OS/2 Warp Version 4
The fourth major release of the client version of the OS/2 operating system and also known as Warp 4 or under the original project name Merlin. It is not as radical a change as OS/2 Warp Version 3 was from OS/2 Version 2 mainly because the money earmarked for OS/2 development inside IBM's Personal Systems Division was used to develop the ill-fated OS/2 PPC, and while small portions of the OS/2 PPC code showed up in Merlin, most of the changes were superficial. The release does include a number of additional features that were developed as separate programs though, such as OpenGL support.
Versions
Fixpaks
| No. | US version | Date | Build | Warp 4 | WSOD 1 | WSOD 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 c | XR_M000 | 9.024 | x | |||
| 1 | XR_M001 | 1997-02-21 | 9.025 | x | ||
| 2 c | XR_M002 | 1997 | 9.026 | x | ||
| 3 | XR_M003 | 1997 | 9.027 | x | ||
| 4 | XR_M004 | 1997-10-07 | 9.028 | x | ||
| 5 | XR_M005 | 1997-12-07 | 9.029 | x | x | |
| 6 | XR_M006 | 1998 | 9.030 | x | x | |
| 7 | XR_M007 | 1998 | 9.031 | x | x | |
| 8 | XR_M008 | 1998-08-28 | 9.032 | x | x | |
| 9 | XR_M009 | 1998-11-10 | 9.033 | x | x | |
| 10 | XR_M010 | 1999-02-26 | 9.034 | x | x | |
| 11 | XR_M011 | 1999-07-01 | 9.035 | x | x | x |
| 12 | XR_M012 | 1999-09-29 | 9.036 | x | x | x |
Minor versions
IBM released versions 4.5 for those with a defect support contract and for a time also sold it as a upgrade. This has numerous fixes and updates introduced in OS/2 Warp Server for e-business, and a small number of fixes developed since. The last minor version released was 4.52
Development Tools
The base operating system contains:
- Object REXX and SAA REXX
- IBM Linker: LINK.EXE LINK386.EXE
- IBM Resource Compiler: RC.EXE, RCPP.EXE
Inside DOS sessions the following tools are available:
- DEBUG
- QBasic
Publications
Books
- Getting to Know OS/2 Warp 4 – Prentice-Hall 1996, ISBN 0-13-842147-1
- German
- Zietlow: OS/2 Warp Version 4 - tewi 1996, ISBN 3-89362-522-4
- OS/2 Warp V4 in Team - C&L Verlag 1996, ISBN 3-932311-02-7
- Koch: OS/2 Warp Version 4 – Das Kompendium – Markt & Technik 1997, ISBN 3-8272-5213-X
- Ehrkamp: OS/2 Warp 4 – bhv 1997, ISBN 3-89360-266-6
Articles
- Overviews & introductions
- Edward Duhe, Rene Gracia, Kathy Hutchison & Tony White: OS/2 Warp 4: Best on the Planet - Personal Systems Magazine Nov/Dec 1996
- Brian Proffit: OS/2 Warp 4.0 - From PC Magazine September 1996.
- Reviews
- Esther Schindler: Review: OS/2 addresses some old flaws on the desktop - ComputerWorld Magazine (Nov 1996)