Author Topic: Is the Arca Noae update service worth it?  (Read 7406 times)

David Kiley

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Is the Arca Noae update service worth it?
« on: February 21, 2020, 09:56:11 am »
Just curious , for those that have ECS or ArcaOS - do you think the update service offered by Arca Noae is worth paying?
Not sure myself - it cost per year almost the half the price of the initial license.  And if your initial install is working smoothly as is, not sure if you really need constantly updated drivers etc.
But I do admit the yum package server is really convenient and it is supporting future development.

Eugene Tucker

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Re: Is the Arca Noae update service worth it?
« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2020, 02:04:43 pm »
In my opinion buying thee full Arca OS package makes more sense.

Laurence Pithie

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Re: Is the Arca Noae update service worth it?
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2020, 02:34:50 pm »
I think it's worth paying for, not simply for the access to updates but to support the development of the updates.

Eugene Tucker

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Re: Is the Arca Noae update service worth it?
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2020, 03:41:11 pm »
I find that it is very important to not only support Arca Noae for that but Netlabs and Bitwize as well. I would say Ecosoft too. If we all gave a little it would move things along a lot.

Matt Walsh

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Re:Arca Noae update service is worth it!
« Reply #4 on: February 21, 2020, 04:42:43 pm »
I have to agree that getting support for problems and work on updates like UEFI & USB3 is worth every penny I spend.  And sending extra $$ to BitWise, etc is a good investment in the future of OS/2 - eCS -Arca !!
Matt W.

Dave Yeo

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Re: Is the Arca Noae update service worth it?
« Reply #5 on: February 21, 2020, 04:51:25 pm »
If finances are tight, there's always the option of letting the subscription expire for a while then renew it or buying a new version of ArcaOS.

David Kiley

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Re: Is the Arca Noae update service worth it?
« Reply #6 on: February 21, 2020, 10:04:48 pm »
If finances are tight, there's always the option of letting the subscription expire for a while then renew it or buying a new version of ArcaOS.
That's a possibility for sure, thanks.

ivan

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Re: Is the Arca Noae update service worth it?
« Reply #7 on: February 21, 2020, 10:28:13 pm »
I have it in the hope they will come up with a working USB 3.0 and 3.1 driver because I only have one computer that has native USB 2 ports and real USB 2 PCIe 1 addin cards are getting rather expensive now.

hakuchi

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Re: Is the Arca Noae update service worth it?
« Reply #8 on: February 21, 2020, 11:43:20 pm »
I happily paid that price for the updates and support. More about my support to them :D

But if there is something it's not bad thing that I know they have their lines open for me.

Dariusz Piatkowski

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Re: Is the Arca Noae update service worth it?
« Reply #9 on: February 22, 2020, 09:55:17 pm »
I started my AN involvement from a slightly different starting line, that being a working OS/2 SMP (4.52) install. The subscription I bought was the Drivers & Software and without a doubt it was not just the right investment (from a 'funding for new development' perspective) but it had inherent value as well.

My hope is that eventually they get to a working AN Upgrade product which will allow the rest of us to transition to a trully AN OS install.

mauro

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Re: Is the Arca Noae update service worth it?
« Reply #10 on: February 23, 2020, 10:53:09 am »
I started my AN involvement from a slightly different starting line, that being a working OS/2 SMP (4.52) install. The subscription I bought was the Drivers & Software….

I did same in sept 2018 at the begin of my purpose of installing an OS2 Warp4.52 as a virtualbox machine, believing that it was a necessary step in order to have a good repository of software and updates available.
But, frankly talking, I was disappointed finding a poor software availability, consisting in even less of 10% of the free Netlabs repository volume, which I found had a complete software choice to make OS2 working well, and what was eventually missing there I've found then on eCS/2 pages, free as well, including the AN package manager.
So, ok subscribing Arca Noae Drivers & Software once, but no reason to renew it.
And last but not least, the best-quick-competent support that can be received, is in this forum
« Last Edit: February 23, 2020, 10:58:32 am by mauro »

Mathias

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Re: Is the Arca Noae update service worth it?
« Reply #11 on: February 23, 2020, 03:41:50 pm »
Sure getting a problem solved for oneself is nice, but what about the other users?

Opening a ticket in Arcanoae's Mantis will make sure the problem is being solved for you AND all the other users.

...as I will demonstrate on an example.
When I looked around for bugs and odd behaviour in ArcaOS, I found quite a few things (users of the testing mail list know my reports). As for instance Win-OS/2 had a problem that hard drives > 2 GB were seen as 0 Bytes free. - But only in Win-OS/2!

I've asked in forums how to solve this, and got a proprietary tool recommended, which needs to be loaded in Autoexec.bat. From that moment on, all the actual free hard drive was displayed nicely, ALSO in Win-OS/2's File Manager.
Knowing this, I did open a Mantis ticket at ArcaNoae. Recommended putting that functionality in from the start. - Outcome: Next release version had this functionality included. No user needs this proprietary software anymore, being loaded in Autoexec.bat. - Cool. :D

Without the ticket, others would still stumble over that bug, need to ask how to solve it (or find my post).
Of course I wouldn't be able to open such a ticket without the paid subscription. So infact I am paying to report their bugs. Weird, isn't it? But not only does membership help bringing OS/2 a bit further into our current time by paying the annual fee, but also actively helps solving problems for others too, by opening tickets and therefore bringing bugs to ArcaNoae's attention.

Dave Yeo

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Re: Is the Arca Noae update service worth it?
« Reply #12 on: February 23, 2020, 07:52:15 pm »
ArcaOS mostly deals with the actual operating system rather then user programs. If you're happy with an old install on an older computer, you don't really need a subscription. The newer the hardware, the more likely a subscription will allow OS/2 to keep running.
They're also good at responding to bug reports and such. I've witnessed enough tickets about weird hardware where adjustments have been made in the core operating system to allow OS/2 to boot up and run. Ivan for example may not even be able to run older OS/2 on his Ryzen machines and hopefully with the next release of ArcaOS, he won't need his USB2 cards to work around the lack of USB3. Unluckily USB3 has turned out to be a real pita to get working, hate to try to guess how many man hours it has already taken.

Dariusz Piatkowski

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Re: Is the Arca Noae update service worth it?
« Reply #13 on: February 24, 2020, 06:35:20 pm »
Hi mauro,

...frankly talking, I was disappointed finding a poor software availability, consisting in even less of 10% of the free Netlabs repository volume, which I found had a complete software choice to make OS2 working well, and what was eventually missing there I've found then on eCS/2 pages, free as well, including the AN package manager...

I do not look for AN to fullfill this requirement at all...I primarily look for them to focus on the core-OS stuff: kernel, ACPI and various device drivers that either support the newer hardware, or facilitate the transition to it.

To your point though, directionaly it would be nice for AN to start the work on getting various apps transitioned to a well structured deployment and support platform. For me that means RPM packages. They have already tried some of it, the experimental repo is out there, but justifiably this is not their focus (my understanding).