Windows 3.x in the Wild.
Here is some information on early win3x versions as seen in the wild.
Windows 3.0
Windows 3.0 seems to have been a botch designed to disuade IBM from their OS/2 plan. It uses the same Icon set as OS/2 1.3, but the functionality is generally limited (eg to 10 groups in progman).
The help system is derived from Quickhelp (eg qbasic.hlp and help.hlp are QH files). Winhelp (any version) will respond with 'this is a DOS help system', rather than the usual 'corrupt help file' message.
Progman and Winfile are lifted straight from PMEXEC, and PMFILE, with some changes.
The files are packed with compress v2, without renaming. The signature here is SZDD.
The OS/2 2.0 WinOS2 comprises of winhelp.exe and progman.exe, plus some OS/2 specific proggies, (eg windde.exe), but it could run Windows in several different modes.
The utilities in the OS/2 WLO library are ports of the win3.0 apps (except progman and winfile), to run under OS/2. These are packed using compress 1 (KWAJ)
Windows 3.10
Windows 3.1 appeared in Apr 92 [i got one of the first copies in the city on my then-new PC]. It has a number of stability adjustments, the size being some twice that of Windows 3.00 [7 of 1440k, vs 7 of 720k.].
The help system was changed somewhat: double-column text was discontinued, but several new functions added (including user defined buttons).
The games consisted of sol.exe along with winmine.exe (first appeared in the Windows Entertainment Pack 1).
In general, the multimedia stuff worked passiblely well.
Files are packed using compress v2, with the underscore replacing the last letter. Unlike DOS 5, the last letter of the file name is packed inside the archive, so expand -r works with windows files.
Win-OS/2 3.1 started to be included with OS/2 2.1, includes a recompiled version of the 3.1 source code. Many bugs were fixed: for example, the calculator correctly displays the difference between 3.11 - 3.10 as 0.01, not 0.00. Microsoft did not issue a fix until WSJ reported on the matter!
Windows for Workgroups 3.0
This did exist, and is very similar to wfw311, except that the drivers are older, and that it was packed with compress 2 also. It includes all of the Windows 3.x bitmaps as well.
The product was slower than win 3.10, and not much used, so it tended to get stuck in the retail chain. It was dubbed "Windows for Warehouses", part of the "Windows Everywhere" mantra.
Windows for Workgroups 3.11
This appeared around the same time that DOS 6.22 did. The notion was to include networking in the core operating system, although other network vendors were not fussed on the idea.
The kernel files were fixed to run faster, and in the process breaking the "OS/2 for Windows" installs. Still. Later versions of Win-OS/2 (eg 3.x) shipped with the fix for this ready.
Apart from the kernel, and the fact that microsoft pushed wfw311 on the OEMs instead of win311, there is very little difference between the two.
The files of DOS 6 and Windows are packed with compress 1 KWAJ format. All are packed with the underscore rename, but only the windows versions store the final letter in it.
Wfw 3.11 shipped only with support for enhanced mode, although standard mode can be enabled with the correct fixes applied.
Windows 3.11
Microsoft were cooersed into releasing an update to Windows 3.10, largely for anti-trust reasons. This is essentially Windows 3.10, with a couple of driver updates, and repackaged onto six floppies.
The version does indeed support standard mode too, these being identical to the Win3.10 version of these files.
The files are also packed with compress 1 (KWAJ).
Windows 3.0
Windows 3.0 seems to have been a botch designed to disuade IBM from their OS/2 plan. It uses the same Icon set as OS/2 1.3, but the functionality is generally limited (eg to 10 groups in progman).
The help system is derived from Quickhelp (eg qbasic.hlp and help.hlp are QH files). Winhelp (any version) will respond with 'this is a DOS help system', rather than the usual 'corrupt help file' message.
Progman and Winfile are lifted straight from PMEXEC, and PMFILE, with some changes.
The files are packed with compress v2, without renaming. The signature here is SZDD.
The OS/2 2.0 WinOS2 comprises of winhelp.exe and progman.exe, plus some OS/2 specific proggies, (eg windde.exe), but it could run Windows in several different modes.
The utilities in the OS/2 WLO library are ports of the win3.0 apps (except progman and winfile), to run under OS/2. These are packed using compress 1 (KWAJ)
Windows 3.10
Windows 3.1 appeared in Apr 92 [i got one of the first copies in the city on my then-new PC]. It has a number of stability adjustments, the size being some twice that of Windows 3.00 [7 of 1440k, vs 7 of 720k.].
The help system was changed somewhat: double-column text was discontinued, but several new functions added (including user defined buttons).
The games consisted of sol.exe along with winmine.exe (first appeared in the Windows Entertainment Pack 1).
In general, the multimedia stuff worked passiblely well.
Files are packed using compress v2, with the underscore replacing the last letter. Unlike DOS 5, the last letter of the file name is packed inside the archive, so expand -r works with windows files.
Win-OS/2 3.1 started to be included with OS/2 2.1, includes a recompiled version of the 3.1 source code. Many bugs were fixed: for example, the calculator correctly displays the difference between 3.11 - 3.10 as 0.01, not 0.00. Microsoft did not issue a fix until WSJ reported on the matter!
Windows for Workgroups 3.0
This did exist, and is very similar to wfw311, except that the drivers are older, and that it was packed with compress 2 also. It includes all of the Windows 3.x bitmaps as well.
The product was slower than win 3.10, and not much used, so it tended to get stuck in the retail chain. It was dubbed "Windows for Warehouses", part of the "Windows Everywhere" mantra.
Windows for Workgroups 3.11
This appeared around the same time that DOS 6.22 did. The notion was to include networking in the core operating system, although other network vendors were not fussed on the idea.
The kernel files were fixed to run faster, and in the process breaking the "OS/2 for Windows" installs. Still. Later versions of Win-OS/2 (eg 3.x) shipped with the fix for this ready.
Apart from the kernel, and the fact that microsoft pushed wfw311 on the OEMs instead of win311, there is very little difference between the two.
The files of DOS 6 and Windows are packed with compress 1 KWAJ format. All are packed with the underscore rename, but only the windows versions store the final letter in it.
Wfw 3.11 shipped only with support for enhanced mode, although standard mode can be enabled with the correct fixes applied.
Windows 3.11
Microsoft were cooersed into releasing an update to Windows 3.10, largely for anti-trust reasons. This is essentially Windows 3.10, with a couple of driver updates, and repackaged onto six floppies.
The version does indeed support standard mode too, these being identical to the Win3.10 version of these files.
The files are also packed with compress 1 (KWAJ).
Comments
-Q
Os/2 uses pack, pack2, as does PC-DOS 7
-Q
Ghee i hate guest-edit mode :(
Don't you mean Windows for Workgroups 3.1? AFAIK there was only 3.1 and 3.11 for workgroups. 3.1 being the rare version, and 3.11 being the extremely common version.