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1993-06-23
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`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`
*** April 1993 San Diego OS/2 User Group Newsletter ***
`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`
April 1993 marks the release of the fifth issue of our monthly
newsletter. We've noticed interest in it from people outside
of the San Diego area and would therefore like to provide a
newsletter for any and all interested OS/2 users and potential
users, including those outside of our area.
As we are an informal volunteer user group, we don't have fees or
charge subscriptions for the newsletter. So far we've been
financing user group activities out of our own pockets. But this
could get to be financially burdensome if many people outside of
the San Diego area would like to have the newsletter mailed to
them, so we've come up with a tentative plan to address this
issue in a way we feel will be fair and reasonable to all. Our
intent is to try this plan for a few months and then evaluate how
well it worked and make adjustements if necessary.
If you'd like a sample issue of the San Diego OS/2 Newsletter,
please send a self-addressed stamped envelope with enough postage
to about 3 ounces ($0.75 in the USA) to our address listed at the
bottom of this announcement. If you'd like more than one issue,
send as many SASE envelopes as issues you'd like to receive.
Since the newsletter costs more than just postage, we also have
to get funding from people who are interested in it to help pay for
duplicating costs, the post office box, and other newsletter
related expenses. After some discussion, we've decided that for
now the best way to be fair to all concerned is to ask for a
donation to help cover newsletter expenses. We'll leave the
amount up to you, suggesting that you are the best judge of what
you feel is appropriate after you've seen an issue of the
newsletter. Personal checks are completely OK as these are
donations, notsubscriptions. You can make out any donation check
to "Dave Sichak" who is the editor of the newsletter. We'll use
any donations we receive for covering newsletter expenses.
If you'd like to contribute an article to the newsletter, we
welcome your contribution in that regard also. If we use it, you
would be entitled to a complimentary copy of the newsletter in
which we used your material. We have an idea list and some hints
at what we'd like your articles to include. Let us know if you
are interested in contributing articles and would like a copy of
this list. You can submit material via US Mail or via electronic
mail at the addresses listed below.
Here's our mailing address:
San Diego OS/2 User Group
P.O. Box 13346
La Jolla, CA 92039-3346
If you'd like to get in touch with somebody via electronic mail,
you can contact the following people:
EDITOR
======
Dave Sichak Fidonet: 1:202/514
Internet: Dave_Sichak@f514.n202.z1.fidonet.org
SAN DIEGO OS/2 USER GROUP ORGANIZER
===================================
Craig Swanson Fidonet: 1:202/514
Internet: Craig_Swanson@f514.n202.z1.fidonet.org
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| SAN DIEGO OS/2 USER GROUP NEWSLETTER ----- APRIL 1993 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
Inside This Issue >>>
San Diego OS/2 User Group
Letters To The Editor
Stolen Taglines
An Elegant Operating System
OS/2 Tips, Tricks and Ideas
OS/2 User Group Directory
OS/2 User Group News
OS/2 News & Developments
OS/2 Software / Hardware News
Views & Opinions
REXX Workshop
OS/2 Reading
OS/2 BBS's
+-------------------------------------------+
|San Diego OS/2 User Group |
+-------------------------------------------+
April Meeting
April Winners!
May Meeting
Directions
Parking & Cost
Call For Information
How To Contact Us
April Meeting
San Diego OS/2 User Group
Thursday, April 15, 1993
7:pm - 10:pm
DeScribe 4.0!
Manufacturing Process Controllers Using OS/2!
Happy 1st Birthday OS/2 2.0!
A representative from the DeScribe Corporation will
demonstrate DeScribe 4.0, their 32-bit OS/2 graphical word processing
program. DeScribe uses multithreading and Workplace Shell integration
features to builid the leading word process for the OS/2 platform.
DeScribe is not only suitable for word processing, but also for many
desktop publishing jobs as it incorporates many file and graphic
import filters and extensive page layout and drawing features.
Local OS/2 consultant Paul Moore will explain the program
he is developing to run on an OS/2 computer that will control tube
mill and bending machines. This is an example of where OS/2's
multitasking, multithreading, and memory protection make it very
suitable for mission-critical applications.
We'll have a birthday cake and some books and programs to
give away to celebrate OS/2 2.0's one-year birthday. In its first
year on the market, OS/2 2.0 has sold well over 2 million copies,
surpassing industry expectations and rapidly establishing itself as
a leading-edge operating system for IBM compatible 386 and 486
personal computers.
Schedule.
* User Group Announcements and OS/2 News *
* DeScribe 4.0 Demonstration *
* Presentation by Paul Moore *
Our ever-popular OS/2 question and answer session where you can get
help and advice from many other OS/2 users.
April Winners!
Superfantasmic Reasons to Attend our Meetings!
Well, golly danged and gee folks, seems many of you waited til the last second
to sit down and figure out what y'all were gonna donate to the reduction of the
giant blob of a national debt. Nothin' like puttin' off til tomorrow what ya
coulda done yesterday, right? So, while some of y'all were sweatin' to test
your deodorant and killing trees with your adding machine tape (or was it that
computer program that was causing you to check your bank account?) we had a few
folks show up for some cake and drinks among other things. Then we gave away a
few things such as....
Lotus 1-2-3 for OS/2 -- Mike Crawford
Relish -- Ian Carroll
OS/2 2.1 Unleashed! -- Lawrence Greenwald
OS/2 The Workplace Shell -- Mike James & Dick Wetzel
OS/2 In The Corporate Environment
Michael Silverton, Vicky Tram, Brad Cadle & Sandy Shapiro
10 Minute Guide to OS/2 -- Locke Lowman & Ken Hudson
Using OS/2 2.0 -- Swami Ananda & Beverly Hudson
Intro to OS/2 2.0 Video -- Jerry R. Fyffe & Steve Landrum
OS/2 Developer -- Dale Perez, Robert J. Truitt & Hans Shisler
Using OS/2 Video - ViaGraph -- Mike Jackson
OS/2 Coffee Mug -- Bruce Barnes
Aw heck, Bill Gates didn't win anything again...but he or even *you*
can't win if you don't show up!
May Meeting
San Diego OS/2 User Group
Thursday, May 20, 1993
7:pm - 10:pm
Stacker for OS/2?!?
REXX Symposium?!?
Borland Conference?!?
Unconfirmed reports from sources high up in the echelons of the San Diego Os/2
User Group have indicated that a well know disk compression software developer
will be demonstrating their new OS/2 product for us in May. Negotiations are
on-going and fragile at this point. Stay tuned to the OS/2 Connection BBS for
developments as they occur. Announcements might even be found on other local
BBS's such as ComputorEdge On-Line or the San Diego Computer Society.
Meeting Site Address:
IBM Building
8845 University Center Lane
San Diego, California 92122
Directions
If you are coming from south of the UCSD area, take
the Interstate 5 north. Get off at the Nobel Drive exit right
after the passing the Mormon temple. The IBM building will be
immediately in front of you as you are stopped at the exit stop
light.
If you are coming from north of the UCSD area, take the Interstate
5 south and get off at the La Jolla Village Drive exit. Then head
east until you reach Lebon. Then take a right and continue until
you reach Nobel. Take a right onto Nobel Drive and then continue
until you see the IBM building on your right just before reaching
the Interstate 5 again.
Parking & Cost
Parking
Free, in the IBM parking lot.
Cost
As usual, a free meeting open to anyone interested in attending.
Call For Information
General Meeting Information
Our group typically meets every third Thursday of the
month. If you'd like to get more information on our meetings, call
our voice information line at
619-587-5955
to find out about any changes in meeting times, the topics for future
meetings, and a list of some San Diego area bulletin boards you can
call for more OS/2 information.
How to Contact Us
How To Contact
The San Diego OS/2 User Group
April 1993 marks the release of the fifth issue of our monthly
newsletter. We've noticed interest in it from people outside of
the San Diego area and would therefore like to provide a newsletter
for any and all interested OS/2 users and potential users,
including those outside of our area. As we are an informal volunteer
user group, we don't have fees or charge subscriptions for the
newsletter.
So far we've been financing user group activities out of our own
pockets. But this could get to be financially burdensome if many
people outside of the San Diego area would like to have the newsletter
mailed to them, so we've come up with a tentative plan to address this
issue in a way we feel will be fair and reasonable to all. Our intent
is to try this plan for a few months and then evaluate how well it
worked and make adjustments if necessary.
If you'd like a sample issue of the San Diego OS/2 Newsletter,
please send a self-addressed stamped envelope with enough postage
to cover about three or four ounces (it cost $0.75 in the USA to
mail the March issue) to our address listed at the bottom of
this announcement. If you'd like more than one issue, send as many
SASE envelopes as issues you'd like to receive.
After some discussion, we've decided that for now the best way for
us to recover our costs and to be fair is to ask for a donation to
help cover newsletter expenses. We'll leave the amount up to you -
you are the best judge of what you feel is appropriate after
you've seen an issue of the newsletter.
Personal checks are completely OK as these are donations, not
subscriptions. You can make out any donation check to "Dave Sichak"
who is the editor of the newsletter. We'll use any donations we
receive for covering newsletter expenses.
If you'd like to contribute an article to the newsletter, we
welcome that, too. If we use it, you would be entitled to a
complimentary copy of the newsletter in which we used your
material. We have an idea list and some hints at what we'd like
your articles to include.
Let us know if you are are interested in contributing articles and
would like a copy of the idea list. You can submit material via US
Mail or via electronic mail at the addresses listed below. Here's our
mailing address:
San Diego OS/2 User Group
P.O. Box 13346
San Diego, CA 92039-3346
If you'd like to get in touch with somebody via electronic mail,
you can contact the following people:
SAN DIEGO OS/2 USER GROUP ORGANIZER
Craig Swanson
Fidonet: 1:202/354
Internet: Craig_Swanson@f354.n202.z1.fidonet.org
EDITOR
Dave Sichak
Fidonet: 1:202/354
Internet: Dave_Sichak@f354.n202.z1.fidonet.org
CompuServe: 74670,724
+-------------------------------------------+
|Letters To The Editor |
+-------------------------------------------+
Editor's Note
Len Dorfman
Rick Barnett
Robert B. Freund
Gregory Allyn Mancuso
Editor's Note
Time to reach into the ole mailbag or unpack a few notes from our
network mail packets. Remember you can contact us (Craig Swanson or
Dave Sichak) by writing us at
San Diego OS/2 User Group
P.O. Box 13346
San Diego, CA 92039-3346
Or use email on Fidonet or Internet
SAN DIEGO OS/2 USER GROUP ORGANIZER
Craig Swanson
Fidonet: 1:202/354
Internet: Craig_Swanson@f354.n202.z1.fidonet.org
EDITOR
Dave Sichak
Fidonet: 1:202/354
Internet: Dave_Sichak@f354.n202.z1.fidonet.org
CompuServe: 74670,724
Len Dorfman
Dear Dave,
Dave, I downloaded your electronic edition and had a chance to take
a quick look. It is just fabulous. You guys are doing a great
job. as soon as I finish up relocating my computer and have a
chance to leisurely read the newsletter, I'll for sure send a
modest donation along with SASEs.
Keep up the great work!
Namaste',
Len Dorfman
ldorfman@delphi.com
Rick Barnett
Dear Craig / Dave,
I just read your January and February issues - you really put some
good writing and illustrations in there. I read it using the INF
viewer; this made it very "user-friendly". I especially like the
screen shots used in the software reviews. It was the next best
thing to actually running the program. Congratulations on a great
job!
Rick Barnett
root@lfhp183
(1:1/31)
Gee whiz, with folks like Rick and Len pouring on the
congratulations, it might be easy to take it easy and rest on a
laurel or two. However, this issue sort of highlights our
limitations. It's the tax season and both Craig and I have rather
heavy schedules, out of town work, classes, other deadlines, etc.
Think we're not going to try and twist some arms for more help in
our work? <G> But it's nice to hear that folks think we're doing
something worthwhile.
Robert B. Freund
Dear Dave,
I talked with Craig for probably 2 hours on the phone the other
day. He seems like a great guy and I really enjoyed the
conversation. anyway, he should have an integrated copy of my two
reviews by now.
More importantly, I just downloaded the February newsletter off of
Peter Norloff's board and I AM IMPRESSED! You guys did a great job
- very professional looking and full of interesting tidbits. I am
truly honored to be included in the next (March) newsletter. Just
wanted to drop a note and let you know how impressed I was. Please
keep up the GREAT work.
Robert B. Freund
Oberon Software Support BBS
(1:292/60)
(507) 388-1154
The job we do couldn't really be done if it wasn't for some of the
unsung heroes out there such as you Robert. Taking the time to
write an in depth review of software and compare it to the magazine
write ups is much appreciated by many of us who want to know more
about the new OS/2 applications and their performance as well as
features. It also provides a nice counter to the stuff we read in
the media. In a sense, I feel that reviews by the real users out
there tend to have a bit more credibility. And don't appear to be
tied to one platform or another based on advertiser revenue. Don't
mean to sound redundant, but a tip of the hat to your efforts.
Hope we get to spotlight more in the future. Your articles even
forced me to learn more neat INF tricks, too.
Gregory Allyn Mancuso
Dear Dave,
I just downloaded a copy of your February 1993 newsletter off of
OS/2 Shareware BBS in Fairfax, VA. I am quite impressed by it. I
have a couple of questions, though. I noticed that you have a list
of possible article topics and was wondering if I could get a copy
of it. Also, I read the list of presentation topics you had set
up. Most notably the "OS/2 Mini-Applets Presentation" by Ed
Miller. Would it be possible to get a copy of any notes or minutes
from this presentation ... or possibly have an article in a future
newsletter on this topic? It sounded quite interesting.
Also, is your newsletter going to be distributed on the fidonet
file distribution on a regular basis or was this a one time thing?
I am assuming that the newsletter was indeed sent out and not
transcribed and uploaded locally by someone who received a copy.
Thanks in advance for the information...
Gregory Allyn Mancuso
481-0825@MCIMail.com
(1:1/31)
Ack. You had to remind me that I haven't done the January and
February minutes at this late day. But I am going to try and
spotlight the mini-applets presentation in the May issue. For
article ideas, here's a brief list: Using OS/2 at work? Let us
know your experience (without divulging confidential information).
Using OS/2 software? Give us your impressions of it. Learned
anything about the WPS? How have you customized it? Share your
tips. Seen any taglines that are worthy of "stealing"? Picked up
any OS/2 books or magazines that have given you an impression?
What would you like to see in the newsletter? And yes, we do our
own INF version; Craig uploads it for national distribution.
+-------------------------------------------+
|Stolen Taglines |
+-------------------------------------------+
Never ceases to amaze me how clever some folks can get with one
line at the end of a message. Anyone know how taglines got
started? -- Dave
My reality check just bounced.
It worked just fine in DOS.
You cannot kill time without injuring eternity.
If I wanted your opinion, I would give it to you.
Real programmers use a patch panel.
Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.
Monopoly? No, we just don't want competition.
Unable to locate coffee - operator halted.
Warning: Do not reuse tagline. Discard after use.
Laminites - strange people who show up inside new wallets.
I know just enough to know that I don't know enough.
Of course, for those who like the OS/2 versus Windows one-line
jabs.
I have an OS/2 suit - It's multithreaded.
Have you crashed your Windows today?
OS/2: The more you try it, the more you like it.
How do I spell relief? OS/2!
Windows: Info at your fingertips. OS/2: Info in your hands.
WindowError004: Multitasking attempted; system confused.
WindowError015: Unable to exit through Windows. Try the door.
WindowError016: Door locked. Try Control-Alt-Delete.
WindowError020: Error recording error codes. Remaining errors lost.
New Technology? Try OS/2.
Windows: A banana peel awaiting its next victim.
If you don't believe hell freezes over, you haven't done Windows.
+-------------------------------------------+
|An Elegant Operating System |
+-------------------------------------------+
By Warren Postma
(1:221/105)
Shadowlands BBS
London's Only OS/2 BBS
London, Ontario Canada
(519) 663-9127
(Submitted by Author)
What is elegance? Rather than rely on a dictionary definition, think about what
sort of things strike you as elegant. Elegance is a simple concept. It has to
do with simplicity, power, beauty, grace, and common sense. For an excellent
article on the subject from a programmer's point of view, see the article "In
Search Of Elegance" in the "Works Cited" list following this article. Although
not often talked about directly, elegance has been taught in principle for a
long time by counterexample. Words like "kludge" indicate a breach of
elegance, and show the deep disdain which good programmers have for a bad
design. It makes them squirm. Try to make a good programmer use an inelegant
language or operating system , and you'll make them upset. Try to make them
write an inelegant program, and you'll have them at your throat.
Yet at the heart of the PC world, we have DOS and Windows, together the epitome
of inelegance, especially when considered with all of their attendant third
party add-ons. How could anything build atop DOS and not share all its
weaknesses, and even create new ones? And how could one implrement a stable
multitasking system building on top of a non-reentrant operating system designed
from the ground up for single-tasking? Trying to multitast DOS functions will
crash the system. The obvious answer is that you can't just extend DOS, you
must pre-empt DOS to some degree. Overriding parts of DOS, and leaving other
parts somewhat intact, is in fact the compromise which all users of DOS,
Windows, DESQview, or any other environments that build on top of DOS must
accept to gain any additional capabilities. Although compromises must be made,
the users of such systems accept their patchwork designs without a
second thought. They get the job done, at least sometimes, so the
PC community sweeps the issue of elegant design under the carpet.
Yet the inelegance of the DOS environment will not remain hidden.
It pops out in annoying little ways at every turn. BBS sysops curse
up and down because their whole system freezes regularly, or
crashes in weird and spectacular ways. Secretaries and office
workers alike bemoan the limitations of an eight plus three
filename, forcing them to name their sales reports "JNJLSL92.RPT"
instead of something more natural. And few things cause a
programmer to froth at the mouth more than seeing a compiler fail
with an "out of memory" error on a machine with 8 megabytes of RAM.
Silly as it sounds, the first thing that occurs to the people bound
by inelegance is not that they should abandon their limited system
as soon as a better option is available, but that they should patch
it up even more. The PC software industry does a booming business
in DOS add-ons, each claiming to finally make DOS everything you
want it to be. Windows claims that it makes DOS easier to use, but
then you find out that New Wave and Norton Desktop are what you
need to make Windows easy to use.
What do you buy to make all these things work together? You can't.
Some people who can't deal with all of this have defected to the
Mac world, where file names can be anything you like, even
"June/July Sales Report", and you don't get out of memory errors as
quickly on a 4MB machine. That's no solution for people who want
IBM compatibility, the lower expense of buying clones, or the
ability to use a command line interface whenever they choose. But
little do most people know that a real world solution to many of
the problems inherent and DOS and Windows has been widely available
for over a year now. And it is a worthy successor to Windows and
DOS - may they rest in peace.
Enter OS/2. OS/2 throws away the old limitations of DOS, bringing
new abilities built on a solid foundation for personal computing.
Finally PC users can have a truly elegant operating system.
The First Principle of Elegance is consistent design. For the
users, it means that a standard user interface is required, but for
programmers the system should be logical and straightforward to
program. Unlike Windows, where the API (Application Programming
Interface, a fancy name for system calls) are not named
consistently, all OS/2 function calls are organized into strict
naming and parameter conventions which make programming OS/2 easier
to learn by eliminating annoying irregularities.
The Second Principle of Elegance is abstraction. As well as being
efficient and powerful, system designers must have a vision of
computing that embodies powerful abstractions and new concepts.
The latest abstraction (and of course, buzzword) to hit the
computer scene is object orientation. The Workplace Shell (WPS) in
OS/2 shows the whole system in an object oriented framework.
Documents, spreadsheets, disk drives, and printers all become
active objects, having capabilities and actions they can perform
for the user rather than requiring the user to remember which pro-
grams or commands to run for every action. You open a document by
clicking on it, rather than needing to specify what program to run
and then loading your document. At the programming level,
Workplace Shell is built on top of System Object Model (SOM), a
language independent object oriented programming model built into
OS/2. SOM allows new objects to be added to the WPS. Hooks are
included in the system for accessing the WPS from a variety of
programming languages, both object oriented ones like Smalltalk and
C++ and conventional languages like C.
Other powerful ideas are embodied in the various subsystems of
OS/2, and have been since OS/2 1.0. Gordon Letwin's original work
Inside OS/2 is still a must read for any OS/2 interested party.
OS/2 has changed a lot since 1.0, but even 2.1 still contains many
of the design concepts and even some of the code which he wrote,
ported over to 32-bits of course.
Microsoft is now working on its own operating system, Windows NT,
which is based upon the Windows 3.1 API. Unfortunately for NT fans,
Windows NT will most likely contain many of the same design
constraints, compromises, and inconsistencies of Windows 3.1. The
DOS world has shown that building on top of a poor foundation is
not a good route to an elegant solution. NT uses a new, more solid
foundation, but Microsoft has gone to great lengths to make NT look
like the old system built on a poor foundation in order to be
familiar to users and programmers.
It seems Microsoft has discovered yet another way to be inelegant.
The Third Principle of Elegance is to anticipate the future. This
is important anywhere, but especially in operating systems. When
DOS 1.0 came out 640KB was a ridiculously high amount of memory, so
it never occurred to anyone to make the limit higher. In fact, the
8088 they designed DOS around could only address 1 megabyte of
memory anyway, so there was no use in trying. But when the 80286
came out we started running 286 machines as fast XT's. The 386 and
486 are now popular, but most of them are still running as if they
were fast XT's. We do not need any faster XT's, what we need are
advanced capabilities with room for future expansion. OS/2 allows
expansion in many areas. OS/2's API's are in separate loadable
sections (dynamic link libraries, or DLL's), and new API's can be
added, or old ones replaced, by simply adding another file.
Even file systems can be added. OS/2 1.0 and 1.1 only supported the
DOS-style FAT file system with DOS filename limits, but OS/2 1.2
and later releases, including 2.0 and 2.1, added support for
multiple installable file systems. In particular, OS/2 supports
the High Performance File System which is commonly known as HPFS.
HPFS not only allocates disk space efficiently and accesses files
faster, it also adds two important new features. HPFS lets you use
long file names. For example, you could save your file as "1994
Marketing Proposal" rather than 94MKTPRO.DOC. HPFS supports
extended attributes which among other things help OS/2 attach icons
to files and associate files with the applications that created
them so you can double-click on the file and have it loaded by the
application automatically. The modularity of OS/2 has a price, and
that is part of the reason for its large size. But modularity pays
off eventually. If you use DOS you need to fill up a large chunk
of your hard drive with utility programs to manage DOS for you.
OS/2 already comes with many of these functions included as
operating system features packaged into its many subsystems.
Chances are, if there are things that really annoy you about any
system (even OS/2) they are either due to a misunderstanding on
your part or an inelegant aspect of the operating system. Relics,
design decisions which depended on a situation that no longer
exists such as the 640KB limit of DOS, cannot be overcome except by
abandoning the old design completely. What then of compatibility?
It does require tradeoffs to obtain compatibility, but are they
really worth it? OS/2 does manage a very good job of DOS
compatibility, because it fully utilizes the Virtual 8086 mode of
the 386 and higher processors. The difference is that when all DOS
applications are all dead, DOS compatibility can be easily removed
from OS/2, and no ill effects will remain.
Your choice is whether to choose stagnancy by staying with an
antiquated system which no longer can keep up with your machine's
capabilities, or to drop your old system. If you choose to move
onwards and upwards, you will have to undergo the temporary
discomforts of moving your data to a new operating system and
adjusting to a few new ways of doing your work. If you adjust, you
will never go back. The people I know who have run OS/2 and
switched back did not run OS/2, but merely booted OS/2 and used it
only to run their DOS applications. They didn't want to wait for
OS/2 to load, or have it sit on their disk space, because they were
not using any of OS/2's features.
Using OS/2 to multitask DOS is like using a Lamborghini only to get groceries:
sure it will do the job, but why have a Lamborghini if you are not going to run
flat out with it sometimes? In order to experience what OS/2 is about
you need to run some OS/2 applications, and do some work with only
OS/2. Go back to your DOS apps whenever you need them, but soon
you will find yourself reluctant to go to a DOS prompt. You will
gradually retune your mind to look for elegance and to work in
elegant ways, and you will become accustomed to the benefits of an
elegant system. When you have to use a DOS/Windows machine, you
will wonder how anyone else manages to get any work done on a
floundering dinosaur of a computer system.
Works Cited
"Inside OS/2"
Gordon Letwin
Microsoft Press, Redmond, WA
1988, softcover, 290pp
$19.95 (USA)
"In Search Of Elegance"
Jeff Fisher and Dale Gipson
Computer Language,
VOL. 9 NO. 11, November 1992
Published by Miller Freeman Inc,
San Francisco, CA
(Cover story/Text on Page 36)
+-------------------------------------------+
|Tips, Tricks & Ideas |
+-------------------------------------------+
OS/2 Beginner's Corner: Seek & Scan
Lotus 1-2-3 DLL's
OS/2 Beginner's Corner:
Seek & Scan
Michael Cameron
KCC BBS
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
1:229/320.0 in FidoNet
Submitted By Author
"I know it's on the disk... somewhere!" How often has that
expression been uttered? In an OS/2 system with hundreds of
folders and thousands of files, it's difficult to remember where
something is. Getting to it, quickly, can be a chore for all but
the most frequently used files.
Second scenario: The text "KCC Membership" is in one of the ".DOC"
files. Which one? Even if long file names are used, there is a
tendency to forget the exact contents of files. Locating the
correct one can be very time consuming.
Starting with FIND, the DOS operating system has a number of
utilities to locate files or directories. One of the most popular
and easy to use 3rd party DOS finding utility is WHEREIS.EXE. OS/2
does it better.
Among the myriad of mini-apps included with OS/2 is a function
called "Seek and Scan Files". As the name suggests, it finds
files. It also finds text in files. It's fast. In a subjective
test, Seek and Scan took 19 seconds to find one of about eight
thousand files in over three hundred directories. The Seek and
Scan Files Icon is in the OS/2 System -> Productivity folder.
Seek and Scan files will quickly search one or more disks for files
or text. When a match is found, the file name pops into a list
box. The file can be opened, processed, or have commands applied
directly to it, from the list box. Opening would be the process of
loading the file into the editor (E.EXE is the default, which can
be easily changed). Processed would run the selected file, and
Commands would be something like renaming or copying the file.
When text is found, the location (file name) is displayed in a list
box.
In summary, Seek and Scan is a handy and helpful function to have
on hand. Too bad it's buried two folders down from the Desktop.
To access it, there is the wait while the Icons of OS/2 System and
Productivity are loaded. A shadow can be placed on the Desktop,
speeding up access considerably. This is a serviceable solution,
however it has two minor drawbacks. The first is that the Seek and
Scan Icon takes up space, making the Desktop look a little more
cluttered. The second is that the Icon seems to always be under
some opened windows, making it hard to get at, which is not why
it's on the Desktop.
There is a better way. Why not make Seek and Scan a hot key away
with the Desktop pop-up menu? Just place the pointer on any empty
space of the Desktop, between windows, hit Right Mouse Button, and
either hit "k", or click on a new selection. That's fast and easy.
Here's how. It involves modifying the Desktop settings and the
setting for Seek and Scan Files.
First, open OS/2 System, then Productivity. Click the right mouse
button on the Seek and Scan File icon, and open the settings. On
the first page of the program notebook is the Program name, in this
case PMSEEK.EXE. Under the option `Parameters:` there should be
nothing. Add a single "" sign (without the quotes) to this field
and save the new settings. The reason for this is that the "" sign
stops OS/2 from passing the parameter "OS/2 2.0 DESKTOP" when
PMSEEK is started.
Save the new setting but don't close the Productivity folder. It
will be needed later.
Next, switch to the Desktop and bring up the Desktop notebook and
open Settings. Click on the Menu tab. The screen shows "Available
Menus" and "Action on Menus". Make sure the "Primary pop-up menu"
is selected. On the lower half of the page is another listbox,
which will be empty when OS/2 is installed. To the right of that
listbox are the selections "Create Another", "Settings", and
"Delete". Click on Create Another and the Menu Item Settings box
appears.
In the Menu Item Settings screen there is a prompt for the Menu
item name, and the program. In this case, the Menu item name will
be the selection that's to be added to the Primary pop-up menu.
Here is the string to type in (don't include the quotation marks):
"See~k and Scan Files".
Notice that the string contains a special symbol, the tilde ( ~ ).
This is important because it denotes the next key as the hot-key.
In other words, pressing this one key when the menu is active will
call the program. It also causes the following letter to be
underlined when the menu is shown by OS/2.
After the menu name is entered, it's still necessary to describe
what is wanted when the item is selected. In this case, the action
is to run Seek And Scan Files.
Here, the program field is empty. Although it's possible to type
in the name of what you want, it's easier to get the computer to
find it. (That's part of the reason for getting OS/2, have the
computer do the work). Just click on Find program. The Find window will
appear. Click on Locate and select Productivity. This is why the
Productivity folder wasn't closed earlier.
Select OK, then Find. A scrolling box showing the icons of files
in Productivity will appear. Select the icon representing Seek and
Scan Files, then click OK.
Next, the Menu item setting box reappears, and the Program name
will be filled in. All that's left is to select OK again and the
Menu tab page of the Desktop notebook will be displayed.
Close the Desktop settings. That's all there is to it. This
procedure takes longer to describe than to do.
Now, whenever the primary pop-up menu for the Desktop is activated
and you want to find a program, just press k or mouse down and
click on Seek and Scan Files.
Other objects can be added to the primary pop-up menu. One
procedure that is quite useful is to create another Cascade or
Conditional Cascade "Available menu" and put the DOS or OS/2
command lines in the new menu. Additional system resources can be
added as well.
It's simple to add selections, including more menus, to the OS/2
Desktop pop-up menu. IBM has left plenty of room for expansion and
customizing.
}}} Lotus 1-2-3 DLL's
Robert Freund
Original Area: Fidonet OS2
Origin: OS/2 Shareware BBS
Fairfax, VA
(703) 385-4325
(1:109/347)
> Ahem.... Do you happen to have
> a statistical function
> DLL handy? ;-)
Sure do - it has pdf(), CDF(), inverse pdf(), and inverse CDF() for
Standard Normal distributions. It also has a very good Random() number
generator which is used for generating Uniform(), Erlang(), Positive
Normal(), and Bernoulli() random variables.
You, and anyone else interested, are more than welcome to use my dll.
Just contact me at (607) 687-0828 and we can make arrangements for
download -it is called
StatFunctions.dll 47168 2/28/93
I will also make the source code, definition file, make file, and
IBM C/C++ compiler options available to anyone interested.
Note: I have seen references to some way of taking these personal
messages off-line. Unfortunately, I am not aware of how to do this.
I am more than willing to learn, however, and will anxiously read
any responses to this affect.
Good luck, and hope this helps. As you will see from the source code,
the hardest part about writing these dlls is the parsing that is needed
in order to get the appropriate data from 1-2-3. Several of my functions
make use of a pretty generic parsing routine and should serve as
a decent base for expansion.
(Did you catch his excellent review of Lotus 1-2-3 for OS/2 and Freelance
Graphics for OS/2 last month?)
+-------------------------------------------+
|OS/2 User Group Directory |
+-------------------------------------------+
}}} User Group Introduction
We try to list known OS/2 User Groups whenever we get the information.
Of course, we can't be responsible if the information proves to be
unreliable -- you, the reader are our best source of this information.
And we're learning of more and more OS/2 user groups across the
country and even around the world every week. It's been slow, but we
have made some contacts and we may be able to exchange information and
articles in the future. If you're travelling and have some free
time, stop in on one these meetings. If you know of another OS/2
user group, drop us a line and we'll mention them. Remember, we'll
list them all in the INF file each time. And thanks!
Australia - Glen Waverly
Victorian OS/2 Developers SIG
Contact: Jon Wright
5 Brighton Street
Glen Waverly, Victoria 3150
Australia
CompuServe: 100032,776
Ontario - Bailieboro
Kawartha Computer Club
Contact: Cedric Silvester
RR #1
Bailieboro, Ontario
Canada KOL 1B0
Note: OS/2 SIG is part of the KCC
Phone: BBS -- (705) 748-0023
Quebec - Montreal
Montreal OS/2 Users Group
Contact: Gilbert Lefebvre
IBM Tower
10214 Peloquin Avenue
Montreal, QC
H2C 2J8
Canada
Meets: 7:00pm, 3rd Wednesday
Phone: Voice -- (514) 382-9858 (evenings)
Netmail: Programmer's Quest 1:167/110
The Montreal OS/2 Users Group held their first meeting on February
17. Gilbert reported that their first meeting had over 70 persons
in attendance. They're real happy to see the interest in OS/2.
Please note that this group does not expect to meet during June,
July and August.
Saskatchewan - Regina
Regina Saskatchewan OS/2 User Group
Contact: Robert Shiplett
Cooperators
1920 College Avenue 5W
Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 1C4
Canada
United Kingdom - Gloucestershire
International OS/2 User Group
Contact: Mike Gove
Barton House
Cirencester
Gloucestershire GL7 2EE
UK
Phone: - +44-285-641175
Phone: - +44-285-640181 (FAX)
Phone: - (UK) 0285-641175
Note: - Also home to OS/2 Solution Centre
South Africa
OS/2 User Group of South Aftrica
P.O. Box 875
Halfway House
1685 South Africa
Sweden
Swedish OS/2 Users Group
The Cruiser BBS, +46-8-704 9438
California - Fresno
Fresno OS/2 SIG
(Fresno PC Users Group)
Contact: Sandeleh Francis (209) 229-0473
Contact: Rod Jessen (209) 323-9849
Meetings at:
1425 Shirley Circle
Clovis, CA 93611
Meets: 7:30pm, last Monday
Phone BBS -- Wild Side BBS (209) 226-3476
Phone BBS -- Clovis Connection (209) 229-3476
Sandeleh Francis reports that their very first meeting will be held
March 29. They are a part of the Fresno PC Users group which meets
the first Monday of the month at the Ramada Inn at Hwy 41 and Shaw
Avenue in Fresno at 7:30pm.
California - Huntington Beach
Orange Coast IBM PC Users Group
OS/2 SIG
Contact: Dave Lorenzini
17632 Metzler Lane, Suite 211
Huntington Beach, CA
California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles OS/2 Users Group
Contact: Paul Duncanson
3008 Texas Avenue
Simi Valley, CA 93063
Phone: (805) 584-6721
Meets: 3rd Thursday @ 6:30pm
IBM
21041 Burbank Boulevard
Woodland Hills, CA
California - Sacramento
Sacramento OS/2 Users Group
Contact: Charlie Kotan
IBM
400 Capitol Mall
Sacramento, CA
Meets: First Wednesday @ 7:00pm
Phone: - (916) 641-4007
CompuServe - 70110,254
California - San Diego
San Diego OS/2 User Group
Contact - Craig Swanson
P.O. Box 13346
La Jolla, CA 92039-3346
Meets - 7pm on 3rd Thursday
Meets at -- IBM @ LaJolla
8845 University Center Lane
San Diego, CA 92122
Phone - Voice -- (619) 587-5955
Phone - BBS -- (619) 558-9475
The San Diego OS/2 User Group has participated in the San Diego
Computer Fair in which over 18,000 people attended over a three day
weekend last September. This group has started an OS/2 newsletter
with the goal of providing information to not only OS/2 users but also
to others who are interested in learning more. Our aim is to also
develop the newsletter so that it becomes a community effort among the
OS/2 user groups and SIGs.
Past meeting topics have included presentations by IBM's Ultimedia for
OS/2; Lotus demonstrating beta versions of 1-2-3 and Freelance
Graphics for OS/2; an introduction to REXX, demo of the
December OS/2 2.1 beta along with Visual REXX; Eddie
Miller, one of the authors of "OS/2 2.1 Unleashed"
sharing insights into the OS/2 mini-applets; and, local OS/2
developer Jeannine Wolf discussing the OS/2 Config.SYS
file and providing tips.
In April, the feature presentation is from DeScribe Corporation on
their 32-bit Word Processor for OS/2 and local OS/2 consultant Paul
Moore will explain the program he is developing to run on an OS/2
computer that will control tube mill and bending machines. And of
course, a birthday celebration for OS/2 2.0's first birthday.
California - San Francisco
Bay Area OS/2 User Group
Contact - Guy Scharf
Software Architects, Inc.
2163 Jardin Drive
Mountain View, CA 94040
Meets - 4th Monday @ at IBM Mountain View
Phone - Voice -- (415) 948-9186
Connecticut - Enfield
New England OS/2 User Group
Contact: Dave Pinard
145 Candlewood Drive
Enfield, CT 06082
Phone: Voice -- (203) 954-1872
Phone: BBS -- (203) 763-1674
Connecticut - Darien
Darien OS/2 Users Group
Contact: Steven J. Palmer
75 Rings End Road
Darien, CT 06820
Delaware - Wilmington
Delaware Valley OS/2 Users Group
Contact: Chuck Gaglia
1120 Webster Drive
Wilmington, DE 19803
Florida - Boca Raton
OS/2 Users Group of Boca Raton
Contact: Doug Azzarito
Meets at:
PC Systems Store
2855 S. Congress Avenue
Delray Beach, FL
Meets on 2nd Thursday of the month at 7pm
Phone: BBS -- (407) 997-2235
Phone: Voice -- (407) 276-2945
Florida - Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay OS/2 User Group
Contact: Paul Wylie
M. Bryce & Associates, Inc.
777 Alderman Road
Palm Harbor, FL 34683
Phone: Voice - (813) 786-4567
Phone: FAX -- (813) 786-4765
Meets: - 1st Tuesday @ 3:00pm.
Meets at:
IBM
3109 W. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard
4th Floor
Tampa, FL
Illinois - Chicago
North Suburban Chicago OS/2 User Group
Contact - James R. Schmidt
Meets - William M. Mercer, Inc.
1417 Lake Cook Rd.
Deerfield, IL 60015
Meets - 5.30pm Tues preceding 3rd Thurs.
Phone - Voice -- (708) 317-7485
Indiana - Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne OS/2 User Group
Contact - Stephen Gutknecht
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Meets - Central Soya on Cook Rd.
Meets - 7pm, 2nd Tuesday
Phone - Voice -- (219) 484-0062 (Bus. Hrs.)
Phone - BBS -- (219) 471-3918
Indiana - Indianapolis
Indy OS/2 Users Group
Contact: Jay Schultz
350 E. New york Suite 300
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Phone: Voice - (317) 634-8080
Louisiana - Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge OS/2 users Group
Contact: David Arbour
16726 Bristoe Avnue
Baton Rouge, LA 70816
Phone: - (504) 753-9637
Massachusetts - Boston
Boston Area OS/2 User's Group
(BCS)
Contact: Marcia Gulesian (508) 369-3918
Meetings at:
IBM Boston Computer Center
One Copley Place
Boston, MA
Meets: 7:00pm, first Tuesday
Meeting location is near Back Bay and Copley train stations. From
the Mass. Turnpike East, exit 22 (Copley Square Lane) - first left
onto Dartmouth St. Next left onto Huntington Ave. Enter COPLEY
PLACE PARKING on left. Parking is free when you spend $5 and have
your parking ticket validated in any restaurant or store at Copley
Place and enter the garage after 5:00pm.
Upcoming events:
April 6
High Performance Word Processing with OS/2 -- WordPerfect and AmiPro
for OS/2 will be the subjects of the meeting. The technical profile
and end-user features of these two new word processors will be
discussed and illustrated through live demonstrations. Compatibility
with E-mail and FAX's will also be examined.
May 4
NETWARE for OS/2 - Meeting will include live demo and in- depth look
at new features such as NetWare Directory Services (NDS), which is a
global-naming scheme and distributed directory of users.
Michigan - Grand Rapids
West Michigan OS/2 User Group
IBM
2900 Charlevoix Dr. SE
Grand Rapids, MI
Minnesota - Minneapolis
Minnesota OS/2 User Group
Contact: Marcus Krumpholz
IBM Building
650 Third Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN
Meets last Thursday each month
7:00pm - 10:00pm
Voice: (612) 869-7956
BBS: (612) 379-8272
ISV's wishing to do a presentation can contact Marcus Krumpholz at
(612) 869-7956. Registrations for meetings are requested and can
be done by calling (612) 397-6444 and then asking for course code
"OS2". The IBM building is shared with First Bank on Third Avenue
south between South Sixth Street and South Seventh Street. Parking
is recommended at Northstar Center (1 block west), Pillsbury Center
(1.5 blocks north), Hennepin County Government Center (diagonally
across street) and Court Park (2 blocks north).
Topics scheduled:
Apr 25 Describe 4.0 / Mary Serock
Mar 25 OS/2 System Management (CID, SPM, etc.) / IBM
Apr 29 Lan Server 3.0 / IBM (tentative)
May 27 Netware for OS/2 / Novell
Jun 24 OS/2 Development / IBM (tentative)
Nebraska - Omaha
Omaha OS/2 Users Group
Contact: Joe Peterson
7724 Fort St.
Omaha, NE 68134
New Jersey - West Orange
Northern New Jersey OS/2 Users Group
Contact: Jason H. Perlow (201) 224-7605
Meetings at: IBM
300 Executive Drive
West Orange, NJ
Meets: 7:00pm, second Tuesday
INFO: Phone: (201) 325-5600
First meeting will be held March 9. This group is affiliated with
the Westchester OS/2 Users Group.
New York - Westchester
Westchester OS/2 Users Group
Contact: Craig Smith (914) 686-9828
Meetings at:
IBM
2000 Purchase Street
Purchase, NY
Meets: 7:00pm, second Tuesday
INFO: Phone: (914) 697-6000
Westchester was instrumental in getting IBM's OS/2 featured on the
PBS Computer Chronicles show in March. They have also designed a
series of special OS/2 weekend seminars on OS/2 software
development that begins in Mid-March at IBM in Harrison, NY. In
January, Stacker for OS/2 was premiered to the public. Corel
Systems also demonstrated their full line of products for OS/2 and
hints at upcoming projects.
North Carolina - Durham
Triangle OS/2 User Group
Contact -- Steve Gallagher
IBM Building
4800 Falls of The Neuse Road
Room 5074
Durham, North Carolina
Meets -- 7.30pm, 3rd Tuesday
Phone -- Voice -- (919) 254-5637
Internet -- sjgalla@vnet.ibm.com
Ohio - Akron
Northeast Ohio OS/2 User Group
IBM
3 Cascade Plaza
Akron, Ohio
Contact: Gary Smiley
Phone: (216) 630-3565
CompuServe: 75600,1737
Ohio - Cleveland
Cleveland OS/2 User Group
IBM
Bond Ct. Building
2nd Fl
E. 9th St.
Cleveland, Ohio
Pennsylvania - Erie
Computer Users of Erie
OS/2 SIG
Contact: Tom Kuklinski
3928 Sassafras Street
Erie, PA 16508
Phone: (814) 866-5396
Phone: (814) 898-2905
Tennessee - Knoxville
East Tennessee PC User Group
OS/2 SIG
Contact: Arnold Sprague
808 Fairfield Drive
Knoxville, TN 37919-4109
Texas - Dallas - Fort Worth
Dallas-Forth Worth OS/2 User Group
Contact - Toby Pennycuff
CompuServe ID - 70007,6267
1211 Wilshire Blvd.
Arlington, TX 76012-4623
Meets at:
American Airlines HQ
4255 Amon Carter Blvd.
Arlington, TX
Meetings - Time and dates not listed.
Wisconsin - Madison
Madison OS/2 Users Group
Contact: Tom Ender or Donn Tolley
2703 Rolling View Rd.
Stoughton, WI 53589-3386
}}} OS/2 User Group News
Westchester OS/2 1st Birthday Smash Hit!
TEAMOS2 Success Story in North Carolina
OS/2 2.0 First Birthday Parties
}}} Westchester OS/2 1st Birthday Smash Hit!
Jason Perlow
Westchester OS/2 Users Group
(Submitted by Author)
On March 31st, 1993, on the first anniversary of OS/2 2.0's
release, over 165 people gathered at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza
hotel in White Plains, New York, at 7pm in the evening, to
celebrate with the Westchester OS/2 Users Group and IBM the very
first OS/2 birthday party.
Paulo Pignatelli, the single proprietor of the famous OS/2 Corner
Store in Connecticut, kicked off the party with a charged
locker-room pep speech and fired up the audience for the night.
William F. Zachmann, the esteemed former columnist of PC Magazine,
declared that he wasn't ever really an OS/2 supporter, but that he
picked the OBVIOUS winner in the ensuing battle for the GUI
desktop. Even though he had laryngitis, he still managed to keep
the crowd riveted with his usual wit.
Several last minute guests gave brief speeches, including Wally
Casey, the VP of Marketing for IBM Personal Systems, who stated
his intentions of an aggressive and ruthless marketing campaign
when OS/2 2.1 is released. The Vice President of Product
Development of Wordperfect Corporation spoke about WordPerfect's
commitment to the OS/2 platform, and announced the soon to be
released WordPerfect 5.2 for OS/2, a port of the best selling
Windows product, and WordPerfect 6.0 for OS/2 to be released later
on this year which would be a completely native 32-bit OS/2
application. He said that WordPerfect decided to do a port of the
Windows product because so many people were requesting an interim
release. Those customers that purchase 5.2 for OS/2 would get the
upgrade to 6.0 either for free or minimal cost. Other highlights
of the party included demonstrations of the newly released OS/2
Speech Recognition Developer Kit and the public introduction of the
newly appointed officers of the recently incorporated Westchester
OS/2 Users Group,
Awards were presented to William Zachmann, "For making the ultimate
sacrifice for OS/2", to Irv Spalten of the IBM Boca Research
Centre, and to Jim Gilliland of FidoNet for his superb job as the
OS/2 Support moderator. Shortly afterwards four people picked at
random from the audience were "deputized" as OS/2 Enforcement
Officers. The oath was taken by virtually everyone in the
audience, including the several high-level IBMers that attended:
I, (STATE YOUR NAME) DO HEREBY SWEAR,
TO NEVER DO WINDOZE AGAIN.
TO FIGHT ALL FEAR, UNCERTAINTY AND DOUBT, HEREAFTER KNOWN AS FUD,
ABOUT OS/2 IN ALL NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES & BULLETIN BOARDS.
TO PREVAIL IN ALL SKIRMISHES INSTITUTED BY THE WEASELS OF WEDMOND
AND COLLECT AS MANY WEASEL PELTS AS LAWFULLY PERMITTED.
TO TAKE ALL INDUSTRY PUNDITS, CONSULTANTS, INSULTANTS, AND YELLOW
JOURNALISTS TO THE WOODSHED AS REQUIRED.
TO DO OUR BEST IN TEACHING UNWASHED SALESMEN IN THE RETAIL STORES,
THAT OS/2 WILL NOT EAT THEIR COMPUTER. AND TO INFORM THEM, "YES
VIRGINIA, THERE REALLY ARE OS/2 APPLICATIONS."
TO EDUCATE ALL THOSE WHO WILL LISTEN, THAT MICROSOFT IS STILL
PROMISING TO DELIVER, IN TWO OR THREE YEARS, WHAT YOU CAN BUY
TODAY...OS/2.
TO DEMAND FROM BILL GATES, OS/2 VERSIONS OF ALL HIS APPLICATIONS
BECAUSE IT'S NOT TWO MILLION...IT'S CLOSER TO THREE MILLION.
TO CONTINUE TO TEACH IBM HOW TO MARKET OS/2.
TO PRESERVE, PROTECT, AND DEFEND THE REPUTATION OF OS/2, SO HELP ME
GERSTNER.
After many laughs, the Westchester OS/2 Users Group auctioned off
donated software, books and assorted OS/2 goodies to a national
charity for abused and neglected children. Over $1200 was
collected in proceeds towards this worthy cause.
125 March 2.1 beta CD's and specially designed OS/2 Birthday Party
T-Shirts were given out as courtesy gifts from IBM. A OS/2
birthday party cake was quickly devoured by the hungry and largely
intoxicated crowd. Several hundred copies of OS/2 Professional and
OS/2 Monthly were also distributed to the attendees.
The party officially ended sometime after 10:00 in the evening,
although a dozen or so others and guest speakers stayed around
until 2:00 in the morning at the hotel bar to make merry and talk
OS/2.
}}} TEAMOS2 Success Story in North Carolina
Steve Gallagher
Origin: Fidonet TeamOs2 At Egghead
Origin: Psychotronic BBS
(919) 286-4542
Durham, NC (1:3641/1)
The North Carolina "chapter" of Team OS/2 did an OS/2 Day at the
new Egghead store here in Cary NC, and I just thought I'd share how
things went this Saturday. Can you say "Mega Success"? Sure ya can!
The place was MOBBED. Over 65 people signed up for the drawing for
a free copy of OS/2, and more probably would've signed up if it
hadn't been for the fact that the crowd around the demo tables was
so big that some folks couldn't get to the table to sign up!
We had a multimedia machine showing the latest OS/2 multimedia
goodies in the 2.1 beta, and a Thinkpad color notebook running
OS/2. From the perspective of the Egghead store management, the
best part of the event was that they SOLD OUT of OS/2 to the crowd
that was there, every copy they had on their shelves! Not only did
they invite us back for another OS/2 Day, but they're even going to
call their store up the road in Durham and get them to do an OS/2
Day also! The moral of the tale: we can't change the world, but
each of us CAN change our CORNER of the world, and with enough
people changing their corner of the world, big things can happen!
}}} OS/2 2.0 First Birthday Parties
Janet Gobeille
Fidonet TEAMOS2
Origin: OS/2 Shareware
(1:109/347.3479)
Here's a partial list of user groups planning birthday parties. I've deleted
names that were not open to other users (such as internal corporate OS?2 user
groups). Great, isn't it? By the way, if someone expects to be on this list
but doesn't see his/her gorup, plese contact me immediately at (914) 766-3549.
Thanks, Janet.
Country
State
City
User Group Name
Party Date
Australia
NSW
Sidney
Sydney PC Users Group (SPCUG), OS/2 SIG
04/19/93
Australia
Vic
Glen Waverly
Victorian OS/2 Developers SIG
04/27/93
Canada
BC
Victoria
OS/2 LAN Users Group
04/23/93
Canada
BC
West Vancouver
Vancouver PC Users Society, OS/2 SIG
04/07/93
Canada
NS
Halifax
Atlantic OS/2 Users Group
04/19/93
Canada
ON
Toronto
Toronto OS/2 Sysops, (BBS)
04/10/93
Canada
QC
Montreal
Groupe des Utilisateurs d'OS/2 de Montré
04/21/93
Canada
QC
Sherbrooke
Groupe des Utilisateurs d'OS/2 de l'Estr
03/30/93
Germany
--
--
OS/2 User Group Conference
05/03/93
Honduras
--
Tegucigalpa
Usuarios de OS/2
04/15/93
New Zealand
--
Plimmerton
Wellington OS/2 Users Group
04/07/93
UK
--
Gloucesterse
International OS/2 User group
05/01/93
USA
AZ
Phoenix
Phoenix PC User Group, OS/2 SIG
04/22/93
USA
CA
Fresno
Fresno PC Users Group, OS/2 SIG
04/26/93
USA
CA
La Jolla
San Diego OS/2 User Group
04/15/93
USA
CA
Long Beach
Long Beach PC User Group, OS/2 Sig
04/22/93
USA
CA
Los Angeles
Greater South Bay PC Users Group
05/13/93
USA
CA
San Francisco
Bay Area OS/2 User Group
04/26/93
USA
CA
Tustin
North Orange Co. Computer Club, OS/2 SIG
04/04/93
USA
CO
Denver
Rocky Mountain OS/2 User Group
04/01/93
USA
CT
Hartford
New England OS/2 Users Group
04/13/93
USA
FL
Boca Raton
South Florida OS/2 User's Group
04/08/93
USA
FL
Ft. Lauderdale
Ft. Lauderdale Computer User's Group
04/13/93
USA
FL
Miami
Gold Coast Computer Group
04/18/93
USA
FL
Tampa
Tampa Bay OS/2 Users Group
04/06/93
USA
GA
Atlanta
Atlanta PC User's Group, OS/2 SIG
04/13/93
USA
IL
Deerfield
North Suburban Chicago OS/2 User Group
04/27/92
USA
IL
Urbana
Champagne-Urbana OS/2 Users Group
04/23/93
USA
IN
Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne OS/2 Users Group
04/12/93
USA
IN
Kokomo
Kokomo IBM PC Users Group
04/08/93
USA
KY
Louisville
Kentucky-Indiana PC Users Group (KIPCUG)
04/20/93
USA
LA
Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge OS/2 User Group
04/15/93
USA
MA
Boston
Boston Computer Society, OS/2 Users Group
04/06/93
USA
MD
Gaithersburg
OS/2ers
04/3/93
USA
MD
Rockville
Capital PC User's Group, OS/2 SIG
04/14/93
USA
MN
Minneapolis
Minnesota OS/2 User Group
04/29/93
USA
MO
Columbia
Mid-Missouri
04/21/93
USA
MO
St. Louis
Gateway to OS/2 Users Group
04/13/93
USA
NC
RTP
Triangle OS/2 User Group
04/27/93
USA
NE
Lincoln
Lincoln OS/2 Users Group
04/22/93
USA
NJ
Cherry Hill
Association of PC Professionals, OS/2 SIG
04/13/93
USA
NV
Las Vegas
Las Vegas PC Users Group (LVPCUG), OS/2
04/22/93
USA
NY
Long Island
Long Island OS/2 User Group
04/13/93
USA
NY
New York City
New York PC (NYPC), OS/2 SIG
04/29/93
USA
NY
Westchester
Westchester OS/2 User Group
03/31/93
USA
OH
Akron
Northeast Ohio OS/2 Users Group
04/20/93
USA
OH
Cleveland
Greater Cleveland PC User Group, OS/2 SIG
04/13/93
USA
OH
Columbus
Columbus Computer Society
04/14/93
USA
PA
Dresher
PA Computer Society, OS/2 SIG
04/17/93
USA
PA
Philadelphia
Delaware Valley OS/2 User Group
04/08/93
USA
TN
Knoxville
East Tennessee PC User Group, OS/2 User
04/07/93
USA
TX
College Station
Texas A&M OS/2 Users Group
04/06/93
USA
TX
Dallas/Ft Worth
Dallas/Ft. Worth OS/2 User Group
04/01/93
USA
TX
El Paso
SouthWest International PCC, OS/2 SIG
04/10/93
USA
UT
Salt Lake City
Utah Blue Chips, OS/2 SIG
04/28/93
USA
WI
Madison
Madison PC Users Group, OS/2 SIG
04/22/93
+-------------------------------------------+
|OS/2 News & Developments |
+-------------------------------------------+
OS/2 Gets A JOLT!
Trivia Time
}}} OS/2 Gets A JOLT!
Lynn Nash
(1:202/502)
Original From Fidonet OS2
Origin: The Diamond Bar BBS (909) 923-1031
Ontario, CA
(1:207/101)
Anyone keeping score might be interested in this press release.
PHOENIX, Ariz., March 1, 1993 - IBM's Personal Software Products
(PSP) today announced that OS/2 2.0, the advanced operating system
for personal computers, has been awarded the Computer Language Jolt
Cola Award for Product Excellence. This brings to nine the number
of computer-industry awards presented to OS/2 2.0 in the last three
months.
The Computer Language Jolt Cola Award recognizes a product that has
had a major impact on programmers in the past year and that
represents important concepts for future software development.
"I am honored to accept this prestigious award on behalf of IBM,"
said John Soyring, director of software marketing products for PSP.
"I give credit to the programming community around the world who
helped shape OS/2 2.0 as a product. Programmers have rallied
around OS/2 2.0 as a software development platform to create
innovative and exciting new software products for users running
OS/2, DOS, Windows, and host applications."
According to Soyring, programmers worldwide have embraced OS/2 to
create innovative and powerful new applications that exploit the
advanced technology of the award-winning operating system. This
superior technology includes integrated object technology with the
system object model (SOM), a powerful yet easy to use graphical
interface called the Workplace Shell, true preemptive
multithreading and multitasking, and parallel I/O.
Since November 1992, OS/2 2.0 has won awards from the computer
industry's leading trade publications worldwide, which have honored
it in categories such as technical excellence, most promising new
product, and best operating system/environment.
OS/2 2.0's Enhanced Features
OS/2 2.0 is the award-winning advanced operating system for 32-bit
personal computers that protects customer's investments in existing
software by enabling them to run tens of thousands of applications
originally designed for DOS and/or Windows, as well as the new
applications designed specifically to take advantage of the
advanced technology in OS/2 2.0. This robust platform offers
superior technology, including an easy-to-use graphical user
interface called the Workplace Shell, true preemptive multitasking
that allows customers to run multiple software platforms
simultaneously, and Crash Protection, which guards against one
application being able to bring down the entire system.
}}} Trivia Time
Dave Sichak
San Diego OS/2 User Group
Can't say we don't try for something different once in a while. I
was visiting the UCSD library this past weekend and stumbled across
an old magazine or two. A front page article from InfoWorld dated
January 4, 1988 caught my eye. Can you name the various names OS/2
had during it's development cycle before it was first unleashed on
the public back then? Can you say "DOS 5.0"? How about "New DOS"?
Or maybe you prefer "Future DOS"? And finally the infamous "ADOS"
("A" was for "Advanced"...). The writer, Alice LaPlante, also
mentioned that it might take a few years to catch on. Was she off
the beam?
+-------------------------------------------+
|OS/2 Software / Hardware News |
+-------------------------------------------+
Trial By SCSI
Canon Printer & OS/2
System Sounds from Boca Soft
}}} Trial By SCSI
John Faughnan
March 30, 1993
Escanaba, Michigan
From: 1:139/940
Original Post - Fidonet OS2HW
(Submitted by author)
Switching from an Always IN/2000 to an Adaptec 1542c with external CD
Technology (Toshiba) T3401 CDROM: A Trial by SCSI.
John Faughnan
March 30, 1993
I.Justification for the choices
A.Always IN/2000 problems
1.lack of driver support
a)Columbia Data Products: $50 + cable (Mac)
b)no guarantee of future support
2.lack of faith in company
B. Adaptec 1542c
1.advantages
a)widespread use in OS/2 community
b)native support in OS
c)great driver support
d)co-founders of .ADD standard
2.problems
a)maximum 16MB DRAM (unlike Always) now permitted under OS/2.
b)some clones do not fully implement/support ISA bus mastering
c)since the ISA bus only supports one bus master one cannot buy an
XGA video bus master.
C.Toshiba 3401 (as CD Technology)
1.Toshiba 3301 was IBM standard
2.SCSI-II and XA compatibility
3.IBM developers offer through CD Technology
4.Macintosh compatibility
II. Setup
A.OS/2 2.0: GA+SP
B.OS2CROM.ZIP drivers and readme files.
C.Seagate ST296N (80MB) and Maxtor 7213SR (205MB)
III.Source and Prices
A.CD Technology 3401
1.An internal Toshiba 3401 mounted in a metal case.
2."Special" offer for OS/2 Developers (need form that came with PDK)
a)price
1)internal: $450
2)external: $500
3)shipping and handling: $25
b)contents
1)CDROM drive and power supply
2)one caddy
3)slender docs (DOS only)
4)no software
5)NO SCSI terminator ($15 extra)
6)NO cable ($20 extra, Future Domain only)
B.Adaptec 1542c (bare, no drivers)
1.ComputAbility 800-558-0003 (NO return, all sales are final!! (except
if defective)) a)$199 ("single")
b)Cable (DB 50-50): $20
c)shipping and handling: $11
2.Adaptec phone numbers:
a)800-869-8883 main number
b)800-934-2766 literature hotline
c)800-959-7274 tech support
6am-5pm Mo-Th, 6am-3pm Fr (PST)
3.Purchasing and pricing recording
4.fax questions
5.tech person (then x4 UNIX/OS2)
800-934-2766 literature line
BBS: 408-945-7727 V.32 bis
IV.Lessons and Surprises
A.SCSI Cable
1.The SCSI cable is very thick and bulky! Now I understand why Apple
dropped half of the ground wires in their implementation! It's also
long: 6 feet. The SCSI spec requires cables be at least .3 meters
long (1 foot), the entire chain cannot be longer
than 6 meeters.
B.Documentation and technical support
1.There is little. The docs that come with the Adaptec 1542c are paltry,
and there's nothing more available on the Adaptec BBS. The T3401 docs
refer to the non-existent on/off switch. There's no documentation on:
a)synchronization
b)parity checking (recommended for all attached drives)
c)necessity of low level formatting
2.The off-peak wait on Adaptec's 800 line is about 20-30 minutes.
C.CD Technology 3401
1.no on/off switch: with dire warnings that one must "EJECT disk before
powering off drive to avoid damage to optical head". Of course
booting OS/2 without a disk in the drive means that OS/2 treats the
drive as a floppy disk rather than a CDROM drive! In fact as long as
it's plugged in it's on. Don't turn it off without removing the CD.
2.power supply is roughly the size of a (small) loaf of bread.
3.there's no internal termination
4.the case is fairly cheap looking
D.Adaptec 1542c
1.The Seagate ST296N had to be low level formatted. It seemed to work
without this step at first but sectors soon started going bad. The
same appears to be true of the Maxtor, though it was having mechanical
problems as well.
2.OS/2 doesn't automatically use the AHA154x.ADD drivers during
installation. I had to insert the BASEDEV line manually.
3.The 1542c doesn't seem all that much faster, with it's native driver,
than my IN/2000 INT13 controller was (DOS apps). The WPS does seem
more responsive.
4.The software control of termination and other controller settings is
quite lovely.
5.Default settings (not in manual)
a)IRQ11, DMA channel 5, SCSI ID 7, Parity checking enabled,
synchronization disabled, DMA transfer rate 5.0MB/sec (can be set
higher at one's own risk).
E.OS/2 CDROM support
1.OS/2 only recognizes the device as a CDROM if a disk is in the drive.
2.If the installation is done properly the CDROM is assigned the drive
letter following that of the last hard drive.
3.The new icon appears magically in the drive folder.
4.You can eject the drive from within OS/2.
V.Preparation
A.Review FidoNet OS/2 Technical and Hardware echo notes.
B.Calls to Adaptec BBS and technical support
C.Review settings for i/o ports, BIOS mappings, for all system components.
(Can use manifest, stored in a spreadsheet). Note default OS/2 location
for EMS mapping is 'AUTO' (nice feature)).
1.Print out this information!
D.Record all serial numbers and BIOS info from 1542c. Confirm DIP settings
are as per manual.
VI.Procedure
A.Backup data
1.Use Kelder utilities or other utility to back up workplace settings.
In my experience these are not reliable, but Kelder's seems to do the
least damage and saves many steps. Curse IBM roundly for not providing
decent backup tools for the WPS and for data.
2.pkzip (no EAs) to archive. (Dangerous since one bad sector means you
lose everything!)
3.backup archive using 'splice' from PCMag or OS/2 backup. If the latter
be sure to backup the archive from the root directory as restore
requires the same directory be used.
B.Get Service Pack Update.
C.Download OS2CDROM.ZIP from Fernwood, review especially the read.me file.
Note the change in OS/2 CDROM support from GA! 1.1-203-483-0348
D.Get latest device drivers from Adaptec BBS (optional).
1.1-408-945-7727
2.new1540.zip (AHA154x.ADD dated 1-25-93).
3.Note readme file: use of command line switches.
E.Sacrifice a chicken.
F.Swap drive controllers. Note that the system BIOS is set for NO hard
drive installed.
G.Boot, and watch for the <Ctrl><A> prompt. Using the built in utilities to
low level format all drives. Test the DMA transfer.
H.Install OS/2 2.0 in a 50MB partition. Install all desired fonts and
drivers. Shutdown. Install the Service Pack. Shutdown. Curse IBM for
not releasing OS/2 2.01 with integrated service pack. Pray for the
nirvana of system installation from CDROM -- the PC equivalent of
mainframe tapes.
I.Following instructions from OS2CROM.ZIP copy needed files into \OS2, and
then optionally copy newer version of Adaptec driver from new1540.zip.
Make the requisite changes to config.sys, commenting liberally. This will
include an updated AHA154x.ADD driver, though the one from the Adaptec
BBS is more recent still.
1.Be sure the BASEDEV for CDROM support, and the IFS statement FOLLOW
the BASEDEV and IFS statements for hard drive support!
J.Revise config.sys to the AHA154x.ADD driver instead of INT13 support.
K.Shutdown and reboot.
L.Restore files and workplace settings.
}}} Canon Printer & OS/2
Fred Miller
Original Area: Fidonet OS2HW
Origin: The FORUM BBS
Ithaca, NY
(607) 272-1371
HST (1:260/701)
Canon USA has had it's share of problems, most have been caused by
management in Japan! Canon in Japan has not and would not provide
any OS/2 drivers (ignorant)! FINALLY, Canon USA has set up it's own
development group located in CA. Drivers are presently in alpha,
and I'm expecting a beta by the end of next week! Canon has been
receiving *MANY* calls about not having any drivers, and this demand
is what has been instrumental in getting the development group started.
This is a good example of what can happen *IF* we all take a concerted
position to get hardware manufactures to conform to what we want,
not what MickySoft is spoon-feeding them!!
If you have a Canon BJ* printer and would like to get on the list
for a beta driver, call Elliot Cohen at (714) 438-3346. He is the
manager of Tec. Support for the printer division and a very nice
fellow. You may write him at:
Elliot Cohen
Customer Service
123 E. Paularino Ave.
P.O. Box 5048
Costa Mesa, CA 92628-5048.
}}} System Sounds from Boca Soft
Dan Grostick
Boca Raton, Florida
Newspaper article contributed by subscriber
In the Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel of March 1, 1993, a new product
from a small firm in Boca Raton called "System Sounds for OS/2" was
in the spotlight. Two fellows named Bill Steward and Zan Oliphant
left IBM to start their own company called BocaSoft. The program
allows folks to link an unlimited assortment of sounds with their
software.
For instance, how would you like the sound of a creaking door every
time you open a certain file? Or dragging an icon across the
screen to the melody of machine gun fire? Or an error with a
scream of a black belt?
But there's more than frivolous use for this software. If a person
is blind, they can associate a sound with any key on the keyboard.
The software programmers indicated that OS/2 offers a better path
for certain types of multimedia applications for the future. They
also feel IBM has yet to exploit OS/2's superior multimedia
potential. The authors state that if they were writing software
for Apple, we'd be nobody. They prefer OS/2 for multimedia.
+-------------------------------------------+
|Views & Opinions |
+-------------------------------------------+
Want to Give the Media Your Point of View?
A Cuisinenet Affair
}}}Want to Give the Media Your Point of View?
John Faughnan
Original Area: Fidonet OS/2
Origin: The *Lighthouse * with a HST
Dual Standard in da U.P.
(1:139/930.0)
I received the following reply from Joel Dreyfuss, a senior editor
at PC Magazine. Please keep your letters, email, and faxes coming.
They do seem to have an impact. [Also the rebellion against the awful
ISO DOS fonts (SP) is picking up steam. There is hope for a fix before
the final release.]
"Also, as a result of your letter, we've decided that we will ask
vendors about OS/2 compatibility and support for all Windows and
DOS apps from now on and list their position in the features table.
(We suspect this will also encourage more vendors to support use of
their product in the OS/2 environment.)" [i.e. they'll confirm that
a DOS or Windows app runs under OS/2]
Email addresses of note are:
Info World:
73267.1537@compuserve.com
3502648@mcimail.com
Byte:
2500135@mcimail.com
ComputerWorld:
COMPUTERWORLD@mcimail.com
Ziff-Davis
William Ziff
3302341@mcimail.com
PC Computing
76000.21@compuserve.com
3502648@mcimail.com
PC Magazine
PC Magazine (General)
1579301@mcimail.com
Joel Dreyfuss (editor)
72241.264@compuserve.com
3316982@mcimail.com
Michael Miller
2478102@mcimail.com
Editor In Chief of PC MAG
72241.352@compuserve.com
Solutions Section (ask questions) - Solutions,
5563896@mcimail.com
72241.104@compuserve.com
}}} A Cuisinenet Affair
Hadrian Katz
Original Area: Fidonet OS-DEBATE
Origin: OS/2 Shareware BBS
Fairfax, VA
(703) 385-4325
(1:109/347)
I had a dream:
Monday, 10 AM -- Chicago, Illinois -- Start-up software developer
Cuisine International announced CUISINENET, the first inter- networking
program to seamlessly integrate word and food processing. Called
a breakthrough for small restaurants and snack bars, Cuisine Chairman
Mark Meigs confidently predicted sales of thousands of copies with
shipments soon to begin.
Monday, 4 PM -- New York -- Cuisine International shares closed
sharply higher on announcement of new CUISINENET product.
Tuesday, 9 AM -- Redmond, Washington -- Microsoft Chairman William
H. Gates, III announced that Microsoft Food for Windows would soon
enter beta testing. Gates described the product as the first of a
projected family of products to include Food for Windows, designed
for small commercial dining establishments; Personal Food for Windows,
designed for home kitchens; Portable Food for Windows, designed for
lunchboxes; and, of course, at the high end, Food for Windows NC (Nouvelle
Cuisine) designed for large institutional dining rooms. Asked by
a reporter about CUISINENET, Gates said that he had never heard of
the product, but was not surprised by it, because the software business
is highly competitive, and Microsoft has to compete on the merits
with many strong competitors, as the FTC had recently concluded.
Tuesday, 3 PM -- Chicago, Illinois -- An angry Mark Meigs showed
reporters a copy of the nondisclosure agreement signed by Bill Gates,
under which Cuisine International had informed Microsoft a year earlier
about plans for CUISINENET. Meigs said that in hindsight, he should
never have signed the agreement, as the only thing he learned from
Microsoft was that Gates was considering making changing to Windows.
Wednesday, 9 AM -- Redmond, Washington -- Microsoft Chairman Bill
Gates announced that Microsoft would soon publish specifications for
the Windows Open Kitchen Architecture (WOKA), a series of design specifications
to permit manufacturers of toasters, ranges, and other kitchen appliances
to integrate their products into the forthcoming Microsoft Food for
Windows line. Asked about reports of a nondisclosure agreement with
Cuisine International for a similar product, Gates said that the other
product was really at most a niche product, and would probably have
less functionality than the food-related features that Microsoft would
be building into the new Unsaturated FAT File System which would be
part of DOS 7.0. Gates said that he doubted there would be much interest
in a dead-end solution that would not be able to keep up to date with
advances in WOKA. Gates added that over 11,000 manufacturers of kitchen
appliances were already having serious discussions with Microsoft
about WOKA, and that he expected almost all important eaters of food
to standardize on the WOKA environment.
Wednesday, 10 AM -- Redmond, Washington -- Microsoft Chairman Bill
Gates announced that he would be giving the keynote speech at the
American Bakers annual convention on "Nutrition at Your Fingertips."
Gates played down speculation that he would use the Bakers convention
to introduce Microsoft Food for Windows, saying only that alpha testing
was proceeding ahead of schedule, and the product would be shipped
when it was ready.
Wednesday, 11 AM -- Redmond, Washington -- Microsoft Corporation
announced that its Chairman, William H. Gates, III, had made a donation of over
$250 of personal funds to the Cordon Bleu to begin an endowment fund
for the Bill Gates Professorship of Advanced Cookery. The famous
French cooking school confirmed that it had agreed to be a beta site
for the much discussed Food for Windows application sweet.
Thursday, 9 AM -- New York -- PCWeek Magazine reported in a
copyrighted story that it had obtained a copy of correspondence from Microsoft
to Cuisine International, demanding that the small developer of kitchen
software cease using the Cuisine name, as it infringes on the trademark
for Microsoft Food for Windows NC. Microsoft added that Chairman
Mark Meigs would also have to change his own name as Mark infringed
a copyright on the Windows Edit menu, Meigs infringed the trademark
on Meigs Field in Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Chairman infringed
the trademark on Bill Gates's title which he had acquired with personal
funds from Mao's estate. Also, Microsoft advised that while the company
did not actually have to move out of Chicago, use of the name on press
releases infringed a trademark on Windows 4.0.
Thursday, 4 PM -- New York -- Cuisine International stock closed at
0-bid, 1/16-asked.
Friday, 9 AM -- ? -- An anonymous spokesman for an unnamed Midwestern
software developer announced the discontinuation of operations. Undescribed
legal problems were cited as the reason. Others speculated that a
failure to appreciate the competitive nature of the software business
may have led to the company's sudden collapse.
Monday, 9 AM -- Microsoft Internal Mail
From: billg
To: mikem
Re: Food Program
Please see if you can reassign one of the 3,000 engineers from the
OS/2 virus development project to do a feasibility study on a food-related
program. Not sure what it would do. Low priority.
11
+-------------------------------------------+
|REXX Workshop |
+-------------------------------------------+
REXX Symposium - May
}}} REXX Symposium in San Diego, California
}}} May 18-20, 1993
Original From Janet Gobeille (TEAMOS2)
Origination - Fidonet OS2REXX
Origination - (1;202/502)
Here's a preliminary info sheet as received from SLAC:
REXX Symposium
for Developers and Users
Convened by the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
18 to 20 May 1993
San Diego, California
Preliminary Program, 24 February 1993
:table cols='15 25' rules=none frame=box.
Jose Aguirre
TEXX (REXX on Apple Macintosh)
Gary Brodock
REXX I/O for VM
Charles Daney
REXX for NT
Mike Cowlishaw
World REXX
Eric Giguere, Waterloo
Watcom Visual REXX for OS/2
Linda Green
REXX Bits
Dave Hock, Ucandu
Visual Programming with REXX in OS/2
Richard Hoffman, AWD
Visual Builder: use and debugging REXX
Linda Littleton, SHARE
User Input for ANSI
Brian Marks
Design of the Emerging REXX Standard
Pat Meehan, Paul Heaney
Defect Removal Techniques for REXX
Neil Milsted, iX
REXX for NT
Bill Mueller, SourceLink
REXX as an Extension to a Language
User Experience
OS/2 Source Level Debugger
Doug Mulholland, Waterloo
VM/CMS REXX with Waterloo C
Simon Nash, Dave Renshaw
IBM's Object Oriented REXX
Microsoft
Visual Basic
Michael Sinz, Amiga
Multimedia Flash
Timothy Sipples
REXXSHIP for OS/2 (auto install)
Ed Spire, Workstation Group
Uni-REXX
Hobart Spitz
MVS REXX
Panel
Free Unix versions
Glenn Stubbs
VREXX
Melinda Varian, Princeton
Historical Filmstrip
Larry Wall
PERL
Bebo White, SLAC
REXX 2000
Special hotel rates have been negotiated for the Symposium
when reservations are made through Village Travel in Palo
Alto, California by 1st April 1993. Fee schedule:
Conference -- US$300 includes three meals,
socials, proceedings
Lodging/Night -- US$85 single or double
Registration is required. The registration fee is due in
advance, payable in cash or cheque, net US$300 in US funds.
To register for the Symposium, reserve a room, and make
travel arrangements, please contact:
Village Travel
REXX Symposium
69 Town and Country Village
Palo Alto, CA 94301 USA
1-800-245-3260
1-415-326-0510
fax 1-415-326-0245
Please send questions to any member of the program committee:
Cathie Dager, cathie@slacvm.slac.stanford.edu
Forrest Garnett, garnett@vnet.ibm.com
Jim Weissman, jhw@cup.portal.com
Bebo White, bebo@slacvm.slac.stanford.edu
+-------------------------------------------+
|OS/2 Reading |
+-------------------------------------------+
New OS/2 2.X Notebook
OS/2 Presentation Manager Programming (Covers Version 1.2)
Advanced OS/2 Programming
OS/2 Presentation Manager GPI
Writing OS/2 Device Drivers
}}} New OS/2 2.X Notebook
Edited By Dick Conklin
Foreword by Philippe Kahn
Van Nostrand Reinhold Publishers
ISBN: 0-442-01522-4
1,164 pages.
List Price - US $34.95
1993
A new compilation of OS/2 Developer magazine articles (this book
title was previously done by Microsoft Press). Read about:
G.U.I.-OS/2 WPS, PM, CUA, fonts, controls, dialogs, tools;
Software Tools - language compilers, toolkits, editors, application
generator, debuggers, utilities, program porting, cross-platform
development;
Client-Server Programming -single user and multi-user
applications, client/server databases, cooperative process, APPC,
DDE, tools;
Object Oriented Programming - SOM, programming techniques, software class,
objects, workplace programming interface;
Multimedia and Graphics - Video, audio, CD-ROM, XGA, mapping, business
graphics, multimedia toolkits;
ETC. - 32-bit programming, LAN, communication and database application
development, application enablers, performance, printing.
}}} OS/2 Presentation Manager Programming (Covers Version 1.2)
By Paul W. Cheatam, David E. Reich and Robert F. G. Robinson
Foreword by Tommy Steele
John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0-471-50897-7
563 pages
Priced at US $24.95.
1989
Written by key members of the Presentation Manager development
team, the book presents thorough insider coverage of the
interface's capabilities and features including: 1) the complete
range of programming concepts, with information on building
applications, message architecture and program structure; 2) a
comprehensive programming guide with numerous examples written in
C; and, 3) Essential guidance on window programming and on the
Graphics Programming Interface (GPI). The book also includes a
discussion of more advanced features such as application data
transfer, templates, and advanced VIO programming, debugging, font
creation and menu management.
}}} Advanced OS/2 Programming
By Ray Duncan
Microsoft Press
ISBN: 1-55615-045-8
781 pages
Listed as US $24.95 USA, UK £21.95, Australia $37.95
1989
Authoritative information, expert advice and great code examples in
assembly language and C. Broad range of significant issues
covered:
Mastering the fundamentals, including recognizing the
programming challenges and opportunities; using related development
tools.
Programming including the user interface, keyboard and
mouse input, the video display, printer and serial port
communication;
Programming mass storage including file management, volumes and directories,
disk internals;
Developing advanced techniques including memory management,
multitasking, interprocess communication, IOPL routines, timer
services;
Customizing OS/2 including writing filters, device drivers and dynamic link
libraries.
The sample code fragments use Microsoft C Version 5.1 and Microsoft
Macro Assembler Version 5.1.
Contains information on over 250 OS/2 kernel calls in the API
Version 1.1.
}}} OS/2 Presentation Manager GPI
By Graham C.E. Winn.
Van Nostrand Reinhold
ISBN: 0-442-00739-6
318 pages
1991
The author is a former GPI development team leader for OS/2 1.1.
Sixty programming examples are listed. This book covers the use of
GPI to display text, characters, lines, curves, areas, marking
images and more. Chapters to expand your understanding of:
Fonts -- public and private fonts. Memo and proportional; spaced
fonts, raster and outline fonts, font selection and logical font
creation;
Bitmap -- BMP formats, creation, deletion,
selection, data transfer;
Color tables -- the standard color table, logical and color table creation,
color queries;
Coordinate spaces and transformation -- page units, matrix
parameters formats, coordinate limits, model transformation,
viewing transform, default viewing transform, device transform;
Metafiles -- Metafile printing, MetaFile to MetaFile recording,
scaling MetaFiles to be an output area, displays a Metafile as a
subjective, MetaFile restrictions.
Printing -- queued printing, base control program printing, PM printing,
OS/2 print subsystem, printer installation and setup form selection, printer
fonts.
C programs in the book can be purchased separately on disk.
The book is based on OS/2 version 1.3 and includes discussions of
OS/2 2.0.
}}} Writing OS/2 Device Drivers
By Raymond Westwater
Addison Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.
ISBN: 0-201-52234-9
516 pages
Priced at US $24.95
1989
Author provides the applications developer with a one-stop
reference for planning and implementing drivers in OS/2. Some of
the topics include: Device Driver structure; Device Driver Flow of
Execution; Driver Development strategies; I/O Packets; Device
Helper Services. Strategy packets, the exclusive means by which
requests for data are forwarded from the OS/2 file manager to the
device driver are presented in a convenient format that defines
field contents for LENGTH, UNIT, COMMAND, STATUS, RESERVED and
LINKAGE.
+-------------------------------------------+
|OS/2 BBS's |
+-------------------------------------------+
BBS Introduction
Okay, I ran out of time this month, so most of the BBS's listed were
also listed in February. But I've added a few if you can spot them.
This listing is for the BBS junkie in you who needs to have a
phone bill treat once in a while <G>. Or bored to death while
you're travelling.
Our listing is based on a rather extensive listing put together by
Dave Fisher of OS/2 type Bulletin Boards. Space limits this month
prevent us from listing all the details he has for each BBS, but we've
tried to include a couple from every state in the US (Notice and hint
to you sysops...not all states are represented.) and a few foreign
countries, too.
Dave Fisher's list is a compilation of OS/2 BBS's across the
world. If you wish to make an addition or correction to his list,
he's asked that you please netmail your BBS information to Dave
Fisher at LiveNet, 1:170/110@fidonet.org.
For the newsletter, I've sorted the in alphabetical order by Country
for the international ones and by state for those in the USA to
make it easier to find one close to you. His file has other details
related to these BBS's but we didn't have room, okay? The file
we're using showed that the last update was September 7, 1992.
Does anyone know if this list of his is being kept up to date? I hope
to expand it more next month; ran out of time. But I've got his list
in a database right now and I'll be able to code that list a lot
easier next month.
And I'm still waiting to hear from folks who consider their BBS a
decent local source for OS/2, whether it be files, message areas or
actually run under OS/2. Hope you find this inclusion useful. Large
phone bills are not my fault...!!!
}}} Australia
Graham Stair
3M Australia
+61-2-498-9184
Australia
Alan Salmon
PC User's Group
+61-6-259-1244
Australia
}}} Belgium
Bas Heijermans
Moving Sound OS/2 BBS
+32-3-3850748
Belgium
}}} Canada
Kevin Lowey
Univ. of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-4857
Canada
Evan Smith
ECS Net
(403) 253-5996
Canada
Ian Evans
Baudeville BBS
(416) 283-0114
Canada
Herbert Tsui
BBS Council
(604) 275-6883
Canada
Jerry Stevens
The Locutory
(613) 722-0489
Canada
}}} Denmark
Rene Carlsen
OS/2 Task and FrontDoor H
+45-98451070
Denmark
}}} Germany
Ulrich Roeding
BOX/2
+49-89-6019677
Germany
}}} Italy
Luigi Ravina
Italy Network
+39-11-8180069
Italy
}}} Netherlands
Peter Smink
BBS The Experiment
+31-1150-15245
Netherlands
}}} Norway
Terje Slydahl
PerlePorten
+47-83-33003
Norway
}}} Singapore
Ivan Leong
Miqas/2 Singapore
+65-755-6463
Singapore
}}} Switzerland
Alex Wyss
Gepard's Oracle Zuerich
+41-1-3637037
Switzerland
}}} United Kingdom
Mike Gove
MonuSci BBS
+44-0-454-633197
United Kingdom
}}} Arizona
Mike Mahoney
Emerald Isle, The
(602) 749-8638
Arizona
Frank Ward
Encounter, The
(602) 892-1853
Arizona
}}} California
Patrick O'Riva
AsmLang and OS/2
(408) 259-2223
California
Michael Nelson
SeaHunt BBS
(415) 431-0473
California
Michael Cummings
Zzyzx Road OS/2 BBS
(619) 579-0135
El Cajon, California
Craig Swanson
OS/2 Connection
(619) 558-9475
San Diego, California
Chuck Gilmore
Magnum BBS
(805) 582-9306
California
}}} Colorado
William Herrera
Cuerna Verde
(719) 545-8572
Colorado
Randy Edwards
Socialism OnLine!
(719) 392-7781
Colorado
}}} Connecticut
Chris Regan
Storm Front - OS/2, The
(203) 234-0824
Connecticut
Felix Tang
Excelsior, The
(203) 466-1826
Connecticut
Emmitt Dove
Fernwood
(203) 483-0348
Connecticut
}}} Deleware
John Tarbox
Singer Bear BBS
(302) 984-2238
Deleware
Scott Street
Space Station Alpha
(302) 653-1458
Deleware
}}} Florida
Mark Wheeler
SandDollar, The
(407) 784-4507
Florida
Rusty Plant
The 19th Hole
(904) 479-8538
Pensacola, Florida
Don Bauer
OS2 Exchange
(904) 739-2445
Florida
Chris Wolcott
The Outer Limits
(904) 934-1141
Gulf Breeze, Florida
Kathy Todd
The Apothecary's Archives
(904) 934-3146
Gulf Breeze, Florida
Richard Todd
The Disintegrated Circuit OS/2
(904) 934-9796
Gulf Breeze, Florida
}}} Georgia
IBM
IBM National Support Center
(404) 835-6600
Georgia
IBM
IBM National Support Center
(404) 835-5300
Georgia
Ed June
Information Overload
(404) 471-1549
Georgia
}}} Hawaii
Craig Oshiro
Ghostcomm Image Gallery
(808) 456-8510
Hawaii
}}} Illinois
Bill Cook
GREATER CHICAGO Online!
(708) 895-4042
Illinois
Bogie Bugsalewicz
I CAN! BBS
(312) 736-7434
Illinois
}}} Indiana
Mike Phillips
Catacombs, The
(317) 525-7164
Indiana
Jay Tipton
Play Board, The
(219) 744-4908
Indiana
}}} Kansas
Troy Majors
Byte Bus, The
(316) 683-1433
Kansas
}}} Louisiana
Stan Brohn
HelpNet of Baton Rouge
(504) 273-3116
Louisiana
Jim Sterrett
Padded Cell BBS, The
(504) 340-7027
Louisiana
}}} Maryland
James Chance
Last Relay, The
(410) 793-3829
Maryland
}}} Michigan
Dave Shoff
Cornerstone BBS, The
(616) 465-4611
Michigan
}}} Minnesota
Brady Flowers
Oberon Software
(507) 388-1154
Minnesota
}}} Missouri
Woody Sturges
OS/2 Woodmeister, The
(314) 446-0016
Missouri
}}} New Jersey
Bob Germer
Capital City BBS
(609) 386-1989
New Jersey
Mike Fuchs
Dog's Breakfast, The
(908) 506-0472
New Jersey
}}} Nevada
Kerry Flint
Caddis OS/2 BBS
(702) 453-6687
Nevada
Dennis Conley
Communitel OS/2 BBS
(702) 399-0486
Nevada
}}} New York
Mikel Beck
Kind Diamond's Realm
(516) 736-3403
New York
}}} North Carolina
Thomas Bradford
Backdoor BBS
(919) 799-0923
North Carolina
Richard Lee
Psychotronic BBS
(919) 286-7738
North Carolina
}}} Ohio
Mark Lehrer
Akron Anomoly, The
(216) 688-6383
Ohio
}}} Oklahoma
Bill Schnell
Asylum BBS, The
(918) 832-1462
Oklahoma
Scott Dickason
BBS/2
(918) 743-1562
Oklahoma
}}} Oregon
Bill Taylor
Integrated Media Servic
(503) 667-2649
Oregon
Paul Breedlove
Multi-Net
(503) 883-8197
Oregon
}}} Pennsylvania
Louis F. Ursini
Quantum Leap
(215) 967-9018
Pennsylvania
Ed Barboni
System-2 RBBS
(215) 631-0685
Pennsylvania
}}} South Carolina
Paul Beverly
PMSC OnLine Resource
(803) 735-6101
South Carolina
}}} Tennessee
Operand BBS
Lonnie Wall
(901) 753-3738
Tennessee
Edward Owens
Looking Glass, The
(901) 872-4386
Tennessee
}}} Texas
Robert McA
Live-Wire
(214) 307-8119
Texas
Doug Palmer
Rock BBS, The
(512) 654-9792
Texas
David Dozier
Roach Coach, The
(713) 343-0942
Texas
Ken Rucker
RucK's Place/2
(817) 485-8042
Texas
}}} Virginia
Pete Norloff
OS/2 Shareware
(703) 385-4325
Virginia
Joe Salemi
Max's Doghouse
(703) 548-7849
Virginia
}}} Washington
LeRoy DeVries
Sno-Valley Software Exc
(206) 880-6575
Washington
Rodney Lorimor
Gecko Control
(509) 244-0944
Washington