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Messages - Doug Bissett

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106
Utilities / Re: WifiState.exe
« on: July 11, 2020, 09:10:27 am »
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my main system, windows 10, wifi connected it shows an ip address of 10.0.0.232 for the router, am I missing something here?

The router can use any address that it wants. You should look in the router settings, to see what it really is (it may be 10.0.0.232. If it is, you cannot use that same address on any other box on the network). Your PING is definitely recognized by the WiFi adapter, not the router. What fixed address did you assign? If it was the same as the router, you need to make it unique on the network.

107
VAL has nothing, at all, to do with real memory size. I use VAL set to 2560 on my antique IBM ThinkPad A22e, and it has max memory of 256MB. I can run Firefox (probably v17.0, or so, last time I tried it), but it takes about 30 minutes to get the blank home page loaded. As long s most of the stuff gets paged out, and isn't used much, it works fine. Paging absolutely kills it. Things like Firefox, and AOO, are not written to use paging efficiently (if that was even considered, which is unlikely). My IBM ThinkPad T43 with 1.5 GB, and my antique Asus, with 1 GB, work okay with VAL set to 2560. As Dave suggests, set the swap size plus the real memory size to a total of about 4 GB (which is not necessary, but then it won't spend time trying to shrink it back to the defined size).

VAL is part of the OS/2 addressable space (something less than 4 GB, no matter how much real memory you have), and if you exceed the real memory, it uses the swap file. In fact, it takes an exceptional program to push memory into the swap file, if you have 2 GB of real memory.

108
Utilities / Re: WifiState.exe
« on: July 10, 2020, 04:47:19 am »
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I posted the results from lspci.exe (I used this program because PCI.EXE is no longer available) right after you asked me to do that. If you scroll back a couple pages you will see the results.

Hmmm. Now HOBBES is becoming unreliable. The file is listed, if you follow the path, but it seems to be a zero length file, that thinks it is a directory. Not good.

Looking back, I see this:
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the pci utility you linked to is no longer there, so I used lspci instead. the relevant output:

00:04.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1131 (rev 01)
00:04.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1131 (rev 01)

Which is completely useless information. It does not supply the PCI ID information, which is essential to understand what device it really is. The posted information is actually for the PCMCIA adapter, not the WiFi device, anyway, so it is mostly irrelevant. From other things that you have said, the PCI ID information is probably not going to help anyway.

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As is brutally clear, I am no expert on wireless networking, but you can ping a router without having the proper encryption or a password.

You can PING a router, if you are connected to it. From everything that you have said, there is no possibility that you are connected to the router, unless you back off the router WiFi security to WEP,  plus add the logon information, in the Adapters, and Protocols program. It may work, if you set the router WiFi security completely off, without setting the logon information. PING is not going to work, under any circumstances, until you do that. If you are actually connected, the rest should work (within the restrictions of modern networking).

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I can't post a screenshot from my OS/2 system, but trust me, I pinged my router and every packet was received 100%. Why would I lie about that?

Cell phones take great photos.

Are you PINGing the router, or the WiFi adapter? The WiFi adapter will respond (assuming it is installed properly, which I suspect you may have accomplished). If your router is responding to a PING, everything else should work too, but, from what you have said, I find it difficult to believe that it is actually responding (it is not connected).

What are you doing to try to attach to the internet? What, exactly, is the result? With that antique system, it is highly unlikely that any modern browser will work (or it will take an hour to load a web page, including the home page - been there, done that, won't bother again). Older browsers probably won't get past any web site security any more either. Can you PING other systems on your network (I assume you have some)?

If you are actually connected, there could be other ways to access the internet with a modern browser, but you need to be able to access another, modern, system on your network. It will still be dead slow, and security could be a major problem if the router WiFi security is less than WPA, but it should be possible.

109
Utilities / Re: WifiState.exe
« on: July 09, 2020, 07:00:41 am »
Okay, I just downloaded the driver that Martin linked to. The stuff is all in the *.NIF file, so you configure it with the Adapters and Protocol Services program (that had a different name, at one time, possibly Multi Protocol Transport Services, or MPTS). DO NOT modify the NIF file. Open the program, and it should have a way to fill in the blanks, after you select the driver. That will all be saved in C:\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL.INI (which is a text file). That setup will not be portable, but should work for what you want to do. You still need to open the WiFi security, so the router, and the card, can talk the same language. Apparently, it will do WEP, but WEP is only slightly better than an open access point, so be very careful what you do.

I suggest that you only change the items that are needed to connect, There are a LOT of things in there that aren't likely to help, and probably should not be changed.

110
Utilities / Re: WifiState.exe
« on: July 09, 2020, 06:37:06 am »
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The card itself is a Compaq WL 100 PCMCIA  802.11b Wifi card. Probably dates from the late '90s.

That doesn't tell us, exactly, what it is. You need to quote the PCI ID (something like 1234:5678), which you can get by running the PCI.EXE program. It probably won't help, in this case, though.

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Sorry for the delay, got caught up trying other things. But, when I followed your instructions as far as setup.cmd, on boot up I got the standard DHCPSTRT could not get any information, paraphrasing here, will try in the background, Press Enter to Continue. It gives the fail dialog box after bootup and the desktop has loaded. DHCPMON does not get any server information no DDNS host name, no IP Address, no Lease. DHCPMON just sits there with the messages:

I would suggest abandoning DHCP (don't use any part of it), and set a fixed address. You can't do both, or you will get weird messages. You do need to connect to the WiFi, before DHCP can get an address, and I doubt if you are connecting (I doubt if PING works either).

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Maybe use a travel router with the built in ethernet?

That would be the easiest, and best answer, except he said there is no built in ethernet to attach it to.

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Let me know if there's anything else to try, but I really think this is probably a lost cause. Even if it did have some success, without my wifi password it wouldn't get very far anyway.

Even if you do get it to connect (it may need an open access point, which would be extremely unsafe), it would also be very slow at "b" speed (11 Mbs, at best). Neil is probably giving you the best advice, because he had one, years ago. Unfortunately, it was a long time ago, and a lot of water has passed under the bridge.

It seems that you are trying to attach an unsecured device to a secured access point. That is strictly not allowed. If you open the WiFi security on your router, you should be able to connect, but you certainly do not want to leave it that way.

Did you look in the *.NIF file? it likely has something that may be useful.

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17:56:13 Sending DISCOVER message.
17:56:13 Number of options requested = 6.

and those repeat continuously.

That is what happens when you try to get an IP address, and you haven't connected. You need to connect the WiFi before that stuff will work. You are effectively trying to get an address, but you haven't plugged in the cable.

111
Utilities / Re: WifiState.exe
« on: July 08, 2020, 04:28:02 am »
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Ok, let me state again, I am using a Dell Inspiron 3200 laptop roughly 1998 vintage. I am using a PCMCIA wifi card, a Compaq WL 100. The driver I am using for it is Ok, let me state again, I am using a Dell Inspiron 3200 laptop roughly 1998 vintage. I am using a PCMCIA wifi card, a Compaq WL 100. The driver I am using for it is genprism.2.0rc4. The card is active and recognized by the system. Using DHCP does not work, however, if I use manual mode with a static IP the card will successfully ping my Wifi router. It WILL NOT ping external URLs such as Google etc. This card is old, it does not support WPA/WPA2 which is what is used by my wifi router (Xfinity/Comcast).
. The card is active and recognized by the system. Using DHCP does not work, however, if I use manual mode with a static IP the card will successfully ping my Wifi router. It WILL NOT ping external URLs such as Google etc. This card is old, it does not support WPA/WPA2 which is what is used by my wifi router (Xfinity/Comcast).

Okay, now we are getting some information (still don't know, for sure, exactly what the device is). "genprism.2.0rc4" indicates that it is probably the only WiFi PCMCIA card that will work with OS/2, and that would be the (ancient) driver for it. I don't know if you would need XWLAN with it, or not (probably not, since that thing existed before XWLAN did). You will need to carefully read all of the information that is available, to see if it tells you how to actually use it. I will guarantee that it won't work with a router that is configured to use WPA, or WPA2. In fact, it may not even know about WEP, which means you would need to  set your router as an open access point (VERY risky). I would start there anyway, for a short period, because it will probably work. Don't leave it open, or somebody will eventually find it, and you never know what they might do.

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Using DHCP does not work, however, if I use manual mode with a static IP the card will successfully ping my Wifi router.

DHCP not working is no surprise. You probably need a fixed address, so it will exist before the driver is totally initialized. I am still surprised that you can ping your router, but that indicates that the card, and the driver, are working. Now, the problem is, that the router needs to be configured to accept the connection from the device. As I said above, set the router as an open access point (no security, if the router will actually allow that), and see if it works. If that works, try WEM security level. It might work, if you can figure out how to insert the SSID and password for it (see below). You DO NOT want to leave your router set at anything less than WPA (which that card will never use).

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This laptop does NOT have a LAN or ethernet port, I suppose this could be remedied with a PCMCIA NIC card and then I could add the adapter you mentioned.

Okay, that complicates things. To be honest, I doubt if a PCMCIA NIC card would work any better (and you need to make sure that you get one that is supported). It does remove the requirement for WiFi security, which should make it easier, and safer, to use (not to mention a lot faster).

FWIW, I have 3 PCMCIA NIC cards (actually CardBus cards), but the one that has a cable (3COM Meghertz 10/100 CardBus) doesn't work (I think it was fried at one time). The 3COM OfficeConnect 10/100 device does work, but the XJack connector is so flaky that it isn't usable (NOT a good design). The other one is an IBM 10/100 EtherJet. It loads a driver, but I have no way to connect it to the network (no cable), so I don't know if it actually works, or not. Any card that has a driver (and the hardware is still good) should work with a LAN cable, or a portable router setup.

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So, will XWLAN work or not?

I doubt it, but I could be wrong. XWLAN was originally meant to operate WiFi, using the GENMAC driver (probably newer than what you have). You need to find out how to enter the SSID and password that the driver needs to connect (you may have done that already, if PING actually works). It may be done as a parameter to the driver. If so it would likely (and I am guessing) be in the Network Protocol setup, or directly inserted into C:\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL.INI (if you can find out what the parameters are, it should be in the docs <which I don't have> somewhere, PROTOCOL.INI is a TEXT file). Even then, it will only work if the router is set to a security level that the device, and the driver, know about, and that would be a huge security risk (not to mention that other WiFi devices would need to use the same security level).

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And, I have asked this question on at least two posts, where does one enter their wifi password? there's nowhere to enter it in the TCP/IP set up. Is there a configuration file where this would be entered? Wouldn't this be necessary to connect to my router even if it's encryption method is not supported by my wifi card? No one has given me a direct answer to this question.

The problem is, that it is probably at least 30 years since anybody even looked at that kind of setup. As I mentioned above, it is probably in PROTOCOL.INI, which is configured by the MPTS (AKA Adapters and Protocols) program. If you are using ArcaOS, that has been replaced by the NAPS (Network Adapters and Protocols) program. I no longer have the older program, but in NAPS, you select the device, and click on the Parameters button. If that is the right place, it will probably be obvious. You may also find a file C:\IBMCOM\MACS\genprism.NIF (or something like that). DO NOT change that file, but it should contain some useful information about the driver setup.

112
Utilities / Re: WifiState.exe
« on: July 08, 2020, 02:51:33 am »
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Did eCS use LCSS during installation?

No. It is a stand alone program. I have offered it to Arca Noae, but I think they want to avoid using any Config.sys sorter. Or, it may be that it cannot (in it's current form) be translated to other languages. I have started to look at that, but I am not sure how to approach the problem, yet. It is REXX, so the source is the program, if anybody wants to make suggestions.

113
Utilities / Re: WifiState.exe
« on: July 07, 2020, 09:02:44 pm »
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Looking through my code I see I made a note:-

{*
These lines get written at the end of the new config.sys file
  BASEDEV=OS2PCARD.DMD  PC-Card Device Manager
  Attention: Must be in before $ICPMOS2.SYS.  If no $ICPMOS2.SYS installed it has to be the last line in the config.sys
  DEVICE=C:\OS2\$ICPMOS2.SYS /G  Power Management Driver for PCMCIA
  Attention: Must be after all other listed drivers in the config.sys
 *}

No idea if the above is relevant to Carls setup...

Probably not, but there is a specific order that the PCMCIA lines need to follow. Your note is very misleading, the ICPMOS2.SYS  does not need to be after all other drivers, only after all other PCMCIA drivers. If you use my LCSS (Logical Config.Sys Sort) program (it is at HOBBES), it will do it correctly (along with other things that need to be "first" or "last").

114
It has been my experience, that AOO 4.1.7 works just fine, BUT, I do need to use the Quick Start feature, AND use Extras-> Enable High Mem code&data loading (after every update, to be sure that nothing got changed). I also need to raise the VIRTUALADDRESSLIMIT setting. 3072 is the max allowable, and 1536 is the default in ArcaOS or eCS (I think the OS/2 default is 512, or 1024, depending on what version you are using). I find that 1536 is not enough (ONE program, at a time, is usually okay, until shared memory fragments - see below), and some machines will not work with 3072, so I always use 2560 (so I don't need to figure out if the machine can use 3072). Depending on what else you use, 2560 may not be enough. Even if you are using the patched ArcaOS kernel, this is still likely to cause problems, when the program unloads. Other programs, like Firefox, can also eat large amounts of shared memory, and they work much better when set to use high shared memory (see other threads about this). The main thing, is to use upper shared memory, whenever possible, because there just isn't enough room in lower shared memory to run modern software, and modern software apparently doesn't always check to see if it got a memory allocation, before it tries to use it (very BAD programming, usually from the original, before porting).

Most of the time, when I have a problem like the one described, it is because LIBC cannot allocate shared memory, and that usually happens because there isn't enough shared memory left. One problem is that you can have 100,000,000 bytes left, and some program decides it needs 100,000,001 bytes. You are dead in the water. Another problem is that the free shared memory can fragment, and if the largest free space is 50,000,000 bytes, and a program wants 50,000,001, you are dead in the water, even if there are 20 other free spots with enough free shared memory to make up the difference. Preventing fragmentation is one of the main reasons to use a program, like AOO Quick Start, or Firefox Turbo (to keep it from unloading common DLLs, which will cause fragmentation of shared memory space).

Other things to seriously consider:

NEVER use the exp repository stuff, UNLESS you know exactly what you are doing, OR you are prepared to trouble shoot problems like you describe (certainly NEVER do a mass update from the exp repositories, unless you are really looking for trouble). Unfortunately, not enough people test what is in the exp repositories, so bad stuff gets moved to the release repositories, sometimes. If you want to test that stuff, use an alternate system, so you can still run your real system (and don't share the %UNIXROOT% when you do that). Sharing %UNIXROOT% between boot systems is possible, but you had better fully understand what that can do to you. Some things will be missed, on the "other" system, when updated, and you do need to run a Re-install of certain packages, on the "other" boot system to pick them up. Easier, and safer, to simply use a separate %UNIXROOT% (after all, disk space, and internet time, is rarely a problem any more).

ALWAYS use ANPM (RPM/YUM) to update the UNIX support. If you don't it is very easy to miss something (it can miss things, even if you do use it - one of the things that gets missed in testing). You could spend months trying to figure out that BC.EXE (for example) is at the wrong level. RPM/YUM is not just DLLs, it is PACKAGES. ANPM makes RPM/YUM usable for us mortals.

Inspect your system for stray duplicate DLLs (and other things). There should be exactly ONE copy of individual files in the Libpath (and PATH, but that isn't as critical), on any boot system, or you should know, exactly, why there is a copy somewhere other than in %UNIXROOT%, and you should understand exactly when that will be used, and what it will do to you. Also remember that you used the usr\local directory structure (if you do use it, which s NOT recommended, unless you know exactly what you are doing, and why), and manually update that, when you update the RPM/YUM stuff. Apparently, you need the full usr\local\* directory structure, or some things will get all upset. (If you don't know about that, DON'T use it).

Don't use LIBPATHSTRICT, unless you have no other option (and be sure that the program doesn't already do it for you - like later versions of Firefox). That causes even more shared memory to be used, and should not be required, unless you know exactly why it is needed.

115
Utilities / Re: WifiState.exe
« on: July 07, 2020, 06:53:58 pm »
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My card doesn't support WPA2. So, I guess xwlan isn't going to help in this instance right?

Wrong. XWLAN is the program that connects WiFi to the hot spot, whether it is an open hot spot (no security), or using one of the, so called, secure connections (WEM, WPA, or WPA2). The security level, that you need, depends on how the hot spot (your router) is configured, and capable of.  The suggestion that WPA2 may not work is valid (WPA may not work either), and that can happen even if the device does support WPA or WPA2. You probably don't want to actually use the device, if it won't connect at one of those two levels. This "security" has nothing, at all, to do with buying things on the internet. It is to prevent people from logging into your router, and using it (possibly to send SPAM, or PORN, to the world). Even WEP is so easy to bypass, that any high school kid can o it in about a minute.

We need to know, exactly, what the hardware is, to make intelligent suggestions. See my previous post. Please tell us what driver you are trying to use. Without all of that information, we can only guess at what you are trying to do, and there are a lot of possibilities.

Also, seriously consider getting, and using, an external WiFi adapter (that plugs into the wired LAN connector) for security reasons, as well as connection speed, unless you are doing this just for laughs. They are not very expensive, and will work a whole lot better than some antique PCMCIA card ever could. If you are doing this for laughs, READ every word in the documentation, at least three times, then ask questions about what you don't understand. There is no easy way to figure this out, and the solution may be completely different, for different hardware, and driver, combinations. It is also very likely that your hardware simply has no driver.

116
Utilities / Re: WifiState.exe
« on: July 06, 2020, 05:00:16 am »
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Still, I have no idea where to put my wifi password. Probably why DHCP is failing and cant ping any websites. Is there a configuration file somewhere where this information would be contained???

As Dave suggested, you need XWLAN to connect to a WiFi hotspot. but I honestly doubt if that will actually work with a PCMCIA adapter (but try it, I don't know of any cases where it actually works)). As Ivan suggests, it is much easier, and more likely to work, with an external router, that connects to a wired LAN connector. If the router is modern, it will also attach at 300 Mbs (possibly faster).

You may find some useful information at: ftp://genmac@ftp.os2voice.org/. Use "unsupported" (lower case, and no quotes) as a password, if it asks, but I doubt if there is anything useful there.

117
Utilities / Re: WifiState.exe
« on: July 05, 2020, 08:26:49 pm »
PCMCIA is a very, very, ugly thing. However, if you have it doing a ping to your router. it is working (I am surprised). Pinging web sites can fail, simply because most web sites no longer allow you to do that.

You say it is using WiFi. What, exactly, is the adapter? We need to know the PCI ID (should be something like 1234:5678). You can get that by using the PCI.EXE program.

https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/misc/pci104vka.zip

updated by:

https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/system/pcidevs_20180114.zip

They are old, but should be okay for your antique hardware.

118
Hardware / Re: USB 3 - ArcaOS - Hardware Reports
« on: June 27, 2020, 08:02:51 am »
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I don't know if you use sysbench software. I plugged a USB stick into a USB 3.0 port and got 64 Disk I/O marks. An ordinary hard disk gets 805. I wonder if it should be that slow?

No, it shouldn't be that slow, but USB sticks are mostly garbage, and most of the cheap ones won't be anywhere near as fast as USB 3 is designed for (I have a couple that don't run any faster than USB2 sticks in windows 10 too). You need the expensive sticks, with high data rates, and even then they probably won't run at USB 3 design speeds. I get the most consistent, and fastest speed, using a HDD enclosure with USB 3. I don't have a SSD to try in it, but that should be even faster. I haven't measured the speed with SysBench, so I can't give exact numbers.

I also find that different controllers impact the speed. The best one, that I have, is a SUPAHUB brand, which has a Renesas chipset (I got it at Amazon). In fact I now have two of them, and they seem to be very good. I also have one that is a cheap generic thing, branded as Fresco Logic. It does not have any way to add additional power, and it is easily overpowered (it powers off) because the PCIe socket cannot supply enough power for it (at least on the two systems where I have tried it). When it does work, it seems to perform okay.

One other thing, is that the A type connectors can fail to connect to USB 3, and it may be running with the USB 2 controller, at USB 2 speeds (USB 3 controllers have two controllers, one for USB 3, and another for USB 1.x and 2.x - both are operated by the USBXHCD.SYS driver). Those connectors need to be close to perfect, to avoid connection problems, and it is very difficult to determine what connection it is actually using. Interestingly, they can also fail to connect to the USB 2 controller, which only matters if you are using an external USB 3 hub, or a USB 2 device.

It is also likely that the USBXHCD.SYS driver is still loaded with debug code, so there is some hope that it will get better, eventually.

119
Quote
But could you do the test to put 3760, and tell us if it works, or if at startup it tells you that you have an erroneous value and puts it by default.?

Since 3072 (2048 in old versions of OS/2) is the maximum allowable, 3760 should always tell you that it is invalid (does, for me). 3072 doesn't always work either, but it won't tell you that it is an invalid number. I don't remember what happens, but it isn't good. I always use 2560 (but 2760 should also work), just so I don't have to figure out if machines work with 3072, or not. 2560 seems to be sufficient for my needs, and leaves me with 1270944 bytes of upper shared memory (varies as I use it), after everything is loaded.

I have never seen anything drop upper shared memory below 1000000 bytes, yet (I may have missed it). Lower shared memory, on the other hand, is at 217856, with most things loaded. I have seen that drop to zero (with resulting catastrophe), when something (usually multiple videos in Firefox), starts eating it. However, with the Firefox TURBO thing, I haven't seen that happen recently. I also turn off media.autoplay.enabled in Firefox about:config, which has helped a lot. It means one extra click to play a video that I do want to play, but the rest don't start automatically.

120
Applications / Re: OS/4 (non technical issues)
« on: June 17, 2020, 12:04:21 am »
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I want to note that I am an official user of drivers from Arca Noae. I paid them for a subscription and expect them to work.

If they aren't working, open an incident in the Arca Noae Mantis Bug Tracker. I suggest reporting only supported configurations. I will also note, that the USBXHCD driver is a PREVIEW version, and is not actually supported. Be sure to READ the docs. If you need an updated driver, but have not renewed your subscription, don't expect freebies.

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Actually OS / 2 has not been supported for a long time and is rather not alive.

Arca Noae has legal authorization to distribute patched versions of OS/2 software (the ArcaOS kernel is one example). NOBODY else has that legal authorization, including the OS/4 group (even eCS was not permitted to do that). If Arca Noae started to use stuff from, or produce stuff for, OS/4, they could be shut down. It is in their contract with IBM.

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The OS / 4 kernel has been seriously updated; significant errors have been removed from it; it is significantly faster than the OS / 2 kernel. In the OS / 4 kernel, virtual machines run significantly faster. And in some modern systems, the OS / 2 kernel does not work at all and the system starts only with OS / 4. Not only that, some Arca Noae drivers do not work on the OS / 2 kernel, but they work on OS / 4. And most importantly, the OS / 4 kernel is supported and updated regularly.

Arca Noae drivers are supposed to work on machines that are running supported versions of OS/2, If they don't, report the problem. It may not be fixable, but I guarantee that it won't be fixed if you don't report it. The support group does insist on supported configurations (no PREVIEW software, or "unknown" operating systems - like OS/4). They don't have the resources to try to do otherwise.

Perhaps the OS/4 group will support their software. The biggest problem with OS/4, is that the legal status is far from clear. If, as they claim, it has been developed in a clean room, that may still not pass the legal system. Until it has been judged by the legal system, the status is unknown (and I doubt if the OS/4 group could afford the legal fees, so they would lose by default. So would Arca Naoe, if they break the rules of the contract). Use OS/4 if you like, but don't expect Arca Noae to even recognize that it exists. They just can't take the chance that IBM will take them to court.

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If we abandon development that ensures progress, then there will be much less movement in our cemetery.

There is movement. The biggest problems, at Arca Noae, are too few good programmers, and not enough money in the pot. I have no idea how OS/4 is funded, nor do I much care.

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