Hi Bat

Replying to a message of Bat Lang to paul marwick:

 BL> Howdy, PM!  It's been a while. {^;

:-) Certainly has...

 pm>> Anyhow, I've just completed an extensive review of OS/2 file
 pm>> managers. The results will be on my Web site within the next couple
 pm>> of weeks (just being proof-read and having graphics added).

 BL> Please drop a note in here when it's ready. File Managers, Editors and
 BL> Viewers are of =more= than passing interest to me.

Yeah, sure. Hopefully won't be long - just depends on the proof reder and a
little bit of sorting on my part to get the right graphics.

 BL> How long? I never found that problem, but then I didn't try to see how
 BL> long was too long. {^; So long as it never faulted on those that I
 BL> encountered of others creation (I continue to be satisfied with 8.3
 BL> for most any that I create).

It will handle files a little longer than 8.3, but not a great deal. Problem
seems to stem from the fact that it has a fixed position to start the
description text and when that position is still occupied by filename data, it 
crashes. Easy to reproduce...

 BL> I have that same problem, and mentioned it in here. The selfex' that
 BL> it will read are few and far between. Virtually none of those that I
 BL> dnld from IBM. }^: 

:-) The only one I've found so far is the self-ex that it was packed in when I 
got it... Every other one I've tried, it says it can't read. 

I also hit one archive that it read incorrectly - instead of a small
FILE_ID.DIZ and a 140K executalbe, it reported a 0-length FILE_ID.DIZ and no
executable. It was somewhat miraculous though - it could display the contents
of that 0-length .DIZ...

 BL> When I did bring it up, JS downplayed that
 BL> failing. Thanks for that support. {^; I am able to test those using
 BL> an F2 entry that calls unzip -t-M [%P]\[%F], but better still is a
 BL> small batch file from the command line followed by ^ which
 BL> pastes in the selfex name. That batch file which I call UNT.CMD
 BL> (UNzip to Test) looks like: @echo off d:\util\unzip -t-p %1 %2 %3 |hv

 BL> Which uses a pipe to HV (or your choice) to display the entire STDOUT
 BL> for scrolling, or whatever. This will enable you to read the contents
 BL> and even copy a filename to the clipboard (for a one file
 BL> extraction). Unfortunately, I have not been able to paste any of
 BL> those to the OS2C command line. }^:

Hmm, thanks for that - makes it usable for that sort of situation at least.
I'll have to add something like that.

 BL> I too struggled with that one. I never could get the version I have to
 BL> even execute. It would just quit with an error msg. Emails with that
 BL> author did not resolve the problem. Particularly the error about 'Not
 BL> Powerful Enough'? (P200 w/80mb ram) or 'couldn't determine my
 BL> operating system' or some such? This was with MC4562BI.ZIP. It seems
 BL> like the author writes presuming a complete knowledge of *ix, of
 BL> which I have next to zero.

:-) I had trouble with it under one Linux distribution as well - Redhat 5.2 -
kept failing...Even when I have got it to run, I've not managed to get all its 
functions operating by any means. Pity - the later betas have some potentially 
interesting functions.

 pm>> Ztree - text mode, but I always hated Xtree, so I'm not real taken
 pm>> with Ztree.

 BL> We are again on the same wavelength. I too never liked Xtree,
 BL> preferring QFiler (strictly for DOS).

:-) Before I moved to InspectA, I used to use Directory Freedom, which did
what I needed.

 pm>> need, but without bug fixes, I'm not prepared to spend any money on
 pm>> it.

 BL> I can certainly identify with that. What it does do, it does well!
 BL> Mine is already registered. I think the author's last act was to cash
 BL> my registration, then headed for a desert isle. {^;

:-( That seems to be becoming all too common. I've got a number of registered
programs that are no longer supported, no source is available, so my money has 
effectively been thrown away. While I don't mind in some respects (in most
instances, I've got reasonable value for the original investment), the lack of 
source for things that I still need and have no viable replacements for is
very annoying...

At least with things like FleetStreet (which I registered a long time ago),
when the author dropped support, he released a free version and the source.

Another thing that is of concern is that many of these unspuported programs
can still cost you money. For instance, BMT Micro is still accepting
registrations for OS/2 Commander, FTP Browser, FileBar and several other
products which are effectively dead and unspported. The only indication that
the customer has of this status is to check when the procuct was last updated, 
which is not always easy to do...

 pm>> So far, my vote is overwhelmingly for FC/2. Current version is
 pm>> FC2_211.ZIP, should be available in lots of places. Home is:
 pm>> http://silk.apana.org.au/pub/fc2/index.html

 BL> It might be mine too at this point, as a recommendation, but having
 BL> registered OS2C, I continue to prefer it to FC/2, but that could
 BL> change in the future. Thanks for the comeback, and let us know when
 BL> that review is ready.  

Apart from the bugs I hit in OS/2 Commander, I found that FC/2 seemed cleaner
and more consistent in operation. Hence my choice. I just hope I can talk
Brian into adding a few of the features that Commander has and FC/2 currently
doesn't have...

I'll post a note as soon as the review finally goes up.

 BL> Good Modeming!  /\oo/\

to you too...

regards, paul

--- FleetStreet 1.24.1
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