All about OpenGEM Release 4: an interview with Shane M. Coughlan
What is OpenGEM 4?
It's a collection of FreeGEM distributions.
FreeGEM. OpenGEM. Help me out here.
OpenGEM is a family of FreeGEM distributions. FreeGEM is the name used to describe the GPLed Digital Research GEM code.
So if I made a GEM distribution I should call it “Bob's FreeGEM distribution” not “Bob's OpenGEM distribution”?
Exactly. OpenGEM is the “Red Hat” family of distributions for the FreeGEM community.
So what is OpenGEM Release 4, and why is it a good thing?
OpenGEM Release 4 is a family of graphical user interface components and applications that come in several different forms and run on top of the DOS operating system. It's a bit like Windows 3.1. OpenGEM is a good thing because it's small, stable, fast, and it's the only graphical user interface currently being maintained and updated for DOS.
What do you mean OpenGEM is a “family”?
OpenGEM Release 4 comes in four different little distributions at the moment. OpenGEM Core is the main GUI. It has no applications included with the download, but you can download application packs to extend it. OpenGEM Complete has the main GUI and all of the GEM applications. OpenGEM Experimental is the same as OpenGEM Core, but uses more of the experimental FreeGEM code. OpenGEM Deutsch is the same as OpenGEM Core, but is in German.
How does OpenGEM 4 compare with other graphical user interfaces like KDE and Gnome?
That's a strange comparison. OpenGEM is based on 16bit single-tasking code, and runs on DOS. KDE and Gnome are 32bit environments that run on Linux. These GUIs have totally different aims, and therefore totally different abilities.
Okay, how does OpenGEM 4 compare with other DOS GUIs like SEAL and Desktop2?
It compares pretty well.
Desktop2 is a fairly limited GUI environment that has not been developed since going GPL. It does not have applications available for it. It competes with OpenGEM as a file manager, but it's limited to this. Therefore, it's a lot less flexible and extensible as OpenGEM.
SEAL was the great 32bit hope of DOS GUIs in the late 1990s, and for a while it looked like it could turn into a Windows 3.x killer. The system is multi-tasking, looks modern, and is pretty fast. However, SEAL 1.x suffered from both stability issues and a lack of applications. SEAL 2.x compounded this by being released under a non-free license, and retained a lack of stability and applications. Furthermore, the development community largely folded after a series of fights between developers. SEAL never really developed beyond a hacked 32bit concept, and the much muttered about SEAL 3 is vapor-ware. All development has stalled for almost two years. Thus while SEAL initially looks better than OpenGEM (16bit single-tasking), SEAL (32bit multi-tasking) does not deliver on its promise of offering a proper modern GPL GUI for DOS.
How popular is OpenGEM 4?
It's really popular. It's being included in a lot of FreeDOS distributions, and we're getting a lot of direct downloads from the Shane Land website. Over 1,000 copies of the OpenGEM Release 4 family were shipped in the first two weeks after release. This is building on the popularity of OpenGEM Release 3, which shipped more than 10,000 copies from the Shane Land server (plus an unknown amount from the FreeDOS server) during its eleven month lifespan.
Tell us a little bit more about why people use OpenGEM 4
OpenGEM Release 4 is primarily a really simple graphical user interface that allows you to manage files through a neat drag-and-drop interface that reminds a lot of people of the early Apple Mac. OpenGEM runs lots of little applications as well, ranging from word processing to DTP to vector graphics. It is tiny, and generally address only the first 640kb of your system memory. Because of this, it can be used on really old computers. OpenGEM is also really small. For example, you can fit OpenGEM Core onto a floppy disk along with FreeDOS.
Most people who use OpenGEM do so because they are curious about how packages like this are put together. Perhaps they used GEM back in the eighties, and want to revisit those days. A lot of people are hobbyists that want to explore simple GUI programs and code.
Does OpenGEM have practical applications?
Yes. It has several. OpenGEM is a powerful file management tool, and the applications included with it can be used for producing work. OpenGEM can also teach you a lot about computers, programming and user interface design (if these are issues that you are interested in). OpenGEM has been used to teach children about computers in a school in Italy. The FreeGEM code has been used to power computers used by a religious mission in Brazil to teach street children.
Why is OpenGEM Release 4 better than OpenGEM Release 3?
Lots of reasons. OpenGEM Release 4 uses substantially more stable code, so you can rely on it to do its job better. It's also faster than OpenGEM Release 3. OpenGEM 4 also has more advanced features like an automatic update and install system for new components. It's a huge leap forward for FreeGEM distributions. You could say that OpenGEM 4 is a large step in the “productification” of OpenGEM.
OpenGEM 1.x series was more of a hobbyist thing, pretty much hacked together from another FreeGEM distribution. OpenGEM 2.x series tried to make the distribution more reliable and more coherent. It had a lot more testing, and was a lot more stable. This is when OpenGEM started to get a lot of users. OpenGEM 3 series was a “product” release. It was intended to be as usable and as stable as a commercial product, even though it's free GPL software.
OpenGEM 4 is a leap forward from OpenGEM 3. It's more stable, more tested, easier to use, and a lot more scalable. That's what I mean by “productification.” It's a product aimed at meeting the GUI needs of FreeDOS 1.0 users.
Should GPL software be a product?
That's not really an issue that we should connect with the idea of GPL. GPL software is not required to be “non-product.” It is required to be open and free. OpenGEM is a product aimed to meet some users needs. The source code is available. If you don't like it, or you don't like the idea of “products”, go and build your own FreeGEM distribution. Make it as “non-product” as you want. Meanwhile, OpenGEM will continue to support its user base, and continue to be a product. We can coexist happily.
How can I use OpenGEM 4?
Go to http://gem.shaneland.co.uk and download the version of OpenGEM you want. Follow the installation instructions and start OpenGEM. You'll find a user guide on the desktop. It's that simple.
