Hi.
Some days ago I sent this wishlist to Arca Noae as part of their "So, what would you like to see next?" post.
I got a reply from Lewis that I will also like to share on the forum. The unquoted this are Lewis replies.
> Subject: So, what would you like to see next?
>
> Message Body:
> Dear Arca Noae
>
> I discussed on the OS2World forum a Wishlist for the platform.
>
> http://www.os2world.com/forum/index.php?topic=581.msg5496#msg5496
>
> I can summary the wish list on this:
>
Quick responses, and yes, you may quote me on these if you like. My answers are along the lines of what Arca Noae is likely to develop or bring to market:
> DRIVERS
>
> ACPI:
> Activate external screen/projector using function keys (related to (2) above)
> Suspend/resume (for those with laptops)
>
David is working on improving this code. I would direct you to the Arca Noae roadmap:
https://www.arcanoae.com/roadmap/and the ACPI wiki:
https://www.arcanoae.com/wiki/acpi/(I see that we currently do not have any mention of ACPI on the roadmap, but it should probably be added.)
> Video Drivers:
> Updated SNAP
> SNAP for integrated Intel video with Multihead (3 times 1920x1200 resolution)
> Panorama: Resolution change without reboot support.
> Panorama: Support for the external VGA/HDMI port to connect it without reboot.
>
We currently do not have licensing for SNAP. The further development of this code is presently out of our hands.
Panorama:
- Resolution change without reboot is a limitation of OS/2, not Panorama. Thus, there is nothing which Panorama can do about this. I do not expect to ever see a change in the underlying OS to support on-the-fly changes in resolution.
- Not sure about the involvement of Panorama insofar as video port hardware is concerned. Unlike SNAP, Panorama is a VESA-only component, talking to the VESA BIOS and not controlling the hardware directly, so I do not believe it has the capability to handle such devices.
Please see the wiki:
https://www.arcanoae.com/wiki/panorama/> WLAN adapter drivers
> Intel adapters
>
On the roadmap:
https://www.arcanoae.com/roadmap/though not yet on the wiki:
https://www.arcanoae.com/wiki/multimac/> Bluetooth
>
We are looking into the feasibility of this.
> USB3
>
Under investigation:
https://www.arcanoae.com/roadmap/https://www.arcanoae.com/wiki/usb/ (not yet, as this support is not present in the driver)
> Audio
> Multiple sound streams for UniAud (my pet peeve)
>
I will pass this along to David. It is surely a reasonable request.
> UEFI and GPT support.
>
GPT is under investigation:
https://www.arcanoae.com/roadmap/UEFI is a concern, but we haven't yet started talking about how to handle the next generation of systems which will likely be without legacy support (there are some now, but better boards still retain the ability to boot "normally"). We will add this to our roadmap when we have at least a strategy.
> APPLICATIONS
>
> VBOX
> new VBOX with clipboard and full network support
>
No direct plans. I've thrown this idea to the developers we have at hand to see if anyone is interested and willing to get to it. By "full network support," I assume this implies shared folders for OS/2 guests. Clipboard for OS/2 hosts? (Clipboard works under OS/2 guest on Linux - for me, at least.)
> SeaMonkey
> Improve the performance of it.
> Solid Javascript running.
>
This would naturally grow out of bww's work on Firefox, which is not under our control. You'd have to ask our friends at bww.
> Apache Open Office
> free all mem when closing and with fixed 'sticky window' ticket
> Free OpenOffice from the Innotek Font Engine, which is crippling it.
>
You'd have to ask our friends at bww.
> cmd.exe
> More than 8k (more than 80x100 char buffer)
>
Likely part of the 4OS2 project. We have no sources for IBM's cmd.exe (which is horribly broken in a number of respects).
> Editors
> Up to date VisualSlickEdit
>
I've asked our development team to look at this.
> OpenGL
>
I've asked our development team to look at this.
> TCPIP v6 stack
>
I've asked our development team to look at this.
> Video Conference App
> Skype
>
Skype is closed source, AFAIK. However, a good video conferencing app is surely something we'd like to do at some point in time.
http://www.wired.com/2014/09/tox/https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2012-05-01-microsoft.markdownJitsi may be a reasonable alternative:
https://jitsi.org/Again, we have no current plans. When we do, we will add it to our roadmap.
> Java Update
>
You'd have to ask our friends at bww.
> PMMail
> Make PMMail able to directly display Unicode text (a weakness which is rapidly rendering it unusable for modern work).
>
This is an independent project:
http://pmmail.os2voice.org> GUI IMPROVEMENTS
> http://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Comments_and_Suggestions_about_eComStation_User_Experience
>
> The "quiet" boot.
> The Boot Logo Animation
> GUI - The Navigator
> GUI – The Desktop Structure
> Installed Apps Shortcuts Reorganization
> GUI – Icon Format
> GUI – eCenter Size / Icon Size
> Directory and File Structure
> The User Files Structure
> Improved GUI Themes.
> Save As / Open file dialog box (Open source)
> Copy/Replace File Dialogs updates
> The tray configuration (very simple)
> Updating the Launchpad.
> Revive "the monster" - XWorkplace.
>
XWP is currently under development (by the maintainer and others, not by Arca Noae).
All the rest of these either fall under the purview of the operating system publisher (XEU) or might be considered by various other WPS enhancers. We presently have no plans to update any of these components, other than the desktop enhancements offered by eCo Software, which may become available in our store:
https://www.arcanoae.com/shop/> SYSTEM LIMITATIONS
>
> Solving the shared memory problem
>
We can try to work around it, but the OS/2 memory model was simply not designed for the type of code we find ourselves running on the platform these days. Without a rewrite of the kernel, a real solution is not likely. We have no current plans for this.
> Fixed FPE (floating point exception (?) which crashes QT and other apps)
> (Libc066 has a fix/workaround for this, apps will need rebuilding)
>
Some of our developers seem to be doing different things about this, but we currently have no direct project to address it.
> SERVICES
> Hardware reference list of the "supported devices" to run with eComStation/OS/2 Warp with Arca Noae's Drivers products.
>
This has been requested, and we are working on providing a facility for this. I'll update the roadmap with news.
> Please remember that this is just a wish list constructed by some of the member of the OS2World forum and I'm sending it to you for your evaluation.
>
And I'm glad you did!
Cheers, my friend.