Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education
Dear Loyal OS/2 User,
The Warpstock Committee announces the final pricing for Warpstock '98 to be
held in Chicago, October 17 and 18th, of this year.
We have held the pricing for admission tickets at the same levels as last year
for a very extended period of time. Our early bird pricing is now discontinued,
and we are pleased to announce the final pricing for all admissions to Warpstock
'98.
Tickets are still a bargain.
There are only two types of passes -- a two day pass for $75 and a one day pass
for $50.
All passholders have access to all Warpstock events, venues and presentations.
These passes will not have any raffle tickets attached to their purchase. All passes
already sold will have the number of free raffle tickets promised for that pass.
Raffle tickets will be available for purchase at Warpstock'98.
Our sales statistics figures show that there was a very very small number of
people who purchased Bronze or Gold passes, the vast majority of the passes sold
were Platinum. The Bronze passes will become One Day passes without raffle tickets.
The Gold passes will be Two Day passes with two raffle tickets. Platinum tickets
are Two Day passes with 3 raffle tickets.
You can buy your tickets online from our web site @ http://www.warpstock.org
or use the toll-free number (800) 414-4268.
Warpstock '98 will be held at the Wyndham Northwest hotel. Wyndham's web site
is http://www.wyndham.com. You call the directly
at (630) 773-4000 or use the toll free number 800-WYNDHAM. Remember to get the
bargain room rate of $99/night you must use the group reservation code, "Warpstock."
A personal note if I may; the hotel is simply gorgeous. Amenities abound, restaurants,
health club, you name it; you can not beat the rate of $99/night and not have travel
time on the days of the event.
We hope to see everyone there.
Get there safely.
Stan
Centari Computers along with WarpSpeed Computers and The OS/2 SuperSite will
be conducting a drawing from now till the WarpStock convention. We will be giving
away a 40x CD-Rom, The Graham Utilities v2.1 and a Membership in the OS/2 Supersite
Members Club. We will have several other prizes to give away also. Log on to the
site beginning tomorrow and sign up for the drawing, this is the only way to get
added...I'm working on the forms as we speak and expect them to be up in the morning.
According to Centari Computers owner Thom Davis, "Chris, Dirk and I are
excited about the opportunity to show everyone that OS/2 suppliers can be just as
generous as the other OS's suppliers can be and return something to the people who
support us. Warped Surfers can log on to any of the sponsors website's and signup
for the contest. We also have the Centari Computers mailing list available for sign
up at the same time, no purchase is necessary. We will be drawing the name of the
lucky people at the WarpStock Convention and announcing them via The WarpCast News
Service (http://www.warpcast.com)."
The address is http://pages.sssnet.com/Confed2.
The site is also Comm/2 Java friendly :)
The log of tonight's special VOICE SpeakUp session with Mike Kaply (IBM) on Communicator
for OS/2 is now online! You can read it at http://www.os2voice.org/logs/V081098.LOG.html
or http://voice.os2ss.com/logs/V081098.LOG.html.
Ver 1.0.5 of MasterGear/2, the OS/2 port of Marat Fayzullin's Sega Master System/Game
Gear emulator, has been released. Features include:
You can download a copy from http://www.geocities.com/~spiceware.
PMConverter has been updated to v0.03, this is an MP3 Encoder Frontend with CDDB
Support for OS/2 MP3 Grabber and Encoder for OS/2 Warp with CDDB access via Internet
Data Base or local Data Base. You can download a copy from http://www.os-2.de/programme/indos2/cdencoder/.
If you're interested in the development of OS/2 device drivers, whether you're
an expert or a newbie, there is now a mailing list available for you. Please go
to:
http://www.io.com/~timur/os2pdd.html
to get all the information you need.
I think this mailing list is a great resource which should have been created
long ago. I urge all OS/2 driver programmers to sign up. Without the support of
the experts, the novices won't know what to do.
Entrepreneur 1.3 beta 8 for OS/2 can be downloaded from:
http://www.stardock.com/uploads/entxb8.zip
There is a new page with freeware OS/2 utilities (in German). There is no English
version of this page.
http://www1.stuttgart.netsurf.de/~kevers/warp.html
There are new drivers for AceCAD digitizer tablets (7/16/98) available:
http://service.software.ibm.com/os2ddpak/html/digitize/acecad_i/index.htm
There is a new release of NetExtra, and a new name: Web Willy Watch 3.0. Web
Willy Watch 3.0, now supports Netscape Communicator 4.04 for OS/2 (now in beta)
as well as prior OS/2 versions of the Netscape Navigator and the IBM WebExplorer
for OS/2. A companion version of Web Willy Watch 3.0 for Windows 95/98/NT supports
Netscape browsers and the Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Because many web sites now use methods to force-open new instances of the browser,
Web Willy Watch now supports simultaneous instances of the browser window.
Page mining, (offline browsing) has been significantly improved.
Web Willy Watch has powerful parental option features that allow you to block
pornography sites, particularly when children as surfing the web. By our estimate,
it blocks nearly 98% of such sites when parental options are enabled.
Web Willy Watch 3.0 for Windows 95/98/NT is available at no additional charge
for OS/2 customers. You may download Web Willy Watch for each platform if you wish.
For more information see http://www.innoval.com/.
StWTV v1.01 has been released, this is a TV-Application for the WinTV/PCI card
with the driver from Abbotsbury
Software (http://www.wdi.co.uk/OS2TV/download.htm). Features of the program
include:
If you are interested in StWTV visit you can visit their web site, available
in English (http://home.t-online.de/home/stefan.milcke/stwtv_en.htm)
or German (http://home.t-online.de/home/stefan.milcke/stwtv_en.htm).
There is a problem with the new Fixpak 7 for OS/2 Warp 4 and PMfax and FaxWorks
Software. The Keller Group Inc. has the info at their home page:
http://www.kellergroup.com/
It seems the new PMMERGE.DLL in Fixpak 7 conflicts with the fax programs.
Here's some additional information on installing and upgrading the Notes 4.6
client for OS/2. After installing the Notes 4.6 client, change the entry "KitType=2"
to "KitType=1" in your notes.ini file.
The incremental installers found on notes.net
(http://www.notes.net/) may have a problem determining version, here's the workaround:
In the $TEMPDIR/upgrade.log file you can find which files are causing the incremental
installer to fail, rename the offending files to a .bak file, and restart the incremental
installer. It should then upgrade successfully. After upgrading rename them back
to their original name.
WarpZip v1.09 has been refreshed to support Communicator.
"The archive has been refreshed since it's June 27 release. The only change
is to the Netscape helper app (WZPrep.exe) to make it work with Netscape Communicator.
If you already have version 1.09 you may just download the changed helper app in
zip form"
You can download a copy from http://www.fm-net.com/pillarsoft/warpzip.html.
Adaptec released new driver for 78xx family cards. Driver (package), dated 1
Aug 98 is available at IBM device driver pak on-line:
http://service.software.ibm.com/os2ddpak/html/diskands/adaptec/index.htm
Scan It/2 is a native OS/2 PM front end for the free available SANE (Scanner
Access Now Easy) software interface. Scan It/2 supports all scanners which are supported
by SANE. The application was tested in-house with Canon and Hewlett Packard scanners.
Get it at:
http://home.t-online.de/home/RReuters/ScIt_E2.htm
SANE is a port of the Linux version of the popular freeware SANE scanning package.
Version 0.661 of SANE for OS/2 can be found on Hobbes:
For more information about SANE, see its web page at:
http://www.mostang.com/sane/
Some highlights already included in this beta release are:
Because this is a beta version, Scan It/2 v0.9beta will cease function at August,
31st 1998. The release version 1.0 will be available before that date. Please watch
this space.
1) AWE 0.155 beta has been released and is avaliable in a "full" installation
at:
http:/www.yoursite.co.uk/os/2/webwriter
AWE is an advanced web writer, with project support, user supported and free.
AWE is extremely flexible, has hundreds of possible assignable keystrokes, has
a reusable parts list etc.
2) We are urgently looking for a helpdesk staff member for London City Work.
Pay, 16 pounds per hour, Start Monday, needs to know OS/2 and Smartsuite.
The August issue of EDM/2 is now available. In this months issue:
I-net 101 - The Basics of File Transfers - Part 3/4
Java Servlet Programming in OS/2
A Discussion of Oberon
A Description of the Oberon-2 Language
Calling PM APIs from AVIO sessions
An Introduction to C++ Programming - Part 13/13
You can read EDM/2 at htt://www.edm2.com.
New edition of Focus on OS/2 is now online. Included in this fortnight's edition
is a continuation of the series on Large Hard Disks. Partitions are zeroed in on
as both a workaround for some problems and a useful means of managing data.
In addition there are a host of new links and new items. You'll find information
on the new Warp Server, and links to the newly released Netscape Communicator for
OS/2 and a new Warp fixpak.
Focus on OS/2 may be read at http://os2.miningco.com.
News Harvest v1.0 has been released, this is an OS/2 Presentation Manger application
for the automatic retrieval of Usenet News binary articles.
The main design impetus was to create a Fire and Forget utility that would process
any number of groups over any number of servers with no user-intervention. This
is indeed the case - once News Harvest is configured with host and group information,
a single command will run the process to completion. A binary news harvester with
such simplicity of operation is often low on features. This is not the case with
News Harvest:
You can download a copy from ftp://ftp.bmtmicro.com/bmtmicro/nhvst10.zip
Here is the latest news from Opera Software on the status of their OS/2 porting
efforts:
I had a long chat with Arthur Lee last night, and what transpired is both encouraging
and frustrating alike. Arthur said that if it wasn't for the resource files, we'd
have a beta version already. But it's just these resource files that are not compiling
at all, causing the team great headache. The programmers in Norway have been notified,
and we hope to find a solution to this problem really soon, because then we will
able to see Opera/2 in real action.
For more information on the Opera web browser, see http://www.operasoftware.com.
Solution Technology (STi) has qualified their high performance BarCode Anywhere(TM)
for OS/2(R) input filters under ImagePlus(R) VisualInfo(TM) Version 2.3.1 as well
as the ImagePlus Workstation Program Version 2.1.0. Previously, BarCode Anywhere
was qualified under the ImagePlus Workstation Program Version 1.2.x.
BarCode Anywhere is the first product in the industry to achieve a scan and read
rate of over two (2) pages per second without special hardware and continues to
be the fastest all angles software barcode image reader in the industry.
Solution Technology is a leading supplier of components for image analysis, data-entry,
document management applications, and device driver development. Other barcode,
forms reading, image data-entry, and departmental management products for OS/2 and
NT are available for use in the transportation, banking, distribution, and insurance
industries among others.
For more information, contact Leon D. Zetekoff, NCE, Product Manager, 1101 South
Rogers Circle, Suite 14, Boca Raton, FL 33487 or wisit our Web site at http://www.gate.net/~stidev.
As mentioned earlier today, you can install the Notes 4.6.x Server under OS/2,
and then change the INI file to get a 4.6.x client. If you want to install the 4.6.x
Workstation by itself, without the server do the following:
You should now be able to see and select ONLY the "Notes Workstation"
choice. After the install, add "unsupportedclient=1" to your NOTES.INI
file (Note: you may be able to add this line to the NOTES.INI in the install directory
and have it automatically put on the client. I haven't tested that yet)
Apparently, Lotus did most or all of the code for Notes 4.6 OS/2, but decided
to not release it. I haven't found a problem with the hack yet.
The Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education (V.O.I.C.E.) has scheduled
a very special SpeakUp session in IRC for Monday, August 10, 1998. The guest speaker
for this night will be Mike Kaply, Technical Lead, Communicator for OS/2 at IBM,
who will be discussing the recently released Communicator 4.04 beta for OS/2 and
answering your questions. Come for the chat, stay for the news!
SpeakUp sessions are held on the WEBBnet IRC network in the #voice channel at
8pm US Eastern Daylight time (midnight GMT as Monday becomes Tuesday). For a current
list of WEBBnet IRC servers, please visit http://www.suntrix.com/ibbs/server.html
and for a list of OS/2 IRC client software visit http://www.gt-online.com/~bri/irc_clients.html.
Further information on V.O.I.C.E. meetings can be found on the Meeting Info page
of the V.O.I.C.E. website (http://www.os2voice.org/).
If you require still further assistance, please contact the V.O.I.C.E. Secretary
at freiheit@tstonramp.com.
As always, SpeakUp sessions are open to everyone, so please don't hesitate to
attend and tell everyone you know!
V.O.I.C.E. is a non-profit organization established by volunteers in 1997 for
the benefit of OS/2 home and SOHO users.
I am getting killed by putting up with OS/2 in my compnay - I need a OS2 client
guru with extensive knowledge of Sybase and ORacle Clients - its a warp 3 and 4
environment - email me at davis@prosx.com or
call 713-335-5270 - this is not a recruiter or any BS.
FED v0.2.0n has been released. FED is my small text mode editor. Small but powerful
enough to be used as my everyday editor. Features of FED includes:
FAST Editor Lite can be downloaded from my home page:
http://www.noos.kiev.ua/~es/.
PU Monitor v2.01 has been released. PU Monitor is a general purpose system monitoring
tool. PU Monitor is highly informative (includes CPU usage monitor, TCP/IP traffic
monitor, Uptime, free RAM, clock, POP3 mailbox checker and Connectivity monitor)
and consumes small amount of desktop space. You can download a copy from:
http://www.bmtmicro.com/catalog/pumonitor.html
X-it 2.51 has been released, this is an OS/2 desktop enhancer - single click
to many common actions that normally take a large number of mouse movements and
clicking. Adds user defined titlebar buttons to all windows, such as close, rollup,
open parent folder, task list and many more, including running any program. These
actions can also be assigned to the middle/right mouse buttons (including double-click
with just a single click) and well as the keyboard. Many other features, such as
a titlebar clock and international support. Works with any shell (WPS, MSHELL, etc).
You can download a copy from:
http://www.wilmington.net/bmtmicro/catalog/xit/xit.html.
X-it gives you a single click to many common actions that normally take a large
number of mouse movements and clicking. X-it was nominated as Most Innovative New
Product at the 1997 Shareware Industry Awards (www.sic.org).
NEW FEATURES:
AND THE STANDARD FEATURES:
Product Info:
Product: X-it for OS/2
Filename: XIT251.ZIP. Language specific versions (XITDE*.ZIP) can be found at the
X-it web page (see below)
Type: Desktop enhancement utility, Shareware
Price: $25 US
CIS SWREG: #11263
Company: CodeSmith Software, RR 1, S-2, C-23, Fernie, BC, Canada V0B 1M0
Web: http://www.bmtmicro.com/catalog/xit/xit.html
Update notices via list server: email: majordomo@bmtmicro.com
body: subscribe x-it
Email: xit@bmtmicro.com
USA Phone: 800-414-4268 (orders only), 910-791-7052 (orders or order inquires only)
Online ordering: https://secure.falcon-net.net/BMT/order0229.html
Requirements: OS/2 2.0 or later. @250K RAM (X-its usage), 300K disk space
Look for XIT251.ZIP at these sites:
http://www.bmtmicro.com/catalog/xit/xit.html
(web)
ftp.bmtmicro.com /bmtmicro (ftp) hobbes.nmsu.edu /util/wps (ftp) ftp-os2.cdrom.com
/wps (ftp) http://www.musthave.com (web) GO
OS2BVEN, OS/2 Shareware, Library #1 (Compuserve) IBM OS/2 BBS: 604-664-6464 (Canada)
Holger Veit recently released the third fix to XFree86/OS2, to bring it up to
date with the latest security fixes from XFree86. There are also ports of new servers
created by SuSE, for Permedia2, Rendition Verite, and NeoMagic MagicGraph. You can
download a copy from http://set.gmd.de/~veit/os2/xf86os2.html.
I've found a trick how to get a Lotus Notes 4.6.x Client for OS/2. After the
installation of the 4.6 OS/2 Server just add the following line to the NOTES.INI:
UnsupportedClient=1
and then you get a Notes 4.6 Client for OS/2.
Phoenix Software Announces Registration For The Think Tool Pro For OS/2 Beta
2 Program
August 1998, Reno - Phoenix Software announced today that they WILL be having
a second, OPEN beta program for the OS/2 version of the Think Tool Pro object database
and Personal Information Manager (PIM). The beta 2 program will be open to anyone
who wants to participate.
This is a change of plan for the company which had previously announced that
they would not be conducting a second beta. Phoenix Software is providing a registration
web page for those who want to participate in the Think Tool Pro beta 2 program.
The web page can be found at http://www.phxsoft.com/beta2.html.
Robert Blake of Phoenix Software had this to say:
"We have received a lot of feedback - both in favor of, and against a second
beta. There are many individuals and some large companies who are very interested
in benefitting from the Think Tool Pro as soon as possible, so we wanted to make
it available quickly. But ultimately, we decided that in order to ensure the greatest
product quality, compatibility and usability that we should do a second, more open
beta."
"We are not yet ready to begin the second beta program, but we will be within
the next few weeks. We are currently accepting registrants for the beta 2 program
through our web site. When we are ready to begin the beta program, all registrants
will receive additional details about the program. Thank you to everyone who has
registered so far; we appreciate your interest and support. For additional information
you can go to our web site or send questions to beta2@phxsoft.com"
About Phoenix Software
Phoenix Software is a privately held company founded in 1996 to provide object
database, knowledge management and groupware/workflow products and solutions. Phoenix
Software is developing for OS/2 FIRST, and will support other additional operating
systems in the future.
Phoenix Software is currently located at 100 West Grove St. Suite 360, Reno,
NV 89509, phone: 541-741-2430, fax: 541-741-2485, www.PhxSoft.com, or at info@PhxSoft.com
A couple of people have written and asked what B.U.G.S. is and where they could
find more information about it.
B.U.G.S. is a relatively straight forward game of saving the galaxy from alien
creatures. You fly a lone star ship in which you must destroy these invaders one
by one. The Galaga-like game play changes from level to level as new bugs are introduced
as the game progresses. A boss bug arrives on the scene every few levels in an effort
to wipe out the puny human resister. B.U.G.S. was first released on IBM's OS/2 operating
system and is one of the most popular OS/2 games available. Its very simplicity
(and low price) have attracted many OS/2 gamers and even won it the coveted OS/2
game of the year runner up award from OS/2 Inside magazine for 1997.
More information can be found on:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/bugs_home/
Best regards,
Your B.U.G.S. Team
Some OS/2 users may have noticed that the Unofficial Netscape for OS/2 page previously
available at:
http://people.netscape.com/law/os2nav/
can no longer be found at its regular location. The resource's maintainer, Bill
Law, reports that its disappearance was caused by a company crackdown on Netscape's
public employee webserver. The full story on the crackdown can be found at the following
URL, courtesy of the San Jose Mercury News:
http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/codes/B/docs/B791.htm
However, Law has also assured OS/2 users that the resource "should be back
soon".
The Unofficial Netscape for OS/2 pages were originally established by employees
working on the Netscape Navigator 2.02 for OS/2 project, and offer a variety of
tips and tricks and information on plugins and helper applications for Netscape
2.02.
More recently, Law has also created under the same webspace a repository for
information about Mozilla/2, one of the efforts underway to port Netscape's Mozilla
source code to the OS/2 operating system.
William H. Geiger III (whgiii@invweb.net)
has released PGP 5.0 for OS/2 GA. That's right it's done unless something major
comes up. No more expiration dates. The only major bug that I can think of that
was fixed in this version deals with high ascii chars and clear-signed messages.
Both an interantional version and a USA version (compiled with RSAREF lib) are available.
You can download a copy from http://www.openpgp.net.
The August 1st issue of the OS/2 e-Zine! is now available. In this issue:
You can read the issue at http://www.os2ezine.com.
A new hauppauge-TV-card driver (Wincast PCI) has been released, you can download
a copy from
http://www.wdi.co.uk/os2tv/wcast.zip.
The B.U.G.S. wishlist is open now!
We're looking for suggestions from all B.U.G.S. users (future users of B.U.G.S.
for Windows included) on what should be added/put into an upgrade.
We can't promise that all of the suggestions will be implemented, but we're interested
in hearing our customers' opinions before making any decisions on new features...
Please send your ideas to:
bugs_home@csi.com
with the Subject: [WarpCast] "BUGS Survey"
We're really looking forward to receiving your opinions! :)
Note: By sending us your suggestion you agree that we can freely use it (if we
decide to) without any further obligations.
Thanks in advance,
Your B.U.G.S. team.
The beta 7 version of Warp Globe has been released. It includes a smaller executable,
an idle time control, a new icon, control of the number of stars, and a cleaner
exit. The cities file has been updated as well. WarpGlobe is a program that puts
an earthglobe on the desktop, and paints the cities with some OS/2 users. You can
download a copy from the WarpGlobe web site at:
http://www.arrakis.es/~scostas/OS2/globeeng.htm
There is now a mailing list for Netscape for OS/2
Just send a message to:
ns4os2-subscribe@makelist.com
for general discussions about Netscape for OS/2
To send a message to this mailing list use:
ns4os2@makelist.com
(Note: must be a member to send email to list)
VOICE has scheduled two SpeakUp sessions for the month of August, 1998.
Monday, August 3 - Kim Rasmussen, author of Internet Adventurer, the popular
OS/2 internet suite.
Monday, August 17 - Benedict Chong, author of Power Boot, the Boot Manager replacement.
Benedict will have one free copy of Power Boot to give away during the meeting to
one of our lucky members.
Both sessions will be held in IRC (Internet Relay Chat) on the WEBBnet network.
SpeakUp sessions begin at 8pm US Eastern Daylight time (midnight GMT). For information
on WEBBnet servers, please refer to http://www.suntrix.com.
For information on IRC client software, please refer to http://www.gt-online.com.
For further information, please visit the VOICE website at http://www.os2voice.org
IBM has released new FixPaks the following langauges:
FixPak 7 (German) - ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/fixes/v4warp/german
FixPak 6 (Simplified Chinese) - ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/fixes/v4warp/china-prc/fx03006
FixPak 6 (Traditional Chinese) - ftp://ftp.software.ibm.comps/products/os2/fixes/v4warp/china-tw/wx03006
Escape GL has been updated to V2.2 and is available free of charge for registered
Escape GL V2 users. The Snow Storm Software web site is:
http://www.snowstormsoftware.com/
This update includes ongoing performance and stability improvements, new default
settings, and expanded custom module support.
Special! Limited time offer:
Until August 31, 1998, Escape GL V2.1 for Windows is available to all Escape
GL for OS/2 users for only $15US. The full copy price is identical to the OS/2 product,
$25US.
*** Escape GL V2 Developers Toolkits ***
Developers Toolkits are now available for both the OS/2 and Windows versions
of Escape GL. Both are free of charge for Escape GL users. These toolkits allow
you to easily develop 3D OpenGL modules and run them under Escape GL.
Native OS/2 Web Willy Watch 3.0 for Netscape 2.02 and 4.04
Harrison, New York, July 31, 1998 -- InnoVal Systems Solutions announced that
a native OS/2 version of Web Willy Watch 3.0 is immediately available. Web Willy
Watch is a combination tool that allows parents to optionally block pornographic
web sites and, at the same time, adds significant useful function for those who
use the Netscape Navigator, Netscape Communicator, and certain other web browsers.
Low cost Single Family licenses and Every Family licensing options for businesses,
K-12 schools, membership organizations, churches, and synagogues, are available.
Web Willy Watch is also available for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT.
"Not only is Web Willy Watch unique, so too is the license agreement,"
said Dan Porter, President of InnoVal. "For instance, I have a Single Family
License. For $20.00, the license covers all OS/2 and Windows machines at home and
the machines that I use at the office. An Every Family License extends coverage
to the entire constituency of an organization. A small business may buy an Every
Family License for $159.00 that extends coverage to every employee's family for
home use. We have been surprised that a number of people have obtained, on their
own personal initiative, an Every Family License for their children's school or
their church."
In addition to optionally blocking pornography sites, Web Willy Watch may be
used to gather web content for offline browsing. It is a very powerful offline browser.
The program can also record the title and URL of every web site ever visited. In
addition to being useful for monitoring a child's web activity, this is a useful
feature for tracking down forgotten URL's that were not bookmarked.
"I call it bookmarks for dummies," said Porter. "Like me, have
you ever wanted to find a site you visited three or four months ago? You didn't
bookmark it. You don't recall the URL, and it's one of those sites low on search
engine lists. I can't imagine not having this feature on my system."
Web Willy Watch for OS/2 works with Netscape Navigator 2.02 and the IBM WebExplorer.
It will also work with the upcoming Netscape Communicator 4.04 when released. The
Windows 95/98/NT version supports Netscape Navigator, Netscape Communicator and
the Microsoft Internet Explorer.
InnoVal is also announcing today, details about new spam fighting software to
be released in early September. A native OS/2 version will be released first. Yet
unnamed, the new spam fighting software will include a database of thousands of
known spammers and tools for effectively fighting back at the spammers through abuse
reporting facilities, the Federal Trade Commission and various States' Attorneys
General. See InnoVal home site at http://www.innoval.com for additional details.
"We will process your order in 5 minutes, twenty-four hours per day, seven
days a week. You can have it up and running in 15 minutes," said Porter. Web
Willy Watch is also available very rapidly from BMT Micro at http://www.bmtmicro.com.
InnoVal is a leading producer of specialized software for the Internet including
the J Street Mailer, a Java email client, the Post Road Mailer, and Hacksaw. Hacksaw
is a popular 32-bit Windows and OS/2 Internet file transfer utility.
Additional details about Web Willy Watch and Single Family and Every Family licensing
may be found at http://www.webwilly.com and
at InnoVal's home site at http://www.innoval.com.
InnoVal Announces New Information About Spam Fighting Software.
Harrison, New York, July 31, 1998 -- InnoVal Systems Solutions announced new
details about its soon-to-be-released new spam fighting software. A native OS/2
version will be released first. Yet unnamed, the new spam fighting software will
include a database of thousands of known spammers that is frequently and automatically
updated. Logic rules, including "black hole lookup" will help to identify
other spam.
In a letter to InnoVal customers, Dan Porter, President of InnoVal, wrote: "This
is far more than a filter program. It's a fighting program. For instance, we're
including facilities for forwarding spam messages to service provider abuse centers.
We've gathered email addresses for most ISPs (it isn't always abuse@domain or postmaster@domain)
and we are building those addresses into the forwarding facility."
New legislation, much of it now working its way through Congress and various
state legislatures, may provide new mechanisms for fighting spam. But they also
add new problems and may change the way we deal with spam.
Residents of the State of Washington may now sue spammers, but only if headers
are forged or the subject header is not clear. We are including logic for detecting
forged headers.
A Bill in the United States Senate, S.1618, which deals primarily with telephone
long distance carrier "slamming" includes some provisions (Title III,
Sections 301 through 305), that apply to unsolicited commercial electronic mail.
The bill passed the full Senate in May and a companion bill in the House, HR3888,
is expected to be voted out of committee soon. It is very likely that this legislation
will be signed into law by the President, soon. The problems with the Federal legislation
are that it legitimizes so-called "responsible" spamming and places the
burden on the recipient of spam to request removal from the spammer's mailing list.
"We are going to build in tools to help you deal with Section 301' spam,"
Porter's letter continued. "Generally, you should never send a remove request
to a spammer. At worst, it confirms that you have a valid email address and that
you read the message you received. At best, it simply generates rejection notices
since the email address is most often invalid.
"Section 301 spam may need to be treated differently. It is likely that
you will want to send a single remove message. You will want to keep a copy of the
spam, your request for removal, and any rejection notices so that, if appropriate,
you can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, Internet Service Providers,
and appropriate States' Attorneys General, as provided for in the law.
"This means that we will need to revise the software as laws go into effect
and as the FTC and various States promulgate rules and procedures. This we will
do free for those who have purchased our software.
"The first release, for OS/2, will be around September 1. A Windows 95/98/NT
version will follow shortly afterwards. The software is designed to work separately
or in conjunction with your favorite email client software. I expect the price to
be about $25.00. We haven't named the product yet. If you have a great idea for
a name, let us know."
InnoVal also announced today, the immediate availability of a native OS/2 version
of Web Willy Watch 3.0. Additional details about Web Willy Watch and unique licensing
for the product may be found at http://www.webwilly.com.
InnoVal is a leading producer of specialized software for the Internet including
the J Street Mailer, a Java email client, Post Road Mailer for OS/2, and Hacksaw.
Hacksaw is a popular 32-bit Windows and OS/2 Internet file transfer utility.
With the release of Netscape Navigator 4 for OS/2 in the last couple of days
for public testing the OS/2 community was finally graced with a more up to date
browser to cope with modern web navigation. Unfortunately, as with the previous
version (2.02), the dialog boxes remain ugly, unorganised and waste valuable screen
space. Thankfully, the new Navigator subsytem can be modified unlike previous versions,
and as a result, the Dialog Enhancer (http://www-student.lboro.ac.uk/~mcrsc/ostrans.html)
team are currently working on updating all of the dialogs used. Areas being addressed
are:
Expect to see a beta test containing the patch soon, before that, we would like
to hear from users about areas of the browser that need to be addressed, and any
images that need to be tweaked. The project is quite large so all comments are welcome.
For information regarding the top selling product Dialog Enhancer - visit the
Dialog Enhancer web site. Submit all commentsents/suggestions regarding Communicator
to, dialogenhancer@bmtmicro.com
with the subject "Communicator".
The beta of Communicator will not install on OS/2 v3.0 (it only supports Warp
Server and OS/2 v4.0). However it is possible to change this. First you need to
be have FixPak 29 (or higher) installed, and then you need to modify the installation
script.
Find the following lines in the beginning of NS40COMM.PKG:
FILE
EXITWHEN = INSTALL,
EXIT = 'SETVAR INSTALLING=INSTALLING'
EXIT
DLL = NS40EXIT.DLL
FILE
EXITWHEN = ALWAYS,
EXIT = SETOS2VERSION
FILE
EXITWHEN = INSTALL,
EXIT = NETSCAPEFIXPAK
EXIT
DLL = EPFIEXTS.DLL
Remove (or comment with asterisks) this text and replace it with this:
FILE
EXITWHEN = ALWAYS,
EXIT = 'SETVAR V4X=TRUE'
Then you can run INSTALL.EXE and enjoy Communicator.
IBM has released RSUINST v1.71. This is the program that allows you to install
FixPaks over the web, and this new version will be the minimum level needed for
all future OS/2 RSU Fixpaks. You can download a copy from: ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/rsu/rsuinstn.exe
Version 1.70 had some fixes so it works better with the new FTPINSTL.EXE program.
This is the minimum level needed for all future OS/2 RSU Fixpaks. Version 1.71 implements
automatic update when a new version is released. Note: FTPINSTL.EXE is the GUI replacement
for the original FTPINSTL.CMD. It is included in Warp 4 FixPak 7 and Warp 3 FixPak
37 and will be in all future FixPaks.
There is a new release of the MR/2 ICE Newsreader, release #50. You can download
it from: http://nick.secant.com/newsbeta.htm
SANE 0.74 has been released, and includes OS/2 enhancements by Yuri Dario and
Rocco Caputo. I suspect Yuri will have a binary available for download from his
web page soon.
"Jul 27: SANE v0.74 is now available! There is a new backend for the Kodak
DC25 camera and the backends for Artec, Microtek, Microtek2, Nikon Coolscan, and
UMAX have been updated. OS/2 SCSI support has been improved so scanners can be autodetected
and Epson parallel port scanners should now work under OS/2 as well (this is untested,
however)."
SANE home page:
http://www.mostang.com/sane/
Announcement:
http://www.mostang.com/mail-archive/sane-devel/1998-07/0162.html
Yuri's web page:
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Peaks/4320/sane2.html
The Medicine Chest
Medical Education Edition - General Availability
I am pleased to announce that the Student Editions are available free of charge
to:
The following versions have been released:
Pediatric H & P OS/2 Student Edition Version 1.0s
Pediatric H & P JAVA Student Edition Version 1.0s for Mac, Win95/98/NT, OS/2
Registration via our web site is required at the following URL:
http://www.PediatricNetwork.com/ivory/se/se.htm
For the convenience of students, the User's Guides are available for reference
on our web site. The Student Edition FAQ is also available to aid in support of
installation and setup problems.
The Medicine Chest is a Notebook Data Capture Facility for Pediatric Intern and
Residents wishing to take patient history and physical profiles giving them a mobile
capability.
Minta 1.45 is out now!
Minta is a useful PM utility for everyone who works with MP3 audio files frequently.
Apart from displaying lots of technical information about the files, you can create,
edit and remove the ID3 info tags, for single as well as for multiple files, one
after another or all at once.
Another feature of Minta is the listing function that allows you to output the
files with selectable information to a list very easily.
If you want to know more about Minta, check out the Minta home page at:
http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/CIP/thielen/minta
Listen 306 Version 1.1 is now available.
"Listen 306" is an ISDN watcher tool for users of the Eumex and AGFEO
ISDN communication machines, for example Eumex 306 (where the name "Listen
306" comes from).
This native OS/2 software provides the following features:
Demonstration Version 1.1 can be downloaded from my web site:
http://www.hamburg.roses.de/~carsten.mueller
PU Monitor v2.0 has been released. PU Monitor is a general purpose system monitoring
tool. PU Monitor is highly informative (includes CPU usage monitor, TCP/IP traffic
monitor, Uptime, free RAM, clock, POP3 mailbox checker and Connectivity monitor)
and consumes small amount of desktop space. You can download a copy from http://www.bmtmicro.com/catalog/pumonitor.html
IBM has put up a web site for the Netscape Communicator 4.04 for OS/2 Warp Pre-release
Customer Program. You can sign up and download a copy of Communicator and the new
Plug-In pak. See:
http://service5.boulder.ibm.com/pcpd.nsf/ocomm40+home
There was an early error where the downloadable file seemed to only be about
1.1 MB, but that was quickly fixed.
The Warpstock 98 Speakup session hosted by VOICE on Monday, July 27, 1998, brought
a lot of interested people out to talk about the OS/2 event of the year and a big
surprise. In support of Warpstock 98, the Warpstock prize drawing was opened to
all who attended the Speakup session.
The first and second place winners of the contest were:
1st Place: Gregory Salomone - Warpstock Platinum Pass & One Night at the
Wyndham Hotel
2nd Place: Esther Schindler - Warpstock Platinum Pass
Congratulations to the both of them and thanks to all who attended and participated
in the drawing! Here's to another wonderful Warpstock event!
File Manager/2 v3.0 has been released. File Manager/2 is a shareware OS/2 3.0
(Warp)+ PM 32-bit file/directory/archive maintenance utility (a sort of super-Drives
object, something midway between the Drives objects and a more traditional file
manager) with plenty of bells, whistles and utilities, drag and drop, context menus,
toolbars, bubble help and accelerator keys. If you know how to use OS/2, you already
know how to use most of FM/2. You can easily glean the rest from the extensive online
help, including tutorials. You can download a copy from:
ftp://ftp.bmtmicro.com/bmtmicro/fm2_300.zip
NetLookout has been updated to v2.08. NetLookout for OS/2 is a internet notifier.
It will watch Web, FTP and Gopher sites, and tell you if they have changed. You
can download a copy from: ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/apps/internet/misc/nlook208.zip
Hobbes has improved its upload policy for OS/2 software and has changed the document
"Upload Policy" at:
http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/uploadpolicy.html
I include this new document in the Special Report I' m publishing on my OS/2
Site (http://macarlo.com) about the "DeScribe
affair".
MP3PM has been updated to version 0.60 (7/19/98):
http://www.kiss.uni-lj.si/~k4fe0470/progindex.html
NEW: - support for NTenc, ToMPG; ID3 TAG editor, ...
MP3PM is PM shell for producing audio files in MP3 format. Files in this format
are about 12 times smaller than their .wav companions at no hearable quality loss.
FEATURES:
- suport for L3enc for OS/2 from Fraunhofer
- support for CD-grabbing with Leach v1.20 or more
- etc...
Want to receive fixpaks on CD automatically as they are released? If so, you'll
find BMT Micro's Fixpak Subscription Service a valuable resource to keep you updated
with the latest fixpaks for OS/2 Warp 3 and 4 as they are released.
Each time a CD is updated we'll send you the latest release--it's as easy as
that. You can select Warp 3 or Warp 4. If you need both, please submit a subscription
form for each version. Here are the links to order online:
You can cancel at anytime. The FixPak subscription service costs $8.00 per CD
starting with the first CD you are shipped. Here are the details:
JMA Software Technologies shipped the BootSet 2.0. Version 2.0 is a significant
upgrade to BootSet 1.20, our boot time utility for OS/2.
With BootSet you get a menu that allows you to perform tasks before the graphic
part of OS/2 starts. It's perfect for switching between CONFIG.SYS files and replacing
WPS .DLL files. It's based on a simple text file (.INI file) where you enter the
commands (any batchfile or REXX commands) that you want to perform.
To get a copy, see the JMA Software Technologies web site:
http://www.jmast.se
MSE is designed to make mousing about the old desktop a bit easier. It allows
you to assign various commands to your mouse buttons with or without keyboard modifiers.
It also provides:
MSE is page-tuned, which means that any parts you don't use don't take up valuable
memory, and seldom-used parts take up memory only while in actual use, and can then
be swapped out until the next use. IOW, it plain old fashioned doesn't use any more
memory than absolutely necessary at any given time.
You can download a copy from ftp://ftp.bmtmicro.com/bmtmicro/mse.zip
I'm proud to announce the OS/2 port of MAME! M.A.M.E. stands for Multiple Arcade
Machine Emulator, and currently runs 500+ classic (and even some not so classic)
arcade games such as BombJack, 1943, and Bubble Bobble.
The port is done by Martin Amodeo, and the project is a part of the OS/2 Netlabs.
To get more information or download a copy see the MAME web page. Matrox users should
read the special page about Matrox Cards before running MAME.
IBM has released an update for Java 1.1.6 (Build o116-19980728), you can download
a copy from ftp://ftp.hursley.ibm.com/pub/java/fixes/os2/11/116/
or ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com/software/java/fixes/os2/11/116/.
SouthSoft has released PMINews 2.0 Beta 2. This beta will work until September
30th. If you'd like to know what new or fixed in this beta, see the version history.
You can download a copy from http://www.southsoft.com
or ftp://ftp.stardock.com.
IBM has released FixPak 37 for OS/2 v3.0. You can download a copy from
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/fixes/v3.0warp/english-us/xr_w037/
or from the Remote Software Updates page at
http://ps.software.ibm.com/pbin-usa-ps/getobj.pl?/pdocs-usa/softupd.html
JMA Software Technologies (http://www.algonet.se/~d103862/)
shipped the first beta of WebNav 2.1. Wersion 2.1 is to be a minor upgrade to WebNav
2.0, an Internet web browser and HTML document viewer.
Features include online and offline browsing, news and mail support, internal/external*
downloads, select a new link while a document is loading, easy to use treebased
quicklist and others. There is also a new beta (Beta 2) of WebNavDLL (a browser
plugin for Adventure Software's Internet Adventurer).
Cirrus Logic has released new drivers for their Crystal-Soundchips. They are
dated 29th and 30th June. You can download the drivers from http://www.cirrus.com/drivers/audiodrv/os2.html
Here is the latest news from Stardock.
Entrepreneur 1.3 beta officially available
Go to www.stardock.com to download the beta of Entrepreneur 1.3 if you already have Entrepreneur. There are a lot of new features in it. An enhanced version of Entrepreneur 1.3 with more direct action cards, more markets, and more maps will be available in the upcoming Expansion pack for only $19.95 (that price is good until it ships). Go to our order page to get your copy. The expansion pack should be out in a few weeks.
Speaking of Entrepreneur. Stardock has worked out a promotion with Electronics Boutique and Babbages where Entrepreneur is only $25 or so! If you don't have Entrepreneur, now is a good way to get it very inexpensively. Entrepreneur puts you in the role of the CEO of your own company. You must crush your competitors using any tactics available to you. It has received universally good reviews from Stategy Plus, PC Gamer, Computer Gaming World, and more. Electronics Boutique has it if you don't have one local to you.
Object Desktop 2.0 Preview Page Updated
Visit the Object Desktop 2.0 Preview Page to see some of the cool new features in Object Desktop 2.0. If you haven't already, you can still join the Early Experience program. The beta is in manufacturing and will begin being sent early next week we expect. Since we've only manufactured a limited number, only a limited number of people will be able to join so now's the time to get a good look at what is almost certainly the biggest technological advancement OS/2's seen in 1998. Object Desktop 2.0 will ship 4Q98.
Commerce Server Status
Stardock's commerce server has been very busy since we lowered the price on a few products.
For Windows users, Object Desktop for Windows (Network) is now available for purchase via the commerce server for $49.95.
Links for OS/2, is now only $19.95. Links is the most popular golf game of all time and the OS/2 version is spectacular.
PlusPak: Themes, a handy program for replacing all the icons on your desktop in a single click is also now only $19.95 and it comes with hundreds of the best looking icons ever seen on any OS.
If you want to get any of these, go to the commerce server.
OS/2 Warp 5 Rumors
These are JUST rumors. This is not official information.
IBM hasn't decided for sure whether there will be an OS/2 Warp 5 client. The server will be what comes first and then probably a client. There will probably be a client version because Warp 4 out of the box is not Year 2000 compliant and many customers balk at having to install an OS and then to have to install a Fixpack.
If there is a client, it will be largely a stripped down version of the server edition which means SMP will be in it. HPFS386 would not be the the client version but JFS would be which comes from AIX and adds a great deal of new features. Greater JAVA integration would become available and there are rumors that a much more powerful back up utility would be included to bring it up and beyond what NT 5 will have in it.
JFS would probably be the biggest bullet point new features for end users of OS/2 because it is so much faster than HPFS, might support compression on a directory basis, hot links, and a lot more.
Netscape Communicator 4.x is also not dead as it's being enhanced to use OS/2's speedy JAVA intead of the built in one which was originally the plan.
Stardock and GT Interactive team up
The next major add-on for Starcraft, the world's best selling PC Game, is coming from Stardock and being published by GT Interactive. Stardock was given the nod to produce the add-on based on the success and quality of Entrepreneur. The add-on called "Starcraft: Retaliation" should hit stores in September and is an official add-on that has been tested and approved by Blizzard.
MR/2 ICE v1.50 has been released. MR/2 ICE is a feature-packed Internet EMail
client. Both POP3 and SMTP are fully supported. Configurability is taken to an extreme.
MR/2 ICE lets the user select from many options, including optional pieces of the
user interface. You can download a copy from ftp://nick.secant.com/mr2i150.zip.
IBM now has a site dedicated to Year 2000 Readiness of OS/2 and DOS - http://www.software.ibm.com/os/warp/solutions/and/y2000/year2000.html
This site lists links to other IBM Year 2000 sites as well as a three step determination
of Year 2000 readiness for OS/2 and PC-DOS operating systems. These include:
Step 1: Year 2000 Ready Products
Step 2: Migration Alternatives
Step 3: Year 2000 FixPaks
Interesting that under Migration Alternatives, Warp 4 has the same Free service
support end date as WSOD "31 Jan 2001".
"Broken Promises, Broken Laws: How Bad Software Can Crash a Great Party."
We just posted a new 24x7 Report exploring the recent, hotly-debated "2B"
plans to change our software laws! If the proposals are enacted, is it possible
that software corporations like Microsoft will be able to dodge responsibility for
the Bad & Buggy software that they make-- and avoid the legal penalties while
you and I bear the costly liabilities?
You won't find the answers to those heavy questions in your software's User's
License Agreement, but you'll find them in our 24x7 Report, "Broken Promises,
Broken Laws: How Bad Software Can Crash a Great Party." Our article will explain
how the drafted proposal would affect your daily use of software, whether you're
a business-owner, consumer, student, programmer... anyone who has invested time
and money in computer software and is naturally concerned about the future of your
investment.
Page at http://pages.cthome.net/iact/.
Be sure to check it out if you haven't already.
Btw, you're invited to contribute your own new and original 24x7 report, based
on first-hand experiences with the major desktop and/or network platforms. I especially
would like to see more articles contributed by multi-platform users, who use any
combination of Linux, Unix, OS/2, DOS, MacOS, Rhapsody etc.. Please e-mail me if
you have ideas/questions about possible topics.
In the past month or so, nearly all pages of the IACT website were updated, as
part of an ongoing effort to make the site appealing and accessible to a wide range
of users. New projects are in the works, too, and will be announced soon at the
website. So enjoy the offerings, both current and future, and re-visit the website
often!
There is a new article about OS/2 Assembly Language online:
http://www.netlabs.org/devcorner/asm/os2asmhowto.html
The goal of this document is to provide a smooth transition to 32-bit OS/2 programming
for people who have had prior experience with assembly language.
It covers:
- 16-bit real mode vs. 32-bit protected mode
- What an OS/2 Programmer Needs to Know
- Advanced Topics (DLL...)
- Where to Get Stuff
- Examples
It's done by Kyle Markley and it is a part of the OS/2 Netlabs Developer Corner.
http://www.netlabs.org/devcorner
If you think you could do something similar about OS/2 Programming, don't hesitate
to ask for webspace!
PolyEx Software has completed their new game, "Hopkins: FBI". It will
be released August 5, 1998, and can be pre-ordered now.
For more information, check out PolyEx's website:
http://www.polyex.com
Part of the Warpzilla team (a team porting the Mozilla 5.0 code over to OS/2)
has released new source and has a screenshot of a primitive (but working) front
end:
http://www.axess.com/users/sobotka/warpzilla/warpz004.htm
For more news on the Mozilla project:
news://news.mozilla.org/netscape.public.mozilla.os2
This is to announce that the Xitami webserver version 2.3d is now available from
http://www.imatix.com for all platforms.
Version 2.3d corrects some problems in the last release, 2.3c3, and is a recommended
upgrade, especially for high-volume web sites. For details see:
http://www.imatix.com/html/xitami/index16.htm
Xitami is a free web server for many platforms, including OS/2.
32-Bits Online Refuses Positive
OS/2 News
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 09:50:40 -0700
From: Ronny Ko (ronny@unixg.ubc.ca)
Reply-To: Ronny Ko (ronny@unixg.ubc.ca)
To: freiheit@tstonramp.com
Subject: Re: VOICE SpeakUp for August 3
Please take me off your mailing list.
We are really not interested in VOICE related stuff. However, I believe that
OS/2 e-Zine! would be mor than glad to post your mailings.
Thank you.
> The VOICE events calendar for August is filling in nicely. Aside from
> the publishing date for our August Newsletter, we have scheduled a
> SpeakUp session with Kim Rasmussen, author of the popular OS/2 internet
> suite Internet Adventurer.
> The SpeakUp session, which will be open to all, will be held on the
> WEBBnet IRC network at 8pm US Eastern Daylight time on Monday, August
> 3, 1998 (0:00 GMT Tuesday, August 4, 1998). If you need information
> about IRC clients or WEBBnet servers, please see the Meeting Info page
> of our site at http://www.os2voice.org/.
> We hope to see everyone in attendance for this SpeakUp session.
> Remember, this is your chance to provide direct feedback to an OS/2
> developer, ask questions, and maybe provide him with new ideas for his
> product(s).
> The Events Calendar, recently added to our website, allows you to plan
> ahead for VOICE meetings and special events. Please let us know your
> opinions of its usefulness.
This week's edition of Focus on OS/2 is now online. This week's feature begins
a series on Large Hard Disks. This week briefly looks at the history of the hard
disk drive, and examines how newer hardware deals with the limitations imposed by
old designs, such as FAT and the 1024 cylinder maximum.
The OS/2 Bulletin Board has arrived! Please come and post your thoughts on the
site, my features, or the OS/2 world in general. Feel free to post specific problems
you are encountering. Others may have encountered and *solved* the same problem!
In general I visit the Board at least once a day. Suggested links are more than
welcome.
Apache v1.3.1 web server has just been released and there's an OS/2 version available
at:
http://www.apache.org/dist/binaries/os2/apache_1.3.1-os2.zip
Apache has been the most popular web server on the Internet since April of 1996.
The June 1998 WWW server site survey by Netcraft found that over 53% of the web
sites on the Internet are using Apache and its derivatives--thus making it more
widely used than all other web servers combined.
The Apache web site is:
http://www.apache.org/
OS/2 Zipmag 3 will be re launched shortly on my web site. However, if anyone
wants to make any kind of contribuutions, reviews, etc. please email me. A list
of the contents of the next issue will be available from:
http://users.powernet.co.uk/vpub/
As of Saturday AM (UK time), possibly before.
The beta release of xDBView, a fast freeware VIO DBF viewer/editor with HTML
exporting capabilities is available for download from OGCs home page at:
http://www.ogcs.com/
While still being considered a beta, the program has been intensively used in-house
in a productive environment for a year now. A list of some of the features which
are currently being implemented and/or considered is at your disposal online.
From the Southern California OS/2 User Group:
A new monthly OS/2 column, "INK - Printing and Scanning on the OS/2 Platform"
by Tony Butka, has premiered and is now online at
http://www.scoug.com/os24u/1998/scoug807.2.ink.html
In this new monthly column, Tony Butka discusses OS/2 graphics with an emphasis
on scanning and printing.
In his premier column, Tony covers:
- Lexmark's new OS/2 drivers for their 5700 and 7000 series color printers (the
5700 costs about $250; the 7200 model in the 7000 series is 1200x1200)
- Epson's new Photo 700 and compatibility with previous drivers, plus discounts
on older models
- a CFM TWAIN driver bundle and Solution Technology TWAIN drivers for many popular
scanners
- the PMSANE scanner drivers
Tony is well known for turning out high-quality graphics images with inexpensive
equipment and materials. "Each month I'll be telling the readers about the
tricks I've learned, the equipment and software that works the best, and where to
get the compatible drivers for the highest quality output," says Tony. "OS/2
has a wealth of graphics products available that people just don't know about. I'll
take care of all these issues, right here, in INK."
On Wednesday, July 22, I dropped in, unannounced, at a meeting of the Philadelphia
OS/2 SIG. They were gracious enough to give me a few minutes on the program for
a couple of announcements. I want to share those announcements with the rest of
the OS/2 community:
1) A native-OS/2 version of Web Willy Watch will be available sometime next week
(July 27 - July 31). This is a full month ahead of schedule. Everyone who has ordered,
or orders, the Windows 95/98/NT version will be able to download the native OS/2
version at no additional charge. In other words, anyone who orders Web Willy Watch
may download either or both versions.
Web Willy Watch is both a powerful web pornography blocking filter, for those
who want to use it as such, and a feature rich add-on for the Netscape Navigator
(for instance, it includes all of the features found in NetExtra). Read about its
features at http://www.webwilly.com. The price
is $20.00. You may order it from our Web Willy Watch site or from BMT Micro.
2) Within the next 45 days we will release another native-OS/2 program, a powerful
spam "fighting" tool. It is much more than a filter program. It will work
with any favorite OS/2 email client as well as the J Street Mailer. This is a very
advanced spam fighting program which works with automatically updated lists of thousands-upon-thousands
of known spammers as well as with a significant set of rule you can customize. It
is highly configure-able. The price is expected to be about $25.00.
One of the pleasures for me at meeting was seeing J Street Mailer, InnoVal's
full-Java email client, demonstrated by someone else (on OS/2, of course). I also
had the opportunity to talk with many the members of the SIG. Their message to me
was clear: OS/2 is very much alive, there is a consumer market, and keep on supporting
OS/2. The fact that the meeting was very well attended for late-July was evidence
of that.
For more information about our OS/2 products, please visit our web page at:
http://www.innoval.com
An OS/2 port of the Pilot Link tools for UNIX Version 0.8.13 is now available
on Hobbes:
http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/incoming/plk0813.zip
and it will soon move to:
http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/unix/apps/misc/plk0813.zip
The Pilot Links tools are for use with the 3COM Pilot or IBM WorkPad handheld
computers. Requires HPFS, and EMX 0.9c runtime with fix4. Includes source code.
File Browser Beta 1 is now available at:
http://www.datacomm.ch/~cbratschi/fbrowser/fbrowser.zip
What is FileBrowser?
File Browser is a file manager with enhanced capabilities:
- File manager
- Web browser
- File viewer (graphics, Netscape plug-ins)
- WPS support
and several other features
Screenshot:
http://www.datacomm.ch/~cbratschi/fbrowser/fbrowser.gif
The final version will be Shareware. This beta version works until 9/1/1998.
The File Browser home page is at:
http://www.datacomm.ch/~cbratschi/
With the recent news of the Warp Data Book registrations being handled by BMT
Micro, the VOICE member discount on the Warp Data Book is being extended.
All existing members will be eligible to buy the Databook at the member discount
for 60 days after the date of this announcement (July 23, 1998).
All new members will continue to have 60 days from the date their membership
is effective (according to the VOICE Treasurer's records) to register the Warp Data
Book at the discounted price.
The V.O.I.C.E. web site can be found at:
http://www.os2voice.org/
I've just released the first public beta version of Nice/2. Nice/2 is a command
line utility to change priorities of related and unrelated processes.
For now, it is available for download only from my home page at:
http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/6525/nice001b.zip
This utility will enable you to quickly change priorities of almost any running
process whether it's a related process or not (useualy OS/2 only permits priority
changes to related processes).
Please send bug reports etc. to: idagan@il.ibm.com.
NetLookout has been updated to 2.07. You can download the latest release at:
http://www.primenet.com/~ckennedy/software/lookout/
NetLookout is an Internet notifier. It will watch Web, FTP and Gopher sites,
and tell you if anything has changed.
Changes in this version:
MuPAD 1.4.0, a system for symbolic and numeric computation and mathematical programming,
was ported to several platforms, including Windows 95 and NT, several Unix systems
and the Apple Macintosh, and we added an OS/2 port just recently. For many platforms,
there is a comfortable window-based graphical user interface. But for OS/2, we made
just a terminal version for a start. This may change with future releases if there
is enough commercial demand for a full-featured graphics version, but there will
definitely be no port of the graphics to OS/2 this year.
Moreover, the OS/2 version of MuPAD is currently usupported. This means you get
a free license for it. You may use it as you like, but there is no support, of course.
You may also not re-distribute this version or refer to it in any software review
without permission of SciFace. Further on SciFace reserves the right to withdraw
this free license at any time in the future.
Here is a short list of the capabilities of MuPAD:
Mathematical Functionality:
The MuPAD language:
Technical information specific to the OS/2 version can be found at:
ftp://ftp.mupad.de/MuPAD/distrib/os2/COPYING
For more information, visit our web site:
http://www.sciface.com/
Email:
General Information: info@sciface.com
Product Distribution: distribution@sciface.com
Bug Reports: bugs@sciface.com
Phone: +49-5251-6407-51
Fax: +49-5251-6407-99
SciFace Software GmbH & Co. KG
Technologiepark 12
D-33100 Paderborn
Germany
According to the announcement on this web page:
http://www.ibmlink.ibm.com/usalets&parms=H_998-198
The IBM Technical Connection CD-ROM Version 2.0 has been withdrawn, with no replacements
intended.
What is the Technical Connection?
The IBM Technical Connection CD-ROM is a multi-pack of CD-ROMSs which serve to
provide users with a comprehensive collection of software fixes, device drivers,
closed APAR's, hardware updates (including reference and diagnostic diskettes and
BIOS updates), and technical information. This information is included for products
such as OS/2 Warp, OS/2 Warp Server, DB2, Software Servers, VisualAge, MQSeries,
CICS, Personal Communications and IBM Middleware that runs on Windows 95 and Windows
NT.
For more information on the set, go to http://pscc.dfw.ibm.com/info/techconn.html.
Note that although the CD-ROM set is a very convenient way to get all sorts of
stuff from IBM, most of the stuff that OS/2 users care about is already freely downloadable.
I've never actually seen the CD-ROM set, but based on other CD-ROM offerings
from IBM, I would not be surprised if the TechConn is not quite as up-to-date as
they claim.
The zipfile with the last version (5.06) of the famous wordprocessor DeScribe
was removed from Hobbes today.
Apparently, the following message was also posted:
"Rejected: This is warez. Don't bother trying to download the file. Sender
has been banned and his ISP will be notified."
To read more on this, visit http://macarlo.com
VOICE has scheduled a special SpeakUp session on IRC for July 27, 1998. This
SpeakUp will include the following members of the Warpstock '98 committee:
Stan Sidlov, Warpstock 98 Event Coordinator
Jason Kowalczyk, Audio Visual & Networking Coordinator
John Hebert, Exhibits & Facility Coordinator
Esther Schindler, Advisor
Larry Finkelstein, Warpstock Steering Committee
Judy McDermott, Warpstock Steering Committee
The SpeakUp will take place on the WEBBnet IRC network at 8pm US Eastern time
(midnight GMT). For more information on meeting time as well as information on IRC
clients and WEBBnet servers, please visit the Meeting Info (http://www.os2voice.org/meetinginfo.html)
page.
During this meeting we will be giving away one Platinum Pass and one night's
hotel reservation for Warpstock to one of our lucky members. We will also be giving
a Platinum Pass without hotel reservation to a second-place winner. Anyone is welcome
to attend, but you must be a member of VOICE to be eligible for the prizes. Prize
winners will be announced at the meeting.
If you have further questions, please direct them to the VOICE Secretary at freiheit@tstonramp.com. We hope to see
you there!
An OS/2 port of Internet Junkbuster (v2.01) has been released. It is used to
prevent the loading of unwanted banner ads in HTML documents and to block cookies.
New version has option to replace banner ads by 1x1 transparent GIFs. You can download
a copy from http://hobbes.nmsu.edu.
Henk Kelder (hkelder@inetgate.capgemini.nl)
has updated the beta (v0.80) of his FAT32 IFS (Installable File System). This will
allow you to access FAT32 partitions from OS/2. You can download a copy from http://www.os2ss.com/information/kelder/
SysBar/2 beta 0.13d has been released. SysBar/2 includes a variety of useful
applets which take up very little screen space, including a digital clock, CD player,
task switcher and pipe monitor. You can download a copy from http://www.lab321.ru/~dip/sysbar2/download.html
Warpglobe Beta 6 is now available, this is a program that I am developing. It
puts an earth globe on the desktop, and paints the cities with some OS/2 users.
It paints to the light and dark zones produced by the sun rotation (to do this,
it uses the local time, correcting it with the GMT deviation given by the Operating
System). Of course, the user can select which part of the earth they want to see.
The image is refreshed each half hour to avoid excessive CPU usage, so the program
is completely transparent. This program is similar to other one for Linux. You can
download a copy from http://www.arrakis.es/~scostas/OS2/globeeng.htm
IBM released some details on the upcoming VisualAge for Java (http://www.software.ibm.com/ad/vajava/)
v2.0. This version will include support for the Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) specification.
It includes Enterprise Access Builders for adding persistence support and connections
to IBM's CICS and TXSeries transaction middleware and SAP's R/3 enterprise application
servers.
In addition there will be a new IDE and it also includes JavaBeans for adding
links to Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)-compatible databases, improved team development
repository and version control, Lotus Domino support, Tivoli Systems' systems management
capabilities, support for the Object Management Group's (OMG's) CORBA Interface
Definition Language (IDL) and Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP), and a remote testing
and debugging tool.
It will include support for Java Development Kit v1.1.6 and Swing 1.0.2 Java
classes. It will be available on Windows NT, AIX, OS/2, and OS/390. The Windows
NT and OS/2 versions will ship later this quarter, the AIX and OS/390 versions will
ship in the 4th quarter.
Network Associates (http://www.nai.com/) has
just released a new .DAT file for VirusScan for OS/2. This .DAT file should solve
the problem in the previous one that erroneously reported some Java files were infected.
You can download a copy from http://www.mcafee.com/download/dats/3x.asp.
IBM has released an update for Java 1.1.6 (Build o116-19980718), you can download
a copy from ftp://ftp.hursley.ibm.com/pub/java/fixes/os2/11/116/
or ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com/software/java/fixes/os2/11/116/
Updates to Java 1.1.6, runtime.exe, samples.exe and toolkit.exe are available
for downloading at http://service.software.ibm.com/os2ddpak/html/diskands/adaptec/index.htm.
According to the read.me, these may not be used for initial installation. These
are updates for those that have used Feature Install to install the original Java
1.1.6.
The drivers for Greater Than 8.4GB IDE Hardfile Support were updated on 15 Jul
1998 at 01:20pm.
You can download the latest drivers at:
http://service.software.ibm.com/os2ddpak/html/647679D565C73E0F862565980068EFB0.html
Harrison, New York, July 19, 1998 - InnoVal Systems Solutions is pleased to announce
that it has committed to build a native OS/2 version of Web Willy Watch for release
by early September.
"The many encouraging emails from OS/2 users convinced us that it is the
right thing to do," said Dan Porter, President of InnoVal. "I wanted to
do it but I had to make sure that there was enough interest. There is. We have come
up with a plan that I think is right for OS/2 users."
OS/2 users who also use Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT, may order Web
Willy Watch now and receive both the Windows version immediately and the OS/2 version
in early September at no additional charge. In fact, we can process your order at
http://www.webwilly.com in five minutes and you can be up in running in 30 minutes.
Web Willy Watch is also available from BMT Micro at .
For Web Willy Watch, we are also announcing a Single Family License and a unique,
low-cost Every Family License for churches, synagogues, K-12 schools, businesses,
and membership organizations. The license agreement will apply to both OS/2 and
Windows platforms.
"We've put together new technology for blocking pornography sites with an
unusually attractive price and distribution concept," said Porter. "As
an example, if a school or concerned parent buys an Every Family License for (or
on behalf of) a school, then every parent with a student in the school may download
and use the software at home. The school can put the software (OS/2 and Windows
Versions) on a school web page or a parent can do so on a personal web page. In
fact, the Every Family License grants the school a site license for all OS/2 and
Windows 95/98/NT computers in the school."
In order to block pornographic sites, Web Willy Watch checks to see if the site
is one of tens of thousands of known pornography sites. It also evaluates page content
looking for word patterns that suggest that a site has inappropriate sexual content.
The software can be easily customized by parents to disallow additional sites, allow
certain sites, add key words, and adjust the sensitivity of the program's word pattern
logic. Extra features allow parents to block numeric-only IP addresses, common among
pornography sites, and pages with 1-900 phone numbers. It is easy for someone with
a password to switch between secure and non-secure mode.
In addition to blocking pornography sites, Web Willy Watch may be used to gather
web content for offline browsing. The program can also record the title and URL
of every web site ever visited. In addition to being useful for monitoring a child's
web activity, this is a useful feature for tracking down forgotten URL's that were
not bookmarked.
"Have you ever wanted to find a site you visited three or four months ago,"
said Porter. "You didn't bookmark it, you don't recall the URL, and it's one
of those sites that is probably very low on search engine lists. I've gotten so
used to what I call bookmarks for the rest of us,' that I can't imagine not having
this feature on my computer."
Web Willy Watch for Windows works with Netscape's browsers and the Microsoft
Internet Explorer. The OS/2 version will work with Netscape browsers for OS/2. A
Single Family License is $20.00. An Every Family License for a K-12 school, church,
or synagogue as well as for a small business or membership organization, costs $159.00.
InnoVal is a leading producer of specialized software for the Internet including
the J Street Mailer, a Java email client, Post Road Mailer, a popular native OS/2
email client, and Hacksaw. Hacksaw is a popular 32-bit Windows and OS/2 file transfer
utility.
Additional details about Web Willy Watch and Single Family and Every Family licensing
may be found at http://www.webwilly.com. An important FAQ for OS/2 users may be
found by visiting InnoVal's home at http://www.innoval.com.
SCOUG to Exhibit at Warpstock
Costa Mesa, CA - The Southern California OS/2 User Group (SCOUG) today announced
that it will be exhibiting at this year's Warpstock event in Chicago. SCOUG, which
hosted the premier of the event last year, is the largest local OS/2 user group
in the U.S.
"Last year Warpstock defined a successful volunteer event. It was a smash,
and showed the widespread SOHO support that OS/2 enjoys," said Terry Warren,
SCOUG president. "This year promises to be even better, and we're excited to
be a part of it once again."
SCOUG expects to finalize plans for this year's Warpstock soon, but last year
the SCOUG booth included facilities for digital pictures for visitors, and was a
major gathering place for event visitors. In addition to participating at SCOUG's
booth, a number of SCOUG members will also give presentations as Warpstock speakers.
Questions may be directed to terry@scoug.com. (For more information on SCOUG,
please visit out website at http://www.scoug.com)
Folks,
I'm sorry for the confusion. I just got off the phone (again) with our Wyndham
representative, and found out that groups (which we are) can only be booked via
the 800 or direct numbers or FAX. They have not integrated their web pages directly
to their group meetings database. The 800 number may not be updated due to a computer
problem they are having.
You can not use the web pages to book with our discount.
I know that this will be a inconvenience for our international travelers as they
cannot use the 800 number. But feel free to use their fax number to reduce the time
for your call. Use this fax number to get directly into reservations:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------
Wyndham Hotel Northwest Chicago
1- 630-773-4088
Attn: Megan Fry, Reservation Director.
You must include the following information:
Group Code: WARPSTOCK
Arrival Date: ___________________ Departure Date: __________________
Number of Adults:___________ Number of Children:_____________
Number of rooms:________
Customer Information:
First Name: _______________________________________
Last Name:_______________________________________
Telephone:_______________________________________
E-Mail Address:___________________________________
A reservation confirmation will be sent to the email
address provided.
Street Address:____________________________________
Suite or Apt. Number:________________________________
City:______________________________
State:_____________________________
Zip/Postal Code:__________________
Country:____________________________
Credit Information:
A credit card number is required to confirm /
guarantee your reservation.
Credit Card Type:
American Express, Carte Blanche, Diner's Club
Discover, JCB, Master Card, VISA
Credit Card Number:________________________________
Expiration Date (MM/YY):_____________________
Special Request Information: (bed type and number of) _________________
Smoking Preference:
Non-Smoking Room or Smoking Room
Comments:_____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
The Warpzilla page (one of the ports of the free Netscape 5.0 source code) has
been updated with a new layout, new news, code changes and PM frontends for the
upcoming Warpzilla...
http://people.netscape.com/law/warpzilla/
I'm happy to announce that TeamOS/2 Poland web site has been opened.
It is now only in Polish, but I have an English version in preparation.
On the site you can find: OS/2 IRC page, OS/2 Quake2 page, News, articles about
OS/2 Apps (Now only about NetFinity, but soon about IBM Antivirus, Neon graphics
3d etc.) and some OS/2 Links.
The adress is:
http://www.calder.com.pl/teamos2/
We're trying to change it to www.teamos2.org.pl, but I don't know if it will
be possible...
From the Southern California OS/2 User Group:
An interview with Dave Swartz, the OS/2 Forum Leader for America Online (AOL),
is now online at
http://www.scoug.com/os24u/1998/scoug807.2.swartz.html
Many of the 14 million members of America Online use OS/2 and rely on AOL's OS/2
Forum for news and technical support.
In the interview, Dave touches on many subjects, including
Included at the end of the interview is an extensive url list.
The author wishes to extend his thanks to Mr. Swartz for taking the time to make
this interview possible.
Sponsored by the Southern California OS/2 User Group (http://www.scoug.com).
Home Page Publisher 2.0 "level D" is available (6/30/98) from the HPP
web page:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/clerin/hppframe.htm
New in this version:
choose between several dictionaries, keyboard accented keys fixed, Clear and Nowrap
parameters obsoleted.
HPP is an integrated WYSIWYG HTML Publisher and Editor/Browser. HomePage is a
new product that will allow you to create or modify any HTML pages. Easy to use,
it does not require knowledge of HTML tags.
VisualNetRexx Alpha Release 3 has been released (6/27/98):
http://www.trongus.com/VisualNetRexx/
VisualNetRexx is an Integrated Development Environment for IBM's NetRexx Language,
which is a dialect of Rexx compiling to Java bytecode. Thus Java applets, applications
and servlets may be written, using the familiar and human-oriented syntax of Rexx,
in a graphically managed environment. Included in the alpha release are an editor,
interface to the NetRexx compiler and project, category and package tree views for
grouping of source code. Additional tools such as a Class Designer, GUI Layout tool,
Debugger and Hierarchy Browser are in the wings.
WarpNote v1.5 has been released.
Again, it's the users who improved WarpNote, the ultimate sticky note replacement
for the OS/2 Desktop. New features in this release are:
Of course, there are many more features in the queue...
More information on WarpNote as well as the demo version can be found at:
http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/2048/warpnote.html
And remember, the Happy Birthday Special which saves you $$$ is still on for
one remaining week!
Stellar Frontier has been updated to 0.86 (7/15/98):
http://www.stardock.com/update/update_sf.html
Stellar Frontier is a space war/strategy game being published by Stardock Systems.
