From THOMASCE@SNYONEVA.CC.ONEONTA.EDU Wed Sep 21 22:00:47 1994 Date: Tue, 20 Sep 1994 18:50:46 -0400 (EDT) From: "Carol Thomas, SUNY SICAS Center" To: SIVAN@CCSG.TAU.AC.IL Subject: Woops...here it is! Sorry about that! This data updated last on Sep 2,1994 11:00am My System consists of: Intel 486sx/33 vlb motherboard with AMI bios, 8MB RAM, Orchid ProDesigner II ISA video card w/ 1MB running at 800x600 using the TSENG-ET4000 TekRam DC-680T caching hard disk controller(vlb) (1.5MB cache), 3.5" FD, Summit SE250 Tape drive, 200MB Seagate HD, PAS-16 with Texel-3024 CD-ROM attached, AT-era 101key IBM keyboard (square IBM logo in top-right corner). System was formatted and IBM DOS 5.02 was installed prior to OS/2 installation. Please note that the following information is relavent to the OS/2 Warp II beta. Some entries contain comments which are the opinion of the author and express his desire for positive improvements which he thinks are in the best interests for... the user, OS/2 and IBM (in that order!!!!). Although some items listed may be too much of a change to be made in time for the GA release of the "Warp" code, I trust that the powers that be will carefully consider the content of this document and implement those changes which are attainable before GA and those which aren't will be carefully considered as additions for a future release or CSD. Not all items are bug reports per se, but most are indeed items which do not seem to work in a way which would best suit a World Class Operating System such as OS/2. Please pay careful attention to the common threads of thought which wind through this document. They all point toward making the customer as happy a customer as possible. This breeds success for the user in his or her work, breeds success for OS/2 in market share, and breeds success for IBM in profits. Buy making OS/2 the best and most useful product, IBM can reduce need for 1-800 type customer support which in turn makes the user, OS/2 AND IBM look very good. The press will report any "bad things" about OS/2 at least as much if not more than the good things so IBM MUST eliminate anything which the press and users might consider to be a major problem. Depending upon the severity of the problem(s), the ones which do crop up may prove to be detrimental to the success of OS/2. Many thanks and best wishes to all who may read this. IBM, please read carefully. We believe that you will do what is best for the user, OS/2 and IBM (again in that order! Becuase of the quantity of problems with this beta, I and others suggest a limited 3rd beta shortly before the release goes to manufacturing. We as users demand you (IBM) do not repeat the last Service pack fiasco. Now, on to the information this document is all about.... (please don't be discouraged by the length!) ------------ INSTALLATION ------------ INS001 * The installer should be presented with the capability to view the README*.* files which are important to view and will save MANY, MANY, MANY calls to the OS/2 support lines. This in my opinion this is really a MUST. INS002 * Regarding the EASY/EXPERT menu... I recommend placing the descriptions of each item on the top 2/3rd's of the screen and place the 2 installation options (Easy & Expert) at the bottom. This gives a better look to the screen and helps focus the user to where his or her choice is to be made. INS003 * The TMV1SCSI.ADD driver is not present on CD_DISK1 which is required for CD-ROM drives attached to the SCSI port on MediaVision sound cards with SCSI. This driver has been available for quite some time now and I do not see any reason why this should not be included in the base package. After all the audio driver is present, why not the SCSI driver? In response to the message I got on the OS2BETA forum, I will take the matter up with Mediavision (and either Trantor or Adaptec) whoever "owns" the SCSI firmware/drivers at this time. INS004 * The OS/2 logos should be animated during the as much of the bootup of the install as possible. Because of the length of time required to process all of the drivers in the CONFIG.SYS, the system should appear to be still functioning and not hung up somewhere. The floppy access lights are not enough as it is on for extended periods of time and does not give adequate feedback to the user indicating the system is still functioning and really doing something necessary. Please see the "** NOTE **" at the bottom of this section regarding status information given to the user. INS005 * Get rid of the scrolling text at the bottom of the screen. The scrolling is jerky, jumps and pauses which gives "cheap" feel to it. (It looks terrible on non-active-matrix LCD displays!!!) It almost appears the install is running as an MS windows app . To me, It is much more preferable to move the "install status bar" higher on the screen and use the bottom half to tell the user more about the features of the OS, not unlike the install process for MS Excel, Word and many others. The install takes quite awhile and is easier to sit through if "entertained" by the install process with something to read. User extreme-friendliness? INS006 * Include a .BAT file and a .CMD file to help create the entire group of install disks. (optionally individually of course in the case not all of the disks need to be created at the same time). INS007 * No indication of what is installed/not-installed in the EASY install. This should be documented on-line. INS008 * At points during the install, sometime the install refers to Operating System /2 and other times to Personal Operating System /2. Shouldn't this be consistent. INS009 * There is a long pause after the main OS/2 logo is displayed before the "Please Wait...." message is displayed. By the time the installer see's the "Please Wait...." message, they already have waited awhile and got the point that they have to wait. INS010 * Regarding OMNI.DRV purpose. Previously submitted. INS011 * The Help Pushbutton on the Audio-card settings dialog is disabled. What if I needed help? INS012 * After completion of the "device" install dialog, the user should be immediately told that "files are being transfered". As it stands there is a 10 to 20 second delay where nothing appears to be happening. INS013 * No instructions on how to initiate a shutdown are presented when the user is instructed to do so. Perhaps either include a dialog explaining how to shutdown or start the shutdown for the user after they click on an "Install Complete - Press OK to shutdown the system." message. I would encourage the "automatic" shutdown/reboot when the install is complete. INS014 * During boot up of the install, >> SYS0318: Message file oso001.msg cannot be found for message 1197 << appears. Why and what for? the message file should be found otherwise the message is pointless. Without a real problem description, the message might as well be "Something didn't work... call IBM regarding message 1197" INS015 * Regarding "Keyboard hang." Previously Submitted. INS017 * After the 1st phase of the installation, the text SHOULD read: "Please remove the disk from drive A:. To continue the installation press the ENTER key (The system will restart)". One of my coworkers at this point was unsure it was supposed to reboot as he was not told that it would. As with many of these, clarification of the action at hand is in order. INS018 * During the first full bootup after the installation is complete, there should be some sort of message box telling the user what is going on, as nothing appears to be happening once the screen goes to PM. A coworker commented, "Gee this is slow." and that was on a Mod77. If he was told "Building desktop...Please wait..." or "Continuing Installation process, please wait...." or something like that then the user impression would have been a bit better. INS019 * Remove MMPM from the "EASY" install. If a person does not have a sound card, it is highly unlikely they want the code for one, (including the sound related files and programs they can't use). Granted, MMPM video is installed, but the diskspace taken up can put one over the edge for the ability to install as for MANY users out there (especially those who have alot of win apps), disk space is at a premium and the last thing OS/2 needs is to get back the reputation that it takes too much disk space! Keep Multimedia integrated with the install, but don't put more than the full base OS on unless requested. Perhaps there needs to be more than just the EASY/EXPERT install, Perhaps a MINIMAL install option should be available for those that want the base OS and some selected necessary tools, REXX, SORT,LABEL.EXE, PMFDISK, and others which make a logical base OS. Not everyone NEEDS all of the stuff OS/2 includes! INS020 * When a user sticks the wrong disk in the drive during the install, more feedback than a beep should be given. A beep does not tell the user what the problem is or why the install is not progressing. This leads the user to have to figure out if the disk in the drive is the right one. Perhaps a one line additional message should be shown something like: "The wrong disk is in the drive, please remove it and insert disk # xx". ************* NOTE NOTE NOTE ************* To make the install as user-friendly at possible, the installer MUST be entertained and occupied at all times to ensure his or her attention to what is going on. Presently (and in the past) there is too much dead-air during many operations leaving one to contemplate other things instead of the great things which await them once OS/2 is installed. KEEP THE INSTALLER BUSY! FIT & FINISH! MAKE IT LOOK SLICK! The System information tool is a PERFECT example of how to do this right. It shows what the program is doing while it does it's interrogation of the system. The user is never left to wonder what is happening. Too many programs keep the user in the dark about what is happening while the computer works it's "magic" and this encourages people to not know how they do their work, just what keystrokes they need to press to get it done. If the user knows what is going on in their computer, they will feel more in control of what is happening (regardless if there is anything they can do about it or not)!! ---------------------------------- INSTALLATION and POST-INSTALLATION ---------------------------------- IPI001 The initial window size of the command prompt has a horizontal scrollbar. It is preferable to have this window appear as an entire 80x25 window. IPI002 * Regarding .ADD files installed in in root. Previously Submitted. IPI003 * Should BASEDEV=IBMINT13.I13 should be installed by default to catch any device which do not have a native .ADD driver but is supported by IBMINT13.I13? (Unless this is already present. This is just a thought, not a problem I experienced.) IPI004 * There should be some sort of animation while the system displays "Loading System Files...Please wait..." this goes especially of the install but also for the normal boot process on a slow machine. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT for the user to feel secure in his or her knowledge of what is going on and that something IS happening. IPI005 * The Audio Device entry on the "Setup screen " does not have a default entered, even though if you enter the "MULTIMEDIA DEVICE CONFIGURATION", one is picked for you. Also after installation, the currently selected soundcard is not displayed until after the user open and closes the "MULTIMEDIA DEVICE SUPPORT" window. -------------- UP AND RUNNING -------------- RUN001 * The "SEARCH RESULTS" dialog should display the entire filename in the visible container. As it stands, if the file is more than one or two directories or so deep in the tree structure, then the user must "scroll" the container to see the names. The filenames are more important than the file date and time which should be displayed after the filename. The more frequently used information should be displayed first and then the related information (size, date, time, EA's, etc...) (I'll have to dig up where I saw this problem.) RUN002 * I have noticed some comm errors during file transfers. 99.9% of the time it is ok but every now and then I get errors during a 14400/ARQ/V42 connection. This is similar to the serial problems many experienced under WARP I but to a much lesser degree. RUN003 * Pressing while the "DOS from Drive A:" icon is highlighted reveals a message about booting DOS versions 3 to 5. Is DOS 3.0 really supported? IS DOS 6.0+ NOT supported? Probably just needs a text update. RUN004 * The logos should be animated as soon as possible. Right now they are only animated during the "middle" of the boot up. The animation is to give the user feedback that the system is booting ok, but if they abruptly stop, what is the user to think then? Related to installation install item - INS004. RUN005 * On an 800x600 resolution mode, opening of the folders created during the "OS/2 Installation cuts off the bottom half of the 2nd row of icons in each folder. Doing an "ARRANGE" in the window takes care of it, but it would be more pleasing to see the all of the icons, not just part of them, pre-arranged by the way. It would be nice if the window knew how big it should be to show all the icons and resized itself accordingly rather than taking a "default" size. (Same for 1024x768 and higher) I did not test this at 640x480. RUN006 * The System Clock should have more appealing default colors, something which "fits" the default color selections of the desktop. (Perhaps add SYSTEM CLOCK COLOE settings in the scheme palette since the clock object does not obey the desktop color changes.) RUN007 * Shouldn't the "COMET SETTINGS" be contained within the "MOUSE SETTINGS" object? The DISABLE option should be more clear on how it works. At first it seems to duplicate the behavior of the "On/Off" checkbox, but doesn't. What can't this be enabled at will? Why does it require a reboot to enable? RUN008 * After just 1 weeks of usage, my OS2.INI has grown to 630K and the OS2SYS.INI has grown to 235K. The same original files in \OS2\INSTALL directory were 16K and 55K respecivly. Perhaps IBM needs to generate some tool for compacting the INI files and removing junk. RUN009 * In the "KEYBOARD SETTINGS" object, there is a selection for "TYPE-AHEAD". When it shouldn't be used is discussed, but what advantage it provides is not immediately apparent as no REAL advantages are indicated. RUN010 * For the "MIGRATE APPS" object -->"ADD NEW PROGRAMS" This should be changed to "Automatically Add ALL New Programs". The wording as it stands, can be a bit misleading. RUN011 * For the "MIGRATE APPS" object, it does not take into account files which were automatically migrated during the actual OS/2 install. Duplicates are made. Why are duplicates even allowed, shouldn't they have unique names? Seems odd to allow duplicate file names since any object I place in a folder MUST have a unique name. I have seen this behavior by other programs and REXX routines. RUN012 * I selected the PAS 16 as a multimedia device, but the Multimedia options did not show up in the "SOUND Settings" object. Only the "WARNING BEEP" option was there. The MULTIMEDIA folder was created ok though. After a format/reinstall this was resolved. I have been unable to reproduce this, but it happened the first time. RUN013 * The "PICVIEW" tool should be enhanced to view GIF, PCX and BMP (win and OS/2 formats) files (perhaps others too, JPG, IMG, etc...) "IBM specific" formats only is not very useful. RUN014 * If I open "PICVIEW", Select FILE->OPEN then click on the *.SPL option, a dialog is presented indicating that the files cannot be loaded. (this is an error in and of itself) and then once that dialog is dismissed, the main "PICVIEW" dialog cannot be activated. RUN015 * All of the tools, utilities and built-in apps (ICONEDIT.EXE, E.EXE, etc...) should have a correct version number displayed in their "PRODUCT INFORMATION" dialogs. Many still say 2.1 and others don't even have a version number. RUN016 * The E.EXE editor should have an "OPTION" to not require a "file-type" be set. This has been a long-standing request by many users and should be honored. At the very least, use the name of the file being edited to set the "proper" default for the file type. If the filename being edited ends in .CMD, then chances are it is an "OS/2 Command File", if it ends in .BAT, then chances are it is a "DOS Command File", if it ends in neither of those, then assume it is a DOS text file. Of course let the user press the OK button to confirm the choice or click a radio button to alter the choice. Just setting a default makes it a bit easier to use easier to use. RUN017 * The Default size of the "DESKTOP -- Settings" dialog are a bit too small and clip the right side of the DESKTOP-->SETTINGS-->INCLUDE "Criteria System" container. What is a "Critera System" anyways? RUN018 * On just about any folder object, if the FOLDER-->SETTINGS-->MENU Under the System Menu options for OPEN, the "SETTINGS" option is listed under this but is no longer part of the "OPEN" conditional menu. RUN019 * "GENERAL" is NOT the last page of the DESKTOP-->SETTINGS notebook. Shouldn't this be consistent with the behavior of all other notebooks? RUN020 * Add a "SAVE DESKTOP NOW" button to the DESKTOP-->SETTINGS-->DESKTOP notebook page. RUN021 * Rename the DESKTOP-->SETTINGS page to DESKTOP-->AUTOSAVE. It is strange having a tab the same name as it's parent object. RUN022 * When copying an object to a folder which already contains and object with the same name, a RENAME, REPLACE, APPEND dialog is presented. What is the Entryfield next to the "REPLACE" option for. If I replace it, then shouldn't the file replacing the orignal have the same name? RUN023 * Open "Printing in OS/2" INF file, Double-click on the "Intro...." item. None of the words listed on the lower half of the screen can be selected, but the text above them says to clcik on thme for information. RUN024 * Open "System Performance" INF file, Then open the "Diskcache". The text states that for an 8MB machine 512K is the default cache size, but then 4 sentances later: It states machines with 6MB or more of RAM should have the DISKCACHE statement set to 256K. Which is it? RUN025 * In the "System Performance" INF file, under the "Saving hard space" it states that there are two editors included with OS/2 in actuallity of you include TEDIT, then there are three. RUN026 * What is SOM.IR and why do I have a bunch of them spread around my hard disk? RUN027 * What is DELIVERY.SYS and why is it placed in C:\ (along with the other .ADD files and such)? This driver is not documented. RUN028 * Regarding usage of MEMMAN=SWAP,DELAYSWAP. Previously Submitted. RUN029 * The Multimedia "VOLUME CONTROL" which is placed on the desktop is NOT a shadow. Shouldn't it be? RUN030 * In the "ADD NEW FONT" dialog, Multislect and/or extendedSelect should be enabled to allow the user to highlight the first font and then press and hold to highlight the remaining items. As it is the user has to: Press ...etc... to higlight a list of fonts. This is cumbersome and should be made to perform easier. RUN031 * When adding fonts, the hourglass is displayed preventing the user from doing anything else while fonts are added. If a font which is slated to be installed, has already been installed, then a message box pops up informing the user of this fact. Once this box is dismissed, then the Font adding is No longer modal and other windows can be selected and used. Now regarding how to fix this.... DON'T MAKE IT MODAL AT ALL. C'mon this is a multitasking OS, and System Modal should only be enabled for critical functions and messages. Unless there is a very good reson, system modality shouldn't be used. RUN032 * When adding fonts, as fonts are added to the list, only 8 font names can be displayed in the "Font Name" MLE. Unfortunately they are added alphabetically so after 8 .OFM files, you can no longer see what internal font name is assigned to each font file. The font filename and internal_name MLE's should track each other. (It would also be a wonderful addition to have font preview at this point to see if the font even looks like a font you want to install. RUN033 * In Selective Install, click on "Serial Device Support", then click on cancel, if the original selection was for it to be installed, the selection will be set to "No Serial Device Support". (this occurs after system is fully installed) RUN034 * There should be a way to dump SYS3175 type trap information to: Disk File, Clipboard, and/or Printer. It appears that something like this is in place using "SUPPRESSPOPUPS" config.sys command, but I would like to know when a trap occurs AND save the info to a file, perhaps when using the "SUPRESSPOPUPS" command a dialog box can be displayed for a few seconds informing me to look at the log file or perhaps start some other sort of notification process because if a detached process dies, there is no notification. Optionally, I would suggest that the command be changed to "ERRORPOPUPS=YES/NO,C" to allow the SYS3175 messages to be sent to a file on the drive specified but also allow the user to determine if he or she wants to be notified of the trap. RUN035 * In a directory object settings notebook -->VIEW-->DETAILS view, "Object Type" and "Details" on "Display" have room to be larger withing the "Details view" group box. RUN036 * While using DDINSTAL, no status is given as to what it is doing. There seems to be ALOT of dead space where the user is not informed of what is happening (or if something IS happening at all). RUN037 * Regarding "Active Border" inaccessability in Palette. Previously Submitted. RUN038 * Regarding "Bold" default in font dialog. Previously Submitted. RUN039 * Regarding the the auto-close option when opening child folders, there is no way to "easily" open the parent folder upon the close of a child folder. I would like to see an "AUTO-Open-parent-on-close" property too. Perhaps this could be accomplished by holding down CTRL, or ALT, when double clicking on a folder's system menu to close it, to open it's parent automatically. I know there is an option to manually do this from the system menu of the folder but a more intuitive method is desirable. This seems like a natural behavior like typing "CD .." to exit the current directory and enter the parent directory. RUN040 * There needs to be a way to both DISABLE AND UNINSTALL the Multimedia software as well as most of the other major groups of code. This would be most natural to include as part of the Selective Install tool. Please refer to SUG003. I got MMPM installed by using EASY INSTALL, but now do not want to have the MMPM code using RAM/swap space & disk space. How can I disable it to not be available? Better yet, uninstall it too!!! RUN041 * There are no accelerator keys on the system menu for: SETTINGS, OPEN PARENT, PICKUP & CLOSE. Please add these. All others have them, so why not those? RUN042 * Open up the Templates folder, Press right MB on an object the FOLDER Template, and several identical "Folder" selections are present in addition to the "Default selection". I also have 2 "Folder" templates in the templates folder which come back even when I MOVE or destroy them with BLACKHOLE (No other way to destroy them!!!) I will see what happens at the next reinstall test next week. RUN043 * What are Windows converts to think of the PIFFILE .PIF template? Will they not think of this as something like the PIF files for windows? Just a thot. RUN044 * There is a small defect in the FLEUR.BMP. There is some blue at the top of the bitmap where there should be green (at the very top of the image at the middle of the center of the "fleur"). RUN045 * The "Bitmap Preview" for the background setting seems to scale some butmaps when they really shouldn't be. A good example is the POOL.BMP. Open a folder, alter it's background to POOL.BMP - Tiled. Now change it to scaled and notice how the preview changes. In neither preview dows the bitmap at all look like what is on the screen. They appear to almost be opposites. This behavior does not exist for all bitmaps, some look fine either way. (I am at 800x600 when this happens. unknown if it occurs at other resolutions) RUN046 * When running Check-Disk from the context menu of any of the "DRIVE x:" objects in the drives folder, there is no status presented saying "Checking Disk..." to indicate that the system is doing something. Also, on my disk, it appeared to be that on both "ends" of the 3/4 pie there is green. One should likely be "light blue" for reserved rather than two "EA's" areas. On the drive on which the swapper.dat is located, it might be nice to show the swapper in relation to the rest of the diskspace. It would also be nice to have the ACTUAL space taken up by each category. Also, the "Write Corrections to disk" dialog should be dismissed as soon as the "CHECK" pushbutton is pressed, unless of course this is WAD. RUN047 * If a QIC-80 (and presumably QIC-40) tape drive is attached to the floppy controller and is being used by an application (i.e. backing up, restoring, formatting, etc....), then many things break including DDINSTALL and the DRIVE A: object. They simply hang with no message or anything. The DDINSTAL is no excuse, as I may not be even trying to install a device driver from A:, the driver to be installed may have been UNZIPPED to a hard disk partition to be installed from there. This needs to be fixed. RUN048 * (The FIND references refer to the WPS FIND) Issue a FIND command to search any/all drives for *.ICO and enable saving the results to a folder. Now issue a search of the contents of the newly created "FIND RESULTS - *.ico" folder to find all the icons starting with the letter "A". (Assuming you use the criteria: A* or A*.*) Nothing will every be found. (Even if you do a search using the name "*". Nothing is found. Shouldn't everything be found again if the search searches for "*"? It only displays an empty "Find Results" window so it appears it finds something and just doesn't display it. RUN049 * Issue the same original search (search for *.ico on C:\ or wherever) and a "FIND RESULTS - *.ico" folder named identical to the existing one will be created. Shouldn't duplicate names be prevented since the user can't create more than one object in the same folder with the same name so why should a program be allowed to do it? RUN050 * Using the "FIND" utility even if a search (with save to folder enabled) does not find any objects, it will create an empty folder. Would a dialog box indicating the failure be more appropriate? A dialog IS presented if the "SAVE TO FOLDER" option is NOT checked. RUN051 * The "Search in progress" dialog ALWAYS shows up in the same place, it can't be "permanently moved" to always appear in another place. Minor irritation. (perhaps also add the criteria being used and the path being searched to the "Search in progress" display? RUN052 * There is no context menu in the "FIND RESULTS" window which would provide options such as "Select All", "open parent", "sort" functions and the like. At the very least there should be some way to easily select all the items. If the list goes beyond one screens worth, then it gets quite cumbersome to select all the items using the mouse and impossible with the mouse ONLY. The Ctrl-/ accelerator works but there is purely mousable way to achive the same results. RUN053 * Open the "FIND" Utility and issue a search which will generate more than one screens worth of objects. Once the window is drawn and filled with icons (there should be a vertical scrollbar) place any other window COMPLETELY over the "FIND RESULTS". Now ALT-ESC till the "FIND RESULTS" window appears. The scrollbar will not be drawn and SOMETIMES, there is one icon in the top left of the window and you must click the scrollbar to see the other icons which are below the viewable part of the container. very reproducable. RUN054 * When the "FIND RESULTS" window is open. The behavior and wording is inconsistent with the expected behavior. If the user chooses "Return" then the user is tossed back to the "Find Object" utility. If the user presses the "Close" button then both the "Find Results" and "Find Object" Windows are closed. But, if the user double LMB clicks on the system menu or chooses "Close" from the system menu then the window behaves as if the user pressed the "return" button. The text on the "Close" button in the "Find Results" window should be changed to reflect the true behavior of the button. RUN055 * The "Find Objects" utility does not display in the tasklist when running. RUN056 * The ability to "export" DOS settings from a program object is welcome. The concept of an "encoded" files is not. What exactly is an encoded file. (Encoded how? morse code? ) Why put the encoded file in the C:\SPOOL directory? This doesn't seem to be an appropriate place for a file such as this. Shouldn't C:\SPOOL only be for print files? Also in the Load option there is no file requestor to find the names of the files which can be loaded! When saving an "Encoded" file, no default filename exists and no indication that an existing file is about to be over-written (if one exists of course!). Encoded files should be saved to C:\OS2\ETC or something like that. RUN057 * If one attempts to PRINT--> "Encoded File: C:\SPOOL\" without specifying a filename, an error message is produced (which doesn't explain how to resolve the problem, by the way" and a file is still created in the C:\SPOOL directory with the name starting with PMV. RUN058 * When pressing the HELP button on the DOS Settings screen, help is provided only for the currently selected DOS setting, Shouldn't help provide help for the entire window? (This happens regardless of what element of the window has the input focus. RUN059 * Shouldn't the PRINT button on the DOS Settings SCREEN be "Print..." instead of "Print"? By adding the "..." usually indicates there is another dialog to be displayed prior to the execution of the command. Similar to "Save As...", Actually this button should be labeled: "Save As..." and have a seperate "Print..." button. RUN060 * On notebook pages at 800x600 (I don't know about other resolutions) the "page turn" arrows (in the lower right corner of the notebook) are a bit rounded on the pointy side and when one is greyed out, it doesn't at all look like an arrow. Also examine their appearance when depressed, before the mouse button is released. So I am getting a bit anal..... details.. details... RUN061 * Regarding SWAPPER.DAT in Rabbit-mating mode. Previously Submitted. RUN062 * Help on the "Monitor Selection" in the SYSTEM SETUP-->SYSTEM-->SETTINGS-->SCREEN page#2 mention XGA but nothing else. This option appears to not do anything with non-XGA display adapters. As I have an ET4000, I really don't need to have something like this which does nothing for me. If it does something for me, then let me know what it is, otherwise please disable it if I am not running XGA. The 77 at work was able to utilze this section to adjust the resolution just fine. RUN063 * When adjusting PM windows close to the right side of the screen (and probably others): If I adjust the left border of the PM window, the right border jumps a bit, sometimes just a bit off the screen. Seems to be releated to windows snapping to byte boundaries in the video ram for performance reasons. RUN064 * When running DSPINSTL, after choosing the display adapter and resolution, I am presented with a dialog requesting the source directory to install the driver from. I HAVE to use the "CHANGE..." button to point towards where the CD-ROM. The default of A:\ is fine for diskette installed, but mine was from CD. ALSO, and more importantly, WHY CAN'T I just type the path in the entryfield? Why MUST I go through another dialog to select the path? I want to just type in G:\OS2SE21. RUN065 * In the TREE view of most any window, there should be EXPAND ALL and CONTRACT ALL options on the system menu. (or perhaps on a pop-up while on the tree, perhaps "expand all from current position" and "contract all from current position", this would allow selective expansion if so desired or by slecting the root object and expanding that would expand the entire tree. (A suggestion really, but Windoze File Mangler has this feature, ....) RUN066 * An opened clock object can't be moved once it is displayed without the titlebar. The only way to move the clock without the need to: open the clock settings, enable the titlebar, move the clock, disable the titlebar, close settings (8 mouse clicks in all) is to resize the the clock by moving a corner to the desired location and to resize the opposite corner till the lcok is back to the desired size. very cumbersome. A couple individuals commented about this each time saying..."Well the windows clock can be moved by just clicking and dragging it. Why can't OS/2? My response: "Hpmph, I dunno, guess it should be that easy huh?" SEE RUN067 for further related comments. RUN067 * "PICKUP" and "DROP" menu items behave VERY oddly on some objects.... Open the System Setup folder then open the "SYSTEM CLOCK" object. Without closing the "SYSTEM SETUP" folder, RMB on "SYSTEM CLOCK" window and choose PICKUP. Move the mouse to somewhere on the desktop and press RMB and select DROP. Voila, the window itself has not moved, but the clock object has now been moved from the "SYSTEM SETUP" folder to the DESKTOP! Not quite the expected behavior. Perhaps the "PICKUP" menuitem should be name "PICKUP ORIGINAL OBJECT" or something like that. RUN068 * Open the clock object and it's settings box, with the clock visible, change the clock to "digital". Now go to the page of the settings notebook which allows you to alter the colors for the clock. It is not apparent which option should be edited to alter the colors for the digital clock as settings regarding the analog clock are still alterable. I would guess that they are "background" and "face", but that is not the case, it is "background" and "hour & minute hands". RUN069 * I noticed a peculiar thing today at work and would suspect that this is a bug (unless of course it is WAD). To see what I am calling into question, make a directory and CD into that directory. Two "files" exist named "." and "..". They represent the Current directory and the parent directory respectively. Shouldn't the ".." which represents the parent directory have the date and time stamp of the parent directory itself and not the date and time of the newly created directory? After all, the parent directory was created before the current directory and should not have the same time stamp (aside from if the parent dir was just created moments before). I noticed this on a DOS mounted UNIX directory. Shouldn't this indeed be fixed? (I know it doesn't cause any harm, but the point is consistency). RUN070 * Some "command window"s have text within them offset to the left by a few pixels. To recreate, open several OS/2 command prompts (you may need to open a dozen), preferably maximum sized (not maximized though, they need to appear cascaded. Which window this happens on depend upon the location of the opening position o fthe previous window, I can usually get it to happen on the seventh and a few successive windows. Sometimes it happens sooner. It seems to be caused by OS/2 trying desperatly to keep the command windows entirely on the visible screen. A MODE CO80 command will correct the problem for the window in which it is run in. Tested at 800x600 on TSENG 4000. RUN071 * When using the system editor with Word-Wrap turned on, a scrollbar is still present and active at the bottom of the window. This should be removed as there is no reason to scroll the text horizontally as any long lines of text should be wrapped around to the next line. RUN072 * In the System Setup folder, set the window behavior to minimize to desktop then close system setup. Open the desktop settings notebook and set the background to fleur.bmp. Now start a windowed OS/2 Command prompt and then issue a Start /FS form that prompt. Now double-click on the FS prompt icon so you see the command prompt, then ALT-ESC back to the WPS. The fleur itself turns to blue and the small defect in the bitmap (SEE RUN044) turns red. I tried altering the "Palette awareness" wetting for the WPS but that had no effect. I also have experienced a change of the bitmap to green fluer's on a purple background. I am unable to reproduce that one though. RUN073 * During a mass delete of a shadowed folder (recursive shadow of C:\ !) system performance dropped to unacceptable levels. Once again, I felt as if I was using MSWIN. This sort of thing should definitely not affect foreground performance significantly. ( I shouldn't have done it, but what the heck, take it to the limit...) RUN074 * During the lengthy delete of the shadows mentioned in RUN072 (above) and WIS001 (below) I selected the "PAUSE" button on the "DELETE OBJECT(S)" dialog so I could regain control of my system at full speed, but disk access continued long after I pressed the "PAUSE" button, I would have expected this to happen immediately. The "RESUME" button never was ungreyed either! The "HELP" button remained available and responsive though . The amount of time it took to delete the sahdows was almost as long as it took to create them (45 minutes!!!!!). Interestingly enough, I got tired of waiting and CAD rebooted. When the system came back up, I decided to try an experiment, I went into the C:\DESKTOP directory and typed "RD FIND_RES" and voila the folder was promptly removed. People won't use the WPS if it is significantly slower than the command line. In this case is was several orders of magnitude slower. This should be fixed. ( Hopefully no users out there would ever do a FIND with the above parameters, but then I again I wouldn't count on it....someone will...after all...I did. ** (are these getting longer or is it just me...?) RUN075 * As a further experiment, I was about to benchmark how long it takes to delete a folder on the desktop using WPS methods and compare that with the time required to accomplish the same thing from the OS/2 command prompt. I figured I'd use a substantial sized directory so I chose the C:\OS2 directory. I opened the "DRIVE C" object from the "DRIVES" object and created the shadow of the OS2 folder on the DESKTOP. I made sure the SYSTEM CLOCK was displayed so I could get Start and Finish times. I was going to use the actual time it took one the "Confirm on delete of folder" message was acknowledged to the time the folder disappeared as the "dlete" time, but to my surprise I discovered that there was no "Delete" option for the shadow of C:\OS2!!!! Only a delete option under the ORIGNAL--> menu was available.!!! Luckily I had the BLACKHOLE utility around, so I installed it and deleted the OS2 shadow. I am unable to recreate this particular situation. RUN076 * None of the Function key based traditional "command recall" keys work such as F1,F3,F4, etc... They work fine in DOS VDM sessions using DOSKEY. Example: Open up an OS/2 command prompt. Issue a command such as "dir". Now press F3 to retrieve that command. It doesn't work. It did in previous versions of OS/2 (not sure about Warp I though). RUN077 * The "ENTER" and "CANCEL" buttons on the "SWITCH TO" dialog are not centered in the dialog, they are offset to the left. (The dialog in question is the one which appears sometimes after pressing CTRL-ESC and allows the user to kill an errant program after. Should the title of the dialog be more descriptive perhaps "Terminate Application..." or something similar? RUN078 * The startup directory doesn't work for Windows apps and neither does the parameters entryfield. Nothing happens except that the program runs as if you had both entryfields empty. RUN079 * Windows network DLL not found: When Installing Warp II on a machine with MS windows (3.1, not WFWG) installed, some peculiar behavior was noted. When running Windows apps in OS/2 An error regarding the inability to find PCTCPAPI.DLL was displayed. Is this just a pathing problem? I'll look into it further, but suspect the need to have OS/2 specific handling of the Windows INI files of some sort. Is there any provision for having some drivers loaded when when windows is running under DOS and not have them run under OS/2? RUN080 * When an icon is assigned to an object, it appears the icon is stored in the EA data for the object but not the path to the original object. This makes it very difficult to see what icon file is assigned to an object. Why can't the path to the icon be saved in the EA data also? This is especially niticable when someone chooses the "EDIT" option for an icon assigned to an object. I would expect that choosing edit would allow the person to edit the source icon file for that icon, but it doesn't, it assigns a "new" name to it; something like: WP!1.ICO. Odd and non-intuitive behavior. RUN081 * In a system with removable media, (floppy, CD-ROM, etc...) Selecting "FIND"-->LOCATE-->DRIVES does not track the insertion and removal of media, the "expand" symbol does not track with the insertion of media with subfolders (i.e. directories), although there may be some sort of automatic refresh, the frequency of the refresh is insufficient. There should be some way to refresh this manually, say perhaps by double clicking on the specific drive object. RUN082 * Related to RUN080 (above), If a CD from a CD-ROM is searched in a "FIND" using the LOCATE-->DRIVES option, then the CD is removed after the "FIND" and a subsequent "FIND" is issued, as the "DRIVES" window becomes visible, a SYS0039 error is presented to the user even if the user was not intending to utilize the CD-ROM as a search path. The option to "RETURN THE ERROR TO THE PROGRAM" option does not allow the user to recover. Only re-inserting the CD into the drive will correct the problem. This same sort of action using the "normal" WPS "DRIVES" object allow the user to recover easily. RUN083 * The option to "expand the tree" does not exist for the "DRIVE A" option in the FIND-->DRIVES option. I assume this is due to the WPS "DRIVES"-->"DRIVE A" default of iconview, but even after altering the "default" view for WPS "DRIVES"--"DRIVE A" there was still not RUN084 * Open the "DRIVE A" object with a diskette inserted. All looks fine. Now remove the diskette, insert a DIFFERENT diskette and select the "REFRESH" option from the system menu of the open "DRIVES A" folder. The screen is firest refreshed using the existing icons, and then the folder begins to fill with icons from the new diskette overlaying the icons from the previous diskette. Not until all the objects from the new disk are added to the window do the icons from the previous disk disappear. The icons now on the window are offset in height by about half an icon and do not line up. Messy. Perhaps the diskette "serial" number should be check prior to refreshing the icons to see if the same disk is in the drive and if not then clear all the icons and THEN add the new icons. RUN085 * Regarding booting an "IBM DOS 5.0" disk using the "DOS FROM DRIVE A:" object: The initial stage of the boot process where IBMBIO.COM and IBMDOS.COM are read is very slow. Once the CONFIG.SYS starts being preocessed, the the speed is fine. It takes a few extra seconds to boot, not major but something to look at. RUN086 * Regarding booting an "IBM DOS 5.0" disk using the "DOS FROM DRIVE A:" object: If the diskette is removed from DRIVE A:, then any commands issued (assuming the disk did not have paths set to locations on a hard disk) generate an "Invalid drive specification" message, then for each path specifed in the "PATH" environment variable an "Invalid drive in search path" message is displayed followed by a "Bad command or filename" message. If a "PROMPT" variable was set to include the "$P" option then a "Current drive is no longer valid" message otherwise, the user is returned to the "A>" prompt. This is inconsistent with the behavior of the same DOS version when used as the primary boot OS which would generate a "Drive not ready -- (A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail." type message. Is this WAD? RUN087 * The message indicating that the "OS2.INI file was unable to be written to disk" message appeared with no apparent reason as there was 17MB still available on the disk which holds the INI files. Issuing an ATTRIB -R -S -H for C:\OS2.* and OS2SYS.* did not correct the situation. Curiously, by closing the "DOS from Drive A:" session from RUN086 corrected the problem! Upon trying to reproduce the problem any time the "DOS from drive A:" object was in use, the INI file error message was generated. The diskette whihc was used in the test used IBM DOS 5.0 and had no config.sys or autoexec.bat RUN089 * The accuracy of the "drop point" on the "color drag-n-drop" icon is a bit off. It looks like the object which gets the color change is not at the end of the drip of paint as I would think it would, but is actually a few pixels right of the drip and somewhere on the left of the "can" part of the pointer. (Also, perhaps the color of the paint drip should be altered to represent the color about to be dropped?) RUN090 * When using the "drag-n-drip" (pun intended) color changing method, there doen't appear to be any way to "Abort" the paint drag without altering the color of something. (I even tried dropping the color on the shredder to abort it!, but then the space around the shredder changed color. Perhaps some sort of space on the "Palettes" themselves might be a good place to put a "No color" drop spot. ( I suppose the same might be useful for "drag-n-drop" fonts too!) RUN091 * If the user uses the ALT-F1 option to go to the command prompt, the blue titlebar still says to use CTRL-ESC for tasklist (What tasklist???!!!) and if the user types "HELP" to get help, the user gets a bunch of help options, some of which are unusable as they require the WPS. RUN092 * Also regarding the ALT-F! behavior: Someone should consider the impact of having the "C" run the command prompt and "V" return the system to VGA. They are quite close together and may cause some anguish if the "V" is accidentaly pressed rather than the "C". Perhaps "P" for Prompt would be better. RUN093 * This has been around forever and those of us who have used OS/2 for quite some time can usually discover the cause, but in any case, There should be some other way to inform the use that the system can't be booted aside from getting the dreaded "COULD NOT FIND COUNTRY.SYS, SYSTEM HALTED" message. Perhaps something more meaningful should be said here. In my last position where I was installing OS/2 servers, this came up on a machine and some of my co-workers couldn't figure out why the system wouldn't boot, after all THEY could find COUNTRY.SYS, so why couldn't OS/2? RUN094 * Why are disk WRITES not cached very well? If I delete 200 file in DOS with SMARTDRV, then the delete is almost instantaneous. Under OS/2 it takes a LOOOOONG time as each file is operated on individually. Under DOS the same FAT sectors and directory sectors are operated on, so why OPEN/CLOSE them for each and EVERY file!!??? It seems to be lazy-write should facilitate this. Atleast make it a performance option. RUN095 * In EPM, the Help index entry for UNIVERSAL is incorrect. The title is UNIVERSAL, but in the paragraph after the "Syntax" line, REGISTER_MOUSE is incorrectly used. "REGISTER_MOUSE" should be "UNIVERSAL". REGISTER_MOUSE has it's own help index entry. RUN096 * CMDREF - In "OS/2 Commands by name" PAUSEONERROR has a "+" beside it, but does not have any subtopics. RUN097 * Ehen using the "E" Editor, the title shown on the titlebar is NOT what is dispaled in the tasklist. If the user issues "Start E C:\CONFIG.SYS" then only "E.EXE" is displayed in the "WINDOW LIST" where "E.EXE - c:\config.sys" is displayed in the Titlebar for "E". If using the "System Editor" icon to start "E" with a parameter of a filename, then "OS/2 System Editor-OS/2 System Editor" is displayed in the "WINDOW LIST". Seems to me that the filename being edited should appear next to the name of the program. It is difficult to use the tasklist to quickly jump between edit session when the tasklist titles are useless. EPM behaves correctly. RUN098 * When the Settings for a Printer is open, a "Window" TAB is present. Regardless of the settings for that view, only 1 "Settings" window can be opened. Either disable the tab or open another "Settings" window. The current tab is ambiguous. RUN099 * The icon for a printer object does not change with the type of driver selected. I would expect the "default" icon to change to that of the currently selected driver rather than have the drag "system default" icon for a printer. --------- LAUNCHPAD --------- LPD001 * When LAUNCHPAD (with Float-on-top enabled) is running and lockup is activated : If a invalid password is entered or the help button is pressed, then the LAUNCHPAD becomes visible but inaccessible till the dialog box is dismissed. LPD002 * Add some sort of indicator when there are items in a drawer which can be opened. (alter the color of the drawer button perhaps? LPD003 * Protect pop-out icons if the "main" icon under that pop-out menu is deleted. Perhaps a confirm is in order in this sort of situation. LPD004 * Regarding Drawers opening off screen. Previously Submitted. LPD005 * There should be some way to identify an icon without enabling the "text" display. Perhaps status area showing the name of the object the mouse is over? LPD006 * I would like to be able to select what the functions of the 4 "text" push puttons are. LPD007 * I first suggested this type of thing back (LAUNCH PAD) in the 2.0beta after some experience on an HP workstation. Perhaps IBM should use the HP-Vue Control Panel as a model for increasing the functionality of the LAUNCHPAD. Add a builtin Clock or Date/Time, Virtual desktop, etc... It seems some of this code must already exist as EWS software, so why not leverage it and include the feature within OS/2? LPD008 * The LAUNCHPAD should have an option for a TEXTONLY view without the icons. This is to conserve desktop real estate. LPD009 * If the option to customize the text-buttons is not available, at least add the minimized window viewer as a default button, possible replacing the tutorial. How many times are you really gonna use the tutorial? Well, I guess I have seen some users who would use it just about everyday.... LPD010 * Regarding "Insert" spot on button bar too small. Previously Submitted. LPD011 * Need a REXX interface to the LAUNCHPAD for Adding, deleting, archiving and activating items. LPD012 * Need a method for extracting settings from a configured LAUNCHPAD (for archive and replication purposes). See Previous suggestion regarding REXX. LPD013 * Regarding Inablity to move object withing LaunchPad. Previously Submitted. LPD014 * I would like to see a setting to make an object on the LAUNCHPAD, a DROP target only. It is too easy to accidently open a program with an errant click. I really hate opening the Shredder. There is nothing there to do (aside from changing the icon). See SUGG005 LPD015 * Incorporated into item# LPD007 LPD016 * Regarding dangerous "Delete" option in button context menus. Previously Submitted. LPD017 * Regarding arrow keys go wrong way. Previously Submitted. LPD018 * This suggestion was made by another person by I would like to encourge this addition: In addition to being able to open the Launchpad by Double-clicking on the desktop, also allow the LaunchPad to be closed by double-clicking on the desktop. A toggle sort of thing. LPD019 * The Launchpad doesn't handle font changes very well. If I select a larger font than the default, the text spreads off the ends of the buttons. The only way to get the buttons to resize is to use the "SETTINGS" notebook for LP and alter one of the setting which will make the launchpad redraw with the correct pushbutton sizes. If I close LP and reopen it again, the font is maintained, but the default button size returns leaving text haning off of the buttons. LPD020 * How dows a non-mouse user access the Launchpad? There should be a keyboard equivalent for all actions including the launchpad open/close. LPD021 * When using the PM Patrol program off of a BBS, If I use the "Minimize All Windows" button it minimizes the LaunchPad and the Launchpad icon is not a "real" icon, it shows part of the shutdown button. Perhaps add an icon just for this situation. "Double-clicking" on the desktop, restores the LPD window just fine. ----------- SUGGESTIONS ----------- SUG001 * There should be a "whats new" application or file (Perhaps like the F. McKinney suggests: WHATSNEW.OS2. This would help everyone out on knowing just what kool features OS/2 has gained without having to go digging through the "MASTER HELP INDEX' to find them. to explain to the user what is new with this release of OS/2. The readme.txt is not enough. Make an INF file and present it to the user at intial bootup after the install completes. The "TUTORIAL" just doesn't go far enough for advanced users. SUG002 * If not already done, ALL (and I mean ALL!) files installed with this version of OS/2 should have BOTH their File DATES AND TIMES set to the exact same to help identify which files are "GA" files and which files are added afterward. Most other vendors do this and with a product as large and sprawling as OS/2 it would be a godsend. This would make system maintenance much easier. It would be easy to determin which files came with OS/2 and which files were not part of the OS. SUG003 * When opening the "Selective Install" object, there should be some way to identify items which have already been installed and which ones have not been installed as well as a method for de-installing those options. This is especially true for the Multimedia part of OS/2. SUG004 * When using dual-boot, a full shutdown should be issued, not just a reboot. They shouldn't be mutually exclusive. SUG005 * Include enabling and disabling the DELETE directories from Shredder rather than just a CONFIG.SYS entry. Perhaps even have and Un-shred capability from the shredder to provide an interface for UNDELETE. SUG006 * A FILE-->SAVE & SAVE AS... options to be added to the clipboard viewer. Wasn't this available before? It is for Windows..... SUG007 * Add option for Folder to automatically close when Executables ONLY are run, not just the existing options. SUG008 * The colors for the icon for each folder should be customizable without having to "change the icon for the folder thereby losing the "animation" of opened folders". SUG009 * The number of automatic archives of the critical files should be user definable. A spinbutton for up to 9 backups would be a good setting. (3 is a good default though). Perhaps even add user-definable files to be included in the backup. SUG010 * Please document all drivers and utilities which are included with the OS. WE really don't like having files which we have no idea of their purpose, taking up many megabytes of our hard disk space. Perhaps even have an INF file or Redbook available for the techy types. SUG011 * Would like to see the templates in the "TEMPLATES" folder create a new item on the desktop when a compatible object is dropped on the template. For instance, dropping E.EXE on the "PROGRAM" template would creat an object on my desktop named E and would point to E.EXE (Note this should not be a shadow, but should be an actual program object as if I used the template in conventional means.) SUG012 * ???x???x16 drivers should be included for the ET4000 chipset and probably others. With 256 color drivers on "non-accelerated" cards display is not very quick, especially at higher resolutions. Wouldn't this als o allow one to run 800x600 in 16 colors with only 512K video ram? I think it is important to have the OS appear as quick as possible as how long a window takes to paint dramatically affects the users perception on how fast the system is. There have been many strides since OS/2 2.0 towards achieving this and this seems to be a logical way to achieve this. SUG013 * Enhance the SysCreateObject Function of REXXUTIL.DLL to create Printer objects. SUG014 * Include a medium sized group of icons for the "Windows" converts to assign to their applications, They had that under Win3.1 using the MORICON.DLL and would probably like to see a selection comparable under OS/2. SUG015 * If one goes to the "Associations" page of a program file, Should double-clicking on a "Type" add it/remove it from the list of associated types? Seems to me it would be the most intuitive. SUG016 * For a future version, I'd like to see a built-in "System Control" application which would detail the inner workings of OS/2 and help optimize the system. Features should include memory usage per process, % of CPU utilization per process, Priority management, and diskcache details and optimization tools. SUG017 * Allow icons to selected from the contents of a DLL or EXE, much like the way Windows behaves. There must be an easy way other than "FIND" or Drag-n-Drop (similar to assigning the way windows assigns icons via a path to an icon file. SUG018 * Perhaps add the intelligence to the "migrate utility" to check the EXE file contents to determine the type of executable and then migrate based upon some of this criteria. Any app which is determined to be a PM application should be migrated. Migrate did not find many of my OS/2 apps, (KWQ,TE2,Passport,FootPrint Works, Faxworks, and a few others) Has anyone examined how MSChicago is handling this? (obviously they don't have much of an installed base of native apps to migrate, but they DO have a VERY large installed base of Win16 apps. SUG019 * Regarding the customization of a folder icon, perhaps add a way for the user to mimic the behavior of the OS/2 system folder and startup folder by allowing the user to set an association with a small icon, say 12x12 or so and have that set on top of the folder with the animated folder behind it. Check the way the mentioned folders look and you should be able to see what I am getting at. (The user would not create a full 32x32 (or 40x40) they would only need a lowres mini icon). SUG020 * Make the drives folder recognize a 5.25" drisk drive and alter the icon accordingly. (This was requested A LONG time ago.) SUG021 * Have an OS/2 program-object setting for setting a custom libpath for OS/2 executables. (This goes one step further than the BEGINGLIBPATH and ENDLIBPATH variables which are a good start but not quite the best possible way to accomplish the goal. SUG022 * One highly desirable function requested by a few coworkers as well as myself, is the ability to have a dynamic font size for text windows. Rather than have just a size which must be static, one which would change as the window is resized would greatly increase the usability for text based PM VIO windows. Rather than minimizing a window, one could simply shrink it down to be 1/10th of its original size. ALthough at VGA and even 1024x768 this might be unreadable, the words in a windows don't necessarily have to be legible to provide the user with the satus of what is happening in that session. Ideally this would behave something like the way PC/3270 for Windows behaves with it's "Auto-size" font. SUG023 * This was probably requsted long ago and I think I remember hearing the reason why this is not possible, but here goes anyways...The ability to ALT-HOME an OS/2 window from Full-screen to windowed and back again. (Perhaps have a utility to "TEE" I/O to and FROM a FS and Win prompt at the same time? Perhaps a PM "FS Monitor" utility? SUG024 * Add the ability to search multiple user-specified paths at once in the "FIND OBJECT" utility. IT is too limited as it is. SUG025 * Add a "hint bar at the bottom of the which would display the path to the current object which the mouse was positioned over. This is much easier tahn having to use several mouse clciks for each file to find out where it is in the folder tree (i.e. directory structure). SUG026 * The "close" and "return" buttons at the bottom of the "Find Results" window are a bit ambiguous. At first they seem like they would do the same thing. It is not immediately that when pressing "close" that the entire "Find Object" will close although the help does point this out, it's just that it is not the most intuitive button naming I have seen. SUG027 * Duplicate suggestion. Deleted. SUG028 * Enable the altering of video resolutions while the system is up without having to reboot for the change to take effect. Gotta keep up the the jones' of Redmond, ya know. SUG029 * Allow the user to add certain files to the backup routine. Might be nice for critical system files such as IBMLAN.INI and similar files.... SUG030 * Why is the DISKCACHE statement set to only 64K? Wouldn't a larger amount aid the speed of the install? The machine to be installed upon, after all, should have at least 4MB ram. Surely, 256k or so might help? no? This was covered in a recent issue of OS/2 Professional, any comments on increasing the size to 256k? SUG031 * There should be a unique ICON for "Dual Boot" as well as "DOS from drive A:" in the "COMMAND PROMPTS" folder. All of the other icons in that group have unique icons for their service/purpose. (Pure opinion) SUG032 * Make the install intelligent enough to build the CONFIG.SYS in a way which is easy to see what is where. This is minor cosmetic thing, but I think it is all part of the "fit-and-finsh" concept. Say perhaps have the IFS's grouped together,blank line,BASEDEV's,blankline,"OS2" device= statements,blankline,DOS settings,etc.... (As it stands, the config.sys looks like a hodgepodge of statements. Seems kinda messy when a few lines of code might make it more polished looking. SUG033 * Since the F1 key is enabled for many of the icons and folders included with the base OS, how about adding the capability for system administrators to add their own help to custom folders, ditto for software developers. (Is this capability already here and I just don't know how to set it up? SUG034 * Allow the user to better control the diskcache. It seems the OS/2 diskcache is not as efficient of fast as the DOS/Windows SMARTDRV is. SUG035 * Include more deatail on the parameters of the REXXUTIL functions. Considering the wealth of options for SysCreateObject, these should be available to all users, not just the ones who slink around BBS's and newsgroups. SUG036 * Include the SPKRDD.SYS for those who don't have a sound card. I understand the performance "problems" with it but if properly warned, I have no one else to blame but myself. Also regarding the reasoning that the driver is free and available on most bbs's and such is insufficient. What about those who don't have modems...or friends ? I would suggest that if it is included, bury it somewhere so it is not "installed" with the system, but atleast it would be available when Spencer Katt or R.X.Cringely publishes the fact that it's hidden. SUG037 * Include a bunch of the EWS stuff on the extra space on the CD version. Of course the proper disclaimers must be in place for support and "defect management" (i.e. damage control). SUG038 * The help for the "parameters" entryfield should be a little more verbose, especially on the use of the "%" parameter as this is a bit buried in the help system. SUG039 * Enhance the "SYSTEM CLOCK" to have a checkbox to disable the "DATE" option thus supporting a "Daily" alarm. Having to alter the alarm date every day to go off for the next day is silly. My turn: My bedroom works this way, so why can't OS/2? SUG040 * It would also be very nice to have multiple alarms times/dates to be settable. Birthdays, meetings, etc... SUG041 * Allow System sounds to be assigned to multiple clock alarms. (I can see it now, many users across the country with their 5:00pm alarm going off the sound of the "Fintstones quitting time horn" followed by a healthy .WAV of "YABBA-DABBA DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!". C'mon, This would be great for those Windows converts who want all the cutesy stuff. Not that I would ever do this... SUG042 * Enhance the CMDREF.INF by also displaying an icon indicating how a particular command is used, whether it can be issued from the command line or from the CONFIG.SYS or both. Similar to the differentiation between the icons for DOS and OS/2 commands. SUG043 * With the way the SWAPPER.DAT grows and considering the much increased disk space requirement of the WARP+BONUSPAK, on systems with low disk space and a large swapper, it seems there might come a situation where a user is unable to save a file due to the lack of diskspace due to the growth of the SWAPPER.DAT, There should be some sort of a command or setting which will "compact" the swapper, allowing the user to gain that disk space back without having to reboot. I wouldn't want to be that user. Granted, there is the "warning", but that can sometimes come too late depending on the size of the dataset one is working with. Now I suppose I could delete some stuff or ZIP some stuff up, but thats not the point, this is a feature for the casual "Windows" convert type who isn't used to an Operating system allocating disk space without explicit instructions to do so. -------- COMMENTS -------- COM001 * The decision to add many useful tools and applications (Faxworks, "FP Works", OS2CIM, and others is great. This will make OS/2 useful on a box which is preinstalled. Now there will be no need to have windows installed just to have a few productive applications available. COM002 * The icons look much more professional. Keep up the great art design. (Same for bitmaps) COM003 * The default colors are nicely chosen. Good vivid '90's look. COM004 * Kudos for the kool and flexible new ALT-F1 behavior. Now if only it were just a bit more flexible and easy to use, like IBM DOS 6 with time-outs and such.... COM005 * Kudos also for the ALT-F2 behavior,too. COM006 * I don't recall the behavior of previous GA releases of OS/2, but when ALT-dragging a scheme from the desktop, the changes only affect the desktops children, and a non-ALT drag of that scheme to the desktop to alter the desktop. I like this behavior. (Don't change it) COM007 * This beta looks and feels much better than any of the other OS/2 beta's I have participated in. --------------- WISDOM ATTAINED --------------- WIS001 * NEVER NEVER NEVER issue a "FIND" (with save results to folder enabled) for "*" on the root directory of a drive with more than a few files. I tried it just to see what happens (Too see if I could crash the WPS, or whatever) and 45 minutes later, the "SEARCH RESULTS folder had stll not been finished being built. I had to terminate the search and started a delete of the "FIND RESULTS" folder which had been created. After 30 minutes, I rebooted and used the "RD" command to delete the folder. I may try this again for fun before I go to bed some night and let it finish while I sleep .... Perhaps the "FIND" utility should issue a warning if certain search criteria such as * are used to search the root directory of a drive.