═══ 1. VOICE Newsletter - Contact Information ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education For the latest news on VOICE and OS/2, please check our web site news page - http://www.os2voice.org/whatsnew.html Previous issues of the VOICE Newsletter are available at our website http://www.os2voice.org/newsletters.html and from the hobbes ftp site ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/info/newsltr/voice. To subscribe to any of the VOICE mailing Lists please go to our web site http://www.os2voice.org/mailinglists.html If you have any OS/2 or VOICE news you would like to submit for the next issue of VOICE Newsletter, please send it to Mark Dodel (editor@os2voice.org) VOICE Reporter by the 15th of the preceding month. ═══ 2. VOICE Newsletter - Index ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 Volume 2, Issue 9 Index editor@os2voice.org Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org OS/2 - VOICE News Page OS/2 User Group News Page OS/2 Developer News Page OS/2 Features Section What is VOICE? VOICE Officers Membership Sponsors http://www.bmtmicro.com If you have OS/2 or VOICE related news you would like to see added to the next issue of the VOICE Newsletter please send it to mailto:editor@os2voice.org editor@os2voice.org Next Page ═══ 3. VOICE Newsletter - VOICE News ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 The News Page editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org September 15, 1998 Source: Dan Casey The Netscape Communicator beta has expired as of today which is 15 days sooner then documented in the readme. There is a patch and instructions on how to bypass the expiration code on Judy's Warped World site: http://www.gt-online.com/~bri/. I used the instructions and they work, but I had to boot to a command prompt to copy the patched version of netscape.exe as I received a sharing violation any time I tried to delete or copy over the original netscape.exe. No word yet on when the next beta/GA version of Communicator for OS/2 will be available. September 11, 1998 Warpstock '98, to be held October 17-18 in Chicago, IL, will draw OS/2 users, developers, and enthusiasts by the hundreds! Sadly, not all OS/2 users, developers, and enthusiasts will be able to attend. For these people, VOICE proudly announces that it will hold VOICE Live From Warpstock IRC sessions during the Warpstock '98 event! VOICE will have an internet connection at Warpstock and will set up an IRC connection to the #voice channel on the WEBBnet IRC network on both days. Visitors to Warpstock will have an avenue to discuss the highlights of the event with those users remaining home. Please join us for these very special IRC sessions on October 17 and 18 to get the earliest reports of the success of this year's Warpstock event! As always, IRC sessions are held in the #voice channel on the WEBBnet IRC network. For more information on WEBBnet servers, please visit http://www.suntrix.com/ibbs/server.html, and for more information on IRC in general and on OS/2 native IRC client software, please visit , http://www.gt-online.com/~bri/irc_clients.html. If you have any further questions or need additional assistance getting connected to WEBBnet, please feel free to contact the VOICE Secretary at freiheit@tstonramp.com. Thank you for your support of OS/2's future! September 10, 1998 VOICE is pleased to announce a SpeakUp session with SunDial Systems Support Services, Randell Flint, Rollin White, and Dan Kulp on Monday, September 21, 1998 at 8pm US Eastern Daylight time (midnight GMT as Monday becomes Tuesday). The topic for discussion will be Mesa/2 2.2. SpeakUp sessions are held in the #voice channel on the WEBBnet IRC network. For a list of WEBBnet servers, please visit http://www.suntrix.com/ibbs/server.html. If you are unfamiliar with IRC, you can get help and information about native OS/2 client software on the Meeting Info page of the VOICE website (http://www.os2voice.org/meetinginfo.html). Sessions last approximately 2 hours, so come prepared to participate and learn! While you're on the VOICE website, be sure to check out our Calendar of Events to see what special items are coming up for the rest of September and October, including publish dates for the VOICE Newsletter, additional SpeakUp sessions, and our planned Live From Warpstock IRC sessions! For additional information, please contact VOICE Secretary Don Eitner at freiheit@tstonramp.com. Thank you for your interest in OS/2's future! September 10, 1998 Source: Henry Ferlauto (ferlauto@mindspring.com) Found this IBM Product Annoucement today: AFP Font Collection for AIX, OS/400 and OS/2 Features New International Font Support Software Announcement September 8, 1998 Announcement Letter Number: 298-314 At a Glance The AFP Font Collection provides a comprehensive set of fonts and utilities to enable consistent printing on AFP printers in any IBM system environment. Version 2 includes new international language capabilities to support printing in global markets: Support for the euro currency symbol and code pages Support for printing in Thai and Lao Support for the New Sheqel Sign in Hebrew Enhanced code page support for Cyrillic, Hebrew, Katakana, Latin2 and APL Addition of "g-cedilla" to all Latin4 Core Interchange fonts Full GBK support for Chinese, and full Hangul support for Korean with the Outline Fonts and Programs feature. ----------------------------------------- For ordering, contact: Your IBM representative, an IBM Business Partner, or IBM North America Sales Centers at 800-IBM-CALL Reference: YE010 Overview The IBM AFP (TM) Font Collection provides a comprehensive set of fonts and utilities to give you consistent printed output on AFP printers at 240 or 300 dpi, or on any printer that uses AFP outline fonts. It also provides compatible Type 1 and CID keyed outlines that allow you to view your AFP documents in Windows 95, NT or OS/2 (R) systems, or via the Netscape or Internet Explorer browsers with WYSIWYG fidelity. The fonts can be installed in any IBM operating system environment. The AFP Font Collection supports printing in approximately forty-six languages. The Type Transformer optional program enables you to acquire outline fonts in any typeface of your choice and create AFP fonts in raster format, or in AFP outline font format. Version 2 of the AFP Font Collection includes new international language capabilities to support print requirements for global markets. Specific new functions include: Support for the new euro currency symbol and code pages in all Latin1 Core Interchange fonts Addition of full Core Interchange font support for Thai and Lao languages Support for the New Sheqel Sign in all Hebrew Core Interchange fonts Enhanced code page support for Cyrillic, Hebrew, Katakana, Latin2 (including Estonia), and APL Addition of "g-cedilla" to all Latin4 Core Interchange fonts. Full GBK support for Chinese (on Outline Fonts and Programs CD-ROM in CID-keyed outline font format only) Full Hangul support for Korean (on Outline Fonts and Programs CD-ROM in CID-keyed outline font format only) Intended Customers AFP Font Collection is intended for any AFP customer who requires: Consistent font support on printers with different resolutions Print and view fidelity for AFP documents Printed output with the new euro currency symbol Ability to customize AFP fonts. Key Prerequisites AFP Font Collection can be installed in any supported IBM operating system. Media features are available for upload to OS/400 (R) from OS/2, or for direct installation in AIX (R), OS/400 or OS/2. Planned Availability Dates September 25, 1998 (OS/400) December 11, 1998 (AIX, OS/2 and Outline Fonts and Programs) September 10, 1998 ZDNet is looking for an alternative to Windows NT: http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_2523.html vote for OS/2! September 10, 1998 CD2MP3 PM 1.01 - An Interface for CD and WAV to MP3 conversion. Featuring: CD Drive Auto-Detect, WAV file Drag and Drop, Custom Encoder and CD Grabber Configuration, Nice and Simple GUI, Super Grab,Play/Stop preview for CD, Statistic Information, and Auto deselect/removal Fixed in 1.01:  DOH!! pointers did it again... basename wasn't functional  remove & deselect wasn't save and reloaded to its previous state http://www.cam.org/~guardia/pm123.html PM123 is a native OS/2 PM application for playing audio MPEG 1.0, 2.0 and 2.5 Layer I, II, and III. It does so by using (the cheap) mpg123 engine, which is still quite fast. The interface, however, is a whole new world. The player supports:  Fast Forward  Rewind  Seek Slider  Dynamic Priority Boost  Shared and Multiple sound cards  8 bit sound cards  Downmix and Mono  HTTP Streaming  Read ahead Stream Buffering  Graphic Equalizer  Filter Plug-ins (comes with a PDK, and also with a ready made Real Equalizer) The interface also supports:  Skins (WinAmp skin converter included)  Playlists (with Shuffle support and even a Playlist Manager)  ID3 tags (with Editor)  DBCS support (only through System Fonts)  Visual Plug-ins (comes with a PDK, and also with ready made Spectrum Analyzer and Oscilloscope)  Remote Control through Pipes And a whole lot of other widgets... http://www.teamos2.sci.fi/pm123/ New DLL fixes this from version 1.01:  Found some Audio MPEG Header documentation. Should now work with any MP3s other players or decoders play, if not, please contact me. I've also fixed 8000Hz MP3 support, cool.  Patched possible divide by zero when loading corrupted files.  Implemented workaround for bad GUS driver DART buffer timing it jumps by 250 ms step once in a while instead of incrementing for each buffer).Makes decoderPlayingSamples() work correctly on GUS.  Finally found the proper buffers to flush. No more first buffer trash kludge and now any snap crackle and pop are REALLY only coming from your sound card alone (check the visual plugins if you don't believe me)  Faster seek by boosting priority (oops, forgot this initially :))  Audio engine now fills empty buffers with 128 value instead of 0 for 8 bit playback (removes the clicks). September 10, 1998 Abbottsbury Software updated their Happauge WinCast driver to version 1.020L on 9/4/98: http://www.wdi.co.uk/os2tv/download.htm September 8, 1998 Countdown to Warpstock! http://www.warpstock.org Warpstock October 17-18, 1998 Wyndham Northwest, Chicago, IL. USA September has arrived, the kids are back in school, and the Warpstock '98 Team is continuing to put together this year's celebration of OS/2. It's only a little more than a month away! If you haven't visited the Web site at http://www.warpstock.org lately, it's time to do so: we have a new look, a new logo, and most importantly, updated vendors and presentations. Presentations Confirmed Check out the new lists of Presentations, Events and Software Demonstrations http://www.warpstock.org/sched.html. We are updating these items as we gather information; it's been changing almost daily. If you don't see your company, product or topic presented, we may be missing information! Just use our on-line forms to register for a software or speaker presentation for your company or yourself. More Presentations Wanted While we have plenty of presentations scheduled, there's always room for more. OS/2 users are anxious to learn *everything* about the operating system, after all, and the context in which OS/2 is used. If you have wisdom to share about any of the following topic areas, we'd love to hear about it.  Software development  Small business computing  Internet connectivity  IBM's products and perspectives  Home user issues  OS/2 interaction with the community  OS/2 architecture and features  Extending OS/2 applications Remember, Warpstock is all about sharing our knowledge. You don't have to be a wizard on the topic (though we'd never turn one down), but if you've accumulated knowledge worth sharing -- or worth exploring together -- then you're probably a good candidate for speaking. Give our web page at http://www.warpstock.org/exspeak.html a visit. Plus, software vendors have a great opportunity to demonstrate their applications at Warpstock. We hope to have continuous demonstrations of freeware, shareware, and commercial applications throughout the weekend. Just surf over to the sign-up form at http://www.warpstock.org/present_software.html and sign up! It's that easy! While Warpstock isn't an IBM event -- not by any stretch of the imagination! -- we welcome IBM employees (and ex-employees) who are interested in talking about the company's directions, OS/2-related products, and "how it works" subjects. While the Warpstock Team is well connected, we know that many you have a lot of contacts inside the company. We urge you to encourage any IBMers you know to help out as presenters... and hey, just to attend. IBM staff who attended Warpstock last year were recharged, just as were all of us customers. Arguably, IBM's not especially good at communicating inside the company about non-IBM events, so we can't be sure how well the "Warpstock word" has gotten out, or, in. Anything you can do to let IBMers know about the event will be much appreciated, especially by those IBMers. End of $99 Room rate at Wyndham Northwest I want to thank everyone that has booked their rooms at the Wyndham Northwest. You have made it possible for Warpstock to meet its budget. As of September 1, and there are now less than 40 rooms left at the incredible Warpstock $99 a night rate left. This $99 rate will close out on September 16th, and after that the Wyndham will accept the room rate at their discretion. Based on their current actions of no longer giving the rate for extra nights, we believe that they will be charging their standard rate schedule. If you find that they are quoting $189 or some such figure, you can still get a somewhat discounted rate if you are a AAA member, they do have a discounted weekend rate; AARP members can also get a discount. Job Fair Looking for a new job? Warpstock may be able to help you! We are currently in negotiation with several recruiters who are looking for OS/2 people, and we hope to set aside an area for them to do interviews. Bring your resume! If we are unable to reach a final terms with these recruiters and companies, we will collect resumes anyway and see if we can set up a searchable OS/2 database on one of the web sites. Special Mentions SCOUG deserves a special mention. Not only was SCOUG a early financial backer of Warpstock, and a vendor at Warpstock; they have also been a great advertiser of Warpstock with both their Webfoot and Peter Skye's interview that was just published on the web http://www.scoug.com/os24u/1998/scoug809.2.warped.html. I have never been called a visionary before. I am proud to wear the SCOUG polo shirt at my office and when I go to a OS/2 meeting. I know that I will be purchasing a new one this year. Hethmon Brothers Software (http://www.hethmon.com/) also deserves a special mention. Hethmon Bros. purchased advertising on Warpcast for the month of August, which was almost all about Warpstock. Paul Hethmon, last year's Warpstock Chair, continues to host our email site, is on the Warpstock Executive Board, and has been great help to Warpstock'98. He and his company are truly what Warpstock is about -- helping the OS/2 Community. Final Words I personally, want to thank everyone who has helped us bring this new Warpstock together in such a timely fashion. It has been a real challenge for me to work with as far-flung a group as the current Warpstock '98 Team. I think that we have done a great job, considering that we have had only 3 months to do it in. Some people have questioned if this is the same Warpstock as last year. When I look at the devotion that the people helping us put this together, I am absolutely amazed. Warpstock still has the same Heart as last year. This year we are in a lovely hotel, we will have beautiful trade booths and we will look less like a 'computer flea market' than last year's Warpstock. I know that I am looking forward to seeing all of you at Warpstock. I think that we will have some surprises for you, I know that you will find lots of new things to see, to think about and to take home with you. Stan Sidlov Event Chair http://www.warpstock.org September 8, 1998 Source: Alex Wyckmans (awyckma@pandora.be) Only a few days left before we put the fire under the second Warp-O-Que, a multimedia event with this time 'networking' as the main topic. The purpose of this day is to promote OS/2 in all its facets to everyone who is interested. There are demonstrations and technical workshops during the whole day. If you want to get the experience to be connected to a multi-platform network, come and bring your PC with you. We install temporary a network card in your PC and connect you to our network. There will be the possibility to surf on the Internet too. You get lots of information, tips & tricks, and don't forget the tombola with his great prices. The happening starts at 14:00 hour in the 'Kultureel Centrum DE KAM', at Wezembeek-Oppem, Belgium. In the late afternoon we put the fire under the barbecue (do you get the link now with the name of the event? :-) ). With this invitation we also invite every firm, developer, or what so ever who is interested to participate in this event. You get the opportunity to promote your OS/2 product or service at no cost during this day. If you can't attend this event, but are willing to send flyers, brochures, gadgets, demo-stuff or even the real thing for the tombola, please don't hesitate to contact me. For more information you can always send me an E-mail at the following address: awyckma@pandora.be or visit The Warped Site at: http://users.pandora.be/luc.vanbogaert/ and follow the Warp-O-Que/2 link! Let's hope we see you all there. September 8, 1998 This is to announce that version 1.1 of the MIDI Station Sequencer has been released! New features include:  MIDI Thru!  System Exclusive Librarian with the ability to transmit sys-ex messages!  Controllers Window - for real-time transmitting of controller messages!  Data Filter - For complete control over all editing functions  Step Recording!  Cut, Copy, Delete and Paste!  Track merging!  Track Appending!  Scrap View - To see what events have been cut or copied to the scrap buffer!  Bars View - A graphical representation of your sequence!  Ability to transmit individual events in the Sequence/Track View window!  Updated quantize module to use new data filtering!  Improved the playback/recording algorithm - Vastly improves playback precision; especially over large sequences!  Fixed problem of certain modules not being formatted correctly under various screen resolutions  Various other fixes and enhancements have been added! MIDI Station Sequencer is a full featured multi-track sequencer for OS/2. It uses the RTMIDI (Real-Time MIDI) Subsystem along with the high resolution timer for extremely accurate MIDI processing. It requires that you have an RTMIDI compatible soundcard/driver. Many soundcards are available that will work well with RTMIDI. Other features include:  Default of 24 tracks with the ability to add tracks as needed  MIDI Track Mixer with volume and 16 channel panning controls  Metronome with settings to use for playback and/or recording countoff  Track looping on a track-by-track basis  Endless loop option for continuous playback  Tempo Map  Meter Map - For Time Signatures  Channel, Program, and bank selection on a per-track basis  Volume setting for each track  MIDI Delay Module with full settings control  Ability to transpose sequences on a track-by-track basis  Comments window for free-form text per sequence  Sequence and track data information window  Full online and fly over help  Full color control for the track window  Ability to read and write Standard MIDI files Types 0 and 1  Ability to rechannel tracks MIDI Station Sequencer 1.1 will be available today from the following locations: BMT Micro - http://www.bmtmicro.com Peter Norloff's BBS - http://www.os2bbs.com Hobbes Archive - http://www.cdrom.com Also for the latest information, screenshots and troubleshooting help please take a look at the MIDI Station Sequencer webpage at: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Horizon/6780. It will be updated by tomorrow with new information about version 1.1! Look for an upcoming review of MIDI Station Sequencer in the OS/2 E-Zine magazine! September 8, 1998 Source: Robert Deed (eyerewl@fcc.net Hummingbird software had made a patch for eXceed 3.0 when used with tcpip 4.1 earlier this year, however this patch didn't really seem to surface and has been sitting in the upload directory of my bbs for a month or so. Anyone in need of this patch can download it off of Newterra's webpage at http://newterra.ml.org. September 8, 1998 A new version of smartwin.dll is available for download at: ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/incoming/smwp001.zip It will later be moved to: ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/util/wps/smwp001.zip The archive contains: smartwin.dll - a new smartwin.dll readme.txt - installation notes This patch solves the mouse pointer hiding problems of Smart Windows v0.81 beta. Do not use it with v0.80 beta!!! There are still some minor problems regarding applications minimized to the desktop, frame drag of windows contained within other windows (MDI applications), font settings and cancelling shutdown. A new patch to solve these problems will be released in few days. September 7, 1998 There's a hints page for Hopkins:FBI at: http://doofus.ml.org/Hopkins/ September 7, 1998 Source: Steve Wendt (stevew@hartnell.cc.ca.us) I've just uploaded the new version 2.80 of "REXX Tips & Tricks" to the incoming directory of hobbes: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/incoming/rxtt28.zip The proposed directory is http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/dev/rexx/rxtt28.zip "REXX Tips & Tricks v2.80" is an OS/2 INF file containing useful hints and information about OS/2 REXX. Included are information about literature for REXX, further Software for REXX, hints & tips for OS/2 commands, hints & tips for REXX commands & functions, some hints for optimizations, a lot of REXX source code (functions & complete programs) and much more. September 7, 1998 Source: Steve Wendt (stevew@hartnell.cc.ca.us) Tyra/2 Version 1.20 Config.sys Editor for Warp 3 and above. Tyra/2 is an easy to use OS/2 config.sys file editor. All of the statements in your config.sys file are displayed logically in a notebook. You don't have to worry about the correct spelling or what parameters are available. Most commands can be set up with just a click of the mouse. For all commands, there are help pages available with a description of the command and what parameters can be used with that particular entry in your config.sys file. New features in versioin 1.20  A page for Country and Codepage settings.  A page for the Printmonbufsize statement.  All changes you make are written to a log file and optionally as comments to your config.sys  Added a function to sort the config.sys file.  Better support for your comments.  Load time is now 4 times faster. ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/incoming/tyra120e.zip The proposed directory is ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/util/system/tyra120e.zip And within the next days at: http://www.bmtmicro.com/catalog/tyra2.html September 7, 1998 Source: Steve Wendt (stevew@hartnell.cc.ca.us) A new release, 4.06R8, of PowerWeb Secure Server++ for OS/2 is now available from the developer, CompuSource Pty. Ltd. ftp://www.compusource.co.za/pub/os2www.zip For those who don't know, PowerWeb is a secure web/ftp/smtp/pop integrated server for OS/2. The list of features is way too long to repeat here, but you can read about the details at CompuSource's web site http://www.compusource.co.za. (NOTE: CompuSource is located in South Africa and the internet link to their site is often slow, so be prepared for a long 3MB download and sluggish web response. It's worth the wait.) I also provide an unofficial PowerWeb Support mailing list, and you can join the list using your web browser at http://www.pdsys.com/pwutils.html. September 6, 1998 Source: Juergen Dankoweit (jdankoweit@geocities.com) "TVFS for Removable" is a PM program which is used for administrating links to TVFS-drives. Links also can be made to removable media like SyQuest, CD-ROM or ZIP. All Links are automatically updated when a media is changed. You can get from my homepage at URL: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Way/3792 September 4, 1998 WPTOOL25 has been released. This set of utilities allow you to save and restore desktop INI files, check INI files for errors, restart the WPS without rebooting, and more. New in WPTOOL25:  CHECKINI slightly modified; I noticed that the WarpCenter creates orphan objects in the Nowhere folderwhenever a tray is deleted. CHECKINI now detects and removes the orphan objects.  WPTOOLS.DLL slightly modified. Download WPTOOL25.ZIP from: http://www.os2ss.com/information/kelder/wptool25.zip September 4, 1998 ScanIt/2, a PM interface for the SANE scanner drivers, has received a small update: http://home.t-online.de/home/RReuters/ScIt_E2.htm http://home.t-online.de/home/RReuters/Scn2_09a.Zip Scan It/2 v0.9a - Refresh (98-08-30) (150KB) Needs the "Scan It/2 v0.9 - Public beta version" from above! This is a code refresh which will extend the beta test period of Scan It/2 v0.9. It also includes a fix for a problem when installing the application on certain machines and some minor enhancements, too. A complete new pre-release package will be available later. September 4, 1998 PMConverter 0.04b has been released: http://www.os-2.de/programme/indos2/cdencoder/ The page is German, but it's not hard to figure out. PMConverter is an CD -> MP3 frontend with CDDB support. September 4, 1998 Matrox has released an update to their BIOS upgrades. The only change in Release 3.43 over 3.42 is the addition of the MGA G200 1.3 BIOS update. http://www.matrox.com/mga/drivers/bios/ September 4, 1998 Source: Alessandro Cantatore (alexcant@tin.it) a warning note to all Smart Windows users: If you are experiencing system hangs, SMARTWIN.EXE crashes, or any other kind of strange and unexpected behaviour then your SMARTWIN.INI file, in the installation directory, is probably corrupted. To solve the problem delete it and then reboot. During system start a new, correct SMARTWIN.INI will be created. Do not overwrite SMARTWIN.INI with an old copy from V.0.80 installation. The files are not compatible! In a future release I'll include an INI migration routine in the installer in order to preserve the previous preferences. If you are still using V.0.80 I suggest you to upgrade to V.0.81 as soon as possible. ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/util/wps/smw081.zip September 4, 1998 Stardock has released Entrepeneur 1.31: http://www.stardock.com/update/update_ent.html Changes in 1.31 over 1.3  Fixed cheat where you could get research very fast  Fixed loophole allowing people to create maps with unlimited adjacencies Note: This is the last update for taking care of exploitations for the sake of high scores. High scores will simply be eliminated or other drastic measures if there are any further ones. Please just play the game as it was meant to be played. September 4, 1998 The Focus on OS/2 site at the Mining Co. (http://os2.miningco.com/) has been updated. You will now find:  Information on partition tables  News on Warp 4 Fixpack 8  Over 50 new links  2 new link categories including OS/2 Mailing Lists And as always there is a chat room and web-based discussion board. September 4, 1998 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --------------------- Friday, September 4, 1998 Data Representations, Inc. http://www.datarepresentations.com/ ------------------------------------------------------ Data Representations, Inc. to exhibit at Warpstock '98 ------------------------------------------------------ Data Representations, Inc. is pleased to announce that it will exhibit its flagship product, Simplicity for Java(TM), at Warpstock '98 in Chicago. (http://www.warpstock.org) Written completely in Java, Simplicity for Java lets developers build Java applications and applets interactively. Simplicity presents the user with a working model of the actual application that they are creating. All changes to the code are immediately integrated into this working model without the user needing to save and compile the changes. This dynamic execution reduces the traditional three step Code-Compile-Test software development process to a single step: Design. The upcoming version 1.1 builds upon Simplicity's initial release by adding full support for the Swing components, debugging from within the Simplicity Composer, full JavaBeans(tm) support, and an enhanced Java-aware editor. Simplicity features a palette of parts which can be added dynamically to the working application. These parts include all of the AWT components and layouts, the swing components, as well as a set of extended components that provide enhanced functionality. The user can also add any JavaBean to the palette. Simplicity also features the Code Sourcerer(TM), which interviews the user in order to determine what should happen in response to events and writes the appropriate Java source code. This allows Simplicity for Java to be used by both experienced and inexperienced Java developers. Simplicity for Java comes with an Integrated Design Environment (IDE) which organizes all of the components of a project. A project can include multiple applications/applets, images, sounds, Java source/class files, HTML files, JavaBeans, and any other data files related to a project. The Simplicity IDE also relieves the user from worrying about pathnames on both a local file system and on a web server. Simplicity for Java is written completely in Java 1.1 to run on any Java-enabled platform, including OS/2 Warp, Solaris, Win95/98/NT, HP-UX, Linux and many others. Simplicity for Java 1.0 has received 100% Pure Java certification from Sun Microsystems, Inc. A free tryout version of Simplicity for Java 1.0 is available from Data Representations' web site, http://www.datarepresentations.com/. A public beta of version 1.1 will be available in late summer, and 1.1 will be released during the fall of 1998. Users of Simplicity for Java 1.0 will receive a free upgrade to version 1.1. Simplicity for Java is priced at $89 US for a single user license. Multiple user and academic licensing discounts are also available. ------------- Data Representations, Simplicity for Java, and Code Sourcerer are trademarks of Data Representations, Inc. Java, 100% Pure Java and JavaBeans are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. All trademarks are owned by their respective company. September 3, 1998 Source: John LeMay (jlemay@pclansolutions.com) Until recently I have been maintaining a web page dedicated to getting the Sound Blaster AWE64 card running under OS/2 Warp 3 and 4. Unfortunately, I no longer have the time to maintain the page and I am therefore seeking someone to take over the page and host it elsewhere. The page, located at http://www.monmouth.com/~jlemay, doesn't create much activity - it's had 2600 hits since May. If anyone is interested, please contact me at awe64@pclansolutions.com. September 3, 1998 WarpNote, the sticky notes program for OS/2, gains even more user-friendlines and usability in version 1.6. Drag and Drop has been implemented to make it easier to import text from text file objects or create text file objects from notes. Instead of using the OS/2 clipboard, you can drag and drop from and to the WarpNote notes list. WarpNote replaces the "hardware" sticky notes that many computer users still use by offering "software" sticky notes on the OS/2 desktop. The program is highly configurable, e.g. font and color settings can be set up for each note, and allows the user to take notes at any time and come back to the text written down with a single click on the mouse. WarpNote comes with a complete set of scripting commands that allow automatic operation for almost any purpose. A birthday reminder is included as an example program. See a review by Diane Gartner at: http://www.trailerpark.com/moonwalk/moonwolf/wnote.html The WarpNote website is: http://www.geocities.com/rodeodrive/2048/warpnote.html The WarpNote package (only 836 kilobytes) can also be downloaded at BMT Micro: ftp.bmtmicro.com/bmtmicro/wnote16.zip. September 3, 1998 MAME v0.31.4 has been released. M.A.M.E. stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, and currently runs 500+ classic (and even some not so classic) arcade games such as BombJack, 1943, and Bubble Bobble. The port is done by Martin Amodeo, and the project is a part of the OS/2 Netlabs (http://www.netlabs.org). To get more information or download a copy see the MAME web page (http://www.netlabs.org/projects/mame.html). Matrox users should read the special page about Matrox Cards before running MAME. September 3, 1998 Source: Mark Dodel, VOICE Editor For the adventurous souls among us, dated today 09/03/98: ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/fixes/v4warp/english-us/xr_m008 Has not yet appeared on the OS/2 Software Update page yet. Here is a list of APARS for FP8 from the README2 file: =========================== OS/2 Warp V4.0 fixed APARs FixPak Name= XR_M008 Build level = 9.032 =========================== APAR= JR10138 SMP SYSTEM HANG WHEN USING QUECALLS AND RUNNING UNDER ICSDEBUG. APAR= JR10330 ICONEDIT TRAPS IF SET TMP=DIRECTORY THAT DOES NOT EXIST. APAR= JR10448 HDMON REPORTS FREESPACE MODULO 4GB. APAR= JR11560 SYSTEM HANGS DURING EXECUTION OF MIGRATE. APAR= JR11734 LEXMARK CURRENT PRODUCT LINE PRINTERS FAIL TO PLUG AND PLAY. APAR= JR11858 MLM_SETSEL ANCHOR=CURSOR CAUSES REVERSE VIDEO PROBLEMS. APAR= JR11869 CZECH (ALTGR STATE) ACCENT CHARS TRAP D IN DOS SESSION. APAR= JR11903 SYS3170 ON PROCESS TERMINATION DUE TO GLOBAL TERMINATION ROUTINES BEING RUN TWICE. APAR= JR11929 TRAP D BECAUSE 0000:0000 IS BEING USED AS THE ADDRESS OF A 16 BIT WINDOW PROCEDURE. APAR= JR11930 LOCK IN PLACE DOES NOT WORK WITH FIXPAK6. APAR= JR11939 NUMLOCK LIGHT/STATE OUT OF SYNC. APAR= JR11941 REXX ENVIRONMENT GETS CORRUPTED IN OBJECT REXX. APAR= JR11961 FOR DBCS DATA, IF THE SIZE OF DATA IS MULTIPLE OF 1000 AND IF THE LAST CHAR IS CARRIDGE RETURN, INFINITE LOOP TO PRINT. APAR= JR11965 DOUBLE-CLICK LOWER CASE .DRV FILE CAUSES BAD INI ENTRIES. APAR= JR12004 MS OFFICE MANAGER PROBLEM WITH SMALL BUTTONS. APAR= JR12031 TRAP AT SYIREADATFILE + 59. APAR= JR12082 IN THE OS/2 ACCESS FEATURE IF RTRPM IS RUNNING A SETBOOT WILL HANG. APAR= JR12084 HAS VIDEO PROBLEMS WITH THE VDM RUNNING PCAS. APAR= JR12100 WARP CENTER FREE SPACE MONITOR SHOWS INCORRECT VALUE WHEN THERE IS MORE THAN 2GB FREE ON A PARTITION. APAR= JR12157 PROCESS HANGS RATHER THAN GETTING SYS3175. APAR= JR12159 ICAT DEBUGGER DOESN'T WORK IN FIXPACK 6 OR 7. APAR= JR12276 POSTSCRIPT SEPARATOR PAGE JOB LEFT IN QUEUE FOR BIDI PRINTER. APAR= JR12277 VDM SESSION FAILS TO CLOSE. APAR= JR12278 PROCESS MAY NEVER EXIT IF A THREAD IS SUSPENDED. APAR= JR12279 TRAP 0000 IN UDIVC WITH ECX NOT ZERO. APAR= JR12280 NO MLS_BORDER ON MLE AFTER FIX PAK 32 ON BIDI HEBREW. APAR= JR12283 BREAK REGISTERS DON'T WORK RIGHT IN SMP DEBUG KERNEL. APAR= JR12284 TRAP 000E IN _SEMRELEASEWAITEDMUTEX. APAR= JR12285 FP#29 PROBLEM OF HELP MANGER IN DBCS HANDLING. APAR= JR12286 PANIC IN VDMMKILLVDM. APAR= JR12287 TRAP IN CDFS AT FREESECTORLIST + 1E. APAR= JR12288 NUMBER OF FILES COPIED MESSAGE INCORRECT FOR LARGE NUMBER OF FILES. September 2, 1998 Product Update: InJoy Available at: ftp://ftp.bmtmicro.com/bmtmicro/injoy2_0.zip and http://www.bmtmicro.com. Description: ============ InJoy is a feature rich, fast, rock solid and easy to use SLIP/PPP dialer. New in v2.0b: New Dial On Demand, Filtering, Firewall, NAT support for IRC SEND/DCC, TCP/IP 4.1 support, NAT support for PING. Use it alone or share a dial up connection with Win3.x/Win9x/NT and Mac's on your LAN. FEATURE RICH: Dial On Demand; Re-Dial, Re- Connect; Network Address Translation; High Speeds; Phone Number List; Scripts, Auto- Learned; Connection Log; Terminal Mode; PAP CHAP; MS-CHAP; Filter Plugin; F/X Firewall plugin; TCP/IP v4.1 support; Trace; more.. September 2, 1998 SouthSoft (http://www.southsoft.com/) has announced their plans for PMMail/2 v2.0. Here are some details: We have been planning, designing and coding this major PMMail/2 upgrade for over 6 months, and are finally solidifing a feature set, cost projection, and potential release dates. We have combined almost all of the new features currently found only in PMMail 98, along with over 35 new features to create PMMail/2 2.0. From the minute checkbox options that people have been asking for, to the useability features that will make so many Inboxes so much easier to live with, to the major new features and breakthroughs, the PMMail/2 2.0 new feature list proves to be well worth checking out. Expected to be released in the late Fall months of October or November, we are targeting PMMail/2 2.0 to cost between $20 and $30 US for an upgrade to a currently registered PMMail 1.X user. We also intend to keep the cost (MSRP) of the non-upgrade version close to the 1.X cost of $40 US. If PMMail 1.X is purchased between now and the time 2.0 is released, you will recieve a key for both products, so your registration dollars are "grandfathered" into a 2.0 registration. To find out about the currently planned features (too numerous to list them all here), see: http://www.southsoft.com/news.html#twopointo. September 2, 1998 Smart Windows (http://www.ghostbbs.ml.org/utenti/alcant/) v0.81 Beta has been releaed. This enhances PM windows aesthetics and functionality. Titlebar can use shades and bitmaps as background with 3D text. Any bitmap can be used for the standard window controls. Other features include window rolling, titlebar hiding, sliding focus, mouse pointer hiding, mouse double click emulation, etc. You can download a copy from: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/ September 2, 1998 NetRexx 1.142 has been released. This version is a maintenance release, primarily to support changes in the Java Development Kit (JDK) introduced for Java 1.2. Please see the User's Guide for details for additions to the class path needed to run under Java 1.2. The other changes are:  A type on the left hand side of an operator that could be a prefix operator (+, -, or \) is now assumed to imply a cast, rather than being an error. For example: x=int -1  Improved code generation for for and to loops.  The euro character ('\u20ac') is now treated in the same way as the dollar character (that is, it may be used in the names of variables and other identifiers). Note that only UTF8-encoded source files can currently use the euro character, and a 1.1.7 (or later) version of a Java compiler is needed to generate the class files.  The arithmetic routines have slightly improved performance, and provide accurate binary floating point conversions for constants.  More robust handling of import, and import from classpath root segments generalized.  Improved error messages when an indirect property is initialized with a forward reference. You can download a copy from: http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/netrexx/ September 2, 198 There are new beta drivers (v2.40) of the Elsa ISDN card for OS2, Win9x and NT. You can download them from: http://www.elsa.com:8001/DATACOMM/QUICKSTP/QS1000/INDEX.HTM September 2, 1998 VisualAge Developer Domain subscribers can now download VisualAge for Java, Professional Edition 2.0. Existing VisualAge for Java 1.0 customers will automatically receive a copy of the new v2.0 product at no additional charge if they register their v1.0 products by 31 October. For more information see: http://www.software.ibm.com/vadd/ September 2, 1998 On August 31st, Version 2.2 of Mesa 2 was released to manufacturing. The planned product availability date is September 21st, 1998 but you can download the "manufacturing reference release" of the product right now from: http://www.sundialsystems.com/mesa/mesa22introfromhome.html September 2, 1998 Priority Master II v2.4 is now available. This program allows you to increase the priority of applications, and as a result boost performance. You can find out more information from: http://www.prioritymaster.com/ September 2, 1998 The Abbotsbury drivers for the Hauppauge WinCast/TV card have been updated to 1.020J. They are available at: http://www.wdi.co.uk/os2tv/download.htm. The StW-TV application for the WinCast/TV card from Stefan Milcke has also been updated to version 1.02B / Build2217. It's available from: http://home.t-online.de/home/stefan.milcke/stwtv_en.htm September 1, 1998 The BlueCAD's Utilities Home Page has been updated! Available for download there is a DWG filter: with that filter it is possible to read/write DWG files (compatible with AutoCAD 12). Download it from: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Peaks/4320 This filter is equivalent to the one supplied with BlueCAD for Windows 95, and can be run thanks to the Win32-OS2 project. BlueCAD is a CAD product developed by CadWare srl (http://www.cadware.it), and it is ready for OS/2 Warp. September 1, 1998 PU Monitor 2.02 Small yet functional system monitoring tool for OS/2 PM. Features of PU Monitor:  CPU Usage  TCP/IP traffic  Free RAM  Uptime  POP3 mailbox checker  Connection monitor  Customizable look and feel  Requires small amount of desktop space  Unique 'Attach to Warp Center' feature. PU Monitor 2.02 can be downloaded from: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/incoming/pumon2.zip and later probably will be moved to: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/util/wps/ Also, PU Monitor available for download and purchase at: http://www.bmtmicro.com/catalog/pumonitor.html September 1, 1998 If you're always searching for better ways to use TCP/IP with OS/2 Warp, IBM has two new publications which can help. 1. "Beyond DHCP: Work Your TCP/IP Internetwork with Dynamic IP" (IBM publication no. SG24-5280) is scheduled to be published in September, 1998. This new book includes extensive sections on the new IBM TCP/IP 4.1. This book also documents, for the first time, how to create a set of OS/2 Warp boot diskettes which can connect to the network using TCP/IP and DHCP; how to customize Netscape for firewall access using information provided by a DHCP server; how to integrate LAN domain information into a TCP/IP network; and much more. [Full disclosure: I'm one of the coauthors of this new book.] Many different platforms are discussed in this new book, but Warp Server, OS/2 Warp 4, and WorkSpace On-Demand get extensive treatment. This book should be on every TCP/IP network manager's shelf, regardless of platform. 2. "A Comprehensive Guide to Virtual Private Networks, Vol.1" (IBM publication no. SG24-5201) includes extensive information on OS/2 Warp's new Virtual Private Network (VPN) capabilities. Section 9.4.7 describes how to use TCP/IP 4.1 to set up a "mini firewall." For these (and other) IBM publications, please visit: http://www.redbooks.ibm.com. - - - - - Timothy F. Sipples IBM Network Computing Software (Chicago) Internet: tsipple@us.ibm.com WWW: http://www.secant.com/sipples Sent with Lotus Notes for OS/2 Warp editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 4. VOICE Newsletter - VOICE News Continued Page 2. ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 The News Page Page 2 editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org August 31, 1998 John Fairhurst and the Warpzilla team have released a new build of Warpzilla, version 0.006. You can download Warpzilla from http://www.innotek.de/warpzilla0006.zip This version is not fully functional and tested; it is only provided as a preview to the OS/2 community. You can test it on your machine but it might cause problems and not all sites will be displayed correctely. Warpzilla 0.006 is only a very rudimentary browser. It can layout HTML 4 very nicely but it does not support most of the features that a browser needs. No toolbar, no links, no forms... Note that this is only a technology demo, future versions of Warpzilla will be based on a new technology that will make up Netscape Communicator 6.006. You can share your experiences with this version with other users by joining the Warpzilla mailing list or posting to the appropriate os2 newsgroup at news://news.mozilla.org Please note that the current Warpzilla architecture will be abandoned so submitting bugs will not help with future versions of Warpzilla. For further information, please refer to http://www.mozilla.org August 31, 1998 Source: Sloan Anderson (sanderson@tripleiomaha.com) I am a technical recruiter for a Midwest regional firm. We currently have an opening for an OS/2 Administrator to manage the OS/2 servers and current LAN. Must be familiar with hardware and software configuration and installation, as well as LAN Administration, OS/2 Server Administration, NT 4.0 Server and Win 95 workstations. August 31, 1998 WPTools has been updated to version 2.4. WPTools is a collection of OS/2 specific tools. Some tools in the archive are:  CHECKINI - Checks Workplace shell related stuff in the OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI, mainly intended to keep the INI-Files clean and (relatively small) and thus have the best performance while using the workplace Shell  WPSBKP - Make a backup of most workplace shell objects in a text file. This text file can be used to restore a customized workplace shell after the desktop has be reinstalled or to port parts to another machine  WPSREST - Restores a backup made with WPSBKP  RESETWPS - Resets the worksplace shell without rebooting  WPTOOLS.DLL - A dynamic link library that, amongst other things, can be used from REXX to query object settings. This DLL is also used by WPSBKP to query object settings You can download a copy from http://www.os2ss.com/information/kelder/ August 29, 1998 Truespectra Inc. has updated its outstanding product Photo>Graphics Professional to version 2.02. Upgrade and demo are available to download at the following URL: http://www.truespectra.com/downloads/photographics-samplers.html New features/fixes in this release:  Fixed reported bugs in GIF and TIFF loading.  Created sampler version which doesn't include the TWAIN scanner drivers in the distribution August 29, 1998 We have released version 1.30 of WebMirror. This version has only a couple of fixes for problems that appeared in the OS/2 version, but should also be more stable on the Windows version. Here are the changes made in this version:  Fixed the memory error in the OS/2 version when reading the captured web sites from a web browser.  Fixed a bug in the web site export function that prevented the function to work correctly under OS/2. The update can be downloaded from our web site: http://www.maccasoft.com and from http://www.bmtmicro.com WebMirror is an advanced off-line browsing tool that allows you to re-create sections of the World Wide Web directly on your hard drive or local network. You can save particular pages, complete with text, links and graphics. Once the Web pages are saved to your hard drive (that is, once you have "captured" them), you can refer back to the information at any time, without an online connection and additional connection charges. August 29, 1998 PowerDale IT, http://www.yoursite.co.uk/ , have set up a new Helpdesk resource on the internet. It's to be a Helpdesk come Q&A come FAQ come Automatic Notifier for problem resolution. It can be found at: http://www.yoursite.co.uk/os/2/helpdesk/ It is still undergoing some final interface testing, but we feel it's important that it's avaliable.Please put this resource on your "visit regularly" list, even if you don't have a problem, as you could solve someone elses. We plan to shortly add an improvement to automatically email people who nominate they are interested in a selected application when a call is logged. Currently, it automatically emails the solution to the person who logged the call. Also, the following other relocations have occured. AWE page has moved to: http://www.yoursite.co.uk/os/2/awe/ Win32-OS/2 Compatibility page has moved to: http://www.yoursite.co.uk/os/2/win32os2/ August 29, 1998 A new PMfax/FaxWorks printer driver which fixes the printing issue for Lotus 123 is now released and available on the Keller Group web site. Download the UF_30103.EXE file from http://www.kellergroup.com/doc/download.htm or install the 3.01.03 maintenance release to get the fix. Keller Group remains committed to OS/2 fax/voice software. Customers who purchased PMfax version 3 from Keller Group continue to have access to version 3 maintenance releases using the product web page, passwords and enabling codes which were provided to them. Customers who purchased FaxWorks Pro for OS/2 version 3 from Global Village (developed by Keller Group) can get maintenance releases and support from Keller Group by purchasing an inexpensive support plan from Keller Group. See http://www.kellergroup.com for details. Best regards, Mark Mark Ahlstrom Pres., Keller Group Inc. August 28, 1998 The following is some news from Brad Wardell (bwardell@stardock.com). Well, with summer coming near an end, I figured now would be a good time to let OS/2 users know what Stardock is working on, has been working on, and will be working on. For me, and in this case I can speak for everyone at Stardock, OS/2 support is a lot more than words, deeds are far more important than words and in 1998, Stardock's deeds have clearly shown that no other ISV supports OS/2 more than Stardock does. This morning we and Southsoft released the new PMINews 2.0 beta. PMINews is a powerful news reader for OS/2 that basically takes all of the beefs we and others have had with typical news readers and try to address them. If you have PMINews 1.x, going to 2.0 is absolutely FREE. When PMINews 2.0 ships (target date is around Warpstock) we hope OS/2 users who don't already have it will look carefully at upgrading to it. We will offer a great deal of upgrade deals from other news readers. Later today, we expect to release the first update to the Object Desktop 2.0 Early Experience Program. Hopefully most of you are familiar with Object Desktop. We release Object Desktop Professional 1.5 back just before OS/2 Warp 4's launch (1996). It's a desktop environment that integrates into OS/2 a lot of cool new features. It was inspired by the OS/2 wishlists (we essentially read the lists of new features people wanted in OS/2 and made a product ouf ot it). It's always been a very popular product. Our goal with Object Desktop 2.0 is pretty ambitious, since IBM hasn't released a new version of OS/2 since 1996 (other than Fixpacks which OS/2 detractors should be aware does constitute real support from IBM), Object Desktop 2.0 essentially acts as a third party upgrade for OS/2 users. It'll run on OS/2 Warp 3 (without Fixpacks) all the way up to Warp 4 FP7 and beyond but it adds more real features that the typical user would notice than Windows 98 added to Windows 95. You can still join the Early Experience program but we expect to close entry to it in about a week or two (you can go to http://www.stardock.com to join it). We also have a Windows version in beta right now. If you're an OS/2 user who is stuck using Windows a lot, OD comes with a WindowFX, an OS personality component that lets you make Windows look a lot like OS/2. On Monday, Stardock will be releasing an update to Entrepreneur (v1.31). Entrepreneur is a strategy game in which you start your own company and must conquer the world. It's like a SimBillGates. :) It too runs on OS/2 and I'm proud to say that it is probably the only OS/2 game you can find at most software retailers. We also will be releasing Entrepreneur: Corporate Expansion, an expansion pack for Entrepreneur next week (go to http://www.stardock.com to order it). In about a week, we expect to release a new beta of Stellar Frontier (with Solar Systems) which will hopefully have the new network engine in it so that anyone with a modem can play on-line with silky smooth performance. Stellar Frontier takes place in the Galactic Civilizations universe. You get to join the humans, the Torians, or the Drengin Empire. It plays a lot like Star Control Melee. More news on this will show up when the beta goes out. And these are just the things we're doing for OS/2 in this next week. Real products that users and userse (2 games, 2 apps). In 1998, we've also released Galactic Civilizations Gold, made a bundle of OS/2 Essentials V2 and Process Commander that is only $69, made the popular Links golf game available on OS/2 on the commerce server for only $20, and we have more things for OS/2 in the pipeline. In October, Warpstock (http://www.warpstock.org) will be the place we officially launch Object Desktop 2.0. If you're on the fence about going to Warpstock, I highly recommend it. It was a total blast last year and it's really nice being around other users who enjoy using OS/2 and you don't have to defend it or make excuses why you use it. Warpstock is on October 17-18 in Chicago. More information on Stardock can be found at http://www.stardock.com. August 28, 1998 Win95key has been released. This allows you to use the three Windows keys in OS/2 (OS/2 Warp Smartcenter menu, Task List, Desktop menu) Fully WPS integrated, some features added. You can download a copy from: hobbes.nmsu.edu August 28, 1998 IBM has released RSUINST v1.74. This is the program that allows you to install FixPaks over the web. You can download a copy from: ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/rsu/rsuinstn.exe August 28, 1998 StarDivision has updated their US web site with new information regarding the soon to be released StarOffice v5.0. You can visit their web site at: http://www.stardiv.com August 28, 1998 For anyone in the Stardock Object Desktop 2.0 Early Experience program, the 2nd beta is now available for download at: http://www.stardock.com/update/update_od20.html August 27, 1998 new goodie in hobbes /incoming: SRMJPG10.ZIP Short Description: Motion-JPEG CODEC for OS/2 Long Description: It is a DLL for decoding Motion-JPEG (Movie-JPEG, MJPEG, MJPG) coded AVI's under OS2 Proposed directory for placement: /pub/os2/apps/mmedia/misc August 27, 1998 http://www.stardock.com/update/update_pmi.html PlusPak: PMINews 2.0 beta#3 is now available! We feel that we are very close to making 2.0 go gold with the exception of doing some rework on the Decode Engine. Since we want to go Gold with 2.0 at the End of September it is very important that you provide us with Detailed Descriptions of any Problems that you may encounter. This beta expires on September 30, 1998) New features and bug fixes list is at: http://www.southsoft.com/suppmihist.html August 26, 1998 Announcing Task Manager for OS/2 Warp Developer Chris Graham, from Warp Speed Computers (Australia, USA and Germany), famous author of The Graham Utilities, creates now The Task Manager for OS/2. This Task Manager, like the similar one from Windows NT, improves control of all processes. This feature is in the Eleventh CSD for The Graham Utilities for OS/2. The complete and illustrated report about Task Manager for OS/2 Warp is running in my OS/2-Java Site (http://macarlo.com) August 26, 1998 Source: Phil Piper (ppiper@teksystems.com) OS/2 System Engineer Needed Job Description: TEKsystems is currently in need for a OS/2 Systems Engineer in NYC, with experience working with OS/2 from version 2.1 all the way to Warp 4. Candidate will be supporting both servers and workstations on a 3 month to indefinite assignment. Any experience with NT and Novell servers is a plus. Salary rate is open and flexible. Anyone who is interested please contact Phil Piper at TEKsystems at 888.256.9179x5911 and I will be more than happy to speak with you about this opportunity. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You. August 26, 1998 A new bugfix version of xDBView, a fast freeware VIO dbf viewer/editor for OS/2 is available for download from OGCs web site at: http://www.ogcs.com/ xDBView v099a also implements a new 132 column mode to allow for improved browsing of dbf files. From our download page it's also possible to fetch a vital DLL which was sorely missing from the original zip files. People who have downloaded the big all-in-one zip file or the two split archives just need archive #3 to have xDBView run happily along. Newcomers need to get either the single big DLL package or the three smaller ones. Our sincere apologies for being late in fixing this problem that many reported. Just put the blame on summer vacations, xDBView was meant to be a simple gift to the OS/2 community and we didn't take your average computer gremlins into account. Work are currently underway for better (and customizable) HTML code. Thanks for your patience and interest in xDBView. August 26, 1998 Beta Testing on OS/2 Symantec is looking for beta testers for OS/2 to complete an application to beta test with Symantec, (if you have not already done so), on our External Test application web page at: http://et.symantec.com/en/apply.html Please write OS/2 in the Comments box, and on your NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) that needs to be faxed to us at 310 829-1028. More details of the beta test will follow in the next few weeks. Thank you for your interest and support. Sheelagh Symantec Beta Coordinator (soconnor@symantec.com) August 26, 1998 Source: Lorne Tyndale (tyndale@server.uwindsor.ca) This is a little bit old but any Sysops running OS/2 BBSes might be interested in the following information on possible future versions of The Online Pub (TOP). Currently TOP Version 3 (for Dos and Win32) is in development. The following was posted on on the TOP website on March 8, 1998: --------------------------------------------- Status of TOP for OS/2 At this time, there are several problems with TOP for OS/2 (TOP/2). These problems will require a fair amount of work on my part to fix. In addition, testing of the OS/2 version is difficult as it requires me to plug in an extra hard drive in order to run OS/2 for testing. It is for these reasons that I am not currently planning any further support for TOP/2. However, I am willing to alter these plans if public support for TOP/2 is shown. If you have an interest in seeing TOP/2 maintained, please contact me. I will also need OS/2 beta testers (preferably running Maximus/2). If you might be able to help, please indicate this. Only through public support will the OS/2 version survive. This announcement is not intended to threaten OS/2 users. I would gladly support the OS/2 version if it was easier for me to do so. Unfortunately, in my view the effort required is just not worth it unless I know people are going to be using the version. --------------------------------------------- The Online Pub is a multi-featured chatroom door for multi-line BBSes such as Maximus/2. More information can be found at: http://members.home.net/paulsid/ismware/top/index.html August 26, 1998 Source: Terry Norton (ccsterry@usa.net) Good news! IBM is going to offer all existing registered customers of VisualAge for Java Pro, 1.0 a no charge upgrade to VisualAge for Java, Professional Edition, V2.0. If you have registered your Version 1.0 products as of October 31, 1998, you will automatically receive a copy of the new Version 2.0 product That's right: registered customers automatically get to take advantage of the great new features in VisualAge for Java, Version 2.0. This is in addition to the already announced upgrade for registered VisualAge for Java, Enterprise customers that will receive a no charge upgrade to VisualAge for Java, Enterprise Edition, v2.0. August 26, 1998 Aureal has released their OS/2 driver set for their 8820 A3D chip. This chip is used by Xitel, Turtle Beach, Diamond and others in their respective A3D PCI sound cards. You can get a copy of the driver from: http://www.aureal.com/tech/a3ddrivers.html August 26, 1998 The PowerUtilities screen saver has been updated to version 1.1.00. The long awaited "Preview" button has been added and a new secure registration procedure has also been provided. You can download a copy from: http://www.powerutilities.no August 26, 1998 Henk Kelder has updated the beta (v0.81) of his FAT32 IFS (Installable File System). This will allow you to access FAT32 partitions from OS/2. You can download a copy from: http://www.os2ss.com/information/kelder/ August 25, 1998 As you probably know, IBM has re-released their 4.04 beta version of Netscape Communicator without altering any version identifiers. However, the modified file size was stopping Fortify from idenitifying the "new" version. Fortify has now been updated to version 1.2.7 to track this change and support the new beta version. You can download your copy of Fortify for OS/2 from: https://www.fortify.net/ Fortify is a program that provides world-wide, unconditional, full strength 128-bit cryptography to users of Netscape Navigator (v3) and Communicator (v4). If you routinely use Netscape's export-grade web browsers, (i.e. the ones you can download from the Internet), then you need Fortify. August 25, 1998 Source: Hans Hockx (jhockx@worldonline.nl) After a four weeks long and lovely holiday I've updated the OS/2 Switchboard web site again. The OS/2 Switchboard is one of Holland's most comprehensive collections of OS/2 related links. It now contains 670 links. Please check it out at URL: http://home.worldonline.nl/~jhockx August 24, 1998 A beta version of the Dialog Enhancer dialog pack file (Warp 4.0 only) has been made available with additional support for: Netscape Communicator 4.04 ZOC 3.08 Communications An updated installer which now significantly reduces the pain of uninstallation and re-installation by storing user selections, file locations and user registration codes in the OS/2 Registry, is also available under beta test. You can download the new updates from the Dialog Enhancer (http://www-student.lboro.ac.uk/~mcrsc/ostrans.html) web site. August 24, 1998 CSD 12 for the Graham Utilities (http://www.warpspeed.com.au/graham.htm) for OS/2 has been released. You can download a copy from: http://www.warpspeed.com.au/u-warp.htm August 24, 1998 fpart v1.0 has been released, this program is starting as a way to move bigger files from one system to another on multiple floppies. Right now it splits files into 1,400,000 byte chunks so you can simply copy them onto a floppy and recombine them later on your other system Right now it also does not pause between disks so you have to write the files to a hard drive first and then copy them to your floppies. You can download a copy from http://www.eaglequest.com/~stanjenn/. August 23, 1998 Source: Arne Blankerts (ABlankerts@freepoint.de) At OS-2.de there is a survey about stuff YOU would like to have, if there's a chance to get it into OS/2... http://www.os-2.de/en/other/survey/#1 There's also a small link to drop a mail to us, if you'd like to have the entire site to be english (actually the survey is our first english part...) August 23, 1998 Source: Adrian Suri (asuri@vpub.powernet.co.uk) I have just uploaded version 1.09B of TarGzipmag. This copy no longer needs a pass to unzip it, it is available from my site in the project section at: http://users.powernet.co.uk/vpub/projects.html This copy has also been uploaded to hobbes, in the incoming directory: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/incoming/targzpm109b.zip Eventually it will be in the OS2/achiver directory. It is still in a beta stage of develepment, but is now stable enough for general release. People using this program are encouraged to give feedback. August 23, 1998 J3 Computer Technologies http://www.os2store.com We have drastically updated our site, http://www.os2store.com , to include approximately 46,000 items, search capabiliites, RealTime UPS Shipping Charges, and RealTime Tax (I know...) for California residents. We still have a few intrinsic items to take care of but for the most part it is finished. To be found on our new site is hardware and software for all operating systems, we have not forgotten about OS/2 nor will we it's there too, at prices that should appeal to all. August 22, 1998 A MIDI player similar to the one promised in http://www.os2ss.com/warpcast/wc2005.html but also including a PM version and support for multiple MIDI ports is available for free at: http://www.os2.spb.ru/russian/lbplay/lbply003.zip August 22, 1998 Source: Anders Jarnberg (jarnberg@algonet.se) Seems like the AntiVirus market for OS/2 is looking better since IBM stepped out of the ring. Not only will Symantec shortly have a beta available, but Kaspersky Labs (the makers of the highly acclaimed AVP) have one available already. For more about testing the OS/2 version of AVP, checkout: http://www.avp.ru/english/news/eval.html August 22, 1998 Source: Henry So Jr. () I'm in the process of developing a text-mode MIDI file player using the OS/2 RTMidi subsystem. I'm currently looking for alpha (and eventually beta) testers for the program. Planned features include a real-time display of song position, playlist support, system exclusive support, and support for MIDI karaoke files. There are a few software requirements. The MIDI.SYS packaged with Warp 4.0 causes my system to crash, so you need to have the latest MIDI.SYS driver (available at http://service.software.ibm.com/os2ddpak/index.htm) and probably the latest RTMidi driver for your MIDI card. I don't know if the program will work on Warp 3.0 (using newer drivers), but if anyone is willing to give it a try, please contact me. If you're interested (mind you, the program is currently in *alpha* state), please contact me at henryso@panix.com. Since the alpha/beta will be distributed via e-mail you need to have a mailer that supports MIME encoded attachments. August 22, 1998 The August issue of "INK - Printing and Scanning on the OS/2 Platform" by Tony Butka, is now online at: http://www.scoug.com/os24u/1998/scoug808.2.ink.html In his monthly column, Tony discusses OS/2 graphics with an emphasis on scanning and printing. This month, "INK" covers:  Epson inkjet drivers  which printer manufacturer has inkjet cartridges that cost far less than the competition  a comparison of high-quality papers Tony is well known for turning out high-quality graphics images with inexpensive equipment and materials. "Each month I'll be telling the readers about the tricks I've learned, the equipment and software that works the best, and where to get the compatible drivers for the highest quality output," says Tony. "OS/2 has a wealth of graphics products available that people just don't know about. I'll take care of all these issues, right here, in INK." Sponsored by the Southern California OS/2 User Group (http://www.scoug.com August 22, 1998 The August " Webfoot, The Duck" OS/2 column is now online at: http://www.scoug.com/os24u/1998/scoug808.2.webfoot.html This month, Webfoot covers:  The next release, Aurora, of OS/2 Warp Server  A free PostScript emulator for OS/2  A site with sample code for writing OS/2 device drivers  Some of the "really big" OS/2 link sites  and a lot more Each monthly "Webfoot, The Duck" column includes:  "On the web, content is king ...", a section which reviews ten relevant OS/2 sites,  "Duck Feather", an internet tip, and  "Comparing The Hits", a monthly search engine test. August 22, 1998 IBM has just released AntiVirus updates today. AV30BX and OLD30BX. See http://www.av.ibm.com/IBMAntiVirus/LatestUpdates/ August 22, 1998 Source: Steve Marvin (smarvin@erols.com) Regarding the recent note in WarpCast about signing up for Symantec's beta of NAV for OS/2 (http://www.os2ss.com/warpcast/wc1970.html), I received this reply from Symantec: Thank you for your note, we had to stop using the website for security reasons. If you are interested in beta testing Norton AntiVirus for OS/2 please write to our External Test email, etweb@symantec.com. If you know anyone else interested, please advise the above. August 22, 1998 Source: Samuel Audet (guardia@cam.org) CD2MP3 PM 1.0 is a WAV and CD to MP3 front end. A lot of things have changed since 0.91. Features:  CD Drive Auto-Detect  WAV file Drag and Drop  Custom Encoder and CD Grabber Configuration  Nice and Simple GUI  Super Grab  Play/Stop preview for CD  Statistic Information  Auto deselect/removal http://www.cam.org/~guardia/cd2mp3pm.html A new MPG123.DLL has been released fixing a couple of bugs with the player:  implemented workaround for bad GUS driver DART buffer timing (it jumps by 250 ms step once in a while instead of incrementing for each buffer). Makes decoderPlayingSamples() work correctly on GUS.  finally found the proper buffers to flush. No more first buffer trash kludge and now any snap crackle and pop are REALLY only coming from your sound card alone (check the visual plugins if you don't believe me)  faster seek by boosting priority (oops, forgot this initially :)  audio engine now fills empty buffers with 128 value instead of 0 for 8 bit playback (removes the clicks, but it still sounds like crap :). http://www.cam.org/~guardia/pm123.html My main web page has also been updated today, take a look at it! http://www.cam.org/~guardia August 22, 1998 Minta 1.67 is out now! The new release of Minta, the MP3 tagging, listing and information PM-utility for OS/2 is out now. New features include ID3 v1.1 support, autorenaming function, lots of additional configuration options, etc. More info at: http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/CIP/thielen/minta August 22, 1998 IBM has released a new version of the GRADD video drivers ( v0.077 ) for OS/2 Warp v4.0. The supported adapters are as follows:  ATI Rage II/Mach 64  Chips & Technology 6555X  Matrox Millenium/Mystique  S3 864/TRIO  S3 Virge/Virge VX You can download a copy from ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/videopak/graddbb editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 5. VOICE Newsletter - VOICE News Continued Page 3. ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 The News Page Page 3 editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org August 21, 1998 There will be a new version of the Win32-OS/2 converter released in early September. Some of the new features include:  On-the-fly conversion (the app is automatically converted for you when you load it)  bitmap color fixes  Borland EXE fixes  EA's removed (version checking now imbedded in EXE/DLL)  Significant DirectDraw enhancements (Quake II runs full-speed in a window). For more information see the Win32-OS/2 Project web site: http://www.os2ss.com/win32-os2/ August 21, 1998 Multiple Recursive Search and Replace (MRSR) v2.0 has been released, this is a command line program for doing search and replace operations on text files. Rather than being limited to a single file at a time, or a single search and replace at one time, MRSR allows multiple files and a virtually unlimited number of search and replace operations at once. MRSR also does BLOCK searches. MRSR will optionally go through an entire sub-directory tree. MRSR allows updates to Web pages and also source code. Version 2 uses English-like commands rather than the obscure single letter commands of version 1. For more information and to download a shareware version visit: http://www.bossi.com/utility/mrsr/mrsr.html August 21, 1998 CSD 11 for the Graham Utilities (http://www.warpspeed.com.au/graham.htm) for OS/2 has been released. You can download a copy from: http://www.warpspeed.com.au/u-warp.htm August 21, 1998 IBM has released some international releases of FixPak 7 for OS/2 Warp 4: French (ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/fixes/v4warp/french/xrfm007/) Spanish (ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/fixes/v4warp/spanish/xrfm007/) August 21, 1998 IBM has released beta 2 of Netscape Communicator for OS/2. It and the new PlugIn Pak can be found at: http://service5.boulder.ibm.com/pcpd.nsf/ocomm40+home This updated beta includes many fixes and addresses the Java 1.1.6 incompatibilities reported by the WarpCast subscribers. It also includes fixes for the graphics problems and the color palette. Thank you for your support! Enjoy the updated beta code and look for Netscape Communicator 4.04 for OS/2 Warp's general availability in 4Q98. You will be able to download the GA level code at no charge from IBM's Software Choice in 4Q98 at: http://service.boulder.ibm.com/asd-bin/doc/en_us/catalog.htm August 20, 1998 Source: Dirk Terrell, OS/2 Supersite Administrator, http://www.os2ss.com August 20, 1998 - Gainesville, FL USA Falcon Networking announced today the acquisition of various assets from Haligonian Media, including the popular OS/2 e-Zine! electronic magazine. Trevor Smith, the founder of Haligonian Media, announced he will step down as Editor-in-Chief of the magazine. Replacing Smith as Editor-in-Chief will be Chris Wenham, currently the magazine's Senior Editor. Contributing Editor Christopher B. Wright will be promoted to the position of Senior Editor. No other changes in the magazine staff are expected at this time. "We are excited about what the future holds for OS/2 e-Zine!," said Dirk Terrell, President of Falcon Networking and the administrator of the OS/2 Supersite. "At the same time, we are saddened to see Trevor step down. I have worked with him on the magazine since right after its inception and I know the personal commitment he always made to making OS/2 e-Zine! a polished, professional magazine." The transition is expected to be a smooth one since all the staff remain committed to producing a top quality publication. "This is a great development for OS/2 e-Zine!," said Smith. "The magazine has developed a loyal following and a reputation for honest and useful journalism among the OS/2 community over the past three years. This transfer will give the magazine the resources it needs to grow and guarantee that the next years will be even better than the previous ones." The transfer of the magazine is immediate and the staff changes will occur with the September 1 issue. All business inquiries concerning OS/2 e-Zine! should be directed to Dirk Terrell at admin@os2ss.com or by phone at 800-352-1974 or 352-335-9693 outside the US and Canada. OS/2 e-Zine! can be found on the world wide web at http://www.os2ezine.com. August 20, 1998 CD2MP3 PM 1.0 has been released, this is a WAV and CD to MP3 front end. A lot of things have changed since 0.91. Features include:  CD Drive Auto-Detect  WAV file Drag and Drop  Custom Encoder and CD Grabber Configuration  Nice and Simple GUI  Super Grab  Play/Stop preview for CD  Statistic Information  Auto deselect/removal You can download a copy from http://www.cam.org/~guardia/cd2mp3pm.html. In addition a new MPG123.DLL has been releaed for PM123 which fixes some bugs in the player, specifically:  Implemented workaround for bad GUS driver DART buffer timing (it jumps by 250 ms step once in a while instead of incrementing for each buffer). Makes decoderPlayingSamples() work correctly on GUS.  Finally found the proper buffers to flush. no more first buffer trash kludge and now any snap crackle and pop are REALLY only coming from your sound card alone (check the visual plugins if you don't believe me)  Faster seek by boosting priority (oops, forgot this initially :)  Audio engine now fills empty buffers with 128 value instead of 0 for 8 bit playback (removes the clicks, but it still sounds like crap :). You can also download this update from http://www.cam.org/~guardia/pm123.html. August 20, 1998 File Commander v2.00 has been released (as of August 16, 1998). For information and download, visit: http://www.orfin.com/fc/ New Features of File Commander v2.00 include:  Editor: Undo function  Editor: Bracket Match  Editor: Indent/Unindent block function using Alt-Left/Right arrows.  Associations for view and edit, allows automatic selection of specialized viewer/editor programs.  For the supported archive types, the Archiver programs and command line options to them are now configurable in the INI file.  Code page translation function in Viewer and Editor. Translates from a given code page to the current display code page.  Panel filter supports boolean expressions instead of old, rather obscure syntax.  Boolean expressions extended to support %size, %date, %age, %attrib operators.  Viewer and Editor can have their TAB width set to any value from 1 to 8.  Label edit using Alt-L on Info panel.  Persistent command history.  Physical free memory on Info panel.  File Find made multithreaded, allowing view/edit/browse during search.  New function: Shift-F5/6. Like F5/F6 but default new name never includes the path of the opposite panel.  Added Ctrl-Shift-\ to set current directory to that of other panel.  Once File Find has completed a search, results may be sorted by pressing Ctrl-[F3..F6]  Win32 only: Pressing ALT with Ctrl F,J,Enter,[,] name/path pasting keys now give Windows short file names.  Win32 only: Added ~ modifier for ! operators to give Windows short file names.  Duplicate elimination in command history, only most recent copy is retained.  Text search in command history window, like F7 in view/edit.  Drop down history list added to key text entry fields, activated by Alt-DownArrow or mouse clickable arrow.  The mass tagging keys (Grey +,-,* etc) will act with the Tag directories option reversed if Shift is also pressed.  Whole word option added to string searches in internal viewer, editor and File Find contents search.  Support for ACE archiver. There are also extensive lists of Minor Enhancements and Bug Fixes. August 20, 1998 AWE 0.158 has been released. AWE 0.158 has improved error handling for PLG's and DEF Management works again. For more info on AWE, the Advanced Web Editor, see: http://www.yoursite.co.uk/os/2/webwriter/ Also, to answer one question, AWE has no screen shot because it's less than 500k all up. Also: PowerDale Launches "MailMe AntiSpam Service BETA". We are sick of being spammed by email robots who look at web pages for email addresses. So we've launched mailme:, the Antispam mailer from PowerDale IT. We need Beta Testers for this free service (hey, it's clickware). http://www.yoursite.co.uk/antispam/ Your information is protected under the UK data protection act, and we hold a bare minimum and use no cookies in that section of our web site. August 20, 1998 Source: Chris Wohlgemuth (chris.wohlgemuth@cityweb.de) There is a new BubblePad version (V1.01) avaiable which should fix all known problems. With this version the help always disapears when leaving a button or if the drawers are set to autoclose. Go to the BubblePad page http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Sector/5785/bubblepd.htm and follow the link to the download page. Read the section 'History' for further information. Hope everything works fine now. If there are problems let me know. BubblePad is a replacement class for the launchpad of Warp 3/4 which offers you fly over help and a customizable size of the pad. Corrected Bugs:  Help windows remain visible under some circumstances. After that no more help was avaiable.  Default directory during installation not always accepted  Corrected minor positioning problem with drawers August 20, 1998 CUSeeMe (http://inet.uni-c.dk/~deckkh/news.htm) version 1.9b is in the works and will be out sometime soon. The following is a list of changes so far:  Bug sending video with a high MJPG quality is fixed.  Toolbar in the video and main windows with fly over help text.  MJPG Video 320x240 is now supported. (Receive only)  Some bug fixes with regards to the audio support.  Auto arrange of video windows is now also active when a client disconnects.  When chat is bounced , it will be shown in the chat window. I have created a forum at Dejanews for discussion of CUSeeMe/2. The guys at Hauppauge are taking a lot longer to develop a working device driver for the WinCast TV boards than I expected, so WinCast support in CUSeeMe/2 won't make it to this release. I am sorry about this, but there is nothing I can do about it. August 20, 1998 BootOS2 v9.15 has been released. The BOOTOS2 program is a utility that allows you to build a BOOTable OS/2 V2, V3 or V4 system using an existing OS/2 V2, V3 or V4 system. The BOOT system can be installed on either Floppy Disks or a Hard Disk Partition. You can download a copy from: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/h-search?key=btos2915.zip August 19, 1998 http://www.ctag.de/projects/jpd/index.html Version 0.84 [of Java Pilot Desktop] is coming soon!! New Features in Version 0.84:  Import of Nokia Communicator 9000 data files fixed  INI-Files are now saved in the user.home path (under OS/2 this is the Java-path)  MemoPad, Conduit, Address, Expense and Mail Conduit (full syncronization)  DateBook Conduit (reading from Pilot only)  OS/2 install.cmd and icons  bug fixes A "preview" of it is available: ftp://ftp.ctag.de/pub/jpd/jpd0839.zip August 19, 1998 Come to http://www.polyex.com for more information. Hopkins: FBI for OS/2 4.0 is now available! Help Hopkins battle terrorists! Drawn by cartoon specialists according to the rule book the images in Hopkins: FBI were scanned and meticulously retouched frame by frame to produce high-quality scenes. Some features of this game include:  Hand Drawn Animation - Drawn by cartoon specialists according to the rule book they were scanned and meticulously retouched frame by frame to produce high-quality scenes. Very special care was taken to realise the game's introduction and final scenes.  3D Scenes - Highly detailed, with very studied camera movements, extremely realistic 3D scenes leading the player by the air and under the sea give him incomparable sensations. Fluid full screen SVGA 3D scenes were realised without any perceptible quality loss by the use of an unique compression algorithm.  Extremely Varied Places - First hand drawn by a famous strip cartoonist, Thierry Sgur, they were scanned then retouched and coloured on computer by an international graphics team. They give to the player an uninterrupted pleasure of discovery, leading him from HOPKIN's apartment to a secret submarine base, going through such different places as the FBI headquarters, the very exotic and mysterious Condor Island, an hidden universe where the dead can talk, and so on...  More Than... - 50 Characters, 100 Places, 400 MB of Cinematic scenes, and 1000 scenery animations. The system requirements of the game are:  Pentium class machine  OS/2 Warp 4.0 (no fixpacks are required)  16 MB RAM  18 MB Hard Drive Space  Display capable of at least 640x480x256colors  DIVE compatible Video card (Most Video cards)  DART compatible Sound Card (Most Sound Cards) Please note: This game should run fine under Warp 3.0, with the hi-res timer and dart installed, but has not been tested on that platform. August 19, 1998 HOT! - By popular request - Coming soon - Priority Master II Version 2.4 with dynamic prioritization for OS/2 PM programs. Automatic priority update in the target main window and CTRL+ESC Task List and more! This is scheduled to be released on Sept 1,1998. You can get a list of the new features here: http://www.prioritymaster.com/preview.htm August 19, 1998 WPTools has been updated to version 2.3 (8/15/98): http://www.os2ss.com/information/kelder/ WPTOOLS is a collection of OS/2 specific tools. Some tools in the archive are: CHECKINI - Checks Workplace shell related stuff in the OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI, mainly intended to keep the INI-Files clean and (relatively small) and thus have the best performance while using the workplace Shell; WPSBKP - Make a backup of most workplace shell objects in a text file. This text file can be used to restore a customized workplace shell after the desktop has be reinstalled or to port parts to another machine; WPSREST - Restores a backup made with WPSBKP; RESETWPS - Resets the worksplace shell without rebooting; WPTOOLS.DLL - A dynamic link library that, amongst other things, can be used from REXX to query object settings. This DLL is also used by WPSBKP to query object settings. As far as I know this is the only tool in the world to query setupstrings. New in this release: CHECKINI slightly modified; WPTOOLS.DLL slightly modified. August 19, 1998 The August 19, 1998 edition of Focus on OS/2 is now online. Continuing our series on large hard drives, our guest author John Edwards, explains the procedure for installing OS/2 and Windows 95 release C on the same hard drive. As usual our new edition features a number of new links, including information on a brand-new refresh of Java 1.1.6, a thought-provoking article on how OS/2 users need to find for support from IBM, information on yet another lawsuit for Microsoft, this time over Windows 98, and much more. Focus on OS/2 may be read at http://os2.miningco.com. Walter Metcalf os2.guide@miningco.com August 19, 1998 Arcane Technologies are proud to announce the first release of their port of Magician to OS/2 Warp V4. Magician allows developers to write portable, high-performance OpenGL applications using the Java programming language. Magician interfaces directly with existing OpenGL installations to deliver high-performance and hardware-accelerator-aware 3D capabilities to Java. Developers can use many advanced Java features, such as multi-threading, in conjunction with Magician to deploy sophisticated applications and applets with ease. Built-in profiling and tracing support makes debugging and optimizing OpenGL applications simpler than ever. For more information see http://www.arcana.co.uk/products/magician. August 18, 1998 There are new Java 1.1.6 update files at ftp://ftp.hursley.ibm.com/pub/java/fixes/os2/11/116. They are dated Aug 18, 1998. Here are the APAR's listed since the last update (07/28/98): ┌─────────────────┬────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │|o116-19980728 │6279 │IC21539 Include alloc_cache.h header for JNI apps │ ├─────────────────┼────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │o116-19980728 │6170 │Add three new codepage aliases │ ├─────────────────┼────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │o116-19980728 │6500 │IC21535 Trap in javar.dll with Netscape │ ├─────────────────┼────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │o116-19980728 │6213 │IC21540 Modal dialogs not always displayed │ ├─────────────────┼────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │o116-19980730 │6562 │IC21566 setCaretPosition on DBCS fails │ ├─────────────────┼────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │o116-19980804 │6321 │IC21597 Oracle applet fails with JIT │ ├─────────────────┼────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │o116-19980804 │6371 │IC21598 Fixes to AWT font caching algorithm │ ├─────────────────┼────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │"20%">o116-199│6595 │IC21611 Font width error on DBCS │ ├─────────────────┼────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │o116-19980807 │6544 │IC21543 Reverse video image not rendered │ ├─────────────────┼────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │o116-19980807 │6642 │IC21620 Tidy up JNI thread termination │ └─────────────────┴────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ August 18, 1998 Sydney, Australia. (18 Aug, 1998). Fortify for Netscape now supports the recently released preview version of Netscape Communicator on OS/2. This is version 4.0b1 (980731). This functionality is available immediately, as part of the fn126os2.zip distribution. You can download this from the Fortify web site, at http://www.fortify.net/, or from the Fortify mirror FTP sites ( after propogation is complete). Farrell McKay August 17, 1998 Source: Mike Ramsey (miker@DevilsThumb.COM) Good News! Master of the Empire (MOTE) is complete! We over the course of 1997 fixed up all of the problems that MOTE had incurred through our development. Some of the changes include: a vastly revamped ai (utterly merciless!), new menu structure, some minor changes to the World Builder (still considered a development tool....), a new diplomacy engine, a new economic system (closed system) and a TON of play changes to make MOTE a better playing game. The Real World steps in. The problem we have right now, is this; MOTE is a product that can not recoup our investment. We'd really like to release it but, there is not a strong business case to do so. To actually produce CD's manuals, would cost us thousands of dollars more, and I personally cannot see investing any more money into a situation that has so little potential for return. Just monitoring this newsgroup and observing OS/2 sales alone make me very skeptical. Let me explain. When Jon and I wrote Master of the Empire, it was to be a masterpiece. We believe MOTE succeded on many fronts, but it also failed on some issues. MOTE was designed to be a beer & pretzels type game, but during the development, all issues basically degenerated into a design by committee. You cannot create games this way. If there is not a guiding hand that is not money driven, your game will become something you don't want it to be. MOTE is a case in point. I believe in soliciting input, and ideas but what happened basically caused numerous & at times unbelievably horrible playabilty problems. We spent 2 years programming what we consider the ultimate OS/2 game. Strategically, graphically, & along with addictive nature of MOTE make me think we've succeeded. (At least with the work continued in 1997 on MOTE.) We've kicked around the ideas of different distribution means, but again it comes down us spending more money on MOTE. MOTE is not dead, but the tombstone has been carved and it's just a matter of time before it finds a grave in the software graveyard. How soon, I really don't know. Master of the Empire is a game I still play , the randomnly generated worlds are without equal. The new ai makes the game utterly ruthless. Diplomatic treaties are a must for your empire to survive long enough to develop a cohesive base of military operations. For a strategy game, MOTE is definately addicting. Not many game designers/programmers can still play their game after 3.5 years! So I'm open to suggestions. But also note my time is limited as I am involved with other products. So let me know what you like and IF we get a substantial response, we may take the time and $ to produce a few copies for resale. Thanks alot, Michael Ramsey Programmer Master of the Empire August 17, 1998 Contact: Gwen L. Veneskey, Director Marketing/Communications (412)488-9730 glvenes@ibm.net Friday, August 18, 1998 AVIAR ANNOUNCES the release of OS/2 CMMS software. Pittsburgh, PA -- Aviar announced today that it has released the Oz. of Prevention System for the OS/2 and WorkSpace on Demand platforms. Oz is the first fully voice-activated and speech-driven CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) available. This new product has all of the capabilities of Aviar's award-winning DOS CMMS, OOPS! The Ounce of Prevention System., which will run under OS/2, but in addition, Aviar has tapped into the wealth of cutting-edge technology available through the OS/2 operating system to make this package "software for the next millenium." Oz, under development for almost three years, was written in Object REXX, uses DB2 and was designed specifically to utilize OS/2's built-in speech. "Oz. is 'quality software, built with quality tools, for a quality operating system. Businesses of all sizes need software which is reliable, stable, powerful, flexible, convenient and ready for real-life mission-critical application. We believe Oz. fills that need in the CMMS area." says John J. Urbaniak, Ph.D., President and founder of Aviar, Inc. "Since Oz is fully customizable and fully internationalizable, it can be used anywhere maintenance is performed to help companies, large and small, track labor, parts, costs, equipment history, downtime and more." Oz is featured on Aviar's web page: http://www.oops-web.com/ and is being sold as a turnkey system directly through Aviar's Sales Department. Aviar, Inc. was founded in 1984 by Dr. Urbaniak to provide top-quality PC software for commercial and industrial users. Aviar's OOPS! was first released more than 10 years ago and is still in use by companies around the world. Aviar is an OS/2 shop and development by the company during the past several years has been mainly in the area of "voice-activated, speech-driven" systems. In addition to Oz. they have also developed several other voice-activated systems, including: a database query package, V Trex: Information . . . at your COMMAND!; a drug review and analysis testing package for use by MROs (Medical Review Officers) to track employee drug test recording procedures, and a billing software package for Octel-based voicemail systems. Aviar also published "Object REXX by Example" (331 pages), ISBN Number 0-9652329-0-5, a book on the object-orientd programming language, Object REXX. August 17, 1998 Source: Sheelagh O'Connor (soconnor@symantec.com) We are looking for OS/2 beta testers for NortonAntiVirus. Can you help with this? Please see our web site at: http://et.symantec.com/ See the Products section, User Id: OS/2 and Password: IB835 There is a short survey, with 6 questions. If you complete that we will be able to keep your information and sign you up for beta testing probably in October sometime. Thank you. Sheelagh August 17, 1998 Five new DIVE modules has been uploaded to: http://www.powerutilities.no to be used with PowerUtilities Screen Saver. These include fireworks and plasma animation. PowerUtilities Screen Saver is a screen saver supporting both GPI and DIVE mode. August 17, 1998 After the US and the German releases, the seventh FixPak of Warp 4 is now also available in French. You can download it at: ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/fixes/v4warp/ french/xrfm007/ August 17, 1998 In Charge v1.02.44 has been released. You can download it from Spitfire Software's web site: http://rampages.onramp.net/~landeck/ In Charge! is a full-function personal and small business financial system for OS/2. August 17, 1998 An updated version of the FREE config.sys tool configinfo can be downloaded at: http://www.buntspecht.de/files/cfginfo5.zip It's the 'old' Configinfo 4.0 with an updated Dat-file that contains all the new information for Warp 4 and Fixes. August 17, 1998 Source: Aglaja Przyborski (aglaja@ibm.net) There is an fully functional PreRelease of Hermes/2 now available. Hermes/2 is a utility to control US Robotics message modems (plus and pro) under OS/2. Hermes/2 is only for the US Robotics 56k Message Plus and US Robotics 56k Message Pro Modems. No other modems are supported. The Free Software is needed if you want to control the so called 'selfmode' of these two modems and you don't want (for whatever reasons) the Phone-Tools delivered with these modems. As the software isn't ready, it is only for experienced users, but should be worth a short mail to aglaja@ibm.net to get the software. Hermes/2 is developed by Rossen Assenov with my slight support. August 16, 1998 Source: Alessandro Cantatore (alexcant@tin.it) I'm uploading the first public beta of Smart Windows to Hobbes: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/incoming/smw080.zip the definitive path will probably be: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/util/wps/smw080.zip This beta version expires after about one hour. You will have to reboot your machine to re-enable Smart Windows features. A version for registered users will be made available as soon as possible. This version features:  shade or bitmap as titlebar background  3D effect for titlebar text  selectable bitmaps for the window controls (you can change them at run time: no DLL patching required)  selectable position for the window close button (left/default/win95)  titlebar hiding/mouse sensitive pop-up  titlebar context menu  9.WarpSans font for all dialog windows (8.Helv for warp 3 users)  window rolling  Frame drag  Entry fields automatic text selection (you can choose which mouse event selects the whole entry field content)  Automatic (sliding) focus (works with WinOS2 windows as well)  Mouse pointer hiding  Mouse button double click emulation  Easy-to-use PM installer/uninstaller more features coming soon! Please report any bugs, problems, wanted features to my email address: alexcant@tin.it August 16, 1998 AWE 0.156 has been updated. AWE, the Advanced Web Editor, has been updated and now includes a new concept called PLG's (Plugs). Rather than providing "hard coded" features, AWE now has the ability for anyone to write a small PLG file to provide functionality in the AWE web editor. Technically, PLG's are Rexx code that is loaded from file, interpreted and run as part of AWE. AWE 0.157 will also have improved PLG support, DEFinition support, AWE also has programmable keys and a PAR'ts rack of html components and hopefully DDE control of Netscape. For complete details see: http://www.yoursite.co.uk/os/2/webwriter/ August 15, 1998 Source: Paul Smedley (pauls@tolstoi.saccii.net.au) I've just created a mailing list for users of Stardock's Object Desktop 2.0. The list is intended for the Early Experience testers of the product to discuss features/problems/etc, but is open to everyone who is interested in the product. People can subscribe by sending an email to od2os2-subscribe@makelist.com. You can also find an archive of all messages sent to the mailing list by going to http://www.findmail.com/list/od2os2/. August 15, 1998 Entrepreneur v1.3 is out of beta and available for download. You can get a copy from: http://www.stardock.com/update/update_ent.html August 15, 1998 Source: Chris Wohlgemuth (chris.wohlgemuth@cityweb.de) I wrote an enhancement to the Launchpad of Warp 3 and above. Bubblepad v1.0 gives you flyover help for the buttons and reduces the size of the pad by reordering the buttons. The utility consists of a replacement class and fits seamlessly into the WPS. Full online help is provided. NLS for English and German. The program is released under the GPL, so full source code is included. You need the EMX runtime libs for running the installation program. Find further information: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Sector/5785/bubblepd.htm August 15, 1998 Virtual Publications is pleased to anounce the availability of TarGz-PM for beta testing. The file can be downlaoded from: http://users.powernet.co.uk/vpub/ in the projects section, though you will need to email me to get a key to unarchive the file....which is in zip format. TarGz-PM is a front end program for creating and unarchiving tar.zg files. It is, and I stress, a very early beta. Though I have made it so it works on copies of the file, not the file itself so it should be reasonably safe. This file will not be available from Hobbes (V1.1 will however). August 15, 1998 A new revision of the text-editor Kon has been released, and has been uploaded to Hobbes (http://hobbes.nmsu.edu). Kon has also changed its home page URL. The new URL is: http://www.bmtmicro.com/kon/ The current version is 1.13 rev. 1066. Two major fixes are included (These have been available since Rev. 1063 from June): 1. Kon versions between 1058 and 1062 were too generous with it's CPU time, so users with medium to low-end machines (with concurrent tasks running) could have experienced situations where Kon didn't catch up with the keyboard. The new version fixes this problem, and also allows the user to set the priority of Kon. 2. When editing text within multi-line comments, Kon could also operate very slow. This was probably most noticeable when editing Java-scripts in an HTML-document. A number of other optimizations and fixes has also been done, mostly to the screen display routines, see Kon read.me. New features are (Some of these were available in 1063 in June): ----------------------------------------------------------------  A repeating command or macro halts when a cursor move fails, for example when trying to move past the end of the file.  Possible to assign keyboard shortcuts to keys which are occupied by system accelerators, i.e. Alt-F5-F11, F10..  An option to display the end-of-file visually.  Found words are higlighted.  All buffers are scrolled when scroll lock is active.  All bitmap font sizes are selectable, regardless of screen resolution.  Screen horizontal and vertical scroll units can now be set.  Variable width and outline fonts are now supported.  Drag and drop of fonts and colors can now be done.  Word wrap has been improved some. There is now also a soft-CR mode available which can be useful when editing readme files, mail messages etc.  A stream edit mode has been added.  some more... ---- Kon is shareware and the registration fee is US$20. To download and for more information, point your browser to: http://www.bmtmicro.com/kon/ August 14, 1998 The new Warpzilla 0.005 is out. Warpzilla is the working title of the port of Netscape Communicator 5 (Mozilla) to OS/2 Warp. The main Warpzilla page is: http://thor.cam.ac.uk/~mjf35/warpzilla/ August 14, 1998 Team OS/2 Italy announces that the new issue of JustWarp!, Italy's most widespread electronic magazine, is now available online at: http://www.mclink.it/mclink/teamos2it/justwarp/index.htm or on its mirror at: http://volftp.tin.it/TEAMOS2/jwarp/justwarp/index.htm This issue features:  Aurora and WarpNT FAQ  PMmail  HotCorners  MaxBase ...and many others. August 14, 1998 Looks like there is another Lexmark printer with OS/2 drivers now. In OS/2's Device Driver Pak Online site: http://service.software.ibm.com/os2ddpak/html/printers/lexmarki/index.htm there are now drivers for the Lexmark 3200. Information regarding this inkjet printer is a little scarce. It's 1200x1200dpi, prints 6pgs black per minute, and has a dual-cartridge system (one black, one color). August 14, 1998 Source: Kai Evers (Kai_Evers@lb.maus.de) Regarding the earlier announcement (http://www.os2ss.com/warpcast/wc1928.html) about a new page with freeware OS/2 utilities in German only, today I made an English version so it should be more useful if you don't understand German. You can find it at: http://www1.stuttgart.netsurf.de/~kevers/warp_eng.html Again, the German version is at: http://www1.stuttgart.netsurf.de/~kevers/warp.html August 14, 1998 In Charge v1.02.43 has been released. You can download it from Spitfire Software's web site: http://rampages.onramp.net/~landeck/ In Charge! is a full-function personal and small business financial system for OS/2. August 14, 1998 A new version of Gismo has been released (version 2.10). Gismo is a tool to help choose colors for HTML pages. You can download it from: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~qw6k-knst/software/software.htm It is also available from my site (http://users.powernet.co.uk/vpub) in the local Download Directory, where you will also find a a macro to launch Gismo (and kHTepm14.zip) from your epm editor version 6 (with some instructions and warnings in the same dir) along with other epm macros. Note the EpmHtmlBar2.zip is more recent than the version available from Hobbes and includes a Gismo bitmap for your toolbar, with instaructions. August 13, 1998 Source: Armin Schwarz (ASchw@worldnet.att.net) HOUSE/2 (Home Automation & Security for OS/2) has been updated again. Version 1.5 is now available from the Warped Code Cellar at: http://home.att.net/~ASchw HOUSE/2 is an OS/2 Warp 3.0 and Warp 4.0 program to control the home automation interface model CM11x/CM12x made by X10. New with version 1.5 of HOUSE/2 are:  Support for Two-Way modules, find out the ON/OFF/DIM status of a module by requesting status.  Reports burnt-out bulbs if using LM14A modules.  Thermostat support.  Single page module and macro edit windows.  External module database.  Support for resolutions up to 1280x1024.  Many additional enhancements and suggestions implemented. Visit the URL listed above to get more information on home automation using OS/2. The new version has been uploaded to the incoming directory of BMT Micro, Hobbes and Compuserve's GO OS2BVEN. It may be a few days until it is moved to the regular locations and available through the links on my homepage. Although I am not connected in any way to X10, I would like to point out that X10 appears to have perpetual sales on the CM11A starter kits. These systems are great bargains, easy to setup and use and fully supported by OS/2 native software. You can get more information at: http://www.x10.com/ August 13, 198 StarDivision (http://www.stardivision.de/) has announced that StarOffice v5.0 will be available in September, this includes the OS/2 version. For more information you can see the release plan (http://www.stardivision.de/office/news_releaseplan.html). editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 6. VOICE Newsletter - OS/2 User Group News ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 The OS/2 User Group News Page editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org This page is reserved for announcements from any OS/2 User Groups. If you would like your user group announcement to appear here, please send it to editor@os2voice.org. September 10, 1998 WarpUK - OS/2 UK Users Group The new UK OS/2 user group is about to have it's first meeting to be held on Saturday 26th of September at Harwell, near Didcot in Oxfordshire, at 3pm. Full details can be found at our website which is now at http://www.warp.in-uk.net Lets hope everyone will be there! We are here to provide resources and feedback from a UK perspective for computer users who are using or interested in using OS/2. If you would like to become a member, please visit our webpage and click on the members section. You will find an online registration form. September 9, 1998 Contact: Carla Hanzlik FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OS/2 Open House Celebration Fifth Anniversary of the Southern California OS/2 User Group Saturday, September 19, 1998 An OS/2 Open House Celebration of the fifth anniversary of the Southern California OS/2 User Group (SCOUG) will be held on Saturday, September 19, 1998. The event is being held at the IBM facilities in Costa Mesa from 10 a.m.(*) to 3:30 p.m. "Last year our Open House was a huge success," said Carla Hanzlik, editor of OS/2 For You, the monthly SCOUG publication. "We had almost 200 OS/2 users in attendance for our presentations, round-table discussions and product demonstrations. We also gave away a lot of door prizes, and even served everybody a free lunch!" This year's Open House is slated to be just as action packed. "We've got several lecture rooms that will be running simultaneously," said event chairman Rollin White. "We're covering networking, programming, the Internet, video cards, things that OS/2 users want to hear about. In all, there will be 16 presentations, all on OS/2." "We have Dr. Virginia Hetrick scheduled with an entire series on setting up a web site. Anyone who wants to set up their own web server should attend this excellent series."(*) "We've also got Don Baker, the man behind the Paper, Paper, Paper story, who will show exactly how to get superb, professional results out of inexpensive color inkjet printers." "And we'll take a look ahead with 'Coming Attractions: Speculations (and Some Facts) About the Future of OS/2', a special presentation by the ever-popular Randell Flint from Sundial Systems." In addition to the lecture hall presentations, the main hall will be filled with demonstrations of OS/2 products. Vendors such as Sundial Systems and Perfect Niche Software will be showing their products while other areas will have demonstrations such as scanning and printing with OS/2, financial trading with OS/2, OS/2 games and exhibits, plus some new software releases that will be previewed for the first time. "And we've got one other lecture hall that's been reserved for round-table discussions on specific OS/2 topics," added Rollin. The presentations, exhibits and games go all day, with breaks for the free lunch and the Door Prize Bonanza. This is _the_ OS/2 event of the year for Southern California. Every OS/2 user within driving distance should attend. For complete details and the presentation schedule, visit the SCOUG Open House web page at http://www.scoug.com/openhouse/ The above activities are completely free to attendees. This event is sponsored and funded by the Southern California OS/2 User Group, which wants you to remember that OS/2 is very, very much alive. (*) Special three part web site design series of presentations starts earlier at 9:00 A.M. September 6, 1998 Phoenix OS/2 Society, Inc. - POSSI On October 13, 1998 General meeting; The Graham Utilities, presented by Chris Graham, from Australia. Meeting is 7:00pm to 9:00pm. Q&A session is 6:30pm to 7:00pm. Location: Mountain Preserve Reception Center, 1431 East Dunlap, Phoenix October 17, 1998 Phoenix OS/2 Society, Inc. - POSSI Warpstock '98. October 17-18 in Chicago IL. See the Warpstock Web site, http://www.warpstock.org, for more information. For more information on POSSI, visit our website at http://www.possi.org September 1, 1998 The Philadelphia OS/2 SIG web site at http://www.phillyos2.org has just been updated. Stop in for these new features: MEETING INFORMATION A report on the August meeting featuring demos of Netscape Communicator for OS/2 (beta) and jPadHD, a Java personal database. And news on our scheduled computer build-a-thon beginning at the September meeting with a discussion about options and ending in October with members building their own systems. COMPUTER BAZAAR An updated listing of computer shows in the tri-state area around Philadelphia. SPECIAL REPORT TO THE MEMBERS SIG Leader Larry Lavins reviews recent developments and activities at the Philadelphia OS/2 SIG. AS ALWAYS... Our thanks to Net Access, Philadelphia's original Internet provider (www.netaxs.com), for providing a home for our web site. editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 7. VOICE Newsletter - OS/2 Developer News Page ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 OS/2 Developer News Page editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org This page is reserved for announcements from any OS/2 developers. If you would like your product announcement or press release to appear here, please send it to editor@os2voice.org. August 18, 1998 PRESS RELEASE Contact: Gwen L. Veneskey, Director Marketing/Communications (412)488-9730 glvenes@ibm.net FOR IMMEIDATE RELEASE Tuesday, August 18, 1998 AVIAR ANNOUNCES the release of OS/2 CMMS software. Pittsburgh, PA -- Aviar announced today that it has released the Oz. of Prevention System for the OS/2 and WorkSpace on Demand platforms. Oz is the first fully voice-activated and speech-driven CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) available. This new product has all of the capabilities of Aviar's award-winning DOS CMMS, OOPS! The Ounce of Prevention System., which will run under OS/2, but in addition, Aviar has tapped into the wealth of cutting-edge technology available through the OS/2 operating system to make this package "software for the next millenium." Oz, under development for almost three years, was written in Object REXX, uses DB2 and was designed specifically to utilize OS/2's built-in speech. "Oz. is 'quality software, built with quality tools, for a quality operating system. Businesses of all sizes need software which is reliable, stable, powerful, flexible, convenient and ready for real-life mission-critical application. We believe Oz. fills that need in the CMMS area." says John J. Urbaniak, Ph.D., President and founder of Aviar, Inc. "Since Oz is fully customizable and fully internationalizable, it can be used anywhere maintenance is performed to help companies, large and small, track labor, parts, costs, equipment history, downtime and more." Oz is featured on Aviar's webpage: (http://www.ooops-web.com) and is being sold as a turnkey system directly through Aviar's Sales Department. Aviar, Inc. was founded in 1984 by Dr. Urbaniak to provide top-quality PC software for commercial and industrial users. Aviar's OOPS! was first released more than 10 years ago and is still in use by companies around the world. Aviar is an OS/2 shop and development by the company during the past several years has been mainly in the area of "voice-activated, speech-driven" systems. In addition to Oz. they have also developed several other voice-activated systems, including: a database query package, V Trex: Information . . . at your COMMAND!; a drug review and analysis testing package for use by MROs (Medical Review Officers) to track employee drug test recording procedures, and a billing software package for Octel-based voicemail systems. Aviar also published "Object REXX by Example" (331 pages), ISBN Number 0-9652329-0-5, a book on the object-oriented programming language, Object REXX. August 24, 1998 Due to an expansion of services the following changes are planned to take place to the http://yoursite.co.uk web hierachy. These changes will occur on or by the weekend of the 29th of this month GMT. The Win32OS/2 resources page will be moved from http://www.yoursite.co.uk/os/2/ to http://www.yoursite.co.uk/os/2/win32os2/ And changes will be made in advance to support alpha 3 The Advanced Web Editor (AWE) pages will be moved from http://www.yoursite.co.uk/os/2/webwriter/ to http://www.yoursite.co.uk/os/2/awe/ Submission for OS/2 pages will be moved from http://www.yoursite.co.uk/os/2/index.htm to http://www.yoursite.co.uk/os/2/submission/ Also, Changes will occur to the OS/2 and Linux hardware vendors quotation system, allowing quote requests to be direct emailed to specific hardware vendors. http://www.yoursite.co.uk/os/hardware/ (At the moment they are centrally emailed to powerdale, who distribute them manually). Further, we are considering setting up an online database, to allow a number of suggested configurations to be added by the companies concerned and displayed with relevant prices. We would also like to hear about any other hardware vendors who are interested in joining our program (we charge a % of profit fee on the sale). A new page will be set up http://www.yoursite.co.uk/os/2/jobs Which will be an OS/2 and Linux employment database allowing OS/2 and Linux positions to be advertised, and CV's to be submitted for positions. It is planned that this will contain both a database of avalaible people and a database of jobs. Of course, the resources being set up are of no use to the OS/2 community unless the community both supports them with content and actively participates / uses the services. This email is being sent because we believe these changes may affect you, some pages on your site that refer to our resources or your users. Pointer pages will be left in directories to notify the change in location, and redirect as required. We would greatly appreciate it if you would please try our antispam service, http://www.yoursite.co.uk/antispam Which is a url replacement for mailto:'s which as you know are detected by spam robots and cause so much grief, by using one of our mailme url's instead, your email address is totally hidden from a spammers view. The changes are to make way for a major overhaul of the OS/2 site to add a number of useful resources and howto information. Any user who has useful information will be free to publish it under our os/2 web hierachy. (We have had 75,000 visitors this year). We plan on providing a service similar to the "OS/2 Pharmacy" (sp) that was around a couple of years ago but seems to have disappeared. We also plan a databased Q&A / FAQ, allowing users to add a question, and add an answer... This may or may not be finished by the weekend, so please bear with us. If you have any ideas for a valuable OS/2 resource that you would like avaliable, or mirrored, please email us directly and we will see if we can include it in our latest changes. PowerDale IT Limited OS/2 Software @ yoursite.co.uk We try to please August 30, 1998 - Source: Barry Bean A new PMfax/FaxWorks printer driver which fixes the printing issue for Lotus 123 is now released and available on the Keller Group web site. Download the UF_30103.EXE file from http://www.kellergroup.com/doc/download.htm or install the 3.01.03 maintenance release to get the fix. Keller Group remains committed to OS/2 fax/voice software. Customers who purchased PMfax version 3 from Keller Group continue to have access to version 3 maintenance releases using the product web page, passwords and enabling codes which were provided to them. Customers who purchased FaxWorks Pro for OS/2 version 3 from Global Village (developed by Keller Group) can get maintenance releases and support from Keller Group by purchasing an inexpensive support plan from Keller Group. See http://www.kellergroup.com for details. Best regards, Mark Mark Ahlstrom Pres., Keller Group Inc. info@kellergroup.com http://www.kellergroup.com August 31, 1998 - Well, with summer coming near an end, I figured now would be a good time to let OS/2 users know what Stardock is working on, has been working on, and will be working on. For me, and in this case I can speak for everyone at Stardock, OS/2 support is a lot more than words, deeds are far more important than words and in 1998, Stardock's deeds have clearly shown that no other ISV supports OS/2 more than Stardock does. This morning we and Southsoft released the new PMINews 2.0 beta. PMINews is a powerful news reader for OS/2 that basically takes all of the beefs we and others have had with typical news readers and try to address them. If you have PMINews 1.x, going to 2.0 is absolutely FREE. When PMINews 2.0 ships (target date is around Warpstock) we hope OS/2 users who don't already have it will look carefully at upgrading to it. We will offer a great deal of upgrade deals from other news readers. Later today, we expect to release the first update to the Object Desktop 2.0 Early Experience Program. Hopefully most of you are familiar with Object Desktop. We release Object Desktop Professional 1.5 back just before OS/2 Warp 4's launch (1996). It's a desktop environment that integrates into OS/2 a lot of cool new features. It was inspired by the OS/2 wishlists (we essentially read the lists of new features people wanted in OS/2 and made a product ouf ot it). It's always been a very popular product. Our goal with Object Desktop 2.0 is pretty ambitious, since IBM hasn't released a new version of OS/2 since 1996 (other than Fixpacks which OS/2 detractors should be aware does constitute real support from IBM), Object Desktop 2.0 essentially acts as a third party upgrade for OS/2 users. It'll run on OS/2 Warp 3 (without Fixpacks) all the way up to Warp 4 FP7 and beyond but it adds more real features that the typical user would notice than Windows 98 added to Windows 95. You can still join the Early Experience program but we expect to close entry to it in about a week or two (you can go to http://www.stardock.com to join it). We also have a Windows version in beta right now. If you're an OS/2 user who is stuck using Windows a lot, OD comes with a WindowFX, an OS personality component that lets you make Windows look a lot like OS/2. On Monday, Stardock will be releasing an update to Entrepreneur (v1.31). Entrepreneur is a strategy game in which you start your own company and must conquer the world. It's like a SimBillGates. :) It too runs on OS/2 and I'm proud to say that it is probably the only OS/2 game you can find at most software retailers. We also will be releasing Entrepreneur: Corporate Expansion, an expansion pack for Entrepreneur next week (go to http://www.stardock.com to order it). In about a week, we expect to release a new beta of Stellar Frontier (with Solar Systems) which will hopefully have the new network engine in it so that anyone with a modem can play on-line with silky smooth performance. Stellar Frontier takes place in the Galactic Civilizations universe. You get to join the humans, the Torians, or the Drengin Empire. It plays a lot like Star Control Melee. More news on this will show up when the beta goes out. And these are just the things we're doing for OS/2 in this next week. Real products that users and use (2 games, 2 apps). In 1998, we've also released Galactic Civilizations Gold, made a bundle of OS/2 Essentials V2 and Process Commander that is only $69, made the popular Links golf game available on OS/2 on the commerce server for only $20, and we have more things for OS/2 in the pipeline. In October, Warpstock (http://www.warpstock.org) will be the place we officially launch Object Desktop 2.0. If you're on the fence about going to Warpstock, I highly recommend it. It was a total blast last year and it's really nice being around other users who enjoy using OS/2 and you don't have to defend it or make excuses why you use it. Warpstock is on October 17-18 in Chicago. So to summarize what Stardock's doing on OS/2 just in 1998: *NEW PRODUCTS in 1998* PMINews 2.0 (with Southsoft) Object Desktop 2.0 Entrepreneur 1.3 Entrepreneur Corporate Expansion Stellar Frontier * Existing Products that got new attention * Links golf for online download at $20 OS/2 Essentials V2 and Process Commander bundled at $69 Not counting the existing stuff, that's 5 OS/2 products that did not exist a year ago at this time. For users who think OS/2 has "died", OS/2 has moved into a niche existence. Users who use OS/2 today are likely to be OS/2 users who are around a year from now. The whole problem on OS/2's side is purely perception. With IBM releasing regular Fixpacks and updates for OS/2 that enhance the under pinnings of OS/2 and third parties releasing products (like Object Desktop) to address new features in OS/2, I would say OS/2's not doing too bad. Brad ---- Brad Wardell Stardock Systems, Inc. http://www.stardock.com September 04, 1998 - ********************************************************************** ANNOUNCE: F/X Communications releases InJoy Version 2.0b ********************************************************************** Denmark - September 1, 1998 -- F/X Communications announced today the release of InJoy 2.0b. InJoy is known as the ever-expanding Internet Dialer that with its mission critical appearance, anvanced options and unmatched performance brought unique connectivity features to OS/2. For the past year we have been busy designing and coding the NEW release. To avoid the DINOSAUR SYNDROME, we have taken the time to modularize the many features of InJoy. The new design promisses continued low resource- usage, an expansion-friendly kernel, easier testing and superior module interoperability simplifying the release of new F/X products and addons. InJoy is now available in four levels of registration and functionality. The old "Basic Client" has expired, the extended version key is still valid with 2.0b, a NEW SOHO version has been introduced and the Professional version simply embraces everything. It is possible to upgrade one version or InJoy to another by paying the difference in price + $10. Read more at the InJoy homepage: http://www.fx.dk/injoy o NEW FEATURES IN VERSION 2.0b: - F/X Firewall Plugin - F/X Packet Filter Plugin - TCP/IP 4.1 support - New Dial On Demand - NAT support for IRC SEND/DCC - NAT support for PING - New Registration Scheme - New home-page design o FEATURE RICH: Packet Filter Plugin; F/X Firewall plugin; Dial On Demand; Re-Dial, Re-Connect; Network Address Translation; High COM Speeds; Phone Number List; Scripts, Auto-Learned; Connection Log; Terminal Mode; PAP CHAP; MS-CHAP; TCP/IP v4.1 support; Trace; MUCH MORE.. o F/X FIREWALL PLUGIN: Transform InJoy into a full featured firewall by means of: - Rule Based Access Control - Network Address Translation - Port and IP Redirection - Packet Filtering - Alerts - Accounting - Stateful Inspection - Logging o F/X PACKET FILTER: Selectively filter TCP/IP packets as they flow through the plugin. Use it to fine-tune Dial On Demand, block porn, block certain protocols or packet contents. Create powerful compound filters literally addressing any packet characteristic down to the last bit. o CONTACTS Support : support@fx.dk Mail List : http://www.fx.dk/contadd.htm September 8, 1998 - The following from Klaus Staedtler stadt@ibm.net The free config.sys editing and analyzing tool configinfo has been updated, its the old configinfo4 together with an updated cfginfo15.dat and configsort 2.01 it can be downloaded at http://www.buntspecht.de/files/cfginfo6.zip In cfginfo15.dat are all informatiuons about the config.sys I've found over the years for optimizing your config.sys and aditionally many advices, e.g. how to get multiple bootable configurations -- Klaus Staedtler editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 8. VOICE Newsletter - Feature Columns ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org Features ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┐ │The Editor of VOICE speaks out │By: Mark Dodel │ ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤ │OS/2 Technology Issues.Sixth in a series. Installing Fixpaks│By: Dan Casey │ │for OS/2 Warp │ │ ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤ │Power Boot 2.1 │By: Dr. Allie Martin │ ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤ │Configuring Warp for COM21 Cable Modem Internet Access │By: Mark Klebanoff │ ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤ │"Some OS/2 users step over the line" │By: Seth McFarland │ ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤ │Just What Does "Network Computing" Mean, Anyway? │By: Tom Nadeau │ ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤ │Interview with an OS/2 Business User │By: Dave Cull │ ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤ │Interview with an OS/2 Business User │By: Wolfgang Becker │ ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤ │Interview with an OS/2 User │By: Duaine Hechler │ ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤ │Getting started on IRC │By: Wayne Swanson │ ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤ │OS/2 Tips │- │ ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤ │Letters to VOICE, addendums, Errata, │- │ ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤ │View from the End (User) │By: dON eITNER │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────┘ editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 8.1. VOICE Newsletter - The Editor of VOICE speaks out ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 Features mailto:editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org We need your help An editorial view from Mark Dodel, editor of the VOICE Newsletter editor@os2voice.org Lot's of new articles in this issue of the VOICE Newsletter. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the folks who contribute with their time and effort to the newsletter. VOICE is an entirely volunteer endeavor and I would really like to see more folks, particularly VOICE members get involved to help lighten the work load. If there is an OS/2 application or a particular piece of hardware you would like to write about, drop me a line mailto:editor@os2voice.org Don Eitner, the assistant editor of the newsletter and my self would gladly help any budding new journalist/authors get their article in shape. If you are not quite up to writing an article, then consider helping out by sending in an OS/2 tip, or User Group meeting announcement, or volunteer to do an interview with an OS/2 user, or just a short letter of encouragement if you read an article and found it helpful in some way. Getting back to the business at hand, this months newsletter includes a review of Power Boot, v2.1, by VOICE member Dr. Allie Martin; an article on Setting up a COM21 Cable Modem under OS/2 by Mark Klebanoff; Part 6 of Dan Casey's OS/2 Technology series on Installing Fixpaks for OS/2 Warp; Tom Nadeau's "Just What Does "Network Computing" Mean, Anyway?"; and Don Eitner reviews BubblePad v1.01 in his VIEW from the End(User) column. We also have three new interviews with OS/2 users this month. This section has actually become one of my favorites as it demonstrates OS/2's true power above and beyond the niche label IBM and the computer press have slapped on it. I hope that someone at IBM reads these and sees the sheer diversity of use their operating system is put to. Finally Wayne Swanson gives a step-by-step tutorial on using the freeware EZirc IRC client to log into VOICE meetings and join the fun in his article Getting started on IRC. Wayne has even written a script so EZirc will log onto WEBBnet and join the #voice channel automatically. We also have an editorial piece by Seth MacFarland on the recent Usenet exchanges between some OS/2 users and the IBM Communicator for OS/2 development team which I titled "Some OS/2 users step over the line". My take on the issue of whether the Communicator for OS/2 is "too windows" or not is that all the griping and personal attacks on the development team are unproductive but expected. They come in part from the frustration of watching IBM attrit OS/2 development in their drive to shore up the Next Titanic. The facts are that IBM has pretty much stopped all native OS/2 application development, and they openly advise software developers to do the same and Communicator for OS/2 will probably be the last major OS/2 application to come out of IBM unless they come to their senses, or have to jump in the life boats to get away from the sinking goliath known as NT. Most likely though IBM will ride to the rescue and save Microsoft from it's own inept, bloated coding. So what has this to do with COMM/2 and sniping OS/2 users? Well it sticks in people's craw that the product looks and feels like a windows application. It also doesn't help that one of the developers stated he only uses windows at home. So what we end up with is a product we OS/2 users have to work with day-in-day-out while he just has to fix the problems with it. In reality this is not a real problem since it is not at all unusual for commercial application developers to not use their own products on a daily basis. I program on mainframes and routinely develop and support applications that I only use in a test environment. As to the windows look and feel, the COMM/2 development team has stated they are doing their best to add things like OS/2 drag and drop support, but menu items are unchangeable. IBM has only committed to doing a port of the existing Netscape Communicator 4.04 and this ported version has to remain compatible with the other platform versions for any hope of continued support. So folks your options are to remain with the out-of-date Navigator for OS/2 2.02 or the now dead-end Web Explorer; use another browser such as Web Navigator, Lynx/2, or the hopefully soon to appear Opera for OS/2; do as IBM wants you to do and switch to windows; or use this port of Communicator for OS/2. Continued whining and threatening is not gonna change a thing. After reading "The Microsoft File" by Wendy Goldman Rohm *, it has become clear to me that Microsoft is the only one that benefits from all the squabbling between us. OS/2 users should stop all the bickering amongst ourselves and join forces with the MAC users, Linux users and anyone else who sees what Microsoft is up to, and help educate the public about choice in personal computing. It turns out that the horrible things we OS/2 fanatics have been saying all along about Microsoft were not only true, but were minor compared with most of the predatory acts of sabotage, deceit and out-right theft committed by Mr. Gates and his minions. If you read only one book this year or this decade, try to read this one. Her writing style is a bit tortuous but she presents a clear case of how Microsoft destroyed it's competition including the IBM-Microsoft OS/2 effort. If you really want to do something to help change IBM's feelings toward OS/2 try writing to the following expressing your concerns about the general lack of choice in computer operating system availability and specifically IBM's lack of non-Microsoft options to: Joel I. Klein Assistant Attorney General Antitrust Division U.S. Department of Justice 601 D Street, NW Washington, DC 20530 The email address is antitrust@justice.usdoj.gov If you would like to let IBM know that you want them to support OS/2 and ask them to release a new version of OS/2 send an email to: John Stenson ssadm281@us.ibm.com Network Computing Software Finally if you want to let Lou Gerstner's office know how you feel you can do so by pointing your favorite web browser to http://www.ibm.com/cgi-bin/email-lvg.pl You'll probably then get a response from someone in John's office anyway, so I'm not sure what difference it makes. Mark Dodel Editor, VOICE Newsletter editor@os2voice.org * "The Microsoft File : The Secret Case Against Bill Gates" by Wendy Goldman Rohm, Published by Times Business and available from Amazon Books online http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0812927168/002-1741491-2800602 Features mailto:editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 8.2. VOICE Newsletter - OS/2 Technology Issues. Sixth in a series. ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org OS/2 Technology Issues Part 6 Installing Fixpaks for OS/2 Warp by: Dan Casey (abraxas@os2voice.org) http://www.ameritech.net/users/dcasey/index.html September 15 1998 This series of articles is not about recommending specific hardware and/or software. It's about information. We OS/2 users have, thanks to IBM, the ability to update our operating system on a fairly regular basis. IBM is constantly developing and updating OS/2, and as a result, they release updates to the Base Operating System on a fairly regular basis (the target is quarterly, but this is not a fixed release schedule). These updates, called Fixpaks, can get to be quite large over time. All updates and fixes are cumulative. What this means is that, if you have installed Warp 4, and want to apply the latest Fixpak for it (currently Fixpak 8), you don't have to first install Fixpaks 1 through 7. Installing Fixpak 8 will apply all the fixes and updates that were in the previous 7 Fixpaks. There are now several ways that you can apply a Fixpak to your OS/2 Warp system. The tried and true method of creating the floppy disks from the diskette image files that IBM supplies is, fortunately, no longer necessary. While this method has served us well (I've used it since I first installed OS/2 2.0), it is a long, drawn out and time consuming task. You have to create all the floppy disks one at a time (there are currently 16 diskette images for Warp 4, Fixpak 8) and you then have to create the CSF "Kicker" diskettes (usually a 2 disk set used to boot the machine) and run the FSERVICE program to apply the Fixpak. Booting OS/2 from Floppy Disks is slow enough without then having to feed the next 16 diskettes into the drive, one at a time, when prompted. RSU So, IBM came up with a quicker way to do it ... RSU (Remote Software Updates). Using RSU, you can point Netscape to the IBM site: http://ps.boulder.ibm.com/pbin-usa-ps/getobj.pl?/pdocs-usa/softupd.html and follow the instructions there to apply the Fixpak. NOTE: At the time this article was written, Fixpak 8 had just been released, and was not yet linked to the Software Updates site referenced above. Hopefully, by the time this is published, the link will be there. Using this method, the image files are downloaded to your system, in the form of ZIP files, and the RSU installation routine unzips them, and starts the SERVICE program to apply the Fixpak. This is quite a bit easier than creating all those floppies, but it has its own downside. If you have a slow and/or unreliable Internet Connection (and many dial up connections suffer from this), it's possible to lose the connection in the middle of the download or installation, and you have to re-establish your connection and begin again. While you are in little danger of rendering your system inoperable, you may have to begin the download process all over again. It can get to be quite frustrating. Installation from Hard Drive One of the easiest and quickest methods is to run the installation routine from your own hard drive. Yes, you still have to download all the image files, but by using a real FTP Client (rather than Netscape's FTP), you have the ability to RESUME an aborted download, picking up where you last left off. Not all FTP clients support RESUME, so make sure that the one you want to use does have this feature. And, although Netscape allows you to ftp more than 1 file at a time (depending on how many active threads you have setup in Netscape), the download speed drops proportionately with each simultaneous download. For example, if you have a 64kbps connection, downloading a single file will (theoretically) transfer at 64kbps. If you download 2 files at the same time, each file will download at 32kbps. Downloading 4 at a time will give you 16kbps per file, so you're not really gaining anything by downloading more than 1 file at a time. better to use an FTP client that allows you to specify a group of files, and download them 1 at a time, in succession. That way, if your connection dies, you have only 1 file to "reget" (the one that the download aborted on) rather than 2 or 4. Step 1: Download the actual image files from IBM. Point your FTP client to: service.boulder.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/fixes/v4warp Use anonymous login (Login: anonymous Password: Choose the NLV (National Language Version) that you want to upgrade and the Fixpak level you want to install. Download ALL the files in the directory. Pay particular attention to the file readme.1st. It contains important information regarding the contents of the Fixpak, installation instructions and notes about the Fixpak. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS From time to time, IBM updates the CSF (Corrective Service Facilty) or FIXTOOL used to apply Fixpaks. If they have updated it for the particular Fixpak you are installing, there will be a reference to it in the readme.1st file. Make sure you are using the most recent CSF (Fixtool) for your particular Fixpak. Step 2: Download the utility used to install this fixpak from your hard disk. It can be found at the Hobbes archive at: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/system/patches/fixpack/warp_4/fastk138.zip This is the FastKick utility that was released for Warp 4, Fixpak 7. You'll have to change some files to get it to work with Fixpak 8. This procedure is outlined below, in Step 3. Step 3: NOTE: Step 3 is for users of Warp 4 installing Fixpak 8 ONLY. UNZIP FASTK138.ZIP into an empty directory. Then, copy the file FIXT139.EXE to that same directory, and run it (type FIXT139 from an OS/2 Command Prompt while in that directory). If and when it prompts you to overwrite existing files, choose YES TO ALL. This effectively updates the FastKick utility so that it will work correctly with Fixpak 8. Should IBM again update the CSF utility, you can simply repeat this step using the updated FIXT*.EXE file found in a future Fixpak release. IMORTANT NOTE: If you are applying fixpaks to Warp 3 (or Warp Server), do NOT use FASTK138.ZIP. Instead, get the original version of the FastKick utility from hobbes. You'll find it as: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/system/patches/fixpack/fastkick.zip You'll need to use this same file if you are applying a Fixpak previous to Fixpak 7 for Warp 4. It's not necessary to update this version of the FastKick utility for servicing Warp 3, Warp Server or Warp 4, Fixpak 6 or earlier. Step 4: Copy all of the diskette image files to the directory where you have unzipped and updated the Fastkick utility. Step 5: From an OS/2 command prompt, run the following command (You can use cut-n-paste to copy this line from this page, and paste it to your command prompt). for %1 in (*.?dk) do diunpack %1 *Thanks to Brad Barclay for for posting this to Usenet* This will extract all the image files into this directory automatically. Step 6: From the OS/2 Command Prompt, run the script FIX.CMD. Make sure that you have closed all other running programs and disconnected from the Internet before running the FIX script. Follow the onscreen prompts. If you wish, you may choose a BACKUP directory when prompted, but this is optional. If you have previously applied Fixpaks, the default ARCHIVE directory will be used. BMT Micro Fixpak CD This is, by far, the easiest and fastest method to apply a Fixpak. For those of you who don't want to go through all the above steps, and don't mind waiting for a week or 2 longer, you can order the Fixpak CD or a Subscription from BMT Micro. Go to: http://www.bmtmicro.com/catalog/0cds.html and choose the method you want. If you buy the individual CD, the initial cost is just $15.00 (US). Then when you order subsequent Fixpak CDs, each one is just $8.00 (US). Or, you can now Subscribe to the Fixpak CD. Initial cost is $8.00 (US) and you'll automatically be sent (and charged $8.00) when each subsequent Fixpak is released on CD. Complete instructions (in HTML) are included on the CD. There are no other utilities to download, and no unzipping or extracting image files. It's all done for you, and all packaged on 1 CD. The Fixpak CDs are VERY nice to have if you are servicing more than 1 Warp system. NOTE: Communicator for OS/2 is reported to support the REGET feature when using FTP. Since Communicator/2 is currently still in BETA testing, I do NOT recommend attempting an RSU install of a Fixpak using this browser. Also, it's been reported that there is a problem in the RSU Script causing the RSU install of FP8 to hang. One possible workaround is to to edit the getobj2.pl file (should be in \tcpip\tmp) changing the reference to csf139.zip to csf138b.zip. Then run "rsuinst getobj2.pl" from the directory where getobj2.pl exists. (Thanks to ggerlach in Undernet #os/2 for this tip). To those of you with sharp eyes and minds, this would appear to enable the RSU installation of Fixpak 8 using the CSF level 138b, which, according to the README.1ST file in Fixpak 8, is not supported. Use this procedure at your own risk. VOICE is, basically, a volunteer organization. We are supported, almost entirely, by our members. We are OS/2 users helping OS/2 users. If you'd like to contribute to our effort, Membership information is available on our Website. And if you'd like to contribute to this series of articles, E-mail abraxas@os2voice.org me with a brief description of your idea. Of course, we'd like to have contributions from our members, but membership is not a requirement for contributing to our cause. Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 8.3. VOICE Newsletter - Power Boot 2.1 ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org POWER BOOT 2.1 By: Dr. Allie Martin - alliem@wtjam.net Bluesky Innovation's Power Boot is a great tool for those who use multiple operating systems and especially those who do not install operating systems all at the same time. With it, you can install various operating systems and boot from each in ways that you cannot normally do without the use of Powerboot. Power Boot is compatible with all operating systems for the PC platform, including our beloved OS/2. It is purely a bootmanager and therefore does not offer other features as the comparable application, System Commander, which costs significantly more. Most of us who use and install multiple operating systems, already use Partition Magic which comes with these additional features anyway. Hardware Requirements CPU : 386 or above Hard disk drive with at least 26 sectors/track. Installation: Power Boot may be purchased electronically either from BMT Micro, or via the OS/2 Supersites rapid internet purchasing facility and comes as a 32KB zipped archive. It installs on your first harddisk but does not require it's own partition on which to be installed nor does it need a FAT formatted partition on which to be installed. The installation executable is DOS based, however, and is therefore run either after booting to DOS or booting with a DOS boot diskette. Installation on my fully HPFS formatted first harddisk was very easy and quick. This involved unzipping the archive on a diskette, booting with a DOS diskette, running the install executable on the installation disk and following the simple instructions. Uninstalling was just as easy, involving the same installation steps but instead, selecting uninstall from the first popup menu. Features: Power Boot is indeed a lean and mean bootmanager. It lacks the frilly appearance of System Commander, in fact looking more like OS/2's bootmanager in simple layout, but Power Boot comes packed with very useful features. It may be run in simple or expert mode and may even be run in quiet mode where you are not presented with a boot menu but instead the copyright statement. The quiet mode can be interrupted readily by pressing the spacebar. Power Boot's features include:  The ability to hide/unhide partitions on the fly as you boot up. There is no need to run another program in order to hide or unhide partitions.  A one touch option to configure your system to update an Operating System.  A one touch option to configure your system to install an OEM version of an operating system e.g. Windows95 OSR2. Very often, these OEM versions will not install if they detect another OS on the system.  Giving names to your partitions like 'Win95 OSR2' or 'MSDOS 6.22' for easy identification  The ability to boot from any one of 63 partitions in any drive. This is only limited by the ability of the OS to be booted from a drive other than C.  Once the operating system is loaded, Power Boot does not occupy any memory  Not requiring any configuration. It is INSTALL and PLAY!  Password facilities for security with a save last boot ability. Three other features require special mention and each was an absolute winner for me. These were the DOS swap drive, win9x swap drive and OS/2 boot driveletter features. The DOS swap drive allows you to boot an operating system from a disk other than disk one which needs to boot from drive C:, such as DOS/win3.x. It does this by logically swapping the drives so that the operating system to be booted thinks that it is on the first disk and hence on drive C:. If you get a new hard disk you can then install it as the first hard disk and with Power Boot still be able to boot your old DOS installation on your old disk. The win9x swap drive feature provides the ability to install on and boot win9x from a second, third, or fourth harddisk. This means that you can install a second harddisk leaving OS/2 on your first disk and then going ahead and installing as well as booting win9x from this new disk. Adding new disks and creating new partitions can unexpectedly change drivelettering making your OS/2 installation unbootable. Hence the use of the OS/2 boot drive letter feature, which allows you to boot OS/2 from a HPFS partition using any driveletter you need to. This overrides the default driveletter allocation. Verdict: Power Boot is an excellent value for the money and provides great loopholes and removes hassles that would normally exist for someone who is installing multiple OS's, creating partitions or adding harddisks to their system especially if this is being done on a system already up and running with one or more operating systems already installed. So, if you find yourself spending a long time planning how you are going to install another OS on your system without one getting in the way of the other, then Power Boot is a great solution. Power Boot can be found at: http://www.blueskyinnovations.com/products.html You can register Power Boot online at BMT Micro - http://www.bmtmicro.com or the OS/2 Super Site - http://www.os2ss.com/ Registration prices: $25.00 - Single User License $230.00 - 25 User License $525.00 - 50 User License Dr. Allie Martin An end user of OS/2 Warp 4 Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 8.4. VOICE Newsletter - Configuring Warp for COM21 Cable Modem Internet Access ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org Configuring Warp for COM21 Cable Modem Internet Access By: Mark Klebanoff, (maxikins@os2bbs.com) I live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., and my cable TV company operates a copper wire system in which the amplifiers can send a signal only from the plant out to the users. Because of this, when they introduced cable internet access they settled on a system that used a conventional telephone modem in addition to a COM21 cable modem. So with one-way cable modems you receive a signal over the cable and send over the phone. I have no computer training and only a little knowledge, but I have three things that are necessary to get things working under Warp - 1) a willingness to tinker; 2) lots of patience and determination; and, most importantly, 3) a reliable tape backup so I can format and restore my entire system if everything goes down the drain. With that in my pocket, I decided to get some information about cable internet. I called the Cable Company and needless to say, they only support Windoze 95/98. I can't even remember if they support NT at this point in time. Of course, they had no clue whether Warp would work on their system or not, but at least they didn't give me a blanket "NO." In tinkering with OS/2, I've found the Usenet news groups to be invaluable. I posted a message asking whether Warp 4's TCP/IP stack would support multihoming/telco return, and was assured that it did, so I decided to give it a shot. I'm proud to say that except for Flight Simulator and a legacy copy of MS-DOS 6.2, my computer is a Micro$oft-free zone. However, I figure I needed to bite the bullet and install Win 95 just so that I could get internet access running and then try to transfer the settings to Warp 4. I knew somebody who had an unused copy of Win95, and I had an empty primary C: partition on my hard drive, so I "borrowed" the CD and temporarily installed Win95 on that partition (I'd do almost anything to keep Bill Gate$ from getting even richer than he is already), and I'll be darned if I'm going to buy a copy of 95 just to use it for a week and blow it away. The do-it-yourself Cable Internet kit comes with a COM21 modem, an ethernet card, the necessary cables and a set of instructions. The Cable Company charged $80 for it- $5 for setting up your internet account, and $75 for the PCI ethernet card and cables. An ISA card is $45, but I didn't have a free ISA slot. I checked with tech support, and they told me that the driver disk that comes with the ethernet card includes drivers for OS/2. If you already have a 10-base-T ethernet card in your computer, you don't need theirs, and the cost would only be $5. I elected to buy the card from the cable company. The card was a standard 3Com 3C900TPO card, which can be bought at any computer store for around $55, so I overpaid for the convenience of getting everything I needed at one place. Once I did that, I used the cable splitter to extend my cable to the room where my computer sits- I had to drill through an outside wall, and this was easily the hardest part of the entire job. I got the kit home and followed the directions they supplied to install the cable networking in Windows 95. The cable modem itself is a rather large plastic box (around 10"x6"x2.5") with lots of ventilation holes in it. It has a power connector, a cable connector, and an RJ-45 jack. After a couple of false starts (the instructions said to enter your user name and password in lower case, but it turns out you need to enter them in all upper case), I got it working in Windows 95. Then I set out to install it under Warp. There were two noteworthy points about the Win95 setup: 1) in the TCP/IP settings for the ethernet card, they give you a static IP address to type in. Once I did that, Win95 supplied a subnet mask automatically. In my case it was 255.0.0.0. I wrote that down, because I'd need it later. 2) When configuring the dial-in connection, all you do is type in your user name and password. You accept all the other defaults, which includes having the server assign the domain nameserver (DNS) address. That would be a minor problem later in Warp. Once you get it set up in Win95, log on to the cable, open a DOS window and type 'winipcfg' (no quotes). You'll get a graphical display explaining all the characteristics of your connection. The most important part is to look at the part where they give you the DNS addresses (there are usually 2, and you have to push the radio button next to that area to toggle between them and see what they are). You'll need that in setting up Warp, so write it down. While you're there, write down the Host Name and Domain Name you see there. You now have all the information you need to set up warp. Now it's time to start up Warp. Warp 4 supports this, and I'm pretty sure that Warp 3 Connect also does, but plain old Warp 3 does not include the necessary networking services. Once I fired up Warp 4, I went to the system setup folder, and clicked on Adapters and Protocol Services, then on the "Configure" button and then I clicked to configure Lan Adapters and Protocols. The list of supported Network Cards is in the upper left hand window. My card wasn't listed (it was produced after Warp 4 came out), so I clicked on the "other adapter" button. Warp prompted me to insert the disk containing the drivers and I inserted the driver disk that came with the network card. I selected my card from the list, clicked OK and then my card was listed in the supported cards window. I highlighted my card and clicked "Add." My card was now listed in the window at the bottom of the screen. Next, I highlighted my card in that window, and clicked on "TCP/IP" in the "Supported Protocols" box at the top right of the screen, and clicked the "Add" button. That bound TCP/IP to my network card. I could tell because TCP/IP was listed underneath my card at the bottom of the screen. I highlighted TCP/IP at the bottom of the screen and clicked on configure. Warp prompted me for a number for my adapter. I'm not sure if it matters what number you put in there, but I entered "23," which I think is the code for a dial-up adapter. After I did that, I closed that window, and then clicked on OK to go back to the configure screen, then "Close" on the configure screen, and finally, "Exit" on the MPTS screen. MPTS made some changes to my CONFIG.SYS FILE, so I shut down and re-booted my computer. On the boot up, my network card was recognized at IRQ 9 which was the IRQ I told the BIOS to hold open for Plug-and-Play devices. All my other cards, such as modems and sound card, are configured manually, but the ethernet card must be configured by the BIOS. Next, I went back to the System Setup Folder and opened the TCP/IP configuration program. The first tab to come up was entitled "Network." I highlighted "Lan Interface 0," then checked the "Enable Interface" box. I checked the "Manually" box, and entered the IP address that the Cable Company gave me, as well as the Subnet Mask that Windoze95 had generated. Next, I brought up the "Hostnames" tab, and entered the Host Name I got from Windows95 in the proper place. I also entered the domain name that the Cable company supplied in where prompted. Next I clicked on the Nameserver addresses area and clicked on the "Add" button. I entered the address of the first Name server that I copied from Windows 95 and clicked OK. I clicked on Add again and entered the IP address of the second Name server. That's all I needed to enter into the TCP/IP configuration settings. I closed the settings program. Warp asked me if I wanted to save the settings and I responded yes. Finally, I brought up Dial Other Internet Providers and clicked on the New Connection Button. I made up a name and description for the connection and typed in my user ID and password in all upper case letters, just as in Windoze95. I entered the phone number the Cable company supplied, left the word "NONE" in the login sequence (which is what Warp put there by itself) and checked the box that said "PPP." On Page 2 of the DOIP configuration settings, I left "your IP address," "destination IP address" and "Netmask" blank. Leaving them blank will allow the dial-in server to assign them automatically. I kept the default MRU size of 1500 and the already-checked VJ compression. Finally, I inserted one of the domain nameserver addresses and my domain name. I left the host name blank. I left the third page of the settings notebook blank (I can configure those servers separately in my e-mail and news programs, but I think they're necessary if you use Ultimail Lite and Newsreader/2). Finally, I configured my modem on page 4. When I tried to connect, everything connected up, but I couldn't access anything. PMMail stalled on "Resolving Host Name," and Netscape stalled on "looking up address." The problem was in my MPTN/ETC directory, where I had an old version of the file entitled RESOLV. That simple text file includes the name and IP address of the Domain Name Servers that your internet connection will use, and I had some old, erroneous information in there. I simply erased that RESOLV file and tried again. Lo and behold, I was able to connect to the internet over my TV Cable system. Once I got DOIP configured and running, I transferred those same settings to In-Joy (which I like better than DOIP). I had to erase the 'RESOLV' file again, but once I did that, In-Joy worked fine, too. I blew away Windows 95, and my computer again became a (mostly) Micro$oft-free zone. I'm making this sound easier than it was, since I've spared you all the mistakes I made along the way. Still, even with mistakes, configuring Win95 took about 1 or 2 hours, and configuring Warp didn't take longer than about half a day. The whole project is a good 2 weekend bit of work (or two consecutive days on a single weekend if you have the time)- one to string the TV cable, and a second to set up Win95 and Warp. While a telephone return is not as good as a full-cable hook up, I can still get 40 kilobytes/second downloads. In fact, last night I downloaded the 7 megs of beta/2 Netscape Communicator in a little less than 3 minutes. It would have taken at least ten times that long on with my 56k modem connection, and that's assuming that the carrier didn't drop midway through. The telephone return line on the cable hookup runs at 28.8k, which I've found to be a lot more stable than the 56k connection I have for my old internet provider. Now that I've got Cable TV Internet hooked up, am I going to keep it? I don't know. You quickly get spoiled on the speed, but my cable company charges $25 per month for 10 hours of logon time. Unlimited access is $65 per month, plus the cost of the second phone line. That's a lot of money, even for a rip-off artist like the Cable TV company. Bell Atlantic is planning to bring ADSL into my area this fall. Depending on how far you live from the switching station, you can get speeds at least as great, or even greater than you get from the cable. The phone company is planning to charge $60 per month for unlimited connect time, or $40 per month if you want to continue using your old ISP (don't ask me how that works, I don't know); because your computer is always logged in, unlimited time is the only plan they offer. If my house is close enough to the switching station, I may give that one a try as well to see which plan I like better. Even if I don't, try ADSL, I'm hoping that a little competition from Bell Atlantic will prompt the Cable Company to bring their rates down to a more reasonable level. For the time being, I'm staying with the economy cable access, and using it mainly to download large files such as Warp Fixpacks. But for newsgroup lurking and web surfing, I'm staying with my regular ISP. I get regular internet access from Pete Norloff, who runs the world-famous OS/2 BBS. After all, by staying with Pete I'm doing my bit to keep OS/2 alive and viable. Mark Klebanoff is a home OS/2 user and medical researcher living in the Washington DC area. Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 8.5. VOICE Newsletter - "Some OS/2 users step over the line" ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org "Some OS/2 users step over the line!" By: Seth McFarland With the release of the first two betas of Netscape Communicator for OS/2, I've become aware of a side of the OS/2 community that I never knew existed (or refused to believe existed). IBM finally comes through on its promise of bringing Communicator to OS/2 and to put the icing on the cake, two members of the IBM team working on the project (Mike Kaply and Jeff Kobal) actually begin participating in the OS/2 news groups giving us at least an inkling that there is someone at Big Blue actually listening to the lowly home users. But are these Communicator/2 programmers met with enthusiastic bug reports and "thank you"s? No. Instead, they are slapped with vicious posts about the buggy nature of the beta (yes, software defects in a BETA of all things), unwanted features added since 2.02, lack of full WPS integration, and threats of "dropping" Communicator/2 in favor of NS/2 2.02. It seems that for many OS/2 users (at least those vociferous in the news groups) nothing is good enough. Granted, NS/2 2.02 wasn't the best piece of software written, and Communicator for OS/2 is obviously not flawless, but then again what software is? By no means am I trying to defend poorly written software. I realize that many times in the past OS/2 has been the victim of quick and dirty ports of software (Sim City 2000 comes to mind) which didn't deserve to have ever come out of beta. It's ports like these that OS/2 users don't buy and which confirm company's suspicions that OS/2 versions of their software won't sell (when in fact any software on any platform written as poorly as their OS/2 versions wouldn't sell). But back to Communicator for OS/2. Have we forgotten what "beta" means? Beta software is expected to have bugs which is why IBM released the Comm/2 betas publicly: to find the glitches. Threats of not using the software and flames directed at the development team are no way to help make a solid final product. Many of these complaints do not concern actual problems with the performance of Comm/2 but its lack of WPS integration. This is where I think OS/2 users are placing a little too much pressure on the development team. Sure, WPS integration is excellent and one of the many reasons we use OS/2 but with the many and varying ports of Communicator on several different platforms, integration with each and every OS to which the suite is ported is just not feasible. The attention that OS/2 got with NS/2 2.02 and is now getting with Comm/2 in terms of OS integration is well beyond the call of duty and should be appreciated by the OS/2 community. Several vicious attacks on this subject have been directed at Mike Kaply and Jeff Kobal. Disrespectful and personal attacks against the team bringing us a cutting-edge browser and suite is not the way to perfect the software. Constructive criticism and defect reporting is what is necessary and expected of beta testers. Can't handle it? Too buggy for you? Don't test the software, wait for the production version. Useless complaining and badgering of the Comm/2 programmers not only takes time away from development, during which they are responding to posts dealing with issues that the porting team has no control over, but it also hurts our (read: the home user's) relationship with one of our only active links to IBM. I am by no means asking the OS/2 community to be content with buggy, poorly written software. What I am asking for is a little respect for those working on our "side" who take time out of their busy day (even time at home) to keep us informed and who have been forced to post such comments as this one from Jeff Kobal: My "agenda" is to provide the best OS/2 product I possibly can, as it has been in each of the various projects on which I've worked at IBM. I felt that responding to certain questions/concerns/suggestions/reports in this newsgroup would help me towards that end, and that certain responses I've received have been a hindrance. Instead of just ignoring it, I tried to politely explain the reasons behind certain decisions being made, and that has snowballed into what you see here now. Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 8.6. VOICE Newsletter - Just What Does "Network Computing" Mean, Anyway? ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org Just What Does "Network Computing" Mean, Anyway? By: Tom Nadeau os2headquarters@mindspring.com The term "Network Computing" has become one of those flexible, catch-all terms that everybody adopts to describe whatever it is that they are doing. IBM calls large server/thin client configurations Network Computing. Microsoft calls bloated servers replicating NT consoles Network Computing. Novell, of course, calls everything Network Computing because that's what they've always made -- Networks. The real meaning of IBM's version of Network Computing doesn't have anything to do with a particular hardware configuration, though. Whatever hardware setup saves money and makes system management simpler and more reliable, that's where things should migrate. What Network Computing really means is this: we must stop thinking about computer connections as Point A to Point B, and start thinking about networks the way we think about air. Air, the atmosphere around us, is a pervasive conduit for information. We exchange sound waves through it when we speak or listen, we exchange information via radio and television waves and cell phones, we exchange bacteria and viruses, odors, and numerous other forms of "data" via the air. Air is everywhere; it is not conspicuous by its presence but rather by its absence. We call an airtight package "hermetically sealed" because its main attribute is that it is airless. This is the way we need to start thinking about computing. Communication is not from my computer to yours; it's through a marvelous, pervasive, global "atmosphere" called the Internet. IBM's genius and vision was to recognize that communication via the Internet would turn the tables on a Point A to Point B infrastructure that was slowly becoming Redmondized. Instead, everything will connect to everything else. The value-added will become in keeping unwanted things *out* -- in other words, people won't pay money to get connected, but rather to make sure that information passage is selective, as if through a membrane. In the case of ultra-secure systems, it will be the equivalent of "hermetically sealing" them. And this is where IBM intends to make money. The average person won't spend money to keep people out. Banks and other necessarily secure enterprises will pay, however. For a bank, connecting and transferring data pervasively will be necessary for survival and prosperity, but ten times as critical in terms of security. The value of information that is secret and sensitive will dictate how much people will pay to keep the access to that information selective. Joe's Hardware Store will never pay for the level of security that Wells Fargo Bank will. Network Computing via OS/2 is simply the smartest, safest, most reliable, and most cost-effective way of doing it. Network Computing exposes computer architectures to tests of stability and security that simple Point A to Point B data transfer does not. This new paradigm also carries a very important "secret weapon:" it means that it now *costs money* to exclude OS/2 users from the mainstream. Without open Internet standards, people could previously exclude OS/2 on the basis that it was "just another platform that costs money to develop for." Now it's quite the opposite: excluding OS/2 users from communicating and collaborating is becoming more and more difficult and more and more expensive. Really, the number one issue left in this whole paradigm shift is this: What ever are we going to do about Microsoft Office file formats? It's basically come down to this. Tom Nadeau VOICE Marketing Director -- http://www.os2voice.org ********************************************************** IBM OS/2 means Better Computing ********************************************************** OS/2 Headquarters -- Your Chauffeur on the Info Highway http://www.mindspring.com/~os2headquarters Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 8.7. VOICE Newsletter - Interview with an OS/2 Business User ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org Interview with an OS/2 User This month VOICE interviews two business OS/2 users and a home OS/2 user. Our first interview is with Dave Cull, "a private individual, Canadian citizen, information manager, writer and activist." VOICE > What kind of business are you involved in? Dave > Property management, Promotion and distribution of industrial hemp products, Research and development of industrial hemp resources for the construction industry. VOICE > Can you please describe your current use of OS/2 in your workplace? What kind of hardware and software are you using for OS/2? Approximately how many pc's are running OS/2 at your site? OS/2 is my primary operating system . I run a desktop (Cyrix P200, Matrox Millenium, Warp4, FP7) and a TP 385xd for mobile use. A zip drive and a Mictotek E3 scanner are available from both machines. I use ODPro, Netscape 2.02 with PMStripper and WebXOrg as add ons, InJoy and I-Link as dialup programs. Impos/2 V2.1 and PMView for graphics and Snappy in a Win-OS/2 session for single frame video capture from a cam corder. FaxWorks Pro on both machines. I have Lotus SS/2 loaded on both machines, but still use DeScribe. WordPro has some very nice features, but Organizer conflicts with the RMB 'cut, copy and paste' provided by NPS WPS that I use between the net and my legacy PIM (a venerable DOS program called InfoSelect). I also look after a couple of other pcs running OS/2 for friends and family. VOICE > How did you decide to use OS/2? What features were considered important for this project(s)? What previous experience was there with OS/2 and other operating systems? Dave > I decided to try OS/2 after many years of struggling with Dos and Windoze memory management problems, etc. (at one point I actually had Ventura running on a 286, sort of) VOICE >What other operating systems if any were under consideration or are used for your business? If you use OS/2 in conjunction with other OSes in any form of a network, how well does OS/2 work with these other systems? Dave > Not a consideration. VOICE > Do you foresee continued/increasing use of OS/2 in this fashion? Dave > no VOICE > Are there any changes that you would like to see to OS/2 that would facilitate your continued use or expanded use of OS/2? Dave > I'd like to see continued support for hardware and software developments. Win32 support would be a big help. VOICE > How have IBM's statements that they are targeting the medium to large business sector affected your work or your decision to continue using OS/2 for this/these task(s)? Dave > So far it hasn't really been a problem. There seems to be enough shareware and other software development to keep things working. VOICE > If IBM licensed another company to sell the OS/2 client to home/SOHO users, would it affect your usage of OS/2 (would you use more OS/2 clients for your work, etc)? If this company could add features, what features would you like to see added? Dave > Win32 support VOICE >Would you be interested in a refreshed version of OS/2 Warp 4.0, that is a new install package that included all fixes and new enhancements as well as new harware support since the original release? Dave > Yes. I've already signed up at the web site as a potential purchaser. VOICE >Has your business been contacted by IBM about the potential use of Work Space on Demand? Do you see any use for that product in your business? Dave > No contact. At this point, no use for WSOD. Nice to know its a possibility if I need it though. Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 8.8. VOICE Newsletter - Interview with an OS/2 Business User ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org Interview with an OS/2 User Our next interview is with Wolfgang Becker, who was born, raised and educated in Germany, where he still lives. VOICE> What kind of business are you involved in? I'm a freelance translator and most of my work involves technical texts from various areas, for example paper machines, transmissions, electronics, electrical engineering. I _only_ translate from German into English and vice versa. VOICE> Can you please describe your current use of OS/2 in your workplace? What kind of hardware and software are you using for OS/2? Approximately how many pc's are running OS/2 at your site? Wolfgang> Simple. I'm a typical SOHO user. Most applications I use are directly related to my work - I use different word processors, most are Windows 3.1 programs, unfortunately, because none of my clients use native OS/2 apps. Hardware I use: Pentium II 266 MMX, Adaptec 2940 UW, SCSI HDD, CD-ROM, JAZ and ZIP drives for backups, SB 64 AWE for the noise, external ISDN adapter, Matrox Mystique (to be replaced by an ELSA card, Philips 20" monitor. Other software I use includes Object Desktop, Process Commander, Photo>Graphics for the occasional image processings tasks, StarOffice, Lotus SmartSuite for Warp4. OS/2 is run both on my primary machine (the other one runs Linux) and on my son's machine. VOICE> How did you decide to use OS/2? What features were considered important for this project(s)? What previous experience was there with OS/2 and other operating systems? Wolfgang> It was a very fortunate accident. I happened to complain to a friend about frequent GPFs under Windows 3.1 (which had just cost me a whole week of work). He offered to 'lend' me his floppies of OS/2 2.0, I accepted and installed OS/2. I never looked back. Why did I stick with OS/2? Stability of the OS, the possibility to run Windows 3.1 apps and get rid of those GPFs. At the time I was already toying with Linux - but there are even fewer applications (that _I_ need) for Linux than there are for OS/2, so for the foreseeable future, OS/2 will remain to be my primary OS. VOICE> What other operating systems if any were under consideration or are used for your business? If you use OS/2 in conjunction with other OSes in any form of a network, how well does OS/2 work with these other systems? Wolfgang> See above. Lately, I was forced to install Win95 so that I can handle specific files from a specific client. No, I don't have a network. VOICE> Do you foresee continued/increasing use of OS/2 in this fashion? Right now, there is no reason for me to give up on OS/2. I'll continue using it as long as I can. VOICE> Are there any changes that you would like to see to OS/2 that would facilitate your continued use or expanded use of OS/2? Wolfgang> As far as I can tell, the base OS is pretty near perfect. However, it is certainly desirable that drivers for new hardware be developed a little faster. VOICE> How have IBM's statements that they are targeting the medium to large business sector affected your work or your decision to continue using OS/2 for this/these task(s)? Wolfgang> This is making me uneasy and causes me to look to Linux more and more, otherwise, no there has not been any noticeable effect as yet. VOICE> If IBM licensed another company to sell the OS/2 client to home/SOHO users, would it affect your usage of OS/2 (would you use more OS/2 clients for your work, etc)? If this company could add features, what features would you like to see added? Wolfgang> This would depend on the licensee and the license agreement, but it would not affect my usage of OS/2 per se. If the licensee is allowed to make changes to the OS, I would like to see drive letters to disappear, for example, I would also like to see devices and file systems mountable at runtime. If the licensee was allowed to do this, I would like to see something like the final result of Timur Tabi's project included in OS/2, so that I would _never_ have to boot that other OS. VOICE> Would you be interested in a refreshed version of OS/2 Warp 4.0, that is a new install package that included all fixes and new enhancements as well as new harware support since the original release? Wolfgang> Definitely. VOICE> Has your business been contacted by IBM about the potential use of Work Space on Demand? Do you see any use for that product in your business? Wolfgang> No and no. VOICE> Do you know of any other sites using OS/2 in your industry? Wolfgang> No. Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 8.9. VOICE Newsletter - Interview with an OS/2 User ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org Interview with an OS/2 User Our third and final interview of the month is with Duaine Hechler, who has been using PC's since the 2nd original IBM PC with 640K and two floppy drives. Duane has been a Systems Programmer for 14 years supporting VSE for 14 years and VM/VSE for 8 years. VOICE> Can you please describe your current use of OS/2 at home? What kind of hardware and software are you using for OS/2? Do you run DOS/Windows apps under OS/2? Duaine> I use OS/2 for just about ** everthing **. Publishing family newsletter; neighbor's business flyers, labels, brochures; personal taxes; started on a family tree; flyers/brochures for family members, our church; resumes; all letter correspondences; phone book of technical numbers; Netscape; desktop publishing (my mother's 3 poetry books); video tape labels, cassette tape labels; plus all the items below and many others I can't think of right now. I run several DOS apps under OS/2. * AMTAX - Personal Federal & State Tax software (They refuse to write a windows version) * BASIC Compiler 1.0 (1983) for some of the software that I wrote many years ago. (My favorite is my Player Piano Player (1986) that draws a Player Piano on the screen, scrolls down the player piano roll, plays the notes, read from the screen, to the PC speaker and moves the appropiate keys up and down with the notes) * Computer Associates' BPI Accounting II for my neighbor's business. * DOS based mainframe training programs * PFS: First Publisher (1990) - Published family reunion newsletters (converted to OS/2), also, just, recently, I used it for the necessary drawings for a patent I am working on. * GW-BASIC - some old file conversion utilities that I still use but not very often * DOS version of KEDIT by Mansfield software (equivalent to VM's XEDIT) * PC-FILE - to keep compatible with friends' simple Name & Address database I run NO windows apps under OS/2 (I have had to re-install OS/2 too many times) VOICE> How and when did you decide to use OS/2? What features attracted you to try OS/2? What previous experience did you have with other operating systems? Duaine> This one is easy. I decided to start running OS/2 at home when I was forced to use Windows 3.1 at work. I started running OS/2 at Version 2.1. It wasn't really any particular feature that attracted me to OS/2, it was the stability and that it seemed to use a lot of concepts from the mainframe OS's especially VM (ie. each OS/2 "window" was like it's own virtual machine so OS/2 had it's own crash protection that Windows 3.1 lacked. I've had experience with Win 3.1 (user and installer) and now at work with Win NT (user). VOICE> What other operating systems if any do you use and if they are networked, how well does OS/2 work with these other systems? What percentage of your time is spent running OS/2? Duaine> I am not on any kind of a network. I have Windows 3.1 for my sons' games (Monopoly, etc) and PrintMaster. I spend about 99.99999% using OS/2 VOICE> Do you think you will continue to use OS/2 at home, or move to another platform in the future? Duaine> I will use OS/2 until it dies or until I'm forced into using something else. Ex. I have dozens of old 78's that I want to put on CD's but I need a software package to perform the recording BUT to AUTOMATICALLY take out the hissing, pops, scratch noise, etc. I have recently found one that only runs under Win NT. However, I'm finding it harder and harder to stay with OS/2 only ! VOICE> Are there any changes that you would like to see to OS/2 that would facilitate your continued use or expanded use of OS/2? Duaine> First, JAVA and all the internet utilities can go to @#!$@%^#. Don't get me wrong, other people can use them BUT they are not helping me at all. I need "core" apps for Desktop Publishing (like PageMaker), family tree (non-shareware version that I can count on *being* there 10 years from now), PrintMaster look-alike, etc. Secondly, I've already sent this idea into IBM and got their canned response back that "that's not our direction" BUT maybe it should be !!! My idea was to make OS/2 Server like VM's CP and OS/2 Client like VM's CMS. Basically, build OS/2 into a VM for the PC/Server that would allow you to install and run, concurrently, any major OS that's on the market today. IBM wins by developing something that *everybody* will want and use. We win by keeping OS/2 client alive. VOICE> How have IBM's statements that they are targeting the medium to large business sector affected your decision to continue using OS/2? Duaine> This is a very interesting question, because about 3 years ago, I tried to start my own business promoting OS/2 for the home users and small businesses desktop of choice. I WAS GETTING NOWHERE. All I got was, where is the OS/2 version of Word, etc. "I'm not changing", etc. I officialy gave up my business venture when IBM finally admitted they lost the war with the home user OS. As I stated above, I will stay with OS/2 until it dies or until I'm forced to use something else (ex. Win 3.1 for "popular" games like Monopoly). VOICE> If IBM licensed another company to sell the OS/2 client to home/SOHO users, would you support this product? Duaine> Let's put it this way, I would probably try and start my business up again -- trying to get home/SOHO to switch to OS/2. VOICE> Have you tried to use OS/2 in your workplace? If so, what problems did you encounter that led you to stop using OS/2 or to fail to get OS/2 running in your business? Duaine> At ONE of my jobs, I was allowed to put OS/2 on my PC while the rest of the business was Win 3.1. And, that was because, there was one small server, in the corner of the shop floor, running an application that only ran on OS/2 at that time and they need someone to take over that server. I tried everything to get OS/2 in the rest of the business including anonymously publishing to upper management "crash" stats between Win 3.1 and OS/2. I got the same answer back everytime -- "Where is IBM's support?" and "Outside of you, where are the OS/2 trained personnel we can hire?" In closing, until "we" (as in, dedicated OS/2 user community) can get the marketing, the "core" apps (Word, Excel, etc look-alikes for OS/2) and the placement on the store shelves, we are fighting a loosing battle. Examples, * In my business venture, I was constantly told "I don't want to switch from Word to Smartsuite (or Excel to Lotus 1-2-3). I want a version of Word (or Excel) for OS/2". * A little over a year ago, I was in my local COMP USA and, supprise, they had no place on the shelves for OS/2. I asked them were is the base OS/2 system package boxes, they answered "We don't carry it anymore, it's special order". I sent an email to Lou's mailbox stating this and I got an interesting reply from IBM. They asked me to send them the phone number and address of the store and they would contact them to be sure they do carry OS/2. About a month later, I went back in and, magically, there were 6 boxes of OS/2 (but on the bottom shelf and on the shelf above was Win 95 boxes). * COMP USA only stocks Lotus Notes and Smartsuite for Windows and not for OS/2. I even asked the salemen "Where's the OS/2 version?". He said "OS/2, what's that, never heard of it!". Then he said, "Well.... if it's not on the shelves, then we don't carry it and it would have to be special ordered" * Aside, COMP USA is even cutting down on the MAC software shelves. These are the kind of things "we" have to overcome, if "we're" ever going to get OS/2 recognized and getting people to switch. I know, someone start a chain of software stores for OS/2 only ! ! ! Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 8.10. VOICE Newsletter - Getting started on IRC ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org Getting started on IRC By: Wayne Swanson, Psoft@Tech-Center.com Organizations are formed for a reason. Some are to set rules and standards for an activity, some are are merely social in nature or, they may be set up as watchdogs for others. VOICE was formed to provide help and promotional assistance to the "home" or SOHO OS/2 user. An organization of people distributed worldwide, in the not-to-distant past, would have been almost impossible to operate in real time. Today, things have changed. Through the computing power brought to us by all those that have gone before, we are able to meet on a regular basis with people that share our interests and correspond with them in real time. VOICE has chosen IRC (Internet Relay Chat) as it's avenue of communication. Our membership is growing very nicely but we haven't been able to see that reflected in our online sessions. Many of you will already be familiar with IRC but for those of you that have just stared at the word "IRC" and have never actually tried it yet, we will attempt to make it a little easier for you. OS/2 based IRC clients are available as freeware and shareware. This article is to answer a few questions and get you started with IRC. We aren't here to sell you a client, although there are some very nice ones available for OS/2, but to get you started with a good freeware client that will serve your needs and help you become an active part of VOICE. First timer questions Q) I was going to do it but it was too confusing to setup for the right servers and the meetings: A) We have built a script that will automatically set up the freeware EZirc client from Roger Bess to start, log onto the proper servers and join the #VOICE channel for you. You will need to install EZirc and then run our script in the EZirc directory. At that point you should be able to start EZirc anytime you are online and it will connect to the proper server and go directly to the #VOICE channel. Q) I don't know any commands: A) You can join in any meeting and take part without knowing any commands. All you really have to do if you want to say something is type it and hit the key. There are plenty of commands to learn if you want to spend the time but for most users, most of the time, there just a few basic commands. EZirc Commands ┌──────────┬───────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │Command │Parameter(s) │Description of command │ ├──────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │/msg │nickname │to send a private message to a nickname. │ │ │Message │ │ ├──────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │/me │Message │Specifies an action. │ ├──────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │/whois │nickname │query a nicknames additional data. (or use the │ │ │ │pulldown window) │ ├──────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │/who │channel │list the users on a channel. (or use the pulldown │ │ │ │window) │ ├──────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │/nick │newnickname │To change your nickname. │ ├──────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │/join │channel │joins a channel. │ ├──────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │/part │channel │leave a channel. │ ├──────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │/quit │Message │Allows you to QUIT the server, and supply a │ │ │ │message if you want. │ ├──────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │/away │Message │The AWAY message is used either with one parameter│ │ │ │(to set an AWAY message) or with no parameters (to│ │ │ │remove the AWAY message). │ └──────────┴───────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ EZirc has an html document that delves a bit deeper into some of the common commands. Q) I don't want to type or talk to anyone: A) You certainly don't have to talk to anyone but that will take all the fun out of it. There are a lot of people that will join a channel and just watch what is happening. That is what is called "Lurking". It's not bad... that's just what they call it and you are welcome either way. This is what most folks do when they are new to IRC. Q) What's in it for me? A) For the most part, we want your input, we want your support, your help and your ideas. We are part of this organization because we want to do something positive. Without you, we are are starved of your contribution, whatever it may be, and that makes us weaker as a whole. Your Voice makes our Voice stronger collectively. Of course, there are benefits too. We have given away some nice prizes at some of the meetings. Among them, some great programs donated by their authors and a night at the Wyndham in Chicago for WarpStock. Installing EZirc At this writing the EZirc archive is called EZIRC12O.ZIP and available at http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/apps/internet/irc/client/ezirc12o.zip Unzip EZIRC120.ZIP into a temporary directory and start the "Setup.cmd" file. You will be presented with following four options that are user adjustable. 1) Install Path : H:\TMP\EZIRC12O 2) Your User ID : yourID 3) Your Realname : Your Realname String 4) Your NickName : YourNick 1) Set the path to your liking without the trailing backslash. For example, I might set mine to h:\tcpip\bin\irc\ezirc 2) Set "Your User ID" to your ID on your ISP. (just the first part preceding the @) If you have a "SET USER" statement in your config.sys, EZirc will use it. 3) Set "Your Realname" to whatever you want. Many people do not put anything meaningful in this entry. 4) Set "Your NickName" to whatever you want also. This is the name you will be known as on IRC. If you call yourself "Superman", that is how people will address you as they have no other ID on you for the most part. Be aware that anyone calling themselves Superman might get a little bit of ribbing about it though. Nicknames can be a maximum of 9 characters in length and cannot contain any spaces. Roger Bess mentions also that it is unwise to use the "|" char either as it is used in scripts and could cause problems. When you have made the changes that you want just hit the key to finish the installation. A folder will be created on your desktop with the EZirc program icon and the help files. Once EZirc is installed you can place the EZVoice.cmd file in the base directory (the one with "ezirc.ini" in it) and run the cmd file. In a second or so you are all set. Dial up your internet provider and once connected, start EZirc from the icon. It should automatically log onto a server and then join the #Voice channel. Unless it is a meeting night, there may not be anyone but the bots on the channel but at least you'll know that it works for the next time we meet. Conclusion For those of you that are old enough to remember the CB radio craze. You may feel that your first time on IRC will be as nerve-racking as when you first keyed the CB mic and asked for a 10-36. (I think that was... "What time is it?") IRC is really much easier. You can get online and watch what is happening and when you feel comfortable, join in the conversation. VOICE will be live on IRC at Warpstock, so here is your chance to be a part of this great OS/2 event, even if you can't make it to Chicago. So join us in #voice October 17-18 to get the earliest reports of the success of this year's Warpstock event! Author Information Wayne Swanson, VOICE V.P. email: Psoft@Tech-Center.com PillarSoft: http://fm-net.com/pillarsoft Developer of WarpZip, ShowTime/2 and the Enhanced E Editors Editor's note: For more on OS/2 IRC clients you can check out Judy's Warped World IRC client page http://www.gt-online.com/~bri/irc_clients.html and you might like to read Don Eitner's review of GammaTech IRC 3.0 in the December, 1997 issue of the VOICE newsletter http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL1297H/VNEWSF.HTM#END. GTIRC is available to VOICE members at a sizable discount http://www.os2voice.org/info_for_members.html. Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 8.11. VOICE Newsletter - OS/2 Tips. ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org OS/2 Tips We scan the Web, Usenet and the OS/2 mail lists looking for these gems. Have you run across an interesting bit of information about OS/2 recently? Please share it with all our readers. Send your tips to editor@os2voice.org September 9, 1998 From Jon Saxton on the Team OS/2 Help Desk List this long but rather neat trick for deleting files using OS/2's cut/paste in a command window. I've never seen this mentioned in on-line help or anywhere else and I thought it so amazingly cool I thought I'd share it with the group ... I was cleaning up some old archives and, in a directory listing, had a string of consecutive files and directories I wanted to delete. Using rm, I could have typed for %f in (dir1 dir2 dir3 file1 file2 dir4 junk1) do rm -rf %f but I found a better way. For a non-destructive experience, try this in a command window. Find a directory with a plethora of files. In my case, my "new" directory has a bunch of such stuff in it and a partial directory listing is reproduced below: 14-02-97 1:59p 114,549 0 a--- agrep332.zip 10-04-98 4:50p 516,359 0 a--- angband-283-os2.zip 14-02-97 10:54a 8,782 0 a--- AofF_14.mid 14-02-97 10:54a 8,819 0 a--- AofF_15.mid 14-02-97 10:54a 9,504 0 a--- AofF_16.mid 14-02-97 10:54a 6,175 0 a--- AofF_17.mid 28-07-97 1:55p 261,863 0 a--- apcodec6.zip 14-07-97 4:02p 38,548 0 a--- assoed04.zip Using the mouse, mark the block of file names - just the file names, not the preceding gumpf so what you highlight is, in my example:- agrep332.zip angband-283-os2.zip AofF_14.mid AofF_15.mid AofF_16.mid AofF_17.mid apcodec6.zip assoed04.zip Then press button 2 and select copy. You now have that block of file names in the clipboard. Now for the cool part. 1. Type the following command: for %f in ( That's all. Press enter. You should see a prompt More? 2. Chord MB1 and MB2. All the file names (and any directory names) you highlighted in the preparatory stage will be entered one at a time, each on a separate line preceded by More? . 3. Press enter. You'll get the More? prompt again. 4. Complete the command: ) do echo %f and be amazed. You've just executed a command for each of a list of files and/or directories pasted from a directory listing without having to redirect the output to a file and edit that file. What is more, if your directory listing is paged, you can repeat the process using the command recall functions. Select another bunch of names and copy them as in the preparatory stage described above. Then ... 5. Type "for", press F1 and then enter 6. Chord MB1 and MB2 again to paste as before 7. Press enter 8. Press the up-arrow key to get the command completion line, then enter. Be amazed again. Of course there is nothing stopping you from revisiting the directory listing and copying/pasting into as single command block but using the command recall facility means there is less to redo if you stuff it up. If you like this sort of thing then I'd suggest getting npswps (npswp182.zip) from Hobbes and installing that. The ONLY feature I activate is the quick text copy function but that alone is truly wonderful. September 5, 1998 from Keith Gorham on the NS4OS2 List this tip on a Communicator for OS/2 beta command line option: To start certain profile you have to put the profile name in quotes right after the -P without a space between them. I think the profile name is case sensitive also. September 4, 1998 Bob Wittig on Team OS/2 Help Desk List offers this tidbit for anyone running an Adaptec 1505A scsi controller: Since I usually leave my PC on, I didn't want to have to reboot every time just to use the scanner (which stays off to save wear and tear on it). But, I found this nifty switch that seems to allow me to turn on and use the scanner any time, regardless of the power state of the scanner at boot time. So if you are using an Adaptec SCSI card, you may also be able to use this switch in your config.sys file: BASEDEV=AHA152X.ADD /v /F:6 /F:x - Force the target SCSI ID x exist. Host adapter will assume that the target SCSI ID x is connected to SCSI bus. Just power on the scanner, wait until the "ready" light comes on, then start your scanner software. Works for me! With this and IMPOS/2's REXX DLL for scripting scanner commands, I am one happy camper! I highly recommend Impos/2 too. Excellent tool! Bob September 4, 1998 Patrick Ash on Team OS/2 Help Desk List has this tip for anyone having problems installing the "Thinkpad Utilities": You must install The System Management Driver before you install any of the TP utilities. You can do this by one fo the following methods: First, use the device driver install that is in your system setup folder, under install/remove. Second, the easier way, I believe, is just to copy the driver to \os2\boot, and then add the line: BASEDEV=AODBSMD.SYS to your config.sys. Mine was added at the bottom, so I don't think that position in the file is critical. You might also want to take a look at the unofficial Warped thinkpad page: http://www.tpwarper.com September 1, 1998 From Steve Wendt on the NS4OS2 Mail List: I've created a page with some basic info on Comm/2, as well as a table listing some of the problems with it. It certainly is incomplete, especially in the area of mail/news, since I don't use those. I could use everyone's help in identifying the *reproducible* problems that I have missed. http://www.os2bbs.com/os2news/Communicator.html When these bugs are fixed, then I might change it into a list of OS/2 specific features we want. Alternatively, if there is demand, I may add that now in a separate table... Please give me feedback... i.e. this sucks, get rid of it, this is cool, this could be better if you did xyz... whatever! September 1, 1998 Still trying to figure out how to drag a URL from the new Communicator beta to the desktop? On the Toolbar next to the Bookmarks Icon is a little icon that looks like a noodle or some indecipherable item. Click the Right Mouse Button on this and drag it to the desktop. Currently you can't drag it anywhere else except to the Personal Toolbar. If you do place it in the Personal Toolbar and then decide you want to getrid of it you have to open up the Bookmarks (Ctrl-B), and then delete it in there. Another customization feature of the toolbars is that you can drag any of the 3 toolbars with the left mouse button held, to re-arrange their sequence. August 28, 1998 For all you folks wondering how to install Warp on a laptop with only a swappable CD-ROM and Floppy, but you do have another PC with OS/2 already installed, here is an excellent pointer from Jon Saxton on the Team OS/2 Help Desk List: You invoke the "Remote Install" process in your Install/Remove folder. There are some things that might escape notice. 1. You need to have NetBIOS protocol installed on the code server. If you installed File and Print Services then you have it already. It may work with NetBIOS over TCP/IP but I can't vouch for that. If you don't have F&PS installed then you can get away with simply installing the protocol using MPTS. That'll get you through the install process but it won't provide resource sharing afterwards so you are better off installing F&PS up front. 2. If you don't have a regular network adaptor on your laptop and you are going to use a parallel cable then for a network adaptor you need to choose SSW Parallel port NIC-less adaptor This has to be done on the code server PC and of course F&PS has to be directed to that "adaptor". 3. The parallel cable you use is not a "straight through" thing. It is a "Turbo Laplink" cable which is the parallel equivalent of a null modem cable. You can build one if you have the parts or you can buy one for about six dollars. 4. If anything goes wrong, it is probably a faulty cable. Really. The whole thing is so smooth and trouble-free ... This is the wiring I used. There are some specifications on the 'net for cables with fewer connections but I can't vouch for them. 25 pin 25 pin ====== ====== pin 01 <----> pin 01 pin 02 < > pin 15 pin 03 < > pin 13 pin 04 < > pin 12 pin 05 < > pin 10 pin 06 < > pin 11 pin 10 < > pin 05 pin 11 < > pin 06 pin 12 < > pin 04 pin 13 < > pin 03 pin 14 <----> pin 14 pin 15 < > pin 02 pin 16 <----> pin 16 pin 17 <----> pin 17 pin 25 <----> pin 25 (Grd---Grd) Jon Saxton OS/2 software developer U.S. agent for Triton Technologies International Ltd August 28, 1998 - From Clark Tompsett in comp.os.os2.misc who has this keeper on getting pc cards to work in some laptops under OS/2: I have used OS/2 on an Nec versa 2400 and now a winbook xl. No problems. You will probably need to have as the first line in the config.sys Basedev=reserve.sys /mem:ca00,2000 to force the socket driver off of a rom. (pc cards are seen as memory only with out the above lline.) For the ir support, you have to add the port number and irq to the irdd.sys line (this little item is not documented anywhere) Clark August 26, 1998 - From RILINDO FOSTER on the NS4OS2 list: For those who are interesting in trying out the Wallpaper feature in Netscape, try this site: http://www.mikebonnell.com August 23, 1998 - Sande Francis on the TeamOS/2 Help List: Recently I asked how the drives object might be recreated. several folks told me to copy it from a recent archive, some recommended a program called ORC. i didnt have a copy anywhere, so could do the copy from archive thing and ORC wouldnt do it either. So i asked Kari Jackson(of Innoval), and she gave me the answer, which I thought I would share: make a rexx file with this in it: /* program to create a Drives object */ call rxfuncadd "SysCreateObject","RexxUtil","SysCreateObject" call SysCreateObject 'WPDrives','Drives','','ObjectID=;','R' I have no idea what it means, but it worked!! :) August 22, 1998 - From: Robert Deed (eyerewl@fcc.net) As you all know RSJ hides the cdr drive letter from you and makes it unaccessable right? Well not quite. In an email from RSJ I was made aware of how to unhide the cdr... in order to do it you must do this: If you are using RSJ CD Writer 2.59 or above you may change the CONFIG.SYS line BASEDEV=OS2ASPI.DMD to BASEDEV=OS2ASPI.DMD /ALL After booting your machine, the recorder will be usable as standard CDROM drive, and you will be nevertheless be able to attach the CD to our filesystem. But please ensure that you're not using the CDROM drive letter at the same time when the CDR is attached to RSJ's filesystem, otherwise this will result in errors. August 19, 1998 - Mark Klebanoff on comp.os.os2.beta gave this suggestion to anyone having a problem trying to turn on 128bit encryption in Communicator for OS/2 using Fotify but getting an "Unable to access file as file is in use" error: 1) making a copy of netscape.exe to a different directory 2) fortifying that copy 3) booting from floppies and replacing the original netscape.exe with the fortified one. Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 8.12. VOICE Newsletter - Letters, errata, addendums. ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org Letters, Addendum, Errata August 16, 1998 - Just read your news, with the piece on clickware. Thanks for the Plug... Incidentally, we have another exciting project, we're taking on Spammers. http://www.yoursite.co.uk/antispam/ (and) http://www.yoursite.co.uk/antispam/test6.html it's in dev at the moment ... not working yet.. but I'd like your comments James OS/2 Software @ yoursite.co.uk We try to please August 17, 1998 - To whom it may concern. I do have a prayer to all who write Websites. In many cases it is necessary to keep a documentation for a given program to use it as a reference during installation. Often Websites contain important information that is written in HTML that wastes half a sheet of paper. I usually print such information on my black and white Canon printer, and find many websites are written with large areas of background or border frames that print all in black on the inkjet machine. This is waste of costly ink. Johannes Lomholt August 31, 1998 - The following letter is in response to Don Eitner's review of the Lexmark Color Inkjet 5700 printer in the August VOICE Newsletter. There are six different colors that can print in each printed pixel, three from each cartridge. And, they can overprint each other, so we can't just use three bits and say "print color 0, or color 1, or ... color 5". We need six bits for each pixel so we can use any combination of those six colors. I generalized to one byte (eight bits) because that's what a hardware designer would typically do. Then, in the firmware, for each nozzle the firmware can just scan that particular bit of the appropriate byte and decide whether or not to print its color. That's why it should only be one byte per pixel, not three. I explained that when scanning you'd need three bytes for 24-bit color, but when printing you only have 64 possible colors: each color can be on or off (you can't control the size of the ink drop), so you have 2^6 possible colors, or 64 possible colors. It's dithering that gives you the gradients, and a higher dpi gives you a less-obvious dither so the image looks better. There are only six nozzles per printed pixel. There are more nozzles on the ink cartridge, of course, but they don't overlap. Each nozzle is dedicated to a certain subset of the printed pixels. That speeds up the printing (you could make an ink cartridge with only one nozzle, but then you could only advance the paper 1/1200" on each pass, and it would print very slowly). You say it's a CMY (actually, CMYK since black is stripped out) image going to the printer. I don't think so; as I said, that eliminates many of your screening options and only allows what's in the firmware. And that's unlikely, since then you couldn't do smooth curves (such as when drawing a circle) because the circle would be screened. The firmware has to allow for nozzle control. Take another think on this. The translation must be done in the software driver. Three bytes for the image pixel become one byte for the printed pixel. Only in a thermal transfer printer, where each printed dot can be made any size you want (by changing the heat), would you have three bytes per printed pixel. Your tremendous swap file might have been caused (I'm guessing here) by the translation of the source image size, not by its color depth. For example, if an image that's 2500 pixels wide must be printed on a page in a rectangle that's 3333 pixels wide then there's a lot of interpolation that must be done. The interpolation uses a lot of memory, but that's not a printer driver problem because if the image is the correct pixel size to begin with then no interpolation is required. Of course, the printer driver could have some poor coding in it, such as using 32-bit values to hold the 6 bits for each "printed pixel". If you have an information file for the Lexmark with its printer command set, I could take a look at it and see exactly what the format is for its input files (PCL is in hexadecimal character, which doubles the file size right there). Certainly, if I'm wrong please correct me. I'm always trying to learn, and I like to ask questions. - Peter Skye (pskye@peterskye.com) Reply from Don Eitner, the author of the review of the Lexmark Color Inkjet 5700 printer The Editors of the VOICE Newsletter would like to thank Mr. Skye for his contribution to making the VOICE Newsletter as accurate as possible. We appreciate the efforts of OS/2 users who are active in their support. Peter Skye is a frequent contributor to the SCOUG web site (http://www.scoug.com) including his most recent article "A Future Vision Warpstock is the Tomorrow of OS/2" - http://www.scoug.com/os24u/1998/scoug809.2.warped.html. Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 8.13. VOICE Newsletter - View From the END(user) ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education September 1998 Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org View From the End (User) Of Launchpads and Toolbars By: Don K. Eitner (freiheit@tstonramp.com) http://www.tstonramp.com/~freiheit/ The General Public License has spawned many wonderful software products over the years including the Linux operating system, Apache web server, and quite a number of system and file utilities for Linux, OS/2, and WinDOS platforms. Recently it spawned one such utility -- Bubblepad -- which is an enhancement to the OS/2 Warp 3.0 Launchpad or 4.0 Toolbar (same thing, just different names). Bubblepad is a small utility which, after registering itself with the WPS, provides not only popup text for Launchpad buttons, but also allows you to reduce the border or the Launchpad and specify the number of pixels to place between the buttons. With this, you can create a very compact Launchpad without losing any functionality or you can create a very large Launchpad. The popup text displays the object name (such as Shutdown or Shredder or System Editor) and its font and background color can be changed through the updated Launchpad Properties Notebook. For those of us dealing with vision problems or those who simply like to have text on their Launchpad -- which makes it easier to differentiate those too-similar icons for OS/2 window vs full screen, etc -- BubblePad is dream come true. We get to have a smaller Launchpad and yet still have our text in popup (or fly-out, as the author describes it) fashion. Installation consisted of unzipping the downloaded file to its own directory and running the INSTALL.EXE file. You are presented with a choice of English or Deutsch. The next screen gives information on the author and tells you to press Return to continue. You are then given the options of Install, Deinstall, and Exit. Install will ask you for the directory where you wish the BUBBLEPD.DLL file to be placed -- I chose c:\utils\bubblepad which is where I unzipped the files. This is safe because it will not be copying the file onto itself -- the file it needs to copy is coming from either the Deutsch or English subdirectory. You are then prompted to reboot the system, but if you're using XFOLDER or some other program which can close and restart the WPS, this is all that's needed to get Bubblepad running. My initial tests with Bubblepad v1.00 showed a few glitches -- popup text would sometimes hang on the desktop (refuse to disappear or allow new popup text to display) after an object was opened and the Launchpad drawer automatically closed as per my settings. However the author (Chris Wohlgemuth) was very friendly in dealing with this and released a modified DLL within 24 hours! Just a few short days later, Bubblepad v1.01 was released with what ought to be the final fixes to a few reported bugs in the v1.00 code. Thus far I've seen no problems with v1.01 and it even seem to switch popup text (when moving the mouse from one Launchpad button to another) faster than v1.00 did. Overall I'm very impressed with this little piece of usability enhancement. The price (free) is also unbeatable, and since it was placed under the General Public License, full source code is available if you wish to modify it or port it to, let's say, XFree86-OS/2. It's quality utilities such as this that make me shout, "Long live free source code software! Long live OS/2!" BubblePad v1.01 Download: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Sector/5785/bubblepd.htm License: General Public License / free About The Author Don Eitner has been an OS/2 user since 1995 and has maintained The 13th Floor website since 1996. There he keeps an ongoing list of as many currently available native OS/2 applications as he can find (http://www.tstonramp.com/~freiheit/os2apps.shtml) which was awarded 3 A ratings, including an A+, from SCOUG (http://www.scoug.com/os24u/1998/scoug806.2.webfoot.html). He has been writing monthly articles for the VOICE Newsletter since June, 1997 and was elected as Secretary on the Board of Directors of VOICE in April, 1998. Features editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 9. VOICE Newsletter - What is VOICE? ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org I am VOICE, hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore! VOICE is a nonprofit, virtual user group, devoted to the education and marketing of the OS/2 operating system. VOICE was formed by a small group of OS/2 users who felt they could do something to advance knowledge of the OS/2 operating system, and is comprised of other OS/2 users who feel that something needed to be done with getting OS/2 more widely recognized. VOICE is not affiliated with International Business Machines (IBM). *Mission Statement* Representing OS/2 to I.B.M. and the industry, as well as marketing OS/2 to users and professionals worldwide. *VOICE Objectives* 1. Serve as a "virtual", on-line user group for OS/2 users, without a local user group, and to any other OS/2 users interested in VOICE. 2. Promote OS/2 to the SOHO [small office/home office] consumer and to general computer users. 3. Provide an effective communication channel between members, user groups, ISV's [independent software vendors], and IBM. 4. To help OS/2 User Groups organize and promote their activities. *Virtual Meetings* Weekly IRC [Internet Relay Chat] meetings are held on WEBBnet in the channel #VOICE. Meetings are now held on the first and third Mondday of each month at 20:00 EST (01:00 GMT). For a list of current WEBBnet IRC servers please refer to http://www.suntrix.com/ibbs/server.html If you're unfamiliar with IRC, visit IRC Clients (http://www.gt-online.com/~bri). There is a list of available IRC clients, with descriptions, and a link to a chart that compares features of each. If you need further assistance e-mail Judy McDermott (mailto:judymc@ameritech.net). editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 10. VOICE Newsletter - VOICE Officers ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page Voice Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org There are Seven Officers presiding over VOICE affairs. They are common OS/2 users, voted into office by the membership of VOICE, and act solely to carry the VOICE of our members to the rest of the world. They are: Voice Board ┌───────────────┬───────────────┬──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │President │Dan Casey │dcasey@ameritech.net │http://www.ameritech.net/users/dcasey/index.html │ ├───────────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │Vice-president │Wayne Swanson │psoft@Tech-Center.com │http://fm-net.com/pillarsoft │ ├───────────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │Treasurer │Peter Lazenby │plazenby@yellowhead16.net │http://www2.yellowhead16.net/~plazenby │ ├───────────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │Secretary │Don Eitner │freiheit@tstonramp.com │http://www.tstonramp.com/~freiheit/ │ ├───────────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │Marketing │Tom Nadeau │os2headquarters@mindspring.com│http://www.mindspring.com/~os2headquarters/ │ ├───────────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │Liason Officer │Judy McDermott │judymc@ameritech.net │http://www.gt-online.com/~bri │ ├───────────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │Editor │Mark Dodel │editor@os2voice.org │http://home.ptd.net/~madodel/ or │ │ │ │ │http://204.186.32.110/ │ ├───────────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │Tech. Advisor │David Both │warpguru@ibm.net │http://www.millennium-technology.com/ │ └───────────────┴───────────────┴──────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Assisting the VOICE Board ┌───────────────┬───────────────┬──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │Web Master │Seth McFarland │ptackbar@vnet.net │http://users.vnet.net/jamawkin/superior/ │ ├───────────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │Asst Editor │Don Eitner │freiheit@tstonramp.com │http://www.tstonramp.com/~freiheit/ │ └───────────────┴───────────────┴──────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 11. VOICE Newsletter - VOICE Membership ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org To become a member of VOICE, you must agree to abide by the bylaws and code of ethics of VOICE, and send in a check or money order to cover the dues for a one year membership. The dues are listed below. ____________________________________________ 1 Year Membership Dues for VOICE Student Membership................................. $10.00 Individual Membership............................. $25.00 Corporate Membership........................... $100.00 All monies must be in United States Currency. Make out your check or money order to: VOICE 60 Starling Street Kitimat BC V8C 1K5 Canada Secure credit card payment for VOICE membership and sponsorship is now available through BMT Micro. https://secure.falcon-net.net/BMT/order0308.html Please review the VOICE Bylaws and Code of Ethics and then fill out the membership application form and enclose it with your membership dues. editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 11.1. VOICE Newsletter - VOICE Bylaws ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education Bylaws VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education (VOICE) ENACTED APRIL 2, 1997 Revised July 21, 1997 ARTICLE I NAME  Section A The name of this organization shall be the "Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education," hereinafter called VOICE. OS/2 is defined as a computer operating system marketed by IBM. ISV is defined as Independent Software Vendor. SOHO is defined as Small Office/Home Office. IOTA is defined as International OS/2 Trade Association. OS/2 and IBM are the registered trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation. ARTICLE II PURPOSE  Section A Mission Statement: Representing OS/2 users to IBM and the industry as well as marketing OS/2 to users and professionals worldwide. Section B The objectives of VOICE shall be: 1. To serve as a "virtual", on-line user group for OS/2 users without a local user group and any other OS/2 users interested in VOICE. 2. To promote OS/2 to the SOHO consumer, to general computer users, and to any other users most likely to be receptive. 3. To provide an effective communications channel between members, User Groups, ISVs, and IBM. 4. To help OS/2 related User Groups organize and promote their activities. Section C Achievement of the objectives of VOICE shall be accomplished by: 5. Planning and conducting regular meetings of VOICE. 6. Developing and maintaining a web site to facilitate the exchange of ideas and foster communication between members. The web site will also serve as a central collection point of OS/2 related information for use by both new and experienced OS/2 users. a. Use of such the above web site and any other electronic service is made available to the Internet community on a strictly voluntary basis and at their own risk. VOICE and the Executive Board will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages including, for example, loss of profits resulting from the use of the web site service or software obtained from the service, even if VOICE has been advised of the possibility of damages. 7. Promoting VOICE and OS/2 through various means, such as on-line and off-line advertising and voluntary participation in OS/2 promotional activities (i.e. seminars, demonstrations, etc). 8. Working with existing OS/2 support structures, such as existing web sites and newsletters, to improve communication and form a cohesive relationship between all OS/2 users, ISVs, User Groups, and IBM. a. Contacting ISVs directly and via IOTA to keep abreast of OS/2 news and development in addition to providing feedback on ISV products. b. Contacting OS/2 user groups to keep them informed about OS/2 related news and events. 9. Developing and maintaining a list of VOICE members. 10. Developing and maintaining a reference library of VOICE related documentation (i.e., minutes of meetings, committee reports, membership lists, etc). ARTICLE III MEMBERSHIP  Section A Classes of Membership: 1. There will be several classes of membership: Corporate membership, Individual membership, and Student/Senior membership. 2. Each Corporate member is entitled to five (5) votes. 3. Each Individual member is entitled to one (1) vote. 4. Each Student/Senior member is entitled to one (1) vote. A Student member is considered to be a member who is currently enrolled in an educational institution working towards a degree. A Senior member is considered to be a member who is over the age of 65. Section B Qualification: 5. A membership may be held by any company, organization, or individual with an interest in OS/2. 6. Qualification for membership shall be automatic unless the Executive Board believes this membership would not be in the best interests of VOICE. Section C Application: 7. Application for membership must be made by writing to the Secretary of VOICE. 8. The application for Corporate Membership shall designate an individual to serve as that corporation's voting delegate. The member corporation may designate its delegate at any time by written notice to the Secretary. 9. The Executive Board shall promptly act to accept or reject an application for membership and will inform the applicant of its decision as soon as possible. Section D Fees: 10. An annual membership fee will be established by the Executive Board to cover the operating expenses of VOICE. The membership fee is payable to the Treasurer at the time of applying for membership. If membership application is rejected, the fee will be returned to the applicant. Section E Termination of Membership: 11. Membership terminates when qualification for membership ceases to exist. 12. A membership may be terminated by notification in writing to the Secretary from the corporate delegate of a Corporate membership, or an individual for an Individual or Student/Senior membership. 13. Membership of a Corporate, Individual, or Student/Senior membership may be terminated by the Executive Board at any time if the Board rules that the member is not acting in the best interests of VOICE, as defined by this document and the Code of Ethics. 14. Membership shall expire after 12 months from the date the application was submitted, unless the member's annual fee is received by the Treasurer prior to that date. 15. The Secretary will notify the member by letter that such termination has occurred. Re-instatement may be requested by letter to the President. ARTICLE IV GOVERNMENT  Section A Executive Board of Directors: 1. Executive Board - The government of VOICE shall be vested in the Executive Board, which shall consist of eight members. 2. Executive Board Officers - The executive officers shall be: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Legal Assistant, Liaison Chairperson, and two Marketing and Public Relations Chairpersons. 3. The tenure of an officer or Executive Board member shall terminate if the incumbent becomes ineligible to hold office. 4. New positions may be added to the Executive Board when deemed necessary by a majority rule of the Board. 5. A majority rule of the Board can result in the removal of an officer from his/her position if the Board rules that the officer is not fullfilling his/her duties or is not abiding to the by-laws of this document as well as the Code of Ethics. Section B The President shall: 6. Be the principal executive officer. 7. Participate as an executive officer of the Executive Board of VOICE. 8. Provide for committees as described in Article VII. 9. Preside over all formal meetings and Executive Board meetings of VOICE. 10. Be ex officio a member of all committees. 11. Provide for the discharge, pro tempore, of necessary functions in the event of the absence or incapacity of a member. 12. Call all Executive Board meetings. Section C The Vice-President shall: 13. Participate as an executive officer of the Executive Board of VOICE. 14. Be of official service to the President. 15. Perform the duties, pro tempore, of the President in case of Presidential absence. 16. Act as Chairman of the Program Committee. Section D The Secretary shall: 17. Participate as an executive officer of the Executive Board of VOICE. 18. Publish and maintain the minutes of Executive Board meetings. 19. Be responsible for all official publications of VOICE, except those published by the Marketing and Public Relations Chairpersons. 20. Maintain the membership roster. 21. In conjunction with the Liaison Chairperson and Marketing & Public Relations Chairpersons, form and maintain a healthy relationship with User Groups, ISVs, IOTA, and IBM. 22. In addition to the Liaison Chairperson, be responsible for all official correspondence with ISVs, User Groups, IBM, and any other organization. Section E The Treasurer shall: 23. Participate as an executive officer of the Executive Board of VOICE. 24. Be responsible for all monies of VOICE. 25. Maintain all accounts and handle all financial transactions of VOICE and prepare and issue to each member an annual financial statement. 26. Prepare and maintain an operating budget by fiscal year for VOICE. An approval of the budget by the Executive Board is required. 27. Arrange for an annual audit of the financial accounts of VOICE. An Audit Committee consisting of at least three (3) members of VOICE will be appointed by the President. Said committee will review their findings with the Executive Board for approval. 28. Collect all fees pertaining to membership. The Treasurer may appoint a member to collect fees in the event of his/her absence. Section F The Legal Assistant shall: 29. Participate as an executive officer of the Executive Board of VOICE. 30. Be responsible for all legal matters involving VOICE. 31. Be responsible for handling the incorporation of VOICE and maintaining the legal status of VOICE. 32. Be available for consultation by the Executive Board regarding legal issues as needed. Section G The Liaison Chairperson shall: 33. Participate as an executive officer of the Executive Board of VOICE. 34. In conjunction with the Secretary and Marketing & Public Relations Chairpersons, form and maintain a healthy relationship with User Groups, ISVs, IOTA, the press, and IBM. 35. Maintain a list of User Group, ISV, IOTA, press, and IBM contacts and be the contact point for Executive Board or members wishing to reach User Groups, ISVs, IOTA, the press, and IBM. 36. In addition to the Secretary, be responsible for all official correspondence with ISVs, User Groups, IBM, and any other organization. Section H The Marketing and Public Relations Chairpersons shall: 37. Participate as executive officers of the Executive Board of VOICE. 38. Be responsible for the marketing and public relations of VOICE with, but not limited to, User Groups, ISVs, IOTA, the press, and IBM. 39. Issue press releases, as necessary, for VOICE, ISV, and User Group news and events. 40. Write articles for both on-line and paper magazines promoting VOICE news and events. 41. In conjunction with the Secretary and Marketing & Public Relations Chairpersons, form and maintain a healthy relationship with User Groups, ISVs, IOTA, the press, and IBM. 42. Inform and provide the Secretary with copies of any official publications and press releases written and distributed by the Marketing and Public Relations Chairpersons. Section I Scope of Duties: The duties of the Executive Board and the officers shall include but not be restricted to those named in this article. ARTICLE V Nomination and Election  Section A 1. The Nominating Committee shall present a slate of candidates for each office at the last scheduled public meeting of VOICE. This committee will be chaired either by the Past President or a delegate member appointed by the President. 2. Additional nominations may be appended to the slate of officers upon receipt by the Nominating Committee, before the close of the meeting, of a petition signed by five (5) delegate members. No delegate may sign more than one petition for the same office. 3. Elections shall occur during the course of that meeting. 4. Election shall be by open ballot cast by delegate members. 5. Absentee ballots are not permitted. 6. A candidate is elected upon receiving a majority of the votes for the office. Should the first ballot fail to produce a majority vote for any office(s), a run-off shall be held between the two candidates receiving the highest and second highest number of votes cast for the office(s). 7. The procedure for electing the remaining members of the Executive Board shall be as follows. Each delegate member may vote for as many candidates as there are vacancies to be filled. Those candidates, equal in number to the actual number of vacancies to be filled, receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared elected to the Executive Board. In the case of a tie which results in a conflict, a run-off between the tied candidates shall be held to fill the vacancies remaining. 8. Elected officers and Board members shall assume their duties upon adjournment of that meeting. Section B Vacancies: 9. In the event the office of President becomes vacant, the Vice President shall succeed to the Presidency. 10. When any other office becomes vacant, the Executive Board shall act to fill the office for the unexpired term. They shall use such procedures for this as they deem advisable under the circumstances, including if they wish, the holding of a special election. Section C Eligibility: 11. Only member delegates are eligible to be Executive Board members. 12. No restriction shall be placed on the number of times a person may be re-elected to office. 13. No nomination shall be accepted unless the nominee has given assurance of willingness to fulfill the responsibilities and duties of the office for which he is nominated. 14. Employees and relatives of IBM and its subsidiaries are ineligible to serve as officers or members of the Executive Board. However, IBM can appoint an official non-voting representative(s) to act as vendor liaison at Executive Board meetings and committee meetings. Section D Duties of Officers: 15. The Executive Board shall: 16. Establish official policy for VOICE. This includes a Code of Ethics and standard practices to be observed at all VOICE functions. 17. Monitor and supervise all VOICE related activities. 18. Establish fees for membership. 19. Sanction special projects related to VOICE. 20. Control the distribution of VOICE membership roster to parties internal and external to VOICE. ARTICLE VI MEETINGS  Section A Definitions for Meetings of VOICE: 1. A formal meeting is an event composed of one or more scheduled sessions for the general membership of VOICE. The sessions may be concurrent and/or contiguous for each day of the meeting. A formal meeting is completed when adjourned 'sine die.' 2. The Executive Board will conduct separate meetings to conduct the business of VOICE. Board meetings will be open to all members. 3. Committees will conduct separate meetings to discuss pertinent topics of interest. Committee meetings will be open to all members. Section B Schedules: 4. Formal meetings will be conducted at least twice a month. Locations for these meetings shall be selected by the Executive Board based on the recommendations of the Program Committee. 5. Executive Board meetings will be conducted at least two times a month. The President shall select the meeting location and time. 6. Committee meetings will be conducted periodically as determined by the committee. The Committee Chairman shall select the meeting location and time. Section C Meeting Preliminaries 7. The agenda and other particulars for a formal meeting shall be distributed by the VOICE Secretary to the members at least 2 days prior to the opening day of the formal meeting. 8. The agenda and other particulars for a board meeting shall be distributed by the VOICE President to the members of the Executive Board at least 2 days prior to the opening day of the board meeting. 9. The agenda and other particulars for a committee meeting shall be distributed by the Committee Chairman to interested members at least 2 days prior to the opening of the committee meeting. Secton D Attendance: Attendance at all meetings is limited to members, guests invited by the Executive Board, and other interested parties. Section E Proceedings: A recording secretary shall be assigned for each meeting. For formal meetings and board meetings, this will be the VOICE Secretary. For committee meetings, the Chairman will appoint a member to record the events in a fashion acceptable to the VOICE Secretary. Section F Restriction: 10. No member or guest of VOICE shall engage in employment recruiting and/or interviewing at and during any meeting. 11. Meetings of VOICE shall not be used as a vehicle for direct solicitation of business. To clarify, the Executive Board or a Committee Chairman may from time to time invite a vendor or consultant to a meeting to describe their product and/or service. In this event, the vendor/consultant can describe their product/service and pricing structure to the general membership in attendance, but must avoid direct solicitation for business from individual members during the meeting. Section G Meetings: The date and location of any meeting to be sponsored by VOICE or by any of its committees must be coordinated with the Vice President and/or Secretary before being formally scheduled or announced. ARTICLE VII COMMITTEES  Section A Establishment of Committees: 1. A committee and its charter are established by the President with the approval of the Executive Board. 2. The Chairman is appointed by the President with the approval of the Executive Board. 3. The Chairman appoints the members of the committee. However, a committee may be as small as one (1) member. 4. The Chairman shall keep the Secretary informed, on a timely basis, of the membership and activities of the committee. 5. A committee may be dissolved, or its charter modified, or its chairman removed by the President with the approval of the Executive Board. ARTICLE VIII COMMUNICATIONS  Section A Distribution: The official distribution of information to the members shall be through the Secretary. Section B Nature of Material: Material sent to the Secretary for distribution is considered non-proprietary and unclassified. Material is unequivocally subject by the Secretary and VOICE. Section C Library: A library of material will be maintained by the Secretary in a manner to be determined by the Executive Board. Section D Communication with the Vendor: All official communications between VOICE and the OS/2 vendor, IBM, about matters of VOICE business must be conducted through the VOICE President, or through such individual(s) as he/she may designate. ARTICLE IX PARLIAMENTARY AUTHORITY  Section A "Robert's Rules of Order" shall prevail except that where they conflict with these bylaws, the bylaws shall govern. ARTICLE X AMENDMENT OF THE BYLAWS  Section A Proposals: Amendments to the bylaws may be processed by action of the Executive Board or by a petition to the Secretary of five (5) or more members. Notice of a proposed amendment must be distributed to the membership at least one week prior to the formal meeting at which discussion is expected. Section B Voting Procedure: Amendments to the by-laws shall be voted on at formal meetings. A majority of the votes is required to carry the proposed amendment. Section C Restriction: The VOICE Secretary or other members of the Executive Board may not edit proposals for bylaw amendment. email Previous Page | Index | Next Page ═══ 11.2. VOICE Newsletter - VOICE Code of Ethics ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education Code of Ethics VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org The objective of the Code of Ethics is to declare and set forth the means to enforce the minimum ethical conduct expected of all members as professionals. They are the absolute minimum level of conduct required of every member. Be courteous and respectful to every person I [we] come in contact with when representing VOICE. Perform my professional activities with honesty and in a way that will enhance my [our] reputation and the reputation of VOICE. Not knowingly misrepresent VOICE nor will I [we] engage in dishonest or illegal practices. Build confidence and good will with the public by poise, self-restraint and constructive cooperation. Not misrepresent my [our] membership, nor assert or imply that VOICE membership is evidence of accreditation or endorsement. Not write, speak, or act in such a way as to lead another to believe that I [we] officially represent VOICE, unless duly authorized to do so by the officers, or Bylaws of VOICE. I [we] have read, understand and accept the Code of Ethics as stated Name: ______________________________________Date:_____________ Download the Code of Ethics and Application for Membership. Please enclose a signed copy of the Code of Ethics with your check and Application for Membership. Thank you for supporting VOICE ═══ 11.3. VOICE Newsletter - Membership Application ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education VOICE Offline Member Application Please print off and fill out the application for membership form. After you have read and agree to the terms and conditions of VOICE, send the signed membership form and check, (in US dollars) made payable to VOICE User Group, to: VOICE 60 Starling Street Kitimat, BC V8C 1K5 Canada Your application for membership will be processed upon receipt. Confirmation of receipt and membership number will be sent to your email address as listed. If no e-mail address is supplied, receipt will be sent to your postal address as listed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Membership Number: (To be assigned) First/Last Name: Company Name: Address: City: State/Region: Zip/Postal Code: Country: Home Phone: Work Phone: Fax: Email Address: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Which type of membership are you applying for (choose one)? __ Individual (US$25 per year) __ Corporate (US$100 per year) __ Student (US$10 per year) __ Senior (US$10 per year) * Which of the following do you classify yourself? __ Home User __ SOHO User __ ISV/Developer __ Corporate User * Which of the following mailing lists do you wish to be added to? __ VOICE meeting announcements (e-mail) __ VOICE news & product announcements (e-mail) __ VOICE general discussion (e-mail) __ VOICE help discussion (e-mail) __ VOICE newsletter (regular mail) __ Product announcements and offers from third party vendors (regular mail) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Terms and Conditions * By submitting your membership form, you agree to the following: -I have read and understand the VOICE By-Laws and agree to abide by them. -I have read and understand the VOICE Code of Ethics and agree to abide by them. Signature: ____________________________________________ Date: _______ ═══ 12. VOICE Newsletter - VOICE Sponsors ═══ Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org We would like to thank the following companies for supporting VOICE: 2Rud Software. http://www.netusa - BMT Micro http://www.bmtmicro.com BMT Micro is a leading OS/2 software reseller serving the entire OS/2 community with a wide range of OS/2 software for every need. GammaTech, Inc. http://www.gt-online.com - Hethmon http://www.hethmon.com - Brothers InnoVal Systems http://www.innoval.com - Solutions, Inc. Maxmars http://www.ososoft - Millennium http://www.millenniu - Technology Panacea http://www.panaceasoft.com - Software PillarSoft http://www.fm-net Developers of WarpZip, ShowTime/2 and the Enhanced E Editors SofTouch http://www.softouch.com - Systems, Inc. Spitfire http://rampages.onra - Software Stardock http://www.stardock.com/ - Systems For more information on VOICE sponsorship please refer to our sponsorship information page on the VOICE website - http://www.os2voice.org/sponsorinfo.html editor@os2voice.org Previous Page | Index