Author Topic: Difference between OS/2 and eCS  (Read 12782 times)

karotlopj

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Difference between OS/2 and eCS
« on: April 16, 2016, 08:38:52 pm »
I've been out of the OS/2 loop for quite a while, but am slowly re-learning my way round it....

One think which puzzles me is what are the fundamental differences between OS/2 v4.5 and eCS, ie what is the added value of eCS ?

I'm aware of updated drivers, bootable JFS, a better installer, but what additions are there in the base OS?

Dave Yeo

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Re: Difference between OS/2 and eCS
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2016, 08:50:55 pm »
It's basically 4.52 plus the latest fixpak. A lot of the improvements on modern hardware come from the ACPI.PSD, which allows SMP, High IRQs and various other hardware to correctly work. Some drivers and DLLs have also been patched to be SMP safe. The latest kernel, 106, also has some fixes for loading DLLs into high memory, needed for things like Firefox and OpenOffice otherwise they'll use up all low shared memory.
At this point an Arca Noae subscription is a better option then eCS as the developers have moved there and they supply most of the updated drivers and are working on the next release of OS/2 having got reseller status from IBM. eCS seems to be dead.

karotlopj

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Re: Difference between OS/2 and eCS
« Reply #2 on: April 17, 2016, 09:37:33 am »
What do you mean by 'latest fixpack'? Is there something after CP2?

Is this what contains kernel 106? BTW how do I check the kernel level?

I have an Arca Noae subscription but haven't installed any components yet, although I don't see an updated kernel in any of the bundles and haven't come across a readme telling me what I need to install and where and what changes I need to make to config.sys. I'm not a big fan of letting WarpIn install everything for me automatically.




Dave Yeo

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Re: Difference between OS/2 and eCS
« Reply #3 on: April 17, 2016, 07:04:49 pm »
The last fixpak for WSEB was fp6 I believe and it was being worked on when support was dropped. There is a leaked incomplete version floating around on the net containing kernel 105 and the only place I know to get the 106 kernel is on the eCS 2.2 betas. I have heard hints that Blue Lion will also have updated kernel. It is also mostly available as the SMP and UNI kernels.
The bldevel command will tell you your kernel version,
Code: [Select]
N:\>bldlevel OS2KRNL
Build Level Display Facility Version 6.12.675 Sep 25 2001
(C) Copyright IBM Corporation 1993-2001
Signature:       @#IBM:14.106#@_SMP  IBM OS/2 Kernel
Vendor:          IBM
Revision:        14.106
File Version:    14.106
Description:     _SMP  IBM OS/2 Kernel

Most of the newer drivers are pretty simple to install. Drivers go in \os2\boot, DLLs in \os2\dll and drivers added correctly to config.sys, eg PSD=ACPI.PSD

karotlopj

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Re: Difference between OS/2 and eCS
« Reply #4 on: April 17, 2016, 10:13:18 pm »
I tried added the new DLL's the ACPI.PSD and  ended up with an unusable system....

I'm guessing I need an SMP kernel to go with the new DOSCALLS.DLL. I'm sure I saw an option for installing it somewhere but can't remember where.

Incidentally the RESOURCE.SYS in the ARCA NOAE pack had a lower BLDLEVEL than the one in ACP2....

Andreas Schnellbacher

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Re: Difference between OS/2 and eCS
« Reply #5 on: April 18, 2016, 01:16:32 am »
You really should better get eCS plus its Software Subscription to get access to an easily installable system on modern hardware: eCS 2.2 beta 2. The Arca Noae files provide just updates to that. (We're all hoping for a soon Blue Lion release.)

Dave Yeo

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Re: Difference between OS/2 and eCS
« Reply #6 on: April 18, 2016, 05:14:58 am »
I tried added the new DLL's the ACPI.PSD and  ended up with an unusable system....

ACPI needs one of the latest SMP kernels
Quote
I'm guessing I need an SMP kernel to go with the new DOSCALLS.DLL. I'm sure I saw an option for installing it somewhere but can't remember where.
Yes they're matched. Look in x:\OS2\INSTALL, there should be SMP, UNI and W4 directories containing what you need to switch between them.
Quote
Incidentally the RESOURCE.SYS in the ARCA NOAE pack had a lower BLDLEVEL than the one in ACP2....

I believe it has been patched due to SMP problems. IBM did a really crappy job of thread safety and all the binaries that come with the ACPI package have been patched.

karotlopj

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Re: Difference between OS/2 and eCS
« Reply #7 on: April 18, 2016, 05:47:48 pm »
I installed the SMP files from ACP2 and then tried the disk in my ThinkPad X61 but it still trapped.

Without an updated kernel I suppose it's not worth trying the Arca Noae drivers...

I guess it doesn't do any harm using the ACP2 SMP files on the other laptop....

Alex Taylor

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Re: Difference between OS/2 and eCS
« Reply #8 on: April 19, 2016, 11:21:33 am »
You must have kernel 1.04a or later to use ACPI.  You can get this by obtaining smp20050811.zip (SMP kernel) from various places, including os2site.com (upgrades section, kernel directory).

If you don't use eCS 2.x, I recommend installing the last FixPak for whatever OS/2 4.x version you have before you update the kernel.  That's FixPak 5 for MCP/ACP, FixPak 3 for WSeB, or FixPak 15 (17 with an IBM support contract) for Warp 4.

NOTE: If you use an SMP kernel, you must also install the SMP version of DOSCALL1.DLL (which is included in the ACPI WarpIN package).

karotlopj

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Re: Difference between OS/2 and eCS
« Reply #9 on: April 21, 2016, 10:33:24 am »
I have been away from OS/2 for a while and trying to get up to speed. I didn't know about any FixPaks for ACP.... It looks like all IBM's support pages for OS/2 have disappeared.

Sergey Posokhov

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Re: Difference between OS/2 and eCS
« Reply #10 on: April 21, 2016, 11:11:56 am »
Moreover, eCS 2.2 "beta" is simply unusable.


Pete

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Re: Difference between OS/2 and eCS
« Reply #11 on: April 21, 2016, 05:07:22 pm »
Hi Sergey

Moreover, eCS 2.2 "beta" is simply unusable.


As I am posting from a "simply unusable" ecS2.2beta2 I have to ask what problems you had?

I must admit that my eCS2.2beta2 installs are very basic: Advanced Install option with almost all extra software deselected - I already have or do not want the extra software offered during install.

Works for me  :-)


Regards

Pete



Rich442

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Re: Difference between OS/2 and eCS
« Reply #12 on: April 22, 2016, 08:55:42 pm »
Moreover, eCS 2.2 "beta" is simply unusable.

My 2.2 is working well, also. I did stay with some "safe" op" tions, though. Most of my apps are the ones from the "stable" 2.1 release.