Answers from e-Zine!

elcome back to "Answers from e-Zine!", your source for answers to all your OS/2 questions! In each issue we bring you tips, tricks, questions and answers from our readers and contributors. If you've got a question or tip you would like to share with us, send it in!

TIP -- In the last issue I found an error. You wrote regarding uninstallation of PCom/2: "Unfortunately, there is no uninstallation..."

The truth is that uninstallation is possible by running "INSTALL /D" from the \PCOMOS2 dir. I found the instructions for this in the Install help file. This requires a reboot, and you will have to manually delete the program and help file objects afterwards.

- Dan Letner

TIP -- Further to Alex Newman's .CMD file to start NcFTP, here is another suggestion.

If all you want is an icon on your Desktop to start NcFTP, simply create a program object with the properties shown below:

Path and file name	*
Parameters	/k mode co80,50 & ncftp.exe & exit
Working directory	The directory ncftp.exe is in. For example: E:\TCPIP\BIN

This method produces a window 80 characters wide and 50 lines high and will give you much more display room with NcFTP if you are using a resolution of 1280x1024 or greater. If you are running at 1024x787, try "/k mode co80,40 & ncftp.exe & exit".

This idea can be used to run other programs too, of course. Just substitute the program's .EXE name for 'ncftp.exe' and the directory the program is in for 'E:\TCPIP\BIN'.

- Morris Turpin

TIP -- In "The OS/2 Project" in the last issue, you explained how to create .CMD files to boot to other partitions with SETBOOT.EXE. Here is an easy way to create graphical dialogs to improve that idea.

First, download the freeware, PMPopup/2 (ZIP, 24k)

Next, following the PMPopup/2 instructions, create a simple script to call PMPopup/2 and perform the desired action. Save the script in the same directory as PMPOPUP2.EXE and run it whenever you want to shutdown. For example, this is a script I created to reboot to Win95:

   @echo off
   pmpopup2 "~Do you want to reboot to WINDOWS 95?" "System Reboot" /b1:"~YES" /b3:"~NO" /T:20 /bell /A:c

   if errorlevel 40 goto :40
   if errorlevel 30 goto :30
   if errorlevel 10 goto :10
   :40
    echo.
    echo TimeOut
    goto :END

   :30
    echo.
    echo 3. (NO) Right Button
    goto :END

   :10
    echo.
    echo 1. (YES) Left Button
    SETBOOT /IBA:"WIN_95"

   :END

This displays a pop-up window which asks if you want to reboot to Windows 95 and offers a "Yes" or "No" button. If the "Yes" button is pressed, it uses SETBOOT.EXE to reboot to the partition named "WIN_95". If "No" is pressed or if no button is pressed for 20 seconds, nothing happens.

Alternatively, if you want a more thorough system, try this script which displays three buttons, one for Win95, one for Warp 3 and one for Red Hat (Linux). Pressing any button causes a second PMPopup/2 window to be displayed asking for a confirmation of the reboot. Pressing "Reboot" on this dialog reboots to the desired OS; pressing "Cancel" cancels the operation.

- Jose Oswaldo Barros de Souza

That's it for this issue. If you have a tip or question that you don't see covered here, don't forget to send it in!

Copyright © 1998 - Falcon Networking

ISSN 1203-5696