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Messages - JTA

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91
Thanks for the comments!

Note that, with Windows' inclusion of Hyper-V technology in recent versions, more folks (of the mom & pop variety) will be on-board with running vm's, as opposed to just us sys-admin types. That's millions of folks ... all of whom are at least asking "what is hyper-v, and what can I do with it?", and many of whom are figuring out how to run secondary vm's. How about running OS/2, and seeing what you've been missing?

If you TELL me that you can only run 3 apps in OS/2 (to pick a number), I'd SHOW you that I can run twice that amount of the same apps, or three times that amount, just by kicking off more OS/2 vm's, on up to available ram; with ssd's & such, they are ALL blazingly fast.

If you tell me that Windows alone just can't do what you want, I'd show you that you can have OS/2, Win, and Linux all side-by-side in their vm's, all on one machine (dt/lt both, these days), with plenty of room for testing other stuff.

If you say that by the time I put my dev environment on my current Win OS and a few other things as well, it falls over, I'd show you how a pristine dev environment can be maintained in a vm, with no further "windows" pollution happening to it from updates, feature enhancements, etc.  And then go on to show how OS/2 can help as well.

If I were AN, with such a great product as ArcaOS, I'd put more than a few tech evangelists on the road, showing how we can run two, three, or more vm's each with ArcaOS, and overcome any final objection to OS/2 (lack of ram, lack of bitness, lack of apps, etc.). 1% of those millions of users ... that's starting to be real opportunities, if not real numbers, for the OS/2 base.

Heck, I'd volunteer to be one of those Technology Evangelists! :)

92
Today, to make OS/2 work well (no problems with drivers, applications, etc.), I do the following:

A.) run a virtual environment (hypervisor: vmware, vbox) ... isolates me from hardware, virtualizes everything, and makes it available to the OS personalities I run (vm's) on top of it. I build one modern/beefy pc (multi-cpu, ram- & ssd-heavy), load a host OS on it, load the virtualization software, and then easily load & switch between running vm's, like others use multiple monitors. File transfers are shared folders between every vm to same space on host os. Backups are as simple as snagging vm copies.

B.) run personality (vm's):
  B1.) OS/2 (ArcaOS) in a vm ... works great! this is a "productivity" vm, because I can:
    - do certain tasks/apps in it (16-bit, 32-bit apps) in a fairly confident manner that nothing will crash.
    - constantly adding things to it to improve my productivity, as I (re)discover them.
    - no driver problems, no graphics/display problems, etc.
  B2.) Windows/Windows Server in vm's ... works great! these are productivity vm's, because I can:
    - run any app that exists for Windows, x32/x64, and don't have to worry about them being on OS/2
    - do development (vstudio, gcc, etc.), scripting (powershell, etc.), and more.
  B3.) linux vm's ... these mostly work great. these are test vm's, because I can:
    - kick the tires on every os out there, could be linux, could be L4 activity
    - bring up an OS, load a virtualization tool in it (nested), and test away.
    - run things that might not be available on either OS/2 or Windows, or is just flat-out better for those things.
C.) Someone says they HATE OS/2, or Windows, or linux? Fine, as the virtualization scheme works the same for all of us. Plug in your choice(s) for vm's.

This in no way reflects upon others running OS/2 (ArcaOS or otherwise, or any other OS) on any given platform directly, or developing for the same. How anybody pulls tools out of the toolbox and uses them is their business. ArcaOS is another tool in the toolbox for me, and OS/2 is pretty much like the Sears tool line ... indestructible.

It's just one way to do OS/2 (& other "productivity" vm's) absolutely trouble-free, and focus on what the OS is good at (running my OS/2 apps or other stuff), and what nearly no other single OS strategy gives me without grief. Anything on the current "wish-lists" for OS/2 ... done; for example, Notepad++ is editing my massive .txt (my "only/preferred" file format) file collection on the shared space. 4OS2 is maneuvering though that same collection. Firefox is d/l'ing files into the shared space. Pick your app ... should mostly be the same result.

That's where virtualization has brought us (me) to, today!

An intermediate step might be vmware esxi (type 1 hypervisor, not "complicated, messy" like hyper-v) on the machine, and a bunch of vm's on top of that. esxi is a great, enterprise-level environment, but might not be that friendly at home as a host os. Something to test, and see if I can further simplify the current scheme.

Tomorrow? The host machine and virtualization may morph into an L4-like microkernel, controlling the whole machine, and all my vm's continue, as vm's on top of vmm's, on top of services, on top of that microkernel. Perhaps like the graphic from NOVA (attached). Not much different than what I'm doing right now ... so, it should be fairly painless; key point to keep in mind is that I don't have to do this anytime soon, as long as the vm's slide over. Perhaps later, the vm's morph into "personalities".

Y1.) nova (seL4) kernel (source code available)
Z1.) personalities:
  - OS/2 becomes a personality ... possibly no kernel/loader needed, only the upper layers (services, vm).
  - Windows becomes a personality ... possibly no kernel/loader needed (this could be ReactOS or others)
  - Linux ... or something else ...
  - most likely (hopefully), "old" vm's continue to be hosted on the future platform; OS/2 (as a vm) keeps running.

It's just virtualization tech, existing for, or coming to, all elements of the stack ... hardware, os, services, apps. I'm doing a form of it today with current virtualization technology, and everyone plays well together. No one OS dominates me or causes me grief; they are all just tools in the toolbox. It's coming tomorrow, in the form of L4 and more ...

As virtualization technology gets upgraded, I'll just unplug older tech, plug in new ones, and will probably be doing the same thing, but on newer virtualization technology of the future. I've been doing this for years now, and keeping my head above the OS wars ... hope to keep doing it for decades more!

What does everyone think? I would like to run this as articles on other websites, to show in a positive fashion what OS/2 can do today, and will probably still be doing tomorrow. Your feedback now will help me get it "shiny" (to quote an old TV series and movie) ...

JTA

93
General Discussion / ArcaOS 5.0.7 - has that "new leather smell" ...
« on: January 05, 2023, 01:54:23 am »
... in this newly purchased OS, running in vbox! Thanks, Arca Noae!

Also gave some devbucks to the BWW folks ... thanks to them for all their efforts!

With time on my hands, was pulling out old stuff, which led to os/2 stuff, then warp 4.52 installs, and finally ArcaOS purchase. OS/2 (AN's ArcaOS) has made my list of OS productivity installs in vbox/vmware, as opposed to those where I just kick the tires every so often to see what's happening.

My ideal system these days? Anybody's hardware, a type-1 hypervisor on the hardware, and productivity OS's in vm's ... alongside other vm's for testing, dev, and so on.

Will start looking around and seeing how I can help others (os/4, es/2, etc.) ... I've time on my hands, and can easily devote testing, documentation, and such hours to your efforts.

Incredible what folks are doing these days!

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