Thinkpads Forum

Hello @all and sorry again for my bad nglish (as I am german).
Well, while cleaning up my room I found some old issues of "c't" - a German computer magazine (the best imho). Well, in one of them there was an article about 'alternative operating systems on Laptops' and back in 1998 it seems OS/2 was already an alternative OS. There was mentioned that IBM-Notebooks still had very good OS/2-Support at that time (of course) and that there where special Programs by IBM which supported OS/2 (For Power- and Systemmanagement). Are they included in OS/2 or where they shipped with the ThinkPads?
(I found another issue from 1997 where there was a notebook comparsion. The ThinkPad 770 - the same model as I have, the only difference was that the tested model had a 14-inch-display - was tested (as a prototype, eeer.. I dont know how to explain in english. It was ready, but it was not shipped in Germany at that time) (If somebody is interested and understands german I might scan this article). In the table with the specs there stood that it was shipped with Win95(b), optionally with NT4 or OS/2. So this is another reason why I think the OS/2-tools might have been shipped with the notebook.

Well, I also found while cleaning up:
A original packaged OS/2-Warp 3 Box (with "Bonus Pack") and a Copy of OS/2 Warp 4 (I had the original disc once but cannot find it any more, so I am happy that I made a backup once!) and - an old notebook hard disk. So I think about replacing the hard disk in my thinkpad (770, 233-mmx cpu) for trying OS/2 on it. I think it might be better to use OS/2 4.0, or?
Is it altogether possible to install any version of OS/2 as I do not have a floppy drive for it?

At one time one could get OS/2 pre-installed onto Thinkpads.. Now Thinkpads is owned by Lenovo. http://www.lenovo.com OS/2 is has become eComStation. http://www.ecomstation.com There is a very active OS/2 forum at http://www.os2world.com .

I have eComStation 1.2r on my Thinkpad T23. I plan to upgrade it to eCS 2.0 when it comes out.

Your task is easy (relatively), JeriC ... I tried to install Warp 4 without CD-ROM from HDD. I got many advices and recommendations, in vain. Too difficult for me.

Warp 4 is better, of course.
You do not have an internal floppy? Do use an external one.
- the best way is an IBM made floppy intended for your model
- you can use a floppy connected via LPT port too
I know - it is very difficult to find these parts today.

Theoretically (!!) it is possible to use an USB floppy too. But it is very hard work, installation disks have to be modified.

There are easier solutions. You can find instructions how to make a bootable Warp CD on the web. Like here on this German site:

http://www.os2usr.de/w4bootcd.html

Try it and let us know, please.

P.S. If I installed with floppies I would use updated installation diskettes (from IBM - Thinkpad web).

Thanks. Well, I only have an USB-floppy - maybe:
I also have an old Siemens-Nixdorf-Laptop (I got it for free and the screen broke), and the (removable) floppydrive can be put into some kind of adaptor to use it on the parallel port while the CD-ROM-drive is in the bay. I will try if the Thinkpad will recognize it when I will come home

BigWarpGuy wrote:At one time one could get OS/2 pre-installed onto Thinkpads.. Now Thinkpads is owned by Lenovo. http://www.lenovo.com OS/2 is has become eComStation. http://www.ecomstation.com There is a very active OS/2 forum at http://www.os2world.com .

I have eComStation 1.2r on my Thinkpad T23. I plan to upgrade it to eCS 2.0 when it comes out.

Very active but absolutly useless.
The only way to receive some advice is irc://irc.efnet.ru/os2russian.