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Topics - Rich Walsh

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1
Applications / XWP v1.0.16
« on: November 06, 2023, 06:36:20 am »
XWP v1.0.16 introduces some of the most significant Desktop usability improvements in years.

New Features
  • Text Size
    With two clicks and a reboot, you can now set the text in folders, menus, titlebars, notebooks, and most dialogs to a size you can read. Use the first page of the Desktop's Properties notebook to try it out. In Test Mode, changing the text size will cause the notebook to resize and redraw itself so you can see what that size looks like. No changes will be made to your system until shutdown, so you can undo this at any time before then.

    Developed in conjunction with Alex Taylor, this feature relies on Alex's extended-size versions of 'System Proportional' and 'WarpSans'. The latest versions available will be installed by WarpIn if they appear to be newer than your current versions.

    Note: Text Size itself only affects programs that are aware of it. These include system components like PM, the WPS, XWP, Dynamic Icons, and a few others. Use Alex's newly-released Styler v1.20 to extend its reach to 3rd-party dialogs that don't specify a text size.

  • Large Icons in XCenter
    XCenter's Properties notebook now gives you a choice of Large (full-size) or Mini (half-size) icons. The WinList widget extends this by letting you set its icon size separately from XCenter and by giving you the choice of text, icons, or both on its buttons.

  • Low Battery Alert
    The Battery widget now has a Properties page to set up the widget's new alert. Set the level at which a warning should pop up (e.g. at 15%), and optionally, set follow-up warnings whenever the level drops another specified percent (say, 5%).

Updates and Bugfixes
  • XStartup
    Large parts of the XStartup code have been rewritten for improved reliability. It should no longer be necessary to impose a long delay to ensure the first object starts properly. XStartup's notebook page has also been updated with XWP-Full's Boot Logo option getting its own page.

  • XWP Help
    A Table of Contents has been added to the XWP Help system to organize its many pages into 21 top-level topics. Expanding a topic displays all relevant pages with no further nesting. Also, features not included in XWP-Lite should no longer appear in its Help file.

  • Other Changes

    • XShutdown has been revised to invoke Text Size's shutdown processing when updates occur. Related code has been refactored.

    • An undocumented setup string has been added to XFldDesktop to enable Styler and other shutdown utilities to invoke Text Size's shutdown processing when changes are pending.

    • 'xwptrap.log' has been partially reformatted to make it less verbose.

    • 'h2i.exe' which converts HTML help to .INF format has been revised to support an optional "Table of Contents" mode.

    • 'xunlock.exe' has been added to the distro to ensure scripts always have access to an "unlock" utility. It returns 0 if the file is now unlocked and >0 if it remains locked or an error occured.

    • A rewrite of the Window List widget should ensure that its last button doesn't paint over the widget to its right.

    • Code to read the display's EDID has been added to support future Text Size enhancements.

Downloads

Until XWP's files have been cataloged, they should be available from /pub/incoming (the link for Styler v1.20 is already live).

2
Setup & Installation / Booting eCS and MCP under UEFI
« on: November 04, 2023, 06:12:26 am »
Overview

If you installed ArcaOS 5.1 in UEFI mode on a machine that also supports CSM/BIOS, the instructions below will allow you to boot your existing eCS or MCP installations alongside your new 5.1 system - all while remaining in UEFI mode. This procedure requires no changes to your legacy installations, and only two small changes to AOS 5.1's 'config.sys'. The primary downsides here are that you will lose 5.1's DOS video enhancements, and the  AOS boot logo will no longer be displayed.

Note: this procedure can also be used to restore 16x9 resolutions on older machines that only offer 4x3 video when booted in UEFI mode.

Procedure

TTBOMK, the following instructions are complete and correct, and should be followed exactly as written.

1. Confirm the machine is in UEFI mode and that CSM is enabled.

2. Assign a drive letter to your EFI partition (e.g. 'U:') then open the folder 'U:\EFI\OS2'.
    Create a new file in this directory named 'OS2LDR.CFG' that contains this single line:

Code: [Select]
alt_video = 1

3. On your AOS 5.1 install, open 'config.sys' in an editor. Change these two entries as shown:

Before
Code: [Select]
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VEFI.SYS
SET VIO_SVGA=DEVICE(BVHEFI)

After
Code: [Select]
rem DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VEFI.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VSVGA.SYS

rem SET VIO_SVGA=DEVICE(BVHEFI)
SET VIO_SVGA=DEVICE(BVHVGA,BVHSVGA)

4. In your boot manager's config file, add entries for your BIOS-based installs that are identical
    to the one you have for AOS 5.1, with the only difference being the drive letter to be booted.

    For example, if eCS 2.x is on your E: drive, its entry in 'launcher.cfg' would look like this:

Code: [Select]
eCS 2.x (E:) = \EFI\OS2\OS2LDR.EFI E:

    In 'refind.conf', it would look something like this:

Code: [Select]
menuentry "eCS 2.x (E:)" {
    loader \EFI\OS2\OS2LDR.EFI
    options "E:"
}

5. Reboot.

Notes
  • This is a machine-wide change that affects all AOS 5.1 UEFI installs. If you have more than one, update 'config.sys' for each.
  • Do not make any changes to your BIOS-based installs in connection with this - it should all "just work" with no user intervention.
  • This has only been tested with Panorama. Regardless, SNAP should work as well.

3
Applications / Csm2Uefi migration tool (updated)
« on: September 05, 2023, 02:05:04 am »
Several users have found they can migrate from 5.0.8 CSM to 5.1.0 UEFI simply by booting the installer/upgrader in UEFI mode. While this works, it isn't really supported and fails to copy in several files (e.g. the new boot logo). Similarly, switching an existing 5.1.x CSM install to UEFI isn't supported either. To fix this, I wrote csm2uefi.exe (attached).

To use it, you start with an existing 5.1.x installation (CSM or UEFI), mount the 5.1.x ISO (doubleclick on the file) or your 5.1.x DVD, then run:
  csm2uefi <isoDrive:> <5.1bootDrive:>  [e.g. csm2uefi F: C:]

It will copy in any missing files, then update 2 video-related ines in 'config.sys' to make it ready to boot in UEFI mode (the original is saved as 'config.csm' if you need to revert). If you're doing a 5.0.x to 5.1.0 upgrade, I'd suggest doing it in CSM mode so you can confirm the upgrade went as planned. Once you're confident everything works, then do the CSM->UEFI migration.

Important
* this does not create or setup an EFI System Partition - use the options on MiniLVM's 'System' menu when booted under UEFI to do so.
* the ISO and the installed system must be the exact same version of AOS - this method can't be used to boot other versions of OS/2 under UEFI (there's a different method available but that's another post...)

Update
* v2 - fixed a bug in v1 that caused a failure when calling 'CUBE'; v2 supports both 'cube.cmd' and 'cube.exe'

4
Utilities / RunRx v1.20
« on: April 20, 2023, 01:02:06 am »
I was hoping a few people could try this out and report any issues they encounter before I post it to hobbes. Here's what it does:

RunRx enables you to convert a REXX script into a stand-alone executable using nothing more than the OS/2 "copy" command. For example:

    copy runrx.exe /b + myrexx.cmd  myrexx.exe

Use RunRx to create:
  * helper apps - use with programs that don't support running cmd files
  * exe forwarders - e.g. create a faux 'netscape.exe' that starts Firefox
  * command line editors - examine and modify args passed to the target exe

RunRx is not a compiler or interpreter, and does not modify your script. It simply reads the attached script and passes it to the REXX interpreter which executes it. If needed, RunRx can also run a script directly from the commandline without attaching it, e.g. 'runrx myscript.cmd'. See RunRx.Txt for additional info and features.

RunRx v1.20 is licensed for non-commercial use only; a commercial license is available on request.

5
Applications / XWP v1.0.15
« on: February 24, 2022, 11:40:25 pm »
I'm pleased to announce XWP v1.0.15ga. This is a bug-fix release for both the 'Full' and 'Lite' versions with each available in 7 NLS editions (de en es it ja nl ru).

Updates and Bugfixes:
  • Properties notebooks
    • XFolder: prevent doubled entries in the Background page's File dropdown
    • WPPgm/WPPgmFile: prevent Esc from dismissing the Language tab dialog
    • OS/2 Kernel: fix spurious error parsing ibm1s506.add commandline
  • XCenter widgets
    • Pulse widget: fix spurious 100% CPU usage after a WPS restart
    • WinList widget: refactor/simplify button positioning and drawing
  • Menus
    • XTrash: ensure the OpenAs default is correct
    • Xview: display correct whitespace menus for root folders
  • Startup and Shutdown
    • XStartup: restart automatically after fixing the order of class-replacements
    • XShutdown: add "XWP_ACPIDELAY=xxx" environment variable to change the default shutdown delay of 250ms
  • NLS: NLS-enable strings in Font Folder, the OS/2 Kernel object, and in a folder's Details dialog
Downloads:
Until the files have been cataloged, they should all be available from /pub/incoming. Thereafter, use these links to access all NLS editions:
N.B. The ArcaOS version of this release is anxwp-20220224-??.wpi. Contact Arca Noae for availability.

6
Applications / XWP v1.0.14
« on: November 01, 2021, 05:34:51 pm »
A new version of XWorkplace is now available in 7 languages in both Full and Lite editions. This is a maintenance release with updates and bug-fixes that have accumulated over the last year.

Due to an upload error, only the Lite versions are currently on hobbes. Once this is fixed, all versions will be found there. Until then, All versions can now be downloaded from hobbes or from the URLs below:

XWP Full de   en   es   it   ja   nl   ru

XWP Lite de   en   es   it   ja   nl   ru

Updates
  • XShutdown
    • Power-off options have been simplified. The ACPI/APM shutdown option has been removed since the system always uses ACPI if it is available.
    • The shutdown sound which failed to play in Lite versions has now been restored.
    • The XShutdown dialog has been updated to suppress the list of BIOS-bootable partitions when booted in UEFI mode. It should also do a better job of handling situations where the data it collects from AirBoot is corrupt.
       
  • Folder Refresh
    This feature has been completely rewritten to ensure that every filesystem update is reflected in the display within 1.5 seconds. The rewrite also fixes a bug where the code might try to delete a file that had been deleted then recreated.

  • Russian NLS
    Initial Russian language support has been provided by Yurii Zamotailo.

  • XPager
    You can now enable Windows keys to switch Desktops without having to enable arrow keys as well.

  • Menus
    Separators between menu items might be missing or doubled at times. Many of these inconsistencies have been fixed.


7
Applications / Seamonkey Data Leakage
« on: October 15, 2021, 08:03:12 pm »
It appears that Seamonkey (and possibly FF too) is leaking form data. I don't know if this has any real-world effect but it doesn't seem safe.

In SM I selected Tools->Data Manager. This displays a page that lists domains down the left side and data for that domain on the right. The domain '*' (global data) was selected, as was the tab for form data.

The data window had hundreds of entries, including my name, address, phone numbers, and login IDs. Worse, it had two of my passwords in plain text. There was also a great deal of unknown stuff from unknown domains - along with the numbers of the last 20 bugs I looked up in AN's Mantis Bugtracker.

I signed up online for several things this week and wondered why a page I'd never seen before was pre-filling my address. Now I know. I have no problem with storing this info on a domain-by-domain basis but I don't want it stored as global data available to any page. Deleting the entry has fixed the problem for now.

8
Applications / XWP v1.0.13 GA
« on: January 15, 2020, 02:29:40 am »
XWorkplace v1.0.13 GA is now available.

New Features
  • XShutdown now provides a live Reboot List taken from your AirBoot/BootManager's menu. It is always up to date and requires no configuration (IBM BM support requires LVM). XShutdown's page in the Desktop's notebook has also been updated.
  • The Pulse widget now offers two types of graph: the standard line graph, and a new color-coded moving bar graph that shows average load across all cores. Other improvements include a faster line graph and fixed-position display text that shows when a core is offline.
  • An ACPI-based CPU Temperature widget has been added to XCenter, courtesy of David Azarewicz.
  • Initial Spanish language support has been provided by Alfredo Fernández Díaz.
Updates and Bugfixes
  • NLS - Lite versions will use the "LANG" environment variable to determine which NLS version to load; the behavior of XWP-Full is unchanged. Language settings for all versions can be overridden by putting this in config.sys: "SET XWP_LANG=xxx" - where xxx is a 3-digit country code that XWP supports (e.g. 039)
  • XCenter - 'Create new widget' has been added to all XCenter menus
  • Install/Remove - after uninstalling XWP, the "System" object will be recreated in System Setup the next time the Desktop restarts
  • See XWP Help's "Version history" topic for additional update details.
Downloads
This version is available in both Full and Lite versions for German, English, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Dutch.
XWP-FullXWP-Lite
German:fulllite
English:fulllite
Spanish:fulllite
Italian:fulllite
Japanese:fulllite
Dutch:fulllite

9
Applications / XWP v1.0.13 Beta 1
« on: August 04, 2019, 11:31:23 pm »

The first beta for XWP v1.0.13 is available for testing.

New Features
  • XShutdown now provides a live Reboot List taken from your AirBoot/BootManager's menu. It is always up to date and requires no configuration (IBM BM support requires LVM). XShutdown's page in the Desktop's notebook has also been updated.
  • The Pulse widget now offers two types of graph: the standard line graph, and a new color-coded moving bar graph that shows average load across all cores. Other improvements include a faster line graph and fixed-position display text that shows when a core is offline.
  • An ACPI-based CPU Temperature widget has been added to XCenter, courtesy of David Azarewicz.
Updates and Bugfixes
  • NLS - Lite versions will use the "LANG" environment variable to determine which NLS version to load; the behavior of XWP-Full is unchanged. Language settings for all versions can be overridden by putting this in config.sys: "SET XWP_LANG=xxx" - where xxx is a 3-digit country code that XWP supports (e.g. 039)
  • XCenter - 'Create new widget' has been added to all XCenter menus
  • Install/Remove - after uninstalling XWP, the "System" object will be recreated in System Setup the next time the Desktop restarts
  • See XWP Help's "Version history" topic for additional update details.
Downloads
This beta is available in both Full and Lite versions for German, English, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Dutch.

XWP-FullXWP-Lite
German:fulllite
English:fulllite
Spanish:fulllite
Italian:fulllite
Japanese:fulllite
Dutch:fulllite

10
Applications / XWP Dutch Translation
« on: June 16, 2019, 10:12:18 pm »
I'm (slowly) preparing for a new release of XWP and trying to get the various NLS versions updated. Unfortunately, I no longer have a Dutch translator, so I'd like to ask the Dutch speakers in this forum for some help.

I wrote a REXX script to compare the English and Dutch versions of the main language file and found that there were far more untranslated phrases in Dutch than any other language. I don't know if the translation work was never done, or if Dutch computer users have simply adopted more English phrases than other languages. I was able to get my list down to 92 items and have attached it to this posting.

What I'd like are translations that reflect contemporary Dutch computer usage. I'm definitely not looking for "linguistic purity" - if an "OK" button in English is labelled "OK" in Dutch, that's fine. When you're done, please attach the translated file to a post in this thread (please don't put its contents in the body of your posting). Also, feel free to review the work of other translators and suggest alternate translations if appropriate.

Thanks for your help.

BTW... I may have to ask for your help again after I review other language-specific files - I just haven't gotten that far yet and 92 phrases is more than enough for now :)

11
Internet / Seamonkey UserAgent String
« on: October 30, 2018, 10:21:33 am »
I've been trying to change the useragent string in Seamonkey (Dave's build of 2.42.9esr/rv45.9) but it won't stay changed. When I close and reopen SM, it reverts to the "correct" string.

I installed "User Agent Switcher", imported a list of current strings, then tried it and found this problem. I've also tried editing 'prefs.js' directly (with SM closed), as well as changing "browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone" and "gecko.mstone". In every case, a restart restores all 3 entries to their original values. I'm not setting the new string to anything extraordinary: I'm just changing the existing OS/2 SM string to SM 2.46/rv49.0. Any ideas?

FWIW... I got started on this because I can no longer access my Google Voice page. This was previously the single-worst page I've ever encountered and could bring my system to a halt for minutes at a time. Now I just get its "waiting spinner" until it says it's done, but nothing is displayed. Strangely, the failure started shortly after I answered a brief survey and said I had to use the legacy version of the page because the current version has too much javascript. Now, I can't access either one.

12
Applications / XWP v1.0.12 Beta 1
« on: October 23, 2017, 01:28:16 pm »

I'm pleased to announce the first beta for XWorkplace v1.0.12.

Beta 1 is available in five languages and two versions:
- "Full", the standard full-featured build
- "Lite", similar to eWorkplace and ArcaOS Desktop

Portions of this update have been underwritten by Arca Noae, LLC.

_______________________________________________________________________

Downloads
_______________________________________________________________________

--[Full]--
English     http://www.e-vertise.com/xwp/xwp-1-0-12-b1-full-en.exe
German      http://www.e-vertise.com/xwp/xwp-1-0-12-b1-full-de.exe
Dutch       http://www.e-vertise.com/xwp/xwp-1-0-12-b1-full-nl.exe
Italian     http://www.e-vertise.com/xwp/xwp-1-0-12-b1-full-it.exe
Japanese    http://www.e-vertise.com/xwp/xwp-1-0-12-b1-full-ja.exe

--[Lite]--
English     http://www.e-vertise.com/xwp/xwp-1-0-12-b1-lite-en.exe
German      http://www.e-vertise.com/xwp/xwp-1-0-12-b1-lite-de.exe
Dutch       http://www.e-vertise.com/xwp/xwp-1-0-12-b1-lite-nl.exe
Italian     http://www.e-vertise.com/xwp/xwp-1-0-12-b1-lite-it.exe
Japanese    http://www.e-vertise.com/xwp/xwp-1-0-12-b1-lite-ja.exe

_______________________________________________________________________

Updates and Fixes
_______________________________________________________________________

XCenter AutoOpen:
- XCenter will now open automatically at startup and after a Desktop
  restart - an icon in the Startup folder is no longer needed. This
  feature can be disabled in the XCenter's properties.

Details view:
- third-party WPS dlls built using the Open Watcom compiler could cause
  the Size field in Details view to be misformatted. XWP now checks for
  the error condition they cause and corrects it.

Class List:
- added descriptive entries for previously undocumented classes and
  updated existing descriptions. [from Lewis Rosenthal]

Trap log:
- added a new section to identify which exception handler caught the
  trap; updated other sections

XStartup:
- fixed trap at startup if XWP's list of Startup folders included
  invalid objects

XFolder:
- simplified the "Worker" thread code; removed obsolete thread priority
  setting from the XWP Setup notebook

Xview:
- revised the Options menu; added a "Compact" option for Details view
- fixed an exception when files were rendered after a drop operation
- improved error-checking and exception handling.

Build system:
- made several changes to reduce the shared-memory usage of XWP's dlls;
  one of these also eliminated the need for translators to use a C
  compiler to build NLS dlls
- removed a misguided optimization which could cause third-party
  XCenter widget dlls to be 8-10 times larger than needed
- for XWP-Lite builds, suppressed Help file references to features
  that are not included.

_______________________________________________________________________

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