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The following was to appear in last month's Newsletter, but was
held for the July 1st issue due to changing publishing dates from the 15th of the
month to the 1st of the month. Hopefully since you are reading this now, then all
(or most) went well with this accelerated issue. Thanks to all the authors and editors
that made this change possible.
I spend a lot of time on OS/2 Mailing Lists and in the OS/2 Usenet groups, trying
to help folks and also on the lookout for great tips from other folks for each issue
of the Newsletter. People frequently seek out my help, asking questions related
to posts they have seen me make elsewhere, or for some reason they just think I
might know something about their problem.
Most times I have no idea what their problem is since I lack experience with
their particular hardware, or software. But if it's something that looks like I
may have stumbled across in the past, I'll put on my Warped detective hat and go
sleuthing. Here are some of the places I go looking for answers when I'm looking
for Help.
Even though OS/2 is getting a bit long in the tooth, it comes with some help
tools you can easily access yourself. If you have an error message, it's easy enough
to open an OS/2 command prompt and type help sys00123 and
get a brief description of the error message. You can do the same with OS/2 commands
as well. Type help dir and the OS/2 Warp Command Reference
opens to the page describing the DIR command. There is also a tcphelp
command that does the same, only it searches the TCP/IP Command Reference.
There are a lot of useful online INF books on your system which can be searched,
many are located in the x:\OS2\BOOK directory.
There is a Troubleshooting folder under the Assistance Folder. Unfortunately,
other then the Troubleshooting INF located there, most of the objects seem related
to helping IBM personnel troubleshoot your problem. Things like FFST (First Failure
Support Technology), System Error Log, Trace Formatter, PM Dump Facility, don't
look to user friendly. There is the Hard Disk Drive Monitor which will give you
information about your drives if they have Smart (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and
Reporting Technology) support built in. There is a URL object there called "Support
Through the Internet", but that URL just redirects to the IBM Products page
and is useless. the Troubleshooting INF has some basic direction on how to troubleshoot
a problem, along with a flowchart on how to approach it. There are some detailed
instructions here on how to perform specific functions like removing Ulti-Mail Lite,
basic networking problems(LAN and TCP/IP), setting up AskPSP and others.
I vaguely recall installing AskPSP when Warp 4 came out. According to Dan Casey,
President of VOICE, "It's a nice example of an online help desk. It uses a
Casepoint search engine. You ask a question in plain english, and it, in turn, leads
you through a series of questions and eventually arrives at a number of possible
solutions... It used to be updated regularly, but I don't think it has been for
over a year, now". Sigh, yet another feature of OS/2 that instead of being
refined and augmented, abandoned by it's creator. If you are interested in giving
it a spin, you can use Selective Install, it is one of the Bonus Pack applications.
Anyone know if there are any database updates for AskPSP available anywhere? Looking
through AskPSP, I see the IBM Technical Connection mentioned as a source for monthly
updates. Has this tool been completely abandoned by IBM?
There is some help from IBM available online. A site that explains IBM's Problem
tracking process is http://www-4.ibm.com/software/network/dce/library/publications/dceaix_22/a3u2l/A3U2L104.HTM
A PMR(Problem Management Record ) is a Problem Report number opened when you
call in a problem. An APAR(Authorized Program Analysis Report ) is the problem being
worked on. A closed APAR is the fix (if any exists) for the problem. There is a
searchable database of APARs by APAR number and by product at http://service5.boulder.ibm.com/pspfixpk.nsf/.
I have been told that people with IBM support contracts and Passport Advantage subscribers
have access to a database of open APARs as well. I'm not clear on whether Software
Choice subscribers get the same access as well.
There is an FAQ on Technical Support at http://ps.software.ibm.com/pbin-usa-ps/getobj.pl?/pdocs-usa/faq.html
There is a Defect
Report Form you can download on this FAQ, fill out and mail in. In the past
when I have used it, I have always gotten back a response telling me to call the
problem in, which I can't do since I don't have an IBM Rep or a service contract.
Perhaps others have had better luck with that mechanism. here is an app that I found
somewhere, that will help you generate an IBM Problem Report Telephone support is
available for a fee via PS Support Line Family at 1-888-426-4343, option 3.
All this assumes you have a way of reporting a problem to IBM. Generally without
a service contract you are SOL, unless one of the great guys from IBM who frequent
the Usenet news groups sees it and feels they can do something about it. You can
post a question to the appropriate Usenet News group. For General application questions
there is comp.os.os2.apps. News groups for
specific types of apps include comp.os.os2.mail-news
and comp.os.os2.utilities. For Fixpack
problems it appears that that some IBMers frequent the comp.os.os2.bugs
news group.
For networking questions there are comp.os.os2.networking.misc,
comp.os.os2.networking.server,
comp.os.os2.networking.tcpip, comp.os.os2.networking.www.
Having a problem with a game under OS/2 then try asking about it on comp.os.os2.games.
For communication issues try comp.os.os2.comm.
If you are having problems with sound cards or multimedia applications there is
comp.os.os2.multimedia. For other hardware
problems there are comp.os.os2.setup.misc,
comp.os.os2.setup.storage and comp.os.os2.setup.video
Finally if you can't figure where else to turn there is comp.os.os2.misc
and comp.os.os2.moderated.
You can search the comp.os.os2 news groups on Usenet to find answers to questions
that may have been answered in the past on the comp.os.os2 news groups on Usenet.
You can easily search these by going to http://www.deja.com.
There is even a better search function at http://www.exit109.com/~jeremy/news/deja.html.
Here you can search on Keywords, Subject:, From:. you can limit the news groups
to search. I'd suggest limiting them to comp.os.os2.* just to shorten the search
time and eliminate any noise from non-OS/2 posts. In addition you can limit search
on a date range.
There are lots of OS/2 oriented mailing lists. You can view a list of a lot of
them at http://www.os2voice.org/mailinglists.html.
If you know of any public mail lists devoted to OS/2 that are not listed here, please
send the subscription information to editor@os2voice.org.
One I'd like to mention in particular is the VOICE Help List. You don't have to
subscribe to it unless you are interested in helping other OS/2 users. Anyone can
send a question to help@os2voice.org. No
guarantees that anyone on the list has the answer, but many folks have been helped.
As to general sites for help with specific problems, here are a few that I turn
to on a regular basis to try to answer questions:
DDPakOnline; IBM's OS/2 Device Driver Pak Online http://service.software.ibm.com/os2ddpak/html/index.htm.
Here you can look for drivers by device category, or search by driver name or by
date.
HOBBES http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/ and LEO
ftp://ftp.leo.org/pub/comp/os/os2/ and the FTP search engine at http://ftpsearch.lycos.com/
are also excellent sources for hard to find drivers, especially older ones not officially
supported by IBM.
For questions concerning fixes/updates to OS/2 and it's many components I turn
to Warp Updates - http://www.warpupdates.de/english/warpupdates.html.
This site is usually on top of all the current details about available fixpacks.
Compuserve's IBMFORUM
is now publicly available to all. There are folks who hang out there who don't frequent
the OS/2 mail lists or news groups, so it is another area of help that you may want
to tap for a fresh perspective. You do need to register, but access is now free.
If you are looking for help with hardware/software, a place to turn is OS2.org
- http://en.os2.org. They have searchable entries on various hardware/software
and a rating system. If you are familiar with any of the items, then rate them.
If yours is not there, you can enter it.
VOICE's Warp Doctor site http://www.warpdoctor.org,
has some information on Fixpack application methods, the OS/2 Scanner Compatibility
list, updated install diskette images and other help information about OS/2. We
are always adding new information here.
Finally there are previous issues of the VOICE Newsletter. You can view a complete
index of all past feature articles in the Newsletter by going to http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/vnlindex.html.
For a more wide ranging search, you can always turn to one of the Web Search engines.
One of my personal favorites is Web Wombat
- http://global.webwombat.com.au/. It runs on OS/2 Warp Server eBusiness.
Others I turn to for help are Google - http://www.google.com
and Northern Light - http://www.northernlight.com/.
So where do you turn to help when you need it? I'm sure there are other great
OS/2 resources out there as well as the one's I've listed. Have you uncovered any
recently? How about writing an article about it? I'd like to know more about Compuserve's
IBMFORUM myself. If you can help out the rest of us, email me at editor.os2voice.org
Speaking of Help, VOICE can use your support. If you haven't done so yet, but
are ready to do so now, joining VOICE has been made a bit easier if you are outside
the US. Mensys has added the VOICE memberships to their online store - http://shop.mensys.nl/cgi-bin/db2www/mns_art2.d2w/report?artname=VOICESUB.
As before you can also join VOICE online via our BMT Secure order form at https://secure.falcon-net.net/BMT/order0308.html.
Please consider joining VOICE now. Every membership helps make us stronger in our
support of the OS/2 community.
In July we are trying something a little different. Two Speakup sessions with
Serenity Systems' Bob St. John on
their new Managed Client The first session will be held on Monday, July 3rd at 1:00PM
EDT (1300GMT) to better accommodate users who reside somewhere besides the US. Another
session will be held on Monday, July 10th, at 8:00PM EDT (0:00 GMT), our usual timeslot.
Also in July there is a General Meeting scheduled on July July 17th, as usual
at 8PM EDT. In August there is a General Meeting scheduled for the 7th and 21st
at 8PM EDT(00:00GMT). If you would like to hear from someone in particular or
have an idea for a Speakup event, please submit it to liaison@os2voice.org,
and we will try to schedule something. Also on the VOICE Calendar are weekly Warp
Doctor team meetings every Wednesday at 8PM EDT (00:00GMT). As always, please be
sure to check out the updated VOICE Future events Calendar
in this newsletter or on the VOICE website at <http://www.os2voice.org/calendar.html>
for more details on future VOICE events.
For July, we have a translation of Alfredo Fernández Díaz's How to create a [complete] OS/2 system bootable off a CD-ROM.
Then we have How to Supercharge OS/2 Warp, Part 2
by Christian Hennecke. This month Christian looks at system responsiveness and
stability issues.
Bill Esposito has written a review of the HauppaugeWinTV
GO card. Next up we have Chris McGill with "My
Experience with SBLive Beta Drivers". Then Wayne Swanson covers alot
of what happened in Arizona a month ago in Ramblings on
WarpTech.
Finally this month Don Eitner has an article on The
Best OS/2 Software Money Can't Buy: XWorkplace V 0.9.3. XWorkPlace continues
to be updated and free. Give it a look and maybe you will be hooked like Don.
Just a reminder that we now have a full Newsletter
Master Index page. All the feature sections of the current and previous issues
can now be found on this one page. Additionally, we have added a Java based search
function to this master index page. It will allow you to search all past issues
for a specific word or phrase. So try it out and let us know what you think. If
you have any ideas for improvements let me know at editor@os2voice.org.
That's it for this month. We are always interested in your thoughts and views
on subjects related to OS/2, and would like to see opinion/editorial pieces as well
as hardware/software reviews. To that end, and because of several recent requests,
we have added a Guidelines for Article Submissions to the
VOICE Newsletter
Mark Dodel
Editor, VOICE Newsletter
editor@os2voice.org
If you want to express your feelings on the way IBM has abandoned
OS/2 users in it's quest to appease bill gates, please write a letter to the US
DOJ and tell them how you feel.
Joel I. Klein
Assistant Attorney General
Antitrust Division
U.S. Department of Justice
601 D Street, NW
Washington, DC 20530
The email address is antitrust@justice.usdoj.gov,
however I believe a written communication has more effect then electronic.