eComStation 2.0 beta 1 is available for eCS Software Subscribers. The most significant updates on this beta version are: SNAP/ENT, the special licensed version of SNAP by Serenity is in there, we boot SNAP directly from CD-ROM; bootable JFS, this version is able to install on bootable JFS volumes; ACPI, this version installs and detects ACPI.
Seems that bootable JFS changes the performance of eComStation significantly: http://en.ecomstation.ru/showarticle.php?id=139 What about ACPI? Can I use DualCore CPUs now? (Ancient OS2APIC doesn’t work on my computer) And what about HyperThreading? My company purchased 10 eComStation SMP kernels (it was declared that eCS SMP kernel supports no more than 64 CPUs). I don’t need support of 64 processors! 😎 Give me support of 4!!
Warped pokemon, Switzerland
You need to open a support ticket. Contact the reseller you got eCom from.
Edited 2005-12-23 02:21
I agree with Zizban, you must have a problem. I have used SMP eCS 1.0 Beta, 1.0,1.1 and 1.2 on machines with PentiumPros, PentiumIIs, PentiumIIIs and curently PentiumIV Xeons with no problems. I have not tried the new ACPI, but I will. I want to test the HyperThreading myself. I have read some articles, that said (on SMP machines) HyperThreading is sometimes nonbeneficial.
It’s great to see this OS continue to move forward. For those of us who love eCS, and for those businesses that rely on it, this is a great piece of news. Congrats to Bob and everyone else at Serenity Systems.
And please, can we try to have a conversation about eCS that does not involve either:
– why use this? (answre, because we want to)
– I tried OS/2 1.3 and hated it, blah, blah. (good for you, eCS is not OS/2 1, or 2, or 3, not even 4, entirely)
I agree with you, it is good to see eCS move forward. The people doing the “why use this?” and the blah, blah appear to be trying to start flames. Looking for a fight. They seem to think that OS2/eCS users never try other operating systems. They must think we live under rocks. I think they have issues, or perhaps it is just the case that their father never married their mother?
I think such people forget that OS/2 was just about the only alternative OS for x86 folks in the early 1990’s, and that many of tbe folks (like myself) who still use it were hobbyists back then just as we still are now.
It isn’t unfamiliarity with other OSes that keeps us on OS/2 — it’s the fact that we’re quite familiar with the various Linux, Windows, BSD, and BeOS alternatives and we still find them lacking features we already have (and want to continue to have).
A lot of OS/2 folks were willing to make the trade-offs required and move to Linux on the desktop over the past several years. Not me. I’m halfway there (Linux is my firewall and fileserver OS of choice), and distros like Ubuntu (actually Kubuntu) and DSL make me optimistic, but as long as OS/2 (or eCS) is a better fit for me I ain’t going anywhere. 🙂 No reason to — it works!
Good old OS/2… eCS is nice but over-priced, just like IBM’s versions. That puts it out of the legitimate reach of most hobbyists, which is bad. Maybe now that IBM is finnaly dropping all support contracts, the eCS people can negogiate lower royalties to IBM and lower the price to something more feasable for non-corporate types who just want to see what OS/2. It would be great if they could move eCS to the same position as YellowTAB Zeta or something.
At least eCS has a demo CD now so people can at least do a little bit of dabbling with it. The WorkPlace Shell is interesting, and while I’m sure some folks will hate it, others might find its approach refreshing.
There was a petition set up by OS2World.com, they got almost 12,000 signatures to ask IBM to open up OS/2 code. So the OS/2 community can carry on the tradition. They have sent it to the various related folks at IBM.
We’ll have to wait on the IBM response to this.
I was one of the petition signers, as I hope were a lot of OSNews readers. If the only thing holding back the open sourcing of OS/2 was the Windows compatibility code, then I say “rip it out!”. We don’t really need 16-bit Windows compatibility any longer anyway.
We don’t need HPFS(386) support either. JFS should be good enough for OS/2 (not to mention it’s also partly Microsoft’s property).
I’d rather have the Mach-based WorkplaceOS (OS/2 PowerPC) be open-sourced. Unfortunately it wasn’t *really* finished and it only suppported a select few systems. Would WorklpaceOS in its current state be more ‘complete’ than OS/2 Intel minus Microsoft’s property?
Alas the reality is that it’s questionable whether it has a better chance of being released than OS/2 Intel, if at all.
Simon
I hope this happens. I’m not optimistic, but you never can tell.
The ability to install on A64 systems is nice to have, the ACPI is working quite well. The eScheme is a very nice extension (But still needs some work).
I’m really looking forward to testing the Bootable JFS and I am very excited about the Multiuser support. Also I’m quite curious about the XUL based installer, sounds int.
All-in-all it looks promising – Actually I’m considering a Software Subscription
ACPI support for SMP is in testing right now.
is the only thing keeping me from buying eCs. I am somewhat of an OS junkie ;-), and have fond memories of OS/2 2.11 and 3.0, but my wife would skin me alive if I paid $266 USD for something I only wanted to play around with.
Yo, Serenity Systems, please drop the price of regular eCs, or perhaps create a low-cost hobby version?