Piano Launchpad updated

2007-06-02 16:58:10 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [ecomstation.ru]

If you are going install Piano Launchpad, keep in mind:

• Piano Launchpad is an addon to eCenter, not its competitor
• All objects on Piano are shadows

Whatsnew? 01.06.2007 1.14 rc2

• ! On some sytems WPS hung during startup, if objects with PNG icons assigned via OS/2 Ini-files exist and RESTARTOBJECTS=STARTUPFOLDERSONLY environment variable is not set.
• * If object dragged from the drawer or Toolbar and dropped to the same drawer (or Toolbar), and drawer is not attached to the object, after a new copy of the object created, original object is deleted.
• * If pressed when Toolbar or a drawer is active, "Toolbar and drawers" article opens, not "General help".
• * In the russian NLS translation of "Undo" changed from "Отмена" to "Отказ".
• * Help fully translated to Russian.

We are going return investments made into Piano Launchpad before the end of 2007 (development, graphics, debugging)

OpenOffice.org 2.0.4 GA available

2007-05-30 12:15:20 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [www.ecomstation.com]

Product Announcement, May 29, 2007
Subject: Support Agreement (12 months) for OpenOffice.org for eComStation and IBM OS/2
Reference SSI Product Announcement, November 4, 2005, same subject
Effective date: May 29, 2007

Effective immediately, Serenity Systems International will be distributing a GA version of OpenOffice.org 2.0.4 to all users who ordered the Support Agreement for OpenOffice.org product. This version has been compiled to run on IBM OS/2 and eComStation as a native application. OpenOffice.org version 1.1.5 will no longer be distributed.

OpenOffice.org for IBM OS/2 and eComStation users has successfully passed all the testing procedures in place for other platforms, including Microsoft Windows(r), Linux, and Solaris(r). This includes a 48 hour automated testing cycle designed to use every dialog and runtimes exceeding 24 consecutive hours during which the application is subjected to constant usage.

Support Agreement users whose 12 month term has expired will be able to download a copy of OpenOffice.org 2.0.4. Current Support Agreement users will also be able to:

• Report issues and open support tickets
• Download fixes, updates, and enhancements
• Test new versions as they become available

Planned updates and enhancements include:

• WPS file class: this class will enhance the file details page, showing the document properties.
• Printing: printing can be enabled by object file icon drag & drop over printer object, from WPS print menu, with drag & drop from OpenOffice.org window to the printer object.
• eComStation or IBM OS/2 look & feel.
• Drag & drop from WPS objects to OpenOffice.org window to allow opening new files, inserting new files, linking existing files.
• NLS language selection for UI using program object properties or by drag & drop of the locale object.
• Java enablement of OpenOffice.org allows scripts and wizards to function properly.
• Update of the code base to the latest available level.

These fixes and enhancements will be delivered to all active Support Agreement users. MSRP for the Support Agreement for OpenOffice.org for OS/2 and eComStation is $49US. MSRP for renewals is $29US. For more information, see http://www.ecomstation.com/openoffice For a list of resellers, see http://www.ecomstation.com/buy

Serenity Systems International will comply with all elements and restrictions associated with the licensing and distribution and use of OpenOffice.org.

General Network Utilities for professionals

2007-05-27 19:52:00 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [ecomstation.ru]

Here is the short gallery of GNU screenshots. (Pay attention to functionality, not bitmaps)

• Swedish text
• English
• Russian

Homepage of GNU

Piano Launchpad - for business and home

2007-05-12 01:24:01 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [ecomstation.ru]

Piano Launchpad is useful for companies and individual users. Visit homepage, Join forum

Whatsnew:

• Improved dynamic drawers
• Custom size of icons on the launchpad
• Printers and disks have PNG icons too
• More icons for popular applications
• better backup/restore scripts (for upgrade to new version of Piano)

Piano Launchpad Screenshot

Piano Launchpad is developed by precise plan. We are going implement:

• utility to attach PNG icon to a file
• perform interpolation of resized icons (if your version of OS doesn't provide this)
• share a library to load PNG icons for thirdparty developers
• add more options, more actions
• Improve help, write review

Send us bug-reports and suggestions today. We should complete the project in 2 monthes.

VOICE Newsletter 5/2007 available

2007-05-07 18:14:00 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [ecomstation.ru]

The May edition of the VOICE Newsletter is now available online.

In the latest issue you find:

• Incommunicado -- Christian Hennecke asks Serenity Systems publish roadmaps and plans
• Tales from mascot kingdom -An approach in determination of an eCS mascot -- Thomas Klein knows which mascot is good for eComStation and OS/2
• Data Exchange Between Mobile Phones and OS/2 Machines -- Ralph Hanses is testing Sony-Ericsson K750i and K800i, O2 PDA PM300
• Using Theseus to Study Memory Usage Under OS/2 -Part 2 -- Sjoerd Visser talks how to detect memory leaks
• GigaBit LAN -or How I supercharged my network -- Keith Merrington writes how to setup the network
• BitTorrent and OS/2 -Part 2 -- Alex Taylor talks about BitTorrent-clients
• Driving into the future? -- Christian Hennecke criticises Panorama VESA video driver
• And of course letters, addenda, and tips!

Stewed fruit of eComStation news

2007-05-07 16:43:18 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [ecomstation.ru]

We collected misc news from eComStation sites:

• Paul Smedley updated ports of flash-player GNASH, MySQL Community Server, BIND, Perl, Samba server and client, cURL, sTunnel. Read more..
• OS2World site goes to new engine, new design. It's good that our sites are refreshed: more users switch to eComStation if read good and well-designed sites. We recommend to standalone users and developers create blogs, like this one: http://eros2-dev.blogspot.com
• Uniaud audio driver can't be extended or improved immediately. It's necessary start the project from the beginning. Three developers are working on Uniaud. Current goals: sync source code with ALSA, load driver for one chipset, not all chipsets, create homepage for the project and inform users about supported adapters.
• Peter Koller updated sane2twain, which allows use USB-scanners from PMView or Maul Publisher.
• eCo Labs projects offers to russian developers select the sequences of tasks. A developer can lock all tasks related to PM controls only, WPS applications only or device drivers only.
• We updated Panorama VESA FAQ (34 questions)
• Maybe you missed this link in the past, IBM recommends look at eComStation
• To watch movies we recommend KMP player You can watch movies even on modern adapter ATI Mobility Radeon X2300 if using super-fast Panorama VESA videodriver
• Before installation of ACPI.PSD 2.2x, check your system kernel (bldlevel x:\OS2KRNL). You should use kernel 14.104. Download the kernel from eComStation betazone.

eCo Software newsletter, 200704

2007-05-02 15:12:47 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [eCo Software, news]

In the beginning of the spring we updated: ACPI subsystem, eComStation kernel, USB Tools homepage, Hardware database, General Network Utilities, PMDownloader, eSchemes gallery, Panorama video drivers, Piano Launchpad & Imagination, Calculator for millionaire, Firewall ports setup, LANGE library.

Why have died OS/2 in 1997? Because companies have withdrawn the money from OS/2 market.
Why eComStation is growing fast today? Because companies and users are investing the money and efforts into creation of native software and drivers.

1. ACPI drivers (Download from BETAZONE)

• Follow this roadmap if installing multiprocessor support: a) disable audio, networking, usb, etc. b) run in PIC or APIC mode, c) activate drivers and devices one by one.
• Collaboration with developers of Intel Corporation allows improve ACPI support for eComStation
   
  
• ACPI.PSD 2.20 -- uses the latest Intel source code. Better support of embedded controller, mutexes to allow active usage of ACPI. Brings new functions for developers of device drivers.
• This version is recommended for owners of Thinkpad T40 (with latest BIOS), owners of computers with bad ACPI tables. Test /EIS switch. If PC hangs then try SMP kernel (stack is larger if running SMP kernel)
• New APM.ADD 1.12 (requires ACPI 2.20),
• New ACPI snooper (requires ACPI 2.20), You need it if running Core 2 Duo in APIC mode or to solve IRQ conflicts
• If ACPI 2.20 doesn't boot then wait for update (should be released in May 2007)

Some ACPI utilities are updated

2. Workplace shell extenders

• Personal Cards Manager -- improved NLS support
• eSchemes -- internal beta-version is released
• eSchemes gallery updated
• eSchemes Deluxe - our effort to improve navigation by eComStation Desktop. Whatsnew: PDF preview for files touched by Lucide viewer; You can feel the advantages from this extension if using Lucide and D during 1-2 monthes.

  We have spent many efforts to improve the installation procedure of eSchemes Deluxe. There are so many versions of OS/2 and eComStation.. so many different configurations. To compensate your patience, we created Piano Launchpad. This Launchpad is useful even if you have eCenter on the Desktop. Piano Launchpad brings large icons to Desktop, has auto-hide feature.

  
  Screenshot: Piano Launchpad Whatsnew:
  • Backup/restore - to update or duplicate the Launchpad.
  • Disable frames, reduce intervals
  • New icons for OS/2 desktop (simple, non vulgar)

3. Video drivers

eComStation community was near to catastrophe. Any critical situation makes us search for alternative ways. We released two video drivers:

• Panorama ATI R200 - for ATI Radeon 7000 - 9250 adapters (2D acceleration, color hardware cursor, etC)
• Panorama VESA (BETAZONE) - super fast universal video driver. It is useful for owners of modern videoadapters: ATI X1950, Intel X3000 and NVidia. Works fine on Multi core notebooks and desktops.
• Panorama widescreen activators - Robert Lalla is working on widescreen activators for adapters with ATOM BIOS, Intel adapters.

Homepage of Panorama drivers, Join the forum to discuss Panorama VESA

4. Keyboards, remote controls

Central Remote Control gathers events from TV remote controls, notebook buttons, USB-keyboard multimedia buttons and translates them to commands for multimedia applications CRC release is delayed again. Waiting for more interested users.

Bonus application "Calculator for millionaire". Why switch to CalcMi?

• CalcMi allows you to enter mathematical formulas and see the result on-the-fly.
• Drop Arial 14 font, press F1 to see the list of supported functions

5. Toolkits for developers

• LANGE library for multilanguage support (useful for creation of small native eComStation applications). Contact us of you are going use it.
• Internal alpha 2 of SOM Compiler Pascal Emitter
• EmitLnk - support of Watcom Linker in SOM Compiler (it is aimed to generate LNK files, like IBM DEF)

6. Disk utilities

Download ALVM, Sometimes it is useful to recreate partitions on flash disks (if LVM shows MsgBox with errors)

7. Internet utilities:

• PMDownloader 1.02 -- You need it to put your downloads in order. Whatsnew:
  • Fixed semaphore leak, which may cause PM Downloader hang on intensive use.
  • Added option to limit number of simultaneous downloads from same host.
  • Fixed - download fails when downloading file from root dir on IBM FTPD/2.
  • Fixed crash on PM Downloader close while 'view history' window opened.
  • Flush file buffers to disk every 10 minutes.
• General network utilities were updated. The developer is investing time into functionality improvement. Updated utilities: IPinfo, ARPscan. Do you need more LAN tools? Send us your suggestions.
• Traffic Visor III -- This program is intended to analyze IP-traffic in the LAN/WAN using flexible mechanism to count IP-packets by interfaces, sender/receiver addresses, TCP/UDP ports, ICMP-services, etc
• Firewall ports setup (BETAZONE) allows you to protect the PC against infectious Windows

8. eComStation kernel

Please join the testing of new eComStation kernel (BETAZONE). You need it:

• to minimize power consumption on multicore CPU
• if coolers are loud
• Prolong life of your notebook batteries (+ 30 minutes or more)

9. USB applications

We updated the list of existing drivers and applications which control USB hardware

USB Dock updated (BETAZONE)

• If device doesn't have picture then it's unknown. The program asks users send logs.
• More devices in database

N e w! You can integrate APC UPS (USB) to eComStation power system. Run APC UPS deamon and watch energy level via Battery widget. Your desktop with UPS is working like notebook!! URL: eComStation betazone

We recommend don't touch USB Audio adapters. All resources should be concentrated on HDAudio implementation, USB audio adapters is a fake goal.

10. eCo Software support service

• The hardware database contains more than 1145 reports of supported hardware. You can post new reports or add notes to published. Now gathering reports about supported Color Laser Printers
• If you have spent much time searching for PPD files (PostScript Printer Description files) then share your collection with PPD Stack
• eComStation FAQ (russian language) is updated. New answers related to Development, Networking.

11. Additional information:

• Full pricelist of eCo Software products
• BETAZONE -- How to download ACPI, Panorama, eSchemes?
• Welcome to eCo Software homepage
• Previous eCo Software newsletter

New files in eComStation beta-zone

2007-04-22 14:08:58 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [ecomstation.ru]

We recommend update drivers and applications:

• ACPI drivers (ACPI.PSD, APM.ADD, ACPI snooper, etc) -- ACPI stores full detailed information about the computer in one place and simplifies development of OS and drivers
• Clock tools -- A new utility for configuring Internet-based time/date synchronization under eCS.
• Firewall ports setup -- protect your PC from Windows infection
• Panorama VESA video driver -- Useful for owners of modern videoadapters: ATI X1600, Intel X3000 and NVidia. No need in 2D-accelerated drivers anymore..
• USB Dock -- use it to check attached USB devices, or when setting up USB drivers
• InstPDR (Selective Install Tools section) -- is a GUI tool for installing new printer drivers. Includes a graphical frontend for importing PPD files. (Let's collect Description of poscript printers at PDD stack web-page

Read more about Software Subscription Services

eSchemes Deluxe + Piano Launchpad

2007-04-14 18:31:35 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [ecomstation.ru]

eSchemes Deluxe is updated (includes extensions for WorkPlace shell: Imagination + Piano Launchpad)

What is new?

Improved procedure of Imagination installation. Imagination brings to your dekstop preview window for images and PDF-files (touched by Lucide)

We are interested to know, preview for which kinds of data do you need in Imagintation?

eComStation is used in medium/large companies. To compete with other platforms, we should create several tools and applications for corporative customers. First of all, we started the development of Piano Launchpad (replacement of old IBM Launchpad)

eCenter pushed IBM Launchpad out from eComStation desktop many years ago. To return the Launchpad, we added special features. To use Piano Launchpad, keep in mind: launchpad is an addon for eCenter. After installation change properties [x] Auto-hide.

Which objects and programs to collect at Launchpad? (and release place at the desktop)

• Put Firefox, Thunderbird to Launchpad to start the day with good news
• FileCommander and other file shells, i.e. utils which are started several times per day.
• OpenOffice, Lotus SmartSuite folders
• Personal Cards Manager address book
• Calculator for millionaire - you need it immediately
• We recommend move all multimedia applications to Central Remote Control menu. But you can collect the multimedia applications in a folder on Launchpad.

We are interested to know, large icons for which popular applications should be drawed?

eSchemes Deluxe is shareware. Other products of eCo Software

Calling to Internet via GPRS

2007-04-05 16:34:57 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [ecomstation.ru]

GPRS is very popular today, here is one more overview how to setup Internet dialer for GPRS (russian text)

OpenOffice.org 2.0 RC2

2007-03-15 12:32:30 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [ecomstation.ru]

Release Candidate is available for immediate download in English, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Russian and Dutch to all customers of an active Support Agreement for OpenOffice.org for eComStation and IBM OS/2, via their download-area at the Mensys Online Shop.

You can login to the Mensys Online Shop at: http://www.mensys.net/login/

Whatsnew:

• Performance improvements.
• Filter issues.
• Better error reporting on OOo/2 crash.
• Menu automatic hilite follows XWP settings (needs OOo/2 restart).
• Mouse sliding focus (requires XWP 1.0.8 or greater).
• Spool name in printer object now uses document name.
• PDF export
• Printing issues
• Clipboard text
• Accelerator cut off
• Implemented kerning support, now font rendering matches OOo for windows.
• Detect of symbol font was wrong, fix font rotation for horizontal fonts.
• Navigation Float quickhelp not updated when moving mouse over icon.
• New quickstart icon.
• Use LVM to query drive-types in file-open dialog.
• Added new launchers, now OOo starts from every directory.
• Use lxlite to compress binaries, saving required diskspace for installation.
• Implements quickstart feature for OS/2 with WPS support.
• New keyboard handling, fixes problems with incorrect keyboard layout and numeric pad.
• Added missing mouse pointers.
• Startup windowsize will be OS/2 default or last client area size, no longer start fullscreen.
• Use WarpIN default application path instead of D:\programs (eCS only).
• WarpIN 1.0.12 is now the minimal required version.

Screenshots:

• Impress
• Partial DBCS support

Software news on our site

2007-03-07 13:30:48 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [ecomstation.ru]

eComStation.Ru holds APeCS database with news about fresh eComStation software. You can add info to the database by yourself.

Capacity of eComStation market

2007-02-26 15:10:40 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [ecomstation.ru]

Imagine that 100 shareware/commercial applications are developed during the year. How much money are you ready to invest in new usefull applications for eComStation?

eCo Software newsletter, 200702

2007-02-09 01:39:14 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [eCo Software, news]

This message contains news about: ACPI subsystem, eComStation kernel, USB Tools homepage, Hardware database, JRescuer, General Network Utilities, OpenVPN, Personal Cards Manager, eSchemes gallery, Bootable JFS.

How many companies are needed to keep eComStation community in tone? Any company is able publish one newsletter per month (developers of industrial solutions can publish news about updates of own libraries and tools; developers of shareware should announce updates of old projects and new products). Seems that 30 companies are able keep all users in tone and bring assurance of success. Here is the list of companies working on eComStation market.

ACPI drivers

Installation procedure changed significantly! Please read docs again.

Please inform us if poweroff.exe or PowerOff button do not work on your computer. If PCI devices are not visible by drivers after installation of ACPI then immediately inform us.

• New APM.ADD 1.9 (requires ACPI 2.17), Whatsnew: Fixed C state for Uni, added HLT/Cx for SMP, fixed acpidaemon logging, S3 state Fix.
• New ACPI snooper (2.17), You need it if running Core 2 Duo in APIC mode or to solve IRQ conflicts

ACPI is available via eComStation beta-zone.

Current target: improve support of Thinkpads.

Disk utilities

Download updated JRescuer. JRescuer (JUne) best-seller is aimed to undelete files from JFS volume, recover files from damaged JFS volume.

USB applications

We updated the list of existing drivers and applications which control USB hardware.

USB Dock database is updated. Download USB Dock from eComStation beta-zone.

Internet utilities

• General network utilities were updated. GNU are aimed to collect TCP/IP information, diagnose and solve network problems, optimize IP settings for your computer. Whatsnew: many utilities are updated.
• OpenVPN to eComStation is updated. Whatsnew: Significant increase of speed. OpenVPN is a full-featured SSL VPN solution. Download beta from hobbes.

eComStation kernel

Whatsnew:

• Rudi updated OEMHLP$ driver.
• HLT added to minimize Power Consumption (use it if CPU cooler is loud)

This features may be activated via ACPI driver. Download eComStation kernel from eComStation beta-zone.

WorkPlace Shell extenders

• Personal Cards Manager -- download updated version and fixpak. This project is important for us. If users support it, we can create dosenz of applications to keep data on desktop.

  Whatsnew: fixed small bugs, improved installation procedure. Use address books as Groups, keep all cards in address books only.

• Who said that eComStation desktop is ugly? Visit eSchemes gallery, read the rules before posting new screenshots. The gallery is a perfect place to advertise your applications!
• Updated eStyler (you need it if testing eCS 2.0 beta 3), available from eComStation betazone

eCo Software support service

eCo Software support service recommends install 2 copies of eComStation on every PC. This simple rule significantly simplifies:

• recovery of system in case of small or large troubles;
• simplifies setup of modern eComStation drivers when many reboots are needed
• simplifies upgrade to new version of eComStation (replace unnecessary copy of eCS with new version)

The hardware database contains more than 1090 reports of supported hardware. You can post new reports or add notes to published. Now gathering reports about supported Barebones and Industrial PCs.

Collaboration with other developers

eComStation developers and Willibald Meyer fixed bug in Bootable JFS: "JFS booter is reading files located above 4 Gb not properly", please download updated UJFS.DLL from eComStation beta-zone.

Additional information:

• Full pricelist of eCo Software products
• How to download ACPI, eSchemes?
• Welcome to eCo Software homepage
• Previous eCo Software newsletter

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Release Candidate 1 available

2007-02-04 20:58:12 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [www.ecomstation.com]

Serenity Systems International is pleased to announce the availability of Release Candidate 1 of OpenOffice.org 2.0 for eComStation and OS/2.

This build is based on the 2.0.4 sourcecode of OpenOffice.org.

Release Candidate 1 is available for immediate download in English, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Russian and Dutch to all customers of an active Support Agreement for OpenOffice.org for eComStation and IBM OS/2, via their download-area at the Mensys Online Shop.

You can login to the Mensys Online Shop at: http://www.mensys.net/login/

Notes:

• Please make sure to read the included READ1ST.TXT document, which includes hints on installation and a list of known issues.
• Installation takes around 300 MB of drivespace, plus an additional 40 MB per installed language.
• Innotek FontEngine is now fully supported, which provides improved fontrendering.
• It is advised to use TrueType fonts (TTF) over Type1 fonts (eCS default) as they render better with the Fontengine.
• no eComStation or OS/2 specific enhancements are available in this beta yet.
• UniClip is required to complete installation. You can get it from Hobbes
• Support for clipboard bitmap formats and unicode text.
• Support for mouse wheel.
• Numerous fixes have been implemented. For more details, please read READ1ST.TXT

Planned enhancements

• bidi & dbcs font support (depends on demand)
• WPS support
• native GUI controls
• support SANE for scanners.

Support for the following items is not planned

• Java support
• Mozilla support

More information

More information on OpenOffice.org can be found at: http://www.openoffice.org/

User Support

Support specific to the eComStation and OS/2 version can be obtained through the ticketing system at: http://www.ecomstation.com/support/ooo2/

A newsgroup is available for community support at news://news.ecomstation.com/ecomstation.support.openoffice or http://news.ecomstation.com/thread.php?group=ecomstation.support.openoffice

Enjoy!
Best regards,
On behalf of Serenity Systems International, the Mensys Team.

eCo Shop news

2007-01-25 01:29:51 -- Eugene Gorbunoff [ecomstation.ru]

Russian users are ready to buy expensive software (APSoft, Maul Publisher), so we added this products to eCo Shop catalogue.

Moreover, we ask users support the debugging of UniAud universal audio driver (HDAudio support) and buy sponsor units.