Re: Windows 95 on 750C running windows 3.1 and stacker 4.0?

["Lew Jansen" <lrj@hepth.cornell.edu>]

Randy Whittle wrote:
>         Speaking of which...for those of you who have upgraded to Win '95
> on your 'Pads (I'm using a 750C), what have you done with/about your
> non-'95-native utilities like the ThinkPad features, Battery monitor, etc.?
> Is there updated ThinkPad utilities for Win '95?

  I've been running Win95 on my 755cx since the end of August.  Most of the
apps I use are Win3.1 apps -- Lotus SmartSuite, Corel 4 (draw/photopaint), etc.

  The thinkpad utilities work fine -- I did update the utilities with the newer
utilities disk from ftp.pc.ibm.com, but I don't think they're Win95 specific.

  Everything works just fine -- even stuff like the 16-bit Twain driver for my
Primax ColorMobileOffice hand scanner.  With the MWave 2.0 update and the
updated FaxWorks, even the sound/modem/fax stuff works great.

  Basically, Win95 offered me two key advantages that make life much easier
than if I were running Win3.1 or Warp.

	Networking & the Briefcase "object"

  Under Win95, Networking is pretty close to "hot-swappable".  I don't have to
reboot the 'pad to connect or disconnect from my home network.  Whether I last
booted on or off the net, just slip in the pcmcia ethernet card and
everything's there -- network printer, drives mapped from my desktop system,
whatever.  When I need to take the 'pad with me, I just hit a menu selection
and the thing unloads/disconnects all the networking; then remove the ethernet
card, close the 'pad, and go -- no need to reboot.

  If I print to a networked printer while away from the net, (I let my desktop
system do the spooling) the print job will be placed in the local spool area.
When I connect back to the network, a window pops up asking if I want to print
the jobs then -- this allows me to print stuff I'm working on when I'm working
on it -- I don't have to remember later on which files I wanted to print out.

  The Briefcase, while it could use some work, is still very useful.  I keep
all my work under a particular directory, which is kept in the "Briefcase".
Selecting "update" from a menu causes the 'pad to compare its copy of the
directory tree to the copy stored on my desktop system -- updating everything
that's changed on one or the other.  Not only do I then have a consistant set
of files on the two machines, but it also serves as a crude means of backing
up the really important stuff on the 'pad.


  Now, this is just why *I* put Win95 on both my systems; it offered some nice
solutions for my specific needs.  If you don't do any networking and are happy
with what you have, I'm not sure there's a strong argument for upgrading now.

  Also -- I have 24 meg of RAM in my 755cx -- it'd probably be a bit different
if I were at 8 meg or less.  Win95's sweet spot seems to be at around 12 meg.

-- 
 Lew Jansen                        Systems Manager, High Energy Physics Theory
 lrj@hepth.cornell.edu     233 Newman Lab, Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14853