Thanks to a generous reader, a curiously nondescript box labeled “OS/2 32-Bit Pre-release” recently turned up at the OS/2 Museum. The box looks very much like retail IBM products from the early 1990s, but has no identifying description except for a mysterious “PR00001” label. There is no real part number, no version number, no date. Given the professional packaging, I assumed it to be perhaps OS/2 2.0 LA from late 1991, or some other beta version not far from the final March 1992 release.
After opening the box, I wasn’t much wiser. There were three loose sheets of paper constituting a “Getting Started” brochure. This included real gems such as “we believe the PS/2 Model 90 and the PS/2 Model 95 are supported at this time”. That does not exactly inspire a lot of confidence.
The floppy labels were no more illuminating, except for a tiny “4/91” inscription at the bottom of each label. That would make this one of the earliest IBM OS/2 2.0 betas, older than build level 6.149/6.605 from Summer 1991.
After checking the floppy contents (all 13 were error-free), a clearer picture emerged. The printer driver floppies were from late March 1991, which makes sense for an April 1991 release. But the rest was slightly older… Continue reading