-=> On 11 Jun 96  21:49:18 Jonathan de Boyne Pollard said to Andrew
Grillet <=-

 AG>
 > JdeBP> OS/2's binary INI files also have this advantage.  Windows echoes
 > JdeBP> are full of people who have hand-mangled their INI files, and
 > JdeBP> suddenly find themselves without fonts, without printers, or with a
 > JdeBP> completely non-functional Windows system because they've removed the
 > JdeBP> wrong VxD line.  You don't see any equivalent messages in OS/2
 > JdeBP> echoes.
 >
 > No they just have to completely re-install, [...]
 AG>

 JdBP> But you maintain that OS/2 users are astute, remember ?

Either astute or completely dependent on (or in their view, at the mercy of)
professional gurus.

 JdBP> An astute OS/2 user will have read the manual, and learned that the
 JdBP> MAKEINI program can be used to re-create a default OS2.INI or
 JdBP> OS2SYS.INI without the need to reinstall anything.

SOme of us have to earn a living between reading manuals and posting in
fido echos. 

 JdBP> An even more astute OS/2 user will have grabbed any of the 3 or so
 JdBP> REXX scripts that float about on FIDONET, that will read and parse
 JdBP> OS2INI.RC, allowing for the defaults to be re-instated without
 JdBP> destroying any additional configuration information.

See my other posting about suppoting others over the phone.

 JdBP> The *really* astute OS/2 user will be able to write such a REXX
 JdBP> script from scratch, as needed.  (-:

This is not astuteness, this is showing off :-)

 JdBP> Which nevertheless digresses from the main point that most people
 JdBP> don't hand-edit OS2.INI *because* it is in binary format, thus
 JdBP> leading to none of the "I edited my INI file and it stopped
booting"
 JdBP> problems that plague the Windows world.
 
But preventing identification of "some stupid piece of windows code
decided to edit my binary ini file and trashed it" and other failure
modes. 

Just how do you find out if binary ini files are trashed if you are 
deterred from messing with them cos they are binary?

Andrew

 
... Time slows if you're on the outside of the bathroom door.
--- Blue Wave/Max v2.12 OS/2 [NR]