OS/2 under vmware ws

[Lone_Wolf]

Background :

I recently started work as sys admin at a chemical plant.

Engineering uses an OS/2 program for programming PLC devices over a serial connection

The program runs on an old dell laptop with a 486 processor. They have no spare for this laptop, and it's floppydrive and network card have broken down.

The supplier still has some of those laptops, but refuses to part with them.

Although the hard- and software will be replaced in the next years, the os/2 program will be needed until 2013 .

The company is attempting to find spare parts on ebay, but i've been asked to investigate other options.

Installing os/2 on modern laptops failed completely , so virtualization is the next step.

Until now this company has done nothing with virtualization, and there are several old servers and pc's running on older hardware/software combo's (W98, Windows NT, plain old dos).

If i can get the plc programming tool working reliable under vmware ws/player , that will open opportunities to get vmware server/ESX used.

A search indicated that vmware has had experimental support for os/ 2 in some versions, but this was removed some time ago.

Has anyone succeeded in running os/ 2 warp 4 Convenience Pack 2 under vmware workstation 5.5 ?

[mike_laspina]

You can install OS/2 Warp on MS Virtual PC. And it does work (barely), but are you sure you want to keep it alive. There is no support for it.

[TomHowarth]

You will find that this application is the anchor pin to a key process in the Chemical Plant, so whether or not they want to keep it alive they really do not have any choice, the finance industry has the same issues as well. I would try using a windows95 or a windwos 3.1 guest under Workstation 6 first, you could also try a NT4.0 guest.

if you have any intel macs available you could install fusion and use the os2experimental perameter see this thread

also this site appears to have done it albeit under WS5.5.3

Tom Howarth

VMware Communities User Moderator

[magic-man]

Background :

I recently started work as sys admin at a chemical plant.

Engineering uses an OS/2 program for programming PLC devices over a serial connection

The program runs on an old dell laptop with a 486 processor. They have no spare for this laptop, and it's floppydrive and network card have broken down.

The supplier still has some of those laptops, but refuses to part with them.

Although the hard- and software will be replaced in the next years, the os/2 program will be needed until 2013 .

The company is attempting to find spare parts on ebay, but i've been asked to investigate other options.

Installing os/2 on modern laptops failed completely , so virtualization is the next step.

Until now this company has done nothing with virtualization, and there are several old servers and pc's running on older hardware/software combo's (W98, Windows NT, plain old dos).

If i can get the plc programming tool working reliable under vmware ws/player , that will open opportunities to get vmware server/ESX used.

A search indicated that vmware has had experimental support for os/ 2 in some versions, but this was removed some time ago.

Has anyone succeeded in running os/ 2 warp 4 Convenience Pack 2 under vmware workstation 5.5 ?

While I would LOVE to tell you that OS/2 Warp runs in VMWare, I cannot do that. I finally had to scrap my os/2 setup. I still have all the '486 boards left that I ran my BBS on in OS/2.

There is possibly good news: Did you know that Windows 2000 professional has limited OS/2 application support? Here is a URL I came up with while googling run OS/2 application:

Good place to start. You might also simply build an old pentium 120 or '486 desktop to run OS/2... Parts are dime a dozen and at most thrift stores.

[Lone_Wolf]

Tom Howarth is correct, the app is used to program 10+ Programmable Logic Controllers that are used in key parts of the production process.

The production runs 24/7 including holidays and is only stopped during 2 weeks a year for maintenance .

Replacing all PLC's at once would mean shutting down the plant for 6-8 weeks, and this would result in a huge loss of income .

Further investigation of the tool revealed that it requires the OS2 GUI environment and is heavily optimized for a custom-made os2 warp version.

As the plc's are in different locations, the sw needs to be run on a laptop.

I've had no success with virtualizing sofar, and we have chosen a different approach now :

I've found 6 old PII laptops of the same model (all approx. 10 years old) , and was able to assemble 1 functional laptop from those parts.

With my support Engineering has been able to get os2 running stable on this laptop, and they are now going to test the programming tool.

Once we have confirmed it does the job, the acute problem is solved and i'll try to virtualize it again through P2V .

[ClayMon]

As Mike stated, you should use VirtualPC instead of VMware for OS/2. The 2004 version may be your best option.

[Lone_Wolf]

I wasn't able to get os/2 running on vmware, so as suggested above i tried Virtual PC.

Virtual PC 2004 could not sustain reliable access to the serial port , so i switched to Virtual PC 2007.

We know have the OS/2 PLC programming tool running under Virtual PC 2007 without any problems.

Thanks for the help.

[mike_laspina]

Nice to hear I gave you the Correct Answer.

OS/2 Wow, that brings back memories....

[CodeMechanic]

Hi,

I am facing the problem of acquiring guest information from the ESX Server using Win RM commands through DOS Prompt. For example the command

winrm enumerate http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wscim/1/cim-schema/2/CIM_ComputerSystem -r:<IP address> -username:abc -password:def -auth:basic helps acquire the host information. Is there some equivalent that can be applied to perform the same for the guests , running on the esx server.

Thanks in advance.