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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 (1.0 browsers my have some trouble) and, while most of them will display the site's content, it may not be very pretty.
As we are also aware, over the past few years, cellphones have grown from a simple basic telephone to a veritable "Swiss Army Knife" of added features and functions: e.g., digital cameras, games, calculators, memos & notes, addresses, instant messaging, voice recognition, bluetooth, internet access including web browsers, etc. It almost seems like there's no end in sight.
At the April 26th meeting, we discussed modern cellphones, together with all associated software and hardware items and functions. At the meeting members demonstrated their favorite tools and toys and held informal discussions about current and anticipated future cellphone developments.
Currently, a great many Linux distributions are available, making it difficult to choose. Some users may want more than one distro on the same box. For example, RedHat very recently released a new version 5 of their Enterprise Linux. It would make good sense to install it along with an existing EL4 or SLES10.
Since most new hardware today is capable of running a 64-bit kernel, but most systems are still in the 32-bit world, you may wish to install both versions on your system, however, installing Dual-booting Linux is not quite straight forward. At the March meeting Vadim Kavalerov demonstrated installing both 64-bit & 32-bit Linux versions on a dual boot system.
View Vadim's presentation slides.
Virtual machines are regarded by many folks as the wave of the future.
Last month Vadim Kavalerov presented a demonstration of Microsoft's Virtual PC, with Windows XP as the host and OS/2 as the guest. There was some very stimulating discussion and the 10:00pm closing time arrived too soon.
This month Vadim and David continued with a follow-on, demonstrating portable virtual machines -- create it on one system and run it on another. At the February meeting we discussed both Microsoft Virtual PC and the VMware Player.
At the January meeting Vadim Kavalerov demonstrated how to set up & run OS/2 under Windows XP using VPC 2004 SP1, a FREE download from Microsoft. Yes, it's FREE from ... http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx He also demonstrated how to install, configure, and apply the latest updates to Warp 4.51 and 4.52 under VPC2004. Additionally, Vadim showed how to configure disk folder and network sharing between a Windows host and OS/2 guest systems.
Microsoft is currently the only commercial vendor which supports several OS/2 versions running under Windows, including MCP1/MCP2. Guess what! MCP1/MCP2 versions work quite well under VPC2004.
Advantages to running OS/2 on a virtual PC include an ability to utilize 64-bit systems, and access the latest hardware devices. Multiple virtual machines can also be created in various config- urations, and configuration backups can be made to eliminate the risk of losing your setup.
No meeting was held in December
David Moskowitz led a discussion at the November meeting about GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). Note that if you want to be absolutely correct, it's "The GIMP," not just GIMP.
The GIMP is a full-featured open-source almost-replacement for Photoshop. Whether you want to create digital art, or enhance/fix images from your digital camera, the GIMP has the power and flexibility to do it. The GIMP is a tool to facilitate creating, manipulating and converting professional-quality images. Best of all, the price is right! The GIMP is a free open-source multi-platform application (including OS/2 & eCS).
Those folks who also use MS Windows might subscribe to or be aware of the LangaList free Email newsletter which provides many beneficial hints, advice, problems, etc. primarily in regard to Windows usage. The October 9, 2006, issue also included an item entitled "Mo' Betta Linuxes." This item described two new Linuxes which take care of the installation of new programs, and in one case, even keeping the the OS up to date.
This latter linux version, PCLinuxOS, piqued our curiosity, and after reviewing some of the material on the www.pclinuxos.com website, we downloaded current and burned the version 0.93a ISO image file (685MB). The bootable CD permits launching and running or installing the OS directly from this "Live CD."
PCLinuxOS also includes "Synaptic" which provides a current list of 5,475 available program packages any of which may be selected and installed with the push of a button. Approximately 940 of these are included and installed via the downloaded ISO image.
At the October meeting members Bart Hirst and Larry Lavins demonstrated the installation of PCLinuxOS using a desktop computer system and discussed Synaptic and other major features.
At the September 28th meeting, we discussed the various brands and models on the current market, what can be done with them, the available hardware and software products, price levels, and other relevant handheld resources.
No meeting held in August.
July was open discussion month, everything computing was on the table.
At the June 22nd meeting, Vadim Kavalerov presented demos of "Desktop On-Call" and "IDE HDD S.M.A.R.T. Monitor for OS/2."
DTOC is a computer remote control application, written in Java, developed by IBM-Japan in 1999, and ported to several platforms, including OS/2, Linux, Solaris, MacOS-X and Windows.
It differs markedly from other RC applications in that only the server computer runs DTOC, while the client PC from which the RC access is initiated only requires a standard web browser. This amazing flexibility allows access to your work or home PC, while connected to the Internet from anywhere in the world.
DTOC presents a view of the server computer desktop in the browser window. The communication session is encrypted using SSL and RSI. DTOC also has both "chat" and bidirectional file transfer modes. It is so reliable that IBM mainframes (z9) use a version of DTOC for remote access to its hardware management console (HMC).
Vadim will demo DTOC v4 for OS/2 which is available from Mensys. DTOC is similar to other remote control applications such as VNC (Virtual Network Computing) but differs in several important details: e.g., DTOC offers strong encryption of a user session, while VNC runs the GUI session unencrypted.
For background information, see an article by David Mertz:
Sharing Computers on a Linux (or Heterogeneous) Network:
Part 1: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-share1.html
Part 2: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-share2/.
SMART Monitor is a small free utility available from Hobbes that allows you to access a hard drive(s) integrated health monitoring system, and retrieve such information as hard drive temperature, and numbers of disk spinups, various disk errors, etc. This data allows you to estimate the "health" of your hard drive, and replace it in time before a failure occurs. It is also helpful for checking whether the hard drive is properly installed, and is provided with enough cooling - modern hard drives are quite sensitive to elevated temperatures, and do not work reliably above 55°C (131°F).
It is a little known fact that OS/2 since Warp 4 has a built-in support for S.M.A.R.T. monitoring via the IBM1S506 device driver. Daniela Engert's driver also supports S.M.A.R.T. The utility allows to either print the status of the drive(s) once, or perform periodic checking and monitoring. It can also write to a pipe.
Applications such as SysBar/2 have been written that collect the data from the pipe, and display the hard drive status in the taskbar. It is also possible to write a REXX script that will redirect the pipe to the network, so several computers could be monitored from one station. As time may permit, we'll also demo HDD remote monitoring with SmartMon.
The patent area is one such item of current interest, with lots of news media commentary & analysis. PASUG member Doug Leach, a patent agent, led the discussion:
What is the impact of a recent Supreme Court decision
The Apple v Apple suit
The patent infringement suit filed by Creative and counter claims by Apple Computer
The latest DOJ/Microsoft ruling extending the term of the consent decree through 2009
What might result from EU attempts to curtail Microsoft activities in Europe?
Other topics covered:
A brief summary of the NetLabs' Voyager project will also be discussed to acquaint folks not familiar with it, and to provide some reference links. Voyager is a project initiated by by Adrian Gschwend aimed at replacing OS/2 on top of modern technology. It was the result of almost 2 years of research about what can and should be done to develop a future successor to today's OS/2 & eCS.
Pattern recognition, such as the use of phonecall data being collected by NSA to detect possible terrorism leads.
Thinkpad tips
Job trends & outsourcing
What's coming in laptops, desktops, smartphones, etc...
In the April meeting we explored free software, shopping bargains & more. Low cost replacement for Adobe PhotoShop, organize your images, music and sound editing, desktop utilities, run Rexx on virtually any platform, find it on eBay, and finding the best price from a reliable merchant, we covered it all.
You can view David Moskowitz's presentation slides.
Donald Strumpf conducted a presentation/demo featuring a number of interesting and useful audio applications for your computer, using low-tech, inexpensive hardware gadgets and free software. During the presentation he shared his secrets based on his own personal experimentation and successful usage over an extended period of time.
Donald's presentation covered:
How to acquire free music, free audio books, and even free college courses.
How to save and play audio media to tape cassettes, computers, and MP3 players (e.g., listen to favorite audio material during a long drive, or even walking your dog!)
Also, time shifting of radio programs. Listen on your own schedule when you can do so, not when broadcast.
Lists of hardware items needed, local and Internet resources, and other relevant data was provided to meeting attendees.
Over the past year or so, many of our members have acquired and are using laptop computers. IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad models seem to be most prevalent among the regular meeting attendees.
WindowsXP has been preloaded on most all Thinkpads in recent years, giving rise to the the most common problem: namely, how to install OS/2, eCS, Linux, etc. in the same drive, alongside Windows in a multibooting (ala Boot Manager) environment, and associated partitioning problems. But these problems are not unique to Thinkpads. The same procedures used for Thinkpads may be common across most other brands. Other problems involve the Thinkpad's hidden WinXP recovery partition usage, interference, removal, etc.
There is also an interesting tradeoff to be considered in regard to a multiboot installation: i.e., multiboot via boot manager or equivalent versus the use of Microsoft's VirtualPC.
The February meeting was devoted in its entirety to the laptop workshop.
Lewis Rosenthal of Rosenthal & Rosenthal LLC, well-known network consultants, of New York & Northern Virginia conducted an overview & demonstration of emerging new wireless technologies and products. Emphasis was placed on application to OS/2 and eCS operating systems.
Wireless networks are becoming pervasive in the 21st Century. OS/2 and eComStation are not without means to access such technologies and manage multiple accounts. Thanks to XWLAN, we have the ability to maintain profiles for different wireless networks and manage our wireless hardware. The newly-released GenMAC 1.0 driver brings hardware support to a new level as well, including the latest mini-PCI adapters for 802.11a/b/g networking. This session is an overview of what these technologies are, and how to use the tools we have available to our best advantage.
Lewis showed a complete install of a wireless adapter in a notebook computer running eComStation, from hardware insertion to driver loading and configuration, all the way to setting up XWLAN to manage multiple profiles. Along the way he reviewed good public wireless access strategies and tips for hotspots, that are applicable to all operating platforms. He also discussed the need for multiple profiles and how to manage them with XWLAN.
Finally, Lewis covered some ground on what's on the horizon for the GenMAC driver in terms of new device support, how to help in the effort to broaden the range of devices it handles (e.g., how to sniff the PCI bus to find out what hardware is there); and talk about future plans for XWLAN and wireless management under eComStation out of the box.
In lieu of a regular meeting, a holiday dinner party was held at a local restaurant.
The November meeting agenda was completely different from our usual fare. At the meeting we discussed a matter which has had a profound effect, and will continue to do so, upon all our lives and the lives of most all peoples of the world: Globalization.
Discussion began with a review of Thomas Friedman's The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century.. Friedman outlines the 10 flatteners, including the change from communism to capitalism, ubiquitous computing (like it or not, Windows contributes), in-sourcing, outsourcing, and informing. Toss in a few dirty little gap secrets (numbers, ambition, and education), and suggestions regarding wholesale and retail reform (globally), and parenting and ... ...
The group discussion was very stimulating.
Hakan Gadler presented a demo and review of Gnuplot, an open source, portable command-line driven interactive data and function plotting utility for UNIX, IBM OS/2, MS Windows, DOS, Macintosh, VMS, Atari, and many other platforms.
Gnuplot was originally intended to allow scientists and students to visualize mathematical functions and data. It does this job well, but has grown to support many non-interactive uses, including web scripting & integration as a plotting engine for third-party applications like Octave. Gnuplot has been supported and under development since 1986.
Gnuplot supports many types of plots in both 2D and 3D. It can draw using lines, points, boxes, contours, vector fields, surfaces, and various associated text. It also supports various specialized plot types.
Gnuplot also supports many different types of terminals: interactive screen terminals (with mouse & hotkey functionality), pen plotters (like hpgl), printers (including postscript and many color devices), and printings to output file as vectorial pseudo- devices like LaTeX, metafont, pdf, svg, or bitmap png. Gnuplot is easily extensible to include new devices.
Additional information and downloads may be found at the gnuplot home page.
Ben Bowers, a long-time fan of (the now defunct) BeOS, presented the latest news on a reincarnated BeOS operating system named ZETA being developed in Germany by YellowTab Co. Another parallel open source project named HAIKU is under development by groups of volunteer programmers all around the world.
Ben Demonstrated ZETA 1.0, YellowTab's recent first commercial product release from the BeOS family and briefly discussed the status of the ongoing HAIKU open source project.
No meeting held in August.
If you have not installed OS/2 recently on brand-new hardware, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise the next time around. Over the last few years, a number of hardware enhancements has thoroughly broken backward compatibility with older x86 systems.
To mention a few: Advanced Power Management and Configuration Protocol 2.0 (ACPI) has replaced PnP in assigning interrupts, port and memory spaces; System Management Bus (SMBus) is used for hardware health monitoring; and Serial ATA has superceded the trusty IDE disk drives.
Best of all - most of today's new systems no longer use 32-bit processors! Whether an EM64T Intel Pentium-4, or AMD Opteron or Athlon-64, the native mode of operation is 64-bit, that supports very large RAM sizes - up to 8-16GB or more.
If you try to boot one of these systems with a Warp4 MCP 1/2 installation CD, most likely you'll see a kernel trap.
But not all is lost. There are simple workarounds for most of these hardware compatibility problems. As we know, OS/2 is an open and an extremely configurable system. All we need to do is replace the old drivers and the system kernel with new versions, and everything will start working again.
In his presentation, Vadim demonstrated a step-by-step procedure for installing WSeB CP1 on a dual Opteron 244 system based on a Tyan S2875 motherboard. The process involved creating standard installation diskettes, and then making a few simple changes to their content. He used a new kernel, released via IBM Testcase in May, that proved to be very stable.
There is a large quantity of free software (including open source) available to handle almost common computing needs: everything from alternative operating systems to multiple platform office suites, email programs, graphics, security, and much more.
At the June meeting, in an open forum, users shared experiences with their favorite open source programs.
At the May meeting, David Moskowitz and Doug Leach conducted a lively presentation and conversation about what's required to secure your system from outside threats, for Linux, OS/2 and Windows platforms. The theme for the night: Why everyone needs protection if they surf the Internet. With the large number of different types of threats, a simple firewall is no longer sufficient. In the same way that attacks are layered, we also need to use layers of protection.
One of the protective items covered was the anti-phishing/anti-pharming toolbar from Netcraft.
Phishing is a simple concept: It attempts to trick people into disclosing identify information (usually bank or credit card) so that the attacker can steal the funds. The technology to phish usually involves legitimate looking HTML-based e-mail that asks recipients to confirm their account information. The machine where the link goes isn't the real McCoy and the unwary freely give up their information.
Pharming requires more technology and skill because it involves some form of redirect from a legitimate site to the bogus one without the surfer's knowledge. Two such techniques include corrupting the local host's file or DNS poisoning.
The Netcraft toolbar can help you to identify both threats, phishing and pharming.
Doug covered the InJoy firewall that started on OS/2, and is now also available for Windows & Linux. InJoy provides a comprehensive firewall with enterprise level functionality. Depending on the license you select, InJoy offers a wide variety of security functions. Doug described all these InJoy features, it's installation and configuration.
Click here to view a PDF of the presentation slides. You can also click here to download a ZIP file of the PDF for later viewing from your own system.
Have you ever had to troubleshoot a PC network connection, endlessly swapping network cards, patch cables, drivers, etc., only to discover that the problems may lie elsewhere? And do you understand the difference between how protocols such as TCP or NETBIOS are supposed to be used on a LAN?
End guesswork by looking under the hood of the network protocol stack. Learn how to troubleshoot otherwise difficult connectivity or performance problems using the tools used by professionals.
For many home users network problems are an unsolvable enigma. At this meeting, Vadim Kavalerov will described how to use and understand network tracing software. OS/2 has included this feature, the IPTRACE utility, for several years. We will also look at the Open Source Ethereal program, available on Linux and Windows, and commercial NTRACE program for OS/2 from Golden Code.
Just a few years ago, a powerful network tracer cost thousands of dollars. Partly due to the Open Source movement, such software is now either free or inexpensive, and is finally within reach of many home and small business computer users.
A packet tracer takes a snapshot of protocol messages being sent in real time on a network to or from a PC; or broadcasts to all machines on the network. It can show in minutes what is really happening on the LAN.
Vadim discussed transmission errors, such as TCP checksum errors, how to identify it with faulty hardware, how to tune your LAN to perform optimally, and how to spot unexpected or unwanted traffic that may raise security concerns.
The program originally scheduled for the February meeting was rescheduled for March.
Hakan Gadler will demonstrated how to create your own database using MySQL4, a very popular open-source DBMS (Database Management System). He also reviewed Entity-Relationship modeling (a central concept in modern database design), the normalization of tables for relational databases, and the use of SQL (Structured Query Language) for manipulating databases.
Today, powerful open-source database managers such as MySQL and PostgreSQL are available on many platforms, including Windows, OS/2, Linux, etc. and make it possible to easily create databases and organize data collections for productive use.
The February meeting was cancelled due to bad weather.
There are many bargains to be found for astute shoppers. Not surprisingly, there are also many pitfalls for unknowing, unwary and careless shoppers.
The January meeting explored a number of proven strategies for shoppers wishing to identify the best bargains and, at the same time, avoid pitfalls and scams when shopping for a variety of items.
In lieu of a regular meeting, a holiday dinner party was held at a local restaurant.
This month we featured a presentation by PASUG member Doug Leach demonstrating eComStation 1.2 from Serenity Systems. While eCS 1.2 is fundamentally MCP2 with Fixpak 4, plus networking and device driver updates, Serenity has incorporated a new installer which was easy to use and trouble-free on Doug's system.
In addition to the base OS, eCS bundles a number of applications and other software into the installation. These include versions of the desktop enhancements from XWorkplace and Styler/2 folder, and title bar enhancements. Although some may see it as eye candy, the functionality provided by these utilities was enough to give up almost all of Object Desktop. Also included in the default install are Mozilla 1.7, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Innotek Runtime Environment (required for new Mozillas), Innotek Java 1.4.2, a version of RSJ CD Writer, Macromedia Flash 5 (unfortunately not Flash 7) and the Escape GL screensaver.
Lastly the eCS Maintenance Tool (MT) is also installed for system updates. For those who haven't seen it, eCS MT is sort of Windows Update (without IE of course!) superseding the old WarpUP CD's formerly created and sold by Indelible Blue. That said, it's also true that most features included in eCS 1.2 are available from other sources; including device driver updates and fixpaks if you have a Software Choice or Passport Advantage subscription. If you have a system with MCP2 and Fixpack 4 on it, you may not want or need this upgrade. But for a fresh install, it was found to be most appealing to have almost everything up to date.
This month, in a hands-on session, we explored file sharing between OS/2 & Linux PC's, one system running RedHat Enterprise Linux 3.0 Workstation (RedHat 9.1); the other OS/2 4.52 (with TCP/IP 4.3).
This month we developed the background information on the setup of a Network File System (NFS) server and client on OS/2 and Linux.
No meetings held during July and August.
No meetings held during July and August.
The June meeting consisted of discussion session by members.
At the May 27th meeting, PASUG member Vadim Kavalerov discussed how to create DVDs under OS/2 using recent software releases.
Availability of inexpensive DVD recorders and recordable media has make them an attractive option for creating backup copies or exchanging data in the range of 5-10 GBytes and beyond.
Currently, there are two software options available: DVD/UDF File System Driver v.2.1.3 from IBM Software Choice; and RSJ CD Writer v.5.04 from RSJ Software GmbH.
Vadim reviewed several common DVD formats: DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM (without a cartridge, Type 2 or Type 4 disks) and demonstrated how to use both software packages to create data DVDs under OS/2.
Another area of practical interest discussed was the compatibility of the recorded formats under different operating systems. Disks recorded with the latest DVD/UDF driver provide support for Unicode and long file names, files up to 4 GBytes, and can be read on Windows XP without additional software. But some Unix and older Windows systems may require a UDF driver.
The April meeting featured a 21st century hi-tech update of the famous "Shootout at the OK Corral:" Doug Leach's Intel P4 system vs. Vadim Kavalerov's AMD Athlon XP/MP system.
The newest generation of processors from AMD and Intel, use significantly different architechtures in their processor designs. In particular, Intel's P4 is optimized to improve performance with streaming multimedia applications -- provided the code is optimized to take advantage of these new designs. The AMD Athlon XP/MP offers Intel MMX and SSE compatibility as well as 3DNow! multimedia extensions. AMD has taken a more traditional architectural approach which is less reliant on the latest optimizing compilers.
This month's meeting featured a competitive demo, by Doug Leach and Vadim Kavalerov, of two comparable systems, one with an Intel P4 and the other with an Athlon MP, both using CD2PM3 as the front-end to the strippers and encoders. Several different encoders were compared, including the several versions of LAME, (compiled with the latest Athlon optimized GCC compiler) and BladeEnc for OS/2.
Doug also reviewed the different programs required to strip and encode music files to MP3 under OS/2 using CD2MP3.
Martin Friedman, a former PACS president, and well-known expert on Apple's MacIntosh computers, presentation a demo focused on the latest Mac OSX (i.e. the Mac OS-10 operating system), which has recently received very favorable comments in the computer media, and has also been the subject of interest by many of our PASUG folks.
Marty's presentation began with the Basics: Mac windows, keyboard shortcuts, the Dock, Expose and Users, comparing features to non-Mac OSes, then showed some of the tools delivered with the system.
From System Preference window, a user user may easily customize Personal, Hardware, Internet & Network, and System preferences: similar to the Control Panel in Windows.
Next, Marty gave quick tour of included tools: applications (e.g. iMovie, iTunes, iChat, iCal, iPhoto, Preview, Sherlock3); and utilities (e.g. airport, bluetooth, colorsync, Console, Directory Access, disk, and grab).
The February 26th meeting featured a presentation/demo by PASUG Member Vadim Kavalerov, as a continuation of a networking presentation conducted by Vadim at an earlier meeting.
Market forces have driven the cost of a PC down so much in recent years, that chances are you may have ended up with more than one machine in your home or small office. Connecting these machines together into a LAN can substantialy reduce the cost of hardware items, as well as the cost of software and maintenance.
The most obvious LAN configuration employs a fast ethernet network interface card (NIC) in each PC, all connected to a switch or hub. But note that OS/2 Warp & eCS can support up to 8 NICs per machine and therefore can support many other, more useful configurations. But this is where it gets tricky: e.g. Which IP address should be assigned to each NIC? Do you need a subnet mask? And what to do about IP forwarding and numerous TCP/IP configuration options? With these choices multiplying with each new NIC connected to the LAN, forget the method of trial & error - you must have a basic understanding of what's going on.
Vadim explained how to setup file sharing on two separate subnets connected with a multi-homed PC, i.e. a machine with two NICs. The basic configuration of the protocols required to do this in each subnet, including the TCPBEUI setup was shown in detail. And a live demo was performed on a PC together with two laptops, each of which were connected to one of the two NICs in the PC.
Although the demo was performed on PCs running Warp 4.52 (MCP), the protocols and their configuration are not specific to any one operating system. Once the basics are clearly understood, similar setups can be built on Linux or other OSes.
The January meeting was cancelled due to bad weather.
In lieu of a regular meeting, a holiday dinner party was held at a local restaurant.
This month's meeting was devoted to a Linux Boot Camp session. Scott Russell conducted a follow-on to his earlier tutorial Linux sessions with a presentation/demo of a number of essential Linux skills, emphasizing Linux command line basics, including the following topics:
Additionally, there was a discussion of KDE basics: Configuring KDE via Control Center: default setup, appearance & themes, desktops, components, konqueror, window options, etc.
Sean Reilly of Reilly Technologies returned to conduct a presentation/demo of the latest developments of his Java-based Moneydance 2003 personal financial software. Moneydance is now available to run on all platforms that support a Java engine.
Reilly also provides a free downloadable Extension Developer's Kit to individuals who wish to work on Moneydance extensions. The kit includes Moneydance API documentation, sample code and other miscelaneous tools.
We kicked-off our new 2003-2004 season with a most informative and interesting "triple header" which presented descriptions of and commentary on three current lawsuits which may have far-reaching impact upon all computer users.
SCO vs IBM Lawsuit (Copyright Issues)
David Moskowitz, supported by John Davey, reviewed the current status and what it might mean to Linux users (and our members who might be considering Linux). David discussed what the lawsuit alleges; SCO and IBM responses; current state; and what it means if SCO prevails. He also reviewed third party moves which have aligned themselves with either SCO or IBM.
View David's presentation slides.
BeOS NEWS and UPDATE (BeOS vs Microsoft Anti-trust Case)
Ben Bowers, a BeOS user, has been following the status of BeOS and the progress of the recently settled anti-trust case. Ben discussed the implications of the $23M dollar settlement in the BeOS lawsuit against Microsoft. He also reported on a number of groups who have been working to bring back the vision of the BeOS community.
View Ben's presentation slides.
EOLAS/UofCAL vs MICROSOFT LAWSUIT (Patent Issues)
The recent $520 million award to Eolas and UofCal stemmed from a 1998 lawsuit in which Eolas and UofCal charged Microsoft with patent infringement. Doug Leach (a registered patent agent) with support from John Davey, reviewed the background of the Doyle patent (now licensed to Eolas), and what it claims.
Doug gave an analysis of the patent from the perspective of how broad and strong the claims are, based on examination of the patent in the Patent Office. He also discussed the infringement suit, and what occurred at the various stages, and the significance of those stages. Lastly, he discussed some options and opinions about what may result from this case, in regard to web browser plugins & Java applets.
View Doug's presentation slides.
LEGAL BACKGROUND EXPLANATIONS
Since it is sometimes difficult to put the news into perspective, member John Davey, an attorney, presented an overview of civil procedure in the federal courts.
After Larry Lavins presented a summary of recent OS/2 releases, David Moskowitz presented an over view of applications that run on non Microsoft platforms. During the presentation David demonstrated the Star Office Suite (Word Processor, Spread Sheet, Web Browser, Presentation, Graphics, Database), text editors, grapic editors, web browsers, email clients, and personal finance programs on a LindowsOS system.
An interesting side note: The brand new $150.00 hardware box (including pre-installed software), taken out of the box earlier that day, performed flawlessly.
After Larry Lavins presented a summary of recent OS/2 releases, Scott Russell and David Moskowitz took us on a tour of the most popular Linux distros including; Red Hat, SuSE, Mandrake, and Linspire. For each distro they summarized:
Each Linux distribution tuned for a different audience. The savey user will pick the best distro for their application.
After Larry Lavins presented a summary of recent OS/2 releases, David Moskowitz led an impromptu discussion about wireless network security.
After an extended Q&A, Scott Russell of IBM discussed Linux file system basics, one of the most important, if not the single most important, factor in learning Linux. Understanding the Linux file system insures that a user will get the most out of Linux now and well into the future.
Scott's presentation will covered:
During the short presentation David Moskowitz demonstrated LindowsOS running on the widely discussed and publicized inexpensive system currently being marketed at WalMart. As an aside, during his presentation David initiated a "hands free" loading of LindowsOS in a VMware partition on a laptop system. The installation was prompt and painless.
For the main presentation Doug Leach demonstrated In Charge! financial management program. In Charge! is a full-function personal & small business financial management system which is available from Spitfire Software. In Charge! was originally written for OS/2 as a native alternative to Quicken or MS Money. A Windows version is also now available. There is complete feature equivalence, as well as data compatibility, between the two versions.
In Charge! supports an unlimited number of sets of books, multiple currencies, multiple year budgeting, Internet banking, and securities & brokerage account management. In Charge! also contains a complete payables/receivables system which tracks bills & loans in real time. For small business, In Charge! provides billing and invoicing as well as order entry and sales analysis.
Doug's presentation covered:
The February meeting was cancelled due to a local snow storm.
Larry and David Moskowitz demonstrated installation of the popular Red Hat Linux 8.0, with commentary and explanations at each major step.
Red Hat Linux, as well as many other distributions such as Mandrake, etc. may also be freely downloaded. But it's probably best to purchase the standard (personal) editions in a retail package which include good user manuals, at inexpensive cost.
Short Topic: KNOPPIX, Linux on a Bootable CD
Larry Lavins demonstrated Knoppix (pronounced "noppix"), a fully functional Linux, which includes many popular applications, all contained on a single, 700MB bootable CDROM.
Knoppix is a complete bootable Linux, booted and RUN directly from a CDROM drive. Your hard drive is used only for swap space, plus any storage you might wish to employ.
There is NO installation required. Repeat: NO installation! Knoppix is an outstanding way to familiarize yourself with the many features and characteristics of Linux.
Knoppix may be freely downloaded from www.knopper.net, a German website.
For the main presentation, John described his use of Lotus Approach, the relational database manager that is included in Lotus SmartSuite. John has recently been developing a database to organize information about cellular tower sites as part of his law practice. John showed this work in progress with an emphasis on the general process of designing and developing a personal relational database. A suggested source for learning database design is Michael J. Hernandez, Database Design for Mere Mortals: A Hands-On Guide to Relational Database Design (Addison-Wesley 1997, ISBN 0201694719). You can find it at ... Amazon.com.
Short Topic: JAlbum Photo Album Generator
Also presented by John Davey, the short topic was a demonstraton of photo album generation using JAlbum, a free Java application. JAlbum converts a folder of images or multimedia files to an album that can be viewed in a web browser. John showed how easily albums could be created and how they could then be modified with a basic understanding of HTML and CSS. JAlbum may be downloaded from www.datadosen.se/jalbum/
The need for a backup arises as a preventive measure from data loss due to a hard disk failure or user error, especially when systems store sensitive or mission-critical information. Likewise, backup is useful when system configuration changes frequently, as is the case with most development systems. But also, once in a while you may want to replace that old hard drive with a new one without disrupting system configuration. In addition, it allows you to package large amounts of data (up to tens of gigabytes) and transfer it to another system.
There are a number of backup programs available for OS/2. BackAgain/2 was created as a native OS/2 application in 1994, and since then, its developer and distributor Computer Data Strategies (www.cds-inc.com) has remained committed to OS/2, and updated its software on a regular basis. BA/2 supports almost any tape drive on the market, recordable CD-ROM & DVD, and removable disks such as ZIP or MO. It also supports tape libraries used in enterprise systems.
Vadim Kavalerov conducted a presentation/demo of the recently released v.3.0a Server of BA/2. This version can do full and incremental backups, scheduled backups, allows creation of system recovery CD-ROMs, and even supports server security attributes (ACL) implemented in JFS and HPFS386 file systems. It's fast, reliable, easy to use, and allows automation of backup tasks via REXX scripts.
New in this version is support for CD-R and CD-RW provided by a third-party product, RSJ CD Writer (www.rsj.de). Version 4.05 or RSJ not only provides an installable CD-ROM file system, but also supports an easy creation of bootable CDs. Vadim demonstrated how to create a full backup on a CD, make that CD bootable, and then replace a hard drive with a new one, and fully restore the system from the backup in just a few minutes by booting from the CD.
Short Topic: Backup Your Desktop with REXX
Hakan Gadler demonstrated a REXX program, BackupDesktop.cmd, which may be used to automatically backup your desktop, INI files and other system files at system startup. Use of this simple REXX program also makes it possible to restore the system at will to any previous synchronized state, including the desktop and its supporting files. In addition to demonstrating its use, Hakan reviewed the algorithm and REXX instructions used. BackupDesktop.cmd is based on an earlier backup program written by Bob Eager.
Visitors can view Hakan's presentation slide and download a copy from this wegsite
At the October meeting Larry Lavins reviewed several program updates:
After the presentation the group discussed the adventages and disadvantages of expanding our scope to include the LINUX operating system.
The feature presentation was a continuation of the April 2002 discussion of website maintenance. John Davey showed how he used Home Page Publisher (HPP) to create the original version of this site, outlining the strengths and weaknesses of HPP. While HPP eases the job of page layout, there is a problem with dead code. "Dead code" is the remains of an edit where HPP did not completely remove a deleted section. While this dead code causes no visible problems, it bloats the size of a page and slows rendering by the browser. Over the years, John has received complaints about the dead code.
Barry Mann showed how he stepped through the site, line by line, and identified opportunities for using PPWizard to separate the site's style and content. Attendees were introduced to the power of EPM (a text editor shipped with OS/2) as an HTML editor. (remember that Barry likes to generate his HTML "raw"). Using a few simple CMD files, EPM, and PPWizard, Barry demonstrated how he can easily manage the SIG site.
During the presentation Barry used multiple browsers to demonstrate that the site is friendly with a wide cross section of browsers. ("friendly" does not mean that it looks identical, only that the site looks presentable, no information is lost, and navigation is easy) Barry then showed a few common cross browser problems and how to prevent them.
OS/2 users can hardly be classified as "typical" computer users. Our members' interest in wide band Internet connections runs higher than the average. Most members ether have a wide band connection or are counting the days till wide band arrives in their area.
During the May meeting Vadim Kavalerov and David Moskowitz provided a crash course in networking. David provided an interesting historic perspective pointing out that a fundamental design feature of the first release of OS/2 was robust network supoort. Vladim covered the nuts and bolts of configuring and problem resolving in OS/2 networks.
After covering the basics, David and Vadim demonstrated how set-up a network of laptops and a desktop system then connected them to the school's network through a Cable/DSL router. Finally, David covered Internet security issues.
Other Resources:
The feature presentation at the April 24 meeting was a discussion lead by Barry Mann and SIG webmaster John Davey which contrasted Barry's and John's style of website maintenance.
Barry codes his HTML pages "raw" using a text editor and maintains sites using tools such as custom REXX scripts and PPWizard. John uses Home Page Publisher, a GUI web page editor. Both styles have advantages and disadvantages. Without a WYSIWYG HTML editor, Barry struggles a bit to get everything in just the right spot, but maintaining site wide menu bars, links, Meta tags, or changing the overall look and feel of a site, is a snap. John can almost painlessly make that last little adjustment to a page, but groans at the thought of adding a menu bar on every page. As a "cheap trick", Barry added two menu bars to each SIG page.
The presentation sparked a lively discussion by the group.
The feature presentation at the March 20 meeting was a live demo by Vadim Kavalerov, one of our PhillyOS2 leading gurus, of an IBM RS/6000 workstation (w/PowerPC) running the AIX 4.3.3 OS.
The PowerPC and Power series line of the microprocessors have a decade-long history, and a large number of products shipped to enterprise customers. This kind of the hardware was originally destined to run OS/2 5.0, cancelled weeks before its planned introduction early in 1996.
As such systems are replaced in various enterprise environments, they often find 2nd or even 3rd owners due to their unprecedented longevity. By PC standards, these machines are quite fast at 200-300 MHz CPU speed. Such systems can be purchased at used PC prices from a large number of dealers including IBM. The standard OS on RS/6000 is AIX (Advanced Interactive eXecutive), an IBM version of Unix.
The user interface of the RS/6000 is Common Desktop Environment (CDE), a standard on many other Unix systems. IBM also added a system management interface (SMIT) that makes it easy even to someone unfamiliar with Unix to perform basic system management functions.
If you'd like to learn Unix, AIX might be just for you. There are hundreds of in-depth RedBooks available from www.redbooks.ibm.com. You may also wish to browse the following related web sites:
David McMullin of MKS was our guest at the February meeting discussing "Software Development Trends in Reducing Risk."
MKS is a recognized leader in this field. Since 1984, MKS software solutions have been enabling development teams to analyze, build and deploy software systems quickly and reliably for many leading corporate clients throughout the world. Today, more than 10,000 companies world-wide use MKS's tools. An overview was provided of the software development process used by large teams of enterprise programmers, including clear explanations of modern trends in programming such as extreme programming (XP) and the waterfall development principle.
MKS products were described which help to implement and enforce a development process without forcing the developers into one of the popular paradigms. Several cases were used to illustrate the main benefits that users can gain, including reduced risks, cost savings, improved quality and saved time in quality assurance.
The January meeting featured a demonstration by Larry Lavins of Poor Man's PDF, a program authored by Bart van Leeuwen. PMPDF brings the capabilities of Adobe Acrobat Distiller to the OS/2 platform, without requiring Distiller, by the use of GhostScript. PMPDF enables the easy and simple creation of .PDF files from any OS/2 application which supports the standard OS/2 PM printer interface. These .PDF files may then be read and printed from the Adobe Acrobat Reader. PMPDF may be downloaded from ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/pmpdf.
Our December meeting departed from the usual practice of having a set presentation. Instead, we pooled our collective resources and had an extended problem solving and question and answer session. In addition, we continued our tradition of celebrating the anniversary of OS/2 with a combined anniversary and holiday party complete with birthday cake.
SIG member Vadim Kavalerov has scanned tens of thousands of pages, exclusively on OS/2. He has accumulated several applications proved useful for different aspects of scanning, preprocessing and organizing images. At the November meeting, Vadim demonstrated the following applications using an HP6350 color scanner: CopyShop/2; JView Pro; STI Applause; STI ReView 1.1; ColorWorks 2.0; and STI BatchOCR.
Larry Lavins also discussed the use of PMSANE/SANE with his UMAX Astra 1220S SCSI scanner.
We followed up on last month's demo of eComStation (eCS) from Serenity Systems by reviewing some of the features included with eCom Station. Vadim Kavalerov discussed using LVM as compared to FDISK for setting up hard drives.
Barry Mann followed up on his September presentation with more information on using his REXX script for analyzing web server logs for worm attacks. See the REXX Programming page to download this script.
The September meeting followed up on the August meeting with the "other" new OS/2 Warp update: eComStation (eCS) from Serenity Systems. John Davey demonstrated an eCS installation by doing an install live at the meeting. There followed a discussion on the principal features of eCS.
Barry Mann did a presentation on the REXX script he developed for analyzing web server logs to determine the nature of worm attacks on the server.
Group Leader Larry Lavins used his experience installing OS/2 MCP on a brand new "clean" 40GB drive to demonstrate and discuss the MCP installation procedure. Vadim Kavalerov provided support and help with technical questions. The meeting covered some of the new concepts introduced in MCP such as LVM and JFS.
The July meeting featured Sean Reilly, creator of Moneydance, the exciting Java personal financial program. Sean is with Appgen Personal Software, part of the Appgen Software Companies.
Appgen Personal Software was established in 2000 to provide its now world-famous Moneydance personal finance software to home users of virtually any personal-type computer. Moneydance is written entirely in Java, which allows the one version of the software to run on Windows, Apple, Linux, OS/2, and Solaris desktop computers. Moneydance makes management of personal finances fast and easy with its intuitive checkbook interface, stock portfolio manager, and online banking features.
Sean gave an extensive demo of this well-developed application and graciously provided registration keys as raffle prizes for the group.
OS/2 member Vadim Kavalerov finished his review of ATM networking, and how TCP/IP can be implemented over ATM--this presentation was a continuation of our May meeting.
We then move on to an added feature, with Vadim doing a live demonstration of installation of IBM's Logical Volume Manager (LVM) and Journaling File System (JFS) features.
In Barry Mann's REXX Section tutorial this month, everything came together when we covered the REXXUTIL functions. These are REXX functions specific to the OS/2 platform, including file system commands (ADD, DELETE, Directory Search, etc.), Workplace Shell object manipulation and Extended Attributes.
A very full meeting had us going overtime. After an extended general discussion, mainly concerning the Merlin Convenience Pack and the anticipated release of eCom Station, Jim Nuytens lead the Q&A session.
Our main feature was on implementation of optical networks on OS/2, presented by Philadelphia OS/2 member Vadim Kavalerov. Vadim reviewed the main principles behind Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology as a prelude to next month's meeting where he will demonstrate a small ATM network on OS/2 using PCI adapters from Fore Systems Fore PCA-200E & LE155, and Olicom RapidFire 616x, and an Olicom 9200 ATM backbone switch.
Barry Mann's REXX Section tutorial this month covered writing procedures. Specific topics included writing procedures, passing parameters, returning results, and variable scope. See the REXX Programming page for Barry's notes and exercises.
The April meeting continued our REXX activity, but with a somewhat different emphasis. In lieu of our usual REXX tutorial session, REXX guru Barry Mann conducted a presentation/demo of PPWizard, a cross platform native OS/2 REXX tool that runs on any platform supporting REXX. PPWizard has many useful and valuable features and provides an excellent vehicle for demonstrating the power and versatility of REXX. PP Wizard was developed by Dennis Bareis and is available at http://dennisbareis.id.au/ppwizard.htm.
PhillyOS2 member Jim Nuytens, who has invested considerable time and effort with Linux, did a Linux presentation at the March 28th meeting. Jim's presentation was based on the Mandrake Linux, one of the better distributions for a number of reasons Jim discussed. In addition to demonstrating some of Linux's features, Jim discussed the similarities and differences between Linux and OS/2.
This month's REXX session covered built-in functions, including Input/Output, String Manipulation, Time and Date. See the REXX Programming page for the latest notes and exercises and for further details on getting involved.
The February Philadelphia OS/2 meeting featured a presentation/demo of Simplicity for Java by Carl Sayres of Data Representations Inc., developers of the Simplicity family of products. The presentation highlighted capabilities of these tools to build data-intensive applications across a range of platforms, including a new product, Simplicity for Palm OS, that allows rapid development of Java applications for the Palm OS platform. Carl showed how to build actual Java applications, even without any background in Java programming, and generously donated a copy of Simplicity for Java to be raffled.
Prior to Carl's presentation, Barry Mann lead our first session on REXX programming. See the new REXX Programming page for further details on getting involved.
David Moskowitz and David Gentzler presented a wide-ranging review of developments in technology that are now or will soon be affecting all of us in our day to day lives. Topics included not just computing but wireless, energy, biotech, and gaming, among others. The Davids lead discussions among the members about the technologies themselves, but also about winners and losers as well as long-term consequences.
Several members also met to begin planning a Programming Section within the SIG. The emphasis at first will be on using REXX. More details will follow.
Continuing a SIG tradition, we held an OS/2 Birthday/Holiday dinner party in lieu of a regular meeting in December. Regular members and guests met at the Valley Forge Brewing Co. in Wayne, PA. Several ISV's donated current software for raffle at the dinner party. Our thanks to them for their support:
All members are encouraged to patronize these vendors
in order to encourage them to continue supporting OS/2.
SIG member Barry Mann conducted a presentation/demo of REXX, a subject of continuing interest by many of our members. The REXX programming language, now celebrating its 20th birthday, is another gem included with OS/2. REXX can be used in a variety of ways, ranging from simple batch-type files to programming full GUI applications. Barry went through some basic commands and then demonstrated some practical applications. Barry then generously compiled his notes to create a page for our site entitled Basic REXX Presentation. The follow up interest among the members may result in a series of tutorials being set up as part of our regular meetings.
SIG member and guru David Moskowitz presented on "TCP/IP Networking Demystified" at the October meeting. In last year's networking presentation, we had a tour of networking with NETBIOS. This time around, David gave TCP/IP the same in-depth exposure. The meeting covered TCP/IP from the historical background to setup of a TCP/IP network. See the photos page for shots of this meeting.
Due to a last-minute change in plans, the scheduled meeting topic on TCP/IP Demystified was postponed. There was plenty to do, however, with reports on what members saw and heard at Warpstock 2000 plus an extended problem solving session conducted by Dave Gentzler.
At the August 23rd meeting, SIG member David Moskowitz covered "Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know About Internet Security." David talked about the risks and hazards of surfing the net and what users can do to protect themselves, whether on a dial-up connection or broadband (DSL or cable modem).
Our guest at the July meeting was Ed Masoorli, an expert computer technician, who presides over the very popular Hardware/FixIt SIG at PACS.
Ed's presentation was an actual "showing," not just "talking" of different tips and tricks in building or rebuilding a computer. Ed showed different ways to make it easier for users who are afraid to open the case and replace an internal device such as a hard drive, a floppy, or even add memory. Ed's presentation included a "hands on" upgrade on his practice equipment.
The main feature at the June meeting was be a double presentation by Jim Nuytens. Jim and Denise attended the WarpTech event in Phoenix, sponsored by POSSI, over the 3-day Memorial Day holiday weekend. Jim reported on his experiences at WarpTech, including his impressions of Steven King's presentation on the current status of OS/2 as it relates to both IBM's corporate customers and home users. He also showed digital photographs that were taken at WarpTech with his new Olympus D340R camera.
Additionally, Jim demonstrated DCITU, Digital Camera Image Transfer Utility. DCITU is a native OS/2 program that works with several popular cameras, including a number of the Kodak 200 series cameras, Nikon CoolPix, Minolta Dimage, Epson PhotoPC, and several others.
The May meeting was devoted to presentations by some of our talented members, plus discussion of topics of current interest.
Ben Bowers presented an introduction and overview of BeOS, a recent operating system arrival which has aroused high interest around the world. It is now widely (and freely) available for evaluation in the form of BeOS Personal Edition. Five million copies are being distributed with magazines this year all across Europe.
Barry Mann made an encore appearance after his excellent presentation at the April meeting. Barry discussed File Format Conversion Tips, with emphasis on the use of the OS/2 EPM text processor. He also touched on the use of AWK and REXX for text processing purposes.
Larry Lavins reported on the current status of FixPak-13 and the problems encountered by many OS/2 users. He also reviewed the progress to date of his new computer build, what remains to be done and costs, with discussion about options suggested by the members.
SIG member Barry Mann conducted a presentation and demonstration of IBM's Information Presentation Facility (IPF). These easy-to-use native OS/2 tools are available to turn a dull, flat ASCII text file into a slick-looking searchable .INF document. The only tools needed are a text editor, the IPFC.EXE compiler, and its auxiliary files.
Working with IPF is much like writing web pages. Enough basics to create passable documents can be mastered in a short time. Complex documents need more planning and management. Starting with the basics, Barry showed how simple ASCII files can be converted to .INF documents in a few minutes time, then how to organize larger works for IPF conversion.
Barry generously posted the files that he used to demonstrate IPF at http://www.voicenet.com/~nitebird/apr2000/, and included on that page a number of links to other sources for information on IPF.
Jim Nuytens did yeoman duty at the March meeting. First, he conducted a lively Q&A session single-handedly on last minute notice. He then followed up after the break with the feature presentation for the evening.
Jim demonstrated how to use the newest version of Partition Magic with OS/2 even though an OS/2 executable is no longer provided. He showed how to copy, move and resize partitions and clone whole drives. Jim also discussed other options for copying/cloning whole drives, like Drive Copy and Norton Ghost and demonstrated cloning with his own hard drives.
After our January meeting was snowed-out, we started Y2K a bit late with the February meeting devoted to Junk Spy from Sundial Systems Corporation. Larry Lavins demonstrated this new software which allows users to filter and eliminate unwanted e-mail. Sundial Systems was good enough to donate a copy of Junk Spy for a raffle prize, and a user group discount was available to members who attended the meeting. (There is a demo of the program available for download at the Sundial Systems site.)
The January 2000 meeting was cancelled due to a major snow storm in the Philadelphia area. Click here to view the notes prepared by David Moskowitz for his presention.
For the December meeting, we took a break from the usual and met at a local restaurant for a holiday dinner and a birthday party in honor of OS/2's twelfth anniversary. This birthday celebration has become a SIG tradition in the last couple of year's, and a good time was had by all.
The main feature for the November meeting was a presentation by SIG member Jim Nuytens of ProNews/2, the full-featured OS/2 news reader program.
ProNews/2 is a top notch OS/2 News client with many features that are lacking in other OS/2 news readers. 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. Jim gave a full run-down of these features and more.
Our short how-to presentation was by Webmaster John Davey who demonstrated using Workplace Shell URL objects to organize web sites instead of using bookmarks. John preceded his discussion with a talk on his work with Metricom, developer of the Ricochet wireless Internet service.
A busy schedule at the October meeting began with a report on Warpstock '99 by members David Moskowitz and Jim Nuytens who attended. David was also a featured Warpstock speaker. Warpstock reviews may be found at the Warpstock website, http://www.warpstock.org, and at several other popular OS/2 websites.
The main feature for October was a dual presentation on network management using OS/2 technology. SIG member Vadim Kavalerov demonstrated remote booting of Warp making use of IBM's RIPL (Remote Initial Program Load). Vadim used his own multiprocessing server equipped with quadruple Pentium CPU's running Warp Server for eBusiness (Aurora) and connected to a simple client workstation and a video switch to show what was transpiring on both server and client. Vadim demonstrated how to configure a basic Warp 4 RIPL requester with Warp Server for e-business.
Vadim's presentation was followed up by Chris Stumpf of C.S.E. Computer Services, a Serenity Systems Channel Partner. WiseManager was developed by Serenity Systems and is a highly acclaimed graphical frontend/management tool for RIPL-booted clients. Chris demonstrated how WiseManager adds additional user advantages, including graphical presentations and automation, to the management of RIPL-booted client work stations.
For another interesting take on this subject, read Peter Coffee's column entitled "Thin-client economics revive 'dead' OS/2" at ZDNet.
The September presentation schedule called for continuation of member hints & tricks which were originally scheduled for August, but had to be postponed when time ran out in August.
David Moskowitz started off with demonstrations of a wide variety of WPS Tricks and Shortcuts, etc., which also elicited lots of discussion by the membership.
Larry Lavins presented a brief summary of his installation of Windows 98 (Second Edition) into his computer system, alongside the pre-existing OS/2. Details on Larry's procedure is available in the Hints & Tips section of this site.
At the August meeting, two of our members, Ben Bowers and Murray Weismer, gave us a couple of most interesting presentations.
Ben demonstrated SETI@home which is available for several operating system platforms, including OS/2. The SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) project is headquartered at the University of California at Berkeley and has been funded for a 2-year period starting in May of this year. SETI makes use of the computing power of many thousands of volunteer PC users to run the search program on their PC's for very small time slices of raw data derived from the Arecibo, PR, radio telescope. For more information about SETI and to download the SETI@home program, go to the SETI web site at http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu.
Murray followed Ben with a presentation of HOUSE/2, a home automation program for OS/2 using X-10 controller devices. HOUSE/2 is similar to X10's ActiveHome and IBM's HomeDirector program. With the CM11x/CM12x and X10 modules a user can inexpensively automate a home, from turning on lights and appliances automatically, to controlling drapes and thermostats, to monitoring events from motion sensors and input modules. Armin Schwartz, the author of HOUSE/2 for OS/2, is a prolific and well-known OS/2 author and fan. Armin has a great web site "The Warped Code Cellar" at http://home.att.net/~ASchw/ which has descriptions of all of Armin's OS/2 software creations. We're very grateful to Armin for donating registered copies of HOUSE/2 and also of his UPS Monitor software for OS/2, both of which were raffled off at the meeting.
The main feature at the July meeting was a visit from Computer Data Strategies, Inc., developers of BackAgain/2, the popular backup and disaster recovery software for OS/2. Brent Bowlby of CDS demonstrated BackAgain/2 and the latest tape drive technology on the market. Brad Benson, the BackAgain/2 main designer/developer, was also be present to help answer questions from the members.
CDS has been producing Back Again/2 since 1994. Since its introduction, BackAgain/2 has won numerous OS/2 industry awards and has grown to become the most widely used backup solution available for OS/2. CDS also offers BackAgain II for Windows 95/98 and NT as well as a complete line of tape drive/software bundles.
A copy of BackAgain/2 Pro was offered as a raffle prize, and a special user group discount was also available for meeting attendees.
The main feature for the June meeting was a presentation by SIG member Jim Nuytens of PM123, a native OS/2 multimedia program designed to play the increasingly popular MP3 audio files. PM123 won "Runner-up" in the 1998 OS/2 E-Zine! Reader's Choice awards for multimedia programs.
Jim demonstrated some of the features of PM123, including WinAmp "skins" support, the built-in graphic equalizer/pre-amp, and how to create play lists in PM123. He also showed some of the more than 60 WinAmp "skins" that he has converted using PM123's built-in skin converter. Information on PM123 is available online at http://www.teamos2.sci.fi/pm123/.
Carl Ford made the monthly "neat feature" presentation. Carl discussed his experience running a DOS accounting package called "NewViews" (http://www.qwpage.com/) under OS/2.
The principal feature at the May meeting was a presentation by SIG member Joe Penrose of Lotus Notes. Joe presented Notes from an end user's prespective, covering Release 4.6, most commonly in use today, and the new, well- publicized R5, which is not yet available for the OS/2 platform.
Joe covered some types of corporate databases which can be used with Notes, remote use with replication, Lotus's built-in e-mail and scheduling features, and browsing the Internet within Notes. The major differences between Release 4.6 and R5, including a new Welcome page, were also discussed.
For our brief member presentation, Larry Lavins demonstrated WarpNote, a small sticky yellow notes program. The most recent release is v.1.82. WarpNote includes a feature to keep track of birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
The April feature presentation was IBM's forthcoming OS/2 Warp Server for e-Business (aka Aurora) by member Alonza Baker.
Aurora includes the functionality of previous versions of LAN Server and Warp Server, plus other extras such as the Network File System for TCP/IP, the Journal File System, the Logical Volume Manager, and the OS/2 Warp 4 interface. Alonza's presentation concentrated on how to set up users and resources. Other components will be demonstrated at future meetings.
Jim Nuytens made a brief "Neat Feature" member presentation of OS/2 System Resource Monitor v.3.31. This program displays a number of items related to system resources, updating its display once per second. A very nice and useful utility. The archive MEMSZ331.ZIP may be downloaded from hobbes and many other OS/2 file repositories.
March's main feature was a Stardock Object Desktop v.2.0 presentation and demo by SIG members and OD aficionados Tom MacKnight and Ben Bowers. Tom and Ben shared some of the many features of OD including virtual desktops, changing desktop settings, and more.
And SIG member Murray Weismer spoke about DreckBak, his new and still developing utility for backing up hard drives without special hardware. DreckBak is ideally suited for removable media, large hard drives, or any device that can be written to by OS2 that has a drive letter. DreckBak has been uploaded to both Hobbes and Murray's site at http://weismer.virtualave.net/DreckBak.html.
An active Q&A session, software raffles, and refreshments rounded out the meeting.
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."
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 HPP.
SIG member Tom MacKnight gave a 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, making the windows look much more attractive.
The feature presentation at the January meeting was on small, simple networking. Our Two Davids took us through a description of network hardware configurations, OS/2 installation, and interchange of data between two OS/2 systems and OS/2 to Windows 95.
A new agenda item was initiated: Each month, some member will be given 5 to 10 minutes for a brief "how-to" or "neat feature" presentation to the group. In January, Murray Weismer demonstrated a web page prepared by Duane Chamblee of Indelible Blue entitled "WarpUP - OS/2 Warp4 Update Depot." Among other things, Duane's website provides listings and downloads for all current Warp 4 updates and fixes.
Our guest at the December meeting was Sean Reilly, the author of Moneydance, a personal finance manager written completely in Java. Sean presented and demonstrated his latest version.
Moneydance includes transaction auto-completion, graphical reporting, reconciliation tool, running of cleared vs uncleared balances, transaction sorting, double-entry, multiple currencies, support for multiple accounts, and much more. There is lots of speculation among OS/2 Java enthusiasts that Moneydance might ultimately become a viable platform-independent competitor to Intuit's Quicken.
PLUS, we continued a tradition started last year with a combined holiday and OS/2 birthday party with plenty of give-aways. The following companies very generously provided donations for raffle at the December 1998 OS/2 birthday party and other recent events of the Philadelphia OS/2 SIG:
Dr. John J. Urbaniak, President of Aviar Inc., demonstrated Aviar's new speech-aware computerized maintenance management software (CMMS) for OS/2 and WSOD.
Aviar pioneered speech-aware, natural language DB2 query technology with its "V Trex" product, demonstrated to us by Dr. Urbaniak at our August 1997 meeting. Aviar has now launched a new CMMS product, "Oz. of Prevention." According to Dr. Urbaniak, there are over 200 CMMS products on the market. Oz. of Prevention is the only 100% OS/2 entry and the only voice activated program in the market.
The September meeting was a preparation session for the Computer Build-A-Thon scheduled for October. The purpose of this group project was to have interested members build their own computers using suggested components for an optimal price and performance system ready to run OS/2. The specs and preparation plans were reviewed at the September meeting and posted on this site.
The entire October meeting was devoted to the building of the systems. Eight members started with new parts and built new or upgraded systems under the direction of the SIG's resident gurus.
Our August meeting featured demos of two recently released OS/2 applications. SIG Leader Larry Lavins presented on IBM's recent beta release of Netscape Communicator 4.04 for OS/2. He also showed highlights and principal features of the jPadHD Java personal database. In addition to the usual Q&A session, a discussion was held on the planned computer build-a-thon to be held this fall.
July continued our expanded charter to include Java technology and applications as they relate to and are intimately associated with OS/2. Member Murray Weismer demonstrated JavaFaces 2, and David Moskowitz showed the latest build of J Street Mailer. We were also pleased to have a surprise visit by Dan Porter, the president of InnoVal, publisher of J Street Mailer, among other excellent programs. See the special report on Dan's visit.
Our featured guest was be Dr. David Shields, a researcher at the IBM Watson Research center in Hawthorne, NY, and a co-author of the JIKES Java compiler. Dr. Shields spoke about the latest advances in Java compiler technology and about issues of language specification. He also demonstrated recent Java-related work from IBM research which is available at the Jikes section of IBM's Alpha Works.
Members had the chance to have all of their OS/2 questions answered as David Moskowitz conducted an extensive question and answer session covering a wide range of topics. David then gave a report on the IBM Technical Interchange. Following a break, Larry Lavins started up the new Lotus SmartSuite for OS/2 Warp, and Al Baker demonstrated the features of WordPro, the word processing module of the suite.
SIG member Bill Dyke demonstrated an OS/2 application for a weather satellite tracking station which Bill uses at the high school where he teaches.
The application has the ability to receive signals from GOES and NOAA weather satellites, download these signals to the computer, convert the analog information to digital, and display images on the computer monitor. The images can then be analyzed, combined with other images to show the motion of a weather system over a period of time, etc.
For more information on this program, see the Software We Use section of this site.
SIG member David Moskowitz worked with IBM at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. David was assigned to the Surf Shack in the Olympic Village where thirty PC's allowed the athletes to surf the web, respond to fan mail, and create their own home pages. David's primary function was to make sure the LAN stayed up and running and to provide help to anyone who needed it. David provided exclusive reports to our web site during his stay at Nagano, and he followed up at the March meeting with more details on life and technology at the Olympics.
PLUS: Ben Bowers, an active and enthusiastic user of a PalmPilot Pro, demonstrated the functions and uses of the PalmPilot and discussed future Java and OS/2 enhancements.
Our original schedule was pre-empted by the good fortune of having Jim Geueke of IBM pay us a return visit. Jim brought us up to date on IBM's plans for OS/2, Java, and network computing in general. Jim also handled a variety of questions from the members pertaining to OS/2 and general hardware and software problems. In addition, Jim provided a number of prizes for our monthly raffle, and with member Tom MacKnight bringing in a couple of lemon meringue pies, we were all set.
Dan Porter of InnoVal Systems Solutions made a return visit to Philadelphia to demo J Street Mailer, InnoVal's new Java version of Post Road Mailer. Dan's visit followed up on his successful presentation at our October meeting. J Street Mailer was just two days away from its beta release at the time of this meeting. Dan's excellent presentation showed that Java can be used for much more than just web site applets.
The December meeting covered a wide range of subjects. David Moskowitz reported on COMDEX and on his upcoming assignment at the Nagano Olympics. David will be working on the IBM Olympic web site--check out the Fan Mail section (not yet open). Tom MacKnight and David Gentzler gave a presentation on using the IBM Works suite of personal productivity applications that comes with OS/2. And we had the official OS/2 10th anniversary party complete with cake and ice cream and plenty of software to raffle off.
The special feature was a presentation on IBM's new network technology called WorkSpace On-Demand. Our guest speaker was Jim Geueke of IBM PSP. In addition, Larry Finkelstein presented a first-hand report of Warpstock '97 and his personal views on Warpstock's significance to the future of OS/2. And in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the OS/2 operating system, IBM treated our group to a special party.
Dan Porter, President of InnoVal Systems Solutions, Inc., presented and demonstrated several new OS/2 products, including preliminary operating GUI's from the forthcoming Java edition of Post Road Mailer; an updated version of InnoVal's Net Extra v.2.0, scheduled for release October 25; and Popover, a Java preprocessor for mailer programs.
Guest speaker Ed Hahn, Lead Architect for IBM's anti-virus product, discussed computer viruses and how they work. Ed recommended preventive measures which should be taken by users and defined current Internet trends, growth, usage, etc., including inter-networked viruses and how the Internet has changed the virus trends.
Dr. John J. Urbaniak, President and Founder ofAviar, Inc., presented and demonstrated V Trex, a new cutting-edge OS/2 application which allows users of IBM's DB2/2 Universal Database to access information with spoken natural language commands. V Trex was first announced at DB Expo 1997 earlier this year and immediately created high interest and excitement.
Guest speaker Evan Bergman, vice-president of DevTech, presented and demonstrated the newly released DeskMan/2 v.2.0, the widely-used, award-winning desktop management utilities, a powerful and comprehensive suite of OS/2 productivity enhancement tools. For more information, visit the DevTech web site and read a review of DeskMan/2 in OS/2 e-Zine!
Jim Geueke of IBM's PSP presented a most timely update on OS/2 in the net-centric world--the future direction of OS/2 in the next 18 months. Jim's presentation mirrored the very recent well-received presentation by Mike Lawrie, the VP/GM of PSP, to leaders of the European financial community
David Moskowitz repeated his April 26th SRO presentation at the Trenton Computer Festival on JAVA--its history and its myths and realities. David discussed what JAVA is, where it is, where it might go, and how we can take advantage of it. David also gave a first-hand report of the IBM Technical Interchange in St. Louis, MO, which he attended during the week of May 12-16.
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04-29-2007 2:43pm