5 ms·

MS OS/2 SDK Document Dump

94 points by eaguyhn 7y ago

hkai 7y ago
Useful, thanks
rnd0 7y ago
It's great that it's being preserved instead of thrown away. I'm curious -is there plans for mirroring it on bitsavers too?
- zozbot234 7y ago
  Should probably be mirrored on the Internet Archive as well.
agumonkey 7y ago
Scan quality is great
deith 7y ago
That is actually fucking great. I don't know if that Necasek guy reads HN, but thanks!
zxcvbn4038 7y ago
I love to see projects like this. I’ve always lamented that my father threw away his set of System 360 manuals while cleaning out the garage. He also had boxes of early computer science books - nothing like them today, first half of the books were always dedicated to explaining the professor’s particular diagraming style and symbology, second half of the book was the actual computer science content. I’m always on the lookout for books like that when I hit the used book stores but have never found any.
pravda 7y ago
Ah OS/2! You could use the computer even while formatting a floppy. As I recall, IBM would send you OS/2 for free, on a bunch of the new-style 3.5" floppies. I think it was about two dozen floppies.
- noisem4ker 7y ago
  OS/2 for free? That must've been well after Windows 95 came out, with OS/2 then deemed unsalvageable by IBM itself.
  - lproven 7y ago
    If anyone's still interested, there's a free demo CD of the later successor to OS/2, eComStation. http://www.ecomstation.com/democd/index.php?file=9 http://www.ecomstation.com/democd/index.php?file=9 This is what it looks like: http://toastytech.com/guis/ecsd.html http://toastytech.com/guis/ecsd.html
- icedchai 7y ago
  You could use an Amiga while formatting a floppy, back in 1985, a couple years before OS/2 was released.
- pjmlp 7y ago
  Surely not in early 90's Portugal, where OS/2 was only available in IBM PS/2 PC with MCA architecture, with a tax of additional 500 € (more than one month salary minimum wage) versus the 386SX/DX OEM PCs.
  - lproven 7y ago
    There was a widespread belief that it needed a PS/2 and MCA, but it didn't. I ran it on Librex laptops and several generic clones. No version ever _needed_ MCA. It's just one of many things that doomed it. :-(
    - pjmlp 7y ago
      Might have been the case, but on my small town buying such IBM model was the only way to get OS/2. No one was selling it on OEM clones, and buying a PC clone was already expensive enough, to even think about trying to get an additional alternative OS at IBM prices.
- tujv 7y ago
bluedino 7y ago
I never got to actually use OS/2. However, when I was a kid I filled out one of those survey cards from a computer magazine, and I started getting all kinds of catalogs and stuff. One of those catalogs was from Indelible Blue. It was basically a catalog full of OS/2 software. REXX scripting always fascinated me. https://books.google.com/books?id=kzoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA89-IA1&lpg=PA89-IA1&dq=indelible+blue+os/2&source=bl&ots=HDaNEQVISj&sig=ACfU3U1FB2P6MWu4iB2cRCPYzJW6cXKn3w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjf5NfQhevmAhVCa80KHeWVDi8Q6AEwBHoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=indelible%20blue%20os%2F2&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=kzoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA89-IA1&l...
dcbriccetti 7y ago
Oh boy, what fun memories! I paid $3,000 in 1987 for the SDK and to go to the developers conference. Steve Ballmer shouted, “OS/2 is the operating system for the next ten years!” He was about right.
phendrenad2 7y ago
These old docs are always interesting. I also love old books on archaic programming languages and operating systems. But there's usually just so much stuff to read through. It makes me wish for modern books that boil down the complexity of the old systems into a condensed manual. Something like The New Apple II User's Guide.

94 points by eaguyhn 7y ago

hkai 7y ago

Useful, thanks

rnd0 7y ago

It's great that it's being preserved instead of thrown away. I'm curious -is there plans for mirroring it on bitsavers too?

zozbot234 7y ago
Should probably be mirrored on the Internet Archive as well.

agumonkey 7y ago

Scan quality is great

deith 7y ago

That is actually fucking great. I don't know if that Necasek guy reads HN, but thanks!

zxcvbn4038 7y ago

I love to see projects like this. I’ve always lamented that my father threw away his set of System 360 manuals while cleaning out the garage. He also had boxes of early computer science books - nothing like them today, first half of the books were always dedicated to explaining the professor’s particular diagraming style and symbology, second half of the book was the actual computer science content. I’m always on the lookout for books like that when I hit the used book stores but have never found any.

pravda 7y ago

Ah OS/2! You could use the computer even while formatting a floppy. As I recall, IBM would send you OS/2 for free, on a bunch of the new-style 3.5" floppies. I think it was about two dozen floppies.

noisem4ker 7y ago
OS/2 for free? That must've been well after Windows 95 came out, with OS/2 then deemed unsalvageable by IBM itself.
- lproven 7y ago
  If anyone's still interested, there's a free demo CD of the later successor to OS/2, eComStation. http://www.ecomstation.com/democd/index.php?file=9 http://www.ecomstation.com/democd/index.php?file=9 This is what it looks like: http://toastytech.com/guis/ecsd.html http://toastytech.com/guis/ecsd.html
icedchai 7y ago
You could use an Amiga while formatting a floppy, back in 1985, a couple years before OS/2 was released.
pjmlp 7y ago
Surely not in early 90's Portugal, where OS/2 was only available in IBM PS/2 PC with MCA architecture, with a tax of additional 500 € (more than one month salary minimum wage) versus the 386SX/DX OEM PCs.
- lproven 7y ago
  There was a widespread belief that it needed a PS/2 and MCA, but it didn't. I ran it on Librex laptops and several generic clones. No version ever _needed_ MCA. It's just one of many things that doomed it. :-(
  - pjmlp 7y ago
    Might have been the case, but on my small town buying such IBM model was the only way to get OS/2. No one was selling it on OEM clones, and buying a PC clone was already expensive enough, to even think about trying to get an additional alternative OS at IBM prices.
tujv 7y ago

bluedino 7y ago

I never got to actually use OS/2. However, when I was a kid I filled out one of those survey cards from a computer magazine, and I started getting all kinds of catalogs and stuff. One of those catalogs was from Indelible Blue. It was basically a catalog full of OS/2 software. REXX scripting always fascinated me. https://books.google.com/books?id=kzoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA89-IA1&lpg=PA89-IA1&dq=indelible+blue+os/2&source=bl&ots=HDaNEQVISj&sig=ACfU3U1FB2P6MWu4iB2cRCPYzJW6cXKn3w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjf5NfQhevmAhVCa80KHeWVDi8Q6AEwBHoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=indelible%20blue%20os%2F2&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=kzoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA89-IA1&l...

dcbriccetti 7y ago

Oh boy, what fun memories! I paid $3,000 in 1987 for the SDK and to go to the developers conference. Steve Ballmer shouted, “OS/2 is the operating system for the next ten years!” He was about right.

phendrenad2 7y ago

These old docs are always interesting. I also love old books on archaic programming languages and operating systems. But there's usually just so much stuff to read through. It makes me wish for modern books that boil down the complexity of the old systems into a condensed manual. Something like The New Apple II User's Guide.