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Messages - Alex Taylor

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181
Internet / Re: SeaMonkey-2.42b8 and Thunderbird 45.8.0
« on: May 24, 2017, 02:27:29 pm »
Dave,

If you look on an ArcaOS 5 DVD, you will find under \CID\SERVER\MOZILLA the following files:

FFOXICON.ZIP
SMICON.ZIP
TBRDICON.ZIP

These each contain 256-colour icons including for main, safe mode and profile manager.  All the icons that are not from the original packages were created by me, so I give you full permission to use them.

182
Setup & Installation / Re: Removing ArcaOS installed cups packages?
« on: May 24, 2017, 02:18:25 pm »
ANPM shows the various cups packages under 'Installed':

cups
cups-client
cups-filesystem
cups-filters
cups-filters-libs
cups-libs
gutenprint
gutenprint-cups
gutenprint-libs
hplip
hplip-common
hplip-libs
splix

They should be there, unless you have them filtered out somehow.

183
Setup & Installation / Re: ArcaOS5 Another personal Experience
« on: May 24, 2017, 02:06:35 pm »
What does not work: No network support for Intel 5100 wireless included = no internet, peer network or printing; Not good.

ArcaOS ships with a special GenMAC package that does not include any drivers that we were unable to get legal permission to distribute.

(In addition, I'm pretty certain the 5100 is not a standard GenMAC-shipped driver to begin with.)

If you need a GenMAC driver that isn't included with ArcaOS, the correct procedure is to uninstall GenMAC (if installed) using WarpIN, then obtain the 'full' GenMAC package from NetLabs or elsewhere and install that.


Quote
Sorry, but I am not keen on xcenter and would prefer to use Warpcenter. Any ideas if this is possible?

It's easy, just turn off the autostart option in the XCenter properties, then edit CONFIG.SYS and add ,WARPCENTER to the SET AUTOSTART line and reboot.


Quote
How do I get rid of the Trashcan? - Even better, Can I install a full XWP rather than the cutdown version included in ArcaOS?

Just uninstall XWorkplace from WarpIN, then install the full version.

Quote
Bit surprised to see a [Boot Drive]:\ecs directory...

That should NOT be there from anything ArcaOS installed.  Are you sure you didn't install a software package from elsewhere that might have created that?

184
Applications / Re: ArcaOS - How to enable SMP
« on: May 18, 2017, 06:42:45 pm »
Whether or not the SMP kernel is installed depends on how the preboot system sets up the system type.

On the second page of the preboot menu, there are four system types.  "Older hardware" or "Virtual machine" will install the W4 kernel.  Either of the "modern" options should cause the SMP kernel to be selected.

We'd originally thought to make this override-able in the GUI installer, but that would have required much more convoluted logic branching, which seemed like too much for too little benefit.  We may revisit this in later versions.

185
Applications / Re: Testing cairo enabled eStylerLite
« on: May 04, 2017, 05:51:23 pm »
By the way, do you have any further information about afcutl05.dll so I can include it on the EDM/2 API Documentation Page? Documentation, source code, etc.

It lives in one of your github repos, you know.  :)

https://github.com/OS2World/UTIL-WPS-Styler_2/tree/master/utildll

186
Applications / Re: Are you getting ready for ArcaOS?
« on: April 23, 2017, 07:12:57 am »
I wouldn't expect significantly different hardware support than is currently available through the latest subscription drivers.  What is supported through those should give you a pretty solid idea of what hardware ArcaOS will support.

I believe some very old NIC drivers (various MCA and ISA boards, mainly) are not going to be included out of the box due to the virtual impossibility of supporting them on modern hardware.  However, the installation of third-party drivers is allowed for.

(Note: I am not speaking on behalf of Arca Noae.)

187
Applications / Re: Are you getting ready for ArcaOS?
« on: March 12, 2017, 05:22:09 am »
Let me clarify how this works. 

First of all, it is the OS/2 installer which acts on these selections. This same program (IBM code) is called at some point to lay down the core operating system files, no matter what distribution you are installing. This behaviour is internal to that program and within that context there is no way to prevent it.

Second, there are three basic options provided with respect to DOS and Win-OS/2 features (not including minor configuration tweaks):
  • Install MDOS and Win-OS/2
  • Install MDOS but not Win-OS/2
  • Do not install MDOS or Win-OS/2
Each of these options demonstrably produces a different result, so the installer certainly doesn't ignore the the setting.

In case (1), the MDOS and WINOS2 (or NLV equivalent) directories are installed and populated, normally totalling about 12 MB of files.

In case (2), the MDOS directory is populated, totalling around 1.6 MB in around 80-odd files, including a fully functional DOS system with fullscreen and windowed session support.

In case (3), the MDOS directory is populated with only 800KB in 31 files, including the VDM kernel, virtual drivers and a few core commands. However, this is a stub system only which (TTBOMK) cannot be run interactively, and probably does not include windowed session support; only the minimum files and drivers which IBM has deemed necessary by the core OS.  (There are OS/2 drivers and low-level systems which require VDM support, hence the presence of this support is to be guaranteed by the OS. This has been corroborated by people whom I consider sufficiently knowledgeable to count as authoritative.)

In other words, the user's selection is honoured in the sense that the user-level MDOS environment is not installed in the latter case.  Some DOS files are still installed because the core OS requires it, but they do not make up a user-level MDOS environment.  "Do not install DOS" should therefore be interpreted to mean "do not install the user MDOS environment".  It does not mean "do not install any kind of system VDM support", because the latter is not allowed according to what IBM has deemed to compose the core OS/2 spec.

188
Applications / Re: Are you getting ready for ArcaOS?
« on: March 10, 2017, 02:44:43 am »
Regarding DOS/Win: If you installed from an eCS CD then you certainly got DOS/Win support installed and configured regardless of whether you selected it or not. You would have needed to work through the config.sys removing all the unwanted DOS/Win lines and deleting the \os2\mdos directory.

Hopefully ArcaOS will not have that screwup.

I know you don't like this, but this is how OS/2 (since MCP2) installs itself. If you select no DOS support, the full MDOS (with configurable memory settings, user tools, etc.) will not be installed, but a minimal DOS VDM engine will always be installed. Certain core OS/2 components (I believe GRADD and possibly some other things) simply require VDM support, so it must always be available to the system. The IBM install program (SEINST) enforces this and it cannot be disabled.

189
Applications / Re: Are you getting ready for ArcaOS?
« on: March 10, 2017, 02:38:07 am »
With booting from USB I meant "USB Stick", if that is not possible with ArcaOS5 there is no improvement since the last 9 years. You must be joking - or I totally misunderstand what you have written

As Lewis reported at Warpstock, this is definitely on Arca Noae's list. As he also said, not everything on the list is guaranteed to make it into the first GA release.  It's unknown at present whether or not this particular item will make it.

It's true, there are procedures to make booting from USB stick work. However, these procedures are quite tricky to abstract sufficiently that a general 'plug and play' solution can be implemented. 

Getting something to work on my system is one thing. Arranging things so that it will work on any system (without extensive system-specific fiddling) is something else. It's things like this which make the seemingly-simple because quite complicated to achieve.


Quote
- well, there is no Need to discuss the "Various important fixes" to the OS - as nobody knows what one should talk about -> because it is that "TOP SECRET"! I am not expecting miracles, I am just hoping for some of the things that have been mentioned in the presentations - in fact that hopes are all gone.

Nothing about ArcaOS is TOP SECRET. I have no idea where you got that notion from. Lewis and David both gave fairly detailed roadmap presentations at both Warpstock events last year. If you want more recent information from Arca Noae, by all means ask them. They have a contact email address.

I'd say the reason you're not getting a great deal of concrete information from threads like this is that this is simply the wrong place to ask. Most of the people here don't have exact answers, and those that do know more don't feel it's their place to make announcements on Arca Noae's behalf.

Quote
Mensys wasted so much time they invested into a new installer - and forgot to update the System. ArcaOS5 now is coming with a new installers and updated Drivers, but there is no Support for "new" Hardware classes. One can find reasons on and on, but in the end reagrading Sound, WLAN and SNAP there are no News.

You can probably assume that if there have been no announcements about new device support from Arca Noae, then there is nothing concrete to announce at the present time - not that things are being kept "secret".

190
Programming / Re: Questions about GPI?
« on: February 24, 2017, 12:51:01 pm »
I suspect GRE (GRaphics Engine) is more like the equivalent to X.

GPI is our primitives drawing and layout layer. So yes, libraries like Cairo (for general graphics) or Harfbuzz (for text) are probably the closest equivalents in the OSS world.

191
Storage / Re: Possible causes of TRAP000e in OS2LVM?
« on: February 16, 2017, 10:42:31 am »
I recently saw this whenever I tried to plug in a USB hard disk, into either of two different OS/2 systems. 

The hard disk in question was a SATA disk that had previously been pulled out of a desktop and been sitting on the shelf for months, with various partitions full of old data on it.  Putting it into a SATA-to-USB cradle and plugging it into either OS/2 system caused an instant trap in OS2LVM.DMD when LVM /rediscoverprm ran. Since it happened on both systems I assumed it wasn't the computer(s), and since other disks seemed fine in the USB cradle I concluded it must be something in the drive.

However, attaching the drive under Windows worked fine, and I could see all partitions and access the ones with Win-compatible filesystems. 

On a hunch, therefore, I deleted all of the partitions on the drive (using the Windows disk manager).

That appears to have eliminated the trap.  After that, I could plug it into my OS/2 systems and repartition & use it without problems.

So my guess is that something in the partition table ended up in a state which LVM just choked on.

192
Applications / Re: Blue Lion Beta testing...
« on: February 10, 2017, 01:36:37 pm »
Sigurd,

NDAs are just standard practice for closed beta testing. More to the point, I think Neil and the others are being mindful of not wanting to speak for Arca Noae.

You can certainly ask Arca Noae if you can join the testing group.  (I don't know if more members are being solicited at this time, but asking is pretty much a free action.)  However, asking about hardware support in a particular beta release isn't really useful if you're not actually going to be using that beta.  Beta-cycle software is by definition a moving target, so predicting the state of driver versions in the final release based on the contents of a beta is not really scientific.

The drivers you mention are, TTBOMK, all in the development queue. Generally speaking, once updated versions of these (and other) drivers are considered stable to Arca Noae's satisfaction, they will be released.

Arca Noae's drivers are released through the subscription service; I would say it's safe to assume that ArcaOS 5.0 will also include the most up-to-date versions at the time of release.

193
Article Discussions / Re: What program for font preview
« on: January 20, 2017, 11:35:03 am »
There is also fontinfo which is mine.  It's admittedly designed more for inspecting font headers than for previewing, but you can view individual characters.  If you associate it with TTF, OTF and/or PFB files, you should be able to open several files at a time in separate instances using the WPS or a file manager.

194
Web applications / Re: FF 38.x - problems invoking from within PMMail
« on: January 11, 2017, 01:47:48 pm »
Quote
"...Firefox can't find the file at /G://APPS//TCPIP//PMMAIL//PMMAIL//TEMP//TEMP.HTM..."

Actually, that is a bug in PMMail, that never showed up until FF 38.8.0 arrived (apparently, the command line parsing has changed in Firefox). PMMail 3.22 (and later) has a fix for it. If you still use older PMMail versions, you probably need to make an intermediate program to change the double slashes to single slashes (of the appropriate type), before passing the command to Firefox.

It doesn't only affect PMMail.  It affects URL objects pointing to local files as well.  The first ticket quoted above suggests it's a command-line parsing problem in this particular Firefox beta.

195
Article Discussions / Re: App Store Ranting
« on: July 13, 2016, 07:48:28 am »
I have to agree, hate app stores. My favourite on Debian (and Debian based dists) was the old simple dselect, curses based but much like ANPM except it had categories, eg Internet, Games, Programming etc, which I guess ANPM could evolve to have if we ever have enough packages to need categories.
And of course the command line, especially once they came out with apt.

Categories are implemented at the package level.  ANPM does support categories, just not in quite the same was as most Linux package managers: the category is displayed in the list, and you can view packages for a specific category using the filter controls.

Right now there just aren't enough packages, as you say, to justify breaking out entirely separate views.  Even the most populous category at the moment probably has only eight or ten packages on offer; some may only have one or two.

I confess, I also designed it this way in part because I think breaking down the package list into physically separate category views adds too much clutter and confusion to the user interface.  It also makes browsing and scanning the available packages much more tedious, especially since there often seems to be little rhyme or reason in how package maintainers select a category.

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