Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Hobbes OS/2 Archive to shut down in three months

26 views
Skip to first unread message

Internetado

unread,
Jan 15, 2024, 2:15:08 PMJan 15
to
We';ve got some seriously bad news for the OS/2 community. Hobbes, the
massive software archive for OS/2 (and thus eComStation and ArcaOS),
which hosts both old software as well as more recent releases, is
shutting down in three months.

After many years of service, hobbes.nmsu.edu will be decommissioned and
will no longer be available. You the user are responsible for
downloading any of the files found in this archive if you want them.
These files will no longer be available for access or download as of
the decommission date.

As of April 15th, 2024 this site will no longer exist.

No one will be able to access this site or any information/files stored
on this site as of April 15th, 2024.

I don't even know how old Hobbes is, but I feel like it's been around
for decades. Seeing it being shut down is incredibly sad to read, but
also a sign of the times for whatever's left of the OS/2 community. Two
of the four listed mirrors seem to be up, namely SunSITE Poland and
Infania Networks in Sweden. We'll see how long those last, but my
advice to anyone interested in OS/2 - download the Hobbes archive and
store it locally.

https://www.osnews.com/story/138249/hobbes-os-2-archive-to-shut-down-in-three-months/

--
[s]
Internetado.
--- If we aren't supposed to eat animals, why are they made with meat ?

Auric__

unread,
Jan 16, 2024, 1:35:04 AMJan 16
to
Internetado wrote:

> We';ve got some seriously bad news for the OS/2 community. Hobbes, the
> massive software archive for OS/2 (and thus eComStation and ArcaOS),
> which hosts both old software as well as more recent releases, is
> shutting down in three months.
>
> After many years of service, hobbes.nmsu.edu will be decommissioned and
> will no longer be available. You the user are responsible for
> downloading any of the files found in this archive if you want them.
> These files will no longer be available for access or download as of
> the decommission date.
>
> As of April 15th, 2024 this site will no longer exist.
>
> No one will be able to access this site or any information/files stored
> on this site as of April 15th, 2024.
>
> I don't even know how old Hobbes is, but I feel like it's been around
> for decades.

The web archive's first snapshot is dated 21 Dec 1996. I thought it was setup
in 1994, but [shrug].

> Seeing it being shut down is incredibly sad to read, but
> also a sign of the times for whatever's left of the OS/2 community. Two
> of the four listed mirrors seem to be up, namely SunSITE Poland and
> Infania Networks in Sweden. We'll see how long those last, but my
> advice to anyone interested in OS/2 - download the Hobbes archive and
> store it locally.

I bet OS/2 Site Australia puts one up in the near future:

https://www.os2site.com/

I'm thinking about throwing a mirror up myself. Not sure about the disk space
and/or bandwidth though.

--
This is a simple story of a battle; such a tale as may be told
by a soldier who is no writer to a reader who is no soldier.

Grant Taylor

unread,
Jan 16, 2024, 9:48:32 AMJan 16
to
On 1/16/24 00:35, Auric__ wrote:
> I'm thinking about throwing a mirror up myself. Not sure about the
> disk space and/or bandwidth though.

Disk space is < 20 GB of files.

The Hobbes admins have made a big archive available for download.

https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/archives/hobbes_ftp_11Jan2024.tar

% du -b hobbes_ftp_11Jan2024.tar
19469445120 hobbes_ftp_11Jan2024.tar

Check out:

https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/archives/readme.txt



--
Grant. . . .

Dave Yeo

unread,
Jan 17, 2024, 2:15:53 AMJan 17
to
Auric__ wrote:
>> I don't even know how old Hobbes is, but I feel like it's been around
>> for decades.
> The web archive's first snapshot is dated 21 Dec 1996. I thought it was setup
> in 1994, but [shrug].

Hobbes seems to have gone away and returned before, in that timeline. I
have a couple of Hobbes CD ISO's from back then, totally different then
current Hobbes and worth looking at for historical reasons. Things like
GCC 1.4 IIRC, most stuff in ZOO archives. Had to recompile a ZOO
executable to look at them, the recompile with GCC 9.2.0, current libc
and dmake went smooth.
They're easily found by searching.

>
>> Seeing it being shut down is incredibly sad to read, but
>> also a sign of the times for whatever's left of the OS/2 community. Two
>> of the four listed mirrors seem to be up, namely SunSITE Poland and
>> Infania Networks in Sweden. We'll see how long those last, but my
>> advice to anyone interested in OS/2 - download the Hobbes archive and
>> store it locally.
> I bet OS/2 Site Australia puts one up in the near future:
>
> https://www.os2site.com/
>
> I'm thinking about throwing a mirror up myself. Not sure about the disk space
> and/or bandwidth though.

Currently, Ian is planning on keeping mirroring at home in Australia,
the current os2site is actually hosted by OS/2 Voice and os2voice is
planning on hosting ftp hobbes.os2voice.org as the main site, partially
online now with a write only incoming. Ian will take back hosting
os2site by the sounds of it.
Nathan Woodruff is also putting together hobbesarchive.com and pretty
far along and hoping to be the main site with a replica of Hobbes.
Lots of mirrors already as well, including the internet archive.
Dave

Internetado

unread,
Jan 17, 2024, 11:50:04 AMJan 17
to comp.os.os2.misc
To: comp.os.os2.misc
We've got some seriously bad news for the OS/2 community. Hobbes, the
massive software archive for OS/2 (and thus eComStation and ArcaOS),
which hosts both old software as well as more recent releases, is
shutting down in three months.

After many years of service, hobbes.nmsu.edu will be decommissioned and
will no longer be available. You the user are responsible for
downloading any of the files found in this archive if you want them.
These files will no longer be available for access or download as of
the decommission date.

As of April 15th, 2024 this site will no longer exist.

No one will be able to access this site or any information/files stored
on this site as of April 15th, 2024.

I don't even know how old Hobbes is, but I feel like it's been around
for decades. Seeing it being shut down is incredibly sad to read, but
also a sign of the times for whatever's left of the OS/2 community. Two
of the four listed mirrors seem to be up, namely SunSITE Poland and
Infania Networks in Sweden. We'll see how long those last, but my
advice to anyone interested in OS/2 - download the Hobbes archive and
store it locally.

-- I wish I REALLY knew what I was doing.
0 new messages