Phaedra

## PHAEDRA - Text Editor for OS/2 and ArcaOS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ### DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Phaedra is a lightweight text editor for OS/2 and compatible systems. It features a native Presentation Manager (PM) "notebook"-like interface, allowing you to edit multiple text files in a single window using tabs. Built entirely with native OS/2 controls and VisPro/REXX, it provides a fast and deeply system-integrated editing experience. It offers a built-in AI Assistant which builds a bridge between your text files and modern capabilities like translations or code refactoring. ### MAIN FEATURES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Multi-Document Interface: Edit multiple files simultaneously in tabs. - Text Operations: Convert selected text to upper/lower case, or easily comment out selected text (e.g., in REXX files). - Shortcuts: Quickly insert timestamps or user-defined text blocks. - Drag & Drop Customization: Drop fonts and colors directly from the OS/2 system palettes. Configure default settings or customize each tab individually (e.g., to create a modern "Dark Mode" look with a dark background and light text). - Extended Attributes (EAs): If your file system supports EAs, Phaedra automatically saves and restores your specific fonts, colors, and the last cursor position for each file. - Smart File Attributes: Automatically switches the editor to "read-only" when opening write-protected files (can be manually overridden to force an overwrite). - Textblocks: See below. - Printing: Raw printing with basic Markdown support. - AI Assistant. - CUA compliant UI. ### SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Operating System: OS/2 Warp 4, eComStation, or ArcaOS. - Runtime: VisPro/REXX Runtime Libraries (freely available). ### MULTIPLE DOCUMENT INTERFACE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The MDI has been designed to keep all open text files in one window. This helps to keep your desktop organized and provides an easy overview of your currently active files. If you open Phaedra and then open additional files for example, via a WPS object or from the command line these files are loaded into new tabs of the already running editor. No new visible instance of the program is launched. Internally, a second instance is briefly started, but it merely queues the file to the primary instance and immediately exits. If you want to use Phaedra as your default system editor, you can use the ASSOEDIT tool to set default associations for any file pattern or type. ### TEXTBLOCKS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Phaedra allows you to insert frequently used text snippets using keyboard shortcuts ("CTRL+F1" through "CTRL+F12"). To create or edit a textblock: 1. Select the text in your document that you want to save as a snippet. 2. Go to the "Range" menu and choose "Create Textblock". 3. Select the desired Shortcut ("CTRL+F1" to "CTRL+F12"). 4. Enter a descriptive name for the menu entry (max. 30 characters). 5. Click "Save". The textblock is now saved and immediately available in the "Edit" menu. You can insert it at the current cursor position either by clicking the menu entry (Edit > Insert > Textblock > ...) or by pressing the assigned "CTRL+Fn" shortcut. ### AI ASSISTANT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Phaedra includes an AI assistant. Currently, several Google Gemini models are supported. For details, please refer to README_AI.TXT. ### PRINTING ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Phaedra supports raw printing to PCL and PostScript printers. For details, please refer to README_PRINT.TXT. ### NOTES & LIMITATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Syntax Highlighting: Currently neither implemented nor planned. - Source Code: Phaedra was developed in VisPro/REXX. The source code is available on request. ### TROUBLESHOOTING ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If the program fails to start (e.g., after a crash), try running "killqueue.cmd". This deletes the OS/2 IPC queue used for inter-process communication, which might still be locked in memory. This should normally not be necessary, but the program is currently in a preview stage. ### INSTALLATION & UNINSTALLATION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Extract the archive to a directory of your choice (e.g., X:\APPS\PHAEDRA). 2. Run the included install.cmd script. This will automatically create a Workplace Shell (WPS) program object for Phaedra on your Desktop. 3. Start the program via the new Desktop icon, or directly via PHAEDRA.EXE. To cleanly remove the WPS object and deregister the application from your system before deleting the Phaedra directory, simply run uninstall.cmd. ### SUPPORT THE PROJECT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Phaedra is an open-source labor of love, built to keep the OS/2 and ArcaOS ecosystem alive, productive, and fun. If Phaedra helps you with your daily work, coding, or text editing, please consider supporting its ongoing development and maintenance via Paypal, e.g. by buying me a coffee. Address see below. Thank you for your support! Frank Wochatz, October 2026 There is a new test version of Phaedra (1.1-2) available, released on 18.10.2026. Follow www.os2.org or www.os2world.com forum threads for feedback and more infos: https://www.os2.org/viewtopic.php?t=4602 https://forum.os2world.com/index.php?topic=4219.0