What is eComStation

Simply the best multitasking operating system for a PC. It is known as the OS that just won't die. It has been around a while now, just check out The History of OS/2 site. While you will not be able to go down to your typical corner store and buy software for your OS/2 system, there is plenty available. Most PC's and Laptops will run it, and most hardware components work just fine with it, although you might have to go to the manufacturer's website and download drivers, since they don't want to offend Billy. With ODIN, many 32-bit windows appliations will run too.

My Install

Ok, eComStation is in and I have been using it for a few a while now. Is it worth it? YES!

The preview version came out a little late and without much fanfare, but it is a big improvement. It's nice to have something that works out of the box with no need to apply fixpacks. This version of OS/2, currently shows on my System Commander as OS2 4.5, has a slightly simpler install (removal of some of the Warp 4 stuff) and documentation on the CD. The second CD comes with a full working version of Lotus Smart Suite 1.5, Star Office 5.1 (I tried 5.2 on a Windows machine and quickly went back to 5.1, Sun really screwed up 5.2) Desktop on call, Xfolder, and some other stuff I have not tried yet.

The install of eComStation went pretty well. At first the FDISK replacement LVM, sort of made sence graphically, but I could not set the partition I wanted to install to as installable. I discovered I had to re-install the Boot Manager, then I was able to proceed with the install.

EComStation 1.0 Installation of the base OS took about 7 minutes. The rest took longer, so the whole thing took about an hour. TIP: The Wise Installer has some handy things in it which allow you to get to the different parts of the OS install, and the two bonus application CD packages.

I have several bootable partions on my machine, with 1 Warp 4 FP 10, 2 eComStation, 1 Windows (for the kids), and one NT (used only for telecommute, but I even use OS2 when I work at home), and the only time I had problems was when I had Linux (after that install my hard drive partion table got clobered). I don't think anyone would have a problem, but at least make sure you back up your partition table (Maxtor drives have utilities that backup and restore partition tables, and that has saved me once or twice).

I have installed SmartSuite 1.5 and was very pleased with the results this time. No traps during the install, and it seems to be much more stable than 1.0 or 1.1, which I was unable to install at all. As far as features go, I think it has many more useful ones, without a lot of useless animation. I do think that since it is a port from Windows, it seems to lack some of the traditional OS/2 preemptive multitasking.

I tried and used Desktop on Call and it worked pretty good. The documentation kinda sucks though (as usual I guess) it looks like no one proof read it. I was able to dial up my machine at home and control it, although with wallpaper, it is slow with 56K modem.

The Final Version of eComStation is due out in May/June 2001. I hear that after this time IBM will no longer sell OS/2 only the Convenience Pack for existing users, or new installations will need eComStation.

About eCS

Out of all the Operating Systems I use, this one seems to be the most reliable. It is highly configurable, even the Windows 3.1 subsystem lets you configure applications in separate virtual dos machines, but if you need sound you need to start that first or install this driver which detects the sound card is busy and then blocks popup messages (see hardware page).

For a comparison of various Operating Systems click here.