Wikipedia

ArcaOS

ArcaOSis anoperating systembased onOS/2,developed and marketed by Arca Noae, LLC under license fromIBM.[3][4]It was codenamedBlue Lionduring its development.[5]It builds on OS/2 Warp 4.52 by adding support for new hardware, fixing defects and limitations in the operating system, and by including new applications and tools,[6]and includes someLinux/Unixtool compatibility. It is targeted at professional users who need to run their OS/2 applications on new hardware, as well as personal users of OS/2.[7]

ArcaOS
ArcaOS Logo
ArcaOS 5.0.5 desktop
DeveloperArca Noae, LLC (based on code fromIBM,Microsoft,and other developers)
Written inC,C++,REXX,Java,assembly language
OS familyOS/2
Working stateCurrent
Source modelClosed sourcewithopen-sourcecomponents
Initial releaseMay 15, 2017;7 years ago(2017-05-15)[1]
Latest release5.1.0 / August 27, 2023;10 months ago(2023-08-27)[2]
Package managerANPM (based onRPMandYUM)
Platforms32-bitx86
KerneltypeHybrid kernel
Default
user interface		Workplace Shell,cmd
LicenseProprietary software
Official websitewww.arcanoae.com

Like OS/2 Warp, ArcaOS is a32-bit[8]single user,multiprocessing,[9]preemptive multitasking[10]operating system for thex86architecture.[11]It is supported on both physical hardware[12]and virtual machinehypervisors.[13]

Features

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Hardware compatibility

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ArcaOS supportssymmetric multiprocessingsystems with up to 64 processor cores, although it is recommended to disablehyperthreading.[9]As of version 5.0.8, ArcaOS isACPI6.1-compliant and includes the 20220331 release ofACPICA.[14]

While ArcaOS is a 32-bit operating system, it has limitedPAEsupport which allows it to useRAMin excess of 4GB as aRAM disk.[7]

ArcaOS supports being run as avirtual machineguest insideVirtualBox,VMware ESXi,VMWare WorkstationandMicrosoft Virtual PC.[13]

In addition to thedevice driversincluded with OS/2 Warp 4, ArcaOS includes a variety of drivers developed by Arca Noae, and various third parties:

  • Network adapters are supported either with Arca Noae's MultiMac[15]technology, which employsFreeBSDdriver code, or a selection of GenMAC[16]drivers. Support for wireless networking is somewhat limited, though MultiMac support for additional chipsets is planned for future releases of ArcaOS.[17]
  • ArcaOS replaces the 16-bit IBM OS/2 USB driver with a new 32-bit driver capable of supportingUSB 2.0andUSB 3.0controllers.[18][19]
  • Audio support utilizes the Uniaud[20]generic audio driver, now maintained by Arca Noae. Uniaud is based on theALSAframework from theLinux kernel.In addition, a selection of device-specific drivers are included with ArcaOS. A new audio driver is planned for future releases of ArcaOS, based onFreeBSDaudio drivers.[17]
  • Video support is provided by Panorama[21]generic unacceleratedVESAdriver, or SNAP[22]accelerated video driver. Features such as acceleration and multi-head are supported for a limited number of graphics chipsets. Support for these features in additional chipsets, such as theIntel HDseries, is planned.[17]
  • Storage drivers are available forIDE,AHCI,NVMeand a number ofSCSIadapters.[23][24]
  • Support for printers is provided by the eCups project, which is based on the open-sourceCommon Unix Printing System.[25]

Software

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Some of theopen source softwareincluded with ArcaOS - Firefox, Lucide, 4OS2, PMDCalc Plus

In addition to the software bundled with OS/2 Warp 4, ArcaOS includes some additional software, such as:[26][27][28]

Cross-platform compatibility

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Some of the compatibility subsystems in ArcaOS - aBashshell (bottom left),QBASICin aDOSwindow (middle), and theWindows 3.1Program Manager(top right)

ArcaOS includes a number of software components which allow it to directly run software developed for other operating systems, and to simplify the process of porting software to ArcaOS:

  • ArcaOS includes OS/2'sMVDMandWIN-OS/2,allowing ArcaOS to run 16-bitMS-DOSandWindows 3.1applications natively.[29]ArcaOS features some improvements to these subsystems which are not found in OS/2, such as the ability to access volumes greater than 2GB from Windows and DOS,[28][30]as well as supporting 16-bit Windows and DOS software on UEFI systems which do not have a traditional BIOS.[31]
  • ArcaOS includesOdin,based onWine,which provides a subset of theWin32API.[7]Odin can be used to run certain Win32 applications directly, while other applications, such as the OS/2 port ofOpenJDK,use the Odin API to simplify porting Windows software to OS/2.[32]
  • ArcaOS provides a Unix compatibility layer named kLIBC which facilitates the porting of open source Linux applications to ArcaOS.[33]A variety of Linux tools ship with ArcaOS such as theBash shelland theGNU coreutils,[34]while others are available through the ArcaOS package manager, such asGCC.[35]
  • A port ofOpenJDKis included, which allows ArcaOS to runJavaapplications which do not have platform-specific dependencies.[34]

Filesystems

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ArcaOS's defaultfilesystemisJFS,althoughHPFSis also supported for backwards compatibility.[36]ArcaOS may be installed to and booted from either filesystem.[37]

FAT12,FAT16,andFAT32are also supported using either the OS/2 kernel's ownFATdriver, or a new Arca Noae-developed FAT32IFSdriver, included in ArcaOS since version 5.0.3.[38]ArcaOS includes support foroptical discfilesystems such asISO 9660andUDF.[39]

ArcaOS supports serving and accessingCIFS/SMBshares using the open sourceSambaproject, and provides a graphical utility named ArcaMapper to manage configuration.[40]

NetDrive for OS/2 provides access to a variety of additional filesystems such asNTFSandNFSvia its ownIFSdriver.[41][42]The ArcaOS distribution includes a limited license version of NetDrive but the fully licensed version is capable of mounting a number of other local, native, and foreign file systems.[43]

Installation and updates

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The hardware configuration screen from the ArcaOS installer

ArcaOS features a new graphical installer which replaces the IBM installer used in OS/2 Warp.[44]Unlike OS/2, the ArcaOS installation process does not require a boot floppy, and instead the installer can be booted directly from optical media, or from a USB flash drive.[45]The installer also provides an update facility, which allows ArcaOS to be updated to the latest release without reinstalling the entire operating system.[46]

Installation and updates of individual software packages is provided through the Arca Noae Package Manager (ANPM), which consists of a native OS/2 graphical frontend on top ofRPMandYUM.[47]Software is provided through a mixture of freely available, and subscription only RPM repositories.[48]

Hardware requirements

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The minimum hardware requirements for ArcaOS 5.1 are as follows:[11]

Processor Intel Pentium ProorAMD K6
Memory (RAM) 256MB minimum

2GB recommended

Graphics card VGAvideo card withVBE2.0 support[49]
Storage space 2GB of available disk space
Removable media Installation requiresDVD-ROMdrive orUSB flash drive
Firmware TraditionalBIOS,UEFI,or UEFI withCSM.
Input devices PS/2orUSBkeyboard and mouse

History

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Blue Lion

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ArcaOS was formally announced on October 23, 2015, at the Warpstock 2015 event (an OS/2 user group event) under the code name "Blue Lion" by Arca Noae's Managing Member, Lewis Rosenthal.[4][5]

Some of the planned features for Blue Lion announced at the time were:[4]

  • New Symmetric multiprocessing kernel.
  • New pre-boot menu.
  • New OS installer with support for installation from USB flash drive and across a network.
  • Device drivers already produced by Arca Noae as part of their Drivers & Software Subscription.[50]
  • The latestWorkplace Shellenhancements.
  • UpdatedCUPSprint subsystem.
  • UpdatedPostScriptprinter driver pack.
  • Localization in several languages besides English.[51]

ArcaOS 5.0

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The name "ArcaOS" was first published in aTechRepublicarticle[52]on May 26, 2016, while the arcaos.com domain was registered December 20, 2015. In the same TechRepublic article, Lewis Rosenthal was quoted as saying that the first release of ArcaOS would be version 5.0, as it follows onto the last release of OS/2 Warp from IBM, which was 4.52 (also known as Merlin Convenience Pack 2, or MCP2).[53]

ArcaOS 5.0 was released May 15, 2017.[1]There were two editions released: a commercial edition, intended for enterprise use (including 12 months of upgraded/prioritized technical support), and a personal edition, targeted at non-business users (including six months of standard technical support) at a reduced price.[54]Pricing was listed as $229 per license for the commercial edition, and $129 per license for the personal edition, with $99 promotional price in effect for the first 90 days following release.

ArcaOS 5.0 was followed by a number of maintenance releases between 2017 and 2023. In addition to bug fixes and driver updates, the maintenance releases added some significant features such as USB 3.0 support, support for NVMe drives, the ability to install from a USB drive, and the update facility.[28]

ArcaOS 5.1

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Prior to the release of ArcaOS 5.0, ArcaOS 5.1 was originally planned for release in 2017 with a focus on supporting other languages including French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Dutch.[52]Following the release of ArcaOS 5.0, Arca Noae began discussing a 5.1 release in their roadmaps, along with proposed new features.[55]ArcaOS 5.1.0 was released on August 27, 2023, adding support for booting onUEFI Class 3systems, and support forGUID partition tables— allowing for disks larger than OS/2's previous 2TB size limit.[56]

Other features which have been proposed for the 5.1.x releases include:

  • Localizedreleases of ArcaOS, known as National Language Versions (NLV). Planned languages include German, Spanish, French, Italian, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Dutch.[17]This involves augmenting the localization in OS/2 Warp 4 with translations for the new software added in ArcaOS, such as the installer and XWorkplace.[57]
  • A migration facility to allow in-place migration of OS/2 Warp 4 andeComStationsystems to ArcaOS without removing the existing operating system installation first.[17]
  • Desktop searchfunctionality based on the open-sourceRecollproject.[17]
  • Replacing the monolithic IBM Selective Install utility with a number of Arca Noae-developed utilities.[58]
  • Porting a modernWebKitbased web browser to ArcaOS to replace Firefox.[59][60][58]

Release history

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ArcaOS releases
Release Date Major changes[28][61]
5.0 2017-05-15[1] First public release of ArcaOS
5.0.1 2017-07-09[62] Installer fixes and driver updates
5.0.2 2018-02-10[63] Added ability to boot from USB media
5.0.3 2018-08-19[64] Updates to software and drivers
5.0.4 2019-07-21[65] Update facility which allows ArcaOS to updated without reinstalling
5.0.5 2020-06-06[19] USB 3.0/xHCIsupport
5.0.6 2020-08-31[66] Installer fixes and updates
5.0.7 2021-12-07[67] NVMe driver
5.0.8 2023-06-01[68] Support for NVMe drives in installer and preboot environment
5.1.0 2023-08-27[2] Support for UEFI Class 3 hardware, and GPT partitions

References

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  1. ^abc"ArcaOS 5.0 release announcement".Arca Noae.2017-05-15.Retrieved2021-12-08.
  2. ^ab"ArcaOS 5.1.0 now available".arcanoae.com.2023-08-27.Retrieved2023-08-27.
  3. ^"ArcaOS 5.0 from Arca Noae is the new release of OS/2 for the 21st century".arcanoae.com.
  4. ^abcBlue Lion Announcement at Warpstock 2015
  5. ^abJames Sanders (2015-11-02)."OS/2: Blue Lion to be the next distro of the 28-year-old OS".techrepublic.com.Archived fromthe originalon 2015-11-06.Retrieved2023-09-04.
  6. ^"About ArcaOS".Retrieved2020-08-31.
  7. ^abcLunduke, Bryan (23 May 2017).""OS/2 Based ArcaOS" - Lunduke Hour - May 23, 2017 "– via YouTube.
  8. ^"Do you have plans for a 64-bit ArcaOS?".arcanoae.com.Retrieved2020-09-05.
  9. ^ab"ACPI Driver Requirements".arcanoae.com.Retrieved2020-09-06.
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  11. ^ab"System Requirements for ArcaOS 5.1".arcanoae.com.Retrieved2023-09-04.
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  13. ^ab"Virtual Machine Configuration".Retrieved2020-09-05.
  14. ^"Readme for the ACPI Driver Package".arcanoae.com.Retrieved2023-09-04.
  15. ^Arca Noae wiki: MultiMac NIC Drivers
  16. ^Project: Generic MAC Wrapper Driver (GenMac)
  17. ^abcdef"Warpstock Europe Conference 2020 - Day 2".youtube.com.2020-05-17.Retrieved2020-09-22.
  18. ^"Arca Noae progress report: USB, ArcaOS updater, multimedia".arcanoae.com.2019-10-16.Retrieved2020-09-22.
  19. ^ab"ArcaOS 5.0.5 now available".arcanoae.com.6 June 2020.Retrieved2020-09-23.
  20. ^"Arca Noae wiki: Uniaud - Audio subsystem".arcanoae.com.Retrieved2020-09-22.
  21. ^Arca Noae wiki: Panorama Video Driver
  22. ^Arca Noae wiki: Arca Noae SNAP Graphics for OS/2
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  24. ^"NVME Driver version 1.01 released".os2world.com.2021-04-14.Retrieved2021-04-16.
  25. ^"Welcome to eCups".netlabs.org.Retrieved2020-09-23.
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  33. ^"Getting to know the Unix Compatibility Subsystem (kLIBC)".arcanoae.com.Retrieved2020-09-08.
  34. ^ab"Compatibility Subsystems".Retrieved2020-09-08.
  35. ^"Lucide Building Instructions".trac.netlabs.org.Retrieved2020-09-22.
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  50. ^Shaun Nichols (2015-11-03)."Is the world ready for a bare-metal OS/2 rebirth?".The Register.Retrieved2023-09-04.
  51. ^Nick Farrell (2016-05-30)."OS/2 comes back from the dead".Fudzilla.Retrieved2023-09-04.
  52. ^abSanders, James (2016-08-31)."OS/2 resurrected: Blue Lion becomes ArcaOS, details emerge for upcoming release".TechRepublic.Retrieved2021-05-08.
  53. ^"OS/2 Timeline".os2museum.com.Retrieved2020-09-26.
  54. ^Sharwood, Simon (2017-05-19)."What is dead may never die: a new version of OS/2 just arrived".The Register.Retrieved2019-10-02.
  55. ^"ArcaOS 5.1 Roadmap"(PDF).warpstock.org.2017.Retrieved2020-11-08.
  56. ^Proven, Liam (2023-09-04)."ArcaOS 5.1 gives vintage OS/2 a UEFI facelift for the 21st century".The Register.Retrieved2023-09-04.
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  59. ^"Warpstock Europe Conference 2020".youtube.com.2020-05-17.Retrieved2020-09-09.
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  61. ^"ReadMe".arcanoae.com.Retrieved2023-09-04.
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  63. ^"ArcaOS 5.0.2 now available".arcanoae.com.11 February 2018.Retrieved2020-09-23.
  64. ^"ArcaOS 5.0.3 now available".arcanoae.com.19 August 2018.Retrieved2020-09-23.
  65. ^"ArcaOS 5.0.4 now available".arcanoae.com.21 July 2019.Retrieved2020-09-23.
  66. ^"ArcaOS 5.0.6 now available".arcanoae.com.31 August 2020.Retrieved2020-09-23.
  67. ^"ArcaOS 5.0.7 now available".arcanoae.com.2021-12-07.Retrieved2021-12-08.
  68. ^"ArcaOS 5.0.8 now available".arcanoae.com.2023-06-01.Retrieved2023-06-02.
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  • Arca Noae– website of the developer of ArcaOS
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ArcaOS&oldid=1231710782"