The HitchHiker's Guide To OS/2 About the Guide The Hitchhiker's Guide To OS/2 Issue #10 Published On 1/20/95 This guide is meant to give a concise report on current OS/2 events. Any and all contents are solely my opinion or the opinion of the noted author. Read on and I hope you enjoy another issue of The HitchHiker's Guide To OS/2. Any comments regarding the guide can be directed to: Steve Dudas sdudas@austin.onu.edu Special Thanks go to Dr. V. Phaniraj for letting me know about wp2ipf/2. Which is the program that makes this publication possible. Thanks to Kim Kruse Hansen for the great job he has done with this application. Copies of the HHGOS2 will be available for anonymous ftp from hobbes.nmsu.edu look in /os2/incoming/hhgos2#.zip every other Saturday for a new release or look in /os2/32bit/info/newsltr/hhgos2_#.zip For back issues. The .zip file will contain both a .txt and the .inf version of the HHGOS2. OS/2 In the NEWS The HitchHiker's Guide To OS/2 New Warp APAR List IBM has published a new list of APARs (I.E. Known bugs in Warp) The document is in the form of a .inf file and can be ftp'd from software.watson.ibm.com. The filename is 30apr1.zip. If you click on the bug, a full summary of the problem and any known workarounds or patches will be listed. On a similar note IBM is expected to release a patch for the Warp code at the same time the Warp fullpack is released. Watch for it on the IBM ftp site, software.watson.ibm.com. OS/2 Warp Worldwide Shipments Reach One Million SYDNEY, Australia, Jan. 18, 1995 . . . IBM announced that OS/2 Warp has shipped more than 1 million copies worldwide since its availability in November 1994, at a press conference here today. "It's exciting to see the momentum," said Dan Lautenbach, vice president of IBM's Personal Software Products division. "OS/2 Warp has been a big seller in retail markets around the world, topping software sales charts during the holiday season in several countries. What's more, we're seeing return rates running at less than one tenth of a percent, which attests to the product's high quality." Osborne begins exclusively pre-loading Warp and PC-DOS IBM has announced that Australia's largest PC manufacturer, Osborne, will standardize on an IBM software platform for their entire PC line. Effective immediately, Osborne will ship IBM PC DOS and OS/2 Warp as the standard PC operating system platform, replacing Microsoft DOS and Windows for Workgroups 3.11. Today's agreement follows recent announcements from German PC vendors Vobis, Escom and Comtech to preload OS/2 Warp on their PCs. Together these companies' sales account for more than 40 percent of the German PC market. OS/2 Warp is also preloaded on IBM PC Company's PC 300, 700, ThinkPad 360 and 755C as well as systems built by CompuAdd, Toshiba, and others. Yet another Intel Chip problem This its the Saturn motherboard chipset. The problems appear on 486 PCI/VESA/ISA motherboards with chips in the following series, 82378, 82423, and 82424. To this date Intel is NOT replacing these chips. They will however allow you to buy updated chips. The problems involove flaky interrupt handling. If you only use DOS the problem won't affect you much. However in an OS such as OS/2 where interupts are handling much differently the problems can be chronic and seriously affect system stability. To avoid this problem insure that any motherboard you buy only uses the ARES chipset. New #9GXE64 drivers Number Nine Computer has released new GXE64 OS/2 drivers. The drivers are S3 2.2 864 and 964 drivers re-worked to perform better with the AT&T RAM DAC on the GXE64. The driver pack also included a PM refresh utility. Contact #9 for updated drivers or look on hobbes.nmsu.edu. They may be uploaded there. OS/2 SoftWare Review The HitchHiker's Guide To OS/2 This Issue's Review Goes to: ZAP O' COM(ZOC) V 2.00 Zap O' Com is about the best terminal program available for OS/2. Upon installing Warp I started with the HA/Lite Terminal program, but I found that was unstable and slow on my system. At this time I decided to try ZOC. ZOC was excellent, it provided features that I had never even thought of. Such as automatic font sizing based on the size of the window. One item I would have liked would be setup strings for different modem types. I was forced to build a init string from my modem manual, and considering the pamphlets that come with most modems this was no easy task. Other than that the program is fantastic. Written by Markus Schmidt, its obvious that he has had much experience with communication programs. While some may not like the constant reminders to register I think the quality of the program warrants it. To try it for yourself ftp zoc20#.zip from hobbes.nmsu.edu. OS/2 NetSurfing! The HitchHiker's Guide To OS/2 This section is dedicated to bringing you information on the finest OS/2 internet resources and how to access them. A list of Web sites, ftp sites, newsgroups and other resources which have usefull OS/2 information are listed in the OS/2 Internet Resource List. This Weeks Feature: The OS/2 Warp Pharmacy found at: http://www.zeta.org.au/~jon/WarpPharmacy.html The Warp Pharmacy provides a wealth of information regarding hardware and software incompatibilites with Warp. The pharmacy is an invaluable source that should be consulted before making any purchases. The pharmacy is updated regularly and contains very accuarate information. A definite must browse. OS/2 Internet Resource List The HitchHiker's Guide To OS/2 Ftp sites: Official IBM site. EWS (Employee Written Software) and latest patches are distributed here. software.watson.ibm.com Walnut Creek Hobbes OS/2 Archive ftp-os2.cdrom.com /os2 MUENCHEN German OS/2 Archive ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de /pub/coomp/os/os2 Multi-site address. If main German sites are busy a mirror is automatically used. Very current with regard to Unix and GNU ports. ftp.leo.org /pub/comp/os/os2 NMSU OS/2 Area ftp-os2.nmsu.edu /pub/os2 Trosm, Norway FTP Site ftp.cs.uit.no /pub/os2 Sweden's University of Luleo OS/2 Archive ftp:luth.se /pub/os2 Brazil's University of Campinas OS/2 repository ftp.unicamp.br /pub/os2 WWW sites: IBM's main home page is located at: http://www.ibm.com/ IBM's Personal Software Products http://www.ibm.com/pspinfo/ IBM's OS/2 Homepage http://www.austin.ibm.com/pspinfo/os2.html IBM Internet Connection http://www01.ny.us.ibm.net/ Almaden Research Center http://www-i/almaden.ibm.com/ IBM International Technical Support (Redbooks) http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/ IBM Networking http://www.raleigh/ibm.com/nethome.html/ IBM PC Software Direct http://www.ibmlink.ibm.com/pcdirect/ IBM Personal Computers http://www.pcco.ibm.com/files.html Walnut Creek Archive WWW Interface http://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/os2 MIT OS/2 Web Page http://www.mit.edu:8001/activities/os2/os2world.html/ California Institute of Technology http://www.ccsf.caltech.edu/~kasturi/os2.html Northern NJ Team OS/2 Web Server http://www.intac.com/nnjos2/nnjos2ug.html University of Trosm, Norway http://www.cs.uit.no/os2/index.html UIUC OS/2 Home Page http://www.cen.uiuc.edu/~rs9678/raj.html The Internet Relay Chat #OS/2 Home Page http://venus.ee.ndsu.nodak.edu/os2/index.html OS/2 Warp Pharmacy http://www.zeta.org.au/~jon/WarpPharmacy.html OS/2 Software Library http://www.state.ky.us/software/os2.html/IBM FTP Sites OS/2 Interactive Chat sessions: IRC Channel: Join #OS/2 on the Internet Relay Chat system for lively OS/2 discussions. Open Forum: telnet to james.ccnet.com port 5555 This is a permanent OS2Chat server. Read News: bit.listserv.os2-l comp.binaries.os2 comp.os.os2 comp.os.os2.advocacy comp.os.os2.announce comp.os.os2.apps comp.os.os2.beta comp.os.os2.bugs comp.os.os2.games comp.os.os2.misc comp.os.os2.multimedia comp.os.os2.networking comp.os.os2.networking.misc comp.os.os2.networking.tcp-ip comp.os.os2.programmer comp.os.os2.programmer.misc comp.os.os2.programmer.oop comp.os.os2.programmer.porting comp.os.os2.programmer.tools comp.os.os2.setup comp.os.os2.ver1x comp.lang.rexx NOTE: This list may never be complete. If you have any updates or additions please e-mail me at sdudas@austin.onu.edu. Portions of this list are based on the document: "IBM's Worldwide Electronic Resources" by: Vicci Conway, IBM/PSP Bulletin Board Programs Manager Internet: vicci@vnet.ibm.com - CompuServe: 76711,1123 OS/2 Tips and Hints The HitchHiker's Guide To OS/2 So you got Warped... but did you get DIVEd as well? DIVE is a video extension which allows for much faster PM animation. Thus making programs such as Doom/2 possible. The only pitfall is that not all OS/2 video drivers support DIVE. Before going out and buying DOOM/2 (once it is released) check to be sure your card and your drivers do. To do this ftp a program called divedemo.zip from hobbes.nmsu.edu. The program is under /os2/ 32bit/graphics I believe. If it runs correctly you are all set. If not think about upgrading your hardware to something that already supports DIVE. Note: Even if you do not play games, most OS/2 PM programs that are video intensive such as PMMPEG are moving to DIVE, so it may be worth your while anyways. Trivia Question The Hitchhikers Guide To OS/2 Last issues trivia question: Linux is fast becoming a leading choice when building a low budget unix box. Who started the Linux project and why? The project was started by Linus Torvolds, it was started as an experiment in OS construction and ended up being a full blown Unix OS. This weeks trivia question: What very succesfull computer firm was started by Tedd Waitte in 1985 with $10,000 and run off an Iowa farm? How To Submit Articles The Hitchhikers Guide To OS/2 Please Include the following Information in all submissions. 1) Your full name 2) e-mail address 3) Date article was completed on. 4) A ONE sentence summary of the article. 5) Articles must be in a zipped file. The text should be contained in a single ASCII text file. All graphics should be in the .bmp format and may be in 256 colors. About 300 x 300 is a good size. 6) To make any special arrangements for submissions contact sdudas@austin.onu.edu ** I am unable to return any copies of articles sent to me **