Hi Eirik,
sorry, but everything I can say to your post is: dream on!
You should have tried eCS 2.0rc6a before writing this to know what you can expect with a 2.0!
I try to explain what you get with the 2.0:
You are ThinkPad T4x-user, so you have good luck, you get stable IBM APM with working power management and suspend/resume, a good SNAP-graphics-driver, a quite good working IBM USB- and PCCard-stack, a very good IBM mouse-driver, a fully compatible DANIS-driver, a mostly compatible GenMAC-driver and working audio based on ALSA. Did I mentioned that my T40 works mostly perfectly with eCS 1.2R and updated GenMAC?
If you have not a mostly compatible system like ThinkPads of the T40-series (that means Pentium M, APM support, SNAP compatible graphics) or an other well known OS/2 working system (Pentium 2/3/4/M, AMD Athlon, APM support, SNAP compatible graphics) you have not too much luck.
Most times you will be able to install eCS 2.0 on your system with ACPI, most times even SMP will work, but it is not always 100% stable, there is no power management (so the system get's very hot) and there is no suspend/resume (essential for notebook users).
You have to use the Panorama-graphics-driver that needs a lot of CPU load (SMP should work for that for acceptable performance) and does not support SDL, sometimes USB and/or PCCard might not work, sometimes there are even problems with the DANIS because of the AHCI-mode, often there is no network-support anymore, because the nics are not supported by GenMAC and sound might work.
In addition with eCS 2.0 you will get bootable JFS (not too much benefit in my opinion) some Samba-support (also available with NetDrive) and some updated applications like Firefox/Thunderbird 2.0 and Lucide but still with an outdated Java 1.4.2, problems with a not 100% stable WPS and big problems with the shared memory, especially with applications like Firefox/Thunderbird, OpenOffice and VirtualBox.
But for a project I needed a laptop with SMP and VT, so I bought a T60 two years ago and still today this is my working machine with several versions of eCS 2.0 beta/rc where I sit a lot of hours every day. And I tell you it is far away from being as stable as it was with my older systems! And I have to admit that with other systems like Linux, MacOS and even Windows XP the compatibility, stability and performance is better on this laptop :-(
Not to much to welcome a 2.0 GA after 4 years of development ...
Bye Thorolf
sorry, but everything I can say to your post is: dream on!
You should have tried eCS 2.0rc6a before writing this to know what you can expect with a 2.0!
Quote from: eirik on 2009.07.10, 02:14:16I don't see anything "around the corner", the RC7pre was announced to be available "soon" 10 days ago, actualy it should have been ready for the 19th of june.
what many eCs users have been waiting for finally appears to be just around the corner.
Quote from: eirik on 2009.07.10, 02:14:16Yes, it needs to work well, but it does not, may be it will be good enough as it was true for most RCs (at least for me).
So, what does it take for eCs to be successful? First, the 2.0 GA needs to work well. With the extensive testing taking place, I think that looks promising.
I try to explain what you get with the 2.0:
You are ThinkPad T4x-user, so you have good luck, you get stable IBM APM with working power management and suspend/resume, a good SNAP-graphics-driver, a quite good working IBM USB- and PCCard-stack, a very good IBM mouse-driver, a fully compatible DANIS-driver, a mostly compatible GenMAC-driver and working audio based on ALSA. Did I mentioned that my T40 works mostly perfectly with eCS 1.2R and updated GenMAC?
If you have not a mostly compatible system like ThinkPads of the T40-series (that means Pentium M, APM support, SNAP compatible graphics) or an other well known OS/2 working system (Pentium 2/3/4/M, AMD Athlon, APM support, SNAP compatible graphics) you have not too much luck.
Most times you will be able to install eCS 2.0 on your system with ACPI, most times even SMP will work, but it is not always 100% stable, there is no power management (so the system get's very hot) and there is no suspend/resume (essential for notebook users).
You have to use the Panorama-graphics-driver that needs a lot of CPU load (SMP should work for that for acceptable performance) and does not support SDL, sometimes USB and/or PCCard might not work, sometimes there are even problems with the DANIS because of the AHCI-mode, often there is no network-support anymore, because the nics are not supported by GenMAC and sound might work.
In addition with eCS 2.0 you will get bootable JFS (not too much benefit in my opinion) some Samba-support (also available with NetDrive) and some updated applications like Firefox/Thunderbird 2.0 and Lucide but still with an outdated Java 1.4.2, problems with a not 100% stable WPS and big problems with the shared memory, especially with applications like Firefox/Thunderbird, OpenOffice and VirtualBox.
Quote from: eirik on 2009.07.10, 02:14:16Correct, my T40 and X32 also are best quality and work great with OS/2 (MCP2R) and eCS 1.2/2.0rc.
I depend on my laptop (for the last four years a Thinkpad T43) for my job, and I have so far chosen to stay with eCs. Why? Because it is more robust and reliable than any other alternative out there.
But for a project I needed a laptop with SMP and VT, so I bought a T60 two years ago and still today this is my working machine with several versions of eCS 2.0 beta/rc where I sit a lot of hours every day. And I tell you it is far away from being as stable as it was with my older systems! And I have to admit that with other systems like Linux, MacOS and even Windows XP the compatibility, stability and performance is better on this laptop :-(
Quote from: eirik on 2009.07.10, 02:14:16There will be (mostly) no more development in GenMAC, I'm not able to connect to every AP, sometimes I do not get an IP-address and there are sometimes problems with performance (f.ex. in my gigabit-network I only get 4 to 6 MB/s between Intel-cards, while I get up to 20 MB/s between Intel/Realtek) and we have not found any solution to solve this problem!
For example, its WiFi far surpasses the Win alternative in functionality and openness (thaks Willibald :-) ).
Quote from: eirik on 2009.07.10, 02:14:16I would assume that 80% of eCS 2.0 are on the same level than eCS 1.2R, the desktop is mostly the same (personaly I like it, but it is far away from being "modern") and modern hardware is supported quite bad.
But eCs 1.2 is getting old, and my current system is quite patchy, implying that reliability and suitability to new hardware will become an issue. Hence, I really welcome a new GA.
Not to much to welcome a 2.0 GA after 4 years of development ...
Bye Thorolf