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OS2 Upgrade to Warp 4

clh333

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Feb 22, 2015
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Yesterday I brought up the 586 AMD VLB that I had installed OS2 Warp 3 on some time ago. Apart from some hardware issues** the most annoying problem was the OS itself; I think I should upgrade to Warp 4. I see on WinWorld there are versions 4 and 4.52. Would I be advised to upgrade to 4 before installing 4.52, or can I go directly to 4.52?

Thanks for your replies
-CH-

**Award BIOS lost config due to backup battery low voltage, DTC SCSI controller was able to figure out the proper HD geometry, though. Video "wiggles" horizontally, slightly, especially during disk access. Could be the video card but I'll try substituting PSU first as failing caps are most likely possibility. Video also "drops out" (screen goes black) during certain refresh cycles. May be a lack of a driver, but I can't remember which card is in there.
 
4.5x is just 4.0 with updates added (just like Windows media got updated to include service packs). So if you want 4.52, use that. There's no need to install 4.0 first.
 
Btw, what "annoying problem" do you hope to fix by updating Warp to 4?

I own Warp 3 and 4 complete in box but only ever installed Warp 3 so far.
 
I gave up on a Warp 4 installation after not being able to find competent drivers for a P3 system. Just too much trouble. I did use eComStation on a P3 system for a bit. I never got the gumption up to try ArcaOS.
 
I purchased Warp in early 1995 when the advertising was heavy for it (to compete with upcoming Win95). I liked it but had to abandon it because of its utter lack of support for any of the sound cards I had at the time. As I remember it I would get the sound to finally work only to have it not work again after a few reboots. So I stuck with Win3.11 until 98SE came out.

For fun I think I'm going to VM the latest Warp4 to see how it progressed. I was impressed at the time but the driver support was pretty bad.
 
I purchased Warp in early 1995 when the advertising was heavy for it (to compete with upcoming Win95). I liked it but had to abandon it because of its utter lack of support for any of the sound cards I had at the time. As I remember it I would get the sound to finally work only to have it not work again after a few reboots. So I stuck with Win3.11 until 98SE came out.

For fun I think I'm going to VM the latest Warp4 to see how it progressed. I was impressed at the time but the driver support was pretty bad.
About the same time, 1995 or so, we were using OS/2 in my area but had to give it up for the lack of printer drivers. I like the system but it seems it just didn't garner much support.
 
I put this system together in 2019; I had pieces lying around and cobbled them together to house a VLB motherboard. The FDC is a DTC SCSI and the video is Genoa with the Cirrus Logic 5426 chipset. Both are VLB cards.

I had acquired a boxed set of OS/2 Warp 2.1 back in the day (early '90s?) which had sat on a shelf until I decided to see if I could install it. With the help of several VCF members I managed to get a working installation of Warp 3, having abandoned the attempt with 2.1, probably on someone's advice. It worked but I didn't know what to do with it and I didn't have much time to explore so the machine got put away until the other day.

Having today resolved the video problems with the PSU swap I read the tutorials on using the OS. The default display format was 640x480 pixels, maybe 256 color depth, and I knew the card was capable of more so I searched for a driver and info on how to install it. I found a driver, the install failed and now the machine is unable to boot. I will have to find some advice to resolve the problem.

I know some files were overwritten; I think the original versions were saved, but which, where and under what name I can only guess. The V2.1 distro includes disks that allow me to at least get a DOS going and see the hard drive, but before I go monkey anything else I'm going to find out more about this issue. The V2.1 manual has some suggestions for troubleshooting but the OS seems to have changed enough with V3 that the troubleshooter is shooting blanks.

I don't know the OS well enough to criticize it intelligently. I can say the install was only slightly easier than open-heart surgery, the UI enough different to be somewhat mystifying and the support (apps, drivers, knowledge-base) comparatively thin. You could say the same about Windows 3.11 when it was introduced, I suppose... It's a learning curve, as you all have observed.

-CH-
 
During boot up a small white rectangle appears in the upper left corner of the screen. Pressing ALT-F1 while the rectangle is present brings up a menu of options, one of which is to reload VGA. I did this and the machine is back to operable.

Thanks to the people at OS/2World for their advice.

-CH-
 
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