Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 2nd Sep 2005 09:09 UTC, submitted by Shane Coughlan
OSNews, Generic OSes "There is a new member of the OpenGEM family. We'd like to introduce Project Liberation, based on the software behind OpenGEM Experimental. Project Liberation is a whole new type of OpenGEM, and it's such a leap forward it'll blow your socks off. Project Liberation has a new 3D interface, with a neat modern pointer set, a beautiful new default system font, and cool new icons." Beta 3 has just been released. Download it here.
Order by: Score:
Nice
by Sparrowhawk on Fri 2nd Sep 2005 11:34 UTC
Sparrowhawk
Member since:
2005-07-11

I remember running GEM on my ancient Atari PC (not ST, "PC"). DOS 3 I think. Anyway, it was fun then, although I really did tend to just go back to the DOS command line.

Can you get USB drivers for DOS and Liberation GEM (no mention of it in the FAQ)? It would be nice to be able to stick in a USB memory stick to move files around. My neither my WinXP laptop nor my iMac G5 a floppy drive, so file sharing could be a pain (I would be installing it on my old desktop pc).

Reply Score: 1

RE: Nice
by Anonymous on Fri 2nd Sep 2005 13:35 UTC in reply to "Nice"
Anonymous Member since:
---

There are USB drivers for DOS, but they are quite difficult to track down. I did it once, and they worked wonderfully under MS-DOS 5. Alas, I cannot repeat that feat of Googling right now. (It is easy to find one of the necessary drivers, but the second part is tricky.)

Reply Score: 0

RE[2]: Nice
by Sparrowhawk on Fri 2nd Sep 2005 15:40 UTC in reply to "RE: Nice"
Sparrowhawk Member since:
2005-07-11

@Anonymous
Thanks - I'll have a go at finding/installing these myself ;)

@DittoBox
>You want a "real 3d" interface on a gui wrapper for...DOS?

I think that he may have been joking ;)

Reply Score: 1

RE[2]: Nice
by Sparrowhawk on Sun 4th Sep 2005 06:48 UTC in reply to "RE: Nice"
Sparrowhawk Member since:
2005-07-11

>There are USB drivers for DOS, but they are quite
>difficult to track down. I did it once, and they worked
>wonderfully under MS-DOS 5. Alas, I cannot repeat that
>feat of Googling right now. (It is easy to find one of
>the necessary drivers, but the second part is tricky.)

OK, after much scrabbling around and dead links, I found the following:
The Panasonic USB drivers:
http://panasonic.co.jp/pcc/products/drive/cdrrw/kxlrw40an/download....

The elusive DI1000DD.SYS file:
http://www.driver.novac.co.jp/driver/hd351u/mhairudos.zip

CAVEAT! I have not tried unzipping these yet, and therefore cannot say whether they work. I won't have time to do so for a few days, but hopefully they can be of some use to others.

Right, now to create a DOS/Liberation GEM PC!

Reply Score: 1

RE: Nice
by Anonymous on Mon 5th Sep 2005 09:44 UTC in reply to "Nice"
Anonymous Member since:
---

DOS USB drivers:
http://www.stefan2000.com/darkehorse/PC/DOS/Drivers/USB/

Load usbaspi.sys and di1000dd.sys in your config.sys file. They are part of the "motto hairu" package. They will work with most sticks.

Reply Score: 0

"3D Interface"
by Anonymous on Fri 2nd Sep 2005 11:36 UTC
Anonymous
Member since:
---

The feature is a bit misleading. When I read "3D Interface", I expected real 3D :-)

Reply Score: 0

RE: "3D Interface"
by Sparrowhawk on Fri 2nd Sep 2005 11:41 UTC in reply to ""3D Interface""
Sparrowhawk Member since:
2005-07-11

I agree. Actually, I prefer the flat look of OpenGEM. I wonder if you can skin Liberation to look more retro ;D

Reply Score: 1

RE[2]: "3D Interface"
by DittoBox on Fri 2nd Sep 2005 15:06 UTC in reply to "RE: "3D Interface""
DittoBox Member since:
2005-07-08

You want a "real 3d" interface on a gui wrapper for...DOS?

Reply Score: 1

Skinning Liberation
by Anonymous on Sat 3rd Sep 2005 16:23 UTC in reply to "RE: "3D Interface""
Anonymous Member since:
---

Yes, you can make Liberation look more retro. Run GEMAPPSGEMSYSSETTINGS.APP, choose "Load theme", and there are about half-a-dozen to choose from.

Reply Score: 0

Funny funny
by Anonymous on Fri 2nd Sep 2005 12:50 UTC
Anonymous
Member since:
---

I just had it running in DOSBox (fullscreen).

It's pretty funny, though not so usefull on a modern pc. But on old hardware - with the right software - this would be a pretty neat DE to have.

I like the 3D-look, and I didn't misunderstand it (but then... I already knew what they meant - but I can see why people could misunderstand it). Especially the Gem/5 style is really neat. I like that. I'd just wish the icons were coloured and not just black'n'white. And some better looking fonts please (vectorfonts naturally)... and danish letters ;)

dylansmrjones
kristian AT herkild DOT dk

Reply Score: 0

desktop ready?
by thebackwash on Fri 2nd Sep 2005 22:50 UTC
thebackwash
Member since:
2005-07-06

I've been running GEM on my desktop for 12 years now, and I must say that at least for me, it is definitely desktop-ready.

Reply Score: 1

Bootable GEM
by The Lone OSer on Sat 3rd Sep 2005 03:10 UTC
The Lone OSer
Member since:
2005-07-11

There is a Linux kernel GEM and TOS project that has a live ISO, boots the Linux kerle, then TOS and then goes in to a high res GEM.. It looked like it had great potential for GEM lovers, but alas, I just cannot fine it under google now... if anyone else knows of it - please post the URL ;)

Reply Score: 1

Re: Bootable GEM
by Anonymous on Sat 3rd Sep 2005 08:09 UTC
Anonymous
Member since:
---

I think you mean: Aranym, URL: http://aranym.sourceforge.net/

Reply Score: 0

Re: Bootable GEM
by The Lone OSer on Sat 3rd Sep 2005 09:51 UTC
The Lone OSer
Member since:
2005-07-11

Thanks Anonymous.. That was exactly the project I meant... now atleast I can bookmark it ;)

Reply Score: 1

Thanks for all the positive comments!
by Anonymous on Sat 3rd Sep 2005 15:05 UTC
Anonymous
Member since:
---

Hi guys

This is Shane Coughlan, the lead developer of the OpenGEM Distro. Thanks so much for all the positive comments regarding Project Liberation, and for downloading the software.

We're very excited about the direction that this software is going, and of course we value all the feedback we get. So...please let us know how your OpenGEM user experience goes!

You can email us at gem@shaneland.co.uk anytime.

It's worth bearing in mind that OpenGEM is intended to provide a really light but powerful GUI for FreeDOS. If you want to preview a powerful DOS, please do visit http://www.freedos.org. Jim Hall and co. have made an amazing OS for everyone (and it does run on USB devices).

Noone has ever tested running OpenGEM on a USB device. If you give it a whirl, please let us know how it goes.

Regards

Shane
http://gem.shaneland.co.uk

Reply Score: 0

USB Drivers
by Anonymous on Wed 7th Sep 2005 15:07 UTC
Anonymous
Member since:
---

That's a great link. That site has everything you'll ever need to get USB working in DOS... Sadly, these aren't THAT useful for GEM because of memory. They all want a slice of the lower 640K, which is the only space that GEM is able to use ATM. After my SCSI, CD-ROM, Mouse and DOSkey is all installed, I only have 607 KB left. GEM then further reduces the ammount of space, severly limiting my ability to work with many documents... Adding USB drivers would only take more space out of my GEM environment and make it that much less useful.

Reply Score: 0