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Note: This website is using CSS and other modern web techniques. Just as you migrated from DOS to a more modern operating system, perhaps it is time to use a newer browser. Anyway, we have tested this site with a variety of old browsers (even a 1.0 browser) and all of them will display the site's content, but it may not be very pretty.
Another month has gone by, and with it, most of what's left of the winter. In spite of the early March blustery cold winds, the sun continues to climb ever higher, and the spring equinox is upon us, bringing with it the annual season of renewal of life and hope. In our case, we OS/2 users continue to hope for a new Warp client from IBM. Regardless, it's well to remember that OS/2 is far from dead: E.g., FixPak-10 was just recently released, Java 117 for OS/2 is the fastest JVM on the market, and there are new applications of high quality constantly appearing.
Our own Philadelphia OS/2 SIG is also still growing. Heretofore unknown users continue to appear at our meetings, and additional folks ask to be added to the Poseidon list.
Starting with this month's DataBus, there will be some changes, principally to try to reduce the size of the article, and to put more emphasis on Poseidon messages and our web site. We are also looking at the feasibility of converting the current Poseidon messaging to a regular listserv which would include both a 1-way announce function (like the current Poseidon) and a 2-way discussion forum for all subscribers to participate in.
New files and updates will be announced principally via Poseidon rather than in the DataBus. For example, recent Poseidon messages 098, 100 and 101 include detailed information on many updates, including Warp 4 FixPak-10, Java 117A, StarOffice 5.01, Netscape Communicator, and more.
Another special treat is in store for the March 24th meeting: A presentation and demo of Stardock's Object Desktop v.2.0. Please mark the date, and plan to attend the March meeting.
FEBRUARY MEETING REPORT
The February meeting started off with the customary announcements of news of interest to OS/2 users, new products, etc.
Warpstock board president Larry Finkelstein joined us again in February. Larry and other Warpstock board members had all recently been notified that we would be unable to submit a bid for Warpstock '99, but we still intend to continue preliminary efforts in regard to a possible bid for Warpstock 2000.
SIG member Tom MacKnight gave a brief "neat feature" presentation of the latest version of CandyBarZ. CandyBarZ adds some spice to desktop windows by allowing a variety of user selected colors on the title bar. Makes them look much more attractive.
Q&A Session
David Moskowitz did his customary job of presiding over our monthly Q&A session. A summary follows:
| Q: | Is FP 10 for Warp 4 OK. |
| A: | I've used it and it tested well. I'm not aware of any problems. |
| Q: | I have a couple of old network cards (NIC) and I don't know if there are OS/2 drivers for them. Can I just go through the list of drivers and see if one works. |
| A: | Yes, but... A contest ensued to see who could provide the best short version of: "It isn't worth the time and effort." The bottom line, you can buy a NIC with drivers built into OS/2 for $20 to $50 (less if you shop around). You can also find cards that come with drivers in the same price range. |
| Q: | I'm having a problem with Netscape Communicator. Everything else works fine, what should I do? |
| A: | First, make sure you have the latest version. If you've tried reinstalling it and you still have problems check your video drivers and BIOS. As it turned out, the questioner probably did not have the latest. He was sent to Matrox's Web site (http://www.matrox.com) to get the latest drivers. |
| Q: | When will Warp 5 ship? |
| A: | It isn't clear it will be called Warp 5. It also isn't clear there will be a new client when IBM ships the Warp Server for e-Business. However, it does make sense for them to ship an updated client so that everything is at the same code level. Best guess, IBM will ship an updated client (IF they do one) within 3 months of the ship date of the new server. To the best of my knowledge, the date for the new server hasn't been announced, though I expect it no later than sometime during 3Q99. |
| Q: | I want to use VoiceType on my system, but it doesn't seem right. What can I do? |
| A: | It turns out the questioner has a 90 MHz Pentium and 16 MB RAM. In my opinion, the minimum system for dictation is 150 MHz Pentium and 64 MB RAM. For navigation, add another 32 MB RAM and the older Pentium 90 should be sufficient. Speech is a compute and memory intensive application. More is better. |
| Q: | Is there a driver to read OS/2 disks from Linux. |
| A: | Yes, there is a driver that allows read-only access to HPFS that comes with RedHat and SuSe Linux (and maybe others, like Caldera's Open Linux). |
- end of Q&A -
Intermission followed, with refreshments, 50/50 raffle and a raffle of several good donated products.
February Feature Presentation
The February feature presentation was on web page creation by our OS/2 SIG webmaster, John Davey.
John based his presentation, in part, on his recent series of articles for the PACS Data Bus entitled "The Frugal Webmaster." In these articles, John encouraged PACS SIG's to develop web pages by showing that web pages can be created at virtually no cost using applications that members already have in their computers.
The discussion began by showing how a simple page, including a table, can be coded using nothing more than a text editor. Some examples of HTML code were demonstrated, and by switching from the text editor to a web browser, we were able to see the results of the code as it was written.
John then turned on the HomePage Publisher program for a live demo of editing web pages. Several examples were used to show the ease with which web pages can be coded using the WYSIWYG capabilities of an HTML editor like HPP. HomePage Publisher is a shareware application written for OS/2. A copy donated by the author is used for our OS/2 SIG web site.
Lots of good questions arose during the presentation, most of which were readily answered by John.
Great job, John. Thank you.
Meeting was finally adjourned, the room cleaned up and lights turned off around 10:45.
OS/2 NEWS
We've been most fortunate over the past 2 or 3 years to have hosted guest appearances by the developers of many of the most popular OS/2 products. It's getting more and more difficult to find new vendors who have the willingness and resources to appear at our meetings. Most of these companies are located on the west coast, and normally don't travel to this area.
Efforts will continue to find willing OS/2 vendors, but it's becoming more important to make use of the talents and experience of our own local OS/2 SIG members. Volunteers are needed to make presentations/demos at future meetings on interesting OS/2 applications, utilities or OS/2 itself in areas which haven't been presented over the past couple of years. Any of our folks who have such expertise, please contact me by voice phone (215) 878-9608/9609 or email: llavins@comcast.net.
Last month's DataBus article included an erroneous phone number for contacting Symantec for users of the discontinued IBM AV to order the Norton AntiVirus Solution CDROM which includes the new Norton AV for OS/2. This was corrected in the copy of the February OS/2 article posted on the OS/2 SIG website. Update information was also provided in Poseidon message 101 of March 5th.
The OS/2 e-Zine! of February 16th includes a good review of the new Norton AV for OS/2, written by Pete Grubbs. According to Pete, the new Norton AV for OS/2 has several rather serious shortcomings. If interested, you can find this review at http://www.ezine.com/v4n3/nav.htm.
The IBM AV software will be supported through the end of June 1999. Updates will be posted at intervals for free download from Symantec's website. Hopefully, by mid-year, there may be some significant improvements to the new Norton AV for OS/2.
I've been asked by some of our local Philadelphia folks as well as others if there has been any news from InnoVal during the past month. I'm very sorry to report that there doesn't seem to be any. It's a most discouraging situation.
InnoVal's website is still up, but no updates have been seen since very early January. The JStreet Mailer listserv is also operational, with a few messages exchanging information among JSM users, but no activity whatsoever from InnoVal.
PC Expo 1999 is scheduled for June 21-24 this year at the Javits Convention Center in New York City.
Registration and free Exhibits Only passes may be processed online via the web at http://www.pcexpo.com. Use source code GP99. Exhibits will be open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, June 22-24.
Online registrations will be accepted until June 12th. But badges will be mailed only to registration applications received by May 14th.
Nicky Morrow, another OS/2 developer, apparently read this item in last month's OS/2 SIG DataBus article posted on our website. He has expanded upon Armin Schwartz's original program by adding a graphic representation of an FM radio panel for the OS/2 desktop, and Nicky has asked me to be a beta tester.
Nicky's new RadioTrack2 beta has a most attractive display, easily competitive with the Windows 95 version, and works well in spite of some obvious non-disabling shortcomings. My comments and suggestions were sent to Nicky, and I'm hopeful that a final version will be released in the near future for everyone's enjoyment.
HINTS & TIPS
Roy J. Baerwald (baerwald@bellsouth.net) posted a recent message on WarpCast reporting that he had discovered a way to set up Star Office 5.0 for OS/2 so that most of the apps will run at RAM speed.
Many OS/2 users have complained about the apparent lack of speed experienced with StarOffice. See OS/2 e-Zine! of February 16th for an extensive multipart StarOffice 5.0 review by Chris Wenham, Christopher Wright and Sam Henwrich: http://www.os2ezine.com/v4n3/
Baerwald's speedup, if it proves to be reliable, should greatly improve the usefulness of StarOffice. It's not known at this time if the new StarOffice 5.01 refresh is inherently faster than v.5.0, or if Baerwald's speedup method will work with v.5.01.
Baerwald's method will be tested here on my system. If it works, the entire procedure (plus any clarifying notes) will be posted on our OS/2 SIG web page.
Just a few days ago, my HP LaserJet IIIP suddenly stopped working. It appeared to be a real hardware failure, not just some transient anomaly or software glitch. The little LCD panel indicated a "53 Error" on "Unit 1." Reference to the User's Manual revealed that this was a memory failure in the top memory unit.
This printer has worked with absolute reliability for close to six and a half years. Other than routine replacement of toner cartridges every few thousand copies and replacement of a wornout roller unit, there have been absolutely no problems.
Tried turning the printer on and off several times to see if the error would disappear. It wouldn't.
Next step was to open up the rear access panel and remove the interface plate to get access to the expansion memory on a card which contains 2 MB of additional RAM over the 1 MB of intrinsic RAM. This card was purchased from a local memory vendor shortly after purchasing the printer in 1992. Since installing the expansion card, the rear panel has never been opened.
The amount of dust in this area was unbelievable, and necessitated thorough removal with the help of a plastic vacuum cleaner hose attachment. The memory card was then pulled out, and both it and it's compartment area were also cleaned of accumulated dust. Additionally, the connector tongue on the card was carefully cleaned with an alcohol swab.
Now, everything was reassembled, and the printer was turned on, but not yet connected to the computer. Lo and behold, no error! Also did a couple of self-tests, and got perfect printouts. No error indication. So far, so good.
Next step was to reconnect to the computer and try to print something. But luck ran out. The computer showed that there was no connection to the printer. Changed cables, changed operating systems, etc., but nothing worked. Finally called the printer repairman who had replaced the worn roller, and left a message on his voicemail. He called back later in the day when I was out for just a short while, so I called and left another emergency message for help. Eventually, like around 11:00pm that night, he called and laughed at my desperate straits. Very simply, he said that I had neglected to reset the printer's I/O which is necessary every time the interface plate is removed. Quite obviously, this must have been done six and a half years ago when the expansion memory card was originally installed, but this had long since been erased from my memory.
It took about 2 minutes to find the directions for this in the User's Manual, and another minute or so to reset the I/O from "None" to "Parallel," whereupon everything returned to normal operation.
It's still a mystery to me why there was a memory failure in the first place. Perhaps it may have been due to excessive dust. But it's now back to 100% operation, and it may be foolish to tamper with it. The wisest course may be to follow the time-tested adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." At the most, it may also be a good idea to clean the dust out of this rear area once every couple of years, and always remember to reset the printer I/O.
USEFUL WEB SITES
Each month, we list a few web pages which may be of benefit and/or interest to OS/2 users. This month's selections include ...
FUTURE MEETING PLANS
Wednesday, March 24th at 7:00 pm is the date and time of the March meeting at our meeting site: The Episcopal Academy, 376 N. Latches Lane, Merion, PA. Mark your calendars and plan to attend. And bring an interested friend or associate along to hear all the good news about OS/2 and Java. A system will be on hand for live demos of OS/2 Warp 4, a variety of OS/2 apps, Java, Internet, etc. if time permits.
For the benefit of anyone who may not yet have the recent releases of FixPak-10, Java 117, Feature Install v.1.2.3, Star Office 5.01, or other recent large files, copies can be made to your ZIP disk (or portable SyQuest drive) on a first come/first serve basis, as time may permit. Please call me prior to the meeting date to make sure that I will have the requested files on my hard drive, ready for copying.
Members without cars can take SEPTA's R-5 (Paoli Local) to Overbrook, or the R-6 to Bala. Call me to make arrangements to be picked up at the RR Station. Since Episcopal Academy is so close to public transportation, why don't you Philadelphia Center City folks who don't have cars call ahead of time to be picked up at the train station.
Everybody should keep up to date by logging in to our OS/2 SIG web site at frequent intervals: www.pasug.org/
Please be on time. The meeting will start *promptly* at 7:00pm, as per the following agenda and schedule.
Planned March Agenda:
General announcements, news of interest, new OS/2 products, future plans, SIG business, etc. (7:00 - 7:20pm)
Brief "how-to" or "neat feature" member presentation (7:20 - 7:30)
Subject TBA via Poiseidon meeting reminder notice.
Q&A Session (7:30 - 8:30pm):
If you have questions, this is the place to bring them up. Someone is sure to have the answers. Or if you have something of interest to contribute, please don't hesitate to share it with the others.
Intermission and Raffles (8:30 - 8:50pm)
In addition to our regular 50/50 raffle, there will also be some additional software products for raffle.
Feature Presentation (8:50 - 10:00pm)
March's main feature will be a Stardock Object Desktop v.2.0 presentation/demo by SIG members and OD aficionados Tom MacKnight and Ben Bowers.
Object Desktop has been for a long period of time, and still remains, one of the most popular and widely used 3rd party OS/2 workplace shell enhancement products on the market. To those who use it, OD has become an indispensible adjunct to the OS/2 operating system, especially the virtual desktops feature.
Conversely, OD is also somewhat of a mystery to many other OS/2 users who haven't been exposed to it in any detail.
So if you want to see and hear about all the neat features of OD v.2.0 and how it can make OS/2 computing more enjoyable and useful, don't miss the Tom and Ben show at the March 24th meeting.
Stardock has also been contacted to advise them of our March presentation, and copies of OD v.2.0 have been requested for raffle. No promises, but we're hopeful.
Looking forward to a great March meeting. Please make an effort to attend.
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