OpenGEM Release 3 is now officially out, and can be download for free from http://gem.shaneland.co.uk (4.32mb download) OpenGEM Release 3 is designed for FreeDOS, and is intended to provide a simple and powerful GUI for the FreeDOS community as it progresses towards version 1.0 of the operating system. OpenGEM Release 3 has been tested in BETA form by several members of the FreeDOS community, and no errors have been reported so far :) In fact, testing has had some pretty positive feedback. To quote one tester: "OpenGEM 3 Beta is way better than OpenGEM 2. It runs DOS games pretty well. It never crashed while I used it, and I ran a few of the programs and they seem to work fine. OpenGEM 2 had a handful of annoying problems, which are fixed in OpenGEM 3. Woohoo! In essence, OpenGEM 2 kind of sucked, but OpenGEM 3 is quite nice! Keep up the good work!" Another user said: "OpenGEM is running quite well, the record is 14 hours without crashing. and that is just in 3 days." The third generation of the OpenGEM GUI distribution features many advances from the previous versions, not least a vastly improved memory overhead and increased stability. It is also almost one megabyte smaller than OpenGEM 2.2.0. OpenGEM Release 3 is 8.7mb fully installed, as opposed to OpenGEM 2.2.0's 9.5mb. Amazingly this is not at the cost of removing applications. OpenGEM Release 3 features all the GEM applications people have become used to, including word processing, web browsing, spreadsheet and DTP software. The motto with this third generation release is to get rid of junk, cut out unused options, and generally think "switch on and use" when it comes to the distribution. I believe that OpenGEM is pretty much the number one 16bit GPL GUI, and I hope to further consolidate this position with this new release. No one even comes close in the range of applications, development and reliability. The good news is that OpenGEM Release 3 is designed to be much easier to use, to update, and generally to maintain on your machine than ever before. It is designed to be the most simple, most effective and most useful 16bit GPL graphical user interface for DOS based computers. OpenGEM Release 3 will be supported by myself and my website (http://gem.shaneland.co.uk) until at least December 2005. I will continue to support OpenGEM 2.2.0 and GEMini Release 2 until the same date. If you need support simply email me at gem@shaneland.co.uk In the meantime I am moving to Japan on the 24th of August! My address (in case anyone wants to drop by) is going to be Shane Coughlan #A-102 Sunlight Heights 667-1 Butsushozanchokou Takamatsu-Shi Kagawa-Ken 761-8078 Japan On a final note, I see that FreeDOS is now ten years old. Congratulations all your FreeDOS people. OpenGEM is three years old this year, and GEM itself is actually having a bit of a special birthday. DR GEM is twenty years old (it was first released in 1984). We should all have parties :P Best regards Shane http://gem.shaneland.co.uk PS: I am aware that I announced I would not develop OpenGEM further last May, but people just kept emailing me. I gave in. I just have to continue the development of this software :P PPS: In case you are curious about the software, but cannot be bothered to go to the website, here is some information: OpenGEM Release 3 - Get a graphical user interface that's good for you As FreeDOS reaches version 1.0, the DOS world needs to have software that is easy to install, easy to use, and easy to apply to individual problems. OpenGEM qualifies for all three 'easies.' It's a realistic contender for being a base component on PCs that need a small and powerful graphical user interface. OpenGEM is not about fancy skins, colourful wallpaper, or 3D gaming. OpenGEM is about understanding that DOS users need some simple, reliable applications to do their jobs, and they don't want rubbish to fill their hard drives. Perhaps we're biased, but we believe OpenGEM is by far the best 16bit single tasking GPL GUI and application set that you can get for DOS. - Use a graphical user interface without a degree in rocket science When you install OpenGEM (through its automatic install files!) you just go to C:\ and type GEM. That's it. OpenGEM starts, and you get to play with your graphical user interface right away. What's more, OpenGEM works on almost any IBM PC ever made. As long as it has a 086 or above processor, and 512kb of RAM, OpenGEM should start itself happily. And the best part is that OpenGEM looks and feels pretty much like any other 'windowing' system out there. This means you should be up and running in no time at all. - Run applications without problems GEM, FreeGEM and OpenGEM applications almost always run first time, every time. They are small, compact, and don't need endless updates just to function. In fact, the only thing that might hold some of them back is limited conventional memory on some systems. Good thing that OpenGEM Release 3 uses significantly lower memory than previous versions! - Change drivers without the hassle You want to change a driver for your video card, your sound card or your printer? In the past this meant deleting and copying files from all over the place. Not with OpenGEM. Simply type SETUP from C:\, and a menu will appear showing you all the driver options for OpenGEM. Select the one you want and 'whoosh', it's installed. It's as easy as that. - Get help when you need it OpenGEM includes documentation on most applications and functions in the GEMAPPS\HELPZONE folder and sub-folders, and for those times when only a real person will do...we have the network. OpenGEM is supported by Shane Land (http://gem.shaneland.co.uk), and you can always get help by emailing us at gem@shaneland.co.uk. GEM, FreeGEM and OpenGEM are also supported through the GEM-DEV mailing list at http://www.simpits.org/mailman/listinfo/gem-dev - Experience something with a pedigree OpenGEM is based on FreeGEM components, which in turn are based directly on the Digital Research GEM code that was released under the GPL license by CALDERA (now LINEO Inc.) in 1999. DR GEM was originally released in 1984. When you use OpenGEM you are using tried and tested code based on a strong foundation. It's not just close to commercial level software. Its heart is a commercial design by one of the best software companies that worked on DOS. OpenGEM is software you can trust. - Wow...that's really interesting...but I just want a file manager Hey, we thought of you too! OpenGEM is a big solution to a small problem if what you need is a graphical file manager. Not to worry though, as OpenGEM has a little 'brother.' GEMini is a minimal package of the core bits from OpenGEM, and comes to just 400kb when installed. Yes, it's really that small. You want a boot disk with a graphical file manager (that features drag and drop)? No problem. You want a baby file manager that zooms through the hundreds of folders on your C: drive? No sweat. You can get GEMini Release 2 from our download pages.