[Discussion] eCS and other woes

[Kev]

Hi Don

You're where I was about 2 years ago.  OS/2 (eCS) is definitely my 1st 
love, but the time came when it simply couldn't do what I wanted it to 
do.  Your problems are NOT solved by Windoze only.  In fact it's pretty 
much an eCS problem only.  I STILL love OS/2, but I'm resolved to the 
fact that it is NEVER going to catch up with modern hardware.  It's 
going to continue to drop further behind until it eventually dies.  
Hence OS/2 becomes a fond memory and I get on with life.  Linux (some 
distros at least) is a smooth item now-a-days.  Many on this list 
already know that I recommend Xandros, but there are a few others which 
are quite newbie friendly.  I kept an eCS partition for about the 1st 12 
months, until I could handle Linux confidently, but now I'm 100% 
converted.  I must say now that I should have done it years before.  I 
had no clues how much I was missing.

Bear in mind that MP3 is a proprietary format and that not even eXPee 
comes with MP3 codecs.  eXPee doesn't have the ability to play DVDs out 
of the box either.  Many Linux distros don't come with MP3 and DVD 
codecs either, for precisely this reason - but they are simple to find 
and install.

If you want to know more about my experiences contact me off list.

Cheers
Kev



Don Burch wrote:
> While I have not experienced all of these problems, I tend to agree with 
> you Brian. You would think that all of this technology would have 
> overcome some of these minor annoyances.
>
> Take *&^%$ Universal out of USB. That title is the biggest crock of crap 
> since IBM capitulated to Windows 95......
>
> MP3 and OS/2-ECS. There is another interesting concept. How long has 
> that file format been around? How long has it not been a part of 
> OS/2-ECS limited base multimedia capabilities? About the same length of 
> time!
>
> I have a Sony proprietary driver camera. I bought a 6 in one reader so I 
> could do pictures. It is &^%$%#$SB, so isn't recognized is ECS 1.2.
>
> I built a portable drive - &^%$#SB. I have about 60GB of mp3's on it. 
> ECS1.2 sees the drive, can' t touch the data.
>
> I have a memory stick. &^%$#SB of course. Same story as yours.
>
> The sad part is, all of this &^%$#SB stuff, and the MP3 files work just 
> fine in my WinXP computer. Worked fine in my Win 2000 setup also.
>
> My Describe still works. I have it installed in a separate partition and 
> have never had any problems accessing it from various system drives.
>
> ECS1.2 like to take a little nap once in awhile. Just a couple of 
> minutes every hour, then it is back. I may have something hooped in my 
> install. I'll strip it all down one day and start over. I like to do 
> that every 12-18 months just to clean all of the dust out of the corners.
>
> I don't spend as much time computing, or as much money as I use to. I 
> buy good wine, fine hardwoods and router bits. I don't mix wine and 
> router bits though :-)
>
> The nice part of ECS is you don't have to deal with some of the 
> absolutely amazing crap that can get installed on your computer without 
> your knowledge. It is a bloody war out there. And these Win machines are 
> running a significant part of the world.
>
> Enough. I'm looking for some nice 8/4 white oak. :-)
>
> Brian Grawburg wrote:
>   
>> I'm just about ready to throw in the towel on OS/2!
>> I installed eCS on my Thinkpad T20 and it has been a mess. I did keep my original version of Warp 4 however so I can return to it.
>>
>> With eCS:
>> 1. DeScribe won't work.
>> 2. On many occassions the system freezes and I have to shut it down to restart. I froze trying to send this message!
>> 3. I installed it specifically so I could use my USB memory stick...it won't work.  And I do have the 1.2R version, I went out to their Web site and downloaded the USB updates.
>> 4. I hate to think that I will have to install Win98 in order to use my MP3 player and memory stick!
>> 5. Since I have many important documents and databases in Lotus SmartSuite I can't switch to Linux.
>>
>> I am not a happy camper today.
>>
>>
>> Brian Grawburg
>>     

-- 
=======================================================================
Kev Downes
kdownes at tpg.com.au  ph 0404 7 0808 2
We use and recommend Xandros 4.1
=======================================================================
There are 10 types of people ...
   ... those who understand binary, and those who don't!
=======================================================================
"Jesus Christ is the centre of everything and the object of everything;
He who does not know him, knows nothing of the order of the world
and nothing of himself."             Blaise Pascal
=======================================================================