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Topics - Neil Waldhauer

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 9
1
Applications / XTide
« on: January 17, 2026, 03:54:07 pm »
The XTide program shows the tide table for a particular location. It worked for years, but stopped a couple of weeks ago when the harmonics fiie expired.

http://hobbesarchive.com/?dir=%2F&stype=all&sort=type_name&search=xtide&submit=Search


It's still under development here:
https://flaterco.com/xtide/files.html

But there is no longer any OS/2 version.

Although it is an X program, there is also a command line version, tide.exe, which was more useful for OS/2.

Is there any hope for building the current release; at least the command line version?

2
Hardware / Video memory cannot be assigned to 32-bit address!
« on: January 03, 2026, 02:26:25 am »
I have a Lenovo Thinkpad X13 gen 2, and while I didn't get it to run ArcaOS, I was curious if it could be done.

It can't. (see attachment) Actually, it can. See correction below.


3
Storage / 4 TB hard drive
« on: December 27, 2025, 02:18:23 am »
The time finally arrived for a hard drive upgrade for my travel laptop. I mostly run ArcaOS, but occasionally Windows 11 for web browsing and hardware support. My ArcaOS computer hosts about 1.5 TB of data. I wanted to build a computer that runs ArcaOS in a VirtualBox session and holds a copy of that data. I backed up my computer, and installed a 4 TB NVMe m.2 2280 SSD. I restored from my backup.

(see attachment)

The backup software I used (EaseUS Partition Master) made the wrong volume type for my ArcaOS volumes, and so I needed to fix that. I was able to make some fresh ArcaOS Type 1 volumes and temporarily assign drive letters to the volumes with the wrong volume type. The new volumes are able to boot ArcaOS.

I extended the Windows boot volume to just over 3 TB, and created a new virtual hard drive to contain my data. I used rsync to bring over the 1.5 TB data to the new virtual hard drive. The virtual hard drive is actually a bit FASTER than JFS running native. It still took a long time to copy 1.5 TB of data.

When I was done, I deleted the volumes with the wrong volume type. This was a mistake, as my Windows 11 volume would no longer boot, failing with UMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME (0xED). It turns out that Windows boots the Nth volume on the drive, so it could no longer find the boot volume. I made two dummy volumes, and Windows was able to count up to 5 and boot again.

So far, the Virtual ArcaOS works well, and it's nice to have an easy way to share data between OS/2 and Windows 11.

4
Networking / Network setup for VirtualBox
« on: December 18, 2025, 01:06:02 am »
I've been using ArcaOS running under VirtualBox running on a Windows 11 host. Setting up the network is pretty confusing.

A laptop has a WiFi card and wired ethernet. I can connect either one to my network. I set up Adapter 1 as an Intel Pro/1000 MT desktop (NAT) so that it can get TCP/IP from either laptop interface.

But I want NetBIOS, too. I don't think I can get that from NAT. NAT is TCP/IP-only as far as I know. So I defined Adapter 2 as PCnet-FAST III (Bridged to the Ethernet interface on the laptop.) That only gives me NetBIOS over Ethernet, but that will be adequate. So far, so good.

But now I move to Linux host, and NetBIOS does not work. In fact, I'm not at all sure any Adapter 2 function works on Linux. Perhaps I should ask over in the VirtualBox forum, but there are more OS/2 experts here.

How are you implementing NetBIOS under VirtualBox?

5
General Discussion / Unfortunate filename choices
« on: November 23, 2025, 08:58:37 pm »
Due to some careless cut and paste, I recently named a file with a leading space. This can make it difficult to manipulate on the command line. I'm sure there are some other non-obvious bad filename choices.

6
Setup & Installation / Clock Syncrhonization under ArcaOS
« on: November 02, 2025, 05:34:18 pm »
ArcaOS uses Clock Synchronization to adjust for Daylight Savings Time (DST) adjustments. The time just changed in my part of the world, and when I sat down at the computer, it was still on DST. So I synchronized manually again this year.

But while I was doing it, I noticed something. ArcaOS is set up to synchronize every 720 minutes. But I get up early, and it's only been 240 minutes since the time changed. I changed the 720 to 180, and I'm going to see if it works next time the time changes, March 8, 2026.

7
Setup & Installation / Installing ZipCntrl
« on: September 02, 2025, 05:15:00 am »
I'm installing ZipCntrl 2.7.4, but the folder does not get created.

http://www.RPFSoftware.com

If I start it, it works on older zip files. If I configure it to use the current unzip.exe, it seems to work on all zip files.

http://hobbesarchive.com/?submit=Search&search=zipcontrol&stype=any&sort=type_name&dir=%2F

Does anyone else get a folder created by install?

8
General Advertisements / Suntan Special 0.69
« on: August 13, 2025, 04:17:23 am »
Suntan Special 0.69 has been released

The newest release of Suntan Special, version 0.69, is available. Suntan Special is a system configuration tool that installs and maintains a collection of useful fixes, applications and development tools to ArcaOS, OS/2 or eComStation systems.

http://www.blondeguy.com/suntan6.html

Current Suntan Special users are entitled to upgrade to 0.69. The upgrade may be downloaded using the application refresh feature of Suntan Special.

Suntan Special may be downloaded at no charge. The price for a Suntan Special CD or DVD is $24.95 including shipping to USA and $39.95 for shipping outside USA.

The first release of Suntan Special since 2019. This release fixes a few bugs, and adds support for HobbesArchive and its mirrors. Version 0.69 adds better support for installations under VirtualBox. A new feature, MasterSequence, detects the operating system creates and executes a sequence designed to install all available fixes and applications. Thanks to current users whose suggestions have been incorporated in the new version of Suntan Special.

Support is also restored for OS/2 Warp 4 and for OS/2 Warp 4 Convenience Pack. These concentrate on support inside a VirtualBox session. If you got OS/2 running, and wonder what it is good for, Suntan Special will install a suite of software that will answer that question.

9
General Discussion / Hobbes is down
« on: June 10, 2025, 09:57:33 pm »
I got this e-mail from Nathan Woodruff, who operates the HobbesArchive website.

Quote
Someone hacked into Hobbes website this morning and found the IP address for my Netgear NAS box that stores Hobbes website on and all its data. They did a reset on the Admin password and then setup a ReadyNASOS service to wipe the Netgear system back to factory settings. Notice the "Alert configuration was saved" entry is setting the Admin password back to default...

Jun 10, 2025 11:07:31 AM    System: ReadyNASOS background service started.
Jun 10, 2025 11:07:28 AM    System: ReadyNASOS service or process (readynasd) was restarted.
Jun 10, 2025 10:55:08 AM    System: ReadyNASOS background service started.
Jun 10, 2025 10:53:30 AM    System: The system is rebooting.
Jun 10, 2025 10:31:00 AM    System: ReadyNASOS background service started.
Jun 10, 2025 10:30:54 AM    System: ReadyNASOS service or process was restarted.
Jun 10, 2025 10:10:48 AM    System: Alert configuration was saved.

Admin password was reset at 10:10:48 am this morning. 220TB of data are now gone. I do have backups of the professional websites and I can recreate HOBBES but it is going to take some time.

When I noticed that my access to the Netgear system was no longer active, I did shutdown the system at 10:50 am per my last access to the NAS per my computer. I  then turned it on at 10:53am to stop all services to find the problem of no access, only to find out that the background service started back up on its own and finished the process of wiping the volume and all drives.


The person that did this, is a really sick person.  These commercial websites are my only means of income, which I will no longer have.  I do send backups to the 4 companies every month, but the backups are about a month old now. More than likely I am going to lose those businesses.

It might be a day or so before Hobbes comes back up. Can you let everyone know, Thanks.

10
General Advertisements / New Lenovo Tower Computer
« on: June 09, 2025, 08:00:09 pm »


Blonde Guy recently shipped a brand new Lenovo M90t Gen 5 tower computer. It was a triple boot system, ArcaOS 5.1, Windows 11 and Debian Linux.

https://www.blondeguy.com/computer/argon.html

ArcaOS has progressed to the point of working with many new computers. Built-in video, sound, network, and USB all function under ArcaOS 5.1. The computer features M.2 NVMe drive support on the motherboard, tool-free installation of SATA hard drives and an assortment of PCIe slots.

The computer features 20 processing cores with hypertheading turned off.

11
Off Topic discussions / Warpstock
« on: March 04, 2025, 02:56:37 am »
Warpstock is the in-person conference in North America. The next conference will be held later this year in a city in the USA.

I'm curious is recent changes in US policy make any difference to people outside the USA regarding travel to the USA to attend Warpstock.

I would like keep Warpstock away from politics. Supporting Warpstock neither endorses nor opposes any USA policies. Further, Warpstock is not intrinsically political. The current USA administration has never expressed a view about OS/2.

We'd like to continue to offer the Warpstock conference.

12
Web applications / OS2World URL Redirect
« on: February 25, 2025, 04:50:29 am »
Rich: thanks! Typing "https://archive.org" works here, too.

https://os2world.com doesn't work
https://www.os2world.com does work.


13
Comments, Suggestions & Questions / OS/2 Licensing
« on: December 29, 2024, 08:41:26 pm »
I'm looking at how people use OS/2. I think people want to try something different, and I see a lot of copies that can be downloaded.

OS/2 is not abandonware. No version of OS/2 is “free”. ArcaOS is based on an IBM licensed OS/2. It's still for sale.

That said, you can freely download any number of OS/2 versions. If you are a licensed OS/2 user, you can legitimately use these downloaded versions.

These are the license classes I recognize

OS/2 Warp 41996 release, without Software Advantage
OS/2 Warp 41996 release including Software Advantage
MCPone of the Merlin Convenience pack releases, 1, 2, 2R
MCPwith Arca Noae software
eCSeComStation release, 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.2R, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 beta
eCSwith Arca Noae Software
ArcaOSversions 5.0.x, 5.1
ArcaOSwith Software Subscription



While running under VirtualBox, Warp4 needs TCP/IP 4.3 from Software Choice to implement Shared Folders
While running under VirtualBox, Warp4 and MCP both need Arca Noae Software to implement Power Off
Warp 3 probably has the same restrictions as Warp 4
Earlier versions of OS/2 probably cannot run TCP/IP 4.3

14
Setup & Installation / Installing CUPS on MCP
« on: December 25, 2024, 05:55:22 pm »
Well, the short answer is to install rpm/yum on MCP, then cups.

But I like the interfaces for Printman and Cupswiz. It makes configuring printers so much easier. I can download these from Alex Taylor's website, and, after installing the prerequisites, I can get Printman to start. Cupswiz initially starts with an error in DosLoadModule, but can be corrected by fiddling with UCONV.DLL and friends.

But, after that, Cupswiz comes up empty. I have both cups and hplip installed, but where did the printer models go? (see attached screenshot)


15
Setup & Installation / TCP/IP 4.3 patches
« on: November 11, 2024, 09:48:18 pm »
I'm installing Warp4 from 1996 on a VirtualBox environment. I'm trying to install all the fixes.

I've installed TCP/IP 4.3, but VBoxService wants TCPIP32.DLL, and I'm not seeing it where I expect to see it, in C:\MPTN\DLL

What installs TCPIP32.DLL, and what fixes or patches are available?

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