The release of eComStation 2.2 German and English GA (general availability) was planned for the second week of April. During the public beta cycle however bugs have been reported that have caused a delay in the release of eCS 2.2. Most of the bugs that have been reported with problems of the eCS installer have been resolved.

We expect another 2 to 3 weeks are needed to resolve and confirm the following issue's are fixed.

1. OS2AHCI.ADD hangs on some systems or has problem(s) detecting the
proper disk size on *some* systems.
This is currently being worked on.

2. DANIS506.ADD did not work on some systems but most issue's seem to
be resolved. We are currently waiting for feedback from people who
received access to
an internal test ISO to confirm that all reported issue's with the
DANIS506.ADD have been resolved.

3. On 10 to 15 percent of the systems USB support is not working at
all. We are currently working on tracing and fixing this.

To a large extend the above bugs have surprised us to some degree as
the OS2AHCI.ADD driver has been part of eCS 2.1. Also the updated
DANIS506.ADD driver and the OS2AHCI.ADD where tested
on more then 50 different systems Mensys had access to. The
DANIS506.ADD and OS2AHCI.ADD have been part of the new bootable eCS 2.2
demo CD released in March. This demo CD was released before he eCS 2.2
DVD was released for public testing. Also before the release of the eCS
2.2 public large disc support (up to 2TB) was also re-tested and
confirmed to work.

A new public beta might follow. However this might also not happen if
all the people who have reported bugs confirm the bugs are resolved.

Best regards,

Roderick Klein
Mensys B.V.

This is the latest edition of the bi-weekly netlabs.org newsletter. The newsletter can be read on the web at the following URL:
wiki.netlabs.org/index.php

News from netlabs.org:
22. April - 28. April
ACPI Subsystem for eComStation
One ticket raised as well as one closed and some Wiki update
See: svn.netlabs.org/acpi/timeline

AirBoot
Redirected boot option requested
See: svn.netlabs.org/air-boot/timeline

eCUPS
New ticket raised
See: svn.netlabs.org/ecups/timeline

FM/2
Fix implemented about opening directory
See: svn.netlabs.org/fm2/timeline

Java port for eCS (OS/2)
One new ticket raised, two closed and sponsoring updates
See: svn.netlabs.org/java/timeline

lswitcher
Help file work done
See: svn.netlabs.org/lswitcher/timeline

Odin32
Ticket raised for large file handling
See: svn.netlabs.org/odin32/timeline

Qt Applications for OS/2
Three applications updated, one ticket fixed, another one closed and a new ticket raised
See: svn.netlabs.org/qtapps/timeline

Qt Version 4 for OS/2
Sponsoring update
See: svn.netlabs.org/qt4/timeline

REXXlibs
One update
See: svn.netlabs.org/rexxlibs/timeline

RPM and YUM
One ticket closed
See: svn.netlabs.org/rpm/timeline

Samba for eCS (OS/2)
Mix of fixes and updates
See: svn.netlabs.org/samba/timeline

Unix Ports and more
Poppler updates
See: svn.netlabs.org/ports/timeline

USB
Great progress and new version released
See: svn.netlabs.org/usb/timeline

xATA
Mix of fixes and 1.8.15 released
See: svn.netlabs.org/xata/timeline

15. April - 21. April
eCUPS
Two fixes and two new tickets raised
See: svn.netlabs.org/ecups/timeline

Java port for eCS (OS/2)
Two new tickets raised
See: svn.netlabs.org/java/timeline

lswitcher
Three updates
See: svn.netlabs.org/lswitcher/timeline

Qt Applications for OS/2
Two applications added and three updated
See: svn.netlabs.org/qtapps/timeline

REXXlibs
PrinterObjectHandle function rewritten
See: svn.netlabs.org/rexxlibs/timeline

RPM and YUM
New ticket raised and fixed already
See: svn.netlabs.org/rpm/timeline

Samba for eCS (OS/2)
One ticket raised and SMBMon 2.5 RC3 released
See: svn.netlabs.org/samba/timeline

Unix Ports and more
Poppler updates
See: svn.netlabs.org/ports/timeline

USB
Great progress!
See: svn.netlabs.org/usb/timeline

Netlabs.org relies on your support as well. We hire developers to have better progress on projects, for instance. For sure this costs money so any sponsoring is very welcome! You can support netlabs.org via netlabs.org sponsoring units:
www.mensys.net/NETLABS/

Thanks for your support!

We can be reached at: news@netlabs.org
And we are on Twitter now as well! See: twitter.com

Greetings,
netlabs.org team

I have updated the USB host controller drivers

USBUHCD.SYS, USBOHCD.SYS, USBEHCD.SYS, USBD.SYS (and now also: USBRESMG.SYS)
I have now placed these on hobbes.
hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/incoming/usbhcd190.zip

They will eventually make it into directory:
/pub/os2/system/drivers/misc

1) USBEHCD: fixed a problem that devices would no longer properly attach
(thanks to Andy Willis)

2) USBOHCD: fixed a trap D problem

3) USBD: changes to improve device attachment to external hubs and also
root hubs, in particular if multiple devices are already attached on bootup

4) USBRESMG: nothing, just increased version number

For all ticket reporters (USB tickets or eComStation ticket) who had
problems with devices not properly attached, please close your tickets
if it works ok for you now.

Your venerable (SCO) OpenServer 5.0.7 Point of Sale server bit the dust and you need a new system right away to get the Point of Sale software running again so your PoS terminals, whether dumb serial terminals or “smart” network stations, are not just expensive bricks. Of course some of the VARs that cater to . . . → Read More: Building an OpenServer 5.0.7 System on New Hardware in 2013

bitwiseworks has started its latest porting project, bringing an updated
Firefox and Thunderbird to the eCS (OS/2) platform.

The project will be entirely open source. Source code and progress can
be found at
https://github.com/bitwiseworks/mozilla-os2

As with previous big projects (like Qt GUI framework, Java 6, Flash)
funding is required to ensure a steady progress at a reasonal speed.
Partial funding was already provided by several companies and
individuals, with Mensys BV being the main sponsor. But in order to have
the project updated in a reasonable timeframe, we need more sponsoring.

If you are interested in sponsoring this project, please contact Silvan
Scherrer (silvan dot scherrer at bitwiseworks dot com) directly or
alternatively buy sponsoring units.
Sponsoring units may be bought at Mensys. *100%* of that money will be
transferred to the developers.

The Mensys sponsor link is: www.mensys.com/shop/NetlabsJava6

Right now we do not have a separate link for Mozilla development -
however the persons behind Java and Mozilla projects are the same,
Dmitriy Kuminov doing development and Silvan Scherrer doing project
management.

-- With best regards/
Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Herwig Bauernfeind