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Comment Re:No Netware backend? (Score 1) 197

I run my ArcaOS systems on a Novell eDirectory backbone every day. OS/2 does a great job of managing multiple protocols, so using IPX for NetWare (the NetWare Requester or OS/2 has a dependency on IPX) is just fine running alongside TCP/IP for everything else.

Speaking of networking, we have a full Heimdal Kerberos 7.7.0 port and Samba 4.10.1 for OS/2 (shipped with ArcaOS), and can authenticate against Active Directory (and one can also authenticate against eDirectory using Kerberos, assuming the proper authentication plugins are available on the Novell side).

(Novell also offered NetWare for OS/2, which ran NetWare as a non-dedicated server on an OS/2 system. This meant that the available RAM in the machine was effectively partitioned between the OS/2 side and the NetWare side. Such configurations are not very common today, however, even in shops still running NetWare, because as server hardware became less expensive, it just made more sense to dedicate a server for the NetWare side of things and keep workstations as workstations.)

Comment Re: Easy answer (Score 1) 197

...and our licensing agreement with IBM allows us to distribute the SMP kernel with ArcaOS (despite the option originally being reserved for Warp Server for eBusiness).

ArcaOS also includes a robust ACPI implementation, and work is underway to allow booting, installing, and running on EFI-based systems with no CSM. This will lead to support for GPT disk layouts, as well.

Finally, while "only" a 32-bit OS, ArcaOS includes some PAE support, which allows for the configuration of one or more RAM disks in memory above 4GiB.

Disclaimer: I am the Managing Member of Arca Noae, LLC.

Comment Re:Bring out your dead (Score 1) 145

Comments like this truly shine in their ignorance. Do you like using bottled chemical products, such as shampoo, detergent, bleach, and household cleaners? Do you like the way they are boxed in cartons of a dozen bottles when shipped to your local supermarket? Guess what the systems run which are making the plastic bottles, mixing the chemicals, creating the boxes, and boxing those filled bottles? OS/2, more than likely. Do you like having life and auto insurance? Guess what systems are most often running the computers determining what your premiums are and generating your bills? OS/2, more than likely. Do you like being able to cross a state on a toll road and whiz through the toll barriers? Guess what system is running those toll machines (yes, even the EZ-Pass systems)? OS/2, quite likely. The fact that you don't use OS/2 to play video games has no bearing on its viability as a stable workhorse across several vital segments of the US and world economy. COBOL? Yes. (Note comment about insurance sector, above - what language do you think is used for those applications? Not FORTRAN, though we have a very capable FORTRAN for OS/2, as well as recent gcc, if you want to get down to it.)

Comment Re:Did they ever fix the single input queue? (Score 1) 145

This was - and continues to be - a complete myth. There never was an SIQ problem in OS/2. Indeed, OS/2 has a single input queue. So what? The problem is software not written to properly behave and systems which were underpowered at the time. Today, issues like this rarely occur. To answer your question, not only did IBM never address this issue, neither have we, because it simply isn't an issue.

Comment Re:Kinda expensive (Score 1) 145

Hmm... Are Firefox 45ESR (soon 52ESR), SeaMonkey, Thunderbird, and OpenOffice 4.1.3 considered "limited in terms of software library?" PMView, which is an excellent image viewing and editing application is at the same code level on OS/2 as other platforms (and started life as an OS/2 application, BTW). Indeed, the pricing model for the commercial version is a good one if you have a business with a critical application which runs on OS/2 as compared to trying to migrate that to something else when the hardware is in need of replacement. The personal version provides privacy and stability. We think the price point is a good one, and judging by the number of orders we've received since the product launch, the general public seems to agree.

Comment Re:Is it worth what it costs? (Score 1) 145

Clearly, there is some gap in your understanding of NT vs OS/2 Warp. NT4 never - read that again, please - never - had USB support - at all. Instead, M$ stated that if one had a need for USB connectivity, W2K was the way forward. By comparison, Warp 4 shipped with a fully functional USB stack, voice type dictation, and speech recognition. The two were hardly on par. In fact, Warp 3 was probably more adept than NT4 (ever unplug a PS/2 keyboard or mouse from NT4 and have the system lockup dead? That *never* happened on OS/2, ever.) Worth the cost for ArcaOS? That depends. You can pay less and have your information harvested and sent to who knows whom with or without your knowledge. You can be put on an endless upgrade treadmill, forced to buy new version after new version, simply to run the same software you've always run. Or, you can switch to Linux, which is fine (hey, I'm a Novell-certified Linux engineer), and have to learn a new desktop with every single blasted release, let alone a different desktop from one Linux system to another (and don't get me started on Unity, please). Alternatively, you can invest $100 now ($130 in 83 days or so), pay a modest fee for continued updates, bug fixes, enhancements, and support, and continue to use the same applications which have worked just fine for decades, as well as current or nearly-current versions of Firefox, SeaMonkey, Thunderbird, and OpenOffice. It all depends upon how expensive you think that $100 is as compared to the other choices. Sometimes, out-of-pocket cost is less expensive than paying in other ways. ArcaOS 5.0 provides a stable operating environment, installable on modern hardware. So, for those who say, "well, I can buy OS/2 warp 4 on eBay for $15!," just try installing that on any machine built after 2006 - and without a floppy drive to boot it. ArcaOS 5.0 installs from bootable DVD, and later, we plan to offer it on bootable USB stick, as well as pre-built ovas and pre-loaded hyard dri9ves and SSDs.

Comment Re:Excessive traffic (Score 1) 145

Actually, we're on a 75Mbps synchronous fiber link, and our ordering server (running WordPress) was overwhelmed. The IP stack was not the problem, rather poor response from PHP was causing serious issues. Ultimately, we moved the Arca Noae site off onto a dedicated server (also running ArcaOS 5.0) and this has mitigated the problem (the main web server here runs close to 50 virtual hosts, and does a fairly good job of keeping up, but we were not anticipating anything like the response we've seen). (As the follow-up to your post clarified, those were 9600 baud, or bps, not Kbps. We didn't start using the "K" until 14.4Kbps modems became available.) ;-)

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