The World of Computer Software/The World of Computer Software.iso/v92n19y.zip/V92N195.IBM

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To:    James Gerber <[e-mail]>
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Subj:    Info-IBMPC Digest V92 #195

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Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V92 #195
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Info-IBMPC Digest           Sat, 19 Dec 92       Volume 92 : Issue 195

Today's Editor:
         Gregory Hicks - Rota Spain <[e-mail]>

Today's Topics:
                     Encryption software for OS/2?
                     Backup compressor suggestions?
                Full screen DOS & OPTI chipset (2 msgs)
                   Help ! Trident Drivers won't work
                    HELP needed printing with PSpice
                      How much space for Swapper.dat ?
                     Installation troubles (2 msgs)
            Is SoundBlaster CD-ROM Working for you? (2 msgs)
                            New ATI drivers?
               New ET4000 card install problems! (2 msgs)
                           Service Pak advice
                       solutions to OS/2 problems
                     TE/2 usage problems/questions.
                THE PRESS IS NOT BIASED; ADVOCATES ARE.
                   transparent tabs in setup windows
       Why does number crunching program only use c. 25% of CPU?

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 4 Dec 92 21:20:44 GMT
From: "Timothy F. Sipples" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Encryption software for OS/2?

[e-mail] writes:
>Does anyone know of a decent encryption program for OS/2 2.0?  I would
>be just as happy for a pointer to some source code that I could do a
>recompile on and upload somewhere for anyone else to use.

There's one called PGP (?) 2.0, with source.  It is available via
anonymous ftp from most of the European OS/2 ftp sites listed in the
OS/2 F.A.Q. List.

Why isn't it available via anonymous ftp from ftp-os2.nmsu.edu?  There
are restrictions on exports of encryption software (and other
technologies which may have military applications).  Oddly enough
there's no exception for technologies which are already available
outside the U.S., as this one is, and there's no restriction on the
importation of such technologies.

Timothy F. Sipples      | Read the OS/2 FAQ List 2.0h, available from
[e-mail] | 128.123.35.151, anonymous ftp, in /pub/os2/all/info
Dept. of Econ., Univ.   | /faq, or from [e-mail] (send "HELP")
of Chicago, 60637       | [Read the List, THEN post to ONE OS/2 newsgroup.]

------------------------------

Date: 2 Dec 92 06:41:32 GMT
From: "Carl D. Sanger" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Backup compressor suggestions?

[e-mail] (Stephenson Daniel A) writes:
>See?  Anyway, I tried pkzip, but it didn't preserve my directory
>structure...
>
>Can anyone suggest an efficient compressor that will compress whole
>directories subdirectories, everything - and preserve the directory
>structure?

Pkzip will work if you use the -p and -r options.
  -r : recurse subdirectories
  -p : store pathnames of recursed subdirectories
When restoring, you'll need to use the -d option (restore directories
stored in the zipfile.  Real intuitive, I know.

Carl Sanger                             || [e-mail]
California State University, Sacramento

------------------------------

Date: 2 Dec 92 13:46:24 GMT
From: Oddgeir Kvien <[e-mail]>
Subject: Full screen DOS & OPTI chipset

A friend of mine is geting trouble when running full screen dos (or
full screen windows, since it starts with full screen dos).

The first time he is starting a full screen DOS session there is no
trouble, but the next time he is starting a full screen dos session the
computer hangs.

His computer is a 386 33MHz 8MB ram and OPTI chipset.  I have heard
from another friend that there is some problem with the OPTI chipset
and OS2.

Anyone who have a sugestion on what might be wrong?

| Oddgeir Kvien, Norwegian Institute of Technology                      |
|                Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science |
| email: [e-mail]                                          |
| phone: [phone]                                                   |

------------------------------

Date: 2 Dec 92 18:12:15 GMT
From: Lewis Kawecki <[e-mail]>
Subject: Full screen DOS & OPTI chipset

[e-mail] (Oddgeir Kvien) writes:
>A friend of mine is geting trouble when running full screen dos (or
full screen windows, since it starts with full screen dos).
>
>The first time he is starting a full screen DOS session there is no
trouble, but the next time he is starting a full screen dos session the
computer hangs.
>
>His computer is a 386 33MHz 8MB ram and OPTI chipset.  I have heard
from another friend that there is some problem with the OPTI chipset
and OS2.

Hi,
        I was having random problems with OS/2 and the OPTI chipset,
but I found out that my sound blaster was the problem.  When I spoke
with the store where I purchases my sound blaster I found out that the
sound blaster has a problem with the OPTI chipset.  Creative Labs is
upgrading the DSP chip to correct the problem.  I haven't had any
problems since I removed the sound blaster.

        I don't know of any problems with the OPTI chipset and OS/2.
But, OS/2 does seem to push the system to the limit.  This usually
causes hidden problems to surface.

-Lewis Kawecki
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 5 Dec 92 01:10:58 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Help ! Trident Drivers won't work

[e-mail] (STEPHEN GREGORY) writes:
> Can anyone please help me? I have a trident video card with the TVGA8900c
> chipset, with 516k and a pre-release of OS/2 2.

512k perhaps? What does "pre-release" mean?

> I can't seem to install the trident video drivers that I ftped from
> ftp-os2.nmsu.edu. I have followed what was suggested in the FAQ, that is to
> not replace the original drivers, rather to put the new drivers in a
> seperate directory and modify the SET LIBPATH line in config.sys. I have
> also installed the drivers using DDINSTAL as explained in the readme files
> I got with the trident drivers.

> Regardless of what I do I always get the same result, when I try to
> boot-up OS2 the screen goes blank and everything seems to lock-up.

All I can say is that I just installed the 16-bit drivers on OS/2 (no
service pack, known as "GA"). I followed the readme in trid_drv.zip,
and replaced a number of files, includeing os2ldr, svga.exe,
bvhsvga.dll, and display.dll.  I did exactly what the readme
recommended.

All the drivers tested fine (but I did have some problems getting the
'svga on' to work). The 8514-like mode does have some font choices
which don't work. We are currently using the 800x600-16 seamless
driver.

--Darrel Hankerson [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 4 Dec 92 21:16:57 GMT
From: "Timothy F. Sipples" <[e-mail]>
Subject: HELP needed printing with PSpice

[e-mail] (Eric J Bales) writes:
>I got the PD version of PSpice for DOS, and installed it for use with some
>of my classes...  Only, it won't print the plots under OS/2 unless I tell
>it my printer is a character printer! I have an Epson LQ850.  I tried both
>the EpsonLQ and ElpsonLQlow settings for spice, but they both produced
>garbage output.  Is there something special I should do to make it work?

I'm not directly answering your question, but have you tried the OS/2
version of PSpice?  I believe it has been ported, and you can retrieve
it via anonymous ftp from ftp-os2.nmsu.edu.

Timothy F. Sipples      | Read the OS/2 FAQ List 2.0h, available from
[e-mail] | 128.123.35.151, anonymous ftp, in /pub/os2/all/info
Dept. of Econ., Univ.   | /faq, or from [e-mail] (send "HELP")
of Chicago, 60637       | [Read the List, THEN post to ONE OS/2 newsgroup.]

------------------------------

Date: 2 Dec 92 16:19:55 GMT
From: John DeCarlo <[e-mail]>
Subject: How much space for Swapper.dat ?

 [e-mail] (Robert Tenback) writes:

> I have a question about SWAPPER.DAT, because I get very often the
> message : Partition with swapper.dat is full. (Sys1477)
>
>Question: How much space is needed for Swapper.dat?
>
>Swapper.dat is not cleared when I leave OS/2 (shutdown), it
>still is +- 6Mb, is this normal?

SWAPPER.DAT is the file that is used by OS/2 when there isn't enough
free RAM to do certain things.  It uses it for virtual memory.

Since you only have 4MB, which is lower than most will recommend for
running OS/2 at all, you will tend to use more space on disk to
compensate.

Basically, though, it depends on how many programs you run and how much
memory each one takes.

I have 10MB RAM and an 8MB default SWAPFILE.DAT, and fairly often find
my system allocating more space for SWAPPER.DAT, with running WIN-OS2
and a half dozen or so other programs.

You can change the partition (logical drive) for SWAPPER.DAT by
changing the line in CONFIG.SYS (SWAPPATH = ...) to point to another
drive with more space on it.

John DeCarlo, MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA--My views are my own
Fidonet:  1:109/131  Internet:  [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 2 Dec 92 07:31:11 GMT
From: Martin Tichy <[e-mail]>
Subject: Installation troubles

I'm trying to install OS/2 2.0 on an MFM drive running off of a DTC,
ST506 Host Adapter.  the MFM drive is a miniscribe 3650.  During
installation the drive makes horrendous noises and eventually I get
cyclic redundancy errors.  what's the problem ?  Is it my controller?
Later I noticed those noises had created errors on my drive.  I low
level format fixed that.

Question 2: Is it possible to for OS/2 2.0 to use Dual monitors?  I'm
running on a ATI Ultra PROa local bus and a MDA MDA adapter.

------------------------------

Date: 2 Dec 92 22:43:23 GMT
From: "Timothy F. Sipples" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Installation troubles

 [e-mail] (Martin Tichy) writes:
>I'm trying to install OS/2 2.0 on an MFM drive running off of a DTC,
>ST506 Host Adapter.  the MFM drive is a miniscribe 3650.  During
>installation the drive makes horrendous noises and eventually I get
>cyclic redundancy errors.  what's the problem ?  Is it my controller?
>Later I noticed those noises had created errors on my drive.  I low
>level format fixed that.

You need to obtain a patched IBM1S506.ADD file -- it is available via
anonymous ftp from software.watson.ibm.com.

>Is it possible to for OS/2 2.0 to use Dual monitors?  I'm running on a
>ATI Ultra PROa local bus and a MDA MDA adapter.

Yes.  The EchoMon utility, available via anonymous ftp from
ftp-os2.nmsu.edu, may be of some assistance here.

Timothy F. Sipples      | Read the OS/2 FAQ List 2.0h, available from
[e-mail] | 128.123.35.151, anonymous ftp, in /pub/os2/all/info
Dept. of Econ., Univ.   | /faq, or from [e-mail] (send "HELP")
of Chicago, 60637       | [Read the List, THEN post to ONE OS/2 newsgroup.]

------------------------------

Date: 3 Dec 92 15:47:00 GMT
From: Gene Mangum <[e-mail]>
Subject: Is SoundBlaster CD-ROM Working for you?

I'm thinking of buying the SoundBlaster with CD-ROM today or tomorrow,
but there was a post earlier about someone else having problems with
the beta drivers.   My question is: "Are most people having good luck
with the CD-ROM drivers for SB?"

Thanks,
Gene Mangum
Univ of Michigan Hospitals

------------------------------

Date: 4 Dec 92 15:48:20 GMT
From: Jay Freeman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Is SoundBlaster CD-ROM Working for you?

The drivers require MMPM/2 (at least that's what the readme says). I'm
still waiting on my PDK CD so I haven't had a chance to try them out.
The drive does work fine in a virtual boot machine though.

Jay

------------------------------

Date: 4 Dec 92 23:20:31 GMT
From: Pat Gleason <[e-mail]>
Subject: New ATI drivers?

 [e-mail] (Thomas Wong) writes:

>ATI Mach 8? Mach 8.... Hhmm... I know about the ega/vga wonders, and XL,
>XL24... ultra, vantage....etc. But Mach 8? Or is this some sort of a
>language or a standard? Hhmm.... :)

The Mach 8 cards are the Ultra cards (excluding the Ultra + and the
Ultra Pro which are Mach 32 cards).

>Maybe I should be more specific. Has ATI come out with an ATI XL
>driver for OS/2 yet (Joel's drivers don't work quite well under the
>Service Pack, the tabs in the master index are blacked out and such).

ATI has confirmed that there is a problem in the VGA Wonder drivers
under the service pack, but as of yet have no idea when (or if) a fix
will be available.

ATI, just don't do it.

------------------------------

Date: 3 Dec 92 16:04:52 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: New ET4000 card install problems!


On a similiar thread:

I am running in 1024x768x256 with the CSD ET4000 drivers.  I recently
acquired a newer ET4000 card that will do 1024x768x256 NI.  So, I shut
down, install the new card and my desktop comes up and blanks the
screen!  So I figure I need to re-generate SVGADATA.PMI.

Unfortunately, I can't do this because the screen is blank.  So, I shut
the PC off, installed the old ET4000 card, brought up OS/2, went
through the selective install and install plain VGA support.  Shutdown,
install new card and system comes up OK (in clunky VGA).  I go through
Selective Install and install SVGA support.  Install goes through disks
6-15 then tells me it's determining my hardware configuration.  At this
point, it should be creating SVGADATA.PMI.  My screen goes blank - and
stays blank!  So, what am I doing wrong?  I know the card works (it's
been tested in other PCs and I've tested it in my machine with VDIAG).

I should add that before the last step (Selective Install of SVGA), I
booted up with a DOS diskette and executed:

VMODE 400
VMODE 38K
VMODE 72M
VMODE 72HZ

Then I ran VDIAG and everything checked out OK.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!
Chance Geurin
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 3 Dec 92 18:49:00 GMT
From: "Jack S. Tan" <[e-mail]>
Subject: New ET4000 card install problems!

[e-mail] writes:

>I am running in 1024x768x256 with the CSD ET4000 drivers. [... Text
deleted, but see previous message...]

Try removing any instances of VMODE in your AUTOEXEC.BAT and erasing
the old SVGADATA.PMI file (if it still exists).  When OS/2 tries to
create the new SVGADATA.PMI, it might be using the old information when
creating the DOS session to run SVGA during setup.  Also try VMODE and
VDIAG in a full-screen DOS session and ensure that everything is still
OK.

Jack Tan                                     Sattinger's Law:
[e-mail]                       It works better if you plug it in.

------------------------------

Date: 7 Dec 92 10:03:02 GMT
From: David Shepherd <[e-mail]>
Subject: Service Pak advice

i spent much time over the weekend installing the service pak and
here's some info that others may find helpful.

i was doing a bit more than a straight service pak install as i was
also moving from FAT to HPFS (since i got OS/2 my machines moved from
5M 386SX-16 to 8M 486DX-33 :-) so i was doing a full install as well.

1) wpsbackup/wpsrest doesn't work over a FAT->HPFS change as under HPFS
the various directory names change. I ended up with 2 desktop
directories ("OS!2 2.0 Desktop" and OS!2_2.0_D). While i seemed to get
the right desktop arrangement the 2 dirs worried me and i deleted one,
which was the wrong one to delete (perhaps both were the wrong ones)
and after another attempt to fix this up by judicious editing of the
wprest.cmd file and a re-install which got nowhere i gave up on my
saved desktop and re-installed for the 3rd time :-)

2) windows programs (well certainly ami pro) stick some of their files
(e.g. .DLLs) in system directories *WITHOUT* ever telling you. Hence
after completing the re-install and servpak ami pro couldn't find half
its dlls ... a reinstallation of ami mostly sorted this out.

3) ami pro still complains about a missing file "fontdll.exe" when
running the chgfont macro (which sets changes fonts in style sheets to
ones you've actually got) .... anyone know where this comes from winos?
ami? ... if its winos why didn't the servpak preserv/update it?

other than this servpak looks fine ... winos does start quicker and i
don't notice anything else having slowed down.

david shepherd: [e-mail] or [e-mail]    tel: [phone] x 625
                inmos ltd, 1000 aztec west, almondsbury, bristol, bs12 4sq
                1992: celebrate the quincentenary of columbus getting lost

------------------------------

Date: 3 Dec 92 20:20:58 GMT
From: Dave Tholen <[e-mail]>
Subject: solutions to OS/2 problems

I have the following solutions to some OS/2 problems that have plagued
me.  I hope they may be of some help to others who might have one or
more of the same problems.

1.  Internal processing error ... 1633, 7025 ... The system is stopped.

This happened to me whenever I ran a second instance of COMMAND.COM,
either directly, or by typing the name of a DOS program at an OS/2
command prompt.  The problem did not exist under XR02000 (also known as
GA) but did under XR06055 (also known as the ServicePak).  Turns out
that the virtual device drivers VDPMI.SYS and VDPX.SYS now have a
dependency under XR06055 that did not exist under XR02000.  If you did
NOT install DOS extender support, like me, then the default CONFIG.SYS
file created by XR02000 includes a statement that loads VDPX.SYS, but
not VDPMI.SYS, hence the new problem.  The solution is to REM out
VDPX.SYS.  This is a problem with OS/2 installation that IBM is now
obviously aware of, so I expect it to be fixed by the next release.

2.  System hangs.

I had this problem whenever I ran 32-bit code created by the WATCOM
F77/386 compiler.  Turns out that the problem was due to my B1 step
level 386 chip.  Contrary to reports in this newsgroup, which claimed
that Intel had fixed the bug before producing any 25 MHz chips, a
contact at Intel told me that a handful of 25 MHz chips were produced
before the bug was fixed; I was one of the unlucky ones who received
one of these chips.  Note that I also have a 387 chip, and the problem
only occurred when running 32-bit programs that utilized the 387.
According to rumors in this newsgroup, OS/2 was supposed to detect the
presence of a B1 chip and disable the coprocessor, specifically to
avoid this problem.  If true, then OS/2 somehow failed to detect my B1
chip.  If not true, then others may also have this problem if they have
both a B1 386 and a 387, if a 32-bit program attempts to use the 387.
A B1 386 by itself isn't a problem, for those of you that have them;
just don't add a 387 to your system and expect to use it with 32-bit
code.

3.  Hated the mouse ballistics under the ServicePak.

Ever played PMMINE under XR02000 and then after installing the
ServicePak?  I've read at least one posting from somebody else who
noticed the same problem.  The new mouse ballistics are awful (in my
opinion), and adjusting the tracking rate doesn't help at the slow end
of the spectrum.  The solution is to copy MOUSE.SYS from disk 2 of GA
into your \OS2 directory.  The old mouse driver works just fine (for
me) with the 32-bit GRE.  The mouse ballistics are now the same that I
enjoyed under GA.  What I don't know is whether the ServicePak
MOUSE.SYS file does more than simply change the ballistics.  If it also
fixed some bug, then by reverting to the original version of the
driver, I've reintroduced that bug (but I haven't encountered any
problem yet, so until I do, I'm sticking with the old driver).  I've
encouraged IBM to make the mouse control notebook more flexible in
terms of tailoring the mouse ballistics to an individual's preferences.

------------------------------

Date: 4 Dec 92 21:44:11 GMT
From: "frankie t. k. lau" <[e-mail]>
Subject: TE/2 usage problems/questions.

Hi
        I borrowed a Zyxel 1496E home and see if the modem suits me.  I
used the v32bis modem using the latest TE/2 release found in hobbes
(12/92).  From the modems.zip, I found no zyxel there, and after
comparing different v32bis modem settings in those .inc files, I used
digicom.inc.

I only have a 16450 uart.  No special changes to COM.SYS or else in
config.sys.  Upon connection (to another Zyxel 1496E), I have: connect
38400/v32bis and /v42bis.

When I zmodem transfer using TE/2 (in os/2 window), I found the char
per sec is low at less than 300. And surprisingly, during a rather long
transfer (~230K byte), it is estimated that ~18minutes are required
(that's long because there are frequent retrials for transfer).  And
while no cpu intensive jobs other than the screen saver running, the
job was interrupted at ~100K mark.  No further retrial.

Questions:

1) do i need to add any COM.SYSish to config.sys so that I can get a
better transfer rate (for 16450)?  I saw 16550.sys, do I need it for
16550 uart?

2) I asked the connection rate to be 38400 (as in digicom.inc), should
that be higher for a V32/BIS??

3) can the transfer be made less prone for 'bad transfer' or even
unexpected interruption? (can 16550 help?)

Thanks for any insights.  OR suggestions as to how to reproduce your
results of good (ie >~ 1500 cps transfer) with 16450 or 16550 when
using TE/2 (new) as the comm program.

[I kept on asking help for both 16450/16550 because I would like to
know what I can get out of 16450 before 'finally' getting the chip or
swapping the comm board.]

-Frankie
[e-mail]
PS please be verbose in your reply.

------------------------------

Date: 5 Dec 92 01:37:48 GMT
From: "Nishith A. Patel" <[e-mail]>
Subject: THE PRESS IS NOT BIASED; ADVOCATES ARE.

I have seen some things on this group about the press being biased.
Well, this is not true.

The press is not a advocate of anything, they are only doing what they
have to do to make money. They are covering what people like to hear
about. That means Windows. What happened when Windows came out (you can
check this yourself, looking through all the old editions of mags) was
that the press liked it and started jumping on the bandwagon. Now that
windows is established, people want to here about it. And people do not
want to worry about OS/2.  Now that Windows is established, it would be
awkward for the press to suddenly say, "Now OS/2 is here, and it is
something the industry should consider as a mainstream product. There
should now be two standards, two mainstream products that the indutry
has to accept and migrate to."

Hence the stuff about OS/2 being a nice technical idea, but as an
implemented product in 2.0, it has problems. They know that the lack of
apps and support is a big problem, so that it would be difficult to
recommend it to anyone but a select few number of users.

This does not mean they unfairly criticise it. They point out only the
things I said, that apps and usability for the mainstream are not
OS/2's strong points.

There is no reason for the press to "like" one system and "hate"
another.  Think about it. They have economic motives, but not love of a
particular piece of software.

is calling the press biased just some people's way of dismissing
negative criticism of OS/2? Probably.

------------------------------

Date: 4 Dec 92 19:47:19 GMT
From: "Timothy F. Sipples" <[e-mail]>
Subject: transparent tabs in setup windows

[e-mail] (Andrew W. Hamilton) writes:
>I have the CSD installed and am running a Trident card at 1024x768/256
>with the latest 16bit drivers from Trident.  I installed them as
>specified in the CSD readme file (i.e., create a "mydisplay" directory
>etc.), but every time I try to go into one of thise setup windows the
>tabs on the "spiral notebooks" are transparent--you can see the desktop
>right through them.  Does anyone know how to fix this?

Would you believe Trident now has 32-bit drivers?  They look like they
weren't packed correctly (three files of the same name are in the same
self-extracting archive -- a bit difficult to extract!), but they are
now available via anonymous ftp from ftp-os2.nmsu.edu, directory
/pub/uploads at the moment (although they will be moved).  (Note there
might be a command line switch to create subdirectories -- the README
seems to imply that's how the drivers ship.)

These 32-bit drivers are for the 256 color modes only.  (The 16 color
drivers are pretty solid right now, even in the 16-bit versions.)

Timothy F. Sipples      | Read the OS/2 FAQ List 2.0h, available from
[e-mail] | 128.123.35.151, anonymous ftp, in /pub/os2/all/info
Dept. of Econ., Univ.   | /faq, or from [e-mail] (send "HELP")
of Chicago, 60637       | [Read the List, THEN post to ONE OS/2 newsgroup.]

------------------------------

Date: 4 Dec 92 23:51:15 GMT
From: Dov Bai-MSI Visitor <[e-mail]>
Subject: Why does number crunching program only use c. 25% of CPU?

 [e-mail] (Richard Stanton) writes:
>I've recently been trying out the CPU monitor available in
>CPUMON3.ZIP, and have noticed something that seems odd to me. When I
>compiled (using emx GCC) a C program that just does some heavy numbner
>crunching, then ran it in an OS/2 window, the CPU monitor reported that
>it was using only about 25% of the CPU, with another 25% or so devoted
>to "Idle Time". Since I had no other major processes running, I hoped
>to see this program using almost 100% of the CPU.

>My question is

>a) Is this just an artifact of the data collection performed by
>MONITOR.EXE (e.g. does it average over some long time period?)

It probably is. I just tried it with the Whetstone benchmark, and it
also gave ~30% CPU. The Whetstones were, however, the correct number
for my machine which shows that it used close to 100%.

Dov

------------------------------

End of Info-IBMPC Digest V92 #195
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