Author Topic: About eComStation Pricing  (Read 45795 times)

Martin Iturbide

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Re: About eComStation Pricing
« Reply #30 on: October 16, 2014, 09:24:05 pm »
Look the latest Haiku OS post on their site 2014-10-10:

Quote
The Haiku project is participating in this year's "Semester of Code" (SoC) of the European VALS project. The SoC is similar to Google's GSoC, but without the financial incentive and more emphasis on the educational side.

Its goal is to connect higher education students with open source projects to introduce them to the cooperative nature of working within a group on a bigger project. For Haiku, besides potentially extending its feature set, it's another opportunity to spark the interest of new, eager developers with a chance to gain future regular contributors.

ReactOS is at least tried to do something different:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thorium/thorium-core-cloud-desktop

On the other hand:
- "We don't have a future" is not an strategy or an idea.
- "Why bother"  is not an strategy or an idea.
- "Be realistic, we are doomed and our destiny is to switch platform"  is not an strategy or an idea.

« Last Edit: October 16, 2014, 09:27:17 pm by Martin Iturbide »
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guzzi

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Re: About eComStation Pricing
« Reply #31 on: October 16, 2014, 10:23:42 pm »
Look the latest Haiku OS post on their site 2014-10-10:

Quote
The Haiku project is participating in this year's "Semester of Code" (SoC) of the European VALS project. The SoC is similar to Google's GSoC, but without the financial incentive and more emphasis on the educational side.

Its goal is to connect higher education students with open source projects to introduce them to the cooperative nature of working within a group on a bigger project. For Haiku, besides potentially extending its feature set, it's another opportunity to spark the interest of new, eager developers with a chance to gain future regular contributors.

ReactOS is at least tried to do something different:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thorium/thorium-core-cloud-desktop

On the other hand:
- "We don't have a future" is not an strategy or an idea.
- "Why bother"  is not an strategy or an idea.
- "Be realistic, we are doomed and our destiny is to switch platform"  is not an strategy or an idea.

It would be great if we could get students to do semothing with eCS. And I do agree that "we don't have a future" is not exactly a constructive attitude. The reality is that indeed the platforrm, pc, that our OS runs on, is rapidly changing and indeed, disappearing. So, it will take more than an open source clone to preserve OS/2. It will need to be adapted to more modern hardware and ways of using computers/hardware. I personally don't see the desktop disappearing very soon, but it -is- disappearing rapidly in private use. Eventually, OS/2 will die. As has DOS, Amiga, Commodore 64. And as Windows will, and as Android will. Some os's are practically stillborn, like Sailfish (sadly). It's life. Nothing is forever. I'll leave it to Frank to switch the light off, but after he has done so, the lights of my hard drive will probably light up the room a few times more until the hardware finally gives up the ghost).
Strategies... I actually have no idea what it will take to keep OS/2 alive as long as possible, or to make it evolve eevn into something nw and modern. Drivers to keep it running -now-, for sure. A new approach, open source replacement would certainly extend the life of it. I do agree with Martin that development of one does not preclude the development of the other. It is merely a matter of attracting people to spend time on it. How to do that? Maybe we van learn from Haiku and similar. But it won't be easy to convert an OS from a previous age of computing into an interesting project for students.....

Doug Bissett

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Re: About eComStation Pricing
« Reply #32 on: October 16, 2014, 11:53:17 pm »
Quote
On the other hand:
- "We don't have a future" is not an strategy or an idea.
- "Why bother"  is not an strategy or an idea.
- "Be realistic, we are doomed and our destiny is to switch platform"  is not an strategy or an idea.

I will point out that I did not say "We don't have a future". We can have a future, IF, and only IF, every user pulls some of the load. It will also be necessary to think "outside of the box" to accomplish a lot of what is necessary NOW. We need too many things TODAY, to go wasting time "fixing" things that are not, yet, broken. In case you haven't noticed, new software NEVER works properly the first time, so we will need more time, and effort, to "fix" things that never should have been done in the first place.

I will also point out that "Why bother" is a question. If something is working, it makes no sense to expend very valuable resources to "fix it". Other things need attention, and the resources are VERY limited.

I also didn't say "Be realistic, we are doomed and our destiny is to switch platform". I did say "Be realistic". If you insist on wasting developers time, trying to clone something like the WPS, you will take away from far more important projects, and that will very quickly destroy what we have left. If anything, we need developers to expand the capabilities (and I don't believe that it is necessary to mess with the kernel to do that) so that new software can be supported. One of the BIG problems that we have is that most "new software" is coming from other sources. There is very little "original" work any more. That, in itself, is not bad, but it does mean that the majority of our software developers are not getting the experience necessary to do original development. Without that experience, it will be extremely difficult to expand the platform, or even try to clone it. Of course, working on an OS is not the same as working on a standard program. "Switching to another platform" will happen, no matter what anybody does. Eventually, something better will arrive, and/or OS/2 will become impossible to use. Every day, that time comes closer. Some will need to change directions before others (many have done so already), but it will happen (even windows, and Linux, face the same fate). The time for "cloning", or "open sourcing", has also passed (at least 10 years ago). Not only has the critical mass of users (and even more so, knowledgeable developers) diminished below the level required to keep it going, the target has also moved further away. Sorry, but all we can do, is try to keep up as best we can, and that will require every user to do their part. As we lose more users (and that will happen), we will fall further behind, until it just won't work any more.

As I said, it is time to start thinking "outside of the box", to gain ground. The other option is to continue as we are. It is too late for other strategies. Not too long ago, it was argued that it was "impossible" for OS/2 to use memory above the 4 GB mark. The QSINIT RAMDISK has shown that it is possible, and it has paved the way for further development down that road. All we need is for somebody to expand on that development, and make that extra memory usable for other things. That would make a lot of things possible, that can't be considered now. QSINIT has also solved a few problems with memory fragmentation that has left the OS2LDR program baffled. I do know that some of the very best OS/2 developers looked at modifying OS2LDR, and left it as being a VERY difficult job. I think that QSINIT (source available) holds the key to overcoming some of the worst problems with trying to keep the current OS/2 going, for a while. Somebody should be looking at that, not wasting time trying to clone things that are not broken.

Martin Iturbide

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Re: About eComStation Pricing
« Reply #33 on: October 17, 2014, 12:28:50 am »
I will point out that I did not say "We don't have a future". We can have a future, IF, and only IF, every user pulls some of the load.

Doug, I only read the positive things of you reply :)  I prefer to move on on this discussion, we all set our points.

Why don't you list your ideas of "thinking outside the box"? For example:

- Putting focus on QSINIT is a very good idea. Improving it to replace the original OS2LDR is a very positive project .  But also remember that having QSINIT source code public it does not make it open source. Its license says it is freeware and can not be used for commercial use, so it is against open source (and free software). 

What else do you think are "thinking outside the box" projects/priorities for this platform?
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Dave Yeo

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Re: About eComStation Pricing
« Reply #34 on: October 17, 2014, 03:19:19 am »
Look the latest Haiku OS post on their site 2014-10-10:
...
ReactOS is at least tried to do something different:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thorium/thorium-core-cloud-desktop

We're back to the original subject. BEOS was available for free for years and most everyone owns Windows.
Perhaps if IBM had made OS/2 freely available back in '98 we'd have more developers but as long as it's a pricey purchase we're not going to attract many users or developers.
Besides I've never known anyone who was using Haiku as there main machine. When I see people posting patches for Haiku, they're always using a Mac email client. Beos was always more of a hobbyist platform, even back when it was the Bebox.
 

Fr4nk

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Re: About eComStation Pricing
« Reply #35 on: October 17, 2014, 07:51:14 am »
This is turning into some kind of philosophical discussion. But making plans is one thing, realize things is a completely other thing.

I think the desktop PC will not be replaced. It will stay for all people who wants more than you can do on a small screen and a touch display. Smartphones and tablets are new mainstream platforms and some people will not use Desktop PCs anymore but a lot of people will. Imagine to do DTP on a tablet. I tried to feed my blog in my holidays from a smartphone. Even I had a real external keyboard - it was pain in the neck. Mobile devices lack the comfort and ergonomics you have with a big screen, a mouse and and a keyboard. If mobile devices want to replace PCs they have to be somethings like the Desktop PC.

And I think there are some more possibilities between "being doomed" and "rewrite the whole system".

We can add things. We can replace single components. We can patch some things. We can build bridges and we could use layers.

If we don't get this right there is no need to discuss a rewrite of the whole system.


And Mart no offense but "rewrite the OS and turn it open source" is not an idea - it is a wish - like world peace or to build the Cheops pyramid. Nothing wrong to have this wish. But this is easy. You need ideas to make it happen. Good ideas consider resources or how to get them. Ideas for concrete solutions, how to get money and developers. And this is difficult.
« Last Edit: October 17, 2014, 08:13:07 am by Fr4nk »

Martin Iturbide

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Re: About eComStation Pricing
« Reply #36 on: October 17, 2014, 06:12:14 pm »
And Mart no offense but "rewrite the OS and turn it open source" is not an idea - it is a wish - like world peace or to build the Cheops ...

Fr4nk there is a phrase that says "when you dream, you dream big". It is not a wish, it is "Utopian Goal". Just like when the GNU community and Linux users dreamed one day of being a full Unix replacement and a solid operating system.

We can add things. We can replace single components. We can patch some things. We can build bridges and we could use layers.
This is good. Which are the components? tell me your "wish list" on the "adding things or replacing single components" priority. Which is the specific things that needs to be prioritized? (in your opinion).

Regards
« Last Edit: October 17, 2014, 06:16:10 pm by Martin Iturbide »
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Doug Bissett

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Re: About eComStation Pricing
« Reply #37 on: October 17, 2014, 06:49:23 pm »
Quote
Why don't you list your ideas of "thinking outside the box"?

I have been doing that. Some time ago, I was told that PAE memory access was "impossible". Now, thanks to the QSINIT project, we have a RAMDISK that can use the memory above the 4 GB mark. That has the basis of creating an API to be able to access that memory for other programs to use. It likely could not be used with shared memory, but I see no reason why private memory could not use it.

There are a few other possibilities, but creating a virtual machine type of environment for OS/2 to run in is probably the most likely to work. It doesn't need to be a full VM, it just needs to capture the parts that OS/2 has trouble with, and convert them to something that OS/2 understands, while operating the real hardware. I am sure that that is not as simple as it sounds, but it should be possible. If it is done properly, multiple VMs should also be possible. The QSINIT project currently runs a couple of simple games, or the new OS/2 loader, then frees the memory for other things. Some sort of stay resident program would need to be developed to make it look like an "old style" machine to OS/2, while operating things like large disks, or unknown video. I suspect (guessing) that the VBoxDrv.sys could be a base for that (although that may not be necessary, as long as the system still supports classic BIOS). It is likely that the QSINIT operating system would also need some serious expansion to accommodate some of it.

You need to remember that QSINIT is really a mini OS, and it can be programmed to do what is required. Easy? No. Possible? Yes. It just needs the right person to spend a LOT of time doing it. "So simple a child could do it. Child sold separately." (Sorry, I couldn't resist).  ;D

At the moment, I see a requirement to interface to new, large, disks. If a QSINIT (stay resident) program could capture the raw disk access, and tweak what OS/2 sees, to look "normal", while translating the access to something that can access the real disk, most things should work. The large (say 16 TB) disk would need to present itself as multiple, smaller (2 GB, or less), disks to OS/2. Or, better, create a 2 TB, or less, partition, and present that to OS/2 as a "normal" disk (multiple partitions = multiple disks to OS/2, and JFS can concatenate multiple disks into a single volume, up to whatever the limit is - 64 TB??). Of course, there is still the problem with trying to create boot partitions on disks that are larger than about 500 GB, so it would be good to create a 500 GB partition, and present that to OS/2 as a 500 GB disk (in many cases, that should be sufficient for the whole OS/2 system anyway). Since it would use RAW disk access, there should be no problem with format, internal (to OS/2) partitions, or things like EAs. The RAW access doesn't know about things like that anyway. Linux, windows, etc would probably "see" the partitions as "unknown", but even that could be tweaked to prevent them from trying to use them.

Just thinking out loud...   8)
« Last Edit: October 17, 2014, 06:59:11 pm by Doug Bissett »

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Re: About eComStation Pricing
« Reply #38 on: October 17, 2014, 07:42:01 pm »
Quote
I think the desktop PC will not be replaced. It will stay for all people who wants more than you can do on a small screen and a touch display.

I think it is already happening. Why would anybody want a full size PC (or even one of those mini boxes), when all they need is a screen, keyboard, and mouse, that will work with their cell phone (or wrist computer or???)? Bluetooth already supports some of that. I have seen a full size, full function, keyboard that rolls up so that it would fit inside of your average coffee cup (sticking out the top). I think it was wireless USB, but even if it isn't, it could be made wireless, or use Bluetooth. Keyboards may be on the way out anyway. I can simply talk to my new cell phone, and it converts voice to text. I agree that that may not be ideal for doing things like spread sheets, or programming, but it could be done. If a mini HDMI connector is added to the phone, it could use any modern TV as a full size (or larger) screen. Convert that to Bluetooth, or some other wireless method, and it would just happen. Eventually, some manufacturer is going to do it. Now, what do you need a desktop computer for? No market = no manufacturing. No manufacturing = no source for such a thing. Of course somebody may build a full size PC, for whatever it costs them plus profit. We will be back to needing a $10,000 (today) computer to even think about running OS/2. Those who have no other choice will pay for it. Your average user will throw up their hands and say "enough, I'm outa here".

Quote
"rewrite the OS and turn it open source" is not an idea - it is a wish"

I agree. I can have an "idea" to travel to the far end of the universe, but that is just a "wish" because it is not possible. Martin, your "idea" is much the same. It is a "wish" because it is not possible.

Quote
We can add things. We can replace single components. We can patch some things. We can build bridges and we could use layers.

Spot on, but you left out implementing "work arounds". "Layers" could include building OS/2 interfaces to the hardware, that OS/2 has no need to know about. See my suggestion about trapping the RAW disk access, and converting it to whatever is needed on both ends of the conversion. I am pretty sure that other things could be done the same way. QSINIT has paved the way, and would seem to be one way of doing that.

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Re: About eComStation Pricing
« Reply #39 on: October 17, 2014, 08:38:33 pm »

This is good. Which are the components? tell me your "wish list" on the "adding things or replacing single components" priority. Which is the specific things that needs to be prioritized? (in your opinion).

Well, I use os/2 (eCS) now for around 20 years. And I have to say my current system, is the best os2 system I ever had during this time.

I'm using a Intel 2700MUD board with DuoCore 2 x 2,1 GHz, onboard graphics and lan.

Here are some details:
http://www.intel.de/content/www/de/de/motherboards/desktop-motherboards/desktop-board-d2700mud.html
http://www.cartft.com/catalog/il/1224

Its a fanless and silent device. I have 4 GB RAM and I use SSD harddisks. Boot time <30sec. USB, LAN and sound is working.

4 GB RAM are more than enough and SSDs are far away from 2 TB limit.


The thing is I used Win and OS2 on one computer years ago and then I also had to choose hardware for both, Win and OS2 or eCS. And this caused trouble. Since some years I just use 2 computers so I'm able to use hardware that doen't need to care about Windows or other systems. And eCS needs no highend hardware I can use a dualcore system with very good performance. For Win/Lin I just use a second computer, but actually I use Win only for some games - I do all work on eCS.


I use eCS on a daily base and I run my business on it.


So at this moment I'm doing pretty fine. Of course there are some things which could be better - and of course there should be a future.

I would like to have better video play support. Holger wrote on os2.org that hes working on bug fixes in Presentation Manager DLLs to make this happen (some VLC problems on multi core systems result from PM bugs and not from VLC itself). Thats damn great. So my first which is a fixed PM and my second thing is a fixed VLC aswell. In general I wish a stable system.


Another thing really bothers me is that I can't read USB sticks (and other devices) if a mate comes around and hes using Win, Lin or Mac. The USB Sticks will be recognized as super floppies and then they don't work without to be partioned and format on os2. There are lot of barriers using USB devices. This should be easier to change data between systems. Same problem for USB mp3 players, cameras, sd cards etc.pp. Generally the combination of USB support and files systems should be much better.

I would also have to better font rendering, better font support with full TrueType and OpenType for usage on screen and print - incl. embedding TT and OT fonts into PDF files using ePDF/Ghostscript. Gostscript supports it but our print system does not (I dont know situation on cups I never - I used it).

A problem I see coming around in near future might be Firefox since the performance of FF is getting slower and slower. This seems to be problem of FF itself and not of the port - FF just tuns into blown software. There are also problems with server scripts and JavaScript. It works ok at this moment (thanks to bitwise) but my computer might be too slow in near future. And new computers leads to new problems. So of course my which is in general good hardware support (a wide field for sure). I don't know what kind of hardware we will have in 5 years so it is hard to say what we need.

Maybe we will need a new TCPIP stack for the next IP, maybe old IPv will be supported aswell.

Other things I would like to have are things on application layer. I would like to have things like DVDFab, a fixed Maul DTP, some missing features at Mesa.


Doug Bissett

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Re: About eComStation Pricing
« Reply #40 on: October 18, 2014, 02:26:53 am »
Quote
Another thing really bothers me is that I can't read USB sticks (and other devices) if a mate comes around and hes using Win, Lin or Mac. The USB Sticks will be recognized as super floppies and then they don't work without to be partioned and format on os2. There are lot of barriers using USB devices. This should be easier to change data between systems. Same problem for USB mp3 players, cameras, sd cards etc.pp. Generally the combination of USB support and files systems should be much better.

It occurs to me that the "large floppy" problem might be fixable by using a device filter (*.FLT) to detect the problem, and put the LVM stuff in front of the drive (but not on the drive), so that LVM will see what it wants, without messing with the drive itself. This would not let you use specific drive letters for the device, but it should work with the drive letter that gets automatically assigned.

Quote
I would also have to better font rendering

I need to ask what: What is wrong with it? I find font rendering to be excellent. It is never perfect (even with Windows, or Linux), because of the nature of the devices that render them. Pixels are of a fixed size, and there isn't much you can do about that, other than to use the settings that the device was designed to use. Most of the time, the visual problems are caused by using a VGA connection, where the device needs to convert the analogue VGA signals to digital. That never works quite right. DVI, on the other hand, always gets the dots lined up properly. There is still some mismatch where characters go around corners, because you can't use part of a dot. Printing has always had that problem because it has always used dots. High resolution is the best answer to those problems.

Quote
I dont know situation on cups I never - I used it

You, and everybody else who has a printer, should try CUPS, even if your printer is not supported. It seems that CUPS is the only hope that we have for future printer support. You don't have to actually use it, you can have multiple drivers installed for the same printer, so you can use the one that works, and see if you can get the CUPS driver to work. When more people try it, and report problems, there is a better chance that problems will get fixed, and it will support more printers in the future. From what I have seen, what gets supported depends a lot on what Apple decides to support, and there are problems when the printer manufacturer supplies a proprietary module to make it work (never supplied for OS/2, and we are not able to "port" them).

Quote
This seems to be problem of FF itself and not of the port

In fact, the current port (FF 24.8.1) is working well. It loads a little slower than the windows equivalent, but once it is operating, it seems to be about the same as on windows. I think it has not been optimized for performance, and still has some debug code in it. Of course, you are right that it is bloatware, and that is also true on all platforms. Older hardware will have problems, unless there is enough memory to keep it from swapping. Otherwise, it seems to be okay. If you are still using old hardware, you probably need to use an older Firefox, but that introduces the possibility that malware might do something bad. That is probably not as dangerous as on windows, but there is still an exposure, and some of the newest tricks may not work right.

Quote
Maybe we will need a new TCPIP stack for the next IP

IPv6 is a bit of a puzzle. It seems to already exist, on other platforms, but I have not, yet, seen anything use it (that could be because I use OS/2, and a router that has the option turned off). It appears that we will not have a problem, until something actually insists on using it, with no alternative. When that will happen, is anybodies guess. Meanwhile, that is another thing that is approaching the top of the list. I think we are safe, for a while, simply because there is so much old hardware, and software, out there that won't work with it.

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Re: About eComStation Pricing
« Reply #41 on: October 18, 2014, 04:37:36 pm »
I would also have to better font rendering, better font support with full TrueType and OpenType for usage on screen and print - incl. embedding TT and OT fonts into PDF files using ePDF/Ghostscript. Gostscript supports it but our print system does not (I dont know situation on cups I never - I used it).

My FT2IFI on Hobbes allows support for OpenType, at least as a beta.  (It doesn't work with all fonts, still trying to debug why that is.)

My PSPRINT driver supports TrueType embedding, I've been planning to update it to handle OpenType as well but that will take a while. It doesn't support subsetting, that's something I hope to look at eventually as well someday but I'm pretty sure it's incredibly hard to do.

Fr4nk

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Re: About eComStation Pricing
« Reply #42 on: October 20, 2014, 08:21:02 am »
@Doug
Quote
You, and everybody else who has a printer, should try CUPS

I will do but days have only 24 hours. I'm a bit tired of these ports where you have to search around for required packages and where you have to create half unix tree below your hood (correct me if I'm wrong with cups).  An alternative for me is PostScript with ppd import. I hope this will work on new printers as well, and there we have a well fashioned driver model. I know things will not proceed if there are no users reporting bugs.
I'll give it a try some day If I find time.

Quote
I need to ask what: What is wrong with it? I find font rendering to be excellent.

Ok - you are right - topic font rendering is really not on first priority.

Anyway some thought about this:
There is plain font rendering without anti aliasing. I think this works pretty good if you use the right fonts. Especially Warpsans is working really good without anti aliasing and I agree - this is the first choice. I like the grainy view. It is great for the desktop itself and it also saves system resources. Ok on modern computers you will not notice any performance problems with anti aliasing on desktop but its wasting of resources anyway.

But then there is anti aliasing you need for desktop publishing, image editors or html rendering, and sometimes it is bad and sometimes good. And most font rendering with anti aliasing I saw on OS2 is bad compared with other platforms. E.g. aa seems to effect the spacing on characters or the aa is not steady going. Text is showing up like using a bad working diffuser. E.g. on Linux Ubuntu I have much better anti aliasing.

But this might be off topic here since it is application stuff (at least on OS2).

@Alex
Quote
My FT2IFI on Hobbes allows support for OpenType, at least as a beta.  (It doesn't work with all fonts, still trying to debug why that is.)

My PSPRINT driver supports TrueType embedding,

Yes and I appreciate your work. I wasn't able to embed TT fonts into a PDF with your driver yet. My apologize that I didn't wrote a ticket. As soon as I find time I will re-check the latest version. I haven't tested FT2IFI (wasn't aware of it)  - thanks for your tip!

« Last Edit: October 20, 2014, 08:23:52 am by Fr4nk »

Doug Bissett

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Re: About eComStation Pricing
« Reply #43 on: October 20, 2014, 06:15:01 pm »
Quote
I will do but days have only 24 hours.

I am still looking for a source of 36 hour days. No luck yet.   :(

Quote
I'm a bit tired of these ports where you have to search around for required packages and where you have to create half unix tree below your hood (correct me if I'm wrong with cups).

Well, you are partly wrong. There is a WarpIn installer for the older CUPS (v 1.4.8 ), which works pretty well. It is not really a unix tree, in the sense that RPM/YUM does it, but there is a pretty good size tree, mostly kept in it's own base directory (they seem to want to put it on your boot drive, but it works a LOT better when it is on another drive IMO). You do need to add a few other base directories for Ghostscript (which must be in the root of the drive where CUPS is installed), and whatever other support you may need (HPLIP, SPLIX). The WarpIn installer looks after getting CUPS itself installed. Then, there is the CUPSGUI program, that is used to create an OS/2 printer object. That seems to be a hit and miss thing. Sometimes it works perfectly, and sometimes it doesn't. CUPS is controlled by using your browser.

There is now a CUPS version 2.0.0, that I haven't managed to get going (close, but not quite there yet). It doesn't, yet, have a WarpIn installer, and there seem to be some bugs that haven't been worked out yet. It is one of Paul Smedley's projects, and he has the same 24 hour days that the rest of us are stuck with. Paul does so many things for the OS/2 world, that he tends to be a little slow at getting everything done, that people demand.

CUPS itself comes from Apple, and is used extensively in the *NIX world. Unfortunately, being a *NIX program, it tends to be bloated, with far more "options" than are really necessary. It also has some strange interaction with real *NIX systems, sometimes.

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An alternative for me is PostScript with ppd import.

Unfortunately, not all printers support that, so something else needs to massage the data into something that can be used. That is basically what CUPS does. The "problem" arises when the printer manufacturer makes a closed source module to make their printer work, or when CUPS doesn't have a translation module for a specific printer. The bottom line is, that OS/2 users need to be very careful when they buy a new printer (which has always been the case).

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But this might be off topic here since it is application stuff (at least on OS2).

Nothing OS/2 is off topic here (within the rules of the forums), but a new thread might be a good idea. Alex is the font expert in our world.

Paul Smedley

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Re: About eComStation Pricing
« Reply #44 on: October 21, 2014, 10:12:43 am »
There is now a CUPS version 2.0.0, that I haven't managed to get going (close, but not quite there yet). It doesn't, yet, have a WarpIn installer, and there seem to be some bugs that haven't been worked out yet. It is one of Paul Smedley's projects, and he has the same 24 hour days that the rest of us are stuck with. Paul does so many things for the OS/2 world, that he tends to be a little slow at getting everything done, that people demand.

Gotta say - I'm not sure how to interpret the above..... in particular the section I've highlighted in italics..............................