Software packages included as part of an ArcaOS Support & Maintenance subscription are generally accessible from the ArcaOS Download Center. To access the ArcaOS Download Center:
- Visit your customer portal on the main Arca Noae website. If not logged in, you may do so when accessing the above link.
- From the navigation links on the left, select ArcaOS Download Center to view the list of your ArcaOS licenses and associated downloads.
Software packages included as part of the OS/2 & eCS Drivers & Software subscription content are generally accessible from the order details page for the active subscription. To access the order details page:
- Visit your customer portal on the main Arca Noae website. If not logged in, you may do so when accessing the above link.
- From the navigation links on the left, select Orders & Subscriptions to view the list of your orders.
- Select the order containing your original subscription order (a renewal order will include a link to take you to the original order, identified as: Access associated downloads here).
- Click the View button for the selected order to access the order details page.
Once on the order details page, your subscription packages will be available for download by clicking on each link.
Some other subscription content will be made available in our subscription YUM repository. This is an authenticated repository which may be added to your YUM configuration or to Arca Noae Package Manager. You will need your Arca Noae credentials handy when adding the repository to your configuration. See this wiki page for more information and refer to Arca Noae Package Manager‘s online help for guidance in adding the subscription repository to your configuration.
The Arca noae is literally the Noah’s Ark shell (a bivalve mollusc, found in the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas). More on the Arca noae may be found on Wikipedia.
There are very few native OS/2 viruses in the wild (likely under ten), and these date back to the early days of malicious code (the late 1980’s and early 1990’s). Antivirus products for OS/2, while available, are generally of greatest value in scanning email attachments to be sent to other people using different, more vulnerable operating systems, so that these infected files are not passed along.
Yes! OS/2 is still being used, despite being around for nearly 30 years. A large number of enterprises rely on OS/2-based software to keep their businesses running. However, you hardly ever hear about these systems because they are usually placed in server rooms, quietly chugging along, or perhaps running robotic machinery, or even dutifully handing out cash at thousands of ATMs.
There is also a considerable group of individual users who use the system on a daily basis for business and enjoyment.
Arca Noae, LLC was founded in 2014 because these enterprises and users still require ongoing support, and because the people involved in Arca Noae believe in the continued viability of the platform.
eComStation (eCS), is an OEM version of OS/2, first developed by Serenity Systems International (USA) and later by Mensys B.V. (Netherlands). In essence, it is an upgrade to OS/2 with support for newer hardware and contains many additional software packages. The last generally available version of eCS was 2.1, released in 2011.
OS/2 is an operating system created by IBM in the mid-1980’s as a replacement for MS-DOS. Initially, it was jointly developed with Microsoft, but after 1990, the companies each went their separate ways. Despite the success of Microsoft Windows, OS/2 was widely deployed by users and companies alike.
Blue Lion is the codename for Arca Noae’s upcoming release of our OS/2-based operating system, ArcaOS 5.0. Blue Lion is based on the last version of OS/2 Warp 4 (Warp 4.52, Merlin Convenience Package 2, or MCP2) released by IBM.
On top of this, Arca Noae adds symmetrical multiprocessing support (SMP), an updated and enhanced kernel, our suite of updated drivers and software which is available in our subscription service, various fixes and enhancements to the operating system, a Samba 4 networking client, Kerberos authentication capability, our SNAP accelerated video driver, new user apps, and much more.
Blue Lion will allow personal users, small businesses, and small, medium and large enterprises to retain the OS/2 infrastructure they already have, while replacing their older hardware with current machines. In addition, Blue Lion will also be quite at home running in a virtual machine under a variety of hypervisors, for those environments where virtualization is either a better fit than bare metal or where OS/2 has already been virtualized.