have a value of 0 to 254, but must be less than "a". Unless you get some kind of error message when running a DOS program that tells you the program doesn't have enough FCBS, leave the default as set. <<=TIP=>> You may wish to experiment with a smaller number. If you can get by with a smaller number, you will get back a little memory in each of your DOS sessions. My suggestions is that you set it to 4,2. If you make this change and then load a DOS program that says it can't open a file, increase the first value, reboot, and see if the error message goes away. You can also increase or change the value in the DOS programs Settings notebook. RMSIZE=640 This is a DOS command and sets the amount of memory available for use by each DOS session. The maximum is 640k. Since some DOS programs require 640k, its best to have RMSIZE set to 640. <<=TIP=>> If you only have 4MB of RAM or don't have any DOS programs that need a full 640k, you should consider reducing this parameter to 512. Many DOS applications will run in a 512k DOS partition. Doing this will free up some additional RAM which will help performance. Remember that Windows is a DOS program. I don't suggest you attempt to run it in less than 640kb. <<=TIP=>> If you need maximum memory (more than 640k), see tip under DOS=LOW,NOUMB DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VEMM.SYS VEMM.SYS lets DOS programs use expanded memory unless you override it by changing a DOS programs SETTINGS. Three of its switches are: /S=n Sets the limit of EMS memory in blocks of 1024k. Default is 2. /L=n Size of conventional memory that can be remapped. Default is none. /F=nnnn Memory frame address to be used to map EMS. Default is AUTO. <<=NOTE=>> Settings you specify in a DOS session will override these switches. <<=NOTE=>> The VEMM.SYS device must be listed in your CONFIG.SYS file before the VXMS.SYS device. DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VMOUSE.SYS Identifies and loads the mouse driver to let you use a mouse with DOS. Mouse support for OS/2 is loaded below. <<=NOTE=>> If you don't have this line (or you REM'd it), you will not have mouse support in your DOS sessions. DOS=LOW,NOUMB This is a standard DOS command that lets you control how DOS uses memory. The default is DOS=LOW,NOUMB and is considered by many to be the best setting for it conserves memory for OS/2. DOS=HIGH (including ,UMB) reduces available memory for OS/2, but increases the available memory in EVERY DOS session. Few DOS sessions need maximum memory. Also remember that you can move DOS HIGH for a specific program by changing that programs Settings. This is done in the programs Settings Notebook and is likely the better way to go. Finally, keep in mind that in OS/2 many device drivers are not taking up room in your 640k DOS area. So you generally have more memory in the typical OS/2 DOS session than in a standard DOS session. The following is the amount of memory my system reports in each DOS session with DOS=LOW,NOUMB. The vast majority of all DOS programs will run just fine with this amount of memory. 655360 bytes total memory 655360 bytes available for DOS 618208 largest executable program size <---- About 604k. With DOS=HIGH, the amount of memory reported is: 655360 bytes total memory 655360 bytes available for DOS 643632 largest executable program size <---- About 629k. <<=TIP=>> If you need the maximum available RAM in a DOS session and can get by on CGA or MONO, in the DOS Settings of your applications Settings Notebook, change VIDEO_MODE_RESTRICTION to CGA or MONO. (Note that there are some reports from users that this procedure does not work on their hardware.) A final note: For this to work on some systems, you may need to change RMSIZE command to 639 (RMSIZE=639). See description of this parameter above. This is the result of a bug in OS/2. The amount of memory reported after doing this on my machine is: 752640 bytes total memory 752640 bytes available for DOS 740656 largest executable program size <---- About 724k. DEVICE=C:\OS2\APM.SYS Device driver for ADVANCED POWER MANAGEMENT system used with laptop systems. Not using a laptop? Then REM or delete the statement. If you are using a laptop, see the OS/2 README file for more details on its operation. DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VXMS.SYS /UMB VXMS.SYS is a device driver that provides Extended Memory management to DOS sessions. XMS allows DOS programs to access more than one MB of memory. You need the /UMB switch at the end if you want upper memory block support in DOS sessions. <<=NOTE=>> The VXMS.SYS device must be listed in your CONFIG.SYS file after the VEMM.SYS device. DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VDPX.SYS Driver required when using VDPMI in the CONFIG.SYS line below. One authority said that this driver "provides V86 to Protected Mode translation for DPMI memory". Well that's enough to lose me. DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VDPMI.SYS Provides "virtual" DPMI (DOS Protect Mode Interface) memory for DOS and Window sessions. I don't know much about this, but I've been told not to remove it. DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VWIN.SYS Assists in the process of providing seamless Windows support. DEVICE=C:\OS2\EXTDSKDD.SYS EXTDSKDD.SYS supports external disk drives. DEVICE=C:\OS2\PCMCIA.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VPCMCIA.SYS These two drivers were new beginning with version 2.1. They provide support for computers that have PC Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) adapters. <<=TIP=>> If you don't have any PCMCIA devices, then you should REM these drivers to save a little RAM. <<=NOTE=>> If you are using PCMCIA adapters and you find that your communications ports (COM1 - COM4) are not working properly, place these two device drivers after the COM.SYS and VCOM.SYS statements. DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VCDROM.SYS This is a CD-ROM device driver that provides support in DOS sessions. <<=TIP=>> If you don't have a CD-ROM installed, then you should REM this line to save a little RAM. Remember, the more RAM OS/2 has, up to 16MB, the better it runs. After 16MB it doesn't seem to improve much, overall. IFS=C:\OS2\CDFS.IFS /C:4 IFS=C:\OS2\BOOT\CDFS.IFS /C:4 <---- In Warp This OS/2 command is needed if you have a CD-ROM. It installs CDFS.INF which is the "Installable File System" for CD-ROMs. Your CD-ROM is not going to run without it. <<=TIP=>> You can add cache to your CD-ROM IFS by adding the /C:n switch. The variable "n" is a number which represents units of 64kb of memory. For example, /C:4 would set up a 256kb cache (4 x 64kb = 256kb). DEVICE=C:\OS2\OS2CDROM.DMD /Q DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\OS2CDROM.DMD /Q <---- In Warp OS/2 CD-ROM driver used on many, but not all CD-ROM's. DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VW32S.SYS WIN32 program support driver. DEVINFO=SCR,VGA,C:\OS2\VIOTBL.DCP This command prepares your monitor to display information based upon the CODEPAGE specification. VIOTBL.DCP is the file that contains the video fonts for displaying characters for each of the CODEPAGES supported by OS/2. See the CODEPAGE command line below. DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VVGA.SYS Your CONFIG.SYS file will contain various device drivers for various devices based upon your systems hardware configuration. This device driver for supporting VGA video cards in DOS sessions. SET VIDEO_DEVICES=VIO_SVGA SET VIO_SVGA=DEVICE(BVHVGA, BVHSVGA) DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VSVGA.SYS Your CONFIG.SYS file will contain various device drivers for various devices based upon your systems hardware configuration. These device driver are for a SVGA video card. DEVICE=C:\OS2\POINTDD.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\POINTDD.SYS <---- In Warp Provides mouse-pointer draw support. Text modes 0, 1, 2, 3, and 7 and graphic modes D, E, F, and 10 are supported. For graphic modes D, E, F, and 10, the correct graphic device driver must also be installed. <<=WARNING=>> In order for MOUSE.SYS to work effectively, this driver must be loaded by OS/2. Do not remove it from your CONFIG.SYS file. DEVICE=C:\OS2\MOUSE.SYS SERIAL=COM1 QSIZE=10 DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\MOUSE.SYS SERIAL=COM1 QSIZE=10 <-- In Warp Lets you use a mouse or track ball. This line also identifies the type of mouse you have and which COM port it is on. QSIZE is a number from 1 to 100 which indicates how many mouse actions are to be saved when you execute mouse actions faster than your system can handle them. There is also a RELAXED parameter which you would place after QSIZE. It can be used with any mouse when the pointer is jumping randomly about the screen. IBM does not suggest you use this parameter unless you are experiencing this problem. <<=NOTE=>> The MOUSE.SYS statement must come before COM.SYS because COM.SYS will take over any unused COM port. If COM.SYS takes over the COM ports before MOUSE.SYS is loaded, MOUSE.SYS will not have any COM ports available, thus no mouse support. DEVICE=C:\OS2\COM.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\COM.SYS <---- In Warp Lets you use the communications ports COM1 and COM2. If you want to use COM3 or COM4 or change the IRQ of any COM port, see <<=TIP=>> below. This line MUST appear after any driver that uses a communications port. Use COM02.SYS for IBM PS/2 model 90 and 95. <<=TIP=>> There are two very good replacement drivers for COM.SYS\VCOM.SYS called SIO.SYS\VSIO.SYS. It can be obtained on most OS/2 BBSs. If you utilize communications software on a regular basis at high speeds (e.g. 14,400), I recommend you consider SIO.SYS. Replace VCOM.SYS with VSIO.SYS which comes with SIO.SYS. SIO.SYS and VSIO.SYS are Shareware, not Freeware. Register them if you use them! <<=TIP=>> To add support for COM3 and COM4 at location 3E8 with IRQ 4 and 2E8 with IRQ 3 respectively, add (3,3E8,4) (4,2E8,3) to the DEVICE line, e.g. DEVICE=C:\OS2\COM.SYS (3,3E8,4) (4,2E8,3). You can also use this method to change a COM ports assigned IRQ. DEVICE=C:\OS2\COM02.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\COM02.SYS <---- In Warp For IBM PS/2 model 90 & 95 only. Lets you use the communications ports COM1 and COM2. If you want to use COM3 or COM4 or change the IRQ of any COM port, see <<=TIP=>> below. This line MUST appear after any driver that uses a communications port. <<=TIP=>> To add support for COM3 and COM4 at location 3E8 with IRQ 4 and 2E8 with IRQ 3 respectively, add (3,3E8,4) (4,2E8,3) to the DEVICE line, e.g. DEVICE=C:\OS2\COM02.SYS (3,3E8,4) (4,2E8,3). You can also use this method to change a COM ports assigned IRQ. DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VCOM.SYS Lets you use the communications ports for DOS and Windows sessions. Must appear after the COM.SYS driver. <<=NOTE=>> If you are using COM3 and/or COM4, add the appropriate parameters to the COM.SYS line above only. It is not necessary to add any parameters to this line. VCOM.SYS inherits its parameters from the COM.SYS line. <<=TIP=>> See TIP under DEVICE=C:\OS2\COM.SYS regarding SIO.SYS. DEVICE=C:\SIO.SYS DEVICE=C:\VSIO.SYS Excellent replacement drivers for COM.SYS and VCOM.SYS. If you utilize communications software on a regular basis at high speeds (e.g. 14,400), then these two drivers are the way to go. Be sure you have REM'd out COM.SYS and VCOM.SYS when using. SIO.SYS and VSIO.SYS are Shareware, not Freeware. Register them if you use them! DEVICE=C:\MMOS2\MVPRODD.SYS /I12 /D3 /N:PAS161$ DEVICE=C:\MMOS2\AUDIOVDD.SYS PAS161$ These two drivers are for MediaVision's ProAudio Spectrum sound card. The first driver is set for IRQ 12, DMA 3. DEVICE=C:\MMOS2\SB16D2.SYS 1 1 5 5 220 4 330 /N:SBAUD1$ /Q DEVICE=C:\MMOS2\AUDIOVDD.SYS SBAUD1$ These two drivers are for Sound Blaster 16 sound card. The settings shown are port 220, MIDIPort 330, IRQ 5, low DMA 1, high DMA 5. DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\ANSI.SYS This is the traditional DOS command most are familiar with. It only affects DOS sessions. This line is not added to your CONFIG.SYS file by default. If you want it, you need to add it. OS/2 sessions have ANSI support by default. If you are unsure if ANSI is on or off in an OS/2 session, go to an OS/2 command prompt and type ANSI. You will get a message like: "ANSI extended screen and keyboard control is on." For an OS/2 session, turn ANSI off or on by typing ANSI OFF or ANSI ON at an OS/2 command prompt. SET ETC=C:\TCPI\ETC SET TMP=C:\TCPIP\TMP DEVICE=C:\TCPIP\BIN\INET.SYS DEVICE=C:\TCPIP\BIN\IFNDISNL.SYS DEVICE=C:\TCPIP\BIN\VDOSTCP.VDD DEVICE=C:\TCPIP\BIN\VDOSTCP.SYS RUN=C:\TCPIP\BIN\CNTRL.EXE RUN=C:\TCPIP\BIN\VDOSCTL.EXE Provides TCP/IP support for Warp's InterNet tools provided in the Bonus Pack. <<=TIP=>> If you don't need TCP/IP support in DOS sesions, and you don't if you are using the Bonus Pack tools, REM the following lines: DEVICE=C:\TCPIP\BIN\VDOSTCP.VDD DEVICE=C:\TCPIP\BIN\VDOSTCP.SYS RUN=C:\TCPIP\BIN\VDOSCTL.EXE DEVICE=C:\OS2\TOUCH.SYS (From OS/2s online documentation) Implements support for touch devices. For a touch device to be effectively used, the POINTDD.SYS device driver and appropriate mouse device-driver support must be loaded. In addition, these statements must be included in the CONFIG.SYS file in the following order: o A device-dependent statement that gives the name of the file containing the information for the touch device you use. o A device-independent statement that identifies the touch device to TOUCH.SYS If during installation, OS/2 detects a touch device installed on your system, the Install program automatically loads the required device-driver support necessary to enable the touch device. The touch device shares the auxiliary device (mouse) port on the system with the mouse by allowing the mouse to connect to the touch device, which is then connected to the system. The Install program automatically adds the following statements to the CONFIG.SYS file: DEVICE=C:\OS2\PDITOU0x.SYS CODE=C:\OS2TOUCO21.BIN INIT=C:TOUCH.INI DEVICE=C:\OS2\TOUCH.SYS TYPE=PDITOU$ RUN=C:\OS2\CALIBRATE.EXE-C C:\OS2CALIBRAT.DAT DEVICE=C:\OS2\MOUSE.SYS TYPE=PDIMOU$ "x" is 1 or 2 depending on the bus architecture of your system. TOUCO21D.BIN is the touch-device microcode binary file and TOUCH.INI is a text file containing default parameter settings. The RUN=CALIBRAT.EXE statement is to activate the Calibration program. This program performs the dual actions of downloading calibration-constant data to the touch device each time the system is started, and enabling recalibration of the touch device at initial setup, and when the device is moved to a new location. To recalibrate the touch device, enter the following at an OS/2 command prompt: x: (where "x" is your OS/2 boot drive.) CD \OS2 CALIBRAT -U RUN=C:\OS2\CALIBRATE.EXE-C C:\OS2CALIBRAT.DAT DEVICE=C:\OS2\PDITOU01.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\PDITOU02.SYS See DEVICE=C:\OS2\TOUCH.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\LOG.SYS This optional device driver installs OS/2s error log file. If you want a log of errors that occur on your system, then add this and the next line to your CONFIG.SYS file. If you are interested in such things, you may wish to play with it, but be forewarned, the error log information is cryptic and incomplete. See note below. To learn what these codes mean, you need to have IBMs Systems Network Architecture Formats (GA27-3136-12) or, for a reasonable overview, get OS/2 2.1 Unleashed, 1993, SAMS Publishing. The switch /E:nn sets the size of the error log buffer. The range is from 4kb to 64kb with 8kb as the default. You will get a short and quick message during boot up indicating that Logging has been installed and what the buffer size is. <<=NOTE=>> LOG.SYS has its limitations. It will not log an application error unless the application has be written to make use of LOG.SYS. Some routine system errors will not log either because OS/2 opens an error message box on screen to report these. RUN=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\LOGDAEM.EXE /E:C:\OS2\LOGFILE.DAT /W:16 This RUN command starts the logging process and must appear AFTER you have installed the LOG.SYS driver noted in the CONFIG.SYS line above. The two switches are: /E:path\filename This is the path and file name of the test file where the errors will be logged. You can place it anywhere you want and call it anything you wish. NOTE: Like the OS/2 INI files, this file is "locked" and you will not be able to access it with your standard text editor or the OS/2 System Editor. You will get a "violation error". The Enhanced Editor will open the file. /W:nn This is the size of the file named with the /E switch. The default size is 64k, but with this switch you can set the value from 4k to 64k. I've set the file size at 16k in the example line above. <<=NOTE=>> Use SYSLOG.EXE from an OS/2 command line prompt to view your log file. CODEPAGE=437,850 Lets you use the alphabet of various countries and languages. The syntax is CODEPAGE=ppp,sss, where ppp is the number of the primary national alphabet to be used and sss is a secondary alphabet number. From an OS/2 command line, you can use the CHCP command to switch between these two code pages. This can be useful in order to type, display or print data in a different language from the version installed. CHCP can be used either without a parameter to query the current code page, or with one parameter in order to switch between primary and secondary code pages. CHCP cannot be used to change to a code page not defined in the CODEPAGE= CONFIG.SYS line. 437=US English alphabet and 850=multinational alphabet. The multinational alphabet contains most of the accented letters used in various European languages. Several other alphabets that can be supported by your version of OS/2. See Table 6.0. <<=WARNING=>> Japan, Korean and Chinese require a special version of OS/2 and special hardware. <<=WARNING=>> The choice of code page is made at installation time and should only be changed by using Selective Install. <<=NOTE=>> If there is not a CODEPAGE statement in your CONFIG.SYS, your keyboard will use an alphabet based on the COUNTRY statement found earlier in your CONFIG.SYS, but your screen and printer will use their built in defaults. ================== Table 6.0 ===================== COUNTRY PRIMARY SECONDARY CODE PAGE CODE PAGE Arabic-speaking 864 850 Asia (English) 437 850 Australia (English) 437 850 Belgium 850 437 Canada (French) 863 850 Czechoslovakia 852 850 Denmark 850 n/a Finland 850 437 France 437 850 Germany 850 437 Hebrew-speaking 862 850 Hungary 852 850 Iceland 850 861 Italy 437 850 Japan 932 437, 850 Korea 934 437, 850 Latin America 437 850 Netherlands 850 437 Norway 850 n/a Peoples Republic of China 938 437, 850 Poland 852 850 Portugal 850 860 Spain 850 437 Sweden 850 437 Switzerland (French) 850 437 Switzerland (German) 850 437 Taiwan 437 850 Turkey 857 850 United Kingdom 437 850 United States 437 850 Yugoslavia 852 850 ================================================== DEVINFO=KBD,US,C:\OS2\KEYBOARD.DCP Tells the keyboard which international character set to use and where to find the file KEYBOARD.DCP which translates keystrokes. The syntax is ... DEVINFO=KBD,cc,DRIVE,PATH,FILENAME. The parameter cc equals the character set to be used, e.g. US = United States. See Table 7.0 for character set codes. =============== Table 7.0 ================ LANGUAGE COUNTRY CODE Arabic AR Belgian BE Canadian French CF Czech/Czech CS243 Czech/Slovak CS245 Danish DK Dutch NL Finnish SU French FR German GR Hebrew HE Hungarian HU Icelandic IS Italian IT Latin American LA Norwegian NO Polish PL Portuguese PO Spanish SP Swedish SV Swiss (French) SF Swiss (German) SG Turkish TR United Kingdom UK United States US Yugoslavian YU ========================================== SET ZOCDEVICE=COM4 Command used by ZOC, the excellent OS/2 communications Shareware program from Germany. DEVICE=C:\OS2\VDISK.SYS 512 As in DOS, this driver installs a RAM disk. In this example, the RAM disk is 512k with the sectors and directories parameters set at the default level (64-byte sectors and 64 directory entries). With DOS, a RAM disk could significantly improve system performance, but because OS/2 handles your memory far more efficiently than DOS and has its own sophisticated caching routines, using a RAM disk is not recommended. <<=CAUTION=>> Because a RAM disk takes available memory away from OS/2, you may negatively impact system performance on systems with less than 12MB of RAM. Unless you have lots of RAM or have a very specific need, don't install a RAM disk. <<=NOTE=>> If you do install VDISK.SYS and you also have EXTDSKDD.SYS installed, VDISK.SYS much be placed after EXTDSKDD.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS file. Check your on-line Command Reference for information on EXTDSKDD.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VNPX.SYS This device driver works with your systems math coprocessor. Some have suggested that if you add it to your CONFIG.SYS you will see an enhancement in your systems performance. Not so. There is no reason for it to be added to your CONFIG.SYS file. IF YOU HAVE A MATH COPROCESSOR, OS/2 WILL LOAD THIS DRIVER AUTOMATICALLY. If you add it to your CONFIG.SYS file, a second copy of the driver will be loaded. In doing so, many have reported that no DOS programs would run. DO NOT ADD THIS STATEMENT TO YOUR CONFIG.SYS FILE. NOVELL NETWARE NETWORK SUPPORT. Novell's NetWare is the most popular PC Network software around today. We use it at work and I've used our CONFIG.SYS file entries as the basis for this section of information. <<=NOTE=>> I'm not very knowledgeable about networks, so if someone would like to expand on this information and send it to me, I'd love to give you credit and include it here. REM --- NetWare Requester statements BEGIN --- DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\LSL.SYS Loads Link support Layer driver. It is the lowest layer in the Novell Open Data Link Interface model and is required at all times for the requester to be active. RUN=C:\NETWARE\DDAEMON.EXE A daemon is a background process that usually carries out administrative tasks for the system without you knowing it. This "daemon" is required for the requester to be active. DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\TOKEN.SYS This line differs depending on the network board you have. DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\ROUTE.SYS No information available. DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\IPX.SYS Provides Novell IPX protocol support and is required for access to a NetWare server. DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\SPX.SYS Provides Novell SPX protocol support. It is my understanding that this command is required for some Novell printing utilities, but is optional in most cases. RUN=C:\NETWARE\SPDAEMON.EXE Loads a daemon process that handles SPX packets. REM DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\NMPIPE.SYS Loads the support for client-only Named Pipes support. REM DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\NPSERVER.SYS Loads support for your workstation to function as a Named Pipes server. REM RUN=C:\NETWARE\NPDAEMON.EXE NP_COMPUTERNAME This line is required for either the client or the server NetBIOS support to be active and is a daemon program that is part of the Named Pipes support. DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\NWREQ.SYS This is the CORE REQUESTER MODULE. This line must follow any lines that support IPX, SPX, or Named Pipes. IFS=C:\NETWARE\NWIFS.IFS This installed the networks Installable File System. This IFS enables OS/2 to see the network drives just the same as local drives. RUN=C:\NETWARE\NWDAEMON.EXE Another daemon program, but I'm not sure for which process. DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\NETBIOS.SYS Loads support for the NETBIOS protocol. RUN=C:\NETWARE\NBDAEMON.EXE Loads the NETBIOS daemon process. DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\VIPX.SYS Loads support for multiple virtual DOS machine support. It is required both to have multiple DOS boxes on the network and to run the NetWare DOS based utilities. DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\VSHELL.SYS Loads the network shell. It is automatically used for all DOS and WIN-OS/2 sessions that require it. REM --- NetWare Requester statements END --- END OF CONFIG.SYS FILE DESCRIPTION OBSCURE CONFIG.SYS SETTINGS. What follows are some very obscure CONFIG.SYS settings. They are here only for informational purposes. Unless you have a very specific need and know what you're doing, please don't experiment with these. SET SHELLEXCEPTIONHANDLER=OFF The WpS has its own exception handling routines which allow it to recover from most errors, but when programming your own objects, you want to see all errors as they occur. You can turn WpS "exception handling" off with this command. Could be useful when debugging a Workplace Shell object. SET OBJECTSNOOZETIME=45 Useful when programming certain types of object DLLs. The default setting for the snooze time is 90 seconds. Unless you are programming your own Workplace Shell objects, you should not change the default setting. SET SHAPIEXCEPTIONHANDLER=OFF This command disables the WpS API exception handler, and all WpS exceptions are handled by OS/2. SET VIDEO_APERTURE=xxx This command allows you to set the address for video memory refresh buffers, where xxx is a hexadecimal number. SUPPRESSPOPUPS=x Use SUPRESSPOPUPS to suppress the popup box display of trap information messages and logs the trap information to the file POPUPLOG.OS2 in the root directory of the drive specified by "x". <<=NOTE=>> The log file name cannot be overridden. REIPL=ON This command automatically restarts the system when a system trap or internal processing error occurs. Parameter is ON or OFF. Default is OFF. TIMESLICE=128,256 This command allows you to manually control the minimum and maximum amount of processor time any thread can receive at once. The syntax is TIMESLICE=x,y where x is the minimum time slice (in milliseconds and must be at least 32) and where y is the maximum length (must be less than 65536). <<=TIP=>> OS/2 handles time slicing dynamically. This means that the system is adjusting the time slice values based on the actual processes active on the system as the workload changes. Therefore, it is best not to attempt to manually set TIMESLICE. OS/2 can handle this process far better than most of us can. TRACE=ON The system trace facility is used to record a sequence of system events, function calls, or data. The record is usually produced for program debugging purposes. After the trace data is recorded, the System Trace Formatter is used to retrieve it from the system trace buffer (see TRACEBUF below) and format the data to either your display, printer, or to a file. Start tracking system problems by turning TRACE on which will establish a 4KB default buffer. (You can increase this using the command TRACEBUF) to store tracing data. You can also start TRACE from an OS/2 command prompt. <<=NOTE=>> You can turn TRACE=ON and then set TRACE=OFF for major or minor codes. For example, TRACE=OFF 24,50,98 TRACEBUF=x This command sets the size of the trace buffer. If any valid TRACE statement is in your CONFIG.SYS, the default size of the trace buffer will be 4KB. You can modify this size with the TRACEBUF command. Maximum size is 63KB. "x" is a specific number from 1 to 63, representing a multiple of 1024 bytes. TRAPDUMP=xx,d Parameters are: OFF,drive letter ON,drive letter R0,drive letter Indicates when a stand alone dump is to be taken and where the dump is to be placed. The default value is OFF and the default drive is "A". If you are sending a memory dump to hard disk, you must first create a FAT partition labeled SADUMP and give it a size greater than the amount of physical memory in your system. The drive you specify in the TRAPDUMP statement must contain the SADUMP partition. Any existing data in this partition will be overwritten. The system will restart after the TRAPDUMP process has been completed. <<=NOTE=>> If REIPL=ON is specified in the CONFIG.SYS file, the system will restart automatically and no dump will be taken when a system trap or internal processing error occurs. Luca Regoli, Societa' Italiana Autori Editori, provides the following information on this command. "This way whenever a trap occurs you don't get anything on the screen. The PC beeps and [responds] as if you had depressed CTRL+ALT+NUMLOCK / NUMLOCK." "Not very useful though I don't know how to get traps information from the dump disk (and don't want to download all 20Mb dump of memory any time I get a trap)." DUMPPROCESS=x Activates the Dump Process. Any application process that traps will cause a process dump. The information will be written to a dump file named PDUMP.xxx where xxx is an index that is incremented each time a new process dump is created. This dump file resides in the root directory of drive specified in "x". PROTECT16 Haven't found out about this one yet. Comments? SAMPLE CONFIG.SYS FILES. FILE FOR CLONE WITH 8MB OF RAM AND VGA RUNNING ONLY HPFS CALL=C:\OS2\XCOPY.EXE C:\OS2\*.BK1 C:\OS2\*.BK2 (not needed in Warp) CALL=C:\OS2\XCOPY.EXE C:\OS2\*.INI C:\OS2\*.BK1 (not needed in Warp) IFS=C:\OS2\HPFS.IFS /CACHE:1024 /CRECL:4 /AUTOCHECK:C PROTSHELL=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE SET USER_INI=C:\OS2\OS2.INI SET SYSTEM_INI=C:\OS2\OS2SYS.INI SET OS2_SHELL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE SET AUTOSTART=PROGRAMS,TASKLIST,FOLDERS SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE SET RESTARTOBJECTS=YES SET COMSPEC=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE LIBPATH=.;C:\OS2\DLL;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\;C:\OS2\APPS\DLL; SET PATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2; C:\OS2\INSTALL;C:\;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\OS2\APPS; SET DPATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;C:\OS2\INSTALL; C:\;C:\OS2\BITMAP;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\OS2\APPS; SET PROMPT=$E[1;33m[$p]$g SET HELP=C:\OS2\HELP;C:\OS2\HELP\TUTORIAL; SET GLOSSARY=C:\OS2\HELP\GLOSS; SET DIRCMD=/O /P SET IPF_KEYS=SBCS (New with version 2.1) PRIORITY_DISK_IO=YES FILES=20 DEVICE=C:\OS2\TESTCFG.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\DOS.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\PMDD.SYS BUFFERS=50 IOPL=YES REM DISKCACHE=1024,LW,32,AC:C RUN=C:\OS2\CACHE.EXE /MAXAGE:7500 /DISKIDLE:60000 /BUFFERIDLE:60000 MAXWAIT=2 MEMMAN=SWAP,PROTECT SWAPPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM 512 4096 BREAK=OFF THREADS=256 PRINTMONBUFSIZE=2048,134,134 COUNTRY=001,C:\OS2\SYSTEM\COUNTRY.SYS SET KEYS=OFF SET SOMIR=C:\OS2\ETC\SOM.IR;C:\OS2\ETC\WPSH.IR; (new with Warp) C:\OS2\ETC\WPDSERV.IR;SOM.IR SET SOMDDIR=C:\OS2\ETC\DSOM (new with Warp) REM SET DELDIR=C:\DELETE,512; BASEDEV=PRINT01.SYS BASEDEV=IBM1FLPY.ADD BASEDEV=IBM1S506.ADD BASEDEV=OS2DASD.DMD SET BOOKSHELF=C:\OS2\BOOK SET EPMPATH=C:\OS2\APPS REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\APPS\SASYNCDA.SYS (not in Warp) PROTECTONLY=NO SHELL=C:\OS2\MDOS\COMMAND.COM C:\OS2\MDOS /P FCBS=4,2 RMSIZE=640 DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VEMM.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VMOUSE.SYS DOS=LOW,NOUMB DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VDPX.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VXMS.SYS /UMB DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VDPMI.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VWIN.SYS REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\PCMCIA.SYS (New with version 2.1) REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VPCMCIA.SYS (New with version 2.1) REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VCDROM.SYS <<-- Assumes no CD-ROM. DEVINFO=SCR,VGA,C:\OS2\VIOTBL.DCP SET VIDEO_DEVICES=VIO_VGA SET VIO_VGA=DEVICE(BVHVGA) DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VVGA.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\POINTDD.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\MOUSE.SYS SERIAL=COM1 DEVICE=C:\OS2\COM.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VCOM.SYS CODEPAGE=437,850 DEVINFO=KBD,US,C:\OS2\KEYBOARD.DCP FOR CLONE WITH 8MB RAM AND VGA RUNNING ONLY FAT Make the following two changes in the CONFIG.SYS listing above. o REM this line: IFS=C:\OS2\HPFS.IFS /CACHE:1024 /CRECL:4 /AUTOCHECK:C o Remove the REM from this line: REM DISKCACHE=1024,LW FOR CLONE WITH 8MB RAM AND VGA RUNNING BOTH FAT AND HPFS Make the following changes in the CONFIG.SYS listing above. o Remove the REM from this line: REM DISKCACHE=1024,LW o Change the DISKCACHE size to 256, i.e. DISKCACHE=256,LW FOR CLONE WITH 16MB OF RAM AND VGA RUNNING ONLY HPFS Make the following changes in the CONFIG.SYS listing above. o Increase the HPFS cache to 2048, (/CACHE:2048). o Increase the HPFS CRECL command to 64, (/CRECL:64). o Change BUFFERS=50 to BUFFERS=75. o Change FILES=20 to FILES=30 o Reduce SWAP file size, i.e. SWAPPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM 512 2048. o Increase your print buffer: PRINTMONBUFSIZE=2048,134,134. FOR CLONE WITH 4 OR 6MB OF RAM AND VGA RUNNING FAT (Never run HPFS) CALL=C:\OS2\XCOPY.EXE C:\OS2\*.BK1 C:\OS2\*.BK2 (not needed Warp) CALL=C:\OS2\XCOPY.EXE C:\OS2\*.INI C:\OS2\*.BK1 (not needed Warp) REM IFS=C:\OS2\HPFS.IFS /CACHE:1024 /CRECL:4 /AUTOCHECK:C PROTSHELL=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE SET USER_INI=C:\OS2\OS2.INI SET SYSTEM_INI=C:\OS2\OS2SYS.INI SET OS2_SHELL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE SET AUTOSTART=PROGRAMS,TASKLIST,FOLDERS SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE SET RESTARTOBJECTS=YES SET COMSPEC=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE LIBPATH=.;C:\OS2\DLL;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\;C:\OS2\APPS\DLL; SET PATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2; C:\OS2\INSTALL;C:\;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\OS2\APPS; SET DPATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;C:\OS2\INSTALL; C:\;C:\OS2\BITMAP;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\OS2\APPS; SET PROMPT=$E[1;33m[$p]$g SET HELP=C:\OS2\HELP;C:\OS2\HELP\TUTORIAL; SET GLOSSARY=C:\OS2\HELP\GLOSS; SET DIRCMD=/O /P SET IPF_KEYS=SBCS (New with version 2.1) PRIORITY_DISK_IO=YES FILES=20 DEVICE=C:\OS2\TESTCFG.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\DOS.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\PMDD.SYS BUFFERS=20 IOPL=YES DISKCACHE=64,LW,12,AC:C MAXWAIT=2 MEMMAN=SWAP,PROTECT SWAPPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM 512 6144 BREAK=OFF THREADS=128 PRINTMONBUFSIZE=134,134,134 COUNTRY=001,C:\OS2\SYSTEM\COUNTRY.SYS SET KEYS=OFF SET SOMIR=C:\OS2\ETC\SOM.IR;C:\OS2\ETC\WPSH.IR; (new with Warp) C:\OS2\ETC\WPDSERV.IR;SOM.IR SET SOMDDIR=C:\OS2\ETC\DSOM (new with Warp) REM SET DELDIR=C:\DELETE,512; BASEDEV=PRINT01.SYS BASEDEV=IBM1FLPY.ADD BASEDEV=IBM1S506.ADD BASEDEV=OS2DASD.DMD SET BOOKSHELF=C:\OS2\BOOK SET EPMPATH=C:\OS2\APPS REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\APPS\SASYNCDA.SYS (not in Warp) PROTECTONLY=NO SHELL=C:\OS2\MDOS\COMMAND.COM C:\OS2\MDOS /P FCBS=4,2 RMSIZE=512 DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VEMM.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VMOUSE.SYS DOS=LOW,NOUMB DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VDPX.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VXMS.SYS /UMB DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VDPMI.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VWIN.SYS REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\PCMCIA.SYS (New with version 2.1) REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VPCMCIA.SYS (New with version 2.1) REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VCDROM.SYS <-- Assumes no CD-ROM. DEVINFO=SCR,VGA,C:\OS2\VIOTBL.DCP SET VIDEO_DEVICES=VIO_VGA SET VIO_VGA=DEVICE(BVHVGA) DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VVGA.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\POINTDD.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\MOUSE.SYS SERIAL=COM1 DEVICE=C:\OS2\COM.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VCOM.SYS CODEPAGE=437,850 DEVINFO=KBD,US,C:\OS2\KEYBOARD.DCP HOW TO RESTORE A DAMAGED CONFIG.SYS FILE FROM A BACKUP COPY. 1. Boot OS/2 from the OS/2 Installation Disk. 2. Insert OS/2 Disk #1 when asked. 3. Press the ESC key when you get the first text screen. By doing this you will be put into OS/2s command line mode. 4. Assuming that your backup copy of CONFIG.SYS is in the root directory of "C" drive and is named CONFIG.SAV, enter the following command: COPY C:\CONFIG.SAV C:\CONFIG.SYS Press the ENTER key. 5. Remove OS/2 Disk #1 and reboot the system. What if you didn't make a backup copy? IBM thought about you. When OS/2 was first installed on your system, the installation program made a backup copy of your original CONFIG.SYS file. It stored this file in C:\OS2\INSTALL. To restore from this file follow the same steps above, EXCEPT, in step #4 enter the following command instead of the one shown: COPY C:\OS2\INSTALL\CONFIG.SYS C:\CONFIG.SYS <<=TIP=>> Replace the CONFIG.SYS file saved by the OS/2 installation program in the INSTALL directory with your most current version, thus allowing you to restore from it. If you are viewing this information using CNFGINFO.EXE, the Backup option is set to do this for you. <<=NOTE=>> In OS/2 Warp, IBM provides an archive feature which can be activated by opening your Desktop settings, click on the Archive Tab, and then click on "Create archive at every system restart". With this feature activated, you can simply press Alt+F1 at boot and be presented with a menu which will allow you to boot with an alternate (backup) CONFIG.SYS file. See your user documentation for details. REXX SUPPORT FROM WITHIN THE CONFIG.SYS FILE. The question of whether REXX programs can be called from within the CONFIG.SYS file has been asked by a number of people. Keith Medcalf's response to the question is one of the best I've seen. Thanks Keith! ---------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 07-30-93, 08:06 Number: 483 From: Keith Medcalf Refer: 477 To: Russ Williams Recvd: No Subj: REXX from CONFIG.SYS Conf: Ibm.Os2se ---------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday July 28 1993 16:34, Russ Williams wrote to All: RW> Can anyone tell me what restrictions there are on running RW> REXX programs from CONFIG.SYS (via "CALL=")? It doesn't RW> work for me, and the on-line help is no help. You cannot. The DLLs required to support Rexx are not loaded until Presentation Manager is loaded. If you require Rexx support earlier, look for a program call SRVREXX at a fine BBS near you. Adding the line RUN=SRVREXX.EXE to the CONFIG.SYS will immediately initialize Rexx. You will then be able to access Rexx with or without PM being loaded. ----------------------------------------------------------------- * Rick Meigs - rick.meigs@nwcs.org 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 Auto Re-Boot on TRAP Errors =========================== -> Added on November 23, 1994 I've seen this in few places, and thought I'd share it here. I haven't tried it here because I don't have WARP installed yet, and I've banished all the software and hardware that caused me traps. Anyway, WARP V3 has the ability to automatically re-boot on a trap error, rather than just sitting there waiting for you to record all those neato hexadecimal register dumps and call your IBM representative. Put these in your CONFOUND er.. CONFIG.SYS: REIPL=ON DUMPPROCESS=D SUPPRESSPOPUPS=D Where D is a drive letter. WARP will dump the registers to a file on that drive, and then re-boot the system. * Jim Whitelaw @ 1:342/42 - Starship Heart of Gold 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴