The ACPI driver has been updated (11/9/2015) to version 3.22.09 for Arca Noae subscribers, and removes the requirement for eCS.

3.22.09 - 09-Nov-2015 - David Azarewicz

Updated to ACPICA 20150930. ACPI 6.0 is now supported.
Automatically limit to Virtual Wire mode if more than 32 interrupts.
Minor changes to PCI setup for systems which need to run in VW mode.

3.22.08 - 21-Jun-2015 - David Azarewicz
---------------------------------------

Corrected a problem where the Daemon wouldn't run on non-eCS systems.
Updated to ACPICA 20150410
Documentation updates

3.21.06 - 14-Jan-2013 - David Azarewicz
---------------------------------------
Minor changes to sleep/wake sequence order.
Installer updated for eCS 2.2.
Fixed installer problem detecting DBCS systems.

For your convenience, this Warpin package also includes updates in
separate packages that are not part of the ACPI project and are not
related to ACPI. The updated files, each in their own package, are:
* DOSCALL1.DLL
* TCPIP32.DLL
* IBMKBD.SYS
* PSCOM.SYS
* RESOURCE.SYS
* SOCKETSK.SYS

Loading ACPI to our understanding has no effect on DBCS support. It could have been very well possible that the ACPI version you loaded on your system with eCS 2.1 simply did not work. Since that time both ACPI and Panorama have been greatly improved!

This will be an independent, full OS/2 implementation for the modern environment, with updated drivers and other software, and all the software that you can run on OS/2 and eComStation will also run on Blue Lion. It will be available in multiple languages.

Those still using the 28-year-old operating system and its applications typically run the stack in a virtualized environment on modern reliable hardware. The bare-metal OS will be freed from its virtual prison, and released to the world, in the third quarter of next year, we're told.

"The focus will be on running a full OS/2 implementation on bare metal, not just in virtual machines," Arca Noae said, "and toward that goal we plan to do a considerable amount of testing on popular, industry-standard hardware."

New features

Features new to the Blue Lion distribution include a completely reworked installation process, which will allow for installation from USB drives. The developers are also researching network installation. Like modern installers for Windows or Linux distributions, it would include the ability to connect to the internet during installation to download the latest packages, ensuring that the system is completely up to date, out of the box. Work on correcting SMP support, among other features, is also planned.

新機能

Blue Lion ディストリビューションの新たな機能には、USB ドライブからのインストールを可能にする、インストーラの完全なリワークが含まれています。開発者はネットワークインストールについても研究中です。Windows や Linux の今どきのインストーラは、最新の状態を保つ最新のパッケージをダウンロードするために、インストールの最中インターネットに接続する機能が含まれます。そのほかには SMP サポートの修正作業も計画されています。

Release date

When it comes to release dates, Lewis Rosenthal, the Managing Member of Arca Noae (and treasurer of WarpStock), was emphatic ― though realistic ― about the difficulty and
workload involved in assembling a new OS distribution.
Much of the work for modern device drivers is already done and presently available for purchase. A new installer and fixes for low-level issues that persist in OS/2 Warp 4.52 and e-Business Server will be merged into one product as Blue Lion.

Araca Noae の管理と Warpstock の会計を担当する Lews Rosenthal 氏は―現実的とはしながらも―新しい OS ディストリビューションの組み立てにかかわる作業負荷と難しさについて強調した。現代的なデバイスドライバのための作業はすでに行われ、現在購入可能です。OS/2 Warp 4.52 と e-Business Server (Aurora) に存在する低レベルな問題の修正や新しいインストーラは Blue Lion として一製品にマージされるでしょう。

According to Rosenthal, Q3 2016 is as fast as humanly possible to reach general availability, while not being half baked. He is also quick to note that this is not vaporware ― a sizable upfront investment has been made in this product, the programmers are experienced, and the demand is substantial enough that IBM signed the contracts.

Alex Taylor, a Yokohama-based developer for Arca Noae who gave a presentation via Skype at WarpStock, stated in an email that: "We've found that not only are there a surprising number of such customers, but they also want us to make it as smooth and painless as possible for them to keep using, maintaining, and even deploying OS/2 systems. We already provide basic hardware support through our driver offerings; if we can provide them with top to bottom support starting right from operating system installation, it should make things simpler and more cost-effective for all parties. What's more, developing Blue Lion better positions us to address any special requirements of hardware, software, or infrastructure for our customers."

Warpstock に Skype 経由でプレゼンテーションを行った横浜在住の Arca Noae の開発者 Alex Taylor 氏は、電子メールでこのように述べました：「…」

I'm unable to install beta 2 when the installation partition has been previously formatted FAT32. No matter if I try to reformat with HPFS or JFS, the format fails. The message is different for HPFS and different for JFS. The message for HPFS specifically says HPFS, but I believe that is the matter of wording. SYS0540 is for HPFS and SYS0528 for JFS. There is another message following the fist one, but only the beginning is visible as there is only 1 line for messages (this small window for messages should also be addressed as an issue). The message is the same for both HPFS and JFS: SYS1311 The system... (this is all that's visible). The partition size is only 20 GB and JFS should handle far more than FAT32 anyway.

This should not be related to bug 3690 as the partitions on that hard drive can be successfully formatted when connected to a non-SATA3 controller operating in IDE mode (that's how the system is booted). I don't want to pre-format the installation partition when booted from another disk as the format should work regardless of what the existing file systems is. Another partition (2 GB only) on the same disk pre-formatted with FAT can be successfully formatted again during installation time, so this makes me think it's the existing FAT32 format that is the problem.

I'm unable to install beta 2 on a system based on Gigabyte 770TA-UD3 motherboard when a hard drive is connected to SATA3 controller. Short format sometimes works, but long format fails or (more often) never completes producing periodic beeps. Occasionally, the installation will hang on detecting disks, but most often it is the long format that will never complete.
Additional Information To troubleshoot the issue I installed beta 2 on an old SCSI disk to have an operating environment to troubleshoot. When booted from that disk (to bypass SATA/IDE drivers altogether) I could issue format command from a window. When I try to format any partition on a disk connected to SATA3 controller the error message keeps coming every few seconds accompanied by a beep: "Internal error: devices.c(532): Write error 31 (GEN_FAILURE)". This will never stop, even if format is left running for many hours.
When the SATA3 controller mode is changed from AHCI to IDE, the disk is not even visible under eCS. I guess Dani's driver cannot operate SATA3 controller in IDE mode. When I connect the disk to another SATA controller (not SATA3) and I change the mode to IDE, I can format any partition without any issue, which clearly points to a problem with AHCI driver.

Description
eCS 2.2beta does not properly shutdown (-only) when running in VirtualBox (v.4.2.10). It ends in a black VM window. Or, the final confirmation message has been removed? The VM has to be closed, which may or not cause severe damage to data. Happens with and without VBox extensions.
No such problem with eCS 2.1.

Problem fixed here by ACPI 3.22.06.
May be closed.