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Feedback from October 31

MGI PhotoSuite and Warp 4

OS/2 Warp Version 4 includes several trial applications. One such application is MGI Software's PhotoSuite (TM) Version 7.0 for OS/2 Warp Version 4. From the flier that came in the Warp box, MGI appears to be quite serious about supporting OS/2 with a good imaging product. Although there are several image editing packages available for OS/2, none that I have looked at encompass the range of features which MGI Software advertises.

The feature that really caught my eye was "Easy input from scanners and digital cameras." WOW! Not too many products support scanners under OS/2. Those that do tend to support a very limited group of scanners. I was definately intrigued.

I hopped onto the net to check out their web site. The site appears to be an infant. There are a lot of links that lead to a page telling how this information will be added soon. There is some information about PhotoSuite Version 8.0 for Windows. However, I was unable to find a reference to OS/2 anywhere on their web site. But again, this site appears to be early in its life.

The next day I called MGI Software to find out what scanners were supported as well as if and when a Version 8 for OS/2 was going to be released. I was more than a little dissapointed to hear that no scanners were supported and there were not any current plans on adding scanner support to the OS/2 version of the software. This wouldn't have bothered me except the advertisement clearly states that scanners are supported.

I didn't bother to ask about Version 8...

John Corrigan


Nethead's Nook

I loved your "leaked ad" for OS/2 Warp in the Nethead column. It made me laugh out loud! Great stuff.

I like to enjoy your magazine at lunchtime, with the e-zine on my screen and a sandwich on my desktop.

David Alfano


Enterprise 3001

It was very refreshing to see an analysis of the current OS/2 situation vis a vis IBM and the world as discussed by Dan Porter.

I, too, have decided to stake my company's future on Warp and Warp Server. I have been an OS/2 user since OS/2 2.11 for Windows. At that time I acquired programs that would only run under Windows 3.1 and I would NOT have 3.1 on any computer in my house or office. I was greatly impressed with OS/2 and have continued to use and support it.

I've been as concerned as all other OS/2 users as to the ultimate fate of OS/2. I have great difficulty talking other associates into using OS/2 because they feel, "The market is moving to Win95 and Windows NT."

Thankfully, after Dan's marvelous piece, I don't care what the "blind" do. Paraphrasing a bit, "Let the blind follow their blind leader (Gates) and they can all end up in the ditch."

Marty T. Parrish


I bought my first computer less than three years ago, promptly installed OS2 and have never run anything else. We formed our local OS2 user group and our members, present writer excepted, are sophiscated users. Yet I know of no store in our locale where I could buy a box with Warp pre-loaded. The local authorized IBM dealers will not touch OS2.

If there was ever a product that survived on its merits and not on persiflage and hype, it is OS2. Perhaps as Michael Milken was the symbol of the 1980's, the personification of amoral greed, perhaps Microsoft will be the personification of the 1990's, hyped mediocrity. If IBM with all of its wealth is unwilling to promote Warp aggressively, individual users can do little to add or subtract from Lou Gerstner's stupidity. Now I have Merlin and love it and will continue to use it. Yet when IBM at trade shows pushes its hardware with NT, then something is truly rotten in the state of Denmark. Still I toast we few, we happy few, we band of brothers.

James Sturdevant


Zip Drive Review

I injoyed the review of the ZIP drive, and while it is a pain to get the drivers for it by paying $9.95 or DLing them from hobbes (after all if you're reading this you have 'net access, no?), I must point out to various readers something about the ZIP v. EZ-135. Syquest has STOPPED production of the 135 and as moved to a larger size, 230 I believe. While you will still be able to get disks, as soon as there all sold, you will no longer be able to buy the 135.

Another point of interest that was overlooked by the reviewer, and is going unnoticed by several people, is that IOMEGA is releasing the technology behind the zip drive to anyone who wants it, this is not the case for the EZ-Drive. Aside from Iomega, Epson, IBM, and a few other hardware manufacturers are all making, or will be making, their own ZIP compatible drive. The positioning for the ZIP is clear, to be the replacement for the floppy drive that should have been ditched with the SX chips...

Paul Monaghan


Whack-a-Mole Rave

Oh come on.

This game is a very poor example of what can be done with OS/2.

I was very unimpressed. So much so that I'm taking up my time writing you that your rave for this poorly-made game is misplaced.

Paul Munn


- Hey, we thought it was amusing, fun and a great way to blow off some steam.

Whack-A-Mole is a small and cute game. But you can't play it for very long unless you "spruce" it up. I found a wonderful way to do this, since the picture of the mole is a BMP file and you can use your own BMP file. I went to our good old friends at Microsoft and read about their executive. I found a nice picture of Bill Gates, and made his face into a BMP file:-) I presume no more has to be said!!!

Noah Sumner


Warp 4

You know, I was embarassed by all the hype about Warp 4, and the fact that, being a Team OS/2 member, I didn't have it installed, or even have a cd-rom drive with which to install it. The funniest thing is, this has to be the first time since I've started using a computer that the hype about a release hasn't really thrilled me. Could it be that OS/2 warp has actually satisfied most of its customers?

Curtis D. Levin


I am currently a very happy Warp 3 user and was curious about the exact sort of hardware that you tested on. I am interested in upgrading but the hardware requirements are making me a little wary. I did have an opportunity to get a fairly in depth look at Merlin about a month ago and It looks great.

Dave Michael


- We tested Warp 4 on a 486 DX2 66 with 32 meg of RAM that we had been running Warp 3 on. If you are not going to run VoiceType or use Java or OpenDoc this setup seems completely adequate. We recommend Warp 4.

I think that Warp 4 is quite immature. The documentation is out of date almost always. There is also no information about the WarpCenter's required files. Furthermore, Warp 4 is slower than Warp 3, even after I streamlined it as much as possible. It has the advantages of a 1.0 release despite everything. I'm glad I installed it on a separate partition, taking the best from it (Warp Sans, the new cache threads) and putting that into Warp 3. Warp 3 with fixpack 24 is tops. I'll wait until 4.1 or a fixpack appears before I try to get work done with 4.0. Sorry to disagree, but that's how it looks from here.

Matthew Shapiro


WarpCenter Undocumented Feature

There is a feature of the new WarpCenter that I have not seen mentioned anywhere. I have cc:Mail for OS/2 on my PC. To the left of the 'Assistance Center' button on the WarpCenter is another box to show if there is new mail in my cc:Mail inbox. The button on the WarpCenter is normaly grayed out. When there is new mail it changes to what looks like an envelope. Clicking on the 'New mail indicator' will open the cc:mail inbox.

Wayne


Trevor's Rant

(Regarding OS/2 e-Zine! not being included in IBM's list of WWW URLs:)

We, the Warp home users, know you're there. I also often wonder if IBM knows about us in the consumer market.

Sam Lewis


As a editor of OS/2 e-Zine! you were angry at IBM because they seem to have forgotten to you to the Web-sites folder. This seems odd. However, I think IBM has chosen some sites at random and picked one for each topic of interest. In the News and Sports folder for example they have picked the popular 'De Telegraaf' as a newspaper of interest. It is well known in the Netherlands because of its full-color photos and sensationalism but not because of its criticism or profound articles (and that is an understatement). If you look at Object Desktop's Internet shell you will see almost (if not) all OS/2 related magazines.

renema@ibm.net


How Do I?

I'm an OS/2 e-Zine! reader, and I want to make PM programs using Turbo Pascal (I don't know C). I have tried using Virtual Pascal but in the not-registered version there is no manual. Can You tell me where can I find a tutorial, some examples or something else to learn about this subject?


- Well, lets see... First, you need a compiler capable of creating OS/2 executables. Besides that it must be able to use the entrypoints in the OS2 system DLL's. As far as I know, Turbo-pascal can't do that.

As far as Virtual Pascal is concerned, I don't know what the price of this package is, but it might be worth checking out a package called Speed-pascal. Speed-pascal sells at the moment for $129. It has a full PM interface and comes with all the tools you need to build an OS/2 application (resource editor, etc.). Besides that, it supports an OWL like environment. This means if you're familiar with OWL you should be up and running in no time. More info on Speed-pascal can be asked for at:

speedsoft@special.infox.com

On the other hand Virtual Pascal seems to claim full compatebility with Turbo Pascal. It even features the Delphi extensions. You should be able to find more info about Virtual Pascal at:

http://www.ibmpcug.co.uk/~fprint/vpascal.html

I'm afraid I don't have a pointer for a free pascal development environment for OS/2. There exists one for C++ however.

If you're reluctant to buy one of the above packages, maybe it's worth getting into C.

I hope this is some help. I'm afraid no 'loose" info about OS/2 and Pascal exists, although I could be wrong. You could also post a message in the comp.os.os2..... newsgroups.

Eric Slaats

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