Also, I must put in a plug for the freeware program "changi" that lets you use any nntp client as an offline usenet reader.
While your solution to the problem was quite impressive, it took you four programs to get the job done, wheras one single DOS program could provide you with the same functionality. The name of the program is "Crosspoint", one of my all time favorites. It does schedules dialups, automated news downloads and automated reply uploads. It's a DOS prog without a great GUI (according to the author it will never be rewritten to provide a GUI), but it does it's job perfectly well. Probably one its most outstanding featured it that it can be used as an offline reader for usenet, bbs and fido all at the same time.
Will it get better? Yes... Does it presently have problems? Yes... It should, it is a beta.
I have a deep fear that if I don't upgrade to MERLIN I will be left out in the cold with WARP. I really don't want to lay out $2k for hardware every time an OS is upgraded to the next version. Microsoft did the same to the Windows 3.X users with Win95. IBM did it to OS/2 ver 2.X users when it came out with WARP.
I am still struggling to get WARP to do the things IBM promised me it would do. I am writing to you in a Windows program because I couldn't get the IAK to work with NETCOM. Now I admit I am not a sophisticated user and that the help is out there from user groups, etc. My point is that the computer is a tool to accomplish a task. The OS be it DOS, UNIX, OS/2, etc. should not get in the way of accomplishing that task.
I drive a car without knowing how its internal combustion engine works. Why should I? The same goes for a computer. I admit that my curiousity makes me get more involved. But the computer is not an end in itself.
So it looks like we are at the mercy of the software developers. It will be fun to watch the hype surrounding MERLIN as it gets clsoer to full release. Look what happened to Microsoft with Win95.
It would have been better if you would have pointed to one of the CTAN sites which carry up-to date information at the following URL:
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/.23/tex/ctan
The OS/2 specific version emTeX is at:
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/.23/tex/ctan/systems/os2
Two comments: First, isn't writing a review of TeX without mentioning Don Knuth about the same as writing a review of Genesis without mentioning God? (Since He (Knuth, not God) was a classmate of mine at Case Inst. of Technology, I tend to notice these kinds of things. I also, 40 years on, still remember that damn 650.)
Second, I tried to print your MORPH4.PS file and found I had to rem out the setpagedevice stuff to get it to print on my Optra R. YMMV, but this might be a problem with other PS printers.
Thanks for a nice article.
It has been difficult writing about any GNU software without neglecting the background of these applications. Many of these "OS/2 goodies" have been important standards in the computer world for years. To Donald Knuth and hundreds of others I owe a debt of gratitude.
Speaking for myself, it was all I could afford to just buy my ThinkPad (and what a fine machine it is!). However, the cost of upgrading the hard drive and the relatively-expensive SO-DIMM's make upgrade out of the question at this time.
Let me go on record as saying that in all of those years I never met anyone who was as hopeful for, devoted to and as supportive of OS/2 as Jason Perlow. At the same time (and people with selective memories forget this), Jay never for a moment forgot that an Operating System is just a tool and not a religion. He could (and did) occasionally lose his temper and say things he later regretted -- but he never in my memory confused the tools he used with things of real importance.
Jay was shabily treated by Team-OS/2 (and to a lesser degree, I was myself--after 4 years of volunteering my services for software store demos, appearing in IBM promotional video tapes, being the Editor-in-Chief of OS2Web, and co-running a huge OS/2 User group, I still never made their official teamer "membership list" despite submitting my name at every possibile opportunity).
People will say that I have mny own axe to grind, but I'll echo Jason's own statements and bear witness to the fact that things just "ain't right" in a community of users where blame matters more than logic and professionalism less than getting the last word.
All I can say to those who STILL insist on flaming is "grow up." I've always avoided on-line discussion because of these people, but enough is enough. Think of this as a Darwinian test--adapt or die.
Jonathan Lurie Your interview with a total egocentric like Jason Perlow was just that.
I always keep two partitions with OS/2 installed on them. One of them is my "main" install and is the one I normally boot from. The other is a maintenance partition (I got this habit from my days with OS/2 2.0). This second partition is very minimal and I can easily modify all other HPFS partitions after booting from it (you have to set up PM to work
from there, however). Once you've got that setup, life is *sweet*.
former Editor-in-Chief of OS2Web
What a waste of bandwidth.
PartitionMagic Review
I was reading your review of PM and noted your gripe about the "partitions in use" issue. Well, I ran into this over a year ago when I first got PM. The solution was simple.
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