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OS/2 Warp 4.52 RAM & HDD Limitations

Started by Meezzio, 2012.01.07, 11:23:30

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Meezzio

Hello,

I have wanted to run OS/2 Warp for years (as far back as 2001) but have always had some issue, or lack of hardware stopping me from getting it done.

Recently however, I have decided to simply 'get it done' (along with some other vintage computer projects) so I am assembling a system to run OS/2 Warp 4.52.

However, I have some questions.

1. I have read that OS/2 doesn't support HDDs with of 6.4GB of capacity. I am also vaguely aware that there is a patch to correct this issue. What I am unsure of is where do I find this patch, and how do I utilize it (I will be doing a fresh install).

2. I also have heard of some issues with RAM over 64MB? I am looking to run the system on an Intel SE440BX board, but if this is one of the affected boards I am happy to use something else, as long as it would run a Slot 1 processor.

3. Does the community have any suggestions on where to get the install disks? Struggling on finding any (legitimate) copies of 4.52. Ebay has nothing that I can find.

Sorry about all the questions, I really do appreciate the help.

ivan

Just to set your mind at rest, I have OS/2 Warp 4.52 SMP with the unofficial fixpak 6 applied running on an ASUS M4A78LT-M LE motherboard wit a quad core AMD processor and 4 GB ram with two 1 TB hard disks.

Yes, there are limitations to the size of partitions that it will see but then who in their right mind puts all their eggs in one basket - only microsoft.  My boot partition is 2 GB, which is overkill, other partitions are about 500 GB each.

The easiest way for you would be to get eCS - which is OS/2 with bells and whistles added - but is actually on sale from Mensys and a few other suppliers.

melf

Hi Meezzio,
Ivan answered when I was writing, but I post this anyway. I haven't used W4 the last ten years, but..

- the updated install disks could be found here http://www.warpdoctor.org/downloads.html . With hpfs your limit should be about 64GB and with JFS about 2TB.

- it's adviceable to also update to the latest fixpack (15).

- The 64MB RAM thing is (as I remember) a setting on some older computer bioses, which sometimes has to be used and sometimes not. I think the RAM limit is between 3 and 4 GB (as with eCS).

This is just some initial help. Other people on this forum (like Ivan) are a lot more knowledged on this matter than I am.
/Mikael

Radek

(1) OS/2 does not support PAE, therefore you cannot address more than 4 GB RAM. You can install 4GB but some HW has "high memory areas" (above 3 GB) which will conflict with your RAM most likely. 2 GB is a standard nowadays.
(2) Even in W3, you could run disks bigger than 6 GB but you needed dani* HD drivers. My first OS/2 machine run W3 on a 13 GB disk. Unlike dani* drivers, the IBM driver (ibm1s506.sys) supports only LBA, moreover, 8 GB HD only since FP6 for W4. In the old "boot diskette" days, you needed to patch boot diskettes. eCS comes with dani* drivers so that you do not need to patch anything. You can fail with: (a) AHCI drives, they are supported only partially, (2) disks bigger than 1 TB, they are usually AHCI, (3) some PATA drives, and (4) non standard specials. If you use some ordinary 500 GB HD, you have only a small chance of having troubles.
(3) As Ivan has noted, max size of a partition = 512 GB. Therefore, do not plan a HD bigger than 2 TB, you can have only 4 (primary) partitions per HD.
(4) UEFI is not suppoerted by eCS. You won't be able to install on a UEFI machine.

DougB

Quote1. I have read that OS/2 doesn't support HDDs with of 6.4GB of capacity. I am also vaguely aware that there is a patch to correct this issue. What I am unsure of is where do I find this patch, and how do I utilize it (I will be doing a fresh install).

It is actually about 8.4 GB, and if the problem exists, all you need to do is keep 100% of all bootable partitions, including boot manager, within that limit. Data partitions can be above that. This problem is actually ancient history. It depends on having a machine that has a BIOS capable of handling the INT 13 extensions (everything since about 1999), and you need a reasonably current version of OS/2. You mention 4.52, which should be one of the MCP versions, and that should be sufficient, but you will want to add every possible update that is available (FP 15 is for warp 4, I suggest FP 4 for MCP, but there is an official FP 5, and an unofficial FP 6, that don't work well, in my experience), and you will want to use the Dani driver stuff to replace the old IBM disk drivers. (Search for "Danis506" and "Daniatapi" at HOBBES).

Quote2. I also have heard of some issues with RAM over 64MB?

No, that only applies to very early versions of warp 3. You may find a setting in the BIOS for that, DO NOT enable that setting, or you will have problems (most new machines don't have that setting any more).

Quote3. Does the community have any suggestions on where to get the install disks?

HOBBES is the most likely place to find things:

http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/

although more things are beginning to be put at netlabs. Most, but not all of it, can be found here:

ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/

More is here:

http://download.smedley.info/

And this site has a pretty good history of pretty well everything, including instructions:

http://www.os2site.com/

Quote
The easiest way for you would be to get eCS - which is OS/2 with bells and whistles added

Highly recommended for newer hardware. It will save you a tremendous amount of time, and frustration, plus it has a lot of updates that are not available otherwise:

http://www.ecomstation.com/

QuoteI think the RAM limit is between 3 and 4 GB (as with eCS).

All 32 bit operating systems have this limit (although I think that windows has added a kludge to be able to use more than about 3 GB). Having more memory is not a problem (at least with eComStation - you may have a problem with some other versions of OS/2), but the system won't use more than a little over 3 GB. FWIW, the only time I ever see my systems use more than about 900 meg, is when I run a virtual machine (or run windows, which demands about 3 times that amount), so that won't be a problem.

You may want to check out your hardware at:

http://en.ecomstation.ru/hardware.php

QuoteAs Ivan has noted, max size of a partition = 512 GB

This not true. The JFS support that comes with eCS (NOT the same as what comes with the MCP versions) will support partitions up to 2 TB, BUT, it can be a royal PITA to make that coexist with windows.

Quoteyou can have only 4 (primary) partitions per HD

This has been true since the partition scheme was first implemented. It is still true today, but you can have as many logical partitions (in one extended partition, which is a primary) as you want, as long as you have drive letters for them. OS/2, unlike windows, can boot from logical partitions.

Hope this helps...

Radek

Two minor comments:
(1) The 4 GB limit is true without PAE. That's because your physical address is 32-bit. With PAE (perhaps all today's machines support it), you have 36 or 40-bit physical address and you can address 64 GB or 1 TB of RAM. Your logical address is still 32-bit so that a single app can address only 4 GB but each app can address its own 4 GB.
It's a matter of page tables. No PAE - 32-bit page tables entries, PAE - 64-bit page table entries. Neither OS/2 nor eCS supports PAE, winblows and Linux does.
(2) True, you can have bags of logical partitions but, AFAIK, all these partitions belong to one primary partition.

RobertM

Quote from: Meezzio on 2012.01.07, 11:23:30
1. I have read that OS/2 doesn't support HDDs with of 6.4GB of capacity. I am also vaguely aware that there is a patch to correct this issue. What I am unsure of is where do I find this patch, and how do I utilize it (I will be doing a fresh install).

OS/2 v4.52 supports drives up to 1TB (or up to 2TB updated).

ALL versions of OS/2 support *BOOT* partitions of 1GB, 2GB, 4GB or 8GB for *SCSI* using certain SCSI cards. Certain cards will have different limitations. Most are 8GB.

Quote from: Meezzio on 2012.01.07, 11:23:30
2. I also have heard of some issues with RAM over 64MB? I am looking to run the system on an Intel SE440BX board, but if this is one of the affected boards I am happy to use something else, as long as it would run a Slot 1 processor.

This should have been resolved by 4.52, and regardless, should not be a problem with that chipset. Warp Server v4 (ie: Warp V3 with Server) will support 4GB without patches on supported hardware.

Quote from: Meezzio on 2012.01.07, 11:23:30
3. Does the community have any suggestions on where to get the install disks? Struggling on finding any (legitimate) copies of 4.52. Ebay has nothing that I can find.

Sorry about all the questions, I really do appreciate the help.

Talk to Mensys?


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