| OS/2 Essentials v1.1 | - by Stacy King |
This month, I am reviewing OS/2 Essentials v1.1, by Stardock Systems.
It took me awhile to locate this product. I finally found it at CompUSA in Austin, purchased it for $24.99 (despite its higher MSRP), and took it home. It's finally getting fairly painless to purchase OS/2 applications in the retail channels. In fact, my understanding of the situation is that they (the retail channels) are having somewhat of a difficult time keeping some OS/2 software items in stock.
Opening the OS/2 Essentials box revealed only one 3.5 inch floppy, a registration card and a thin paper manual. So, with my one diskette and thin user's guide I went to work to test it in a demanding environment. The test bed is such: Dell Dimension p120c with 40MB RAM, two hard drives, IBM Token Ring card and IDE CD-ROM. I am quite impressed with the results.
Installation
Installation was a snap! Open the 'A:' drive icon and click on install. I didn't even have to look at the user's guide for instructions. No reboot was necessary either although I expected it. I put these products on my HPFS drive (I run a mixed environment for compatibility reasons) and found that a folder was created on the desktop, which contained the following items: File Graph/PM Pro, DirMaster Pro, Havoc, WPS Trashcan Install, Screen Saver Pro, S-Saver DOS Support Install, FileBar Pro, and an Icon folder.
FileBar Pro
This program has already replaced my launchpad on a permanent basis. Basically, it's a thin grey bar (gif 1k) that spans the width of your screen and has pop-up menus on it. I like the flexibility of it, and the ease of use as far as bringing up and checking on the status of various applications that I run. You can choose to put it on the bottom of your screen or top, and unless you're running a full-screen command session, it's always available. All the options to configure this tool are located one mouse click away. Adding items under the menus can be a little confusing, but it's fairly intuitive once the layout is realized. It even has options for what clicks of the mouse bring up the file menus from the desktop. Users of the shareware version of FileBar v2.05 beware though: this is a slightly older version and does not include some newer features such as submenus or the ability to move or copy items from one menu to another. Documentation of FileBar Pro is also scarce in the OS/2 Essentials package.
FileGraph/PM
This definitely fits under the "neat doohickeys" category. FileGraph/PM shows you a graphical representation of space (gif 6k) usage on your hard drive, but only of the directories, not the files. This is an interesting program, but for casual home users, it may have little practical application.
DirMaster Pro
This is a really powerful file manager (gif 11k). I could probably write a decent sized article on this alone and in fact, OS/2 e-Zine! featured one in its roundup of file managers in issue #4. It can show you everything on your hard disk, including logical drives, and ea files as well as desc files. Help is pretty extensive. I like the fact that the buttons that have right mouse button actions look different then the standard ones. Swapfile size and space available for potential growth of the swapper.dat are displayed at the bottom of the window. I use this utility pretty regularly now, instead of the OS/2 drives icon or command line, although there are still some things done better through a command line.
ScreenSaver
I have to admit that I'm not big on screen savers. Still, if you are so inclined, this one will probably suit your needs. It is highly configurable (gif 11k), allowing you to select activation corners, delay time until activation, any number of modules (there are over 50 included most of which can be configured and many new ones are available via the Internet) to select from randomly, passwords and even "Green" monitor support. You can also alert ScreenSaver to monitor DOS and full screen OS/2 sessions.
Havoc
Now this one can get me into trouble. I loved the game Asteroids when I was younger, and this is really similar. The user's guide calls it 'Roids', but the icon is for Havoc (gif 4k). The reason for this is that it is Roids, but when Stardock licensed it from Leonard Guy, they thought a name change made it more suitable for the masses. For a complete review of Roids, see OS/2 e-Zine! issue #3. No matter what you call it though, it's fun! It's pretty snappy in speed, and my system normally has a 25 MB swapfile to begin with. Except for the name change, the program code is essentially untouched from the shareware version except of course, you legitimately own it when you buy OS/2 Essentials.
WPS TrashCan
Cool! The shredder is pretty neat, but I like this trashcan better. WPS Trashcan requires a separate installation after you have installed the rest of OS/2 Essentials, but it is a simple double click procedure. Once installed, you will find an object nearly identical to the Macintosh trash can on your desktop. It also works like the Mac trash can--objects dragged to it disappear from their original location (on the desktop, in folders, etc.). Double clicking on Trashcan opens an enhanced type of folder displaying all the objects dropped into it and some detail information about the number of objects contained and their size. Emptying the trash via a pop-up menu deletes the objects from your system. Various settings include the ability to have Trashcan emptied automatically on boot, setting a maximum amount of data that can be dropped into it, or changing the default icons displayed for an empty, partially full or completely full Trashcan. I have heard of "dumpster diving" before, but I never thought I would be doing it (grin).
Icon library
Stardock thoughtfully included a folder full of some of the best and most colorful icons for many OS/2 objects and applications. Definitely another "neat doohickey" item. I don't have any normal folders on my desktop anymore!
Summary
I found a few problems, mainly with FileBar functions, which I will duly report to Stardock Systems over the weekend. Overall, however, I really like this product, and I know of two people who have seen me test it that are going to buy it (in fact, one already has). I find that the claim that, "OS/2 Essentials fills that void [for useful utilities]" (user's guide, pg3) is very true. It's easy enough for OS/2 novices to use, and has enough strength to make even the power user happy. Low system overhead, low price, useful, fun... I can't ask for more!
OS/2 Essentials v1.1
Stardock Systems, Inc.
MSRP: US$39.95
Stacy King is a Level 2 analyst for CTG at IBM. She is married to wonderful husband, Larry, has a 3 year old son, Brandon (future computer geek), is a member of the Central Texas PC User's Group, the OS/2 Co-SIG Leader for CTPCUG and a member of Team OS/2.
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