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Need help choosing eCS Compatible Hardware

Started by OSExplorer, 2009.06.08, 01:17:23

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OSExplorer

Hi everyone,

I am new here and I am after a new computer (custom built of course) and I am choosing my hardware. The problem is, unlike my last mistake with my current hardware, I want to make sure this new hardware will in fact run eComStation. I want to get an X58 based motherboard with an Intel iCore CPU, a  good graphics PCI-E graphics card such as GeForce 9600 GT etc. Are there places I can compare hardware that tells me whether it will work with eCS?

My current hardware: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 motherboard with JMicron controllers and I've tried the demo CD so many times and I could not get it to work. You see the logo and it just hangs. I have a feeling it's JMicron that is not supported or may be an issue with the motherboard (I had a few issues with this one in the past)...




OSExplorer

On the other hand, perhaps I can get a small netbook that would also run eCS?

Saijin_Naib

9600gt is a waste with eCS, no hardware accelerated drivers. Best cards you can get hardware accel on eCS are the Nvidia 6600 and ATI x800 series cards.

Harddrive should be supported by DANIs with no problem unless it is being used with AHCI in the BIOS. Normal SATA/IDE (PATA) drives will not give you much problem provided you keep the size below about 512gb for the BOOT drive. I do not believe that there is any such limitation for a non-bootable drive (just data storage, programs, etc).

RAM keep below 4gb. Other than that, its just a finicky process that relies much on ACPI compatibility and making damn sure you have the right BIOS settings.

jep

Hi,,

You may want to look at eComStation.ru for that kind of information as they have collected info about various hardware such as motherboards, graphic cards, mice etc. that people use with eComStation.

The reviews often contain links and hints about things you may want to consider.

//Jan-Erik

OSExplorer

Thanks for that guys, seriously I am so eager for eComStation, I love the way it works and looks. I wish I could try the live CD. I have tried it once on my old computer. Why doesn't Serenity Systems put more effort into advertising eCS? I don't know + people will have no trouble getting used to, a true Windows contender.

warpcafe

Hi,

Quote from: OSExplorer on 2009.06.08, 10:23:35
Thanks for that guys, seriously I am so eager for eComStation, I love the way it works and looks. I wish I could try the live CD. I have tried it once on my old computer. Why doesn't Serenity Systems put more effort into advertising eCS? I don't know + people will have no trouble getting used to, a true Windows contender.

well there's 3 points I would like to add my 2 cents:

1) Why doesn't Serenity Systems put more effort into advertising eCS?
Hmm. Hard to tell. Actually I believe that Serenity is no longer the "driving force" beyond it but more or less acting as the "license holder and contract party" towards IBM. Mensys is the company behind it. And the reason they are not doing *more* advertising (if any at all) is that the last "distributable" version is 1.2.
2.0 is more or less close to being published GA. Once that is done and it proves to be kind-of failsafe, the will release a demo CD (Knoppix-like self-bootable read-only tryout version) and depending on how they feel about its maturity will then start to spread the word.
Fact is, there *is* a market for it, yet... (and this leads to the second point...)

2) people will have no trouble getting used to, a true Windows contender.
Ouch. Your excitement about eCS (albeit welcome here) set aside, eCS is in no way a "Windows contender". Reason being: For that to be true, one must identify the traget group of Windows which is almost impossible since multimedia people use it, ATMs use it, gamers use it, companies use it, nerds use it...
If you were to say "gamers", then the anser for eCS is definitely: Nope.
Talking about multimedia: Nope as well. ATMs: YES... but then again, if there is a bank ordering eCS for all their ATMs... they expect professional-level SLAs. Who is going to care of delivering and acting to compliance? THere is no organization behind eCS that could manage such things to the required extent. eCS is rather a kind-of generally purpose OS for people trying to get rid of Windows. Thus, eCS is rather competing with OSX, Haiku, Linuxes, etc. (and it's currently not in its best shape even for that...)

3) I wish I could try the live CD. I have tried it once on my old computer.
Hmm, I don't get the point here - did it work on your old computer but is doesn't work on teh new one?

Regards,
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

rwklein

Quote from: OSExplorer on 2009.06.08, 01:17:23
Hi everyone,

I am new here and I am after a new computer (custom built of course) and I am choosing my hardware. The problem is, unlike my last mistake with my current hardware, I want to make sure this new hardware will in fact run eComStation. I want to get an X58 based motherboard with an Intel iCore CPU, a  good graphics PCI-E graphics card such as GeForce 9600 GT etc. Are there places I can compare hardware that tells me whether it will work with eCS?

My current hardware: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 motherboard with JMicron controllers and I've tried the demo CD so many times and I could not get it to work. You see the logo and it just hangs. I have a feeling it's JMicron that is not supported or may be an issue with the motherboard (I had a few issues with this one in the past)...



The demo CD is outdated. Right now there is not being worked on this. But the design what needs to be done on this is being looked into this. New NIC drivers, Panroama for graphic support, UNIAUD to support modern audio chipsets, new firefox and new Daniele driver for SATA support. And Flash 10 (which should be released shortly for public beta).


Roderick Klein
Mensys

OSExplorer

#7
Hi Roderick,

Thanks for that! It's great to know its status.




OSExplorer

#8
Hi Warpcafe,

Thanks for that extensive reply.
Quote3) I wish I could try the live CD. I have tried it once on my old computer.
Hmm, I don't get the point here - did it work on your old computer but is doesn't work on teh new one?

Yep, I tried it on my older PC (which is no longer usable as I have taken parts out) and the new one (3/4 years old) with an Dual Core E6600, 3GB RAM and nVidia card but it refuses to boot the system. You just see the eCS logo and it just hangs. You can wait for hours. Probably it's displayed some type of error msg in the background but the logo is on top or it is trying to scan something and it just hangs. I have a GA-965P-DS3 motherboard with a JMicron IDE controller. This motherboard when I first got it gave me a lot of troubles with JMicron on Linux (unable to recognize my DVD drives). Also to note, aside JMicron, this motherboard seems to be faulty as it gives me a lot of problems such as the temp of the chip reaching 60 cel, cutting off the processing as in, music breaking, processing time breaking and something like this: ____ __ __ ___ ____ __  and that happens even when you log out of Windows. If you ignore the symptoms, after like 3/4 minutes of cutting, Windows will just restart so I am not sure if I want to go with GIGABYTE again but people say good stuff about it...

I just managed to do my own multi boot CD (isolinux) with full USB support for DOS, NTFS read/write support, a big RAM drive etc :)

rwklein

Quote from: warpcafe on 2009.06.08, 16:07:09
Hi,

Quote from: OSExplorer on 2009.06.08, 10:23:35
Thanks for that guys, seriously I am so eager for eComStation, I love the way it works and looks. I wish I could try the live CD. I have tried it once on my old computer. Why doesn't Serenity Systems put more effort into advertising eCS? I don't know + people will have no trouble getting used to, a true Windows contender.

well there's 3 points I would like to add my 2 cents:

1) Why doesn't Serenity Systems put more effort into advertising eCS?
Hmm. Hard to tell. Actually I believe that Serenity is no longer the "driving force" beyond it but more or less acting as the "license holder and contract party" towards IBM. Mensys is the company behind it. And the reason they are not doing *more* advertising (if any at all) is that the last "distributable" version is 1.2.
2.0 is more or less close to being published GA. Once that is done and it proves to be kind-of failsafe, the will release a demo CD (Knoppix-like self-bootable read-only tryout version) and depending on how they feel about its maturity will then start to spread the word.
Fact is, there *is* a market for it, yet... (and this leads to the second point...)

2) people will have no trouble getting used to, a true Windows contender.
Ouch. Your excitement about eCS (albeit welcome here) set aside, eCS is in no way a "Windows contender". Reason being: For that to be true, one must identify the traget group of Windows which is almost impossible since multimedia people use it, ATMs use it, gamers use it, companies use it, nerds use it...
If you were to say "gamers", then the anser for eCS is definitely: Nope.
Talking about multimedia: Nope as well. ATMs: YES... but then again, if there is a bank ordering eCS for all their ATMs... they expect professional-level SLAs. Who is going to care of delivering and acting to compliance? THere is no organization behind eCS that could manage such things to the required extent. eCS is rather a kind-of generally purpose OS for people trying to get rid of Windows. Thus, eCS is rather competing with OSX, Haiku, Linuxes, etc. (and it's currently not in its best shape even for that...)

3) I wish I could try the live CD. I have tried it once on my old computer.
Hmm, I don't get the point here - did it work on your old computer but is doesn't work on teh new one?

Regards,
Thomas

What do people understand under advertising ? Seriously. We have had people that suggest we put an advertisement in the New York times, uhuhuu $$$$. You will see more in selected media in the coming months. And there is an interest from banks that want eCS. Heck we sold recently to an insurance company. And eCS 1.2R is selling.

I think Thomas you are slightly off. We are capable of dealing with customers that need eCS in large environments and have done so already. I can not reveal sales numbers or names. The sales numbers is one thing.
The names of customers. People are always looking for testimonials about eCS from companies on our website (ecomstation.com). Well we have asked people. Maybe Eugene from eCo software has a different success rate then we have because Russian culture is different compared to our western culture.  What I mean by this is that for the average IT guy it seems its a sin to mention he is running OS/2 in his organization. Its just the image that eCS/OS/2 has. From a technical point of view its not justified... Its just the image OS/2 has to a large degree in the ICT industry.
And yes have asked but managers are rather publicly not quoted.

And yes we have a bank evaluating eCS for there bank terminals and ATM's.

Roderick Klein
Mensys


OSExplorer

#10
Roderick, you should think more positive. Once 2.0 is released, there should be banner ads promoting the live CD. It's better than nothing. Even a TV ad demonstarting what eCS is and what it can do. When people see the familiar interface they might go "oh wow, this looks like Windows" yes but without the viruses, ah yeah, there is also drive letters. How do you install software? Easy, simply double click and follow the wizard. Works like Windows and it even has a taskbar but it's not Windows. You want developers? Provide free programming tools for it. I for the record am a developer and would not mind to try programming for eCS - making user/desktop apps. Then there will be other people. Release eCS programming documentation. I assume it will be similar to Windows and Windows developers might find it interesting...

You should be promoting stuff. I personally would be interested to find out if there are any RAD environments for this operating system (something like C++ Builder) and if there is something similar, I would find it easy to program as I have been using C++ Builder for quite some time. If there is not, ahh well, we will have to learn the new way. Either way, promotion matters.

Saijin_Naib

Yes, it is like windows but very limited by many things. Mulitmedia first, Java second, hardware graphics drivers third, hardware support last. It is not ready to be a contender, its more a hobby OS for enthusiasts. That is fine.

OSExplorer

#12
Yes correct but Windows was like that too, Linux was like that, Mac OS was like that. It's a step you have to go through.

You can't jump from the bottom to the top with one step. You have to climb there. Just like your work/job...

eCS source code developers should take things more seriously rather than relying on everyone else. Start spending time on OpenGL, make a port, tweak it, call it DirectEx or OpenX anything....What do you think MS did? They spent time and time to bring all these technologies. You can't just give up.

If I had the money, programming knowledge and skills I would do so much...and not just that but contact vendors, provide them with specs, surely something must turn out. I mean Linux was like this too.

OSExplorer

Something else make it run Windows programs! How? ReactOS! I reckon Windows programs will run better in eCS than ReactOS itself.

Pete

Hi

Quote from: OSExplorer on 2009.06.09, 03:35:55
... I personally would be interested to find out if there are any RAD environments for this operating system (something like C++ Builder) and if there is something similar, I would find it easy to program as I have been using C++ Builder for quite some time. If there is not, ahh well, we will have to learn the new way. Either way, promotion matters.


There is a RAD environment that works fairly well but is object pascal based rather than c++; it is called WDSibyl and is very similar to Borland Delphi2. Grab a copy and have a play  :-)   http://wdsibyl.org/

Regards

Pete