First Looks and Nifty Gadgets

irst Looks and Nifty Gadgets brings you reviews of the new and novel. Each month we take a look at what's just hitting the streets and some tiny, but tried and true products that are still helping people be as productive as possible.

This month we look at: tSearch v1.00b | Bandit Tagger v1.20 | Background Magic v1.1 | PowerMOD v0.33 | ICQ Java v0.91

tSearch v1.00b

tSearch is a cute little program, not much thicker than the WarpCenter, that will accept search engine queries or URLs into its entry-field and send the results to your currently running copy of Netscape. The program is pre-configured to work with most popular search engines such as AltaVista, Excite, Yahoo and even the OS/2 archives at Hobbes, but you can also configure it to work with nearly any other search engine too.

Like a disembodied web browser's "Location" field, this program will easily squeeze into the blank space you have left in your WarpCenter and can be summoned to the top from wherever you are just by pressing Ctrl-Alt-L. With a right click you can change which search engine it uses for queries, or merely leave it to forward, directly to the browser, whatever URL you type. (Netscape itself will automatically complete the URL if you just type "os2ezine" for example.)

With this neat little gadget you can finally get rid of the 'Location' box in Netscape and devote a few more pixels to web browsing pleasure.

tSearch v1.00b

by yWare
download from the OS/2 Supersite (ZIP, 45k)
Registration: Freeware

Bandit Tagger v1.20/Bandit Adder v1.00

Have you always envied people who seem to have a different witty remark in every e-mail or Usenet message? Bandit Tagger is one utility that'll let you be the envied one. Once installed and configured, Bandit Tagger will append a line to every message you send out, drawing from a predefined file of quotes/jokes. You can elect to either select a random line from the file for each message, or use tags from the file sequentially, beginning to end. Either way, Bandit Tagger will pop up a message showing you which tag it selected. You can also have multiple tag files -- one for OS/2-related tags, one with general tags, etc.

Bandit Tagger will work with various programs on the market today, including PMMail and PMINews, Internet Adventurer, Post Road Mailer, and MR/2 ICE.

Unfortunately, there is no way to easily add a new tag to a desired file. For example, if you see a cool tag of someone else's that you want to... errr... "borrow", you have to manually load up the tag file and add the new tag to the end, then save it. This is where Bandit Adder comes in. the Adder is a little program that works with Bandit Tagger, and allows you to more easily add a tag to your favorite tag file. Simply copy the desired tag to the clipboard and run Bandit Adder. It'll pop up a dialog showing you all the possible tag files you can stick the new tag in -- just pick the right file, and the tag's automatically saved in it. Bandit Tagger and Bandit Adder make a great combination for those who want some variety in their signatures. (Editor's note: a new version of Bandit Tagger -- v1.26 -- has recently been released.)

Bandit Tagger v1.20/Bandit Adder 1.00

by FA Partners
download from FA Partners (ZIP, 487k)
Registration: CardWare

Background Magic v1.1

If you don't like looking at the same old Desktop background day in and day out, you might try using a little magic on it. Background Magic is a cool gizmo which makes it easy to randomly change your Desktop background after a certain interval. Set it to switch every 5 minutes or so and tell it the location of a few good BMP files, and your boredom is lessened. As well as switching after a set interval, the program also has the capability to change backgrounds on system startup, or whenever you press Background Magic's Change Now button in its configuration dialog (GIF, 35.8k).

Background Magic is also cool for anyone who doesn't use the Workplace Shell as their primary interface for OS/2. People who use a program like MDesk or FileBar can't use OS/2's normal method for displaying a background bitmap on the Desktop, since it's part of the WPS. Background Magic works around this problem, allowing these users to have backgrounds to their hearts' content -- just set Background Magic to run (minimized) on system startup, and you don't even have to know it's there. Even if you don't have an alternate shell, Background Magic's randomizing ability for backgrounds alone makes it worth taking a look at.

Background Magic v1.1

by Matt Schellhaas
download from BMT Micro (ZIP, 59k)
Registration: US$10.00

PowerMOD v0.33

PowerMOD is a new MOD file player (digital music) under development that, while only supporting one file format so far, has at least one set of features that no other native OS/2 MOD player has yet: Ultracool real-time graphical displays. PowerMOD sports both a rainbow colored, multichannel wave display and a Fourier "LED bar-graph" display, both updated in real time. These are both fascinating to watch and definitely loaded with "Way cool!" value to show off to your non-computer-using friends.

PowerMOD also has a set of special effects (GIF, 10.3k), like echo, quality and tempo, that can all be mixed in real time too. Adjust the slider bars as a file is playing and hear the music change instantly. (Unfortunately, at this time users can not save their own effects combinations.) And finally, PowerMOD also has a few preset effects combinations like "Cave", "Hall", "Stadium" and "Telephone".

PowerMOD v0.33

by Antony T. Curtis
download from the OS/2 Supersite (ZIP, 52k)
Registration: Freeware (or so it seems)

ICQ Java v0.91 Preview

If you're subscribed to WarpCast or if you read comp.os.os2.apps, you've probably seen mention of the Java version of ICQ. What is ICQ? Well, to answer that, you just have to realize what the name means: I seek you.

ICQ is a nifty program from Mirabilis that lets you track when your friends across the world are on the Internet (actually you track when they're running ICQ). What can you do with this information? You can send them messages, files, and URL's. You can also start chat sessions or Internet phone connections with them from ICQ.

The Java version of ICQ doesn't yet contain all of the features of its Windows cousin, but it's the first truly useful Java program I've run across. It lets you send messages and URL's, but it doesn't yet let you send files, chat, or start an Internet phone session. The web page says that these features will be added in future versions.

The first preview was v0.90 and worked with Java 1.02. It worked quite well, but it was more than a one meg download and it had some problems with OS/2's JIT compiler, so it ran as an interpreted program and was a little slow. Luckily, speed isn't something that's very important with ICQ, and I was able to use it for some time. The new v0.91 is written for Java 1.1.x and performs better. It is also less than 300k. The difference between these two versions released just weeks apart shows how much Java has grown between versions 1.0.x and 1.1.x.

You may not have a use for ICQ but I do since I have friends in different cities and we use it to communicate easily without charges from the phone company. Sure, there have been chat programs around for decades, but I've seen nothing quite this convenient for this specific purpose. ICQ Java really shows the future of the Internet.

ICQ Java is also a good reason to download Java 1.1.1 for OS/2 and the latest update (EXE, 5.2M). You might note that a new version of IBM's "Feature Install" program has been released (version 1.2), so you will want to download and install it before installing Java 1.1.1.

ICQ Java v0.91 Preview

by Mirabilis LTD.
download from Mirabilis LTD. (ZIP, 290k)
Registration: Free while in beta

That's it for this month. Tune in next time for more reviews of neat gadgets and first looks at new OS/2 tools.