Messages

1

Applications / Re: Wiping a hard disk back to 'as bought' condition

« on: January 14, 2025, 09:27:55 am »

Do we have a way/program that will wipe a hard disk back to 'as new' state?
[...]

On top of what others have suggested/said, ISTR that, should you ever need to do a "security erase" on a mechanical HDD, even track-overwriting can fail. The reasoning: each write operation on a mechanical drive is liable to wander slightly, owing to temperature-based expansion/contraction, physical slackness of bearings &c; so the recording operation that laid down the precious information is unlikely to register perfectly with the erase operation; and careful disassembly of the HDD and analysis of what is on the disks may reveal enough of the "erased" data track(s).

So, should you ever have to dispose of a mechanical HDD with top-secret stuff on it, consider taking it out of the computer and burning it in a hot fire.

Whether similar "gotchas" apply to solid state HDDs, I dunno. For normal purposes, I tend to agree with others' suggestions -- but I see you replied while I have been typing this, so maybe the HDD is faulty? (FWIW, ISTR DRDOS-7 has a mode in XDEL that overwrites every file with blanks.)

Last Moment Thought: once, MS-DOS saw an important 3.5" floppy formatted under OS/2, decided it was mis-formatted and (without asking) messed with details such as to make it "faulty" under OS/2. But a pass through CHKDSK fixed things. (*whew* -- because I was thousands of mles from home.) So, did you try dear old CHKDSK?

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Comments, Suggestions & Questions / Re: OS/2 Licensing

« on: January 05, 2025, 04:21:11 pm »

[...] Look how long the copyright lasts for a book. That should also apply to software. Which is at least 70 years or in the US, best I can tell.

IIRC (and assuming the rules have not changed), literary copyright starts from the moment you create the text and lasts until "lifetime plus 70 years". Companies seem to have ways of refreshing copyrights, however: comics publishers (AIUI) simply need to re-use a character every so often. Titles and brand names can also be affected by rules about "passing off", so (eg) a breakfast cereal called "OS/2 Flakes" might escape IBM's wrath. What a certain well-known corporation would make of impotence medicine whose name included "Microsoft" is anyone's guess.

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Comments, Suggestions & Questions / Re: OS/2 Licensing

« on: January 02, 2025, 10:44:25 am »

Thanks for the feedback, to what I posted and to others' comments. A HappyNewYear-2025.0 to all!

The points about the purchase/acquisition of eCS being restricted by copyright is a nuisance; but, as someone who has copyrighted material Out There, I accept it.

Roderick: No, I have not (yet) opened a ticket on the DOS session problems. For two reasons: (1) I am bogged down in work that must be done as soon as possible but seems likely to keep me busy at least for another month; (2) knowing what to report is tricky, because different problems appear with different applications. I'd probably be happy to supply Arca Noae's boffins with an entire copy of WS-7c, that being (with Borland Quattro Pro, which mostly works okay) my main tool. But it has to wait.

(BTW, around now someone will be tempted to mention WordTsar. I have tried it and am impressed with what its author has achieved so far; but I do not dare rely on it until it is finished and sufficiently bullet proofed.)

It would be lovely if AN could debug the DOS/Win-3.1 (and how about Linux &c?) sessions of AOS-5+. Having asked here, I shall ponder the answers and see what I can achieve, once my prior devoirs are dealt with.

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Comments, Suggestions & Questions / Re: OS/2 Licensing

« on: December 30, 2024, 03:23:42 pm »

I hope this helps...

A while back, I suggested OS/2 (and probably most OSes) has Developers and Users, putting myself firmly in the latter class. Since then, I have begun to suspect I should have at least two machines.

One would run normal AOS, currently 5.1 here, and do AOS-type work, including internet (assuming Them As Fix Things can settle the Browser Saga so I need not use my Dell m/c running Win-10).

The other would be the equivalent of the trusty old office typewriter, for writing work, the WP being WordStar-7c. When I ran eCS-2.1, WS-7c ran well. Not so with AOS-5.1's DOS session, which requires me not to invoke certain commands (or the system crashes) and its Win-3.1 session (which is flaky with old reference tools like the Oxford Compendium). So it would be Nice if They could offer a package comprising eCS-2.1 with upgrades of its ability to handle today's disk formats and USB types. Communication with the AOS m/c, as required, would be through intermediate USB storage devices. The AOS m/c, at a pinch, could format those devices. For office work, that's all I need.

What are my chances?

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General Discussion / Re: Retro Machine - DOS VDM - OpenOffice

« on: September 05, 2024, 02:56:44 pm »

I have split the topic. Let's hope I did it right.

Martin:- Thanks for handling the housekeeping on this one. Let the far-future archaeologists puzzle over any oddities that resulted from your disentanglement of two streams of thought. I am parked for now, tied up with putting this computer-&-software combo to practical use. But if anyone has more ideas, I am listening reading.

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General Discussion / Re: Re: Do we still need a 64-bit version of OS/2? And a possible roadmap provided ...

« on: September 04, 2024, 04:34:59 pm »

I agree with Neil that this thread has drifted off-topic and am ready to give my DOS/WS problems a rest. As a final update FWIW, I find that adding /MAXCPU=1 to the PSD=ACPI.PSD line in config.sys makes no apparent difference to whether the DOS session crashes (it still does) or Reboot via Ctl+Alt+Del works (it still does). Thank you, people, for having a go at helping.

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General Discussion / Re: Re: Do we still need a 64-bit version of OS/2? And a possible roadmap provided ...

« on: September 03, 2024, 07:49:57 pm »

You might want to test with only one cpu enabled. Add /MAXCPU=1 to the PSD=ACPI.PSD line in config.sys.

* MAXCPU:- Sounds a solid idea; cannot do it at once but soon as possible.

I got to this sooner than expected. Sadly, there was no sign of it doing much, though (if I recall right) key combo Ctl+Alt+Del allowed me to use the Reboot option after a DOS session crash, where (if I recall right) I used to have to use the Reset button on the Lenovo m/c. (But I may not be recalling right.)

Nice idea, though. Thanks again.

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General Discussion / Re: Re: Do we still need a 64-bit version of OS/2? And a possible roadmap provided ...

« on: September 03, 2024, 05:34:57 pm »

Thank you, everyone who made suggestions. And other thanks to those who are patiently sitting through this chatter...

You might want to test with only one cpu enabled. Add /MAXCPU=1 to the PSD=ACPI.PSD line in config.sys.
As for LibreOffice, one of the first things they did when they forked from OpenOffice was remove the OS/2 stuff and since then so much development has happened that re-adding it would be very hard. Even building OpenOffice is next to impossible without the right environment which I understand only one person has.

* MAXCPU:- Sounds a solid idea; cannot do it at once but soon as possible.
* LibreOffice:- Pity. Well, we'll see whether my WS setup can be rescued. As a side-thought: does OS/2 have a text-editor subset of OpenOffice? I mean a program that is aware of the other \OO functions like  spreadsheet, so it can skip references to them, but does only text editing? Being able to work with the ODF file format sounds attractive, for portability if nothing else.

[...]
Open Editor (e.exe) and Save As [BootDrive]H:\OS2\BOOT\ALTF2ON.$$$- Yes, an empty "dummy" file.

This reports every driver that it has loaded during boot which seems to help with timing issues. Also useful if boot gets stuck at some point as you can see how far booting got before failing.

* Dummy file:- I'll give it a go, though I'm managing okay(ish) by being nimble with my Alt+F2 pressing.
* Roderick & ivan:- Fair points. Given my lowly User status, I'd best see what happens with suggestions covered above and hope some bright SMOC discovers how to put things right. Tickets: as appropriate.

Will feed back what I learn. Thanks again.

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General Discussion / Re: Re: Do we still need a 64-bit version of OS/2? And a possible roadmap provided ...

« on: September 02, 2024, 05:34:41 pm »

Doug:... Many thanks for the discussion on the variable results you have had, running versions of OS/2 on sundry machines. Reading your account, I found myself thinking of that AOS booting-up oddity, whereby it pays to press Alt+F2 to ensure a small delay at a critical moment. Is it possible (Wild Guess Dept.) that we have here (sorry, Half-A**ed Attempt At Being Technical follows) timing clashes in a multi-processor m/c? If sequences of code got handled at different rates and the software was not written to cope, one might get problems?

BTW, I have been looking at Wikipedia's article on LibreOffice and wondered if anyone has investigated an OS/2 port. It's a HUGE article but the general notes point to LO being a lot more mature than its ancestor, OpenOffice (whose OS/2 port I bought and still have not installed -- mainly because of distractions).

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General Discussion / Re: Re: Do we still need a 64-bit version of OS/2? And a possible roadmap provided ...

« on: September 02, 2024, 04:32:16 pm »

If one is considering multiboot solutions, then this could be a case where an AToF machine really shines for WordStar and other old non-OS/2 apps ... [...]

Thanks for the thoughts, though AToF is something I have yet to investigate.

The spate of bugs afflicting my DOS and Win-3.1, summarised earlier, started with AOS. The eCS-2 sessions worked beautifully, so maybe our SMOCs (Secret Masters Of Computing) tweaked something that needs to be un-tweaked. Or I could dig out a copy of eCS-2 (hmm, do I still have it?) and install that in its own disk partition, in the hope it can talk to modern-format files in the AOS-5.1 (&c) partitions -- or it can be HPFS-formatted and the AOS partitions could talk to it.

Like was remarked recently elsewhere (paraphrased), life gets complicated. My big hope is that our SMOCs can succeed with un-tweaking. Meanwhile, you'd laugh at the antics I've got up to: (a) write my MS (manuscript) on WS under AOS-5.1, (b) convert the MS to pure-ASCII in WS by replacing the limited set of formatting sequences with ASCII codes (eg "soft tab" --> "@T@"), (c) port this file to my Dell notebook on a USB stick and use Win-10's LibreOffice 7.5 to do spelling fixes, (d) port the new file back to WS and restore the formatting sequences, (e) use WS's "convert to RTF" feature to make a RTF version of the MS, (f) port the RTF back to LibreOffice and insert data on the typeface (because for some reason WS writes "default") and (g) send the RTF to a lucky editor (because the publishing industry still thinks RTF/DOCX is/are the cat's pyjamas of formats)... *mutters*

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General Discussion / Re: Re: Do we still need a 64-bit version of OS/2? And a possible roadmap provided ...

« on: September 01, 2024, 04:13:26 pm »

The MDOS(WinOS2) subsystem in OS/2 is not an emulator, but actual PC-DOS 5 running in ring2. Not quite bare metal but closer then most user programs that run in ring3. You can actually load and run most DOS device drivers with some such as disk, mouse and keyboard getting trapped by the kernel and replaced by the OS/2 driver. So DOS programs can run on HPFS and JFS but you can't easily do something like supporting long file names.
The hardware itself has changed enough that DOS applications just don't run as well as they used to do.

Crikey... Ta for the pointer, which could explain a lot. In WordStar, most functions work as usual, so with care I can do productive writing, but a function that opens extra files (eg: second editing window, spell-checker (but not thesaurus, oddly) & text import/export), the whole shebang freezes, requiring an OS/2 reboot. Trying to use the Oxford Compendium (dictionary + thesaurus + quotes) in Win-3.1 makes it witter about not being able to find one file (I forget which and my OS/2 m/c is turned off right now) and refuses to run. And Borland Quattro Pro crashes if I check the icon in Properties. Otherwise life is dandy. *sigh* Okay, it is time to Be Philosophical -- and Very Careful while dancing in the minefield.

BTW, I did consider setting up a disk partition as DR-DOS-7 and running WS there but am unsure about accessing I/O such as USB, or talking to disk files within my m/c's OS/2 Universe. But that can wait.

(And, yes, to those helpful souls who want to mention WordTsar, I am keeping an eye on that, thanks.)

12

Applications / Re: Any way to increase mouse tracking speed other than the regular System applet?

« on: September 01, 2024, 03:40:37 pm »

A long shot... I suppose you've checked the mouse is free of dirt around the ball? When a mouse has started behaving weirdly here, it has usually been a case of popping the ball and cleaning the socket. Gunk can build up surprisingly fast. Of course, your mileage may differ. 

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General Discussion / Retro Machine - DOS VDM - OpenOffice

« on: August 31, 2024, 04:54:22 pm »

This topic fits well with a feeling I have had for some time. However, wording it in a way that makes perfect sense may be tricky.

It comes down to what I want/need to do with that computer in front of me. As I see it, Operators fall into two major classes (ignoring oddball cases, like Manufacturer):

* Developer -- someone who wants to tinker with innards -- make the m/c "better" (faster, bigger data capacity, more physically robust &c);

* User -- someone who wants to manipulate objects such as Texts, Spreadsheets, Emails, Artwork, Designs (for various types of things -- clerical, abstract or tangible), Music, Household Appliances &c.

These days, I tend to fall into the User class but can appreciate the effort it takes to be a useful Designer. Being a creature of habit, I still try to run WordStar and other 16-bit utils. So OS/2's emulators, currently for DOS and Win-3.1 -- not to mention OS/2 itself -- are essential (but still a bit flaky in my AOS-5.1; can we expect an update or two soon(ish)?).

This leads me to wonder whether the best future for OS/2 would be as a place to run retro-software. To the emulators already mentioned, add new ones for (eg) Linux, old games, other OSes that used to host popular software. Think about it: 32 bits already provide massive resources. Since OS/2 began, there have been amazing general refinements in industry standards: I/O commonly relies on USB but could still work with archaic stuff like Centronics; storage devices can run up to (is it?) 2TB per partition; processing speeds are insanely fast;...

And OS/2 would not be stuck-in-the-mud. We could hope for emulators allowing it to be hosted under 64-bits (and whatever higher bit-count the Secret Masters Of Computing, the SMOCs) may decree. And those Developers could carry on, improving the breed.
 
Need I go on?

14

Internet / Re: Dooble releases-Qt6

« on: August 23, 2024, 03:33:44 pm »

<sigh> [listing of woes] Why is everything so hard?

In Ancient Times folk would have said something like, "God is testing you for a Great Task, so go with it." These days, dunno. Maybe you're due to have one of those life-rebooting Road To Damascus Warpstock experiences in due course.

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Off Topic discussions / Re: Which Linux desktop for long time OS/2 users?

« on: July 08, 2024, 04:02:42 pm »

By the way Debian is a very good and stable choice for a distribution.

IIRC, Debian is the Linux-of-choice for the Pineapple micro-computers, as sold currently.

Sidebar: I don't suppose there could be an AOS for Pineapples? Or would that mean radical (and costly) retooling to handle different CPU machine code?