OS/2 Archive

Warpstock 2003 in San Francisco, taking place the weekend of October 18th, will host an important presentation previewing the newly announced support for OpenOffice.org on OS/2 and eCS. More info.

OS/2 Servers have been a stable and powerful platform more many years and are depended upon by many businesses. This is especially true in the banking industry where OS/2 Servers are trusted to run the software that supports the branch office environment. However, as the industry looks to renew its branch office operations, many banks are looking to make a transition from there OS/2 Servers to a platform with wider industry support.

During development of eCS 1.1 operating system defined standards was used. The eCS DevGroup published the eCS File and Directory Standard (eFDS) so you can test your own software product to compliance of operating system standards and release updated version if needed.

IBM is pushing Linux as the upgrade path for current users of IBM's venerable OS/2, but most customers of OS/2 computing, especially branch banking, are looking towards a Windows migration.

IBM updated the Java Development Kit (javaintk) and the Run Time (javainrt) files which are distributed through Software Choice for OS2. These files are now available on the eComStation site. Two drivers were also updated, the SciTech SNAP SE 2.1.5, to include support for ATI Radeon 9000 Pro and the NVidia GeForce4 MX440 8X, and the OS/2 Gigabit Ethernet Fiber Adapter Driver, which provides support for select Intel PRO/1000 Fiber Ethernet controllers (82542 / 82543GC / 82544EI). Additionally, Serenity Systems announced the release of the eComStation 1.1 German Beta CD1. It is accesible for those who are registered Upgrade Protection customers.

IBM released an updated USB Basic Device Support Package provides the basic OS/2 & eComStation support required for devices that meets the USB 1.0 OHCI, USB 1.1 UHCI, or USB 2.0 EHCI specs.

eComStation 1.1 is finally available for purchase one and a half years after the release of eCS 1.0. What's new in this release and is it really worth $200? Read on to find out.

The OS/2-eZine site features a mini-review of eComStation's 1.1 golden master copy. OSNews has in its hands an... even newer build, and we will be featuring a review soon too.

A volunteer group of OS/2 developers has announced REXX/OS, a successor to the OS/2 OS based entirely on the interpreted REXX language that so many considered one of OS/2's best features...

At $200US the new version of eComStation, 1.1, is available for purchase. No news yet about new features as the press release is not up yet to the newly redesigned eComStation web site. Additionally, OS/2World.com published a recap of last year's OS/2 activities and happenings in an editorial. Our Take: Any idea why the SMP version of eCS 1.1 is cheaper than the non-SMP version? Anyone?

eComStation OS/2 1.1-RC1 R5 is now available for subscribers and selected beta testers to be downloaded from the site's ftp server. There is at least one more RC to be expected before final release.

eCS 1.1-RC1 was released as an ISO to all who have pre-ordered version 1.1 of OS/2 eComStation. The company behind eCS, Serenity Systems, are now focusing on pushing it to GA status.

Chris writes: "According to this press release, SciTech software is effectively taking over all OS/2 graphics driver development, validation, and support for Intel integrated graphics chipsets from Intel as of January 1, 2003. Given that OS/2 isn't really "dead" (as some have claimed), this is a substantial fillip for SciTech."

Another OS/2 article, this time from John C. Dvorak: "Born April, 1987. Died Dec. 10, 2002. Cause of death: neglect. Place of death: Armonk, New York. Next of kin: none. Attending funeral: nobody. Official announcement appeared on IBM Website."