Category Archives: Arca Noae

Convenience of shutdown/poweroff in a virtual machine

At one time, shutting down an OS/2 guest under VirtualBox meant full shutdown and virtual powerdown. With recent versions of VirtualBox (5.x), however, this has not been the case.

We’ve noticed, and we’ve done some work to address this.

Did you know that Arca Noae’s ACPI driver runs just fine under these latest builds of VirtualBox? Using the ACPI driver, it is possible to configure the OS/2 (or eComStation) guest machine for complete poweroff using ACPI, just as you might configure a physical workstation.

If you’ve thought that the Arca Noae Drivers and Software subscription didn’t bring value to your virtual OS/2 experience, think again. Now is a great time to subscribe.

Dramatically improve your virtual machine’s network performance

Current VirtualBox recommendations are to use the virtual Intel network cards for guest machines and to configure for bridged networking. Until now, the only choice for OS/2 was the older, IBM-supplied, Intel E1000 driver. The result? Performance just slightly better than the default AMD PCnet-FAST III virtual adapter.

Now, however, there is a choice. Arca Noae subscribers may use the all-new MultiMac Legacy EM driver (MMLEM). This driver is a breakthrough for virtual machines running under VirtualBox, with performance measured at more than twice the throughput of the older driver.

Some comparisons from netio 1.3 across a 1Gbps unmanaged switch, from an OS/2 VM running the latest 32-bit TCP/IP stack to a 64-bit Linux server running on bare metal¹:

E1000:

TCP connection established.
Packet size  1k bytes:  15.04 MByte/s Tx,  9168.71 KByte/s Rx.
Packet size  2k bytes:  19.64 MByte/s Tx,  11.99 MByte/s Rx.
Packet size  4k bytes:  22.38 MByte/s Tx,  13.58 MByte/s Rx.
Packet size  8k bytes:  23.72 MByte/s Tx,  17.62 MByte/s Rx.
Packet size 16k bytes:  24.83 MByte/s Tx,  20.62 MByte/s Rx.
Packet size 32k bytes:  19.52 MByte/s Tx,  17.82 MByte/s Rx.
Done.

MMLEM:

TCP connection established.
Packet size  1k bytes:  13.19 MByte/s Tx,  9183.80 KByte/s Rx.
Packet size  2k bytes:  18.65 MByte/s Tx,  12.20 MByte/s Rx.
Packet size  4k bytes:  27.93 MByte/s Tx,  14.98 MByte/s Rx.
Packet size  8k bytes:  39.91 MByte/s Tx,  19.29 MByte/s Rx.
Packet size 16k bytes:  50.39 MByte/s Tx,  22.74 MByte/s Rx.
Packet size 32k bytes:  28.07 MByte/s Tx,  19.19 MByte/s Rx.
Done.

(Note that the falloff between 16 and 32k appears to be an issue within VirtualBox itself, as the same tests, when run against the host machine, actually report an improvement in throughput for the 32k packet size over the 16k one. A 32-bit Linux guest does not show this falloff.)

As you can see, peak transmit throughput, using 16k byte packets, went from 24.83MByte/s (198.64Mbps) to 50.39MByte/s (403.12Mbps). If you are transferring large files across your network to and from your OS/2 VM, this implies a possible reduction in the amount of time it takes for such transfers by more than one half².

In addition, while the above tests were run using the Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop (82540EM) virtual network card in the guest, the MMLEM driver also supports the Intel PRO/1000 T Server (82543GC) and Intel PRO/1000 MT Server (82545EM) virtual network card options available in VirtualBox 5.x, either of which may yield even better throughput (the older IBM-supplied driver does not support these server-class cards).

There are other benefits of the Arca Noae Drivers & Software subscription for virtualized users of OS/2, including full shut down and virtual power off of the VM when using Arca Noae’s ACPI PSD. So if you thought there wasn’t much value in subscribing just to run virtual machines, you might want to look again.

Guest machine running eCS 2.1, configured with 2GB RAM, Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop (82540EM) virtual network card, 32-bit TCP/IP stack, default sockets. Host machine running openSUSE LEAP 42.1 x64, 16GB RAM, single Intel 82567LF-2 onboard network adapter, and default adapter settings. NETIO target (host) machine running openSUSE 13.2 x64, 32GB RAM, dual Broadcom NetXtreme II BCM5708 onboard network adapters, in bonded active backup configuration, with default adapter settings for the physical bond slaves. Switch was Cisco SR2024 (unmanaged 10/100/1000).
Many factors contribute to overall network throughput, including protocol, aggregate traffic, CPU activity, etc. These figures are meant as a guideline and not a guaranty of performance.

Blue Lion in the news

It’s happened again… We’ve been slashdotted…

It all started when James Sanders wrote this piece in Tech Republic, which among other bits of Blue Lion news, correctly reported the official product name of Blue Lion as ArcaOS 5.0.

As was to be expected, this news took on a life of its own, and pretty soon, we were slashdotted.

Try a quick web search for “ArcaOS 5.0” and you’ll see what we mean…

Some of the comments which follow these articles can be quite humorous. Many people have fond memories of OS/2 (2.0? 3?), but have never had an opportunity to run it on modern hardware or even on a gigabit LAN, nor have they had the experience of running modern software on the platform, such as Firefox 38.8.0 ESR or Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2. (Both of these current applications have been ported and made possible on the OS/2 platform by our good friends and strategic partners, bww bitwise works, GmbH. You may find more great stuff from bitwise in our store.) For those of you who do take the time to post and respond in these venues, our heartfelt thanks for updating some of the users who seem a little out of step.

Of course, there are some great comments by well-respected people in the tech arena, like Brian Proffit and Brian J Dooley (thanks, guys).

Whatever your preferred language, enjoy the read, and be sure to add your own comments, including your more recent experience with OS/2 and the difference modern drivers and software make.

New MultiMac NIC driver package (20160530) released

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

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

New in this release:

A new MMLEM driver for Legacy Intel Pro/1000 Ethernet adapters.
All the other drivers are not changed at all. In fact, they are the same files that were distributed in the last release simply copied into this current release for convenience.

As always, please read the ReadMe.txt file that comes with each driver and is 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. Simply log in with your Arca Noae credentials, select MultiMac from the list of projects, and open a ticket.

This driver package is available for download from the Arca Noae website as part of your Arca Noae OS/2 & eCS drivers and software package subscription. Please log into your account in order to access your software.

If you haven’t yet purchased a software subscription, this is a great reason to do so now.

Who’s speaking at Warpstock Europe?

There will be plenty of information on hand at this year’s Warpstock Europe event. Here’s a sampling of what to expect from Arca Noae:

Saturday, David Azarewicz will be presenting on device driver progress and plans for the future (Blue Lion will be a milestone, but not the end of the road, by any means).

Also on Saturday, Lewis Rosenthal will be discussing what to expect in the Blue Lion package. While all of the details have not been set, we have a pretty good idea of what will be included.

Later in the afternoon, Steven Levine will pick up on Arca Noae SNAP. Learn what is coming next for this accelerated video driver.

We will return on Sunday with an update on YUM and RPM and how these technologies play an important role in Blue Lion by Lewis Rosenthal, as well as future plans for the well-received Arca Noae Package Manager.

Arca Noae’s last presentation on Sunday will be from Alex Taylor via Skype, discussing printing and fonts.

Between Arca Noae staff and the other presenters, there should be something for everyone. Arca Noae is the exclusive source for Warpstock Europe tickets. If you haven’t yet purchased your tickets, please visit our store today.

Arca Noae at Warpstock Europe 2016

Arca Noae principals David Azarewicz and Lewis Rosenthal will be on hand at this year’s Warpstock Europe event to discuss some of the great offerings from Arca Noae, including latest driver development and the upcoming Blue Lion release.

Expect more details in the coming days, and be sure to visit the event page for general information and the Arca Noae store to register and purchase your tickets.

USB driver package version 11.14 released

USB Arca Noae is pleased to announce the immediate availability of release 11.14 of our updated USB stack.

This release fixes a problem when booting from USB devices.

As always, problems encountered with this version should be reported to the ticketing system. Simply log in with your Arca Noae credentials, select USB from the list of projects, and open a ticket.

More information about the USB drivers can be found in the wiki.

If you haven’t yet purchased a software subscription, this is a great reason to do so now.

Arca Noae Package Manager: German language pack refreshed

The German language pack for Arca Noae Package Manager has been refreshed to clarify a few terms in the message file. Note that this pack does not yet include a translated help file.

Thanks to Andreas Schnellbacher and Andreas Kohl for the update.

Arca Noae Package Manager is available in English with Dutch, French, German, Italian, and Swedish language packs (more languages to be added).

This open source utility is available to everyone, free of charge, regardless whether you have an Arca Noae software subscription.

Please review the wiki for important first-time installation notes and other tips.

New MultiMac NIC driver package (20160201) released

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

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

New in this release:

A new MMBFE driver for Broadcom BCM4401 Fast Ethernet adapters.
A mew MMMSK driver for Marvell Yukon II Ethernet controllers.
The E1000B, MMAE, MMALC, MMALE, and MMRE drivers have been rebuilt to use updates to the system library, if any.
The E1000E, NVETH, R8169 are not changed at all. In fact, they are the same files that were distributed in the last release simply copied onto this current release for convenience.

As always, please read the ReadMe.txt file that comes with each driver and is
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. Simply log in with your Arca Noae credentials, select MultiMac from the list of projects, and open a ticket.

If you haven’t yet purchased a software subscription, this is a great reason to do so now.

Effect of Colorado’s Sales & Use Tax on purchases from Arca Noae

If you are a resident of Colorado, or your business is located in Colorado, a recent Tenth Circuit decision concerning the requirement for out-of-state retailers to notify you of your responsibility to report and remit use tax to the State may have caught your eye. The Court has held that this requirement is constitutional and remanded further proceedings to a lower court. (See more, here.)

While it is not Arca Noae’s position to provide any kind of tax advice, we can provide links to various Colorado Department of Revenue documents to help clarify the nature of transactions between Arca Noae and you.

FYI Sales 89 defines standardized computer software as:

Computer software, including prewritten upgrades that is not designated or developed to the specifications of a specific purchaser.
Computer software designed and developed to the specifications of a specific purchaser but then sold to another purchaser.
Software that is modified or enhanced even if such modification or enhancement is designed and developed to the specification of a purchaser.

This would generally describe software offerings provided by Arca Noae as available from our online store. Further, the above FYI states:

SALES TAX ON COMPUTER SOFTWARE ON OR AFTER JULY 1, 2012
Computer software will be subject to sales or use tax if it meets all of the following criteria:
The software is pre-packaged for repeated sale or license;
The use of the software is governed by a tear-open non-negotiable license agreement;
The software is delivered to the customer in a tangible medium. Software is not delivered to the customer in a tangible medium if it is provided through an application service provider, delivered by electronic software delivery, or transferred by load and leave software delivery.
Mandatory maintenance agreements. Charges for maintenance agreements that the retailer requires buyers to purchase as part of their purchase of taxable computer software are subject to sales tax, regardless of whether the charge for the maintenance agreement is separately stated on the customer’s invoice or maintenance contract.
Optional maintenance agreements. Charges for maintenance agreements that the buyer has the option to purchase as part of a purchase of taxable computer software are not subject to tax if the maintenance charges are separately stated on the customer’s invoice. […]

Currently, all Arca Noae software and subscription content licensing sold through our online store is delivered by electronic software delivery, only, and not on tangible media. As of this writing, Arca Noae does not ship physical goods anywhere in the world.

Further concerns should be directed toward either the Colorado Department of Revenue or your tax professional.