3 ms·

Ah OS/2! You could use the computer even while formatting a floppy. As I recall, IBM would send you OS/2 for free, on a bunch of the new-style 3.5" floppies.

by pravda 7y ago

Ah OS/2! You could use the computer even while formatting a floppy. As I recall, IBM would send you OS/2 for free, on a bunch of the new-style 3.5" floppies. I think it was about two dozen floppies.

noisem4ker 7y ago
OS/2 for free? That must've been well after Windows 95 came out, with OS/2 then deemed unsalvageable by IBM itself.
- lproven 7y ago
  If anyone's still interested, there's a free demo CD of the later successor to OS/2, eComStation. http://www.ecomstation.com/democd/index.php?file=9 http://www.ecomstation.com/democd/index.php?file=9 This is what it looks like: http://toastytech.com/guis/ecsd.html http://toastytech.com/guis/ecsd.html
icedchai 7y ago
You could use an Amiga while formatting a floppy, back in 1985, a couple years before OS/2 was released.
pjmlp 7y ago
Surely not in early 90's Portugal, where OS/2 was only available in IBM PS/2 PC with MCA architecture, with a tax of additional 500 € (more than one month salary minimum wage) versus the 386SX/DX OEM PCs.
- lproven 7y ago
  There was a widespread belief that it needed a PS/2 and MCA, but it didn't. I ran it on Librex laptops and several generic clones. No version ever _needed_ MCA. It's just one of many things that doomed it. :-(
  - pjmlp 7y ago
    Might have been the case, but on my small town buying such IBM model was the only way to get OS/2. No one was selling it on OEM clones, and buying a PC clone was already expensive enough, to even think about trying to get an additional alternative OS at IBM prices.
tujv 7y ago
Even while running a BBS in the background, too!
sehugg 7y ago
I remember testing the networking component of a game by running two simultaneous Windows 3.1 sessions, and fuzz testing DOS apps in multiple VMs (using DPMI, even!)
lproven 7y ago
Not that I knew of. OS/2 1, the 286 version, was quite expensive enterprise software. I evaluated 1.0 in my first job. OS/2 2, the 386 version, was relatively cheap. I paid about £40 for a copy, and it's one of the very few pieces of x86 PC software I've ever bought in my life. OS/2 3 "Warp" did have a free evaluation version, and was distributed on magazine cover disks. However it took much of a CD and was not readily available on floppies. https://twitter.com/AlvinGrissomII/status/1084551702114652161 https://twitter.com/AlvinGrissomII/status/108455170211465216...

by pravda 7y ago

Ah OS/2! You could use the computer even while formatting a floppy. As I recall, IBM would send you OS/2 for free, on a bunch of the new-style 3.5" floppies. I think it was about two dozen floppies.

noisem4ker 7y ago

OS/2 for free? That must've been well after Windows 95 came out, with OS/2 then deemed unsalvageable by IBM itself.

lproven 7y ago
If anyone's still interested, there's a free demo CD of the later successor to OS/2, eComStation. http://www.ecomstation.com/democd/index.php?file=9 http://www.ecomstation.com/democd/index.php?file=9 This is what it looks like: http://toastytech.com/guis/ecsd.html http://toastytech.com/guis/ecsd.html

icedchai 7y ago

You could use an Amiga while formatting a floppy, back in 1985, a couple years before OS/2 was released.

pjmlp 7y ago

Surely not in early 90's Portugal, where OS/2 was only available in IBM PS/2 PC with MCA architecture, with a tax of additional 500 € (more than one month salary minimum wage) versus the 386SX/DX OEM PCs.

lproven 7y ago
There was a widespread belief that it needed a PS/2 and MCA, but it didn't. I ran it on Librex laptops and several generic clones. No version ever _needed_ MCA. It's just one of many things that doomed it. :-(
- pjmlp 7y ago
  Might have been the case, but on my small town buying such IBM model was the only way to get OS/2. No one was selling it on OEM clones, and buying a PC clone was already expensive enough, to even think about trying to get an additional alternative OS at IBM prices.

tujv 7y ago

Even while running a BBS in the background, too!

sehugg 7y ago

I remember testing the networking component of a game by running two simultaneous Windows 3.1 sessions, and fuzz testing DOS apps in multiple VMs (using DPMI, even!)

lproven 7y ago

Not that I knew of. OS/2 1, the 286 version, was quite expensive enterprise software. I evaluated 1.0 in my first job. OS/2 2, the 386 version, was relatively cheap. I paid about £40 for a copy, and it's one of the very few pieces of x86 PC software I've ever bought in my life. OS/2 3 "Warp" did have a free evaluation version, and was distributed on magazine cover disks. However it took much of a CD and was not readily available on floppies. https://twitter.com/AlvinGrissomII/status/1084551702114652161 https://twitter.com/AlvinGrissomII/status/108455170211465216...