The following are presented in no particular order, and may eventually be migrated to separate pages. In such an event, the content here will link to any new pages to help maintain the consistency and functionality of any bookmarks.
On this page
Things to Update First
In general, this section applies to updates as well as new installations, and items are presented in the order in which they should be considered.
Subscription component updates
Unless installing or updating immediately upon the release of a new ArcaOS version, there may be component updates available which are newer than those installed from the distribution ISO. Log into your Arca Noae account and access your order details page to see if any associated downloads are marked NEW or UPDATED. This indicates that these are newer than the latest ISO content. Download these and install them (unless specified in the component documentation, installation order is generally not important).
eCo Software Runtime packages
You should check for updates to these packages, which we provide as a convenience, here. To determine which version you have installed with ArcaOS, launch WarpIN from its folder under Install/Remove in the System Setup folder. Scroll down the Application column in the Packages list and look for Runtime (eCo Software is the vendor). Compare the installed version number with the version available from the page linked above, and update as necessary. These packages impact various components which may be installed and active on the system, including the File Open Container (FOC), Archive Tool, DVD Tools, and so forth.
Arca Noae Package Manager
Be sure to download the latest available Arca Noae Package Manager (ANPM) here. Do this before running ANPM for the first time. While visiting that page, download any language packs you may need. Start the ANPM update by running the downloaded self-extracting installer. If the version matches what is already on the system, there is no need to install the downloaded version again, though you may wish to add one or more language packs at this time.
RPM-packaged updates
Update these components with care. The versions shipped with each ArcaOS release have been carefully tested to to work together and to function with other ArcaOS components. Use ANPM to check for updates, and review the listed packages to make sure the updates are really needed before blindly applying them. Unlike driver updates, most of these components should not affect the booting and basic function of the system (heat, display, disk access, connectivity, etc.). Instead they may affect various software components (web browser, CUPS printing, PDF viewing, etc.), and you should check to make sure these components still work after applying an update. In general, these updates should not be considered critical.
Unless selecting the option in ANPM to update all installed packages, it may be advisable to first select updates which impact the installation of other components (unzip, bzip2, curl, etc.).
TestLog
TestLog is an essential tool for reporting error conditions to Arca Noae. Because this tool is updated frequently, there is a very high probability that the version included with any given ArcaOS distribution is outdated. If you are experiencing a problem after an installation or update, please be sure to download the latest TestLog before opening a ticket (see item 8 under Opening a ticket on the Reporting Problems – Best Practices wiki page).
To get the latest TestLog, follow the directions on this wiki page under the heading, Producing a TestLog log file.
Mouse and Pointing Device Issues
Recommended Mouse Driver for ThinkPads
Although AMouse (Advanced Mouse Driver) is the recommended mouse driver for all systems, some people don’t like the way it operates the built in TrackPoint (pointing stick) device on Thinkpads. If you are one of these people then you can use the old IBM Single Mouse driver (MOUSE.SYS) instead. The old IBM Single Mouse driver also has specific configuration pages for TrackPoint and TrackPad devices when recognized (pre-T440/T540-generation, generally). There are no issues with AMouse and the TrackPad (touch pad) device on Thinkpads, only the built-in TrackPoint device.
To switch to the old IBM Single Mouse driver (MOUSE.SYS) if you already have AMouse installed, simply uninstall AMouse using the uninstall instructions on the AMouse wiki page. The old IBM Single Mouse driver (MOUSE.SYS) itself is already present on the system.
Network Adapter Issues
It may be necessary to add a new driver to those installed with ArcaOS in order to support current or changed hardware. To do this, open Network Adapters and Protocols in the System Setup | Network folder. To change an existing driver, select it, and right-click. From the context menu, select Change driver…, and in the Select Adapter dialog, click the Other Adapter… button to browse to the location of the driver to be added. Select the .NIF for the new driver and click OK. Select the newly added driver and click OK. Finally, exit Network Adapters and Protocols, saving your changes, and reboot to use the newly added driver.
For GenMac drivers where GenMac has not already been installed, see this sub-wiki.
Generally, for updated MultiMac drivers, the MultiMac WarpIN installer will simply update the already-installed driver (or add the selected driver, if not previously installed). If the driver is new, it should appear in the Select Adapter dialog in Network Adapters and Protocols after running the WarpIN installer.
Audio Adapter Issues
By default, when an audio device is detected, Universal Audio (Uniaud Audio Subsystem) is selected for installation. This may or may not be a good fit for the hardware being used. It is good practice to review the list of available audio drivers and select a different one if a better match is available.
Sometimes, systems with no apparent audio hardware will be identified as having a device. This may be caused by a modem or other ancillary component which includes the ability to produce sound, even though it may not generally used for audio payback and system sounds. In such cases it may be necessary to specifically select No audio device.
Uninstalling an unwanted audio device driver
For all devices except Uniaud and USB Audio, the best practice is to proceed as follows:
- Mount the ArcaOS installation medium.
- Open an OS/2 window and go to the X:\CID\SERVER\MMOS2\DRIVERS\xxxx directory, where X: is the drive letter assigned to the ArcaOS installation medium (ISO or DVD) and xxxx is the sound driver you want to uninstall.
- From that directory, run:
minstall
(no parameters).
- You will be prompted to choose a device to install. Select the number of the one you want to uninstall.
- Then, when asked how many of the selected devices to install, enter 0.
- Confirm that entry and allow the installation process to run.
- Reboot.
Thus, installing 0 instances of a selected device removes all references to it from the system configuration, thus “uninstalling” it.
Installing an audio device driver shipped with ArcaOS
For all devices except Uniaud and USB Audio, the best practice is to proceed as follows:
- Mount the ArcaOS installation medium.
- Open an OS/2 window and go to the X:\CID\SERVER\MMOS2\DRIVERS\xxxx directory, where X: is the drive letter assigned to the ArcaOS installation medium (ISO or DVD) and xxxx is the sound driver you want to install.
- From that directory, run:
minstall
(no parameters).
- You will be prompted to choose a device to install. Select the number of the one you want to install.
- Then, when asked how many of the selected devices to install, enter 1 (or the correct number of instances for your hardware configuration if more than 1).
- Confirm that entry and allow the installation process to run.
- Reboot.
Installing or uninstalling Uniaud
The Uniaud WarpIN installer should be used for for all installation and removal of the Uniaud Audio Subsystem. For ArcaOS 5.0 releases before 5.0.4, however, it is necessary to download and install the latest Uniaud WarpIN package from your subscription downloads first, as the necessary utility is not shipped on the ArcaOS installation medium. To determine whether this is necessary, check for the existence of X:\MMOS2\INSTALL\UNIAUD. If this directory is not present, download the latest Uniaud WarpIN package and install it.
Follow the directions in the Uniaud ReadMe to uninstall the software.
Installing or uninstalling USB Audio
The USBAUDIO WarpIN installer should be used for for all installation and removal of the USB Audio driver. For ArcaOS 5.0 releases before 5.0.4, however, it is necessary to download and install the latest USBAUDIO WarpIN package from your subscription downloads first, as the necessary utility is not shipped on the ArcaOS installation medium. Beginning with ArcaOS 5.0.4, the USBAUDIO WarpIN package is available in the \CID\SERVER\ARCAPKG directory on the installation medium.
To select USB Audio during the installation of ArcaOS 5.0.5 and above, expand the USB tree on the hardware selection page in the installer. USB Audio may be installed in addition to any other single audio adapter listed in the Multimedia selection tree.
Follow the directions in the USBAUDIO ReadMe to uninstall the software.
Storage Adapter Issues
SCSI Adapter Drivers require BOOTDLY.SYS
When adding a SCSI adapter driver after installation, Arca Noae recommends adding the following line to CONFIG.SYS:
BASEDEV=BOOTDLY.SYS
The purpose of the BOOTDLY.SYS base device driver is to provide enough time for certain other base device drivers to properly initialize, namely SCSI adapters.
Symptoms of needing BOOTDLY.SYS are apparent loading of the SCSI adapter driver but no attached SCSI devices are visible (reported present) on the BUS.
BOOTDLY.SYS is installed with ArcaOS, and it should only be necessary to add the above line to CONFIG.SYS, save the file, and reboot.
USB Storage Device Issues
Note: For troubleshooting the USB Subsystem itself, see the USB Subsystem wiki. This section addresses problems with unseen or unrecognized USB devices.
Under OS/2 (and thus, ArcaOS), USB-connected mass storage devices (non-optical drives, specifically, hard disks, floppies, and removable cartridge units) are handled by the USBMSD.ADD base device driver. By default, this driver does not reserve any space (that is, automatically control) any connected devices. Instead, the number of each type of device must be specified on the driver line in CONFIG.SYS. The ArcaOS installer does not make any of these changes by default, other than reserving 8 connections for removable devices. These values may be set from the Devices page of the Preboot menu (see here).
If after installation you find that your USB-connected floppy drive is not recognized, open CONFIG.SYS in your favorite text editor and locate the line which begins:
BASEDEV=USBMSD.ADD
and ensure that it includes the following option:
/FLOPPIES:1
Change the value to reflect the actual number of floppy drives which may be connected simultaneously to the system. The default is zero if the /FLOPPIES option is not specified.
USB-connected hard disks, flash drives (USB sticks), and cartridge drives (Zip/Jazz, etc.) are all considered to be removable devices. As mentioned previously, by default, the ArcaOS installer reserves 8 connections for removable drives. The default is 4 if the /REMOVABLES option is not specified. To change this count, simply edit the value for the following option:
/REMOVABLES:8
USB-connected optical drives (CD/DVD/BD), including writable opticals, are controlled by the USBCDROM base device driver. To add support for one or more optical drives, locate the USBCDROM.ADD line (or add it) and add or edit the following option:
/CDS:1
(Change the value to reflect the actual number of optical drives which may be connected simultaneously.) Note that 1 is the default; to load the driver without supporting any attached drives, set the value to 0. In addition, each USB-connected optical drive reserved here will be assigned a drive letter, whether connected to the system or not.
Tip: The CONFIG.SYS Documentation Project, part of the EDM/2 wiki, is an excellent resource. (These are external links.)
Networking Issues
Initial login and securing of IBM File and Print Client
Upon installation, the default administrator account and password of the IBM File and Print Client is:
USERID
PASSWORD
Note that IBM File and Print Client users and groups, as well as passwords, are case-insensitive. This is a limitation imposed by IBM’s design, and not something which Arca Noae can address. Arca Noae strongly recommends against using the IBM File and Print Client, and instead provides modern, secure Samba client and server solutions for file and printer sharing.
If you choose to use the IBM File and Print Client, Arca Noae strongly advises that upon first logon, you open the Sharing and Connecting object and create a new administrator account. After logging off and back on (with the new account), you should delete the default administrator account. the steps to accomplish this task are:
- From the Network | LAN Services File and Print folder, select LAN Logon (Workgroup) and enter the default username/password (USERID/PASSWORD) which will start the requester.
- Open Sharing and Connecting and access the Users tab.
- Click the Create user… button to create a new user account, setting the User type to Administrator.
- Close Sharing and Connecting.
- Select Logoff.
- Select LAN Logon (Workgroup) and enter the new administrator credentials.
- Open Sharing and Connecting and access the Users tab.
- From the list of users defined in the system, highlight the USERID user and click Delete. Confirm the deletion of the account.
Package Management Issues
How to (Re)Install a Package from the ArcaOS On-Disc Repository
Certain RPM packages are installed from the on-disc repository located on the ArcaOS installation medium. Upon successful operating system installation, this (temporary) repository is disabled, though remains present in the Arca Noae Package Manager list of configured repositories.
Sometimes, it may be advisable to install (or reinstall) a package which is located in the on-disc repository. To do this, it is first necessary to enable the repository as follows:
- Insert the ArcaOS installation disc in the system’s DVD drive.
- Start Arca Noae Package Manager from its object or the shadow located in the System Setup folder.
- From the YUM menu, select Repositories… to open the Manage YUM Repositories window.
- Select the arca_inst repository, right-click, and from its context menu, select Enable.
- Close the Manage YUM Repositories window using its window control.
The package list will refresh. Packages which were delivered with ArcaOS are now available for installation.
It is advisable to disable the on-disc repository when done, or you will be required to insert the ArcaOS installation medium every time Arca Noae Package Manager starts (which may be inconvenient).
Inability to start some applications following successful ANPM/YUM update
Generally, ANPM will prompt when a reboot is required while installing or updating packages. However, there are instances where a reboot may be required anyway. An example of this is a recent update to the gcc components which render the Mozilla applications bundled with ArcaOS 5.0.5 unable to start. If you find one or more of these applications not starting, check the root of the boot volume for POPUPLOG.OS2. If present, look at the last entry (following a failed attempt to start one of the Mozilla applications). It may look something like this:
06-06-2020 09:46:29 SYS2070 PID 0089 TID 0001 Slot 006b O:\PROGRAMS\THUNDERBIRD\THUNDERBIRD.EXE STDCPP6->GCC1.___gthread_os2_mutex_lock 127
The above implies that the gcc update just applied may be conflicting with libraries already loaded in memory. To correct this, simply restart the system.
Desktop Issues
Icon “creep”
It is possible that after several system reboots or desktop restarts that icons on the desktop appear to move closer the top of the screen, eventually leading to a scrollbar on the right side of the desktop. At shutdown, the XCenter closes, and the workarea expands, moving everything up. This position is saved, because the INI files are written after this takes place. At next desktop start, that’s where everything starts (higher than the previous starting position), and the process repeats. After a few starts, everything has crept up, resulting in the presence of a visible scrollbar on the right side of the desktop. Scrolling moves everything back into position – until the next desktop start.
To recover, and to prevent this from happening:
- Move your icons where you want them on the desktop.
- Right-click the desktop and select Properties.
- Go to the Desktop tab.
- Uncheck Save Desktop properties.
Note that if you make other desktop changes, you’ll need to toggle that setting before and after in order to keep the “new” desktop layout. Note that installing new programs is another matter, as is rearranging folder content below the desktop itself. So, if you relocate the trash can, set the checkbox, move the trash can, then unset it (you should not have to reboot or restart the desktop before unchecking it again, just make sure it’s checked before the move/change, and unchecked before shutdown/reboot).
Shadows in Tree view folders are not immediately rendered at desktop startup
There is a longstanding issue with folders set to display as Tree view by default, where some of their content does not immediately render (shadows of objects are missing, as well as connecting lines – if so configured – expand icons for branches containing only these objects, and so forth).
To work around this issue:
- Note the name and location in the local filesystem of the folder (e.g., c:\Desktop\Datafiles).
- Create an object named “Refresh my Datafiles folder” in your Startup folder which runs OO (installed with ArcaOS by default, and available from any command line) to list the contents of the folder:
Path and file name: oo.exe Parameters: /L c:\Desktop\Datafiles > nul
(Be sure to use the actual name of the folder location, and if the path contains spaces, enclose the entire string in quotes.)
- On the Session page, set this to start minimized and close on exit.
- Reboot.
Listing the contents of the folder should force a refresh, and this will be done at every system start.
Tip: Use an ArcaOS Desktop Startup folder, and create this object there. When restarting the desktop, ensure that the option for the ArcaOS Desktop Startup folder is checked to start folder content at every desktop restart and this object will be called to ensure that the tree view is populated at each desktop restart.
Tip: It is also possible to specify the folder’s object ID instead of its location in the filesystem. This has the advantage of not being dependent upon the folder remaining in the same location, so if it is dragged, for example, to another folder nested one or more levels deep, you will not have to update the object in the Startup folder. To get the object ID, if ArcaOS Desktop is installed, go to the Icon page for the folder, and click the Details… button. Look for the Object handle (e.g., 0x3924D). Use this as the value for the /L parameter for OO. Alternatively, OO can return the object ID. Using the example above:
[c:\] oo /I c:\Desktop\Datafiles <Enter>
will return the object ID (without the “0x” prefix) in the leftmost column:
3924D ---- WPFolderEx "C:\Desktop\Datafiles"
In this case, the parameters for the “Refresh Mydatafiles folder” object will be:
/L 0x3924D > nul
and the folder itself may be moved about the desktop or renamed freely.
Items in the Startup folder do not process consistently
ArcaOS installs a single object of the Startup Folder class, though it is possible to create additional Startup folders. Items in Startup folders will launch automatically at desktop initialization, provided the AUTOSTART variable in CONFIG.SYS includes FOLDERS or STARTUPFOLDERSONLY. In the absence of either of these, Startup folder content will not be processed at all, and the Startup folder will behave as any other folder.
Sometimes, an object in the Startup folder does not start. This may be due to a variety of factors, but here are a few tips:
- Use copies of objects to put in the Startup folder and not shadows. Shadows require further desktop initialization processing for their original objects to become available (see issue above concerning shadows in Tree view folders). If the original object is not available, the shadow may either be ignored or may present a warning that the object could not be started.
- The ordering of objects in the Startup folder may not necessarily represent the order of execution. Generally, if the Startup folder’s View is set to Multiple columns (flowed, as it is technically termed), the items should be shown in the order in which they are executed, however, to be absolutely certain, drag items out of the Startup folder and then move them back into the folder one at a time, in the order in which you want them to start. This should rearrange the WPS ordering. Restart the desktop or reboot to ensure that your changes are preserved.
- If you are trying to manually sort the contents of Startup folders on a system with ArcaOS desktop or XWorkplace installed, they may have their Sort options set for Folders first and Always maintain sort order enabled (the default settings for some time). Toggle these OFF to view the folder objects as you have ordered them.
- Consider using one or more ArcaOS Desktop Startup folders. ArcaOS Desktop provides greater flexibility with its Startup Folder class, including initial delay and per-object delay settings. To create an ArcaOS Desktop Startup folder, open the Templates folder in Computer on the desktop and drag the template anywhere you like (neither standard Startup folders nor ArcaOS Desktop Startup folders are required to be located in the Computer folder, and may be placed anywhere). Alternatively, click the Create ArcaOS Desktop Folder button on the Startup page of the Desktop properties notebook to create an object of this type in the Computer folder. Set delay settings on the first page of the ArcaOS Desktop Startup folder’s properties notebook. As mentioned, you may create multiple ArcaOS Desktop Startup folders, each with different delay settings in order to accomplish the desired result.
Remove extra CD/DVD device object(s) in Drives folder
By default, when at least one USB controller has been detected, the ArcaOS installer adds support for removable media (up to 8 disk devices) and support for one CD/DVD device. If there is already an internal CD/DVD, and no external, USB-attached optical drive, the Drives folder will include an object for the “phantom” drive. To remove it, simply edit CONFIG.SYS to remove
or comment the following line:
BASEDEV=USBCDROM.ADD /CDS:1
Save the file and reboot. The extra drive object will no longer appear.
Hide floppy drive objects in Drives folder
For systems which lack floppy drives, and for which no external floppy devices are likely to be attached, having the Drive A: and Drive B: floppy objects visible in the Drives folder may add undesirable clutter. While it is not currently possible to remove these altogether, they can easily hidden from view. To do this:
- From the Properties notebook for the Drives folder, go to the Include tab.
- Click Add.
- Set the filter to:
Attribute: Object Title Comparison type: is equal to Comparison value: Drive A
- Select the Exclude radio button.
- Click Add.
- Repeat the above for Drive B
Note: If your object titles have been set differently through Dynamic Icons or some other WPS enhancer, you should set the filter to match the object titles.
Arca Noae is considering a long term solution to this condition.
Software Issues
InnoTek Font Engine for OS/2 (FT2LIB)
FT2LIB is still required by some packages (namely, Apache OpenOffice, though there are several others). This Freetype 2-based font engine is installed with ArcaOS as an RPM. Unlike the original installer from InnoTek, however, the RPM does not create the base registry entries for this component. Thus, it may be necessary to import them in order to be able to customize the component for specific applications (see %UNIXROOT%\usr\share\doc\ft2lib\readme.txt).
Copy the following and paste into your favorite text editor:
REGEDIT4 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InnoTek] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InnoTek\InnoTek Font Engine] Enabled=dword:00000001 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InnoTek\InnoTek Font Engine\Hinting] Mode=dword:00000001 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InnoTek\InnoTek Font Engine\AntiAliasing] Enabled=dword:00000001 Subpixel=dword:00000000 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InnoTek\InnoTek Font Engine\Fonts] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InnoTek\InnoTek Font Engine\Fonts\Helv] Mapping="Helvetica" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InnoTek\InnoTek Font Engine\Fonts\Tms Rmn] Mapping="Times New Roman" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InnoTek\InnoTek Font Engine\Applications] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InnoTek\InnoTek Font Engine\Applications\mozilla.exe] Enabled=dword:00000001 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InnoTek\InnoTek Font Engine\Applications\firefox.exe] Enabled=dword:00000000 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InnoTek\InnoTek Font Engine\Applications\os2web.exe] Enabled=dword:00000001 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InnoTek\InnoTek Font Engine\Applications\Thunderbird.exe] Enabled=dword:00000000
Save the file as ft2lib.reg.
In the System Setup folder, open the Registry Editor, and form the menu, select File | Import Registry File. Browse to the location where you saved ft2lib.reg earlier, and click OK. You should receive a confirmation that the import completed successfully.
Note: References to Firefox, SeaMonkey, and Thunderbird in the above code do not imply that current versions of these applications require the InnoTek Font Engine or have any need for these entries to be present. The above is simply the default content created by the original installer from InnoTek.
MP3 Codec install
See the Multimedia section of the Known Issues wiki page for more information concerning the MP3 codec installation to enable playback of MP3 files.
This entry last updated: by
Sub Wikis
- Large Text and Icons for High-Resolution Displays
- Installing Oracle VM VirtualBox OS/2 Guest Additions
- Other Oracle VM VirtualBox tweaks
- Installing GenMac
- Installing IBM Works on ArcaOS
- Installing Lotus SmartSuite on ArcaOS
- Adding more XWorkplace functionality to ArcaOS Desktop
- Uninstalling ArcaOS Desktop
- Using the new File Open Container (FOC)
- Installing Mozilla application certificate updates