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eComStation - OS/2

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chuckcmagee

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Jul 28, 2006
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Wow, maybe there is some hope for OS/2. I installed eComStation 2.0 Release Candidate 3 (RC3) on my Dell E1705 laptop. Unlike my 3 other laptops, all the stuff works on the Dell. Sound card, 2 CPUS (SMP), Wifi with security, USB, Video, CD burner. Posting this thread using it right now. Downloading a 700MB cd-image at the same time. The Dell is not even breaking a sweat. Of course, it should be just cruising if the the OS is any good.
 
How much does eComStation look like OS/2? I was always kinda curious about OS/2 and its successor but I've never got to see or play with it.
 
I think it's finally getting on time for me to bite the bullet and pick up a copy. We use a ton of OS/2 stuff, so I ought to get into the 21st century!
 
Its not that expensive, its no worse than RHEL is. I saw they had a Demo CD you could download, I might have to check that out later.
 
Yes, eCS and OS/2 look pretty much alike. The source code for "Presentation Manager" in not in the public domain which means eCS has to look and act about the same.
 
I gave up on OS/2 when I couldn't figure out how to get my OS/3 Warp to access the internet. Apparrently there was an underground IBM update which could do this, but why bother when both Mac and MS supplied it free ? In any case the available OS/2 applications were few and lame as represented by IBMs OS/2 "Works" or the "Encyclopedia".

The OS/2 screen and usage was impressive but when it came down to it, that's about all there was for a non-business users. So how can the average user without deep pockets use this OS/2 overlay and why ?

Even my Portfolio or XT has a bigger library of capable programs, and if you prefer the Win 3 programs emulation why not simply use a Win 3 box. Perhaps there is something I'm missing. Even the program-deprived GEOS had more or for that matter the CoCo OS9. Why not simply use Linux which has a much wider range of "free" programs.

As you can guess, I'm one of those PS/2 people who felt betrayed by OS/2. What I remember most about the OS/2 installation was a demeaning and annoying video presentation of how to use a mouse. Disgusting. A-holes. And then cast one into a very complex operating system.

Lawrence
 
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Most people seem to have used OS/2 as a good DOS/Win 3.1 program switcher. Since there were very few playable games for OS/2 I don't think many home users bothered with it (same with Windows NT 3.x and 4.x).

The lotus office suite was pretty decent (judging from the windows version, never realy used the OS/2 one but should be the same).

I have warp 4 on my IBM 9595 P66 system, runs fine there. Was looking for an IBM PS/2 for a while to run OS/2 on.

I purchased OS/2 2.1 when it was new but took it back when I found out my hercules graphite chipset was not supported. I purchased 3.0 to try it out a while later and never did much with it (resource hog and I was used to Win 3.x by then), by the time Win95 came out I had no use for OS/2.

There days I have a few original versions of OS/2 just because I like collecting oddball software (from 1.1EE to Warp 4 server I think).
 
Yes, I have to agree with both of those posts. In '96 I looked around and I had $300 of licensed shareware on my OS/2 machine. All the programs that I found useful were the shareware ones. And yes, I forked out some money for a com.sys driver that worked correctly with the then current modems. It did seem strange that IBM couldn't even get their serial driver working correctly.
Yes - yes - yes Games were a disaster in OS/2. I messed around with DOS "pif" type settings for at least a month. Never did get most games working at an acceptable level. I got so disgusted that OS/2 got replaced by Win95.
Now that Firefox works well with OS/2, I am still using my test install right now.
 
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