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August 2002
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An editorial view from Jason R Stefanovich.
It seems like we editorialize on this topic two or three times a year, and yet the situation hasn't gotten better. VOICE is an organization "By and for the People", which means it needs your support to continue operating.
VOICE provides it's services freely and unrestricted to all users, regardless of membership. This is in line with the philosophy behind VOICE as outlined in the VOICE Goals. To better achieve these goals, the dedicated members of VOICE altruistically give their time, money and expertise. Unfortunately, raw enthusiasm, activism and dedication do not pay the bills or keep the machinery well oiled. We desperately need to hear your VOICE.
The membership of VOICE has declined to less than 2% of this newsletter's readership. This is not a trend that is beneficial to us providing the types of services that all enjoy. With every new issue, the editors struggle more to find (and sometimes coerce) enough content to produce a publication that will be educational and enjoyable for you, the reader. However, this newsletter is by far not the only valuable service provided by VOICE.
The WarpDoctor Clinic provides a huge repository of knowledge, tools and support to users seeking help. Several FAQs are also maintained separately along with some "EZ References". One on One help is even provided to beleaguered users in IRC sessions every Sunday.
Five Mailing Lists are maintained by VOICE for the public, including the very popular "News and Announcements" list. In addition, a listing of over 50 OS/2 related mailing lists active throughout the world is maintained.
VOICE maintains relationships with organizations like IACT, who we join in supporting initiatives like the Freedom Of Choice Project. VOICE and it's members have been active supporters of WarpStock and Warpstock Europe for years, giving time and money to help organize these annual events.
Yet, despite these valuable services, membership skitters around 200. To keep improving we need your support. We welcome all new Members with open arms. Membership is inexpensive and does provide some exclusive benefits. Our affordable Sponsorship program not only helps fund VOICE, but also provides good visibility for your company or product and can help strengthen relationships with the user community.
Recently, we have lost several valuable members of our Board. We are desperately searching for volunteers for nomination to the positions of President, Liaison Officer and Marketing Officer. The responsibilities of these positions are outlined in the VOICE Bylaws. If you think you can help guide VOICE into the future, please nominate yourself by sending an email to VOICE Secretary Andrew Welty - andreww@aaip.net with the subject VOICE Nomination, the position you are interested in and some details about yourself. Positions are only open to VOICE members, but if you are not a VOICE member now is a great time to join.
Finally, your time and expertise are warmly welcomed. Many of the services I've described here operate on only the thinnest margin, with a very small team or only a dedicated individual keeping them going.
Don't allow VOICE to suffer the fate of it's predecessor organizations!
VOICE Newsletter Update: The planned page for free small advertisements by freeware authors and OS/2 users is going to become part of the VOICE home page soon. Its delayed as our webmaster has just relocated and isn't as yet back up to full speed yet. If you are interested, please contact us at ads@os2voice.org.
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 and HowTo articles. If you can help by writing an article please contact me at editor@os2voice.org.
Our Newsletter team is in need of backup. A few people have joined after we published a call for help last month, but we could do with some more. To be able to help you don't have to be a very good translator or HTML programmer. If you have good knowledge of English or German spelling and grammar, you can also help with editing the articles. Some hints on translation activities are also available in the FAQ.
Warp Doctor: Have an idea for Warp Doctor? You can send your comments directly to the Warp Doctor web guy Jeremy at rs@fyrelizard.com or better yet attend one of our Warp Doctor Team meetings, weekly on IRC.
Everyone's help is required to keep this project going. The team meets every Sunday at 3PM EST (19:00 GMT), on IRC in the #warpdoctor channel on the WEBBnet IRC network. For more information on attending online IRC meetings please see the VOICE Meeting Information page - http://www.os2voice.org/meetinginfo.html.
VOICE Online Update: This month the general member meetings are scheduled on August 5 and August 19 at 8PM EST (00:00 GMT). Everyone interested in OS/2 or eComstation is invited to attend either or both of these sessions. For more information on attending online VOICE IRC meetings please see the VOICE Meeting Information page - http://www.os2voice.org/meetinginfo.html.
If you have an idea for a Speakup event, please submit it to liaison@os2voice.org, and we will try to schedule something. 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.
This month Mark Dodel starts with a review of The IBM Travelstar 8E PCMCIA drive. Though IBM won't admit it, this external PCMCIA drive works under OS/2 and eCS, with some odd quirks. If you can live with the peculiarities, this could be an inexpensive way to boost storage on your aging laptop.
Dominik Chmaj writes about using the freeware gPhoto2/2 v2rc5 to get photos from his USB connected digital camera.
In Interview with an OS/2 SOHO-user, Eric Baerwaldt chats with Barbara Tichy-Tchapeou about her current use of OS/2 in her work as a language translator.
Then we have a review by Alan Harrison of the long time OS/2 development environment GpfRexx, GUI Programming Facility for REXX. So read on and see if GpfREXX can be useful addition to your OS/2 development toolbox.
The last time Peter Brown wrote an article for the Newsletter was about a year ago, on MultiDesk V0.2.0 - Your own Desktop on a shared OS/2 Warp PC!. Today Peter is back with an article on creating different desktops using the eComStation ThemeManager - "How To" Modify existing Themes and Add New Themes.
Warpstock 2002, Why YOU should be going. Our last feature article tells us some of what to expect in Austin Texas at the 5th rendition of the OS/2 user convention we call Warpstock. at this point we don't know if this will be the last Warpstock, but it has the earmarks for being one of the best as Austin is the home of the OS/2 Development team of IBM.
Finally we have the VOICE Newsletter OS/2 Tips page and the Letters, Addenda, Errata page. If you have any OS/2 or eCS tips you've uncovered, please send them to tips@os2voice.org. If you have any comments or suggestions about the newsletter or articles in it, please send them to editor@os2voice.org.
That's it for this month. Upcoming articles include a series on REXX and DRDialog, an article on using the Internet Movie Database with OS/2 by Christian Hennecke and an article by Julien Pierre on Digital photography with OS/2.
Mark Dodel, Christian Hennecke and Jason R Stefanovich
VOICE Newsletter editors
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