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OS/2 2+ CONFIG.SYS FILE DESCRIPTION - Version 9 - Nov. 25, 1994
Compiled By Rick Meigs, 7032 SW 26th Street, Portland, OR, 97219
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Copyright (c) 1992-94 by Rick Meigs. If you find errors or have
some helpful information, please do contact me at the address
above. I also hang around the FidoNet OS/2 conference, so you
can drop me a note there, or at: rick.meigs@nwcs.org.
ENCOURAGEMENT: This ASCII file may be freely distributed (and
you're encouraged to do so) on a not-for-profit basis, but the
copyright notice may not be removed nor may the file be modified.
This file is Freeware (that means you can use it at no cost and
pass it on to your friends), but its not in the public domain.
VIEWING FILE: Beginning with version 9, when you use the
Enhanced Editor and include the enclosed STYLE and ATTRIB files,
new items to this file will appear in light red. Regardless of
which editor you use, for best results turn word wrap OFF and
use a monospaced (like System Monospaced) font.
PRINTING FILE: Now in enhanced JB format or easy printing.
INF FORMAT: Don Parr of Riverside, CA., another OS/2 zealot,
has taken it upon himself to convert this file to the INF format.
Version 7 is out and circulating. Look for it on OS/2 SHAREWARE
and OS/2 CONNECTION BBSs. Thanks Don for this great effort!
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1. CAUTION, WARNING AND DISCLAIMER.
<<=CAUTION=>> Because of the way in which OS/2s Enhanced PM
editor (EPM.EXE) handles word wrapping and its restricted line
length, using it to edit your config.sys file is unwise. For
best results, use OS/2s System Editor (E.EXE).
<<=WARNING=>> If you plan on changing any line in your current
config.sys file, please be sure to create a backup --BEFORE--
you start experimenting! This has saved me more than once.
Remember, make the backup --BEFORE-- you change your config.sys
file. If you are viewing this information using CNFGINFO.EXE,
use its backup option before you proceed any further.
A procedure for restoring a damaged config.sys is included
at the end of this file.
<<=DISCLAIMER=>> I CAN'T BE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT YOU DO WITH
YOUR SYSTEM OR YOUR CONFIG.SYS FILE BASED UPON WHAT YOU MAY
LEARN FROM THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS FILE. EVERY EFFORT
HAS BEEN MADE TO MAKE THIS FILE AS ACCURATE AS POSSIBLE, BUT
NO WARRANTY OR FITNESS IS IMPLIED. THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED
ON AN "AS IS" BASIS. USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.
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2. COMMENTS.
This whole process started in 1992 when I began researching
what many of the config.sys file commands were for. This ever
growing file is the result of that ongoing research. It briefly
describes most of the common and some of the more obscure
commands. Naturally, not all possible commands are listed
(especially the many hardware device drivers), but there is a
lot here for you to work with. Version 6 was the first version
updated for OS/2 2.1 and version 9 was the first updated for
OS/2 Warp.
Even with all the hours I've put into this description, I still
find the config.sys file to be somewhat of a mystery. Still,
mystery or not, to get the most out of OS/2 and your system
you just may need to spend a little time editing your config.sys.
----------------- IMPORTANT NOTE AND WARNING --------------------
Unlike the DOS config.sys file which is read sequentially, OS/2
reads the entire file before it invokes the commands listed.
Therefore, except for several exceptions which have been noted,
it really doesn't matter where a command is placed. On several
of the "nets" and in a file called CNFGSORT.ZIP it has been
suggested that if you organize your config.sys file in a certain
way, you can significantly shorten the boot time of OS/2. I
find this sorting to be of little or no help for the vast
majority of OS/2 users. Further, you can cause yourself
problems if you do it incorrectly. So be very careful and have
a backup config.sys file ready.
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3. THE PROGRAM CNFGINFO.EXE.
I'm really not much of a programmer, but I have written a
program called CNFGINFO.EXE which allows you to analysis your
own config.sys file. After it reads in your config.sys file,
you just point and click on any line and information from this
file is displayed. It also will backup, edit and print your
config.sys file. You can also print this file. Its Freeware
(that means you can use it at no cost and pass it on to your
friends), but its not in the public domain. The "" symbols
are used by CNFGINFO, so please do not remove them from this
file. The latest version of CNFGINFO.EXE can be downloaded as
CFGINFO3.ZIP from the same BBS where you found this file. This
version fixes several bugs, including the one which would not
allow you to load any config.sys file from a drive other than
"C". Many additional features have also been added.
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4. BEGINNING OF CONFIG.SYS FILE DESCRIPTION.
The order of this description area generally follows that of
a "standard" config.sys file.
CALL=C:\OS2\XCOPY.EXE C:\OS2\INSTALL\*.BK1 C:\OS2\INSTALL\*.INI /T /R /O
CALL=C:\OS2\XCOPY.EXE C:\OS2\*.INI C:\OS2\INSTALL\*.BK1 /T /R /O
Two files are essential to the operation of OS/2: OS2.INI and
OS2SYS.INI. If these files should get trashed, OS/2 isn't going
to function. Backing them up is very important. In OS/2
version 2.0, once booted, OS/2 will not let you access or copy
these critical files. One way to circumvent this is to create
your backups BEFORE OS/2 is booted. This CALL will do the trick.
It creates first a backup of your backup and then creates a
backup of the original files. This gives you a two generation
backup. This process will add time to your system boot.
Generally OS/2 does not care where you place something in the
config.sys file. This CALL is an exception in version 2.0. It
must appear before any other line because you need to complete
this backup process before OS2.INI AND OS2SYS.INI load.
<<=NOTE=>> In version 2.1, the INI files can be copied after
the system is booted by using OS/2s COPY command, but you may
wish to consider adding this CALL to your config.sys file to
automate the process.
<<=NOTE=>> In OS/2 Warp, IBM provides a archive feature
which can be activated by opening your Desktop settings, click
on the Archive Tab, and then click on "Create archive at every
system restart". You do not need this CALL if you use this
archive feature.
<<=TIP=>> OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI can also be reconstructed at
boot by holding down Alt-F1 during boot BEFORE the OS/2 logo
appears. You may need to hold the keys down for at least 20
seconds. During your initial installation of OS/2, the
installation process stored a copy of its original INI files
in the folder called INSTALL. When you press Alt-F1 at boot,
OS/2 moves these "backup" files into the OS/2 folder to
replace the current versions. The "CALL" shown above keeps
the INI files in your INSTALL folder current.
<<=WARNING=>> If you are using a version of OS/2 before Warp,
use the Alt-F1 key combination as a last resort because you may
lose all customizing and changes you have made to the WpS.
<<=NOTE=>> The switches used mean the following:
/T -- allows xcopying of files with System attribute
/R -- allows xcopying of files with Read-only attribute
/O -- allows xcopying *onto* a file which has System,
Read-only, or Hidden attribute.
Thanks to Melissa Woo for pointing out the need for these
switches.
IFS=C:\OS2\HPFS.IFS /CACHE:512 /CRECL:4 /AUTOCHECK:CD
IFS stands for "Installable File System". This OS/2 command
installs the High Performance File System (HPFS). The syntax
is IFS=DRIVE:PATH\FILENAME,SWITCHES. There are three switches:
/CACHE:nnn sets up a disk cache and its size. The default on
most systems (shown in Table 1.0 below) is low in my opinion.
<<=TIP=>> Change the size of your disk cache based upon the
information provided in Table 1.1 below. This great stuff was
provided by Proportional Software based upon a great deal of
OS/2 system tweaking done by the DCF/2 development team.
<<=Warning=>> Keep this one truth in mind about cache size:
an excessive cache takes memory available for programs and
therefore could have a negative impact on overall system
performance. For example, if you set a 2MB cache on a 6MB
system, you will notice a substantial negative performance hit.
OS/2s Command Reference and other IBM sources indicate that
the maximum cache size for HPFS is currently 2MB (2048), but
IBM does not recommend using a cache larger than 1.5MB (1536).
Personally, I have 16MB of RAM and have my HPFS cache set to
the max: 2048.
If this switch is omitted, the default is 10% of the available
RAM.
========================== Table 1.0 ===========================
If you have formatted your system with only HPFS partitions, the
cache size in this statement, as set by OS/2 during installation,
is that noted under ONE FILE SYSTEM in the table below. If you
have both FAT and HPFS partitions, then OS/2 sets the cache
sizes to those noted under TWO FILE SYSTEM. The file system
which uses the greatest amount of your disk space gets the larger
default value.
MEMORY SIZE IN MB TWO FILE SYSTEM ONE FILE SYSTEM
4 128/64 128
5 128/64 128
6 256/64 256
7 256/128 256
8 256/256 384
9 256/256 384
10 - 16 512/512 1024
17 - 32 1024/1024 2048
================================================================
========================== Table 1.1 ===========================
You can get better performance from your system by using your
available RAM in the most efficient and effective way. Select
the case that best describes the file system or amount of RAM
you use.
CASE 1: You use only HPFS or only FAT, but not both.
HPFS only. FAT only.
System memory of at least: Set CACHE to: Set DISKCACHE to:
16 MB 2048 2048
12 MB 1536 1536
8 MB 1024 1024
CASE 2: You use both HPFS and FAT with HPFS active and FAT
passive.
System memory of at least: Set CACHE to: Set DISKCACHE to:
16 MB 2048 512 -1024
12 MB 1536 256 - 512
8 MB 1024 128 - 256
CASE 3: You use both HPFS and FAT with HPFS passive and FAT
active.
System memory of at least: Set CACHE to: Set DISKCACHE to:
16 MB 1024 2048
12 MB 768 1536
8 MB 512 1024
<<=NOTE=>> For purposes of the table above, "active" and
"passive" are descriptors for the way a partition is used.
If it is seldom used, it is "passive." If a lot of disk
intensive I/O occurs on the partition, it is "active."
================================================================
/CRECL sets the maximum record size for caching, from 2k to 64k
in multiples of 2k with a default of 4k. This parameter may not
exceed 1/4 of the total cache size set with the /cache parameter.
/AUTOCHECK:nn tells the system to run CHKDSK and sets the drives
to be checked at start up.
<<=WARNING=>> If you don't include the AUTOCHECK switch in this
command, the system will not boot.
<<=TIP=>> If you are using only FAT partitions, then you should
REM this IFS statement and save yourself some RAM. How much?
I've seen figures from 130k to 500k, but the HPFS.IFS file is
136k in size.
<<=TIP=>> If you have drive partitions larger than 80MB, then
HPFS should give you better performance than FAT. On partitions
of less than 80MB, most authorities indicate that there is only a
small performance difference between HPFS and FAT. Consider the
following when comparing the relative merits of the HPFS versus
FAT: On large partitions of identical size, the HPFS will
generally give you about 15% more space and improve performance
by about 28% (Information provided by Proportional Software).
<<=NOTE=>> Lazy write is on by default. If you want lazy write
off, see the RUN=C:\OS2\CACHE.EXE command later in this file.
PAUSEONERROR=YES
This command tells OS/2 to pause after it finds any error in your
config.sys and displays an error message. If you don't include
this statement in your config.sys file, the default will be YES.
This is generally the best choice since the error message will
appear and scroll off the screen so quickly with a NO setting that
you may not notice it.
PROTSHELL=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
This OS/2 command tells OS/2 what program you want to use as the
protect mode shell (the program that determines what your user
interface looks like and how it operates.) This is the first
program OS/2 will execute. PMSHELL.EXE is the program which
initializes OS/2 Presentation Manager. If you delete this line
from your config.sys file, OS/2 will load PMSHELL.EXE by default.
<<=NOTE=>> There are at least two alternatives to PMSHELL.EXE.
One is OS/2s own CMD.EXE. If you replace PMSHELL.EXE with
CMD.EXE, you will get a full screen OS/2 session only and will
not be able to run PM programs. A second alternative is
TSHELL.EXE. TSHELL is a text-based, protected-mode shell for
OS/2. Any one remember OS/2 1.x? TSHELL makes OS/2 look
something like OS/2 1.0. OS/2 1.0 did not have a graphical
user interface.
With TSHELL you can start and switch full-screen sessions only.
These can be OS/2, DOS, or WINOS2 sessions depending on your
systems configuration. You use Alt+Esc to switch around
sessions and Ctrl+Esc to pop up the task list. But please note,
like OS/2 1.0, there is no Presentation Manager. Thus, OS/2 PM
applications will not work. You can download TSHELL.ZIP from
most OS/2 BBSs.
SET COMMAND: The SET command in the config.sys file sets up
environment variables for the entire system. These
environment variables are stored by OS/2 in memory and are
shared by any applications which calls on them.
<<=TIP=>> If you want to see what variables are set in your
system, at an OS/2 command prompt type the word SET and press
<enter>. You'll get a list like the following:
WP_OBJHANDLE=87103
USER_INI=C:\OS2\OS2.INI
SYSTEM_INI=C:\OS2\OS2SYS.INI
OS2_SHELL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE
AUTOSTART=PROGRAMS,TASKLIST,FOLDERS
RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
COMSPEC=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE
PATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;
C:\OS2\INSTALL;C:\;C:\OS2\MDOS;
DPATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;
C:\OS2\INSTALL;C:\;C:\OS2\BITMAP;
PROMPT=$E[1;33m[$P]$G
HELP=C:\OS2\HELP;C:\OS2\HELP\TUTORIAL;
GLOSSARY=C:\OS2\HELP\GLOSS;
DIRCMD=/ON /P
IPF_KEYS=SBCS
KEYS=OFF
SOMIR=C:\OS2\ETC\SOM.IR;C:\OS2\ETC\WPSH.IR;
C:\OS2\ETC\WPDSERV.IR;SOM.IR
SOMDDIR=C:\OS2\ETC\DSOM
BOOKSHELF=C:\OS2\BOOK;C:\MMOS2;D:\VXREXX
EPMPATH=C:\OS2\APPS;
VIDEO_DEVICES=VIO_SVGA
VIO_SVGA=DEVICE(BVHVGA,BVHSVGA)
ZOCDEVICE=COM4
MMBASE=C:\MMOS2;
DSPPATH=C:\MMOS2\DSP;
NCDEBUG=4000
VXREXX=D:\VXREXX
WORKPLACE__PROCESS=NO
SET USER_INI=F:\OS2\OS2.INI
Tells OS/2 the name and locations of the file that contains
your desktop setup information and the options saved from
various OS/2 applications. OS2.INI is the default file name.
<<=NOTE=>> OS2.INI is a critical file for the proper operation
of OS/2 and should not be deleted or modified. It is not an
ASCII file and, if it should become damaged, cannot be modified
with an ASCII editor. You should consider backing up this file
by using the CALL lines shown above or with a program such as
WPSBKUP. It is one of several shareware programs design for
this purpose. Check your favorite OS/2 BBS. You can also use
MAKEINI.EXE, which ships with OS/2, to build a new set of INI
files. See your OS/2 documentation on how to do this.
SET SYSTEM_INI=G:\OS2\OS2SYS.INI
Tells OS/2 the name and location of OS2SYS.INI. This file
tells OS/2 what kind of equipment your system uses. NOTE:
OS2SYS.INI is a critical files and should not be deleted or
modified. It is not an ASCII file. You should consider backing
up this file by using the CALL line shown as the first line
above or with a program such as WPSBKUP, a shareware program you
can obtain on many OS/2 BBSs. You can also use MAKEINI.EXE,
which ships with OS/2, to build a new set of INI files. See
your OS/2 documentation on how to do this.
This file remains open the entire time OS/2 is booted and
operating. It only closes upon shut down. If it should become
"trashed", MAKEINI.EXE, which ships with OS/2 and is in the OS2
directory, can be used to build a new set of INI files. You
will have to boot from an OS/2 floppy to do so.
SET OS2_SHELL=D:\OS2\CMD.EXE
OS2_SHELL directs OS/2 to load the command line shell (CMD.EXE)
when you ask for an OS/2 command line from the WpS.
<<=WARNING=>> Be careful with this line, OS/2 will not start
without it.
<<=TIP=>> If you wish to run some other command line shell,
such as 4OS2, change this line and the SET COMSPEC=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE
line, substituting the appropriate EXE file for CMD.EXE.
<<=TIP=>> If you have a need to have a .CMD file invoked when
you launch any OS/2 full screen or windowed session, just as
AUTOEXEC.BAT is invoked for DOS sessions, modify this command
line as shown below and it will cause AUTOEXEC.CMD to be invoked
each time you start an OS/2 session.
SET OS2_SHELL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE /k C:\AUTOEXEC.CMD
You can choose any file name you wish for the CMD file.
AUTOEXEC.CMD is used just as an example.
SET AUTOSTART=PROGRAMS,TASKLIST,FOLDERS,CONNECTIONS,LAUNCHPAD
The AUTOSTART command contains a list of WpS components which
will be started (or restarted) when the system is booted up.
There are currently four possible options:
PROGRAMS: Tells OS/2 to start applications, that were running
when the system was shut down, to restart. This
options will be ignored if SET RESTARTOBJECTS=NO.
TASKLIST: This parameter enables the OS/2 task list that appears
when you press Ctrl+Esc. Why this parameter is
available I don't know, because even when removed, I
have still been able to press Ctrl+Esc and get the task
list. Oh well, another OS/2 mystery.
FOLDERS: Opens the desktop and any other folder which was open
when the system was shut down.
<<=WARNING=>> If you remove the FOLDERS statement,
OS/2 will not open your desktop (which is a folder).
CONNECTIONS: This parameter restarts any network connections
that were in use when the system was shut down.
<<=NOTE=>> This parameter can be removed if your
system is not connected to a network. Leaving it
in your config.sys file will NOT cause any problems.
LAUNCHPAD: Restarts the new Lauchpad supplied with Warp.
SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
This line tells the system what interface program is to be
used. In this case it is the Workplace Shell.
<<=TIP=>> If you want to run OS/2 with only a command line
interface, you can do so by changing this line to read
SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE. This brings OS/2 up without
the WpS and gives you one screen session. You can start other
sessions using the START or DETACH command. Otherwise,
operated just like you were in DOS. If you have started more
than one session, switch between them using Alt+Esc. For those
who want the power of OS/2 and like to work only from a command
line, give this a try. I'm running in this mode as I write this
as a test and it appears to work fine.
This is also a way to improve performance on 4MB RAM systems,
since the WpS take up LOTS of ram. When running without the
WpS, I generally free up from 4 to 5 megs of RAM on my 16MB
system.
<<=WARNING=>> You can't perform a "shut down" from a command
line. To do a shut down type PMSHELL and press enter. This
starts the WpS. Once the WpS is open, you should be able to
perform a standard shut down. You can also download one of
several shut down programs available on most OS/2 specific
BBSs. I use one called SHUT32.ZIP.
<<=TIP=>> MSHELL.EXE is another alternative. It is a simple
mini shell for OS/2 that uses the replaceable shell
architecture of the WpS. MSHELL is a program launcher which
provides one list of programs to start. This list can be
modified by creating a plain text file called MSHELL.INI. In
addition to starting programs, MSHELL can save the desktop,
interact with the spooler, and do a system shut down.
MSHELL is IBM Employee Written Software and can be downloaded
from most OS/2 specific BBSs or ftp.cdrom.com.
SET RESTARTOBJECTS=YES
This command tells OS/2 what applications to start after you
suspend operations with or without doing a shut down. If this
statement is not in your config.sys, then the default is YES,
i.e., start all objects that were running at the time of shut
down or reboot. Other options are:
NO = do not start any applications that were running at time
of shut down or reboot.
STARTUPFOLDERSONLY = start objects only in the Startup
folder. This parameter is also handy for another
purpose. Lets assume you have one or more programs in
your Startup folder and do a shut down without closing
those programs. If you have Restartobjects set to yes,
OS/2 will restart the programs left open AND the Startup
folder will start another copy of the same programs.
Thus you will have two copies running. Using this
parameter eliminates this.
REBOOTONLY = Start objects only if the OS/2 WpS is starting
from a reboot (Ctrl-Alt-Del) or at power on. Objects
will not restart if the WpS is restarted as a result of
its own error correction recycling.
<<=TIP=>> You can also circumvent the auto-starting of
programs by holding down Left/Ctrl-Left/Shift-F1 all at the
same time during boot. It must be done right after the clock
appears just before the desktop loads, but before any icons
appear.
SET COMSPEC=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE
This line identifies what OS/2 command line shell is to be used
and its location. In DOS, COMMAND.COM is equivalent to CMD.EXE.
<<=TIP=>> If you wish to run some other command line shell,
such as 4OS2, change this and the SET OS2_SHELL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE
line, substituting the appropriate EXE file for CMD.EXE.
LIBPATH=.;C:\OS2\DLL;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\;C:\OS2\APPS\DLL;
Tells OS/2 where to locate Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs).
LIBPATH is similar to DPATH and PATH, but the statement can
only be used in the config.sys file and OS/2 does not search the
current directory for DLLs unless you include it in the LIBPATH
statement. You don't need to use the SET command with LIBPATH.
It is not an environment variable.
<<=TIP=>> To reduce the search time, be sure that the various
PATH statements contain the correct path to your program and
other files. You can also have OS/2 search the current directory
by including a period "." right after the equal "=" symbol. This
causes OS/2 to look in the current logged directory first.
One final item that will reduce search time: Be certain that
the PATH, LIBPATH and DPATH statements in the config.sys are
arranged with the most frequently accessed sub directories
listed first.
SET PATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;C:\OS2\INSTALL;
C:\;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\OS2\APPS;
Just like in DOS, it tells OS/2 where to find programs. For DOS
sessions, set the PATH in your Autoexec.bat file.
<<=WARNING=>> Your path statement should contain at least the
following directories: \OS2, \OS2\MDOS, \OS2\SYSTEM.
SET DPATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;C:\OS2\INSTALL;
C:\;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\OS2\APPS;
This is an OS/2 command. It tells OS/2 programs where to look
for data files. It is similar to the DOS APPEND command, but
unlike APPEND, DPATH only works with programs designed to use
it.
SET PROMPT=[$P]$G
Like the same DOS command, this line sets how your OS/2 command
prompt will appear. (This is for OS/2 only. Set the DOS PROMPT
default in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.) In the setting shown here,
the command prompt will appear showing the current directory of
the default drive enclosed in [] followed by the greater than
symbol, i.e. [C:\]>. Having brackets [] around the drive and
directory information lets you quickly know when you are at an
OS/2 command line verse a DOS command line.
If you type PROMPT without a parameter, OS/2 will return its
default prompt.
Options include:
$B = The | character
$C = The open parenthesis (
$D = Current date
$E = ASCII code 27 (escape) so you can work with ANSI.
See <<=TIP=>> below.
$F = The close parenthesis )
$G = The "greater than" > symbol
$H = BACKSPACE over the previous character
$I = Turns help line on
$L = The "less than" < character
$N = Default drive
$P = Current directory of default drive
$Q = The equal = character
$S = The space character
$T = Current time
$V = OS/2 version number
$_ = Carriage return or line feed
<<=TIP=>> You can also add ANSI control sequences to your
prompt. For example, to help me know visually whether I'm
working with an OS/2 command line, I've add $E[1;33m to my
prompt line, i.e. SET PROMPT=$E[1;33m[$P]$G. This sets text
to display in bold yellow characters.
SET HELP=C:\OS2\HELP;C:\OS2\HELP\TUTORIAL;
Tells OS/2 where the help files are located. OS/2 will only
look for its help files in the path shown.
SET GLOSSARY=C:\OS2\HELP\GLOSS;
Tells OS/2 where Glossary and Master Help files are located.
SET DIRCMD=/ON /P
An undocumented command that is the OS/2 equivalent of the DIR
command in DOS. Since DOS 5, you can tell DIR how to present
file information. To do this in OS/2, use the DIRCMD command.
For example: SET DIRCMD=/ON /P tells OS/2 to display the DIR
information in alpha order and place a pause at the end of each
page.
<<=NOTE=>> This is for OS/2 only. Set the DOS default in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
Options include:
/A list files with specific attributes. E.g. /AH list only
hidden files. Other options are S A & R. If you place a
negative (-) sign in front of your specified attribute,
all files will list except those with the attribute
specified. E.g. /A-H-S will display all files except
hidden and system files.
/B list directories and files without heading and summary
information.
/F list files with the full drive and path information.
Date, time and size are omitted.
/L displays information in lowercase.
/N lists files on a FAT drive in the same format used for a
HPFS drive, i.e. date, time, size, name.
/O list files according to sort option specified. Sort
options are:
G = Display directories first.
N = alphabetize by file name
-N = reverse-alphabetizes by name
E = alphabetize by extension
-E = reverse-alphabetizes by extension
D = by date, oldest first
-D = by date, newest first
S = by file size, smallest first
-S = by file size, largest first
/P pauses after a full screen of files is listed.
/R displays long file names if applicable.
/S searches and displays all directories.
/W displays file names across the screen. Date, time and
size are omitted.
LASTDRIVE=H
Specifies the maximum number of drives that are accessible.
The value you specify with LASTDRIVE represents the last valid
drive that is recognized.
SET IPF_KEYS=SBCS
The character set for most languages can be represented as data
using an 8-bit byte since their characters sets are each less
than 256 characters. These are called single-byte character sets
(SBCS). Languages such as Japanese (Kanji), Korean and Chinese
(both Traditional and Simplified) can only be represented using
two 8-bit bytes or 16-bits. These are double-byte character
sets (DBCS).
This command tells the Information Presentation Facility (INF
and help files) which type of character set is being used, i.e.,
Single or Double Byte Character Set. This is an environment
variable. Removing it from my system did not seem to have any
impact.
PRIORITY_DISK_IO=YES
This command determines whether programs running in the fore-
ground have priority access to disks. The default is YES. If
you want a program running in the background, like a BBS, to
have equal access to your disks, then change this statement to
NO. If you change this command to no and then find that your
communications program does not work, change back to yes.
PRIORITY=DYNAMIC
OS/2 automatically assigns processing priorities to each thread
of a program as it begins processing. A thread running in the
foreground will generally have priority over a thread running
in background. Thread priorities are adjusted, generally based
upon how active they are, by OS/2 on an ongoing basis to make
sure each thread has adequate processing time. On the rare
occasion that you need to run a program which must never change
in priority, you should set PRIORITY=ABSOLUTE, otherwise, don't
mess with it.
<<=NOTE=>> This command does not have to be in your config.sys.
If it isn't, OS/2 defaults to PRIORITY=DYNAMIC.
Here are some interesting and comments posted by David Page.
"I strongly suggest that you read "The Design of OS2" by Deitel
and Kogan; Addison Wesley. It goes into great detail on this
topic.
"To summarize: The highest priority thread always has the
machine. If there are two equally high threads, they timeslice
having the machine. Note that there are many Operating System
threads, like the scheduler itself, that are higher priority
than any program. Now, if PRIORITY=ABSOLUTE in the config.sys
file, that's all there is to it. But usually, PRIORITY=DYNAMIC,
and OS/2 keeps gradually increasing the priority of a starved
thread until it gets to run. Maxwait determines the maximum
time, in seconds, before the scheduler intervenes to raise a
low priority thread up high enough to run."
FILES=20
This is a standard DOS command which sets the maximum number
of files that DOS can access at the same time. OS/2 sets the
install default is 20, but some DOS programs may require an
increased number. The maximum parameter is 255. The FILES
command is for DOS only and has no effect on OS/2 sessions
which can have up to 64,000 files open at the same time.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\TESTCFG.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\TESTCFG.SYS <---- In Warp
TESTCFG.SYS is used during the install process to test your
systems configuration. It is also used by the Selective Install
process and during device driver installations.
<<=NOTE=>> Because this driver is used by the Selective Install
process, it should not be deleted.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\PMDD.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\PMDD.SYS <---- In Warp
OS/2 loads and uses this driver to provide pointer draw support
along with POINTDD.SYS.
<<=WARNING=>> OS/2 will not start without this line in your
config.sys file.
BUFFERS=30
Tells OS/2 how many disk buffers to set aside. Range is from 3
to 100. Each buffer takes up to 512 bytes of RAM. The install
default usually works well. If you are using HPFS only, see
<<=Tip=>> below.
Disk buffers are blocks of memory set aside by OS/2 for use in
reading and writing blocks of data. For example, if a program
wants to change 80 bytes of a file, it needs to read the 512
byte sector that contains the original data, change the infor-
mation and then write the corrected 512 byte sector back out.
A "buffer" is the 512 byte temporary staging area for this
partial sector operation. According to a source at IBM, "OS/2
allows multiple simultaneous I/O operations to be queued up for
both diskette and hard disk. Each 'concurrent' operation may
need a buffer. If there are not enough buffers, overlap can be
inhibited. Because OS/2 has more 'simultaneous' queued I/O
than DOS, it needs more buffers."
<<=TIP=>> Generally, you can speed up your system by increasing
the number of BUFFERS. But, keep in mind that as you increase
the number, you reduce available memory. Be careful about using
a lower number unless you only have 4MB of RAM. With 4MB of RAM
you may wish to set BUFFERS to 20.
<<=TIP=>> If you are using only HPFS (i.e., no FAT partitions),
try setting BUFFERS to 3. With HPFS you generally don't need
BUFFERS. Remember that 3 is the minimum parameter. If you set
BUFFERS to 1 or 2, OS/2 will default to 30 since 1 and 2 are out
of range. There is one exception to this tip. If you access
your floppy disks a lot, then a reduced BUFFERS setting could
impact floppy performance.
IOPL=YES
When set to YES, this command lets programs that need to bypass
OS/2 (and its device drivers) and work directly with hardware
devices, to do so. One example is Lotus 123/G. YES means
that all programs can access the hardware directly. NO means
that no program can access the hardware directly. YES is the
default and is generally best, since its hard for most of us to
know when a program is written is such a way as to need direct
access to hardware.
IOPL stands for Input/Output Privilege Level.
<<=TIP=>> You can also specify a list of programs that are
allowed to work directly with the hardware. For example,
IOPL=WS.EXE,123.EXE would allow only these two programs to
access hardware directly.
RUN=C:\OS2\CACHE.EXE /MAXAGE:2500
This line runs CACHE.EXE which allows you to modify the
parameters for the HPFS cache. CACHE.EXE is only used for
HPFS partitions. (The DISKCACHE command sets up a cache for
FAT.) There are four switches for CACHE.EXE:
/LAZY: Determines if lazy writes is ON or OFF, that is,
whether the contents of the cache will be written to your
hard disk immediately (/LAZY:OFF) or when your hard disk
is idle (/LAZY:ON). The default is ON. I like lazy
writes ON because it improves performance, but keep in
mind that since the system delays writing data to your
hard disk, you can lose data if your system should crash.
In the config.sys file line above no switch is specified
therefore the default remains in effect, which is ON.
<<=TIP=>> Lazy writes can also be turned ON or OFF at an
OS/2 command prompt.
<<=WARNING=>> If you include the /LAZY switch, then the
CACHE statement will IGNORE ALL OTHER SWITCHES in the
line. Therefore, if you want to turn lazy writes off (or
on) and also change some other parameter, you will need
two RUN statements.
<<=WARNING=>> There is a bug in OS/2 version 2.1 which
does not appear to have been fixed in Warp. You
can't turn lazy writes off from the config.sys file. The
WpS always turns lazy writes ON when it loads regardless
of what your CACHE.EXE command sets. So, if you want lazy
writes off, you will need to run the CACHE command AFTER
the WpS starts. Create a CMD file to turn it off and place
it in your Startup folder. The WpS has already done it's
thing when the objects in the Startup folder are opened.
You can also turn it off from a command prompt. (Thanks
to Denis Tonn for this critical information).
/MAXAGE: Sets how long data waits in the cache before it is
moved to another area of the cache where less used
information is stored, or how long data waits in the
cache before it is written to the hard disk. It is
expressed in milliseconds. The default is 5,000 or about
5 seconds. In the config.sys file line above, the wait
is set at 2,500 milliseconds or about 2 1/2 seconds.
/DISKIDLE: Sets how long your hard disk must be idle before
it will accept data from the cache. Express in
milliseconds and the default is 1,000 or about one
second. In the config.sys file line above no switch was
specified so the default remains in effect.
/BUFFERIDLE: Sets how long the cache buffer must be idle
before its contents MUST be written to your hard disk.
Express in milliseconds and the default is 500 or about
1/2 second. In the config.sys file line above no switch
was specified so the default remains in effect.
According to one source at IBM, there are two other
undocumented parameters.
/DIRTYMAX: The threshold number of dirty buffers before
immediately flushing of least recently used (LRU) data
blocks.
/WRITECACHE: The threshold number of bytes that HPFS will
cache for a lazy write.
<<=NOTE=>> The HPFS IFS config.sys file line sets up the
cache and uses the system defaults. This config.sys file
line is only used to modify the cache parameters.
<<=TIP=>> You can check to see what parameters the HPFS cache
is currently set at by going to an OS/2 command prompt and
keying in the word CACHE and pressing the enter key.
<<=TIP=>> Table 2.0 contains information on optimum settings
for each of the main parameters. This great stuff was
provided by Proportional Software based upon a great deal of
OS/2 system tweaking done by the DCF/2 development team.
========================= Table 2.0 ===========================
Parameters: LAZY WRITES /LAZY:ON
MAXAGE >7,500
DISKIDLE 60,000
BUFFERIDLE 60,000
===============================================================
DISKCACHE=256,LW,32,AC:C
If you are using one or more FAT partitions on a hard drive,
this command sets up a disk cache for those partitions. The
DISKCACHE line noted here sets up a 256k cache. The default
cache size used by OS/2 during installation is based on how
much RAM your system contains. See Table 3.0. The minimum
cache size is 64k and the Maximum FAT cache size is 14MB.
<<=IMPORTANT NOTE=>> Under Warp, during installation the
letter "D" (for Default?) is used instead of the usual numeric
value. This is either an error or an undocumented parameter.
On the "nets", several users have reported that their disk I/O
was significantly reduced when they replaced the "D" with a
a value as was the case in OS/2 2.x. I suggest you change
this setting based on the optimum cache sizes as shown in
Table 1.1 above.
<<=NOTE=>> This command is for hard drives only. DISKCACHE
does not cache FAT based floppy drives.
<<=TIP=>> If you have the RAM, increase the size to improve
system performance, but don't get carried away by using to much
of your RAM; this can hurt performance. See the information on
optimum cache sizes contained in Table 1.1 above.
<<=TIP=>> If you are only using HPFS, then you should REM
this statement and save 64k of RAM (don't delete, you may need
or want it later). If you have a FAT partition on your hard
drive and you REM this statement, OS/2 will automatically set
up a 64k cache by default.
========================= Table 3.0 ===========================
If you have formatted your hard drive(s) with only FAT partitions,
the default cache size in this statement will be that noted under
ONE FILE SYSTEM. If you have both FAT and HPFS partitions,
then OS/2 defaults to the cache size noted under TWO FILE SYSTEM.
The file system which uses the greatest amount of your disk space
gets the larger default value.
MEMORY SIZE IN MB TWO FILE SYSTEM ONE FILE SYSTEM
4 128/64 128
5 128/64 128
6 256/64 256
7 256/128 256
8 256/256 384
9 256/256 384
10 - 16 512/512 1024
17 - 32 1024/1024 2048
===============================================================
LW: Enables lazy writes. If you don't want lazy write enabled,
then ",LW".
32: Sets the threshold size. It is express in number of sectors
which are 512 bytes each. Data requests from your disk that are
larger than this number will not be cached. The default is 4.
Thirty two (32) is said to be an optimum number. One hundred
twenty eight (128) is the maximum allowable. This setting has
no impact on RAM.
AC:C: If you want CHKDSK to automatically check your start
up partition (usually C), then add this switch to end of the
DISKCACHE command: AC:n where n is your start up partition,
e.g. AC:C.
MAXWAIT=3
This command sets the longest period a program will have
to wait to execute before OS/2 ups its priority. This makes
sure that no program is put on hold forever while some other
program hogs the system. You can set MAXWAIT from 1 to 255
seconds. The default is 3 seconds.
<<=TIP=>> When running heavy background programs, such as a
BBS, change the setting to 1, i.e. MAXWAIT=1. This will keep
the BBS software or other background programs running at top
speed. For general use, it appears that setting MAXWAIT=2
makes the system a little livelier.
<<=NOTE=>> MAXWAIT only has an effect if PRIORITY=DYNAMIC.
MEMMAN=SWAP,PROTECT
OS/2 can run more programs and use more data than can actually
be stored in memory at any given time. This is done by swapping
large amounts of memory to your hard disk and then reading the
data back into memory when needed. This is called virtual memory.
For example, if you have 4MB of memory you will see lots of disk
activity while you are working with your system. A lot of this is
OS/2 swapping memory to and from your hard disk. Lots of memory
swapping slows down your system and can cause your hard disk to
fragment quicker than normal.
The MEMMAN command controls the swap process. The syntax is
MEMMAN=s,m,PROTECT,COMMIT where s=SWAP or NOSWAP; m=MOVE or NOMOVE.
The default is to have virtual memory on. To turn off virtual
memory, which is NOT recommended, the config.sys file line should
read: MEMMAN=NOSWAP. See <<=CAUTION=>> below.
PROTECT allows the allocation and use of protected memory. Unless
you are a programmer who needs this set to NOPROTECT, leave the
default.
<<=NEW 2.1+ PARAMETER=>> A new parameter with version 2.1 is COMMIT.
With this parameter included, OS/2 will allocate space in the swap
file whenever a program commits memory. Increase your SWAPPER.DAT
file (in the SWAPPATH line below) by the amount of memory you are
likely to use when using the COMMIT parameter.
<<=TIP=>> You can also use the COMMIT parameter another way.
Without COMMIT set, the minimum free noted in you SWAPPATH
specified the point at which OS/2 gives you a message warning that
your disk space is running low. When you set COMMIT, the minimum
free value noted in your SWAPPATH statement becomes the amount of
hard disk space that will always remain free on the swap file
partition. Thus, with COMMIT set, you can never run out of disk
space on your swap file partition.
<<=CAUTION=>> When messing with the MEMMAN line, I changed it to
MEMMAN=NOSWAP. As a result, I had to boot from my OS/2 installa-
tion disk and recover my backup config.sys file to get the system
to boot. According to Blake Stover, "The reason MEMMAN=NOSWAP,
PROTECT chokes is because of the hat tricks OS/2 does while
loading the WpS, Desktop, Bitmaps, Folders, Cache buffers, MMPM/2,
etc.. OS/2 likes to load all of these, then swap or discard the
inactive code. If there is no where to swap to it dies during
boot, unable to initialize the resources it needs. NOSWAP,PROTECT
should only be used for boots from floppy to do maintenance, in
most cases. (People who use TSHELL on a machine with a good
amount of RAM may also use it to speed operations).
<<=NOTE=>> The MOVE/NOMOVE parameter is only provided for
OS/2 1.x compatibility.
<<=NOTE=>> NOPACK PARAMETER. When OS/2 initially loads a 16-bit
OS/2 application, it packs the segments into pages and copies
them to the swap file for faster recovery when needed. This can
be disabled by using the NOPACK option on the MEMMAN line. How-
ever, the performance decrease and larger working set will rarely
offset the potential of a reduced swap file size.
<<=NOTE=>> DELAYSWAP. No information at this time.
SWAPPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM 512 4096
OS/2 can allocate more memory than it actually has available.
It does this by swapping memory to a hard disk file called
SWAPPER.DAT.
The syntax is SWAPPATH=DRIVE,PATH,mmm,nnn where DRIVE,PATH is
the location where you want the SWAPPER.DAT file to be placed and
mmm is a number from 512 to 32767 which specifies how large the
SWAPPER.DAT file can grow before it stops consuming hard disk
space. The size is stated in the negative. In other words, if
you have the mmm set to 512, then the SWAPPER.DAT file can grow
until there is only 512k left on your hard disk. The variable
nnn is the starting size of the SWAPPER.DAT file.
The install default SWAPPER.DAT size is set based on the amount
of RAM your system has available as shown in Table 4.0.
============================ Table 4.0 ============================
MEMORY IN MB MINFREE (KB) INITIAL SIZE (KB)
4 4096 6144
5 4096 5120
6 4096 5120
7 2048 4096
8 2048 4096
9 2048 3072
10 2048 3072
11 - 32 2048 2048
===================================================================
<<=TIP=>> When your swap file grows beyond the initial size you
have specified, OS/2 starts to manage the swap file. This
increased overhead can negatively impact your systems performance.
Therefore, if your swap file always exceeds its initial size,
consider increasing the files initial size. For example, if your
swap file usually grows to 8MB, set the initial size of 8MB.
<<=TIP=>> Normal operation of OS/2 can involves considerable
disk activity as operating system functions are loaded and pages
are moved in and out of the swap file. Here are a couple of tips
to improve performance. (1) Consider dedicating a separate
partition for the swap file. This helps avoid fragmentation of
the swap file, because other files will not be added or deleted
from the dedicated partition. (2) If you have both FAT and HPFS
partitions, put the swap file on the HPFS partition to take
advantage of the better performance of HPFS. (3) If you have a
system with two hard disk controllers, put the swap file on a disk
managed by the least used controller. (4) Keep your swap file on
the MOST used partition of the LEAST used hard drive.
<<=WARNING=>> Never put your swap file on a networked drive.
<<=NOTE=>> Your swap file will grow (in 1MB increments), but it
also shrinks when two conditions are met. One, when the amount
of free space in the swap file is greater than 1.5MB, the swap
file will be compressed during system idle time. (It will not
shrink if there is a constant "hit" on the drive by a program such
as a swap file monitor.) Two, during the compression, free space
is moved to the end of the swap file. When this free space at the
end of the swap file exceeds 1MB, the swap file will be shrunk.
<<=NOTE=>> See the discussion of the new COMMIT parameter for the
MEMMAN config.sys line including the <<=TIP=>>.
<<=WARP NOTE=>> Your swap file in Warp will be larger than in
earlier versions of OS/2. This is normal. The most significant
change that has been made is how system DLL's get loaded and what
is now valid data for swapping. System DLL's include: DISPLAY,
SOM, PMMERGE, PMWP, DOSCALL1, PMATM, PMMLE, IBMDEV32, PMCTLS,
PMSPL, IBMVGA32, PMGPI, and PMVIOP.
In the previous versions of OS/2, dll code was never copied to
the swapper file. In WARP, code for system dll's can be written
to the swapper file and, in adition, during boot, PMMERGE,
DOSCALL1, PMGPI, PMWP and PMVIOP will be swapped out. This
means that there will be an overall increase in swapper size.
This was done to increase overall system perfomance.
BREAK=OFF
For DOS programs only. Many DOS programs can be stopped by
holding down the Ctrl key and then pressing the Break key.
BREAK controls how quickly DOS programs stop when you interrupt
them with the Ctrl+Break sequence. If BREAK=OFF, DOS will stop
the program only when the programs next reads a character from
the keyboard or writes to the screen or printer. With BREAK=ON,
DOS will check for the Ctrl+Break on a more frequent basis.
Remember that this extra checking can make your DOS programs run
slower.
THREADS=256
OS/2 programs can have several different processes running at
the same time. These are called threads. This command sets
the maximum number of threads, from 32 to 4095, that OS/2 can
run at the same time. If this command is not included in your
config.sys file, OS/2 will default to 64.
<<=TIP=>> On systems with only 4MB of RAM, set THREADS to 128
to free up memory.
<<=TIP=>> If you have more than 8MB of RAM and run lots of OS/2
specific programs, you may be able to improve system responsive-
ness by increasing the number of threads. Why? Because well
written OS/2 programs will use threads to improve program per-
formance. Therefore, the more well written OS/2 programs in use,
the more threads that could be needed. But still keep in mind
that this only holds true only when you are using a fair number
of OS/2 specific programs at the same time. Even when I opened
the Enhanced Editor, AmiPro for OS/2, ZOC, and KWQ Mail/2, I was
only using 57 threads. The most threads I've ever recorded at
one time was 62.
PRINTMONBUFSIZE=134,134,134
This command sets the size of the print buffers for your
parallel ports. The syntax is PRINTMONBUFSIZE=LPT1,LPT2,LPT3
where LPT1 is the buffer size for the parallel port LPT1, LPT2
is the buffer size for LPT2 and LPT3 is the buffer size for
LPT3. The default and minimum is 134 bytes and the maximum is
2048 bytes.
<<=Note=>> You must define a buffer for LPT2 and LPT3 even if
you don't use these ports. You will get an error message at
start up if you don't.
<<=TIP=>> You may be able to improve printer throughput by
increasing buffer size. I have my LPT1 set to 2048. On systems
with less than 6MB of RAM, don't increase the size of these
buffers.
<<=TRIVIA=>> Ever wonder where IBM got a parameter like 134?
I did and Lynn Nash passed along the following in response to
my question:
"Obviously you have no background on the big iron or it has
disappeared into historical memory :-).
"Mainframe line standard of 132 columns plus 2 for carriage
return and line feed characters. That is why all the wide
carriage dot matrix printers also had 132 column lines, to be
able to use that wide green bar paper. Anyone that had an early
Okidata 83 dot matrix even had an electronic format tape, but
that is a story for another time."
COUNTRY=001,C:\OS2\SYSTEM\COUNTRY.SYS
Customizes your system for the country you wish to use. It
establishes which defaults to use when it comes to decimal
separators, date and time formats, currency symbols, etc. The
syntax is COUNTRY=xxx,PATH,FILE NAME. xxx is a three-digit code
number that tells what country to use. The number is usually
(but not always) the same as the international telephone dialing
prefix for the country desired. Table 5.0 contains various
country codes.
=========== Table 5.0 =============
COUNTRY COUNTRY CODE
Arabic-speaking 785
Asia (English) 099
Australia (English) 061
Belgium 032
Canada (French) 002
China 088
Czechoslovakia 042
Denmark 045
Finland 358
France 033
Germany 049
Hebrew-speaking 972
Hungary 036
Iceland 354
Italy 039
Japan 081
Korea 082
Latin America 003
Netherlands 031
Norway 047
Poland 048
Portugal 351
Spain 034
Sweden 046
Switzerland 041
Taiwan 088
Turkey 090
United Kingdom 044
United States 001
Yugoslavia 038
===================================
SET KEYS=ON
When using the command line, KEYS tells CMD.EXE whether to
remember previous keystrokes so they can be recalled with the
up arrow key. OS/2 maintains a 64k buffer for storing
keystroke history. KEYS can be ON or OFF.
<<=TIP=>> On systems with only 4MB of RAM, SET KEYS to OFF,
you need the memory more than this feature. Even with 16MB of
RAM, since I don't use the feature I have turned it off to
get a small memory boost.
SET SOMIR=C:\OS2\ETC\SOM.IR;C:\OS2\ETC\WPSH.IR;
C:\OS2\ETC\WPDSERV.IR;SOM.IR
No information on this new Warp command at this time.
SET SOMDDIR=C:\OS2\ETC\DSOM
No information on this new Warp command at this time.
SET DELDIR=C:\DELETE,512;
To use OS/2s UNDELETE command, you must first establish a
directory to store the deleted files. To do this, create
a directory called DELETE on each drive you have and then
remove the "REM" from this config.sys file line.
This command points OS/2 to the directory you created to place
deleted files in. It also indicates the maximum number of
files that will be stored in the DELETE directory. If the
number of deleted files exceeds the maximum number that you
specified, then files are automatically removed from the
directory on a first-in-first-out basis.
BASEDEV=PRINT01.SYS
BASEDEV installs a base device driver used by OS/2 when it is first
started. The statement cannot contain either a drive or path
because OS/2 cannot process such information at the stage at which
these statements are process. These base device drivers include:
PRINT01.SYS supports attached printers on non-Micro Channel PC's.
PRINT02.SYS supports attached printers on Micro Channel PC's.
IBM1FLPY.ADD supports diskette drives on non-Micro Channel PC's.
IBM2FLPY.ADD supports diskette drives on Micro Channel PC's.
IBM2SCSI.ADD supports SCSI disk drives on Micro Channel PC's.
OS2SCSI.DMD supports non-disk SCSI devices.
IBM1S506.ADD supports non-SCSI disk drives, non-Micro Channel PC's.
OS2DASD.DMD is a general purpose driver for disk drives.
IBM2ADSK.ADD supports non-SCSI disk drives on Micro Channel PC's.
IBMINT13.I13 supports non-Micro Channel SCSI adapters.
OS2CDROM.DMD supports CD-ROM drives.
FD16-700.ADD support driver for Future Domain 1670 SCSI.
FD8XX.ADD supports Future Domain FD8XX devices.
TMV1SCSI.DMD supports Media Vision CD-ROM/ProAudio SCSI.
SONY31A.ADD supports the Sony CDU-31A & CDU-33A CD-ROM drive.
SONY535.ADD supports the Sony CDU-531 & CDU-535 CD-ROM drives.
MITFX001.ADD supports a Mitsumi CD-ROM drive.
AHA154X.ADD supports SCSI on Adaptec 1542C controllers.
AHA174X.ADD supports SCSI on Adaptec 1742 controllers.
OS2ASPI.DMD Adaptec ASPI support.
HITCDS1.FLT supports Hitachi CDR-1750.
SBCD2.ADD supports Panasonic CD-ROM drives.
LMS206.ADD supports Philips CD-ROM drives.
<<=TIP=>> Try adding the following switches to the
BASEDEV=IBM1S506.ADD line: BASEDEV=IBM1S506.ADD /A:0 /U:O /SMS,
and use /V (/V=verbose) to see if the /SMS works. This will
improve performacne on those IDE drives that support the SMS
feature. It will not work on all IDE drives, but it will not
damage anything either.
<<=TIP=>> If you wish to prevent users from using the
floppy drives under OS/2 (to keep them from loading non-
authorized programs or in a workstation situation), REM the
BASEDEV=IBMxFLPY.ADD line (where x is 1 for ISA and EISA
machines, or 2 for Microchannel).
<<=NOTE=>> In Warp, the install program may have placed both
IBM1FLPY.ADD and IBM2FLPY.ADD BASEDEV drivers in your
config.sys. Remove IBM2FLPY.ADD if you don't have a Micro
Channel PC.
<<=WARP TIP=>> With Warp, the default transmission protocal use
by PRINTO1.SYS and PRINTO2.SYS is the polling transmission
method. The protocal used by previous versions of OS/2 was the
interrupt transmission method. In Warp, you can change back
to the interrupt method by adding the /IRQ switch.
SET BOOKSHELF=C:\GAMMA32;C:\OS2\BOOK
This command points to the on-line documentation (INF files)
provided with OS/2 or other OS/2 programs. I have the
GAMMATECH utilities installed on my system which contains
on-line documentation.
<<=TIP=>> If you have an HPFS partition, copy all of your
on-line documentation (INF files) to this partition. Then
change this parameter to reflect the new path. You will
notice a substantial improvement in search speed since HPFS
is much faster than FAT.
SET EPMPATH=C:\OS2\APPS
Replaced SET EPATH=C:\OS2\APPS in version 2.0. According to
one source in IBM, EPMPATH is used by the Enhanced Editor
(EPM.EXE) to locate its files.
DEVICE=D:\OS2\VASPIDD.SYS
DEVICE=D:\OS2\VASPI.SYS
Adaptech ASPI device drivers for SCSI support.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\APPS\SASYNCDB.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\APPS\SASYNCDA.SYS
This device driver loads communications support for the PM
Terminal applet. The PM Terminal applet, and this
device driver, were dropped in OS/2 Warp.
<<=TIP=>> If you don't use PM Terminal, REM this line to
save a little memory. In fact, if you are not using PM
Terminal applet you may wish to consider deleting the files
to save some disk space also.
PROTECTONLY=NO
Allows you to choose between a shared DOS and OS/2 operating
environment or just an OS/2 environment. If you plan to run
only OS/2 programs, then set PROTECTONLY=YES. If you plan to
run DOS programs (including Windows), then set PROTECTONLY=NO.
<<=NOTE=>> Jonathan de Boyne Pollard relayed the following:
"Part of the difficulty of talking about OS/2 2.x, as opposed
to OS/2 1.x, is that *all* processes run in *protected mode*.
The 386 never runs in real mode in OS/2 2.x.
"Virtual DOS Machines are run in v8086 mode, which is still
*protected mode*, as the paging mechanism is still active.
The major difference between v8086 and normal protected mode
is that the segment base addresses in linear memory are
fixed, instead of being determined by the entries for each
selector in the LDT and GDT.
"So PROTECTONLY in OS/2 2.x means *don't use v8086 protected
mode*. For a while there we thought that it meant *don't use
real mode* and so was useless to OS/2 2.x, but it seems after
all that it retains its original OS/2 1.x semantics, if not
its original mechanism."
SHELL=C:\OS2\MDOS\COMMAND.COM C:\OS2\MDOS /P
This line identifies and loads the DOS command processor
COMMAND.COM which you must have to make DOS sessions work. The
/p switch keeps the command processor in memory until shut down.
<<=NOTE=>> This is the line where you can also specify the size
of the DOS environment variable. The range is 160 through 32768.
For example, to set a 1024 byte environment you would add the
following to the end of the SHELL command line: /E:1024
<<=TIP=>> You can also load and run other command processor's
such as 4DOS. To do so, just put 4DOS in your MDOS directory
and change the SHELL line to read 4DOS.COM instead of
COMMAND.COM.
FCBS=16,8
File Control Blocks (FCBS) are an outmoded holdover from old
versions of DOS. The blocks are an internal holding area for
data about concurrently open files. In newer versions of DOS,
these FCBS have been replaced by File Handles, but some DOS
programs still use them and you need this statement for com-
patibility. The command tells an OS/2 VDM how many FCBS can
be open at once, or, when DOS needs to open more FCBS than are
available, how many currently open but not active FCBS may be
closed to make room for new ones.
The syntax is FCBS=a,b where a=the number of FCBS that DOS can
have open at one time and b=the number of FCBS DOS cannot close
to make room for new FCBS. "a" can be as high as 255. "b" can
have a value of 0 to 254, but must be less than "a". Unless
you get some kind of error message when running a DOS program
that tells you the program doesn't have enough FCBS, leave the
default as set.
<<=TIP=>> You may wish to experiment with a smaller number.
If you can get by with a smaller number, you will get back a
little memory in each of your DOS sessions. My suggestions is
that you set it to 4,2. If you make this change and then load
a DOS program that says it can't open a file, increase the
first value, reboot, and see if the error message goes away.
You can also increase or change the value in the DOS programs
Settings notebook.
RMSIZE=640
This is a DOS command and sets the amount of memory available
for use by each DOS session. The maximum is 640k. Since some
DOS programs require 640k, its best to have RMSIZE set to 640.
<<=TIP=>> If you only have 4MB of RAM or don't have any DOS
programs that need a full 640k, you should consider reducing
this parameter to 512. Many DOS applications will run in a
512k DOS partition. Doing this will free up some additional
RAM which will help performance. Remember that Windows is
a DOS program. I don't suggest you attempt to run it in less
than 640kb.
<<=TIP=>> If you need maximum memory (more than 640k), see
tip under DOS=LOW,NOUMB.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VEMM.SYS
VEMM.SYS lets DOS programs use expanded memory unless you
override it by changing a DOS programs SETTINGS.
Three of its switches are:
/S=n Sets the limit of EMS memory in blocks of 1024k.
Default is 2.
/L=n Size of conventional memory that can be remapped.
Default is none.
/F=nnnn Memory frame address to be used to map EMS.
Default is AUTO.
<<=NOTE=>> Settings you specify in a DOS session will
override these switches.
<<=NOTE=>> The VEMM.SYS device must be listed in your
config.sys file before the VXMS.SYS device.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VMOUSE.SYS
Identifies and loads the mouse driver to let you use a mouse
with DOS. Mouse support for OS/2 is loaded below.
<<=NOTE=>> If you don't have this line (or you REM'd it), you
will not have mouse support in your DOS sessions.
DOS=LOW,NOUMB
This is a standard DOS command that lets you control how DOS
uses memory. The default is DOS=LOW,NOUMB and is considered
by many to be the best setting for it conserves memory
for OS/2. DOS=HIGH (including ,UMB) reduces available memory
for OS/2, but increases the available memory in EVERY DOS
session. Few DOS sessions need maximum memory. Also remember
that you can move DOS HIGH for a specific program by changing
that programs Settings. This is done in the programs Settings
Notebook and is likely the better way to go. Finally, keep in
mind that in OS/2 many device drivers are not taking up room in
your 640k DOS area. So you generally have more memory in the
typical OS/2 DOS session than in a standard DOS session.
The following is the amount of memory my system reports in each
DOS session with DOS=LOW,NOUMB. The vast majority of all DOS
programs will run just fine with this amount of memory.
655360 bytes total memory
655360 bytes available for DOS
618208 largest executable program size <---- About 604k.
With DOS=HIGH, the amount of memory reported is:
655360 bytes total memory
655360 bytes available for DOS
643632 largest executable program size <---- About 629k.
<<=TIP=>> If you need the maximum available RAM in a DOS
session and can get by on CGA or MONO, in the DOS Settings of
your applications Settings Notebook, change VIDEO_MODE_RESTRICTION
to CGA or MONO. (Note that there are some reports from users
that this procedure does not work on their hardware.) A final
note: For this to work on some systems, you may need to change
RMSIZE command to 639 (RMSIZE=639). See description of this
parameter above. This is the result of a bug in OS/2.
The amount of memory reported after doing this on my machine is:
752640 bytes total memory
752640 bytes available for DOS
740656 largest executable program size <---- About 724k.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\APM.SYS
Device driver for ADVANCED POWER MANAGEMENT system used with
laptop systems. Not using a laptop? Then REM or delete the
statement. If you are using a laptop, see the OS/2 README
file for more details on its operation.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VXMS.SYS /UMB
VXMS.SYS is a device driver that provides Extended Memory
management to DOS sessions. XMS allows DOS programs to access
more than one MB of memory. You need the /UMB switch at the
end if you want upper memory block support in DOS sessions.
<<=NOTE=>> The VXMS.SYS device must be listed in your
config.sys file after the VEMM.SYS device.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VDPX.SYS
Driver required when using VDPMI in the config.sys line
below. One authority said that this driver "provides V86 to
Protected Mode translation for DPMI memory". Well that's
enough to lose me.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VDPMI.SYS
Provides "virtual" DPMI (DOS Protect Mode Interface) memory
for DOS and Window sessions. I don't know much about this,
but I've been told not to remove it.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VWIN.SYS
Assists in the process of providing seamless Windows support.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\EXTDSKDD.SYS
EXTDSKDD.SYS supports external disk drives.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\PCMCIA.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VPCMCIA.SYS
These two drivers were new beginning with version 2.1. They
provide support for computers that have PC Memory Card
International Association (PCMCIA) adapters.
<<=TIP=>> If you don't have any PCMCIA devices, then you
should REM these drivers to save a little RAM.
<<=NOTE=>> If you are using PCMCIA adapters and you find that
your communications ports (COM1 - COM4) are not working
properly, place these two device drivers after the COM.SYS and
VCOM.SYS statements.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VCDROM.SYS
This is a CD-ROM device driver that provides support in DOS
sessions.
<<=TIP=>> If you don't have a CD-ROM installed, then you should
REM this line to save a little RAM. Remember, the more RAM OS/2
has, up to 16MB, the better it runs. After 16MB it doesn't seem
to improve much, overall.
IFS=C:\OS2\CDFS.IFS /C:4
IFS=C:\OS2\BOOT\CDFS.IFS /C:4 <---- In Warp
This OS/2 command is needed if you have a CD-ROM. It installs
CDFS.INF which is the "Installable File System" for CD-ROMs.
Your CD-ROM is not going to run without it.
<<=TIP=>> You can add cache to your CD-ROM IFS by adding the
/C:n switch. The variable "n" is a number which represents
units of 64kb of memory. For example, /C:4 would set up a
256kb cache (4 x 64kb = 256kb).
DEVICE=C:\OS2\OS2CDROM.DMD /Q
DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\OS2CDROM.DMD /Q <---- In Warp
OS/2 CD-ROM driver used on many, but not all CD-ROM's.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VW32S.SYS
WIN32 program support driver.
DEVINFO=SCR,VGA,C:\OS2\VIOTBL.DCP
This command prepares your monitor to display information based
upon the CODEPAGE specification. VIOTBL.DCP is the file that
contains the video fonts for displaying characters for each of
the CODEPAGES supported by OS/2. See the CODEPAGE command line
below.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VVGA.SYS
Your config.sys file will contain various device drivers for
various devices based upon your systems hardware configuration.
This device driver for supporting VGA video cards in DOS sessions.
SET VIDEO_DEVICES=VIO_SVGA
SET VIO_SVGA=DEVICE(BVHVGA, BVHSVGA)
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VSVGA.SYS
Your config.sys file will contain various device drivers for
various devices based upon your systems hardware configuration.
These device driver are for a SVGA video card.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\POINTDD.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\POINTDD.SYS <---- In Warp
Provides mouse-pointer draw support. Text modes 0, 1, 2, 3, and
7 and graphic modes D, E, F, and 10 are supported. For graphic
modes D, E, F, and 10, the correct graphic device driver must
also be installed.
<<=WARNING=>> In order for MOUSE.SYS to work effectively, this
driver must be loaded by OS/2. Do not remove it from your
config.sys file.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MOUSE.SYS SERIAL=COM1 QSIZE=10
DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\MOUSE.SYS SERIAL=COM1 QSIZE=10 <-- In Warp
Lets you use a mouse or track ball. This line also identifies
the type of mouse you have and which COM port it is on. QSIZE
is a number from 1 to 100 which indicates how many mouse
actions are to be saved when you execute mouse actions
faster than your system can handle them. There is also a
RELAXED parameter which you would place after QSIZE. It can
be used with any mouse when the pointer is jumping randomly
about the screen. IBM does not suggest you use this parameter
unless you are experiencing this problem.
<<=NOTE=>> The MOUSE.SYS statement must come before COM.SYS
because COM.SYS will take over any unused COM port. If COM.SYS
takes over the COM ports before MOUSE.SYS is loaded, MOUSE.SYS
will not have any COM ports available, thus no mouse support.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\COM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\COM.SYS <---- In Warp
Lets you use the communications ports COM1 and COM2. If you
want to use COM3 or COM4 or change the IRQ of any COM port,
see <<=TIP=>> below. This line MUST appear after any driver
that uses a communications port. Use COM02.SYS for IBM PS/2
model 90 and 95.
<<=TIP=>> There are two very good replacement drivers for
COM.SYS\VCOM.SYS called SIO.SYS\VSIO.SYS. It can be obtained
on most OS/2 BBSs. If you utilize communications software on a
regular basis at high speeds (e.g. 14,400), I recommend you
consider SIO.SYS. Replace VCOM.SYS with VSIO.SYS which
comes with SIO.SYS. SIO.SYS and VSIO.SYS are Shareware, not
Freeware. Register them if you use them!
<<=TIP=>> To add support for COM3 and COM4 at location 3E8 with
IRQ 4 and 2E8 with IRQ 3 respectively, add (3,3E8,4) (4,2E8,3)
to the DEVICE line, e.g. DEVICE=C:\OS2\COM.SYS (3,3E8,4)
(4,2E8,3). You can also use this method to change a COM ports
assigned IRQ.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\COM02.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\COM02.SYS <---- In Warp
For IBM PS/2 model 90 & 95 only.
Lets you use the communications ports COM1 and COM2. If you
want to use COM3 or COM4 or change the IRQ of any COM port,
see <<=TIP=>> below. This line MUST appear after any driver
that uses a communications port.
<<=TIP=>> To add support for COM3 and COM4 at location 3E8 with
IRQ 4 and 2E8 with IRQ 3 respectively, add (3,3E8,4) (4,2E8,3)
to the DEVICE line, e.g. DEVICE=C:\OS2\COM02.SYS (3,3E8,4)
(4,2E8,3). You can also use this method to change a COM ports
assigned IRQ.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VCOM.SYS
Lets you use the communications ports for DOS and Windows
sessions. Must appear after the COM.SYS driver.
<<=NOTE=>> If you are using COM3 and/or COM4, add the
appropriate parameters to the COM.SYS line above only. It is
not necessary to add any parameters to this line. VCOM.SYS
inherits its parameters from the COM.SYS line.
<<=TIP=>> See TIP under DEVICE=C:\OS2\COM.SYS regarding
SIO.SYS.
DEVICE=C:\SIO.SYS
DEVICE=C:\VSIO.SYS
Excellent replacement drivers for COM.SYS and VCOM.SYS. If you
utilize communications software on a regular basis at high
speeds (e.g. 14,400), then these two drivers are the way to go.
Be sure you have REM'd out COM.SYS and VCOM.SYS when using.
SIO.SYS and VSIO.SYS are Shareware, not Freeware. Register them
if you use them!
DEVICE=C:\MMOS2\MVPRODD.SYS /I12 /D3 /N:PAS161$
DEVICE=C:\MMOS2\AUDIOVDD.SYS PAS161$
These two drivers are for MediaVision's ProAudio Spectrum
sound card. The first driver is set for IRQ 12, DMA 3.
DEVICE=C:\MMOS2\SB16D2.SYS 1 1 5 5 220 4 330 /N:SBAUD1$ /Q
DEVICE=C:\MMOS2\AUDIOVDD.SYS SBAUD1$
These two drivers are for Sound Blaster 16 sound card. The
settings shown are port 220, MIDIPort 330, IRQ 5, low DMA 1,
high DMA 5.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\ANSI.SYS
This is the traditional DOS command most are familiar with.
It only affects DOS sessions. This line is not added to your
config.sys file by default. If you want it, you need to add it.
OS/2 sessions have ANSI support by default. If you are unsure
if ANSI is on or off in an OS/2 session, go to an OS/2 command
prompt and type ANSI. You will get a message like: "ANSI
extended screen and keyboard control is on." For an OS/2
session, turn ANSI off or on by typing ANSI OFF or ANSI ON at
an OS/2 command prompt.
SET ETC=C:\TCPI\ETC
SET TMP=C:\TCPIP\TMP
DEVICE=C:\TCPIP\BIN\INET.SYS
DEVICE=C:\TCPIP\BIN\IFNDISNL.SYS
DEVICE=C:\TCPIP\BIN\VDOSTCP.VDD
DEVICE=C:\TCPIP\BIN\VDOSTCP.SYS
RUN=C:\TCPIP\BIN\CNTRL.EXE
RUN=C:\TCPIP\BIN\VDOSCTL.EXE
Provides TCP/IP support for Warp's InterNet tools provided in the
Bonus Pack.
<<=TIP=>> If you don't need TCP/IP support in DOS sesions, and you
don't if you are using the Bonus Pack tools, REM the following
lines:
DEVICE=C:\TCPIP\BIN\VDOSTCP.VDD
DEVICE=C:\TCPIP\BIN\VDOSTCP.SYS
RUN=C:\TCPIP\BIN\VDOSCTL.EXE
DEVICE=C:\OS2\TOUCH.SYS
(From OS/2s online documentation)
Implements support for touch devices. For a touch device to be
effectively used, the POINTDD.SYS device driver and appropriate
mouse device-driver support must be loaded. In addition, these
statements must be included in the CONFIG.SYS file in the
following order:
o A device-dependent statement that gives the name of the
file containing the information for the touch device you use.
o A device-independent statement that identifies the touch
device to TOUCH.SYS
If during installation, OS/2 detects a touch device installed on
your system, the Install program automatically loads the required
device-driver support necessary to enable the touch device. The
touch device shares the auxiliary device (mouse) port on the
system with the mouse by allowing the mouse to connect to the
touch device, which is then connected to the system.
The Install program automatically adds the following statements
to the CONFIG.SYS file:
DEVICE=C:\OS2\PDITOU0x.SYS CODE=C:\OS2TOUCO21.BIN INIT=C:TOUCH.INI
DEVICE=C:\OS2\TOUCH.SYS TYPE=PDITOU$
RUN=C:\OS2\CALIBRATE.EXE-C C:\OS2CALIBRAT.DAT
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MOUSE.SYS TYPE=PDIMOU$
"x" is 1 or 2 depending on the bus architecture of your system.
TOUCO21D.BIN is the touch-device microcode binary file and
TOUCH.INI is a text file containing default parameter settings.
The RUN=CALIBRAT.EXE statement is to activate the Calibration
program. This program performs the dual actions of downloading
calibration-constant data to the touch device each time the
system is started, and enabling recalibration of the touch
device at initial setup, and when the device is moved to a new
location.
To recalibrate the touch device, enter the following at an OS/2
command prompt:
x: (where "x" is your OS/2 boot drive.)
CD \OS2
CALIBRAT -U
RUN=C:\OS2\CALIBRATE.EXE-C C:\OS2CALIBRAT.DAT
DEVICE=C:\OS2\PDITOU01.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\PDITOU02.SYS
See DEVICE=C:\OS2\TOUCH.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\LOG.SYS
This optional device driver installs OS/2s error log file. If
you want a log of errors that occur on your system, then add
this and the next line to your config.sys file. If you are
interested in such things, you may wish to play with it, but
be forewarned, the error log information is cryptic and
incomplete. See note below. To learn what these codes mean,
you need to have IBMs Systems Network Architecture Formats
(GA27-3136-12) or, for a reasonable overview, get OS/2 2.1
Unleashed, 1993, SAMS Publishing.
The switch /E:nn sets the size of the error log buffer. The
range is from 4kb to 64kb with 8kb as the default.
You will get a short and quick message during boot up
indicating that Logging has been installed and what the buffer
size is.
<<=NOTE=>> LOG.SYS has its limitations. It will not log an
application error unless the application has be written to make
use of LOG.SYS. Some routine system errors will not log either
because OS/2 opens an error message box on screen to report
these.
RUN=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\LOGDAEM.EXE /E:C:\OS2\LOGFILE.DAT /W:16
This RUN command starts the logging process and must appear
AFTER you have installed the LOG.SYS driver noted in the
config.sys line above. The two switches are:
/E:path\filename This is the path and file name of the
test file where the errors will be logged. You can place
it anywhere you want and call it anything you wish.
NOTE: Like the OS/2 INI files, this file is "locked" and
you will not be able to access it with your standard text
editor or the OS/2 System Editor. You will get a
"violation error". The Enhanced Editor will open the file.
/W:nn This is the size of the file named with the /E
switch. The default size is 64k, but with this switch
you can set the value from 4k to 64k. I've set the file
size at 16k in the example line above.
<<=NOTE=>> Use SYSLOG.EXE from an OS/2 command line prompt to
view your log file.
CODEPAGE=437,850
Lets you use the alphabet of various countries and languages.
The syntax is CODEPAGE=ppp,sss, where ppp is the number of the
primary national alphabet to be used and sss is a secondary
alphabet number. From an OS/2 command line, you can use the
CHCP command to switch between these two code pages. This can
be useful in order to type, display or print data in a
different language from the version installed. CHCP can be
used either without a parameter to query the current code
page, or with one parameter in order to switch between primary
and secondary code pages. CHCP cannot be used to change to a
code page not defined in the CODEPAGE= config.sys line.
437=US English alphabet and 850=multinational alphabet. The
multinational alphabet contains most of the accented letters
used in various European languages. Several other alphabets
that can be supported by your version of OS/2. See Table 6.0.
<<=WARNING=>> Japan, Korean and Chinese require a special
version of OS/2 and special hardware.
<<=WARNING=>> The choice of code page is made at installation
time and should only be changed by using Selective Install.
<<=NOTE=>> If there is not a CODEPAGE statement in your
config.sys, your keyboard will use an alphabet based on
the COUNTRY statement found earlier in your config.sys,
but your screen and printer will use their built in defaults.
================== Table 6.0 =====================
COUNTRY PRIMARY SECONDARY
CODE PAGE CODE PAGE
Arabic-speaking 864 850
Asia (English) 437 850
Australia (English) 437 850
Belgium 850 437
Canada (French) 863 850
Czechoslovakia 852 850
Denmark 850 n/a
Finland 850 437
France 437 850
Germany 850 437
Hebrew-speaking 862 850
Hungary 852 850
Iceland 850 861
Italy 437 850
Japan 932 437, 850
Korea 934 437, 850
Latin America 437 850
Netherlands 850 437
Norway 850 n/a
Peoples Republic of 938 437, 850
China
Poland 852 850
Portugal 850 860
Spain 850 437
Sweden 850 437
Switzerland (French) 850 437
Switzerland (German) 850 437
Taiwan 437 850
Turkey 857 850
United Kingdom 437 850
United States 437 850
Yugoslavia 852 850
==================================================
DEVINFO=KBD,US,C:\OS2\KEYBOARD.DCP
Tells the keyboard which international character set to use and
where to find the file KEYBOARD.DCP which translates keystrokes.
The syntax is DEVINFO=KBD,cc,DRIVE,PATH,FILENAME. The parameter
cc equals the character set to be used, e.g. US = United States.
See Table 7.0 for character set codes.
=============== Table 7.0 ================
LANGUAGE COUNTRY CODE
Arabic AR
Belgian BE
Canadian French CF
Czech/Czech CS243
Czech/Slovak CS245
Danish DK
Dutch NL
Finnish SU
French FR
German GR
Hebrew HE
Hungarian HU
Icelandic IS
Italian IT
Latin American LA
Norwegian NO
Polish PL
Portuguese PO
Spanish SP
Swedish SV
Swiss (French) SF
Swiss (German) SG
Turkish TR
United Kingdom UK
United States US
Yugoslavian YU
==========================================
SET ZOCDEVICE=COM4
Command used by ZOC, the excellent OS/2 communications Shareware
program from Germany.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\VDISK.SYS 512
As in DOS, this driver installs a RAM disk. In this example,
the RAM disk is 512k with the sectors and directories parameters
set at the default level (64-byte sectors and 64 directory
entries). With DOS, a RAM disk could significantly improve
system performance, but because OS/2 handles your memory far
more efficiently than DOS and has its own sophisticated caching
routines, using a RAM disk is not recommended.
<<=CAUTION=>> Because a RAM disk takes available memory away
from OS/2, you may negatively impact system performance on
systems with less than 12MB of RAM. Unless you have lots of
RAM or have a very specific need, don't install a RAM disk.
<<=NOTE=>> If you do install VDISK.SYS and you also have
EXTDSKDD.SYS installed, VDISK.SYS much be placed after
EXTDSKDD.SYS in your config.sys file. Check your on-line
Command Reference for information on EXTDSKDD.SYS.
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VNPX.SYS
This device driver works with your systems math coprocessor.
Some have suggested that if you add it to your config.sys you
will see an enhancement in your systems performance. Not so.
There is no reason for it to be added to your config.sys
file. IF YOU HAVE A MATH COPROCESSOR, OS/2 WILL LOAD THIS
DRIVER AUTOMATICALLY. If you add it to your config.sys file,
a second copy of the driver will be loaded. In doing so, many
have reported that no DOS programs would run. DO NOT ADD THIS
STATEMENT TO YOUR CONFIG.SYS FILE.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
5. NOVELL NETWARE NETWORK SUPPORT.
Novell's NetWare is the most popular PC Network software around
today. We use it at work and I've used our config.sys file
entries as the basis for this section of information.
<<=NOTE=>> I'm not very knowledgeable about networks, so if
someone would like to expand on this information and send it to
me, I'd love to give you credit and include it here.
REM --- NetWare Requester statements BEGIN ---
DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\LSL.SYS
Loads Link support Layer driver. It is the lowest layer in
the Novell Open Data Link Interface model and is required at
all times for the requester to be active.
RUN=C:\NETWARE\DDAEMON.EXE
A daemon is a background process that usually carries out
administrative tasks for the system without you knowing it.
This "daemon" is required for the requester to be active.
DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\TOKEN.SYS
This line differs depending on the network board you have.
DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\ROUTE.SYS
No information available.
DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\IPX.SYS
Provides Novell IPX protocol support and is required for
access to a NetWare server.
DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\SPX.SYS
Provides Novell SPX protocol support. It is my understanding
that this command is required for some Novell printing
utilities, but is optional in most cases.
RUN=C:\NETWARE\SPDAEMON.EXE
Loads a daemon process that handles SPX packets.
REM DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\NMPIPE.SYS
Loads the support for client-only Named Pipes support.
REM DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\NPSERVER.SYS
Loads support for your workstation to function as a Named
Pipes server.
REM RUN=C:\NETWARE\NPDAEMON.EXE NP_COMPUTERNAME
This line is required for either the client or the server
NetBIOS support to be active and is a daemon program that is
part of the Named Pipes support.
DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\NWREQ.SYS
This is the CORE REQUESTER MODULE. This line must follow any
lines that support IPX, SPX, or Named Pipes.
IFS=C:\NETWARE\NWIFS.IFS
This installed the networks Installable File System. This IFS
enables OS/2 to see the network drives just the same as local
drives.
RUN=C:\NETWARE\NWDAEMON.EXE
Another daemon program, but I'm not sure for which process.
DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\NETBIOS.SYS
Loads support for the NETBIOS protocol.
RUN=C:\NETWARE\NBDAEMON.EXE
Loads the NETBIOS daemon process.
DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\VIPX.SYS
Loads support for multiple virtual DOS machine support. It is
required both to have multiple DOS boxes on the network and to
run the NetWare DOS based utilities.
DEVICE=C:\NETWARE\VSHELL.SYS
Loads the network shell. It is automatically used for all DOS
and WIN-OS/2 sessions that require it.
REM --- NetWare Requester statements END ---
-----------------------------------------------------------------
END OF CONFIG.SYS FILE DESCRIPTION
-----------------------------------------------------------------
6. OBSCURE CONFIG.SYS SETTINGS.
What follows are some very obscure config.sys settings. They
are here only for informational purposes. Unless you have a
very specific need and know what you're doing, please don't
experiment with these.
SET SHELLEXCEPTIONHANDLER=OFF
The WpS has its own exception handling routines which allow it
to recover from most errors, but when programming your own
objects, you want to see all errors as they occur. You can turn
WpS "exception handling" off with this command. Could be useful
when debugging a Workplace Shell object.
SET OBJECTSNOOZETIME=45
Useful when programming certain types of object DLLs. The
default setting for the snooze time is 90 seconds. Unless you
are programming your own Workplace Shell objects, you should
not change the default setting.
SET SHAPIEXCEPTIONHANDLER=OFF
This command disables the WpS API exception handler, and all
WpS exceptions are handled by OS/2.
SET VIDEO_APERTURE=xxx
This command allows you to set the address for video memory
refresh buffers, where xxx is a hexadecimal number.
SUPPRESSPOPUPS=x
Use SUPRESSPOPUPS to suppress the popup box display of trap
information messages and logs the trap information to the
file POPUPLOG.OS2 in the root directory of the drive specified
by "x".
<<=NOTE=>> The log file name cannot be overridden.
REIPL=ON
This command automatically restarts the system when a system
trap or internal processing error occurs. Parameter is ON or
OFF. Default is OFF.
TIMESLICE=128,256
This command allows you to manually control the minimum and
maximum amount of processor time any thread can receive at
once. The syntax is TIMESLICE=x,y where x is the minimum time
slice (in milliseconds and must be at least 32) and where y is
the maximum length (must be less than 65536).
<<=TIP=>> OS/2 handles time slicing dynamically. This means
that the system is adjusting the time slice values based on
the actual processes active on the system as the workload
changes. Therefore, it is best not to attempt to manually
set TIMESLICE. OS/2 can handle this process far better than
most of us can.
TRACE=ON
The system trace facility is used to record a sequence of
system events, function calls, or data. The record is usually
produced for program debugging purposes. After the trace data
is recorded, the System Trace Formatter is used to retrieve it
from the system trace buffer (see TRACEBUF below) and format
the data to either your display, printer, or to a file. Start
tracking system problems by turning TRACE on which will
establish a 4KB default buffer. (You can increase this using
the command TRACEBUF) to store tracing data. You can also
start TRACE from an OS/2 command prompt.
<<=NOTE=>> You can turn TRACE=ON and then set TRACE=OFF for
major or minor codes. For example, TRACE=OFF 24,50,98.
TRACEBUF=x
This command sets the size of the trace buffer. If any valid
TRACE statement is in your config.sys, the default size of
the trace buffer will be 4KB. You can modify this size with
the TRACEBUF command. Maximum size is 63KB. "x" is a specific
number from 1 to 63, representing a multiple of 1024 bytes.
TRAPDUMP=xx,d
Parameters are: OFF,drive letter
ON,drive letter
R0,drive letter
Indicates when a stand alone dump is to be taken and where the
dump is to be placed. The default value is OFF and the default
drive is "A".
If you are sending a memory dump to hard disk, you must first
create a FAT partition labeled SADUMP and give it a size
greater than the amount of physical memory in your system.
The drive you specify in the TRAPDUMP statement must contain
the SADUMP partition. Any existing data in this partition
will be overwritten. The system will restart after the TRAPDUMP
process has been completed.
<<=NOTE=>> If REIPL=ON is specified in the config.sys file, the
system will restart automatically and no dump will be taken when
a system trap or internal processing error occurs.
Luca Regoli, Societa' Italiana Autori Editori, provides the
following information on this command.
"This way whenever a trap occurs you don't get anything on the
screen. The PC beeps and [responds] as if you had depressed
CTRL+ALT+NUMLOCK / NUMLOCK.
"Not very useful though I don't know how to get traps infor-
mation from the dump disk (and don't want to download all 20Mb
dump of memory any time I get a trap)."
DUMPPROCESS=x
Activates the Dump Process. Any application process that traps
will cause a process dump. The information will be written to
a dump file named PDUMP.xxx where xxx is an index that is
incremented each time a new process dump is created. This dump
file resides in the root directory of drive specified in "x".
PROTECT16
Haven't found out about this one yet. Comments?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7. SAMPLE CONFIG.SYS FILES.
FILE FOR CLONE WITH 8MB OF RAM AND VGA RUNNING ONLY HPFS
CALL=C:\OS2\XCOPY.EXE C:\OS2\*.BK1 C:\OS2\*.BK2 (not needed in Warp)
CALL=C:\OS2\XCOPY.EXE C:\OS2\*.INI C:\OS2\*.BK1 (not needed in Warp)
IFS=C:\OS2\HPFS.IFS /CACHE:1024 /CRECL:4 /AUTOCHECK:C
PROTSHELL=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
SET USER_INI=C:\OS2\OS2.INI
SET SYSTEM_INI=C:\OS2\OS2SYS.INI
SET OS2_SHELL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE
SET AUTOSTART=PROGRAMS,TASKLIST,FOLDERS
SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
SET RESTARTOBJECTS=YES
SET COMSPEC=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE
LIBPATH=.;C:\OS2\DLL;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\;C:\OS2\APPS\DLL;
SET PATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;
C:\OS2\INSTALL;C:\;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\OS2\APPS;
SET DPATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;
C:\OS2\INSTALL;C:\;C:\OS2\BITMAP;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\OS2\APPS;
SET PROMPT=$E[1;33m[$p]$g
SET HELP=C:\OS2\HELP;C:\OS2\HELP\TUTORIAL;
SET GLOSSARY=C:\OS2\HELP\GLOSS;
SET DIRCMD=/O /P
SET IPF_KEYS=SBCS (New with version 2.1)
PRIORITY_DISK_IO=YES
FILES=20
DEVICE=C:\OS2\TESTCFG.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\DOS.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\PMDD.SYS
BUFFERS=50
IOPL=YES
REM DISKCACHE=1024,LW,32,AC:C
RUN=C:\OS2\CACHE.EXE /MAXAGE:7500 /DISKIDLE:60000 /BUFFERIDLE:60000
MAXWAIT=2
MEMMAN=SWAP,PROTECT
SWAPPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM 512 4096
BREAK=OFF
THREADS=256
PRINTMONBUFSIZE=2048,134,134
COUNTRY=001,C:\OS2\SYSTEM\COUNTRY.SYS
SET KEYS=OFF
SET SOMIR=C:\OS2\ETC\SOM.IR;C:\OS2\ETC\WPSH.IR; (new with Warp)
C:\OS2\ETC\WPDSERV.IR;SOM.IR
SET SOMDDIR=C:\OS2\ETC\DSOM (new with Warp)
REM SET DELDIR=C:\DELETE,512;
BASEDEV=PRINT01.SYS
BASEDEV=IBM1FLPY.ADD
BASEDEV=IBM1S506.ADD
BASEDEV=OS2DASD.DMD
SET BOOKSHELF=C:\OS2\BOOK
SET EPMPATH=C:\OS2\APPS
REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\APPS\SASYNCDA.SYS (not in Warp)
PROTECTONLY=NO
SHELL=C:\OS2\MDOS\COMMAND.COM C:\OS2\MDOS /P
FCBS=4,2
RMSIZE=640
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VEMM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VMOUSE.SYS
DOS=LOW,NOUMB
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VDPX.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VXMS.SYS /UMB
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VDPMI.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VWIN.SYS
REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\PCMCIA.SYS (New with version 2.1)
REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VPCMCIA.SYS (New with version 2.1)
REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VCDROM.SYS <<-- Assumes no CD-ROM.
DEVINFO=SCR,VGA,C:\OS2\VIOTBL.DCP
SET VIDEO_DEVICES=VIO_VGA
SET VIO_VGA=DEVICE(BVHVGA)
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VVGA.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\POINTDD.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MOUSE.SYS SERIAL=COM1
DEVICE=C:\OS2\COM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VCOM.SYS
CODEPAGE=437,850
DEVINFO=KBD,US,C:\OS2\KEYBOARD.DCP
-----------------------------------------------
FOR CLONE WITH 8MB RAM AND VGA RUNNING ONLY FAT
-----------------------------------------------
Make the following two changes in the config.sys listing above.
o REM this line: IFS=C:\OS2\HPFS.IFS /CACHE:1024 /CRECL:4
/AUTOCHECK:C
o Remove the REM from this line: REM DISKCACHE=1024,LW
--------------------------------------------------------
FOR CLONE WITH 8MB RAM AND VGA RUNNING BOTH FAT AND HPFS
--------------------------------------------------------
Make the following changes in the config.sys listing above.
o Remove the REM from this line: REM DISKCACHE=1024,LW
o Change the DISKCACHE size to 256, i.e. DISKCACHE=256,LW
----------------------------------------------------
FOR CLONE WITH 16MB OF RAM AND VGA RUNNING ONLY HPFS
----------------------------------------------------
Make the following changes in the config.sys listing above.
o Increase the HPFS cache to 2048, (/CACHE:2048).
o Increase the HPFS CRECL command to 64, (/CRECL:64).
o Change BUFFERS=50 to BUFFERS=75.
o Change FILES=20 to FILES=30
o Reduce SWAP file size, i.e. SWAPPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM 512 2048.
o Increase your print buffer: PRINTMONBUFSIZE=2048,134,134.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR CLONE WITH 4 OR 6MB OF RAM AND VGA RUNNING FAT (Never run HPFS)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
CALL=C:\OS2\XCOPY.EXE C:\OS2\*.BK1 C:\OS2\*.BK2 (not needed Warp)
CALL=C:\OS2\XCOPY.EXE C:\OS2\*.INI C:\OS2\*.BK1 (not needed Warp)
REM IFS=C:\OS2\HPFS.IFS /CACHE:1024 /CRECL:4 /AUTOCHECK:C
PROTSHELL=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
SET USER_INI=C:\OS2\OS2.INI
SET SYSTEM_INI=C:\OS2\OS2SYS.INI
SET OS2_SHELL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE
SET AUTOSTART=PROGRAMS,TASKLIST,FOLDERS
SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
SET RESTARTOBJECTS=YES
SET COMSPEC=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE
LIBPATH=.;C:\OS2\DLL;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\;C:\OS2\APPS\DLL;
SET PATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;
C:\OS2\INSTALL;C:\;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\OS2\APPS;
SET DPATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;C:\OS2\INSTALL;
C:\;C:\OS2\BITMAP;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\OS2\APPS;
SET PROMPT=$E[1;33m[$p]$g
SET HELP=C:\OS2\HELP;C:\OS2\HELP\TUTORIAL;
SET GLOSSARY=C:\OS2\HELP\GLOSS;
SET DIRCMD=/O /P
SET IPF_KEYS=SBCS (New with version 2.1)
PRIORITY_DISK_IO=YES
FILES=20
DEVICE=C:\OS2\TESTCFG.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\DOS.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\PMDD.SYS
BUFFERS=20
IOPL=YES
DISKCACHE=64,LW,12,AC:C
MAXWAIT=2
MEMMAN=SWAP,PROTECT
SWAPPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM 512 6144
BREAK=OFF
THREADS=128
PRINTMONBUFSIZE=134,134,134
COUNTRY=001,C:\OS2\SYSTEM\COUNTRY.SYS
SET KEYS=OFF
SET SOMIR=C:\OS2\ETC\SOM.IR;C:\OS2\ETC\WPSH.IR; (new with Warp)
C:\OS2\ETC\WPDSERV.IR;SOM.IR
SET SOMDDIR=C:\OS2\ETC\DSOM (new with Warp)
REM SET DELDIR=C:\DELETE,512;
BASEDEV=PRINT01.SYS
BASEDEV=IBM1FLPY.ADD
BASEDEV=IBM1S506.ADD
BASEDEV=OS2DASD.DMD
SET BOOKSHELF=C:\OS2\BOOK
SET EPMPATH=C:\OS2\APPS
REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\APPS\SASYNCDA.SYS (not in Warp)
PROTECTONLY=NO
SHELL=C:\OS2\MDOS\COMMAND.COM C:\OS2\MDOS /P
FCBS=4,2
RMSIZE=512
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VEMM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VMOUSE.SYS
DOS=LOW,NOUMB
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VDPX.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VXMS.SYS /UMB
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VDPMI.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VWIN.SYS
REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\PCMCIA.SYS (New with version 2.1)
REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VPCMCIA.SYS (New with version 2.1)
REM DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VCDROM.SYS <-- Assumes no CD-ROM.
DEVINFO=SCR,VGA,C:\OS2\VIOTBL.DCP
SET VIDEO_DEVICES=VIO_VGA
SET VIO_VGA=DEVICE(BVHVGA)
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VVGA.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\POINTDD.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MOUSE.SYS SERIAL=COM1
DEVICE=C:\OS2\COM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VCOM.SYS
CODEPAGE=437,850
DEVINFO=KBD,US,C:\OS2\KEYBOARD.DCP
-----------------------------------------------------------------
8. HOW TO RESTORE A DAMAGED CONFIG.SYS FILE FROM A BACKUP COPY.
1. Boot OS/2 from the OS/2 Installation Disk.
2. Insert OS/2 Disk #1 when asked.
3. Press the ESC key when you get the first text screen. By
doing this you will be put into OS/2s command line mode.
4. Assuming that your backup copy of config.sys is in the root
directory of "C" drive and is named CONFIG.SAV, enter the
following command:
COPY C:\CONFIG.SAV C:\CONFIG.SYS
Press the ENTER key.
5. Remove OS/2 Disk #1 and reboot the system.
What if you didn't make a backup copy? IBM thought about you.
When OS/2 was first installed on your system, the installation
program made a backup copy of your original config.sys file.
It stored this file in C:\OS2\INSTALL. To restore from this
file follow the same steps above, EXCEPT, in step #4 enter the
following command instead of the one shown:
COPY C:\OS2\INSTALL\CONFIG.SYS C:\CONFIG.SYS
<<=TIP=>> Replace the config.sys file saved by the OS/2
installation program in the INSTALL directory with your most
current version, thus allowing you to restore from it. If you
are viewing this information using CNFGINFO.EXE, the Backup
option is set to do this for you.
<<=NOTE=>> In OS/2 Warp, IBM provides an archive feature which
can be activated by opening your Desktop settings, click on the
Archive Tab, and then click on "Create archive at every system
restart". With this feature activated, you can simply press
Alt+F1 at boot and be presented with a menu which will allow you
to boot with an alternate (backup) config.sys file. See your
user documentation for details.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
9. REXX SUPPORT FROM WITHIN THE CONFIG.SYS FILE.
The question of whether REXX programs can be called from within
the config.sys file has been asked by a number of people. Keith
Medcalf's response to the question is one of the best I've seen.
Thanks Keith!
----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 07-30-93, 08:06 Number: 483
From: Keith Medcalf Refer: 477
To: Russ Williams Recvd: No
Subj: REXX from config.sys Conf: Ibm.Os2se
----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday July 28 1993 16:34, Russ Williams wrote to All:
RW> Can anyone tell me what restrictions there are on running
RW> REXX programs from config.sys (via "CALL=")? It doesn't
RW> work for me, and the on-line help is no help.
You cannot. The DLLs required to support Rexx are not loaded
until Presentation Manager is loaded. If you require Rexx
support earlier, look for a program call SRVREXX at a fine BBS
near you.
Adding the line RUN=SRVREXX.EXE to the config.sys will
immediately initialize Rexx. You will then be able to access
Rexx with or without PM being loaded.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
//END//
