November 1999

The October meeting started off with the customary announcements of news of interest to OS/2 users, new products, updates, etc. New software and update releases will also be periodically listed in POSEIDON announcement messages.

Immediately following the opening announcements, David Moskowitz and Jim Nuytens, gave us a report on Warpstock '99 highlights and activities.

No Q&A session was held in October in order to allow sufficient time for the two scheduled presentations. An early Intermission followed, with refreshments and the customary 50/50 raffle. No software was available for raffle at the October meeting. It's becoming more and more difficult to obtain free software products from IBM and other OS/2 ISV's. But efforts will continue.

October Feature Presentations

The original main feature planned for October was a presentation and demo of Remote Boot of OS/2 Warp 4 by SIG member Vadim Kavalerov, making use of IBM's RIPL (Remote Initial Program Load). Only two days prior to the October meeting, Vadim and I were contacted by Chris Stumpf, a Serenity Systems Channel Partner, who lives in nearby NJ. Serenity Systems is the developer of WiseManager, the highly acclaimed graphical frontend/management tool for RIPL-booted clients.

It was agreed that Chris will be coming to our October 27th meeting to present the Wise Manager product in conjunction with Vadim Kavalerov's Remote Boot via RIPL presentation/demo. Since WiseManager also makes use of RIPL, there is a natural complementary relationship.

A show of hands indicated that the great majority of the attendees operate networks of some sort in there homes and/or businesses. Vadim used his own multiprocessing server equipped with quadruple Pentium CPU's running Warp Server for eBusiness (Aurora), connected to a simple client workstation and a video switch to show (back and forth) what was transpiring on both server and client.

Dozens of RIPL requesters can share a single hard drive installed on a server. Switched fast ethernet networks are in general use which provide wide bandwidth to make RIPL practical. But the main advantage is simplified system administration. Applications, user data, or system software updates need be installed only once to be instantly available to the whole workgroup, on every desktop. An additional advantage of RIPL systems is high reliability.

Vadim demonstrated how to configure a basic Warp 4 RIPL requester with Warp Server for e-business. A few other ways to manage RIPL clients with IBM and ISV products were also discussed.

The demo was quite impressive, especially the speed at which OS/2 Warp was booted on a client work station (approx. 30 seconds). From a financial perspective, the proven costs of initial acquisition and continuing maintenance and operation were equally impressive.

Vadim's presentation was followed up by Chris Stumpf. Chris had some of his own equipment on hand to demonstrate how Serenity Systems' WiseManager product adds additional user advantages, including graphical presentations and automation to the management of RIPL booted client work stations.

For additional information about Serenity Systems' WiseManager and other related network management products, visit their website at:

http://www.Serenity-Systems.com

Both presentations were received with great interest, and elicited lots of questions and back and forth discussion. As a result, the meeting didn't end until about 10:30. Many thanks to Vadim and Chris for great presentations.

A very successful Warpstock '99 was held in Atlanta, GA on October 16-17. By all accounts, it was the most successful Warpstock event ever. Lots of good speakers, technical sessions, vendor displays, etc. The Philadelphia OS/2 SIG was represented by members David Moskowitz and Jim Nuytens. David was also a featured Warpstock speaker. Reviews may be found at the Warpstock website http://www.warpstock.org and several other popular OS/2 websites.

Just after the conclusion of Warpstock '99, the Board of Directors of Warpstock,Inc. elected new officers.

Paul Hethmon of Hethmon Brothers Software, a three time vendor at Warpstock and a member of the Warpstock Team from the very beginning, was elected President. He replaces the outgoing President and board member, Larry Finkelstein.

Warpstock 99's Webmaster, Luc Van Bogaert, the first international member of the Warpstock Board, was elected Vice President. He replaces outgoing VP and board member Judy McDermott.

David Ameiss, a university teacher of computer science, software developer and two-time Warpstock presenter and volunteer, was elected Secretary, replacing continuing board member Tom Stevic.

Stan Sidlov, the Event Chair for Warpstock 98, and a midrange developer and manag/p, was elected Treasurer, succeeding outgoing Board member Mark Abramowitz.

In addition to the elected officers, John Ratti, Tom Stevic, and Jason Kowalczyk will serve as directors-at-large.

The Board of Directors extended its thanks and gratitude to outgoing board members Larry Finkelstein, Judy McDermott, Mark Abramowitz and Rollin White for their selfless contributions to Warpstock during their tenure.

The new Board of Directors has set as its first order of business the completion of the Bid Form for Warpstock 2000. A challenge was made to the Board to announce the winner on January 1, 2000. The formal announcement of the open bid will be made as soon as the Bid Form is finalized.

As our Philadelphia OS/2 folks may remember, we had urged the Warpstock board to finalize and issue the Warpstock 2000 bid form many months ago so that there would be sufficient time for bids to be thoroughly and well prepared, submitted, and a winner announced at Warpstock '99, a full year in advance. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, this didn't happen.

On November 5th, after a full year of testimony in a non-jury trial, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia released a 206-page Findings of Fact. Conclusions of law and a verdict will be issued at a later date, probably early in 2000.

Judge Jackson's findings make for interesting reading. He issued a broad denunciation of the software giant Friday evening as the first part of his verdict in this landmark case. Judge Jackson declared that the company had used its monopoly power to stifle innovation, reduce competition and hurt consumers.

The full text of Judge Jackson's findings is available at many Internet sites. I recommend it highly to all computer users who are interested in the actual facts of the matter, as determined by Judge Jackson, shorn of all the PR spin. There are a large number of items regarding Microsoft's behavior in its dealings with IBM (including references to OS/2) and web browser issues which will be of special interest to OS/2 users.

A new set of Java 1.1.8 fixes was posted by IBM on November 5th, for free download: RUNTIME.EXE, SAMPLES.EXE and TOOLKIT.EXE, a total of about 13 MBytes. Build date is Oct. 26, 1999.

The new fixes may be downloaded from either of two sites:

ftp://ncc.hursley.ibm.com/pub/java/fixes/os2/11/118/ or ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com/software/java/fixes/os2/11/118/

Please be sure to read through the READ.ME file which is also posted at these sites, for installation instructions.

After installation, execute "java -fullversion" from an OS/2 command prompt to verify that the update has been successfully installed. You should see the following result:

"JDK 1.1.8 IBM build o118-19991026 (JIT enabled: javax V3.5-IBMJDK1.1-19991026)"

A new updated version of an OS/2 memory analysis program, Theseus v.3.0 (thes3000.exe), dated 10-05-99, was released by IBM. It may be downloaded from IBM and several other OS/2 file repositories: e.g., Pete Norloff's OS/2 Source BBS via telnet (bbs.os2bbs.com).

Theseus is a memory analysis program for the OS/2 system used to:

• Determine the amount of memory consumed by each process.
• Determine working set information on a system basis or per process.
• Detect memory leaks on system wide basis or per process.
• Examine application memory (in hexadecimal notation)
• Examine selected OS/2 system control blocks (formatted)
• Examine selected machine registers and control blocks (formatted)

See the THESEUS3.INF file for detailed usage instructions, or reference the online help while using Theseus.

Incredibly, Paul Van Keep is still continuing to work on and improve J Street Mailer, with the help of many devoted beta-tester users.

This is a unique instance where the users have essentially taken over, resurrected and continued development of an unfinished software product, more or less abandoned by its original commercial developer, InnoVal Systems Solutions (with the approval of InnoVal).

This Java program just keeps getting better and better. It goes a long way to prove that the application of Java programming expertise, together with enthusiastic user feedback, can produce a first-class multi-platform application.

Interested OS/2 users are encouraged to jump on to the J Street bandwagon: Download and install the (now free) J Street Mailer, then update with Paul's latest pvk replacements for the original innoval.jar file, and sign on to Paul's list server. Contact Larry if you need details.

Symantec posted a new virus signature update AV30ER.ZIP (for the IBM AntiVirus program) on November 4th. Download from:

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/download.html

Open "Product" listing, and click on "IBM AntiVirus Updates." Then click on "Next" and scroll to the very bottom of the page to download AV30ER.ZIP, dated 11-04-99.

Symantec has continued to live up to its obligations to support the discontinued IBM AntiVirus program. It's anticipated that this support will cease at the end of 1999.

Users requiring fresh antivirus signature updates will probably have to switch to the Norton or other antivirus program at that time. A review of Symantec's most recent Norton Antivirus v.5.02 for OS/2 hasn't yet been seen. OS/2 user reports are solicited from anyone who has installed and used this program.

"It's a free prerelease version," says Randell Flint of Sundial. "We're finished with our internal testing, and now we want everyone to give it a try. Go straight to the Junk Spy page and get yourself a free copy."

http://www.sundialsystems.com/junkspy/

"Junk Spy's logic engine lets us do much more than an end-user can with filters, since a mail program's filters can't access a database of clues or do extensive logic. And because Junk Spy does all the checking based on Sundial's constant flow of database updates and detection clues, there's no need for a user to create filters and then keep them updated."

"This is a hands-off answer to everyone's junk mail problem" adds Rollin White, Junk Spy's Development Manager. "Here at Sundial we constantly analyze new junk mail and we also continuously update a database of known spammer sites. We do all of the logic enhancements and database updates so Junk Spy is always current."

Junk Spy installs between your email program and your mail server where it watches for, and filters out, junk mail.

Many OS/2 users have asked for detailed "how-to" information for installation of Windows 9x into a PC which includes a previously installed OS/2.

Last month's DataBus article indicated that a procedure for doing this would be posted on the Philadelphia OS/2 website at www.pasug.org/

A new item has now been added to the HINTS AND TIPS page, providing detailed procedures to install a Windows 98 (Second Edition) Upgrade into this system, to coexist with OS/2 and without any harmful effects or degradation to either OS/2 or Windows 98.

Problems have been reported by some users with StarOffice 5.1a, when trying to work with .DBF database files. The problem there is that making changes (e.g. a sort) will not work correctly. There is a new fix file which corrects this problem. Download the fix from:

ftp://ftp.stardivision.de/pub/support/so51a/db/os2icci3/sdb517co.dll

To install, download and copy the file into the StarOffice 5.1a directory, and replace the original file. Then reboot.

Since Sun purchased Star Division and added StarOffice to its stable of products, the popularity, marketing exposure and usage of StarOffice seem to have increased. Most recently, twelve new StarOffice newsgroups have appeared on the Internet: one .chat, one .feature and ten .support newsgroups. Look for them in your newsreader under the root name: "staroffice.com."

Please note that we'll meet this month on the 3rd Wednesday, November 17th, to avoid conflict with the Thanksgiving holiday.

Wednesday, November 17th at 7:00pm is the date and time of the November 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 applications, Java, Internet, etc. if time permits.

For the benefit of anyone who may not yet have the most recent releases of FixPak-12, Java 1.1.8, Communicator 4.6.1 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. But 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 November Agenda:

1. General announcements, news of interest, new OS/2 products, future plans, SIG business, etc. (7:00 - 7:20)

2. Brief Member OS/2 Hint/Trick/Favorite Program (7:20-7:30) To be announced

3. Q&A Session (7:30 - 8:30) 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.

4. Intermission and Raffles (8:30 - 8:45pm) In addition to our regular 50/50 raffle, there may also be other items for raffle, if available.

5. Feature Presentation (8:45 - 10:00pm)

   The main feature planned for the November meeting will be a presentation and demonstration of the full-featured ProNews/2 OS/2 news reader program by SIG member Jim Nuytens.

   Pronews/2 is a top notch OS/2 News client with many features that are lacking in other OS/2 news readers. This unique newsreader's key features include a process manager that gives the user complete control over queued tasks (such as downloading articles), true message threading, and fully customizable toolbars. It also has an advanced filtering and thread-watching mechanism that can work on a group-by-group or global basis. The user interface for ProNews/2 is based on the familiar and intuitive notebook format, with tabs for quickly accessing subscribed groups, new groups, all groups, queued processes and connections.

   ProNews 1.5b is Shareware with a $30 registration fee. It can be downloaded from BMT Micro or the OS/2 SuperSite at:

   http://www.os2ss.com/select/internet/news/pronews.html

We look forward to another enjoyable and informative meeting in November. Mark the date: Wednesday, November 17th. Please plan to come and bring a friend or associate to show them that OS/2 is still very much alive.