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osFree news
09 June, 2020
SMTP server now working, anti-spam measures taken.
Recently, we added some anti-spam measures for our forum and mail server. Anti-spam plugin installed on our forum. Now we check all users against the black list when they are registering or posting messages. This reduces the number of spambot accounts registered significantly.
Also, now our SMTP server is able not only receive mail, but send too. Now the mail from our server to other email servers, like e.g. gmail.com, is accepted. So, from now, we enabled verification emails when registering user accounts, and disabled account approving by the administrator. So, registration at the forum is now open.
15 May, 2020
Today, a new developer joins the osFree team. Let's introduce Pedro Vicente from Portugal. Welcome to our team!
03 September, 2019
Several people asked about how they could donate to osFree. Recently, we created a Patreon page for osFree to collect donations on monthly basis. So, if you want to support osFree, become a patron. If you want to make a one-time donation, you can transfer some money to our Bitcoin wallet. See Donate page for more details.
22 December, 2018
Forum migration to pbpbb3.
Today we migrated our forum from myUPB to phpbb3. Also, from now, wiki logins are integrated with forum, so, once you login to wiki, you're logged-in in forum, and vice versa. We migrated all old wiki users, so, login/password are still the same.
7 June, 2018
Migration to the new hosting.
Today we started migration of osfree.org to another hosting. Here we'll have more powerful server with more disk space, RAM and network bandwidth.
11 February, 2018
Migration to GitHub.
Today Oxyd finished migration of our source code repository from SourceForge to GitHub. Our new repository is https://github.com/osfree-project/osfree/. We welcome new contributions and pull requests, since now.
3 December, 2017
Migration to Genode is started.
We started to create the required abstraction layers to make the osFree OS/2 personality more portable. This will allow us to also create L4Re and Genode ports. As our OS/2 personality is currently based on an outdated and abandoned L4Env OS framework, we need to migrate to a more alive and developing framework. Most promising is Genode OS framework, though, L4Re, which is a successor for L4Env is also evolving and it supports more hardware platforms, than Genode. So, ideally, we need ports of our OS/2 personality to both. Currently, Genode has more priority, the port is in progress.
27 June, 2014
RSS feeds repaired, the fight with spambots seems to reach the end
After server crash at the end of 2012, the site is being repaired from Feb.-Mar. 2013 until now. Now the wiki is being filled with info (some of which is restored from web.archive.org), and parts of Forum too. So, welcome to our new site! Also, until now, some code were committed to the repo (namely, fat32.ifs with FORMAT routine enabled (by valerius), and also commits by Viking, fixing some problems with build system under linux etc.)
27 October, 2011
A presentation of osFree on CC'2011
August 28, osFree team member Vadim Priluzkiy (aka Oxyd) has demonstrated osFree OS/2 personality working together with l4linux over L4 microkernel. The presentation was carried out during the Chaos Constructions'2011 yearly Computer Art Festival. (http://party11.cc.org.ru), the presentation video is here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=yxE6Jy3SQ04
31 January, 2010
Recent activity
We have linked our channels #osfree @ eCSNet and #osfree @ EFNet. All messages in one channel are translated to another channel. Also we reviewing our release and development position to be more effective. As always, we are welcome new developers in many areas (DOS/WIN16 and OS/2 subsystems).
5 September, 2009
Forums
Registration in forums at osfree.org site is enabled recently. Please report forum bugs and render problems to us in “osfree.org site” forum.
3 September, 2009
0.0.4 release
We released this preview to show actual possibility of LX executables (native OS/2 executable file format) to be run on top of L4. Output from LX executable is “I am really small!” phrase. Other things are debug output. Our executable uses msg.dll which uses doscalls.dll. So, linking also works. Also we present here osFree loader which allows to load as Multiboot compatible kernels as native OS/2 kernel. Loader is modular and easy to extend. Next release will provide some interactive like directory browsing and files execution. See roadmap at www.osfree.org for more info.
News around osFree
osfree.org site
- osFree.org site • Re: Donation link is broken by valerius (2019/09/02 23:15)Today, we made a donations page at http://osfree.org/doku/en:donate. Here we detailed the donation methods (currently, via a Patreon page: https://patreon.com/osfree/ or a bitcoin wallet, 1JZRh6xM3WWzesWzig2m8MdTDeCtAzDKQ4). We posted a news item at the osFree home page: http://osfree.org/doku/en:news:news-2019-09-03. Please become our patron, or use a one-time donation with Bitcoin.Statistics: Posted by valerius — Mon Sep 02, 2019 11:15 pm
- osFree.org site • Re: Donation link is broken by generalram (2019/03/19 02:04)OK thanks. I'll donate some money when you get a working link. I know money is limited so is mine as I am disabled, but I want to help in some way.NormanStatistics: Posted by generalram — Tue Mar 19, 2019 2:04 am
- osFree.org site • Re: Donation link is broken by valerius (2019/03/18 23:29)Hi, generalram. Glad to see you here There is a silence here, since old forum was died because of a servercrash at http://os2world.com at the end of 2012. I restored everything that was possible to restore from archive.org, but noteverything.Yes, we moved from sourceforge to github a year ago. Also, the donation service form sf.net is no more available.We probably, will create a project page at http://www.patreon.com for donations in the future, but not yet. Also, I have a Paypalpage, but I am not sure if it is suitable for donations. So, I need to work this problem out.Statistics: Posted by valerius — Mon Mar 18, 2019 11:29 pm
- osFree.org site • Donation link is broken by generalram (2019/03/18 21:36)I want to help this project out. I learned as many PCs and operating systems as I could growing up. The donation link on the main page goes to Sourceforge with a 404 link. I assume you moved off Sourceforge, and need to change the link?ThanksNormanStatistics: Posted by generalram — Mon Mar 18, 2019 9:36 pm
- osFree.org site • by admin (2019/03/11 09:14)Posted: Apr 28, 2009 6:55:56 amprokushevAdministrator Programming KingPosts: 14Registered:2008-06-07 ICQ: 24902313 ProfileHomepageemail prokushevYes. I contacted Evgen and now FreePM pages and sources under our control. Evgen also one of osFree project admins now, but he "have no motivation" to work on FreePM or osFree project. In general he is interested in FreePM. FreePM sources not changed in comparation to old sources.wbr,YuriStatistics: Posted by admin — Mon Mar 11, 2019 9:14 am
- osFree.org site • Questions about 'FreePM project now part of osFree project' by admin (2019/03/11 09:12)Posted: Apr 27, 2009 1:37:32 amVikingClick here to set avatarMemberPosts: 3Registered:2008-10-02ProfileHomepageemail VikingHi all To: Yuri I'm curious about the background to the posting on 'FreePM project now part of osFree project'. Have you been in contact with Evgen about FreePM? Did he made changes to it? What does Evgen think about osFree, in general?Greetings VikingStatistics: Posted by admin — Mon Mar 11, 2019 9:12 am
- osFree.org site • Re: Good to see this up and running by admin (2018/12/20 22:54)valerius, Posted: Jun 20, 2008 1:10:09 am:2lpino: We've now some partly planned scheme. There will be L4 microkernel with Personality-Neutral servers at the bottom of the scheme. L4 executes at kernel level and all other servers at user level. Personality Neutral (PN) services handle some basic resources, like I/O, Interrupts, memory access, console access. PN servers are based on L4 environment developed by Technische Universitaet Dresden along with L4/Fiasco microkernel. L4env has partly implemented a DDE -- Device Driver Environment -- the device driver wrappers for Linux drivers. There is, for example, ATA/IDE driver etc. We plan to re-use DDE environment as device driver model. For I/O and IRQ access these drivers use l4io server which is a part of l4env (L4 environment).Concerning device drivers. DDE environment lets to use a big codebase of Linux drivers. It is not yet fully implemented at this time but in future we could use almost any Linux drivers. MacOS drivers as I know is being ported at NICTA (Australia) to L4Ka::Pistachio-embedded, but we use Fiasco, not Pistachio. MacOS drivers are part of L4/Darwin (Darbat) project to port Darwin (the underlying UNIX-like OS for MacOS X, implemented as a services on top of Mach microkernel). So, Darbat ports Darwin to L4 from Mach microkernel and lets it to exploit the improved performance of L4. But as I already said, this is for Pistachio microkernel, and we use Fiasco. Darbat could be probably ported to Fiasco, but it has an older API version of base microkernel.Now we're trying to implement an OS/2 Server prototype. It starts along with L4 microkernel and L4env services and it parses a config.sys file, from which it gets a client program name (the client program, using OS/2 API's, is started as a PM prototype, from protshell= statement). The scheme is the following: The OS/2 server implements OS/2 API and environment for client programs. Also, there is a DOSCALLS.DLL library, which is imported by each OS/2 program. DOSCALLS in Intel OS/2 is just a virtual library implemented by OS/2 kernel. But in microkernel version of OS/2 it is a real existing DLL. It was so in OS/2 (PowerPC) and it will be so in our version of OS/2. Thus, every OS/2 program imports a doscalls.dll library. Doscalls functions implement OS/2 API's and for help with it they send microkernel messages to OS/2 server. DOSCALLS library is (according to Yuri's idea) divided into two parts: DOSCALLS itself and KAL library. KAL is "Kernel abstraction layer" (for lack of better name). It communicates directly with OS/2 server and implements a base for DOSCALLS. DOSCALLS functions are depended by it. For example, MSG API for messages in .msg files is in Intel OS/2 implemented in DOSCALL1.DLL and is not kernel-dependent. msg.dll is just a forwarder to doscall1.dll. But MSG API's are implemented completely in DOSCALL1 and they don't depend on kernel. So, for example, MSG API could be implemented directly in DOSCALLS.DLL, without calling KAL. Thus, DOSCALLS functions are based on KAL functions and KAL functions are the "CORE" for OS/2 API which cannot be implemented without the help of OS/2 Server. And DOSCALLS functions are (in fact there are many such functions) depended on them.In our prototype, OS/2 server starts a client program. It knows its name from config.sys. The client program takes place of protshell= program. So, we implement an API in server, and test it in client program. The first API to test is VioWrtTTY(). So, the client program asks OS/2 server to print a message on console. Later, this prototype will be more complicated (as more API's will be added). Now we have a server, a client and a client library as a simple l4env application in ELF format. It is compiled by GCC in Linux. Now we're somewhat stalled trying to make ELF executable by OpenWatcom. It appears that OW can't link an ELF executable with imported shared library (ELF support in Watcom is at very early stage). ELF is needed because l4env severs are all in ELF format and they can start only ELF executables. Yuri suggested to implement only OS/2 server and KAL as ELF binaries and other parts (DOSCALLS and other libraries and client programs will be ordinary LX executables). In the future, we plan to implement executable formats support as a PN service (we plan to fork l4env loader server for that), the loader server will have IXF (Installable eXecutable Formats) support, like IFS for file systems.According the file system issues. The L4env now has a hierarchical namespace support. For that, there are l4vfs services -- a root name server that can integrate many object servers, which create a full hierarchical namespace. The namespace is a universal naming system for different objects, like files, pipes, registry entries, terminals and such. They have names such as "/dir1/dir2/dir3/objXX", divided into "directories and files", i.e. hierarchically. The objects can have any type. Each object server mounts to a namespace branch. The filesystem server can be implemented as an object server with "plug-in" IFS drivers. IFS is planned to be ordinary DLL's/shared libraries, exporting a standard set of entry points, as described in IFS.inf. This is planned to be implemented as a PN service. So, there will be a server, and a set of client libraries, which implement an object access to all personalities. And a FS server, plugged into this system. The IFS-es are plugged into FS server. And, in OS/2 personality, there will be OS/2-specific file system wrapper, which adds drive letters, paths with backslashes etc.PS: yesterday, I made simple menu for loader. (It is not final variant, of course )do not use windows, try doors firstStatistics: Posted by admin — Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:54 pm
- osFree.org site • Re: Good to see this up and running by admin (2018/12/20 22:48)lpino, Posted: Jun 19, 2008 10:08:09 pm:Have you thought out a plan or a design?. Is the OS/2 personality server going to capture all the API calls and send them to the L4?, what about i/o interrupts?, file system access?, are you planning on having a server for file system issues?Finally, device drivers?,,, how are you going to do it?, There is an effort to port the Mac OSX I/O driver model from Mach to L4 to see if the theorical improved performance of L4 translates to a faster driver model.Good to hear you are working hard. Don't desperate, as soon as you came out of really low level stuff you will begin to get more help.When you are done with the menu, can you post a picture on the site?PS. The dates of the posts here are wrongThanksStatistics: Posted by admin — Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:48 pm
- osFree.org site • Re: Good to see this up and running by admin (2018/12/20 22:45)prokushev, Posted: Jun 19, 2008 10:59:49 am:Actually, we continue our work on following ways:Kernel loader. Mostly works, now we at level of menu implementation. Usage without menu is possible now.Command line tools. Some tools sources added to build environment and now more compatible with original OS/2 tools.OS/2 Personality server. For now development is stalled. At the present time we can parse configuration file and execute shell. Also we have LX loader which works less or more well under Linux. We need to port it to L4.FreePM. Now development goes under Linux using SDL as core.REXX. Integrated some ooREXX sources and added replacement of RexxUtils. RexxMath library also added.Multimedia. Added JPGIO procedure and MMAudio Pak 2.As always, we are open for contributors.wbr,YuriStatistics: Posted by admin — Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:45 pm
- osFree.org site • Re: Good to see this up and running by admin (2018/12/20 22:43)BigWarpGuy, Posted: Jun 14, 2008 11:00:32 am:I am glad this site is back and am looking forward to using OSFree in the future as a replacement for eCS if it goes away.BigWarpGuy --http://www.os2world.comhttp://www.os2ecs.orgStatistics: Posted by admin — Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:43 pm
- osFree.org site • Re: Good to see this up and running by admin (2018/12/20 22:42)Ben Dragon, Posted: Jun 13, 2008 6:51:37 pm:Yes. Congratulations on the new forum.It is pleasing to know that the OSFree project is not dead.There does seem to be some problem with this forum though... several of the buttons aren't working... "Quote", " "Add Reply" for example.Actually, on further examination, they sometimes will work after reloading and re-clicking a few times.I'm certainly more than interested to hear what the present state of development is though. 8)Statistics: Posted by admin — Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:42 pm
- osFree.org site • Good to see this up and running by admin (2018/12/20 22:41)lpino, Posted: Jun 13, 2008 5:15:29 pm:Is very good to see this forum up and runing. I'm waiting to hear some news from the development team on how are things progressing, what problems they have and the direction they are going, always hoping to see a prototype of some kind working.Congrats on the new forumLeonardo PinoStatistics: Posted by admin — Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:41 pm
- osFree.org site • New forum posts on main page by admin (2018/12/20 22:40)prokushev, Posted: Sep 02, 2008 5:02:10 pm:Hello!I have added new posts info on main page of osfree.org. Enjoy!wbr,YuriStatistics: Posted by admin — Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:40 pm
- osFree.org site • Negative image is great by admin (2018/12/20 22:38)BigWarpGuyJoined: 09 May 2006Posts: 52Location: East Windsor NJPosted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 12:48 amI like the negative image ones better than the others. _________________BigWarpGuyhttp://www.os2ecs.orghttp://www.os2world.comhttp://www.ecomstation.comStatistics: Posted by admin — Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:38 pm
- osFree.org site • Re: New osFree logos by admin (2018/12/20 22:37)prokushevJoined: 25 Nov 2003Posts: 19Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 4:10 amHi Samuel, Yuri, and all,I did some more work on an osFree logo. This is not intended to substitute the original osFree logo (especially the higher-quality one I sent to Samuel). I did it because I felt the need to have a more "compact" logo, that could be used e.g. for a browser favicon or in other environments where the lengthy "osFree"-type logo would not apply.You can download the new logos from:http://guadagnino.i-ndex.net/osfree_logos_new.zipLet me know what you think.ByeCrisP.S. I'm trying to do my best, but I'm _NOT_ an artist P.P.S. If you need it, I also have already created a favicon.Last version seems to be good( 3 in O ).wbr,YuriBack to topStatistics: Posted by admin — Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:37 pm
#osfree channel
OS/2 Personality Command line tools
OS/2 Personality REXX support
DOS Personality Command Line Tools
Boot sequence
OS2LDR changes
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osFree related projects news
This page containg changelogs from projects which replaces OS/2 components and will be reused (most probably) without changes.