Hi Jack

Replying to a message of Jack Stein to Paul Marwick:

 JS> OS/2 Commander doesn't seem to have a problem with long filenames
 JS> here, or FILES.BBS entries?  What kind of problems, maybe I'm missing
 JS> something. He will display file descriptions in the other window from
 JS> a FILES.BBS _or_ a 4OS2 description file, they both work here as
 JS> described?

Try this... echo something > this_is_a_long_name. Then put the OS/2 Commander
cursor over the new file name and press CTRL-F10. This is the result...

SYS1041: The name specified is not recognized as an
internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

Error 05 occurred in module OS2COVL3 at address 0027:0F73

Hit any key to return to system

It will do the same if you try and copy a file with a long name and a
FILES.BBS entry, or if you try and move the same file.

It will handle _some_ long names, but only if they are no more than 13
characters in total. Any more than that puts the firt character in the
description into the same area as the filename characters and the error above
is the result.

 PM>> failure to read most self-extracting archives, 

 JS> Which file manager handles more self-extracting archives?  Most file
 JS> managers don't handle them at all, in fact most don't handle regular
 JS> archives let alone self-extracting ones.

In this day and age, I would reject _any_ file manager which doesn't handle
archived files. As to which handle self-extracting archives, FC/2 does a good
job, and InspectA does a reasonable job (apart from the fact that a number of
self-extractors will cause InspectA to fail). OS/2 Commander claims to be able 
to read sel-extractors (pressing CTRL-A is suppoed to do it), but I've so far
found only one out of dozens that I've tried that it can read. All of them
could be read by FC/2.

 PM>> odd behaviour after viewing files within archives,

 JS> I've noticed no problems here after viewing files within archives at
 JS> all?  I did notice a problem with his built in editor, in that if
 JS> doing a search for a string, after the first hit, and edit, the
 JS> second hit doesn't let you edit correctly.  The only other bug I've
 JS> noticed is when using hot keys to change directories, or the wcd
 JS> program he developed, you may have to move up or down a directory
 JS> before OS2C will work on highlighted files, somehow the new directory
 JS> is not fully registered, although it shows the files correctly.  

This one is not easy to reproduce, because it only happens sometimes, and I
don't know what triggers it. However, on a number of ocasions, after viewing a 
file within an archive (probably mainly text files), when you attempt to exit
from the archive by going to the top of the archive and pressing return, OS/2
Commander will attempt to execute one of the programes within the archive.
Sometimes with disasterous results. Trouble is, it only does it sometimes, and 
I have not found any way of triggering the problem reliably (:-)). When this
happens, the only way to exit from the archive is to use the left-arrow key.

 JS> I've been using OS2C for years, and thats about the only two "bugs"
 JS> I've noticed, both are very minor.  I generally don't use his editor
 JS> anyway, and he doesn't really expect you to use his, he allows 2
 JS> other external editors plus his assigned to hot keys, so that one is
 JS> a non-problem.  

Well, I've only been using OS/2 Commander for a matter of a month of so, but
the problems I encountered are sufficient to ensure that I would not pay for
it, not unless it was still under development and there was some procpect of
the problems being fixed.

 JS> Yes, I don't know what happened to Wolfgang, but I do know if I only
 JS> used software where I could contact the author, I wouldn't use much
 JS> stuff.  

That may be true (I have far too much software that I have paid for and is now 
abandoned), but I would not consider paying for what is effectively "new"
software which has already been abandoned. Its not just the money involved in
registration, its the time and effort invovled in learning to use the program
effectively, and the time wasted finding alternatives.

 JS> He was at one time very supportive and responsive, and posted
 JS> in this echo.  He has always been an extremly pro OS/2 man, one of us
 JS> actually.  He seems to have gone from the scene, but I'd bet money he
 JS> is not in Windows land.  He's either sick, dead, busy, lost interest
 JS> or went to Unix since IBM has been doing it's best to kill OS/2 since
 JS> 95.  That is the only reason I'd consider FC/2 over OS2C.  There have
 JS> been several FC/2 releases since I last looked at it though, it may
 JS> have caught up to Commander by now.

Well, for the things I need, FC/2 still has a little way to go. It does not
have the FILES.BBS handling features, which I really do need. For the rest, it 
is solid and has fewer bugs. So I've gone with it, hoping I can talk the
author into adding a few features that I need. Even it I have to pay an extra
fee to have them added...

 JS> I've looked at most of the ones you mentioned, and all were horrible
 JS> compared to OS2C and FC/2.  MC wasn't anything like OS2C when I
 JS> looked at it.  I probably would go with FC/2 simply because it is
 JS> very close to OS2C in features and is still actively being developed.  

The fact that a progrma is still under active development is rapidly becoming
the most important consderation, unfortunately. I have become tired of spening 
money on software only to find that it is abandoned a little while later. A
bit like OS/2 itslef, I guess...

regards, paul

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