OS/2 Archive

The winter issue of the OS2eCS eZine has been published, with various different articles on, among other subjects, OpenDOC, Warpstock Europe and North America, Lucide, and CBIRC.

eComStation 2.0 beta 3, the new evolution of OS/2, is available to download for registered users. The new features of this beta version are available on the online readme file. Among other things, this new release includes better support for wireless chipsets and advanced power management features.

The proposed design for Voyager, which aims to become an OS/2 replacement, is now available. "Voyager is the codename for the idea of having a replacement OS/2 on top of modern technology. This idea is the result of around 1.5 years of thinking a lot about what we can do in the future as current OS/2 and eComStation users. Note that it's absolutely impossible to convey what we plan to do in a few sentences. I made a speech on it at Warpstock Europe 2005 that, by itself, took 1.5 hours so you get the point." Read the Voyager FAQ to understand what it actually is and aims to become.

Suntan Special 0.52 has been released. "Suntan Special creates a well configured workstation or server by installing a sequence of fixes, patches, drivers and applications to your OS/2 or eComStation computer. Each fix, driver or application is installed by running the setup program. If possible, the setup program is run in unattended mode, otherwise instructions are provided as needed. Suntan Special can reboot the system as needed and continue running when the reboot is complete. When you are satisfied with the sequence you have made to create the workstation or server you need, you can run it each time you need another server or workstation."

"OS/2 has many applications that had been created by companies, individual developers and hobbyists. Many of these applications still works under the newest version of eComStation and have demonstrated a good quality. The only issue is that they are turning into abandonware since developers had switched to other platforms, but there is a chance to extend their life with the 'Open Source Long Live Elixir'. Here at OS2World.com we will like to make a call to OS/2-eCS developers and ex-developers to open source their creations. We believe that the software can be expanded for the benefit of the community and allowing a learning experience from the code of these applications."

The third issue of the quarterly OS2eCS eZine has been released. In this issue: covering the updated JFS/LVM and Lucide; writing NetRexx programs using Java Swing; using the AMD Geode CPU to run OS/2 and eComStation; using a D-Link DFE-690TXD Fast Ethernet cardbus card with eComStation; and more.

Serenity Systems has released beta 2 of eComStation 2.0. Improvements include, but are not limited to: ACPI which now works better; SNAP Graphics boots directly from the CD; support for JFS booting; Firefox/Thunderbird replaced Mozilla; Cairo has been added; and much more. eComStation betas are available to registred customers.

"Introduced in 2007 , aerolitheOS will be our successor PC operating system for OS/2 Warp and thus a new alternative for users who have intentions to change their current platform. Our operating system is a full 32-bit protected mode OS that is binary and API compatible with OS/2 Warp. The OS will be used on our Aérolithe PC systems, even if its use is not restricted to these machines. It is extreme compact and reliable and ideally suited for embedded applications. Additionally, it is designed to be highly adaptable so that it fits the requirements of desktop and network computing." Scepticism abound, though.

"Serenity Systems International is pleased to announce the publicly available beta of eComStation 1.2R German. The eComStation 1.2 Media Refresh resolves known issues and provides the latest codebase. This version does not significantly change functionality. This release includes fixes to many reported problems, as well as significant enhancements migration and installation."

Serenity Systems has released a German version of their eComStation live-CD. This is the third language supported; a Dutch and English version already were released. In addition, an update to their beta program for eCs 2.0 has also been released, just a day after they announced the opening of the beta program.

The VOICE newsletter for OS/2 and eComStation has returned. The January issue can be found here, and it contains articles on NVU, DFSee, a report on WarpStock Europe 2005, and much more. "Finally! Some may have thought that the newsletter had gone the way of all flesh. Indeed, the revision has taken a while and we skipped some issues. This step was neccessary to be able to focus on our work, or it would have taken even longer. At this point, I would like to thank all the persons involved, especially Holger Manthey for many ideas, creating images, and his patience."

"Welcome to the very first issue of OS2eCS eZine! It has been awhile since the OS/2 community has had an online magazine or newsletter published. The last OS2eZine was published in December 2004 and the last VOICE Newsletter was August 2005! So we here at the OS2eCS Organization decided it was time to get the ball rolling again!" In this first issue articles on WarpVision, eSchemes, and more.

eComStation 2.0 beta 1 is available for eCS Software Subscribers. The most significant updates on this beta version are: SNAP/ENT, the special licensed version of SNAP by Serenity is in there, we boot SNAP directly from CD-ROM; bootable JFS, this version is able to install on bootable JFS volumes; ACPI, this version installs and detects ACPI.

The osFree project has published its first screenshot. "osFree is an open source free (non-commercial) software development project. Goals of the projects are to replace all (or most) of OS/2's subsystems with open-source analogues. The base compatibility system is OS/2 Warp 4 (Merlin), but that doesn't mean we won't be supporting features of newer versions of OS/2 like OS/2 WarpServer for e-business and eComStation by Serenity Systems."