What is Borg?
BORG stands for Berger-Organizer. Has nothing to do with Star Trek. BORG is a combination calendar and task tracking system. The calendar supports all sorts of appointments and also a simple todo list. The calendar functionality is similar to that of other PIMs, such as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Calendar, Palm Desktop, Yahoo Calendar, etc... The Task Tracker goes way beyond todo's and might better be called a project tracking system.

BORG is basically meant to be a small self-contained Java application that you can run locally (i.e. without a network). Many users run it from a thumb drive.

A short list of features:
  • Nice Month-at-a-time view
  • Week and Day Views
  • To-Do list
  • Repeating Appointments
  • Private appointments not shown due sensitivity
  • Pop-up reminders
  • Email reminders
  • A Task/Project Tracking System
  • A simple address book
  • MySQL DB, HSQLDB, generic JDBC
  • XML import/export
  • more ...

System requirements
  • Minimum JRE version is 1.6
  • Graphics card with minimum resolution of 1024x768 with 16-bit color depth.
  • 128Mb RAM

Borg on an eComStation machine with Open JDK

Installing Borg
Download BORG_installer-1.8.0.1.jar. Create a folder (directory) "Borg". Copy the "BORG_installer-1.8.0.1.jar" file to the new folder "Borg". Use the following installation command file to install the program.
@echo off
SET CLASSPATH=
set BEGINLIBPATH=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
set path=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
[drive: Borg]
cd [drive: Borg]\Borg
java -jar BORG_installer-1.8.0.1.jar
I use 2 separate folders (directories), one for Java and one for Borg with the files created by this program. The references used in the cmd file;

  • [drive: java] = drive with Java
  • [drive: Borg] = drive with Borg

should be replaced with real drive letters. Save the file and name it "BORG-install.cmd" or use the commandfile from the distribution. This file is copied to the "Borg" folder (directory). Furthermore, different paths?, adjust according to your needs. If you start the installation, you can answer all questions in the normal way except the one on the second last screen. The program has no understanding of our desktop, so creating automatically seems not sensible. If version 1.8.0.1 is copied over an older version it may happen that at the first start some SQL messages are displayed.

The used cmd file
Borg works well with Open JDK in OS/2-eCS. I have a Borg.cmd file with the following contents; 
@echo off
SET CLASSPATH=
set BEGINLIBPATH=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
set path=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
[drive: Borg]
cd [drive: Borg]\Borg
java -Xmx128m -XX:MinHeapFreeRatio=10 -XX:MaxHeapFreeRatio=20 -Xms24m -Duser.home=[drive: Borg]\Borg -jar Borg.jar 
2>Borg_bugs.txt
The last two lines are actual one line, but I had to break it up in parts. I use 2 separate folders (directories), one for Java and one for Borg with the files created by this program. The references used in the cmd file;

  • [drive: java] = drive with Java
  • [drive: Borg] = drive with Borg

should be replaced with real drive letters. Save the file and name it "Borg.cmd" or use the commandfile from the distribution. This file is copied to the "Borg" folder (directory). Furthermore, different paths?, adjust according to your needs.
Create a new program object. Specify the path and file name: "[drive: Borg]\Borg\Borg.cmd". In the tabpage Session check the boxes "OS/2 window", "Running as an icon" and "Close Window to end program". In the tabpage General you can enter the name "Borg".

Parameters / options explained
  • The statement "-Duser.home=[drive: Borg]\Borg" will ensure that Borg will save all necessary files in own directory instead of saving them in the home directory.
  • The addition "2>Borg_bugs.txt" ensures that errors are saved in the file "Borg_bugs.txt". The 2 in "2>" is not a typo!
  • The "-XX:MinHeapFreeRatio=10" and "-XX:MaxHeapFreeRatio=20" are copied from the "run_borg.sh" file. It is remarkable that this "run_borg.sh" file is built AFTER my choice of folders (directories).
  • The specification "-Xms24m" is also taken from the file "run_borg.sh" and gives the lower limit of the used memory. The "-Xmx128m" indicates the maximum limit.

Download
In the file you can find the above command file (all drive letters are on set to C:) and an OS/2 Borg icon: Borg-eCS.zip.

revision July 31, 2014