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A 21st-Century Version Of OS/2 Warp May Be Released Soon (arcanoae.com)
dryriver writes: A company named Arca Noae is working on a new release of the X86 OS/2 operating system code named "Blue Lion" and likely called ArcaOS 5 in its final release. Blue Lion wants to be a modern 21st Century OS/2 Warp, with support for the latest hardware and networking standards, a modern accelerated graphics driver, support for new cryptographic security standards, full backward compatibility with legacy OS/2, DOS and Windows 3.1 applications, suitability for use in mission-critical applications, and also, it appears, the ability to run "ported Linux applications". Blue Lion, which appears to be in closed beta with March 31st 2017 cited as the target release date, will come with up to date Firefox browser and Thunderbird mail client, Apache OpenOffice, other productivity tools, a new package manager, and software update and support subscription to ensure system stability. It is unclear from the information provided whether Blue Lion will be able to run modern Windows applications.
When's the next Warpstock? I need to check this out.
There have been operating systems which have come and gone which have reasons to exist today, like BeOS. But OS/2 is not among them. Windows 3.1 support? That's not a relevant feature. Please tell me that their actual planned release date is April 1.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
n/t
Will it have the Workplace Shell? Some virtualisation engine for running other OS's under it? (other than the DOS/Windows 3.x bits, which are "thunked" rather than emulated) These are what I want to know! I would *LOVE* to have workplace shell on Linux, and would run OS/2 again if I was able to run WPS and use other OS's in virtualisation!
For the retro-head for whom running Windows 95 just isn't retro enough.
OS2 warp not as crazy as it sounds. We ran a mainframe shop and used OS2 warp for monitoring software until Windows XP finally replaced it (OS2 was always windows 3.1 compatible). Windows NT/2000 were not robust enough to handle the number of monitoring widgets that OS2 warp could easily handle. Also mainframe service processors (the laptops you see inside mainframe cabinets) were running OS2 until they finally switched to Linux a few years ago.
OS2 Warp forever! :-)
It'll be pretty useless without systemD and PulseAudio, amiright? /. if that happened?
Is Pottersmug on-board with this rape of his baby?
And don't forget the ever-decreasing feature-set of the KDE desktop.
What would people complain about on
CAP === 'instants'
need I say more?
It certainly appears it's of interest to at least some people. :)
I haven't seen that happen in a long time. If they're dogfooding that doesn't bode well.
If it can compete against the steaming pile that is Windows 10 and the eye candy which is Macs, this is a good thing. Being able to buy a license for a machine and use it without being forced to "upgrade" or have updates automatically installed whether you want them or not would be a great leap forward.
Being able to run software which is a few years old but does what you want would also be a big plus.
At the time of OS/2, it really was the best operating system available for PCs. Well written, fast operation, superior UI and great security. I'm definitely biased because of the involvement I had in its design and early integration, but it was an excellent platform.
I just don't see how bringing it back now, after so many years of being ignored, it can be brought up to speed in terms of features and hardware advances. It's limited to 32bit processors and I don't see any mention of handling multiple cores not to mention GPUs, USB 3.0, etc.
The investment could be made to bring OS/2 up to the latest standards, but I don't see it resulting in any kind of positive return in terms of users.
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
If this could run Win 7/8 apps, I'd be very, very interested.
I'm hoping they've not included a buttload of telemetry crap, but maybe that's too much to hope for.
Either way, another viable alternative to Windows would be a good thing for everyone (except Microsoft, but screw them).
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
...in 1988, back while IBM and Microsoft thought they could work together. HA! I was a contractor and I made much money in my entire career working on the installation package with an in-house language that lack the ability for simple Boolean functions! That's right - no AND or OR or NOT! We beg to do it in C but were overruled. It was a such a stupid project. I learn that if stupidity is profitable, it will be repeated.
While Windows start-of-art was 3.11, OS/2 came out with Presentation Manager and true multitasking and I was in love! This was before Linux, before the Wide World Web and we crave to upgraded to an PS/2 Model 70 with a blazing 16 mHz 32-bit processor and curse to slow transistion from 5.25 to 3.5" floppy disks!
My favorite part was the clean interface, especially the Font Palette. I could set a font and and will be EVERYWHERE. I had just two folders on my desktop, Programs and Data. It's the cleanest, more elegant interface of my life.
All the lead people are mainframers. We used the same email system as Oliver North did. The low point of my three years there is when the Lead Designer, the Big Cheese of the project, went on a massive rant about the GUI and wanting me to justified it over the command line. He hated mice! He hated color - anything beyond monochrome was inappropriate for business! It was a obscenity-filled, homophobic rant.
Then the Great War between Microsoft and IBM started. I think over REXX and Visual Basic. IBM loved REXX and want to include for free but Bill Gates was reported to have something like, "Over my death body, they can buy my Basic". But truly, it was a Big Dick contest and they parted ways and Microsoft beget Windows 95 and IBM OS/2 Warp and eventually IBM threw in the throw and ECOMstation took over OS/2 in Europe. I just checked, ECOMstation2 does not Windows (yay) but still does DOS (in a box).
I never heard of a single report of malware for a native OS/2 or ECOMstation application. Ever. Have you?
ArcaOS 5 was going to released March 31 but then you guys slammed the server which caused it to overload and in the highly realistic Hollywood fashion, it began smoking and sparking. This resulted in a fire which burned down the building which for obvious reasons was also Arca Noae HQ and stored all the computers containing all copies of ArcaOS 5.
Thanks again Slashdot for ruining EVERYTHING! >:(
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Oh, sorry, someone else already asked that question.
Why can't people just make Linux better? Or if they want to be able to run old apps, make a compatibility layer of some kind? We keep reinventing the wheel, why don't we spend more time making the wheel better? I just don't get it.
None of the post Win95 versions ran the OG version worth a damn, and that was the single bloodiest video game in existence. :)
It ran fine under OS/2 V2.2; I have hope for this.
I still have a lot of code I wrote under those systems I'd like to run.
The early scene in the Expendables, where the bad guy gets blown off at the knees was a direct scene steal from this game...
Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
If you need your OS/2 apps badly, you can already freely download IBM OS2 Warp 4.0 and run it in a VM or some old metal. As for DOS, FreeDOS reliably runs even on modern hardware though you can also use ReactOS which implements it faithfully. Finally, Win 3.x apps are old hat for WINE. You can SkiFree all day if you want! ;)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
I'm waiting for OS/3, or at least OS/2 Weft.
It would be easier to run a virtualized OS/2 as the guest of a 21st century operating system.
I am big on computer history and just yesterday was re-re-re-re-reviewing the history of OS/2. Way back in the day I worked for .........., and was surrounded by IBM mainframes. Cracking one open and revealing the OS/2 Warp workstation inside never stopped being entertaining. I didn't see anything about whether or not it will cost anything to install the OS, but I did see automatic updates referred to as a subscription model. While I would like to run this new incarnation (not paying for it though) just for fun and to see if it has any real world value form me, it will be up to the company to identify and market niche elements they apparently feel are out there for the product to succeed and not the product itself.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
in 3 2 opps! too late......
Rick B.
If it does managed to run Windows Applications, Microsoft will find a way to fix that, just like they did with OS/2.
You've got company's that still use OS/2 software, ie, supermarkets, but the hardware capable of running it is dying/more expensive than new hardware. Here's an os that runs the old software. Yay.
I was an OS/2 evangelist and apologist, a major fan. I mourned for OS/2 during it's slow, agonizing death and was likely in a state of denial for a while after it did die. However, at this point, anyone who thinks that OS/2 is viable for anything is really just engaging in necrophilia.
Really, you want to suggest that "Dolphin/Nautilus" problems don't relate to Linux? How do you even know it was Dolphin/Nautilus, the parent didn't share that information?
Also, I fail to see what the app software has to do with anything. It's the kernel's responsibility to allocate resources and prevent single apps from monopolizing system resources. It's called "preemptive multitasking" and you might want to look it up. It's a thing and it has been for, well, forever.
Finally, your post reeks of the whole "I don't have that problem and so the problem either doesn't exist, doesn't matter, or the poster is a newb and can be dismissed as ignorant" attitude. How about acknowledging the problem and providing some positive alternatives?
I'd almost forgotten about OS/2 Warp. Might play around with it if I can get it installed on a VM.
I'm not seeing where the business model is in competing with Linux.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I feel nostalgic for the early 90's when I think of those ads
Wants to arrange a meeting with a cattle prod in the back of the car park in half an hour.
I doubt they will rebuild the current OS/2 kernel, - yes eCS still used that 'ancient' kernel 4something from warp 4.5x, so nothing new there , its just a zombie OS
Except we're all not experts like you, and if we have a "one stop shop" to re-host ancient software, that can help us continue to use vendor unsupported hardware that is still perfectly usable, then what's your beef, buddy? The third world (and the first world, mind you) has vast volumes of "outdated" medical equipment because they can't possibly pay the Imaginary Property fees around the newer technologies. There are thousands upon thousands of applications that would benefit from a centrally supported system. Happy to pay the single licence necessary, and not be fed shite like UI changes, adverts, spyware, malware, ...
We NEVER need to know what you think is so obvious, but which sounds completely obtuse and smugly superior.
You know what's pointless - someone like you, because now we got ONE solution that fits all your clever sub-answers and we barely need to lift a finger, and we don't have to update your VM, or your ReactOS or your WINE or ...
why am I still talking to you? ... ;)
seems pointless
Well, a couple of good reasons for OS/2 to exist, such as REXX and SOM. Not Windows 3.1 support.
One reason I can think of is for people who want out of Windows, particularly Windows 10, but can't afford a Mac, and find Linux too challenging. OS/2 Warp could be a good alternative. Remember, back in the day, when OS/2 was around, one of the major beefs against it was that it was rather power hungry: that when people were used to 4MB of RAM in their computers, and thought that 8MB was too rich. Today, assuming that OS/2 is still a 32-bit OS, a 2GB would be the max it could run - or need.
Looking at the listed features, one of the things I wonder - will it be an FOSS, or at least an OSS? So that we don't have the code fossilize again, like in the case of IBM's OS/2? About the features, it should have SMP support (OS/2 server supported dual CPUs), OpenGL, IPv6, cryptography... On the issue of support, support for DOS or Windows 3.1 is less important: they should take a page from FreeBSD and support jails. Pick a few: Debian, Fedora, Gentoo and FreeBSD, and run such apps via those jails, rather than 'ported Linux applications'. In the meantime, pick some of the most common applications that people use - email, internet, videos, music, conferencing, a VM client and provide an outstanding client of each on this platform. Like Thunderbird, Chromium, VLC, WhatsApp, Netflix and VMware. In fact, they should have a VM client for things like XP, 2000, and if possible, even 7.
From a user interface standpoint, OS/2 could be interesting. Remember when one could print a file just by dragging the file to the printer icon - an ultimate use of OOP? Similarly, one could drag a text file to an email icon to mail it, or a movie file to VLC to watch it. Would be a lot more interesting than what we've had for a while.
Actually, Windows 8, w/ its Metro UI, horrible that it was for desktop use, would actually be ideal for an ATM. Just have a customized subset of that system - lose the desktop on that and have just the buttons - and then have buttons for Savings, Checkin, Deposits, Withdrawals, Balance Transfers, Check Balances, et al. It would be ideal.
In fact, make it Windows RT, so that it could be based on an inexpensive ARM based subsystem and could be sourced from a variety of vendors, rather than being locked to Intel/AMD
One of the biggest opportunities that OS/2 had - and ultimately lost - was OS/2 for PowerPC. That was something that could have brought IBM back into the workstation game, when NT/RISC was just coming out, and Apple was struggling w/ Copeland. Unfortunately, its architecture was totally different from OS/2 on Intel, and IBM aborted that project.
Incidentally, whatever happened to the osFree project - which was an FOSS OS/2 project using L4 instead of Mach as the underlying microkernel?
Didn't RTFA... but has to be a joke.
Ha Ha.
The Presentation Manager and the Workplace Shell. Is there any OS of any distro where one can grab a document object, drop it on a printer object, and have it just print? I loved that about OS/2.
Windows might be able to do that nowadays -- I wouldn't know, my MS workstation at work sits mostly idle, as I'm allowed to use by Ubuntu laptop for everything I see fit (benefit of being #2 IT guy in the company).
OS/2 has been functioning well for the java development I do and as mail and web servers and for terminal access to many platforms for years. I also use it for many custom communications installations. Never once have I had a virus.