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Article Discussions / Re: Adding an extra thing to the ArcaOS strategy ?
« Last post by Mathias on March 18, 2026, 08:42:41 pm »Dear Martin,
I think .. in theory yes, it is an interesting idea to replace as many components as possible with opensource alternatives, BUT.. besides all the porting work, this will kill the OS one day.
Reason why? - Imagine you have replaced a good chunk of tools and maybe even main components.
Next day the open source community decides ProjectX (or some dependencies) move on to Rust or some other compiler, that we are not able to compile for OS/2 with.
Now you're operating system is busted, if you can't move back to the old closed source components. (maybe due to dependencies)
Of course you'd say the components are old anyway; Why would it hurt being unable to update the newly replaced elements also.
Well.. opensource software usually comes with loads of dependencies. In the end it's very well possible to end up at a point where you can't update anything anymore since everything depends on anything else.
These dependencies are fine as long as you can satisfy them. But which each dependency failing the risk raises that the whole thing is breaking apart.
So.. I'd strongely suggest to remain in the own environment, and NOT to depend on opensource too much.
It is a nice idea in a world, where the are no 32bit barriers and where you could move along with all the requirements the opensource platform has and will have, and in a world where there are enough developers for the platform. Could work out then : )
--> On the other hand, I do understand the need to chance "something" in order to become more modern. And somewhere we need to start.
OpenSource has lots of developers and OS/2 only has a few. - So shouldn't hurt to move to OpenSource more. Correct. But the world spins faster than we could replace components. (Currently we realise environment is aging by the day, and we need to get creative to overcome the next obstacle and again and again..)
Somewhere you'd always hit the 32bit barrier, and with even more linux distributions moving to 64bit only, dropping 32bit completely, air is getting thinner for 32bit ports. (Yes up2date 32bit software won't be around forever..)
Since OS/2 is closed source, logic dictates, to cut the ropes at a certain moment in time. The future might be an OS/2-look-alike operating system that 100% is opensource, and therefore is compliant with all the changes opensource brings in the future.
An operating system that is 64bit, that is at the pulse of the current time and updated to current software versions available in the opensource world.
An operating system that looks and feels like OS/2 (if I could wish for Warp 3 style), but actually is native linux.
For me, there would NOT even need to be compatibility with native OS/2 applications. Who needs that may buy ArcaOS please.
The main focus of that opensource-compliant OS/2-look-alike would just to have the look and feel of OS/2 that we all love so much. Same dialogs, same shortcuts, same window decorations, etc. All the settings need to be at equal places.
Since it is current opensource, you could have an up2date dosbox, qemu, vbox, etc to run your retro stuff.
Everything would work out-of-the-box since basically it IS linux and no longer OS/2. (but feels like OS/2)
For the OS/2 community, this argument is invalid though, since the OS/2 folks want their native OS/2.... which we can only have either one or the other.
Mixing up the two worlds is only possible to a specific extent. At some point in the future you just need to cut the ropes and recreate the whole thing. Just you won't get the under-the-hood-functionality.. lilke natively run OS/2 stuff.. or Windows 3.x or DOS, since we do lack the code.
But you would get an up2date operating system, that feels like OS/2 and which you could ACTUALLY use on a daily basis for EVERYTHING that comes to your mind. Like in the old days..
For ME, OS/2 and ArcaOS is NOT for daily use. I see it as an enthusiast operating system. Retro is the top thing at the moment, and it is wonderful to NATIVELY run ArcaOS (OS/2) on a current machine you can buy in a store. ArcaNoae does an excellent job with that, and I cannot thank them enough for their time and effort!
What do I do with OS/2 and ArcaOS?
- Mainly retro stuff like running old games
- trying out old development environment
- trying out CoBOL
- feeling young again when I run (and change) my own QuickBasic code from back in the day
- doing disk forensics
- text work like translations
- listening to CDs (yes compact discs) like I did in the 90ies with the native OS/2 CD player (yes feeling younger right at the spot.
)
- trying to keep an ssh client working in order to connect to linux machines
- connecting to Windows VMs and physical machines on the network via RDP
So.. as you can see. no browsing needed in my case. Also I do not need OS/2 to run my current favourite games (just the old games from the 90ies need to run fine! (I need DTA and joystick/pad translators please
)
For all the above stuff I will always keep a native ArcaOS (current machine) and OS/2 Warp 3 (486 DX2-66) running.
Wouldn't hurt though to have an up2date 64bit OS/2-look-and-feel-like linux distribution which's window manager comes as close to the WPS as possible (including all the well known settings folders and so on).
Mathias
I think .. in theory yes, it is an interesting idea to replace as many components as possible with opensource alternatives, BUT.. besides all the porting work, this will kill the OS one day.
Reason why? - Imagine you have replaced a good chunk of tools and maybe even main components.
Next day the open source community decides ProjectX (or some dependencies) move on to Rust or some other compiler, that we are not able to compile for OS/2 with.
Now you're operating system is busted, if you can't move back to the old closed source components. (maybe due to dependencies)
Of course you'd say the components are old anyway; Why would it hurt being unable to update the newly replaced elements also.
Well.. opensource software usually comes with loads of dependencies. In the end it's very well possible to end up at a point where you can't update anything anymore since everything depends on anything else.
These dependencies are fine as long as you can satisfy them. But which each dependency failing the risk raises that the whole thing is breaking apart.
So.. I'd strongely suggest to remain in the own environment, and NOT to depend on opensource too much.
It is a nice idea in a world, where the are no 32bit barriers and where you could move along with all the requirements the opensource platform has and will have, and in a world where there are enough developers for the platform. Could work out then : )
--> On the other hand, I do understand the need to chance "something" in order to become more modern. And somewhere we need to start.
OpenSource has lots of developers and OS/2 only has a few. - So shouldn't hurt to move to OpenSource more. Correct. But the world spins faster than we could replace components. (Currently we realise environment is aging by the day, and we need to get creative to overcome the next obstacle and again and again..)
Somewhere you'd always hit the 32bit barrier, and with even more linux distributions moving to 64bit only, dropping 32bit completely, air is getting thinner for 32bit ports. (Yes up2date 32bit software won't be around forever..)
Since OS/2 is closed source, logic dictates, to cut the ropes at a certain moment in time. The future might be an OS/2-look-alike operating system that 100% is opensource, and therefore is compliant with all the changes opensource brings in the future.
An operating system that is 64bit, that is at the pulse of the current time and updated to current software versions available in the opensource world.
An operating system that looks and feels like OS/2 (if I could wish for Warp 3 style), but actually is native linux.
For me, there would NOT even need to be compatibility with native OS/2 applications. Who needs that may buy ArcaOS please.
The main focus of that opensource-compliant OS/2-look-alike would just to have the look and feel of OS/2 that we all love so much. Same dialogs, same shortcuts, same window decorations, etc. All the settings need to be at equal places.
Since it is current opensource, you could have an up2date dosbox, qemu, vbox, etc to run your retro stuff.
Everything would work out-of-the-box since basically it IS linux and no longer OS/2. (but feels like OS/2)
For the OS/2 community, this argument is invalid though, since the OS/2 folks want their native OS/2.... which we can only have either one or the other.
Mixing up the two worlds is only possible to a specific extent. At some point in the future you just need to cut the ropes and recreate the whole thing. Just you won't get the under-the-hood-functionality.. lilke natively run OS/2 stuff.. or Windows 3.x or DOS, since we do lack the code.
But you would get an up2date operating system, that feels like OS/2 and which you could ACTUALLY use on a daily basis for EVERYTHING that comes to your mind. Like in the old days..
For ME, OS/2 and ArcaOS is NOT for daily use. I see it as an enthusiast operating system. Retro is the top thing at the moment, and it is wonderful to NATIVELY run ArcaOS (OS/2) on a current machine you can buy in a store. ArcaNoae does an excellent job with that, and I cannot thank them enough for their time and effort!
What do I do with OS/2 and ArcaOS?
- Mainly retro stuff like running old games
- trying out old development environment
- trying out CoBOL
- feeling young again when I run (and change) my own QuickBasic code from back in the day
- doing disk forensics
- text work like translations
- listening to CDs (yes compact discs) like I did in the 90ies with the native OS/2 CD player (yes feeling younger right at the spot.
)- trying to keep an ssh client working in order to connect to linux machines
- connecting to Windows VMs and physical machines on the network via RDP
So.. as you can see. no browsing needed in my case. Also I do not need OS/2 to run my current favourite games (just the old games from the 90ies need to run fine! (I need DTA and joystick/pad translators please
)For all the above stuff I will always keep a native ArcaOS (current machine) and OS/2 Warp 3 (486 DX2-66) running.
Wouldn't hurt though to have an up2date 64bit OS/2-look-and-feel-like linux distribution which's window manager comes as close to the WPS as possible (including all the well known settings folders and so on).
Mathias
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