<CT> Re: The End of and Era!
- From: JGrossklass@xxxxxxxxxxx (Stephan Grossklass)
- To: calmira_tips@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 18:15:51 +0100
> Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 18:5:19 +0000
> From: Bob Groves <Bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: <CT> Re: The End of and Era!
> Incidentally, contrary to critical belief Windows ME is not a bad
> improvement on 98SE... it's more stable and less prone to mash your data/disk
> when peeved. Ironic though that it's taken Microsoft all this time to give us
> something roughly approaching a useful operating system :)
AFAIK ME is more stable when reinstalled on an empty disk, but upgraded
from Win98 it's supposed to be rather crash prone. IMO it's way too big
- even 98 was too big already (but what's 98lite good for :). If you
want a really good OS, try Win 2000 (aka NT 5). I know someone who has
it, and he says he likes it better than Linux. Seems M$ finally managed
to write a good OS. But that's getting OT now ;)...
> Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 20:09:24 +0000
> From: Jason Bees <jason.bees@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: <CT> Re: The End of and Era!
> I'd like to know how many people on this list are, like myself, still using
> 16-bit Windows
[increase value by one]
> and finding it a useful OS.
I don't want to start the old DOS extension/GUI vs. OS discussion once
again... But certainly it _is_ still useful today.
> Its compact, speedy (it will fly
> on today's hardware)
If just BIOS manufacturers could decide to use DMA modes for hard disk
access - the hard disk performance is the bottleneck on today's
machines. But you're right - it flies :)...
> and with the right software patches/hacks/upgrades
> (most of which are free) it can be made very efficient and reasonably
> stable. Of course, all this takes a bit of dedication, but is that really a
> problem for us Calmirians?
Don't think so ;)...
> Tell me I'm not alone! :)
No, you aren't...
> Calmira has never been aimed at the majority of PC users anyway. Why should
> it need to evolve into a 32-bit app to have a future?
That's a good point. A Desqview/X port would be nice though. (For those
of you who don't know, Quarterdeck Desqview was the multi-tasking
extension for DOS. Desqview 2.8 with its text-based interface runs quite
nicely even on my old 386SX notebook [it can run on any system from an
8086 [8088?] upwards, on '086' and 286 systems EMS is strongly
recommended, on 386+ systems it can use XMS], while DV/X with its X
windowing system is rather something for Pentiums with 32+ megs, but
offers the possibilities of X - you can even display Windows in a window
on another machine. DV/X is a bit like Windows, but certainly more
stable. Supposedly you can run X apps, but I have no clue how these
could be ported to DV/X [that would be necessary though, since there are
almost no native DV/X apps]. Interestingly I've noticed two typical X
phenomena: scrolling until the keyboard buffer is empty [Windows stops
when the arrow key is released) and uselessness w/o a mouse ;). Desqview
2.8, Desqview/X 2.1 and QEMM are available free from
<http://www.chsoft.com/dv.html> - AFAIK they can be distributed freely,
but you can't expect any support except what you can find in the
comp.os.msdos.desqview newsgroup.)
> From: "Walter Denney" <waltd@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: <CT> Re: (Ct) End of an era
> Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 14:32:56 -0600
> Even thought I am using an E-machine (puny 300mhz with 32mb ram with 10gb
> hd) I have more fun with the old IBM (is it IBM compatible) Ps2 8580 with
> 20mhz
Which CPU? 386SX or 486?
> with 18mb Ram(it says it won't recognize but 16 mb, but somehow I got
> it to see 18mb,
One 2 meg and one 16 meg PS/2 module, I guess?
> has a C drive 110mb IBM original, with SCSI running a German
> SCSI 655mb harddrive.
German SCSI drive?
> Found a site the other night, which said I could run win 3.1 and Calmira on
> my e-machine which is running WinME and fat 32.. Not sure if I want to try
> it though...
You should be able to run Win 3.1 in standard mode. However, I'm not
sure if there's a patch available for running in enhanced mode (as it's
the case for Win95B/98/98SE).
> Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 17:08:05 -0700 (MST)
> From: "Brian L. Johnson" <blj8@xxxxxxxx>
> Subject: <CT> Re: The End of and Era!
> >Ironic though that it's taken Microsoft all this time to give us
> >something roughly approaching a useful operating system :)
> Imagine that. Microsoft finally achieves a glimmer of the stability that
> Unix has enjoyed since the 1970s... :)
A signature I found somewhere roughly read "stability and reliability
don't come with the OS, but with the administrator", and I think it's
not so wrong at all - a lot depends on the user. A fairly robust OS
architecture is still helpful, though ;).
> Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 19:58:52 +0800
> From: Joshua Brannon <jbrannon@xxxxxxx>
> Subject: <CT> Re: The End of and Era! & Re: Re: Trip down memory lane.
>
> >Sooooo... Methinks I deserve *SOME* credit for being around a while.... even
> >if I am the ?youngest? member....
>
> No way. I'm not 16 yet.
Approaching 19, I'm starting to feel a bit old <g>...
> From: "Greg Fundyler" <gyf@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: <CT> Re: The End of and Era!
> Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 00:51:35 -0600
> But staying on topic, Calmira is doing a great thing for Windows 3.1.
Definitely!
> We
> should keep Calmira alive for Windows 3.1, but maybe we should also create a
> Calmira32. To be a 32-bit replacement shell for all the crap MS comes out
> with. With full integration with everything else, including IE where
> necessary for compatibility. Fully programmed in Delphi. I'm sure there will
> be much more support for it than the current Calmira, simply because most
> people have left Windows 3.1 and migrated to the Windows 32-bit series. They
> want a replacement for what they have now.
Then Calmira32 would probably have to meet the following criteria:
* it should be very slim
* it should be *very* flexible and customizable (perhaps even more than
Calmira now, and all the options should be accessible via dialogs, and
not half of them via the .ini file only, as it is now)
* gimmicks like hi-color icons should be supported
* optional transparency effects and icon window background images
(without using IE DLLs, perhaps) would be kEwL :)
Now the question is: Who has the time and knowledge to write Calmira32?
Poor Erwin is probably busy enough with 'classic' Calmira...
Oh BTW: Some improvements that could be made to Calmira:
* all the settings should be accessible via dialogs - if that eats too
much RAM, what about an external config utility that comes with Calmira?
* it should be possible to change the icons in the My Computer window
more easily ([Drives], adding/changing the utilities), and the
integration into the icon windows should be improved
* the user should be able to define what Ctrl+Tab is being used for -
cycling through Calmira's windows or cycling tabs
* the usability of Calmira w/o a mouse should be improved - I wasn't
even able to import Program Mangler's groups without one...
BTW: Who said Calmira doesn't run properly in standard mode? It works
just fine - Netscape has more problems, for example.
And finally a tale from the old DX50 @ school: Seems the COM port was
fried recently when a bent pin got contact with ground (yikes!). Now the
multi-IO card will have to be replaced - Windows w/o a mouse is somewhat
clumsy... The other computer guru at school told me that he still has
both a serial/parallel and a 2xIDE controller card - that would be an
improvement from the all-in-one card that's installed now, since it only
has one IDE controller and there the 250 meg disk and the CD-ROM are
connected. When the new controller is installed it'll be possible to
install another hard drive, which is fairly necessary IMO - the 250 meg
disk is almost full. When that's done I'll have a look for a good
accelerated ISA graphics card (VL @ 50 MHz is somewhat critical) - does
anyone know a good one? I'd suggest some ET4000/W32i card (current it
has an ET4000), or do you know any better 1+ meg ISA accelerator card
that can be had fairly cheaply? (Cirrus Logic cards are said to have bad
image quality, so I'd avoid those unless someone has better experiences
with them.)
Stephan
--
Stephan Großklaß (7bit: Grossklass)
eMail: mailto:jgrossklass@xxxxxxxxxxx | Webmaster: http://www.i24.com/
Home: http://home.t-online.de/home/jgrossklass/
P3-500, 128MB, 8+8+19GB HDD; MS-DOS 6.22, WfW 3.11, Calmira II 3.1b3
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