Tag Archives: company

Couldn’t make it to Warpstock 2024 in Pittsburgh? Stream it live!

Warpstock 2024 begins this Friday, September 27, at 9am EDT.

Lewis Rosenthal and Alex Taylor will be among those presenting this year on a variety of topics of interest concerning ArcaOS. In addition, Lewis will be moderating a 2-part roundtable discussion focused on how people are using the OS/2 platform today, and how they see themselves using it in the future. For more details and for info on all sessions, please visit the event sessions page, and for the complete schedule, visit the event calendar.

Questions may be posed via YouTube Chat as well as IRC during the event.

The WarpEvents YouTube channel is the place to watch the event stream.

The URL for the #Warpstock IRC channel is: ircs://irc.libera.chat:6697/Warpstock (TLS encrypted),
or irc://irc.libera.chat/Warpstock (plain text), or https://web.libera.chat/ (web interface, type #Warpstock into the Channel field).

While visiting the Warpstock website, please consider donating. Warpstock Corporation is a recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization promoting education, information, and social opportunities to those persons interested in computer operating systems and related software.

Arca Noae turns 10

Very quietly on July 28, Arca Noae, LLC marked its tenth year since its founding in 2014. On this occasion, we at Arca Noae would just like to take a moment to thank our valued customers, clients, and fans for their business, continued dedication to the OS/2 platform, and for their love of ArcaOS, from the warm reception we received at our humble beginnings to the overwhelming excitement at the initial release of ArcaOS Blue Lion nearly three years later, in 2017, and right up through our current versions and updates.

Last year, we released ArcaOS 5.1, which has been a major milestone in OS/2 history, as the first version capable of installing and booting on modern UEFI-based systems without the aid of a Compatibility Support Module (CSM), and the first version to be able to utilize GPT partitioned storage devices.

Today, we stand on the cusp of delivering ArcaOS 5.1.1, which promises to be the first ArcaOS version available in languages other than English, and is slated to include many fixes and enhancements to the installation process for 5.1.

Our continuing mission is to provide support for modern hardware on the OS/2 platform, to make ArcaOS easier to use and more functional for daily computing needs for home users, small-medium sized businesses, and enterprise customers. In that, we see no end in sight.

Thanks for traveling with us on our journey.

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

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.

Pricing for ArcaOS 5.1

Arca Noae is pleased to announce the pricing schedule for the upcoming ArcaOS 5.1 release.

New licenses for ArcaOS 5.1:

Personal edition: $139.00 (includes 6 months of Support & Maintenance)
Commercial edition: $249.00 (includes one year of Support & Maintenance).

Discounted upgrade pricing will be available for all customers with a valid ArcaOS 5.0 license. However, the best upgrade pricing will be available for customers who have an active Support & Maintenance subscription (S&MS) in place. Also, you won’t lose any remaining time on your old subscription—any remaining time will be added to your new ArcaOS 5.1 subscription.

Upgrade to ArcaOS 5.1 for customers with active Support & Maintenance:

Personal edition upgrade: $59.00
Commercial edition upgrade: $109.00

As mentioned above, any remaining time on the ArcaOS 5.0 subscription will be added to the included Support & Maintenance for the selected ArcaOS 5.1 product edition.

Upgrade to ArcaOS 5.1 (for customers without active Support & Maintenance):

Personal edition upgrade: $89.00
Commercial edition upgrade: $189.00

These include the standard Support & Maintenance subscription term as provided with new licenses: 6 months for the personal edition, and one year for the commercial edition.

In all cases, volume discounts for aggregate commercial purchases or upgrades of 25 licenses or more will apply.

The subscription channel for ArcaOS 5.1 will be separate from the channel for ArcaOS 5.0. This means that 5.0 Support & Maintenance ends when that license has been upgraded to 5.1, and 5.1 Support & Maintenance will have some different content specific to ArcaOS 5.1 (features which are reserved for ArcaOS 5.1 and not available for ArcaOS 5.0).

Support & Maintenance renewals for ArcaOS 5.1 will be:

Personal edition Support & Maintenance: $70 ($63 early renewal; $87 late)
Commercial edition Support & Maintenance: $125 ($112.50 early renewal; $187 late)

As always, the best practice is to renew early. This cannot be stressed enough when upgrading to ArcaOS 5.1, as any remaining time on the ArcaOS 5.0 Support & Maintenance subscription will be added to the subscription included with the selected ArcaOS 5.1 product edition.

Missing a recent renewal reminder?

In case you have recently received a notice advising you of your subscription expiration, and yet you did not receive a previous renewal reminder, please contact Customer Service. It is entirely possible that your reminder email either did not go out or was lost. We’re here to help and will correct your renewal pricing as necessary.

I want ArcaOS 5.1!

TO CLARIFY: ArcaOS 5.1 HAS NOT YET BEEN RELEASED. Please read this post all the way to the end to get all information.

ArcaOS 5.1 is complete and waiting for release. The holdup is really related to our distribution system, which is based on the WooCommerce platform.

Until we can produce multiple versions of ArcaOS ISOs, in multiple languages, WE MUST HOLD UP THE ArcaOS 5.1 RELEASE.

While WooCommerce is a capable ecommerce solution, Arca Noae’s requirements to be able to allow ordering of a personalized ISO have now become considerably more complicated than they were for the 5.0 release in 2017. Instead of only spinning the same ISO with personalization data for each customer, we now must continue to have 5.0 ISOs available, and offer 5.1 ISOs in several languages. In addition, instead of maintaining one subscription channel for ArcaOS, we now must maintain two separate channels, one for 5.0 and one for 5.1. Upgraders will also need to change subscription channels when they upgrade ArcaOS. This work has proven more complicated than we had anticipated.

In the meantime, we have taken steps to upgrade our infrastructure to expand our capacity to build and warehouse more ISOs, and we are now at a point where the missing pieces of the puzzle are just the software enhancements for the website to bring everything together.

We have always avoided stating narrow windows for anticipated delivery dates, and take great efforts to avoid the appearance of vaporware. ArcaOS 5.1 is real, and it is coming…soon.

In the interim (and after the release of ArcaOS 5.1), ArcaOS 5.0 will continue to receive critical updates and support, and from time to time, we may even release new bugfix ISOs for ArcaOS 5.0 (generally when an update impacts the installation experience).

It is also important to note that not all languages for ArcaOS 5.1 will be made available when English is released, nor will all non-English languages be released at the same time. Translations of German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, and others are in varying states of completion. As we deem a certain language ready for release, we will make it available.

We appreciate everyone’s continued patience. We want to bring you ArcaOS 5.1 as much as you want it!

Temporary workaround for PDF invoice/receipt

Update 2023-03-06: Selecting the Invoice button will currently generate an HTML version of the invoice without having to modify the URL.

Original post:

We are aware of an issue impacting our ability to generate PDF invoices (receipts) for new purchases, and working to resolve the problem. In the interim, it should be possible to generate an HTML invoice, and then use your browser’s print or save capability to either print a hard copy or save the HTML version to disk.

To generate the HTML version of the invoice, after receiving the error message or blank page when requesting the PDF invoice, simply append the following to the URL in the browser:

&output=html

and press <Enter>. The invoice should render in the browser window like any other page.

We appreciate your continued patience while we investigate the matter more fully and address the problem.

Beware of used ArcaOS licenses offered for sale

Happy New Year!

Recently, we’ve become aware of several ArcaOS licenses being offered for sale on various platforms. This post is a reminder to check the validity of any used license before paying for it.

All ArcaOS licenses are generated by Arca Noae. If you order through one of our authorized resellers, that reseller places an order for your software with us, and we provide the custom ISO for you, registered to an account in your name.

While it is entirely permissible to transfer a license (see paragraph 9 of the ArcaOS End User License Agreement ), such a transfer must include a hard copy of the license and proof of entitlement. Proof of entitlement means some documentation to prove that the company or individual transferring the license does indeed have the right to do so (it must indeed be registered to that company or individual).

Upon transfer, the transferor must notify Arca Noae of the transfer and provide contact information for the transferee. Without this, it will not be possible to renew support for that ArcaOS license – including a late renewal.

It is worth noting also that only the ArcaOS license is transferable. Support is not. Thus, when an unsuspecting user purchases an existing ArcaOS license and he or she wants to access related downloads for updates or even request an updated ISO, a new ArcaOS Support & Maintenance subscription will be required. The cost of the used license plus new support may be far more than a new license with included support and the ability to renew that support at a discount.

If you are considering the purchase of a used ArcaOS license, be sure to ask for a copy of the registrant’s name, email address, and serial number, and contact us first so that we may be able to determine whether the license is, in fact, legitimate. If it’s not, it will not be valid for purchasing a Support & Maintenance subscription, so technical support, updates, discounted upgrades, and bug fixes will never be available.

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.