Operating System/2

Case StudyOn

Presented by

KARAN KATKAR

SYBScIT

8652700800

overview

HISTORY

Definition

How to install

Supported

application

OS/2 feature

s

OS/2 version

IBM products that used OS/2

Architecture

Why Os/2 failed

History

The development of OS/2 began when IBM and Microsoft signed the "Joint Development Agreement" in August 1985.

It was code-named "CP/DOS" and it took two years for the first product to be delivered.

OS/2 was intended as a protected mode successor of PC DOS.

The collaboration between IBM and Microsoft unravelled in 1990, between the releases of Windows 3.0 and OS/2 1.3.

IBM released a version it called OS/2 Warp that included Internet access and additional features. At the same time, Microsoft was working on OS/2 version 3.0; however, it later became Microsoft Windows NT.

OS/2 is no longer marketed by IBM, and IBM standard support for OS/2 was discontinued on 31 December 2006. It has been since maintained with relatively few new features under the name of eComStation.

IBM OS/2, in full International Business Machines Operating System/2,  an operating system introduced in 1987 by IBM and the Microsoft Corporation to operate the second-generation line of IBM personal computers, the PS/2 (Personal System/2).

IBM OS/2 was intended to replace the older disk operating system (DOS), which, with the development of the Intel Corporation 80286 microchips in the mid-1980s, was growing increasingly obsolete. OS/2 combined a new graphical user interface (GUI) with features previously available only on mainframe computers. It shared similarities with other personal computer (PC) operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, UNIX and Xenix.

Simultaneously, Microsoft continued development of its Windows operating system, whose popular third iteration (Windows 3.0) contained some of the GUI elements developed for OS/2. Despite later basing some Windows NT and Windows 95 developments on code written for IBM and OS/2, Microsoft soon discontinued development of further interface features for OS/2.

With Microsoft focusing its efforts on Windows, IBM turned to Commodore Business Machines for interface development and borrowed GUI design ideas from the Commodore AmigaOS. With OS/2.20 the Workplace Shell was created and became a GUI standard, and future OS/2 iterations ran Windows with a reliability that led IBM to label the system “crash proof.”

In 1994 IBM introduced a new version, OS/2 Warp, which included many new features. OS/2, however, failed to acquire a share of the mass market. It survived in IBM-dominated markets such as automated teller machines (ATMs), but the company halted production in 2005 and support in 2006. Users and developers still loyal to OS/2 support releasing the software as open source, but Microsoft retains rights to some of the code, and the security of ATMs could be compromised.

Definition

OS/2 was originally a 16-bit operating system that was designed to work with 286 processors and first introduced in 1987.

Jointly developed by Microsoft and IBM to operate with Intel microprocessors.

OS/2 later became a graphical interface similar to Windows, but also supported a command line.

In fact, many OS/2 and DOS commands are the same.

The user interface is built up object-oriented.

How to install

Boot screen of OS/2.

Setup of OS/2.

Introduction to OS/2.

Drive selection.

File system of OS/2.

Installing OS/2 from backup.

Select features

System configuration

OS/2 setup and Installation.

Transferring files(system configuration) to HDD.

Configured OS/2 Desktop.

Operating system/2 booting screen with logo.

OS/2 Tutorial.

View of OS/2 desktop.

OS/2 graphical user interface

Supported application

OS/2 is open source software.

It supports various applications which are list below.

Text editors: Extended Editor, ZED.

Graphics players: Animation player, Panorama Tools, Show3D.

Internet apps: NetChat, MailRun.

Browsers: Qbrows, QtWeb, Surfer.

Calculator: Octave, ccalc.

Screensaver: Blackout:

"Blackout" is a completely FREE screen saver for OS/2 versions 2.0.

Spreadsheet: Spreadsheet Calculator.

Spell checker: Ispell.

Voice: Backtalk:

Backtalk is free Speech System for OS/2.

Games: Alien Blaster, Doom for OS/2.

Radio: FM Radio.

Audio player: os2sound.

Video: DCITU:

Digital Camera Image Transfer Utility application for OS/2 and eComStation.

QuickMotion:

Quickmotion for OS/2. MMOS/2 CODECS for Apple formats.

Antivirus: ClamAV.

OS/2 features Low System Requirements: OS/2 can run on any 386 or higher system with at least 8Mb of RAM

and 200Mb of hard drive space.

Ability to run More applications: Because of OS/2's backwards compatibility you can run more

applications on OS/2 today than any other PC OS.

Full Pre-emptive Multitasking: OS/2 controls how much processor time each program gets. This

means that users won't have to worry about a "resource hog" tying up the system, and they can continue doing their work.

Users can also select exactly how much processor time they want to allocate to each program.

Memory Virtualization: Because of OS/2's excellent memory virtualization users can run

applications that they normally would not be able to because of memory restrictions.

As an example, users can run applications that would normally use up 32Mbs of RAM on a 16Mb system.

Crash Protection: OS/2 protects each program in it's own "virtual machine".

If the system does crash, chances are that the user will be able to recover some or all of their data.

High Performance File System: OS/2's file system is called HPFS . HPFS uses disk space more

efficiently.

Device Driver Support: IBM now includes a CD devoted to device drivers with OS/2 and is

continuously supporting manufacturers in ensuring that new hardware has OS/2 drivers.

Complete Networking Support: OS/2 has support for all industry standard networking protocols.

OS/2 versionVersion Release date Comments

OS/2 1.0 (Codename: CP/DOS) December 1987

Joint IBM-Microsoft development 16-bit protected mode OS Required 80286, about 1.5MB

RAM Supported max 32MB partitions Text mode interface only Single DOS box support FAT file system only

OS/2 1.1(Codename: Trimaran) November 1988

Added graphical user interface - the Presentation Manager

Support for larger than 32MB partitions

OS/2 1.2(Codename: Sloop) October 1989

Installable File System Support (IFS)

HPFS included Revamped Presentation Manager Dual Boot capability Included REXX and IPF

Version Release date Comments

OS/2 1.3(Codename: Cutter) December 1990

Extensive performance tuning Lowered resource requirements

(2MB RAM minimum) Support for ATM fonts Developed by IBM without

Microsoft's involvement

OS/2 2.0(Codename: Cruiser) April 1992

32-bit OS Required 80386SX, 4MB RAM Multiple DOS boxes Win-OS/2 support System Object Model (SOM

support) Workplace Shell (WPS) based on

SOM used as GUI Boot Manager

OS/2 2.1(Codename: Borg) May 1993

32-bit Graphics Engine (GRE) More CD-ROM and SCSI drivers APM and PCMCIA support MMPM/2 included Win-OS/2 based on Windows 3.1

OS/2 for Windows(Codename: Ferengi) November 1993

No Win-OS/2 - used pre-existing Windows 3.1 instead

New drivers for S3 based cards

Version Release date Comments

OS/2 2.11 February 1994 Also available as Service Pack

XR06200 for OS/2 2.1 Primarily bug fixes

OS/2 2.11 SMP June 1994 Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP)

support Support for up to 16 CPUs

OS/2 Warp 3.0(Codename: Warp) October 1994

Performance tuning, lower resource requirements

Compatible with Windows 3.11 Included Bonus Pack More drivers for many device types Many WPS modifications

OS/2 Warp Connect May 1995 Included full networking support in

base OS Peer to peer functionality

OS/2 Warp 4.0 (Codename: Merlin) September 1996

Included Java 1.01 runtime and JDK Voice Type support

IBM products that used OS/2

Product Nature of Product How was OS/2 used?

IBM 3494 Tape Library Used as the operating system for the Library Manager (LM) that controlled the tape accessory (robot).

IBM 3745 Communications Controller

Used as the operating system for the Service Processor (SP) and if installed, the Network Node Processor (NNP).

IBM 473x ATM Used in a range of Automatic Teller Machines manufactured by IBM. Was also used in later 478x ATMs manufactured with Diebold.

OS/2 architecture

Why OS/2 failed

The creators of OS/2 had great plans and expectations. Twenty years later, it is clear that OS/2 largely failed.

There is no single reason for this failure.

Microsoft tried to claim all credit for OS/2 (MS OS/2 products for example do not include IBM copyright messages, while IBM versions have both IBM and MS copyright notices) which irked IBM.

There was also a culture clash between IBM and Microsoft. IBM had an established and highly formalized development process, while Microsoft was a company of hackers always ready to go for an ad-hoc solution.

IBM programmers could not understand how anyone could write code without proper design documents and thorough testing. Microsoft programmers could not understand how anyone could waste so much time on paperwork when they should be writing code instead.

Some say that it was a mistake to develop for 286 and OS/2 should have been developed for the 386 from the beginning. It is questionable whether this would have been beneficial or not. On the one hand, the 286 architecture was highly problematic when DOS compatibility was desired. On the other hand, OS/2 was released at a time (1987) 386 based machines were very rare.

OS/2 support end by IBM in 2013

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