═══ 1. President's Note ═══ Welcome to GDOUG! This is the second volume of excerpts from the newsletter of the Greater Detroit OS/2 User Group (GDOUG). The articles here are reprinted from issues published between September 1995 and February 1996. The only edits made have been to accomodate the features available in the .INF format and to update articles with new information since their original text publication. I want to point out that although GDOUG is based in the Southeast Michigan area, we welcome articles, reviews, editorials and other contributions from anyone. If you would like to contribute to our newsletter, please send a copy in ASCII, .INF, DeScribe or IBM Works format to us at the locations listed in the GDOUG Membership and Contact info page. Not only will you receive the appropriate credit, we'll send you a complimentary copy of the newsletter in which your article appears. Either way, we'd appreciate any feedback on the newsletter and its articles. If you find something useful, entertaining or even infuriating, 'drop us a line' and let us know. Edward Trumbo President, Greater Detroit OS/2 User Group ═══ 2. GDOUG FAQ ═══ Note: The following file contains a brief introduction to the purpose, nature and activities of the Greater Detroit OS/2 User Group. The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. Please contact GDOUG at the locations listed within to confirm the current accuracy of any material contained here. What is GDOUG? GDOUG (the Greater Detroit OS/2 User Group) is a nonprofit volunteer organization of computer users dedicated to the OS/2 operating system and its related products and technologies. What is GDOUGs purpose? See our Charter. Does GDOUG hold regular meetings, and on what schedule? At this time, GDOUG meets once a month in the Warren, MI area, on the second Friday of each month from 7:30PM to approximately 9:30PM. This schedule is subject to change, so please contact a GDOUG member or officer or log in to the OS/2 Express BBS for current details. Does GDOUG have a newsletter for OS/2 Users? Yes, the GDOUG newsletter is published monthly, prior to each meeting. The printed edition is mailed to registered members, and is also available for a free trial subscription by request. An ASCII edition is published online on the OS/2 Express. Enter N for Newsletter to view the current edition on-line or check the File listings for a downloadable 'zipped' version. Is there an electronic archive of back issues available? We have an archive of GDOUG information, including back issues of the newsletter, available on our home BBS, the OS/2 Express. Does your user group have a User Library of freeware and shareware available for members? The OS/2 Express BBS mentioned above handles distribution of OS/2shareware, files and GDOUG related information. The BBS also has the latest Hobbes CD from Walnut Creek available online. Does your user group allow long distance memberships? We welcome the participation of anyone who is interested in using, developing for and supporting OS/2. Our newsletter includes articles, independent reviews, news and editorials applicable to OS/2 users whatever their location. If demand proves sufficient, we may offer discounted 'memberships' to those who can't conveniently attend our regular meetings. So far, we have had people from all over Michigan and parts of Canada attending our meetings. We are pursuing a permanent or semi-permanent meeting location that will be conveniently accessible to everyone in the greater Detroit area. How much is membership? Are there other benefits (like discount purchases) available for members? Membership dues are $25 US per year. Meeting attendance is free to anyone interested. We receive promotional offers from software vendors with generously discounted prices that apply to User Group orders, we make these available to the members at each meeting. IBM publishes a technical journal which is available only to User Group members, we receive regular copies for distribution. Besides these immediate benefits of membership, joining an OS/2 User Group provides a tremendous opportunity to network with colleagues who have skills to offer or needs to be met. What is the focus of GDOUG memberships and meeting topics? We welcome the participation of everyone, whether they're curious about OS/2 or helped write OS/2 1.0 back in 1987. Our activities are based on the participation of those who attend our meetings. If many advanced users and /or developers attend, GDOUG will focus on their needs, likewise if OS/2 beginners attend we will focus on serving the needs of new users. How do I contact the OS/2 Express BBS? See our page on the OS/2 Express. How would I contact GDOUG members or Officers directly? See the above question and answer for instructions on the OS/2 Express. We frequent the "GDOUG Members Corner" message section there. By reading other posts there, you may gather all the information you need. To otherwise contact us or become a member of GDOUG, see our GDOUG Membership and Contact info page. ═══ 3. The OS/2 Express BBS ═══ "OS/2 Express": The GDOUG BBS! The OS/2 Express BBS is GDOUG's primary on-line resource for its members and other interested parties. The OS/2 Express is operated by SysOp and GDOUG officer James Held who has generously offered special access privileges for GDOUG members. Some highlights of OS/2 Express include: o the latest Hobbes OS/2 CD-ROMs online, featuring nearly 650 Megabytes of OS/2 programs, drivers and files from the largest Internet archive serving OS/2 o Up to 120 minutes of free access each day o Up to 2 Megabyte of downloads per user per day Features for GDOUG members only: o dedicated message bases o extra download privleges totaling 4 Megabytes per day In addition to this, the OS/2 Express is the first place to find up to the minute information about GDOUG meetings and other activities. To call the OS/2 Express BBS, set you modem to N-8-1 and up to 19.2K baud and dial (810) 739-1193. Please answer the introductory questions and feel free to let the SysOp know that GDOUG sent you! ═══ 4. Articles ═══ ═══ 4.1. Cooking with .INF's ═══ written and presented by Ed Trumbo on September 11, 1995 INTRODUCTION The Information Presentation Facility in OS/2 is familiar to all OS/2 users. The Information folder containing the on-line reference material, as well as the on-line help files included with many OS/2 applications, make use of the IPF format. Such files are identified by their .INF extension, associated with the VIEW program included with OS/2, and now with PC DOS 7. Creating such documents involves the use of a text markup language, or 'tag' language, and compiling this source text using the Information Presentation Facility Compiler (IPFC). IPFC is available separately from OS/2 itself, it is commonly included with application development systems like the Developer's Toolkit for OS/2, VisualAge C++, VX-REXX and so on. EXAMPLES Most of the effects available in INF documents are encoded as shorthand English-like instructions to the compiler, using tag characters that identify INF commands. For example, text written like this: 'GDOUG was founded in July 1994.' would be tagged like this to highlight 'July 1994' in red: 'GDOUG was founded in :color fc=red.July 1994:color fc=default..' A hypertext link from GDOUG to another page would look like this: ':link reftype=hd res=001.GDOUG:elink. was founded in July 1994.' while the linked document or page would start with: ':h2 res=001.Greater Detroit OS/2 User Group' Since the tag language itself makes extensive use of punctuation characters, it is necessary to distinguish between tag commands and regularly occurring punctuation. To include a colon in an IPF document, the colon must be represented as &colon. Other common characters are replaced like this: &. for Ampersand, &slr. for a right Slash, &slr. for left Slash, etc. An interesting characteristic of IPF is that it does not recognize hard returns or blank lines. Each paragraph must be delimited by the :p. paragraph tag, to prevent all text from running together as a stream. This can be the most tedious aspect of creating IPF files, since even the programs designed to translate text into IPF format don't readily insert paragraph tags where needed. Some other tags offer the ability to automatically format your text, such as: Tables Lists, including multilevel indenting and outlining, "bullets" and line spacing Font selections Margins and more. A complete description of the tag language is included with the compiler in - you guessed it - an INF document. While I won't repeat every possible tag available, the previous examples should give an idea of what is involved in creating INF documents. WRITING FOR .INF Having hypertext capabilities implies a different style of writing. In editing our old newsletters together for GDOUG Volume 1, I found several areas that could be removed entirely in favor of hypertext links to other included areas of the final document. Several references to the OS/2 Express and its logon parameters were easily replaced by a link to one page with all information on our BBS. References to Officer contact information were consolidated onto one page, with links available throughout the entire file. This wouldn't have been practical in a lengthy text document. How many readers would interrupt the normal flow of reading if it meant searching through pages and returning to where they left off afterward, if they had to do so several times in each page? Hypertext in general, and IPF in particular, makes this a painless process. By using IPF footnotes within the document, I was able to include more information about the various vendors and companies mentioned throughout the document, without disrupting the flow of the topic at hand. CONCLUSION Although IPF isn't very easy to learn or easy to use for the author, the rewards in creating documents in this format make the effort worthwhile. A well designed .INF file frees both the author and the reader from the traditional limitations of the printed page. In this presentation, I haven't explored some of the most impressive capabilities of IPF, such as graphics linking and application launching, but I hope that this serves as a brief introduction to this often overlooked capability of OS/2 and PC DOS 7. ═══ 4.2. IBM LAN Distance Remote ═══ Copyright (C) 1995 Daniel R. Rubis, all rights reserved IBM LAN Distance Remote Installation There is a recommended installation sequence for installing some of the products for OS/2 Warp Connect. Some of the products like LAN Distance Remote will not install correctly unless other products have been installed prior to LAN Distance Remote. I have found that the sequence below works: 1. Install OS/2 Warp 3.0. 2. Install OS/2 Peer. 3. Install TCP/IP for OS/2 Version 3.0 4. Install LAN Distance Remote 1.11 Note: After each of the step of the above Shut Down and reboot the computer. This is an important step because the CONFIG.SYS is changed for each of the above products and new program objects are registered to the system during the reboot. Notice that LAN Distance Remote is the last to be installed. This is important because LAN Distance Remote needs some of the functions that get installed during the previous product installation. If it does not find them, the LAN Distance installation fails. Also notice that you DO NOT install IBM LAN Requester 4.0 when installing LAN Distance Remote. DO NOT install Internet Connection from the Bonus Pack. If you have Internet Connection from the Bonus Pack already installed, say from OS/2 Warp 3.0., you should remove it. Using LAN Distance Remote You need another copy of OS/2 Warp Connect to install on another computer. Each computer that you plan to use LAN Distance Remote needs its own license. IBM has come out with very economical pricing of a "5-Pack" Connect. There are three ways install OS/2 Warp Connect. If you have Warp Connect on a LAN connected computer you can install Warp Connect on other computers on the LAN. You can install Warp Connect as you did above (i.e. from the CD-ROM). You can also create diskettes by using PRODINST on the CD-ROM and then install Warp Connect using the diskettes. If you have a laptop that does not have a CD-ROM drive and is not connected to a LAN through a docking station you have to install Warp Connect using diskettes. You will need a minimum of 14 diskettes for IBM Peer, MPTS, and LAN Distance Remote and that is not including the Warp diskettes. Assuming you now have Warp Connect installed on two computers you can now use LAN Distance Remote. The communication drivers for LAN Distance Remote only support a limited amount of modems. Compression features of some modems are not supported. It is recommended that you use a generic "Asynchronous Switched Connection Modem" selection. You change your modem selection by starting LAN Distance, pull down the Selected menu, Open As submenu, and Settings. In the Modems tab, you can Delete the modem selection and Assign the Asynch. selection. Once you get something running you can try other modem selections to increase the speed, for Asynch. runs at only 9600 BPS. Below are the steps to connect a laptop to a desktop computer using LAN Distance Remote: Desktop 1. Open Icon IBM LAN Distance. 2. From LAN Distance Workstation menu bar, click on Selected/Open-As/Settings. 3. From the Setting Notebook tabs select the Answer tab. Select the PSTN_ALL_CALLS to highlight it, click on Start Mode. 4. Close settings notebook 5. Click on yes to save settings. 6. Click on Ok. At this point you will want to Share Resources. There is several ways to share resources (i.e. disks, CD-ROMs, specific directories on disks, COMM. ports, printers). The popup menus of shareable resources now have another item to select, Share. Or, in the OS/2 Peer folder you can use the Sharing and Connecting object. Laptop For the laptop make sure the modem is turned on if it is an external modem before starting LAN Distance Remote. Follow the steps below: 1. Open Icon IBM LAN Distance. 2. Click on Ok to 9600 BPS message if you have not installed the modem as generic Asynch. 3. Click on the Icon that looks like a computer. This is your phone book. 4. Select/Add telephone number from/to the list. 5. Click on Dial - the LAN Distance will dial and report back that it is connected and at what speed in the status box. At the Desktop computer at the other end, a message box will popup saying that a "Connection has been established". You can click Ok and it will get rid of the message box, but it is not required. 6. Minimize the Phone Book (optional), DO NOT close it. 7. Minimize the LAN Distance folder (optional), DO NOT close it. 8. Open the Drives folder (optional). 9. Open the OS/2 Peers folder. 10. Start Sharing and Connecting object. There are resources that are availableto the laptop from the Desktop that you previously allowed to be shared. You must connect to those resources. 11. Select a resource. 12. Click on Yes to Log on to OS/2 Peer. 13. Enter Userid _______ and Password________ in the dialog box. The default userid is USERID and default password is PASSWORD until you change them. If you select a disk resource, it will show up in your drives folder as a workstation-drive icon to distinguish it from the local drives. You can treat the remote Desktop disk resource as if it were a local disk drive. You will notice that it is much slower than a local drive because all of the information must be sent over the 9600 BPS modem. When accessing disk resources it is faster to use a OS/2 prompt session that using the GUI drives folder for copying files etc. Shutting down a LAN Distance computer has a specific sequence. First log off OS/2 Peer. There are several ways to do that. The easiest is to use the Logoff icon in the OS/2 Peer folder. Then close the LAN Distance object that you may have minimized earlier. A shuttle message box will appear that will offer Remote workstation or LAN workstation. Select either and click on Ok. Note: If you get errors about modems, check the WCLNET.INI file to see that the correct modem is specified. Assigning users can be tricky. See the Rules in Adding & Managing Users & Groups in the "Book" folder in OS/2 Peer folder. Especially, do not use 'computer names' as userids or for anything else. All names must be unique, is a good policy. ═══ 4.3. WARP CONNECT ═══ In place of a full-fledged review of OS/2 Warp Connect, I'd like to provide some tips, observations and perhaps some warnings appropriate to this release. First, a quick summary of what Warp Connect is, what it contains and how it differs from other releases of Warp. Warp Connect is essentially the same Warp that's been available for nearly a year now, but with several significant additions. The same BonusPak is there, the only notable update is the inclusion of the 1.01 WebExplorer in the Internet Access Kit (The first release of Warp shipped without WebExplorer, it was available on-line within the month). The new features of Warp Connect are, by category: NETWORK CONNECTION o OS/2 Peer - The long awaited peer-to-peer network for OS/2. This is actually Lan Requester 4.0 with the Peer Services supported by GUI. o LAN Requester 4.0 - The client portion of OS/2 LAN Server, Peer Services is command-line only. o Netware Client 2.11 - The Novell Netware client software for OS/2. o LAN Distance 1.1 Remote - Allows remote connections between PCs and LANs through modems. o TCP/IP 3.0 for OS/2 - The latest version of IBM's TCP/IP Base Kit, available only in Warp Connect. This can actually replace the Internet Access Kit on the BonusPak CD-ROM, more about this later. o Network SignOn Coordinator - A utility that can be configured to simultaneously connect you to multiple networks or programs, syncronize passwords, etc. MISCELLANEOUS o AskPSP - A 'help desk'-type database including some frequently encountered problems and questions, along with solutions. o Lotus Notes Express - Separately bundled (is that an oxymoron or what?!) in Warp Connect is a Lotus CD containing the 'runtime' client version of Lotus Notes. Notes being what it is, this should really be included in the network section. Notes Express can send E-Mail and use the seven applications and databases included, but cannot use or create custom ones. HOW IS WARP CONNECT DIFFERENT FROM OTHER WARPS? 1. Warp Connect is only available on CD-ROM. You can make floppies from the images on the CD-ROM. 2. The installation assumes you'll install at least one networking feature. 'Easy Installation' is preset to load the Netware Client and Internet TCP/IP through modem (although you can prevent each one if needed), 'Advanced Installation' lets you specify which network drivers to load, or load none at all. 3. The TCP/IP 3.0 in Warp Connect is intended to replace the Internet Access Kit in the BonusPak. Throughout the documentation, IBM stresses that you should not install the BonusPak IAK under Warp Connect. (I really don't know why, more on this later) 4. Three manuals are shipped with Warp Connect, following the formats of the LAN Server documentation. The first, 'Easy Start', is intended as a quick reference for the computer literate, following installation. 'Up and Running' is more comprehensive, and the 'Users Guide' is essentially the same as in previous Warps, but updated with corrections, etc. Note: I've installed both Warp Connect with WIN-OS/2 (Blue) and without WIN-OS/2 (Red). During the installation of WC Blue (the first one available), Warp would not run the Dos SVGA program during installation. By subsequently choosing VGA rather than the detected SVGA Tseng, I was able to later run Selective Install and update my video drivers correctly. This problem did not occur with earlier versions of Warp. WARP CONNECT QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Warp Connect seems to be a bundling of available products. Is there anything truly new or otherwise unavailable included in Warp Connect? Two things: TCP/IP 3.0 and OS/2 Peer. TCP/IP 3.0 is the new version of the 2.0 kits previously (and still) available separately. It resolves the conflict between version 2.0 and the BonusPak IAK by effectively replacing the IAK (I did find it necessary to install and configure the IAK before using TCP/IP 3.0 for Advantis, more about this later). 3.0 includes the equivalent of the 2.0 Base kit and several other kits sold separately. OS/2 Peer is a GUI peer-to-peer network system for OS/2. It is essentially a repackaged version of LAN Requester 4.0, which has command line only support for Peer Services. If you're using LAN Server and LAN Requester currently, OS/2 Peer can replace your current LAN Requester and give you graphical peer-to-peer support and SMB server access simultaneously. Why is the Internet Connection still on the BonusPak disc if TCP/IP 3.0 replaces it? No doubt one reason was the expense of pressing new BonusPak discs without the Internet Connection. I found, however, that the only reliable way to install TCP/IP for use with the Advantis dialer was to install it over the BonusPak Internet Connection. If you're using Advantis as your provider with DIALER.EXE as your SLIP dialer, you must install TCP/IP 3.0 over an existing and working copy of DIALER.EXE, otherwise DIALER.EXE simply won't work and you'll have to manually configure the other dialer for your provider. In other words, install the BonusPak Internet Connection and configure it, then install Warp Connect's TCP/IP using Selective Install for Networks, Easy Installation, TCP/IP over your modem, into your existing TCP/IP directory. I have a network adapter and LAN connection already configured with MPTS. We're not using TCP/IP on the LAN, so I want to install TCP/IP only for a modem connection to the Internet. The TCP/IP installation doesn't list modems, but it automatically detects my network card and installs the protocol there. How do I get around this? You don't need to. Let the installation add the TCP/IP protocol to your existing network adapter, no configuration will be needed here if you're only using modem access. TCP/IP will install normally, using the Advantis DIALER.EXE if it installs over an existing IBM Internet Connection, or you can configure the TCP/IP SLIP and PPP dialer with the addresses from your provider after installation. If you don't have a network adapter, the installation will detect this and install MPTS with the IBM Parallel Port adapter driver. This is necessary just to give the protocol *something* to install to. I'm running Warp at home without a network. Is there any reason why I would consider an upgrade to Warp Connect? To really take full advantage of Warp Connect, you'll need multiple installations across a network. Even so, there are some features that might appeal even to a standalone user. If you have more than one computer, such as a desktop and a notebook, you could use OS/2 Peer to implement a simple and inexpensive network. LAN Distance could then give you dialup access to your home PC while you're on the road. If you have Warp Connect on a networked PC at work, you could use LAN Distance to dial in and access the company LAN offsite. If you're using the Internet Connection with a provider other than Advantis, you'll find TCP/IP 3.0 (available only in Warp Connect) is much easier to configure for other providers and offers a more complete set of tools for improved access. However, if you are using Advantis and not using TCP/IP over a LAN, the regular BonusPak Internet Connection would mean less overhead on a standalone system. With the exception of the latest TCP/IP and OS/2 Peer, all the specific features of Warp Connect are also available for separate purchase for users of other versions of OS/2. It's really just a matter of convenience and expense, depending on the features you want. I'm running LAN Server and LAN Requester 4.0, and I reinstalled Requester from Warp Connect. Now my time to logon has increased tremendously. Once I'm logged on the speed is fine, but it takes me five times as long to get connected. Why? I experienced this situation but couldn't find a cause. Apparently IBM did find the cause, because it's been addressed by the LAN Server and MPTS Service Paks 8150 and 8152, available from CompuServe, the PCC BBS and any other source of IBM Service and FixPaks. What is this Lotus Notes 'Express' and what good is it? A complete description of what Lotus Notes actually is is beyond the scope of this article. I hope to provide one in a later issue. I should also note that as I write this, Lotus has announced some changes to their Notes client packages in preparation for Release 4. Since these aren't available yet, we'll concentrate on the existing packages. Notes Express, bundled with Warp Connect on a separate CD-ROM, is the smallest of several versions of Lotus Notes clients. If your network includes a Notes Server, you can use Notes Express to share EMail and seven database/groupware applications with other Notes users across the network. Express is limited to using only the seven templates included and does not allow custom Notes application development. A larger version, Notes Desktop Client, includes EMail access and 25 templates, with the ability to use custom templates also. Desktop Client still cannot create templates or applications, however. All copies of Notes Express qualify for upgrade to Desktop Client. IBM's AttachPak for Warp Connect includes the code to automatically perform this upgrade. A full Client license of Notes has EMail, the 25 templates and the ability to create custom Notes applications. Express can be incrementally upgraded to this level through Lotus Development Corporation. In any case, any version of a Notes Client requires access to a Notes Server in order to be useful. You could install Notes Express without accessing a Notes Server, but in this way everything must be installed locally and 55 megabytes of hard drive is a high price to pay for curiosity. Since any existing Notes network would already have Client software of some kind, this bundling seems to be a means of encouraging the installation of new Notes systems. IBM AttachPak for Warp Connect? A separate collection of OS/2 programs designed to enhance Warp Connect's networking range in an IBM host oriented corporate environment. Here's what's included: 1. Personal Communications/3270 Entry Level - A subset of the available full package, this version supports the 802.2 protocol for up to two simultaneous sessions on a 3270 host. 2. Mobile File Sync - Allows a LAN Requester or Peer to cache network files to a local drive for use offline and later reconciliation. 3. System Performance Monitor/2, single system - Displays performance and configuration details on a local PC or one client at a time from a server. 4. CM/2 SNA Application Environment - Supports development of SNA applications in Communications Manager/2. 5. AnyNet Sockets - Provides IP Sockets emulation for NetBIOS, SNA or IPX based networks. 6. DCE Client - Adds Client support when used in an IBM Distributed Computing Environment network. 7. Dial-In Access Client for DIALs - Supports dialup access to IBM 8235 Servers. 8. NetView Distribution Manager/2 Startup - Connects to an NVDM/2 server for download of the full NVDM/2 Client, available separately. 9. Lotus Notes Desktop Client upgrade - will upgrade an installation of Warp Connect's Notes Express to the next client level. If you have to ask what any of these mean, you probably don't need them. If any two or three of these is useful in your environment, the AttachPak is a bargain at $209 list price. - Ed Trumbo ═══ 4.4. FIXPAK 16 - 'OS/2 Warp 3.1'? ═══ Note: As we went to press, IBM had pulled FixPak 16 due to the unusual number of reported problems. A new FixPak 17 is expected at any time. The following document is presented for its information value. FixPak 16, a rather large set of updates and fixes to the Warp family, continues to generate controversy. Many people who apply FP16 report various results, from faster and more reliable performance to total system destruction. I've been following the reports over the Internet but haven't been able to narrow down a specific set of hardware or software that absolutely refuses to accept FP16. It goes without saying that before applying such an extensive change to a system, a verified backup is a necessity. FP16 also is known to require the latest set of 'kicker' disks (two boot disks designed to facilitate the installation of Corrective Service Disks), people who have installed FP16 with the CSD kickers made prior to 12-5-95 have reported the most serious problems. It may be worthwhile to revert to standard VGA mode if you're running a higher resolution or using video drivers that didn't ship with OS/2, then restore your preferred video mode after FP16. What is so important about FP16, anyway? If you ask any group of OS/2 specialists or other operating system-savvy people to name the one architectural flaw in OS/2, they will almost univesally point to the 'single input message queue', by any other name. This means that OS/2 itself and all running applications share one message queue, thus any process that locks or hangs while waiting for input will also bring other processes to a halt behind it. We're all pretty familar with the result: a seemingly locked Desktop that won't process any mouse or keyboard activity, the series of 'Grey Dialogs of Death' which don't really kill the locked process, often culminating in the Workplace Shell itself crashing and restarting. NT users love to crow about this, since for all its relative faults NT is blessed with individual input queues. FP16 doesn't eliminate the single input queue limitation of OS/2, but it does improve Warp's input queue handling. Warp with FP16 checks the input queue regularly, and any process which is not responding to the system will automatically lose its focus, leaving other processes and potential processes available. How well does this work? After four weeks of extensive use on three systems that used to be prone to input queue lockups, I really haven't had a single lockup yet and thus can't say how effective the new queue processing is. Of course, maybe this says it all... FP16 has conclusively fixed some serious video and print queue problems I had developed on my server, which is running November 1994 Warp Red and LAN Server 4.0 Entry. It has greatly reduced the instances of small bitmap video distortion on my client system. I believe (though I'm not sure) that it corrected a problem with Infomagic's Hobbes INF browser (see the Review section in this issue). Overall, the original FixPak 16 was well worth my effort to download and apply, but your mileage may vary. Before deciding to apply FP16 to your own systems, it may be helpful to think of it as Warp 3.1, with the personal evaluation, testing and nail-biting that this implies. If IBM had chosen to handle it as an updated version, complete with a public rollout and media circus, it would have really stuck Warp in the faces of the 'OS/2 is dead' drones of our industry. Oh well, that is still coming with 'Merlin'... - Ed Trumbo ═══ 4.5. OS/2 Automation with REXX ═══ written and presented by Ed Trumbo on January 12, 1996 There are reasons why OS/2 REXX doesn't get the attention it deserves. First, there is the natural assumption that a programming language would be of little interest to anyone but professional developers. As a text mode programming language, it isn't nearly as glamourous as the Workplace Shell and the BonusPak. There is also a lack of appreciation of the special nature of OS/2 REXX as a native component of the operating system. While compilers and interpreters of other languages tend to exist as separate entities in an environment, REXX is designed to be a batch processor, cross- application macro language and automation tool for its underlying platform. Since there really is nothing quite like REXX in the microcomputer market (aside from REXX on IBM's own PC-DOS 7), REXX is often glossed over or left to high-end discussions among developers. I hope to address that situation here, by showing how REXX becomes more than just another language and allows direct interaction with and control of its underlying environment. THE DESIGN OF REXX REXX was created by IBM Fellow Mike Cowlishaw in the late 1960's to serve as an enhanced process control and macro language on large computer systems. Its syntax was heavily influenced by PL/I, but it shares an important design characteristic with C. REXX itself is a small set of core commands and functions that is extended by separate libraries. These libraries give REXX its platform specific nature, each target system has its own set of functions appropriate to the characterisitcs of that system. These system functions are CALLed by a REXX program to perform any function that might be required by programs running on a particular system. OS/2-CENTRIC REXX The standard OS/2 REXX library, RexxUtil, contains functions for manipulating the Workplace Shell and its objects, the file systems and (to some extent) running processes. Here's a summary of some common OS/2 REXX functions: SysCreateObject() creates objects such as folders, program references, etc. SysDestroyObject() deletes objects SysDriveInfo() returns free space, total space and status of specified drive SysDriveMap() returns information an all available drives SysGetEA() reads information from file extended attributes SysPutEA() adds or updates data from file extended attributes SysSearchPath() searches an OS/2 path for file(s) and returns full path if found For full details on the syntax of each function, please refer to the INF reference "REXX Information" located in the "Information" folder on your Desktop. Since these are functions, they must be executed as part of a REXX command or variable assignment. For example, the following: alldrives = SysDriveMap(C,'USED') would assign a string containing the letters of all available drives to the variable 'alldrives', and this: IF SysCreateObject("WPFolder", "New Folder", "") THEN SAY 'Folder was sucessfully created.' ELSE SAY 'Folder could not be created' would present the success message if the function returned 1 or present the failure message if the return code was 0. ACCESSING A REXX LIBRARY Using an OS/2 REXX library function requires a CALL to the external library, like this: CALL RxFuncAdd 'SysCls', 'RexxUtil', 'SysCls' This method can be used when only a specific function is required by your program. A better method in most cases would be to include the entire RexxUtil library at the beginning of your program, like this: CALL RxFuncAdd 'SysLoadFuncs', 'RexxUtil', 'SysLoadFuncs' CALL SysLoadFuncs This rather verbose method is comparable to C's <#include> directive. Fortunately, once RexxUtil or any other REXX libraries are loaded this way, they remain loaded and available to the entire system. If you use REXX often, it's a good idea to put the above directives in your STARTUP.CMD. WHY USE OS/2 REXX? You may be wondering why REXX is important to an end user. After all, most of the above examples can be accomplished directly using the Workplace Shell. Naturally, there are immediate benefits to automating a process that may take extensive manipulation in the Workplace Shell environment. With REXX's programming constructs at hand, it's possible to perform operations across an entire set of files or objects, while the Workplace Shell would require manual manipulation of each file or object. Advanced system maintenance is another practical application of OS/2 REXX. Consider the requirements of uninstalling an OS/2 intensive graphical application, which may have installed Desktop objects, copied .DLL's to system directories, added Templates to the Templates folder and registered object classes in OS2.INI. All but the last of these could be done from the Workplace Shell, but registering and deregistering object classes can only be done from a program. Refer to the Tip section later in this issue for examples of Object Class maintenance from REXX. EXAMPLE: The Ultimate Command Line REXX can also enhance command line operations. REXX can parse, interpret and pass commands to itself, OS/2 or other command line addressable systems such as DB2. This is a REXX program which sets up a command line instance under REXX control and sends typed in commands to the appropriate environment. It supports dynamic REXX the same way that REXXTRY.CMD does, dynamic OS/2 commands the same way as a standard OS/2 command line session, and DB2 or dynamic SQL instructions the same way as typing 'db2' from an OS/2 prompt. It does all this from a single command line instance by parsing the command line and passing the line to each environment. With some customizing, it could support command lines to any shell environment. /* Universal command line for OS/2, REXX, DB2 and SQL @Copyright Ed Trumbo, 1995, 1996 Freeware. You are welcome to use, modify or distribute this code as long as any changes are documented as such and my original copyright is included. Revision date : 1-11-1996 Revision description : Added parameter check for database connection. Program description: Supports DB2, Dynamic SQL, Dynamic REXX and OS/2 commands. Accepts input from the command line, inserts 'db2' or strips 'c' and 'r' in front and passes it back to CMD.EXE or REXX for processing. APARs: 'c', 'r' and 'quit' are case-sensitive, must be lower case. */ '@echo off' 'mode co132' /* Set window parameters */ argv = ' ' entry = ' ' newline = ' ' cmdarg = 'db2' /* Initialize variables with defaults */ INTERPRET cmdarg 'set client connect 1 max_netbios_connections 32' CALL SysCls PARSE ARG argp /* Check for database name parameter */ IF argp <> ' ' THEN DO /* If name is there... */ SAY 'Getting connection to' argp'...' ADDRESS CMD cmdarg 'connect to' argp /* ...establish connection */ END /* do */ 'ECHO.' SAY "Ed's Ultimate Command Line Environment" 'ECHO.' DO WHILE argv <> 'quit' /* Loop until user exit */ PARSE PULL newline /* Get command line */ PARSE VAR newline argv newline /* Check for overrides */ SELECT WHEN argv = 'r' THEN INTERPRET newline /* Pass to REXX */ WHEN argv = 'c' THEN ADDRESS CMD newline /* Pass to OS/2 */ OTHERWISE ADDRESS CMD cmdarg argv newline /* Pass to DB2 */ END /* select */ END /* do */ EXIT(1) This code assumes the use of DB2, which is its default target for command lines. By using command line arguments when launching the program, you can establish a database connection automatically. To target a specific environment for processing, preface the command line with 'r' for REXX or 'c' for OS/2. CONCLUSION Given its system-level integration library, REXX serves as much more than a super-batch language. It really has no parallel anywhere else in the microcomputer marketplace, yet it scales well all the way into mainframe programming and batch processing. Its immediate and extensive benefits make REXX the ideal language for non-specialists to use in OS/2 operation and maintenance. In future presentations, we'll go deeper into REXX's potential in an OS/2 environment, including interprocess communication and visual REXX development with third-party systems. ═══ 5. Reviews ═══ ═══ 5.1. PartitionMagic ═══ REVIEW: PartitionMagic by PowerQuest When was the last time you re-partitioned your hard drive? Not something you do just for the fun of it, eh? Re-partitioning means fully backing up the drive, doing an FDISK, formatting the new partitions, and restoring the data. I can think of better things to do with my weekends. Several months ago, I decided that it was time to re-partition my hard drive, install Boot Manager, and convert FAT to HPFS. The problem was that I would not have a weekend free until this summer, and I knew it would be a weekend project. Then along came PartitionMagic. Re-partitioning without losing data! Shrinking partitions, expanding partitions, moving data around inside partitions, and creating new partitions--without losing data! Yeah, right! I'll believe this when I see it. I saw it. Since I couldn't use the package as soon as I got a hold of it--the weekend thing--I had plenty of time to plan what I would do. Prior to PartitionMagic, I had a system configured for Dual Boot. The first physical hard drive consisted of a bootable FAT drive (C) and one logical drive (E) in the extended partition. The second hard drive consisted of one primary FAT drive (D) and one logical drive (F) in the extended partition. My plan was to end up with Boot Manager, a DOS bootable drive, and four HPFS partitions. Little was I to know how simple this was! My weekend project ended up taking just hours. According to the user's manual (yes, some of us do read it!), PartitionMagic requires, at least: a 386SX running at 16MHz, 4 MB of RAM, one 3.5-1.44 MB diskette drive, 3 MB of hard disk space, a VGA monitor, and OS/2 2.1 or DOS 5.0. It does not require a mouse! PowerQuest recommends that you have: a 486DX running at 66 MHz, 16 MB of RAM, one 3.5-1.44 MB diskette drive, 4 MB of hard drive space, an SVGA monitor, OS/2 2.1 or later, or DOS 5.0 or later, and a mouse or compatible pointing device. My system falls in between PowerQuest's minimum and recommended, with: a 386DX running at 40 MHz, 16 MB of RAM, one 3.5-1.44 MB diskette drive, many MB of hard drive space, an SVGA monitor, OS/2 WARP and DO S 5.0, and a mouse. Okay, I'm thinking, that's the first hurdle cleared! So I read on in the User Guide. It's pretty easy reading, and very thorough. It even lists several errors and their causes in one of the Appendices. As we would expect, PowerQuest recommends that you backup your hard drive before you use PartitionMagic. "While PartitionMagic has been thoroughly tested to be safe and reliable, other factors, such as power failures, operating system bugs, and hardware design bugs can put your data at risk. No software program, including PartitionMagic, is perfect." So, I made my backups. There are three PartitionMagic executables--one for DOS and two for OS/2. The DOS executable and one of the OS/2 executables have a similar graphical interface. The other OS/2 executable is text-based. If you want to modify your OS/2 boot drive, you must use the text-based program--after booting from an alternate source (for example: the floppy drive). So the project began! I wanted to expand the size of my C: drive, convert it to HPFS, create a Boot Manager partition, and create a bootable DOS partition. (Keep in mind that C: and E: were on one drive, and D: and F: were on the other.) I booted from a floppy, ran the text-based executable and: o CHECKED drive E: (You have to CHECK a drive before you can modify it.) o RESIZED drive E: (Took 3 minutes to reduce the drive by 50 MB.) o MOVED the data--in order to get the 50 MB of free space moved to the front of the extended partition (Took 23 minutes to move 170 MB of data.) o RESIZED the left boundary of the extended partition (Reduced the partition size by 50 MB--this took approximately 2 seconds.) o CHECKED drive C: o RESIZED drive C: (Since C: was a FAT drive, I could not increase it by the full 50 MB--PM respects the FAT limitation of 65526 clusters in a drive. PM took approximately 1 minute to increase the drive by 27.6 MB.) o CONVERTED drive C: to HPFS (Took 4 minutes to convert 127.6 MB--only 87 MB was used.) o RESIZED drive C: (I ncreased drive to 150.1 MB--now that it's an HPFS drive, it sees the other 22.4 MB that was freed up from shrinking the extended partition. This took approximately 2 minutes.) o EXITED PartitionMagic. Upon exiting, PartitionMagic will tell you that you need to reboot to install the changes. So I put in a bootable floppy and rebooted. After converting the OS/2 boot drive from FAT to HPFS, you need to: _ copy SYSINSTX.COM from the INSTALL diskette to the root drive; _ copy UHPFS.DLL to the C: drive; _ run SYSINSTX C:;_ modify or create the IFS=C:/OS2/HPFS.IFS line in CONFIG.SYS o RESIZED drive C: (Shrank it by 10 MB) MOVED data in drive C: to the right o EXITED PartitionMagic o Used FDISK to create a Boot Manager partition, a DOS bootable partition, and make both the DOS bootable and the OS/2 bootable partitions available to Boot Manager. Next, I rebooted into OS/2, installed PartitionMagic, ran the OS/2 graphical program, and resized the partitions on my second hard drive and moved their data around. It's really easy. Just click on the partition and click on the buttons, or drag the ends of the partitions with the mouse. Then, I rebooted into DOS and ran the DOS program. I was surprised to see my HPFS partitions show up. Now that I think about it, I shouldn't have been surprised. After all, this is a low-level utility. My HPFS partitions showed up, but their drive letters didn't. That should have told me to leave them alone but I like living dangerously. I used the DOS executable to resize an HPFS partition. When I rebooted into OS/2, my mouse was frozen in the middle of the screen. I rebooted again, and still the mouse was frozen. I rebooted from an OS/2 floppy, ran the text-based executable, and resized the HPFS partition back to what it was originally. When I rebooted into OS/2, my mouse was still frozen. I shutdown the system, powered off, and called it a night. The next day, when I powered on, my mouse was fine. I don't think I want to try modifying an HPFS partition with the DOS executable again. If the drive letter doesn't show up, leave the partition alone! To give you the Reader's Digest version: I started out with a Dual Boot OS/2 FAT drive and a logical drive in an extended partition on my first hard drive, and a primary drive and a logical drive in an extended partition on my second hard drive. After PartitionMagic, I have a Boot Manager partition, a DOS boot partition, an OS/2 HPFS boot partition and a logical drive in an extended partition on my first hard drive; and a primary drive and two logical drives in the extended partition on my second drive. This probably took less time than if I had re-partitioned the drives with FDISK, reformatted, and restored data; and was accomplished with no data loss (at least, none that has shown up yet). PartitionMagic's License Agreement is written in READABLE language and is understandable. You are purchasing a PERSONAL LICENSE (cannot be transferred to another person) to use the software "on no more than two computers owned or leased by you, and only on one computer at a time. If you wish to use the SOFTWARE on more than two computers that are owned or leased by you, you must pay an additional license fee." PowerQuest does offer a Professional License that will permit you to use PartitionMagic on a n unlimited number of machines. The one thing that I don't like about the license agreement is that you do not own the software (but that's nothing new)--"Title to the SOFTWARE...shall at all times remain with PowerQuest." Now, I don't plan to violate any copyright laws but I don't like being told that if I purchase a software package I don't own it. However, as I said before, this is nothing new in the software industry. Another important consideration is technical support. PowerQuest offers 60 days of free technical support to registered users of PartitionMagic. On the positive side: PartitionMagic comes in three flavors--DOS graphical, OS/2 graphical, and OS/2 text-based. PartitionMagic is very easy to use--even if you don't read the User Guide, you could probably figure it out. However, read the Guide--especially before you try to modify your boot drive. While OS/2's graphical executable is running, FDISK is locked, so that you can't run two programs using FDISK at the same time. That would cause certain disaster! You can modify partitions, move data in those partitions, and not lose that data. The license agreement seems reasonable, even though you don't own the software! The graphical programs are color coded--different partitions and drive types appear in different colors. The CHECK feature gives you information that OS/2's CHKDSK does not. For example: CHECK reports on the status of the partition (active or not active), the date of the last CHKDSK, any Hot Fixes used, and the Physical Geometry of the drive. On the negative side: When I selected the INFO option on an 8.7 MB FAT partition (my DOS boot partition), PartitionMagic reported it as a 16-bit FAT, more than 32 Mbytes partition. After modifying my OS/2 boot partition, CHKDSK reported but corrected a minor file allocation error. After modifying my OS/2 boot partition, PartitionMagic shows that I have Free Space of 0.0 MB in front of the boot partition but will not delete it. Nor will FDISK see it. Something that needs to be investigated. After converting my OS/2 boot partition from FAT to HPFS, PartitionMagic is reporting a sector allocation error but OS/2's CHKDSK does not see this error. However, since I have de-installed and re-installed the DOS and Windows support in OS/2 since converting the drive, PartitionMagic may just be seeing an error that CHKDSK cannot. Another thing that needs to be investigated. After modifying an HPFS drive with the DOS executable, CHKDSK found quite a few errors and created 128 *.CHK files. Don't try this one on your system (modifying HPFS with DOS)! You can convert a FAT drive to HPFS but not the other way around. But, why would you want to? Yesterday evening, I called PowerQuest's technical support number hoping to find answers to some questions. When I told the technician about the 0.0 partition appearing between my DOS and OS/2 boot partitions, he said that that is probably normal because Partition Magic allows for four primary partitions on a drive. Since I'm using three--Boot Manager, DOS, and OS/2--PartitionMagic is probably reserving room for a fourth. I'm satisfied with that answer. When I told him about the error (Error #1027) that I was getting when PartitionMagic did a CHECK of my OS/2 boot drive, he asked me if I had converted from FAT to HPFS. He asked this before I volunteered the information. That made me wonder if converting from FAT to HPFS is a known problem. I downloaded a utility from the BBS that will, hopefully, help PowerQuest diagnose the problem on my OS/2 boot drive. PartitionMagic version 1.05 (I am using version 1.04) was released into production last Friday. PowerQuest's technician said that this new version fixes the way PartitionMagic deals with extended attributes (maybe that is the problem with my OS/2 boot drive?). However, I was unable to successfully download that file from the BBS last night. Until I find out what Error #1027 is and whether version 1.05 fixes it, I'm not sure whether I'd recommend using PartitionMagic to convert FAT drives to HPFS drives. It seems to be fine when shrinking, expanding, and moving partitions; and I haven't seen any evidence, other than the PartitionMagic CHECK option failing, of problems with my converted drive. Whatever caused Error #1027 may have been fixed with the new version of PartitionMagic but, then again, it may not. All things considered, PartitionMagic is a product worth looking into if you have partitions to move around. Just keep in mind that this is a low-level utility and, as with any low-level utility, BACKUP before using! - Diane Brooks ═══ 5.2. OS/2 Essentials ═══ OS/2 Essentials by Stardock Systems,Inc. After using a new platform for a month or two, when the first rush of exploration and discovery fades, a typical computer user is inclined to ask "But what about...". In the Dos and Windows market, it was common for that sentence to be finished by third- party products that attempt to relieve the user from the tedium of command-line access or GUI's that never seem to be GUI enough. The fortunes of entire companies have been developed on providing decent alternatives to the Dos BACKUP and RESTORE commands or Windows' lacking abilities in file management. While many of the obvious problems in earlier platforms have been addressed by OS/2 itself, there are always certain things that we believe could be done better. This is usually the first area set upon by developers of shareware. Does OS/2 lack a convenient way to manage files entirely within one window? Some intrepid programmer will create their ideal vision of an OS/2 file manager for their own use, and perhaps release it to the world in hopes of collecting a few registration fees, padding their resume or both. The challenge for the hapless user is to access the resources for such software, evaluate each according to their needs and hopefully select one, paying the appropriate fees to the author for their efforts. As anyone who has ever visited the Hobbes OS/2 site in New Mexico can attest, this could be a very time consuming and expensive approach. Stardock Systems attempts to take some of difficulty out of the search for familiar and beneficial tools for OS/2. They have selected what they consider the best of the most needed shareware products on the OS/2 market, licensed their commercial versions and packaged them in a commercial product called (with a lack of humility) "OS/2 Essentials". How good are these utilities, how good is the package and is it worth the purchase? THE PROGRAMS "OS/2 Essentials" consists of the following products: o DirMaster, a file manager o Screen Saver o FileGraph/PM, a graphical disk space manager o Roids, an arcade game with sound support o WPS Trashcan object o FileBar, an on-screen 'bar' that can replace the LaunchPad o A collection of icons Since they really are separate products, let's look at each separately: DirMaster. For all the obvious benefits of GUI's and OOUI's, there will always be certain operations that are easier to perform from a command line. When both typing and GUI fail, custom File Managers step in. Usually designed to present a directory tree and an active directory on screen, a file manager becomes a smorgasbord of features covering every aspect of every operation one might care to perform on files. This creeping feature-itis is often the downfall of such programs, and this one is no exception. A very cluttered display, an awkward method of changing directories and drives and an intimidating set of configuration requirements and options make this more trouble than it's worth. Screen Saver. There was a time when screen savers fulfilled a legitimate purpose - the prevention of ghost images being burned into the delicate glass of sedentary monitors. Of course, we've long since outgrown this stage. Today, screen savers are both an art form and an industry of their own, as you can see from the latest crop of sound-enabled, multi-module Flying Toaster/Beavis and Butthead/Star Trek/Simpsons/Twilight Zone/Sports Illustrated Swimsuit packages For Windows. This screen saver features an admirable collection of modules that will keep your display hopping, all customizable according to speed, number of various objects to display, etc. One unfortunate lack in the program is the inability to specify a favorite module as the default, one can only activate or deactivate specific modules, from there the program will choose at random among the active modules which one to display. This is a minor complaint, as many of the modules are equally appealing to watch. Nice one! FileGraph/PM. As the former administrator of a terminally overloaded Netware network, I came to appreciate the need for a quick glance at disk usage statistics. Naturally, Dos provides no such thing. Netware also doesn't provide an easy way to peer down into a directory tree to see who or what is hogging disk resources. This program does one thing and does it quite well: it creates a horizontal bar chart displaying the relative storage taken by each directory or directory path on a given drive. Available drives can be displayed one at a time in an expandable outline form, showing the relative storage of each directory or directory path in green (small directory), yellow (larger directory) or red (very large directory). Very good. Roids. 'Roids' is closely based on the old 'Asteroids' arcade game. This was actually one of the first multimedia-enabled games for OS/2. What can be said for 'Roids', except shoot the boulders before they crash into you! Unfortunately, Roids suffers from two problems: it is keyboard only, and rather sluggish and unintuitive at that; and its playing speed and difficulty levels are wound too tight. At the Beginner level, it's like watching paint dry, at the next level up it's unusable from a keyboard. Too bad. WPS Trashcan object. Perhaps the best program of the pack, WPS Trashcan implements the venerable Trashcan object on your Desktop. Without replacing the Shredder (although you might wish to), the Trashcan will allow you to put in limbo any files, directories or objects you want to delete, and truly delete them later if you're really really sure. More compassionate than the Shredder and much more reliable than Undelete, this is a genuine treasure. FileBar. The 'fifth wheel' award in Warp would surely go to the LaunchPad. Apparently included because Windows 3.x (which needed launchpads desperately) already had several third party products, IBM must have forgotten that the Workplace Shell is essentially one big LaunchPad. Even so, this FileBar is an unobtrusive, pop-up menu bar that looks very suspiciously like (gasp!) Windows 95's filebar. Fully customizable, you can add your own preferred features and programs for convenient menu access right from the Desktop. If you like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you'll like. Icons. A mercifully brief collection of those most silly of computer commodities. If wading through the EA-grinding collection of custom icons on Hobbes is too much, you might find a cute one here. Strangely, there are several duplicates, even in as few as these. LICENSING With a collection of software from different authors, this couldn't have been too easy for Stardock to manage. Fortunately, they have a single license for all products included here, and after some of the ridiculous and offensive licensing I've seen lately this was a joy to read. Each program is licensed to you, the purchaser, for your installation on as many PC's as you have, as long as each program is used only on one PC at any one time. Bravo, Stardock! It must be pointed out that although these programs have shareware versions available, "OS/2 Essentials" is the commercial product of Stardock Systems. It is not to be copied or distributed. SUMMARY "OS/2 Essentials" may not perfectly live up to its name, but overall it's an impressive collection of some fine utilities bundled into a convenient package. Implementing any two items in this bundle will easily justify the tiny cost. Combined with a refreshing, sensible license, "OS/2 Essentials" is a worthwhile purchase for any OS/2 user. Shadow this one to your Desktop! - Ed Trumbo ═══ 5.3. OS/2 and LAN Server Certification Handbooks ═══ OS/2 Certification Handbook OS/2 Lan Server Certification Handbook by various authors, both published by New Riders Publishing The computer industry and its customers both face an interesting quandary. How do we 'benchmark' the technical skills and knowledge of our practitioners? While four-year degrees in computer science may be useful for programmers, they just don't provide appropriate background and training in the specific products used by clients. An increasingly popular solution to this issue is the use of vendor administered, voluntary 'certification' based on specific products and environments. Novell was the first (as far as I know) to introduce its certification programs, and thanks to its aggressive promotion of these programs the CNA, CNE and ECNE designations are much sought by both practitioner and customer alike. Other companies have followed suit, such as Microsoft, Lotus and IBM. IBM offers voluntary certification in Administration, Engineering and Training, for OS/2 and Lan Server. The battery of tests, administered by Drake Prometric, covers a series of topics designed to test depth of knowledge and experience in all support aspects of the products. Although the testing process can get rather expensive, Drake and IBM typically offer free testing at various OS/2 oriented conferences. Naturally, with certification becoming an increasingly valuable 'feather in the cap', an after market industry of study guides and sample tests has sprung up. In cooperation with New Riders Publishing, IBM offers two 'Certification Handbooks' as study guides. OS/2 CERTIFICATION HANDBOOK As with many other New Riders computer books, this is a large volume that attempts to cover all aspects of the product or topic in question. Most such books end up skimping in one area or another, note the number of 'OS/2 bibles' that ignore or otherwise downplay REXX, certainly one of OS/2 unique strengths. A certification handbook really can't afford to do so, and "OS/2 CH" includes a lengthy Appendix devoted to one of the best REXX tutorial/reference I've seen outside of a dedicated REXX book. CH covers installation, use and optimization of OS/2 2.x and Warp, often with separate information detailing the differences between versions. This is unique, as many other 'bibles' emphasize one version exclusively. Throughout the book, there is an extraordinary emphasis on *supporting* OS/2 and its customers, which is what really distinguishes this book from others of its size, weight, gravitational pull, etc. OS/2 LAN SERVER CERTIFICATION HANDBOOK Into a much less crowded market comes LSCH. Aside from Ziff-Davis' "Connecting with Lan Server 4.0" by Barry Nance, this is perhaps the only after-market publication devoted to IBM's superb LAN package. As with CH above, LSCH thoroughly covers all aspects of pre- and post-installation, use and optimization of Lan Server 3.0 and 4.0. BOTH BOOKS The two books are so much alike that at this point we can consider them together. Both books have an identical structure, a few major 'parts' broken down into individual chapters and headings. This makes them ideally suited as reference manuals. Each chapter ends with 'Review Questions and Answers', although I found many of these to be along the lines of 'Who's buried in Grant's tomb' and not at all like the more rigorous questions on the exams. Each book comes with a bundled CD-ROM. If fact, both come with the same CD-ROM. Unfortunately, this is the one area of these books where IBM/New Riders really, really blew it! Instead of offering a disk chock full of relevant reference materials, utilities, shareware and such, all of which would nicely complement the books and serve its intended market, we get a CD with contents like: floppy images of the Warp and Lan Server demo disks specification sheets of Warp and Lan Server descriptions of the Developer's Assistance and Ready-and-Approved programs the IBM Lan Systems Buyer's Guide CERT94.ZIP, a program featuring a collection of sample questions from the certification exams the Netware to Lan Server Migration tool Some of this is basically useless, not to mention readily available in much more current form on-line. Imagine these books with a sample copy of the Technical Connection CD from IBM, or even the OS/2 Online Book Collection, and compare these to the kind of promotional giveaway-type CD provided instead. It made me wish CD's were erasable. Second major beef: the price. Each of these books costs $89.99 list price. Although the computer reading public is accustomed to paying $40-$50 for books of this size and scope, this kind of double pricing indicates an attempt to exploit 'certification' mania rather than truly distinguish the books from the many other similar ones that are available. THE BOTTOM LINE Both of these books are comprehensive and well written. The text makes an excellent resource for those who support OS/2 and Lan Server customers, as opposed to merely paraphrasing the manuals. Unfortunately, the grossly inflated price and the useless CD's make these books a questionable purchase at best. The same books at half price, or at current price with better disks, would have been so much better. - Ed Trumbo ═══ 5.4. IDE/EIDE Hard Drive Controllers ═══ Promise EIDE2300 VLB Promise DC4030-VL2 Cache Precision DC680CD Cache The quest for the best system performance under OS/2 inevitably brings up the issue of hardware components. While the most impressive gains come from adding RAM, faster processors and video accelerators, choosing the best combinations of hard drive(s) and controllers provides a big boost in the performance of a disk intensive system like OS/2. Today, hard drives are available in two basic specifications: Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE) and Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI). EIDE, a recent improvement to the IDE specification, has become the most common type of drive used in standard PC's. EIDE brings IDE's performance up to near SCSI levels and accommodates other devices such as CD-ROMs and tape drives written to the EIDE specs. SCSI is the standard for Macintosh PC's and is used in high-end IBM compatibles. SCSI is known for offering faster performance, higher capacities and support for a diversity of devices. I've long avoided the use of SCSI hard drives because of my experiences with them in the past. Although they enjoy widespread support as server drives, they are considerably more expensive than EIDE drives and tend to be unreliable and sensitive to the point of neurosis. Let's look at three Vesa Local Bus IDE and EIDE controllers that can offer a viable alternative to SCSI, and how well they're supported under OS/2. PRECISION DC680CD CACHE - The first of two of these controllers that implement an on-board processor and dedicated cache RAM is the Precision DC680CD. The Precision card incorporates a Tekram BIOS and a Harris 286 compatible processor to relieve CPU control of disk I/O. Using two banks of two 30-pin SIMMs, one can add anything from 512K to 16M of RAM on board, freeing up system memory that would ordinarily be devoted to disk caching. The DC680CD supports floppy drives up to 1.44M and includes two EIDE sockets, allowing up to four EIDE drives at once. In addition, there is a separate socket for use with an ATAPI CD-ROM drive. The card supports auto detection of hard drives, even to the point of identifying the specific make and model. One unique feature of the DC680CD is its support for mirroring, or RAID Level 1. Mirroring is the technique of connecting two identical drives to one controller and setting them to run in sync. If one drive fails or goes off-line for any reason, the system continues running from the other drive seamlessly. This is configurable entirely from the card's BIOS at any time. The DC680CD is also capable of switching the 'bootable' drive from its own BIOS, overriding the drive jumpers, cabling and system BIOS. With two of these controllers maxed out at four drives each, one could actually boot eight different OS's, all without special formatting or drive swapping. Benchmarking a cached controller is an exercise in futility. Track to track seek and access times were reported as taking 0.0 milliseconds, with throughput rated at 6.6 Megs per second. Take with a grain of salt, as benchmarking software can easily be thrown off by caching, but this should give you an idea of the raw performance available to a PC equipped with this controller. On to the OS/2 specifics. The DC680CD ships with a 1995 revision driver for 32-bit OS/2. The driver worked the first time I installed it, no switches were necessary. In fact, no switches are supported! It's a beautiful thing when third-party OS/2 drivers work properly and as advertised right out of the box, and Precision deserves my compliments. Here's an important safety tip: do not use their custom driver when installing OS/2, I experienced many bizarre failures and crashes after these attempts. The DC680 is usable with OS/2's default IBM1S506.ADD driver, wait until after an OS/2 installation to apply the custom driver. Note: I tested the DC680CD on two homebrew 486-66's with 20Megs RAM and Warp Connect. The card(s) supported one 1.44 floppy drive, two 80ns 1Meg SIMMs and two Western Digital Caviar 1280 EIDE drives. PROMISE DC4030VL-2 - The second of our caching controllers is a bit older, it does not take advantage of the EIDE enhancements, although EIDE hard drives can be used with it. The DC4030VL-2 supports up to four hard drives using two separate IDE slots, and two banks of two 30-pin SIMM slots configurable for 512K to 16Megs of dedicated cache. I've had the most experience with this controller since I've used it regularly for over a year now. Unfortunately, most of these experiences have not been good. Beginning with OS/2 2.1, I found that after installing this controller and its driver, I could no longer reliably use my secondary mouse button. I could not resolve this most peculiar problem until I abandoned Promise's driver in favor of the standard IBM1S506.ADD. This deprived me of the advanced capabilities of the Promise driver, but the cache and performance were there so I continued to use the 4030 in my system. With the release of Warp, I found Warp would not even install or recognize my hard drives under the Promise controller and IBM driver. This was actually documented (incorrectly at first) in Warp's manual. After an IBM APAR amended the documented fix, I attempted the fix and found that it still did not work. By using an updated Promise driver, I was finally able to install and use Warp with the driver in 32-bit mode. Or so I thought. My system would boot and run reliably two or three times after installation, but the next time my Desktop and/or .ini files would be put through a blender. Promise acknowledges this problem and blames it on 'certain motherboards' and HPFS, their suggested fixes involve one of three things: use FAT on your OS/2 boot drive, create a separate FAT partition to store .ini's and Desktop or use the /W switch to force the controller into 16-bit mode. I experienced the same corruption on an OS/2 FAT boot drive. I found the second method quite difficult and equally unreliable. For more than a year, I'd used the 16-bit switch to continue running the Promise controller under OS/2. As difficult and aggravating as it was, once you've experienced a caching controller, there's no way you'll want to run without one. Of course, I've since switched to the DC680. Benchmarks on the DC4030VL-2 reveal some differences to the Precision card, the track-to-track seek and access came out as 0.1 milliseconds and the throughput was 8.9Megs/second. Again, I can't make too much out of this since benchmarks are unreliable where caches, dedicated processors and custom BIOSes are involved. Note: I tested the DC4030VL-2 on three homebrew 486-66's with 16-20Megs RAM, using OS/2 2.1, Warp and Warp Connect. The card(s) supported one 1.44M floppy drive, 2 80ns 1Meg SIMMs and two Western Digital Caviar EIDE drive with capacities ranging from 540Meg to 1.2Gig. PROMISE EIDE2300 - The last controller in my review does not support an on board memory cache. The Promise EIDE2300 does however support the EIDE specification and includes a full complement of high performance I/O ports; two serial ports using an on board 16550 UART and an EPP bi-directional parallel port. Combined with a good VLB video accelerator, the typical PC would have a complete system throughput solution in two slots. The EIDE2300 has two slots for IDE support, one has support for VLB throughput while the second uses standard throughput. Promise's documentation recommends using the VLB socket for high performance devices like hard drives and using the second socket for slower devices like CD-ROMs and tape drives. I looked forward to using this card, as my PC is maxed out as far as slots go and I've already lost one power supply because of it. Based on my experience with Promise's 4030 controller, I didn't waste time trying to run Warp with the default IBM1S506 driver, I immediately implemented Promise's EIDE2300.ADD and re-installed Warp. The installation went without incident and my system proved stable and usable. Or so I thought! An obscure problem surfaced not long after installation, when it seemed that several OS/2 applications were stalling during their installations. All affected software had one thing in common, they all used the standard IBM installation routine with the pull-down menus, readme file with 'Continue' and 'Cancel' buttons, etc. The installation window would come up, but clicking on 'Continue' produced an endless loop. Only after seeing the same behavior on a second 2300 based OS/2 PC did I make the connection. This particular failure was not caused by using the driver to install OS/2, I added the card and driver to an existing installation, using a different motherboard than I'd used for the 4030's. Interestingly, I found I could avoid this by using the 4030 driver, but it adds up to Yet Another Flaky Driver from Promise! Benchmarks were more natural on this non-cached card. Track-to-track seek and access came out to 0.8 milliseconds, which exceeded the rated speed of the drives themselves. Throughput came out as 4.5meg/second. SUMMARY With a dedicated BIOS, CPU and hard cache RAM, an IDE/EIDE controller promises (no pun intended!) to provide the kind of performance associated with SCSI, without the aggravation. In this roundup, only one controller actually did so. The Precision DC680CD caching controller makes an excellent addition to any OS/2 PC using EIDE drives and VLB slots. Although the Promise 4030VL-2 can be made usable, there are just too many compromises and risks involved. If they ever manage to learn the subtle art of OS/2 device driver creation, a more modern version of the 4030 would be worth looking into. The same goes for the 2300. SPECIFICATIONS: Promise EIDE2300 - Up to 4 hard drives and 2 floppy drives Enhanced IDE Support for ATAPI CD-ROM 2 9-pin 16550 high speed serial ports and 1 EPP bi-directional Parallel port Drivers for OS/2 (2.x and up) Price range : $50-$70 Promise DC4030-VL2 - Up to 4 hard drives and 2 floppy drives (2.88Meg or less) Up to 16Meg cache memory using 30 pin SIMMs 80286 processor on board Drivers for OS/2 (2.x and up) Price range : $120-$150 (without cache RAM) Precision DC680CD - Up to 4 hard drives and 2 floppy drives (1.44Meg or less) Enhanced IDE Separate port for ATAPI CD-ROM RAID Level 1 (Mirroring) as an optional setting Up to 16Meg cache memory on board using 30 pin SIMMs 80C286 processor on board Drivers for OS/2 (2.x, 3.x) Price range : $130-$160 (without cache RAM) - Ed Trumbo ═══ 5.5. Hobbes Archive CD's ═══ Walnut Creek, December 1995 edition InfoMagic, October 1995 edition Programmers and developers have been a core audience for OS/2 since its earliest days. While this hasn't translated into a vast collection of mainstream shrinkwrapped applications, there are tremendous selections of public domain and shareware programs in every possible category available for OS/2, enough to satisfy practically any need for native code or information. The 'Hobbes' server at New Mexico State University has become the defacto standard location for collecting and disseminating OS/2 public domain and shareware. Available by Internet FTP and WWW, it has grown over the years to hundreds of megabytes. Sorting through this collection online would be difficult and unrealistic for most people. Fortunately, CD-ROMs make it possible to store the entire archive and distribute it conveniently and inexpensively. For several years, Walnut Creek has produced regularly (well, somewhat regularly) updated editions of the Hobbes archive on CD-ROM. They are no longer alone in this market, as InfoMagic has begun releasing their own version of the Hobbes archive. Although each collection basically includes the same content, the two companies take a very different approach in presentation. WALNUT CREEK HOBBES, DECEMBER 1995 I've been buying the Walnut Creek Hobbes archive since I found the November 1992 disc at a local trade show. The recently released December 1995 edition overcomes the problems that plagued the March and June discs. Until early 1995, the Hobbes directories were divided into '1.x' and '2.x' categories, to distinguish between 16 and 32-bit files. With the advent of Warp, Hobbes was restructured into a more descriptive directory structure based on 16 bit (primarily for OS/2 1.x but usable on all versions), 32 bit (applying to OS/2 2.x and up) and Warp (OS/2 3.x specific) files. The March 1995 Walnut Creek archive suffered from having been imaged during this restructuring, the resulting disc was an incoherent mess of files duplicated and wrongly categorized. Hobbes was straightened out in time for Walnut Creek's June 1995 archive, but the complete archive was too large to fit on one CD. Walnut Creek sacrificed some directories, including the IBM EWS mirror, to keep the archive on one disc. With the new December 1995 edition, Walnut Creek has finally expanded their Hobbes archive to two CD-ROMs containing the complete Hobbes image. The first disc is dedicated to the standard archives of public domain, shareware and text files, the second disc contains IBM EWS, CSD's, Service Paks and other "official" files, primarily from IBM. Walnut Creek makes the Hobbes directories accessible through DOS and OS/2 text mode browsers launched by GO.BAT and GO.CMD, respectively. While they simplify the process of browsing and extracting the archived files to disk, the VIEW.EXE and OS2VIEW.EXE programs don't offer much ability to preview individual archives or 'readme' files. Besides the short descriptions in the directory listings, the only way to examine the actual contents of a zip file is to extract it to a hard drive. Some programs even require their own installation routines after this. The December discs now include two Windows browsers, one for 16 bit Windows and one for 32 bit Windows. The W16VIEW.EXE will work with OS/2's Windows while the W32VIEW.EXE does not. INFOMAGIC HOBBES, OCTOBER 1995 InfoMagic has been competing with Walnut Creek on several fronts for some time now. Their October Hobbes collection is their second release of this archive. It attracted my attention when Walnut Creek apparently skipped its Hobbes updates between June and December. While Walnut Creek just now released a two disc archive, InfoMagic's archive ships on four CD's. This collection is in 'ready-to-run' format, meaning that Hobbes files are already unzipped on the discs. If a program doesn't require its own installation or write-access to the default drive, you can actually run that program right from the CD. Walnut Creek had released a 'ready-to-run' Hobbes disc over a year ago, but it was mostly the GNU Unix ports and has not been updated since its initial release. The ready-to-run structure makes the InfoMagic discs easier to browse and preview programs before commiting hard drive space, even temporarily. It is also convenient for reading 'readme's and manuals before running installation programs that might clutter your .INI's, WPS classes, DLL directories and Templates folders with plenty of stubborn baggage. The browser is where the InfoMagic collection really shines. No primitive unzip shell here! InfoMagic wants one megabyte of local storage to install a superb, OS/2 specific, feature-rich INF browser that will display the directory of a chosen archive, select included text files for viewing, open a command line in the chosen directory or launch the installation program, if any. As an amateur IPF developer, I was very impressed with the sophistication and polish evident in this browser, from the consistent alignment of text to the user editable CFG file. Congratulations to Jerry Hofmann of Hofmann Consulting, Inc., who developed this for InfoMagic. Having said all of that, I must point out that I experienced some problems using the browser. It would intermittently fail to prompt me for the appropriate CD, bringing up an empty window when I selected a file not contained on the currently mounted CD. Also, when launched the browser loses focus and clocks perpetually, until I launch another program and return to click in the browser window. I can't be sure if these problems are related to my application of FixPak 16, but since my system handled FixPak 16 without problems otherwise, I'm inclined to consider the browser 'not ready for prime time'. CONCLUSION I won't debate the merits of the Hobbes archive itself. It goes without saying that if you use OS/2, you need Hobbes and you need a steady supply of the latest updates to Hobbes. Walnut Creek's expansion to a two disc set is the only excuse an OS/2 user needs to add that second CD-ROM drive to their PC, LAN server or BBS. It comes down to the distinctive methods of presentation. InfoMagic is the clear winner in terms of initial efforts toward usability and convenience, but they need to fix a few bugs in that wonderful browser. Having to swap four CD's rather than two is a small price to pay for interactive testing and easy access. I expect Walnut Creek will still be favored by LAN administrators and BBS operators, who will only need two CD-ROM drives online rather than four to provide the entire archive. For that matter, Hobbes is so important to OS/2 and these CD sets are so relatively cheap that I truly recommend them both, especially if their update schedules continue to be complementary rather than competitive. - Ed Trumbo PRODUCT INFORMATION The Hobbes archive is maintained by Myke Kretzer at the New Mexico State University. It is directly available over the Internet at hobbes.nmsu.edu. Walnut Creek Hobbes Archive $29.95 single issue $19.95 for a four issue subscription InfoMagic Hobbes Archive $35.00 ═══ 6. Tips and Tricks ═══ ═══ 6.1. Work Areas ═══ Picture "work areas" as Your Favorite Desktop On Demand. Every GUI provides the ability to open multiple windows and programs on screen. OS/2 can even be set up to restart previously active programs, either from the Startup folder or through the setting of the AUTOSTART variable in CONFIG.SYS. This is an all-or-nothing option, though, dependent on conditions that must be updated manually. It would be convenient to automatically open every needed program all at once, arranged according to your own preferences and in the right proportions, but only when you actually wanted to. OS/2 has this ability through the "work area". A Work Area is a special type of Folder that will automatically activate all program objects contained within it whenever the folder is opened. For instance, a Work Area folder could contain shadows of the program icons relating to a given project, such as Describe, Lotus 1-2-3, your PIM Address Book for reference, etc. Let's also say that at one time you arranged the windows of these active programs for easy access on your screen. Rather than loading each program separately and recreating this layout each time you want to access these programs, you can define the folder as a Work Area. Try this: Drag a Folder template onto the Desktop or another folder. Open its Settings Notebook and click on the General tab. Check the "Work Area' box and close the Notebook. This new folder is now defined as a Work Area folder. Shadow a few relevant programs into this folder and close it. When you reopen the folder, each program will launch automatically. You can now adjust their layout on screen for convenient access. Go ahead and close the applications, the last screen positions will be remembered as usual. From now on, opening that folder will automatically open all objects contained within it, using the same windows proportions as before. ═══ 6.2. Location of Templates ═══ Many OS/2 aware applications provide their own document Templates, which during installation are automatically added to OS/2's Templates folder. By right-clicking on these Templates, you can Move them to more convenient locations for easier access, perhaps the folders for the related application. Some programs' Templates will Move this way, other treat the Move command like Copy, duplicating the Templates at the destination but not removing them from the Templates directory. For instance, Mesa 2's Templates will Move out of the Templates folder, but the IBM Internet Connection Templates will Copy. ═══ 6.3. Obscure or Undocumented Commands ═══ Every software package of any significant scope has among its various capabilities certain features that often go neglected. This may be because these features have no corresponding equivalent in similar programs, it may be poorly documented or even completely undocumented. Let's explore some of these features in OS/2. RMVIEW Warp's BonusPak comes with a handy System Information Tool, a subset of IBM's NetFinity package. Although this is good for simple requirements, there are times when it would help to have a complete snapshot of very low-level information about your hardware, without having to navigate a GUI interface. RMVIEW is a command-line utility which will inspect your hardware and exhaustively report on every relevant characteristic and configuration detail that it can detect. Being command-line, you can easily redirect its text output to a file for handy reference later. Here's a summary of RMVIEW's switches: RMVIEW Version .94 Syntax: RMVIEW [switch] /P Display Physical view (default) /P1 Physical view with planar chipset /D Display Driver view /D1 Driver view with planar chipset /L Display Logical view /R Display raw data. Use with P L D switch /IRQ Display claimed Interrupt levels (IRQ) /IO Display claimed IO ports above 100 Hex /IOA Display all claimed IO ports /DMA Display claimed DMA channels /MEM Display claimed Memory regions /SO Sort IO, IOA, IRQ, DMA, MEM by owner /HW Display Hardware Tree /? Help RMVIEW is a convenient way to inspect your system for new hardware installations or debugging hardware conflicts. You will find RMVIEW documented in OS/2's on-line help and in certain third-party manuals, please refer to these for more information on this impressive utility. OSDELETE As hard as it may be to imagine, there may be situations where it's desirable to completely remove OS/2 from a partition. Although this command is 'officially' undocumented, you will find this command-line menu program in the \OS2\SYSTEM\INSTALL directory of your boot drive. OSDELETE, when run on a dual-boot Dos system, will completely remove OS/2 from the partition, restoring single-boot Dos capability. No switches are necessary or available. There is one caveat to OSDELETE, it cannot remove the hidden "EA DATA. SF" file which stores OS/2's extended attributes on FAT partitions. This file must be manually deleted afterwards. SEMAINT For another poorly documented feature of OS/2 refer to Jim Wong's tutorial on SEMAINT in the April GDOUG newsletter or its reprint in GDOUG Volume 1. Briefly, it allows the creation of a custom partition for 'maintenance' booting, in case a severe error occurs on your primary partition. ═══ 6.4. Fine Tuning Icon Positions within a Folder ═══ A folder with more than a few icons in it can take on a cluttered appearance, even after selecting 'Arrange'. A good example is the Templates folder, which is subject to frequent updates by product installations, etc. It can be difficult to find a frequently used 'Program' Template if it's lost in a sea of 'Digital Audio' and 'FPWorks' Templates. Fortunately, a folder's pop-up menu provides a Sort option. Bring up a folder's menu by either secondary clicking on an empty spot or single clicking the close button. Select the arrow beside 'Sort'. Note that you can sort by name or several other criteria, in this example we'll use name. Select 'Sort' and your icons will automatically arrange themselves by name, the exact appearance of your folder may vary depending on your selected preference in the folder's 'Settings/View' notebook. Speaking of the Settings notebook, you can specify that the folder should "Always Maintain Sort Order' by checking the box by that name in the 'Sort' page of the folder's notebook. With this selected, your icons will automatically sort and flow with any icon insertions and deletions you do. What if you want an extra level of control over your icon positions, perhaps to force the 'Data File', 'Program' and 'Folder' Templates to appear at the top of the folder regardless of the other contents? To do this, we can take advantage of ASCII sorting, which follows the order of punctuations, numbers, uppercase and finally lowercase characters. CAUTION: Changing an icon's name as described below also changes the associated filename, if the icon is in fact directly associated with a file. This tip should be applied unmodified only on HPFS drives and only to icons representing WPS objects rather than icons representing executables or data files. On FAT file systems, you should use a legal FAT character (underscore, etc.) instead of a space and be sure to remain within the 8 character limit. Apply the 'Always Maintain Sort Order' parameter to your folder as described above (the default Sort value is Name) and close the Settings notebook. Note that the icons are now sorted in ASCII style by name. Choose an icon which you want to force to the top of the folder and open its Settings notebook. On the 'General' page, position the cursor in front of the name and enter a space. Yes, just hit the space bar! Close the notebook and note that the icon has now jumped to the top of your folder display. By using a space, we've pushed the icon name into a much higher sort position than other icons that start with alphanumeric characters, without disrupting its visible name. - Ed Trumbo ═══ 6.5. Uninstalling Applications with REXX ═══ Picture this. You decide to remove an unneeded application from your OS/2 system. The application doesn't come with an automated uninstall capability, so you perform the usual Workplace Shell steps; shredding the folder on the Desktop, deleting the related Templates objects, etc. Where you attempt to shred the folder on the Drive, however, OS/2 informs you that several .DLL's are 'read-only, in use or a shadow of the object is in use'. Perhaps you've resorted to booting from floppy or a maintenance partition to remove the stubborn files. What causes this, and how can it be resolved? Being an object-oriented system, OS/2's Workplace Shell makes use of 'object classes', all derived from the root class WPObject. Other applications may add their own classes to OS/2, based on their own .DLL's. When you're unable to delete .DLL's or other similar files and there's no attribute settings or active processes preventing it, it is likely caused by a registered object class in OS/2's .INI files. Of course, several factors prevent the .INI's from being edited directly. Fortunately, REXX is able to do so easily and safely. Using two OS/2-specific functions in RexxUtil, we can deregister the unneeded object classes, reboot and delete the associated files. First, we'll need to get a good look at the names of all currently registered objects classes in your system. Use the following REXX program to obtain a list of your classes: /* List currently registered object classes. These examples can be found in the OS/2 Procedures Language/2 REXX INF file in the Information folder */ CALL RxFuncAdd 'SysLoadFuncs', 'RexxUtil', 'SysLoadFuncs' CALL SysLoadFuncs CALL SysQueryClassList "list." DO i = 1 TO list.0 SAY 'Class' i 'is' list.i end You may want to redirect the output to a file, since the list can be quite long on a well-used system. Here's an abbreviated example of its output: Class 13 is BA2Device E:/BA2/BA2DEV.DLL With another REXX program, we can delete, or deregister, this object class. Use the following function: IF SysDeregisterObjectClass('BA2Device') THEN SAY 'Object Class deregistered' If you run the first program again, you'll see that the object class has been removed from the system. After a shutdown and reboot, you'll be able to remove the unlocked files. By removing obsolete entries, you'll recover drive space and keep your .INI's lean and fast. As always, exercise caution when manipulating system files. Keep a current and verified backup on hand and avoid experimenting with production systems. - Ed Trumbo ═══ 7. Commentary ═══ ═══ 7.1. Computer Journalism Aptitude Test ═══ Now you too can be a computer industry journalist! Have you ever wanted to live a life of fame, free goodies, glamour and intrigue? Do you wonder if you have what it takes to join the ranks of the technical elite? Do you have the typing ability, the sense of "political correctness" or the vivid imagination to put the appropriate spin on any story? If you answered 'yes' to any of these, then take this simple multiple-choice test to see if you're really qualified to write for today's computer media! 1. In a recent presentation to financial analysts, IBM Chairman Lou Gerstner announced that: a. OS/2 Warp is being removed from the market. b. OS/2 as a product line is dead. c. IBM will once again emphasize OS/2's capabilities as an enterprise-class, corporate client and server operating system, and deemphasize the home consumer market. d. IBM will leave the computer industry entirely, to avoid further annoying Microsoft. 2. The August 14, 1995 cover of Information Week, based on the above story and depicting the "funeral" of an OS/2 box, was: a. An appropriate and clever graphical depiction of the facts of the announcement. b. Perhaps an overstated interpretation of the facts, mixed with wishful thinking. c. An utterly false, grotesque and lurid example of yellow journalism at its worst, offensive to all intelligent readers regardless of software preferences. d. A waste of space better devoted to more shots of Windows 95 and/or Bill Gates. 3. OS/2 continues to win an exhaustive list of "readers choice", editorial and technical awards from the press and industry. This means: a. They're lying. b. Nothing, pre-loaded market share means everything. c. Many qualified individuals in technically rigorous environments consider OS/2 to be the best product of its kind, year after year. d. Our readers, editors and technicians are idiots. 4. When writing an article about IBM products, you should: a. Spend half the article dwelling on Microsoft's competing products, available or not. b. Only print negative comments from ex-customers when it's a cover story. Print the favorable quotes in a separate article much deeper in the "advert" sections of the issue. c. Write with a clear understanding of the facts and use the standards applied to other products. d. Be brief so you'll have room for the 18th "preview" article on Windows 95. 5. When writing about the OS/2 market, you should describe it as: a. A small cadre of former Amiga-loving fringe kooks. b. People who will switch to Windows 95 like the rest of us. c. Enterprise administrators, corporate developers and personal power-users. d. Deluded anarchists who refuse to accept Microsoft's "benevolent dictatorship". 6. You test a beta version of OS/2 4.0 and find it reasonably stable for a beta and offering several convenient and interesting new features. Pick an appropriate headline for your article: a. "OS/2 beta addresses shortcomings, adds problems" b. "OS/2 4.0 lacks Win32xyz support" c. "OS/2 4.0 stable, effective client/server platform" d. "Gates accuses IBM of stealing Windows 99 ideas" Test scores If you answered A or B to more than three questions, you're well qualified to join the ranks of computer industry journalists everywhere, whether it's print, television or radio. You have an excellent grasp of the currently fashionable agendas and political correctness required. If you answered D to more than three questions, you can just bypass the media entirely and be hired as a Microsoft marketer or PR flak. After all, why just report the news when you can invent news about what you're planning to do? If you answered C to more than three questions, I'm afraid you're too much of a free thinker for the computer media. Consider a career as a weathercaster, where truth and accuracy are more valued, not to mention more common. ═══ 7.2. Why Do The Heathen Rage? ═══ or, Why The PC Industry Hates OS/2 I have a confession to make. I am an OS/2 bigot. I can also tell you from experience that OS/2 bigots are made, not born. It was never my intention to become the type of rabid software zealot that industry pundits love to cluck about in their columns, but out of necessity I am quickly becoming one. As anyone who runs OS/2 already knows, we are constantly being asked to justify our politically incorrect position. This confuses me for several reasons. For example, I never thought of myself as having a 'position', I have software. Second, I wonder why people who run DOS and Windows for Workgroups on Pentium 120's are not constantly asked to justify their rather bizarre implementation. We're all too familiar with the Microsoft Zombies for Windows, who when confronted with the obvious and massive superiority of practically everything else on the market will keep falling back on shrill cries of "We're Number One!". It's not hard to understand Microsoft's popularity with computer consultants, developers, salespeople and the like. A market that has been force fed anything that billows forth from Redmond means a large (and paying) audience for their services. It is slightly harder to understand why Microsoft is popular with the media, unless it's also based on greed and pride, a need not to admit that the industry and its clients are being repeatedly and perpetually fleeced. Hardest of all to understand is the corresponding animosity towards OS/2. The PC industry (media, consultants and others) have more affection for most boot sector viruses than for the easiest, most powerful and compatible x86 based desktop operating system ever made. I've decided that the strange attitude about OS/2 is based on two things: It's From IBM, and It's Good. In the minds of those who run (or spout off about) our industry, those two things don't belong together. Perhaps this comes from the early to mid 1980's, when IBM's software efforts for the PC platform were mostly embarassing. More likely it comes from resentment about IBM's early dominance of hardware design and standards. Whatever might be the root cause of all this antagonism, it's quite clear that OS/2's merits as a product and as a platform have nothing to do with it. Even OS/2's harshest critics admit this. It is OS/2's quality and undeniable superiority to everything else that makes it such a threat to those who are determined that no IBM software should be acknowledged as a success. The 'hacker' mindset can't tolerate the thought of a product from the mainframe corporate Evil Empire known as IBM that could actually take over the PC industry on its own merits. What to do about this? Sadly, there might not be anything to be done for someone so far gone that they won't even consider OS/2. People who don't have a built-in mental block should be more receptive to the value in OS/2. As I've said before, it's really up to satisfied OS/2 customers to spread the word, instead of sitting back and complaining about IBM and Microsoft. Some have gone so far as to suggest that IBM sell off OS/2. Read on... - Ed Trumbo ═══ 7.3. Why Do The Heathen Rage? 2.0 ═══ or, What's Behind the 'Sell Off OS/2' Talk For the past two years or so, there has been an increasing attitude among certain PC industry 'pundits' that IBM and OS/2 should separate. Aside from the transparent wishful thinking of Microsoft Zombies for Windows who advocate the death of OS/2, there are those who advocate the sale or spinoff of OS/2 to another company, no longer involved with or controlled by IBM. They reason that IBM's poor management, poor marketing and poor reputation in the PC market has poisoned OS/2 and that OS/2's only chance lies with another company. Don't fall for it! This is just another way for evil-minded idiots to wish OS/2 dead without having to actually say it. It is based on a long standing animosity to all things IBM on the part of the PC industry and its spokepersons. It is obvious that in the hands of a microcomputer-centric company, OS/2 would have died long ago. Indeed, a PC-only company would not likely be capable of having created anything as sophisticated as OS/2 in the first place, and would not be capable of maintaining and enhancing such a platform. Remember the cornerstone engines of Extended Edition and Extended Services? How many companies have the ability to create and maintain a PC operating system, a communications and connectivity engine and a client/server database manager, and do it all as well as IBM has with OS/2 from 1.3 through Warp Connect? OS/2 seriously confuses pundits whose experience with computer technology never stretches past the boundaries explored by Computer Shopper magazine, but it is not lost for people who realize that the most powerful computers in the world aren't running DOS and Windows on Pentiums. When the PC press (and I do mean 'PC' in both senses) feed the masses an endless stream of editorials saying things like 'operating systems aren't important' or 'people don't buy operating systems', it's no wonder that OS/2's appeal remains hidden from too many customers. Intel can make the front page of these 'journals' by announcing a slightly clock-accellerated Pentium before the previously announced chip is even shipping, yet 'operating systems aren't important'! Are you prepared to put your systems software into the hands of anyone but IBM in this industry? OS/2 is IBM's systems platform for the x86 personal computers. IBM's market extends well beyond the PC's into every type of hardware and software made today. A major part of OS/2's value is its support for connectivity to these systems, not merely as a dumb terminal but extending into common database engines, applications and development. I might say that I question the motives of those who recommend that IBM 'sell off' OS/2, but in fact there's no question that their motives are strictly anti-IBM and anti-OS/2. Certainly, IBM has a history of clumsiness in the PC arena. They had, and perhaps earned, a reputation for ineffective software for PC's throughout most of the 1980's. Folks, it's 1996 now, OS/2 and its associated software are here now, so don't help the Microsoft Zombies for Windows fight 1986's battles the same way they run 1986's software. OS/2 belongs with IBM, now and forever. - Ed Trumbo ═══ 8. GDOUG Bylaws ═══ Note: The following document is the final draft of the proposed Charter and Bylaws governing the Greater Detroit OS/2 User Group. I invite all members and potential members to suggest additions, deletions or improvements to the draft. Suggestions may be brought to GDOUG meetings or submitted on-line to the GDOUG Members Forum on the OS/2 Express BBS Thank you for your participation. ═══ 8.1. Revisions ═══ Between the second draft and this draft, there have been some significant additions, deletions and alterations. This section summarizes them by article. Charter - No change. Definitions - Member "in good standing" requirement AMENDED, from attendance at 1 of the past 4 meetings to attendance at 3 meetings during the term of membership. Article 1: GDOUG Standards - No change. Article 2: Membership Requirements - Subsection B; REMOVED "A member must be present at the meeting in which the vote is held...". Article 3: Officer Structure and Requirements - Subsection A; NEW BBS SysOp added as fifth Officer, as a volunteer appointed position. Subsection B AMENDED to require BBS SysOp as an Officer. REMOVED Subsection C, which limited the combined responsibilities of Secretary and Treasurer. Article 4: Meeting Requirements - Subsections B and C; "Temporary and/or permanent changes..." AMENDED to "Temporary...", relating to meeting schedules and places. Article 5: Voting Procedures - NEW Article. Establishes ballot and proxy voting, standards for such votes and Vice-President's role in casting deciding votes. Article 6: Dissolution of GDOUG - AMENDED as "Dissolution and/or Reorganization of GDOUG". Subsection A; dissolution vote requirements increased. NEW Subsection B prohibits accepting membership contributions during dissolution proceedings. NEW Subsection D involving reorganization of GDOUG. Article 7: Amendments to Bylaws - AMENDED to require ballot and proxy voting. Article 8: Standards for Enforcing Bylaws - NEW Article. Automatically nullifies any Bylaw or Subsection that conflicts with federal, state or local laws. Allows for enforcement of any other Bylaw at discretion of membership. Amendments 1, 2: - No change. ═══ 8.2. Charter ═══ The Greater Detroit OS/2 User Group (hereafter referred to as GDOUG) is a nonprofit volunteer organization with the following common goals: o To promote the use of OS/2 as the operating system platform of choice among computer users and software developers o To educate its members and others in the use of OS/2 based technology o To assist the membership and others by sharing information, assistance and resources as related to our other goals o To serve as a forum for dialogue with computer hardware, software and service vendors, through which we can communicate the ideas and opinions of the membership to our aggregate benefit ═══ 8.3. Definitions ═══ A quorum is defined as a majority of members in good standing in a given meeting. A member in good standing is defined as a person who has paid the membership dues as set at the time of membership application, whose membership has not expired and who has attended a minimum of three (3) meetings during their term of membership. ═══ 8.4. Article 1: GDOUG Standards ═══ 1. GDOUG does not condone nor tolerate any criminal activity, especially but not limited to the use or abuse of computer technology among its members, during its meetings or using equipment or software designated as GDOUG property or in the custody of GDOUG Officers and members. 2. GDOUG Officers and members shall maintain reasonable standards of civil conduct among each other and in any capacity while attending meetings and/or representing GDOUG to the public. 3. Information about individual members (including but not limited to addresses, phone numbers, places of employment, etc.) shall be considered private and confidential, not to be distributed or used for any purpose outside the legitimate activities of GDOUG, without the written permission of each member concerned. 4. Violations of these articles may result in sanctions up to and including forfeiture of membership, subject to review by no less than three (3) Officers and/or not less than two-thirds of present members at a regularly scheduled meeting. ═══ 8.5. Article 2: Membership Requirements ═══ 1. GDOUG membership is available to anyone eighteen (18) years of age or older who expresses an interest in OS/2 and GDOUG membership and pays the current dues of membership as determined by the membership. Anyone under the age of eighteen may become a member through the sponsorship of a member who fulfills the above requirement. 2. A GDOUG member in good standing shall have the right to one (1) vote in elections called for by the Officers or by the terms of these Bylaws. 3. Membership in GDOUG carries the implicit obligation for the member to contribute their knowledge, resources and energy to the group, both during and outside the meetings, to the best of their ability. This may include but is not limited to making a presentation or holding a training session, promoting the existence and purpose of GDOUG among others and other beneficial activities at their discretion. ═══ 8.6. Article 3: Officer Structure and Requirements ═══ 1. GDOUG shall have a standard complement of five (5) Officers, responsible for the various duties necessary to serve the membership and fulfill the goals of its Charter and requirements of these Bylaws. To be an eligible candidate for GDOUG Officer, a member in good standing must have been a member for not less than one year prior to election (see Amendment 1). The Officer structure shall be: a. President : The President shall: 1. officiate at the general meetings of GDOUG 2. ensure that membership activity remains in compliance with the Charter, Bylaws and standards of GDOUG 3. temporarily fulfill the responsibilities of another Officer if said Officer is unable, or appoint a member in good standing to fulfill the responsibilities of an Officer until a Special Election can be held among the membership 4. other duties as may be determined by a quorum or required by circumstance b. Vice-President : The Vice-President shall: 1. fulfill the responsibilities of President as enumerated above, in the event the President is unable 2. cast the deciding vote in the event of a deadlocked vote among the membership and/or Officers 3. other duties as may be determined by a quorum or required by circumstance c. Secretary : The Secretary shall: 1. maintain the mailing list of members and contacts, including all information necessary to fulfill GDOUG's obligations 2. maintain minutes of each meeting 3. other duties as may be determined by a quorum or required by circumstance d. Treasurer : The Treasurer shall: 1. maintain GDOUG funds, including membership dues and other contributions 2. present to the other Officers documentation for all financial transactions occurring on a monthly basis, and report to the other Officers and membership with a current Balance Sheet for GDOUG not less than four (4) times per calendar year 3. other duties as may be determined by a quorum or required by circumstance e. Bulletin Board System Operator (BBS SysOp) : The BBS SysOp shall: 1. maintain and provide access to a modem based dial-up system through which members and interested parties may communicate on a regular basis, publicly and/or privately 2. maintain and provide access, using the above medium, to records and archives of GDOUG communications, including but not limited to newsletters, public and/or private messages and other information of benefit to the membership and other interested parties 3. other duties as required by the above description 2. GDOUG shall have, at a minimum and at any one time, three Officers responsible for conducting and maintaining the business and resources of GDOUG. Unless otherwise stipulated by a quorum at a regularly scheduled meeting, these Officers will hold the titles of President, Secretary and BBS SysOp, with the associated responsibilities enumerated above, plus other duties as necessary to the continued operation and growth of GDOUG. Under these circumstances, the elected President shall fulfill the duties associated with the Treasurer. 3. The Office of BBS SysOp is considered an appointed Office and not subject to Election by the membership, except in the event of the BBS SysOp's resignation from said Office. ═══ 8.7. Article 4: Meeting Requirements ═══ 1. Regularly scheduled and publicly announced meetings of GDOUG shall be considered open to anyone who wishes to attend, provided such attendance does not disrupt the scheduled proceedings of the meeting. 2. Meetings shall be regularly scheduled to take place on a monthly basis, on the specific date and at the specific time and place as ratified by a quorum of the membership. Temporary changes to this schedule may be approved by a quorum at the preceding meeting. 3. GDOUG shall establish a regular place of meeting based on a quorum of the membership. Temporary changes to this place may be approved by a quorum at the preceding meeting. 4. GDOUG shall publicly announce its meetings through the U.S. Mail to persons active in its mailing list and/or through electronic services as may be available to GDOUG Officers and members. These announcements shall be mailed and/or posted not less than ten (10) days prior to the date of the scheduled meeting. 5. In the event of an emergency preventing a meeting from occurring at a pre-approved date, time and/or place, two (2) or more Officers may reschedule and/or relocate said meeting provided it is scheduled for a later date. The Officers are responsible for providing updated notice to all persons and at all locations where notice of meetings is given, not less than ten (10) days prior to the date of the previously scheduled meeting. If such notice is not possible, any votes and/or resolutions taking place at said meeting shall be considered non-binding. ═══ 8.8. Article 5: Voting Procedures ═══ 1. Any member in attendance at a GDOUG meeting may call for a vote among the membership on any issue relating to the meetings, operation, policies and/or standards of GDOUG. Another member may second that motion, and the vote will be held according to the following standards: a. If an issue relates only to the given meeting and members present at said meeting (as in adjournment, extension past the preannounced time, etc.), the vote may be held by a show of hands and a quorum will prevail. b. If an issue relates to an Amendment or other alteration of these Bylaws, election of Officers or other matters of natural interest to the membership at large (except the dissolution of GDOUG, see Article 6), the issue shall be drafted in writing and presented in the next monthly publication of GDOUG, along with a voting ballot. This ballot shall include affirmative, negative and proxy options, with proxy as the default value. Ballots may be returned to a designated Officer by U.S. Mail or electronically through E-Mail. E-Mail ballots shall be acknowledged and confirmed by the designated Officer. Said vote shall be held at the following meeting and include the results of a show of hands, ballots and proxy. 2. At any time up to the formal vote during a meeting, an attending member may cancel their previous ballot or proxy by participating in the formal vote. The Secretary and/or other designated Officer shall be responsible for eliminating duplicated votes. 3. The value of the proxy vote (affirmative or negative) shall be determined by a quorum at the current meeting. 4. For votes that require a two-thirds majority of members, the Vice-President's vote shall be used to round up or down as necessary, if the count of two-thirds of members do not otherwise round evenly into thirds. For votes requiring a quorum, the Vice-President's vote shall determine the outcome in the event of a tie vote. ═══ 8.9. Article 6: Dissolution and/or Reorganization of GDOUG ═══ 1. By providing no less than sixty (60) days notice to the membership, no less than two (2) Officers may call a vote to dissolve GDOUG as an organization. At the end of sixty days, all ballots, proxy options and other votes as specified in Article 5 shall be considered. Upon approval of said dissolution by not less than two-thirds of current members, GDOUG shall be dissolved. 2. From the time of such notice, GDOUG shall not accept membership dues from prospective members, unless and until such time as a vote cancels the dissolution proceedings. 3. In the event of the dissolution of GDOUG, refunds of membership dues if any shall be handled on a prorated basis as follows: a. Funds available to GDOUG at the time of dissolution shall first provide for reasonable expenses to handle obligations related to the dissolution. b. A member with more than six (6) months left in an active membership shall receive up to one-half of their membership dues as a refund within sixty (60) days of the official and documented dissolution of GDOUG. c. A member with up to six (6) months left in an active membership shall not be eligible for refund. 4. Refunds of GDOUG membership dues in the event of dissolution shall be limited to funds available to GDOUG itself. 5. A reorganization of GDOUG, including the draft of a new Charter and/or Bylaws and the election of new Officers, shall follow the same requirements enumerated above. All members of GDOUG shall be considered members of the new organization throughout the term of their membership as specified by the previous standards of GDOUG in force at the time of their membership application. ═══ 8.10. Article 7: Amendments to GDOUG Bylaws ═══ 1. Any amendment to GDOUG Bylaws and/or Charter requires the use of ballot and proxy options as specified in Article 5. 2. These Bylaws may be amended to any extent by an affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds of current members. 3. The Charter of GDOUG may be amended to include additional statements by not less than two-thirds of current members. The Charter may not have its original statements removed and/or struck down without a complete reorganization of GDOUG as described in Article 6. ═══ 8.11. Article 8: Standards for Enforcement of Bylaws ═══ 1. These Bylaws and Charter are subject to the relevant laws of the United States of America, the State of Michigan and Macomb County. In the event that an Article or any Subsection of an Article is found to be in violation of the laws of any of the above jurisdictions, said Article or Subsection will be automatically null and void. This nullification shall be limited to relevant Articles and Subsections only. 2. GDOUG, its Officers and members reserve the right to enforce the standards and requirements of these Bylaws, within the limits of the laws of the aforementioned jurisdictions. 3. Failure to enforce the standards and requirements of these Bylaws on any given occasion shall not limit the right of GDOUG, its Officers and/or members to enforce these Bylaws at other times. ═══ 8.12. Amendments ═══ AMENDMENT 1 - Provisions Made for GDOUG First Year of Operation Requirements in the above Bylaws stipulating membership requirements, Officer eligibility, etc. relating to length of time of membership and/or attendance history are suspended from July 12, 1994 to July 12, 1995. AMENDMENT 2 - Waiver of Membership Dues A member elected to GDOUG office by a quorum shall be exempt from membership dues and renewals through his or her term of office. If said Officers' membership expires during their term, he or she will be responsible for renewing membership upon their departure from GDOUG office. A quorum may vote to waive the membership dues of any current or proposed member, for outstanding services rendered to GDOUG and its membership. A vote of approval will grant a one (1) year membership, extending any current term of membership which may exist. ═══ 9. GDOUG Membership and Contact info ═══ The Greater Detroit OS/2 User Group (GDOUG) was founded in July 1994 to serve the needs of OS/2 users and the OS/2 marketplace in the Greater Detroit area. We operate on a nonprofit, volunteer basis. For more information about membership and participation, please login to the OS/2 Express or refer to the enclosed form. President Edward Trumbo etrumbo@ibm.net Vice-President Stan Sobocinski sobocist@gdls.com ab303@detroit.freenet.com Secretary Carolyn Kolaz CIS: 76460,3040 Treasurer Jim Wong N/A BBS SysOp Jim Held BBS : (810) 739-1193 Membership Dues: $25 US per year. BBS: OS/2 Express Greater Detroit OS/2 User Group 29334 Gloede #A-10 Warren, MI 48093 Attn: Edward Trumbo The GDOUG Newsletter is a monthly publication of the Greater Detroit OS/2 User Group (GDOUG). All reviews and opinions expressed herein are those of the respective authors and may not reflect the positions of GDOUG, its Officers or members. All information contained herein is presented "as is", without warranty or guarantee. GDOUG, its Officers and members assume no liability for the use or misuse of any materials published here. "IBM" and "OS/2" are registered trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc. and are used without permission. We hope they won't mind. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders. ═══ 9.1. Membership Form ═══ For membership by mail (U.S. or electronic), print this form and send to: GDOUG c/o Edward Trumbo 29336 Gloede #A-10 Warren, MI 48093 or: Internet: etrumbo@ibm.net (please type or print) Name : _________________________________ Address1 : _________________________________ Address2 : _________________________________ City : _________________________________ State : _______ Zip Code: ___________ Optional information: Day Phone : (___) ___-____ x ____ Evening Phone : (___) ___-____ x ____ E-Mail : _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------- [ ] Sign me up for one year of membership. (US Mail only) $25.00 U.S. Check or Money Order enclosed. [ ] No membership yet, but send me the next issue. [ ] Send newsletter to my ___________________ address. (US Mail, Internet, CompuServe, etc. ═══ ═══ Edward Trumbo is the President of the Greater Detroit OS/2 User Group. A founding member of GDOUG, he has been using OS/2 personally and professionally since version 2.0. ═══ ═══ Stan Sobocinski is the Vice President of the Greater Detroit OS/2 User Group. ═══ ═══ Carolyn Kolaz is the Secretary of the Greater Detroit OS/2 User Group. ═══ ═══ Jim Wong is the Treasurer of the Greater Detroit OS/2 User Group. ═══ ═══ Jim Held is the BBS System Operator of the OS/2 Express, the official BBS of the Greater Detroit OS/2 User Group. ═══ ═══ International Business Machines, Inc. 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