Author Topic: Revisiting old OS/2 Software.  (Read 28316 times)

Martin Iturbide

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Revisiting old OS/2 Software.
« on: July 06, 2019, 04:26:42 pm »
Hi

I was bored yesterday and I did some old testing of the OS/2 clock apps I was able to find at hobbes.

At the end I produced these pages on the wiki: https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Clocks
My idea was to just quickly post a screenshot of the software and some basic information.

If someone wants to do something similar, like revising some utilities, calculators, screensavers, etc, etc... remember that you can use the wiki or post pictures here (on the forum) and I will try my best to organize those on the wiki. Maybe someday we will accomplish the idea to have at least one wiki page for each OS/2 application :)

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xynixme

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Re: Revisiting old OS/2 Software.
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2019, 03:43:54 pm »
You can insert a link to the sometimes forgotten classic OS/2 clock "app": https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Creating_a_WPS_Object.
« Last Edit: July 07, 2019, 03:47:54 pm by André Heldoorn »

xynixme

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Re: Revisiting old OS/2 Software.
« Reply #2 on: July 13, 2019, 12:46:41 pm »
https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Clocks
Since eCenter, its (missing) new eCenter/xCenter clock widget may account for the (missing) old clock app "Clock" (WPClock WPS object, the word clock was translated).

FWIW, it's an archive: AFAICT Beat/2 is commercially outdated, because Swatch no longer has a webpage which shows the .beat time. "Even" Windows crashed while trying, but https://www.swatch.com/en_us/internet-time/ just seems to try to show a cartoon now.

Martin Iturbide

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Re: Revisiting old OS/2 Software.
« Reply #3 on: July 13, 2019, 01:24:17 pm »
Hi.

You are right, I should include WPClock, and I guess the Xcenter clocks should be included too.

On Beat/2 I'm getting the following error. (attached) Any ideas? Is that related to swatch.com/en_us/internet-time/ no longer working (or changed) ?

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xynixme

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Re: Revisiting old OS/2 Software.
« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2019, 05:01:38 pm »
On Beat/2 I'm getting the following error. (attached) Any ideas? Is that related to swatch.com/en_us/internet-time/ no longer working (or changed) ?
The TZ parsing was buggy, IIRC because a fixed or maximum length was assumed. What is your full TZ string in CONFIG.SYS, and are you using the R3 release?

An assumed downgrade to http://www.dreamlandbbs.com/filegate/fernwood/apps/Beat203.zip may work for your TZ, if the R3 release fails. Or the even older http://www.dreamlandbbs.com/filegate/fernwood/apps/Beat2-02.zip. But I guess your perfectly fine TZ variable has an "unexpected" value/format.

The website is unrelated, but could be used to verify the settings. Mainly the time zone difference setting. Your time in .beat units should have been (about) the same as the displayed one. You had to select a region or country (may have been commercial input), and a city/capital (e.g. Quito), so it probably displayed a local time and the global time in .beat units.
« Last Edit: July 13, 2019, 05:06:43 pm by André Heldoorn »

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Re: Revisiting old OS/2 Software.
« Reply #5 on: July 15, 2019, 02:45:59 pm »
Let's take a look at the OS/2 Calculators.

https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Calculators
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xynixme

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Re: Revisiting old OS/2 Software.
« Reply #6 on: July 15, 2019, 06:52:52 pm »
Let's take a look at the OS/2 Calculators.

https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Calculators

-3. The IBM WIN-OS/2 Calculator we've got is missing. Including this (non-OS/2) OS calculator is arbitrary: x:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2\CALC.EXE

-2. There may be at least 4 categories, excluding verifying tools and fixed input: CLI, PM, RPM and specialized, unit converters with variable user input (i.e. no ASCII tables).

-1. One of the calculators was renamed later.

0. @Martin, you may have missed it: what is you CONFIG.SYS' TZ setting (for a possible generic Beat/2-clock fix or work-around)?

1. The OS calculator is missing. YMMV, but mine's: x:\ECS\BIN\ECSCALC.EXE

2. "Calculator" (title bar's name) is missing. An executable called CALC.EXE, a CALC.ICO, and 3 VX-REXX source files.

3. Calcus is missing.

4. CCALC (CCALC.EXE) appears be missing.

5. DECalc is missing. You should mention its sticking BIN/DEC/HEX/OCT setting, so programmers can calculate 9*6 without having to think about that.

6. ehm is missing (Qt-based).

7. HPcalc is missing.

8. KeyCalc is missing.

9. PMCalc (IBM EWS?) is missing.

A. PMDCalc appears to be missing.

B. PMReXX Calculator is missing.

C. QEasyCalc is missing (Qt-based).

D. RPCALC is missing.

E. WarpCalc is missing.

F. Nameless Rexx one-liner. Untested usage sample: RR.CMD Date('B') / ( Words('Two words)') * 7 ) + 3

Code: [Select]
/**/;ARG x;INTERPRET SAY x;EXIT
Longer, CLI, known as RC.CMD:

Code: [Select]
/* REXX Calculator */

/* (c) Torus Brokers 1996 */

SIGNAL ON Error
SIGNAL ON Halt

PARSE ARG calculation

IF LoadRexxUtil() THEN EXIT

CALL SysCls
SAY
SAY

IF calculation='' | calculation='/?' | calculation='-?' THEN DO
   SAY 'The REXX Calculator can be used to perform simple calculations.'
   SAY 'Standard REXX functions for calculations are also valid.'
   CALL Explain
   EXIT
END

IF Left(calculation,1)='"' THEN DO
   PARSE VAR calculation '"' calculation '"' sum
END

INTERPRET resultc '=' calculation

IF DATATYPE(resultc,N)=0 THEN DO
   SAY 'The result of the given calculation is not a valid number.'
   CALL Explain
   EXIT
END

SAY '==================='
SAY '= REXX Calculator ='
SAY '==================='
SAY
SAY calculation '=' resultc
SAY

EXIT

LoadRexxUtil: PROCEDURE
   IF RxFuncQuery('SysLoadFuncs') THEN DO
      IF RxFuncAdd('SysLoadFuncs','RexxUtil','SysLoadFuncs') THEN DO
         SAY
         SAY
         SAY 'The RexxUtil library (REXXUTIL.DLL), part of OS/2, cannot be'
         SAY 'loaded. Possible reasons may be :'
         SAY
         SAY '  - REXXUTIL.DLL does not exist in the LIBPATH'
         SAY '  - REXXUTIL.DLL is not installed'
         SAY '  - Not enough memory available'
         SAY
         SAY 'The program processed nothing.'
         SAY
         RETURN 1
      END
   CALL SysLoadFuncs
   END
RETURN 0

Explain: PROCEDURE
   SAY
   SAY '   Syntax :'
   SAY
   SAY '   RC <calculation>'
   SAY
   SAY 'Where <calculation> represents a valid calculation. Examples :'
   SAY
   SAY '   RC 4E3/100   --> 40'
   SAY '   RC (8/2)-5   --> -1'
   SAY '   RC "1|1"     -->  1'
   SAY '   RC 2+3-5     -->  0'
   SAY
RETURN 0

Error:
Halt:
SAY
SAY 'The result of the given calculation cannot be calculated.'
CALL Explain
EXIT

Same, longer, dual-mode (PM UI requires installer and fixed or non-broken PMREXX.EXE), known as PMRC.CMD:

Code: [Select]
/* PM REXX Calculator */

/* (c) Torus Brokers 1996 */

SIGNAL ON Error
SIGNAL ON Halt

PARSE ARG calculation

IF LoadRexxUtil() THEN EXIT

IF Address()<>'PMREXX' THEN DO
   CALL SysCls
   SAY
   SAY
   SAY 'PMRC.CMD is the OS/2 PM version of RC.CMD. PMINSTAL.CMD can be'
   SAY 'used to create a program Object on the OS/2 PM. This will start'
   SAY 'PMRC with all required parameters. PMRC.CMD needs PMREXX.EXE'
   SAY '(part of OS/2), which should exist in your PATH or in the'
   SAY 'current directory.'
   SAY
   SAY '   Syntax for use with PMREXX :'
   SAY
   SAY '   PMREXX PMRC.CMD <calculation>'
   SAY
   EXIT
END

title='PM REXX Calculator'

IF calculation='' | calculation='/?' | calculation='-?' THEN DO
   enter='0A'x
   explain1='This program can be used to perform simple '
   explain2='calculations. Standard REXX functions for calculations '
   explain3='are also valid.'||enter||enter
   explain4='Examples of valid calculations are :'||enter
   explain5=enter||'4E3/100     (8/2)-5     "1|1"     2+3-5'||enter||enter
   explain6='The results are, respectively, 40, -1, 1 and 0.'
   explain7=enter||enter||'The result of the calculation is displayed in the format '
   explain8="<calculation> = <result>. A '='-sign at the end of the given "
   explain9='calculation may not be used, because the program already performs'
   explain10=' this action by itself.'
   explain11=explain1||explain2||explain3||explain4||explain5
   explain12=explain6||explain7||explain8||explain9||explain10
   explain=explain11||explain12
   rc=RxMessageBox(explain,title,'OK','INFORMATION')
   EXIT
END

IF Left(calculation,1)='"' THEN DO
   PARSE VAR calculation '"' calculation '"' sum
END

INTERPRET resultc '=' calculation

IF DATATYPE(resultc,N)=0 THEN DO
   error='The result of the given calculation is not a valid number.'
   rc=RxMessageBox(error,title,'OK','ERROR')
   EXIT
END

rc=RxMessageBox(calculation '=' resultc,title,'OK','INFORMATION')

EXIT

LoadRexxUtil: PROCEDURE
   IF RxFuncQuery('SysLoadFuncs') THEN DO
      IF RxFuncAdd('SysLoadFuncs','RexxUtil','SysLoadFuncs') THEN DO
         SAY
         SAY
         SAY 'The RexxUtil library (REXXUTIL.DLL), part of OS/2, cannot be'
         SAY 'loaded. Possible reasons may be :'
         SAY
         SAY '  - REXXUTIL.DLL does not exist in the LIBPATH'
         SAY '  - REXXUTIL.DLL is not installed'
         SAY '  - Not enough memory available'
         SAY
         SAY 'The program processed nothing.'
         SAY
         RETURN 1
      END
   CALL SysLoadFuncs
   END
RETURN 0

Error:
Halt:
title='PM REXX Calculator'
reason='The result of the given calculation cannot be calculated.'
rc=RxMessageBox(reason,title,'OK','ERROR')
EXIT

Installer of PMRC.CMD:

Code: [Select]
/* Creates a program Object for PMRC on the OS/2 PM */

/* (c) Torus Brokers 1996 */

SIGNAL ON Error
SIGNAL ON Halt

IF LoadRexxUtil() THEN EXIT

CALL SysCls
SAY
SAY

IF NotHere('CMD') THEN EXIT
IF NotHere('ICO') THEN EXIT

here=SysSearchPath('PATH','PMREXX.EXE')

IF here='' THEN DO
   rc=SysFileTree('PMREXX.EXE','check','FO')
   IF rc=2 THEN DO
      SAY 'There is not enough available memory to query a list of files.'
      SAY 'The installation has not been completed.'
      SAY
      EXIT
   END
   IF check.0=0 THEN DO
      SAY 'PMREXX.EXE, part of OS/2, cannot be found in the PATH or in the'
      SAY 'current directory. The installation has not been completed.'
      EXIT
   END
END

current=Directory()||'\PMRC.'

class='WPProgram'
title='PM REXX Calculator'
location='<WP_DESKTOP>'
setup1='EXENAME=PMREXX.EXE;ICONFILE='||current||'ICO;'
setup2='PARAMETERS='||current||'CMD'
setup3=' [Enter a calculation (Select Open for help)];'
setup=setup1||setup2||setup3
action='ReplaceIfExists'

rc=SysCreateObject(class,title,location,setup,action)

IF rc=0 THEN DO
   SAY 'A program Object for PMRC.CMD could not be created on the OS/2 PM.'
   SAY
   SAY 'You can also run PMRC.CMD by using the OS/2 command-line. Syntax is :'
   SAY
   SAY '   PMREXX PMRC.CMD <calculation>'
   SAY
   SAY 'PMREXX(.EXE) is a part of OS/2; PMRC.CMD is the application which'
   SAY 'will be runned by PMREXX; <calculation> is a calculation.'
   SAY
   EXIT
END

IF Address()='PMREXX' THEN DO
   text='An Object for PMRC.CMD has been created on the OS/2 PM.'
   rc=RxMessageBox(text,title,'OK','INFORMATION')
   EXIT
END

SAY 'An Object for PMRC.CMD has been created on the OS/2 PM.'
SAY

EXIT

LoadRexxUtil: PROCEDURE
   IF RxFuncQuery('SysLoadFuncs') THEN DO
      IF RxFuncAdd('SysLoadFuncs','RexxUtil','SysLoadFuncs') THEN DO
         SAY
         SAY
         SAY 'The RexxUtil library (REXXUTIL.DLL), part of OS/2, cannot be'
         SAY 'loaded. Possible reasons may be :'
         SAY
         SAY '  - REXXUTIL.DLL does not exist in the LIBPATH'
         SAY '  - REXXUTIL.DLL is not installed'
         SAY '  - Not enough memory available'
         SAY
         SAY 'The program processed nothing.'
         SAY
         RETURN 1
      END
   CALL SysLoadFuncs
   END
RETURN 0

NotHere: PROCEDURE
   ARG extension
   check=Directory()||'\PMRC.'||extension
   rc=SysFileTree(check,'file','FO')
   IF rc=2 THEN DO
      SAY 'There is not enough available memory to query a list of files.'
      SAY 'The installation has not been completed.'
      SAY
      RETURN 1
      EXIT
   END
   IF file.0=0 THEN DO
      SAY 'The file PMRC.'extensie' does not exist in the current Directory.'
      SAY 'The installation has not been completed.'
      SAY
      RETURN 1
   END
RETURN 0

Error:
Halt:
SAY 'The installation has not been completed.'
SAY
EXIT



Alex Taylor

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Re: Revisiting old OS/2 Software.
« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2019, 03:33:30 am »
Quote
The OS calculator is missing. YMMV, but mine's: x:\ECS\BIN\ECSCALC.EXE

This was only "the OS" calculator in eComStation.  The program was eCSCalc by Nicky Morrow, later renamed to eCalc, passed over to Frank Wochatz, and heavily revamped.

Quote
9. PMCalc (IBM EWS?) is missing.

I have a PMCalc kicking around, but it appears to be written by Peter Koller (of Maul fame).


Of course, you don't list either of my calculators, Useful Calculator and AT Calculator8)

Martin Iturbide

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Re: Revisiting old OS/2 Software.
« Reply #8 on: July 16, 2019, 03:35:39 am »
Hi.

0. @Martin, you may have missed it: what is you CONFIG.SYS' TZ setting (for a possible generic Beat/2-clock fix or work-around)?

I got : SET TZ=ECT5

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Martin Iturbide
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xynixme

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Re: Revisiting old OS/2 Software.
« Reply #9 on: July 16, 2019, 04:12:43 am »
SET TZ=ECT5
Thanks, I'll look at this later. Why was I expecting a minus...

A work-around for me, w.r.t. another TZ-related bug, was to open the settings quickly. RMB -> Preference. Really quick, probably before it displays the first calculated results.

My BEAT.INI file, presumably yours cannot calculate an initial "TimeZone" setting:

Code: [Select]
;
; Beat.ini - Beat Initial File (2.03)
;
PosX=6312
PosY=3228
PreferencePosX=4806
PreferencePosY=2301
BackColor=(0,0,0)
ForeColor=(255,255,255)
Height=720
Width=800
TimeZone=-2.0
Interval=0.02
AlwaysOnTop=Disabled
OnlyBeat=No
TitleBar=Enabled
AutoFontSize=Enabled
KeepWindowSizeRatio=Enabled
BeatFont=12.Arial
Font=9.WarpSans

The TimeZone is required to calculate the single universal time. I guess I'm one hour to the left of the timezone of Biel (-1.0), minus 1 hour of DST (total -2.0).

So the right setting for the GMT benchmark should be -2.0 during the winter, and -3.0 during DST.

O, and thanks for the Unit Convert-article. The Dutch language support is probably new for me...

xynixme

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Re: Revisiting old OS/2 Software.
« Reply #10 on: July 16, 2019, 04:27:27 am »
The program was eCSCalc by Nicky Morrow, later renamed to eCalc, passed over to Frank Wochatz, and heavily revamped.

Probably the renamed one. I recall a German role and an OS-related name. More in general I meant the/any OS calculator.

Quote
I have a PMCalc kicking around, but it appears to be written by Peter Koller (of Maul fame).

The one which may be IBM EWS:

Code: [Select]
PMCalc
A Pocket Calculator

Version 1.00, January 1995
This program was written by:

Tim Baldwin
       
IBM UK Laboratories
Hursley Park
Winchester
Hampshire

Yes, it is IBM EWS: PMCALC.ZIP @ http://www.os2site.com/sw/ews

Quote
Of course, you don't list either of my calculators

"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours"... :P

xynixme

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Re: Revisiting old OS/2 Software.
« Reply #11 on: July 16, 2019, 10:11:13 pm »
SET TZ=ECT5
BEAT.EXE should be fixed (tested with your TZ setting). I've uploaded a Beat203-r4.zip to Hobbes.

Unfortunately that (localized) Swatch webpage cannot be used to verify the "universal internet time"  anymore.
Fortunately there seems to be an alternative: http://www.swatchclock.com/.

During DST users will have to subtract 1 hour (RMB -> Preference) manually. At the moment my setting is -2.0 instead of -1.0.

Martin Iturbide

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Re: Revisiting old OS/2 Software.
« Reply #12 on: July 17, 2019, 04:40:14 am »
Hi

About the calculators, I had created some mores:
https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Calculators

Still missing:
- RPCALC
- WarpCalc
- Nameless Rexx one-liner.
- PMCalc - Pocket Calculator

I found a pmCalc by Martin Vieregg that was renamed to 4allCalc. I'm tryng to find the Peter Koller one.

Regards
« Last Edit: July 17, 2019, 05:03:43 am by Martin Iturbide »
Martin Iturbide
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Martin Iturbide

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Re: Revisiting old OS/2 Software.
« Reply #13 on: July 17, 2019, 05:03:19 am »
-2. There may be at least 4 categories, excluding verifying tools and fixed input: CLI, PM, RPM and specialized, unit converters with variable user input (i.e. no ASCII tables).

I think it will be a good idea to think about this. I'm following Hobbes and is not really organized on this area.

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Dave Yeo

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Re: Revisiting old OS/2 Software.
« Reply #14 on: July 17, 2019, 07:00:44 am »
There's also bc and dc that are *nix command line calculators. Both are installed on a new AOS install. bc is a regular calculator and dc is reverse Polish. See the man pages.