@amigadave

I remember I had problems with Tubexx too... Do you have rmh.library? Install it, if you havn't. Also check for existanse rxmui.library.

BTW, Tubexx is ARexx programm, you can view its content by MultiView or any text editor. Search for ".library", and you wil see all components Tubexx needs.

[ Edited by mobydick on 2009/11/8 12:51 ]

Finally got it working. The problem was that I had not been working in MOSSYS:, so I was not placing some of the files in the right Classes/MUI drawer and also needed to copy the OS3.9 rexxsyslib.library into the MOSSYS:/LIBS drawer.

You know everyone tells you NOT to touch MOSSYS: and to put everything into the other drawers that are exactly the same on your SYS:

Oh well, I need to read more carefully and notice those differences, instead of remembering what I have read on the forums here and seeing what I thought I knew in the installation guides and such. My apologies for making the mistakes and complaining about them here. Tubexx is now working just fine.

Now that I have got the installation right, I will get to work on creating an install script that automates all of it for those that have gotten too used to Mac and Windows systems.

It is after 4am here and I need to get some sleep. I have been sick all week and should not have stayed up all night playing with this damn MacMini with MorphOS2.4 on it. Reminds me of the first year I had my A1000.

[ Edited by amigadave on 2009/11/8 2:01 ]

> when I extract the files with lha to RAM, I appear to get a bunch of files and
> instructions on how to compile the file I need, not a precompiled file that is ready to
> use with MorphOS.

Huh? What lha archive is it exactly that has no precompiled binary?

> grep 2.5 I got from aminet and it is a 68k.lha, so I don't know if I have the right one
> since you stated that it is in the MorphOS SDK.

There is no right or wrong one here. You simply need a grep binary that works on MorphOS. It doesn't matter if it's an m68k binary from Aminet or a MorphOS native one from the SDK.

> Where are the installation instructions for using this with MorphOS?

Simple command line programs like wget usually belong to the "C" directory. There's nothing more to it, really.

> the file named "MACHINES" that lists all of the computer platforms that Wget has
> been compiled for in the past does not even list MorphOS

That's because the author of that list either didn't know or didn't care about the existence of the MorphOS port when creating the list. Most probably that list was created even before the MorphOS port was done ;-)

> I go looking for a RexxMast program to put into my WBStartup drawer [...] I can't
> find anything like it in MorphOS, so I need some help.

RexxMast is located in MOSSYS:C/ and is started by MOSSYS:S/startup-sequence by default.

> I can start Wookie Chat which uses ARexx with no problems or error messages
> about ARexx not being implemented, so I am puzzled about the error message I
> get when trying to run Tubexx for the first time

WookieChat uses ARexx port only so that it would work also without full ARexx installation. Tubexx on the other hand is itself written in ARexx completely so it's clear it cannot start without an ARexx interpreter.

> is there a Flash plug-in for OWB like the one for IBrowse, or an even better one?

Not yet. It's still in development:

https://morph.zone/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1654

Latest info on that:

https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6592&forum=3#67098

@ amigadave

IIRC rexxsyslib is the only file in mossys: that should be touched by the user. And even there it is better to just rename the original file and keep the 68k file in libs:. Anyway, I haven't understand yet why the not complete rexxsyslib is included. At least why it gets installed by default, maybe it would be a good solution to put it into either a contrib drawer or in libs: instead of mossys:libs until it isn't finished.

[ Edited by Zylesea on 2009/11/8 22:54 ]

Many MorphOS components (especially Ambient and its components) depend on the ARexx environment.

The MorphOS rexxsyslib.library provides all that already. The only part which is missing in MorphOS' ARexx (call it MRexx if you like ) is the actual interpreter (basically the thing that parses ARexx scripts and executes the instructions). You only need it when you want to execute an ARexx script, else you don't need it. And TubeRexx is obviously an ARexx script

Thanks for the answers Andreas, Zyleasa, & Tokai.

Tokai, I am not sure I completely understand your answer, so correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding of your answer is that there is a MorphOS specific version of rexxsyslib.library that is not complete, in other words it does not include an ARexx interpreter, so when I renamed it (effectively disabling it) and replaced it with the same file from my AmigaOS3.9 CD, I lost what ever improvements the MorphOS Dev Team has made and the OS3.9 version is run through Trance and is therefore slower, but works. Is there then good reason to only use the OS3.9 68k version of the rexxsyslib.library file when I need it and I should rename the original back to the way it was the rest of the time? That seems very inconvenient and I think there should be a better solution. Obviously I am not knowledgeable enough to know how useful an implementation of ARexx is without an interpreter to parse ARexx scripts, as I don't know enough about ARexx and it's workings, apart from running ARexx scripts.

What I am learning from my increased use of MorphOS and my increased interactions with those that create it and users that have been using it much longer than myself, is that it is not really ready for general public consumption and it seems that nobody is in a hurry to change that. It is almost like a small club that does not want to include just anyone else and almost no efforts are being made to make MorphOS more user friendly. Unless you have someone setup the OS and install most of the third party software programs and games for you, you have to be very computer literate, very much like Linux, or even more so, to be able to use MorphOS.

That is how I see it anyway and I think that I have made my thoughts clear about the survival of our community and the MorphOS itself as a viable product. Without more users and developers, it is very hard for MorphOS to be a successful product that makes a profit and if it does not make money for the people who are creating it, eventually they will tire of spending their free time and not getting sufficiently compensated for their hard work. Maybe I am wrong and the developers are happy to make any amount of money for their efforts and think that the small amount they make is better than Open Source where they would not make any money at all.

Obviously, I would prefer to have MorphOS grow faster, have more resources and be more successful, not only for the developers, but for us users, who would benefit by an increase of developers of third party applications and games, which makes our investment in the cost of the OS more worthwhile. Afterall, an OS is only as good as the programs it can run to make it useful to the user base that supports it.

End Rant

Please be patient with my slow learning curve. I am trying to NOT disturb the other users here and the MOSTeam, as I do not want to take time away from their work improving this fine OS.

> when I renamed it (effectively disabling it) and replaced it with
> the same file from my AmigaOS3.9 CD, I lost what ever improvements
> the MorphOS Dev Team has made

I doubt there are any ;-)

> Is there then good reason to only use the OS3.9 68k version of the rexxsyslib.library
> file when I need it and I should rename the original back to the way it was the rest
> of the time?

No, IMHO. So far I didn't have any bad experiences with the MorphOS version being permanently disabled.

> I think there should be a better solution.

Full ack. The developer's latest info on that (at least that I know of):

https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6352&forum=9#64021

Btw, there you have the one exception of the "do not touch MOSSYS:" rule pinned down (actually in the answer to that):

https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6514&forum=3#66311

> I am not knowledgeable enough to know how useful an implementation of ARexx
> is without an interpreter to parse ARexx scripts

For ARexx ports I'd guess, which can be used for inter-program communication. That's how Ambient uses it AFAIK.

> It is almost like a small club that does not want to include just anyone else

That must be the reason why we're patiently answering your questions ;-)

Thanks again for the answers Andreas, you have been a big help and very patient. I appreciate every word of it.

As for the MorphOS version of rexxsyslib.library not having any improvements, I doubt that, as there would be no purpose to replace........ nevermind, just thought of the reason why the OS3.9 file could not be used. It is too easy to forget that MorphOS is not the "Official" Next Gen AmigaOS.

I might be wrong, but it seems that I also had to move some needed MUI Classes manually into the MOSSYS:Classes/MUI drawer as they did not seem to work from the SYS:Classes/MUI drawer location. I think I have duplicates in both locations now and wonder if that wastes RAM, or could cause other complications?

As for the "club" comment, I think you have to agree that MorphOS is not for everyone, just as Linux is not for those who don't know what a CLI, or Shell is, though some Linux distros are getting much closer to being just as user friendly as Windows, or MacOSX. I understand that it is more important for developers to get new programs working on MorphOS than it is for them to write GUI's for some apps, or to make the apps they to write or re-compile for MorphOS as easy to install and use as the competition on Windows or MacOSX. The "club" comment was not meant as a complaint so much as a statement of how I see things and the level of computer literacy needed to be successful with MorphOS. In other words I was pointing out a need that could be filled by someone in the community and I have already stated that I plan to work on just such improvements by writing installation scripts that will automate many of the tasks it takes to get some of the third party programs to run on MorphOS, and I wrote all of this as a way to point out a problem and hope that other developers will put more effort into their installation scripts, if they write an installation script at all. I see your smiley at the end of your reply to my message, so I hope you actually understand and hopefully agree that it is somewhat an elite club of users and developers that have been working on and using MorphOS over the last 10 years and to enter this club, it is not such an easy task for the Average computer user. Unfortunately, with the state of computing and the demise of Commodore so long ago, most Amiga users have become Windows users and MacOSX users for much more than 50% of their computing experience and no longer have all of the Amiga skills that they might have had at one time. Others were only Amiga gamers and never obtained the computer skills that are needed to easily setup and use MorphOS.

Finally I could get Tubexx to run, but it's quite a mess to download, extract and copy files from here and there. And thanks to for your help, when I did the original posting, I was quite upset and had no patience at all, the weekends leisure helped a lot. :)

And I found out that my signature here was completely outdated. In the end of 2003 I was one of the first to own a then new Pegasos II with 1GHz G4, but as development of MOS had come to a halt in 2004 I sold my Pegasos. It was the release auf MOS 2.4 for Mac Mini that reminded me of the existence of this OS, so I got me a Mac Mini and a keyfile to play around a little.

I still have some rather annoying problems but I'll post that into a new thread.

@ Amigadave

Have patience! As you just discovered MorphOS is not in the state to be an OS that easily can be used by Joe Average w/o a hassle. But seeing the whole evolvement, the recent 1.5 years brought many, many improvemnet that put MorphOS into a position where it comes closer and closer to the position to be useable by the unexperieced. I guess it it easier than many Linux distros already. And we get some new users recently. I agree, the number of new users could be higher, but anyway.
Development resources are limited, that explains why some parts take time.
Regarding the "club" thing. I guess there is a little truth in it, but don't overestimate it. Even if MorphOS would multiply its userbase by a factor of 1000 it would be a rather exclusive club. Okay, probably contact to the developers and the knowing most members of the comunity by name would getting harder, but generally spoken MorphOS is probably doomed to stay a rather exclusive club. But we all agree, that more users are welcomed and needed. But I am confident there will come more users, until teh end of year probalby rather in the dozens, next year maybe/hopefully in the hunderets and later on mybe een in teh thousands. But probably no mass movement.
The community can spread the word and provide apps to help growing the user base. I think Ruud's way to provide preinstalled systems is a splendid example to reach some not too-tech-ppl.

Quote:

YEAH!

THAT is an achievemt no other system has reached: Both making people loose sleep AND being comparable to the excitement of the first Amiga.

This is not business, this is spirit!

Quote:
Maybe I forgot something but I can not think of one single case where you need to move a MUI class into the MOSSYS:Classes/MUI drawer. So you must have got something wrong. Remember the "do not touch mossys" rules ;-)

Said that, it will not use more RAM because only one version will be loaded. But it will certainly confuse you on which binary is used (MOSSYS ones first, unless in certain cases when the assigns are messed up).


[ Edited by Henes on 2009/11/9 13:04 ]

> As for the MorphOS version of rexxsyslib.library not having any improvements, I
> doubt that, as there would be no purpose to replace

Of course, the MorphOS version is PPC native and thus doesn't have to run through Trance. You could call that an improvement over the OS3 version in a MorphOS context. But I anticipated you didn't mean that. Besides, if the MorphOS version didn't exist, you would have to legally own a copy of OS3.x to copy the lib over to MorphOS and use it there. That's a no-go for users who don't directly turn to MorphOS from AmigaOS 3.x, hence the native reimplementation. It's just that it isn't finished yet.

@Zylesea, I agree with everything you wrote in your last message and I am being patient, but at the same time I am trying to help MorphOS gain new users, and hopefully new developers, more quickly in the future, so I am very active in trying to find ways to help with that goal.

I think MorphOS has great potential and could one day within the next 2 to 4 years challenge Linux in popularity if everything were to fall into place "Just Right". I know that is optimistic, but that is just me.

@Grandpa, glad you got it working, enjoy!

@jmarcos, You are fraking right there! MorphOS rocks! Can AmigaOS4.1 on a SAM say the same? (yes, but not so much as MorphOS2.4 does)

@henes, You are most probably right, but if I do find a case where any file does not work from SYS:Classes and only works from MOSSYS:Classes, I will let you know. I will be working on my Efika, which I have probably messed up the MOSSYS: partition and when I re-install all of the programs to the hard drive, I will try to take more time checking the operation of each program after copying files needed to the SYS: partition and not touch MOSSYS: except for the rexxsyslib.library file.

@Andreas, the reason you pointed out, is the same reason why I stopped my sentence and said I had figured out why rexxsyslib.library was the way it is at this point in time. I assume that building a PPC ARexx interpreter for MorphOS is not a trivial task and that it will be completed some time in the future. End of discussion on that one for me anyway. Thanks again for all your answers and patience. I understand that needing to copy Amiga files to use MorphOS is not a good option.

@ Henes

while I would suggest to move rexxsyslib out of mossys:libs to sys:libs I also suggetst to leave out the D-flag for all the files of MOSSYS: for the next update.This way users actively would need to set the D flag by the protect command (or the info dialog). The installer though would need to do a protect sys:morphos/#? all +d b4 the update, but that seems no issue to me. But maybe this would keep things a bit cleaner or at least make this golden rule more obvious: Don't mess with mossys:

Quote:

Very good suggestions IMHO.

I'd also suggest that all directories user might want to use should be found by default from the sys: too. There are now some directories available only in mossys: and that might confuse user to copy files on those, instead of creating new equivalent dirs to sys: and copy 3rd party stuff there.

Examples like Storage, Classes/Blankers, Classes/Screenbar, Prefs/Skins, Data etc. So, maybe those should be available in SYS: too, even if they would be empty dummy dirs.

i second these suggestions. d-flag on mossys: + required dirs in sys: by default would be nice.
present system is ok for us long time users but - as it can be seen - could confuse newbies.

That case is awesome!!!. Sad thet the price is a bit too much.