OS/2 Shareware BBS: 32 Periodic

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ OS/2 Shareware BBS: 32 Periodic / 32-Periodic.zip / mmoug894.zip / mmoug894.txt < prev

Wrap

Text File | 1994-08-02 | 58KB | 1,308 lines

Mid-Missouri OS/2 User Group Newsletter August 1994 Volume 2 Number 8 Introduction The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily the views held by the MMOUG or it's members. Don't agree with something you've read here? Write and tell us about it! If you have any contributions, please upload them to area 18 of the WoodMeister or send them to me via Internet at USDSSKZS@IBMMAIL.COM. If you work for the State of Missouri and have access to DISOSS, you can send them to POOLMWV at DSSHOST. MMOUG July Minutes Date of Meeting: 7/20/94 Location: Missouri Department of Social Services, Division of Data Processing, 1621 E. Elm, Jefferson City, MO 65101 Attendees: Rick Wolters, Robert Tufts, Greg Longan, Penny Shepherd, Jim Casstevens, Dayton Shepherd, Dale Hackemeyer, Randall Wilkerson, Randy Wright, Steve Maring, Gary Pool, David Scott, David Keisker, Michelle Wilson, Ben Hoffman Guests: Mike Lane, Bob Walter, Brenda Verhoff, Don Anderson Meeting: Gary Pool called the meeting to order. Gary said he had talked to someone at IBM about a Mid West newsletter called "PC Software Update" and getting our meetings advertised. The meeting next month will be at the Boone Electric Coop Building in Columbia. The September meeting will be at the Dept of Social Services building at One Elm Plaza in Jefferson City again. Suggestions for a permanent meeting location for both cities were taken so there would be less confusion for where the meetings should be held. For Columbia: the Boone Electric Coop, for JC: the Conservation Dept's Training Room and the Social Services Building on Elm Plaza. We need to determine if this is something we want to do and which Jefferson City Location at the next meeting. Rick Wolters reported that the club membership was over 60. A suggestion was made to mail newsletters to computer stores in the area to increase our advertising. Michelle Wilson reported that the August meeting topic would be PIM's (Personal Info Managers) with Penny Shepherd presenting Relish and Phillip Wilson presenting Arcadia. We are trying to get Stac Inc for Oct. There was no further business. Michelle Wilson and Ben Hoffman from IBM did a presentation on Person to Person, a group conferencing product. IO I/O Information Officer Input/Output OK. This is the editor's page. This is the third issue of the MMOUG Newsletter since I have assumed the role of editor. I've already run out of things to say. Note that the editor's page is called IO I/O. That's Information Office INPUT/Output. However, so far it's been all output and I haven't gotten any input. Remember, you can send me any little thing that's on your mind. If you want it to be anonymous, that's fine. If you like the Newsletter, drop a line. If you don't like it, drop a line. If you have suggestions, drop a line. If you're a comedian, drop a line. If you're an electrician, don't drop a line if you're on a pole. I've added two more items this month. I now plan to regularly include a membership form so that if you run into friends and neighbors who would like to be a member of the User Group, you'll have a form readily available. I tested the printing only on a Hewlett-Packard Laserjet Series II, so I would like to hear how it prints on other printers. The other (much more) interesting item is the Frugal Hacker. The Frugal Hacker is Bob Stephan of the Monterey Bay Area User Group in Monterey, California. I've started to download other User Group Newsletters so that I could steal, er plagiar, er develop new ideas for our own newsletter. Yeah, that's the ticket! I've downloaded two of MBUG's Newsletter and Bob has had excellent articles both times. I have contacted him and he has given me permission to use them in our newsletter. If you haven't noticed, our electronic version of the newsletter has a LOT more information than the paper version. Of course the paper version is used primarily as a reminder of the next meeting. However, the paper version can also serve as a way to increase the outside world's awareness of MMOUG and OS/2. If you know of any area businesses, schools or departments who would be worthwhile notifying, please contact Rick Wolters or me and we will see to it that they are included in the mailing list. I'm done. gp The Dog House This month I'm including a little REXX program that I have found very helpful and that is one of my favorites. I'm still a command line kind of guy, and I like to do a lot of file maintenance at the command line. Sometimes, however (particularly when deleting a number of unrelated files), I like the ease of the Graphical User Interface. That's where OD.CMD comes in. OD.CMD will open a directory in either an ICON or DETAILS view, so that it's possible to manipulate the files, or to grab an icon to associate with a program, without having to open the DRIVES folder. The syntax is similar to the CD command. If you type OD with no parameters, it will open the directory you are currently in. If you give it a /D or -D parameter, it will open a DETAILS view of the folder, which will show you the size and date of the file. Clip this little gem out and try it, you'll like it! Usually, I like to document what the various lines of code are doing, but due to procrastination, it's not documented as well as I like. But if you run into something you're not familiar with, you can look it up in your on-line REXX handbook! Yeah, I know, real helpful! /* OD.CMD REXX program to open a Directory in ICON or DETAIL */ /* If no argument is given, it opens in TREE View */ /* /D or -D will cause it to open in DETAIL view */ arg Name Options if (Left(Name,1) = '/') | (Left(Name,1) = '-') then do swap = Name Name = Options Options = swap end OPenOpt="OPEN=ICON" if Options \= '' then if (Options \= '/D') & (Options \= '-D') then do say "USAGE: Open-Dir [-d] [directory-name]" say " Opens the specified directory as a folder on the desktop" say " If no directory-name is specified, the current directory is opened" say " If -d option is specified, the directory opens a DETAIL view" exit(0) end else OpenOpt="OPEN=DETAILS" Dir.1 = DIRECTORY() Dir.2 = '' if Name \= '' then if SubStr(Name,2,1) = ':' then do Dir.2 = DIRECTORY(Left(Name,2)) Name = SubStr(Name,3) end Name = Directory(Name) CALL RxFuncAdd 'SysSetObjectData','RexxUtil','SysSetObjectData' CALL SysSetObjectData Name,OpenOpt if Dir.2 \= '' then call Directory(Dir.2) call Directory(Dir.1) CALL SysSetObjectData Name,OpenOpt exit(0) Directory: procedure arg Name if Length(Name) > 3 then if Right(Name,1) = '\' then Name = Left(Name,LENGTH(Name)-1) n = 'DIRECTORY'(Name) return n I hope that's helpful to a few folks! If you have any neat REXX programs, please upload them to area 18 of the WoodMeister or send them to me via Internet at USDSSKZS@IBMMAIL.COM. If you work for the State of Missouri and have access to DISOSS, you can send them to POOLMWV at DSSHOST. Humor Lunch, The IBM Way I had a 9:00 meeting with my sales rep. I needed to buy an entire new series 70, the works. He said it'd take about an hour. Three hours later, we'd barely got the datacomm hardware down on paper, so he invited me downstairs for lunch. This was my first experience in an IBM cafeteria. Above the service counter was a menu which began... MMU's (Main Menu Units) 00010A Burger. Includes sesame-seed bun. Must order condiments 00110A separately 001 Deletes seeds. 002 Expands burger to two patties. 00020A Double cheeseburger, pre-configured. Includes cheese, bun and condiments. 001 Add-on bacon. 002 Delete second patty. 003 Replaces second patty with extra cheese. 00021A Burger Upgrade to Double Cheeseburger 001 From Single Burger. 002 From Double Burger. 003 Return credit for bun. 00220A Burger Bundle. Includes 00010A, 00210A and 00310A 001 Substitute root beer 00311A for cola 00310A. My eyes glazed over. I asked for a burger and a root beer. The waitress looked at me like I was an alien. "How would you like to order that, sir ?" "Quickly, if possible. Can't I just order a sandwich and a drink ?" "No sir. All our service is menu driven. Now what would you like ?" I scanned the menu. "How big is the 00010 burger ?" "The patty is rated at eight bites." "Well, how about the rest of it ?" "I don't have the specs on that, sir, but I think it's a bit more." "Eight bites is too small. Give me the Double Burger Upgrade." My sales rep interrupted. "No, you want the Single Burger option 002 'expands burger to two patties'. The double burger upgrade would give you two burgers. "But you could get return credit on the extra bun," the waitress chimed in, trying to be helpful, "although it isn't documented." I looked around to see if anybody was staring at me. There was a couple in line behind us. I recognized one of them, a guy who nearly mowed me down in the parking lot with his cherry-red '62 Vette. He was talking to some woman who was waving her arms around and looking very excited. "What if... we marketed the bacon cheeseburger with the vegetable option and without the burger and cheese ? It'd be a BLT!" The woman charged off in the direction of the telephone, running steeplechases over tables and chairs. My waitress tried to get my attention again. "Have you decided, sir ?" "Yeah, give me the double burger- excuse me, I mean the 00020A with the option 001. I want everything on it." She put me down for the Condiment Expansion Kit, which included mayonnaise, mustard and pickles with a option to substitute relish. "Ketchup." I hated to ask. "I want ketchup on that, too." "That's not a condiment, sir, it's a Tomato Product." My sales rep butted in again. "That's not a supported configuration." "Why not ?" I kept my voice steady. "Too juicy. The bun can't handle it." "Look. Forget the ketchup, just put some lettuce and tomatoes on it." The waitress backed away from the counter. "I'm sorry, sir, but that's not supported either, the bun can take it but the burger won't fit in the box. The sales rep defended himself. "Just not at first release." "It is being beta-tested, sir." I checked the overhead screen. Fries, number 000210A, option 110, French followed by option 120, English. "What the hell are English Fries ?" I turned to the sales rep. "Chips they call them. We sell a lot of them." I gave up. "OK, OK just give me a plain vanilla Burger Bundle." This confused the waitress profoundly. "Sir, Vanilla as an option is configured only for series 00450 Milk Shakes." My sales rep chuckles. "No ma'am, he just wants a standard 00220A off the shelf. I wondered how long it had been on the shelf. I didn't ask. "Very good, sir." The waitress breathed a sigh of relief. "Your meal is now on order. Now how would you like it supported ?" "Support ?" She directed me to the green shaded area at the bottom of the menu, and I began a litany with my Sales Rep that I'll never forget. "Implementation assistance ?" "You get a waiter." "Implementation analysis ?" "You tell him how hungry you are and he tells you what to eat." "Response Center Support ?" "He brings it to your table." "Extended materials ?" "You get refills." I stuffed some money at the waitress and told her to take it. She gave me my check on three sheets of green-bar paper. I studied it on my way to the table, and decided it'd pass as an emergency napkin. Table? My Sales Rep had been bright enough to order us a table. He hadn't been bright enough to check on a delivery date. The table waiter slouching in his corner surveyed the crowded room, looked at me and said "Two weeks. But I can get you a stand alone chair by the window right away." I handed him the tray. A woman rushed up to me with two small cups of chile and sauerkraut for the hot dog somebody else had ordered. The room began to grow dim, my eyesight faded... I woke up clutching the water-glass at my bedside table. It was five AM, four hours till my meeting with IBM. I had had a vision, I did what it told me to do. I dialed my office, and I called in sick. OS/2 TNT OS/2 Tips 'N' Techniques Here's a fresh tip that might have a limited audience: WIN-OS/2 users who have access to many printers on a LAN. It's one that I thunk up out of my own haid, Bubba. (Actually, I think I read something about this several years ago but the memory is so distant that now it is part of my "public domain" knowledge.) I've submitted it to "Stupid OS/2 Tricks" and it should appear in the next issue. Windows only lists LPT1, 2 and 3. On a LAN, however, you could have access to MANY virtual LPT ports. To have access to these, go to your WIN.INI file and find the "ports" section. Mine looks like this: [ports] ; A line with [filename].PRN followed by an equal sign causes ; [filename] to appear in the Control Panel's Printer Configuration dialog ; box. A printer connected to [filename] directs its output into this file. LPT1:= LPT2:= LPT3:= COM1:=9600,n,8,1,x COM2:=9600,n,8,1,x COM3:=9600,n,8,1,x COM4:=9600,n,8,1,x EPT:= FILE:= LPT1.OS2= LPT2.OS2= Just add LPTx.OS2, where x is a number from 3 to 9. This will then print to your LAN attached printers, and you can have up to nine LPT ports available. Here's where my memory is shakey. I think that the only real difference in printing to the LPTx.OS2 ports is that you bypass print manager. I could be wrong about that. Hey, if I am -- write me and tell me about it! While you're at it, submit a tip of your own! Rebound -- Off the boards There have been several great utilities show up here over the last 30 days. Here's a few worth mentioning: 800INF.ZIP 4 403K 7-12-94+ User guide for people that call the 800# support center. In ASCII and .INF form. BA2100.ZIP 9 595K 7-05-94+ Back Again/2; fully enable OS/2 backup utility. All OS/2 logical devices supported. including but not limited to Network Drives. CA20AOS2.ZIP 2 728K 7-12-94+ CA Realizer patch for 2.0 DXP234.ZIP 9 206K 7-28-94* DiskExpress 2.34 Super disk imaging program. 16/32 bit versions, data encryption, VMDISK extraction and more. FAX-V144.ZIP 31 622K 7-22-94* A complete WIN/DOS fax program. Complete WIN integration. Works with most fax modems. FINF090.ZIP 9 27K 7-06-94+ FindINFs Version 0.90 by Dale Hackemeyer. An OS/2 utility to create icons on your desktop for INF files. Uses INF title as the name. OS2MSWIN.ZIP 4 4K 7-25-94* .WRI file explaining how to setup Win/WinOS2 to allow Win VXD's. PCMTAB.ZIP 4 43K 7-13-94+ Latest table of hardware tested with OS/2 PN52335.ZIP 2 51K 6-30-94+ Cello fix for IBM TCP/IP v2.0 And LOTS more. Lists, fixes, info, utils, apps, you name it. Over 150 new files last month alone. There was a rumor that MOSAIC (the excellent Internet WWW browser) had been ported to OS/2. I haven't found this yet, so I assume it to be false. When it DOES shows up I'll make a lot of noise about it, rest assured! The message traffic should be back to normal now. My feed in VA (Pete Norloff's board, The OS/2 Shareware BBS) changed phone numbers so traffic was a little sporadic there for a few days. I'm not noticing any problems now. I'm always open for ideas or suggestions. If there's something you'd like to see (or like to see different), let me know and I'll do my best to make it so. Don't forget - MMOUG members get a free subscription to the OWM. Members get 1.5M/60Mins per day. I hope to see y'all on the boards... The OS/2 Woodmeister Overview of downloadable files (314) 446-0016 FIDO Node 1:289/27 1200/2400/9600/14400 D/S Threads "Threads" are a collection of posts that may be of interest to individual readers. Describe Announcements This was posted on the OS2 BBS: I have an article from the Sacramento Bee stating that the sales people at DeScribe Inc. have 30 days after the August 15th release of DeScribe 5.0 to sell 1000 copies of the product. If they cannot, the founder of DeScribe Inc., James Lennane, will shut the company down. Lennane has reportedly lost $10 million on DeScribe since he founded the company back in 1988. Sales of their word processor are pretty bad, only 50,000 to 60,000 copies sold. I hope they can manage to survive. I use and like DeScribe very much and would very sorry to see them out of business. I hope the new version includes footnotes and an equation editor as those are essential features for many users and DeScribe sorely needs them. Marvin Lichtenthal Internet marvinl@netcom.com Since I first posted some information from the Sacramento Bee regarding DeScribe, I have received many mail message asking questions about the next version of DeScribe. I got the following information from the DeScribe BBS in Sacramento. I guess the "announce" group would be more appropriate for this but I don't represent DeScribe and am just passing along some publicly available information from their BBS. Read on... DeSCRIBE, Inc. ANNOUNCES NEW VERSION 4.1 for OS/2, Windows 3.x, and Windows NT White Plains, NY, March 31, 1994 - Today, at the Westchester OS/2 User Groups' 2nd Annual OS/2 Celebration to Benefit The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, DeScribe, Inc. announced their latest upgrade to its celebrated 32-bit word processor. Version 4.1 is the latest in feature rich upgrades of the most stable PC word processor on the market. DeScribe Word Processor Version 4.1 adds significant new features such as a unique "Proper Names" list, highly productive "Initial Spell" checker, a misspelled words dictionary for automatic correction of typos, simple mathematics in tables, footnotes, an equation editor and a great new feature for creating newsletters with the ability to link and flow text through multiple frames and "grow-as-you-go" stretchy frames. DeScribe has also programmatically circumvented the codepage restrictions of OS/2 to provide true single and double open or close typographical quotes, en and em-dash, single and double daggers, ellipsis and soft hyphens. Plus much, much more. "DeScribe's 4.1 has so many great new features that it might as well be called 5.0" ...Steve Weeks, beta tester, Bansal, & Assoc. "We have built a solid reputation for providing consistently innovative features, solid code and comprehensive support. In version 4.1 we've made extensive, end-user oriented, improvements to the user interface along with many new features that have one common goal, PRODUCTIVITY ON THE DESKTOP." ... Allan R. Katzen, President & CEO, DeScribe, Inc. In addition, those registered purchasers of DeScribe 4.0 SE (Subscription Edition) after April 1, will also receive all interim updates of 4.1, thereafter. All other registered users of DeScribe 4.0 can upgrade to 4.1 for $75 plus S&H. Based on an expected ship date of July 1, 1994, all registered purchasers of DeScribe 4.0 after April 1, 1994 will receive the upgrade to 4.1 registered users in the US and Canada. Available from major dealers with distribution from Ingram Micro, Merisel and Micro Central, DeScribe is available in the U.S. and Canada for US$495 List for the stand-alone version. The LAN versions of DeScribe are available domestically in 10 and 20 paks for US$1,995 and US$2,995, respectively. New Enterprise licensing is available direct from DeScribe for corporations with over 350 users. For Information Call: Allan R. Katzen, President & CEO 916/ 646-1111 FAX 923-3447 DeSCRIBE MAGNUM ANNOUNCED White Plains, NY, March 31, 1994 - Today, DeScribe, Inc. announced the Company's plan to develop a "component shell" designed to manage a collection of high level office productivity applications. The name of the component shell which manages these applications has been code-named as DeScribe Magnum. Included in the productivity applications shipped with DeScribe Magnum will be the DeScribe Word Processor as well as a newly developed Magnum Spreadsheet, Magnum Mail and Magnum DynaBase, a database interface product. All products will be accessed using a common user interface which may be customized by users of the system. Individual components may be selectively attached to, or deleted from, the component shell. In a minimum configuration, DeScribe Magnum would appear to a user as a single application selected from what is commonly marketed as a "Suite" of applications. Future DeScribe products will be integrated into DeScribe Magnum. Subsequent to the initial release of Magnum, DeScribe intends to publish a specification of system interface calls which will permit independent and corporate developers to directly access the functionality of all DeScribe Magnum components. Magnum system calls will be based on industry standard protocols for every operating system on which DeScribe Magnum operates. Current 32bit platforms upon which DeScribe products operate include OS/2, Windows NT and, upon general availability, OS/2 for RISC and Windows 4.0. As "Suites" become the most popular form of purchase for office productivity products, the industry's design goal will be to remove unnecessary redundancy for items such as spellcheckers, text format functions, menus, print managers and screen handling routines. DeScribe Magnum addresses this by placing all common functions into a high level component shell. The shell would, for example, support text editing as a high level function. The mail package, the spreadsheet and the word processor will then inherit this common editing function, as will any independently produced application designed for use within the DeScribe Magnum shell. The high level component shell will be designed to incorporate licensed third party software as a method of making additional functionality available to the component applications. As an example, DeScribe is evaluating the IBM Personal Dictation System (IPDS) as a supported third party function. The dictation features of IPDS would then be available for use in all text based activities within the Magnum products. An example of such support would be the ability to address and dictate Magnum Mail messages to a hidden background task while working on the Magnum Spreadsheet in the foreground. The Mail message would be preprocessed by an auto correcting spell checker prior to final review and/or automatic transmission. The widely renowned feature of DeScribe's Word Processor, "Unlimited Undo", will be a key capability shared by all DeScribe Magnum component programs. DeScribe Magnum, as a true 32bit application take advantage of the best features of each of the 32bit operating systems. Multi-threading will be used whenever appropriate. IBM's System Object Module (SOM) and Microsoft's Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) will both be supported. The first release of the Magnum Spreadsheet component is expected to support three dimensional arrays, make extensive use of object oriented technology and support a new level of programmability never before available to spreadsheet users. The initial release of the Magnum Spreadsheet is intended to support the key functions used by 90% of spreadsheet users. Future releases will focus on advanced functionality such as data modeling. The Magnum DynaBase is a database access system for all popular SQL and non-SQL databases. The Magnum components will be capable of rapidly and easily accessing external database material for inclusion in Magnum documents. Magnum Mail is a mail management system which provides a consistent interface to industry standard mail systems such as cc:Mail and Microsoft Mail or may use its own internal mail system for peer to peer communications within an OS/2 or Windows workgroup. Access to IBM's PROFS will also be provided. The first deliveries of DeScribe Magnum are scheduled for the first quarter of 1995. Marvin Lichtenthal Internet marvinl@netcom.com Nomination Deadline Approaches for OS/2/LAN Apps & Tools Guides August 15, 1994 is the deadline for product submissions to the next editions of the OS/2 & LAN Systems Applications and Tools Directories. In the few remaining weeks before that deadline, we need your help in finding OS/2 and LAN Systems applications and development tools. If you know of any developers who produce OS/2 or LAN Systems products, please pass along the attached Product Nomination Form, so that they can take advantage of this free advertising opportunity. Or, notify us, and we will contact them for you. We're pleased to tell you that, by the end of 1994, we anticipate there will be more than 1 million copies of the Applications Directory and the Tools Guide in circulation. We have created an OS/2 .INF version of the Tools Guide, and have posted it on several major OS/2 bulletin board systems. We're also including the .INF version on CD-ROMs for developers. And we're distributing printed copies of the guides through Miller Freeman, a major publisher of magazines about OS/2 and software development. Help us make sure that every OS/2 and LAN Systems developer gets the opportunity for this free publicity. Questions regarding this notice may be directed to Mike Engelberg at T/L 982-0500 (V1ENG at BCRVM1). PRODUCT NOMINATION FORM for OS/2 & LAN Systems Applications Directory and OS/2 & LAN Systems Development Tools Guide Name of person preparing this form _____________________________________ Title __________________________________________________________________ Phone (in case we need to reach you for more information; non-US, give country code): __________________________________________________________________ Fax __________________________________________________________________ Electronic Userid ______________________________________________________ Company Name ___________________________________________________________ Address ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ City _____________________________ State/Province ______________________ Country __________________________ Zip/Postal Code _____________________ Product Name & Version Number __________________________________________ Is the Product a Development Tool? Yes _____ No _____ Price and Currency _____________________________________________________ Availability Date ______________________ (Now or mm/dd/yy) Sales/Order Contact Name _______________________________________________ Title ______________________________________________________ Electronic Mail Address for Orders _____________________________________ Phone Numbers (to order product in the US): IMPORTANT! If you provide an 800 number, specify whether it can be called only within the USA, only within Canada, or in both countries. Also, BE SURE TO PROVIDE A NON-800 NUMBER so that customers in other countries can call you. 800 Voice Phone: _________ ______________________________ Area Code Phone Number 800 number can be called from: __US __Canada __Both Non-800 Voice Phone: _________ ______________________________ Area Code Phone Number Fax Phone: _________ ______________________________ Area Code Phone Number Do you sell your product outside the United States? Yes _____ No _____ If yes, in which countries or regions? _________________________________ International Sales/Order Contact Name: ________________________________ Phone Numbers (to order product in countries other than the US ): Country: _______________________________________________________________ Voice phone: + _______ _________ ______________________________ Country City or Phone Number Code Area Code Fax phone: + _______ _________ ______________________________ Country City or Phone Number Code Area Code Does your company have other phone numbers in addition to the ones above? If so, attach a separate sheet with additional phone numbers and explanations. Key Software Features --------------------- Check all that apply. This information is required. Advanced OS/2 2.x Features: _____ Flat Memory _____ Mixed Mode _____ DSOM1 _____ Workplace Shell _____ 32-bit APIs _____ DSOM2 _____ DCE _____ Fast Semaphores _____ DSOM _____ Generates 32-bit code _____ VDDs _____ 32-bit SOM _____ SMP _____ OpenDoc _____ Other (specify): _________________________________________________ Product Category ---------------- Below is the list of product categories in the books. Choose a primary category by marking it with the letter P, and up to three additional secondary categories by marking them with the letter S. APPLICATIONS: ------------- ACCOUNTING/PERSONAL FINANCE DATABASE ____Accounting ____File Management ____Personal Finance ____Management Dictionaries ____Tax ____Query Languages ____Other Finance DESKTOP PUBLISHING BUSINESS-SPECIFIC ____Desktop Publishing ____Banking & Financial Services ____Document Management ____Industrial, Manufacturing ____Insurance ____Government & Public Management ____ELECTRONIC MAIL ____Public Utilities & Transportation ____Construction ____GAMES AND ENTERTAINMENT ____Health ____Scientific, Engineering, and Technical GRAPHICS ____Organizations/Fund Raising ____Draw ____Education, Research/Library Mgmt ____Charting ____Human Resources Management ____Sales & Marketing INFORMATION MANAGEMENT ____Distribution/Wholesale/Retail ____Image & Document Management ____Agriculture ____Decision Support ____Automotive ____Project Management ____Contract Managers ____Report Management ____Facilities Management ____Food & Beverage INTEGRATED WORKGROUP ____Legal Services ____Integrated ____Mass Media/Communications ____Office Automation ____Natural Resources and Related ____Personal Information ____Purchasing Managers ____Real Estate ____Textiles & Clothing NETWORK ____Travel & Leisure ____Network Management ____Services Industry ____Network Operating Systems ____Personal Education/Creativity ____Network Services ____CAD/CADAM ____SPREADSHEETS ____DEVICE DRIVER ____WORD PROCESSING COMMUNICATIONS ____Bulletin Board Software ____Communications Control Systems ____Computer-to-Computer Links ____Fax/Telex ____PC Communications Utilities ____Terminal Emulation Software ____Videotex Software ____Teleconferencing Software ____Telephone Management Software ____EDI-Electronic Data Interchange DEVELOPMENT TOOLS: ------------------ _____ Application Generators _____ Help Authoring Tools _____ Application Integration _____ Installation _____ Artificial Intelligence _____ Languages _____ CASE Development Tools _____ Library Management _____ Class Libraries _____ Multimedia: _____ Client/Server _____ Authoring Tools _____ Command Processors / Shells _____ MMPM/2 Tools _____ Compiler Construction _____ Generic Digital Video/Digital _____ DBMS/RDBMS Sound _____ Editors / Browsers _____ Object-Oriented _____ EXE Generation Tools _____ Programming Productivity _____ Fourth-Generation Languages _____ Source-Code Generators _____ General Libraries _____ Testing / Debugging Aids _____ Version Control System _____ Other (specify): _________________________________________________ UTILITIES: ---------- _____ Backup _____ Multipurpose _____ Data Compression _____ Performance Monitor _____ Disaster Recovery _____ Security _____ Image Support/ _____ Screen Savers Screen Capture _____ Virus Protection _____ Other (specify): _________________________________________________ Product Description ------------------- Describe the features and functions of your software package: (1) In 25 words or less: _______________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ (2) Overview text of 150 words or less: ________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ Signature of Authorized Person ------------------------------ IBM MUST HAVE AN AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE IN ORDER TO INCLUDE THIS INFORMATION IN THE BOOK(S) ABOVE. I represent that the above information is correct and not confidential, and that there is no restriction on IBM's use of this information. I understand that IBM assumes no responsibility for product claims or the accuracy of the data provided. Company Name ___________________________________________________________ Authorized Person (print): _____________________________________________ Authorized Person (signature): _________________________________________ Title: _________________________________________________________________ Date: __________________________________________________________________ To return this form, mail or fax as follows: Developer Assistance Program Internal Zip 5407 IBM Corporation 1000 NW 51st St. Boca Raton FL 33431 USA Attention: Publications Fax: 1-407-443-5214 Drivers for OS/2 Notice to All OS/2 users! I'm trying to find all the various companies/vendors/etc. who have device drives for adapters for OS/2 and work with them to allow us (IBM) to place them on the BBS's that we follow. If you know of any please post me the: Company name....................................... address............................................ city............................., state........... and Phone..( )............... (Please don't assume that I will know the company name if you tell me the xyz display adapter has this device driver <g>!) I will attempt to contact them and get their permission to do so. This is inline with IBM's role in Technical Support Alliance Network (TSANet) __ __ ___ __ __ _ _ | |_| | / \ | \| | | |./ / Hank Henderson HNDERSON at AUSVM8 | _ | / _~_ \ Sincerely | . < Electronic Media Strategy (TEAMOS2) |__| |__| /_/ \_\ |__|\__| |_| \_\ Tie:8-793-8647 Austin, Texas External # 512-823-8647 FAX 512-823-9540 - LNK1SM7 @ IBMLINK - OS/2 BBS HNDERSON(USIB37B7)LNK1SM7(USRG7J4N@IBMLINK) HNDERSON@AUSVM8.vnet.ibm.com Please do something..! Lead, follow or get out of the way. EZRAID for OS/2 PRO Engineering Announces: EZRAID "Lite" for OS/2 Disk Management Software for OS/2 Desktop Systems OTTAWA, July 1, 1994--- PRO Engineering the recent startup founded by former Corel lead developer, Daniel Levesque, announced today EZRAID Lite for OS/2, a software-based disk management solution for the OS/2 desktop market. For users of OS/2 2.x and OS/2 for Windows, EZRAID Lite has a suggested retail price of only $195 and will be generally available on August 1st, 1994. EZRAID Lite brings the benefits of RAID technology to the desktop level at a breakthrough price point. Offering disk mirroring, data striping and disk spanning, EZRAID Lite creates disk arrays with unparalleled ease and flexibility. The software supports all disk interfaces including IDE, ESDI and SCSI. "Now any OS/2 user can combine two standard hard disks and take advantage of the fault-tolerance, complete data reliability and the increased storage capacity offered with RAID technology," said PRO Engineering president Daniel Levesque. He adds, "With OS/2 for Windows now available world-wide, any DOS or Windows application will benefit from the advanced disk management features found in EZRAID Lite." For simplified data management EZRAID Lite is able to strip or span data across any two hard disks creating a single large logical drive. And with the software's ability to mirror existing logical drives without the need to reformat, EZRAID Lite provides real-time backups of all user files. Implemented as a logical disk device driver, EZRAID Lite controls RAIDs at the partition level. This unique approach allows RAID logical drives to co-exist with existing partitions on hard disks. In addition any combination of mirroring, striping and spanning can be used on the same set of physical disk drives. As the world's first desktop RAID product, EZRAID Lite is a personal version of EZRAID for OS/2, a product that supports RAID levels 0, 1, 4 and 5 and retails for $795. The product is PRO Engineering's latest addition to their growing family of software based RAID solutions. For more information, please contact Pro Engineering directly. Voice: 613.738.3864 Fax: 613.738.3871 CompuServe: 74431,2137 Internet: lendvai@proeng.com THE OS/2 RUMOR MILL - July 28, 1994 The OS/2 Rumor Mill looks at the future of OS/2 and its follow on and related OS products. It has the latest info I have been able to collect and evaluate. Send new grist or confirm, correct or add to this information on ILink, R/O on RIME (->COMPEASE), or to the Internet address below. Please let me know how authoritative it is. Freely copy, if you wish. I've included further info from your comments (thank you) and added info from OS/2 World, 19-22 July. OS/2 On Intel - Future Features/Products: * - Reduced memory requirement. The user level version of the kernel runs faster in 2 MB less RAM. Minimum RAM recommended is 4 MB instead of 6 MB. In all post-2.11 releases. A 2nd kernel that supports software development is available. Kernels selectively installable and switchable. * - 32-bit, multiple-threaded loader. Faster boots. * - Animated bootup logo. * - Win32S compatibility, but no VxD, at least not yet. * - "One-button" easier installation, Big priority. * - New jazzy tutorial. * - 3d icons and WP colors. Opened folder icons look open. * - "Front Panel", Small box for most used icons for fast launching * - 32-bit PM windowing. * - DOS 6 compatibility, including utilities. * - Win3.11 or WinfWg 3.1/3.11 support in beta II, but no WfWG 3.11 * - Plug and Play. Auto recognition of hardware device installation settings for PCMCIA. It works without reboot! I saw it. Communications features. (WIN311.ZIP does this now.) * - Fix to single serial synchronous input queue. Will be controlled by a separate thread. Better performance and reliability. * - Tunable thread priority for DOS and Windows apps * - Improved driver support. ? - Revised applets, possibly including new games and Footprint Works. ? - WWW browser, ftp, gopher, TCP/IP, etc. ? - Multimedia. MIDI recording API. Support more audio and video formats in MMPM (Sun's .AU, AutoDesk's .FLI, JPEG, MPEG, etc). ? - Enhanced config.sys access: existing config.sys retained but a NOTEBOOK frontend included with pages holding sections config.sys. - ObjectREXX. In beta, still. - SOM 2.1. Includes DSOM. Scheduled for October. - OpenDoc. Will include an interface to OLE 2.0. In "Winter" releases. Alpha in progress. Blows OLE away. I saw it. - Disk Compression. Possibly bundled, but which is up in the air. - Peer to Peer Network. Delayed 'til after the first of the year to remove Microsoft code and expand its capability. Bundled or not??? - UCS/Unicode (Standard Internationalization) - 1995 Packages. Below is the latest IBM thinking, but not final. - Warp. "Performance OS/2", Beta I ends 31 Jul., Beta II - Early Aug. "...for Windows" version. Beta II should include asterisked items above and possibly ?s. Much faster video, Windows load, and general performance (over twice as fast for some things.) Release: Fall - "Name TBD" follow on to the standard v2.11 with WinOS2. Release: Fall. - Klingon. "Name (Enterprise?) TBD ╒full featured■ version TBD", probably v2.2 - Release Winter. Performance OS/2 features plus: Taligent Frameworks. Including real time 3d graphs. SMB OpenDoc. Systems Management. Security hooks. File-sizes greater than 2 GB. Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) client and server connectivity (?). Network requestors. Peer to peer??? - SMP version 2.11 for specific machines - Released for 8 systems. APIC (Advanced Programmable Interupt Controller) chip standard version SMP (Will be bundled eventually in all versions.) - Early 95. "OS/2 for PowerPC" (Was Workplace OS) - Beta August, ship by year's end. Supports DOS & Windows through emulation. Reportedly at 486/66 level. Initially, desktop client. Server later. Probable NT, Solaris personalities. Chicago ? AIX? For OS/2, support only 32-bit OS/2 apps Taligent - Alpha is out. Beta in '95? Elements being incorporated into all coming versions of OS/2. -- *-----------------------------* │ Have a great day! │ │ Mel.Hulse@LIMS.Lockheed.com │ │ Double Teamer - TSE & OS/2 │ *-----------------------------* ===================================================================== I heard from someone who might be in a position to know that the Personal OS/2 coming out soon might have the mini-apps removed. You will be able to download them from various BBS's. Anyone else hear this? Marvin Lichtenthal Internet E-Mail marvinl@netcom.com Using Forum Manager 4.0 Subject: The OS/2 Rumor Mill Ref: Append at 09:56:25 on 94/07/30 GMT (by IL78711 at HONE80) If we put the kitchen sink in, we would just about have everything! Rumors are just that, rumors. No one should build plans based on this list of info from the INTERNET - or they will be disappointed. There is a lot of truth to some of this, and a lot of wish list. You can count on what you see in the beta and what the execs say in the press. Beyond that, you are on your own. A couple of examples - OpenDoc is just now out in Alpha on a tool kit. It is really hot technology, but needs a little use by developers before it will be ready to put into the product. And, Plug and Play is a dynamic spec which is not totally settled down. We will have the PCMCIA plug and play in the fall deliveries, but support for other bus types will be in 1995. Lois Dimpfel, PSP Director - Boca The Frugal Hacker hacker n The term "hacker" originally meant anyone with a keen interest in learning about computer systems and using them in novel and clever ways. Many computer enthusiasts still call themselves hackers in this nonpejorative sense. (Communications of the ACM, March 1991, Vol. 34, No. 3, Page 25) Last month I took a short vacation. I thank the editor for permitting this <g>, Bob Shanteau for filling in <bg>, and my CR for telling me he missed my column <vbg>. Stalking On The Infobahn. We were all shocked recently by lurid news media reports of a young man who was seduced by an older man. You may have also seen a recent TV program about an electronic stalker on Prodigy. Although such disturbing events undoubtedly occur in many venues, the sensationalism about these reports is that the events took place via electronic means. Why this should be more sensational than if it had occurred via telephone, snail mail, or in the neighborhood convenience store I can only attribute to the FUD factor. Those who are unfamiliar with electronic means of communication, including many in the news media, are quick to let Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt cloud their views of this "mysterious" medium, and are even quicker to demand witch hunts to smoke out the evil beings that rampantly perpetrate all sorts of imagined atrocities via digital means over telephone lines. To illustrate what I mean, let me quote from a message that showed up on a local electronic bulletin board shortly after the seduction story broke. The message was posted by someone in the local news media who would not give a name other than TV station call letters. The message asked, "With the arrest today of a Santa Clara man for soliciting sex with a minor over a computer bulletin board, should the government take a more active role in "policing" what goes over BBS?" Dum De Dum Dum. I don't think that anyone who has even casual familiarity with electronic bulletin boards would have asked a question like that unless it was to deliberately foment flames. First of all, the medium in question was not exactly a bulletin board system (BBS) as such are known to those of us who use them. The communications in question took place over a commercially operated, nation-wide on-line service. While such services do provide BBS type forums, all messages in such forums are publicly displayed. Would a seducer go down to the local supermarket and post his seductive messages on the bulletin board there? Of course not, so neither would such messages show up in a BBS forum. They would have certainly gone via private electronic mail (e-mail). Now, how is the government (or anyone else) going to "police" e-mail? Think of the government having people opening envelopes, reading, and censoring all the first-class snail mail, and you might have some idea of what it would take to police e-mail. Forget what we in the USA and people worldwide consider the sanctity of the mail for the moment, and just consider the magnitude of the task. It really makes no sense. Now temper that with our firm belief in the privacy of the mail and freedom of speech and you know that people would not stand still for any such snooping on the part of the government. Your president (Mikey not Billy) and I had portions of our replies published on the TV station that posted the question. I had this to say about the role of government in "policing", "Not any more so than the role they take in policing what is sent through the U.S. Mails. To the maximum extent possible, Email should be given the same considerations as regular mail." Mikey was, of course, much more flame-boyant, "I am at a loss to understand why, whenever some individual performs some nefarious activity, the media instantly wants to know "should the government take a more active role in 'policing'..." When someone puts an ad in a newspaper which is a cover for some potentially illegal activity, does the media ask, "should the government take a more active role in "policing" the press?" After some expansion on this theme he went on to say, "If there is illegal activity, then it is the responsibility of the government to capture the culprits either as, or after, an offense is committed. It is not the responsibility to intervene, as thought police, when people are merely exercising their rights." Well, you get the idea. If your opinions differ from ours, please write to the editor of the newsletter to have them published. What Are The Risks? Far less than other activities we participate in in everyday life! First of all, there is no physical contact, so there isn't the risk of physical violence while BBS'ing from the privacy of your home. So it is possible to (inadvertently) be exposed to offensive language on a BBS, but less so than in movie theaters and video productions. Almost every BBS is moderated by someone. Commercial on-line services such as America On Line, Prodigy, CompuServe, and GENIE will not stand for offensive language and activity. It's just not good for their business. Private BBS's that are operated for profit are moderated by the SYSOP for the same reason. Non-profit BBS's are also moderated by their SYSOP's because they do not want to be closed down for violating any laws. At the worst, there may be restricted topics set aside where more frank language is tolerated, but these areas are clearly marked as such, and those identified as young people are not permitted to enter. Prodigy, for example, tried this for awhile, but felt it got out of hand and shut it down again. E-mail, because it is "mail" in every sense, is not subject to such censorship. Receiving harassing e-mail is something like getting a harassing phone call, only it is easier to ignore the e-mail. A press of a key will relegate it to the bit bucket as fast as or faster than hanging up the phone. Many mail readers have "twit filters" that you can set to ignore messages from certain people or on certain topics. Until we get sophisticated caller-ID devices it will be difficult to do that with telephones. To sum it up, in general the exposure to unpleasantries through electronic media is no greater (actually I would say much less) than we encounter in other venues of our lives. Similar precautions should be taken to those you take while walking down the street, going to the neighborhood convenience store or to the mall, or reading your mail or answering the phone. Be aware of where you are and who is around you, be aware of where your children are and what they are doing, don't go into any dark alleys, and don't give strangers your address, phone or credit card number. If you should ever encounter anything you feel is threatening, report it to the moderator of the system immediately. To put things in perspective, I have been actively BBS'ing for 11 years and I have never felt threatened by anything I read or encountered there. Stupidity? Sure. Offensive language? Occasionally. Rudeness? Once in awhile. But I have been far more annoyed by the poor spelling and grammar that I have seen, than by any threats or unwelcome overtures. Yes, I agree that the situation might be different except for my age and sex, but if there were any widespread problems I'm sure that I would have seen a lot of chat about it before now. Definitions Of The Month. <g>, <bg>, <vbg> grin, big grin, very big grin <g>. Meant to indicate that the writer is attempting to be humorous. [R]BBS ([Remote] Bulletin Board System). A private telecommunications utility, usually set up by a personal computer hobbyist for the enjoyment of other hobbyists. (Que's Computer User's Dictionary, Que, 1990), also A message database where people can log in and leave broadcast messages for others grouped (typically) into topic areas. (The New Hacker's Dictionary, MIT Press, 1991). SYSOP System Operator, usually the owner or manager of a BBS. [off-line] mail reader. A software program that sorts your mail and allows you to read and reply to messages at your convenience rather than while connected on-line. Mail readers can have many conveniences such as searching automatically for items of interest, hiding messages from "twits", keeping messages that you want to retain in a filing system, automatic addressing of replies, etc. Mail readers save you time, and if the network service charges by the minute, also save you money. e-mail. Electronic mail automatically passed through computer networks and/or via modems over common-carrier lines. (The New Hacker's Dictionary), also Que's adds this, "Electronic mail may involve a one-to-one communication, in which one person sends a private message to another person; or a one-to-many communication, in which one person sends a message to many people connected to the network." snail mail. mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. The term is not usually meant to be derogatory to the USPS, only to indicate that e-mail which can arrive in seconds is so much faster than, well, snail mail <g>. flame v. to post an e-mail message intended to insult and provoke, to reply to a message in derogatory, obscene, or inappropriate language. bit bucket. Bit buckets are analogous to the receptacles fitted in the back of high priced television sets to catch the corpses of cowboys and indians. Without a well-placed bit bucket . . . an offensive GRUNGE accumulates beneath the computer. (The Devil's DP Dictionary, Stan Kelly-Bootle, McGraw-Hill, 1981). grunge. The patina which eventually enhances all hardware and software exposed to the human environment. (The Devil's DP Dictionary). Bob Stephan welcomes comments and questions that The Frugal Hacker can respond to. He can be reached on Internet (bob.stephan@nitelog.com), NITELOG (408-655-1096), CRICKET (408-373-3773), Compu$erve (72357,2276), Plodigy (FNGC05A), or snail mail at the MBUG-PC address: Monterey Bay Users Group - PC 177 Webster St. Suite A 354 Monterey, CA 93940 Next MMOUG Meeting Next month's MMOUG meeting will be held in Columbia on Wednesday, August 17 (hmmm, the very day my son goes to M.U.!), 4 pm at: Boone County Electrical Cooperative 1414 Range Line Columbia, MO 65101 Directions From Jefferson City: Take Highway 63 North to Interstate 70. Go West on I-70 to the Range Line Exit. Go South on Range Line less than a block. Boone County Electrical Cooperative is the first building past the restaurant. N I-70 W--|--E __________________________________________________S_________________ |P |R H| |R Boone Co. Electrical Coop. X |A W| |O |N Y| |V |G | |I |E 6| |D | 3| |E |L | |N |I | |C |N | |E |E | MMOUG Registration Form Name:_____________________________________ Nickname:_____________________ Last Name, First Initial Company Name:_____________________________ Address:___________________________________ Work Phone:___________________ ___________________________________ Home Phone:__________________ City:_________________________ State:_______ Zip Code:_____________________ Questionnaire Your Operating System: ___ DOS ___ OS/2 ___ WINDOWS ___ UNIX ___ OTHER __________________ Your Interest in Computers Include (Check all that apply): ___ Education ___ Business ___ Entertainment ___ OTHER ________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Annual membership fee for the Mid Missouri OS/2 Users Group is $30.00 US. Purchase Orders are accepted. Please make your check payable to MMOUG and mail to: MMOUG, P.O. Box 30654, Columbia, MO. 65205-0645 Thank you for your support. _______________________________________________________________________________ The Mid-Missouri OS/2 Users Group is a non-profit corporation who's dedicated purpose is to aid and facilitate the education and communication between individual computer users, different computer groups, and the general public. The Woodmeister BBS is the official Bulletin Board of the MMOUG. A copy of the Bylaws is available for downloading from the Woodmeister BBS (314-446-0016).