OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical > Setup & Installation

Well ArcaOS 5.0 is probably the last version for me.

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David Kiley:
Iv'e decided to jettison the idea of installing on bare metal and instead decided emulating in virtualbox is the best bet (for me),
Since, I can run arcaos 5 indefinitely inside virtualbox on my suse linux host.
I don't have to worry about future hardware support or getting the right hardware.
I don't have to care about a lack of functional web browser, since I have endless options on suse.

All of my old favorite os/2 apps will continue to work in my virtualbox window, and I can share files with the host computer.

I can already hear you guys already getting worked up that I am not supporting the future of os/2 in that case..
But iv'e already spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars supporting os/2 :).
Supporting Suse, which is my favorite linux distro, which is 64 bit and hence has a more viable future, would be a better return on investment for me at this point.

The only way I can see myself buying another license is maybe if I decide I also want another os/2 instance running on virtualbox on my laptop as well as my desktop.

Which brings up another topic - that I don't really agree with the general direction of os/2 development at this point.
There is no solving the OS being stuck in 32bit- which is a ticking time bomb.
All the resources being spent developing new hardware drivers is a waste, as well as the web browser development.
It would be better to just accept emulation as the best future course of the OS for all the pros I just described.
Instead of spending endless resources trying to get the OS again functioning on yet another motherboard and developing yet another web browser just to have it get obsolete again -
Instead Arca Noa could be spending time adding new features to the OS like GUI enhancements and new productivity features, if people just accept that emulation is the best route. I mean I could probably think of all kinds of cool things Arca Noa might be doing if they were not spending time getting the os working on yet another motherboard - like maybe integrating the OS with cloud services like Google Drive.
And then, maybe I would have a reason to upgrade to future version :).

Ibrahim Hakeem:
I don't think anyone here's getting worked up, David.

Many of us who run OS/2 here also do a lot with other operating systems - hell, I'm active in the Haiku community myself and run Debian as a daily-driver on my desktop. Your money is your money to spend. The points you make shows that you don't understand the philosophy behind ArcaOS, much less all that has actually been achieved. None of this is anyone's prerogative to explain to you however and I hope you understand that. Arca OS was never intended to be a competitor to mainstream operating systems, it was designed to serve it's niche of modern OS/2 users and does it remarkably well.

I'll respond to a few of your points while we're here:


--- Quote ---The only way I can see myself buying another license is maybe if I decide I also want another os/2 instance running on virtualbox on my laptop as well as my desktop.

--- End quote ---
Good, most of us already do this.


--- Quote ---There is no solving the OS being stuck in 32bit- which is a ticking time bomb.

--- End quote ---
OS/2 has always been a 32 bit platform, for the sake of compatibility with the vast majority of the software (and hardware at times) we use, it ought to stay this way. Not to mention the plethora of other issues that would come with a 64 bit release.


--- Quote ---All the resources being spent developing new hardware drivers is a waste, as well as the web browser development.
--- End quote ---
Perhaps for your specific use-case of virtualization. A lot of folks (myself included) are using OS/2 on modern hardware and as such, we appreciate having updates that allow us to take full advantage of those features (i.e NVME)


--- Quote ---It would be better to just accept emulation as the best future course of the OS for all the pros I just described.
--- End quote ---
Again, nobody is stopping you and a lot of people already do this.

And finally

--- Quote ---Arca Noa could be spending time adding new features to the OS like GUI enhancements and new productivity features
--- End quote ---
These features already exist with more coming. That is to say, one of the biggest features of the OS/2 Warp platform is the workplace shell, with the current generation of user interface optimizations/enhancements there have been few to no complaints about it.

It's your choice to use whatever operating system you want. Nobody minds  ;D

Martin Iturbide:
Hi David

Your opinion is respected, and I guess you want to tell us about it just to inform us, and I also guess you don't want arguments for people trying to convince you or debate your point of view.

The community has different points of view, some other are happy with ArcaOS emulated, others want bare metal and some others want to try old software with OS/2 Warp has a retro-hobbie to remember the good old days. ... and some others want all of them :)

What I agree with you is the lack of a "long term strategy" for the platform. I also used to criticized Serenity Systems with eCS, that at some point it looked that they only wanted to patch OS/2 to have the minimum necessary to run on PCs.

About ArcaOS, my opinion is that the first part of their strategy it to have a solid OS/2 running on today's hardware. They want people to be able to buy a new PC or laptop, and being able to run ArcaOS, and their OS/2 favorite app. ArcaOS 5.1 is going to be an important milestone, like modern hardware support (UEFI, GPT, NVMe ) and multilingual support. Once that is accomplished some new goals should be defined.

On the other side, I have seen the spark on Lewis' eyes (Arca Noae) when he talks about how OS/2 should be today if IBM haven't pulled the plug. I honestly think his motivation for the platform is to turn it awesome, instead of just a commercial motivation.

Yes, there is no "long term strategy" for ArcaOS yet as a platform, but the first steps to make it usable on today's hardware it is necessary. I hope that once ArcaOS 5.1 is released and stabilized, it is going to be time to move forward on what killer apps do we need and what OS/2 components needs to be updated. I wish everything can be faster, but I guess the speed is according the resources they have.

Regards

Glazunov:
Hi David

I use the system to play music. I use the PM123 player, which we have improved and added many features to it. Therefore, I use the system only on bare metal.
By the way, the system is very promising in this direction..
There is a great interest of users in this direction.

Rich Walsh:

--- Quote from: David Kiley on May 25, 2021, 09:46:49 am ---I don't have to worry about future hardware support or getting the right hardware.

--- End quote ---

Oh ye of little faith...

Friday afternoon I went out and bought a mass-market "Windows PC" - the kind of low-end machine OS/2 users have always avoided.  In this case, a Lenovo IdeaCentre i5 with Intel i7 (8 cores), 16gb mem, and a 512gb NVMe drive formatted GPT with Win 10 Pro ($800US incl tax). The system is pure UEFI with no BIOS or CSM support.

After setup, I changed the drive order to boot USB first, then used Windows Disk Manager to shrink the Win partition. When done, I inserted my flash drive with the latest ArcaOS beta, crossed my fingers and rebooted. The installer came right up and the installation proceeded without issue. No "drama" whatsoever. I now have a fully functioning OS/2 UEFI/GPT system running on hardware that was 100% incompatible 6 months ago. No flawed emulation needed.

Now, does the integrated WiFi/Bluetooth work? Of course not - but the ethernet does and that's all I need. Does the audio work? Not with my older Uniaud build [it does work] - but I use USB audio instead because it always works. Etc, etc... Ignoring the bits and pieces that have always been a problem, I'd say AN has delivered (or is about to deliver) on its promise of OS/2 on modern hardware.

BTW... check out WSE in a few weeks - there will be a demo of installing AOS on a Windows Linux PC.

[Full disclosure: I work for AN and am actively involved in UEFI/GPT development.]

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