Despite all the things IBM did right with OS/2, there were some absolutely mind-boggling decisions made. Today's example: Using Java (version 1.11 or better, mind you) and a Netscape browser plug-in to install TCP/IP. Other than the chicken-and-egg-problem (which is solved by installing the transport services - NIC and protocol drivers - first), there's the fact that they had a perfectly good software installation framework which ran fine on like 6-8MB of RAM (total!). This variant swaps until my CF card starts sweating with 16MB, and is s-l-o-w!

I mean yeah, great, I get a proper BSD-4.4, 32-bit TCP/IP stack and tools. But it's taken me half a day. Getting the installation files over involved loading packet drivers and using #mTCP in a DOS session. Which works .. surprisingly well. But still .. FixPak43, reboot. MPTS, reboot. Netscape 2.02, reboot. Java 1.18, reboot. Feature Installer plug-in (no reboot). Then, finally, TCP/IP.

All this to have a machine to play with at #Blackvalley.

#OS2 #Retrocomputing #WhyAreYouReadingThis #GoDoSomethingUseful