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Messages - ivan

#586
Setup & Installation / Re: Dual Boot
2008.08.11, 17:20:21
Hi Dennis

There should be no problem with ecs if you are using a second physical disk, just boot from the cd, make sure you install boot manager on the second disk, partition it as you like (up to 2 Gb for system, the remainder can be as large as you like).
There should be others here that can tell you the exact procedure, I'm not sure as I only have os/2 and not ecs, but on one of my computers I have WSEB, OS/2 Warp4, Open SUSE 11 and Open DOS all bootable via boot manager.  I also have win2k in virtualpc and win xp in virtualbox, the latter two so I can help clients with their problems.

#587
Hardware / Re: Hardware report ASAP
2008.08.11, 17:02:30
Hello Jan,

Quotequite off original topic, but...   
Sorry about that...

Quote
QuoteMost users, like me doesn't have a software subscription with IBM, and haven't had one either as they only make business with other companies, bigger is better in their opinion, but also what cause IBM problems.   

I very much doubt that any small users have a software subscription now, I don't.  It would only be those very large businesses that have a service contract with IBM.
My getting software choice was a business decision only.

Quote 
QuoteWhat make eCS so good is the fact (as often stated) that it contain fixes, improvements and applications something that most users can't get on their own. One doesn't have to look them up and buy them separately, install them from different media/locations etc.   

Most of that is covered using updcd and os2mt.

Quote
QuoteBecause if you purchase OS/2 with the label eCS, you'll get the same stable product with some improvements IBM doesn't toss into it, but the most important part is that you support continued development of OS/2 under the name eCS. As mentioned, if you buy eCS, Mensys/SSI have influence, if you buy it from IBM, IBM won't care, they're only interested if you buy in 10 000...'s.   

Are you saying we should buy ecs just because it's ecs?  Since Mensys/SSI do not have the source code and therefore are not able to change the base os/2 all you are left with are the 'enhancements' which I'm suggesting might be advantageously made available to a wider audience at a price.


Quote
QuotePerhaps to some, but for me it's because I get more bang for the buck and the installation process is smooth. Warp 4, the only version I could buy, had to be patched to install on hardware introduced 1998 and later. :-(

eCS support (selected¹) modern hardware and it's getting better, something that would improve if more OS/2-only users would bite the sour apple and accept eCS as the replacement.


¹Eugene should mention that it's true that it work for selected hardware, and it's getting better and better. The intention that you should look through the list of supported hardware is though not what users in general want, so I can understand that you read his postings the way you do.

Eugene, please, we need to find another way for you to tell the English speaking world of the improvements done. Too many perceive (read and interpret) what you write as pure advertisement and therefore get annoyed, though you really just should/want to inform!   

I have never said I do not consider ecs as a replacement for os/2, just that I see no point in changing what works for the same thing.  That would be like a person moving from one house to an identical one just down the road because it has new paint.


Quote
QuoteYes, quite a few don't want to "change" to eCS to extend the life of OS/2, the result is that our beloved OS won't get the updates it need. eCS 2.0 could probably otherwise be out somewhat sooner.   

Again why change what is working?  I have never been one that sees 'change for the sake of change' as a good thing.  Yes, some change is forced on us when something breaks and replacement parts are no longer available e.g. I replaced my mobile phone when it fell apart with a nokia 1600 because all I want it for is the ability to make and receive calls.

Quote
QuoteSoftware Choice has been a closed route for many individuals, at least as to what I've experienced, for many years now. You may be one of the few lucky ones that can use it though, but Mensys and some others provide more and more links and info collected in fewer pages that one had to look for at many different places before. That is a huge improvement to me, I don't have to spend a lot of time searching for excellent OS/2 specific native applications and enhancements such as DragText, AWGet, CTorrent etc. 

Why not look on the end of software choice as an opportunity.  Create something similar and offer all the addons and extensions the the whole os/2 / ecs community.  I am not saying it should be free, far from it.  A yearly fee with the option to renew, maybe reduced with the purchase of ecs, that I leave to the marketers.

#588
Hardware / Re: Hardware report ASAP
2008.08.07, 12:58:34

DougB said
QuoteWell, I can see that you have little knowledge of the business world. A product needs to have something, to make it unique, and worth buying. ECS is no longer just "OS/2, with bells on". It has a number of things, that make it unique, and worth buying (the installer, bootable JFS, ACPI, and more), but the main thing that it has, are two companies (SSI, and Mensys, although Mensys is now the major player), who have an interest in promoting, and advancing, the operating system. Without them, I am not so sure that you would have as much as you do, since IBM seemed to be quite happy to leave the normal user at FP12, and charge full price for WSEB (which was well over $1000, as I recall). If Mensys made all of the new features available, it is quite likely, that they wouldn't sell as many copies of eCS, which lowers the value to IBM of keeping them as a reseller. In fact, a number of things, that were developed for, and by, eCS, have been released, for free, to the OS/2 community, as a whole (sorry, I don't remember, offhand, what they were, but they were significant, at the time). It isn't all about making more money, part of it is the political considerations, of keeping IBM happy with the arrangement, so they don't get cut off completely. That means, they need to have a market for the final product, and that means they need a carrot to hold in front of the buyer, to get them to buy the product. The "closed" projects are that carrot. If you want them, you buy eCS, which is still a bargain, IMO.

Doug, I would have thought the fact ecs is os/2 , albeit with bells on, is enough to sell it - to make it worth buying in its own right.  The 'bells' are secondary to the operating system - os/2!  Without that operating system you have nothing.
I am not a marketing droid but an engineer.  As such I'm more interested in what the product can do, proven, and not the marketing spiel.
Yes wseb was expensive but it works and works well.  On the strength of what my computers can do I've converted a number of people to os/2 (legitimate copies from ebay).
You will ask 'why not ecs?' to which I reply version 2 has been so long in coming, indeed its not here yet, and version 1 is apparently so little changed from standard os/2 mcp why not get the original os/2?
Your argument about buying ecs just for the 'enhancements' is only valid is you need a new licence.  I suspect there are a large number of people using os/2, like myself, who do not see the need to change their operating system for the same one just to get the enhancements.
When version 2 of ecs arrives (I won't say if) I will point new users in that direction, much easier than waiting for a copy to turn up on ebay.  Note I said NEW users.  I am not getting into the micro$oft way of thinking - here is something new, dump your existing and get the new. That worked for m$ in the past though indications are that its not doing so well at the moment.
IBM had the right idea in issuing fix packs, and slipping new features in that way, as well as software choice.  The fix packs have obviously finished but I am not convinced that a software choice style channel open to both os/2  and ecs is not a valid concept and would not upset IBM.

#589
Hardware / Re: Hardware report ASAP
2008.08.06, 11:24:12
Doug said
QuoteMensys produces, and sells, eComStation, so it is not only fair that they keep the software for their own use, it is expected. To say that OS/2 users are not invited, is a rather narrow view. They are certainly invited to participate in the eCS adventure, by simply purchasing the product. Without eComStation, OS/2 would be as dead as Microsoft wishes it was.

Doug, my point is 'why not sell it to those that have os/2?'
I have always assumed Eugene is being paid for his work by someone - so it's Mensys.  Surely they would make more money by selling these extra addons to those of us with just os/2, or am I missing something here again?  Why limit it to ecs if ecs is os/2 with bells on?
I know you've been pushing ecs for a long time but I, and I assume a lot of others, have os/2 with everything ibm provided on the software choice program, up to fp5 official and fp6 un-official.
That being said I see no advantage to purchasing ecs which only appears to have bolted on extras which might be nice to have but are not essential.
I have wseb smp on several 64 bit processor systems - even my acer aspire 17 inch notebook (that took a little while mainly because the broadcom wifi was incomputable with everything other than vista - once I replaced it with an intel one everything began to work).
To sum up - why replace working systems with the same (if ecs is os/2) just to get addons when said addons could be sold via something like software choice for both ecs AND os/2.

Rudi said
Quote...one of bad things in OS/2 is, that we have to deal with a nearly 20 year old binary-only kernel that was never
designed with that type of stuff in mind. Thus a lot of ugly hacking has to be done, to get it to work
at all...

And that rudi is my main point!  There are other people that may have the knowledge that is needed to get it right and working but if there is no information published as to the problems how are those people to know? 
Eugene is an optimist apparently, he keeps on saying 'it works' when Doug and others know it dosen't.  There is no shame in saying 'I have a problem here, can anyone offer a suggestion as to the way forward'.

#590
Hardware / Re: Hardware report ASAP
2008.08.05, 20:16:25
I have the feeling there is a little of the 're-invent the wheel' going on here.
If my reading of the information on the acpica.org site is correct, we have Eugene doing his own thing and the people at acpica plugging on at a different thing (they appear to have quite a bit of os/2 specific parts available).

There are several other projects that I see no reason for e.g. bootable jfs, unless you are going down the window$ road with everything on on one giant partition.

I have also wondered why no one has combined the genmac driver with the linux nindis wrapper project, it would then be simple to add a nic (wired or wireless) if you had the window$  ndis file.

All in all we have some brilliant people working to keep os/2 alive, Daniela Engert, Paul Smedley et al who give of their time and brilliance freely, others give their work as shareware.  Then there is the closed community where those of us using os/2 only are not invited.  Lucide. open office, acpi and a few others are only for those that have ecs.  How much better that they be available as shareware and so benefit the whole os/2 community.
#591
Applications / Re: eCS and bittorrent
2008.07.08, 13:29:46
At last, a person with my way of thinking!
I have three computers of friends sitting on my workbench with problems that need rectifying.  The owners are beginning to think about OS/2 and the fact that it just continues to work.  In one case I loaned a friend a spare computer (with OS/2 and Describe) so he could continue with his degree work.  I got it back only after he finished his degree with new computer and a copy of WSEB he'd got from ebay and a request I put the two together.  Reason, OS/2 had just worked and continued working when others of his friends had had problems with windows.  He does not worry about how it looks, just the fact it works.

About bittorrent, I agree that as long as it works it is enough.  Maybe it would be nice if directories could be more easily selected but for my use (downloading various linux distros) it works which is all I ask.
#592
I have tried the various versions of ff3 and rejected them for one simple reason - everything  in the menus and bookmarks is double spaced!!
If anyone knows a way round this I would like them to share it.

Other than that It appears reasonable but much of the vaunted advantages appear to rely on parts OS/2 does not have i.e flash etc.

#593
Applications / Re: CD Record
2008.06.05, 17:15:17
I was never able to get Audio/Data Cd Creator to work  with any degree of reliability  so I just use mkisofs2 and ccdrecord2 with the scripts I have. 
If you must have a GUI then I recommend  CDR/RW Wizard  - you will have to get the latest  mkisofs2 and cdrecord2 from hobbes.