                           DESQview/X Version 2
                           Review by Richard Lis

        DESQview/X is a graphical multitasking platform. Although the
package has much to offer in the way of networking and related functions, my
primary focus was to be the use of this package to achieve multitasking of
DOS programs. I am primarily interested in its ability to run multiple nodes
of bulletin board software efficiently on a single CPU. I have been using
the "classic" version of DESQview for a few years now to accomplish this
same task. Although that version does serve well, I was curious as to what
the GUI (graphical user interface) offered by the X version would be able to
do for me. I must say it not only met, but exceeded my expectations.
        First I think it is important to talk about the hardware that the
testing was conducted on since many of the facts and figures I will discuss
may indeed be quite different on another hardware setup. The computer is a
tower system with an Intel 486/50DX and dual Western Digital Caviar AC31000
1080 MB hard drives. The motherboard holds 20Mb of 70ns memory with a 128k
cache. The I/O is accomplished with a Boca IO 2 by 4 card and dual
USRobotics V.Everything modems. The video is a STB PowerGraph SVGA with 1Mb
of memory and an AOC multisync monitor.
        My first order of business was to install the software. The package
itself was quite intimidating at first glance. With eight manuals and nine
3 HD floppies, I was unsure of just where to begin. Based on previous
experience with Quarterdeck products though, I expected to be guided through
the installation process with concise on-screen information. I was not
disappointed. It took about 20 minutes to proceed through their version of a
"novice" level installation. I am not sure a true novice would have all the
resources available to them that were needed, but a few quick glances to the
installation section of the manual should answer most needs.
        Included in the package is the actual DESQview/X software, the
latest version of Quarterdeck's memory manager (QEMM) and Manifest, a memory
and system information utility. Along with these basic programs were
included a Novell TCP/IP system, and what I though an excellent touch, a
diskette of contributed public domain and shareware packages relevant to the
software. Installing all by the TCP section took approximately 12 megabytes
of hard disk space. Recommendation of at least a 40MB hard drive seemed a
bit conservative as did the 4Mb memory setting. More realistic in today's
hardware picture is a 200MB or larger hard disk and at least 8Mb of memory
to do any "real" computing jobs.
        One of the nicest features I encountered in the installation was the
ability of DESQview/X to import almost all of my current setting from the
DESQview version already installed on this machine. The one area that I was
adequately warned about was the current startup script would not be
converted since keystrokes would need to be changed to access the new setup.
You are presented with three different look-and-feels to choose from and I
choose the stock version 2 setup. What came on the screen was very
reminiscent of Microsoft Windows. Running Quarterdeck Application Manager
allowed me to transform my text based DESQview setup into a completely
graphical environment including a large selection of stock icons to be
assigned to my different programs. Also available within the Application
Manager is Adobe Type Manager.
        The ability to actually scale DOS windows into just about any size
on the screen was one of the features I was most looking forward to testing.
It took a bit of trial and error and frequent trips to the manual to get
things setup, but the results were nothing short of stunning. Where I before
had only small glimpses of four concurrently running programs, I now had a
neatly paneled screen with four full screen, although somewhat small,
windows of each session. Since my monitor is only 15 inches, the small type
was a bit too tiny to do any prolonged work, but I can only imagine who
wonderful the overall look would be on a 17 or 20 inch model. Even so, the
ability to monitor multiple full screen pictures of each running program was
a real plus.
        Now the main reason I had not previously ventured into trying this
particular package was because of the tremendous performance degradation I
had heard about with GUI interfaces. We all know the jokes about how Windows
slows a computer down and I tended to believe what I had heard about the GUI
version of DESQview. I was somewhat amazed when things seemed to be running
at about the same speed as with the text based version. I decided to put
Norton to the job of actual measurement. The Norton SI for the system under
DOS was 76.9. Running the same test under classic text based DESQview
yielded 74.2. DESQView/X clocked in at 69.7, most of which came on the disk
access portion of the benchmark. Although this is a noticeable numeric
difference the actual "feel" of the system was really not much different. I
was still able to maintain two online connections at 14.4 baud, one local
node of the BBS, and a couple of DOS sessions each carrying on their own
jobs without a real slowdown of the system response.
        One drawback to this version is the amount of memory the platform
itself can consume. Each window was 29k smaller than was possible in plain
old DESQview. Assuming you are not operating on the edge of your software's
memory requirements, that is not too much of a penalty to pay. Also, it had
taken me quite a bit of tweaking and fiddling to achieve the level of
performance and setup that I had with DESQview and only one month of time
was put into working the DVX package into shape on my particular system.
Actually, the improvement over the "stock" installation was very small and
once again Quarterdeck has made leaps and bounds in the whole setup process.
        I have not even begun to experiment with many available features of
the software such as the Novell TCP/IP setup (can you say Internet!). The
whole X-Window environment and the networking potential of the software
could consume many pleasant hours of my time. The included File Manager
seemed to be at least equivalent to many of the fine packages offered for
Windows. Additional modes for graphic setup at higher resolutions could most
assuredly improve the whole look of the desktop offered.
        Overall, I was more than pleased with the performance offered by
this unique multitasking package. The look of the actual monitor screen with
multiple programs running was both visually pleasing and quite informative.
With the power offered by good old DOS and DESQview/X, I just might not be
looking for alternative operating systems anytime soon.

                     Quarterdeck Office Systems, Inc.
                            150 Pico Boulevard
                          Santa Monica, CA 90405
                    Product Information: 1-310-392-9851
                            Fax: 1-310-314-4217

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