What is Big Solitaire?
Solitaire is a classic cardgame for just one player. The program is just the game, nothing else, with nice big playing cards. No bells or whistles.

System requirements
  • Minimum JRE version is 1.6


Big Solitaire on an eComStation machine with Open JDK


Installing Big Solitaire
Download BigSolitaire.Installer.2.0.2.jar. Create a folder (directory) "solitaire" or something which fits your needs. Copy the file "BigSolitaire.Installer.2.0.2.jar" to the new folder "solitaire" or whatever you named it. Use the installation command file to install the program.

The used installation file Install.cmd
The installation program works with Open JDK in OS/2-eCS. I have made a "Install.cmd" file with the following contents; 
@echo off
set CLASSPATH=
set BEGINLIBPATH=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
set path=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
[drive: solitaire]
cd [drive: solitaire]\solitaire
java -Duser.home=[drive: solitaire]\solitaire -jar BigSolitaire.Installer.2.0.2.jar 2>solitairebugs.txt
I use 2 separate folders (directories), one for Java and one for Big Solitaire with the files created by this program. The references used in the cmd file;

  • [drive: java] = drive with Java
  • [drive: solitaire] = drive with Big Solitaire

should be replaced with real drive letters. Save the file and name it Install.cmd or use the commandfile from the distribution. This file is copied to the Big Solitaire 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 "Setup Shortcuts" screen. The program has no understanding of our desktop, so creating automatically seems not sensible. So uncheck everything. Not seen before with other installations, the first time the installation did hang somewhere in the end. Just restart and do it again. May be it has to do that I unchecked all in the "Setup Shortcuts" screen. To keep it short, it isn't much of an installation.


Big Solitaire on an eComStation machine with Open JDK



The used cmd file
Big Solitaire works well with Open JDK in OS/2-eCS. I have created an BigSol.cmd file with the following contents; 
@echo off
set CLASSPATH=
set BEGINLIBPATH=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
set path=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
[drive: solitaire]
cd [drive: solitaire]\solitaire
java -Duser.home=[drive: solitaire]\solitaire -jar bundle.2.0.2.jar 2>solitairebugs.txt
I use 2 separate folders (directories), one for Java and one for Big Solitaire with the files created by this program. The references used in the cmd file;

  • [drive: java] = drive with Java
  • [drive: solitaire] = drive with Big Solitaire

should be replaced with real drive letters. Save the file and name it "BigSol.cmd" or use the commandfile from the distribution. This file is copied to the Big Solitaire folder (directory). Furthermore, different paths?, adjust according to your needs.
Create a new program object. Specify the path and file name: "[drive: solitaire]\solitaire\BigSol.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 "Big Solitaire". The download below also has an OS/2 icon.

Parameters / options explained
  • The specification "-Duser.home=[drive: solitaire]\solitaire" will ensure that Big Solitaire will save all necessary files in own directory instead of saving them in the home directory.
  • The addition "2>solitairebugs.txt" ensures that errors are saved in the file "solitairebugs.txt". The 2 in "2>" is not a typo! The file stays empty on my system.

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

revision May 8, 2020