MMOUG July 1993 Newsletter Volume 1 Number 2 Mid Missouri OS/2 Users Group ============================= The MMOUG meets once a month, meeting at the Columbia IBM office on even months and at the Jefferson City office on odd months. Click below for more information. July Meeting Announcement ------------------------- When: July 14, 1993 at 4 PM Where: Jefferson City IBM Office (See directions) Activities: Ben Hoffman, the Personal Software Products representative for Mid-Missouri, will be explaining what Personal Software Products is as a division/company, and his role. Directions: Jefferson City IBM Office One Elm Plaza Jefferson City, MO 65101 314-634-0200 From Columbia: Highway 63 South to Highway 54 West (across the bridge) to (be careful, this is still a dangerous intersection) Highway 50 East. Go through lights at MO. Blvd, Broadway, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe Take the CLARK AVENUE exit off of Highway 50. Turn right onto Clark Ave, THEN make an almost immediate left onto ELM Street. Take Elm Street to IBM. IBM will be on the left. Eastland Highway / Patrol Elm Street McDonalds________ HQ ________________ | \___________/ | |______________________________________________\_______ Highway 50 Clark Ave Exit Thanks to Gary Pool for providing these directions. What you missed at the last meeting! ------------------------------------ Describe Corporation's Mary Serok demoed their 32-bit PM word processor, Describe 4.0. Mary showed us the true WYSIWYG nature of Describe, the style pallette's ability to help document layout, as well as it's tremendous file import/export features. Describe's word processor looks like a superior product designed with OS/2 and the WPS in mind. Our giveaway was a copy of :hp1.OS/2 2.1 Unleashed!:ehp1. which Dale Hackemeyer (yours truly) won. Remember folks, you've got to be present to win! Mid Missouri OS/2 Users Group Information ----------------- Current Officers: Phillip Wilson - President Diane Kehl - Vice President Robert Shelley - Treasurer Shawn Frazier - Membership Secretary David Finch - Recording Secretary Woody Sturges - BBS Officer Dale Hackemeyer - Information Officer Official MMOUG BBS: OS/2 Woodmeister - (314) 446-0016 (1:289/27) MMOUG Mailing Address: Mid Missouri OS/2 Users Group P.O. Box 30645 Columbia, MO 65205-0645 Presidential Corner =================== Welcome to the Mid-Missouri OS/2 Users Group (MMOUG) newletter. I want to personally thank all who have joined the group. We hope to keep the agendas full of interesting and beneficial things. Any suggestions are welcome. Please leave a message for Diane Kehl on the OS/2 Woodmeister or on IBM's OS2BBS (userid - KEHLD). We have a few more things in the works to further help the group. We are putting together a Jefferson City node for MMOUG members to cut down on long distance phone calls. Hopefully that will be in operation before the end of July. For those of you who have not heard, the OS/2 2.1 upgrade and program products are available now and shipping. I can't wait to buy a sound card . Finally, I would like to thank Stac Electronics for the donation of "Stacker for OS/2". We will be drawing for that goodie at one of the future meetings. I would also like to thank Harvey Summers for donating a CD-ROM full of Adobe Type Manager fonts and games that will also be given away at a future meeting. Tell your friends, collegues, and neighbors about the group. We can all help one another and, hopefully, have some fun doing it. Take Care. Phillip Wilson President, Mid Missouri OS/2 Users Group Notes from the BBS side... ========================== Well, it looks like traffic is picking up a little here on the OS/2 Woodmeister. Thanks to Shawn Frazier (MMOUG Membership Officer and OWM Files Cosysop extraordinaire), the OWM is seeing ALL KINDS of new OS/2 files (almost) every day. He's been given a mission to fill my files drive (another 400M to go!), so we can expect to see many more files in the months to come. Thanks, Shawn! Drivers for 2.x are appearing almost daily now. Make sure and check out the new files every once in a while to see if there's anything you need. Tidbit #1: From the Files menu, use the Locate command to find files of particular interest. Enter a search string containing part of the expression you're looking for. For example, to check out S3 drivers, "L"ocate "S3", and the system will show all available files with S3 in the filename or description. It's a great way to find files of interest. Tidbit #2: Don't forget the online help. Most menus allow a "?" to get help screens. If there's something you're not sure of, use the "?" command to get more info. For those of you interested in gaining local access to the OWM from Jefferson City, we're pleased to announce that The OWM Jeff City Point should be up this month. It'll be open to MMOUG members only, and will carry all the OS/2 message areas that I currently carry (as well as my "Ask Phillip", and "Hard Core" areas). That's in the works, and is about done. We're still working with COIN to get OWM access to Internet services. That's going slow, but is moving ahead. David Finch is giving us more and more positive information each time we talk to him. Of course, we'll keep everyone informed of the status of this project. That's it for me this month. Don't forget to check in every now and then to browse the new files. There's definitely something for everyone... Woody Sturges BBS Officer, Mid Missouri OS/2 Users Group Stacker for OS/2 and DOS ======================== Review by Dale Hackemeyer Real-time hard disk data compression, which the DOS world has enjoyed for several years, has arrived for OS/2! Stacker for OS/2 & DOS is the first OS/2 release of Stac's popular disk compression software. While it is only the first release and does have a few quirks, it is functionally the same as it's DOS counterpart and just as safe. As the name implies, the disks contain everything you need to access your stacked disks in both OS/2 and DOS. The format used is the same as in Stacker's current DOS version, and you can upgrade disks stacked with older versions of Stacker without any data loss. The Compromise: There is one thing about this release that I dislike. All of the installation and utility programs included with Stacker are DOS programs. Only the device drivers necessary to use the stacked drive(s) are native OS/2 programs. Some, but not all, of the programs may be used under an OS/2 DOS session, but some of the more critical programs (such as SETUP and SDEFRAG) must be used after booting DOS. While none of this compromises your data's integerity, it does require you have both a DOS boot disk (either floppy or hard disk) and OS/2 DOS support installed. This release will only support FAT formatted disks, which makes sense when you consider the support programs are DOS apps and DOS apps can't read or write on HPFS formatted disks. How Stacker works: If you've never used Stacker before, it may help to understand how Stacker goes about doubling you're disk capacity. Suppose we're going to stack our 80 Megabyte C: disk. We decide that we want to stack 75Meg of the disk, leaving 5 Meg uncompressed (it is ALWAYS necessary to leave a small portion on a boot disk uncompressed to store those files needed during boot up before the Stacker device driver is loaded and running). To create the stacked drive, Stacker will allocate 75Meg of the disk to create a file called STACVOL.DSK. This one file is what actually holds all your compressed data. If data already exists on the drive, Stacker will integrate those files into the STACVOL.DSK file during the install. In order to access the stacked drive, device drivers are loaded on bootup that create a virtual disk drive that uses the data in the STACVOL.DSK file. The virtual disk acts like any other disk, and you may access it as you would any disk (one major exception is disk defragmentation programs; you MUST use the provided SDEFRAG to defragment Stacker drives). As you might expect, the STACVOL.DSK is an extremely important file on the uncompressed portion of your disk. All the programs and data on your stacked disk are in this file. So whatever you do, DON'T DELETE THIS FILE! Two other programs that Stacker uses are SSWAP (for DOS) and SSWAP2 (for OS/2) which "swaps" your existing unstacked drive and your stacked drive so your system will use the stacked drive just like it used to use the unstacked drive. For example, after stacking our 80Meg C: drive, rather than having a 5Meg C: drive and a 150Meg D: drive, SSWAP will set things up so we have a 150Meg C: drive and 5Meg D: drive. The install program copies the necessary system files (i.e. COMMAND.COM or OS2KRNL) from the 5Meg portion of the disk to the stacked drive to avoid problems with missing files after the disks are swapped. Under OS/2, quite a few more files must be kept on both the uncompressed and stacked disks to get booted up. A program called SYNC2 is ran automatically at startup to check and make sure all the necessay files are in both places and will notify you if there are any differences in the files, and will offer to correct any differences it sees. Stacker users may also specify additional files that they want synchronized using the SYNC2USR.CFG file. Stacker's device drivers control the access to the stacked drive. When a read is requested on a stacked drive, Stacker intercepts the request, finds, uncompresses, and passes the file to the application requesting it. The reverse happens when a program writes a file to a stacked disk. First time installation: The SETUP program for Stacker is a very complete program, giving you the choice to either let it do everything automatically, or to let you take control and do a custom install (do the latter ONLY if you're experienced with Stacker products or the manual instructs you to do so). You're install times will vary, depending on the size of the disk being stacked and, more importantly, whether there are existing files that must be added to the stacked drive. Installing over existing Stacker: Unfortunately, SETUP is a bit picky about how your system is setup if you already have a DOS version of Stacker installed. For instance, I had Stacker 2.0 already installed and at first Stacker's SETUP wouldn't work. It had me run the CONFIG program to patch my DOS CONFIG.SYS. Turns out Stacker didn't like that I loaded the device drivers into high memory. After CONFIG the SETUP program worked fine. You're not done yet, however. Tucked 163 pages back in the manual is the section about how to use other Stacker products. Technically you can access your old Stacker for DOS disks without any problems, but it's best to re-stack these drives to take advantage of the newer compression schemes. You can re-stack by using the command SDEFRAG X: /R (where X: is the drive letter of the stacked drive). Be warned that this process takes some time. It took almost twenty minutes to re-stack my 26Meg Stacker 2.0 disk on my old 386-25MHz machine. This must be done under native DOS. Conclusion: For the most part, I think Stacker has done an good job with this first release for OS/2. As with any first release, it has some quirks, but most stem to it's religious use of DOS utility programs. See page 67 of the manual for a diagram of which programs can be ran in a OS/2 DOS session and which require you actaully boot DOS to use them. In general, any program that makes serious changes to a stacked disk, or that repairs a damaged disk, must be ran under real DOS. I found out they mean it whan I ran CHKDSK /F and locked the sytstem hard. Doing the same under DOS fixed things in no time. The manual is suprisingly easy to read for the non-technical. Chapter four is a very complete command reference, giving an explanation of what a command does, why it's needed, the syntax, and all of the parameters. There are seperate chapters discussing the OS/2 and DOS device drivers, what they do and how to set them up yourself. Next to every command or device driver described in the manual is a small graphic indicating whether it is to be used under OS/2, an OS/2 based DOS session, or a computer booted with real DOS. The peformance of a stacked disk is somewhat less than that of an unstacked disk, but it isn't very noticable when using programs, but is noticable when doing large amounts of file copying and deleting. The compression ratio achieved will vary depending on the types of files on your stacked disk. ZIP and other compressed files, as well as compressed executables, won't be compressed at all by Stacker and take up more room on a stacked disk. Though it is billed as "doubling your hard disk space", a 2:1 ratio is seldom acheived. I currently have a 1.8:1 ratio on my disk. The new version also has better compression algorithms than previous releases. With Stacker 2.0 for DOS I had a 1.6:1 ratio, and after restacking my disk, I was up to 1.8:1. Despite the quirks, Stacker has run error free and headache free for me, and I'd recommend it for anyone who's feeling the disk crunch under OS/2. The OS/2 FAQ ============ Perhaps one of the most useful resources for a beginning (and even experienced) OS/2 user is the OS/2 FAQ (that's Frequently Asked Questions) file. Compiled by Timothy F. Sipples and distributed worldwide on OS/2 FTP sites and BBS's, it's an indispensable guide to OS/2 hardware, software, and useful tips and techniques. :p. Some of the topics covered include: Fundamentals: - Differences between versions. - DOS and Windows compatibility. - Availability and Cost Hardware: - Hardware requirements - SVGA support - Printer support - Specific hardware recomendations Software: - Applications - Shareware and Freeware - Disk utilities - Multimedia - Networking products - Backup software - Special software offers Installation, Maintenance, and Support: - Installing - Hard disk partitioning - Technical support - Online services - User Groups (We're in there!) - OS/2 BBS's (Woody's in there!) Using OS/2: - Making OS/2 resemble UNIX or Windows - Background processes - Performance Tuning - Clever tricks - REXX The latest version was released June 14th and is updated almost monthly. You can find the FAQ on the Woodmeister in the file FAQ21A.ZIP. Both ASCII and INF versions are included! All in all, I think Timothy has done a terrific job of compiling and updating the information in the FAQ. :p. You can reach him at on the Internet at (sip1@kimbark.uchicago.edu) OS/2 Tips & Techniques ====================== Creating WPS objects -------------------- While the Workplace Shell is an easy to use interface, it does have it's quirks. One day a few months ago I noticed the system clock program didn't come up. When I finally opened my "System Setup" folder, I found that it was empty. No Keyboard, no Mouse, no Clock. Nothing. After searching the disk looking for the missing programs, I was at a loss. Had my clock, keyboard, and other system setup programs been deleted? As it turns out, yes and no. The clock, mouse, keyboard, and other programs in the "System Setup" folder aren't actually programs, but objects that point to the actual programs residing in system DLL's. Somehow the objects in my folder were wiped out, but since they were merely pointers to the programs, all I needed to do to get my clock and other programs back was recreate those objects. After seeing a post in the OS2 fidonet conference, I figured out how to recreate the delinquent objects. Taking some example REXX code from the same message, I've created two REXX files to help in restoring system objects. LSTOBJ.CMD is a REXX file that will list all objects available in the system. It's a long listing, so be ready to hit the key! NEWOBJ.CMD is a REXX file that will create the system objects that you request. This command file is a little tricky as it requires that you edit parts of the file to create the appropriate objects. Two objects, "System" and "Keyboard", are created by the example file. CAUTION: System objects cannot be deleted with the Shredder! If you create one of these objects as a test, you must have a program such as BlackHole on your desktop that will delete anything should you decide to delete it. 3 steps are required to create the objects: - Run the LISTOBJ command file and note which objects you wish to create. - Edit the "call SysCreateObjecte" line(s) in NEWOBJ.CMD to reflect the additions you wish to make, either by changing the existing calls, and/or by adding additional calls as needed. - Run your new NEWOBJ.CMD command file to create the new objects on your desktop. If everything goes smoothly, you should have one or more new objects appearing in the upper left hand corner of your desktop. LSTOBJ.CMD /* REXX file to list WPS system objects. */ /* */ /* From the July 1993 MMOUG newsletter. */ "@echo off" "cls" SAY "Getting list of all WPS objects&colon."; /* Add WPS system functions to REXX. */ call RxFuncAdd 'SysLoadFuncs', 'RexxUtil', 'SysLoadFuncs' call SysLoadFuncs /* Loop to list each system object. */ call SysQueryClassList "list." do i=1 to list.0 say "Class" i "is" list.i end SAY "List creation completed." EXIT NEWOBJ.CMD /* REXX file to create WPS system objects. Edit and/or */ /* add SysCreateObject calls to get the desired objects. */ /* */ /* From the July 1993 MMOUG newsletter */ "@echo off" "cls" SAY "Creating WPS objects&colon."; /* Add WPS system functions to REXX. */ call RxFuncAdd 'SysLoadFuncs', 'RexxUtil', 'SysLoadFuncs' call SysLoadFuncs /* Call(s) to add system objects. */ call SysCreateObject 'WPSystem', 'System', '' call SysCreateObject 'WPKeyboard', 'Keyboard', '' SAY "WPS objects creation completed." EXIT BlackHole You can find this program on the OS/2 Woodmeister under the file BLAKHOLE.ZIP. No more command prompt title bars! ---------------------------------- When I first installed OS/2, I didn't think much of the title bars that appeared at the top of every OS/2 and DOS command prompt, it even helped to differentiate between the two when running in a full screen session. However, after spending a few months with OS/2, I didn't feel like having a silly bar at the top of my screen telling me to type HELP for more information. After a little poking around for information I found it's very easy to make those title bars go away. For OS/2 sessions, look in your CONFIG.SYS file for the SET PROMPT=$i[$p] line. The $i part is what displays the title bar at the top of you screen. Simply delete $i and save your CONFIG.SYS. After rebooting, the title bars will be gone. For DOS sessions, look in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file for the PROMPT $i$p$ line. As with the OS/2 PROMPT statement, the $i part turns the title bars on and off. Delete the $i and save your AUTOEXEC.BAT. The next DOS session you open will be sans title bars. Getting the most of memory. --------------------------- There are several lines in the CONFIG.SYS file that allocate memory for various system functions. While OS/2 does an excellent job of allocating memory during setup, it can be a bit wasteful, especially if you run in a low memory environment. Here are some changes you can make to improve things: PRINTMONBUFSIZE=132,132,132 This line sets the size of the printer buffers. Why is 132 there three times? It's allocating buffers for LPT1, LPT2, and LPT3. What? You don't use all three parallel ports? Then set the values to 0 for the ports you don't use. If you don't print much either, set the value lower for the ports you do use. IFS=D:\OS2\HPFS.IFS /CACHE:64 /AUTOCHECK:DE /CRECL:4 This line controls the setup of the High Performance File System (HPFS). The /CACHE:64 part allocates memory for the disk cache. If you don't have much physical RAM, a higher setting won't increase performance, it will decrease it! This is because it takes longer to page memory to disk and back, and the more RAM for the cache is less RAM for programs, so swapping will occur more often. The optimum setting for the cache varies from system to system, so the best way to set this is by trial and error. THREADS=256 Threads is the number of independent actions that OS/2 is expected to manage. Each thread requires a small fraction of Physical RAM, thus if your not running particularly massive OS/2 applications, which have many threads, then why reserve so many? In case you're worried about not assigning enough, there is a small utility program called MAP57.ZIP on Woody's BBS that will give you a report on the number of threads in use by your system. With this utility I was able to halve my default setting to 128, which is still rather high, but it's better to have more than required, otherwise your system's preformance will be terrible if you remove too many. NOTE: This section was adapted from Joes Tips, which can be found in the file JOESTIPS.ZIP on the OS/2 Woodmeister.:ent. New Software! ============= OS/2 Software recently announced or released Stacker for OS/2 & DOS ---------------------- Stac to Ship OS/2 Version of Stacker ATLANTA, May 24, 1993 Stac Electronics (NASDAQ:STAC), the leading supplier of data compression products for personal computers, today announced the availability of Stacker(r) for OS/2(r) & DOS, a new software product that automatically and transparently doubles the storage capacity of systems running OS/2 2.0 and later, and DOS 5.0 and later. Now users can compress OS/2, Windows and DOS files. "Stacker for OS/2 & DOS is a true lifesaver for those of us using the FAT file system," said Ron Kiyomura of McDonnell-Douglas Inc. "With the demands the OS/2 operating system puts on disk storage, Stac Electronics has provided a way to relieve disk storage problems at a fraction of the cost of new hardware." Like its sister product for Windows and DOS, Stacker for OS/2 & DOS is based on the company's patented Stacker LZS(tm) compression technology that is relied upon daily by more than 4 million computer users worldwide. It is 100 percent compatible with OS/2, its applications and all hard disk FAT drives. Stacker for OS/2 & DOS contains device drivers for both OS/2 and DOS giving users access to compressed disks from either operating system. Furthermore, it is easy to install and operates continuously, without any perceptible degradation to system performance. "Stacker for OS/2 & DOS is a means of making OS/2 accessible to more users," said Gary Clow, Stac's president. "Stacker for OS/2 & DOS makes it possible to run OS/2 and its applications, as well as Windows and DOS and their applications, on a large number of computers that have sufficient CPU horsepower but come up short on storage capacity." "Before the user even begins creating a word processing document, spreadsheet or database, the average OS/2 system and applications require nearly 80 megabytes of storage," added Clow. For example, on a 100-megabyte OS/2 boot drive, OS/2 and a typical collection of applications including word processor, spreadsheet, graphics and databases, occupy 76 megabytes of space, leaving just 24 megabytes free. Add Stacker for OS/2 & DOS to the system and the amount of free space grows to 112 megabytes. Easy Installation Users are given a choice of Express or Custom Setup with Stacker for OS/2 & DOS. Express Setup assesses the system and automatically installs Stacker on all of the system hard drives that use the FAT file system. Stacker's Custom Setup offers the user a variety of configuration options for maximum control of the system. For those who need more disk space in order to install OS/2, users simply compress the data on the drive first and then OS/2 will be compressed on-the-fly as it is being installed. Transparent Operation Once installed, Stacker for OS/2 & DOS operates instantaneously, continuously and transparently to the user. Stacker for OS/2 & DOS works with systems with only an OS/2 boot partition as well as also Dual Boot and Boot Manager systems. Other Stacker for OS/2 & DOS features include: - Stacker AutoProtect(tm) - detects disk errors at boot time and immediately protects your Stacker volume. - Stacker AutoRecovery(tm) - automatically repairs errors on the disk. - Stacker Optimizer(tm) defragments a Stacker drive for optimal performance. - Compression Reporting - provides the compression ratio for files in a Stacker drive. - Extended attributes support - fully supports OS/2's ability to attach additional information to files. - Support for 2 GB Stacker drives - creates Stacker drives up to two gigabytes in total capacity. - Unstack - restores a drive to its uncompressed condition and deactivates the Stacker software. - Online help - includes context-sensitive help throughout setup Pricing and Availability Stacker for OS/2 & DOS has a suggested retail price of $199. It will be available in volume during the first week of June to end-users through dealers or can be ordered directly from Stac, and comes with 90 days free telephone support and unlimited electronic support. The Company:ehp2. .br Stac Electronics is the leading supplier of high performance data compression products for personal computers. Implemented in software and silicon, Stac's products are sold direct from the company and through retail and OEM sales distribution channels worldwide. Contact Information: Stac Electronics Lisa Gunderson (619) 431-7474 WordPerfect 5.2 for OS/2 ------------------------ WORDPERFECT CORP. DEVELOPS WORDPERFECT 5.2 FOR OS/2 OREM, Utah, January 18, 1993--WordPerfect Corporation today announced the development of WordPerfect(R) 5.2 for OS/2(R) 2.0, the first graphical version of WordPerfect for OS/2. The product is being jointly developed with Micrografx(R) using Mirrors(TM) technology and uses the same feature set as WordPerfect 5.2 for Windows. WordPerfect 5.2 for OS/2 is scheduled to ship this spring. "Support from the industry's leading word processing software developer is a clear indication of the market's support and acceptance of OS/2," said Lee Reiswig, president of IBM's Personal Software Products division. "WordPerfect 5.2 for OS/2 will satisfy customers' needs for a graphical word processor that will take advantage of OS/2's advanced technology." The file format of WordPerfect 5.2 for OS/2 is identical to that of WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS and WordPerfect 5.2 for Windows so files are compatible across platforms. WordPerfect 5.2 for OS/2 will also be compatible with WordPerfect presentations and WordPerfect Office 4.0 for OS/2 that are scheduled for release in 1993. "Our users are implementing OS/2 and need applications today," said Rich Running, director of WordPerfect for OS/2 marketing at WordPerfect Corporation. "We want to help them make a smooth transition to WordPerfect for OS/2 without sacrificing file compatibility or making a single major investment in training." WordPerfect 5.2 for OS.2 will contain the features of WordPerfect 5.2 for Windows including the Button Bar, Ruler, the QuickFinder for indexing and text retrieval, and a QuickMenu to quickly select Button Bars. "This is the first phase of our OS/2 word processing strategy," said Dave Moon, vice president of development at WordPerfect Corporation. "We are developing WordPerfect 6.0 for OS/2 which will be a 32-bit, multi-threaded product that better integrates with the WorkPlace shell." Notes: WordPerfect Corporation, founded in 1979, is located in Orem, Utah and manufactures the world's best-selling word processing software, WordPerfect, as well as WordPerfect Office, (E-mail/scheduling/ calendaring) and WordPerfect Presentations, presentation graphics software. The privately held company develops software for DOS, Windows, OS/2, Macintosh, UNIX, VMS, AS/400, NeXT, Data General, Pen, and System/370 platforms. WordPerfect is a registered trademark of WordPerfect Corporation. OS/2 is a registered trademark of International Business Machines. Micrografx is a registered trademark of Micrografx Corporation. For more information, contact WordPerfect Corporation: (800) 451-5151 Other Sources ============= Other places to locate OS/2 information. Internet -------- OS/2 Related mailing lists 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컫컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴쩡컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿍ITNET Address: 쿔nternet Address: 쿌bout the list... � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴탠컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿕PSOFT@IRISHVMA 쿷psoft@vma.cc.nd.edu 쿏iscussion of JP Software � � � 쿾roducts (4OS2, 4DOS). Subscribe � � � 쿫y sending a message to � � � 쿗ISTSERV@xxx (where xxx is the � � � 쿾art of the list address after � � � 퀃he @) with SUB JPSOFT name � � � �(where name is your first and � � � 쿹ast name). � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴탠컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿚S2@BLEKULI1 쿽s2@cc1.kulueven.ac.be 쿘oderated OS/2 discussion. � � � 쿞ubscribe by sending a message to� � � 쿗ISTSERV@xxx (where xxx is the � � � 쿾art of the list address after � � � 퀃he @) with SUB OS2 name (where � � � 쿻ame is your first and last � � � 쿻ame). � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴탠컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿚S2-L@HEARN 쿽s2-l@nic.surfnet.nl 쿚S/2 discussion. Subscribe by � � � 퀂ending a message to LISTSERV@xxx� � � �(where xxx is the part of the � � � 쿹ist address after the @) with � � � 쿞UB OS2-L name (where name is � � � 퀉our first and last name). � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴탠컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿚S2USERS@MCGILL1쿽s2users@vm1.mcgill.ca 쿚S/2 users discussion. Subscribe � � � 쿫y sending a message to � � � 쿗ISTSERV@xxx (where xxx is the � � � 쿾art of the list address after � � � 퀃he @) with SUB OS2USERS name � � � �(where name is your first and � � � 쿹ast name). � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴탠컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿞ASOS2-L@UNCVM1 퀂asos2-l@uncvm1.oit.unc.edu 쿝TPNC SAS/OS2 user group list. � � � 쿟his list doesn't allow automatic� � � 퀂ubscriptions. You may send a � � � 쿺essage requesting to be added to� � � 쿗ISTSERV@xxx (where xxx is the � � � 쿾art of the list address after � � � 퀃he @) with SUB UTOS2-L name � � � �(where name is your first and � � � 쿹ast name). This message will be � � � 쿯orwarded to the maintainers of � � � 퀃he group who can grant � � � 퀂ubscriptions. � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴탠컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿢TOS2-L@UTKVM1 퀅tos2-l@utkvm1.utk.edu 쿏iscussion of OS/2 at UTK. � � � 쿞ubscribe by sending a message to� � � 쿗ISTSERV@xxx (where xxx is the � � � 쿾art of the list address after � � � 퀃he @) with SUB UTOS2-L name � � � �(where name is your first and � � � 쿹ast name). � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴탠컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿙/A 쿺mos2@knex.via.mind.ORG 쿏iscussion group dealing with � � � 쿺ultimedia aspects of OS/2. To � � � 퀂ubscribe to the digest version, � � � 퀂end email to � � � 쿘ail-Server@knex.via.mind.ORG � � � 퀇ith SUBSCRIBE Mmos2-L firstname � � � 쿹astname in the BODY of the mail.� � � 쿟o subscribe to the bounce � � � 퀆ersion, send email to � � � 쿘ail-Server@knex.via.mind.ORG � � � 퀇ith SUBSCRIBE Mmos2-Digest � � � 쿯irstname lastname in the BODY of� � � 퀃he mail. � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컨컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴좔컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� ABOUT ELECTRONIC MAILING LISTS. Electronic "mailing lists" are large group discussions held via electronic mail (e-mail). These lists require that you have either BITNET or Internet e-mail access (which one depends on the particular list). Generally the list works by receiving mail from a list participant, and then sending a copy of that message to all the people subscribed to the list. On very active mailing lists this can result in a deluge of e-mail. Some lists avoid this problem by having "digests", where each day all the messages sent to the list are saved and then sent out in a single large piece of e-mail at night. Generally a mailing list has two e-mail addresses: the mailing list proper, and an administrative address to handle subscriptions and cancellations. Never send requests to subscribe or unsubscribe to the main address unless you can find no other way to bring your problem to attention. For more information, please ask you site administrator or sysop. OS/2 related FTP sites: 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컫컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컫컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿙AME: 쿔P ADDRESS: 쿏irectory & Notes: � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿯tp-os2.nmsu.edu �128.123.35.151 �/os2 (mirror of cdrom.com) � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿯tp-os2.cdrom.com �192.153.46.69 �/os2 (mirrors ftp-os2.nmsu.edu) � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 퀂oftware.watson.ibm.com �129.34.139.5 �/pub/os2 � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿺tsg.ubc.ca �137.82.27.1 �/os2 � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿹uga.latrobe.edu.au �131.172.2.2 �/pub/os2 (mirror of cdrom.com) � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿺sdos.archive.umich.edu �141.211.32.2 �/msdos/os2 � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿯unic.funet.fi �128.214.6.100 �/pub/os2 � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿯tp.ieee.org �140.98.1.1 �/pub/fidonet/os2 � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컨컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컨컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� Other FTP sites of interest 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컫컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컫컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿙AME: 쿔P ADDRESS: 쿙OTES: � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 퀁tfm.mit.edu �18.70.0.226 쿑AQ lists � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿬s.uwp.edu �131.210.1.4 쿘usic related stuff � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 퀇uarchive.wustl.edu �128.252.135.4 쿗ots of other stuff � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 퀂affron.inset.com �192.94.75.2 쿞ounds (various formats) � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 퀂ounds.sdsu.edu �130.191.224.2 쿞ounds (.au format) � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컨컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컨컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� NNTP usenet servers: 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컫컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컫컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿙AME: 쿔P ADDRESS: 쿙OTES: � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿺ont.cs.missouri.edu �128.206.100.208 쿗ocal to University of Missouri � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 퀂ol.ctr.columbia.edu �128.59.64.40 쿓uge place. Takes a long time � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 퀅md5.umd.edu �128.8.10.5 쿙o posting allowed as guest � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 퀁aven.alaska.edu �137.229.10.39 쿙o posting allowed as guest � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컨컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컨컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� These OS/2 newsgroups are available: comp.os.os2.multimedia For information on OS/2 multimedia features, including MMPM/2 and Ultimotion. comp.os.os2.setup For all questions relating to setup, installation, and driver support under OS/2. comp.os.os2.bugs For the discussion and reporting of OS/2 bugs (flaws). comp.os.os2.advocacy For the discussion of OS/2 compared with other products, marketing, and "politics." comp.os.os2.networking For any OS/2 questions dealing with networking. comp.os.os2.ver1x For any OS/2 questions dealing with OS/2 versions prior to OS/2 2.0. comp.os.os2.programmer.porting For talk about porting software from other environments to OS/2. comp.os.os2.programmer.misc For discussion of any other OS/2 programming issues. comp.os.os2.apps Discusses DOS, Windows, and OS/2 applications running under OS/2. comp.os.os2.announce Carries important OS/2 announcements. This newsgroup is moderated -- you cannot ask a question here. comp.binaries.os2 If you do not have ftp access you can obtain OS/2 software using this newsgroup. This newsgroup is also moderated. comp.os.os2.beta For discussion of beta releases of OS/2 (versions of OS/2 that are released for testing purposes by IBM and that you cannot buy in stores). comp.os.os2.misc For general OS/2 discussion. Post here only if none of the above categories fits. From the Wire ============= A selection of messages about OS/2 seen fleeting across the wires on Fidonet and Internet. OS/2 vs. NT Shootout! --------------------- From TEAM-OS2 fidonet conference: HAL-PC [the Houston Area League of PC users, 2nd largest users group in the U.S. with 10,000 members) had a Windows NT vs OS/2 shoot-out last Friday evening with presentations by Microsoft and IBM. In true Texas tradition these "shoot-outs" feature head to head comparisons between competing products. As in an Old West shoot-out, one competitor walks away with his head held high while the loser ends up face-down in the dust. Such was the case last Friday. The audience consisted of a standing room only crowd of approximately 1300 representing a cross section of HAL-PC members and guests. Microsoft's Doug Davis, of the NT development team, spoke first and began his presentation with a set of 'slides' presented from a 486/66MHz PC running NT, followed by a brief tour of NT itself. Mr. Davis did not demo any DOS or Windows 3.x applications running under NT. He did show how a user could change the mouse pointer from the standard MS 'arrow' to an arrow with a wiggling tail or to Doug's favorite, a galloping horse. Doug referred often to NT's security and system administration features. During the NT presentation I kept thinking that NT looked a great deal like Unix with a Windows interface. The other impression that the Microsoft's presentation left was that NT appeared fat, slow and boring...something that only a network administrator could love. The OS/2 presentation by David Barnes of IBM was entirely devoted to a tour of OS/2 2.1. David's presentation on a 486/33 machine w/16MB was lively and animated (literally). He first started an animated graphical DOS application called Popeye in a window on the OS/2 desktop. While pointing out to the audience that NT cannot run graphical DOS applications in a window he opened various Windows and OS/2 applications and pointed out that the hourglass never appeared and that the animated DOS application 'Popeye' never missed a beat. David showed Windows 3.x applications, DOS applications and OS/2 applications including Wordperfect for DOS, the Far Side Calender for Windows, Describe 4.0, and miscellaneous other applications all running simultaneously on the desktop. He captured the graphical screen image from 'Popeye' and pasted it into a Describe document while pointing out that the DOS application Popeye continued running even while the graphics screen was frozen for the clipboard copy. David also created a simple OS/2 applications from scratch in about 5 minutes using drag and drop methods on Digitalks's Parts product. Without typing any code he setup a control panel with a slider, twist knob and digital display which was linked via DDE to a Lotus for OS/2 worksheet. A pie chart from the worksheet had been linked to a Describe document earlier in the presentation. As the slide or knob was manipulated with the mouse, the digital display would update, the corresponding cell in the Lotus Worksheet would update and the pie chart in the Describe document would redraw. The key point in this portion of the demonstration was that this entire procedure was accomplished without writing any code, live, and in just a few moments. Very impressive. Unlike the MS presentation, the IBM presentation was interrupted by frequent applause. The noise level in the hall continued rising as neighbors discussed the points that IBM was making. Not even a lockup could slow things down. David shifted gears and talked about the future of OS/2 including Symmetric Multiprocessing (planed to be out this year), the Apple-IBM alliance, Taligent, the WorkPlaceOS, etc. In contrast to the NT presentation by Microsoft, the OS/2 presentation by IBM was lean, fast and exciting. The OS/2 multimedia presentation "brought down the house". It was GREAT! At several points there were two simultaneous real-time video + soundtrack pieces running on screen simultaneously without video hardware assist. I was very impressed. At the end of the presentations there was a question and answer session. Many constructive questions were directed towards IBM. The MS representatives, on the other hand, got grilled. One guy asked Microsoft's representative, Doug Davis, a hypothetical question: If NT sales do not live up to Microsoft's expectations, would Microsoft change direction and drop NT like they did with OS/2 a couple of years back? Doug replied: "I hope not." After the audience questions and answer session, the HAL-PC users group meeting moderator asked the audience a few questions. He asked how many people planned to upgrade to OS/2 2.1 right away. Hundreds of individuals, about half the people in the audience, raised their hands. He then asked how many people planned to move to NT. I saw ONLY TWO PEOPLE raise their hands. Out of 1,300, TWO. This was not what I expected. With all of the hype and Microsoft Marketing Muscle, I expected far more "votes" for NT. I expect that this is the first time that majority of these people have seen both NT and OS/2 V2.1 live and up close and this may possibly be the reaction of more "average users" when they have a chance to see these OS's for themselves. I only wish that Bill Gates could have been there to see it with his own eyes. David Matocha Smartnet OS/2 Conference Moderator CorelDraw price drops --------------------- From comp.os.os2.announce newsgroup: Infoworld reports that Corel Systems has reduced the price of CorelDraw Version 2.5 for OS/2 to just $199 (list). CorelDraw should be available from any software dealer, or it may be ordered directly by calling 800-77-COREL in the United States and Canada. Corel also announced that their next OS/2 version of CorelDraw will be based on the core code for CorelDraw 5. The company will not offer an OS/2 version of CorelDraw 4, but will instead jump directly to Version 5, expected in May, 1994. More vendors to bundle 2.1 -------------------------- From comp.os.os2.announce newsgroup: Infoworld reports that IBM has enlisted two more computer vendors who have agreed to bundle OS/2 2.1 with their systems. Northgate and Unisys have joined the ranks of AST, Dell, ALR, Ariel Design, and Tangent in agreeing to bundle OS/2 2.1 (instead of DOS and Windows) with the systems they sell, on request. Infoworld also reports that, according to Lee Reiswig, IBM's 800 number is taking between 6,000 and 7,000 orders per day for OS/2 2.1. These orders are being taken despite advice given to callers that OS/2 2.1 will be less expensive from software dealers like Egghead and Corporate Software. REXX for OS/2 Programming Course -------------------------------- From comp.os.os2.announce newsgroup REXX Programming for OS/2 Course - St. Louis WHAT'S NEW? REXX is an easy-to-learn interpretive language that lets end users quickly develop programs to extend existing OS/2* applications, automate repetitive tasks, and create new applications. Enroll now and learn everything you need to know to unleash the power of REXX. ABOUT THE COURSE: This course teaches the skills necessary to write, test, and debug REXX programs using OS/2 Version 2. REXX is a procedural language integrated into OS/2 which goes far beyond the capabilities of DOS batch files. It is a powerful tool for both data processing professionals and end users. Since REXX is a Systems Application Architecture (SAA) language, the syntax and techniques that you learn will be applicable to other SAA environments. COURSE DETAILS: Course code: P1066 Length: 3 days Tuition: XXXX Schedule: St. Louis..........August 3-5 :elines. TO REGISTER: Call 1-800-IBM-TEACH (1-800-426-8322). * Trademark or registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. OS/2 at Raleigh PC Fair ----------------------- From TEAM-OS2 fidonet conference: Chalk up yet another triumph for the relentless steamroller of TEAMOS2! The Raleigh PC Fair Sunday was a mega success. First the facts and figures etc, then my "impressions" of the Fair: Attendances at the Fair: 1500 Attendance at the seminars was much better than I expected: End User Seminar 1: 14 Programmer Seminar: 15-20 Hockware: 15 End User 2: 20 We gave away 300 2.0 demo disks, 200 of the OS/2 100 reprints, and about 100 of the new Solution Paks. Plus two bags of OS/2 key chains and pins, plus many many flyers,brochures,etc,etc. We gave away 6 copies of 2.0, 6 t shirts, and 6 mousepads. We made sure the folks on the PA system kept announcing the OS/2 seminars, door prize winners, etc, so the word "OS/2" was always booming over the PA system But the above isjust "facts and figures" and don't begin to give the "feel" for the event. The first thing that put a smile on my face was seeing about a half dozen people walking around wearing the "Nice Try" t shirts. I think every computer type in Raleigh who made COMDEX must have had one and were wearing them proudly ( keep in mind, these we "just folks", not part of the Teamer contingent! ). Excellent "walking advertising". A big Huzzah to Joel Canon for bringing a couple of hundred OS/2 shopping bags, which we handed out to people wandering the aisles for them to stuff their stuff into. The floor was a sea of little OS/2 shopping bags bobbing all over the place! Unfortunatley we ran out of them about 11AM, I mean EVERYBODY wanted one! In comparison to a year ago, when the commonest question was "Uhh, what is OS/2?", the questions these days show that people 1) know what OS/2 is, and b) know the issues enough to ask serious, tough technical questions. From the feedback I got from the seminar room, our "seminarians" &.) handled themselves like champs and answered the questions. Indelible Blue's credit card machine was humming almost all day ( 2.1 Unleashed seems to have been a popular favorite ), and Buck and Katy had a cool temporary wall that they setup behind our whole section of the fair with OS/2 flags and banners. From any vantage point in the place, you had no problem figuring out that OS/2 was there and had a BIG presence! Joe Mauk from Egghead was taking names from people who wanted him to notify them when 2.1 hit the store; last time I peeked at his list, he had about 15 interested parties. Even Hockware, which one would have thought would attract a small number of "hacker" types, was a busy table! I would say the people were 2 to 3 deep at our area until about 2-230PM, when the whole Fair started to wind down. At one point I came back from the bathroom and couldn't even force my way back up the aisle to our table, I had to circle all the way around and come in the back way! From up on the second floor in the seminar area you could get an "aerial view" of the whole floor. Most of the place was normal onesy-twosey traffic flow, and then...What's This?? This one area looked like a Black Hole, just sucking people in in a big swirling mess!! Guess which area it was!! ;-) It wasn't just my perception, because the head honcho from HAV ( the promoters of the Fair ) came past when I was standing up there aid said "Jeez, your area is MOBBED!!" Did my heart good. I wandered out front now and then to catch some air, and on two occasions I was standing there by the ticket booth and heard people buying their tickets and IMMEDIATELY ask "Where can I see the OS/2 seminars?" A Teamer Huzzah to Jennifer for having the sense to position the seminar posters all around the front lobby so people buying their tix couldn't miss them!! My favorite attendee was one guy who drove all the way from RICHMOND VA to attend this and see the OS/2 excitement ( I of course rewardsed his loyalty with a t-shirt ), and another guy from Virginia Beach who had on a golf cap that said "Team OS/2". I asked him where he bought it, and he said "Heck, I had it made up special!" I love these guys! Steve Gallagher TEAM OS/2 RTP internet: sgallagher@delphi.com ipnet: sjgalla@steveg.raleigh.ibm.com From the Editor =============== Whew! A month just doesn't seem that long when you've deadlines hanging over your head! Despite the my time constaints, I think the newsletter is improving and will continue to get better. Things should look sharper this month since I've started adding graphics and I've also gotten better at linking different windows together to try and keep things more coherent. :p. Next month will feature: - A review of Norton Commander for OS/2 - A look at the book :hp1.OS/2 2.1 Unleashed!:ehp1. - Improved BBS and User Group listings Other works in progress include a review of CorelDRAW for OS/2, and Woody's short review of PM/FOCUS, which he won at the May meeting. Stay tuned! Things are getting better all the time! See you at the July meeting. Dale Hackemeyer Editor, MMOUG Newsletter OS/2 Woodmeister BBS (1:289/27) Internet: uc545502@mizzou1.missouri.edu