Category Archives: News

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

Dynamic Icons

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.

The ArcaOS Download Center is now the Download Center

In January of 2023, we introduced the ArcaOS Download Center. We have now expanded this download center to include all subscriptions and their associated downloads. As a result, the link in the left navigation area has been renamed simply Download Center.

If you are not familiar with this handy tool, as mentioned above, in the left navigation area, you should see this link. Clicking it will bring you to a consolidated listing of your ArcaOS licenses and associated downloads followed by your other subscriptions and their associated downloads. In addition, no matter which type of subscription you have, you’ll be able to see at a glance when the subscription is set to expire.

ISO Installable File System Driver Package version 1.1.3 now available

Dynamic Icons Arca 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

Arca 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.

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.

Clearing up some more upgrade confusion: Subscription downloads

It’s important to remember that when an ArcaOS 5.0 license is upgraded, the existing ArcaOS 5.0 license is converted to an ArcaOS 5.1 license. This does not create a new license for another system. If the ArcaOS 5.0 license has a Support & Maintenance subscription in effect, any remaining time is added to the ArcaOS 5.1 subscription. Several actions take place automatically on Arca Noae’s side of the transaction and other actions should take place on the customer’s side.

First, on the Arca Noae side:

The existing ArcaOS 5.0 Support & Maintenance subscription for that license is terminated as of the date of the upgrade of its associated license to ArcaOS 5.1.
With the termination of the ArcaOS 5.0 Support & Maintenance, access to associated downloads for ArcaOS 5.0 is removed If you have more than one ArcaOS 5.0 license with current support and are only upgrading one of those licenses to 5.1, the associated downloads will still be available for your other ArcaOS 5.0 licenses.
Whatever time was left on the ArcaOS 5.0 Support & Maintenance subscription is added to the included subscription for ArcaOS 5.1. So, if you recently renewed your 5.0 subscription, and it had 12 months before the next renewal, your new ArcaOS 5.1 personal license will now have 18 months of support & updates (6 months from the new ArcaOS 5.1 subscription plus the remaining 12 months from the old ArcaOS 5.0 subscription). You don’t lose anything.

On the customer side, the installation of the ArcaOS 5.0 license being upgraded should be upgraded to ArcaOS 5.1. It is a violation of our license terms to upgrade a 5.0 license to 5.1, install the 5.1 license on another system or partition, and to continue using the 5.0 installation. One license is consumed per bootable installation, regardless of the edition (personal or commercial). If that license has been upgraded, the upgraded license is only valid for the upgraded ArcaOS version. An upgrade does not create a new license for another installation.

If you would like to maintain access to ArcaOS 5.0 downloadable content, but would also like to install ArcaOS 5.1, then we invite you to purchase a new ArcaOS 5.1 license from our store or from your preferred authorized reseller. In that case, the two subscriptions will be separate, and their contents will be available in your ArcaOS Download Center as long as the respective subscription remains in force.

For more information, please refer to this FAQ item.

Upgrading to ArcaOS 5.1? Here’s how

If you’re a current ArcaOS 5.0 licensee, the upgrade to ArcaOS 5.1 is available at a discount. With a valid ArcaOS 5.0 Support & Maintenance subscription, your discount is even bigger (plus, your remaining 5.0 subscription time will be added to the included 5.1 support term).

To upgrade and download your 5.1 ISO, visit your customer portal page and select the ArcaOS Download Center link on the navigation panel to the left. Click the Upgrade to 5.1 button, and proceed to checkout.

Once you’ve completed the checkout process, your initial ArcaOS 5.1 ISO will be built in English. When other languages are available for ArcaOS 5.1, you may request any additional ISOs (free of charge, as long as your Support & Maintenance subscription remains in effect) from your ArcaOS Download Center by selecting the Build ISO again button and selecting the language you would like.

Once an ArcaOS 5.0 license has been upgraded to ArcaOS 5.1, support and updates for the 5.0 license will cease. Not all ArcaOS 5.1 associated downloads will be applicable to 5.0, and licensed updates for one version are specifically not licensed for use with the other version.

If your original ArcaOS 5.0 license order contained more than one license and you only wish to upgrade one or some of them but not all, please contact support.

See this post for a summary of pricing options for ArcaOS 5.1 upgrades.