[Oberon] ETHO & OP2?

[Chris Glur]

Duke wrote:
> Is anybody on this list still using Native Oberon and its OP2
> compiler? I would be interested in getting it installed on my 
> system instead of A2 (or maybe on another partition even). 

I used native for years, and still have to access my old files from it.
The multiple partitions, enforced some filing discipline: ca. 10
partitions for the different 'classifications'.

The last year/s I've used mostly
ETH Oberon (2.4.3) for linux x86, [leo] because:
= linux has superior internet facilities,
= you can run multiple copies of 'leo' 
  * IMO the unique value of ETHO relates to the human-interface
  [I've been disapointed in compiling my own utilities, altho' I've
  done minor compiling  to update existing utilities like:
  making the emailer: TxAuthenticate; and extending the Find.Obj
  to find <all files in the 'domain'> which contain EACH of n strings.
  This is very usefull, and I'm still trying to get a *nix utility to do it.]
= If you d/l a *.pdf, you can transfer the embedded grahpics to leo,
  on the same PC/screen, with tricks like <screenCapture to a *.png>
 and then just past it into a ETHO-document, which will display 
 instantly, instead of waiting for cluncky *ps/pdf view and page.
 But most importantly [for me where colour has strong 'association'],
 you can effortlessly 'underline' the complex text which you're 
studying  ito. colour and font.

BTW V4  [ETHO is S3] also runs on linux and its facilicility which I
most appreciate, is that it automatically choses oberon or linux to
load-display a file.

I booted N-O and another new leo and V4, but no startup screen 
told about the compiler.       Oh crap let me just run leo's : ...
    Oberon Portable Compiler / nw, rc, nm, tk, prk
    Oberon Parser (Active & X Extensions) / prk
    Builder.Compile  \2s
    compiling CRGtrace new symbol file   1955

So I don't know about 'OP2 compiler'
except that Compiler.Tool shows:
	2	compile Oberon-2 extensions  (off)
and the above trace came from choosing:
   Builder.Compile  \2s *

Since leo seems not to have Compile*Mod, I can't immediately
check the source-comments re. 'OP2 compiler'

Wow, home/oberon/docu/Compiler.html  ==
   Title: Compiler, Builder and Analyzer User Guide
which came with leo, looks interesting.
There's just not enough time!
 Now I have to investigate why the *.Obj made by this
compile-test is much bigger than the *.Obj which it replaced.
Pity ETHO doesn't make any *.Obj.Bak

BTW I've booted ETH: N-O for years from fd0, to avoid 
the combination of problems from:
= old BIOS doesn't like IDE > 32 GB,
= M$-WIN wants to have first partition
= multiple linux installations on various partitions

and, it's worth noting that N-O's Partition.Tool 
is even superior to many linux tools, in many ways.

IIRC I once had a PC which would not boot the N-O
diskette. I think I suspected the display hardware.

Interestingly, leo crashed twice, the first day that I
installed it, but now I would not know how to crash it.
That's because your sub-concious tells you 'don't go there'.

IMO, by far the most important aspect of ETHO is the
human interface, but this is not discussed by techies because
it's fuzzy/psychology.

The way that ETHO has got all the stuff 'just below the surface'
and easily accessible like 'on the single/same screen, being able
 to show that/how *.Obj has been overwritten...'
------------
CRGtrace.Obj     03.11.2007 17:37:05    443
 CRGtrace.Obj\d  ==
CRGtrace.Obj     08.08.2010 10:41:35    3921
---------
Thanks,

==Chris Glur.

PS. 
> I burned that dsk image to a CD. Tried to boot from this CD  => No
> joy! It tries to boot, but just returns to the A2 Boot Manager.
> So I'm not sure what went wrong! Maybe the above is not a 
> bootable image? Any ideas?
Yes, always use Wirth's 'successive refinement':
 start from a know good state and proceed in small increments 
from there.   Can you boot from fd0? Perhaps your new PC has
no fd0?
----------
> That the whole point of my query - I have 5 partitions on this HDD
> which is beautifully orchestrated at the moment by the A2 Boot
> Manager. I don't want to screw that up!
I've got 43 partitions.
It's very difficult to accumulate 1GB of data with ETHO, becuse it doesn't
use those absurdly extravagant formats like .ps. pdf. XML...
Best not yet write into your last partition/s, so that you can split it into
multiple N-O partitions to sort your various N-O topics.