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Messages - Doug Bissett

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16
General Discussion / Re: Firefox or Dooble for the OS2World Forum
« on: August 31, 2023, 01:36:03 am »
I have been using Dooble, for most browsing recently, but it is not very user friendly. I tdoes work fine with OS2world, as it is. It also works fine with Firefox, so don't go breaking something for no reason.

17
General Discussion / Re: when will version 5.1 of ArcaOS be released
« on: August 28, 2023, 12:39:18 am »
Looks as if the Arca Noae main server has not been updated (or: upgraded?) to handle the expected traffic :( . Apparently that is not included in the "steps to upgrade our infrastructure", although everybody must log in on that server in order to be able to click on the upgrade button.

It was, but not enough to handle the unexpected number of users.

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Is there anything in it that is a 'must have' option?

That depends on what you mean by 'must have'. If you are happy with what you have, probably not (and I understand that there will be a 5.0.9 release). The biggies are:
  • Better support foe DOS/WinOS2.
  • Support to run on modern (EFI) hardware. (required for the DOS/WinOS2 support).
There are more things, but most are included in the 5.0.x updates. If you don't need those things, installing 5.1 will not do much different than installing 5.0.8 will do.

18
Applications / Re: Registry editor
« on: July 11, 2023, 01:07:56 am »
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I think you are using the wrong tool to read the ini file.
.

No. REGEDIT2.EXE is a proper registry file editor (doesn't mean that it doesn't have a bug), and it has nothing to do with Peter Moylan's work.

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I'm using \OS2\SYSTEM\REGEDIT2.EXE. If I open the HINI_USER_PROFILE, then all is well. But if I open the OS2.INI file on another drive, then the REGEDIT2 closes with a new entry created in POPUPLOG.OS2.

I am not getting a POPUPLOG.OS2, but the INI file has been modified by other things.

The first thing, that I would try, is a different INI editor. I have used some of them (from HOBBRS), in the past, but don't have one installed now.

19
Events / Re: AN posted pricing for 5.1
« on: June 19, 2023, 10:14:46 pm »
Doug thank you for your concern but I have weighted the pros and cons.

You probably thought about it. Many will blindly upgrade, without considering what they are doing. Don't get me wrong, ArcaOS 5.1 is a huge step forward (with a few minor backward steps), if you have the hardware to run it (it does install, and run, without UEFI, but it is basically 5.0.8, when you do that), or if you want/need one of the new features. Otherwise, you are spending money to keep Arca Noae in business (not a bad thing). Arca Noae is continuing to support the 5.0.x line, for a reason.

20
Events / Re: AN posted pricing for 5.1
« on: June 19, 2023, 07:11:55 pm »
Doug, It is your money, it is your decision. Just like it is my money and it is my decision.

True, but be sure that you are making an informed decision

I did forget to mention multiple languages will be available. Apparently not all of them are ready to go, and won't be available immediately.

I will also be upgrading to 5.1 as soon as it's available. I have the 5.0.8 update installed but I'm looking forward to the improved DOS/WinOS2 support. Plus, as already mentioned, it will help Arca Noae to continue development. So for those reasons, the modest upgrade price is well worth it for me.

Tony.

The DOS/WinOS2 support only works in UEFI mode. If your machine doesn't support UEFI, it isn't going to change anything.

You are correct, that purchasing a copy will help support the overall effort, but it may not make sense to upgrade, if you can't make use of the new features.

Note the terminology:
UPDATE: change drom a 5.0.x version to a later 5.0.x version.
UPGRADE: Change from a 5.0.x version to a 5.1.x version.

21
Events / Re: AN posted pricing for 5.1
« on: June 19, 2023, 07:18:46 am »
Well it would keep Arca Noae running. 5.08 installed on my systems. By the way. but I am going to upgrade. Just having a non buggy way to install with a NVMe is worth a lot to me.
So we have pricing but my question is - is there anything earth shattering that would make me want to buy it, considering my practise of 'if it isn't broke, don't fix it'.  5.0.7 works on my computer and does everything I want so I am not considering upgrading  unless there is something outstanding in the new version.

Whether you want to spend more for ArcaOS 5.1, depends exactly what you already have, and what 5.1 will do for you that 5.0.8 won't do. The main things are better DOS/WinOS2  support, and support for some (hopefully most) UEFI machines. You can also boot from GPT disks.

Some things will not work. Doodle Screen Saver can no longer use the DPMS support to turn off screens (apparently it is on the todo list, but not near the top). That is okay for screens that have a switch, but laptops don't turn the screen off (I, personally, see that as a minor regression).

NVME install is probably no different than what 5.0.8 does. I don't know of any problems with that, other than you may need to change he order of the drivers, to make the drive order what you want. I have no idea how the installer could read your mind, and do it the way that you want to do it. The installer does it in the way that most people would want it done.

22
Applications / Re: Rsync and eaclean
« on: April 01, 2023, 04:02:45 pm »
Would there be a downside to cleaning off those libc-based EA from my entire drive? If libc puts them in, there must be an advantage to having them.

I wouldn't do the whole drive. Icons are kept in EAs. As I said, PMMail does not use EAs (Libc may create them), so it is perfectly safe to remove them from the PMMail mail store.

23
Applications / Re: Rsync and eaclean
« on: March 31, 2023, 03:54:51 am »
Just for the record, PMMail does not use EAs. Using RSync to copy the mail store does add EAs to every file.

I don't know why that would cause RSync to use more time to transfer the files.

24
What Dave said...

quote]Well - I fought with installing ArcaOS for quite a while on that Dell Precision M60.  ArcaOS would boot, then it would say I have to "fix" the partition on the drive -- but then that would fail, saying it couldn't fix it.     Don't have a photo, so I forget the exact wording.    The only way I could get it to go was to blast away all existing partitions using a GPARTED boot CD (it previously had Windows7 installed on the drive -- probably partitioned to use the entire drive since it's only an 80GB).  The stock ArcaOS installer wasn't giving me options to delete any existing partitions.[/quote]

The "fix" thing indicates that you have not properly partitioned the drive. READ the appropriate information at the Arca Noae wiki (link posted earlier). You do need to create properly aligned partitions (done by using MiniLVM). There are tools (based on DFSEE) to handle various disk problems.

25
Quote
I tried a Gateway Solo Pentium III with 288MB RAM (system from about 1998)
  I can use CD-ROM to boot GPARTED,  [ confirm CD-ROM is working ]
  but I can't use DVD-R disc to boot ArcaOS    [ drive on the side is labeled "DVD" etched in the plastic, so not a CD-ROM drive-only issue ]
  Can't get USB boot working (BIOS only offers ATAPI Removeable media, perhaps it means the PCMCIA card slot?)
  The system has 2x USB slots on the side - I also tried an external USB-DVD drive to boot ArcaOS, but that didn't work either

That machine should work (I seem to recall that Gateway did not make very good machines, so it may not), but will be pretty much useless (not enough memory). If the drive really is a DVD drive, it should boot, IF the machine is smart enough to do it. My similar vintage IBM ThinkPad A22e (with 256 MB memory, and DVD RW drive) installs ArcaOS, with no trouble. A few years ago, I tried to run the current Firefox (probably around version 20, at that time). It took 20 minutes to get to a blank home page. Forget PCMCIA, it is far more trouble than it is worth. ATAPI removeable probably means CD, or DVD. USB should also work, but it seems that the machine is not smart enough to boot from USB. You need to determine if the drive really is a DVD drive, and that it works properly.

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I tried a Dell Precision M60 (circa 2001/2002)
  Boot GPARTED CD, deleted ALL partitions  (80GB old PATA drive)
  System has F12 Boot Menu, selected USB Device
  Booted ArcaOS from USB 2GB thumbdrive
  Made 20GB Startable partition (JFS)
  ArcaOS install went to 100%   [ system beeped at 3% and 47%, not sure why ]
  Reboot worked, ArcaOS loaded from HDD (and audio worked!)
  Haven't tested networking yet - but excited to be able to try some OS/2 again!

This sounds like a candidate. First thing: put the GPARTED CD out of reach. It is okay to prove that you can boot from a CD, but DO NOT EVER use anything other than the tools in ArcaOS to partition disk drives that will be used with ArcaOS.

The beeps are part of the original OS/2 installer. Ignore them.

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I tried a Shuttle XPS with Pentium E2180 CPU with 4GB RAM, 1TB SATA SSD  (circa 2007 system)
  [ the Shuttle XPS is some integrated IPS heatsink thing for the CPU, small motherboard - think a bit
    smaller or more narrow than ATX; motherboard also has floppy disk (1x), PATA/IDE, and 2x SATA ]

I don't know anything about that machine. I suspect it is one of those things that need some special handling (or it just doesn't work).

For now, Learn on the DELL. You probably should do some serious reading at: https://www.arcanoae.com/wiki/, and ask more questions.

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Is it possible to make a CD-ROM install of ArcaOS ?  (sorry brand new here - didn't search yet )

It should be possible, but you had better know what you are doing if you want to try it. I suggest forgetting that approach.

26
Hardware / Re: USB wifi adapters
« on: February 16, 2023, 06:29:43 am »
To expand, a bit, on what Neil said:

I expect that the Mango works well, but it is limited by a 100 Mbs network connection. That limits you to 100 Mbs.

I got a GL-AR750s (https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-ar750s/), which has 3, Gbit interfaces (read the docs), and that allows you to operate at the full speed that the wiFi is capable of. It is a router, that can connect to the internet through a modem, or another router, using either wired, or WiFi connections. It is dual band (2.4, and 5) which can be useful.

At the time that I got the GL-AR750s, it was the only one that had Gbit interfaces. I expect that more of those things have that now, but watch for it.

27
Hardware / Re: Some successful installs with ArcaOS 5.0
« on: January 28, 2023, 06:13:36 pm »
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Have to follow standard guidance... disable AHCI in BIOS, delete all partitions on the drive before installing, etc.

I really don't know where you got this "guidance" (it certainly is not "standard"). AHCI works fine (and is noticably faster than IDE), as long as the computer (hardware) supports it. If you aren't sure, add driver support for both AHCI, and IDE, and ArcaOS will use whatever it finds first (looking for AHCI first, by default).

Deleting all partitions on the drive, is not required, as long as you use the ArcaOS tools (and nothing else) to rearrange what exists.

It is true, that ArcaOS 5.0 probably doesn't contain enough help, but https://www.arcanoae.com/wiki/ has some information, that may not be in the included docs. It is MUST reading for anybody using ArcaOS, especially when you are new to it.

28
Hardware / Re: Some successful installs with ArcaOS 5.0
« on: January 28, 2023, 03:41:29 am »
Well, ArcaoS 5.0 is ancient history. The current version is ArcaOS 5.0.7. which contains a LOT of fixes.

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Have to follow standard guidance... disable AHCI in BIOS, delete all partitions on the drive before installing, etc.

This is probably not required, and should not be required.

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Hope this might help someone out there.....

If you want to help, at least use the current version.

29
Personally, I have OS/2 working well, and it does almost everything that I need to do. The biggest problem is "modern", so called (I don't believe it) "secure" web sites. Our ancient Firefox is becoming less useful every day. Dooble has some improvement, but it is far from being usable, and some web sites won't accept it because it isn't based on Google Chrome (one of the main "spyware" programs). That sort of thing is the main "problem" with OS/2 today. Most of that is outside of our control, and it does take time, and a lot of effort, to catch up.
I hate to break it to you, but Dooble uses qtwebengine, which uses chromium as it's engine - same as Chrome....

Yes, I know that, and it is one of the reasons why I am not too excited about Dooble. I find a LOT of network access to Amazon, and Google, web sites is blocked by my firewall. Fortunately, blocking that stuff (along with the various offensive governments) doesn't affect the web content much, but the blocking (mostly on the way out) is pretty consistent.

30
I don't want to argue. I also don't want to say that you don't know what you are talking about. So far, all I've seen is a sales pitch, no suggestions about what would improve things. A couple of years ago, somebody promised us that he was going to "fix" OS/2. He has gone away, never to be heard from again. Why? I don't know, but I suspect he was all talk, and no knowledge. Your suggestion that virtual machines are the answer has been hashed around, for years. It is NOT the answer. It is  a fall back, when nothing else works.

So, here is the challenge.  Offer to help with solutions, and we will see if you really do know what you are talking about.

Personally, I have OS/2 working well, and it does almost everything that I need to do. The biggest problem is "modern", so called (I don't believe it) "secure" web sites. Our ancient Firefox is becoming less useful every day. Dooble has some improvement, but it is far from being usable, and some web sites won't accept it because it isn't based on Google Chrome (one of the main "spyware" programs). That sort of thing is the main "problem" with OS/2 today. Most of that is outside of our control, and it does take time, and a lot of effort, to catch up.

OS/2 still has a couple of ancient programs that are better than anything any other OS has available today. Another part of the "problem" is that users seem to think that ported programs are preferable, and that is partly driven by older OS/2 software being "abandoned" by their creators (usually by death), but not being released to the world, or passed on to somebody else.

I find it interesting that programs got a lot bigger, when programmers started being paid by the number of lines of code produced, rather than the quality of the final result. That is complicating the porting process. One other problem, is that many companies produce something new, and they won't tell us how it works, so we can't produce support (especially drivers). We can get some, but not all, of that from the *NIX world, with some serious work.

The bottom line is that we don't have many (enough) good programmers, who know what they are doing, and that makes it difficult to do anything useful.

So, what is the solution?

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