Arca Noae Status Update: Wi-Fi Drivers

We are aware that many people have been asking about availability of drivers for new wireless networking adapters. If you’ve followed our driver roadmap and our Warpstock presentations, you might be aware of the fact that these drivers are still in development.

Wi-Fi drivers are by their nature considerably more complex pieces of code than wired ethernet drivers. As a result, they take a considerably longer time to build than wired ethernet drivers. The complexity and multi-functionality requirements of Wi-Fi drivers, and the radically different architecture of unix (or Linux) means that Wi-Fi drivers cannot be created by simply compiling a FreeBSD driver for OS/2 as is generally possible for MultiMac wired ethernet drivers. Wi-Fi drivers need to be developed specifically for OS/2, with the capability to handle expected wireless communication protocols and be manageable by XWLAN, the de facto standard for Wi-Fi device and profile management on the OS/2 platform. All of this work is extremely time consuming and requires comprehensive knowledge of Wi-Fi operations and OS/2 networking.

ArcaOS 5.1 is the first version of OS/2 capable of not only booting on modern UEFI hardware with or without the availability of a Compatibility Support Module (CSM), but also the first to be able to access – and indeed, boot from – GUID Partition Table (GPT) disk layouts. All of this work was prioritized above Wi-Fi driver development, under our guiding philosophy of “if the system can’t boot, not much else matters.”

As addressed in our FAQ, the standard workaround for lack of a Wi-Fi driver is to use a small wireless bridge device. Indeed, this is not a solution, but a workaround until such time as Wi-Fi drivers are available for more modern chipsets.

We understand that wireless drivers are very important to a some of our users. We are doing what we can to address that need while simultaneously continuing to improve the ArcaOS experience overall. We appreciate everyone’s continued patience.

eCo Software Runtime packages updated to 20240126

Arca Noae is pleased to announce the availability of updated eCo Software Runtime packages, downloadable from our downloadables page.

The eCo Software Runtime packages provide support libraries for several components of ArcaOS and eCS, as well as eCo Software applications. The Base, Net, and Win packages have been updated as of 2024-01-26. The Win update improves compatibility of the File Open Container (FOC) used by default in ArcaOS with the standard system file dialog, while some of the other updates address issues in other applications which utilize these libraries.

The eCo Software Runtime Toolkit has also been updated with this release.

These packages are provided by Arca Noae as a convenience to our customers, clients, and the community at large. Arca Noae does not produce these packages, and the software is provided “as is” without any warranty of any kind. Support for the eCo Software Runtime is provided by eCo Software, in their support forum.

About the future of the Hobbes archive

For over 30 years, the Hobbes repository at New Mexico State University has been a mainstay for OS/2 users to locate software for OS/2, whether freeware, open source, or commercial demos.

This month, Hobbes announced that it would be shutting down as of April 15 of this year. While this truly saddens those of us closely involved with software development for the platform, Arca Noae nevertheless understands the level of resources and commitment required to maintain an ever-growing archive. We applaud the Hobbes archiver and the entire team of faculty, students,  and other volunteers who have come and gone over the years, all the while keeping Hobbes up and running for the benefit of all. We are also grateful to the University for its commitment to the archive, providing hardware, software, power, and bandwidth.

We are aware that discussions are underway in the OS/2 community to find a new home for Hobbes. There is a thread on the Warp mailing list at groups.io and another in the OS/2 World forums. You may also read a public announcement from OS/2 VOICE about this here.

At this time, Arca Noae urges caution and advises against more people volunteering to host the main Hobbes repository (though mirrors of a potential new site would likely be appreciated). We remain hopefully optimistic that Hobbes will indeed find a new long-term home and that the transition from New Mexico State University to that new home (wherever it might be) will be a smooth one.

Warpstock 2023 videos now available

Videos of Warpstock 2023 presentations from earlier this month, including Arca Noae staff and developers featuring the latest ArcaOS news and how-to sessions are now available on YouTube in the WarpEvents channel.

Video topics include:

  • ArcaOS Roadmap
  • High-Resolution OS/2: The Sequel
  • ArcaOS 5.1
  • Is ArcaOS a DOS Gaming Mecca?
  • ArcaOS under and next to VMWare ESXi
  • UEFI vs Traditional BIOS: Which is Right?
  • …and much more

ArcaOS Desktop updated to 1.0.16

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Arca Noae is pleased to announce the immediate availability of ArcaOS Desktop (ANXWP) 1.0.16 in English, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Russian. This is a maintenance release containing bug-fixes and updates that have accumulated since the last release. The primary improvements include:

New Features

  • Text Size
    Use the first page of the Desktop’s Properties notebook to set the text in folders, menus, titlebars, and most dialogs to a size best suited for the current screen size and resolution.
  • Large Icons in XCenter
    XCenter’s Properties notebook allows selection of Large (full-size) or Mini (half-size) icons. The WinList widget allows setting its icon size separately from XCenter as well as the choice of text, icons, or both on its buttons.
  • Low Battery Alert
    The Battery widget now has a Properties page to set up the widget’s new alert. Set the level at which a warning should pop up (e.g. at 15%), and optionally, set follow-up warnings whenever the level drops another specified percent (say, 5%).

Updates and Bugfixes

  • XStartup
    Large parts of the XStartup code have been rewritten for improved reliability
  • XWP Help
    A Table of Contents has been added to the XWP Help system to organize its many pages into 21 top-level topics.
  • Other Changes
    • XShutdown has been revised to invoke Text Size’s shutdown processing when updates occur. Related code has been refactored.
    • An undocumented setup string has been added to XFldDesktop to enable Styler and other shutdown utilities to invoke Text Size’s shutdown processing when changes are pending.
    • ‘xwptrap.log’ has been partially reformatted to make it less versbose.
    • ‘h2i.exe’ which converts HTML help to .INF format has been revised to support an optional “Table of Contents” mode.
    • ‘xunlock.exe’ has been added to the distro to ensure scripts always have access to an “unlock” utility. It returns 0 if the file is now unlocked and >0 if it remains locked or an error occured.
    • A rewrite of the Window List widget should ensure that its last button doesn’t paint over the widget to its right.
    • Code to read the display’s EDID has been added to support future Text Size enhancements.

See the Version Information topic of the ArcaOS Desktop Users Guide and Reference located in the Help Center for more details about this release.

Arca Noae would like to thank Rich Walsh for his work on maintaining and improving XWorkplace and ArcaOS Desktop. This release also includes contributory work by Alex Taylor.

If you have ArcaOS, this software is available for download from the Arca Noae website as part of the Support & Maintenance subscription for your ArcaOS product. Please log into your account and see your ArcaOS order details page to access your software.

If you are still running OS/2 and/or eComStation this is a great reason to consider moving up to ArcaOS. This update includes reserved features licensed for use exclusively with ArcaOS.

 

ISO Installable File System Driver Package version 1.1.3 now available

Dynamic IconsArca Noae is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the ISO Installable File System Driver Package for OS/2 version 1.1.3 (ISOFS). Arca Noae wishes to thank Rich Walsh for his work on this update.

Highlights of this release include:

  • Reformatted dialogs to accommodate NLS versions (DE EN ES IT RU).

The ISOFS package includes ISODrive, which compliments the Arca Noae Removable Media Monitor XCenter widget (a feature reserved for ArcaOS) and also provides its own GUI for mounting and unmounting ISO files.

This is not considered a critical update.

If you have ArcaOS, language specific driver packages are available for download from the Arca Noae website as part of the Support & Maintenance subscription for your ArcaOS product. Please log into your account and see your ArcaOS order details page to access your software.

If you are still running OS/2 and/or eComStation system this may be a good time to consider moving up to ArcaOS.

FAT32 Driver Package version 5.0.5 released

Arca Noae is pleased to announce the immediate availability of our fork of the FAT32 Installable File System Driver Package for OS/2 version 5.0.5. Arca Noae wishes to thank Gregg Young for his work on this update.

Highlights of this release include:

  • Minor performance improvements
  • Packaging improvements
  • Added Spanish and Russian localizations (all languages included in the package)

Please read the FAT32 wiki and the ReadMe for additional details and before installing this software.

The FAT32 Installable File System Driver Package is open source, licensed under the GNU LGPLv2.1, with source code publicly available (see the FAT32 wiki for details).

This is not the same driver as distributed by Netlabs, and cannot coexist with components of the Netlabs FAT32 driver. Please uninstall the Netlabs driver first if you wish to install the Arca Noae FAT32 driver.

If you have ArcaOS, this driver package is available for download from the Arca Noae website as part of the Support & Maintenance subscription for your ArcaOS product. Please log into your account and see your ArcaOS order details page to access your software.

If you have an Arca Noae OS/2 & eCS Drivers and Software Subscription, this driver package is available for download from the Arca Noae website as part of your Arca Noae OS/2 & eCS Drivers and Software Subscription. Please log into your account in order to access your software.

If you are still running OS/2 and/or eComStation systems and haven’t yet purchased a software subscription, this is a great reason to do so now. It may also be a good time to consider moving up to ArcaOS.

MultiMac NIC driver package 20230921 now available

MultiMacArca Noae is pleased to announce the immediate availability of a new release of our MultiMac NIC driver package.

This is a maintenance release of the MultiMac drivers. This package contains all the MultiMac drivers, however only the E1000B, MMIGB, MMLEM, MMAE, and MMRE drivers have been updated. The E1000B and the MMRE drives were updated to add new supported devices. The other 3 drivers are simply rebuilt and have no functional changes. This update is recommended for all users.

As always, please read the .txt file that comes with each driver and also provided on the wiki. If you have problems with any of the drivers in this release, please read the Debugging Guide in the wiki first. If your problem cannot be resolved with the Debugging Guide, then the problem should be reported to the ticketing system.

More information about the MultiMac NIC drivers may be found in the wiki.

If you have ArcaOS, this driver package is available for download from the Arca Noae website as part of the Support & Maintenance subscription for your ArcaOS product. Please log into your account and go to the ArcaOS Download Center to access your software.

If you have an Arca Noae OS/2 & eCS Drivers and Software Subscription, this driver package is available for download from the Arca Noae website as part of your Arca Noae OS/2 & eCS Drivers and Software Subscription. Please log into your account in order to access your software.

If you are still running OS/2 and/or eComStation systems and haven’t yet purchased a software subscription, this is a great reason to do so now. It may also be a good time to consider moving up to ArcaOS.

Panorama Video Driver Package version 1.19 now available

Arca Noae is pleased to announce the immediate availability of our Panorama Video Driver Package for OS/2 and eComStation version 1.19.

This is a maintenance release containing a fix for Custom Resolution support for ATOM video BIOS with a DTD mode table. This feature is rarely used so installation of this update won’t affect most users. No normal functionality was changed.

More information about the Panorama Package may be found in the Panorama wiki.

If you have ArcaOS, this driver package is available for download from the Arca Noae website as part of the Support & Maintenance subscription for your ArcaOS product. Please log into your account and go to the ArcaOS Download Center to access your software.

If you have an Arca Noae OS/2 & eCS Drivers and Software Subscription, this driver package is available for download from the Arca Noae website as part of your Arca Noae OS/2 & eCS Drivers and Software Subscription. Please log into your account in order to access your software.

If you are still running OS/2 and/or eComStation systems and haven’t yet purchased a software subscription, this is a great reason to do so now. It may also be a good time to consider moving up to ArcaOS.