Os2 Warp 4.52 Download !LINK!
Rosie Wirsing
Thankyou for the reminder on the network card config. I used OS/2 up until the early 2000s, starting with OS/2 2.1 and going through 4.5. Now back in .4.52CP2, just a little newer than where I left off at. Off to get Win/OS2 setup.
When I try to boot OS/2 Warp 4.51 (Merlin), 4.52 (Aurora) or eCS 1.2.5, etc. I always get an exception in OS2LVM (TRAP 000E). Tried both FAT and HPFS. You can reproduce the bug using this disk image: =1zzjs9hTS0TK-Xb5hnon8SQ-2C1EmlYfy
P.S. OS/2 Warp 4.0 boots OK (if installed on FAT, not HPFS)
[Newsletter Index]
[Previous Page] [Next Page]
[Feature Index]edi...@os2voice.orgFirst Look: The IBM ThinkPad T40 By Andres E. Mukk July 2003 IntroductionI've been using OS/2 since the release of Warp 3. Although I'm forced to usewindoze at work, my wife and I have run Warp on two desktop PCs, including our currentsystem, a DFI Pentium II 350 MHz relic, that runs OS/2 Warp 4.52 (Convenience Pack2) very nicely. My wife has two home based businesses and we're going to be movingour family across the country soon so we decided to buy a notebook PC for the bothof us to use. Of course, windoze was out of the question so my mission was to finda notebook PC that's OS/2 friendly.To Buy or Not to Buy?As most OS/2 users know, the list of new systems, both desktop and notebook,that support OS/2 continues to shrink. After extensive searches of OS/2 web sites(both IBM and others), we decided that we'd go with an IBM ThinkPad system. I hadread that the ThinkPad T series of notebooks were our best bet; however, none ofthe recent ThinkPads were listed on IBM's own "PC Systems Tested for OS/2 Baseand LAN Compatibility" web site which claims it was last updated on April 28,2003!You can easily find many detailed hardware reviews of the T40 on the web (andI spent time reading most of the ones from major PC magazines and web sites) soI won't try to duplicate those here. The focus of this article is my experienceconfiguring a T40 with OS/2.The Ordering ExperienceWebought one of the more economical versions of the T40, model 237319U, from the ibm.comweb site. We upgraded to 512MB of RAM, but I have to admit I was somewhat hesitantto click on the "buy" button because I saw almost no reports of successfulOS/2 installations on the T40 on the popular OS/2 message boards and groups.The online catalog portion of the ibm.com web site where you review system specificationsof the T40 doesn't indicate that OS/2 is a supported operating system. Fortunately,I found an official IBM downloadable T40 product brochure on the ibm.com web sitedated March 2003 that indeed lists "OS/2 Warp Convenience Package" asa "Supported operating system" on page 3 with the footnote that "Levelof support varies by operating system. Operating systems not preloaded on the systemmay not provide full feature functionality." I've included a link to the sitewhere you can download this and other ThinkPad literature in the "References"section below.Despite the lack of an available OS/2 preload option, the claim of the OS/2 ConveniencePackage being a supported operating system in the official IBM T40 flyer combinedwith the availability of OS/2 device drivers specifically for the T40 on the DOS/2Device Driver Pak Online with our Software Choice subscription sealed our decisionto buy it. I didn't want to spend 6 months or longer getting even minimal OS/2 capabilityon a new notebook PC.I've read that the higher-end T40 systems may take a while to receive after orderingone, but I ordered our system from the ibm.com web site and our system showed as"available within 2 weeks." We live in Hawaii and received our systemalong with a free Targus leather case normally sold for over $100 and a travel surgeprotector in exactly 7 days after I ordered it via UPS (shipping charges $50.00).There have been several promotions on the ibm.com web site recently offering specialsale prices and freebies, such as RAM upgrades, carrying cases, "travel packages,"etc. with each purchase of a ThinkPad system.The system I received was labeled "Made in China" which was somewhatdisappointing given the price IBM charges for it. I had seen and handled a T40 higher-endmodel at a trade show at an IBM display that was labeled "Made in Mexico."I easily removed the eyesore windoze sticker from the system case next to the keyboard.After I placed my order online, I was offered the opportunity to complete anonline survey of my purchase experience. Given that opportunity, I officially registeredmy complaints over a lack of an OS/2 preload option and lukewarm support from theIBM PC company for IBM's own PC operating system, OS/2.Configuration TestedPCI Bus
Ultrabay Slim bay
Intel Centrino Mobile Technology:
Pentium M Processor 1.30 GHz (Enhanced Speedstep)
Intel 855 Chipset
Intel PRO/Wireless Network Connection 802.11b, 11 Mbps, Wi-Fi compliant
UltraConnect antenna built into both sides of display for enhanced wireless signalstrength
30 GB ATA-100 (Enhanced IDE) Hard Disk Drive
14.1 inch TFT backlit display, 1024 x 768 maximum resolution, 16,777,216 maximumcolors
2048 x 1536 maximum resolution on external display (supports simultaneous externaldisplay)
ATI Mobility RADEON 7500 graphics chipset, 32 MB video RAM
512 MB memory (PC2100 DDR SDRAM) (2 GB maximum)
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo optical drive
SoundMAX AD1981B AC97 audio
4 Mbps infrared port
10/100 Ethernet card with RJ-45 connector
Internal 56K V.92 Fax/Modem
6 cell Lithium-Ion battery
Additional ports: Parallel, S-Video out, AC adapter, Docking/Port Replicator, ExternalDisplay,
Headphone/Line out, Microphone, 2 USB 2.0
PC Card Support: 2 Type II or 1 Type IIISystem Set-Up and Installing OS/2 Convenience Pack 2 (Warp 4.52)The system was packaged extremely well for shipment with a detailed packing list.There was no damage at all to any of the components and the system had already beenpreregistered for warranty support since we ordered it through ibm.com.Not having a floppy diskette drive took some getting used to. Upon receipt ofthe system, I immediately called IBM PC Warranty Customer Service and ordered thefree Restore CD set which arrived in about 3 days, but later decided not to installwindoze XP or Boot Manager because of problems I read about concerning windoze XP'sand OS/2's ability to cohabitate safely on the same hard disk drive. The problemis (of course) with windoze not wanting to coexist with OS/2. After working withOS/2, I think Windoze XP "Professional" is probably the most counter-intuitiveoperating system I've ever tried so I'm probably not missing much.The T40 comes with a hidden sector on the hard disk drive with windoze XP andpreload application restore files, but to install OS/2, I reformatted the entirehard disk drive using the HPFS and partitioned the disk to two drives. The 30GB4,200 rpm hard disk drive in our T40 is quite slow compared to our desktop PC'shigh speed Maxtor hard disk drive, but not bad for a notebook PC in my opinion (especiallyconsidering it's running on OS/2). If you want to use a notebook PC as a desktopreplacement, you may wish to consider one of the higher end T40 models with a 5,400rpm hard disk drive for intensive read/write operations.There is a clearly marked blue "Access IBM" button which allows quickand easy access to BIOS set up and system configuration menus. The system is significantlylighter than the T30 and the magnesium alloy top cover really makes it feel rugged.I installed OS/2 Warp Convenience Pack 2 from the Software Choice CD-ROM diskswithout any major problems and RSU installed Base FixPak 3 and Device Driver FixPak3. Although I'm not an eCS user, I have no reason to believe that eCS wouldn't work,either, based on what I've read about it.Installing Device DriversBefore installing OS/2 on the T40, use another PC to download all of your devicedrivers (especially the OS/2 Device Driver Pak Online drivers, including PC Card5.0 support) and any other critical software to a CD-ROM disk and it will make yourinstallation a lot less painful.You'll find the following T40 drivers available on the OS/2 Device Driver PakOnline under the "Systems" category:Enhanced Speedstep Technology Support
Intel 855 IDE Controller Support
OSTA UDF Revision 2.01 Support (required for DVD/CD-RW Combination Drive)
PC Card 5.0 (CardBus) Card and Socket Support
USB 2.0 SupportAlthough not listed under the T40 section, while you're on the OS/2 Device DriverPak Online, download TrackPoint IV support from the "Mice and Trackballs"section as well (see Pointing Devices below).Once you can get a PCMCIA modem card to work, you can download whatever elseyou may need that's available from Software Choice, Hobbes, and other web sites.You may be able to get the system to recognize the PCMCIA cards using Warp 4.52or eCS without additional PC Card drivers, but I didn't take any chances and installedthe latest PC Card 5.0 support first.The Software Choice T40 specific device drivers worked pretty much as advertisedwith Convenience Pack 2. The T40 support page on the IBM PC web site doesn't includethe OS/2 video and sound drivers, contrary to what's stated on the T40 Systems pageon Software Choice.SoundThe T40's sound card is based on the Analog Systems' SoundMAX AD1981B AC97 codec.Despite claims on Software Choice's T40 page and the Analog Systems page for thischip, there are no available OS/2 audio drivers that I could find on the web.I downloaded the latest SoundMAX driver v3.1.4 from Hobbes for the audio andit seems to work fine for WAV files and audio CDs. There are clearly marked volumecontrol keys on the T40 that work fine with OS/2 installed. I used my Panasonicportable headphones to the test the audio CD sound signal quality coming of theheadphone jack and it sounded very good.The significant drawback is that you can't play MIDI files on the T40 with OS/2using the most recent v3.1.4 SoundMAX driver on Hobbes, although I haven't triedpossible work-arounds to this issue, such as TiMIDIty for OS/2. As a result, my5-year old daughter was disappointed that I couldn't get KidStuff for OS/2 (a children'sedutainment program that uses MIDI files) to properly work on it. I really hopeSoftware Choice can produce an audio driver for this system that fully supportsthe AD1981B (including MIDI).VideoI'm using Scitech SNAP Graphics 2.1.3 without any problems at all to drive theATI Mobility RADEON 7500 video card and the T40's 1024 x 768 x 16,777,216 color,14.1" TFT XGA display. I tested the external monitor output on an NEX MultiSyncXE17 monitor and it worked fine.ModemAs has been stated in other reviews, the built-in Lucent/Agere Systems modemin most ThinkPads won't work using OS/2. For this reason, I didn't waste any timetrying to get it to work. Instead, I bought and installed a generic CompUSA storebrand PCMCIA generic 56K Fax/Modem for about $45 and the T40 recognized it as COM1without any problems as did the AT&T Global Network Dialer when using its "AutoDetect Modem" feature. The AT&T Global Network Dialer recognizes the CompUSAstore brand modem as a "Generic" manufacturer, "56000 Apple"type modem, although other settings may work also. Any non-Win Modem PCMCIA cardshould probably work in this system.Pointing DevicesThe TrackPoint pointing device and UltraNav touch pad seem to work fine and providebasic two-button functionality with the Convenience Pack 2's mouse driver despitethe fact that the System Set-Up folder indicates that the PS/2 Mouse Driver datedMay 21, 2002 is "not properly installed."Although not listed on the Software Choice T40 web page, I downloaded and installedthe TrackPoint IV driver (originally intended for the T30) from Software Choice.When installed, the Mouse driver dated October 23, 2002 indicated "installed"and maintained proper 2-button TrackPoint and touch pad functionality.System Battery MonitoringThe system battery monitor seems to work fine, both in OS/2 and Object Desktop.Standby and Suspend IssuesOther ThinkPads have reported problems with suspend, especially when PCMCIA networkcards are installed in the systems. The [Fn] - [F4] key combination, alsoclearly marked, puts the T40 system to "sleep" and [Fn] - [F3]"awakens" the system. Sometimes, the system will lock up, though, afterbeing awakened from a user initiated suspended state. The system clock will freezeand the mouse buttons and touch pad won't work. I found that allowing the systemto go into standby on its own and then awakening it using TouchPad worked better.USB Zip Drive IssuesThe only significant glitch was trying to interface my portable 750 MB USB 2.0Zip Drive to the T40. On my desktop PC, I configured this USB Zip drive so it appearsas a fixed disk and formatted my 750 MB Zip disks as HPFS disks. I could only getthe new Software Choice USB
Mass Storage Device Driver to recognize the USB Zip drive as a large floppy drive.This limits me to using FAT formatted Zip disks on the T40.As long as I use the Zip drive as a large removable floppy, it has been quitestable and reliable so far. When downloading mass storage device drivers from SoftwareChoice and using the Iomega 750 MB USB Zip drive, use the "Iomega Zip-250 USB"driver and dated August 30, 2002, not the generic USB Mass Storage Device driver.Use the following switches in the CONFIG.SYS file when using the USB Zipdrive as the only external storage device:BASEDEV=USBMSD.ADD /FLOPPIES:0 /REMOVABLES:1 /REMOVABLE_AS_FLOPPYThe good news is that I can connect my USB Zip drive to the T40 even after systemstart-up and the T40 will recognize the Zip drive as Floppy drive E: without evenhaving to "Refresh Removable Media". To remove the Zip disk fromthe drive, use the "Eject Disk" function by right clicking on the driveE: icon then selecting "Eject Disk".Installing ApplicationsThe T40 system advertises a free license for the Lotus SmartSuite MillenniumEdition. When I called Lotus to order a copy in the OS/2 version, I was told thatthe company has discontinued their OS/2 version of SmartSuite. I installed a copyof SmartSuite 1.7 for OS/2 on the T40 with no problems. Other OS/2 applicationsI've installed so far include Object Desktop 1.5.2, StarOffice 5.1, Describe 5.0.5,IBM Web Browser 2.0, Netscape 4.61, AT&T Global Network Dialer 1.70, Adobe AcrobatReader 3.0, Macromedia Flash Player 5, and Norton Antivirus for OS/2 5.03.72.There is a discrepancy of about .2 GB in the remaining hard disk space reportedby OS/2's hard disk drive monitor and Object Desktop 1.5.2. I suspect this is anissue with Object Desktop, or at least this version of it.I don't have any experience using the DVD/CD-RW drive to burn CDs, just as aCD-ROM reader. I would think RSJ CD Writer would work without any problems basedon reviews that I've read. I also haven't tried anything with OS/2 wireless networkingand don't plan to for a while.NetworkingThe only OS/2 support I could find listed on the IBM PC T40 Software and Supportpage was for the Ethernet Intel PRO/100/1000 LAN adapter, but I haven't had thechance to test this yet. I haven't found any OS/2 wireless networking drivers yet,either.The Bottom LineThis notebook PC system seems to be as OS/2 friendly as they come these days,given the commonly known caveats such as lack of OS/2 support for the internal modem,sound driver MIDI issues, and suspend issues. In 6 months, I might be able to givea better appraisal, especially if I can start burning data and audio CDs with it.I'd also like to see how well Virtual PC and WarpVision work on it.Weighing in at 4.9 pounds with the standard battery and CD-RW/DVD combinationoptical drive, the T40 we bought is really is light for travel. The T40 has thebest feel of any notebook PC keyboards that I've ever used and it doesn't have theannoying "Windows" key, either! For those red eye airline flights, there'sa very convenient "ThinkLight" that illuminates the keyboard in low lightconditions and is activated and deactivated using the [Fn] - [PgUp] key.Yes, the system is considerably pricier than other mass market notebook PC systemsyou'd get at a discounter, but when you consider the IBM warranty and availableOS/2 device driver support, it's hard to go wrong with it. I can only imagine thecountless hours it would take trying to get a unsupported notebook PC working thiswell with OS/2. I was able to configure my T40 with OS/2 and my applications overa weekend, although I didn't complete all of the required tasks at a single session.By the way, this is the first notebook PC that I ever installed OS/2 on and configurationof the USB Zip drive and playing MIDI files were the only really significant problemsI encountered.If you're really a power user, IBM claims the optional High Capacity Li-Ion Battery,which protrudes from the rear of the system and increases the weight of the systemby about half-a-pound, can extend battery life on a single charge to as much as7.6 hours on a single charge, a leader in the notebook PC class.I'm still going through a "paradigm shift" of not having an internalfloppy diskette drive available in a notebook PC. If you buy a T40, you'll probablywant to have some sort of external storage device, and I found the USB Zip driveto be a superior replacement for a floppy diskette drive. The only downside is thatthe large capacity portable Zip drives need their own external power. For you diehardsthat still want to work with 3.5" floppy diskettes, there are external USBfloppy diskette drives available, but if you're going to use a FAT formatted removabledisk, I'd still go with a USB Zip drive due to the significantly greater disk capacity.I'd like to thank the Software Choice team that wrote the device drivers forthe T40 that currently are available and hope they'll be able to continue theirdevelopment efforts to at least offer a MIDI compatible sound driver for the AnalogDevices AD1981B AC'97 SoundMAX Codec in the T40 and a T40 ThinkPad TrackPointdevice driver as a minimum in the future.Despite the limitations I've identified, I'd still recommend the T40 to OS/2users looking for a notebook PC. At least the T40's OS/2 driver shortcomings, suchas the suspend problems, lack of OS/2 MIDI support, lack of wireless networkingsupport, and the lack of OS/2 internal modem support, are known and predictable,unlike the unforeseen system hangs I've experienced with my windoze systems at work.In this quick look, I didn't test the parallel port connection, but I'm lookingforward to reading about the thoughts and suggestions of other OS/2 users as theyconfigure their T40 systems.References:IBM ThinkPad T40
Developer: IBM - -132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=2072541&storeId=1&catalogId=-840&langId=-1&dualCurrId=73
Price: Varies with model Downloadable PDF format IBM ThinkPad T Series Literature (see "IBM ThinkPad T40 note- books" dated March 2003 where IBM claims OS/2 Convenience Package is a "Supported operating system"): - =UCDTest&me=leftnav&met=web &re=thinkpadtseries
IBM Software Choice T40 Device Driver Page -
SoundMAX Audio Driver (HOBBES) - _314.zip
Analog Devices AD1981B AC'97 SoundMAX Codec Page - _Root/productPage/productHome/0,2121,AD1981B,00.html
PC Systems Tested for OS/2 Base and LAN Compatibility - -3.ibm.com/software/os/warp/hw-cert/pcm/pcm_syst.htm Andres E. Mukk, MA, a VOICE member and an active duty Air Force officer forced to use windoze at work, has no affiliation with IBM whatsoever. He's been using OS/2 at home for 10 years since Warp 3.0 and was first introduced to OS/2 by a professor in graduate school. He has been using various brand notebook PCs for business travel since 1991. [Feature Index]
edi...@os2voice.org
[Previous Page] [Newsletter Index] [Next Page]
VOICE Home Page: