Category Archives: News

Panorama Video Driver Package version 1.18 now available

Arca Noae is pleased to announce the immediate availability of our Panorama Video Driver Package for OS/2 and eComStation version 1.18.

This is a maintenance release containing some minor changes primarily targeting problematic and limited environments. Some of the changes include:

Some initialization errors and warnings are now visible when booting.
Mode list verification and resolution verification was added to help prevent black screens by preventing the use of unsupported resolutions.
Some of the translated help was updated.
Some installer improvements.

This package also includes the updated GRADD base subsystem which is included in all GRADD drivers. The GRADD base subsystem has an updated GRADD helper driver. This update is recommended for everyone, but it is not critical, so it can be installed at your convenience.

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 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.

USB driver package version 12.14 now available

USB Arca Noae is pleased to announce the immediate availability of release 12.14 of our USB stack.

This is a maintenance release that contains some minor fixes.

The USBCOM driver was enhanced to handle multiple devices. Support was also added for newer PL2303HXN devices.
A minor change In USBD to better handle simultaneous device initialization.
Some improvements to the XHCI driver for problems with isochronous in.

Most people will see no change in operation after installing this update. See the package readme.txt for details. This update is recommended for all users.

As usual, this release is update only. It will only update an existing installation. More information about the USB drivers can be found in the wiki.

If you have problems with any of the drivers in this release, please read the Troubleshooting Guide in the wiki first. If your problem cannot be resolved with the Troubleshooting Guide, then the problem should be reported in the ticketing system. Make sure you use the latest TestLog program if you report a problem.

NVME Driver version 1.02 now available

Arca Noae is pleased to announce the immediate availability of release 1.02 of our NVME Storage Driver.

This is a maintenance release that improves reliability by adding recovery for certain failed transactions. It also fixes some typos in output strings and adds some diagnostic capabilities. There should be no change in operation after installing this update. See the NVME wiki and the ReadMe for details. This update is recommended for all users.

If you are still running OS/2 and/or eComStation this is a great reason to consider moving up to ArcaOS.

USB driver package version 12.13 now available

USB Arca Noae is pleased to announce the immediate availability of release 12.13 of our USB stack.

This is a maintenance release that contains some minor fixes.

Several changes to USBKBD to enhance support for more types of keyboards and to assist in debugging non-working keyboards.
Several changes to USBD that correct device enumeration in certain situations and device configuration.
Enhancements to the USBCalls interface so that error codes are returned properly.
Several changes to the XHCI driver for problems with Intel processors, including those relating to Isochronous transfers.

Most people will see no change in operation after installing this update. See the package readme.txt for details. This update is recommended for all users.

As usual, this release is update only. It will only update an existing installation. More information about the USB drivers can be found in the wiki.

MultiMac NIC driver package 20220711 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. The E1000B, MMIGB, and MMLEM drivers have been updated to the latest FreeBSD sources. This adds a few new supported devices for the E1000B driver. The remaining drivers are simply rebuilt with the current system libraries to pickup changes from there. 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.

Join Us at Warpstock 2022 in Orlando

Warpstock 2022 will be live once again, November 4-6 at the Country Inn & Suites, Orlando Airport. Arca Noae staff and developers will be there with the latest ArcaOS news and how-to sessions, as well as a host of other OS/2 experts ready and willing to share their knowledge and expertise.

Register before August 1 and receive a $30 Early Bird discount on a full conference registration or $20 on a daily conference registration! Spouses/family members/guests/office mates attending sessions also receive great discounts, and non-attending guests are FREE. Students with valid student ID are welcome to attend sessions at no charge, with full benefits! (This is a great opportunity for Computer Science majors and aspiring young developers and engineers to gain some exposure to a platform which is still in use in the manufacturing, finance, and insurance sectors around the globe today.)

Major topics of discussion this year will center around ArcaOS 5.1 and new disk and installation options. As always, we welcome questions and feedback from both new and experienced users.

Cryptocurrency acceptance temporarily suspended

Pursuant to CoinPayment Inc’s recent decision to withdraw from the US market, we are temporarily unable to accept cryptocurrency for any store purchases while we evaluate a replacement platform. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause, and want to assure everyone that we are working hard to get our crypto gateway back up and running as soon as possible.

Resolving issues with GMail and OAuth 2.0 requirements

At the end of May, 2022, GMail discontinued use of standard authentication methods for POP3, IMAP, and SMTP connections. The available OAuth2 authentication mechanism in the latest SeaMonkey and Thunderbird for the OS/2 platform is unable to properly complete the authentication procedure with GMail, and will leave the application in a hung state.

There are several methods to work around this, but perhaps the easiest is simply to generate what Google calls an app password, which is, quite simply, a 16-digit passcode which gives a non-Google application or device permission to access your Google Account.

To generate the app password, follow the directions available here. Remember, that in order to do this, you must have 2-Step-Verification enabled for your account.

Once you have generated the app password, copy it to your clipboard. Open SeaMonkey Mail or Thunderbird, and access the server settings for your GMail account. Ensure that the authentication method is set for Normal password (Google will not accept encrypted passwords for this). Make the same change for the GMail SMTP server. Note that in both cases, SSL/TLS should be selected for the connection security, and specifically not STARTTLS. Close the settings dialog and attempt to access the account. You should be prompted for a new password. Paste the app password into the prompt.

To configure a second system to access the same account, simply paste (or type) the same app password. This technique should work for other mail clients, as well.

For questions, there is an informative discussion in the OS/2 World forum on this very topic.

Some thoughts on the importance of driver updates for virtual machines

Just as bare metal systems may benefit from updated drivers for their existing (or newly added) hardware, the emulation of hardware in virtual machines may change or may be better leveraged by OS/2-based guests (OS/2 Warp, eCS, or ArcaOS) by utilizing the latest drivers available from Arca Noae.

We have seen instances where virtual machines are configured with a sort of “set it and forget it” mindset on the part of the user, believing that hypervisor updates will not impact configured virtual machines. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Various hypervisors (VirtualBox, etc.) may indeed alter the emulated PC BIOS and emulated firmware for other components (networking, USB, etc.).

If your virtual machines are running ArcaOS, keeping your ArcaOS Support & Maintenance subscriptions in force and applying the latest available updates will not only keep your drivers up to date, but the ArcaOS kernel, as well. In addition, other components of ArcaOS which affect usability may also be updated through subscription downloads (ArcaOS Desktop, bundled applications, etc.).

If your virtual machines are still running OS/2 Warp 4 or eComStation, keeping your OS/2 & eCS Drivers & Software subscriptions in force will allow you to keep your drivers current, as well as any other included content. (Note that kernel updates are not included in the OS/2 & eCS Drivers & Software subscription, as the ArcaOS kernel itself is not licensed for use with any distribution other than ArcaOS. If you have a need for the advanced features provided by the ArcaOS kernel, the best upgrade path is to purchase a license for ArcaOS.)

In conclusion, simply consider that virtual machines are, from the point of view of the operating system, just computers, after all, just like their bare metal counterparts.

USB driver package version 12.12 now available

USB Arca Noae is pleased to announce the immediate availability of release 12.12 of our USB stack.

This is a maintenance release that contains some minor fixes primarily relating to USB3 support. Most people will see no change in operation after installing this update. See the package readme.txt for details. This update is recommended for all users.

As usual, this release is update only. It will only update an existing installation. More information about the USB drivers can be found in the wiki.