Dual Booting

[Ol Rattler]

Is it true that I can install a DOS OS/2, version 3.0, onto a PC that already has windows 10?

 

[krebizfan]

What system are you planning to install another operating system to? In theory, yes, it is possible to install FreeDOS and dual boot on a system with Windows 10 installed. For MS-DOS or OS/2 Warp 3, the drives and memory are typically too large to be installed even with patches. OS/2 Warp 3 has problems with more than 64MB of RAM and hard drives larger than 8GB. ArcaOS is an updated derivative of OS/2 with support for more modern systems but the $139 price tag is daunting for casual use.

 

[Ol Rattler]

My system is right 8.0 GB and 64 bit. The one that I'm considering is OS/2 Warp 3.

 

[Svenska]

The answer is no. You should install OS/2 Warp 3 in a Virtual Machine instead.

 

[Ol Rattler]

Thank you, Svenska. I shall explore this option.

 

[krebizfan]

Installing in a virtual machine has its own challenges. OS/2 Warp 3 seldom installs cleanly; often it is necessary to forcibly reboot after a crash to complete the process.

 

[Ol Rattler]

Installing in a virtual machine has its own challenges. OS/2 Warp 3 seldom installs cleanly; often it is necessary to forcibly reboot after a crash to complete the process.

Thank you.

 

[acgs]

My system is right 8.0 GB and 64 bit.

I just want to make certain that you understand the specs. OS/2 Warp 3 has a maximum limit of 8GB for the size of a Hard Drive (HD). A Windows 10 computer can have a HD that is MUCH LARGER. Also, your system's 8GB might be for RAM. OS/2 Warp can only use a maximum of 64MB of RAM. Your system has a 64-bit processor, OS/2 is a 32-bit operating system.

While a 32-bit OS could run on a 64-bit system, OS/2Warp doesn't function correctly with larger HDs and more RAM. To put is simply, OS/2 Warp 3.0 was "designed" with those limits and anything greater causes it to get "confused" and will produce bizarre results when you try to run it.

This is why you should try installing it in a virtual machine where you can set up the emulator to meet those maximum specs.

 

[krebizfan]

There are a lot of patches over at Hobbes which allow for more advanced hardware. The problem is getting OS/2 installed in order to load those patches and figuring out which ones work for the specific install. For example, one updated filter claims to allow OS/2 Warp 4 to use drives with up to 2 TB of capacity. The post IBM OS/2 versions packaged those patches into an easier to install OS.

The virtual machine approach does have one major advantage. OS/2 generally only uses a single core so the virtual machine will have only a tiny impact on the rest of the Windows 10 system. There was a multi-processor version of OS/2 but it didn't work well with a lot of software. https://gekk.info/articles/os2.html is a guide to installing under Virtual Box.

 

[Svenska]

OS/2 Warp 3 seldom installs cleanly; often it is necessary to forcibly reboot after a crash to complete the process.

I never had issues on real hardware, or with PCem. Qemu was hard to get working, haven't tried anything else in a while.

OS/2 is notoriously hard to emulate, especially older versions. Nothing before a well-fixed Warp 4 will handle hardware acceleration well. Booting is unreliable on faster CPUs, if the system hangs immediately, just try again - if should work eventually.