OS/2 e-Zine! - DeskMan/2 v1.51

DeskMan/2 v1.51

- by Steven Atchue

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The Workplace shell is pretty clean; it is certainly a whole lot nicer than the OS/2 1.3 Presentation Manager. But still, it does have some major annoyances. Just try to remember how to copy or move files, is it CTRL-right mouse drag, no wait, SHIFT-right mouse drag. Try to make a shadow of an object. Better yet delete a few objects and figure out how to get them back. OS/2 lacks the ability to back up the workplace shell and restore itself with any dignity. Sure you can use the archive option and go through the whole painstaking process of restoring all the key files just to replace a couple icons, but lets face it, there must be an easier way.

One sure bet is Development Technology's DeskMan/2. Deskman/2's usefulness on the desktop is certainly nothing new; it has been around longer than most WPS utilities. And it is actually more than one program. It contains several components and each is independent of the other yet they all work gracefully together. First there is DeskMan/2 itself which is the anchor of the package. Then we have VueMan/2, PMImage, DM/2 Image, and The Workplace Shell Extensions. Together Deskman/2's components allow you to control the WPS and OS/2 very efficiently.

An Explanation of Features

With DeskMan/2 backup and restoration of the WPS is a breeze. DeskMan/2 allows you to save any or all of the objects on your desktop and restore them at will. This sounds easy but really it isn't. Every object has settings and once lost or deleted they are gone forever. But not with DeskMan/2--once you have done a backup you are golden. Restoring objects is a snap, a right mouse click in the DeskMan/2 main window (gif 8k) and you are off and running. You can restore individual objects or the whole WPS. Another handy feature is the ability to set additional object settings, for instance NODRAG and NODELETE. These settings do just what you would imagine. Personalized desktops are also a cinch and you can use DeskMan/2 to allow for desktop portability, or CID (configuration, installation, distribution) across standardized desktops.

DM/2 Image and PMImage

PMImage (gif 4k) is the graphical front end for DM/2 Image. DM/2 Image is kind of like Warp's archiving facility... kind of, but not really. Warp allows six saved configurations, DM/2 Image is unlimited. This utility saves it all, WPS, Win-OS/2 desktops, your .INI files, CONFIG.SYS AUTOEXEC.BAT and STARTUP.CMD. DM/2 Image can be used as traditional disaster recovery or it can be used in combination with some of the pre-canned REXX files to provide completely customized desktops and environments. The image facility is especially useful if you develop programs at home and other family members use the same machine. A different desktop will keep them out of your stuff and they won't even know what they are missing. The way the desktops are replaced actually is very complex in that not only does the desktop get replaced but also the configuration files. So the developer gets his environment (drivers, dll's, etc.) and the gamers get theirs. It takes a little fiddling with but it is well worth it.

Limiting Access and Configuration

Limiting users from accessing or configuring certain objects may keep them out of trouble, especially in a corporate environment. The Deskman/2 extensions provide this and more. The extensions allow you to remove items from menus. The settings for the DeskMan/2 extensions are located in the System Setup as additional tabs at the end of System Settings Notebook. Four pages of settings allow users to take away the ability to access objects' settings notebooks and arrange, sort and delete items from the popup menus. More seasoned users can also get some functionality enhancements from the Workplace Shell extensions. For example an extended drag and drop menu can be set to pop up during a drag operation. This pop-up asks you if you would like to copy, move, or shadow the object being dragged. Clicking away from this pop-up cancels the operation. Another handy addition to the desktop pop-up menu is "Restart WPS", if the WPS is hung or sluggish sometimes this feature does the trick. Other features of the WPS extensions allow you to include or exclude other pop-up menu items such as folder view handling, object creation and deletion, etc.

Also the DeskMan/2 extensions setup menu allows choices to include or exclude lockup, shutdown and access to the system settings in the desktop popup menu. The corporate edition adds the ability to password protect any object or folder. Objects and folders can be assigned individually unique passwords to restrict unauthorized users from accessing them. Other than passwords, the corporate and standard versions are indistinguishable.

VueMan/2

VueMan/2 is DeskMan/2's virtual desktop facility. Nestled in VueMan/2 is the ability to create and customize up to 81 virtual desktops. The WPS desktop can be the size of a single screen, and cloned onto each virtual desktop, or a single huge desktop up to nine screen high by nine screens wide. By dragging and dropping items from the WPS to the virtual desktops or even between them you can create huge arrays of different desktops that are easily accessed. Expanding the desktop to enormous proportions allows you to "push" some of those extra open windows out of the way and then retrieve them easily. For common things like the clock or the launchpad you can assign them to be "Sticky Windows" and they will follow you around to all of your virtual desktops.

Drawbacks

As an administrator's tool DeskMan/2 is almost a necessity. It simplifies your user support by limiting users to only the essential things on their desktops. As a desktop enhancement, however, it is starting to show its age. Some of the most useful features are not well documented or are even undocumented. This is especially true with most of the object settings, and also the DM/2 Image facility. Although DeskMan/2 has graphical interfaces for most functions, a lot of its power is at the command line level, and this may take away some of the appeal for casual users. Looking at some of the newer WPS enhancers also shows that DeskMan/2 lacks some of the niftier features like exit buttons. Having said that though, there certainly is enough functionality in DeskMan/2 to keep casual users busy. In addition, from what I have heard and seen of the beta, the next version (v2.0) will add a dramatic amount of new features and functionality.

Conclusions

DeskMan/2 is very powerful, so powerful in fact that many users should not consider running OS/2 without it. It is a little complex to use at first, but in no time DeskMan/2 proves its worth. So if this sounds like what you need, I suggest you get it--right now!! DevTech is currently running a limited time special. You get the DeskMan/2 Productivity Pack at a very reasonable price (US$99.95) which includes DeskMan/2 v1.51b, DCF/2 lite, The Graham Utilities, Relish v2.12 and CPU Monitor plus. The best part of buying the bundle is that as soon as Version 2 is released you get the upgrade free!

DeskMan/2 v1.51
Development Technologies
Phone: (803) 790-9230 (voice)
MSRP: US$99.95

Steven Atchue is Marketing Director for Worksaver Software , Worcester, MA Steve has been doing consulting since the birth of the AT. Currently, he is doing product reviews and freelance writing and for fun he is building his own house. Steve can also be reached on CompuServe.

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