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Messages - Doug Bissett

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151
This was discussed, a few years ago. Nothing came of it (as expected).

IMO, trying to build retro hardware is certainly possible. The cost would be far more than anybody would ever consider paying. None of the required hardware is currently in production, so it would mean paying manufacturers to retool to produce ancient hardware. They would do it, if you pay them enough, but I guarantee they won't do it for small lots. The benefit of making retro hardware is far from certain too.

Better to put the money into making current hardware work. Arca Noae (and partners) is the only company in a position to be able to do development, but they are under funded, and under staffed, so development is far slower than what most people want. The important stuff does happen, eventually.

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I don't think there will be any real improvement in the software until there is control of the source code.  Everything else is a hack.

IBM has made it very clear, that there will be no source code (for many reasons). They too would release it, if somebody wants to pay them to do it (probably a billion dollar, 3 year project, with very questionable results).

OS/2 is what it is. IMO, it is still more capable than win 10, if win 10 had the same restrictions (32 bit, lack of drivers, etc.). The biggest "problem" is that very few, if any, developers are doing native OS/2 programming, and software from other sources has become so bloated that it doesn't work very well (even on the native platform).

Support the developers, and we will have OS/2 around much longer than many people seem to believe. One advantage is that you can buy surplus, or used, hardware off the bargain shelves, and it is likely that OS/2 will work. Of course, you do need to be careful what you buy, and paying good money for some exotic video adapter is not smart.

152
Storage / Re: How to make a disk drive for a distant computer
« on: March 22, 2020, 07:22:36 pm »
Always install airboot. I have seen more then once that the system does not boot if you have on primary partition. Do not know why.

I have one old DELL, where Air Boot finds some sort of problem. I need to use Boot Manager. If I install Air Boot on the disk, and it fails, I can put that disk in a more modern machine, and it works, so it is a machine problem (probably BIOS isn't capable). However, I do agree that Boot Manager should be used, only as a last resort.

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I also know that it supports booting from Primary, booting from IBM Boot Manager and booting from AirBoot.

Any chance that SYSINSTX.COM is needed?

153
Web applications / Re: PMMail version 3.24.1.1981
« on: March 22, 2020, 07:06:26 pm »
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I havent PMMAIL installed but to see remote folders, you should connect using IMAP while POP3 generally gets inbox email only.

PMMail does NOT do IMAP. Period. If someone wants to add that feature, please contact Neil Waldhauer.

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I changed POP in Receive to IMAP.  It downloaded the inbox folder with no problem.  It still did not try to download the Archive folder to my PMMail archive folder

Amazing. PMMail does not know about IMAP.

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It still did not try to download the Archive folder to my PMMail archive folder.

The only way, that I know about, is to move some, or all, messages into the Inbox, fetch them with PMMail, and move them to the new folder. Be warned, that having too many messages in the Inbox can cause the server to time out, before PMMail finishes downloading all of them. You also need to set PMMail to not remove messages from the server, if you want them to remain on the server (for other IMAP devices).

I strongly suggest a BACKUP, before playing with it. The usual way to use PMMail, is to make the POP server available , then configure PMMail to fetch mail from the POP server. Normally, that will REMOVE all messages from the server Inbox, which makes them unavailable to IMAP devices. If you set PMMail to leave messages on the server, it will remember what was downloaded, and only fetch new messages. If you do that, I would recommend a daily backup of PMMail. If something goes wrong, you can lose the records, and you will need to start over.

154
Hardware / Re: OS/2 and the Mainframe
« on: March 16, 2020, 06:52:22 pm »
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I know it is along time ago, but on OS/2 2.0, what did you use for 3270 emulation on that time? Communication Manager/2? Or was it already available Personal Communications for OS/2 ? or any other software?

I don't remember the details. Using a PC with 3270 emulation was a common thing, by the time they got around to using one as a terminal for mainframe service, but it was more common in windows. That was during the days when IBM was actually supporting OS/2, so the driver, and supporting software, was available for OS/2. I am sure that it was cost justified, and the engineers realized that they could also use the serial communications, if it was ever needed.

As I said, there was nothing unusual about using OS/2 with main frames. It was just another dumb terminal, with a few extra things that it could do. Many customers took a look, and realized that they had been using the same thing for a few years. All the "brains" were in the support processor.

155
Hardware / Re: OS/2 and the Mainframe
« on: March 15, 2020, 05:25:42 pm »
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I just want to document how OS/2 uses to interact or work with Mainframe Machines.

Well, I don't know what happened after the IBM 3090 series of mainframes, because I retired. The 3090 did use a PC (probably a 386 SX), running some sort of OS/2 (probably 2.0, at that time). It had a 3270 adapter card (with driver), and a serial port to connect to a modem. The 3270 card was used , with the usual coax cable, to allow the PC to display what the support processor was doing. The support processor was basically a small computer (possibly AS/400) that had a process control interface. The process control interface was able to read/write registers, and push buttons, in the mainframe, as requested by the console (the PC running OS/2). The data was displayed or entered, on the console. The serial interface was used to allow remote support to run the console, although I don't ever remember that being used. The service support processor also had a serial interface, which was easier to use, for the support people. OS/2 was simply the operating system, to run the 3270 emulator, and a modem. There was not much more to it. Remember, that a FAST modem, in those days, was 56 KB/s, so neither connection was used, unless actually needed. I would note, that if the PC running OS/2 ever failed (never heard of that happening either), a normal 3270 terminal could be used, but it didn't have the serial port for the support people to use.

The earlier 3080 computers used an actual 3270 terminal, but it wasn't able to connect to the support people, if it was ever needed to be able to fix a failed support processor (I never heard of that ever happening in 3080, or 3090).

No magic, and windows could have been used to run the console, but at the time, it was probably cheaper to source that stuff through an internal IBM channel.

156
Internet / Re: Any updates on the Falcon QT browser?
« on: March 07, 2020, 05:40:45 am »
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if Otter is actually a better choice, then maybe it is worth a look.

I haven't looked at Otter (but I will). It doesn't really matter which browser they pick, as long as they keep it up to date, and it is actually usable. I am not very impressed with Falkon (in windows), but it does work, for most things, that I have tried. It is about 1 year, since they updated it, which is not a problem, as long as it doesn't become a target for the bad guys.

I expect that some of the decision is made because of licensing, but probably just as important is ease of porting. It appears that BWW may have made a bad choice for ease of porting, but that seems to be behind them now (hopefully). Others are free to port whatever they think might work.

The race is on.  :)

157
Utilities / Re: ISOFS 1.1.2
« on: March 06, 2020, 11:22:17 pm »
First, which version of OS/2 are you installing to?

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1] For whatever reason my config.sys file was not updated when I uninstalled V 1.1.0, the existing ISOFS related lines were unchanged and a backup config.sys was not created.

Did you check the WarpIn log file, to see why? From what you say, you probably moved ISOFS after installing it, so the recorded location would be wrong.

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2] The WPI installer script insists on installing  ISOFS to [boot drive]:\sys\bin and with no option to select an alternative location.

[boot drive]:\sys\bin is the correct location for ISOFS, on an ArcaOS system. Believe me, you don't want to change that. It will either make it impossible to do an UPDATE to ArcaOS, or the UPDATE will put ISOFS where it is supposed to be anyway.

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As my boot drive is small (2Gb) I do not install extra software to it - end of WPI install; time to use WPIView to extract the needed files to the location I want.

Don't do it. First 2 GB should be plenty of space. Second ISOFS is not a large package, so it doesn't take up much room. ISOFS is an essential part of installing ArcaOS from a USB stick, or from a partition on the HDD. If it isn't where it is supposed to be, you could have problems later.

158
Internet / Re: Any updates on the Falcon QT browser?
« on: February 29, 2020, 07:33:45 am »
Well, first it is Falkon (with a "k"), not Falcon (with a "c"). They are two different browser programs. I have tried both in windows, Falcon is pretty limited. Falkon is much more capable, and seems to work okay. I also tried Pale Moon, which seemed to be pretty good (and has been mentioned as a possibility for OS/2).

Word is, that they are approaching the end of the project, but it may get held up, if they don't get the funding.

159
General Discussion / Re: Future death of the personal computer?
« on: February 29, 2020, 07:24:35 am »
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Wait are you saying this program was running from os/2? How did it install itself?
Seriously freaky if so.

It came in on the IRC channel, and tried to run. I got a Process dump of it failing, about every 20 seconds, until I closed Firefox. I added port 6667 to my firewall, and haven't seen it again. I do hope that those who produced it feel very bad that I didn't pay them.

It is not so freaky. Firefox is full of holes like that. Fortunately, I didn't find out if Firefox, in windows, would do the same thing.

160
General Discussion / Re: Future death of the personal computer?
« on: February 21, 2020, 07:02:22 pm »
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I feel like in the last 5-10 years it has really gone a direction I don't consider progress,

That depends on how you define "progress". From a user point of view, small steps happen, mostly to keep users interested. From the point of view of those running the spy uhm advertising uhm cloud services, huge steps have been taken. People have been sucked in, so they can inspect whatever you store there (you do agree to that).

Back in the early days of OS/2, IBM came out with a plan to do something similar. The idea was to make a PC smart enough to attach to the IBM service (not called "cloud"), where they would be able to start a program (paid per use, or on contract), and run it. The data was supposed to stay on the users computer. That idea went nowhere, mostly because the internet was way too slow.

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The browser is a weak point.

Actually any ported windows program can have holes in it, but the browser (including Thunderbird) has huge holes in it. The main protection, that we have, is that malware usually just crashes the program, or itself.

Not long ago, I got some "Smart plugs" from Amazon (Yuton brand specifically). After plugging one in, I noticed a constant, low level, network activity. I checked my firewall, and it wasn't blocking it, but there was a constant probe of port 6667, on every attached device (all OS/2, at the time) from the Smart plug. That, in itself was not malicious, but it didn't make any sense (the excuse was, that that is how the devices connect to the "cloud", so they could be turned on/off). So I fire walled my windows machines, immediately. A few days later, when I started up Firefox (OS/2) Something started to cause process dumps, about every 10 seconds. When I investigated that, it was a program called HELLO. When I investigated that, it was probably one of those things that encrypts your data, with an offer to decrypt it, if you pay <whatever> within a few hours. So, technically, the plugs didn't cause the problem, but what they did, was open the path through port 6667 (internet relay chat), and as soon as something (Firefox) opened the port, it was in, and tried to run. If it had actually succeeded, it probably still wouldn't do much damage, because of an unknown directory structure, but. After that, I also had some weird settings in my router. Fortunately, a factory reset fixed that problem. The plugs went back, since they didn't seem to be interested in fixing the problem.

So, OS/2 saved me, that time. Over the years, I have often noticed that Firefox would simply crash, for no obvious reason. I assume that some of those crashes were bad code in Firefox, but I am pretty sure that a lot of them were malware trying to do something.

One BIG problem, that we do have, is that we don't have any virus protection. We do have CLAMAV, but that is mostly not usable, for a number of reasons (super SLOW is one of them, even when using CLAMD, which uses HUGE amounts of upper shared memory).

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no one is really going to bother with making viruses and trying to hack OS/.2.

The biggest exposure, is that one of them could actually run, by accident. Chances are, that it wouldn't do what it was designed to do, but it could still do severe damage. Our best defense is to have good, tested backups, that are done on a regular basis.

@Dave: PLEASE don't make suggestions about how to do it.  :o

161
General Discussion / Re: Future death of the personal computer?
« on: February 19, 2020, 08:52:11 pm »
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I suspect pcs are going to be around for a few more years yet.

I am surprised that somebody hasn't built a USB video adapter (perhaps they did, and I don't know about it). Attach one of them (with a full size screen), a mouse, and a keyboard, to USB on your phone, and you can use it as a computer. WiFi, and/or Bluetooth, could also be used.

My phone is Android 7 (not new). If I attach my USB hub, with keyboard and mouse (wireless) attached, they both work with the phone. Obviously, whatever problems your wife has, could easily be fixed, if somebody took an interest.

The bottom line is, that the average phone can already replace the average PC, but a couple of pieces are still missing, and some software tweaking is probably required.

The major "problem" is that you can't leave the phone  to monitor the internet (or do other things), when you go out, because you probably want to have the phone with you. Of course, a second, or third, phone (probably without a SIM card and phone plan), could do the job of a PC. It all depends on what you use each one for.

162
Applications / Re: [SOLVED] pmmail 3.22 bug
« on: February 17, 2020, 07:05:15 am »
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That's all (unfortunately

Something is wrong. It is under investigation.   :-\

163
Applications / Re: [SOLVED] pmmail 3.22 bug
« on: February 16, 2020, 06:38:54 pm »
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Unfortunately it still doesn't work.

I will rattle their cage again, but first do as suggested, and use just the name part of your e-mail address. If your e-mail address is "a.name@someplace.com", just use "a.name" (no quotes) as the user ID. Let us know if that helps.

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If that still won't work, write an email to AN.

No. PMMail is not an Arca Noae project. It is a VOICE project, so write to VOICE (but it has already been addressed).

Just to clarify. Arca Noae hosts the VOICE web sites, but VOICE is not part of Arca Noae. PMMail is part of VOICE.

164
Networking / Re: VNC/FTP Asus RT-AC1750U
« on: February 15, 2020, 08:29:27 pm »
See: http://articles.os2voice.org/category/software/20-helpdesk.html

I don't use it much, but it does use VNC, and it works over a secure connection. The biggest "problem" is learning how to use VNC. No remote configuration is required.

165
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IBM used to be on the forefront of consumer technology

IBM was never in the "consumer technology" business. It is totally amazing that the IBM PC ever made it past somebodies lips. Somebody understood what it was all about, and had enough clout to push it though.

I was working for IBM, when the PC was announced. I got one of the very first (16K expandable to 64K on the motherboard). Naturally, i was somewhat curious, and learned quite a bit about it. Our local management recognized the possibilities, but upper management looked upon it as being a "toy, that would never amount to anything". IBM never did figure out how to market the PC, and eventually just left that to others. Since their product was more expensive, other manufacturers eventually took the market, and IBM sold off most of the PC division to Lenovo (still believing that it was just a "toy"). OS/2 got caught up in all of that, and eventually they dropped it, thinking they would save a few dollars.

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I guess it's just were the easy money is?

That seems to be what is driving all business today. I guess you can't blame them, that is what they are taught in school. In the old days, IBM was at the forefront of technology (main frames, not PCs), and they spent huge amounts on R&D (not just for computers), and there was a stock split about every 4th year. After the bean counters got control of the company, profits went up, but R&D was almost abandoned. The stock has not changed much, since then, even though IBM still owns the rights to a lot of the old research that was patented. So, which is the right way to go? Those who want instant profits go with the easy money. Those who look ahead, at the possibilities, could still make the big money, but it is more work (and expense) to get there. It is also much harder to get the funding, because banks, and the average person, have no idea what those possibilities are, so they won't invest. IMO, we have lost a lot of innovation because business is chasing the easy money. Are we better off? Of course not, but the bean counters are still running things.

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