Jarnal
Jarnal is a plattform-indepenent programm written in Java for notetaking, sketching and PDF-/picture-annotating. It works like a normal notepad with the difference of being digital. It is thought to be used with a stylus on tablet-pcs.

System requirements
  • Tested with JRE: 1.6.0 Build 27 GA5, but it should also work with Java version 1.4.2_05
  • Program can use up to 256Mb RAM


Jarnal on an eComStation machine with Open JDK


Installing Jarnal
Download jarnal-install.zip. Create a folder (directory) "jarnal". Open the zip file and copy the files and directories to the directory "jarnal". That's it! Don't use the jarnal.cmd file from the distribution!

The jarnal.cmd file
With this file the program Jarnal starts. I edited the jarnal.cmd file from the distribution and changed it with the following contents; 
@echo off
set path=[drive: java]\JAVA160\bin
set BEGINLIBPATH=[drive: java]\JAVA160\bin
[drive: jarnal]
cd [drive: jarnal]\jarnal
java -Duser.home=C:\jarnal -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -Xmx192m -jar jarnal.jar -t templates/default.jaj 2>jarnalbugs.txt
I use 2 separate folders (directories), one for Java and one for Jarnal with the files created by this program. The references used in the cmd file;

  • [drive: java] = drive with Java
  • [drive: jarnal] = drive with Jarnal

should be replaced with real drive letters. Edit and save the file "jarnal.cmd" from the jarnal-ecs.zip file. This file is copied to the "jarnal" folder (directory). Furthermore, different paths?, adjust according to your needs. Create a new program object. Specify the path and file name: "[drive: jarnal]\jarnal\jarnal.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 "Jarnal". You find enclosed in the file a Jarnal OS/2 icon.

Parameters / options explained
  • The statement "-Duser.home=[drive: jarnal]\jarnal" will ensure that Jarnal will save all necessary files in own directory instead of saving them in the home directory.
  • The statement "-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8" set the used font to UTF-8.
  • The specification "-Xmx192m" comes from the old commandfile. The "-Xmx192m" indicates the maximum limit.
  • The program option "-t templates/default.jaj" loads the file "default.jaj" at startup. There are more options, see the manual.
  • The addition "2>jarnalbugs.txt" ensures that errors are saved in the file "jarnalbugs.txt". The 2 in "2>" is not a typo!

Working with the program
I did try the update, there is a menu option which checks if there is an update. I downloaded the update 1078, but this was not a succes. The menu is not responding in the way it should, special the exit button did hang the system. I got back to version 965, this is the verison which you can download via the link above. The strange thing is that there is a list of versions on the website of the author, but version 965 fails. It is not possible to download a lower version. There is a stable version, but stable on what system and with what version of Java?

As usual the help doesn't work, the browser can't be found. But after the first time you can find in the "[drive: jarnal]\jarnal" the file "jarnalshell.conf". In it there is the line "firefox=firefox %1", change it into "firefox=I:\firefox_2481\Firefox!EL.EXE %1" or something else if you start Firefox in an other way. This works, however there is a bug. The file is rewritten and now we have the line "browser=browser %1". So the program does have some issues.

Download
In the file you can find the above command file (all driveletters are set to C:) and an OS/2 Jarnal icon: jarnal-ecs.zip.

revision July 12, 2015