Let's Install OS/2!

[@semco72057]

I just purchased a copy of ArcaOS 5.0 and is still thinking of a computer to put it on. Since I have used OS/2 versions 3.0 and 4.0 I am familiar with the OS and loved it when I was having trouble with Windows in the early years. Windows 95 thru Windows ME sucked so I needed something more stable and OS/2 filled the bill.

[@jthecoder]

Love how when the clock in the top-right hand corner of the OS reaches 3 PM, the video is at 10:00

[@bigdrew565]

8:54 ...funny, because IBM used to sell clocks way back when. They sold that division to Simplex in the 50s

[@BollingHolt]

Ahhhh, yes. I remember experimenting with OS/2 2.0, 2.1 (I think), and Warp back in the day. The problem was, at the time, my 486DX-33 only had four megs of RAM as I recall, so Warp was just too slow even though it was super cool.

[@aperture147]

the videos you made have good quality contents, your channel deserves more subscribers

[@danielgoggia1157]

Hi Joe, I liked your demo or or video on OS/2.... I am a diehard of this OS, I developed software for it and also developed and created the Team Brief (Team OS/2 News Letter) this system was hands down far ahead of all the others, watching you kind of stumble through using it did make me chuckle somewhat....if you were someone like me, you could have zipped around and really showed the power that was behind OS/2, I took my son with me on Team OS/2 at many store locations to demo OS/2, I was a developer for OS/2 but my real life job was a Bridge Builder for a government agency, I would demo how my system could run several sessions of AutoCad at the same time for building drawing or plans for bridges.....from home I could log onto my system at work and run my work computer from my home computer to make changes to drawing or run any other program as if I were at work, this was back in the early 90's.... OS/2 was far ahead of the pack....in power and its applications....thank you for the trip down memory lane, I now create software for OS/2, eComstation, ArcaOS and Windows 7 to 10.....lol, as I use to say.....keep it hhummmming. Daniel G

[@JoesComputerMuseum]

Rock on! If you ever want to share some stories about OS/2, shoot me an email. Might make for a neat followup video.

[@tonyricciotti527]

Dan, you and I must have crossed paths a bit in the 90's I was heavily involved with IBM and a Team OS/2 member and president of the high desert team os/2 users group in Lancaster California. I went to Comdex a few times to help out IBM.

[@Siwena]

Pretty cool I really didn't know much about OS/2 thanks for the video.

[@henrymach]

I used OS/2 back in the day. And I installed it from diskettes since I didn't have a CD drive back then. 31 or 32 diskettes if I remember well...

[@robertclark8351]

OS/2 was a bit of a walled garden. Driver support was initially limited to IBM supplied network cards. Support for third party network cards when available, was fairly limited.

[@JoesComputerMuseum]

True that. I tried for an hour to find drivers of any kind for the ethernet card in the system here, and found nothing.

[@robertclark8351]

Can you tell what model the card is? Some types of cards could be set to identify as either the OEM or as an IBM card. In that way they were either supported by IBM's driver, or not. The previous owner may also have installed Windows to get driver support.

[@JoesComputerMuseum]

Note to self: boot computer back to Windows 95 and look at Device Manager instead of trying to Google details from the card PCB. It's much easier to find that it's an Olicom Ethernet MCA 10/100 - and that there's OS/2 drivers for it. Sounds like a topic for a followup video.

[@RGVGeek]

Still running OS/2 in a VM, it hosts my retro BBS.

[@JoesComputerMuseum]

Awesome! I gotta say, the OS has a reputation of reliability, that's for sure.

[@RGVGeek]

It is accessible via telnet at bbs.razorsdomain.com:23230. I actually don't even have a dialup line in the house, so no dialup connection. If it doesn't prompt for login after the ansi, press enter a few times.

[@Bro-cx2jc]

Yeah, it does look a lot like Windows 3.1. But when I tried installing it in my VirtualBox, I never could get it to begin properly, I guess because it knew I wasn't using an IBM PC. I usually head straight for the Write option when installing an old version of Windows (or Edit in DOS) to start documenting what I see right away :)

[@craigchamberlain]

I used OS/2 from 1993, when I worked at IBM for a year between 3rd and 4th year at university, until 1996 or 1997 when I think I switched to Windows NT 4. I started with OS/2 2.1 and then bought a retail version of 3.0 Warp before briefly upgrading to 4.0 "Merlin" as I'm sure it was known as in the UK. I absolutely loved OS/2 from a technical perspective and it was super-robust and virtually uncrashable, unlike Windows of that timeframe. Windows NT 4 was a good OS in it's day but had no character compared to OS/2 Warp or Merlin. This seemed a bit ironic at the time since IBM was supposed to be the serious "business" company and Microsoft was more of the upstart. Anyway, thanks Joe for a taking me on a trip down memory lane. I have very fond memories of OS/2 and it's jut a shame it wasn't more of a marketing success than it was because it certainly had fantastic technology for its time. I even had a token ring network in my house back then running at 4Mbps if I recall correctly. Used to play Doom over it! :)

[@AllanGyllingOlsen]

Where to get the convient packed in danish, for os/2warp?

[@peterjantzer4767]

ran ver 2.1 then ver 3 at home for about 2 years. had to abandon it when I was run over by the microsoft truck.

[@jaworskij]

Our family had OS/2 from '92 thru '96-97. I remember there was a "shutdown bug" where that shutdown warning stayed on. It was fixed in one of the OS/2 Fixpacks (#22?). IBM programmers needed to fix the Single Input Queue bug that caused it to freeze and do other wacky stuff that I cannot remember 25 years on. I loved OS/2. It was a promising operating system. However after Linux was invented by Linus Torvalds, IBM had a new competitor and could not keep up. You should check out 90s editions of OS/2 eZine. By 1999 IBM ditched the possibility of ever making a 64-bit version and so it just limped along in the 2000s. I switched to Fedora Linux in 2005 and basically haven't looked back. But now that IBM bought Red Hat last week, I wonder what is the future for Fedora Workstation.

[@cheesefries7436]

Must be nice having that HDD; I have an old PS/2 IBM machine that requires the edge connector drives. Big $$$.

[@realdomdom]

RIP segmented memory.

[@richardsequeirateixeira]

OS/2 had a white cursor in the first version created in collaboration with Microsoft. Obviously with OS/2 version 2.0, they wanted to move away from the association with Microsoft’s design philosophy of having the Desktop Manager/Program Manager interface. If you think of this way, Microsoft essentially also took a lot of inspiration from the OS/2 Workplace Shell. Windows 95 effectively killed OS/2, despite the latter being a better product.

[@OFF732]

Awesome video man, I myself would like to keep vintage hardware "Safe" and using the SCSI to Flash seems like a great way to preserve it! Keep the great videos coming!

[@JoesComputerMuseum]

That's basically what I do in most cases. I yank the original working drive out, replace it with flash, and then I can do whatever I want and not have to worry about it. Thanks for the kudos!

[@ФрукенЙутс]

Hi, Joe! For installation needs hdd less than 2 gb? I have black display after reboot (when needs to reinsert 1 and 2 diskette) . Thx.

[@JoesComputerMuseum]

Probably. Go for something around 500MB.

[@ФрукенЙутс]

@@JoesComputerMuseum thank you very much, friend!

[@zack41564]

Reminds me of Xfce

[@tonyricciotti527]

You need to learn to use the middle mouse button, it was heavily used in OS/2

[@JoesComputerMuseum]

I need to do a follow up video where I actually show how to install OS/2, instead of speed through it!

[@FubarMike]

was OS/2 a dos based OS like windows 3.1 and 9x or did it have it's own kernel

[@JoesComputerMuseum]

It was it's own thing, different from MS-DOS but compatible in certain ways. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/2

[@goustune]

You didn't even launch a single application in OS/2, kinda disappointed.

[@northof-62]

Right click drag & drop icons

[@JoesComputerMuseum]

Yeah, different from what I was used to. The ol' brain wasn't working.

[@hippozippo44]

too bad there is not a single clip or running OS2

[@Robo10q]

Large corporations loved PS/2 systems, but almost none of them installed OS/2. Hey Joe, this was a 32 bit system and OS--you have moved way beyond, "8 bits is all you need!" 😜

[@JoesComputerMuseum]

32 bits is 8 bits... four times.... Just roll with it, okay? :)

[@GeorgeSauciuc]

wats games where there?

[@JoesComputerMuseum]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OS/2_games

[@memesxd5339]

Wait... You only have 1K Subscribers?

[@JoesComputerMuseum]

I know, right? :D

[@reksirizkifirdaus5085]

ah dodi, crazy very yeh, the tutorial is really bang

[@KingJacob105]

OS/1 anyone?