ATof - Usage - Programmer's IDEs and Editors

[JTA]

Many OS/2-specific editors & IDE's have ... quirks; having been built years ago, if not decades ago, and source code for them is iffy at best (closed, lost, old, etc.), so what do we do?

If you only run ArcaOS as the HostOS, then you are limited to what runs as a native app, or what runs in a FreeRDP desktop on a machine somewhere else on your home network.

If you have an AToF system on your DT/LT, then you just run the best programming editor (ide or editor) out there that you want, and AToF will:
  - run it side-by-side with ArcaOS (a pair of VM's under the HostOS)
  - deliver it within ArcaOS (a window running the IDE or Editor)

In the case of Visual Studio Code (an IDE), I looked into VSCodium (the telemetry-free version of VSCode). It's a full-blown IDE (more like a browser), and when you run it, it launches half a dozen or more child processes (just like a browser). If you test it on Winflector, the client window won't properly display VSCodium, so it's not a good app (yet) for serving up as a single Window in AOS. Not to worry, as we can still run two VM's side-by-side. So, VSCodium and AOS are shown in the pics below, running side-by-side in VM's, and accessing the same source code file in the AToF common filesystem space. You could also FreeRDP the side-by-side Windows VM (the desktop view) with VSCodium directly into ArcaOS, if you prefer that method. See the attached pics for VSCodium.

In the case of Notepad++ (a programmer's text editor), when looking at how to get access to it in ArcaOS, it runs as a single process, and does indeed run well in a single window in AOS, served up by Winflector. You could get access to Notepad++ directly within AOS (as demonstrated at Warpstock 2023), or also run it as side-by-side VM's. See the attached pics for Notepad++.

In an AToF dt/lt, this is how you'd handle getting a modern Programmer's IDE or Editor into (or next to) ArcaOS, all on one machine. The number of VM's you can run side-by-side (SxS) is limited only by the RAM on your dt/lt, and a rough rule of thumb is 4GB/vm. As in, HostOS = 4gb, AOS#1 = 4gb, winVM = 4GB, ... on my $200 32GB lt setup for AToF, there's room for lots of VM's.

At least, until the issues of finding old source code for the original app, porting/coding, etc. get sorted out, and then you'll have a native version of the app directly in ArcaOS.

[Neil Waldhauer]

I found Visual Slickedit to be superior to Visual Studio years ago, even on Windows. Now Visual Studio supports languages that ArcaOS doesn't, but that still isn't relevant. Notepad++ and Visual Studio are likely lacking features to support OS/2 and the Workplace Shell.

[JTA]

True ... a Windows app isn't ever going to be a native OS/2 app, taking full advantage of the Workplace Shell. But, they will typically have other very modern features and UI improvements that won't happen in the OS/2 world until ArcaOS has penetrated the OS market to the point where software vendors and developers sit up and take notice. Then, they might start porting their Windows apps to a true, native 32-bit OS/2 platform ... if they consider it possible or viable.

I hope this comes to pass, and that more development happens ... I also hope that Arca Noae gets more technical evangelists out into the world to spread the message about ArcaOS, as mentioned at Warpstock 2023. More messaging, more application development, more OS/2!

In the meantime, programmers and others would probably use whatever tools they find to be the most useful, maybe even more than one, on whatever platform supports their development. It is possible that an AToF system, with everything all running at once on one machine, would make it *easier* to use multiple OS's and multiple applications, and boost their productivity even higher.

Perhaps VSE in a VM, or via FreeRDP or Winflector, alongside whatever is being used in ArcaOS, all on the same machine?