Warp 4 Optimization and More - by Ted Waldron III

n Warp 4, programs launched from the Desktop can take significantly longer than the same applications on Warp 3. Many have noted this difference and some have even uninstalled Warp 4 or reverted to Warp 3. I must admit that I was reluctant to use Warp 4 for the very same reason. However, I have made a number of changes to my machine's configuration, and system responses have been greatly improved. Perhaps there is something that you can gleam out of the things that I found by reconfiguring. The following article is divided into sections to allow you pick and choose which changes are most relevant to you.

1 Non-Network or SOHO (Small Office, Home Office)

The LAN associated files that are automatically installed when loading Warp 4 can be overhead that you don't need if you are not on or not using a LAN. Check the x:\MPTN\BIN directory to see if you use any of the executables in there, since they contain a few Internet programs. If you don't need them, then you can remove them.

I removed all of them and then installed the IBM Internet Access Kit from the Warp 3 BonusPak. Before you remove any of the files, back up all your Internet access information. I used PMView or PMJPEG to screen capture the settings for the IBM Internet Dialer and the settings for InJoy and stored them in a directory structure that represented the names of the settings.

This is actually very easy to do and well worth the little effort required.

1. Open the OS/2 System Icon.
2. Select System Setup.
3. Select MPTS Network Adapters and Protocol Services.
4. Select OK.
5. Select Remove.
6. Select Yes.
7. Select Exit.
   (Some files will be removed after you reboot.)

You may have included other features like DDNS Configuration, DHCP Monitor, or UPM services when you installed too. Remove any of these that you are not using by clicking on the icon and selecting the uninstall option.

You can remove them all at once by selecting the Install/Remove icon from the System Setup folder. In there is an icon to remove all LAN associated files. Select it and uninstall.

After rebooting, install the IBM Internet Access Kit from the Warp 3 BonusPak and enter the settings you need to use the IBM Dialer or InJoy. This is a good time to start using Netscape Navigator too if you are not already doing so. I find that by starting InJoy and then starting Navigator, both load at the same time and I can be on the Internet in less than six seconds.

You need to create a Program Object for Navigator. Simply copy a Program Template from the Templates folder (found in the System Folder) to the Desktop and modify the copy. Set the Path and Filename to the location of netscape.exe (for example, G:/NETSCAPE/NETSCAPE.EXE). Now, very important, enter -3 in the Parameters section to make web pages think that you are using Navigator v3. All this does is avoid using LINKUP.EXE which the standard icon uses to start Netscape. Now you can use the IBM Information Highway to get the latest TCP/IP updates (and Internet Dialer if you are still using it).

While you are at it, remove anything else that you are not using. For example, the Tutorial is a very nice application. However, many people rarely read it a second time and it is rather large in terms of disk space. It also makes your OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI file larger which, in turn, takes just a little longer to boot the system. So, if you are not using it, uninstall it.

2 Speech

This one can be a killer. After installing several times, I found that a minor mistake here can lead to enormous load times when launching programs from the Desktop. Shortly after Warp 4 is loaded, a speech training session is requested. This is a notebook-like page with a yellow cartoon looking description at the top. The first time I installed Warp 4, I started but did not finish the training session. Launching applications from the Desktop was many times slower than Warp 3. With subsequent reinstallations though, I did not even go near the Speech notebook page and applications loaded instantly. Opening folders was also instantaneous. If you do not use the speech feature, you will get a big improvement by uninstalling it as follows:

1. Select OS/2 System.
2. Select System Setup.
3. Select Install/Remove
4. Select Selective Uninstall.
5. Select Optional System Components.
6. Select More.
7. Make sure that there is a check mark on the Speech selection and press OK.
8. Select Uninstall.
9. Select Cancel.
10. Close the open folders.
11. Reboot.

Now try to open some programs from the Desktop. If you see a vast improvement, the speech was probably not fully initialized. If you want to use the speech capabilities, simply reinstall and use the training session as soon as possible. Make sure that you complete the session.

3 CONFIG.SYS Changes

Just a quick note of caution. If you make a mistake editing your CONFIG.SYS file, your system may not start. Therefore, you should make sure you have the four Warp 4 Utility Diskettes before you start or that you have another system that you can boot to if you need to edit your CONFIG.SYS file.

The first item to check is the type(s) of file system(s) that you are using. HPFS is generally preferred because of its ability to handle large partitions and its relative avoidance of file fragmentation. There are three scenarios: all FAT, all HPFS, and a mix of both. If you are using all FAT drives, then check the DISKCACHE statement. The default is:

  DISKCACHE=D,LW

However, this should be changed to:

  DISKCACHE=D,128,LW

This is because the default is a 4KB read. Any read larger than 4KB is ignored. By specifying the 128 value, reads up to 128KB will be cached. This makes a big difference on how the Desktop performs when opening programs and objects.

However, if all of your drives are HPFS, remove the line by inserting the characters "REM" in front of the DISKCACHE statement so it looks like:

  REM DISKCACHE=D,LW

This will recover resident or "pinned" memory that would be absorbed by the FAT file system. Since you are not using FAT you certainly do not want memory wasted by FAT cache buffers.

If you are using HPFS, the default value is:

    IFS=D:\OS2\HPFS.IFS /CACHE:64  /CRECL:4

Which is of course terrible. Change this to:

    IFS=D:\OS2\HPFS.IFS /CACHE:2048  /CRECL:64 /AUTOCHECK:CDEFGH
    RUN=D:\OS2\cache.exe /maxage:600000 /diskidle:5000 /bufferidle:5000 /-Lazy:3

And you will get much better performance. Note the /AUTOCHECK: has C,D,E,F,G, and H. Replace the drive letters with your actual HPFS drive letters. The second line allows data to stay in your cache for 600 seconds maximum and writes the data from the cache to the disk when the disk is idle or the buffer is idle for 5 seconds. Use larger values if your system is very stable and smaller values if you can not lose any data in the event of a crash or critical activity (i.e. a bank transaction).

Just a quick note to Warp 3 HPFS386 users. If you have 64MB of memory or more, then change your IBM386FS/HPFS386.INI file as follows:

  useallmem  = NO
  cachesize=8192
  maxheap=1024
  lazy       = *: ON
  maxage     = *: 120000
  bufferidle = *: 5000

Also, remove the DISKCACHE statement if you are using all HPFS drives.

Back to the CONFIG.SYS changes. The default for the MAXWAIT statement is:

   MAXWAIT=3

This means that a ready-to-run program waits up to 3 seconds before it is given a starvation priority boost. Change this to:

   MAXWAIT=1

Unless you are running a transaction server or have over 100 threads running at one time, this is better.

4 Motherboard BIOS Changes

An optimized BIOS setup can give up to a 50% performance increase. However, I have noticed that very few people attempt to alter their settings. Some types of BIOSes do not allow much in the way of optimization, while others allow a wide range of settings. Do not overlook this; it is one of the first things you should do when you get a new machine. And if you haven't done it yet, you should at least look into it. A word of caution: I have made extensive changes to my BIOS and found it to be similar to hooking up complex stereo equipment. If it is not correctly hooked up, it just does not work. Reconnecting in the opposite manner usually works, though. Similarly, changing the BIOS settings may produce a machine that does not boot or partially boots and dies. I have not found this to cause any harm or inconvenience other than waiting for CHKDSK to complete.

If you are using an AC desktop, then your first task is turn off all of the power saving settings typical of the "green" boards. Shutdown and use CTRL+ALT+DEL or power off. Entering the hardware setup is specific to each machine, but most use the DEL or the F1 key at boot time to enter the setup screens. Consult the documentation that came with your machine if these keys don't take you into your own BIOS settings.

Look for the Power settings. This may be a menu or simply a list of options on the left and right side of your machine. Turn them all OFF. Some settings have many values that are selectable, so use the buttons for "change" and view all of the selections for each field. Sometimes these are the up and down arrows but they may be the Page Up / Page Down or F7 / F8 keys.

Next, make sure that cache settings are set for both System BIOS and Video BIOS. This is normally the default. There is usually a set of address ranges with the video at the top of the list. I have found that nothing uses the other address, so I recommend turning all the other addresses off except for the video.

Most BIOSes also have support for cache types. There are two types: asynchronous and pipeline burst. These are usually referred to as Write Through (W/T) and Write Back (W/B). Generally, the W/B (pipeline burst) gives a little better performance. If you have an option, use the W/B only if you know that pipeline burst cache is installed. Otherwise, use W/T. Also, some advanced BIOS's allow you to set the wait states. Depending on the speed of your cache, you may want to decrease the default values. This looks something like a selection between 3 2 2 2, 3 1 1 1 and similar values. Try decreasing the value or selecting an entry which has fewer wait states (smaller numbers). Other cache settings have entries for 'fast', 'faster', and 'fastest'. I have found them to be set on 'faster' by default, but obtained better results when set to 'fastest'. Reboot each time and be prepared to change the value back if the system does not boot.

Turn off unused options. For example, if there is a selection for IDE PREFETCH and your drives do not support prefetch, then turn the option off. By the way, if you installed the BonusPak System Information Tool, it tells you if your drives support prefetch logic.

If your machine has more than 64MB of memory installed, check to see of there is an option for greater than 64MB support. Usually, there is a selection with two entries: OS/2 and non-OS2. Select OS/2 if using more than 64MB of memory.

Finally, some BIOSes allow you to program the keyboard rate. This affects how fast the cursor gets to the end of a line. The default is usually 6 interrupts per second, and will go as high as 30. Select 30 and the cursor will go much faster.

Ted Waldron III has 10 years of application and operating systems development for real-time super minicomputers with strong emphasis on CPU scheduling. He is the sole owner of the OS/2 2.0, 2.1 and SMP 2.11 schedulers. Ted is the author or coauthor of 5 US software patents and internationally published articles. He is also the president of ScheduPerformace, Inc. which markets the Priority Master II OS/2 applications.