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October 1999
editor@os2voice.org

Letters, Addendum, Errata


September 16, 1999 - The following letter from Matthew Walsh, is in regard to my article last month Choosing a Laptop for OS/2 - http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL0999H/vnewsf7.htm.
Dell and Ibm both announced this week laptops with Linux. Good article.

Referring to Dr. Martinus site You said: "The site itself is crowded, and takes some getting used to, as well as a frames-capable browser to navigate it. They have " What was after They have?


Editor's Response: Dell had announced the Linux support a few months ago, but from what I have seen they still don't have a laptop ready to sell with linux yet. I just did a search on Dell's site on Linux and found lots of press releases, but no notebooks with Linux. They do have a linux page now - http://www.dell.com/linux/ with several desktops and their Poweredge Server series listed, so I guess that is considerable progress.

The IBM announcement I saw was for one model of TP only and I didn't see it until after the issue with the laptop article had already been sent to the webmaster. Kind of weird, since so many have been certified for OS/2 you'd think it would be easy to load Linux on them, yet after all these months they can only announce one model for Linux. From what I saw the Linux users were complaining because there still was no driver for the modem, though from what I hear, that is being worked on along with a new LT modem driver for OS/2 and BEOS, that will do v.90 also.

Sorry about that typo. I'm not sure what I was going to say when I started it, and I didn't catch it in the final review. I need more editors, so someone can review my own stuff before we go live with it. :-(


September 19, 1999 - The following letter from Hugh O'Hare, is also in regard to my article last month Choosing a Laptop for OS/2 - http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL0999H/vnewsf7.htm.

I happened to read with interest your commentary regarding compatability of laptops for the installation of OS/2. Pre-installation of OS/2 has been a long standing problem here in the U.K. You simply can't find anyone prepared to do this as the perception is that everyone wants Windows. We both know the misconception vaunted by those words but I have been through exactly the same search as you within the past year and settled at that time on a Toshiba 320CDT. The machine came badged as Windows 98 and NT ready and was supplied with Cds of Windows 98 and 95 in addition to the pre-installation. I discovered after I had reconfigured the machine and installed OS/2 that the Dr. Martinus site existed while looking for a sound driver for the Yamaha chipset installed.
According to the information on the site my choice of machine was among the most compatable around and I have to say that the machine has run this past year faultlessly under OS/2.

The spec is 233MHz Intel Pentium II processor, 13.1" TFT screen, 4.1GB HD, 32MB Ram, 20 speed CD Rom, floppy drive and the usual ports. There are two PCMCIA slots one of which is type 3 compatable. I have found the 32MB RAM quite satisfactory under OS/2 although I would be looking to upgrade to at least 64MB should the machine have been running Windows 98/NT. The keyboard has always been a strong factor with Toshiba and this in fact is my second Toshiba machine for personal and business use.

I was a little mistified as to how you intend to deal with the internal Lucent winmodem under OS/2 in your choice machine as I have never been aware fo OS/2 drivers to accomodate these devices. Perhaps you could let me know how you manage with that.

Many thanks for an insight into your search. It made me feel quite at home to share the knowledge that I'm not alone in my quest for superiority in operating systems in the PC environment and I am an ardent supporter of OS/2. I recommend it to my clients for a wide variety of mission critical tasks and have installed many systems under OS/2. My support overhead is much lower than other suppliers/developers who promote and install Windows and user satisfaction is therefore much greater.

Regards,

Hugh


Editor's Response: If it's the same modem (Lucent Technology) as in my Toshiba 2545, get the LTMODEM driver - ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/system/drivers/modem/ltm_5553.zip It will only work with the LT modem.

It doesn't work here with the SIO driver, but works fine with COM.SYS. You have to be able to set the modem IRQ/Address in the BIOS. Currently this driver tops out at 33.3, but the author is working on a v.90 release that should do 53K.

Mark


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