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Category: Software

For some time I have been wanting to put up a OS/2 LAN file server again at home.  ArcaOS does not have a server version of its product. A server version as in WSeB (Warp Server for eBusiness) or ACP 1/2 (Aurora Convience Package 4.51/4.52).

Still having a licensed copy of WSeB I contacted Alex Taylor. He had a tool he had created some years ago that enables you to install the LAN server components on top of your ArcaOS OS installation. I thought it might be useful to release this utility to the public.

Please read the readme.txt in the ZIP file for more details!! Note that this tool is provided on an AS-IS and that where possible I will try and provide support. Click here to download.

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Category: VOICE

Dear ArcaOS, eCS and OS/2 users,

Here is a list of upcoming projects for 2018 that VOICE is working on or will be working on to help with promoting OS/2 and make your usage easier. You have not heard much from OS/2 VOICE since I have been moving to new apartment because I have a new job. Also a family members has been in hospital very sick but she has recovered. Anyway here is the list:

*A Teamviewer kind of solution for OS/2*

We are working on a project to provide a free of charge remote control program for people who need remote support for OS/2. It will consist of a Warpin package you can download. Via a secured encrypted SSH tunnel a volunteer from the community will be able to login into your system and with VNC access your desktop when you start the Warpin package. It will not need any setup on your side. So this is somewhat of a Teamviewer solution for OS/2. The person providing support will need to setup the server side. But this will be documented. We hope this can make it easier to help community members if they are somehow stuck!

* Warpstock Europe 2018 in Berlin
On the 26th and 27th of May OS/2 VOICE will host Warpstock Europe 2018 in Berlin Germany. While some of the donators do not come to Warpstock Europe. As I previously explained Warpstock is a benefit for all OS/2 users as OS/2 developers meet at the event and discuss issue's and future plans. So in the end the whole community benefits from this event! You will also be able to follow the conference via a free videostream. Keep an eye on www.warpstock.eu for more details.

* Installing LAN server support on ArcaOS.
* VOICE will publishing a free tool that will enable you to install your WSeB or ACP1/2 onto LAN server components an OS/2 MCP or ArcaOS. This will enable you to turn your ArcaOS installation into an OS/2 domain controller.

* New browser funding campaign.
* So far the campaign to collect funding for a new OS/2 web browser has in total generated 7400 US Dollar.  About 2000 Dollars of additional funding is on its way, but this amount is not certain yet. On behalf of BWW and the OS/2 VOICE board we like to thank the OS/2 community their donations. That said the 10.000 Dollars was a target to get started. So please keep the donations coming in: See the browser funding campaign for more information. As I always say free software does not grow on tree's, somebody needs to port the software.

* Free RPM software library for OS/2 applications
Some people still have seconds thoughts about RPM being used on OS/2. In my opinion the useability of RPM has increased with Arca Noae Package Manager. With the release of ANPM 1.02 more user issue's have been resolved.  Also it has been painfully obvious many OS/2 users do not know what software can be downloaded for OS/2 and if they do find it for a lot of end users its simply to complicated to install some the software.

VOICE has the domain name rpm.os2voice.org ready to go. The idea is that software developers and the community help package software in RPM format so people can for example install a current Multimedia player on OS/2 by a few mouse clicks in ANPM. The RPM repository  will  be accessible by the OS/2 community free of charge of course.

VOICE is looking for people who want to help package old and new OS/2 software in RPM format.
If you are not familiar how to build an RPM package this is a good place to start, Andy Willis his presentation on how to make an RPM package: http://www.warpstock.org/filemgmt/visit.php?lid=263 (This is an Open Office presentation)
Or the video recorded at Warpstock 2017 in Toronto of this presentation.

Once this RPM library is being filled up with  programs we also would like to work together with https://www.ecsoft2.org/. We have been in touch before with the people behind ecsoft2.org but things got put on hold because we had no RPM files. The idea is that we would like to see if Arca Noae can update ANPM so it can show a description of the program you are going to install and a screenshot (information loaded for ecsoft2.org)! It would be a complete software catalog for OS/2 users.

If you would like to help create RPM packages please send an email to president at os2voice.org.

* Financial transparency:
It should be noted that your donations are more then welcome and VOICE will published it yearly financial report for 2017 shortly. Also a cash audit commission will check the bank receipts. Both reports will be posted here: http://www.os2voice.org/reports.html
Before any money is the VOICE board that consists of 7 members votes on any propels.
We hope in these ways we provide the best transparency possible how your donations are spend. We can give you access to an upload directory. Note we will test the package before its uploaded for generic usage. We do not want to break people there systems...

You can make a donation via the Arca Noae webshop.

Best regards,

Roderick Klein

President OS/2 Foundation

Details
Category: VOICE

So far we have collected 6.700 Dollars, which includes a one person 5000 Dollars donation. So far I have not revealed his name. 
I will ask the people who donated, if they want to be publicly credited for this on a website or not. 

First question that was asked: Which browser would be ported ?

Answer: It is safe to state that at this moment that is unknown and that it does not really matter which browser we choose, because about 90% of all browsers are based on either: 

* Gecko (Firefox browser and derivatives) 
or 
* Google Chromium (via Qt's QtWebEngine) or Apple WebKit (via Qt's QtWebKit, now deprecated in favor of QtWebEngine) 

During Warpstock Toronto 2017 Herwig Bauernfeind from bww bitwise works GmbH (who joined via Skype) answered questions after his presentation. We had multiple browsers that where mentioned at Warpstock 2017 Toronto and asked whether they would be an alternative future browser. In some recent OS/2 forum discussion more browser alternatives where suggested. Most of the mainstream open source browsers that could be feasible use one of the two engines I just mentioned above. It bears some logic that these mainstream libraries used as browsers are extremely complex and continue to become more complex. So getting one of these libraries is more important than selecting a specific browser.

Second question: Are 10.000 dollars enough and what happens when the money is spent? 
Answer: It was set as a first target and if successful or more money is collected that is great. Previous bww bitwise works GmbH funding campaigns always collected money in stages. 

Third question: Some people have suggested the Chromium browser can not be ported to OS/2. 
Dmitriy Kuminov responded: "Regarding Chromium not portable to OS/2. This is not true. If it's about OpenGL, then this support is optional. If it's about Qt needing OpenGL for QtWebEngine — yes, but you can use a fake OpenGL stub to trick it and fallback to software rendering and there is also a patch (will be part of the next release) that makes this stub not necessary". 

I can understand that some of the people have been doubting sponsor campaign, but  as it stands right now Firefox 45.9 ESR is being worked to iron out the last bugs. These are mostly new and hard to find bugs in the JavaScript engine, which slipped in.

I hope that answers the questions/concerns. Please note that information in both postings have been reviewed by Dmitriy Kuminov from bww bitwise works GmbH for any incorrect technical information. 

I hope this addresses some of the concerns for the OS/2 community as to where this funding campaign is going. As it now stands we will be going in the direction of Qt based browser. This will also result in lower amount of maintenance. 

You can buy sponsor units in the Arca Noae webshop: 
https://www.arcanoae.com/shop/os2-voice-browser-sponsorship/ 
All the collected money is send by Arca Noae to the OS/2  VOICE foundation.

Details
Category: Software

Dear OS/2/eComStation/ArcaOS user,

The OS/2 VOICE foundation is sending this email to the OS/2 community because we need your assistance to collect funding for a new web browser on OS/2/eComStation/ArcaOS.

The company Bitwise Works from Austria has been doing a lot of work to maintain Firefox for OS/2 over the last couple of years. As Herwig Bauernfeind from Bitwise Works made clear in his presentation he gave at Warpstock 2018 Toronto, Firefox for OS/2 is on its way out for OS/2 after version 52 ESR. The primary reason is because Firefox is switching to RUST. Rust is a general purpose programming language sponsored by Mozilla Research. It is unlikely that RUST will ever be ported to OS/2.

But there is another reason why Firefox needs to be replaced, its getting bigger and more complex with each release, to big to maintain basically. Developers that use Firefox on other operating systems have also been complaining about the fact that Mozilla applications have turned into a merry go round with libraries (DLL's). One library gets used in version X and a few versions later another is added or removed.

As it now stands Firefox 52 will be the last browser that is known that we can port to OS/2. Do not worry however Firefox 45 is being finished and 52 when released will give us browser support for 1 1/2 to 2 years to come. But we need to work on a strategy now.

While a Firefox browser based on RUST is no longer an option, what options have we got ?

We currently have 2 options:

1) A browser based on Qt 5.5/5.9, one *possible* candidate is the Otter browser.
https://otter-browser.org/
But having Q.T. will also make it easier to port the Chromium web browser to OS/2.

2) The second option is to port the Pale Moon browser to OS/2. Pale Moon is a browser based on an older version of
Firefox. https://www.palemoon.org/

When it comes to the previously mentioned Q.T.this is a cross-platform application framework that is used for developing application software that can be run on various software and hardware platforms with little or no change in the underlying codebase, while still being a native application with native capabilities and speed.
https://www.qt.io/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_%28software%29

Currently OS/2 has support for QT version 4.78, but we need Q.T. version 5.5/5.9 to be current enough to port a browser to our OS/2. http://trac.netlabs.org/qt4

Our goal is to provide 10,000 USD (about 8.500 Euro) to Bitwise to update Qt to version 5.5/5.9. If its decided Bitwise Works choices to port Pale Moon your donations will be used for this project. We feel confident that Bitwise Works has outstanding know how to decide which route will provide the OS/2 users a new web browser for the coming years. 

VOICE has supported many open-source projects in the past, and any funds in excess of that needed to port Qt or Palemoon, will be donated to other open-source projects to benefit OS/2 users.

You can donate at the following link.

100% of your donation will go to Bitwise Works.
If you have any questions about this sponsorship, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

On this page you can follow how much money has donated:

As of the 11th of October we have 0 US Dollar.

  1. OS/2 voice an update from the chairman