OS/2 Warp

[RogueSpear]

Ok, don't laugh I have a client who's climate control system is controlled by some proprietary software that run on OS/2. They're currently having some major issues and have an appointment around two months from now (how's that for response time) with the vendor to get everything fixes and reinstalled. This isn't the first time this has happened and when it does happen the thieves who sold them this substandard garbage charge around $4,000 US. That works out to around $1,000 / hour. Not bad. For a totally new system they want $65,000 US. Never going to happen. Back to topic..

What I'd like to do to avoid such a situation again is load up the OS in VMware, get them to install everything, take a snapshot, and then burn like 10 copies of it to DVDs. I have the install CD for OS/2, but as luck would it, it's not bootable. What I don't have is the set of floppies to get the install rolling. I've Googled like crazy and found some web site dedicated to OS/2 (kind of sad). They have some downloadable floppy images, but they seem to fall into two categories: a simple boot floppy with no functionality that I can find. It's the OS/2 equivalent of a A:\ prompt. Or what appears to be the proper install floppy, but just plain doesn't work. I can't even get past the first floppy.

So has anyone here ever tried this? Is it even possible?

[jago_lfn]

OS/2 doesnt play nice with vmware. I tried it couple years ago and never got it running. Search vmware's site for the info.

A Notice to OS/2 Users

At one time, an experimental release of VMware Workstation with support for OS/2 as a guest operating system was available for downloading. Many customers responded enthusiastically to the VMware technology and the freedom it gave to run OS/2 applications on Linux and Windows PCs. We greatly appreciate their efforts made in testing and reporting OS/2 experiences.

However, users of VMware software have high expectations of our products and we do not feel, given our present strategic directions and commitments, that we can support OS/2 as a guest operating system.

We have been very grateful for the interest shown by the OS/2 community in testing our experimental OS/2 release. We regret that we will not be able extend support to include OS/2, but we hope our testers can find applications for VMware technology with the other operating systems they use.

Sincerely,

The VMware Team

[markajm]

i think i read somewhere that old versions of ghost could do the HPFS file system but i you can choose to install os/2 on FAT.

just make a partition image and dump that on the dvd.

what version of os/2 were you after? i think i still have v3 warp at home... somewhere... dunno if the floppies still work

[Dels]

how about virtual pc 2004?

[RogueSpear]

This is Warp 4 if I remember correctly. This isn't looking promising according to VMware's web site.

[Scubar]

http://sites.mpc.com.br/ric/qemu/index.html

not sure if this is of any help to you. it does tell you how you can make the 3 bootable floppies for it.

http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archi.../11/350875.aspx

this tells you how to install under Virtual PC, i cant say ive ever used virtual pc but i know u can get a 30day free trial which you could possibly use to install it and create a snapshot ( providing it has that option )

Edited April 28, 2006 by ScubaSteve

[RogueSpear]

@ScubaSteve, thanks for the links. That top one will hopefully do the trick.

[jondercik]

All else fails try to migrate it with P2V it might work.

[bober]

it will run on virtual pc for windows 5.2

[CMPENG]

Hello,

Recently I've been doing some tests running OS/2 Warp 3 and OS/2 Warp 4.52 on both Virtual PC 2004 and VMware 5.5.1. Here are some of my results.

Virtual PC 2004

OS/2 Warp 3

-> Installs correctly

-> During installation reboot required to add BASEDEV=IBMIDECD.FLT to config.sys

-> Virtual PC Addons cause trap on restart after installation

-> Installed DEC 21x4 network adapter driver (Found on http://hobbes.nmsu.edu)

-> Banyan Vines client works correctly.

OS/2 Warp 4.52

-> OS installed easily, no problems visible

-> Virtual PC Addons installed and working

-> Installed DEC 21x4 network adapter driver (Found on http://hobbes.nmsu.edu)

-> Banyan vines client will not work (OS issue not Virtual PC issue)

VMware 5.5.1

OS/2 Warp 3

-> Installed

-> Used AMD PCNet 32 drivers for network support (Found on http://hobbes.nmsu.edu)

-> OS performance is EXTREMELY slowly. Could be virtual machine settings

-> During installation reboot required to add BASEDEV=IBMIDECD.FLT to config.sys

OS/2 Warp 4.52

-> Using IBM installation CD's, OS would not boot.

These are just some of the results I have achieved thus far. I plan on continue working with OS/2 Warp 3 on Virtual PC. Hope this helps,

Matthew D. King

Edited June 21, 2006 by CMPENG

[rjdohnert]

Actually under Windows 2000 the software should work as Win2k has the OS/2 subsystem that allows it to run some software. Since IBM cut mainstream support tho for OS/2 this may not be an optimal solution. eComStation is the new OS/2 flavor that still has mainstream support and I believe they will support it in an Virtual Machine environment

http://www.ecomstation.com/

I have tried Warp and eComStation on poth VPC and VMWare and it does work well.

Ok, don't laugh I have a client who's climate control system is controlled by some proprietary software that run on OS/2. They're currently having some major issues and have an appointment around two months from now (how's that for response time) with the vendor to get everything fixes and reinstalled. This isn't the first time this has happened and when it does happen the thieves who sold them this substandard garbage charge around $4,000 US. That works out to around $1,000 / hour. Not bad. For a totally new system they want $65,000 US. Never going to happen. Back to topic..

What I'd like to do to avoid such a situation again is load up the OS in VMware, get them to install everything, take a snapshot, and then burn like 10 copies of it to DVDs. I have the install CD for OS/2, but as luck would it, it's not bootable. What I don't have is the set of floppies to get the install rolling. I've Googled like crazy and found some web site dedicated to OS/2 (kind of sad). They have some downloadable floppy images, but they seem to fall into two categories: a simple boot floppy with no functionality that I can find. It's the OS/2 equivalent of a A:\ prompt. Or what appears to be the proper install floppy, but just plain doesn't work. I can't even get past the first floppy.

So has anyone here ever tried this? Is it even possible?