Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education
Would you like to win a free copy of WarpZip?
We'll be giving one away to the person who can design the best icon for it. Sound
easy? It is, just attach your entry to an email and send it to psoft@tech-center.com
Put the symbol [Icon Contest] (with the brackets) in the subject line so your entry
can be filtered into the contest folder.
This will give us a chance to replace the lackluster excuse for an icon we are
using now. We would prefer icons with 40x40 and 32x32 resolutions but maybe you
can convince us otherwise. :-)
It would be easy for us to grab an icon off the internet and use it but we would
like to see it be something a bit more original. When you submit an entry, permission
to display and use the icon is assumed by PillarSoft. We will not be claiming ownership
of all entries however and the original designers of the non winners would still
be able to do as they please with their entries. We have no interest in keeping
you from using your entry if it is not selected.
On the other hand... if yours is selected, you will be rewarded with what is
proving to be one of the best, if not THE best, "Zip" and OS/2 "Packed"
archive mangers anywhere, even according to some hardened WinZip users.
We will chose a winner by January 30th and announce it on our website at that
time. Well...? Let's get started!
http://fm-net.com/pillarsoft/
GOTCHA! OS/2 program arrested for serial capture!
Terrifying news have reached us from our correspondent B.G. in R.: Gotcha!, the
infamous and dangerous OS/2 screencapture utility is free again!
The program was detected and immediatly arrested during a routine e-mail contents
check on the borders of the MSN, but despite the systems strict and state-of-the-art
security standards managed to escape shortly afterwards.
Those of our readers, who are not so well informed about the history of the case,
may want to know, that the program known under the name "Gotcha!" was
designed soleley for the task of capturing innocent pixels from a computer's screen
and lock them away in so called "bitmap files".
The following information about the lately developed advanced criminal capabilities
of the program were provided to us by a large computer company, residing in Redmond,
Oregon, that wants to stay annonymous:
"Despite the ongoing efforts of security and computer experts to protect
the public from this serious threat, the program [Gotcha!] has appeared already
several times on the Internet, having increased its criminal features and malvolent
abilities with every appearance. The latest of this incarnations which refers to
itself by the term "Gotcha! 1.45" sets new standards in the history of
criminal graphical operations:
- The length of the "delayed capture" delay, which was previously a
fixed and predictable value, may now be altered in almost any way the ill-meaning
user desires. To further raise the shamefullness of this device, every passing second
may be accompanied by a terrifying beep from the computer's speaker.
- The user now no longer needs to think of a filename to imprison the pixels
on disk, but may have Gotcha! lock up its victims in automatically numbered files
or even may demand that all captured pixels are to be stored in the same file, thus
erasing the previous inhabitants of this file forever!
- The format of the prison-files now may be chosen from three available types
of bitmap file format, thus greatly increasing the usability of the loot in criminal
circles. The code for saving (note this macabre and ironic choice of words!) the
image to disk has totally been re-written, to avoid several bugs that might have
had a chance tp stop the criminal act at the last moment.
- All bitmap-files written by Gotcha! now are forced to undergo a procedure called
"setting the file type extended attribute" which is of course only a way
to strip the last rest of the pixels' individuality by assigning them the fixed
and predefined label "bitmap".
- Another one of the evil features of this program, designed for those who prefer
the cowardly "hit and run" tactics, allows the user (by the means of secret,
sold underhand commandline switches) to order Gotcha! to quickly capture the whole
screen, hide it away in a disk file and immediatly exit afterwards, leaving no trace
of its criminal activities. The option to turn off the sound, that tells that the
capture is done, makes this all not only pass unseen, but unheard too.
- As the main window of the program is fairly big and easy to spot on the desktop,
Gotcha! now provides the means to take captures even when the main window remains
hidden, in the form of the so called "snapshot window", which can be set
to almost any size and only requires one click with the mouse to initiate the evil
process.
- But the most terrifying and detestable feature of Gotcha! is the so called
"Serial capture": Previous versions of the program always required repeated
user interaction to capture more than one image - but with the help of this new
feature, Gotcha! can do this all by itself! All that has to be supplied is the number
of seconds, the program shall wait between captures and the program then will take
a capture everytime this delay has passed, until someone has the courage to stop
it."
Recent reports inform us, that several people claim to have spotted the fugitive
program at http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/incoming
heading for http://hobbes.nmsu.ed/pub/os2/apps/graphics/scrncapt.
More information on this truly shocking case may be found at:
http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/CIP/thielen/gotcha/
Netscape 3.0 (based on IBM's NS 2.02 June'98 with "-i 3" key), Russian
edition is ready. You can get it from "Unofficial OS/2 Support in Russia"
WWW:
http://oksoft.rsl.ru/fa-doc/ns300rus.html
Currently Netscape 3.0 Rus. status: first release.
The Config.sys editor Tyra/2 is now available in version 1.31.
This release contains only bug corrections.
Tyra/2 is an easy to use OS/2 config.sys file editor. All of the statements in
your config.sys file are displayed logically in a notebook. You don't have to worry
about the correct spelling or what parameters are available. Most commands can be
set up with just a click of the mouse. For all commands, there are help pages available
with a description of the command and what parameters can be used with that particular
entry in your config.sys file.
This is the last version which you can purchase for the low price of 25USD for
a live-time-registration! With the beginning of the next release, which will be
version 1.40, I change the price to 49USD for a live-time-licence, 19USD for a single
licence and 11USD for an update. So take the chance to get Tyra/2 for the low price.
You can expect version 1.40 in the mid of February 1999.
You can download the newest version of Tyra/2 from this sites:
http://www.online.de/home/os2/
ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/incoming
will be moved in the next time to
ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/util/config
And in the next days at
http://www.bmtmicro.com/catalog/tyra2.html
================================================
IACT Discovery Project -- Invitation to Sign-on
================================================
DATE: 29th Dec 1998
TO: Users of all major platforms and the Internet
You probably are familiar with the names of AltaVista, Digital Equipment Corporation
and Compaq. Following Compaq's buy-out of Digital and its assets, Compaq now is
the world's #1 computer vendor and owns the AltaVista search engine on the World
Wide Web.
In 1998, AltaVista/Compaq launched the Internet-based 'Discovery' service, now
being promoted as a "public" and "free" service to the entire
Internet community. However, many Internet users are being denied access to the
AltaVista Discovery service, because it does *not* use platform-independent formats
that would be compatible with any browser and any Operating System of our choice.
Discovery works only with Win95/98 and NT. System requirements list only the
MSIE and Netscape browsers. No other OSs or browsers, normally compatible with the
WWW, are deemed acceptable by Alta Vista/Compaq.
All of us who have chosen Linux, OS/2, MacOS, BeOS, Rhapsody, NeXT, DOS, QNX,
BSD, Solaris etc. -- instead of Microsoft Windows-- will find out firsthand that
Discovery is not a truly open and free Internet tool! Unfortunately, it is a closed,
proprietary on-line service requiring the public to use one single brand of software.
In response, IACT is collecting signatures from Internet users across the world,
to add to our new Action Letter! To join this worthwhile effort, please take a moment
to read Action Letter #3, in the "Connections" section of our website
at:
http://pages.cthome.net/iact/iact-tell.html
Then "sign on" to the Action Letter with us! [Follow the Steps given
below to sign-on.] The deadline is Monday, January 25th 1999, but why wait until
the last minute to send in your e-mail signature? The Internet won't wait. AltaVista,
Compaq and other companies won't wait. Already, some ISPs are signing contracts
to deliver Discovery to their own customers, while Microsoft continues to use its
monopoly of the desktop PC market to push that same proprietary software onto the
Internet.
After all the e-mail signatures are collected, your name will be added onto the
final posting of the Letter [late January]. Whether you sign as a private citizen,
as a business owner, or as the rep. of a group, your signature will be much welcomed
and appreciated.
If you'd like friends/associates to see the Action Letter, then e-mail/fax a
copy of this Sign-On Invitation to them! At IACT's web page, you may download your
copy of a second, separate "FYI" type of message better suited for sending
to your gov. officials, ISP and Internet-related companies with which you do business.
Please forward each message to reach both types of recipients.
-----------------------------
How to sign the Action Letter
-----------------------------
STEPS 1-2-3
Timing is important, of course, so I'm also going to ask you to try to move quickly
on this. If you'd like to sign on to the Letter, please follow these simple 1-2-3
steps:
{1} Reply to me at this address (dgwhiz@earthling.net). Use a Subject of "Sign
Action Letter #3" for your message.
{2} In the body of the message, clearly type...
the necessary info
First name:
Middle name or initial:
Last name:
City, State/Province, and Nation:
E-mail Address:
{* Your e-mail address will _not_ be given to the recipients of the Action Letter
nor to third parties!}
the optional info
your business/professional name, if any, that you wish to include: (e.g., Programming
Director, Lovable Software Co.)
-OR- your affiliation with a related organization:
{3} Send your sign-on message to me before end of Monday, January 25th, 1999!
That's all! Please do not copy and send me any part of this same note--just send
me your short e-mail message according to Steps 1-3 above.
Thanks again!
Diane Gartner,
IACT Co-ordinator
dgwhiz@earthling.net
The International Alliance for Compatible Technology
----------------------------------------------------
http://pages.cthome.net/iact/
----------------------------------------------------
I'd like to inform you that I've just released VClassed 1.6 (a small tool to
manage all your wps classes), starting with version 1.6 it's released under GNU
General Public License. Source are available too for everyone to experiment.
P.S. Feedback is greatly appreciated
get it at:
http://www.quasarbbs.com/virusface/
(follow the english section -> project section)
LBMIDIEd MIDI editor was updated to version 0.03. The main enhancements are:
selection of time interval, a lot of operations with selected tracks and time interval,
ability to use an external player (e.g. TiMidity).
For more info and download please visit:
http://www.freebyte.ml.org/~boga/OS2Programs.html
I have uploaded the final revisions of the AWE64-OS/2 HowTo site to the Hobbes
archive. The filename is awe64os2site.zip and it is currently (12/27, 02:28 UTC)
in the incoming directory. Thanks to everyone for all the support I received.
DeleGate is a multi-purpose application level gateway, or a proxy server which
runs on multiple platforms (Unix, Windows and OS/2). DeleGate mediates communication
of various protocols (HTTP, FTP, NNTP, POP, Telnet, etc.), applying cache and conversion
for mediated data, controlling access from clients and routing toward servers. It
translates protocols between clients and servers, merging several servers into a
single server view with aliasing and filtering. Born as a tiny proxy for Gopher
in March 1994, it has steadily grown into a general purpose proxy server. Besides
proxy, DeleGate can be used as a simple origin server for some protocols (HTTP,
FTP and NNTP).
http://wall.etl.go.jp/delegate/
Hello there, Here's an update to the free WWW/FTP hosting for 3 OS/2 users offer...
*FINALLY* We have our own Domain Name, www.PCEndUser.com, please come and check
us out... Whoever I choose to host will get their own virtual domain of xxxxx.pcenduser.com...
And please hurry too, one had already been chosen, and now there's only 2 spots
open.... Entries MUST be received by Jan 9th....
A new version of StHWMon - a hardware monitoring application - is now available
on my homepage:
http://home.t-online.de/home/stefan.milcke/homepage.htm
StHWMon is a hardware monitoring application for mainboards with the Winbond
WD83781D chip. It can show the current values of fan speeds, temperatures and voltages.
With a Rexx-API you can query all important values. When a value reaches its user
defined limit StHWMon is able to ...
InfoZip UnZip 5.40 was released 1998-11-28. Here is the download link:
http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/UnZip.html#OS2
I've made a "state-of-art" port of TiMidity (software MIDI synth).
Along with standard Timidity 0.2i this port includes effects (reverb, chorus, phaser,
celeste), SBK/SF2 support and dual ports (32 channels).
You can download binaries and source code from:
http://www.freebyte.ml.org/~boga/OS2Programs.html
Gsview the Ghostscript-Viewer for OS/2 has been updated to Version 2.7 and is
available under:
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/