`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'` *** May 1993 San Diego OS/2 User Group Newsletter *** `'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'` May 1993 marks the release of the sixth issue of our monthly newsletter. We've noticed interest in it from people outside of the San Diego area and would therefore like to provide a newsletter for any and all interested OS/2 users and potential users, including those outside of our area. As we are an informal volunteer user group, we don't have fees or charge subscriptions for the newsletter. So far we've been financing user group activities out of our own pockets. But this could get to be financially burdensome if many people outside of the San Diego area would like to have the newsletter mailed to them, so we've come up with a tentative plan to address this issue in a way we feel will be fair and reasonable to all. Our intent is to try this plan for a few months and then evaluate how well it worked and make adjustements if necessary. If you'd like a sample issue of the San Diego OS/2 Newsletter, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope with enough postage to about 3 ounces ($0.75 in the USA) to our address listed at the bottom of this announcement. If you'd like more than one issue, send as many SASE envelopes as issues you'd like to receive. Since the newsletter costs more than just postage, we also have to get funding from people who are interested in it to help pay for duplicating costs, the post office box, and other newsletter related expenses. After some discussion, we've decided that for now the best way to be fair to all concerned is to ask for a donation to help cover newsletter expenses. We'll leave the amount up to you, suggesting that you are the best judge of what you feel is appropriate after you've seen an issue of the newsletter. Personal checks are completely OK as these are donations, notsubscriptions. You can make out any donation check to "Dave Sichak" who is the editor of the newsletter. We'll use any donations we receive for covering newsletter expenses. If you'd like to contribute an article to the newsletter, we welcome your contribution in that regard also. If we use it, you would be entitled to a complimentary copy of the newsletter in which we used your material. We have an idea list and some hints at what we'd like your articles to include. Let us know if you are interested in contributing articles and would like a copy of this list. You can submit material via US Mail or via electronic mail at the addresses listed below. Here's our mailing address: San Diego OS/2 User Group P.O. Box 13346 La Jolla, CA 92039-3346 If you'd like to get in touch with somebody via electronic mail, you can contact the following people: EDITOR ====== Dave Sichak Fidonet: 1:202/514 Internet: Dave_Sichak@f514.n202.z1.fidonet.org SAN DIEGO OS/2 USER GROUP ORGANIZER =================================== Craig Swanson Fidonet: 1:202/514 Internet: Craig_Swanson@f514.n202.z1.fidonet.org +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | SAN DIEGO OS/2 USER GROUP NEWSLETTER ----- MAY 1993 | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ Inside This Issue >>> San Diego OS/2 User Group Letters To The Editor Stolen Taglines OS/2 Tips, Tricks and Ideas OS/2 User Group News OS/2 User Group Listing OS/2 News & Developments OS/2 Software / Hardware News Views & Opinions Seminars, Conferences & Meetings OS/2 BBS's }}} San Diego OS/2 User Group May Meeting San Diego OS/2 User Group Thursday, May 20, 1993 7:00pm - 10:00pm Stacker for OS/2! Borland Conference? REXX Symposium? Unconfirmed reports from sources high up in the echelons of the San Diego Os/2 User Group have indicated that a well know disk compression software developer will be demonstrating their new OS/2 product for us in May. Negotiations are on-going and fragile at this point. Stay tuned to the OS/2 Connection BBS for developments as they occur. Announcements might even be found on other local BBS's such as ComputorEdge On-Line or the San Diego Computer Society. Schedule. * User Group Announcements and OS/2 News * * Stacker for OS/2 Demonstration * * Other Presentations from REXX Symposium * Our ever-popular OS/2 question and answer session where you can get help and advice from many other OS/2 users. May Winners! Y'all had to be loading Windows to miss a prize! I showed up late for the meeting in May - I had to get a shiny new haircut for my vacation in the Philippines, okay? Not to worry. We had the folks from Hocker Software stay over from the REXX Symposium do a demo of their latest software which is for GUI REXX. Famous folks like Timothy Sipples were also in the audience til it came time to leave for a flight. And as usual, the informal question and answer session after the meeting keeps several of us there til it's time for 40 winks. We got to see the video of the OS/2 2.1 news conference with Lee Reiswig. And here's a salute to Ron Lingley of IBM. Just about every meeting he patiently stays late answering questions and explaining technical details, etc. Talk about duty above and beyond the call -- I've seen some cases where we didn't leave until about 11:30pm or so. Special mention should also be given to Dave Haslim of Stac Electronics who saw fit to promise to bring a T-shirt or Hat from Stacker at the next meeting for those who didn't win a prize. Y'all had to have left early not to have won a prize this time. But then, what you learn from these meetings or just the people you meet, makes you a winner, too. VISPRO / REXX Craig Kunimoto STACKER HATS Mike Jaye Shalom Halevy Mike Crawford Jerry Fyffe Richard Ernst Michael A. Herrera Peter Starsmann Eric Swanson Swami Ananda Ian A. Carroll Don Chick Steve Landrum Don Haseman Andrew McHorney Alann Lopes Ken Hull John Davis STACKER T-SHIRT - Old Logo (A Collector's Item!!!) David Allen David O'Donnell Robert J. Clay Dick Wetzel Rao Pati Richard Swain Vern Wright Bruce Barnes Darrell Griffin Hans Shisler Craig Burgess Dan Kelley Rex McCoy Dave Sloyer Glenn Leithner OS/2 In the Corporate Environment Ed Deans Baron Truesdell OS/2 Paper Clip Holder Jack Klump PM Programming in COBOL Randy Shimizu Crying Towel Award Ellen Paull (Left early - lost out on a hat!) Aw shucks, Bill Gates didn't win anything again...but he or even *you* can't win if you don't show up! June Meeting San Diego OS/2 User Group Thursday, June 17, 1993 7:00pm - 10:00pm Computer Associates in June???? Standing around the water cooler near the copy machine while picking out the sandwich I left in the refrigerator last week while working on that project my boss told me was so hot to handle and had to be done faster than the speed of light at all costs and didn't get read until my bread turned stale, I managed to pick up a rumor of next month's meeting. Yep. Those folks from CA may be here to tout their line of OS/2 software. Since they have a full suite of apps in DOS and Windows, we have to assume we'll see quite a variety. Directions to meeting site: IBM Building 8845 University Center Lane San Diego, California 92122 Directions If you are coming from south of the UCSD area, take the Interstate 5 north. Get off at the Nobel Drive exit right after the passing the Mormon temple. The IBM building will be immediately in front of you as you are stopped at the exit stop light. If you are coming from north of the UCSD area, take the Interstate 5 south and get off at the La Jolla Village Drive exit. Then head east until you reach Lebon. Then take a right and continue until you reach Nobel. Take a right onto Nobel Drive and then continue until you see the IBM building on your right just before reaching the Interstate 5 again. Parking & Cost Parking Free, in the IBM parking lot. Cost As usual, a free meeting open to anyone interested in attending. Call For Information General Meeting Information Our group typically meets every third Thursday of the month. If you'd like to get more information on our meetings, call our voice information line at 619-587-5955 to find out about any changes in meeting times, the topics for future meetings, and a list of some San Diego area bulletin boards you can call for more OS/2 information. How To Contact Us How To Contact The San Diego OS/2 User Group May 1993 marks the release of the sixth issue of our monthly newsletter. We've noticed interest in it from people outside of the San Diego area and would therefore like to provide a newsletter for any and all interested OS/2 users and potential users, including those outside of our area. If you would like a sample copy of it, write us at the following address and include a stamped, self- addressed envelope (current cost to mail an issue is 75 cents): San Diego OS/2 User Group P.O. Box 13346 San Diego, CA 92039-3346 Our group is beginning to evolve and we expect to change the way the newsletter will be made available. We expect to be able to announce something next month. Up to now, we've relied on donations and goodwill to recover our costs. We thank the several people we've heard from around the country who have done so. How To Submit An Article or News If you'd like to contribute an article to the newsletter, we welcome that, too. If we use it, you would be entitled to a complimentary copy of the newsletter in which we used your material. We have an idea list and some hints at what we'd like your articles to include. Let us know if you are interested in contributing articles here's some ideas of what we'd like to see: Are you using OS/2 2.0 where you work? Let us know of your experience (without divulging confidential information). How did you overcome problems? Are you using new OS/2 2.0 software? Give us your impressions on the product. Good features? Bad features? Comparison to other apps. What do you use it for. Find a new OS/2 related book? Picked up an of the OS/2 2.0 books and magazines? Let us know about them. User Group news. We're co-moderators on the TEAMOS2 Fidonet area - let us know what's going on with your group and it's meetings for our INF version. Let us know of enlightened vendors who carry OS/2 applications or are willing to order them for you. Learned anything new about WPS? How do you customize OS/2 2.0 for yourself. Share your tips, time-savers, techniques and ideas. Or better, something you think others would be interested in reading about related to OS/2. Surprise us. You can submit material via US Mail (as listed elsewhere on this page) or via electronic mail at the addresses listed below. EDITOR Dave Sichak CompuServe: 74670,724 Fidonet: 1:202/354 Internet: Dave_Sichak@f354.n202.z1.fidonet.org SAN DIEGO OS/2 USER GROUP ORGANIZER Craig Swanson Fidonet: 1:202/354 Internet: Craig_Swanson@f354.n202.z1.fidonet.org You can also leave your submittal in a personal message to either of us on the OS/2 Connection BBS at (619) 558-9475. Or upload the article to the "NEWS" file area on the BBS. Just let us know you uploaded a file. Next Issue..... And next month, we're happy to say we will be doing it mostly with OS/2 software -DeScribe 4.0, CorelDraw 2.5, Open Shutter (screen captures / graphics conversion), HyperAccess/5 for communications, KWQ/2 1.1 for retrieving and saving messages. And thanks to Mike Silverton for helping with some of the editing this month. +-------------------------------------------+ |Letters To The Editor | +-------------------------------------------+ Editor's Note Time to reach into the ole mailbag or unpack a few notes from our network mail packets. Remember you can contact us (Craig Swanson or Dave Sichak) by writing us at: San Diego OS/2 User Group P.O. Box 13346 San Diego, CA 92039-3346 Or use email on Fidonet or Internet: SAN DIEGO OS/2 USER GROUP ORGANIZER Craig Swanson Fidonet: 1:202/354 Internet: Craig_Swanson@f354.n202.z1.fidonet.org EDITOR Dave Sichak Fidonet: 1:202/354 Internet: Dave_Sichak@f354.n202.z1.fidonet.org CompuServe: 74670,724 Allen Henton Dear Craig, BTW, this bulletin board "OS/2 Connection, you wouldn't happen to be affiliated with that in any way would you? :) (I know, I know). I've tried to call that famous number several times at all times of the day and only get a busy signal. Why don't you use that fine American telephone company and a few more lines? :) Oh, and I did find that SDIN9301.ZIP... GOOD job! I take it you're the editor, eh? Well it seemed very informational. You might want to consider having a column in there that tells all of us "not so up to date types" of the current "big name" applications out there, and when and what new ones are going to be available. I for one would sure like to know. And it might even help to get some of those people out there who are considering OS/2, to give it a longer look if they know what's available. For instance, I just found out this weekend that WordPerfect for OS/2 is available, and apparently has been for quite some time. Allen Henton (1:202/335) Fidonet OS2 Origin: Deep Cove BBS White Rock, B.C. Canada (604) 536-5885 (1:153/915) We hear you loud and clear. We're trying to find a source that we can tag onto the INF version. Perhaps I can add on the Fall 1992 Comdex listing of vendors that displayed their OS/2 products at the IBM OS/2 display in the May INF version. Richard Hinton Dear Dave, Just downloaded from Hobbes your OS-2 newsletter in the INF format. Your club seems to be most structured I have seen, so far. Would like a subscription, but your details seem vague. I've seen your name on the OS2 echo, but I'm not familiar with the FIDO addressing system. But I do subscribe to OS2FIDO. I can also be reached at 1:115/653 (South of Border BBS) but I like the Lansing OS-2 BBS. Anyway, I would like a subscription, please drop me a line, love your INF files...... Richard Hinton Received via Netmail ged17rl@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu Hopefully this will reach you via INF and I'll try and post something in the Fidonet OS2 area. You can request a copy of our newsletter by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope (current costs of mailing are 75 cents) to our PO BOX which you can find on page 16 of the hard copy or in the San Diego OS/2 User Group area of the INF versions. As for subscriptions, we have to first do some organizational tasks for our group. We hope to make an announcement in the next month or so. Robert Montgomery Dear Dave, Your OS/2 viewable INF newsletters are wonderful and read in Milwaukee. Robert Montgomery Fidonet TEAMOS2 Origin: Fernwood OS/2 files via HST DS (203) 483-0348 (1:141/209) Constantly amazes me where the INF files end up. The INF files can now be found on CompuServe, too. However, due to the file name constraints there and my inexperience, too, you can look for "SDIN93.ZIP" for the February issue and "SD9303.ZIP" for the March issue. Many thanks for the kind words, too. John Quoziente Hello Craig, I'm not sure if this is the place to ask this question. However, got this number from the Frequently Asked Questions List. It mentioned to leave you a message if anyone would like to distribute the newsletter in their hometown. I run a BBS in Southgate, Michigan and would like to distribute the newsletter on my BBS. It also is an OS/2 BBS dedicated to supporting the OS/2 platform. If this is OK, let me know. I'll call back in the future. Thanks. John Quoziente Sysop of Inside Technologies BBS (313) 283-1151 We'd be more than happy if you choose to distribute the ASCII and INF versions of our newsletter on your BBS. In fact we were hoping sysops would do this. If you would like to photocopy and distribute the printed version, that would be OK, also, unless we change our policy on free duplication of the printed version. Rollin White Dear Dave, What program(s) do you use to put together the Inf version of the newsletter? Any chance they are on one of the PDK's? Any chance the March issue is in INF format yet? I "loaned" my March paper copy to someone and have had a hard time getting it back :) Rollin White Via Netmail 1:103/132 Now that will teach you to leave our golden prose laying around. How's the INF file done? The text file (or *.ipf file used by the IPFC compiler in the OS/2 PDK CD ROM) is created mainly from EPM, the OS/2 Enhanced Editor after conversion to ascii text by WordPerfect. It's a lot of work for now, but some coding / tags are reusable. I use the cut and paste routine for repetitious commands. I tried a shareware program called HelpEdit, but it seemed too similar to doing WP macros and I didn't want to pay $75 for the real version. The demo version didn't even allow me to edit more than one page of text. The new PDK has something called HyperWrite, which I'll soon try. For now, creating an INF file is not too swift. +-------------------------------------------+ |Stolen Taglines | +-------------------------------------------+ Ah, when I do the newsletter and browse the messages, my eyes wander down to those prolific pearls of pontifications known as the tagline. Amazing what people can come up with when they're forced to be succinct and brief, eh? And how about some new OS/2 taglines to go along with the new 2.1 version? -- Dave Communism is like a mouth on a lollipop. Not tonight honey..I have a modem. Do Not Disturb; I'm playing with my Mental Blocks. The door is Baroque; please wiggle Handel. Just when you got it all figured out: An UPGRADE! Air conditioned environment - do not open Windows. That's not a Bug, that's an Enhanced Feature. "We've done Win apps..but we didn't inhale." - P. Kahn My parents looted LA and all I got is this lousy tagline. Windows - The best 8mb solitaire game around. Your Zip file is open... Smith & Wesson: The original 'point-and-click' interface. Radioactive halibut makes great fission chips. A waist is a terrible thing to mind. How DO they get Teflon to stick to the pans? Taco Bell is NOT Mexico's phone company. Up and Running - OS/2 2.1 +-------------------------------------------+ |Tips, Tricks & Ideas | +-------------------------------------------+ Run Windows in an OS/2 DOS Box OS/2 Trashcan??? OS/2 Trashcan??? Another Idea OS/2 Reminder - Maximizing Windows OS/2 Window - Turn Off the Help Bar WordPerfect for Windows 5.2 Problem Solving Better Way to Read Icon Labels? WPS Idea - Icons in Borders Only? }}} Run Windows in an OS/2 DOS Box Vince Coen Original Fidonet Area: OS2wps Date: 03-26-93 Origin: Air Applewood Gateway to Essex: HST+DS * +44-279-792300 (2:440/103) Crossposted in: WINDOWS_UK OS2BEGIN OS2BBS OS2DOS OS2VIDEO OS2WPS If you're interested: Look for a file named WINOS231.ARJ which allows OS/2 v2.0 users to run MS windows 3.1 via a Dos Box in all screen modes with the same attributes as used in Win 3.1, i.e., SVGA 800*600*16/256 etc. It's very good, try it. It's available at all speeds to 16k8. }}} OS/2 Trashcan??? Melissa Woo Orignal From:: Netmail to Dave Sichak Original From: 1:233/4.100 Editor's Note: When other computing platforms seem to have a good idea, it somehow crosses the boundaries to other platforms. The Macintosh "Trashcan" is one of them. Here's a couple of approaches for OS/2. Here's a neat trick which may or may not interest you - a way to create a Trashcan ala Macintosh, complete with an "Empty Trash" option on the popup menu. 1. Create a new folder object on the WPS by opening the Templates folder and dragging out a folder template with mouse button 2. 2. Open the settings notebook for the new folder. 3. Choose the General notebook tab. 4. Replace "Program" in the Title field with "Trash" 5. Replace the default icon with a nice trashcan icon (some nice icons can be found on BBS's and Internet anonymous ftp sites). 6. Open up your favorite editor and create the following batch file, called TRASHIT.CMD. echo y | del "c:\OS!2 2.0 Desktop\Trash\*" 7. Be sure to substitute the correct drive letter and subdirectory if necessary. 8. Create a new program object for TRASHIT.CMD by opening the Templates folder and dragging out a program template with mouse button 2. 9. Enter the correct path and filename for TRASHIT.CMD on the Program page of the settings notebook. 10.Put a " " (without quotes) in the Parameters field. 11.Click on Settings tab. 12.Make sure there are checkmarks in the OS/2 Window, Start Minimized, 13.Close on Exit boxes. 14.Go to the Window tab and click on Hide Window. 15.Go to the General tab and enter a name for TRASHIT.CMD if desired; close settings notebook for TRASHIT.CMD. 16.Return to the settings notebook for the Trash folder and choose the Menu tab. 17.Add a menu choice to the Trash folder's popup menu called "~Empty Trash" (the same instructions as per page 19 of the March newsletter regarding adding items to the WPS popup menu); close settings notebook. Voila! Files can be dragged into the Trash, and if one needs to retrieve a file, just open up the Trash folder and get it. In order to empty the trash, use mouse button 2 to get the popup menu, and choose Empty Trash. The contents of the Trash subdirectory should be deleted in the background. However, if one has previously done the "hold SHIFT, click maximize button" trick on an OS/2 windowed command line session, a window will open, then close on the desktop when the Trash is emptied, and there doesn't appear to be a way to prevent this. I'm sure there is a more elegant way to write these instructions. This was my project for today, and it seems to be working okay so far. It only works with certain objects, however, such as the stuff dragged from the Drives object. In case someone wants something that acts as a trashcan, but will destroy all objects in it on command, an idea might be to create a trashcan template. One could drag out a trashcan template, and when one wants to destroy the objects in it, choose Delete from the popup menu, and the trashcan along with all of the objects in it will be deleted. One can then drag out another trashcan template to replace the one that was just deleted. }}} OS/2 Trashcan??? Another Idea Richard Flathmann Reply To: Harv Millman Original Fidonet Area: OS2WPS Origin: Fernwood - OS/2 files via HST DS (203) 483-0348 (1:141/209) HM-> This message was from PETE HM-> NORLOFF to ALL, and was forwarded HM-> to you by HARV MILLMAN. HM-> It is VERY VERY easy to get OS/2 HM-> to imitate a Macintosh trashcan. HM-> First, drag a folder template to HM-> the desktop and rename it Trashcan. HM-> Second, attach a trashcan icon HM-> to it. You can drop icons etc. in HM-> it and open up the Trashcan to HM-> drag them back. Nothing spectacular. HM-> Just a folder. Thanks to you Pete for bringing it to my attention! This is an excellent idea to a long standing problem of mine! Ya gotta love this OS/2 thing, it just keeps getting better! }}} OS/2 Reminder - Maximizing Windows Knox Cameron Original Fidonet Area: OS2WPS Reply To: John Poltorak Origin: Prophet BBS Western Sydney, Australia (3:54/54) JP> Unfortunately I can't remember how JP> to open text windows maximized. JP> It's some combination of mouse buttons JP> and shift/alt/ctl keys but I can't seem JP> to stumble across it. Can anyone JP> remind me? Shift click on the maximize button of a text window. }}} OS/2 Window - Turn Off the Help Bar Doug Azzarito (1:202/335) Original Area: OS2 Original To: Jon Lind (1:202/354) Origin: Silicon Beach (305) 474-6512 USR DS (1:369/68) -> I have HELP OFF in my autoexec.bat -> file so that I don't have that stupid -> bar in my VDM sessions. How can -> I turn it off automatically in my OS -> sessions? Thanks. Take the "$I" out of your prompt (in CONFIG.SYS). For my prompt, I use: PROMPT $D $T$_($R) [$P] It ends up looking like: Tue 4-27-1993 10:17:52.81 (0) [D:\os2] The (0) is the RETURN CODE from the last command. This is very useful when I'm writing .CMD files - if I want to handle error codes, I can experiment. Let's say I have a .CMD that uses PKUNZIP. I want the .CMD to know when the file I want to extract isn't in the .ZIP file. If I type the PKUNZIP command, I see the prompt change to (11), so I know in my CMD file, I can just check for the return code of 11. Just another helpful hint. }}} WordPerfect for Windows 5.2 - Problem Solving Greg Wust Original Area: Comp.Os.Os2. Origin: Orphan Board West fido <-> unix gateway (1:202/723) |> Okay, it's me again with WordPerfect |> 5.2 for Windows (come on, OS/2 |> version!)! I had everything working |> just fine, and decided to try the 2.1 |> beta, so I backed everything up and |> re-partitioned my drives to run |> the Boot Manager, and select which |> version to run, but now WP and |> Grammatik are at it again. This |> time when I try to run Grammatik |> from WP, it tells me "WPWPGM5.DLL |> Not installed. Cannot run Grammatik." |> Now, the DLL IS in the WPWIN |> directory, AND it is pointed to by the |> config.sys and autoexec.bat, so what's |> wrong!? Thanks for any help! |> Bill aka w-chase@tamu.edu Bill, Your WIN.INI and any other ini's got lost or reset when you installed the 2.1 beta so the lines that indicate the location and existence of the DLL's are missing. Need to reload ini's from the backups (be careful as WinOS2 from 3.0 and WinOS2 3.1 WIN.INI's are not compatible) under a different name or directory and copy the relevant info over. Or, reinstall WP in the new OS/2. Greg Wust SAS Institute Inc Publications Programmer SAS Campus Drive Cary, NC 27513 sasghw@unx.sas.comGreg Wust Original Area: Comp.Os.Os2. Origin: Orphan Board West fido <-> unix gateway (1:202/723) }}} Better Way to Read Icon Labels? By Robert Montgomery Reply To: Dave Sichak Original Fidonet Area: Net202_Os2 Origin: OS/2 Connection @ La Jolla, CA (619) 558-9475 (1:202/354) I just realized a "trick" in OS/2; stumbled upon it actually. I have a nice thatched, dark blue background for my desktop bitmap. But I had a small problem with reading the icon labels, as they were darker than I wanted. Solution? When you do the settings for the desktop, chose solid white as you desktop color and then select your favorite background bitmap, the icon lettering on your desktop will be the solid color you selected before the bitmap for your desktop. Very nice and easy. Hope it works for others. WPS Idea?! Icons in Borders Only? Terry Bowden Reply To: Richard Flathmann Original Fidonet Area: OS2WPS Origin: IBM NZ Ltd Gateway Auckland, New Zealand (3:772/20) I'd like to be able to arrange the icons around the borders of my screen. How about being able to open a rubber band box on the whole screen, and requesting an automatic arrangement of desktop icons in the area outside that box? Or maybe a set of rubber banded boxes, placed where I want them, within which the arrangement will occur? I'd also like some method to sequence these in my own priority sort sequence and enable me to assign a sort sequence of say 10 to all tools, 20 to all folders of apps, 30 to all 'favorite programs', 40 to all printer devices, 60 to all folders of data, etc, etc. Then I'd request "arrange" to sequence them within preferred boxed areas on the desktop with a best fit algorithm. The boxes are then removed, as they were only arrangement guides. Editor's Note: Just thought I'd try to stir up an idea for someone with a programming background... +-------------------------------------------+ |OS/2 User Group News | +-------------------------------------------+ NOCCC OS/2 SIG Birthday Success OS/2 2.0 Birthday a Capitol Affair Fresno OS/2 SIG 2nd Meeting a Birthday Party New OS/2 User Group in Chicago }}} NOCCC OS/2 SIG Birthday Success Rollin White To: Janet Gobeille April 26, 1993 Original Fidonet Area: Teamos2 Origin: Computer Education Services BBS (1:103/132) The NOCCC OS/2 SIG's OS/2 2.0 One Year birthday party was a smashing success! We had over 30 people attend (in a room designed for 25), including the club's president! The cake was devoured before I was done with my introduction. Our scheduled presenter could not make it to our April meeting so we had plenty of time to discuss OS/2 and it's future. We also dedicated a large part of our time to rediscovering the basics of the WPS. At the end of the afternoon we raffled off the gifts you were kind enough to send. The T-shirts did not arrive until the day after, but they will be distributed to the members at the next meeting. BTW, a number of members (myself included), mentioned that sticky pads and maybe a mouse pad might be nice small raffle items for the future (hint, hint). Thanks for helping us have a great April meeting! Sundial Systems will be here during May to present Relish. }}} OS/2 2.0 Birthday a Capitol Affair Patrick Zilliacus To: Janet Gobeille April 17, 1993 Original Fidonet Area: Teamos2 Origin: OS/2 Shareware BBS Fairfax, Virginia (703) 385-4325 (1:109/347) You asked for a report from our "Happy Birthday OS/2" SIG meeting, which was held last week. We set an attendance record (of at least 65 persons, which just about filled up the meeting room at 51 Monroe). There was also a lady and a gentleman from Boca in attendance (they were in the Dee Cee area for FOSE). We also ran out of t-shirts! I think that you'll be hearing from Rod Wright on this subject. After the birthday party, we had Lotus Development give demos of the new OS/2 versions of 1-2-3, Freelance and Ami Pro. They also said that OS/2 versions of Lotus products will not cost more than a certain ISV's Window's based products located in Redmond, Washington - hooray! Thank you Janet, and thank you IBM. }}} Fresno OS/2 SIG 2nd Meeting a Birthday Party Sandeleh Francis To: All Original Fidonet Area: Teamos2 sfranci@caticsuf.csufresno.edu Origin: OS/2 Shareware BBS Fairfax, Virginia: (703) 385-4325 (1:109/347) Last night we had our second OS/2 SIG meeting. It was a smashing success even though all the publicity I had arranged fell through. We had over 12 people there but only half of them were members of the general group; the rest heard of the SIG meeting elsewhere. The cake was wonderful (so they say) and we had a great time and gave away a lot of good gifts. There is nobody in IBM in Fresno that has anything to do with os/2. This means the guy who was helping us did it purely from the goodness of his heart. I mentioned the "OS/2 day at Egghead" to him very briefly and he said to get back to him after I pitched the eggduudz. This may turn out to be a viable idea here in Fresno. }}} New OS/2 User Group Chicago Area Dwight Cannon To: James Schmidt Original Fidonet Conference: Teamos2 Origin: GREATER CHICAGO Online!! (708) 895-4042 (1:115/895) As I had stated at the last user group meeting in Deerfield, a new user group will be starting in Elgin. It will be called the Western Suburban Chicago OS/2 User Group (WSCOUG). We will be meeting for the first time June 8 at 900 N. State St. (Route 31, about a mile south of the tollway), Elgin at 6:00 p.m., and I would appreciate it if you could make it. I think it is important that we maintain a linkage between our user groups. Bill Cook recommended we get together about that matter, but I'm sure you'll agree it will provide mutual benefit. +-------------------------------------------+ | OS/2 User Group Directory | +-------------------------------------------+ User Group Introduction We try to list known OS/2 User Groups whenever we get the information. Of course, we can't be responsible if the information proves to be unreliable -- you, the reader are our best source of this information. And we're learning of more and more OS/2 user groups across the country and even around the world every week. It's been slow, but we have made some contacts and we may be able to exchange information and articles in the future. If you're travelling and have some free time, stop in on one these meetings. If you know of another OS/2 user group, drop us a line and we'll mention them. Remember, we'll list them all in the INF file each time. And thanks! Australia - Glen Waverly Victorian OS/2 Developers SIG Contact: Jon Wright 5 Brighton Street Glen Waverly, Victoria 3150 Australia CompuServe: 100032,776 Ontario - Bailieboro Kawartha Computer Club Contact: Cedric Silvester RR #1 Bailieboro, Ontario Canada KOL 1B0 Note: OS/2 SIG is part of the KCC Phone: BBS -- (705) 748-0023 Quebec - Montreal Montreal OS/2 Users Group Contact: Gilbert Lefebvre IBM Tower 10214 Peloquin Avenue Montreal, QC H2C 2J8 Canada Meets: 7:00pm, 3rd Wednesday Phone: Voice -- (514) 382-9858 (evenings) Netmail: Programmer's Quest 1:167/110 The Montreal OS/2 Users Group held their first meeting on February 17. Gilbert reported that their first meeting had over 70 persons in attendance. They're real happy to see the interest in OS/2. Please note that this group does not expect to meet during June, July and August. Saskatchewan - Regina Regina Saskatchewan OS/2 User Group Contact: Robert Shiplett Cooperators 1920 College Avenue 5W Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 1C4 Canada United Kingdom - Gloucestershire International OS/2 User Group Contact: Mike Gove Barton House Cirencester Gloucestershire GL7 2EE UK Phone: - +44-285-641175 Phone: - +44-285-640181 (FAX) Phone: - (UK) 0285-641175 Note: - Also home to OS/2 Solution Centre South Africa OS/2 User Group of South Aftrica P.O. Box 875 Halfway House 1685 South Africa Sweden Swedish OS/2 Users Group The Cruiser BBS, +46-8-704 9438 California - Fresno Fresno OS/2 SIG (Fresno PC Users Group) Contact: Sandeleh Francis (209) 229-0473 Contact: Rod Jessen (209) 323-9849 Meetings at: 1425 Shirley Circle Clovis, CA 93611 Meets: 7:30pm, last Monday Phone BBS -- Wild Side BBS (209) 226-3476 Phone BBS -- Clovis Connection (209) 229-3476 Sandeleh Francis reports that their very first meeting will be held March 29. They are a part of the Fresno PC Users group which meets the first Monday of the month at the Ramada Inn at Hwy 41 and Shaw Avenue in Fresno at 7:30pm. California - Huntington Beach Orange Coast IBM PC Users Group OS/2 SIG Contact: Dave Lorenzini 17632 Metzler Lane, Suite 211 Huntington Beach, CA California - Los Angeles Los Angeles OS/2 Users Group Contact: Paul Duncanson 3008 Texas Avenue Simi Valley, CA 93063 Phone: (805) 584-6721 Meets: 3rd Thursday @ 6:30pm IBM 21041 Burbank Boulevard Woodland Hills, CA California - Sacramento Sacramento OS/2 Users Group Contact: Charlie Kotan IBM 400 Capitol Mall Sacramento, CA Meets: First Wednesday @ 7:00pm Phone: - (916) 641-4007 CompuServe - 70110,254 California - San Diego San Diego OS/2 User Group Contact - Craig Swanson P.O. Box 13346 La Jolla, CA 92039-3346 Meets - 7pm on 3rd Thursday Meets at -- IBM @ LaJolla 8845 University Center Lane San Diego, CA 92122 Phone - Voice -- (619) 587-5955 Phone - BBS -- (619) 558-9475 The San Diego OS/2 User Group has participated in the San Diego Computer Fair in which over 18,000 people attended over a three day weekend last September. This group has started an OS/2 newsletter with the goal of providing information to not only OS/2 users but also to others who are interested in learning more. Our aim is to also develop the newsletter so that it becomes a community effort among the OS/2 user groups and SIGs. Past meeting topics have included presentations by IBM's Ultimedia for OS/2; Lotus demonstrating beta versions of 1-2-3 and Freelance Graphics for OS/2; an introduction to REXX, demo of the December OS/2 2.1 beta along with Visual REXX; Eddie Miller, one of the authors of "OS/2 2.1 Unleashed" sharing insights into the OS/2 mini-applets; and, local OS/2 developer Jeannine Wolf discussing the OS/2 Config.SYS file and providing tips. In April, the feature presentation is from DeScribe Corporation on their 32-bit Word Processor for OS/2 and local OS/2 consultant Paul Moore will explain the program he is developing to run on an OS/2 computer that will control tube mill and bending machines. And of course, a birthday celebration for OS/2 2.0's first birthday. California - San Francisco Bay Area OS/2 User Group Contact - Guy Scharf Software Architects, Inc. 2163 Jardin Drive Mountain View, CA 94040 Meets - 4th Monday @ at IBM Mountain View Phone - Voice -- (415) 948-9186 Connecticut - Enfield New England OS/2 User Group Contact: Dave Pinard 145 Candlewood Drive Enfield, CT 06082 Phone: Voice -- (203) 954-1872 Phone: BBS -- (203) 763-1674 Connecticut - Darien Darien OS/2 Users Group Contact: Steven J. Palmer 75 Rings End Road Darien, CT 06820 Delaware - Wilmington Delaware Valley OS/2 Users Group Contact: Chuck Gaglia 1120 Webster Drive Wilmington, DE 19803 Florida - Boca Raton OS/2 Users Group of Boca Raton Contact: Doug Azzarito Meets at: PC Systems Store 2855 S. Congress Avenue Delray Beach, FL Meets on 2nd Thursday of the month at 7pm Phone: BBS -- (407) 997-2235 Phone: Voice -- (407) 276-2945 Florida - Tampa Bay Tampa Bay OS/2 User Group Contact: Paul Wylie M. Bryce & Associates, Inc. 777 Alderman Road Palm Harbor, FL 34683 Phone: Voice - (813) 786-4567 Phone: FAX -- (813) 786-4765 Meets: - 1st Tuesday @ 3:00pm. Meets at: IBM 3109 W. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard 4th Floor Tampa, FL Illinois - Chicago North Suburban Chicago OS/2 User Group Contact - James R. Schmidt Meets - William M. Mercer, Inc. 1417 Lake Cook Rd. Deerfield, IL 60015 Meets - 5.30pm Tues preceding 3rd Thurs. Phone - Voice -- (708) 317-7485 Indiana - Fort Wayne Fort Wayne OS/2 User Group Contact - Stephen Gutknecht Fort Wayne, Indiana Meets - Central Soya on Cook Rd. Meets - 7pm, 2nd Tuesday Phone - Voice -- (219) 484-0062 (Bus. Hrs.) Phone - BBS -- (219) 471-3918 Indiana - Indianapolis Indy OS/2 Users Group Contact: Jay Schultz 350 E. New york Suite 300 Indianapolis, IN 46204 Phone: Voice - (317) 634-8080 Louisiana - Baton Rouge Baton Rouge OS/2 users Group Contact: David Arbour 16726 Bristoe Avnue Baton Rouge, LA 70816 Phone: - (504) 753-9637 Massachusetts - Boston Boston Area OS/2 User's Group (BCS) Contact: Marcia Gulesian (508) 369-3918 Meetings at: IBM Boston Computer Center One Copley Place Boston, MA Meets: 7:00pm, first Tuesday Meeting location is near Back Bay and Copley train stations. From the Mass. Turnpike East, exit 22 (Copley Square Lane) - first left onto Dartmouth St. Next left onto Huntington Ave. Enter COPLEY PLACE PARKING on left. Parking is free when you spend $5 and have your parking ticket validated in any restaurant or store at Copley Place and enter the garage after 5:00pm. Upcoming events: April 6 High Performance Word Processing with OS/2 -- WordPerfect and AmiPro for OS/2 will be the subjects of the meeting. The technical profile and end-user features of these two new word processors will be discussed and illustrated through live demonstrations. Compatibility with E-mail and FAX's will also be examined. May 4 NETWARE for OS/2 - Meeting will include live demo and in- depth look at new features such as NetWare Directory Services (NDS), which is a global-naming scheme and distributed directory of users. Michigan - Grand Rapids West Michigan OS/2 User Group IBM 2900 Charlevoix Dr. SE Grand Rapids, MI Minnesota - Minneapolis Minnesota OS/2 User Group Contact: Marcus Krumpholz IBM Building 650 Third Avenue South Minneapolis, MN Meets last Thursday each month 7:00pm - 10:00pm Voice: (612) 869-7956 BBS: (612) 379-8272 ISV's wishing to do a presentation can contact Marcus Krumpholz at (612) 869-7956. Registrations for meetings are requested and can be done by calling (612) 397-6444 and then asking for course code "OS2". The IBM building is shared with First Bank on Third Avenue south between South Sixth Street and South Seventh Street. Parking is recommended at Northstar Center (1 block west), Pillsbury Center (1.5 blocks north), Hennepin County Government Center (diagonally across street) and Court Park (2 blocks north). Topics scheduled: Apr 25 Describe 4.0 / Mary Serock Mar 25 OS/2 System Management (CID, SPM, etc.) / IBM Apr 29 Lan Server 3.0 / IBM (tentative) May 27 Netware for OS/2 / Novell Jun 24 OS/2 Development / IBM (tentative) Nebraska - Omaha Omaha OS/2 Users Group Contact: Joe Peterson 7724 Fort St. Omaha, NE 68134 New Jersey - West Orange Northern New Jersey OS/2 Users Group Contact: Jason H. Perlow (201) 224-7605 Meetings at: IBM 300 Executive Drive West Orange, NJ Meets: 7:00pm, second Tuesday INFO: Phone: (201) 325-5600 First meeting will be held March 9. This group is affiliated with the Westchester OS/2 Users Group. New York - Westchester Westchester OS/2 Users Group Contact: Craig Smith (914) 686-9828 Meetings at: IBM 2000 Purchase Street Purchase, NY Meets: 7:00pm, second Tuesday INFO: Phone: (914) 697-6000 Westchester was instrumental in getting IBM's OS/2 featured on the PBS Computer Chronicles show in March. They have also designed a series of special OS/2 weekend seminars on OS/2 software development that begins in Mid-March at IBM in Harrison, NY. In January, Stacker for OS/2 was premiered to the public. Corel Systems also demonstrated their full line of products for OS/2 and hints at upcoming projects. North Carolina - Durham Triangle OS/2 User Group Contact -- Steve Gallagher IBM Building 4800 Falls of The Neuse Road Room 5074 Durham, North Carolina Meets -- 7.30pm, 3rd Tuesday Phone -- Voice -- (919) 254-5637 Internet -- sjgalla@vnet.ibm.com Ohio - Akron Northeast Ohio OS/2 User Group IBM 3 Cascade Plaza Akron, Ohio Contact: Gary Smiley Phone: (216) 630-3565 CompuServe: 75600,1737 Ohio - Cleveland Cleveland OS/2 User Group IBM Bond Ct. Building 2nd Fl E. 9th St. Cleveland, Ohio Pennsylvania - Erie Computer Users of Erie OS/2 SIG Contact: Tom Kuklinski 3928 Sassafras Street Erie, PA 16508 Phone: (814) 866-5396 Phone: (814) 898-2905 Tennessee - Knoxville East Tennessee PC User Group OS/2 SIG Contact: Arnold Sprague 808 Fairfield Drive Knoxville, TN 37919-4109 Texas - Dallas - Fort Worth Dallas-Forth Worth OS/2 User Group Contact - Toby Pennycuff CompuServe ID - 70007,6267 1211 Wilshire Blvd. Arlington, TX 76012-4623 Meets at: American Airlines HQ 4255 Amon Carter Blvd. Arlington, TX Meetings - Time and dates not listed. Wisconsin - Madison Madison OS/2 Users Group Contact: Tom Ender or Donn Tolley 2703 Rolling View Rd. Stoughton, WI 53589-3386 +-------------------------------------------+ |OS/2 News & Developments | +-------------------------------------------+ Up and Running OS/2 2.1! Gerstner Gives OS/2 Thumbs Up! 70,000 Copies of OS/2 New OS/2 Column in Federal Computer Week NT Highlights(?) Part 1 NT Highlights(?) Part 2 OS/2 Phone Poll Winner }}} Up and Running OS/2 2.1! From: Albert Shan (1:202/335) Original Fidonet Area: OS2 Origin: The Idle Task... (604) 275-0835 Richmond British Columbia (1:153/905) IBM Personal Software Products (PSP) Division will hold dual news conferences in New York and San Francisco on May 18, 1993 concerning OS/2. New York May 18, 1993 11 a.m. ET Marriott Marquis Astor Room 1535 Broadway New York, NY (212) 398-1900 Host: Lee Reiswig President (PSP) San Francisco May 18, 1993 8 a.m. PT Fairmont Hotel California Room 950 Mason San Francisco, CA (415) 772-5000 Host: John Patrick VP, Sales & Marketing (PSP) Highlights: Presentation/demo by IBM technical and marketing executives; announcements by industry-leading companies. Q&A sessions on both coasts immediately following the announcement. One-on-one interview opportunities with IBM executives and leading industry executives. Software and hardware demonstrations from top industry vendors. Expect the full announcement on GA date, availability, and pricing on OS/2 2.1. }}} Gerstner Gives OS/2 Thumbs Up! Original From: Joe Meakin (1:202/354) Original To: Craig Swanson (1:202/354) My prayers have been answered! The following post has been posted throughout (...and I mean THROUGHOUT!) Compuserve. It's probably heading your way on the Fido echoes as you read this, too. (It was cited from a well-known TEAMOS2 member -- Vicci Conway - 76711,1123) Lee Reiswig asked us to publicize this message from Lou Gerstner. "Lee, I'm hearing there are questions about IBM's commitment to OS/2 based on reports of my upcoming meeting with Bill Gates. That's just nonsense. I'm meeting with many people in our industry -- customers, partners, and competitors -- as well as many within IBM, to get acquainted and to get a sense of the industry and of IBM. For someone to assume that I'm negotiating product strategies in these meetings would be a serious mistake. I'm not doing that. My job is to get the right people in place and give them the support they need to compete. When I reviewed your plans with you and your team, I was impressed with the progress you've made and where you're heading. You and your team have the lead on this and my support in moving forward. Good luck in your announcement next week." Lou }}} 70,000 Copies of OS/2! Carl Forde April 21, 1993 Original Area: comp.os.os2.advocacy Origin: OS/2 Connection (1:202/354) From INFORMATION WEEK of April 19, 1993 (pages 62, 64) Information Week reported that it had learned that the Social Security Administration would ink a contract for 70,000 copies of OS/2, one of the largest single purchases of an operating system ever. And cited as an endorsement that seemed certain to give OS/2 a badly needed market boost. And it seems the deal couldn't come at a better time for IBM, which recently announced plans to make available OS/2 Version 2.1. Information Week also reported that evaluators of the latest test version of OS/2 2.1 stated that IBM delivered on the promises made last December. Those included a 32-bit graphics engine, the ability to easily run Windows 3.1 applications, and faster performance. The IS chief at Royal Bank of Canada in Toronto was quoted as stating "We've found it stable and a lot faster than 2.0." Also quoted was Joel Shulman, automation specialist with Farmers Insurance Cos. in Los Angeles, "IBM is listening to its customers. IBM needs (several) shots in the arm, (including) a robust upgrade and the Social Security contract to build some momentum for its upcoming showdown with NT." }}} New OS/2 Column in Federal Computer Week From Christopher Rodgers (1:202/335) Original Fidonet Area: OS2 Origin: OS/2 Shareware BBS Fairfax, Virginia (703) 385-4325 (1:109/347) Federal Computer Week, a weekly trade magazine catering to the Federal computer community has agreed to initiate a new column DEVOTED TO OS/2! Unlike other publications attempts, this column will be written by an experienced OS/2 user and network administrator (me!). The premier of the column, entitled "The OS/2 Guru" was published in the April 12th issue. Current plans are for the column to run every other issue (once a month). As with any publication, the success of the column will be determined by reader response. If you receive Federal Computer Week and enjoy seeing POSITIVE, HONEST, coverage of OS/2 then I'd encourage you to write and let them know. If you are not a FCW subscriber, but appreciate any publisher willing to devote a column to open and honest OS/2 reporting, I'd encourage you to write FCW and let them know you appreciate their support. If you have any specific ideas for a column or a product to review, I may be reached via the OS/2 Shareware BBS or IBM's National Support Center BBS in Atlanta. Comments, suggestions, and letters of encouragement can be addressed to: Editor Federal Computer Week 3110 Fairview Park Drive, Suite 1040 Falls Church, Virginia 22042-4599 }}} NT Highlights(?) Part 1 Howard Fragner (1:202/335) Original Area: OS-DEBATE Original To: David Bannister (1:202/354) Origin: Look through the Windows and you'll see OS/2. (2:201/201.12) > I meant that any non-windows application > that requires VGA under NT will not > run on my system. This is not to say > that everyone is having this problem > I am. You're in good company. Two weeks ago I visited a briefing at Microsoft Sweden meant to convince exhibitors to load NT onto their demo machines for the Stockholm PC World Expo. They meant to show DOS compatibility but they only managed to show how hard it is to run DOS graphics on NT. But the real highlight came after the presentation. After showing the slides, they told us they had been running NT all evening, and that the slides we had seen were displayed in PowerPoint running on NT. He made a joke that NT really worked and switched to the program manager to load some of the NT applets. NT then crashed. It seems that showing slides for two hours pushed NT to it's limits. We were warned several times about running NT on machines not powerful enough were told to use a "fast 486" with AT LEAST 16 megs of RAM and at least 200 MB HD. However, budgets must have been tight, so very few machines actually had NT running. I guess most of those CD-ROMs are now on the Shelfware Hall of Fame. IBM on the other hand provided floppy disks with the very latest OS/2 beta (6.506) in Swedish(!) and HP, Nec, Copam, Commodore, WordPerfect and several other vendors had it on display. But, Sweden wrote that NT was on display in several booths while OS/2 could only be seen in IBMs booth. What magic does Microsoft do with the press? }}} NT Highlights(?) Part 2 Jim Flannery (1:265/7) Original Area: OS2 Posted in OS-DEBATE Posted by: David Bannister (1:202/335) Origin: OS/2@Manassas In Mono Enhanced STEREO (703) FOX-0-OS2 (1:265/101) I went to a Windows NT *DEMO* today at Random Access. There were about 100 people in attendance, and the Microsoft reps weren't pleased with our response. First, their slide show was done in Microsoft Power Point, but they had to run it under Windows 3.1. Seems it won't run under NT. We weren't impressed. The networking being included is a nice touch. Unfortunately, not many people use Microsoft LanManager any more. NT doesn't connect to Novell yet. It DOES have TCP/IP, so at least you can connect to a UNIX host, if...... The presenters showed off their multi-tasking. Clicking on several icons, the programs started loading, until Procomm for Windows started. They forgot that they didn't have a modem attached. Seems that if you lock up an app in a "Win-16" session, that locks up not only that session, but the entire Win-16 Subsystem. "No problem with a multi-tasking operating system, we'll just close out the window." Unh unh. They couldn't close out the window, or open another. He tried to shut down the system....and couldn't open the menu to get to shutdown. "There's always the power switch," he said, hitting the big switch. I asked, "Does NT have lazy-write?" "Yes." Well, I guess if you had any other programs running, you just lost a lot of mission- critical data, then?" Yup, the Microsoft representative confirmed. DOS windows were another problem. You can't load your favorite VDMs like in OS/2 or UNIX. You're STUCK with the stripped down version of DOS 5.0 that comes with NT. I pointed out that developers might like to open several versions of DOS on the desktop to test their code under 3.1, 3.3, 4.0, 5 and 6, which both OS/2 and SVR4.2 will allow you to do. "Any way of doing this with NT?", was a question posed. "No," came the reply. Another person asked about disk compression. "That would violate the security feature," was the response we received. Not everything was negative. On the plus side, they served coffee and donuts, and gave away keychains in the form of a mouse, with a little red LED inside, "So you can find your keyhole in the dark." Funny, Toyota puts a light INSIDE the keyhole. I drive a Toyota, and I drive OS/2, and I drive UNIX. My wife will like the keychain -she drives a Subaru. }}} OS/2 Phone Poll Winner Posted by Joe Meakin (1:202/335) Original Area: OS-DEBATE Origin: None (1:202/338.2) Hello All! Communications Week recently conducted an telephone 800 poll asking which operating system would have the greater impact in the computer world. The results I found in a CompuServe message from Dave Levitt 76116,3650. It seems that Mr. Levitt noticed "...the [unsuprising] results of Communication Week's telephone survey for..." NT versus OS/2: The score: WIN NT 75 OS/2 1,400 +-------------------------------------------+ |OS/2 Software / Hardware News | +-------------------------------------------+ Getting OS/2 Apps From Egghead Software Dealer Devoted to OS/2 Apps Borland Underestimates Demand for OS/2 C++ Review: LiveWire 2.0/Thread Review: 9Lives }}} Getting OS/2 Apps From Egghead Software April 22, 1993 By Robert Montgomery Responding To: Mike Crawford Original Area: General Disc Mike Crawford had written about trying to buy Pmcomm, an OS/2 communications program. Then Robert got him to provide the phone number for others wishing to buy other OS/2 applications. Egghead sells it, but don't expect any of there store personnel to know anything about how to order OS/2 software. I went to two of their stores with no success. I finally called their toll free 800 number and was quite surprised to find out that their direct order people had no problem ordering it and I saved $10 over the list price that was about to pay via ordering direct from Multi-Net. Robert asked what was their 800#? It is 1-800-EGGHEAD or 1-800-344-4323. Editor's Note: But they didn't mention whether you can use your CUE card to get an additional 5% discount... }}} Dealer Devoted To OS/2 Applications From Steve Gallagher (1:202/502) Original Area: OS2 Origin: Psychotronic BBS (919) 286-4542 Durham, NC (1:3641/1) If you're an OS/2 user who wants a 1-stop-shopping source exclusively for OS/2 applications or if you've been wondering where to get hold of OS/2 "stuff" (t-shirts, mouse pads, etc), I've got the answers for you. I just found out about a company you should know about. First the usual disclaimers: I don't own or work for the company or have a financial interest, etc. etc., blah blah blah. If you want a mail-order catalogue company that focuses strictly on you, the OS/2 2.0 user, you'll want to check this source out. This company is the only mail-order company that is devoted EXCLUSIVELY to OS/2 applications and promotional items! Here's how to contact them: Indelible Blue, Inc P.O. Box 31306 Raleigh NC 27622 919-834-7005 (voice) 919-783-8380 (fax) }}} Borland Underestimates Demand for OS/2 C++ Original From: 235wardell (1:202/723) Original Area: comp.os.os2.advocacy Origin: Orphan Board West fido <-> unix gateway (1:202/723) Received a statement from Borland today: Due to the unexpected demand for Borland C++ for OS/2, there will be a 2 week delay in refilling the direct and mail order channels while we try to make more copies available. I guess Borland guessed wrong again about OS/2... }}} Review: LiveWire 2.0/Thread Melissa Woo Original Area: OS2 March 30, 1993 Origin: Tango/2 Point, OS/2 Champaign, Illinois (1:233/4.100) It looks like another OS/2 communications program has entered the fray, and it appears to be a pretty strong contender in the area of general BBS communications. People needing a strong DEC vt100 emulation will be disappointed, but those who need a comm program with which to call BBSes will definitely want to look at LiveWire2.0/THREAD. LiveWire 2.0/THREAD offers an attractive character mode interface, compatibility with the command key sets and dialing directories for Telix, QModem, Boyan, and Procomm+, as well as features one would normally expect in more expensive programs. Among the many features LiveWire 2.0/THREAD offers are: TTY, ANSI, vt100, Avatar emulations; a full-featured dialing directory; internal Zmodem batch; macros and command key redefinition; the ability to use a predefined "familiar" command key set; a 500 line scroll back with "cut and quote" features; support for modem speeds to 115,200 bps; friendly, pull-down configuration menus; support for external protocols; a script language and a script "learn" function. With some exceptions, LiveWire 2.0/THREAD works as advertised. The dialing directory offers nice sorting and multiple dialing features. The script "learn" function seems to work moderately well, and when it doesn't, the resulting script can be altered easily. If the internal Zmodem isn't to one's liking, LiveWire 2.0/THREAD's support for external protocols would allow one to substitute it fairly easily with something like M2Zmodem (by Mikael Wahlgren). There are, however, a few minor problems with LiveWire 2.0/THREAD, some of which appear in its corresponding DOS version, which is included in the same archive. As alluded to previously, the vt100 emulation is somewhat weak, ranging from reports on the Usenet newsgroups of being completely unusable, to a fairly minor problem I have of losing one character in my Internet host's prompt when I exit either vi or nn. When downloading with my v.32bis modem, the CPS rate that I get is in the 1000-1100 cps range. However, based on some crude timing experiments, I believe that the low CPS rate is due to incorrect CPS calculations by the program, rather than a slower than normal transfer rate. Additionally, there are some mildly annoying "features" which really don't detract much from what is generally a fine program. One thing that doesn't seem to work is the automatic configuration of one's favorite command key set when first configuring the program. That is, being a registered Telix user, I chose to use the Telix command key set. However, the program was configured to use the default LiveWire command key set. Fortunately, this is easily remedied by entering the help/command screen, pressing "k," then pressing the first letter of the program whose command key set one wants to emulate. I also noticed that one cannot access the "Addresses and IRQs" choice in the configuration menu. Also, there is no built-in file manager or IEMSI in the OS/2 version, even though they are mentioned in the docs. Presumably, these features are either present in the DOS version, or may be present after registration; the documentation doesn't mention it. This brings up the question of whether the unregistered version is crippled or not. I suspect that it isn't crippled, but rather has poorly documented differences between the OS/2 and DOS versions. There is, however, a nag line and a short pause that comes up after a certain number of uses. Despite the small number of available terminal emulations and the rather minor bugs in the program, LiveWire2.0/THREAD is a very nice communications program, and well worth looking at if one wants a program which, as someone on Usenet said, is "good for raiding BBSes." LiveWire2.0/THREAD is a fine program which is packed with features at a very reasonable price. As of this writing, LiveWire 2.0/THREAD is available for anonymous ftp from ftp- os2.nmsu.edu in /pub/os2/new as LW2.ZIP; I suspect it will be moved eventually to /pub/os2/2.x/comm. For those who don't have Internet access and don't mind taking chances with my often extremely bad long distance phone lines, I have it on my system at 1:233/4.0 for Fidonet FREQ at v.32bis speeds, any time except Z1MH as LW2.ARJ, 397356 bytes. Sorry, first time BBS downloads are not allowed. It was tested on: Compudyne Slimnote 486DX-33, OS/2 2.0 GA + SP, Zoom/Faxmodem PKT modem at 2400 bps, 8250 UART; Gateway 2000 386SX-16, OS/2 2.0 GA only, Intel 14.4EX v.32bis modem, 16550AF UART. Melissa's Disclaimer: I don't know the author -- I'm just someone in search of a good OS/2 comm program. However, I *would* like to wish the author good luck in his studies. Description: 32-bit, multi-threaded, character mode communications program for OS/2 v2.x (unregistered version) Author: Les Novell 585 Hyde Park Drive San Jose, CA 95136 Internet: lnovell@bonnie.ics.uci.edu Registration Levels: $20 - reg.# + BBS/mail support $30 - reg.# + BBS/mail support + registered copy $35 - reg.# + BBS/mail support + registered copy + printed manual }}} Review: 9Lives Kimberly Bobrow (1:202/335) Original Fidonet Area: OS2 Origin: Resistance is futile. The Borg has arrived at Bullet! (1:141/261) Let me start this review by saying that my $18.00 is on its way out the door! I just downloaded a VERY nifty utility that I have a feeling I will get VERY used to in a very short time. This utility is 9Lives, and it offers OS/2 users 8 additional desktops on which to place their running applications. You can choose to have your desktop icons show up on each virtual desktop, or have an 'expanded' desktop, and your icons will only show in the upper left corner 'desktop.' When looking at the 9Lives window, you are presented with nine squares, in a 3x3 arrangement. Small representations of all running programs are there, and can easily be dragged from one "desktop" to another. Switching desktops is as easy as clicking (or using the keyboard arrow keys for non-mousers!) on the desired desktop. Options include the ability to have the 9Lives window stay visible or go away after a switch is made. It is always accessible from the Window List. One glitch does seem to be that you can't get the Window list with the mouse on your virtual desktops when you've selected "enormous desktop mode", but Ctrl+Esc works just fine. I must have done something goofy, Ctrl+Esc and the desktop menu now works fine on any of my virtual desktops, so I take back my glitch statement. I'm leaving it in there in case it was a program bug that others run into, they won't think they're nuts The author mentions a few kinks he has left to work out, but I haven't really run into anything besides the Window List thing yet...There are many options available, and I have yet to try all combinations, but the ones I have tried, I LIKE! Try this out, and if you like it, I heartily recommend registering this piece of shareware. At $18.00 it's a bargain - it's nice to see some good OS/2 utilities coming out, they need all the support they can get +-------------------------------------------+ |Views & Opinions | +-------------------------------------------+ Don't Be A Caveman Want An OS/2 Version for CMS? }}} Don't Be A Caveman By Jason Perlow Original Submitted by Author Westchester (NY) OS/2 User Group and Northern New Jersey OS/2 User Group Ten million years ago, when Grok stepped out of his cave, looking for a woolly mammoth to club for dinner, he employed a primitive strategy we refer to as single-tasking. Grok, unable to run and swing his club at the same time, had to engage in each of these activities in turn to catch his dinner. It was time consuming, and as often as not, the dinner escaped. Usually however, Grok killed enough food for himself and his small family. The personal computer users of the 1980's were a lot like Grok. The world of personal computing in the mid-1980's was fairly straightforward for the IBM PC compatible user -you ran one application at a time, and that was it. If you had to run your word processor, you did what you had to do, exited to DOS, and then started up your spreadsheet, telecommunications program, or whatever else you were using. The software ran, PERIOD. You didn't need anything more complicated than DOS and your favorite menuing and utilities packages to get by. Meanwhile, back in the stone age, Grok was not a happy Neanderthal. As he became more ambitious in his hunting and went for more kills, he soon saw the need for better weapons. Realizing he could sharpen the front of his club, he developed the spear. :artwork name='e:\wp51\borders\grok-1.bmp'. Likewise. around 1982, Intel Corporation sharpened its own weapon and called it the 80286. More of a refinement than a revolution, it had the ability to address memory above 640k and was somewhat faster. Basically, it was the same club but a lot sharper. Grok, not satisfied with killing the same animals, aimed for larger prey. The spear was able to kill more animals at a faster rate, but a spear could only kill a single beast at a time. Grok comparatively priced employing more men with more spears and developing a new, but far more powerful weapon. It was true that the development costs of the weapon would be enormous, but the return on the investment was potentially much greater. Each hunter with his own spear could fell as many as 2 to 3 beasts per hour, but the new weapon could obliterate an entire herd with one shot. So Grok decided not to hire his friends and instead developed the assault tank. Something similar happened in the computer industry. Powerful processors vastly superior to the previous generation were developed. CPU's such as the 386 and 486 processed faster, could run in a special 32 bit "protected mode" and were capable of addressing vast amounts of RAM. Even with the assault tank, Grok soon found he had a problem. The device was wonderful for killing great amounts of beasts, but Grok was the only one who knew how to operate it. He had to perform the tasks of driving the tank, loading the shells, aiming the turret and firing the cannon all by himself. Now, as every good hunter knows, we must have a battle plan for hunting and killing beasts. Grok was a master builder, however he was a horrible tactician. He had this fantastic weapon, but its effectiveness was dulled by the fact that only he could operate it. He could only perform one task at a time, and was incapable of bringing others in to help him. Later he built even greater and more powerful weapons, like the jet bomber and SDI, but nevertheless his inadequate battle plans reduced their effectiveness. The PC user again ran into similar problems to Grok. DOS, the PC's "battle plan" remained largely unchanged through several revisions. It was improved to use larger hard drive partitions and allow access to memory above 640k, but only through add-ons called "DOS extenders." A few big software companies got together, and designed a standard by which programs would address this additional memory, called VCPI, or Virtual Control Program Interface. If you wanted to use a program that could use this memory, you needed to put a few new drivers in your CONFIG.SYS. Simple enough? Nope. Along with the DOS extenders you needed memory managers, which you had to buy separately, that correctly loaded the DOS extenders and device drivers into upper memory and expanded memory, so that you would have sufficient application space left in conventional memory to run your normal programs. Learning to manage memory was about as pleasant as being eaten alive by a rabid Tyrannosaur, as Grok would probably say. Managing memory wasn't the only shortfall of DOS. Another problem was that you truly couldn't take advantage of the new 32 bit processors, because DOS was only a 16 bit operating system and it locked the CPU into a emulation of the older 8086es and 8088's to maintain compatibility with programs that were designed for the 8086-88 instruction set. Basically, you were running your brand new 386 or 486 as a really fast 8086. Your PC's resources were being underutilized, if not completely wasted altogether. Like Grok, the PC user and his overly simple battle plan called DOS was forever incapable of performing multiple tasks at once. In other words, DOS was unable to drive the tank, load the shells, aim the turret and fire the cannon all at once. Like Grok, a computer, and ultimately the computer user, could only achieve one of these things at a time. Additionally, every time you bought a new software package, it had an entirely different user interface. There was also the problem of exchanging data between various software programs, and that you could only run one program at a time. This frustrated a great deal of people. Grok was able to compensate for his lack of personnel by rigging elaborate Rube Goldberg networks of pulleys and line to the control stations of his new weapons, so he could operate all off them from one position. On the tank this was fairly effective, but as he progressed to the Jet Bomber and his SDI system, his rigging would tend to foul and get tied in knots, sometimes paralyzing him until he could get it untied. Microsoft Corporation developed a rigging and pulley system called Microsoft Windows, a environment that would make personal computing tremendously easier from an interface standpoint and would allow you to "multitask" several programs at the same time. However, only programs written exclusively for the Windows environment could benefit by multitasking. DOS programs run under Windows were "Task Switched", as opposed to Windows programs which were "Time sliced". Only DOS programs running in the foreground continued to process, while those in the background were halted. Windows programs could simultaneously exchange information with other Windows programs (DDE and OLE) and competed for time with the CPU. For most of the people out there with relatively simple needs this worked pretty well, until software became more complicated. If, for example, you tried to format a floppy disk and run a high-speed communications program at the same time, chances are your system would slow down, your modem would lose sync with the communications program and you would lose your communications session. Worse, your system would crash altogether because Windows didn't prevent running programs from invading the allocated memory space that another program was running in. If you were running a program that was especially CPU intensive or I/O intensive, such as a large spreadsheet macro or a multimedia application, you would find yourself waiting. A large print job would also tie up the system. There was NOTHING that you could do about these problems, because Windows was limited to running under DOS, an operating system that hadn't changed fundamentally for over 10 years. What is the frustrated caveman to do? The solution is, of course, to run your computer on an operating system that is capable of utilizing your system resources in the most efficient way possible. Until recently, there wasn't such a system. Now there is. THE FUTURE OF IBM COMPATIBLE PERSONAL COMPUTING: THE MONOLITH ARRIVES. IBM and Microsoft were aware of the functional limitations of DOS back in the mid 1980s when they started developing OS/2. When OS/2 1.0 was released in 1987, it was positioned as the successor to DOS. It solved many of the memory management and multitasking problems of DOS, and from a functionality standpoint it was superior. The only problem was that its DOS compatibility was mediocre. Like DOS, it was also a 16 bit operating system, but it was designed to support some of the more advanced capabilities of the 286. It also only ran well on IBM PS/2 equipment, which was its major shortfall. By version 1.3 it had a graphical interface nearly identical to Microsoft Windows, called Presentation Manager (PM). However, only a few applications were written for PM, because by the time OS/2 marketing got under full swing Microsoft Windows began to get very popular, and the rest is history. OS/2 enjoyed a niche market where large corporations required a stable platform to run internally developed applications to perform mission-critical tasks that DOS was not suited for. In the late 1980's IBM took over OS/2 development from Microsoft and began a project to revise OS/2 for the newer 386 family of microprocessors. OS/2 2.0 is a 32 bit operating system that runs in 386 protected mode. It is capable of true multitasking, and runs DOS and Windows programs. If you have OS/2 installed on your system you don't need DOS or Windows - they are built into the system. You don't need any memory managers or DOS extenders or disk caching programs, because these too are built into the system. OS/2 2.0 also runs 32 bit and 16 bit OS/2 programs, many of which have been released recently or will be released shortly. OS/2 supports HPFS, the High Performance File System, which in many ways is superior to DOS's FAT system because it supports 256 character filenames and is speedier at handling file intensive operations. The FAT support under OS/2 is also enhanced because it has been re-coded for 32 bit file access under OS/2. DOS programs run differently under OS/2 than under native DOS. OS/2 2.0 closely emulates DOS 5.0, but it reports the version of DOS to programs as version 20.0, for upward compatibility. When a DOS program is run under OS/2, OS/2 creates a protected region in memory, called a Virtual DOS Machine (VDM), with the exact amount of conventional, extended and expanded memory specified to run the program, and loads the device drivers as specified. You can load an unlimited number of device drivers in an OS/2 DOS session and get up to 512 megabytes of memory per session. OS/2 essentially simulates a full-blown IBM PC for every VDM that is created. If you run out of physical RAM for a particular DOS session, OS/2 provides "virtual" memory, by enlarging the system swap file as needed. You can tune the settings of a VDM for practically every low-level aspect of the DOS operating system, should you run into a particular compatibility problem or need to fine-tune the performance of a particular application. The best thing about a VDM is should a program crash, it doesn't hang your system, only the VDM it is running in. Therefore, simply terminate the application, and restart it. A side benefit is that DOS programs running under OS/2 are less susceptible to viruses because a DOS virus can only contaminate the VDM it is running in. If a virus is detected in a VDM, you terminate the VDM and the virus is history. Windows applications run much like the way DOS applications run under OS/2. A specially modified version of Microsoft Windows, called Win-OS/2, is provided with OS/2. WIN-OS/2 runs within a VDM, and under version 2.0 of OS/2 it provides Windows 3.0 Standard mode compatibility. Should you have a Windows program that uses Enhanced mode of operation, it will not run. This is not a problem as it would seem, because very few Enhanced mode applications are on the market. This problem is rectified under OS/2 2.1, which should be ready for release by the time this article is printed. OS/2 2.1 provides Windows 3.1 enhanced mode emulation, with full Windows multimedia support. Windows 3.1 sessions under OS/2 2.1 are provided with 64mb of DPMI memory by default, eliminating the need for end users to fine-tune their system. Like Windows, OS/2 2.0 uses a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Unlike Windows, however, OS/2's Workplace Shell is object-oriented and uses both mouse buttons when working on the OS/2 desktop. The left mouse button is used for launching applications, selecting dialogs and manipulating interface tools. The right button is used for drag and drop operations, and is also used to change settings for objects on the desktop. The OS/2 desktop is very easy to customize to personal preference. Those familiar with HP's Newwave, Norton Desktop, the NeXT and Macintosh System 7 should feel right at home. OS/2 2.X solves many of the problems DOS presents and provides an excellent level of reliability, but at a certain cost. OS/2 needs a 386sx based computer to run, and requires 4mb of RAM to operate. Realistically, a 25 Mhz 386 with 8mb of RAM is more than adequate for an entry level OS/2 system. The more physical RAM the better because OS/2 will perform less memory swapping. Fully installed, with on- line documentation, DOS and Windows support and with all the "applets", OS/2 uses around 32mb of disk space. Strip off most of the applets and the on-line documentation and you can pare things down to around 18mb or so. Considering that you have full DOS and Windows support included, this is not much sacrifice when you consider the DOS extenders and other utilities you need to maintain a comparable DOS and Windows based system. Besides system resources, you need to consider the issue of hardware compatibility. OS/2 supports virtually every printer on the market, and defaults at VGA support for all systems. With the OS/2 2.0 Service Pack and OS/2 2.1, IBM provides for about 80 percent of the video card market for higher resolution screen drivers. If you don't have a high resolution driver for your video card's chipset, you may have to run under VGA compatible mode until one is written. Many video card manufacturers are developing OS/2 PM screen drivers as of this writing. Drivers for the ATI, Trident, Tseng, Cirrus, 8514 compatible, XGA and Generic SVGA mode chipsets under the OS/2 2.0 Service Pack, which is available free from OS/2 users groups and minimal cost from IBM. These drivers will come with OS/2 version 2.1. Most tape drive manufacturers are now have OS/2 versions of their tape backup programs, and other third party companies are developing OS/2 tape backup software. If your tape drive manufacturer does not support for OS/2, you may have to back your system up under DOS. OS/2 supports Adaptec and Future Domain SCSI adapters natively, in addition to a "generic" SCSI driver which runs on many host adapters. IBM is planning to ship OS/2 2.1 with Multimedia Presentation Manager, which provides support for CD-ROMs from various manufacturers, such as Sony, Texel, NEC, and Toshiba. Other CD-ROM readers may work with these drivers because these readers are more or less the industry standard. If your drive is not under the supported CD-ROM list as of OS/2 2.1's general availability, contact your manufacturer. Audio Cards that are 100 percent compatible with the various Creative Labs SoundBlasters (with DSP chips revision 2.0 and above) and Media Vision's Pro Audio Spectrum 16 will work with MMPM. While OS/2's DOS compatibility is very good, it is not all-inclusive. OS/2 provides DPMI, EMS and XMS memory to DOS applications, but older VCPI applications will not run under OS/2. Some of the more recent computer games, such as Ultima 7, Commanche and Strike Commander, are very hardware intensive and use proprietary memory management schemes. For these games you have to shutdown OS/2 and reboot the computer to use native DOS. You also cannot run programs that make direct calls to the hardware - some programs use special low-level routines to bypass DOS, such as tape drive and disk management programs. These will not run. Finally, there is the issue of disk compression. OS/2 is incompatible with DOS 6.0's DoubleSpace system, and cannot recognize Stac Electronics' Stacker partitions as of this writing. However, an OS/2 version of Stacker that supporting FAT partition compression is under testing, and will be released by the time OS/2 2.1 ships. Proportional Software is shipping an OS/2 compression product (DCF/2) that works on FAT and HPFS partitions. OS/2 is a robust and powerful operating system for the 1990's, and is backward compatible. If your hardware supports it, seriously consider a switch. If you need a mission critical platform for software development and communications, and you need true multitasking, definitely consider a switch. OS/2 may intimidate you at first by the plethora of capabilities, but is unlikely to disappoint you. Author's Note: The Northern New Jersey OS/2 Users Group meets every second Tuesday of the month at: The Essex Room, International Business Machines Corporation, 300 Executive Drive, West Orange, NJ (201)325-5600. Inquiries about the users group should be directed to Jason Perlow at (201) 224-7605. }}} Want An OS/2 Version For CMS? Harv Millman (1:202/335) Original Fidonet Area: OS2HW Origin: GREATER CHICAGO Online!! (708) 895-4042 (1:115/895) If you are of the letter-writing persuasion, that's a way you can make your views on OS/2 software for the Colorado line of tape backups known to the President of Colorado Memory Systems. In your letter, I suggest you consider the following guidelines: One: Your letter must make a business case for CMS to devote resources to OS/2 software development. For example, GOOD OS/2 backup software can help CMS to sell more hardware to OS/2 users. Two: It is pointless to discuss the Sytron SyTOS+ deal through CMS, or SyTOS's performance, or the $99 price. This decision is ancient history, and puts the focus in the wrong place. See item 1. Three: List (in general terms) the desirable features you'd like to see in the software: EA and HPFS support, long filenames, a command-line restore program for trashed disks, QIC-40/80 tape format, ability to read backups produced by the DOS TAPE program, suppo rt for the full line of drives and adapter cards, etc. Four: Suggest what you consider to be a reasonable price for this software. Even thought the DOS TAPE software is "free", consider that this is a new market for CMS, and that there are many more DOS systems than OS/2 systems. Being able to recoup some part of the costs of this program is a realistic consideration. Five: State what you know to be true about the OS/2 market for the product: the number of OS/2 systems in use (NOT the number of copies of OS/2 shipped); your estimate of the quality and support of competing products (if there are others than SyTOS+), etc. Six: State whether or not you would buy such a product. (If not, why are you writing?) Write to: Mr. John Boose President Colorado Memory Systems, Inc. 800 S. Taft Ave. Loveland, CO 80537 I've been told (by someone who is in a position to know) that OS/2 users can get their needs met much more quickly if we write to Mr. Boose, and make these needs known to him. Are you willing? (Yes, I'm going to write.) Thanks! +-------------------------------------------+ |Seminars, Conferences & Meetings | +-------------------------------------------+ OS/2 Device Drivers Conference - San Jose IBM PSP Technical Interchange - Orlando OS/2 Course Offered at Univ. of Missouri - St. Louis Egghead & OS/2 2.1 - Free Seminars! OS/2 LAN SERVICES - Basic Workshop OS/2 LAN SERVICES - Advanced Workshop }}} OS/2 Device Drivers Conference - San Jose Original From: Albert Shan (1:202/335) Original Fidonet Area: OS2 Origin: The Idle Task... (604)275-0835 Richmond British Columbia (1:153/905) Learn the latest, detailed information about developing device drivers for displays, printers, storage, LAN, multimedia, and input devices! Learn the latest tips and techniques! These in-depth interactive sessions are designed to help you develop device drivers for OS/2 faster and better than ever before. This conference offers serious technical information for serious OS/2 developers. You won't get this kind of information anywhere else! CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS General & Elective Sessions Featuring Display Drivers Printer Drivers Multimedia Drivers Input Device Drivers Feedback Forum Q & A Info Center Bonuses, Collectibles & Raffle Items REGISTER EARLY & SAVE! Registration fee is $795 per person if you register by 6/21/93. After 6/21, registration fee is $895. Plus, $100 off for every additional attendee from the same company. For registration or exhibit information call (800) 872-7109 in the U.S.A. & Canada, or (508) 443-4990 outside the U.S.A. & Canada. Details for accommodations, reservations, agenda etc. are forthcoming. }}} IBM PSP Technical Interchange - Orlando Original From: Albert Shan (1:202/335) Original Fidonet Area: OS2 Origin: The Idle Task... (604) 275-0835 Richmond British Columbia (1:153/905) Formerly Known As The OS/2 Technical Interchange If you missed IBM's standing-room-only OS/2 Technical Interchange last February in Phoenix, here's your opportunity to catch the next wave of exciting technological advancements. Mark your calendar for August 29 -September 2, 1993. The conference kicks off with a keynote speech by Jim Cannavino, IBM Senior Vice President and General Manager of Personal Systems. Mr. Cannavino will provide insight into the corporate strategies of IBM personal software and hardware technologies. Next, you're free to participate in interactive elective sessions focusing on the latest in OS/2, LAN Systems, 32-Bit Graphics, Object Oriented Programming, Multimedia, Pen, Database, and Communications. You take your pick and select your own schedule. And if that's not enough, also offered are in-depth OS/2 and LAN Computer Labs - where you'll receive "hands-on" experience. The Labs, staffed by IBM expert developers, give you the opportunity to hold frank, one-on-one discussions on how you can productively apply PSP products to achieve outstanding results. You can also visit the extensive exhibit area highlighting both vendor hardware and software products that exploit PSP products. Don't miss the latest in innovations and technology! Conference registration is only $795 per person if you register by 7/15/93. After 7/15, registration is $895. All registered attendees will receive special bonuses, participate in valuable product raffles, and take part in receptions and a special event. Register early by calling 1-800-872-7109 in the U.S.A. and Canada. Outside these areas, please call 1-508-443-4990. Details regarding agenda, accommodations, reservations, etc. are forthcoming. Seats are still available for the OS/2 and IBM LAN Systems Technical Interchange in Toronto June 21 - 25, 1993. For details call 1-800-661-2131 in the U.S.A and Canada. Outside the U.S.A. and Canada call 1-416-946-1100. }}} OS/2 Course Offered at Univ. of Missouri - St. Louis Phillip Wilson Original Fidonet Area: Teamos2 Origin: The OS/2 Woodmeister (314) 446-0016 (1:289/27) Hey folks, I just received a nice surprise. At the University of Missouri-St. Louis they are teaching an OS/2 2.0 Commands and Installation class. The class is (6.5 hours) The class is taught by the Continuing Education-Extension in conjunction with the College of Arts & Sciences and the School of Business Administration. I found the info in their Spring/Summer 1993 class schedule. In a message dated 04-28-93, Dave Sichak said to Phillip Wilson: DS> Any idea what they're charging for DS> such a class? Wonder how many DS> will turn up? Inquiring minds need DS> to know.... :) Dave, I do believe they are charging $135 for the class. I do not know how many people enrolled. I live about 120 miles from St. Louis now and my wife pitched the brochure. The phone number for the University of Missouri - St. Louis is 314-553-5000. I would imagine you would ask for the Continuing Education department to get more info. }}} Egghead & OS/2 2.1 - Free Seminars! Received from IBM via NetMail Date: Mon, 10 May 93 16:26:48 EDT Egghead's FREE Smarter Computing Seminars for software products began featuring a section about OS/2 2.1 last Friday. IBM reps will be demonstrating OS/2 2.1 somewhere between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. each day of the seminar. The current schedule follows: Chicago, May 12 Rosemont Convention Center. 9291 W. Bryn Mawr Rosemont Secaucus, NJ May 13 Meadowlands Hilton 2 Harmon Plaza Secaucus Seattle, May 18 Seattle Sheraton 1400 6th Avenue Seattle Orlando, May 20 Marriott International Drive 8001 International Drive Orlando Minneapolis, May 20 Airport Marriott 2020 E. 79th Street Bloomington Dallas, May 26 INFOMART 1950 Stemmons Freeway Dallas Vancouver, BC, May 28 Trade & Convention Center 999 Canada Place Vancouver New York, NY, June 8 Palace Hotel 455 Madison Avenue New York St.Louis, June 10 Holiday Inn Clayton 7730 Bonhomme Avenue Clayton Washington DC, June 10 Marriott 1700 Jefferson Davis Highway Arlington To register for a seminar, or request additional information, call 1-800-EGG-5569. Customers who register may win an IBM PS/2 Ultimedia system valued at $3635.00, bundled with OS/2 2.0. Editor's Note: Now why would a seminar featuring OS/2 2.1 offer a chance to win a system with OS/2 2.0 on it?? I couldn't resist the needle.... }}} OS/2 LAN SERVICES - Basic Workshop Received from IBM via NetMail Date: Mon, 10 May 93 WHAT'S NEW? Establish a solid base of knowledge and experience by attending OS/2 LAN Services: Basic LAN Administration Workshop - G4360. This course, offering hands-on labs, is now available at locations around the country. The May/June schedule is provided below. ABOUT THE COURSE: Gain an understanding of the LAN environment using OS/2 Server 2.0/3.0 and related products. Anyone responsible for the daily operations of OS/2 LAN Servers will benefit from this class which imparts fundamental information and skills necessary to admini ster servers and requesters. Topics covered include basic LAN concepts, terminology, hardware, and software. COURSE DETAILS: Course code: G4360; Length: 3.0 days; Tuition: $900; MSE course code: CG43600C; Schedule& Raleigh, NC May 11-13 Southfield, MI May 17-19 Camp Hill, PA May 18-20 West Orange, NJ May 18-20 Jefferson City, MO May 25-27 Los Angeles, CA June 1-3 San Jose, CA June 7-9 St. Louis, MO June 9-11 Seattle, WA June 16-18 TO REGISTER: Customers should call 1-800-IBM-TEACh (1-800-426-8322). IBM personnel should use MSE to enroll. If reasonable accommodation is required for an individual with a disability, please advise of the accommodation in advance. CONTACT: Dan Coviello (703) 412-2074 (T/L 894) COVIELLO at DALVM1 }}} OS/2 LAN SERVICES - Advanced Workshop From IBM Netmail Date: Mon, 10 May 93 WHAT'S NEW? OS/2 LAN Services: Advanced Administration Workshop - G4560 will betaught at locations around the country. A detailed schedule for May and June is provided below. ABOUT THE COURSE: This lecture / lab course refines basic skills learned in the prerequisite course (OS/2 LAN Services: Basic LAN Administration Workshop - G4360) and provides advanced knowledge and techniques for using the OS/2 LAN Server 2.0/3.0 products, both Entry and Advanced. Learn information necessary to plan and support OS/2 LAN Server environments for OS/2 LAN Requesters and DOS LAN Requesters (DLRs). Topics covered in technical detail include: LAN Transport (LAPS), LAN Support Program (LSP), 386 High Performance File System (HPFS), Access Control Lists (ACL), auditing and alerts, Virtual DOS Sessions, capacity and performance planning, remote IPL and fault tolerance. COURSE DETAILS: Course Code: G4560: Length: 5 days: Tuition: $1600; MSE Course Code: CG45600C. Schedule: Atlanta, GA 05/10-05/14 Arlington, VA 05/17-05/21 Denver, CO 05/17-05/21 St. Louis, MO 05/17-05/21 West Orange, NJ 05/24-05/28 Houston, TX 06/07-06/11 Washington, DC 06/07-06/11 Boston, MA 06/14-06/18 St. Louis, MO 06/14-06/18 Los Angeles, CA 06/21-06/25 San Jose, CA 06/21-06/25 Arlington, VA 06/28-07/02 TO REGISTER: Customers should call (800) IBM-TEACh or (800) 426-8322. IBM personnel should use MSE to enroll. CONTACT: Dan Coviello (703) 412-2074 (T/L 894) COVIELLO at DALVM1. +-------------------------------------------+ |OS/2 BBS's | +-------------------------------------------+ BBS Introduction Well, I am trying to update this file in an expedient way so it doesn't become too stale when I include it in the INF version. But I'm trying to catch up on a backlog. I've got the list in an Rbase for OS/2 database file right now, so all I need to do is figure out a way to create a report that does much of my INF coding for me. Next month, I'd look for a few more additions and I'm going to add some write ups for our local OS/2 BBS's in town that might encourage you or your favorite local sysop to pass some information along, too. And by all means keep Dave Fisher posted on your BBS's if he's still keeping his list up and current. Without him, we wouldn't be able to include as much as we do. This listing is for the BBS junkie in you who needs to have a phone bill treat once in a while . Or bored to death while you're travelling. Our listing is based on a rather extensive listing put together by Dave Fisher of OS/2 type Bulletin Boards. Space limits this month prevent us from listing all the details he has for each BBS, but we've tried to include a couple from every state in the US (Notice and hint to you sysops...not all states are represented.) and a few foreign countries, too. Dave Fisher's list is a compilation of OS/2 BBS's across the world. If you wish to make an addition or correction to his list, he's asked that you please netmail your BBS information to Dave Fisher at LiveNet, 1:170/110@fidonet.org. For the newsletter, I've sorted the in alphabetical order by Country for the international ones and by state for those in the USA to make it easier to find one close to you. His file has other details related to these BBS's but we didn't have room, okay? The file we're using showed that the last update was September 7, 1992. Does anyone know if this list of his is being kept up to date? I hope to expand it more next month; ran out of time. But I've got his list in a database right now and I'll be able to code that list a lot easier next month. Hope you find this inclusion useful. Large phone bills are not my fault...!!! }}} Australia Graham Stair 3M Australia +61-2-498-9184 Australia Alan Salmon PC User's Group +61-6-259-1244 Australia Norbert Fuerst The Styrian OS/2 Jumbo +43-316-673237 Australia Bill Bolton Software Tools Mail Exc +61-2-449-2618 Australia Bill Bolton Software Tools Mail Exc +61-2-449-9477 Australia Felix Tsang Programmer's BBS +61-2-875-1296 Australia Alan Salmon PC User's Group +61-6-259-1244 Australia Ian Watson OZ-Share OS/2 BBS +61-7-398-3759 Australia }}} Belgium Bas Heijermans Moving Sound OS/2 BBS +32-3-3850748 Belgium Benoit HUON Os/2 MANiA BELGIUM +32-2-3872021 Belgium Danny Bruggeman Hellfire +32-2-7515203 Belgium Bas Heijermans Moving Sound OS/2 BBS +32-3-3850748 Belgium }}} Canada Kevin Lowey Univ. of Saskatchewan (306) 966-4857 Canada Evan Smith ECS Net (403) 253-5996 Canada Ian Evans Baudeville BBS (416) 283-0114 Canada Herbert Tsui BBS Council (604) 275-6883 Canada Jerry Stevens The Locutory (613) 722-0489 Canada }}} Denmark Rene Carlsen OS/2 Task and FrontDoor H +45-98451070 Denmark Jorgen Ollgaard Josti-BBS +45-47-380120 Denmark Jorgen Ollgaard Josti-BBS +45-47-380524 Denmark }}} France Emmanuel Sandorfi Os/2 MANiA (Help Maximu +33-164-090460 France }}} Germany Ulrich Roeding BOX/2 +49-89-6019677 Germany Peter Kaszanics APOLONIA +49-201-200381 Germany Peter Kaszanics APOLONIA +49-201-200382 Germany Peter Plischka IBM Mailbox +49-201-210744 Germany Peter Kaszanics APOLONIA +49-201-237509 Germany Peter Plischka IBM Mailbox +49-201-295181 Germany Chris Leuder Zaphod BBS +49-228-229147 Germany Chris Leuder Zaphod BBS +49-228-262894 Germany Kalle Braun Terrania City +49-228-317752 Germany Oliver Lass LRZ-System +49-228-331214 Germany Oliver Lass LRZ-System +49-228-334372 Germany Harald Kipp OS/2 Point +49-234-9279222 Germany Karlheinz Kissel The_File_Store +49-6106-22266 Germany Juergen Berger JERRY'S OS/2-BBS +49-6134-26563 Germany Oliver Schwabedissen MoonFlower +49-6145-31602 Germany Richard Clement OS/2 Express +49-6183-74270 Germany Michael Breukel PC Softbox OS/2 +49-6196-27799 Germany Romeo Bernreuther CCWN-BOX +49-7151-68434 Germany Markus Noller Second Source +49-7191-56267 Germany Juergen Fritz CheckPoint OS/2 +49-7331-69116 Germany Thomas Tegel The CAT +49-7971-72446 Germany }}} Italy Luigi Ravina Italy Network +39-11-8180069 Italy Roberto Sonzogni Runnin' with The Devil +39-363-302798 Italy Pasquale Cantiello FastForward BBS +39-823-812099 Italy }}} Netherlands Peter Smink BBS The Experiment +31-1150-15245 Netherlands Dave Jones The TJD Support BBS +31-1720-38558 Netherlands Joop Mellaart INFOBOARD +31-4752-6200 Netherlands Marcel Stikkelman PC-Square +31-79-424107 Netherlands }}} Norway Terje Slydahl PerlePorten +47-83-33003 Norway }}} Singapore Ivan Leong Miqas/2 Singapore +65-755-6463 Singapore }}} Switzerland Alex Wyss Gepard's Oracle Zuerich +41-1-3637037 Switzerland Michael Buenter MICS OS/2 Paradise +41-41-538607 Switzerland Ernesto Hagmann PC-Info +41-61-9412204 Switzerland }}} United Kingdom Mike Gove MonuSci BBS +44-0-454-633197 United Kingdom Phil Tuck The TJD Support BBS +44-535-665345 United Kingdom }}} Arizona Mike Mahoney Emerald Isle, The (602) 749-8638 Arizona Frank Ward Encounter, The (602) 892-1853 Arizona }}} California Patrick O'Riva AsmLang and OS/2 (408) 259-2223 California Michael Cummings Zzyzx Road OS/2 BBS (619) 579-0135 El Cajon, California Craig Swanson OS/2 Connection (619) 558-9475 San Diego, California Chuck Gilmore Magnum BBS (805) 582-9306 California Michael Nelson SeaHunt BBS (415) 431-0227 California Michael Nelson SeaHunt BBS (415) 431-0473 California }}} Colorado William Herrera Cuerna Verde (719) 545-8572 Colorado Randy Edwards Socialism OnLine! (719) 392-7781 Colorado }}} Connecticut Chris Regan Storm Front - OS/2, The (203) 234-0824 Connecticut Felix Tang Excelsior, The (203) 466-1826 Connecticut Emmitt Dove Fernwood (203) 483-0348 Connecticut Steve Lesner Bullet BBS (203) 322-4135 Connecticut Steve Lesner Bullet BBS (203) 329-2972 Connecticut Rob Schmaling Caladan (203) 622-4740 Connecticut Don Dawson Treasure Island (203) 791-8532 Connecticut Bob Morris Ascii Neighborhood (203) 932-6236 Connecticut Bob Morris Ascii Neighborhood (203) 934-9852 Connecticut }}} Delaware John Tarbox Singer Bear BBS (302) 984-2238 Delaware Scott Street Space Station Alpha (302) 653-1458 Delaware }}} Florida Mark Wheeler SandDollar, The (407) 784-4507 Florida Rusty Plant The 19th Hole (904) 479-8538 Pensacola, Florida Don Bauer OS2 Exchange (904) 739-2445 Florida Chris Wolcott The Outer Limits (904) 934-1141 Gulf Breeze, Florida Kathy Todd The Apothecary's Archives (904) 934-3146 Gulf Breeze, Florida Richard Todd The Disintegrated Circuit OS/2 (904) 934-9796 Gulf Breeze, Florida }}} Georgia IBM IBM National Support Ce (404) 835-6600 Georgia IBM IBM National Support Ce (404) 835-5300 Georgia Ed June Information Overload (404) 471-1549 Georgia }}} Hawaii Craig Oshiro Ghostcomm Image Gallery (808) 456-8510 Hawaii }}} Illinois Bill Cook GREATER CHICAGO Online! (708) 895-4042 Illinois Bogie Bugsalewicz I CAN! BBS (312) 736-7434 Illinois }}} Indiana Mike Phillips Catacombs, The (317) 525-7164 Indiana Jay Tipton Play Board, The (219) 744-4908 Indiana }}} Kansas Troy Majors Byte Bus, The (316) 683-1433 Kansas }}} Louisiana Stan Brohn HelpNet of Baton Rouge (504) 273-3116 Louisiana Jim Sterrett Padded Cell BBS, The (504) 340-7027 Louisiana }}} Maryland James Chance Last Relay, The (410) 793-3829 Maryland }}} Michigan Dave Shoff Cornerstone BBS, The (616) 465-4611 Michigan }}} Minnesota Brady Flowers Oberon Software (507) 388-1154 Minnesota }}} Missouri Woody Sturges OS/2 Woodmeister, The (314) 446-0016 Missouri }}} New Jersey Bob Germer Capital City BBS (609) 386-1989 New Jersey Mike Fuchs Dog's Breakfast, The (908) 506-0472 New Jersey }}} Nevada Kerry Flint Caddis OS/2 BBS (702) 453-6687 Nevada Dennis Conley Communitel OS/2 BBS (702) 399-0486 Nevada }}} New York Mikel Beck Kind Diamond's Realm (516) 736-3403 New York }}} North Carolina Thomas Bradford Backdoor BBS (919) 799-0923 North Carolina Richard Lee Psychotronic BBS (919) 286-7738 North Carolina }}} Ohio Mark Lehrer Akron Anomoly, The (216) 688-6383 Ohio }}} Oklahoma Bill Schnell Asylum BBS, The (918) 832-1462 Oklahoma Scott Dickason BBS/2 (918) 743-1562 Oklahoma }}} Oregon Bill Taylor Integrated Media Servic (503) 667-2649 Oregon Paul Breedlove Multi-Net (503) 883-8197 Oregon }}} Pennsylvania Louis F. Ursini Quantum Leap (215) 967-9018 Pennsylvania Ed Barboni System-2 RBBS (215) 631-0685 Pennsylvania }}} South Carolina Paul Beverly PMSC OnLine Resource (803) 735-6101 South Carolina }}} Tennessee Operand BBS Lonnie Wall (901) 753-3738 Tennessee Edward Owens Looking Glass, The (901) 872-4386 Tennessee }}} Texas Robert McA Live-Wire (214) 307-8119 Texas Doug Palmer Rock BBS, The (512) 654-9792 Texas David Dozier Roach Coach, The (713) 343-0942 Texas Ken Rucker RucK's Place/2 (817) 485-8042 Texas }}} Virginia Pete Norloff OS/2 Shareware (703) 385-4325 Virginia Pete Norloff OS/2 Shareware (703) 385-0931 Virginia Bill Andrus Systems Exchange, The (703) 323-7654 Virginia Joe Salemi Max's Doghouse (703) 548-7849 Virginia }}} Washington Adolph Weidanz The Gold Pegasus BBS Running Maximus/Binkley using OS/2 Versions (206) 698-8404 Fidonet: 1:350/35 Eznet: 255:1206/101 and 0 Bremerton, Washington LeRoy DeVries Sno-Valley Software Exc (206) 880-6575 Washington Rodney Lorimor Gecko Control (509) 244-0944 Washington Todd Riches Alternate Reality (206) 557-9258 Washington