Subj : Re: Wondering about OS/2 BBS on a the Cloud?
To   : buanzo
From : Alexander Grotewohl
Date : Wed Apr 14 2021 03:19 pm

On 14 Apr 2021, buanzo said the following...

bu> Is anyone running os/2 (virtualized I would assume) on dedicated or cloud
bu> servers?

i don't believe OS/2 plays nice with QEMU.. if you had a host you could upload a custom image to, it would be unlikely to boot. (e.g. any host that uses KVM).

tbh i think the options are:

rent a dedicated server.. it'll come with some flavor of linux. install VirtualBox on there, and run OS/2 under VirtualBox. use ssh to tunnel in to use VNC, then you can control the machine as usual. i did some basic testing running a BBS under OS/2 & VirtualBox and it was SLOW. (and on a Ryzen 7 2700x host machine..)

OR go the whole way and build yourself a mid-tower OS/2 machine with the specs you want and google "mid tower server hosting" to find someplace to ship it off to. prices range from $50-99 a month. i wouldn't bother with anything more expensive than that..

i have personal experience with this company that was positive:
https://managedway.com/colocation-facilities/single-server


if you do the VirtualBox thing.. i wrote some things down at some point:

Avoid versions other than Warp 4.52 CP2
Use default 2GB virtual disk drive size. Make other drives/partitions/whatever for more
Don't use SVGA it defaults to. Select GENGRADD that doesn't mention VGA
Install additions from CD

things might have improved since then, but still a safe starting point.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/04/08 (Windows/32)
* Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi (1:120/616)