XiT v2.2 for OS/2 serial key or number

This manual documents GNU , a small and friendly text editor.

1 Introduction

GNU is a small and friendly text editor. Besides basic text editing, offers many extra features like an interactive search and replace, go to line and column number, auto-indentation, feature toggles, internationalization support, and filename tab completion.

1.1 Overview

The original goal for was a complete bug-for-bug compatible emulation of Pico, but 's current goal is to be as compatible as possible while offering a superset of Pico's functionality. See See Pico Compatibility, for more info.

The usual way to invoke is:

But it is also possible to edit several files in a row. Additionally, the cursor can be put on a desired line number by adding this number with a plus sign before any filename, and even in a desired column by adding it with a comma. So the complete synopsis is:

Email bug reports to nano@nano-editor.org.

1.2 Command Line Options

takes the following options from the command line:

Start at line number LINE and column number COLUMN (at least one of which must be specified) instead of the default of line 1, column 1.

Same as .

Make the Home key smarter. When Home is pressed anywhere but at the very beginning of non-whitespace characters on a line, the cursor will jump to that beginning (either forwards or backwards). If the cursor is already at that position, it will jump to the true beginning of the line.

When saving a file, back up the previous version of it to the current filename suffixed with a ~.

Set the directory where puts unique backup files if file backups are enabled.

Use bold text instead of reverse video text.

Convert typed tabs to spaces.

Enable multiple file buffers, if available.

Log search and replace strings to ~/.nano_history, so they can be retrieved in later sessions, if nanorc support is available.

Don't look at SYSCONFDIR/nanorc or ~/.nanorc, if nanorc support is available.

Interpret the numeric keypad keys so that they all work properly. You should only need to use this option if they don't, as mouse support won't work properly with this option enabled.

Don't add newlines to the ends of files.

Don't convert files from DOS/Mac format.

Use the blank line below the titlebar as extra editing space.

Set the quoting string for justifying. The default value is

if extended regular expression support is available, or "> " otherwise. Note that above stands for a literal Tab character.

Restricted mode: don't read or write to any file not specified on the command line; read any nanorc files; allow suspending; allow a file to be appended to, prepended to, or saved under a different name if it already has one; or use backup files or spell checking. Also accessible by invoking with any name beginning with 'r' (e.g. "rnano").

Enable smooth scrolling. Text will scroll line-by-line, instead of the usual chunk-by-chunk behavior.

Set the displayed tab length to #cols columns. The value of #cols must be greater than 0. The default value is 8.

Do quick statusbar blanking. Statusbar messages will disappear after 1 keystroke instead of 25. Note that -c overrides this.

Show the current version number and exit.

Detect word boundaries more accurately by treating punctuation characters as parts of words.

Specify a specific syntax highlighting from the nanorc to use, if available. See See Nanorc Files, for more info.

Constantly display the cursor position and line number on the statusbar. Note that this overrides -U.

Interpret the Delete key differently so that both Backspace and Delete work properly. You should only need to use this option if Backspace acts like Delete on your system.

Show a summary of command line options and exit.

Automatically indent new lines to the same number of spaces and tabs as the previous line.

Cut from the current cursor position to the end of the current line.

When writing files, if the given file is a symbolic link, it is removed and a new file is created.

Enable mouse support, if available for your system. When enabled, mouse clicks can be used to place the cursor, set the mark (with a double click), and execute shortcuts. The mouse will work in the X Window System, and on the console when gpm is running.

Set operating directory. Makes set up something similar to a chroot.

Preserve the ^Q (XON) and ^S (XOFF) sequences so data being sent to the editor can be can be stopped and started.

Do not report errors in the nanorc file and ask them to be acknowledged by pressing Enter at startup.

Wrap lines at column #cols. If this value is 0 or less, wrapping will occur at the width of the screen less #cols, allowing it to vary along with the width of the screen if the screen is resized. The default value is -8.

Invoke the given program as the spell checker. By default, uses the command specified in the SPELL environment variable, or, if SPELL is not set, its own interactive spell checker that requires the program to be installed on your system.

Don't ask whether or not to save the current contents of the file when exiting, assume yes. This is most useful when using as the composer of a mailer program.

Enable experimental generic-purpose undo code. By default, the undo and redo shortcuts are Meta-U and Meta-E, respectively.

Don't allow the contents of the file to be altered. Note that this option should NOT be used in place of correct file permissions to implement a read-only file.

Don't wrap long lines at any length. This option overrides any value for -r.

Expert Mode: don't show the Shortcut Lists at the bottom of the screen. This affects the location of the statusbar as well, as in Expert Mode it is located at the very bottom of the editor.

Note: When accessing the help system, Expert Mode is temporarily disabled to display the help system navigation keys.

Enable 's suspend ability using the system's suspend keystroke (usually ^Z).

Enable 'soft wrapping'. will attempt to display the entire contents of a line, even if it is longer than the screen width. Since '$' normally refers to a variable in the Unix shell, you should specify this option last when using other options (e.g. 'nano -wS$') or pass it separately (e.g. 'nano -wS -$').

Ignored, for compatibility with Pico.

2 Editor Basics

2.1 Entering Text

All key sequences in are entered using the keyboard. is a "modeless" editor. All keys, with the exception of Control and Meta key sequences, will enter text into the file being edited.

2.2 Special Functions

Special functions use the Control (Ctrl) key, displayed in the help and shortcut lists as ^; the Meta key, displayed as M; or the Escape (Esc) key.

• Control key sequences are entered by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the desired key, or by pressing the Esc key twice and pressing the desired key.
• Pressing Esc twice and then typing a three-digit number from 000 to 255 will enter the character with the corresponding value.
• Meta key sequences are entered by holding down the Meta key (normally the Alt key) and pressing the desired key, or by pressing the Esc key once and pressing the desired key. Certain operating systems "swallow" the Alt key so that it never reaches the application; if your operating system does this, you should use the Esc key to generate Meta key sequences.

2.3 The Titlebar

The titlebar is the line displayed at the top of the editor. There are three sections: left, center and right. The section on the left displays the version of being used. The center section displays the current filename, or "New Buffer" if the file has not yet been named. The section on the right will display "Modified" if the file has been modified since it was last saved or opened.

Special modes: When is in "File browser" mode, the center section will display the current directory instead of the filename. See See The File Browser, for more info.

2.4 The Statusbar

The statusbar is the third line from the bottom of the screen, or the bottom line in Expert Mode. See See Expert Mode, for more info. It shows important and informational messages. Any error messages that occur from using the editor will appear on the statusbar. Any questions that are asked of the user will be asked on the statusbar, and any user input (search strings, filenames, etc.) will be input on the statusbar.

2.5 Shortcut Lists

The Shortcut Lists are the two lines at the bottom of the screen which show some of the more commonly used functions in the editor.

2.6 Using the Mouse

When mouse support has been configured and enabled, a single mouse click places the cursor at the indicated position. Clicking a second time in the same position toggles the mark. Clicking in the shortcut list executes the selected shortcut.

The mouse will work in the X Window System, and on the console when gpm is running.

3 Online Help

The online help system in is available by pressing ^G. It is fairly self explanatory, documenting the various parts of the editor and available keystrokes. Navigation is via the ^Y (Page Up) and ^V (Page Down) keys. ^X exits the help system.

4 Feature Toggles

Toggles allow you to change certain aspects of the editor that would normally be done via command line options. They are invoked via Meta key sequences. See See Special Functions, for more info. The following global toggles are available:

toggles the -B () command line option.

toggles the -c () command line option.

toggles the -F () command line option.

toggles the -A () command line option.

toggles the -i () command line option.

toggles the -k () command line option.

toggles the -w () command line option.

toggles the -m () command line option.

toggles the -N () command line option.

toggles the -O () command line option.

toggles whitespace display mode if you have a "whitespace" option in your nanorc. See See Nanorc Files, for more info.

toggles the -E () command line option.

toggles the -S () command line option.

toggles the -x () command line option.

toggles color syntax highlighting if you have color syntaxes in your nanorc. See See Nanorc Files, for more info.

toggles the -z () command line option.

toggles the -$ () command line option.

5 Nanorc Files

The nanorc files contain the default settings for . They should not be in DOS or Mac format. During startup, will first read its system-wide settings from SYSCONFDIR/nanorc, and then user-specific settings from ~/.nanorc.

A nanorc file accepts a series of "set" and "unset" commands, which can be used to configure on startup without using the command line options. Additionally, the "syntax", "color", and "icolor" keywords are used to define syntax highlighting rules for different text patterns. will read one command per line.

Options in nanorc files take precedence over 's defaults, and command line options override nanorc settings. Options are also unset by default, except for those that take arguments.

Quotes inside string parameters don't have to be escaped with backslashes. The last double quote in the string will be treated as its end. For example, for the "brackets" option,

will match , , , , , and .

The supported commands and arguments are:

Use auto-indentation.

Create backup files in "filename~".

Set the directory where puts unique backup files if file backups are enabled.

Do backwards searches by default.

Use bold text instead of reverse video text.

Set the characters treated as closing brackets when justifying paragraphs. They cannot contain blank characters. Only closing punctuation, optionally followed by closing brackets, can end sentences. The default value is

Do case sensitive searches by default.

Constantly display the cursor position in the status bar.

Use cut to end of line by default, instead of cutting the whole line.

Wrap lines at column number "n". If "n" is 0 or less, the maximum line length will be the screen width less "n" columns. The default value is -8.

Enable ~/.nano_history for saving and reading search/replace strings.

Set the opening and closing brackets that can be found by bracket searches. They cannot contain blank characters. The former set must come before the latter set, and both must be in the same order. The default value is

Use the blank line below the titlebar as extra editing space.

Enable mouse support, so that mouse clicks can be used to place the cursor, set the mark (with a double click), or execute shortcuts.

Allow inserting files into their own buffers.

Don't convert files from DOS/Mac format.

Don't follow symlinks when writing files.

Don't display the help lists at the bottom of the screen.

Don't add newlines to the ends of files.

Don't wrap text at all.

will only read and write files inside "directory" and its subdirectories. Also, the current directory is changed to here, so files are inserted from this directory. By default, the operating directory feature is turned off.

Preserve the XON and XOFF keys (^Q and ^S).

Set the characters treated as closing punctuation when justifying paragraphs. They cannot contain blank characters. Only closing punctuation, optionally followed by closing brackets, can end sentences. The default value is .

Do quick statusbar blanking. Statusbar messages will disappear after 1 keystroke instead of 25.

The email-quote string, used to justify email-quoted paragraphs. This is an extended regular expression if your system supports them, otherwise a literal string. The default value is

if you have extended regular expression support, or "> " otherwise. Note that '\\t' stands for a literal Tab character.

Interpret the Delete key differently so that both Backspace and Delete work properly. You should only need to use this option if Backspace acts like Delete on your system.

Interpret the numeric keypad keys so that they all work properly. You should only need to use this option if they don't, as mouse support won't work properly with this option enabled.

Do extended regular expression searches by default.

Make the Home key smarter. When Home is pressed anywhere but at the very beginning of non-whitespace characters on a line, the cursor will jump to that beginning (either forwards or backwards). If the cursor is already at that position, it will jump to the true beginning of the line.

Use smooth scrolling by default.

Use soft wrapping by default.

Use spelling checker "spellprog" instead of the built-in one, which calls "spell".

Allow to be suspended.

If is allowed to be suspended, allow the suspend key (usually ^Z) to actually suspend it.

Use a tab size of "n" columns. The value of "n" must be greater than 0. The default value is 8.

Convert typed tabs to spaces.

Save automatically on exit, don't prompt.

Enable experimental generic-purpose undo code.

Disallow file modification.

Set the two characters used to display the first characters of tabs and spaces. They must be single-column characters.

Detect word boundaries more accurately by treating punctuation characters as part of a word.

Defines a syntax named "str" which can be activated via the -Y/–syntax command line option, or will be automatically activated if the current filename matches the extended regular expression "fileregex". All following "color" and "icolor" statements will apply to "syntax" until a new syntax is defined.

The "none" syntax is reserved; specifying it on the command line is the same as not having a syntax at all. The "default" syntax is special: it takes no "fileregex", and applies to files that don't match any other syntax's "fileregex".

For the currently defined syntax, display all expressions matching the extended regular expression "regex" with foreground color "fgcolor" and background color "bgcolor", at least one of which must be specified. Legal colors for foreground and background color are: white, black, red, blue, green, yellow, magenta, and cyan. You may use the prefix "bright" to force a stronger color highlight for the foreground. If your terminal supports transparency, not specifying a "bgcolor" tells "nano" to attempt to use a transparent background.

Same as above, except that the expression matching is case insensitive.

Display expressions which start with the extended regular expression "sr" and end with the extended regular expression "er" with foreground color "fgcolor" and background color "bgcolor", at least one of which must be specified. This allows syntax highlighting to span multiple lines. Note that all subsequent instances of "sr" after an initial "sr" is found will be highlighted until the first instance of "er".

Same as above, except that the expression matching is case insensitive.

Read in self-contained color syntaxes from "syntaxfile". Note that "syntaxfile" can only contain "syntax", "color", and "icolor" commands.

6 The File Browser

When reading or writing files, pressing ^T will invoke the file browser. Here, one can navigate directories in a graphical manner in order to find the desired file.

Basic movement in the file browser is accomplished with the arrow keys, page up, and page down. More advanced movement is accomplished by searching via ^W (or 'w') and changing directories via ^_ (or 'g'). The behavior of the Enter (or 's') key varies by what is currently selected. If the currently selected object is a directory, the file browser will enter and display the contents of the directory. If the object is a file, this filename and path are copied to the statusbar, and the file browser exits.

7 Pico Compatibility

attempts to emulate Pico as closely as possible, but there are certain differences between the editors:

As of version 1.1.99pre1 of , text entered as search or replace strings will be stored and can be accessed with the up/down arrow keys. Previously, offered a more consistent, but incompatible with Pico, method for entering search and replace strings. In the old method, previous entries would be displayed by default as editable text in front of the cursor, as opposed to being bracketed and uneditable as it is in Pico. The old behavior could be made compatible with Pico via the option, but recent versions of Pico use the option to preserve the XON and XOFF sequences within the editor. Since, with the new method, search and replace strings can still be edited by simply hitting the up arrow key once, the old method was removed completely.

Text selected using the marking key (^^) can be written out, appended, or prepended to a new or existing file using the WriteOut key (^O).

Many options which alter the functionality of the program can be "toggled" on or off using Meta key sequences, meaning the program does not have to be restarted to turn a particular feature of the editor on or off. Please see the internal help function (^G) for a list of what functions can be toggled for a particular version of . See See Feature Toggles, for more info.

The output of the "Display Cursor Position" in displays the given column position, as well as the row and total character position of the cursor.

It is worth noting that 's replace function is interactive, i.e. it does not stop after one search string is found and automatically replace it. The implementation will pause at each search string found and query whether to replace this instance or not. The internal spell checker operates similarly. Note that there is no way to force these functions to behave in the Pico fashion. As of version 1.1.99pre1, misspelled words are sorted and trimmed for uniqueness in the internal spell checker such that the words 'apple' and 'Apple' will be prompted for correction separately.

8 Building and Configure Options

Building from source is fairly straightforward if you are familiar with compiling programs with autoconf support:

• tar xvfz nano-x.y.z.tar.gz (where x.y.z is the version of )
• cd nano-x.y.z/
• ./configure
• make
• make install

The possible options to are:

Disable the mini file browser when reading or writing files.

Disable the help function. Doing this makes the binary much smaller, but makes it difficult for new users to learn more than very basic things about using the editor.

Disable the justify and unjustify functions.

Disable all mouse functionality. This also disables the -m command line option, which enables the mouse functionality.

Disable setting the operating directory. This also disables the -o command line option, which sets the operating directory.

Disable use of the spell checker. This also disables the -s command line option, which allows specifying an alternate spell checker.

Disable the tab completion code when reading or writing files.

Disable all long line wrapping. This also eliminates the -w command line option, which enables long line wrapping.

This option disables all the above. It also disables some of the larger internals of the editor, like the marking code and the cut to end of line code. It also disables the function toggles.

Enable support for runtime debug output. This can get pretty messy, so chances are you only want this feature to work on the nano source.

Enable extra features. At the moment, this is just easter egg-type stuff.

Enable support for syntax coloring of files using the nanorc file. This enables nanorc support as well.

Enable support for opening multiple files at a time and switching between them on the fly.

Enable support for reading the nanorc file at startup. You can store custom settings in the nanorc file rather than having to pass command line options to get desired behavior. See See Nanorc Files, for more info.

Shortcut for enabling the above four features (extra, color, multibuffer, and nanorc).

Disables Native Language support. This will disable use of the available GNU translations.

Disable long line wrapping by default when nano is run as root.

Enable support for reading and writing Unicode files. This will require either a wide version of curses, or a UTF-8-enabled version of Slang.

Disable support for reading and writing Unicode files.

Compiling with Slang is supported, and will make the binary notably smaller than if compiled with ncurses or other curses libraries.

OS/2 Warp 4 desktop. This version was released on 25 September 1996.[1]
Developer	IBM Microsoft (1.0–1.3)
Written in	C, C++ and assembly language
Working state	Historical, now developed as ArcaOS
Source model	Closed source
Initial release	December 1987; 32 years ago (1987-12)
Latest release	4.52 / December 2001; 18 years ago (2001-12)
Marketing target	Professionals, servers
Available in	English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian
Platforms	x86, PowerPC
Kernel type	Hybrid kernel
Default user interface	Workplace ShellGraphical user interface
License	Proprietary
Succeeded by	First by eComStation, then ArcaOS
Official website	www-01.ibm.com

OS/2 is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci.^[2] As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 relative to Microsoft's new Windows 3.1 operating environment,^[3] the two companies severed the relationship in 1992 and OS/2 development fell to IBM exclusively.^[4] The name stands for "Operating System/2", because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 (PS/2)" line of second-generation personal computers. The first version of OS/2 was released in December 1987 and newer versions were released until December 2001.

OS/2 was intended as a protected-mode successor of PC DOS. Notably, basic system calls were modeled after MS-DOS calls; their names even started with "Dos" and it was possible to create "Family Mode" applications – text mode applications that could work on both systems.^[5] Because of this heritage, OS/2 shares similarities with Unix, Xenix, and Windows NT.

IBM discontinued its support for OS/2 on 31 December 2006.^[6] Since then, OS/2 has been developed and supported under license from IBM by two different third-party vendors, who have marketed OS/2 under different names - first by Serenity Systems as eComStation since 2001,^[7] and later by Arca Noae LLC as ArcaOS since 2017.^[8][9][10]

Development history[edit]

1985–1989: Joint development[edit]

OS/2 1.0 featured a text mode interface similar to MS-DOS

The development of OS/2 began when IBM and Microsoft signed the "Joint Development Agreement" in August 1985.^[11][12] It was code-named "CP/DOS" and it took two years for the first product to be delivered.

OS/2 1.0 was announced in April 1987 and released in December. The original release is textmode-only, and a GUI was introduced with OS/2 1.1 about a year later. OS/2 features an API for controlling the video display (VIO) and handling keyboard and mouse events so that programmers writing for protected-mode need not call the BIOS or access hardware directly. Other development tools included a subset of the video and keyboard APIs as linkable libraries so that family mode programs are able to run under MS-DOS,^{[citation needed]} and, in the OS/2 Extended Edition v1.0, a database engine called Database Manager or DBM (this was related to DB2, and should not be confused with the DBM family of database engines for Unix and Unix-like operating systems).^[13] A task-switcher named Program Selector was available through the Ctrl-Esc hotkey combination, allowing the user to select among multitasked text-mode sessions (or screen groups; each can run multiple programs).^[14]

Communications and database-oriented extensions were delivered in 1988, as part of OS/2 1.0 Extended Edition: SNA, X.25/APPC/LU 6.2, LAN Manager, Query Manager, SQL.

OS/2 1.1 was the first version to feature the Presentation Manager GUI

The promised user interface, Presentation Manager, was introduced with OS/2 1.1 in October 1988.^[15] It had a similar user interface to Windows 2.1, which was released in May of that year. (The interface was replaced in versions 1.2 and 1.3 by a look closer in appearance to Windows 3.0).

The Extended Edition of 1.1, sold only through IBM sales channels, introduced distributed database support to IBM database systems and SNA communications support to IBM mainframe networks.

In 1989, Version 1.2 introduced Installable Filesystems and, notably, the HPFSfilesystem. HPFS provided a number of improvements over the older FAT file system, including long filenames and a form of alternate data streams called Extended Attributes.^[16] In addition, extended attributes were also added to the FAT file system.^[17]

Installation Disk A of Microsoft OS/2 1.3 (3½-inch floppy disk)

The Extended Edition of 1.2 introduced TCP/IP and Ethernet support.

OS/2- and Windows-related books of the late 1980s acknowledged the existence of both systems and promoted OS/2 as the system of the future.^[18]

1990: Breakup[edit]

The collaboration between IBM and Microsoft unravelled in 1990, between the releases of Windows 3.0 and OS/2 1.3. During this time, Windows 3.0 became a tremendous success, selling millions of copies in its first year.^[19] Much of its success was because Windows 3.0 (along with MS-DOS) was bundled with most new computers.^[20] OS/2, on the other hand, was available only as an additional stand-alone software package. In addition, OS/2 lacked device drivers for many common devices such as printers, particularly non-IBM hardware.^[21] Windows, on the other hand, supported a much larger variety of hardware. The increasing popularity of Windows prompted Microsoft to shift its development focus from cooperating on OS/2 with IBM to building its own business based on Windows.^[22]

Several technical and practical reasons contributed to this breakup.

The two companies had significant differences in culture and vision. Microsoft favored the open hardware system approach that contributed to its success on the PC; IBM sought to use OS/2 to drive sales of its own hardware, including systems that could not support the features Microsoft wanted. Microsoft programmers also became frustrated with IBM's bureaucracy and its use of lines of code to measure programmer productivity.^[23] IBM developers complained about the terseness and lack of comments in Microsoft's code, while Microsoft developers complained that IBM's code was bloated.^[24]

The two products have significant differences in API. OS/2 was announced when Windows 2.0 was near completion, and the Windows API already defined. However, IBM requested that this API be significantly changed for OS/2.^[25] Therefore, issues surrounding application compatibility appeared immediately. OS/2 designers hoped for source code conversion tools, allowing complete migration of Windows application source code to OS/2 at some point. However, OS/2 1.x did not gain enough momentum to allow vendors to avoid developing for both OS/2 and Windows in parallel.

OS/2 1.3 was the final 16-bit only version of OS/2, and the last to be sold by Microsoft

OS/2 1.x targets the Intel 80286 processor and DOS fundamentally doesn't. IBM insisted on supporting the 80286 processor, with its 16-bit segmented memory mode, because of commitments made to customers who had purchased many 80286-based PS/2s as a result of IBM's promises surrounding OS/2.^[26] Until release 2.0 in April 1992, OS/2 ran in 16-bit protected mode and therefore could not benefit from the Intel 80386's much simpler 32-bitflat memory model and virtual 8086 mode features. This was especially painful in providing support for DOS applications. While, in 1988, Windows/386 2.1 could run several cooperatively multitasked DOS applications, including expanded memory (EMS) emulation, OS/2 1.3, released in 1991, was still limited to one 640 kB "DOS box".

Given these issues, Microsoft started to work in parallel on a version of Windows which was more future-oriented and more portable. The hiring of Dave Cutler, former VMS architect, in 1988 created an immediate competition with the OS/2 team, as Cutler did not think much of the OS/2 technology and wanted to build on his work on the Mica project at Digital rather than creating a "DOS plus". His "NT OS/2" was a completely new architecture.^[27]

IBM grew concerned about the delays in development of OS/2 2.0. Initially, the companies agreed that IBM would take over maintenance of OS/2 1.0 and development of OS/2 2.0, while Microsoft would continue development of OS/2 3.0. In the end, Microsoft decided to recast NT OS/2 3.0 as Windows NT, leaving all future OS/2 development to IBM. From a business perspective, it was logical to concentrate on a consumer line of operating systems based on DOS and Windows, and to prepare a new high-end system in such a way as to keep good compatibility with existing Windows applications. While it waited for this new high-end system to develop, Microsoft would still receive licensing money from Xenix and OS/2 sales. Windows NT's OS/2 heritage can be seen in its initial support for the HPFS filesystem, text mode OS/2 1.x applications, and OS/2 LAN Manager network support. Some early NT materials even included OS/2 copyright notices embedded in the software.^{[citation needed]} One example of NT OS/2 1.x support is in the WIN2K resource kit. Windows NT could also support OS/2 1.x Presentation Manager and AVIO applications with the addition of the Windows NT Add-On Subsystem for Presentation Manager.^[28]

1992: 32-bit era[edit]

OS/2 2.0 was the first 32-bit release of OS/2, and the first to feature the Workplace Shell

OS/2 2.0 was released in April 1992. At the time, the suggested retail price was U.S. $195, while Windows retailed for $150.^[29]

OS/2 2.0 provided a 32-bit API for native programs, though the OS itself still contained some 16-bit code and drivers. It also included a new OOUI (object-oriented user interface) called the Workplace Shell. This was a fully object-oriented interface that was a significant departure from the previous GUI. Rather than merely providing an environment for program windows (such as the Program Manager), the Workplace Shell provided an environment in which the user could manage programs, files and devices by manipulating objects on the screen. With the Workplace Shell, everything in the system is an "object" to be manipulated.

DOS compatibility[edit]

OS/2 2.0 was touted by IBM as "a better DOS than DOS and a better Windows than Windows".^[30] It managed this by including the fully-licensed MS-DOS 5.0, which had been patched and improved upon. For the first time, OS/2 was able to run more than one DOS application at a time. This was so effective, that it allowed OS/2 to run a modified copy of Windows 3.0, itself a DOS extender, including Windows 3.0 applications.

Because of the limitations of the Intel 80286 processor, OS/2 1.x could run only one DOS program at a time, and did this in a way that allowed the DOS program to have total control over the computer. A problem in DOS mode could crash the entire computer. In contrast, OS/2 2.0 could leverage the virtual 8086 mode of the Intel 80386 processor to create a much safer virtual machine in which to run DOS programs. This included an extensive set of configuration options to optimize the performance and capabilities given to each DOS program. Any real-mode operating system (such as 8086 Xenix) could also be made to run using OS/2's virtual machine capabilities, subject to certain direct hardware access limitations.

Like most 32-bit environments, OS/2 could not run protected-mode DOS programs using the older VCPI interface, unlike the Standard mode of Windows 3.1; it only supported programs written according to DPMI. (Microsoft discouraged the use of VCPI under Windows 3.1, however, due to performance degradation.)^[31]

Unlike Windows NT, OS/2 always allowed DOS programs the possibility of masking real hardware interrupts, so any DOS program could deadlock the machine in this way. OS/2 could, however, use a hardware watchdog on selected machines (notably IBM machines) to break out of such a deadlock. Later, release 3.0 leveraged the enhancements of newer Intel 80486 and Intel Pentium processors—the Virtual Interrupt Flag (VIF), which was part of the Virtual Mode Extensions (VME)—to solve this problem.

Windows 3.x compatibility[edit]

Compatibility with Windows 3.0 (and later Windows 3.1) was achieved by adapting Windows user-mode code components to run inside a virtual DOS machine (VDM). Originally, a nearly complete version of Windows code was included with OS/2 itself: Windows 3.0 in OS/2 2.0, and Windows 3.1 in OS/2 2.1. Later, IBM developed versions of OS/2 that would use whatever Windows version the user had installed previously, patching it on the fly, and sparing the cost of an additional Windows license.^[32] It could either run full-screen, using its own set of video drivers, or "seamlessly," where Windows programs would appear directly on the OS/2 desktop. The process containing Windows was given fairly extensive access to hardware, especially video, and the result was that switching between a full-screen WinOS/2 session and the Workplace Shell could occasionally cause issues.^[33]

Because OS/2 only runs the user-mode system components of Windows, it is incompatible with Windows device drivers (VxDs) and applications that require them.

Multiple Windows applications run by default in a single Windows session – multitasking cooperatively and without memory protection – just as they would under native Windows 3.x. However, to achieve true isolation between Windows 3.x programs, OS/2 can also run multiple copies of Windows in parallel, with each copy residing in a separate VDM. The user can then optionally place each program either in its own Windows session – with preemptive multitasking and full memory protection between sessions, though not within them – or allow some applications to run together cooperatively in a shared Windows session while isolating other applications in one or more separate Windows sessions. At the cost of additional hardware resources, this approach can protect each program in any given Windows session (and each instance of Windows itself) from every other program running in any separate Windows session (though not from other programs running in the same Windows session).

Whether Windows applications are running in full-screen or windowed mode, and in one Windows session or several, it is possible to use DDE between OS/2 and Windows applications, and OLE between Windows applications only.^[34]

1994–1996: The "Warp" years[edit]

OS/2 Warp Connect 3.0, showing the Windows 3.1 Program Manager, QBASIC in a DOS window, and the LaunchPad (bottom center)

Released in 1994, OS/2 version 3.0 was labelled as OS/2 Warp to highlight the new performance benefits, and generally to freshen the product image. "Warp" had originally been the internal IBM name for the release: IBM claimed that it had used Star Trek terms as internal names for prior OS/2 releases, and that this one seemed appropriate for external use as well. At the launch of OS/2 Warp in 1994, Patrick Stewart was to be the Master of Ceremonies; however Kate Mulgrew^[35] of the then-upcoming series Star Trek: Voyager was substituted at the last minute.^{[36][37]:p. 108}

OS/2 Warp offers a host of benefits over OS/2 2.1, notably broader hardware support, greater multimedia capabilities, Internet-compatible networking, and it includes a basic office application suite known as IBM Works. It was released in two versions: the less expensive "Red Spine" and the more expensive "Blue Spine" (named for the color of their boxes). "Red Spine" was designed to support Microsoft Windows applications by utilizing any existing installation of Windows on the computer's hard drive. "Blue Spine" includes Windows support in its own installation, and so can support Windows applications without a Windows installation. As most computers were sold with Microsoft Windows pre-installed and the price was less, "Red Spine" was the more popular product.^{[citation needed]} OS/2 Warp Connect—which has full LAN client support built-in—followed in mid-1995. Warp Connect was nicknamed "Grape".^[15]

Firefox 3.5.4 for OS/2 Warp 4

OS/2 Warp 4 desktop after installation

In OS/2 2.0, most performance-sensitive subsystems, including the graphics (Gre) and multimedia (MMPM/2) systems, were updated to 32-bit code in a fixpack, and included as part of OS/2 2.1. Warp 3 brought about a fully 32-bit windowing system, while Warp 4 introduced the object-oriented 32-bit GRADD display driver model.

In 1996, Warp 4 added Java and speech recognition software. IBM also released server editions of Warp 3 and Warp 4 which bundled IBM's LAN Server product directly into the operating system installation. A personal version of Lotus Notes was also included, with a number of template databases for contact management, brainstorming, and so forth. The UK-distributed free demo CD-ROM of OS/2 Warp essentially contained the entire OS and was easily, even accidentally, cracked^{[clarification needed]}, meaning that even people who liked it did not have to buy it. This was seen as a backdoor tactic to increase the number of OS/2 users, in the belief that this would increase sales and demand for third-party applications, and thus strengthen OS/2's desktop numbers.^{[citation needed]} This suggestion was bolstered by the fact that this demo version had replaced another which was not so easily cracked, but which had been released with trial versions of various applications.^{[citation needed]} In 2000, the July edition of Australian Personal Computer magazine bundled software CD-ROMs, included a full version of Warp 4 that required no activation and was essentially a free release. Special versions of OS/2 2.11 and Warp 4 also included symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) support.

OS/2 sales were largely concentrated in networked computing used by corporate professionals; however, by the early 1990s, it was overtaken by Microsoft Windows NT. While OS/2 was arguably technically superior to Microsoft Windows 95, OS/2 failed to develop much penetration in the consumer and stand-alone desktop PC segments; there were reports that it could not be installed properly on IBM's own Aptiva series of home PCs.^[38] Microsoft made an offer in 1994 where IBM would receive the same terms as Compaq (the largest PC manufacturer at the time) for a license of Windows 95, if IBM ended development of OS/2 completely. IBM refused and instead went with an "IBM First" strategy of promoting OS/2 Warp and disparaging Windows, as IBM aimed to drive sales of its own software as well as hardware. By 1995, Windows 95 negotiations between IBM and Microsoft, which were already difficult, stalled when IBM purchased Lotus SmartSuite, which would have directly competed with Microsoft Office. As a result of the dispute, IBM signed the license agreement 15 minutes before Microsoft's Windows 95 launch event, which was later than their competitors and this badly hurt sales of IBM PCs. IBM officials later conceded that OS/2 would not have been a viable operating system to keep them in the PC business.^[39][40]

Workplace OS[edit]

In 1991 IBM started development on an intended replacement for OS/2 called Workplace OS. This was an entirely new product, brand new code, that borrowed only a few sections of code from both the existing OS/2 and AIX products. It used an entirely new microkernel code base, intended (eventually) to host several of IBM's operating systems (including OS/2) as microkernel "personalities". It also included major new architectural features including a system registry, JFS, support for UNIX graphics libraries, and a new driver model.^[41]

Workplace OS was developed solely for POWER platforms, and IBM intended to market a full line of PowerPCs in an effort to take over the market from Intel. A mission was formed to create prototypes of these machines and they were disclosed to several Corporate customers, all of whom raised issues with the idea of dropping Intel.

Advanced plans for the new code base would eventually include replacement of the OS/400 operating system by Workplace OS, as well as a microkernel product that would have been used in industries such as telecommunications and set-top television receivers.

A partially functional pre-alpha version of Workplace OS was demonstrated at Comdex, where a bemused Bill Gates stopped by the booth. The second and last time it would be shown in public was at an OS/2 user group in Phoenix, Arizona; the pre-alpha code refused to boot.

It was released in 1995. But with $990 million being spent per year on development of this as well as Workplace OS, and no possible profit or widespread adoption, the end of the entire Workplace OS and OS/2 product line was near.

Downsizing[edit]

A project was launched internally by IBM to evaluate the looming competitive situation with Microsoft Windows 95. Primary concerns included the major code quality issues in the existing OS/2 product (resulting in over 20 service packs, each requiring more diskettes than the original installation), and the ineffective and heavily matrixed development organization in Boca Raton (where the consultants reported that "basically, everybody reports to everybody") and Austin.

That study, tightly classified as "Registered Confidential" and printed only in numbered copies, identified untenable weaknesses and failures across the board in the Personal Systems Division as well as across IBM as a whole. This resulted in a decision being made at a level above the Division to cut over 95% of the overall budget for the entire product line, end all new development (including Workplace OS), eliminate the Boca Raton development lab, end all sales and marketing efforts of the product, and lay off over 1,300 development individuals (as well as sales and support personnel). $990 million had been spent in the last full year. Warp 4 became the last distributed version of OS/2.

2001: Fading out[edit]

A small and dedicated community remained faithful to OS/2 for many years after its final mainstream release,^[42] but overall, OS/2 failed to catch on in the mass market and is little used outside certain niches where IBM traditionally had a stronghold. For example, many bank installations, especially automated teller machines, run OS/2 with a customized user interface; French SNCF national railways used OS/2 1.x in thousands of ticket selling machines.^{[citation needed]} Telecom companies such as Nortel use OS/2 in some voicemail systems. Also, OS/2 was used for the host PC used to control the Satellite Operations Support System equipment installed at NPR member stations from 1994 to 2007, and used to receive the network's programming via satellite.^{[citation needed]}

Although IBM began indicating shortly after the release of Warp 4 that OS/2 would eventually be withdrawn, the company did not end support until December 31, 2006.^[43] Sales of OS/2 stopped on December 23, 2005. The latest IBM version is 4.52, which was released for both desktop and server systems in December 2001.

IBM is still delivering defect support for a fee.^[43][44] IBM urges customers to migrate their often highly complex applications to e-business technologies such as Java in a platform-neutral manner. Once application migration is completed, IBM recommends migration to a different operating system, suggesting Linux as an alternative.^[45][46][47]

Third party development[edit]

ArcaOS is the most recent OS/2-based operating system developed outside of IBM

After IBM discontinued development of OS/2, various third parties approached IBM to take over future development of the operating system. The OS/2 software vendor Stardock made such a proposal to IBM in 1999, but it was not followed through by the company.^[48] Serenity Systems succeeded in negotiating a license with IBM, and began reselling OS/2 as eComStation in 2001.^[49] eComStation is now sold by XEU.com, the most recent version (2.1) was released in 2011.^[50] In 2015, Arca Noae, LLC announced that they had secured an agreement with IBM to resell OS/2.^[8] They released the first version of their OS/2-based operating system in 2017 as ArcaOS.^[10] As of 2020, there have been multiple releases, and the operating system remains under active development.^[51]

Petitions for open source[edit]

Many people hoped that IBM would release OS/2 or a significant part of it as open source. Petitions were held in 2005 and 2007, but IBM refused them, citing legal and technical reasons.^[52] It is unlikely that the entire OS will be open at any point in the future because it contains third-party code to which IBM does not have copyright, and much of this code is from Microsoft. IBM also once engaged in a technology transfer with Commodore, licensing Amiga technology for OS/2 2.0 and above, in exchange for the REXX scripting language.^[53] This means that OS/2 may have some code that was not written by IBM, which can therefore prevent the OS from being re-announced as open-sourced in the future.^[54][55] On the other hand, IBM donated Object REXX for Windows and OS/2 to the Open Object REXX project maintained by the REXX Language Association on SourceForge.^[56]

There was a petition, arranged by OS2World, to open parts of the OS. Open source operating systems such as Linux have already profited from OS/2 indirectly through IBM's release of the improved JFSfile system, which was ported from the OS/2 code base. As IBM didn't release the source of the OS/2 JFS driver, developers ported the Linux driver back to eComStation and added the functionality to boot from a JFS partition. This new JFS driver has been integrated into eComStation v2.0, the successor of OS/2.

Summary of releases[edit]

Release dates refer to the US English editions unless otherwise noted.^[57][58]

Features and technology[edit]

User interface[edit]

The graphic system has a layer named Presentation Manager that manages windows, fonts, and icons. This is similar in functionality to a non-networked version of X11 or the Windows GDI. On top of this lies the Workplace Shell (WPS) introduced in OS/2 2.0. WPS is an object-orientedshell allowing the user to perform traditional computing tasks such as accessing files, printers, launching legacy programs, and advanced object oriented tasks using built-in and third-party application objects that extended the shell in an integrated fashion not available on any other mainstream operating system. WPS follows IBM's Common User Access user interface standards.

WPS represents objects such as disks, folders, files, program objects, and printers using the System Object Model (SOM), which allows code to be shared among applications, possibly written in different programming languages. A distributed version called DSOM allowed objects on different computers to communicate. DSOM is based on CORBA. The object oriented aspect of SOM is similar to, and a direct competitor to, Microsoft's Component Object Model, though it is implemented in a radically different manner; for instance, one of the most notable differences between SOM and COM is SOM's support for inheritance (one of the most fundamental concepts of OO programming)—COM does not have such support. SOM and DSOM are no longer being developed.

The multimedia capabilities of OS/2 are accessible through Media Control Interface commands. The last update (bundled with the IBM version of Netscape Navigator plugins) added support for MPEG files. Support for newer formats such as PNG, progressive JPEG, DivX, Ogg, and MP3 comes from third parties. Sometimes it is integrated with the multimedia system, but in other offers it comes as standalone applications.

Commands[edit]

The following list of commands is supported by cmd.exe on OS/2.^[59][60]

Application development[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it.(April 2019)

OS/2 also includes a radical advancement in application development with compound document technology called OpenDoc, which was developed with Apple. OpenDoc proved interesting as a technology, but was not widely used or accepted by users or developers. OpenDoc is also no longer being developed.

Networking[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it.(April 2019)

The TCP/IP stack is based on the open sourceBSD stack as visible with SCCSwhat compatible tools.

Drivers[edit]

Hardware vendors were reluctant to support device drivers for alternative operating systems including OS/2 and Linux, leaving users with few choices from a select few vendors. To relieve this issue for video cards, IBM licensed a reduced version of the Scitech display drivers, allowing users to choose from a wide selection of cards supported through Scitech's modular driver design.^[61]

Virtualization[edit]

This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(March 2016)

As of 2008^[update], support for running OS/2 under virtualization appears to be improving in several third-party products. OS/2 has historically been more difficult to run in a virtual machine than most other legacy x86 operating systems because of its extensive reliance on the full set of features of the x86 CPU; in particular, OS/2's use of ring 2 prevented it from running in VMware.^[62] Emulators such as QEMU and Bochs don't suffer from this problem and can run OS/2.^{[citation needed]} A beta of VMware Workstation 2.0 released in January 2000 was the first hypervisor that could run OS/2 at all. Later, the company decided to drop official OS/2 support.

VirtualPC from Microsoft (originally Connectix) has been able to run OS/2 without hardware virtualization support for many years. It also provided "additions" code which greatly improves host–guest OS interactions in OS/2. The additions are not provided with the current version of VirtualPC, but the version last included with a release may still be used with current releases. At one point, OS/2 was a supported host for VirtualPC in addition to a guest. Note that OS/2 runs only as a guest on those versions of VirtualPC that use virtualization (x86 based hosts) and not those doing full emulation (VirtualPC for Mac).

VirtualBox from Oracle Corporation (originally InnoTek, later Sun) supports OS/2 1.x, Warp 3 through 4.5, and eComStation as well as "Other OS/2" as guests. However, attempting to run OS/2 and eComStation can still be difficult, if not impossible, because of the strict requirements of VT-x/AMD-V hardware-enabled virtualization and only ACP2/MCP2 is reported to work in a reliable manner.^[63]

The difficulties in efficiently running OS/2 have, at least once, created an opportunity for a new virtualization company. A large bank in Moscow needed a way to use OS/2 on newer hardware that OS/2 did not support. As virtualization software is an easy way around this, the company desired to run OS/2 under a hypervisor. Once it was determined that VMware was not a possibility, it hired a group of Russian software developers to write a host-based hypervisor that would officially support OS/2. Thus, the Parallels, Inc. company and their Parallels Workstation product was born.^[64]

Security niche[edit]

OS/2 has few native computer viruses;^[65] while it is not invulnerable by design, its reduced market share appears to have discouraged virus writers. There are, however, OS/2-based antivirus programs, dealing with DOS viruses and Windows viruses that could pass through an OS/2 server.^[66]

Problems[edit]

Some problems were classic subjects of comparison with other operating systems:

• Synchronous input queue (SIQ): if a GUI application was not servicing its window messages, the entire GUI system could get stuck and a reboot was required. This problem was considerably reduced with later Warp 3 fixpacks and refined by Warp 4, by taking control over the application after it had not responded for several seconds.^[67]
• No unified object handles (OS/2 v2.11 and earlier): The availability of threads probably led system designers to overlook mechanisms which allow a single thread to wait for different types of asynchronous events at the same time, for example the keyboard and the mouse in a "console" program. Even though select was added later, it only worked on network sockets. In case of a console program, dedicating a separate thread for waiting on each source of events made it difficult to properly release all the input devices before starting other programs in the same "session". As a result, console programs usually polled the keyboard and the mouse alternately, which resulted in wasted CPU and a characteristic "jerky" reactivity to user input. In OS/2 3.0 IBM introduced a new call for this specific problem.^[68]

Historical uses[edit]

OS/2 has been widely used in Iran Export Bank (Bank Saderat Iran) in their teller machines, ATMs and local servers (over 30,000 working stations). As of 2011, the bank moved to virtualize and renew their infrastructure by moving OS/2 to Virtual Machines running over Windows.

OS/2 was widely used in Brazilian banks. Banco do Brasil had a peak 10,000 machines running OS/2 Warp in the 1990s. OS/2 was used in automated teller machines until 2006. The workstations and automated teller machines and attendant computers have been migrated to Linux.^[69]

An ATM in Australia revealing during a reboot that it is based on OS/2 Warp

OS/2 has been used in the banking industry. Suncorp bank in Australia still ran its ATM network on OS/2 as late as 2002. ATMs at Perisher Blue used OS/2 as late as 2009, and even the turn of the decade.^[70]

OS/2 was widely adopted by accounting professionals and auditing companies. In mid-1990s native 32-bit accounting software were well developed and serving corporate markets.

OS/2 ran the faulty baggage handling system at Denver International Airport. The OS was eventually scrapped, but the software written for the system led to massive delays in the opening of the new airport. The OS itself was not at fault, but the software written to run on the OS was. The baggage handling system was eventually removed.

OS/2 was used by radio personality Howard Stern. He once had a 10-minute on-air rant about OS/2 versus Windows 95 and recommended OS/2. He also used OS/2 on his IBM 760CD laptop.

OS/2 was used as part of the Satellite Operations Support System (SOSS) for NPR's Public Radio Satellite System. SOSS was a computer-controlled system using OS/2 that NPR member stations used to receive programming feeds via satellite. SOSS was introduced in 1994 using OS/2 3.0, and was retired in 2007, when NPR switched over to its successor, the ContentDepot.

OS/2 was used to control the SkyTrain automated light rail system in Vancouver, Canada until the late 2000s when it was replaced by Windows XP.

OS/2 was used in the London UndergroundJubilee Line Extension Signals Control System (JLESCS) in London, England. This control system delivered by Alcatel was in use from 1999 to 2011 i.e. between abandonment before opening of the line's unimplemented original automatic train control system and the present SelTrac system. JLESCS did not provide automatic train operation only manual train supervision. Six OS/2 local site computers were distributed along the railway between Stratford and Westminster, the shunting tower at Stratford Market Depot, and several formed the central equipment located at Neasden Depot. It was once intended to cover the rest of the line between Green Park and Stanmore but this was never introduced.

OS/2 has been used by The Co-operative Bank