Tag Archives: gpt

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.

ArcaOS 5.1.0 now available

After years in development, Arca Noae is pleased to announce the general availability of ArcaOS 5.1.0.

In a first for any OS/2-based distribution, ArcaOS 5.1 supports installation on the latest generation of UEFI-based systems, and includes the ability to install to GPT-based disk layouts. This enables ArcaOS 5.1 to install on a wide array of modern hardware.

ArcaOS 5.1.0 can be used for new installs or to upgrade any prior version of ArcaOS 5. If installing from USB stick, the USB install stick may be created using any major operating system at hand (Windows, Linux, MacOS, and of course, OS/2, eComStation, and ArcaOS). Once built, the USB stick can be inserted into any USB port in the target system to boot into the ArcaOS installer/updater in either UEFI or traditional BIOS mode (alternatively, the DVD image may be burned to physical media and also booted to either UEFI or traditional BIOS systems).

For a complete list of updates in this release, see the ArcaOS wiki. Be sure to review the README.TXT, as well, as this contains critical information to ensure that you get up and running fast, and includes tips for getting things adjusted right away.

This upgrade is available at a steep discount with your valid ArcaOS 5.0 Support & Maintenance subscription (and your remaining subscription time will be added to the included support term). To download your fresh ISO, simply visit your customer portal page and select the ArcaOS Download Center link on the navigation panel to the left. From there, click the “Upgrade to 5.1” button, and proceed to checkout.

If your ArcaOS 5.0 Support & Maintenance subscription has already expired, you may still upgrade at less than the cost of a new ArcaOS 5.1 license. Follow the procedure above to order your upgrade, and the discount will be reflected in your cart.

ArcaOS 5.1.0 is available in English ONLY, with other languages planned to follow in the near future.

GPT usability in ArcaOS 5.1.0

In our last post we discussed that the upcoming ArcaOS 5.1.0 release will be able to make use of laptops and desktops that only support booting in so-called UEFI mode.

When booting ArcaOS in UEFI mode, the disk partitioning scheme may use the traditional Master Boot Record (MBR) or the newer GUID Partition Table (GPT). Although MBR has been extended to support disks up to 2TB, with ever-growing disk sizes, this may be too limiting for devices which could otherwise support handling more data than this. Also, if installing to a disk which is already configured using GPT, releases of ArcaOS prior to 5.1.0 require a full wipe and repartition of the disk. This inconvenience should no longer be an issue in ArcaOS 5.1.

Thus, ArcaOS 5.1.0 will be able to utilize GPT disk layouts with the following benefits:

Support for hard disks and solid state drives larger than 2TB attached to AHCI or NVMe storage controllers.
On systems equipped with a single drive and Windows pre-installed using a GPT layout, there should be no need to wipe and repartition, as long as there is room for ArcaOS to create at least one partition for itself.
GPT eliminates many of the LVM issues you may have encountered in the past when preparing a disk to install ArcaOS next to other operating systems, such as Linux and Windows because ArcaOS will use the same LBA partition alignment method (for GPT disk layouts) as these other operating systems.

GPT usage has been integrated into the ArcaOS installation partitioning tool (Logical Volume Manager), giving you a seamless experience while installing and maintaining ArcaOS.

Of course, ArcaOS 5.1.0. will continue to support your existing hard disks that have been partitioned using an MBR disk layout, too. In fact, a mix of GPT and MBR disks is also possible, and you will also be able to install ArcaOS in a UEFI environment on an MBR disk (GPT is completely optional, and never a requirement).

It is also important to remember that while ArcaOS 5.1.0 will support hard disks and SSDs larger than 2TB, OS/2 filesystems are currently limited to 2TB per partition. Thus, in order to fully utilize, say, a 12TB device for ArcaOS, you would need to partition this into multiple volumes, each no more than 2TB in size. (Also, for volumes in excess of 64GB, you must select JFS as the filesystem.)

Arca Noae announces GUID for OS/2 Type 1 GPT partitions

In our last post concerning GPT in ArcaOS, we discussed the first phase of support and how our specification allows for multiple partitions up to 2TB in size. As every GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) partition type requires a GUID, we have set:

90B6FF38-B98F-4358-A21F-48F35B4A8AD3

as the GUID for OS/2 Type 1 partitions.

Any GPT partition using this GUID should ultimately be recognizable by any GPT-aware operating system as belonging to ArcaOS.

Although this is now just a simple proclamation, it is, in point of fact, a major advancement for the platform, and sets the stage for our initial GPT support, currently planned for release with ArcaOS 5.1 in 2021.

Arca Noae makes no guaranty as to availability of GPT support for ArcaOS 5.1. When available, GPT support will be an ArcaOS feature only, with no plans to make the technology available for other OS/2 distributions.

Don’t have ArcaOS yet? Now is a great time to pick up a license or two and replace those aging Warp 4 or eComStation installations and get to know what’s new and improved. If you’ve never run OS/2 before, you’ll be amazed. If you last used OS/2 in the 1990’s, you’ll be even more amazed. ArcaOS runs the vast majority of existing OS/2 Warp 4 software, because it really is OS/2 – just better. ArcaOS supports more modern hardware than any other OS/2 distribution available today, making hardware upgrades much easier than ever before. An ArcaOS 5.0 license now means steep discounts on future upgrades, including 5.1.

Arca Noae’s plan for supporting GPT disk layouts in ArcaOS

Through the release of ArcaOS 5.0.6, all OS/2 distributions have only supported MBR (Master Boot Record) partitioning schemes, that is, up to four partitions on a disk, with the possibility of creating multiple logical volumes in one extended partition. This partitioning scheme is also limited to a maximum of 2TB per disk.

The GPT (GUID Partition Table) breaks out of these restrictions by supporting an almost unlimited number of partitions (without the need for logical volumes) and disks exceeding 2TB.

Supporting GPT is another major step for multiboot configurations where the disk has already been partitioned using this style, which will allow ArcaOS to install alongside other GPT-aware operating systems (Windows 10, modern Linux distros, etc.), without the need to install a second MBR-partitioned disk or to wipe, re-partition, and reformat all volumes on the existing disk.

Arca Noae’s approach to supporting GPT will be multi-phased, with the first phase of development currently underway and anticipated for release with ArcaOS 5.1. The design specification of our initial GPT support is to allow for partitions up to the current 2TB maximum size, with multiple partitions of this size possible on disks larger than 2TB. Our specification further provides that ArcaOS be able to create, delete, and modify GPT partitions which are identified by their GUIDs as being “OS/2-type” partitions, and lastly, that GPT support be available for both traditional BIOS (for data volumes) and UEFI-based systems (for boot and data volumes).

Arca Noae progress report: ArcaOS on UEFI-only hardware

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is gradually replacing the traditional system BIOS. The vast majority of PCs on the market are now based on UEFI technology, and a number of these include what is called a Compatibility Support Module (CSM). This CSM “layer” replaces the traditional BIOS and provides backward-compatibility support for booting operating systems such as DOS, OS/2, and, of course, ArcaOS. (This is typically listed as “Compatibility”, or “Legacy” boot in the system setup menu of UEFI-based PCs.)

PC manufacturers and Intel specifically have stated publicly that they intend to phase out inclusion of a CSM layer in the next few years (in the case of Intel, beginning in 2020), leaving UEFI as the only boot option, eliminating the “Compatibility” selection. To prepare for this, Arca Noae has been exploring ways to boot ArcaOS on systems lacking a manufacturer-supplied CSM. We are pleased to announce that over the last several months our development team has made significant progress in achieving that goal.

In the lab, we are now able to boot ArcaOS all the way to a desktop on a system configured to boot in UEFI mode. All necessary drivers load, with all CPU cores running, and ArcaOS properly switches to graphics mode. The importance of this accomplishment cannot be overstated. To our knowledge, this is the first time ArcaOS has ever booted without the presence of an active CSM.

Having said that, this project is still in its research stage and not yet ready for release to our beta testers. Native UEFI support requires changes to the low level disk and video subsystems, and this work is ongoing.

We remain cautiously optimistic that we will complete our Proof of Concept successfully and will have a UEFI solution for a future ArcaOS version.

Oh, and Arca Noae has been an Adopting member of the UEFI Forum since 2015.