OS/2 e-Zine! - Command Line Shells, Introduction

Command Line Shells, Introduction - by Chris Wenham

All right, all right, so they aren't as sexy as office suites or video games (that's next issue), but to power users the right command line shell can mean the difference between loving or loathing the computer he or she has to work on. Must Have features could include something as simple as automatic filename completion, a command aliasing capability, or perhaps just prettier colors!

As OS/2 users we're pretty lucky and well covered by alternate command line shells. First of all, thanks to the EMX libraries, there are a slew of popular shells that have been ported over. Ranging from BASH, CSH and Korn, to the one Dirk Terrell has reviewed for us this week: TCSH.

There's also the commercial replacements, two of them coming from JP Software - the company famous for its award winning 4DOS program that released us from the horrors of Microsoft's command.com so many years ago. Our new staff writer -- Lief Clennon -- reviews their popular and all-command-line 4OS2 shell, while Chris Wright takes the easy street and plays with their graphical counterpart: Take Command.

Last but not least is the simple servant, a utility the author felt was entering such a crowded market he gave it an apologetic name, YAOS - which stands for Yet Another OS/2 Shell. With a name like that it's hard to take a program seriously, but Chris Wenham has a go at it anyway.

Editor's Choice

With its power, heritage and ease of use, OS/2 e-Zine!'s Editors Choice award goes to 4OS2. Being a complete command-line replacement that does not rely on CMD.EXE like YAOS does, it also requires less setup and learning than the Unix ports do.