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eComStation 2.0 RC5

Started by Saijin_Naib, 2008.07.04, 02:10:12

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BigWarpGuy

I look forward to eCS 2.0 being released to non-soft sub'ers like myself. I am hoping it is true that one can get it on a sd card (to either run from it or install from it). It would be really neat if eCS was pre-installed on an SSD ; specifically a mini-pci-e ssd.  ;D Is there a long wait for 2.0 come out or is it 'just around the corner'?  ???      8)

warpcafe

Hi BWG,

*ouch*
...you're poking a stick into the bleeding wounds of Mensys.  ;D

This is -sigh- an ongoing, hot topic. The last more-or-less "official" statement from Mensys was at the developers workshop where Roderick Klein basically said that all that lacks is a stable ACPI version (...looking at Eugene).

But that's only half the truth. Learning from criticism in the past, I guess Mensys now REALL wants to release something once EVERYTHING is ok. That makes the wait for 2.0GA very long. ("Better check twice..."). Also rumor has it that the product management (if that really existed as such) at Mensys wasn't "hardlined" enough, resulting in never-ending wishlist additions for the final release. But again, rumor has it that this was adressed in the meanwhile by having someone taking care of that and already making an impact.

If you're even more interested into details, take a look at Jacques van Leeuwen's comment on the presentation wishlist at the Warpstock Europe website http://www.warpstock.eu/en/agenda/wish_list.html (currently, it's the last one...) very interesting...

And - one never knows - perhaps there will be some official statement at this years Warpstock Europe Nov 14-16... ;)

Personally, I wonder why they aren't doing it like every other software company on this planet:
Bring out a 2.0 to calm people and gain time. Then 3 to 6 months later bring out the 2.1 (or 2.0 "SP1" - "The release that 2.0 was actually intended to become" :)
But as I said... perhaps they learned from the past and that's why they want to be on the safe-side and not play the silly release games everyone else does. But who knows? The next thing on my wishlist would be a "public relations manager" for Mensys... someone who takes care of their messed-up communication skills towards customers...

Cheers,
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

melf

Quote from: BigWarpGuy on 2008.10.15, 05:22:48
Is there a long wait for 2.0 come out or is it 'just around the corner'?  ???      8)

I use to check http://www.ecomstation.com , log in and got to bugtracker. There I click the "roadmap". Do that and you get a picture of time left. I should say there is quite a while for the RC6 to come!
/Mikael

saborion2

Re:

Quote from: melf on 2008.10.16, 14:26:03
Quote from: BigWarpGuy on 2008.10.15, 05:22:48
Is there a long wait for 2.0 come out or is it 'just around the corner'?  ???      8)

I use to check http://www.ecomstation.com , log in and got to bugtracker. There I click the "roadmap". Do that and you get a picture of time left. I should say there is quite a while for the RC6 to come!

As a long time IBM Software Business Partner I recall the times when IBM would host seminars when Business Partners would be briefed on status of the development of OS/2; and, in addition to this IBM Business Partners would call in questions regarding what enhancements they felt were most needed with respect to the OS/2 Operating System; therefore, if Serenity Systems/Mensys are worth their salt I think that they should adopt this former IBM's approach in briefing Business Partners. Additionally, it is felt that it would be "very neat" if Serenity Systems/Mensys could "explain" (for public consumption) the business relationship they currently have with IBM with regards to OS/2 similarly to the ways in which Microsoft does it when it comes to partnerships with Linux Developers/Distributors.  8)
[/glow]
It is soon going to be New Year's Eve 2009 and how far eComStation is from the horizon is anyone's guess.  >:(

Best regards.

rwklein

Hello,

I don't make a habit of dropping by on forums (in consumes a lot of time) but seen some messages I wanted to give a reply to, and this one them I want to respond to.

One of the reasons Mensys/Serenity systems can not release a build every half a year is simple.
We also need to push all the modifications into Russian (done by eCo software), Italian, German eCS version.
Right now there is being worked very hard by volunteers to get eCS 2.0 Traditional Chinese on track again. This is now booting from and installing. We have a booting and installing eCS 2.0 Japanese. But this last version still needs a lot of translation work done. Next to that eCS versions also under go testing in the test lab at Mensys.

Next to this eCS 2.0 is the biggest overhaul on OS/2 since IBM released Warp 4 in my opinion. Its true that IBM released MCP 1 and MCP 2. But the reason for delay is because OS/2 needed a lot of catching up to keep it running on todays hardware. In broad lines what is new in eCS 2.0 ?

* Bootable JFS ? Oke but this has been running quite some time eCS and is stable.

* The Panorama VESA driver graphics driver. I use its quite stable and fast on my Thinkpad T60.

* If you check eComStation 2.0 RC 5. It has a disc resizer in it. That can resize FAT 32 and NTFS.
Still working to see how eCS works with Vista. This should be possible to fix.

* ACPI is moving forward better and better. We have +150 test reports in the eComStation database
http://ewiki.ecomstation.nl/ACPICompatibilityMatrix
With ACPI 3.12 the amount of machines working in S3 (deep sleep) state is rising very fast now.

People can say, well I can live without ACPI (and we could have shipped eCS earlier). More and more machines will not work without it. For example some machines some parts of the PCI BUS (?) are not initialized properly pci.exe will not work or some device drivers will not even load or not work. ACPI now deals with:

* Speedstepping the CPU
* Multi processor support
* hardware resource management like IRQ's etc.
* Power management.

Some mainboards in the coming time may fail with the standard PIC mode (up to IRQ 15) and APIC  (more then 15 IRQ's) mode will only work. Thats where ACPI also comes into place. And its all beginning to work better and better.
My laptop a T60 works almost completely now with suspend resume, keyboard and mouse don't work after deep sleep anymore. But video and all other devices and eCS it self are alive again. A T61 has been reported to work.

*The final details are being worked out on the Samba client and the GUI for Samba.

* Some other things new in RC 6:
By default eCS will boot with the 104a SMP kernel. This is required for ACPI and will make systems with 4 GB of RAM (some systems reboot when starting the first phase from hard disc).

RC 6 will ship with a vastly improved UNIAUD that togeheter with the UNIAUD team and a developer and Mensys has been improved especially in the area of HDA audio support.

I hope this short message gives kind of impression what is all happening.  Next this list a gigantic amount of bugs has been fixed in eCS 2.0 that has been the result of the large amount of new components that have been introduced (like ACPI).

Roderick Klein
Mensys

saborion2

Hi Roderick,

It is good to be hearing from you. Anyway; two questions for you...

Re:

QuoteI hope this short message gives kind of impression what is all happening.  Next this list a gigantic amount of bugs has been fixed in eCS 2.0 that has been the result of the large amount of new components that have been introduced (like ACPI).

What is the current developer/business relationship with IBM, Microsoft et al; also, what is the anticipated General Availability (GA) Date of eCS 2.0?

Thank you.

Kindest regards,

SAB

warpcafe

Hi Roderick,

Quote from: rwklein on 2008.10.16, 23:29:39
I don't make a habit of dropping by on forums (in consumes a lot of time) but seen some messages I wanted to give a reply to, and this one them I want to respond to.

THANKS!!
I would never had hoped for a response from Mensys here and I'm really happy to see you jumped to the occasion. But... oh, why can't you guys from Mensys report such things on a more or less regular basis like once a month, for heavens sake?!
People are worried, scared, uncertain, puzzled... an nothing comes in except rumours.
You need a PR guy at Mensys, goddammit!! That would really, really, solve a lot of problems, care for tranparency and better "credibility" of Mensys. Sigh.

Thanks again for allowing a look behind the scene! Hope to meet you in Duesseldorf.

Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

BigWarpGuy

The response from Mensys and Serenity Systems is very informative and very appreciated. Thanks. I am looking for foward to the GA release of eCS 2.0. I am hoping to be able to get it on a SD card.  8)

PAUL555


When is ecomstation 2.0 expected to be GA ?

Seems to be a very long development period between version 1.2 and 2.0 as 1.2 came out in Sept 2004. 

Paul

BigWarpGuy

People will start to lose interest in eCS 2.0 if it takes too long before it comes out to the general public (ie; non software subscribers). Those who might be interested in trying eCS might be put off by such a long development time. Even if it is not perfect, it would be nice to see an eCS 1.5?  ???
8)

melf

Follow this link further and you'll get an answer,  http://www.ecomstation.org/news/read.php?record=2200

Personally I think it's wise to do a thorough "bug-go-through" before the GA release, as they do.
/Mikael

BigWarpGuy

Thank you for the information and the links. I look forward to the release of 2.0 of eCS.  8)

DavidG

#42
I always buy the software subscription service.  It gives me the opportunity to use the latest release in addition to allowing me to test the latest changes and fixes.  However, I can understand if someone does not want to pay any more additional money for whatever reasons they have.

This is why I run eCS on two partitions.  If I mess one partition up, I have the other to fall back on until I get my mess fixed.

David