Messages

1

Programming / Re: Increasing MDOS Environment limit

« on: August 21, 2024, 03:50:33 pm »

There is light at the end of the tunnel. You may use the SET command to produce larger environment variables.

Similarly for the PATH= line you could add SET PATH=%PATH% line(s) as follows:

Code: [Select]

PATH=H:\OS2\MDOS;H:\OS2;H:\;H:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;H:\TCPIP\DOS\BIN;H:\SYS\MDOS\BIN;
SET PATH=%PATH%E:\WIM\STUDIE\MDOS;G:\ENVIRON;
ND.COM H:\OS2\MDOS /E:1024 in my CONFIG.SYS.

Referencing %PATH% will concatenate the PATH statement with the SET statement, it will not overcome the PATH statement's 128 characters size limitation.  Starting with DOS 6, you could overcome this limitation using a SET statement in config.sys

2

Programming / Re: Increasing MDOS Environment limit

« on: August 17, 2024, 11:43:54 pm »

Is there some setting that I am missing to increase this limit in DOS and Win-OS/2 sessions?

If you ever figure out a solution, please post a follow up.   

What I do to get around the path statement limitation is to set up a seamless win-os2 session icon for the Windows application.  I then store a separate autoexec.bat in the application's directory and reference this in the application icon's WIN-OS2 "DOS_AUTOEXEC" setting.

3

Virtualization / Re: ArcaOS 5.1 on Apple Silicone

« on: May 17, 2024, 04:28:38 pm »

I also can't stand Broadcom.  I have 1.5 years remaining on my vSphere Essentials license, but have already moved to Proxmox because Broadcom now wants to charge me $9,000 USD annually for what was once a $350 product plus $75 annual maintenance.

I have also been licensing VMware Workstation Pro which I have been using with OS/2 (and SCO/Win/DOS).  OS/2 works very well on Workstation Pro with two SCSI tape autoloaders I have been using with BusLogic virtual SCSI adapters. 

I read yesterday that Broadcom has released Workstation Pro as freeware for non commercial use.  This is a big win as I have been paying $99/year maintenance on each of my licenses. 

I suspect there will be little to no future investment in Workstation Pro, but Broadcom only needs to maintain its kernel module source to allow continued use of the product into the future.

4

Programming / Re: OpenDOC - Source Code

« on: April 30, 2024, 12:26:15 am »

I recall speaking with Carla Hanzlik, Sundial Systems, regarding Taligent and OpenDoc's People, Places, and Things metaphor.  Sundial Systems had a lot of time invested in Taligent and it was believed Relish version 3 would incorporate its technology.   

A variety of interconnected remote users, collaborative work spaces, data and objects disbursed throughout a network. Developers would write helper components that operate on different types of data instead of writing full applications.  OpenDoc would be the common component interchange glue.  This would eliminate monolithic applications and software suites.  Essentially, someone can assemble their own software suite using individual components that are part of the operating environment.

I believe the OpenDoc framework was developed by an alliance with Apple, IBM, and Motorola to counter Microsoft's growing dominance.  HP also had some ownership and contributed IP.  While Apple was developing their own OS utilizing OpenDoc, IBM had planned to use the framework within its Workplace OS and planned a Taligent personality module.

5

Events / Re: ArcaOS 5.0.8 is out!

« on: June 05, 2023, 12:06:19 am »

My upgrade from 5.0.7 halted on the first reboot with an error my config.sys LIBPATH statement wasn't acceptable.  After removing my application directories, the upgrade continued.   

After the upgrade completed, booting produced errors with USBMOUSE.SYS and USBKBD.SYS not loading due to the USBHID driver not being found.  Both of these drivers had been added to the tail of my config.sys.  Since I am not using serial but rather USB mode for my mouse and keyboard, I have removed these from my config.sys. 

Everything now appears to be working fine.

6

Utilities / Re: Intersolv/ODBC

« on: April 21, 2023, 05:36:39 pm »

If you already have an ODBC manager and administrator installed, and have an ODBCINST.INI file, you can always use an INI editor to clone/edit any new entries.

I can't seem to find ODBCINST3.ZIP, but I have attached the ODBCINST2.ZIP file which automates the installation of the same demo ODBC drivers.

If someone has ODBCINST3.ZIP, it would be nice to have this uploaded to Hobbes.

7

Utilities / Re: Intersolv/ODBC

« on: April 19, 2023, 03:59:26 am »

Do you know if the demo Intersolv SQL Server ODBC driver is available somewhere?

The Intersolv Microsoft SQL Server ODBC driver was not available in version 3.01, only in version 2.11.

Intersolv 2.11 SQL Server IVSS08.DLL  9/27/95
Intersolv 2.11 SQL Server IBSS08.DLL 7/15/96

The driver is included in both the DAX11.ZIP (IBSS08.DLL) and ODBCDEMO.ZIP (IVSS08.DLL) files on Hobbes.

I have been using the Sybase OS/2 Client SYBOS2.ZIP with SQL Server v.6.5 and v.4.2x

You can use the ODBC Installer ODBCINST3.ZIP to install the Intersolv driver.  This can also be found on Hobbes.  You must have ObjectRexx installed and enabled on your machine for the Installer to work.

8

Utilities / Re: Intersolv/ODBC

« on: April 18, 2023, 03:06:31 am »

I made the same mistake.  I purchased the Intersolv DataDirect ODBC Pack that's currently for sale on eBay.   System requirements identifies OS/2.

I recall reading somewhere (Douglas Clark?) that Intersolv never sold retail an OS/2 ODBC Pack.  The OS/2 ODBC Pack was bundled with the Q+E/Intersolv Developer's ToolKit.   If you did have the drivers, you would still have the challenge of obtaining the required client software, such as the impossible to find 32-bit dblib.dll needed for the Q+E SQL Server driver. 

I have been using Rexx/SQL ODBC with the demo Intersolv SQL Server ODBC driver.  Has been working well for me.

9

Utilities / Re: HPFS386.IFS

« on: March 07, 2023, 05:04:30 pm »

I still use it.  OS/2 binaries are tiny so the smaller HPFS partition size limitation isn't an issue with me.  Performance is also fine on modern hardware.  I did play with a JFS partition once, but the backup software/agent I use (ARCserve) couldn't see the file system. 

I still remember the day back in '94 when I downloaded the HPFS386 files from Compuserve, using Golden Compass, to install on my Warp 3 system's Compaq 386/20 60MB hard drive. 

10

Applications / Re: ssh - sshd

« on: January 09, 2023, 02:07:47 am »

Haven't used OpenSSH server on OS/2, but the v.5.3 client worked well as did OS/2 ZOC with Linux OpenSSH v.7 servers.   It seems OpenSSH v.8.9 server, which I'm now using on my Linux machines, no longer allows a workaround for the older key exchanges/ciphers supported by OS/2.  Was using diffie-hellman and DSA with overrides in sshd_config, but these no longer work with OpenSSH v.8 with my config overrides.

Recently installed the OS/2 v.7 OpenSSH client, but I preferred using ZOC.  I need to look into the possibility of not passing my OS/2 term environment variable "os2ansi" with SSH as this causing me issues in Linux (e.g., seeing junk characters using vi).   

Update:  I manually set ANSI for my SSH session which helped with vi, but keyboard mapping is borked while working in vi.   Keyboard mapping is on the client side, so something is off on my v.7 OS/2 SSH client. I'll come back to this in the future as I don't need SSH on OS/2. 

11

Applications / Re: HOBLink and ArcaOS

« on: January 09, 2023, 01:20:59 am »

If anyone is able to use a modern browser via an OS/2 Xserver please post your config.   I have tried both Chrome and Falkon and ran into issues with modern Xserver extensions not being supported in PMX and HOBLink servers (e.g., MIT screen saver and shared memory extensions).   

I have tried to disable the extensions in xorg.conf without success.   For example, for the MIT-SHM shared memory extension, I added the following to xorg.conf which should have disabled the extension but the browsers still choked when starting:

  Section "Extensions"
      Option "MIT-SHM" "disable"
  EndSection

I wanted to try Exceed for OS/2, but unfortunately my floppies have been sitting too long and disk-2 and disk-5 have read errors preventing an installation without corruption.  Tried recovering the two disks with ddrescue without success.   Exceed for OS/2 is also very old and wouldn't resolve the issues with newer extensions.

12

General Discussion / Re: SCOUG

« on: January 09, 2023, 12:57:04 am »

Hi JTA,

SCOUG is still alive and well.  We did stop meetings back in 2020 due to Covid, but hope to soon have live meetings again.  For now, you can join the SCOUG mail list by sending an email to MajorMajor@scoug.com with the following in the email body:

      SUBSCRIBE SCOUG-HELP
      END

I believe Neil Waldhauer (BlondGuy) coordinates an OS/2 group in Northern CA.   

- Sean

13

General Discussion / Re: OS/2 ... Working Today, and most likely, Working Tomorrow

« on: January 08, 2023, 05:52:07 pm »

This reminds me of the once Holy Grail of operating systems I once dreamed of using - IBM's Workplace OS with its various "personalities".   I recall OS/400, OS/2, AIX and Windows were the initial personalities implemented on Workplace OS.  Sadly, Workplace OS only made it to a preview build before being cancelled. 

Microsoft Windows was once headed in the same direction, having distinct Win32, OS/2 and POSIX subsystems.  I still use Windows 2000 where I have used all three.

14

Applications / Re: VLC3018 IDN11.DLL

« on: January 08, 2023, 05:28:27 pm »

Ivan - I am a convert on RPM/YUM/Acra Noae Package Manager.  I didn't like it at first and I am still annoyed at not being able to specify the install location of packages, but the benefits so outweigh the deficits.  The system is actually pretty amazing: you can get access to, and install, applications and libraries that you need - along with updates - and it is really pretty painless (when you pay attention to the menu options, which obviously I didn't.)

ANPM is nice, but ANPM and YUM seem to be missing key functionality.   

A couple of days ago I wanted to install the long term support version of the samba client (samba-client-lts).  When installing, ANPM identified two additional packages to install, heimdal and heimdal-libs.   I stopped the install and looked to ANPM to report what dependencies were needed for the samba package, but I found that ANPM does not report package dependencies.   I then went to a command line and typed "yum deplist samba-client-lts" and no dependencies were reported, but ANPM would not install the samba client without also installing the two heimdal packages.  Also, while ANPM did generate a log file for the samba package installation, I didn't see both heimdal package installations in the log?

As I'm accustomed to using APT and only use YUM on ArcaOS, there might be other ways of navigating and reporting package management on ArcaOS?

15

Storage / Re: Cloning a drive

« on: October 14, 2022, 08:36:12 pm »

I have read in this forum people successfully cloning drives using DFSee.   

I have cloned OS/2 two different ways, once using Acronis Cyber Backup 12.5 with a bit-stream backup where the target remained the same partition size for OS/2.  The second method I made a zip backup of the source OS/2 partition.  I then did a fresh install of OS/2 into a second (i.e., D-drive) partition on a new drive.  Booting into OS/2, I formatted a larger C-drive partition and then restored my OS/2 backup.  I was using the AiR-BOOT manager.