OS/2 e-Zine! June 1996 Volume 1 Number 8 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1996 Haligonian Media ISSN 1203-5696 OPINIONS: Editorial the Rants... Chris' | Trevor's the Raves... The Highly Unofficial OS/2 Beta FAQ Xit v2.2 Linfield's Line What We Need in OS/2 The Myth of the Wet Paper Bag DEPARTMENTS: the Beta File the Warped SOHO Chris' ColorWorks Power Tips Answers from e-Zine! REVIEWS: NeoLogic Network Suite v4.5 Misc Reviews Games News - Stephen Turk Yarn & Souper Chomp & MakMan/2 FTP - Chris Wenham HTML-Ed Tensor FTPd - Lief Clennon Maple for OS/2 ARTICLES: * CompuScammed - Robin K. MacMahon * The Great OS Shuffle - Chris Murray * System Monitoring in OS/2 - Dave Wallenberg * GNU Part 3: Emacs - Murray Williams END NOTES: * The Chronicles of John Ominor * Hot Sellers 1 - the top 10 selling commercial OS/2 applications. * Hot Sellers 2 - the top 10 selling OS/2 shareware applications. ODDS & ENDS: * How to Subscribe to OS/2 e-Zine! for FREE. * How YOU can Sponsor OS/2 e-Zine! * The Sponsors that Make this Issue Possible Copyright 1996 - Haligonian Media ISSN 1203-5696 *********************************** A Leaner, Meaner, OS/2 e-Zine! - editorial Hello again. Another month, another issue. Sometimes it hardly seems possible that we've been doing this for eight months now, yet I look at the issue numbers and... I guess time flies. What have we been doing for the last eight months and where are we going in the next eight? Good questions. Since our first tentative steps into the e-publishing world back in late October, 1995 we have been strenuously committed to a few simple goals. 1. First and foremost, to bring the OS/2 community a wealth of accurate and timely information regarding OS/2 and its native software. 2. To do it in an attractive, efficient and convenient manner for as many readers as possible, _everywhere_. I guess the first goal is self-explanatory. We've tried to make it clear from the start that our official purpose is, "to encourage the use and discussion of OS/2 and its native software." We're not here to bash any other OS or company or to evangelize to the unwashed masses. We simply believe that OS/2 is the best operating system available today and we're here to say so, loudly and clearly. For the most part, I think anyone who has read our pages has gotten the point. But how about the second goal? Like any publication we've gone through some growing pains and we'll probably still continue to have the odd ones. Overall though, I'm happy with what we've done and, from your feedback, so are you. All back-patting aside though, being pleased is not the same thing as being _finished_. So in case you were wondering, the often-changing (and hopefully, improving) look of these pages, including the graphics, logos and other decorations is, and probably always will be, an on-going thing. Some may warn that a magazine needs to establish, "a familiar look," so readers will immediately be able to identify it. We think that the struggle to improve is worth the risk of momentary misidentification. Besides if we listened to all the things that "people" warned us about, we probably would have believed them when they said it wasn't possible to, "start an on-line magazine for OS/2." By the way, we're also continually trying to improve the content of our pages. In the past eight months, we've grown from a smallish newsletter with barely two handfuls of articles per issue to a publication with more content than most print OS/2 magazines. During that time, we've attempted to seek out the kinds of material that you want to read and to maintain a broad coverage of popular end-user software. And we're not done yet! We've got some great ideas for the future directions we want to go with e-Zine!, both with the layout and the content. I don't want to give away _all_ our secrets but I will say that you can expect to see more focus pieces and _hardware reviews_ as they pertain to OS/2 in the coming issues. But what is the point of all this, you ask? Simple. You. All our efforts are irrelevant if they don't please _you_. While the staff and contributors of e-Zine! love the process of putting these issues together, the real purpose of its existence is to serve your needs. That's why we need you to give us a "report card". We want to know what you think of where we came from, where we are and where you think we should be going. So drop me a note today (we're still casual enough that you can (editor@haligonian.com) write the editor!) and tell me what you think. Whether you have a comment on our logo, a review or article we've published, the magazine in general or you just want to say, "hi," take a minute to tell us how we're doing. And don't forget, as always, it's the sponsors that make this and every issue possible. If you _do_ think we're doing a good job and want us to continue, you have them to thank. So *please do* thank them! Thanks for a great first eight months. Here's to the next eight. *********************************** Our Sponsors: (http://www.wilmington.net/bmtmicro/smalled/) Bianchi Software Developer of Smalled, the small, high powered, intuitive OS/2 editor. (http://www.wilmington.net/bmtmicro/) BMT Micro Your complete source for over 75 of the best OS/2 shareware applications available. Drop by today and check out our WWW catalog or download the .INF version. (http://www.ChipChat.com/home00.html) ChipChat Technology Group ChipChat produces excellent 32-bit OS/2 software for wireless text paging and state-of-the-art multimedia Sound Cards for Micro Channel PS/2 computers. (http://www.wilmington.net/bmtmicro/zoc/) EmTec Innovative Software EmTec Innovative Software produces state-of-the-art OS/2 ISDN, modem and telnet communications software. OS/2 Magazine and Inside OS/2 1995 award winner. (http://www.hotinc.com/) House of Technology, Inc. Your Canadian Source For OS/2 Applications. (http://www.indelible-blue.com/ib/) Indelible Blue Indelible Blue, a mail order company, provides OS/2 software and hardware solutions to customers worldwide. (http://www.os2store.com/) J3 Computer Technologies Consistently the low price leader for OS/2 software. Over 150 OS/2 items to choose from and growing. Enter J3's Modem/Communication software raffle (ends June 30, 1996)... it's *free*. (http://www.Mount-Baker.com/) Mt. Baker Software Developers of "Money Tree", a full featured personal financial package for OS/2. (http://www.aescon.com/innoval/) Post Road Mailer The Post Road Mailer is a high performance, 32-bit, email program with drag and drop filing, printing, shredding, word wrap and multiple MIME attachments. (http://www.prominic.com/) Prominic Technologies Software developer and IBM PC VAR preloading OS/2 Warp. Expert staff provides advice on hardware and creates custom software. (http://www.prioritymaster.com/) ScheduPerformance, Inc. Patented priority scanning logic and visual priority identification give you performance and control. (http://www.cfw.com/~shenan/) Shenandoah Equipment Co. Providers of lifetime warrantied name brand simms, laptop and printer memory at competitive prices. (http://www.fc.net/sios2/) Simply Intelligent, Inc. Your OS/2 PC Company. Pentium and Pentium Pros. Tons of native preloaded software. Call 1-800-OS2-BETT"er". OS/2 only and loving it! (http://www.spg-net.com/) SPG Inc. Creators of ColorWorks for OS/2 - The Artist's Ultimate Power Program! ColorWorks has earned both the 1995 OS/2 Magazine Editor's Choice & the 1995 OS/2 Professional Magazine Best New Product Awards. (http://www.aescon.com/innoval/) Surf'nRexx Use REXX to build powerful Internet utilities using our DLLs. Package also includes 10 utilities as samples. *********************************** Chris' Rant - by Chris Wenham Plus ‡a change, Plus c'est la mˆme chose. Not long ago in the News Folder someone criticized PC Magazine for being too Microsoft biased, to which I replied that you'll only see as much OS/2 coverage as there is market share, and that PC Magazine wants to follow, not lead. Almost immediately someone sent me mail pointing out the adulation Windows NT gets in the same magazine, _even though NT's market share is miniscule and sales are pathetic._ PC Magazine wants to push NT in the faces of a disinterested public I was told. I'm sorry to say that's true. Read the latest PC Magazine and you'll see NT weaved into almost every page. But go back to when OS/2 was first introduced, what about then? Sitting upstairs on a dusty shelf is a stack of PC Magazines I keep that date aaaaall the way back to January 1990. Opening these up and reading them is like a trip into "Let's Remember". Most of the layout was black and white. In the Letters section there was someone complaining about the new colors being to loud, others criticized that these new GUI things were of no use to anybody. One wise-guy poked fun at the new multitaskers and said "I guess I'll just have to go back to running one MS-DOS application at a time, on my multitasking Amiga." But reading the standard fare of opinion columns and product reviews was to read the letters 'O', 'S' and the number '2' in every other paragraph. Writers were saying how much better things would be with Presentation Manager, William F. Zachmann (remember him?) was gleefully predicting how OS/2 was going to be all over the place in the 1990's. Jim Seymour still thought everyone had bags of money and must buy the absolutely highest-end possible, the minute it came out. Several full page ads were for OS/2 products like Oracle's OS/2 database and one ad for a DOS task switcher that advertised, "Get OS/2 features now!" Back then OS/2 was being pushed as heavily as NT is now, back then it was to a disinterested public too. But in PC Magazine everyone was Gung-Ho Presentation Manager, Windows was a "Stepping stone to OS/2" and everyone really believed that they'd be running OS/2 in a matter of years. But what happened? Assume you're a computer user back then who wants to try this new OS/2 thing, where do you get it? Flip-flip-flip-flip through the pages and you might find one that lists OS/2 1.2 for *$255*, and Windows 386 for *$135*. Then there were the hardware requirements. Lots of people still had 286 machines, only some could afford the new 386, and 486 chips were strictly for servers. Yet OS/2 1.2 needed a 386, lots of memory, and lots of disk space to be usable. The kind of hardware that the mainstream user just didn't have. Sound familiar? OS/2 got off to a false start and the low-end targeted Windows sponged up the masses of people who thought they were riding into the wave of the future. But hey, that's history. Now here's Windows NT, it has lousy sales, few consumers are interested, and the hardware requirements are outrageous for the average user. But what's happening _now_? PC Magazine has again charged off waving the flag of an operating system that most of us don't want or can't use _right now_. But why? I'm going to stick to what I said the first time. PC Magazine wants to follow -- but maybe not *just* the user base -- they want to follow whoever they perceive to be the industry leader. Microsoft is the company that assumed the position of leader when no-one else had the might or the interest in doing so. If the leader says "We're going this way" then the messenger boys are surely going to start trumpeting and pointing in that direction too. Remember that *we*, as users, can ultimately decide *"where we want to go today".* ;-) Are times different now than they were then? Yes. Is it likely that Windows NT will fall by the wayside as a niche operating system for power users like OS/2 did? The chances are better than average. Could everything go completely topsy-turvy tomorrow? Maybe! But PC Magazine, as well as most other large Ziff-Davis publications, are essentially the same beasts now as they were six years ago. Nothing wrong with using the same tried-and-true formula of course, but it neither means they're "bought out" by Microsoft nor flogging a dead horse unfairly. What _really_ happened in the PC industry is that the market was wide enough and diverse enough to accommodate more than one platform. Indeed, with the operating systems out today we can say that the market can accommodate more than one platform _per_ platform! The pundits are gradually waking up to that fact. They still haven't made one box, one product, one publication that covers _everything_ and satisfies _everybody_. They never will. Perhaps the French are right. The more things change... In other news I thought I'd take the chance to plug a small project of mine. I'm building list of native 32-bit OS/2 applications that could be used to show someone that there really is a lively base of OS/2 software that's constantly gaining new titles and modern revisions of old ones. It's not a comprehensive list (get that by ordering the Indelible Blue catalog or printing the Hobbes index files!) but one that lists new and interesting software, major titles and anything that would appeal to the average user. This started when a windows user sent me some rather patronizing mail a few days ago and I realized how convenient it would be to put the egg on _his_ face with a seriously compelling and _large_ list of native apps. I'm keeping this in a DragText file so I can just drag-and-drop the whole shabang into an e-mail instantly, but will also set it up as an automated e-mail reply. If you're interested in getting the list just send mail to (fox@spectra.net) fox@spectra.net with the subject "Send OS/2 apps list". Please read the list first before suggesting any additions! ----- (http://www.spectra.net/~fox) Chris Wenham is a Team OS/2er in Binghamton, NY with a catchy-titled company -- (http://www.spectra.net/~pendulum/webworks) Wenham's Web Works. He has written comedy, sci-fi, HTML, Pascal, C++ and now writes software reviews. *********************************** Trevor's Rant - by Trevor Smith Technical Mumbo Jumbo. I know that most of the world thinks that only "power users" buy or use OS/2 at home. Or that only business people ever use OS/2 and then it's only as a platform to write their own customized apps. I'd argue with this notion but for now I'm willing to let it go. What bothers me is not the belief that "only power users run OS/2" but the practice of writing software that *only a power user could love*. Sure Warp is a great operating system. A powerful operating system. Sure it has preemptive this and multi that. Sure it's great for high tech, corporate, industrial and scientific use. *But that doesn't mean it's not suited for home use.* And similarly, just because a piece of software is written to be powerful does not mean its interface has to be obtuse beyond the hope of a casual home user ever understanding it. Let's start with Warp itself. IBM is certainly one of the biggest offenders with the practice of not "humanizing" their interface enough. OK, Warp grew out of an immense company full of hand-me-down mainframe expertise and attitudes, fine. *But folks, this is the '90s*, can you drop the darn mysterious acronyms already? Can't you modify your thinking just a bit and call an APAR a Problem Report Number? Or just a Problem #? Is that too much to ask? Or how about the OS itself? I'm sure you've all seen a SYS3175 error. IBM should be applauded for having the sense to offer the option of seeing the full details of the error by selecting the appropriate button (and not displaying those details by default) but they should have taken this further. What do you think Joe Lunchbox thinks when he installs this spiffy new OS (or sees it on a friend's computer) and he is greeted with a bizarre white box with a prominent "SYS3175 error" written in it? *Don't they have anyone doing usability testing at IBM?* How about a simple, smaller box that says something like, "I'm sorry, one of your applications or the operating system has encountered an error and can not continue. Press here if you would like the technical details." Simple concept, simple language. In the corner could be a small "error code 3175" for quick identification of the problem. This kind of strategy would be *just as good for the power user, infinitely better for the home user*. Sure the same info is already being displayed by the current error dialog but doesn't anyone think *it is a little foreign and disconcerting the first time you see it*? There are plenty of other examples of this throughout OS/2; one that jumps to mind is the installation routine. That thing just doesn't hold your hand. Before you start screaming at me, I know _you_ don't need your hand held but what I'm saying is that a little hand holding wouldn't _hurt_ you but it would _help_ Sally Housecoat. But enough about IBM. At least they have the excuse of gargantuan size and momentum for their obscure language and obtuse interface decisions. There are plenty of examples of this kind of excessive technical detail and language in otherwise good software written by independent software vendors. *I won't name names* because the problem is really so common that it would be unfair to single anyone out. But you know who you are. C'mon software developers, we want the power you're offering us but give it to us with simple language in a simple package. Why not develop software that is functional but is set up out of the box so that if Joe Sixpack looked at it he wouldn't scratch his head and walk away. How about a scheme where every dialog box or drop down menu contains a "Details..." push button or "Advanced..." selection. If we choose that selection *then give us the technical mumbo jumbo* or add a few menu options that explain or give more techincal details. But don't clutter up the interface with unwanted details before we ask for them. So what am I saying? Power is good. Hey, that's why we all bought OS/2, right? But we don't always need to have all the technical details thrown at us. Sometimes they only serve to scare off the lesser initiated. Just because software is powerful doesn't mean it has to be unintelligible. ----- (editor@haligonian.com) Trevor Smith is the editor of OS/2 e-Zine!. When he's not lecturing ISVs, he's lecturing you. *********************************** the Rave: Kris Kwilas' Highly Unofficial OS/2 Beta FAQ - by Brian L. Juergensmeyer Have you ever wondered when the beta of the next version of OS/2 (Merlin) will be available? Or what ever happened to OS/2 for the Power PC? If you have and you haven't found the answers, you haven't checked Kris Kwilas' (http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~kwilas/faq_top.html) Highly Unofficial OS/2 Beta FAQ. That's what I'm here to _rave_ about. For those that haven't gotten around to reading it yet, the Beta FAQ is *the* information source on upcoming operating systems, programs, and utilities from IBM. The Beta FAQ is divided into areas that deal with Merlin, OS/2 Warp SMP, FixPaks, Warp for the Power PC (a subject that has, sadly, been relegated to the bottom of the FAQ with the other subjects that don't change very much) and other OS/2 topics. If IBM makes it and you want to know about it, it is probably in the FAQ somewhere. Kris started the FAQ, as he states in the welcome page, in an attempt to cut down on the number of repetitive postings to the comp.os.os2.* hierarchy. I've personally never paid enough attention to be able to tell whether or not Kris has succeeded, but the recent spate of "Where's the Merlin Beta" postings in comp.os.os2.beta suggest that some people are just not paying attention. If they were to aim for Kris' FAQ and just read the information there, they would realize that the Merlin beta hasn't been released yet (at the time of this writing). Other available subjects in the current edition of the Beta FAQ deal with Warp SMP, Win32S support, FixPaks for Warp, WordPro, FLG and Striker, Java, and the infamous "Other" category. Kris has also put in an area that contains news that comes in between versions of the beta FAQ. In short, this is one great source for rumours, gossip, solid information and just general catching up. And Kris Kwilas is a volunteer! Neither IBM nor anyone else (to my knowledge) contributes money or time to Kris' endeavour; he maintains this incredible resource for your and my enlightenment out of pure good will! It's definitely an OS/2 resource worth raving about. The beta FAQ is the one stop source for information on the future plans of IBM as they deal with everyone's favorite OS. Do yourself a favor and download a copy of it. And then be polite and thank Kris for donating his time to maintain it. ----- (http://www.ksu.edu/~bgreen/) Brian L. Juergensmeyer is a college senior majoring in microbiology, who does OS/2 consulting work in the Manhattan, KS area. He is annoying the VA hospital in Topeka, Kansas (where he actually works) by trying to get their IS manager to convert from NT/WfW 3.11 to Warp Connect/Warp Server. *********************************** the Rave: Xit v2.2 There is a certain little desktop enhancement that is long overdue for a Rave -- CodeSmith Software's Xit v2.2. You'll find this utility mentioned elsewhere in the pages of OS/2 e-Zine! (issue #5's rundown on desktop enhancers) but I think everyone should know how incredible it really is. This is another example of how bright shareware authors are blazing a trail where bigger, slower software corporations can't even begin to follow. Xit is super useful, super small, and super slick. We have all gotten used to having one-click close buttons by now; the Mac has had them for over 10 years and even Windows (95) now has one. And Xit certainly isn't the only app to provide OS/2 with one. But the one-click close button is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. This software is extremely configurable, allowing users to place a _zillion_ buttons on either the left or right of any window's title bar to do about a zillion things. What things? How about roll up windows, move windows, cut, copy, paste, help, etc., etc. If the ton of predefined button functions aren't enough for you, you can even invent your own. Likewise if the *cool* button bitmaps aren't your cup of tea, you can customize those too. This thing is great! And simple?! You run it, it adds the buttons. You click the "options" button, a big, simple dialog opens for you to choose your functions from. Even the advanced options (setting special items on pop-up menus, assigning commands to mouse buttons) are straightforward. This is one piece of software that I installed, ran, and understood right away. I've never once had to look at a readme or manual to figure out what a feature does. Of course, as for any utility that is meant to run continuously, you'll eventually run into some programs that have a problem with Xit. Even that has been thought of and taken care of elegantly. An exclusion list is provided where the user simply types in the name of any program that finds Xit offensive. Voila! That program doesn't get any funky buttons and never even knows Xit is around. Even when it doesn't work, it rules. As Chris Wenham says, the "roll up window" alone is cool enough to justify buying Xit. I must admit, rolling up a window doesn't do a lot more than minimizing it would but it *is* rather sharp. Ok, so I'm a sucker for glitz. At least this glitz doesn't come at the price of functionality. Xit is solid and beautifully discreet. So how much does a shareware author think such a wonder is worth? How about US$15? No that's not a typo, $15! In fact, if you prefer to pay in Canadian dollars and register directly with CodeSmith Software, they have a Canadian money at par policy. So the price is actually US$15 *or* CDN$15! At this price every one of you should download and register just to show you support innovative OS/2 authors. I mean it! Go do it, right now! ----- * Xit v2.2 by (mshill@axionet.com) CodeSmith Software MSRP: US$15 or CDN$15 *********************************** Linfield's Line - by Kevin Linfield Why Merlin will Fail. As I put on my asbestos suit to prepare for the major flames I will receive, I hope that those who e-mail me will read the entire article, and not just the title. Yes, I said it. In my opinion, Merlin will fail. But before I go on and explain why I think it will fail, I should define what fail means. Will Merlin take over from Microsoft Windows and become the number one home operating system? Not a chance. Will Merlin make OS/2 the number one business operating system? Maybe, but I doubt it. Will Merlin sell as many copies as OS/2 Warp? Again, I think the answer is no. So without even beta testing it, I predict that Merlin will not sell as many copies as Warp, and that it will not penetrate the home market to any reasonable extent. Why? Cost When OS/2 2.0 was released back in 1992, I was able to buy a copy for $79.99 (Canadian). I had bought Windows 3.0 for $93.99 months earlier and would like to state that I feel that less than $100 is acceptable to the general buying public. Windows 95 with its $139 price tag is a bit too much, but with upgrades running around $100, you can see that Microsoft agrees with me here. How much is Merlin going to cost? I could be wrong (and I hope so) but I've heard that we should expect it to retail for $250. I'm not even sure if that is $US or $CAN. IBM Canada hit the nail right on the head when they released Warp CD Pak. Forgoing the expensive manuals and free technical support, the Red Spined Warp and BonusPak in a small CD package retailed for only $49.95. Ever wonder why IBM sold over a million copies of Warp in December 1995 alone? Canadian retailers I talked to said that Warp CD Pak did extremely well, but now you are lucky if you can find a copy. Warp is back up to $109.99 retail. But, you say, Merlin is Warp Connect, and it will be FullPak (with built in WIN-OS/2). This will add to the cost. Warp Connect retails for $250CAN. If we assume Merlin will retail for the same amount, how many Warp users do you think will buy it? Sure, many people reading OS/2 e-Zine! will because you (and I) are fanatical and will feel that it is worth it. But look at the masses. IBM had better get their target audience right. If they want to ignore the home user, millions of us will not be happy. Hardware Look at the backlash when Windows 95 required 8 MB of RAM and 60 MB of hard drive space. Users like the lowest common denominator. Even in comp.os.os2.beta an uproar was caused when it was learned that Merlin may not work on 386 computers. Many of you will tell those of us who have a 386 to upgrade to a 486, but many of us can't (or won't). If Merlin does not work on lower end computers (I guess now defined as 8 MB of RAM or a 386) then we have a choice of staying with Warp, or switching to a different operating system like Windows 95 or Linux. By all accounts, Merlin will REQUIRE a 486 and 16 MB just to get the same performance Warp gets on a 386 with 8 MB of RAM. If you want Voice Type Dictation, expect to add more RAM and maybe a faster processor. You think the Workplace Shell (WPS) is bad in 8 MB? What do you think Merlin's will be like in 16 MB when you have the WPS Internet aware? Marketing Remember the ads for OS/2 2.0? I don't either. Remember the ads for OS/2 2.1? Someone shooting pool. Warp? Nuns talking in some foreign language. IBM can't market to the home user worth a damn. Remember Just Add Warp? IBM only advertised on the WWW, and even then, how successful was it? It took the release of Windows 95 to make OS/2 sell a million copies in a month, as people realized that they got suckered into Microsoft's blitz. And no matter what we think of Microsoft, they know how to market. Check out any issue of almost any computer magazine. Nice ads for MS Office. Not bad ads for Win NT. What about IBM's OS/2 Warp or Warp Connect? Latest I've seen is ads that say lots of banks use OS/2. Wow. That will make me want to buy their product. Software Although Microsoft has virtually crushed the competition for Windows software (where are the complete Win 95 software suites from Corel (WordPerfect) and Lotus?), no one has a lock on OS/2 software. In fact, only Lotus comes close, and if you've ever used Lotus SmartSuite for OS/2 you will be scared. Even the beta of Word Pro that I'm using is SLOW, buggy, a RAM hog, and single threaded. Yes, it is a beta, but I don't think that the GA will be much better. DeScribe Inc., Clearlook Corp., and Athena Designs (some of the bigger names in the OS/2 market) have had it tough lately. Are there any super packages looming on the horizon? I sure hope so, but the rumour mill has been awfully quiet. Concluding Remarks Maybe it's just me, but I don't see Merlin kicking butt in the home market. Then again, maybe IBM no longer cares about what that market segment thinks. I really hope that OS/2 does not become a niche player, destined to remain in the corporate world. But in my opinion, all signs point that way as I patiently wait for my beta copy of Merlin. ----- (linfield@torfree.net) Kevin Linfield is a freelance Writer for Canada Computes! and OS/2 e-Zine!, Vice President of the (http://www.io.org/~to2/) Toronto OS/2 User's Group and maintainer of (http://www.haligonian.com/os2/list.html) Linfield's List: Best OS/2 Freeware. *********************************** What We Need in OS/2 - by Don Bower What we need in OS/2 is... well over the years I have thought of many things. Some of them actually came into existence. Back in the early 90's, when I had OS/2 extended edition v1.1 on my 386 PC, with 4MB of memory, I had to be able to support not only OS/2 connected to my AS/400, but also the masses who had PC-DOS v3.3. I made two partitions on my hard drive, made them both primaries, and selected which one to boot from using FDISK. Thank OS/2 for Boot Manager. Today, I am a very busy person. So I do not like spending a lot of time doing things that waste time. Things like waiting on hold for 60 minutes for support, writing down volumes of addresses, configurations of equipment lists or software lists and their levels. Particularly if the problem can be fixed by just restarting my PC. As a software developer myself, I certainly can appreciate the need for all of this minutia of information. I just hate providing it manually. Although rebooting my PC is not my first choice, I must all too often bite that bullet or dine on a cornucopia of elevator music and voice response units that are not always sympathetic to my needs. What sours my mouth most of all, is many of these forced restarts are repeat offenders, leftovers if you will, of a problem that IBM may or may not know about. So what's the answer? How about a real simple procedure that is similar to CTL-ALT-NUMLOCK-NUMLOCK? A keystroke function, or button or option that would record all of that TRAP error data, along with a SYSLEVEL output and a SYSINFO output into a single, nice, neat file that could be submitted via modem to IBM, or any other ISV for that matter. Then, the file could be analyzed electronically to determine if a PTF is available, or if some other action is required. If a PTF is available, it could automatically be resent back to me during the same phone call, or e-mailed to me via the Internet. Sound a little far fetched? A little big-brotherish? Well, IBM has this technology today. That's right! Except it does not run under OS/2, it runs under OS/400. It might even run on AIX and MVS for all I know. Under OS/400, whenever the system detects a software or hardware failure, it gets recorded in a place known as the Problem Log. These problems can be filtered and manually or even automatically telephoned in to Big Blue. Ol' Blue, will analyze the problem programmatically and if a PTF is available, it will download the PTF during the same call. It's even a 800 number to boot! But hey, this technology does not stop here. You can even enter what you perceive to be a problem, without waiting for OS/400 to detect it. You don't always get a PTF every time you phone home, but when there is no PTF available, you get a polite message that tells you someone will call. And they do. Sometimes in a half hour, sometimes the next day. The point is you do not have to wait on hold, missing other important calls, while you are waiting. There is a benefit in this for IBM. All of this automation leads to more productivity. Support technicians, instead of wading through hours of, "oh, woe is me," and pages of hex data, can actually get the correct information about the environment the first time, and in a timely matter. Why, they can spend more time fixing the new bugs than rehashing old problems. The benefit for us is not having to solve the problem synchronously, working exclusively on it for the next few hours, during work time. This is a luxury that not all of us can afford. Some of us computer enthusiasts have the type of job that demands our attention all eight hours of the day. For those of us who fall into this category, our time on the computer is limited to late nights and weekends. This feature eliminates this problem. Come to think of it, ISVs could benefit from this service. All IBM would have to do is identify the owner of the module, and forward the packet on. This would of course benefit us again. The ISV could even upload the fixes for their products to the IBM server and *voila*! Our Stardock products are fixed, with a simple phone call to IBM. So you think it would never happen? Don't be so negative! Let me tell you, IBM is a market driven company these days. They dumped the suits for polo shirts, and if you talk to the right people, they will actually listen. If you place your vote with Uncle Lou, or Uncle John, they will be the right people. Tell them you want Electronic Customer Support for OS/2 and ECS for ISVs. Remember this, IBM wants to sell you OS/2 and they want to sell it to other people as well. This added feature would give IBM another advantage over their, a-hem, competitors. Speak your piece, either for this feature or against it. Don't be impatient, though. I recently read that the feature list for Merlin is not yet closed. If enough of us get our votes in now, we might even get a nice Christmas present this year. ----- (dlbower@ibm.net) Don Bower is a Christian, a Systems Programmer and Project Leader for AS/400 systems, a member of Team-OS/2, and has been an advocate of OS/2 since 1990. *********************************** The Myth of the Wet Paper Bag - by Jim Little OS/2 users are fond of blaming OS/2's problems in the marketplace on IBM. "IBM," they say, "couldn't market their way out of a wet paper bag." Well, IBM may or may not be able to market, but blaming all of OS/2's problems on IBM's marketing is short-sighted. Worse, "IBM can't market," has become a mantra for some OS/2 users. Instead of focusing on real problems and trying to solve them, these users just shake their heads and mentally chalk up another example of IBM's poor marketing. This article looks at what IBM has done and is doing about OS/2's marketing, and why they may not be so incompetent after all. Past efforts "If IBM had marketed OS/2 seriously from the beginning, everyone would be using it now." There is a common misperception that all products can be made successful with enough marketing. Well, that just isn't true. If a product isn't any good, it just won't sell. And until recently, OS/2 was a poor OS for consumers. That's right -- OS/2 was a *bad choice*. Even if IBM had hyped OS/2 to Microsoftian levels, it would not have sold. In fact, consumers probably would have been so turned off by the disparity between hype and substance that OS/2 might have never made it to version 3. OS/2 lacking substance? At the time, absolutely. Face it, folks, OS/2 requires a minimum of 8MB of RAM to be usable. You need 16MB before it really takes off. Until recently, that kind of hardware simply wasn't available on the average PC. In fact, when OS/2 2.0 was released, a high-end machine might have had 4MB of RAM. OS/2 on a 4MB machine (or even 8MB) is slooooow. Consumers used to the instantaneous response of Windows' Program Manager would be confounded by the disk access required when opening a Workplace Shell folder. And opening a Windows application -- the kind of application a new buyer would have -- would be five to ten times slower than under Windows. It wouldn't matter that OS/2 is more robust, has better multitasking, or has a superior user interface. The average customer would never get past the mind-numbing slowness the product exhibited on the available hardware. In addition, OS/2 has historically had a severe shortage of device drivers. The situation is much better now, but in the past, drivers had to be downloaded from a BBS, or just weren't available at all. Combine that with an installation that is notoriously unfriendly to unrecognized hardware, and you have a recipe for disaster. So let's suppose that IBM had advertised OS/2 "from the beginning." Say, when version 2.0 was released. Imagine this comforting scenario: The average American consumer, Joe Sixpack, sees OS/2 advertised on TV. Convinced that he must have one, he runs down to his local computer store and picks up a copy. He brings it home, and after a long, frustrating install, he gets it working on his state-of-the-art 4MB 386. By now, he's annoyed but still willing to give it a chance. The first thing he does is to run Windows Solitaire. The disk thrashing that ensues from simply opening a folder worries him, and when he finds out how long it takes to start Solitaire, he immediately deletes the OS and resolves to never again believe IBM's claims. TV Ads "How come IBM doesn't advertise more? I've got this great idea for a TV ad..." The impact of television advertisements is overrated. Television is great for repeatedly bombarding consumers with a message, but that message has to be extremely simple. Messages like "Brand X beer is sexy" and "Hamburger Y tastes good" work fine. "OS/2 provides superior multitasking" doesn't. Not only is the message too complex, but the average person hasn't got a clue as to what an operating system really is, or how superior multitasking would improve their life. Not only that, but they *don't care*. You can't explain the benefits of OS/2 without explaining some of the technology behind it. And there simply isn't enough time in a 30-second spot to educate the consumer about the importance of a good operating system -- and even if there was, I doubt anyone would pay attention. People watch TV to be *entertained*. If a commercial isn't funny, sexy, or attention-grabbing, they won't pay attention. A commercial lecturing about multitasking, stability, or the Workplace Shell would make as much impact as dropping a rock into a volcano. TV ads are great for promoting an image, though. And that's what IBM did with their "Solution for a Small Planet" commercials. The commercials are funny, so people pay attention, and they convey the message that IBM is an innovative company on the forefront of technology. No, they didn't show anyone dragging documents to the printer in OS/2, but OS/2 was mentioned, and that may cause your average brainwashing victim... I mean, your average couch potato to associate "OS/2" with "innovative" the next time he sees it in a computer store. Market focus "IBM is abandoning the consumer market? Are they crazy?" IBM may be crazy, but deciding not to target the consumer market was probably the best marketing decision they could have made. As the underdog in the OS wars, IBM can't afford to fight on multiple fronts. Windows 95 is being heavily targeted at home users. It is incorporating a host of consumer-oriented features, such as game API's and animated dialog boxes. But these same features and the general shallowness of Windows 95 are turning off corporate buyers. By positioning OS/2 as the ideal corporate client (and server, in the case of Warp Server), IBM is attacking Microsoft from the flank, in the area that IBM is strongest. By consolidating their effort, IBM stands a much greater chance of defeating Microsoft in the OS war. What about the consumers? Well, just because IBM isn't specifically targeting the consumer market doesn't mean consumers can't use OS/2. If you're using OS/2 at home, there's no reason to stop doing so just because IBM decided that they don't want to send you any advertisements. More important, though, is the fact that the business market leads the consumer market, not the other way around. People buy for use at home what they use at work, since that is what they are familiar with. If IBM can capture the business market, the home market will follow. The silver lining Although I don't believe it would have been profitable for IBM to push OS/2 heavily in the past (primarily for the hardware reasons outlined above), the time is now ripe for OS/2 to become a major success. Memory prices have dropped to record lows, paving the way for even average systems to be shipped with 16MB of RAM. Microsoft has hyped "32-bit" and "multitasking" enough to make people realize that it must somehow be important. And high quality software that shows off OS/2's unique capabilities is starting to appear. The good news is that IBM seems to realize OS/2's time has come. They have been advertising OS/2 fairly heavily, although these advertisements have been in magazines aimed at corporate computer departments, not at the general public. More promising is the news that VoiceType, IBM's high-end dictation package, will be included with the next version of OS/2 (codenamed Merlin). That announcement was a marketing coup. Talking to your computer is the kind of science-fiction "future is now" stuff that magazines lap up. To demonstrate this point, Time Magazine, C|Net Central, and a German computer show have all had articles discussing Merlin's voice recognition capabilities. With OS/2 sales averaging a million copies a month, Merlin just around the corner, and IBM actively pushing OS/2, the future looks bright. No, there aren't any TV commercials, but with marketing like VoiceType, who needs them? ----- (jiml@teleport.com) Jim Little installed the OS/2 v2.1 beta on his 4MB 386 and was instantly hooked. Maybe if his name was "Joe" things would have been different. *********************************** the Beta File Welcome back to the Beta File, your source for the latest breaking news in OS/2 beta development. From the ton of tips on beta development we received this month it looks like the floodgates are breaking (even wider) on OS/2 development. Or maybe we here at OS/2 e-Zine! are just getting more diligent (or more notorious!). Whatever the case, we've got a bag full of apps to talk about this month... Of course, during any given month, we don't come across every company currently in development. What's that you say? You want to help fill out this column? You have a product that you're sure is going to be the next killer app? You want a little free hype? Well get off your keister and (editor@haligonian.com) drop us a note! ***** Shall we start off with (http://www.stardock.com/) Stardock this month? Why not! From the horse's mouth itself, "After the delays in Avarice and Entrepreneur, Stardock decided that it wouldn't release betas until they were quite far along. Trials of Battle is already a fully playable, networkable, fast paced action game for OS/2 along the lines of DOOM crossed with Wing Commander in a hover craft." What's that you ask (with excitement)? A DOOM-esque *and* Wing Commander-esque game!?! Where can you find out more? Right here of course! Trials of Battle is a first person action game, being developed by Shadowsoft and published by Stardock. Among other things, it promises to have extended multi-player support, and I'd believe that if I were you -- the folks at Stardock are notorious network-game addicts and they'd settle for no less. We hear Trials of Battle was a big hit at the IBM Technical Interchange in April. Starting this month, registration for the beta test will be limited to 1000 people or the end of June, whichever comes first (but my money is on the former, so get there early). As is standard with Stardock's betas, the beta will cost money (US$38) but testers will receive the final game free (and have significant input into its final appearance and playability). Call Stardock at 1-800-672-2338 to get on the team. Expect Trials of Battle by November or possibly sooner. If you're not fortunate enough to get on the beta test the final price of this commercial software will be US$59.95. ***** Next to the plate is yet another HTML editing program for OS/2. HTML-Ed is currently at version 0.94b and even though it is widely available and the author is taking registrations (hence our review in this issue), it is still technically being worked on. The author, (ianprest@connect.reach.net) Ian Prest, says the beta test continues, "Not [because] I'm having a lot of problems, but because users are just suggesting so many great features that I want to implement . If I stopped constantly adding new features, I could probably end the beta test in a few weeks. HTML-Ed is one of those shareware products for which the line between beta and GA is somewhat blurred." HTML-Ed's key features are the built-in TEST function (allowing you to almost instantly view your web page via the use of the WebExplorer DLLs), and the fact that it's small and fast (written completely in C for speed and size). Interested Websmiths should pop over to the (http://www.wilmington.net/bmtmicro/) BMT Micro Home Page for more info and to download a copy. The registration price is currently US$20, and it is expected to remain there when v1.0 is released. This shareware is and will remain fully-functional but with a nag screen/delay when the program starts. ***** Another product now in beta testing that promises to make your HTML lives a little easier is HTMLView by Software Technologies. (mail@jmast.se) Martin Alfredsson has put together a small package for the speedy viewing of HTML pages without loading a lot of the overhead that traditional WWW browsers require. HTMLView lets you view HTML pages off-line, but it also works as an on-line viewer. It has basic features for navigating but is sparse on bells and whistles since the purpose of the software is speed. The first version was released May 15th so the tests have not been that extensive yet. However, Alfredsson claims the feedback has been great. The beta(s) are public but anyone that registers as a beta tester will be able to get feedback (and fixes) much faster. To join up, send your name and e-mail address to (mail@jmast.se) mail@jmast.se. Or if you just want to have a look, pop over to hobbes and find the file (HTMLVB0x.zip) in the incoming/, network/tcpip/ or editors/ directories. The product should be released around August or September. The pricing will be set when the features are finalized (there are some planned that have not been implemented yet). Expect it to be around US$30 and sell as shareware. ***** From our correspondent across the Atlantic we received news this month of a new graphics package, S.P.A.C.E. Draw (thanks Nico!). The company developing this product is "Ingenieurbuero BARDIC Software Karlsruhe", but being uni-lingual, I think I'll just stick with BARDIC Software. In an amazing twist, BARDIC does not seem to have a WWW site *or* an e-mail address! Wow. Nevertheless, we were able to determine from our insider beta tester that S.P.A.C.E. Draw will be a 3D vector paint program with all basic 2D functions making it easy to produce 3D bodies, with handling for bitmaps included (laying them on surfaces of bodies). It will first be available for OS/2 in German, then US English. The beta test has been running since April 96 with no set date for the end available. They did say, however, that the release version is expected around August or September '96. It's not clear how many people are currently testing the product but BARDIC is still accepting participants. Beta testers receive the test version for half price and the full version for free when available. For more info, contact: BARDIC Software Neckarstrasse 52 D-76199 Karlsruhe Fax/Phone: 0721/892554 Expect this commercial software to run around DM328 including tax (sorry, our monetary conversions are a little rusty). It will require only a 386, OS/2, 8 MB RAM, 15 MB HD and a CD-ROM drive. ***** Another enterprising developer is currently working on an Internet dialer to replace the "Dial Other Providers" program shipped with Warp. (bj@belle.dk) Bjarne Jensen is working on this new 32 bit SLIP/PPP dialer, InJOY, which will autolearn scripts, support terminal mode, have a fast PPP implementation (written from scratch), show line statistics as bar graph and numbers, have autostarts, reconnect ability, redial and, IP masquerading. While the beta test may be closed to further participants by the time you read this, you can find out for sure and get more information from the (http://www.belle.dk/~bj/Welcome.html) InJOY home page. Currently there are around 100 testers and it has been in beta for less than a few months. InJOY is free now but in the future it will most likely be a shareware application. Jensen claims that InJOY will be ported to the Presentation Manager later and he, "still takes requests for developments!" ***** From the "truly amazing" category this month, we have Virtual GameBoy/2. In case you're wondering, it's probably exactly what you're thinking it is. Virtual GameBoy/2 is a port of similar software for other platforms that allows you to play GameBoy games (yes, _Nintendo_ GameBoy games) on your OS/2 desktop! All that is required is a DIVE-compatible video card (most are) and Warp (and, of course, some GameBoy games). The original Virtual GameBoy engine was/is developed by Marat Fazyullin and the OS/2 Port is being done by (vgb2@joyce.eng.yale.edu) Joe LoCicero with help from Thomas Ahn Kolbeck Kjaer. At the time this article was printed an OS/2 specific VGB web site had not been set up but you can get more info from (http://www.freeflight.com/fms/VGB/) Fazyullin's site. So far, 50-100 users have been banging on the code for over a month. This is an open beta though, so you can FTP directly to hobbes and grab vgb206bx.zip in either the incoming/ or games/ directories. This project is undertaken in the spirit of generosity and it will be freeware upon completion, as it is now. To sum up: "VGB/2 allows OS/2 game fanatics to benefit from the large base of software already developed for the Nintendo GameBoy platform. With this one program, over 200 "new" games can be played natively under OS/2. Information on how to make file images of GameBoy cartridges you may have is available from (http://www.freeflight.com/fms/VGB/) http://www.freeflight.com/fms/VGB/." VGB/2 is the first in a series of emulators being ported to the OS/2 platform. The finished product (as of yet unnamed, but with a working name of LEGS for Legacy Emulation Gaming System) will be a modular system that allows different emulation back-ends to be plugged in. Platforms to be emulated include the GameBoy, the MSX, the Apple II, the C-64, and the Nintendo. Please, do *not* e-mail the authors asking for GameBoy images or where to find them. GameBoy cartridges, like all software, are copyright material and are not freely distributable. If you own or purchase cartridges, however, check the site mentioned above to see how to enjoy them on OS/2. ***** (http://www.asizip.com/) Ascent Solutions Inc. is hoping to win your file compression dollars with its new ZIP OS/2 product, currently in beta testing. Initially a small beta test which started in May, ASi is still accepting new testers and the test should run for the month of June as well -- further details are available on their web site. At the time of release, ZIP OS/2 will be a shareware application with a registration fee of US$47.00. ZIP OS/2 is 100% cross platform compatible with the rest of ASi's compression line that includes PKZIP multiplatform and Nico Mak Computing Inc.'s WinZip. With it, users are able to control the rate and amount of compression while compressing an archive file, as well as add comments and embed passwords into Zip archives. For more information contact ASi at the above web site or by phone (513) 885-2031. ***** Also this month, we have a new file manager which just went into beta last week (at the time of this writing). (http://www.clear-simple.com/ ) Clear & Simple, Inc. have just announced their new product, The OS/2 DiskJockey. Expect the beta to last until the mid to end of June with a release date of early July. The beta is public and anyone interested can find the file at Clear & Simple's website or on CompuServe in OS2AVEN - Library 1. The DiskJockey is Clear & Simple's answer to file management for OS/2, and promises to focus on speed and simplicity of navigation. With the ability to perform file maintenance operations such as copy, move, delete and rename, coupled with quick and easy-to-use file compression utilities and internal file viewing facilities, the DiskJockey should be a winner. No final price has been decided for the program but (anthony@clear-simple.com) Anthony Pereira has stated that Clear & Simple wants users' feedback on this. In his words, "The beta program will be very interactive, we are open to suggestions. We know what we need this [product] to do, but recognize that others may have needs that we didn't think of." Clear & Simple can also be reached by phone at (860) 658-1204. ***** Finally this month, (http://www.aescon.com/innoval/) InnoVal has announced the beta test for their next generation e-mail client, Post Road Mailer v2.0. The beta code is scheduled to ship, "no later than June 15th," so by the time you read this you may already be able to get it. If not, you shouldn't have long to wait. Due to press deadlines few details on upcoming features of PRM v2.0 were available. The beta, however, is open to anyone who uses OS/2 and is interested and participants will receive a 50% discount on the final version (regular MSRP will be US$59). No fee is charged to join the beta program. Final shipping of version 2.0 is expected in late July. If you're interested, check out InnoVal's (http://www.aescon.com/innoval/june.htm) beta information. *********************************** The Warped SOHO - by Collin Summers A Parallel Port TAN I received some feedback on my last column covering Warp Connect and the Warped TAN. Many of you were interested in how to get a LAN connection using the parallel port driver. So I figured, "What the heck, let's do it." This month I'll cover how to use the IBM Parallel Port driver to create a (SLOW) Warped LAN Connection. First things first. Go into MPTS and install the IBM Parallel Port driver, or select it as the driver when doing the install. Once that's installed, make sure you have selected NETBIOS and 802.2 support in the MPTS protocols for the IBM Parallel port driver. By the way, most of the information I am using to install and set up a parallel port as a LAN card is located in the IBMCOM\MACS directory in a file titled PRNANDIS.TXT. Now we need to make some changes to a couple of files so that the PEER will perform without too many problems. Go into PROTOCOL.INI, located in your IBMCOM directory, and make the following changes. [NETBEUI_nif] ADAPTRATE = 0 TI = 60000 T1 = 10000 T2 = 2000 MAXIN = 5 MAXOUT = 5 Now go into IBMLAN.INI, located in your IBMLAN directory, and make the following changes. [requester] sesstimeout = 300 [peer] ; 1 V Bit 15 changed to 2 to increase timeout ; 0123456789012345678 srvheuristics = 1111014111131102133 The reason we need to make these changes is that the parallel port is much slower than an actual NIC adapter. By changing these settings we allow the peer to wait longer for responses before reporting an error or timing out. Now if you've done all that and rebooted, you should be able to run PRANDISC.EXE (located in the IBMCOM directory). Make sure both machines are up and running and connected by your parallel port cable before you run it. Also make sure you have the right cable selected in the IBM Parallel Port Driver settings; most will probably use a LapLink (LinkRight) cable, but you can use a PPLINK or JFKCOM cable. If you really want to, you can make a cable using the wiring diagram in the PRNANDIS.TXT file. Or check out YAHOO's (http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Computers/Components/Cables_and_Connectors/) cable listing and order a LapLink compatible cable from one of them. If you don't get many errors once the program is running on both machines, then you should be ready to share resources over your parallel port. PRANDISC *must* be running in order for a peer connection to work and while it is running the parallel port is not usable for printing. Also, make sure both machines have the same domain name so that they can find each other. Remember that this connection is not very fast, however, it is good for hooking your laptop to your desktop for the occasional file transfer. Warped SOHO Application Search Remember I am also looking for ideas from you the reader as to what we should adventure into each month. So please drop me a line to help me help you and others out; we may all learn a little in the process. I am also gearing up to start awarding the "Warped SOHO Approved" label to applications which can help a Warped SOHO do business. I am doing this because there are a lot of great OS/2 applications out there and they are often overlooked. And since we are focusing on the SOHO I thought we should acknowledge the products that can help in making the Warped SOHO run. To be "Warped SOHO Approved" an application must be OS/2 or OS/2 Warp native (no WIN-OS2 or DOS). It must apply to business (ROIDS is fun and may help your stress at work, but it does not qualify). It must be available (no beta software please). It does not need to cost anything, it can be freeware, shareware or commercial. And finally I or a number of readers must find the product useful. Here's where you come in: I need to know which applications help your warped SOHO run. As long as it's OS/2 related and useful to your SOHO setup, it qualifies. So send in the names of your favorite Warp SOHO apps (yes vendors, you can nominate your own products!). Next month I'll start to cover applications which are "Warped SOHO Approved" and do a mini-review of them. So e-mail away! And, oh yeah, one last thing. I've mentioned the package "Warp Start" in past articles and I now have a (http://www.ice.net/~collin/WarpStart.html) home page for it with links to the latest version, as well as an overview of what's in it. Until next time, remember, if IBM can run the largest computer company in the world's mobile professionals on OS/2 Warp Connect, it should be able to handle a SOHO work force. ----- (http://www.ice.net/~collin) Collin Summers has done OS/2 contract work for IBM and worked with many small to large corporate customers. He is currently on contract to a fortune 75 manufacturing company in the midwest. He is also developing Lotus NOTEs applications and writing this column in his spare time. *********************************** Chris' ColorWorks Power Tips - by Chris Wenham What the heck to do with Adjust Histogram: Part 1 I'll bet you good money that one of the first things you did with ColorWorks, or any complex image processing program you first used, was to go through all the effects and try them out. If you were inexperienced with photo processing you probably couldn't figure out some of the more obscure looking devices like Advanced Color Balance and Adjust Histogram. Play with them a bit and probably the most you could get was to make something look more green, or duller. However each tool is mightily powerful when used in the right place and I've been searching for ways in which the Adjust Histogram tool in particular can be useful. I've named this tip "Part 1" because I intend to be coming back to Adjust Histogram in later columns. Smoothing Lines How often have you needed to clean up an image that's been scanned at a low resolution, or has come in as a fax? In this case I'm talking about mostly monochrome figures that have the dreaded "Jaggies" -- pixilated edges that come from a lack of smoothing or "anti-aliasing". Somehow you've got to smooth those lines out. Smoothing of these kinds of images is a two step process -- first you blur the image to get the smoothing effect in the first place, then you sharpen it just enough so it looks crisp and finished. Blur and sharpen filters, right? Well... blur yes, but we want more control over the sharpening process to get exactly what we want in a very elegant way. If you don't have a fax, you can easily create a test image by selecting the Text Tool with a black colour and writing to a blank white canvas _without_ text anti-aliasing turned on (if you are using ColorWorks V2). This should produce black text with jagged edges on a white background. If you already have a suitable image, load it, then pick *Effects.Filter Labs.Smoothing Lab*, choose a *Gaussian Distribution* blur at 100% on All Pixels. Now go to your canvas and paint that on with the full canvas tool. You'll probably have to do this two or more times until you see all the jaggy effects blended out satisfactorily. Now switch the smoothing effect off (*Effects.Clear All Effects*) and go to *Effects.Tune Image Colors.Adjust Histogram*. A little bit about the histogram: "The X or horizontal axis represents all potential brightness values of the tonal range from 0 to 255. The Y or vertical axis represents the number of pixels in an image that exist for a particular brightness value. Hence, the height of the vertical line for a particular color value represents the number of pixels with that value." - ColorWorks 2.0 manual, page 399. If you applied the right amount of Gaussian distribution on the figure you should see a broad and even spectrum on the histogram with peaks at the start and end of the graph. If you don't see them immediately, press the "Zoom In" button a few times until you do. On the left hand side of the graph you have the blacks, and on the right hand side you have the whites. In between are the greys. (This is assuming you're working with a B&W image.) At the bottom are two triangle pointers, one black, one white. Set the "Shadows" radio button to "*Compress*" and the "Highlights" radio button to "*Expand*". Now take the black pointer and move it toward the right until it's at 70, then take the white pointer and move it left until it's at about 200. Preview that quickly, then paint it to your picture with the full canvas tool. Result? Magic. The figure should have been sharpened but left with just enough smoothing/anti-aliasing around the edges to make it look clean, crisp and professional. So what happened here? What we did was to strengthen the darker colors by moving the black pointer to the right, then "shave off" the excess lighter colors by moving the white pointer to the left. Try experimenting with the Adjust Histogram more after blurring the figure. Move the black pointer too far and you fatten the image, move the white pointer too far and you make it thinner. Remember, we could have used a sharpening filter, but the Adjust Histogram effect was interactive, plus a lot more flexible and subtle. If you didn't quite get the effect you were looking for, try using different settings on the Adjust Histogram dialog. Position the pointers just before or just after the "bumps" in the graph. And remember, if you get something that's -just right- and need to use it again you can save it as a Graphics State file with *Options.Save Graphics State...* Q&A Center "My old paint software, MegaPaint Pro Plus Gold, had a "Magic Wand" feature that let me select objects of irregular shape. How can I do that with ColorWorks?" - Joe Anybody, Somewhere, Idano Joe, the algorithm behind the "magic wand" tool is so much like the floodfill algorithm that it's practically the same thing. The makers of MegaPaint thought they'd impress you with something they called "Magic", that wasn't really. In ColorWorks you would flip into mask mode (left-click the mask button), select the floodfill tool, then click on the area of the canvas you would have clicked on if you were using a "Magic Wand" tool. ColorWorks will fill in any irregularly shaped area of the same color. After that just press *Ctrl-F* to float the image. If you actually want to select an area of _similar_ color, you would double-click the floodfill tool and use the spin buttons to change the RGB (or HLS) tolerances. Setting each to 10 would tell the floodfill tool to consider any pixel plus or minus 10 color values to be in the same area. Usually, setting each to 40 is good enough for selecting most objects against a plain background. If the background is more complex simply adjust the tolerances accordingly and use more fills until you've masked out the object you want. If you're puzzled by something you can't figure out, drop us a line and we'll pool our resources to help you. Send your questions to us at (editor@haligonian.com) OS/2 e-Zine!. Readers Tips "I wanted to make some icons using ColorWorks, but ColorWorks doesn't export to .ICO format directly. So after creating the icon I wanted I selected the area with the rectangle tool in mask mode, pressed Cntl-F to float the image, then selected *Edit.Copy*. I minimized ColorWorks for the time being and loaded OS/2's Icon Editor. I selected *Edit.Paste*, made sure everything was fine, then saved it to an .ICO file." - Joe Anybody, Somewhere, Idano We'll be publishing any tips that readers may have for getting the most out of ColorWorks. Send your suggestions to (editor@haligonian.com) OS/2 e-Zine!. ColorWorks Culture ColorWorks V2 and V1+ represent over 30 months of work, during which most of the developers were listening to calm, soothing music like White Zombie, Judas Priest, Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine. So if you ever wondered what inspired them to name some of the Graphics States as "Black Sunshine" and "Thunder Kiss", now you know. News from SPG (http://www.spg-net.com) SPG's Web Site During May, SPG released two more technique lessons. The first is "Creating Seamless Images", which teaches how to create pictures that can be tiled without any noticeable seams. This is useful for creating your own textures, displacement maps, bitmap fills (see last month's tips column) and backgrounds for your web pages or desktop. The other is Killer Text Effects Volume 2, leading off from where the first one began and introducing a slew of new effects like Backlighting, distressed effects, cut out effects, Invisible moving text effects and more. Many of the tips don't just apply to text either, so check it out. These on-line technique lessons are *H-U-G-E!* but worth it with their full color examples. You bought that big ol' hard drive to store stuff on, didn't you? Well start cramming! ----- (http://www.spectra.net/~fox) Chris Wenham is a Team OS/2er in Binghamton, NY and president of his own company--(http://www.spectra.net/~pendulum/webworks) Wenham's Web Works. He has written comedy, sci-fi, HTML, Pascal, C++ and will work for tips. *********************************** Answers from e-Zine! Welcome back to a place to get answers to all your OS/2 questions! Each month we bring you tips, tricks, questions and answers from our readers and contributors relating to common (and some not so common) OS/2 problems and questions. If you've got a question or tip you would like to share with us, (editor@haligonian.com) send it in! - Is there any way to select a bitmap that is not in the \OS2\BITMAP directory for use as the background of a folder without going through the cumbersome "Find Objects" dialog? -- Fortunately we can make use of Drag and Drop here: Open the settings notebook for the folder you wish to modify and click the "Background" page. Now just open the folder which contains your bitmaps and drag your favorite bitmap to the "Preview" section of the notebook page. Your folder background will change to the bitmap you've just chosen! (rmschouw@caiw.nl) Reinout van Schouwen ----- - I have a notebook computer running OS/2 Warp Connect. My problem is that when I hook up to the Internet, "Dial Other Internet Provider" does not set my modem to 115,200 when it initializes. It gives me an error stating that it can not run at 115,200, then when I connect, my provider's server connects at 57,600 at the most. I already set the notebook settings for my modem to 115,200 and I still keep getting the same result. I even tried different initialization strings from the manufacturer of my modem. I read something about OS/2 not being able to make connections at more than 57,600 baud. Is this true? And if not is there a way to connect at 115,200? -- This is a pretty simple one, but actually a very valid question. The default communications drivers shipped with OS/2 Warp, do not support communicating with the serial device at more than 57,600 bps. If you must connect at 115,200, there is an alternate communications driver for OS/2 available, called (http://www.wilmington.net/bmtmicro/) SIO, written by Ray Gwinn. It is a shareware product, and should be registered if used beyond an initial testing period. These drivers work quite well, and support all speeds up to 115,200. A more pressing question is whether you actually need speeds greater than 57,600 (or even 38,400). That number indicates the speed the computer "talks" to your serial device (usually your modem), and _not_ the speed the modem transfers data to and from your Internet provider. Though modems have "compression" protocols, these often don't improve much on the compression and other optimization done by the computer on data prior to sending it to the serial device, such as VJ (Van Jacobsen) header compression. So you may see very little difference between the "default" COM.SYS drivers connected to your provider at 57,600, and the SIO.SYS drivers connected at 115,200. Of course, individual results may vary. (eahallbe@descartes.uwaterloo.ca) Ethan Hall-Beyer ----- - I love to use the custom popup menu feature in the WPS. I've got items for hotkeys from 0-9. The trouble is when I change an item it goes to the bottom of the menu. So if I modify "2 Edit CONFIG.SYS" it ends up at the bottom of the list (ie. 0, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 2) which looks messy. How do I move menu items around? Drag & Drop does not seem to work here. -- Unfortunately, there is no easy way to change the order of items you've added to an object's menu. So I've created a special folder in my "OS/2 System" folder named "Menus". I create a program object for each menu item and put it in this folder. To add the menu items, I just drag and drop the appropriate program objects into the "Actions on menu: Primary pop-up menu" box in the Menu tab of the settings notebook. This method has two advantages: First, I can change what a Program object does, and the related menu item will automatically change as well. Second, if I want to change the order of the menu items, I just delete all the items from the menu tab, and then quickly drag and drop the appropriate program objects back in the order I want. You can also give Program objects names like "~1. Command Prompt" and the "~1" will turn into a underlined hotkey when you drag it onto the menu. (jiml@teleport.com) Jim Little ----- - Before I installed FixPak 17, I would sometimes boot to DOS from drive A:. After I installed the FixPak, I lost this capability. My machine begins to load PC DOS 6.3, but then it locks up. Has anyone else experienced this problem? --Since I don't have FP17 installed here, I can't verify it for sure, but I suspect something like the following: when you created "use DOS from Drive A:", you might have had to copy certain OS/2 files onto A: so that it worked properly (such as FSACCESS.FLT, proper EMM drivers from \OS2\MDOS, etc.). With FP17 installed, there might be an incompatibility between those old pre-FixPak files you copied over to your A: drive, and the regular OS/2 "DOS From Drive A:" system files that may have been updated by the FixPak. The best solution would be to try a different DOS boot disk, and verify that any files you copy over to that disk from \OS2\MDOS are copied from a system that has had FixPak 17 installed. (eahallbe@descartes.uwaterloo.ca) Ethan Hall-Beyer ----- That's it for this month. If you have a tip or question that you don't see covered here, don't forget to (editor@haligonian.com) send it in! *********************************** NeoLogic News for OS/2 - by Stephen Turk One of the centerpieces of NeoLogic's Network Suite v4.5 is NeoLogic News for OS/2. This highly capable, threaded, on-line or off-line news reader is the efficient workhorse that any Usenet news addict needs to get through his or her day. Setting Up Installing NeoLogic News, like the rest of the suite, is accomplished from the standard IBM OS/2 installation program. While not the most elegant solution, it is standard and efficient. Once you've installed the base files to their own directory, you're ready to fire up NeoLogic News and customize it to your own server and preferences. All the standard options are here including the ability to set up multiple news servers, news server authentication (user name and password), a default signature, and tons of configurable items like fields displayed in news windows and how to sort/display articles. Suffice to say, this is a very configurable program and will probably meet most people's needs. As with all NeoLogic products, colors and fonts can be customized by drag and drop from default OS/2 palettes. Reading and Writing Once you've set up your basic information such as your news server, e-mail address and real name, you're ready to select some of the thousands of Usenet newsgroups and start reading. Of course, your first stop will be the comp.os.os2.* hierarchy. A word of warning here though, NeoLogic uses the strategy of loading all the headers for all the messages in *all* the news groups you subscribe to when you start it up (or when you subscribe to the groups). This works great for day to day reading because all the headers are stored on your local HD and you only need to retrieve new ones. But the _first_ time you load a newsgroup it can take a *long* time to get all the headers. For example, if you only subscribe to comp.os.os2.advocacy there are likely to be between 1000 and 2000 messages in that newsgroup at any give time. Downloading these headers for the first time will take a while, especially on slower connections. If you subscribe to 5 or 6 groups of any size expect to wait a while. You should also be warned that although this is a multi-threaded application, attempting to share bandwidth between threads across a 14.4 modem is not overly productive. Just opening NeoLogic News (and therefore having it access your news server and collect the news) opens a couple threads, both retrieving info through your modem. If you want to send e-mail or do some other 'net stuff while this is going on, expect it to be slow. That aside, the program is quite good at what it is made to do. From the list of newsgroups you can jump directly into a group or perform various tasks either from the toolbar or pull-down menus. For example, you can open a list of all available groups (for subscribing to them), unsubscribe a group, mark a group as all read or all unread, post a new message, or refresh the headers in the groups. Opening a group presents you with an ordered list of all the messages in that group. Messages of the same subject matter are grouped together in threads. Display of this message list can be configured in many ways to suit your individual preferences. Once again, there are convenient buttons and menu choices for posting, marking messages read and unread, searching and other options. Off-line Use The really great feature of NeoLogic's newsreader as opposed to the Newsreader/2 that ships with OS/2 is its ability to work off-line. If you open NeoLogic News without being connected to the 'net it defaults to off-line mode (there is also a toggle button on the main control panel to go on and off-line). While off-line, any messages you write are queued for sending to the server the next time you log on. Likewise, any messages you attempt to open are queued for loading at the next connection. Reading messages is also possible off-line but not quite as rewarding. This is not due to any shortcoming on NeoLogic's part, but simply because to read off-line, you have to download messages in the first place. If you don't want to download all available messages (which would take longer than most people would spend on-line) you have to go through the message list and select messages for later reading. In practice I find this to be more or less as time consuming as just reading them on-line. Of course, your mileage may vary. And again, this is no fault of NeoLogic's; it's simply the way it is. Bells and Whistles For those of you who like to frequent binaries groups (news groups where people post binary files such as programs and pictures), NeoLogic supports automatic decoding of single or multi-part UUEncoded or MIME (Base 64) encoded messages. In brief testing, this feature seemed to work nearly flawlessly. The occasional glitch was most likely due to other people's bad posts. Users can also post binary messages in UUEncoded format and choose the size of each part if binary posts should be broken into separate messages. A neat feature is NeoLogic's Jargon Demystifier. This is really just a convenient macro function that "translates" common Usenet jargon such as YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary), IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) or FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt). However, it could be better implemented so that if turned on all instances of these acronyms would be automatically replaced when a message is opened. As it is, the user must highlight the text he or she wants converted and press a key sequence. Still, it's a nice touch. Other pleasant features include support for other code pages, the ability to toggle toolbars on or off for individual windows, plenty of keyboard shortcuts, and the great configurability (mentioned above) of all windows. Conclusions Overall this version of NeoLogic News for OS/2 seems much more stable than earlier versions. The implementation of its various features are all efficient and pleasant and the interface is simple without being ugly. For a stand-alone registration fee of US$30, NeoLogic News is a good bargain. With discounts available if registering as part of the whole suite, it's even more attractive. ----- * NeoLogic News for OS/2 by (nstn4064@fox.nstn.ca) NeoLogic Inc. MSRP: US$30 ----- Stephen Turk is a salesman at a small computer retailer and part time trouble shooter. He has been using OS/2 for over a year and an avid Usenet lurker. *********************************** NeoLogic FTP for OS/2 - by Chris Wenham NeoLogic's FTP client is a good robust program for quick and easy grabbing of files from your favorite FTP sites. What it excels at is great pick-and-choose style selection of files with batch downloads that let you tag multiple files in multiple directories, then go off and do something else while the client downloads everything. This client is built for getting to common FTP servers quickly. It is centered around the control panel like all the other NeoLogic applications, with buttons for connecting, configuration and help. The Server Phonebook The first window you're presented with on startup is the Server Phonebook. This is your list of favorite FTP sites ready to be double-clicked on. Adding new servers and configuring them is easy too; at the bottom of the phonebook are a series of buttons to "Add", "Edit", "Remove", "Help", "Cancel" or "Connect". Editing or connecting to a server can also be accomplished by right-clicking or double-clicking on the server's listing respectively. Editing and adding new servers itself is a breeze. After right-clicking on the server listing (or clicking the "Add" button for a new FTP site), you are presented with a settings notebook for all the relevant information needed to connect to the server, including the remote and local directories for the file lists. If you've entered your name and e-mail in the main settings notebook beforehand you can right-click on the "Username" field and it will automatically fill in everything needed for an anonymous login. NeoLogic supports a wide range of FTPDs (the programs that run the FTP server) including its own NeoLogic FTPD, so you're sure to be able to connect to almost any type of machine. The Connection Window This is where you'll do most of your interaction with NeoLogic's FTP, the window that displays your current FTP connection along with file lists for your local directories and the server's directories. The lists are pretty simple, there's no separate list for a directory tree for example, but you can navigate easily enough. The really nice features of this window are less obvious. Multi-threading With NeoLogic FTP you can open more than one connection at a time to a different, or even the same server. Each connection is running on its own thread, meaning that a frozen connection or slow server in one window won't affect the speed of the others. Make a Shopping List Highlighting a file from a directory list and clicking the "Add" button on the toolbar with NeoLogic FTP results in the highlighted file being added to a download list. Files can be added to this list from any directory on the remote server and in any order you choose. Click "Edit" and you can see what files are in the list along with a tally of how many bytes all the files in the list take up. Finally, click "Get" and NeoLogic FTP enters into a batch mode, downloading all the files on your list until complete. When downloading, a progress bar lets you know instantly how much of each file is downloaded (but not the batch-job as a whole). A speed meter and an "ETA" meter let you know how fast it's going and when it expects to be done. This feature is probably the handiest of all, especially if you want to go and browse through different directories, shopping for files first and downloading them all later while you're off doing something else. We found one problem though, there doesn't seem to be a way that you can save your list of files to disk. If you've spent a lot of time constructing a list only to have your connection hang-up before you're done, you'll have to go back and rebuild the list from scratch again. Looking before you leap Another great convenience is the built in file viewer. Double-click on a text file on a remote server and NeoLogic FTP will download the file and display it in a file browser window. This doesn't disrupt your download list if you're building one, so you can easily check through index lists or file_id.diz files to see if you want to add something or not. Connection Console NeoLogic FTP will optionally display a window that lists all of the output from the server since you logged on. This can be toggled on and off as you please. We found that we usually didn't need this except when we were having problems with file transfers and needed to trace the cause. You can see all error messages that the server reports as well as welcome files and read.me files that the server transmits automatically. In a previous version of NeoLogic Network Suite this console would come up as a separate window; now it's integrated into the main connection window. Conclusions NeoLogic FTP is great for browsing around your favorite sites and its download list feature is wonderful for going on "scavenger hunts" and checking out what's new in /incoming directories. As part of the whole NeoLogic Network Suite, the FTP client is beautifully integrated with the clear NeoLogic style interface. Its intelligent use of multithreading also means performance and stability when connected to multiple sites. ----- * NeoLogic FTP for OS/2 by (nstn4064@fox.nstn.ca) NeoLogic Inc. MSRP: US$30 ----- (http://www.spectra.net/~fox) Chris Wenham is a Team OS/2er in Binghamton, NY with a catchy-titled company -- (http://www.spectra.net/~pendulum/webworks) Wenham's Web Works. He has written comedy, sci-fi, HTML, Pascal, C++ and now writes software reviews. *********************************** NeoLogic FTP Server for OS/2 - by Lief Clennon Possibly the easiest part of NeoLogic Network Suite to overlook is the FTP daemon. However, like the rest of the Network Suite, it is rich in features, and surprisingly easy to configure and use. For those of you who were wondering what the "NeoLogic FTPD" icon in the Network Suite folder is, "FTPD" (File Transfer Protocol Daemon) is the typical name for FTP server software. This is NeoLogic's offering for those of you who have been looking for the ability to set up an FTP site on your local machine. Setup Setup is a snap: simply start the daemon, and it begins listening to port 21 for incoming FTP requests; however, a bit more configuration is needed before it can actually be used. First, you need to set up at least one user; this is done using the Add User notebook. The administrator (you) specifies a name, password, and home directory for the new user. To enable anonymous logins, you create a user named "anonymous" and enter the directory to drop anonymous users in. While you must type something in the password field, it is ignored in this case. The second and third pages of the Add User notebook deal with read and write permissions. You can enable or disable full access to any drive or you can be more selective, entering a directory name and selecting the Read and Write buttons to give access of either or both forms. Unfortunately, this does not recurse to subdirectories; every directory must be individually specified. Also, if you specify Write but not Read access, files may be sent to the directory, but the user can not enter the directory, or list its contents. As one would expect, there is also an Edit User notebook, which is identical to Add User, except that the User Name field is a drop-down list of all currently configured users. There is a fairly annoying bug here: the directory access page is occasionally cleared if you switch to it from the Edit User notebook, forcing you to reenter every directory if you want to add one. There is also a User List dialog, which displays all the current users with accounts. You can hilight the names in the list, but unfortunately you can't go directly to the Edit User notebook with a button or double-click. Finally, there is Remove User, which is the same dialog as the User List, with the addition of a Remove button. Log Details Once you have a user configured, and directories set up, the daemon can run on its own. However, as it is doing so, it keeps a detailed running log of what's happening. You can toggle logging on individual commands, as well as what information to put in front of each log entry. In addition, you can open a window with information, albeit far more sparse, about the users currently and recently logged on. One peeve here: if you close this window, rather than minimizing it, you can not re-open it without restarting the daemon. Other options in the configuration notebook include setting the maximum number of users to allow (there are separate fields for named and anonymous), and setting a directory message filename, which will be sent to the user the first time he or she switches to a directory containing a file of that name. Also, for security, you can set the read-only attribute on files sent by anonymous users. This will prevent them from being deleted or overwritten by other users. From the command line, you can tell the server to start minimized, to listen to a port other than 21, or to mimic a Unix FTPd, which removes some features, but ensures compatibility with almost all possible clients. Notably, some web browsers such as Netscape and WebExplorer may need this Unix compatibility feature turned on. (NeoLogic FTPd is RFC 959 and RFC 1123 compliant so any client that is also compliant with RFC standards should work fine.) Pros and Cons There are many advantages to having an FTP daemon, even if you only have a modem connection. First and foremost is speed; FTP transfers are far faster than UUEncoded e-mail, or DCC transfers on IRC. Secondly, you don't have to monitor progress: just fire up the daemon, and anyone can download the files you have made available, or upload to an incoming directory if you have set one up. If you can afford to have a 24-hour connection, this makes it far easier to coordinate transfers with people on the other side of the world. Or, if you know a file will be coming in sometime in the next three hours, you can log in, set up the daemon, leave to do your laundry or a bit of photo retouching in ColorWorks, and come back to find your file waiting for you. I am an avid IRC user, and lately have found myself getting quite a kick out of saying, "No, don't DCC that. Let me set up the FTP daemon. Okay, I'm done, you can send it now!" After all, it's nothing but a double-click, and uses very little in the way of system resources. It's also useful when you've got something you send fairly often. For instance, in my FTP directory is the DOS version of RAR 2.0, my favorite archiver, which you're going to need if you get any other files from me. Conclusions NeoLogic FTPd is a multitasking and multithreading server suitable for casual or dedicated FTP serving. The program documentation claims that the, "server has no real limits except those imposed by the operating system." What this means to you is that you _may_ be able to use the software to host 800 to 900 concurrent users. For those with more casual needs I found the performance when only serving to a few people at a time to be phenomenal; FTPd did not affect the rest of the system at all, except in terms of the modem bandwidth used for the transfers. I've tested NeoLogic FTPd on computers ranging from a 486DX2/66 with 8M RAM, to a P6/200 with 128M RAM, with no noticeable difference in performance or impact on the rest of the system. All in all, while I don't use the FTP daemon nearly as often as the rest of the NeoLogic Network Suite, it has proven to be quite a time and labor saver, and I applaud the folks at NeoLogic for having the foresight to add something that is normally nonstandard in an end-user software package to their Network Suite. ----- * NeoLogic FTP Server for OS/2 by (nstn4064@fox.nstn.ca) NeoLogic Inc. MSRP: US$30 ----- (http://asis.com/~liefc/) Lief Clennon is a Team OS/2 member living in the backwoods of Northern California. His hobbies include badgering people on IRC, and reinstalling OS/2 after one tweak too many. *********************************** Yarn and Souper - by Jon F. Kaminsky Off-line USENET News/Mail Combo With the many choices in Presentation Manager (PM) Internet applications now available to the OS/2 community, it may seem backward to deploy an off-line news reader application that runs only in text mode. However, once you get the Yarn-Souper combo cooking on your desktop you may never want to go back. This review is intended to introduce the OS/2 user to a very productive off-line reading system which is sometimes overlooked because of difficulty getting the pieces installed (neither Souper nor Yarn have very explicit help), or because they are text-mode applications. Because of space restrictions, an extensive "how-to" guide won't be presented here, but to accompany this review I have created an *_on-line install/tip guide_* to the OS/2 Yarn-Souper combination. This guide is in INF book format and is downloadable at the e-Zine! web site. It is my intent that as I become better skilled in Yarn and Souper, or as users send me tips, I'll keep updating this INF resource so if you are reading this article months after it was originally published, don't hesitate to (negcjfk@ibm.net) contact me or check the on-line version (if you are reading an off-line copy of OS/2 e-Zine! ) for the latest update. What are Yarn and Souper? The Yarn-Souper combo consists of two separate text-mode applications written by (cthuang@io.org) Chin Huang. Souper is a program that transfers mail and news from a POP3 mail server and NNTP news server respectively, to Simple Offline USENET Packets (SOUP). Once downloaded, these SOUP packets are then used to create a "news base" which can be read by a compatible off-line reader such as Yarn. Yarn consists of a suite of programs that are used to store and read USENET news and mail downloaded from a USENET host. I'll beg the question -- why would anyone want to use a text mode program when we have this wonderful graphical interface under OS/2? The answer to this is two-part -- Souper is simply a utility that goes and gets your mail and news and in my opinion, looks don't make any difference or provide any added functionality to perform that task. It might be nice, however, to have a small PM interface to Souper with some menus to the various options you can send Souper out with (perhaps I'll write one soon). And as far as Yarn goes, text mode can be an advantage. First, and foremost, it's fast. Yarn is also very easy on your eyes and when I'm ready for a good hour or so of off-line reading I want a program that will not result in eye strain. Changing the displayed font size is as easy as choosing the system menu of an OS/2 window and clicking on "Font Size". Or if you prefer, Yarn can be run in a fullscreen OS/2 session for even easier readability. And you can easily navigate Yarn with one hand on the keyboard (no mousing under Yarn as of version 0.90). What can I do with Yarn and Souper? First off, you can save time and connect charges (I shudder to think of all the on-line time I used to waste using Newsreader/2!). Yarn and Souper combine to create a very rich off-line news and mail reading utility. You essentially send Souper out to get the news or mail you want, run an import program to convert the SOUP packets, and crank up Yarn to do some serious reading. The applications are configured by simple text files (which you can edit yourself) and by specifying command line parameters. Once inside Yarn, you can create e-mail, news replies, or original articles using an editor of your choice. When you have created an "upload packet" consisting of articles or e-mail, Souper then provides the means to upload the packet. Installation and Setup The Souper program was designed to work with the IBM Internet Connection. While the *_on-line install/tip guide_* mentioned above walks you through the entire setup procedure, the basic setup essentially consists of the following steps: 1. Ensuring that the following line is present in your \tcpip\etc\services file: pop3 110/tcp If the line is not present, you'll have create it in the "Network services, Internet style" portion of the Services file. 2. Ensuring that the PPP/SLIP settings notebook includes the correct information for your service provider (see the *_on-line install/tip guide_* for details). 3. Installing the Yarn program files using the included install script (e.g., English.cmd) to a directory such as x:\tcpip\yarn 4. Copying Souper.exe, Yarn.exe, the Import.exe and Expire.exe programs, and the archiver program executables to a directory on your config.sys PATH statement (I suggest X:\tcpip\bin if you're using the IBM IAK). A fine choice for the archiver is Info-Zip's freeware OS/2 versions of Zip and Unzip. 5. Running the included "Adduser" program to set up the basic configuration and the user home directory (the one referred to as %HOME%), and then placing the Souper newsrc (the listing of your newsgroups) in the %HOME% directory. *Note:* Yarn will create its own newsrc file to keep track of downloaded material. This file is created automatically in the HOME\yarn directory (not to be confused with the x:\tcpip\yarn directory) 6. And finally, modifying your OS/2 config.sys file, adding environment variables which tell Yarn where its directory is located, where your home directory is located, and what your time zone is. Once you get it all going, you'll probably want to open up the user config file located in your \HOME\yarn directory to fine-tune your set-up or header information. Make me Some Soup as Quick as You Can The best way to utilize the features of Souper is to create a series of OS/2 command files that hold the parameters you might use to control Souper's behaviour. For example, a file called get-the-news.cmd (or whatever) might contain only the line: souper -m -k 4096 which tells Souper to get the news, leave the mail, and don't exceed a 4096 KB packet size. The *_on-line install/tip guide_* includes a few more examples of command files you can create to retrieve and upload your correspondence. Once you have a bevy of command files in your X:\tcpip\yarn directory, shadow them to a folder on your desktop, and after you're connected to your ISP, click on the appropriate icon to launch your Souper task. You can get as involved as you wish with command files and you can even accomplish several tasks consecutively in one command file (like upload mail/news, then get more news, import the downloaded news, and then start Yarn -- you get the idea). Souper also supports kill files to zap any unwanted material at the source so you never have to see it. And one of the nice features about running a robust multi-tasking system such as OS/2 is that you can be productive by going about your other tasks while Souper runs in the background. Yarn Gives Good Thread When Souper has finished getting all the news and/or mail, and you're ready to read, you import the messages that Souper has downloaded into Yarn. You could do this by creating an "Import_to_Yarn.cmd" command file such as: Import -u Yarn This command file imports the soup packets and starts Yarn with the newly downloaded messages. Yarn operates in three levels: The Newsgroup Selection level, which greets you when you first open the program, the Article Selection Level, and the Article Reading Level. Upon starting, Yarn will immediately notify you if any mail is present in your mailbox (assuming you sent Souper after it). You can read news or mail, and reply to either as in any other mail or news program, and you can store and retrieve your correspondents' addresses in Yarn's built-in address book. At the Article Selection Level, depending on your configuration, you'll see something like a list of subjects by thread, with the corresponding author, and whether you have previously read the article or not (useful for those pesky cross-posts). You simply highlight an article of interest and press Enter. This brings you into the Article Reading Level where you normally read, create replies to the thread, or e-mail responses to an individual. Yarn includes many other built-in features to navigate/kill threads, sort articles, mark articles as read or unread, extract UUencoded files, etc. Spinning Your Own Tall Tales If you don't know already where to go for Yarn and Souper resources, one place you'll certainly find a great deal of information is the (http://www.io.org/~tm/bells2.html) Yarn Bells & Whistles Page/2. This page also includes links where you can pick up the latest in Yarn accessories. In addition to this site, the latest versions of Yarn (0.90) and Souper (1.5) can be found on such sites as Hobbes, the Walnut Creek CDROM.COM site, and the (ftp://ftp.oce.com/pub/yarn/) PC Yarn archive (file names for OS/2 are souper15.zip and yrn2_090.zip). For those more dedicated to the art rather than the concept, there is even a Yarn mailing list. To join, send an e-mail to listproc@lists.Colorado.edu consisting only of the words: SUBSCRIBE YARN-LIST Your name Conclusion and Acknowledgements The Yarn-Souper combo is a highly functional (but somewhat overlooked) offline newsgroup/mail retrieval solution. It is currently available on-line in many of the familiar places OS/2 users have grown accustomed to looking. In comparison with other off-line readers, I much prefer this combo. In my opinion, it's faster, wastes less time, and is easily configurable once you know where to go to change settings. Try it -- you'll like it! *Author's note*: I gratefully acknowledge the help of OS/2 newsgroup regular Richard Steiner for providing the original encouragement and help in getting the Yarn-Souper combo going on my desktop. Also, Steve Withers with IBM New Zealand deserves recognition for providing some of these tips, originally included in his Yarn-Souper installation note. ----- * Souper v1.5 by (cthuang@io.org) Chin Huang MSRP: Freeware * Yarn v0.90 by (cthuang@io.org) Chin Huang MSRP: Freeware ----- (negcjfk@ibm.net) Jon F. Kaminsky is principal hydrogeologist of Northwest Environmental Geoscience Co. in Tacoma, Washington and when not practicing geology, he indulges in writing shareware OS/2 utilities. He has written articles for scientific journals, and now, an on-line magazine. *********************************** HTML-Ed v0.94b - by Chris Wenham HTML-Ed is a beautifully small and elegant little program that, like a Yorkshire Terrier, packs a lot into a tiny package. As a professional Web designer who swears away from most HTML editors like they were tools of the devil, this one won my heart and my registration money for a few simple but excellent reasons. Reason #1: It's Small I use the Workplace Shell to its max. I'm document centric; that is, my applications stay hidden in an applications folder and I do my _real work_ in my documents folders, dragging templates left and right and double clicking data files, not program objects. What I want from an editor above all else is loading _speed_. I want to double-click and *bang!*, have my editor open. HTML-Ed is only about 67K -- slightly smaller than the System Editor (which is 71k) -- and can load instantly upon double-clicking an .html file. Not only that, but it's written in C, meaning fast execution time as well. This is a far cry from other HTML editors that are written in Visual REXX. They're not bad, but the operating system must load the _huge_ VROBJ.DLL file which is nearly a megabyte in size. Also, REXX is an interpreted language, is designed for simple scripting and prototypes, and is not really optimized for speed. It's the OS/2 equivalent of Visual Basic for Windows. Reason #2: It's Simple HTML-Ed hasn't got a fancy button toolbar within 100 miles of it. Like most HTML coders, I know most of the HTML language so GUI tidbits don't help me in any way. HTML-Ed still has all of the HTML 2.0 tags and selected 3.0 tags readily available in the menus though, but the greatest convenience is that so many are assigned to keystroke combinations. HTML-Ed is designed to be _keyboard driven_. For example, I emphasized _keyboard driven_ just by pressing Ctrl-e. HTML-Ed inserted the and tags and positioned the cursor between them, ready for me to type. Alternatively, I could have just highlighted the text I wanted to emphasize with the mouse (or keyboard, using the Shift, Ctrl and arrow keys) and _then_ pressed Ctrl-e. It makes me faster than I was with System Editor, not only because the program itself is fast, but because the interface lends itself to fast HTML coding. Reason #3: Built-in Previewer HTML-Ed comes with a built-in previewer that lets you preview your HTML pages, loading all graphics, backgrounds, tables etc. and displaying them *exactly* as they would look in WebExplorer. Plus, this previewer loads lightning fast as well and displays within the HTML-Ed window itself. "Okay," you say, "The program's only 60K and it includes all the routines for loading .GIF and .JPG images, backgrounds, formatting, forms, fonts and all other features of a high-end graphical web browser? Something funny is going on." Yup! When IBM designed the WebExplorer, they put the main browsing engine into a set of .DLL files (Dynamic Link Libraries) and used a standard API which they then made available to programmers. What HTML-Ed does is load these .DLL files to provide its built-in previewer. It only loads them on demand (when you hit the "Test!" option on the menu) so it doesn't slow down the program's load time. This also means that any time Web Explorer is updated to a new version, so is HTML-Ed's previewer! You can test the latest HTML tags and features of WebExplorer (even Java) and never have to wait for a new version of HTML-Ed to become available. It's one programmer's smarts taking advantage of another company's design wisdom. Since it uses WebExplorer's guts to provide this previewer, you can also follow links around your pages to make sure they're all in working order. It all happens in seconds, with no need to wait for the whole Web Explorer to load. By the way, look for this trick being used in other products as well. The Internet Adventurer (still in Beta, but available on hobbes for download) uses the WebExplorer DLL to provide its own web browser. IBM's own NetComber does the same thing, as do a few other web browsers still in beta testing. This is a stroke of genius on IBM's part, since any developer can make a better browser interface and not have to build a complete browser engine from scratch. All the other bits HTML-Ed borrowed a trick from EPM (The Enhanced Editor that comes with OS/2): Ring Editing. Ring Editing is simple, you load several files into the editor at once and flip back and forth through them on a "ring", much like Rolodex files. In the titlebar are two extra buttons, one for flipping backwards through the ring, the other for flipping forwards. You can bring up a list of all the files on the ring too if you need to go directly to a specific one. HTML-Ed packs an assortment of useful gadgets that HTML jockeys often need. It can convert all uppercase tags to lowercase, or vice-versa (useful for keeping a uniform style). It can also convert all "\" characters to "/" characters. It can even strip all HTML tags out of a file completely, for when you need to give someone an ASCII version of your page. Conclusions This is probably the one and only HTML editor that deserves to be called an HTML editor. Some claim to be WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors of HTML, yet conveniently forget to tell you that the World Wide Web *is not WYSIWYG*. Others are good for beginners, but spend a lot of time loading fluff that experienced coders don't need. Last but not least, HTML-Ed has an UNDO feature, which is great for saving the bacon of world-class twits like me. ----- * HTML-Ed v0.94b by (ianprest@connect.reach.net) Ian Prest MSRP: US$20 ----- (http://www.spectra.net/~fox) Chris Wenham is a Team OS/2er in Binghamton, NY with a catchy-titled company -- (http://www.spectra.net/~pendulum/webworks) Wenham's Web Works. He has written comedy, sci-fi, HTML, Pascal, C++ and now writes software reviews. *********************************** Maple V Release 4 - by Dr. Dirk Terrell Introduction Maple V Release 4 from Waterloo Maple, Inc. is a powerful tool that can perform just about any kind of mathematical calculation possible, without having to write complicated computer programs. Available on many platforms, such as Windows and various flavors of Unix, the OS/2 version was recently released with the worksheet interface and that places it well ahead of its nearest competitor in the OS/2 market, Mathematica from Wolfram Research, which has a very minimal text-based interface with graphics plotted in a separate window. (I should note that it is possible to use the more sophisticated Windows notebook interface with the OS/2 kernel for Mathematica, but I have found that to be somewhat cumbersome. And for some users who do not have Windows support installed, it is not even an option. As an OS/2 user, I expect my software to be a complete solution, not half an application with a Windows program grafted onto it.) Maple for OS/2 requires Warp. The program installs effortlessly; you simply tell it where to put the files, and which files to install. A minimal installation requires 18 megabytes of disk space, and a full installation, including extensive example worksheets and user-contributed packages, requires 28 megabytes of space. The minimum RAM requirement is 8 megabytes, and the documentation lists a 486 as the minimum CPU. The Good The heart of Maple is its _kernel_, the engine that performs the symbolic and numerical computations. The kernel is robust and optimized for speed and efficiency. The Maple _library_, gives it extensive built-in functions for doing a wide variety of calculations from calculus to linear algebra to statistics. What makes Maple very powerful, however, is the ability to modify or extend the built-in commands to suit your own needs. Using the Maple programming language, a simple but very powerful programming language, you can overcome any limitations you might run into with Maple's built-in commands. Powerful commands are not useful if you don't know how to use them, however. Maple ships with excellent documentation that will have you acting like a math wizard in a matter of minutes. The _Learning Guide_ starts with the very basics of how to enter commands and through its 263 pages, shows you how to find solutions to equations, create graphs, evaluate and simplify expressions, and read/write data to/from disk files. The _Programming Guide_ shows you how to use Maple's programming language to solve problems that would be quite time consuming to solve in more traditional languages like FORTRAN or C. The _Maple Handbook_ is a 476 page, spiral-bound reference of the built-in Maple commands. This book is very handy when you are working on a problem, and can't quite remember the option of a particular command that you need. If you need more information on a particular command, it lists page(s) in the _Programming Guide_ and _Learning Guide_ where you can find information on that particular command. And on top of all this printed documentation, Maple comes with on-line help that is extensive and easy to use. The worksheet interface is much more than a way to get nice output that looks like equations as opposed to poor renditions done in ASCII art. It is a full-fledged document editing tool that enables you to effortlessly combine text, equations, graphics, and even hypertext links to other documents. Complex documents can be outlined, enabling you to collapse and expand sections and quickly get to the information you are looking for. The on-line help for Maple is a Maple worksheet, for example. As you would expect, the interface enables you to cut and paste both text and graphics between it and other programs. I had no problems pasting figures from Maple into PMView and DeScribe. Maple's very natural language makes it easy to solve mathematical problems. For example, if you wanted to integrate a particular function, say y=x*x over the range where x varies from -2 to 2, you might use Simpson's rule and write a FORTRAN subroutine to do this, in which case you would probably have to write 30 or 40 lines of code. In Maple, you simply enter: int(x^2,x=-2..2); and upon pressing the Enter key, Maple responds with: [image appeared here in on-line version] which you recognize as being the correct answer since this example is a trivial function to integrate. You can even check it by doing the integral manually: [image appeared here in on-line version] Say, what does that function look like? Maple draws it faster than you can think "Where is my graph paper?" [image appeared here in on-line version] And if you need to change the way the plot is done, a right-click on the graphic brings up a menu of parameters for the plot such as the type of axes to use, the symbol or line type to use, _etc_. With 3-D plots, you can even change the point of view by clicking on the plot and dragging the mouse around. You can also change the perspective and lighting of a 3-D plot with a click of the mouse. Now that I have praised the graphical interface, let me point out that Maple also ships with a text-mode version that can be very handy when you just need to do a quick and dirty calculation. However, the real power of the text-mode version reveals itself when you use REXX as the glue to piece the Maple engine together with other programs. You can have one program create some data, then have Maple do some processing on it, and then have another program do something with the output from Maple, all done automatically by a REXX script. Waterloo Maple has announced that they are making Maple an OpenDoc application. OpenDoc is the future of interoperability in programs, and would enable you to embed a Maple object within a DeScribe document, for example. The Bad Not everything is rosy when it comes to the OS/2 version of Maple. It is clear that this is a program ported to OS/2 from another platform. There is no "Maple Document" template in the Maple folder. WPS integration is basically limited to having an association set for Maple documents so that they load into Maple when clicked. Drag and Drop printing is not supported. You cannot even drop a Maple document on the Maple window and have it load. Even more annoying is the fact that the program is not multi-threaded. If a complex graphic is being rendered, you will sit there and stare at the clock cursor until it is done. Now, I realize that such threading would be much more complicated to program, but even printing is done on the main thread, meaning that you are locked out of the program until the print job is spooled. That is simply inexcusable. The Ugly This being the first version of Maple ported to OS/2, there are still some rough edges on it. For example, choosing "Print Preview" from the "file" menu has the same effect as choosing "Exit" -- the program shuts down completely with no error message of any kind. I also had some problems with printing documents (equations being jumbled), but it seems that the source of the problem may be the LaserJet driver I'm using because the equations looked fine when the document was printed to a Postscript file and viewed with Ghostview. The Verdict Although there are some minor problems with Maple V for OS/2, I have no reservations about recommending it. Its interface is intuitive and very flexible. The kernel is robust and efficient. If your work involves data analysis of any kind, be it anything from photometry of stars to fluctuations of customer demand for your products to the mixture of nitrogen and oxygen in your scuba tank, Maple V for OS/2 is a very powerful tool. Unfortunately, the list price of this package is astronomical -- US$995 ($795 with the academic discount) -- and, like Mathematica, there is no student version for the OS/2 platform. Frankly, I think these companies are missing a profitable market by not having a slimmed-down version in the $100 - $200 range for students and people whose needs are less demanding than professional scientists and engineers. ----- * Maple V Release 4 for OS/2 by (http://www.maplesoft.com) Waterloo Maple, Inc. MSRP: US$995 ----- (http://www.gnv.com/HTMLWizard/) Dr. Dirk Terrell is an astronomer at the University of Florida specializing in interacting binary stars. His hobbies include cave diving, martial arts, painting and writing OS/2 software such as HTML Wizard. *********************************** Chomp v1.1 and MakMan v1.0 - by David Seldon When you're asleep at night, do you dream of the electronic sounds of video arcades? Do you see small yellow circles chasing ghostly blue creatures? Are you a child of the '80s? If you are and you're fondly missing some of the classic games of that era, don't despair, you can recapture your former arcade glory right from you OS/2 desktop! Chomp v1.1 by Jerry J. Shekhel and MakMan v1.0 by (msdiorin@immd9.informatik.uni-erlangen.de) Markellos J. Diorinos are, quite simply, two PacMan clones for OS/2. Both are simple, faithful to the original and fun. But there are some notable differences between the two. Chomp v1.1 Chomp is the simpler of the two games and by far the older. In fact, the files in the Chomp zip file (there are only two) are dated June 17th, 1990. No, that's not a typo -- 1990! This program is almost as old as the original PacMan and the docs claim it was first developed on OS/2 v1.1 (but it runs fine on Warp)! In fact it was only when the author wrote: I've tried to make the game as close to the original as possible in gameplay, but I haven't seen a PacMan machine in years, so all the elements of the game have been recalled from memory that I realized even the ancient age of 6 years pales in comparison to the length of time it has been since the world has seen a PacMan machine. I'm getting old. Regardless, Chomp is a fun little game. It is a direct port of an earlier clone, Xchomp, which originally ran on the X window system on a Sun workstation. Significant shortcomings of the game are that it is black and white only and features no sound, but these are the only real gripes I had. The lack of tunnels that travel from the left to the right of the screen (and vice versa) may disappoint PacMan purists though. The game window is small but convenient on a 640x480 resolution monitor, the speed of play is challenging and the graphics are good. In a *lot* of testing I didn't find any problems with the program. There is a significant delay (not disk accessing, just a pause) when starting the program but other than that, it was snappy on the test 486DX2 66. Game control is by keyboard only. There is not much else to be said about this no-frills version of PacMan. It is a good diversion for those of you who were once addicted but may not be colorful or noisy enough for others. For a registration fee of only US$20 (or $35 with full source code) Chomp is a bargain. MakMan v1.0 A much more ambitious port of this classic game has been undertaken by Markellos J. Diorinos. This much more recent game was brought to the v1.0 level recently and features fantastic sounds and graphics. Of course, it's still PacMan. Again, this game has no "travel through" tunnels that I remember from the original game (at least not in the levels I could get to) but other than that, the PacMan aficionado will be in heaven. MakMan comes with three settings for it's graphics: Classic, 3D and Fufitos. The 3D setting is probably the nicest, but it's not really important because anyone with OS/2 and the OS/2 icon editor can edit the included bitmaps to create their own look for the game. MakMan also features original PacMan sounds (these are great; it's just like being back in the arcade!!), 18 levels (9 field designs, each with 2 difficulty levels), multiple sprite libraries and the ability to create your own sprites, DIVE and PM support, and high score tracking. I say above that the game features DIVE support but I should qualify this by saying that I was unable to get the DIVE version working. While I have never had problems with DIVE games on the test machine in the past, MakMan failed to display properly when run with the DIVE option. Normal game play (i.e. non-DIVE) worked fine. However, another problem in this case was the fact that the screen defaults to a huge size which makes it unplayable on a 640x480 monitor. I was forced to switch to 800x600 mode to test the game. Other than these glitches, the game performed well overall. Again, this version is more or less faithful to the original but with a much bigger, full colour display and great sounds. The game is also reasonably challenging. MakMan can be controlled by the keyboard or by an optional joystick. In summary, gamers who are a little more serious about PacMan may want to look into this version as a solution to their yearning. At an even more reasonable registration price of US$15 you are entitled to all future versions of the game. For that price, you can't go wrong. ----- * Chomp v1.1 for Presentation Manager by Jerry J. Shekhel MSRP: US$20 * MakMan v1.0* by (msdiorin@immd9.informatik.uni-erlangen.de) Markellos J. Diorinos MSRP: US$15 ----- David Seldon is a part time language teacher and part time student. When he's not travelling or playing games he enjoys surfing and skiing. *********************************** Tensor v1.13 - by Chris Williams Games in the world of OS/2 always seem to fall into one end or another of two extremes. On the high end, they are true innovations capable of taking the market by storm with their fresh ideas, flashy graphics, and capabilities that show off the strengths of OS/2. On the low end, they come out looking not much better than a thrown-together applet that someone decided to charge money for. While these are the extremes of the spectrum, Tensor, developed by Palet Software, Inc. and published by Advanced Idea Machines, Inc (AIM), seems to fit the lower end much better than the higher. The Game As far as puzzle type games are concerned, Tensor is actually fun to play. If you're looking for Klingons to shoot, you'll have to find them elsewhere -- think of Tensor as a combination of Mine Sweeper, Chinese Checkers, and the old Reversi game that used to come with OS/2 2.1. The object of the game is to clear a "quota" of pieces from the checkerboard-like game area before time runs out. Clicking a square with the left mouse button attracts pieces to that square while clicking with the right mouse button repels pieces. Pieces are removed by getting like pieces to collide with each other on an open square, or by getting pieces of any type to move to a square with a "pit". If pieces that are not alike collide, you are penalized in points and by having more pieces added to the board. Bonus points are awarded for getting three or more like pieces to collide with a single click. The more like pieces you can get to collide, the higher the bonus. If you have accumulated "bombs" (by merging three or more pieces), you can also "bomb" a piece by clicking directly on it. On higher levels, the pit squares move around with every turn. Moving barriers also show up later on. Once you reach these levels, it becomes almost impossible to clear the board, but since the object is to clear a level-determined quota of pieces within a certain time, not the entire game board, the main challenge of the game is a race against the clock. Blemishes... Installing Tensor is easy enough. The installation program (SETUPOS2.EXE -- both Windows and OS/2 versions ship on a single floppy disk) brings up a window that allows you to change the directory where the game files will be placed. Here is where the program starts to show its blemishes. The installation program creates a new "Games" folder on your desktop with an icon that looks like it came from the Calvin and Hobbes archives. It ignores the default Games folder that is normally installed on most OS/2 systems. While this works if you don't have anything else installed, think what would happen if every new OS/2 game created its own folder named "Games" on the desktop. Why not name the folder "Tensor" or "Advanced Ideas", or just install to the existing Games folder, creating the folder if it didn't exist? There is very little hard copy documentation (a 12 page photocopied booklet with one 2 inch square illustration) and no on-line help to speak of for Tensor. In fact, all you get is a "Quick Help" panel not much bigger than the "About..." information panels you see on most applications. The information in the "Quick Help" panel is also about as useless for help as those other programs' "About..." panels. This means you don't really have any help while playing the game. Thankfully, there is an on-line book that is installed along with the game. Unfortunately, as you read through it, you will notice many misspelled words and poorly constructed sentences. The overall feel of the product is one of being very rough around the edges. However, there is at least enough to get you started with playing the game if you're willing to take the time to carefully study it. And the packaging that Tensor comes in is unbearable! This is software that should be shipped in a plain brown wrapper -- not because the contents are offensive, but because the box design is so rough that you'll be embarrassed to be seen receiving it. But... Playing Tensor, especially at the higher levels, is definitely a challenge. The game is fast paced and you have to make precise mouse movements and know which button is best to click to be good at it. I tried the game on a desktop system and my ThinkPad. I found the TrackPoint mouse on the ThinkPad to be a nice advantage, providing the benefits of a mouse and the flexibility of a joystick. Your preferences may vary. Having the game's sounds turned on slowed its performance by quite a bit on both of my systems. I also found some of the sounds to be a distraction. Some of them make you wonder if they were lifted straight from a Star Trek sound archive. Again, the concept of the game may be original, but this is definitely not a polished product. Conclusions Overall, I would rate Tensor as fun to play, but not exciting. It's definitely not yet ready for prime time sales as a final product. There is much work that needs to be redone, especially in terms of documentation and overall polish. If you like applet-style puzzle games with a twist and are willing to put up with its shortcomings, Tensor is probably worth giving a try. If you want highly polished game software that poses serious competition for the rest of the gaming world and provides a compelling reason to tell your friends to use OS/2, pass right on by Tensor without giving it a second thought. ----- * Tensor by Palet Software, Inc. published by (http://www.xmission.com/~aimgames/) Advanced Idea Machines, Inc. MSRP: US$24.95 ----- (http://privateI.com/~chrisw) Chris Williams has been actively involved with OS/2 systems for the past six years. A former IBM employee, OS/2 Ambassador, and long time member of Team OS/2, he is currently a PC and network specialist for Perot Systems Corporation. *********************************** CompuScammed! - by Robin K. MacMahon I've been had. It's a sickening feeling when you've been ripped off and I feel sick. My pocket was picked in a way I couldn't have imagined ten years ago. The information superhighwayman stopped me on a dark stretch of road and took me for the rube I am. I believe he said his name was CompuServe. I should probably start this tale from the beginning. This all began when I bought my computer. Buying a computer requires hours of research and tedious checking of specifications and technical charts. Or, you could do it my way. Find a salesperson and, when something sounds cool, say yeah -- that's what I want. They may show you a game on a nice monitor. Of course, this system you're purchasing isn't for games. NOoo. This is a business machine. Or maybe you've justified it in your head that not only will this computer help you get your life in order, it will make you a better person in the process. Besides, you're good enough, and nice enough, and darn it, you deserve it! So I ended up with a 486 DX2-66 and lots'a really neat other stuff. CD-ROM? I just had to have it. Sixteen meg of RAM, it goes without saying. Hard drive -- gee I hope 850 Meg is enough. Fifteen inch monitor? That doesn't sound big enough. Of course when I was told how much the seventeen inch monitor was, upgrading to fifteen was just fine. For some reason though, when the question of a modem came up a little voice in the back of my head made itself heard and I actually listened. So I passed on the modem. I figured I had my hands full already with the other stuff. Considering I had never used a computer in my life my hands were overflowing. It took about four months to get comfortable with this new technology. There were some growing pains with the computer. A few problems getting everything to work together. All the computer components worked as they were supposed to but apparently I wasn't interfacing properly with them. But, as I stated earlier, after about four months I had adapted quite well to my new toy. That's when I started feeling the pressure all over again. I had bought the computer because I didn't want to get left behind, technologically speaking. Now I felt that I was being left behind all over again. Everyone was getting on the _information superhighway_ and I was being left in the dust. It wasn't just those slick IBM commercials on television. It was everywhere. Newspapers running articles of how the whole world was connected and if you weren't then you were missing out. It was on the radio. People on the street and in restaurants were talking about it. I had been running OS/2 Warp for a couple of months; the IBM Information Superhighway icon had been staring at me long enough. So, I caved. I bought my modem with excitement that now, I too would be part of the cutting edge. The problem is I got cut by the cutting edge. Someone should have told me about the dangerous fish swimming in the techno-waters. It took a while but I finally got the modem to talk to the rest of my computer and those elitist components to recognize it and talk back. I tried the IBM Information Superhighway icon. There it was. CompuServe. I clicked on it and up came this wonderful display on my screen. The program was so helpful in assisting me to find the on-ramp. Unfortunately, it required I give my Visa card number before it would allow me to log on. I didn't like the idea of sending my Visa vitals out into the great unknown but I had to see what this was all about. According to the documentation that came with OS/2 Warp the first thirty days on CompuServe were to be a free trial period. This fact, coupled with the 1-800 number that was showing on my screen convinced me it shouldn't cost me a thing. I tried reading the fine print in the Readme text that comes with the CompuServe Information Manager (CIM) program. This was about as interesting as reading the instructions on a tube of toothpaste, although quite a bit longer. About eight pages worth. I gave up and decided to log on. The first hour flew by like the blink of an eye. Everyone was right!! This was great. There were forums for every interest. If I was having problems getting CIM to work to its full capabilities there was a forum to ask what to do. These people were extremely helpful. I was getting tips on how to make my system sing like The Three Tenors. The best part was for the first thirty days it was all *free!!!* Riiight. I was starting to get skeptical. This was too good to be true. I started asking questions. Finally, on a local bulletin board, my worst fears were confirmed. Seems that if I would have continued reading the Readme text in CIM I would have found that charges still applied. Apparently 1-800 doesn't mean toll free. It means the phone company won't charge you long distance charges. CompuServe, on the other hand, charges *twenty* dollars U.S. per hour to use their 800 number. Now, from where I live, a long distance phone call to CompuServe's local phone number in Edmonton costs about ten dollars per hour after midnight. At the exchange rate between U.S. and Canadian money today that translates into a saving the size of our national debt. Well, maybe not that much, but it's a lot. I called customer service for CompuServe and they were very polite in pointing out that if I would have read the fine print I would have been aware of these charges. OK, they had a point. That's not the worst part. I'm still addicted. I had rung up about $160.00 Canadian worth of charges before I found out about the hidden costs. I just can't stop using it. I know it sounds pathetic but it's true. I love being on-line. I love the exchange of information and ideas. I'm having fun and looking forward to every minute I spend reading messages people have left me from around the world. It's like having a million penpals. My off-line reader is now my best friend. Golden Commpass (GCP) has saved me both time and money. The amount of money I spent in user fees in the first month would have more than paid for GCP. A lesson learned that was better late than never. Seasoned Internet and on-line users probably saw the end of this story coming right up the middle of the street. They know because they've probably been there too. Should you be wary of using an on-line service? No. Not at all. It's a great experience. It seems the only thing in life a person should be wary of is anything that appears too good to be true. That's the only thing that bothered me. I was more than willing to pay the long distance charges but I really felt taken by the back door way CompuServe got their pound of flesh. This all took place about a year ago. I have since come to learn the ins and outs of the on-line and Internet worlds. While I don't consider myself a veteran or expert user I am far from a newbie. I have come to appreciate how lucky I was to try out OS/2 while I was still fairly computer illiterate. I didn't have to unlearn anything to do with Windows or DOS and I didn't have to get rid of a shelf full of MS software. It is said that hindsight is twenty-twenty. Looking back I don't think I would change anything about the path I took to learning what I have up to this point. I am still addicted to life on-line and about the only regret I have is choosing a 486 processor. I have a feeling that the world of upgrades is going to be just as scary and just as educational. I've been going to sleep with visions of motherboards dancing in my head. The only thing left to do is close my eyes, take that first big step, and pray I don't get ripped off. Maybe I should do some research first. Naaahhh, that wouldn't be any fun at all. ----- (flynn@ycs.ab.ca) Robin K. MacMahon is a typewriter for hire living in the Rocky Mountains of Canada and enjoying a "Warped" lifestyle. *********************************** The Great OS Shuffle - by Chris Murray If you're like me, you like to dip your hands into anything and everything related to computers. For me, this includes exploring the ins, outs, and benefits of various operating systems. However, an OS isn't as easy to "check out" as just another application. An OS wants your machine to itself, and it wants to organize your system according to its own ideals. I run a BBS on my several machines, including my personal workstation. Therefore, I must be able to return to its native environment when I'm not working on something else. Although most OS's claim DOS compatibility, none of them allow me to run the BBS and my network setup the same way my BBS is used to running. So, I've built a system where I can easily switch between DOS for the BBS, Windows95 for Internet and Graphics work, and OS/2 and Linux for experimentation. For those of you who have considered trying a similar multiple operating system setup on your own machines, here is how I configured mine: This setup is currently running on an FCS 6x86-100 (P-120+) System with 16megs RAM and 3 Hard Drives (850meg, 105meg, and 100meg). I've also had the same system running on a 486DX4-100 with 8megs and the same hard drive configuration. The 850meg drive is my Primary Master, so it's where most of the action happens. It has 7 partitions configured, which I set up with the DOS version of Partition Magic (DOS FDISK would work fine as well). They are set up in this order: Partition Type Size: Type: Purpose: & Number: Primary > 1 20megs FAT Dos 6.22 Primary > 2 2megs BM Boot Manager (OS/2) Primary > 3 62megs FAT Windows95 Extended > 4 416megs FAT All Programs/Apps Extended > 5 60megs HPFS OS/2 Warp Extended > 6 150megs Linux Native Linux Extended > 7 20megs Linux Swap Swapping The first step in setting this up was to configure the first 4 partitions, leaving the rest as unclaimed space. I set up the second partition (P2) as a 2meg FAT partition, and then deleted it (leaving it unclaimed, for later). Lastly, I set the first (P1) as the active partition, and rebooted from a DOS floppy. The 20meg Partition was now my drive C:, and I installed DOS 6.22 onto it. After this was done, I tested the DOS setup by rebooting from the HD to ensure the partition was bootable. Next came Windows 95. I ran FDISK to make partition three (P3) active, and booted from a Win95 setup floppy. This made P3 Drive C:. The install was then performed via CD-ROM, and as with the DOS partition, it was then tested for bootability. Third came OS/2. I booted from the OS/2 setup disk, and headed into OS/2's FDISK. From there I installed Boot Manager in the 2meg empty space between P1 and P3, and set up a 60meg logical HPFS drive for OS/2. The rest of the space (for P6 and P7) was left untouched. Boot Manager was configured to boot either the DOS, Win95, or OS/2 Partitions. The remainder of the OS/2 Setup was then performed. Once this was done, I booted DOS. I downloaded all of Linux off the 'net (over a few days) onto my program drive (P4), and then created a Linux Boot floppy. I used this to set up (using Linux's FDISK -- people sure are original in HD setup utility names!) the remainder of the drive's empty space as a 150meg Linux Native and a 20meg Linux swap partition. I then installed Linux from the Dos partition. The final step was to reboot, go into OS/2, and run FDISK to set up the Linux Native partition (P6) in Boot Manager. You will notice that I only left enough space on each OS partition for the OS itself (Except Linux, as it doesn't handle FAT partitions well). All programs, for _all_ OS's, were installed on my program drive. This is to prevent wasted space that would occur from having multiple data drives. This setup is up, working, and I love it. It allows me to use apps for each OS, depending on its strengths. For example, I use Win95 for the Internet because it has so many TCP/IP clients, and I have built a wonderful collection that I love. DOS for my BBS, and as stated before, I'm exploring OS/2 and Linux. And, surprisingly, the total footprint for 4 OS's was only 312megs, and that includes space for Linux programs! Be warned though, this didn't work overnight; it took a while to figure out the order of the above steps. If you're interested in more details of this setup, or need help with any similar configuration of your own, I can be reached at the address in my bio. ----- (fusion@ra.isisnet.com) Chris Murray is the president of Fusion Computer Services in Dartmouth, NS. Although mainly a Win95 user, he also uses OS/2 and Linux, and eagerly awaits the release of Merlin for something permanent. *********************************** System Monitoring in Multitasking Environments - by Dave Wallenberg The focus of this article is to discuss the value of monitoring system activities in the multitasking and multithreading environment as it pertains to operating systems such as OS/2, UNIX, and Windows NT. OS/2, UNIX, and NT are multitasking and multithreading operating systems. This means that more than one task can be performed at a time. Not only does this imply that the user can work on more than one thing at a time, but the operating system itself takes advantage of this as well and has several processes executing in the background. These processes are typically hidden from the user. Where there can be numerous activities, there can be several resources and devices being used simultaneously. This adds a level of complexity that today's user needs to be aware of. The user may need to be aware of or desire the ability to monitor: *CPU usage* to identify and resolve performance bottlenecks. This can be invaluable when trying to understand why and when your system runs slow and the ability to identify what processes cause the degradation. *Memory utilization* and how much memory is currently in use, so one can gain insight into system tuning. The more components that are simultaneously active, the more memory is demanded until excess swapping occurs. *Swap utilization* to identify excess and frequent swap activity when memory is over committed. This can be a good identifier for needing more memory. When physical memory is exceeded, based on the programs simultaneously running and their memory requirements, the operating system responds by temporarily "moving" pieces (4KB pages) of less active memory out to disk. These chunks of memory are brought back into memory when the memory is referenced. A Swap monitor can provide insight into excess swapping. *Program performance* can enable the user to assess the impact of running program(s). Today's diverse software and multimedia craze requires the high performance of at least a i486 based or equivalent processor to keep up with CPU and memory intensive applications. The ability to examine the CPU usage of a program can help identify demanding programs and perhaps ill-behaved programs. Program monitoring can also offer the ability to see the number programs active and what state each program is in. *Disk space utilization* is often desirable to monitor. How many people out there have more disk space than they know what to do with. Most people are always "tight" on disk space. As you are downloading a large file, or excess Swapping occurs, the ability to quickly view your disk space constraints can be very valuable. *Status of print spooler and print queue(s)* is another valuable item to monitor. Particularly when a computer can print to LAN printers, receive and send fax documents, and more. The three most important things in a computer have never changed. They remain, and in the following sequence, are: 1. The speed of the processor(s) 2. The amount, speed, and location of physical memory 3. The amount and speed of external storage disk Program and CPU Monitoring: The multitasking and multithreading environment of OS/2 allows numerous activities to execute simultaneously. Although each process executing appears to be sharing the same CPU concurrently, the processes are actually using individual time-slices from the OS/2 Scheduler in what is called a Priority driven Round-Robin algorithm. This means the Scheduler factors into the time-slice algorithm (amongst other items such as I/O vs CPU bound and Min/Max time-slice milliseconds) the priority of each thread within a process. The information that the operating system maintains and collects per process and each thread within the process is stored in "Process Tables". These tables are memory resident data structures that only the operating system can access but OS/2 provides an (undocumented) API that allows access to the Process Table information. With this, the monitoring software can summarize and report the statistics in a meaningful presentation. Some of the data that can be monitored and presented to the user is: o Number of processes and threads that are running o The priority and state of threads in a process o The amount of CPU time each thread of a process has received o Which CPU each thread is attached to in SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processing) systems These items form the basis for monitoring programs executing, how they are executing, and what amount of CPU each is consuming. This information, if presented intuitively, can be useful to any audience; whether the user be a novice or a software engineer, this real-time summary provides insight. It can be used for resolving overall system performance or performance right down to the thread level. For example, when the system appears to be "hung" or sluggish, a simple system-wide CPU monitor can inform the user as to the extent of unresponsiveness. The ability to then "zoom" into a bird's-eye view of all programs running and examine the CPU utilization per processes, usually will identify the culprit program. Without this insight, you're at a complete loss as to what happened. The CPU monitor is typically the first monitor tool to obtain and rather simple to develop but the Process Monitor is difficult to develop and depends solely on the ability to "get at" the Process Table information of the operating system. The Process Table(s) structure is operating system specific and requires a strong understanding of the structure layout. Most new operating systems provide this raw data for applications in the form of an API. OS/2 provides much of the data to the monitoring application via an API called DosQProcStatus. At it's best, the monitoring tool may provide an early warning mechanism. This ability would warn the user when certain thresholds have been exceeded, such as abnormal and excessive CPU usage, which may indicate a runaway situation. Before this condition brings the entire system to its knees, the user can have he opportunity to not only terminate the ill-behaved culprit, but more importantly, determine the cause. Early warning mechanisms are seen most often in real-time mission-critical systems. Memory Monitor: The real-time memory monitor is valuable in providing the user insight into the amount of memory that is currently in use and memory that is idle and subject to being swapped-out. In a virtual memory model such as OS/2, the amount of actual free memory is very difficult to determine and usually calculates into an approximation. The virtual memory model simply looks at available memory as physical memory installed plus disk space available. So free memory can be two different things; actual free physical memory, or total virtual memory. Actual free memory is most often what is desired to monitor. Tracking free physical memory, along with swap activity, enables you to determine whether you have enough memory to meet your demands. This is primarily an issue of cost, although, some may interpret it as an issue of "pain". What is your "threshold of pain" while you wait for the system to swap out memory pages to free up room for your next program? Disk and Swap Monitoring: Swapping is very closely related to the amount of physical memory available. At some point in the tuning process you determine your "threshold of pain". RAM costs money, but swapping is inevitable -- and normal. Unless your application is of a time-critical nature and can not afford *any* swap time. The ability to monitor the frequency and degree of swapping can be the only thing you need in order to tune a system. With this alone, you can do a performance tune-up on a given system. Or at least identify if more memory is needed and how much. Monitor Logging: Only surface analysis tuning can be accomplished without the ability to record the monitoring activities. Periodic and continuous logging are a must for the monitoring tool. After logging activity for a given amount of time, you have captured a sample set of statistics. This raw data can be summarized and produce minimum, maximum, and average performance reports over different time intervals, for example, peak periods. It is important that a time-stamp is placed in the log (preferably down to a hundredth of a second). This facilitates even the most stressful situations such as real-time monitoring. Monitor Caveats: The monitoring software can not cause overhead. To accomplish many of the monitoring tasks discussed in this article, the monitoring software is required to periodically sample the device or system resource. Obviously, the more often samplings occur, the more system resources are used by the monitoring software. The ideal monitoring software: o Is designed to run *all* the time and causes absolutely no interruptions. Realizing that the PC workstation is used by the user and the typical user uses the keyboard, keyboard and video delays caused by the monitoring software mean that the monitoring software is using too much CPU to accomplish its job. o Is designed to handle a stand-alone environment as well as monitor resources in an intensive real-time environment. o Is designed to be aware of LAN connectivity. o Is designed to allow adjustable sampling rates for each resource to be monitored. o Uses staggered sampling of each resource to avoid sampling *all* resources at the same time. This can also be accomplished by the user by adjusting the frequency of sampling. o Exercises multithreading capabilities of the operating system so resource intensive tasks can execute at idle priorities. o Is self-contained and integrated. o Contains a logging mechanism. This is very important for unattended operations. o Has a data collection engine which serves the purpose of collecting all performance statistics. Ideally, this engine should provide APIs which allow users to interface to the software via custom programming. Conclusions Run one CPU monitor at a time. Attempting to run multiple CPU monitors at the same time defeats the purpose and causes each monitor to absorb the other's CPU load. Hence, each works against the other. Depending on how robust and feature rich the monitoring software is, the software may not be able to guarantee 100% compatibility with future versions of the operating system. Due to the nature of the beast and the uniqueness of the application, most monitoring software requires slight modification per [major] operating system release. Contact the vendor before you migrate to a new release of the operating system. ----- (wally@interaccess.com) Dave Wallenberg is a Principal Consultant with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) who functions as a Technical Architect and Software Engineer in the OS/2, UNIX, and Windows NT platforms. Independently his company, (http://homepage.interaccess.com/~wally/) WallyWare, develops OS/2 (PM Patrol) and UNIX system monitoring tools. His work is his hobby. *********************************** EMACS IS the kitchen sink! - by Murray Todd Williams For those of you just tuning in... This article is the third part of a series on GNU software for OS/2. The (http://www.haligonian.com/os2/v1n6/gnu.html) original article describes GNU: a vast collection of free software written for a variety of platforms (operating systems and microprocessors) by some incredible programmers. In essence, the GNU system turns your OS/2 machine into an OS/2 - Unix hybrid, giving you the best of both worlds! The (http://www.haligonian.com/os2/v1n7/gnu.html) second article gave instructions for installing the basic components of GNU, as well as a powerful C/C++ compiler. It also gave a sneak-preview of the XFree86 for OS/2 project. (In a few words, XFree86 for OS/2 is a freeware version of X-windows client and server.) This article will introduce EMACS for OS/2. This is no small feat! As you will soon see, EMACS is more like a small, encapsulated operating system than a text editor. It is impossible for me to show you everything EMACS can do, but I can at least point you in the right direction! But first, more news from the beta field!! When I wrote last month's article, XFree86 was still considered Alpha-level code. There were a few glitches and installation required some real work. As of last week, the next *beta* version was released. I've already installed it and the few problems that I had encountered are fixed. For more information, look at the (http://borneo.gmd.de/~veit/os2/xf86os2.html) XFree86/OS2 project homepage. *Even more spectacular,* I learned today that the newest EMACS Version 19.31 for OS/2 has been completed, and it is enabled for X-windows. This represents the most powerful program ported to XFree86 for OS/2 to date! Now you can run EMACS as a PM program or an X-windows program. And now, Introducing EMACS... On every UNIX system, you are likely to find two standard text editors. The first is called *vi*. This little program is analogous to EDLIN in the DOS world: small, ubiquitous, but a royal pain to use. The second is EMACS. Yes, EMACS is a text-editor. It's important to note that EMACS is _not_ a WYSIWYG word processor. If you need a word processor, use DeScribe or Word Pro. If your need for a text editor is limited to occasionally editing a line in CONFIG.SYS, then perhaps EMACS is not for you. (Next month I'll introduce a very nice "word processor" called TeX which can be integrated into EMACS.) If your needs fall in between, EMACS may be the answer. What has it got? EMACS is a complete PM application (and now it's also an X-windows application!) with pull-down menus. It has a variety of major _*modes_* which correspond to the files your are working with. For example, if you load a C++ program, EMACS automatically detects that the file is C++ source code and loads a specific "C++ Mode". This mode sets tabulation behavior, color-codes the text (comments are in red, compiler directives are green, etc.) and even can run the compiler, display resulting errors, or run the program. Similarly, if I load a TeX (that text formatting application I mentioned earlier) document it will automatically enter _TeX Mode_ and with a single keystroke all of my work gets color-coded. Another two keystrokes and I'm running the file through the TeX processor. Two more keystrokes and I'm launching a graphical viewing program to inspect the document. Another two keys start a print job. (If I install the GNU program Ispell, I can even run the document through a spell-checker.) You're not impressed yet? What if you could check your e-mail with the same text editor? EMACS can even browse USENET news groups and run a text-based WWW browser! What's their secret? How can anyone write a do-it-all text editor without bogging it down with unimportant features until it's top-heavy, slow, and awkward (some popular Windows word processors come to mind)? The secret is inspired, but a little insane. Here's the trick: most of EMACS internal operations are done in *LISP!* If you haven't heard of LISP before, it was one of the first languages associated with Artificial Intelligence. LISP is guaranteed to twist your brain into Manicotti. I have infinite respect for anyone who can write a program in LISP. (I also tend to fear these people. Are they human?) In terms of EMACS, this implementation has worked quite well. Almost all features are simply byte-compiled LISP programs, the source code for which is provided in the GNU distribution. If you wish to tweak, change or correct anything, just find the corresponding LISP file and have at it! The beauty in this setup can also be seen in the portability of EMACS. If you go searching on the Web, you can find an HTML mode for writing HTML pages. This is effectively a "third-party" program written for EMACS. You won't find it in the OS/2 distribution, but with a small amount of effort (this usually involves stuffing a file in the \emacs\19.31\LISP directory and adding a couple lines to the site-start.el file) you can get it installed and running. A couple more goodies. I can't help bragging about a couple of the crazier features (LISP programs) in EMACS. Here are a couple of my favorites: o *Doctor* acts as your own personal psychotherapist. You might find it a bit primitive, but it resembles some of the first attempts at Artificial Intelligence for which LISP was invented. o *Towers of Hanoi* is a logic puzzle involving three poles and a series of concentric disks. The object is to move all disks from one pole to the other. The trick is that only one disk may be moved at a time and no disk can be placed on top of a larger disk. The number of moves required grows exponentially with the number of disks. By typing "ESC-x hanoi" you get to watch an animated image of the game being played. o *GOMOKU* is a board game played on a grid with black and white pieces, or in this case, X's and O's. (This is not the same as the Chinese game of GO or Wei Ch'i.) Let me show you some output from the doctor program: _I am the psychotherapist. Please, describe your problems. Each time you are finished talking, type RET twice._ Doctor, I would like to introduce you to my readers. _How does it feel to want?_ That's an odd question. It feels normal. _Is it because of your life that you say it feels normal?_ Doctor, that's a pretty existential question. _You mentioned that you would like to introduce?_ Oh yes. My audience. They are here to learn about the magic of EMACS. _Emacs? Hah! I would appreciate it if you would continue._ Well, did you know you are simply a utility written in LISP? _Are you sure of that?_ Oh, I hope I didn't hurt your feelings. _Is it because of your sex life that you say you hope you didn't hurt my feelings?_ Well, this is probably a good time to stop. So how's the learning curve? In a word: steep. Although there are pull-down menus, most of the features you want to use are connected to strange keystrokes. Of course, if you forget the keys to invoke a particular command, you can type out the full name. For example, to spell-check a single word you would type Alt-$. You could also type "Alt-x ispell-word". There is also an extensive help system to draw upon when you need to hunt for the right command. Finally, there is a built-in tutorial which is sufficient to get you going. When you start EMACS each time, it displays a couple of options, including a tutorial (Ctrl-h t). Customizing your setup. Configuring and customizing EMACS for your own use is fairly easy. The only frightening aspect is that you are really writing LISP code. This shouldn't frighten you though. Most of the code is equivalent to writing "LET X=3" in basic. Just create a file called .emacs in your home directory (remember adding "SET HOME=" to your CONFIG.SYS when you set up GNU in last month's article?). Here is a simple example of a .emacs file: (global-set-key [f7] 'font-lock-mode) (global-set-key [f8] 'auto-fill-mode) (require 'tex-site) The first two lines set the function keys to the "font-lock-mode" (which color-codes your text) and "auto-fill-mode" (which activates word-wrap) commands. The third line tells EMACS to load the tex-site.el LISP file upon startup (this is basically loading a "third party" EMACS utility that I got from the web). How do I get EMACS up and running? I suggest you look are last month's article where I discussed the Hobbes FTP Archive. This is one of the best places to find GNU software. In the (http://www.teamos2.org/hvm/Hobbes/HMVindex.hobbes.unix.html) /os2/unix directory, you should find a number of directories for EMACS. You will want the latest version (19.30 or 19.31). Download the e30.readme file for more specific instructions. Despite its power and complexity, EMACS is *not* difficult to install (compared with GNU C++ or EmTeX). Follow the instructions carefully and when you run EMACS for the first time, type "Alt-h t" to run the tutorial. Take maybe two or three hours (you might want to take notes) and work through the tutorial. By the time you are finished, you should be comfortable enough to forge ahead on your own. I wish I could give a more complete description of EMACS, but it is simply too big for me to do justice. This is one of the most amazing programs available as Freeware for OS/2. Until you get up to speed on your own, you'll have to take my word for it. Here are a few web links which might prove helpful: o The (http://www.eecs.nwu.edu/emacs/faq/index.html) GNU EMACS FAQ should answer most general questions. o If you want to write LISP programs in EMACS, you might want to check out the (http://cs.indiana.edu/usr/local/www/eLISP/LISPref/eLISP_toc.html) GNU EMACS LISP Reference Manual. Additionally, if you want to do your newsreading and e-mail from EMACS, you should check out GNUS: a Usenet newsreader and e-mail user agent implemented as a part of EMACS. o First, check out the (http://www.miranova.com/~steve/gnus-faq.html) GNUS FAQ. o There is also a (http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding.html) GNUS Homepage written by the author of GNUS. Stay tuned for next month's episode Earlier in this article I mentioned TeX. This typesetting program permits the creation of very nicely formatted documents. You can keep track of references, bibliographies, tables of contents, indices and more. Perhaps more importantly, it is the standard for writing mathematical documents and typesetting equations. Next month I will introduce EmTeX (the GNU - OS/2 implementation of TeX), go through a more cautious description of its installation, and as an added treat, discuss finding and adding the AUCTeX module to EMACS. AUCTeX allows all the features of TeX to be run from within EMACS so you can compile, view and print from the same program. Until then... ----- (http://lamar.colostate.edu/~murray) Murray Todd Williams is a student at Colorado State University, working on a M.S. in Statistics. He is also a member of Team OS/2. *********************************** The Chronicles of John Ominor - by John Ominor, The Inhuman To err is human. Distinctly human. This is because homo sapiens were designed within the confines of the "planned obsolescence" philosophy. They are not only flawed, but by design, unable to avoid introducing errors into whatever actions they perform. While The Inhuman is not subject to these limitations, he does occasionally take pity on those who are and honor them with his aid. I am John Ominor, The Inhuman. Today, The Inhuman examines a possible solution to the human problem of accidental file deletion in the form of File Phoenix v1.21. This freeware application is one IBM employee's response to a classic inadequacy in OS/2 Warp's file management scheme. The Inhuman refers, of course, to OS/2's UNDELETE function. It would be beneath Ominor to explain the various shortcomings of OS/2's built-in UNDELETE function; suffice to say, were The Inhuman as limited and mistake-prone as most humans are, he would find this facility a source of extreme worry. Fear not. Servitor Joe DiAdamo, one of IBM's best no doubt, has created an undelete replacement in order to allow OS/2 Warp to better serve John Ominor. As you can see, File Phoenix, commonly known as Fenx, consists of one main window. Any savvy OS/2 user will master File Phoenix in a matter of seconds. The rest of you may be required to peruse the somewhat concise help system. Unlike with the limited FAT file system, used by lesser mortals, before a deleted file can be retrieved on an HPFS disk, the sectors must first be scanned. This process can be quite time-consuming, depending on the speed and size of the hard disk. However, this is where the power of OS/2 is evident, allowing one to utilize this program, while attending to other tasks. Be warned, however, that disk activities, in OS/2's priority scheduling, are usually high and may impact the system in a variety of ways, ranging from negligible to severe. Regardless, a status bar will display the percentage of the partition remaining while a rather odd animation of a flying fowl will amaze and delight all. If File Phoenix manages to find your missing data, which it sometimes fails to do, it does an adequate job of restoring files and rectifying mistakes. This is accomplished from a pop-up menu activated by right-clicking or double clicking on an entry in the list of deleted files. So, what does this mean to John Ominor? Absolutely nothing. But for mortal users, File Phoenix provides a free, if imperfect method of supplicating or outright replacing OS/2's normal UNDELETE function. However, it would be wise to test this application before it becomes necessary and determine its usefulness in your specific situation. ----- With deletion and eradication on his mind, Ominor must address a more serious situation which has attracted his attention. Comp.os.os2.advocacy is under siege. As the release date of OS/2 Merlin draws nigh, dark forces gather in this venerable newsgroup. Sowers of the Unholy Three of the Usenet -- Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt -- have always run rampant with The Inhuman's at least tacit approval, but now they go too far. The Inhuman believes that controversy is a healthy and needed component of any civilized discussion, however supported contention in Comp.os.os2.advocacy has steadily eroded to be replaced with unfounded assumptions. This must cease. While Ominor could easily remove all offenders with dispatch he never uses a hammer when a scalpel will suffice. Obviously, the Windows advocates who currently infest Comp.os.os2.advocacy, instead of gravitating to more appropriate arenas, are the victims of some hitherto unknown malady. A virus? Unlikely due to the fact that most active Windows advocates are not within close proximity of each other. Surely insanity is the more plausible cause, but we must determine whether their sickness is purely physical or mental in nature. So many questions to answer... John Ominor invites all to journey with The Inhuman as he delves deeper into this mystery. But before he can solve this puzzle, Ominor must have one, perhaps two subjects to study... John Ominor, The Inhuman invites you to visit (http://www.mnsinc.com/dmccoy/) FORTRESS Ominor as he investigates this unfortunate condition for the enlightenment and entertainment of all... ----- * File Phoenix v1.21 by Joe DiAdamo MSRP: Freeware (IBM Employee Written Software) ----- The origins and current plans of (dmccoy@mailhost.mnsinc.com) Ominor are known only to Ominor. He is indeed a mystery to all. Save The Inhuman. *********************************** May's Top Selling Commercial Applications *Note:* The following list represents only the top selling OS/2 applications. OS/2 Warp and OS/2 Warp Connect are not included in the rankings. This Month Last Month Product Company 1 3 Object Desktop Stardock Systems 2 8 Hobbes CDROM Archive Walnut Creek 3 1 Partition Magic v2 Personal Ed. PowerQuest 4 5 Backmaster v2.0 MSR Development 5 6 System Commander v2.2 V Communications 6 4 DeScribe Voyager CD DeScribe 7 2 IBM AntiVirus v2.4 Desktop Ed. IBM 8 7 UniMaint v4.0 SofTouch Systems 9 (tie) -- Galactic Civilizations v2.0 Stardock Systems 9 (tie) -- NeoN Grafix 3D Light CD Compo Software 10 10 GammaTech Utilities SofTouch Systems Compiled by (http://www.indelible-blue.com/ib/) Indelible Blue, Inc. - Your Single Source for OS/2 Solutions. *********************************** May's Top Selling Shareware This Month Last Month Product Company 1 1 PMMail SouthSide Software 2 3 Xit CodeSmith Software 3 2 iLink/2 Mental Static 4 5 Neologic Network Suite NeoLogic 5 4 ScreenSaver Siegfried Hanish 6 6 PMView Peter Neilsen 7 7 MR/2 ICE Nick Knight 8 9 ZOC EmTec Innovative Software 9 -- PMPatrol Wallyware 10 8 Blanker Peter Wansch Compiled by (http://www.wilmington.net/bmtmicro/) BMT Micro - Your Source for Over 75 Quality OS/2 Shareware Applications. *********************************** How to Subscribe for FREE * Subscribe to be notified - FREE! 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Just call: o (800) 414-4268 (Voice) 9:00am - 7:00pm EST, o (910) 350-2937 (Fax) 24 hours a day, o (910) 350-8061 (Modem) 10 lines, all 14.4K, or o (910) 799-0923 (Modem) Direct 28.8K line. Any amount is appreciated and whether you choose to sponsor or not, you will still be able to enjoy every issue of OS/2 e-Zine! on the WWW! For more information or any other questions please (editor@haligonian.com) e-mail us or contact us at: Haligonian Media 7 Pleasant St., Suite B Dartmouth, N.S. CANADA B2Y 3P1 (902) 461-2266 *********************************** Our Sponsors: (http://www.wilmington.net/bmtmicro/smalled/) Bianchi Software Developer of Smalled, the small, high powered, intuitive OS/2 editor. (http://www.wilmington.net/bmtmicro/) BMT Micro Your complete source for over 75 of the best OS/2 shareware applications available. Drop by today and check out our WWW catalog or download the .INF version. (http://www.ChipChat.com/home00.html) ChipChat Technology Group ChipChat produces excellent 32-bit OS/2 software for wireless text paging and state-of-the-art multimedia Sound Cards for Micro Channel PS/2 computers. (http://www.wilmington.net/bmtmicro/zoc/) EmTec Innovative Software EmTec Innovative Software produces state-of-the-art OS/2 ISDN, modem and telnet communications software. OS/2 Magazine and Inside OS/2 1995 award winner. (http://www.hotinc.com/) House of Technology, Inc. Your Canadian Source For OS/2 Applications. (http://www.indelible-blue.com/ib/) Indelible Blue Indelible Blue, a mail order company, provides OS/2 software and hardware solutions to customers worldwide. (http://www.os2store.com/) J3 Computer Technologies Consistently the low price leader for OS/2 software. Over 150 OS/2 items to choose from and growing. Enter J3's Modem/Communication software raffle (ends June 30, 1996)... it's *free*. (http://www.Mount-Baker.com/) Mt. Baker Software Developers of "Money Tree", a full featured personal financial package for OS/2. (http://www.aescon.com/innoval/) Post Road Mailer The Post Road Mailer is a high performance, 32-bit, email program with drag and drop filing, printing, shredding, word wrap and multiple MIME attachments. (http://www.prominic.com/) Prominic Technologies Software developer and IBM PC VAR preloading OS/2 Warp. Expert staff provides advice on hardware and creates custom software. (http://www.prioritymaster.com/) ScheduPerformance, Inc. Patented priority scanning logic and visual priority identification give you performance and control. (http://www.cfw.com/~shenan/) Shenandoah Equipment Co. Providers of lifetime warrantied name brand simms, laptop and printer memory at competitive prices. (http://www.fc.net/sios2/) Simply Intelligent, Inc. Your OS/2 PC Company. Pentium and Pentium Pros. Tons of native preloaded software. Call 1-800-OS2-BETT"er". OS/2 only and loving it! (http://www.spg-net.com/) SPG Inc. Creators of ColorWorks for OS/2 - The Artist's Ultimate Power Program! ColorWorks has earned both the 1995 OS/2 Magazine Editor's Choice & the 1995 OS/2 Professional Magazine Best New Product Awards. (http://www.aescon.com/innoval/) Surf'nRexx Use REXX to build powerful Internet utilities using our DLLs. Package also includes 10 utilities as samples. *********************************** Coming up next time - on the Web June 30, 1996 * Features MERLIN - Join us for a close look at the long awaited release of the Merlin Beta. We'll have first looks, opinions and more. * Reviews Toyland - First looks at version 1.0 of the popular Soko-ban type game for OS/2. PartitionMagic - PowerQuest took the OS/2 world by storm with their popular PartitionMagic. Find out why... OD v1.5 - A look at the update to Stardock Systems' best seller. * All the Regular Stuff the Rants the Beta File the Rave the Warped SOHO Linfield's Line Heath's Tips Opinions Interviews AND MUCH MORE! *********************************** Copyright 1996 - Haligonian Media ISSN 1203-5696