---
layout: post
title: Revisiting OS/2
date: 2015-12-27 11:00:00
category: OS/2
permalink: /blog/2015/12/27/
machines:
  - type: pc-dbg
    id: ibm5170
    config: /disks/pc/os2/ibm/1.0/machine.xml
---

Just for fun (because I have a warped sense of fun), I decided to revisit some of the old OS/2 software I wrote
almost 30 years ago.  But first, I needed an OS/2 development environment.

So I started with a clean install of IBM's OS/2 1.0 in the [8Mhz IBM PC AT](/disks/pc/os2/ibm/1.0/) machine
below, by booting from the "IBM OS/2 1.0 (1.44M Install)" diskette in drive A and reformatting the machine's 20Mb
drive C.

Next, I installed the [MS OS/2 SDK 1.02](/disks/pc/tools/microsoft/os2/sdk/1.02/).  This SDK was released
in December 1987 along with [Microsoft OS/2 1.0](/disks/pc/os2/microsoft/1.0/).  I don't have any of the
printed documentation that came with the SDK, such as the *Installation Guide*, but I do have the
[Microsoft® Operating System/2 Programmer’s Toolkit](/pubs/pc/programming/os2/microsoft/ptk/1.0/) documentation
from March 1988, thanks to the [OS/2 Museum](http://www.os2museum.com/wp/os2-history/os2-library/os2-1-x-programming/).

Aside from Microsoft's assembler (MASM) and C compiler (CL), the SDK included some other useful tools, such as the
**SDK Editor** (SDKED), which was essentially an OS/2 port of Mark Zbikowski's Editor (Z) that was used internally
at Microsoft for many years.  It was renamed to the **Microsoft Editor** (M or MEP) with the release of Microsoft C
5.1, and it was later integrated into **Programmer's Workbench** (PWB), the text-mode Integrated Development
Environment (IDE) that came with Microsoft C 6.0.

With the introduction of graphical IDEs, such as Visual BASIC in 1991, Visual C++ in 1993, and Visual Studio in 1995,
this stand-alone, text-mode editor became obsolete, but in the 1980s, it was an essential tool.

You can learn more about [SDKED](/disks/pc/tools/microsoft/os2/sdk/1.02/#using-sdked) on the
[MS OS/2 SDK 1.02](/disks/pc/tools/microsoft/os2/sdk/1.02/) page.  I'll be adding a complete list of all the files
that came with SDK to that page in the near future.

To boot IBM OS/2 1.0 and tinker with the [SDK](/disks/pc/tools/microsoft/os2/sdk/1.02/), scroll down and
click the "Run" button.

{% include machine.html id="ibm5170" %}

*[@jeffpar](http://twitter.com/jeffpar)*  
*December 27, 2015*