First, some background: the model I purchased was from the new "E Series" or more specifically, the E-500 (2158-500). The E-500 is your basic PC with a little bit of horsepower, e.g.; 96mb of RAM, AMD-K6-2 processor operating at 400mhz, an 8gb hard drive, and a DVD supported CD-ROM. I had considered waiting for the Pentium-III release but my needs were immediate and the initial reports on the Pentium-III didn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling. For software, the Aptiva came equipped with Windows 98, Lotus SmartSuite, Netscape Communicator, etc. I dutifully checked IBM's listing of PC's compatible with OS/2 and became understandably nervous when I didn't see my model mentioned in the Aptiva listings. Nonetheless, a reader told me of his background with the Aptiva and assured me of his happiness with OS/2 running on it. What the hell I figured and went for it.
STEP 1 - PREPARATIONS
It is necessary to prepare a new OS/2 Warp 4 Installation Disk 1. You can either search high and low in the OS/2 Device Driver Pak Online as I did, or download the following file: APTIVA1.ZIP (833kb). Although you should read the attached "readme" file carefully, basically, all you have to do is label a diskette "DISK 1" and copy the contents of the zip file to it. Use this Disk 1 instead of the normal OS/2 Disk 1 during the installation of the operating system. (NOTE: we are not responsible for the contents of this zip file).
STEP 2 - PARTITION THE HARD DRIVE
To make room for OS/2, I had to resize my Windows 98 partition and create a HPFS partition suitable for OS/2. All I can say is, thank God for PartitionMagic from PowerQuest Corporation. Why this utility is not pre-loaded on all computers is beyond me. It has been a while since I've used PartitionMagic and I had to re-learn how to create a bootable floppy version in order to properly activate the OS/2 partition I created. As you can imagine, I also installed the Boot Manager in order to switch between OS/2 and Windows 98 (Yes, I still need Win98 because of two programs I happen to use).
In creating the OS/2 partition, I limited it to under 1.2gb in size due to Warp 4's (less FixPaks) disk drive size restrictions. More on this later in Step 5.
STEP 3 - INSTALL OS/2 WARP 4
I next installed OS/2 Warp 4 using the installation diskettes (including the special install Disk #1 I created earlier) and CD-ROM. For video, I initially installed a plain VGA display setting. This is because OS/2 Warp doesn't have the necessary Aptiva video driver to load initially.
STEP 4 - UPGRADE OS/2 WARP 4
The next step after the initial install was to implement FixPak 9 which included several updates I needed, most notably support for larger disk drives. Since my implementation, FixPak 10 has been released by IBM and I plan to install it soon.
STEP 5 - RESIZE PARTITIONS
With FixPak 9 installed, I enlarged the OS/2 HPFS partition with PartitionMagic and added another partition to share files between OS/2 and Windows 98 (as well as to isolate key data files).
STEP 6 - UPGRADE VIDEO
This is where the installation process started to become tedious. As we all know, a basic VGA display looks rather flat and dull. I was advised to implement the ATI Mach64 drivers (including 3D Rage and Rage II etc. chips). At first I had problems locating the drivers; here is the proper Internet address as found at LEO - Link Everything Online: ftp://ftp.leo.org/pub/comp/os/os2/leo/drivers/display/ati64v435.zip.
However, it became rather frustrating implementing the driver based on the "readme" instructions accompanying it. Instead of installing from diskettes as I was told to do, I found the secret by using the "Utilities" option to create directories, and even then I ran into problems:
C:\ATI - was automatically created correctly.
C:\ATI\VDB - was automatically created; represents diskette 1
C:\ATI\PM - I had to manually create this directory and copy the contents of
diskette 2 to it.
The "OS2INST" command from C:\ATI then ran without a hitch and I now have spectacular video; I am currently enjoying a display of 1024 X 768 X 16777216 (width X height X colors).
STEP 7 - INSTALL MODEM
The Aptiva came equipped with a 56kb Rockwell Voice/Fax/Data WinModem which may be fine for Windows 98 but, of course, cannot be used by OS/2. Consequently, I purchased a 3Com/US Robotics Internal Faxmodem (v.90) to replace it. This caused me considerable headaches in both Windows 98 and OS/2 Warp.
Even after I physically removed the Rockwell card from the machine, Windows 98 insisted on trying to use it and ignored my new modem completely. I tried changing ports in Win98, which I discovered was an exercise in futility. Flustered, I was finally forced to reload the operating system completely. Only then did Windows 98 detect and install the modem properly.
As for OS/2 Warp, it simply ignored the new modem completely. Only by accident did I find the solution by reading the C:\README file accompanying OS/2. Evidently, OS/2 com ports cannot detect "Plug N Play" cards unless they are properly defined in the CONFIG.SYS file. To determine the right specifications, type in the following command at the OS/2 command prompt:
STEP 8 - FINE TUNE SOFTWARE
With the fundamentals in place, I then set about fine tuning the OS/2 desktop, including organizing files and the WarpCenter (I make extensive use of the tips included in our Tips & Tricks section of the newsletter. I also downloaded and installed the latest versions of the Netscape Communicator and the OS/2 Developers Kit for Java version 1.1.7.
I finally installed the rest of my application software.
REMAINING ISSUES
As this column goes to press, I still have some unresolved issues remaining which I hope to correct shortly. The first is the lack of audio under OS/2. My OS/2 Hardware Manager is having problems detecting my sound card (which according to the Windows 98 Device Manager is an ESS Solo-1 PCI AudioDrive (WDM). The various ESS audio drivers accompanying Warp 4 failed to work and I was unable to find any help on the Internet. I suspect the hardware is Win98 specific and, consequently, I'll probably have to purchase a new sound card.
I also purchased an HP ScanJet 5200C scanner when I purchased the Aptiva which, of course, works well under Windows 98 and not OS/2. I consulted Leon Zetekoff, the Product Manager of Solution Technology, a reputable firm specializing in Scanners who told me there isn't much in the way of OS/2 support for the HP. I only wish I had consulted with Leon earlier and had purchased an Epson scanner which is supported under OS/2.
Finally, I purchased an Iomega 100 Parallel Port Zip Drive and was disappointed to find my old OS/2 Iomega drivers no longer supported it. For the time being, I'm accessing the zip drive by way of Win98.
With the exception of these remaining issues, which I believe will resolve themselves, I can tell you that I very pleased with OS/2 on the Aptiva, it looks great and runs like a bat out of hell!
LESSONS LEARNED
Implementation of OS/2 Warp 4 would not have been possible without the sound advice of other OS/2 Aptiva pioneers. In particular, I would like to thank Mukund Maruthi, a consultant from Chennai, India who provided me with invaluable assistance and encouragement during this process. This exercise is another instance where OS/2 users, and not the vendor, came forward to support the product.
Perhaps the biggest lesson learned here is not to trust the IBM support documentation on the Internet which is woefully out of date. I found the Aptiva OS/2 Installation Kit totally useless. It was released 7/8/96 and has not been properly updated. DO NOT USE IT!
I also found the IBM OS/2 Device Driver Pak Online dreadfully disorganized and out of date. Sure there are some drivers being added to it all the time, but the drivers associated with the Aptiva were way out of date rendering them useless.
FINAL WORD
What puzzles me is here is that although I've got an excellent machine with incredible capacity and power, IBM seems content allowing me to spin my wheels trying to figure out how to properly configure it. Back when hard drives were limited in size, computer vendors had to make a choice in terms of what operating system to pre-load. Unfortunately, the decision was Windows. But as hard drives get larger and the price of hardware declines, there is no reason why vendors, particularly IBM, cannot pre-load multiple operating systems and give the consumer an honest choice. I realize we have discussed the "pre-load" issue many times in the past. However, since disk space is no longer an issue, it would only be fair to allow consumers to select from OS/2, Windows 98, Linux, or whatever. But I don't see IBM budging on this. As I've said in the past, if Microsoft doesn't have a monopoly on computers, I don't know what a monopoly is.
Keep the Faith!
PAST EDITORIALS
Copyright © M&JB 1999
