OS/2 isn't dead: ArcaOS update brings the 1980s-era OS to modern UEFI PCs

7 months ago by Alphane Moon to c/retrocomputing

A quarter of a century after IBM released the last official version of OS/2, someone is still keeping the platform alive under the ArcaOS name. Arca Noae...

Draegur 13 points 7 months ago

Microslop: *messily committing public suicide*
Literally every other OS: "MY DAY HAS COME!"

And I'm not even saying that as a criticism; there has literally never been a better time to make a move in DECADES.

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hanrahan 9 points 7 months ago

loooong time since i used OS2, thought it would go somewhere, but then I thought the Amiga would and I liked BeOS

wtf would I know :)

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MelodiousFunk 4 points 7 months ago

I liked BeOS

I never had the chance to use it but those tabbed title bars were slick.

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MolochHorridus 9 points 7 months ago

Try Haiku.

https://www.haiku-os.org/

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jimmy90 3 points 7 months ago

now you use nixos correct?

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MolochHorridus 9 points 7 months ago

Too bad their business model is totally whack for personal use.

One time purchase of $139 for 6 months of “support and maintenance” and then $49 a year for driver updates and such.

It’s like they don’t want individuals using it. I’d imagine anyone who would be willing to pay that would be a commercial user with some old software that ArcaOS technically supports. Then it might be worth the price to be able to run said software with newer hardware.

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elucubra 8 points 7 months ago

They probably don't want personal users. I remember seeing, not long ago, an OS/2 error screen in an older, but not ancient, ATM. I imagine there are other industrial/commercial machines still running it, and the technical support must be rather straightforward.

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vacuumflower 5 points 7 months ago

1980s?

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ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace 4 points 7 months ago

80's? I thought it came out around the same time as windowed 95. Or am I thinking of OS/2 Warp?

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Endymion_Mallorn 3 points 7 months ago

Now if only the company was willing to make the licensing terms a little friendlier for individual use, or even create an open-core version. We have 9Front and Haiku (and ReactOS), why can't we have a FOSS OS/2?

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