[GEM Development] version of opengem for easy use for windows users

[Shane M. Coughlan]

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veganalex wrote:
> ok, i understand you will not support the project, I think a name such
> as WinGEM for windows, MacGEM for mac and LinGEM for linux? - will i
> be able to just take the OpenGEM package and cut it down and get rid
> of the links to your site or do i have to package it from the start?

Of course you can take the OpenGEM distribution of FreeGEM and alter it
:) That's why we have the GPL license.  Actually, given that so many
people have an OpenGEM distribution of FreeGEM, it would make sense to
base your WinGEM/MacGEM/LinGEM on that.  I'd be happy to help you plan
and test the packages, and I'm always available to answer questions
about which bit does what.

Most of OpenGEM is standard FreeGEM stuff.  Some bits are not.  If you
are looking at OpenGEM Complete, you will notice a BAT file called
SETUP.BAT in the C:\ directory.  This links to files in the
C:\GEMAPPS\GEMSYS\SETUP directory and is intended to allow you to change
drivers and stuff like that.  These batch files will (AFAIK) only run on
DOS/Windows.  These bits are not essential, and are kind of broken at
the moment.  I had intended to have them fixed in the last OpenGEM 6
beta (beta2? a couple of months ago), but my time has been eaten with a
secure email project.  I will have a new OpenGEM 6 beta ready really
shortly.  It's jgoing to be pretty much the same as the last one, but
drop the SUBST of drives.  FreeDOS appears to have a bug with its SUBST
function.  I will try to have a fixed SETUP/UPDATE batch system in that
beta.

I guess the most important thing is that plan exactly what you want.  Do
you want to include applications, or do you want to have a really
minimal system?  For instance, traditionally OpenGEM has had two
version.  OpenGEM Core (or GEMini as it was previously known) and
OpenGEM Complete.

OpenGEM 6 will be a little different from previous releases, because I
plan to drop some of the applications from OpenGEM Complete.  The reason
is to ensure that the installed main system has as much stability and as
few bugs as possible, and it's also got to do with the sometimes
potentially dubious nature of applications.  All the DR origin
applications, documents and language bindings are covered by the GNU GPL
, but there are some other applications that came with the packages etc
that have different origins.  I will be dropping those I cannot confirm
are GPL.

I guess this could be a potential way for your distribution to gain both
attention and users.  I will be 'dropping' some applications, and you
can 'gain' them :)  I'm more than happy to coordinate with you so that
you'll know ahead of time what OpenGEM 6 will ship with.  In fact, given
that I have not decided yet, you are welcome to be part of the audit
process :)  If you want to use the batch files included in OpenGEM it
might pose technical problems on the Linux/Mac platforms.  Perhaps
someone could donate time to re-script things.

It'll be nice to see some more FreeGEM distributions around.  Now all we
have to do is poke Owen with a stick until we see Owen Rudge FreeGEM 2.0.

Shane

PS: Owen...*poke*...

- --
Shane Martin Coughlan
e: shane at shaneland.co.uk
m: +447773180107
w: www.shaneland.co.uk
- ---
Projects:
http://mobility.opendawn.com	http://gem.opendawn.com
http://enigmail.mozdev.org	http://www.winpt.org
- ---
Organisations:
http://www.fsfeurope.org	http://www.fsf.org
http://www.labour.org.uk	http://www.opensourceacademy.gov.uk
- ---
OpenPGP: http://www.shaneland.co.uk/personalpages/shane/files/publickey.asc
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