[Please note: this is a text only version of the on-line magazine, OS/2 e-Zine!.  OS/2 e-Zine! is a graphical, WWW OS/2 publication and, if possible, should be viewed in its HTML format available on-line at http://www.os2ezine.com/ or zipped for off-line reading.  Some graphically oriented articles have been removed from this document.

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OS/2 e-Zine!		May 16, 1997			volume 2, number 5
----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1997		Falcon Networking  		ISSN 1203-5696

                  "Half a million readers and growing!"


OPINIONS:

  From the Editor
  Chris' Rant
  Our Man Mike

 
DEPARTMENTS:

  the Beta File
  Answers from e-Zine!
  Chris' ColorWorks Powertips
  Object Desktop Tips
  The Need for Speed
  Web Site Design with OS/2
  the REXX Files


REVIEWS:

-Hardware-
Galileo 6x86-P166+ Mid-Tower - Francis Reddy

-Software-
NetChat v1.00 - Ryan Dill
MSE - Ryan Dill
Xact v5.0 - Martin R. Hadam

-Games-
Links for OS/2 - Colin Hildinger
Stella for OS/2 - Colin Hildinger
WarpTris v1.01 - Jorge Martins


READER SURVEY

Results from our April Survey
Find out what your fellow readers told us last month!

Do you promote OS/2?
Answer these 4 simple questions and find out how you compare to other OS/2 users.  Results will be printed next month!


ARTICLES

A Clear Look at Sundial Systems - Christopher Wright
Chris has a look at some upcoming plans from one of OS/2 oldest ISVs.


CELEBRITY CORNER

Why We Don't Do Windows - Robert Mauro
OS/2 e-Zine! is proud to bring you this new feature where each month IBMers, ISVs, OS/2 industry personalities, and celebrities will be interviewed, share their opinions and more!


END NOTES:

  The Chronicles of John Ominor
  Hot Sellers - the top 15 selling OS/2 apps from Indelible Blue.
  Hot Sellers - the top 10 selling OS/2 apps from J3 Computer Technologies.
  Hot Sellers - the top 10 selling OS/2 apps from BMT Micro.


ODDS & ENDS:

* How to Subscribe to OS/2 e-Zine! for FREE.
* How YOU can Sponsor OS/2 e-Zine!
* The Sponsors that Make this Issue Possible


Copyright 1997   -   Falcon Networking
ISSN 1203-5696

***********************************

OS/2 Seer -- Who, Me?

-----

I end up speaking with a lot of OS/2 Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) every month, both on the telephone and electronically and one question they keep asking me is: "what do you think of future of the OS/2 market?"

It's not just ISVs that ask either; I've had readers, members of the press and others broach the same topic on many occasions.  I guess a lot of people have great interest in the answer to the question.

I'm not a fortune teller (and I try not to give anyone the impression that I am) but I do have an answer.  My opinion isn't based on exhaustive market research and, more importantly, is really only relevant to the end-user market (as opposed to the business market).  But I didn't just make it up either.  My answer to the question is the sum of two years of rather close examination the OS/2 market and constant feedback from ISVs and customers alike (after all, I have a rather serious interest in OS/2's future too!).

This is what I tell ISVs and readers when they ask me what I think of the future of the OS/2 market:

I think that some ISVs have doubts about OS/2's future and are hedging their bets by "going cross-platform".  End-users, on the other hand, are overwhelmingly and firmly committed to OS/2.

Whenever I get into conversations on the topic, I can't help thinking of the old joke about the chicken and the pig and the difference between being "involved" and being "committed".  I'm sure most of you have heard the joke but for those who haven't, it goes like this:

To make a bacon and egg breakfast, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed.

OK, maybe it's not the most relevant analogy but it still makes me laugh.  In the same way, ISVs seem to be involved with OS/2 while end-users remain committed.  Maybe for the same reasons -- ISVs have invested a part of their time but could choose to go elsewhere; end-users have chosen to jump in "whole hog" (sorry for the pun) and make OS/2 their lives.

"But wait," you say, "what's this about ISVs having doubts about OS/2's future?!"  Don't worry, I'm not predicting doom.  ISVs are like any business and they must constantly make decisions on how to allocate their development energies.  Also, many corporations follow a model where they feel they must continue to grow every year or else they have failed.  Some of these companies, if they don't succeed especially well in the OS/2 market, sometimes choose to investigate other "larger" markets.

This is the normal course of events in any industry, and just like in other industries, as some companies fail or choose to leave the OS/2 market, others with newer and more aggressive ideas are moving in to take their spots.  Overall, I'm not worried about this cycle.

And as far as our readers go, OS/2 end-users do seem to be very committed to OS/2.  In fact, our Reader Survey last month reveals just how committed they are: only 4.4% told us that they would cease using OS/2 some time in the coming 24 months.  That's pretty serious consumer loyalty!

Speaking of which, our monthly Reader Surveys are big hit; since we implemented them two months ago, response has been very favourable and great suggestions for new surveys have been pouring in.  Unfortunately, since we want to keep each month's survey short enough that it is convenient for readers to fill out, we can't include everyone's suggestions -- but we do appreciate them.  Please keep them coming!

-----

In other news...  You may have noticed a small change on our Front Page and Table of Contents this month.  There is a small logo with a link to (http://www.edm2.com/) EDM/2 on our Front Page and a link in our T.O.C. to take readers to that same site for extensive OS/2 programming articles.

Carsten Whimster, editor of EDM/2, and I have had a professional relationship for some time and we have great respect for the coverage and quality of each others' magazines.  EDM/2 is the authoritative source for OS/2 development info.  The editorial content is great, and the quality of the magazine is very high.  I hope that if you are interested in OS/2 development and have not given it a look before, you will now.

Also, some big news is rumbling on the horizon this month.  OS/2 end-users have long complained that IBM doesn't support them well enough or promote OS/2 the way it should.  Now, a dedicated group of OS/2 supporters has taken that task on themselves and is currently organizing a grass-roots event for OS/2 SOHO and end-users: Warpstock.

One of the organizers, Esther Schindler, summed up the purpose of the event: "IBM has plenty of communication mediums with messages geared toward the corporate user.  This event is for the rest of us -- the person using OS/2 to enhance the quality of life, no matter what the context."

Warpstock is tentatively planned to be held late this year (probably in October) in southern California.  Currently, the event is in the organizational stages and a small "steering committee" has been formed to work out the logistics.  Planned and/or possible events will include OS/2 software vendors showing their wares, demos, technical presentations and more!

Likening the event to another successful conference created and run by end-users, Felix Cruz of SofTouch Systems said, "You're seeing the birth of a new organization in front of your eyes.  With good luck and good management, Warpstock could be as successful as MacWorld."

Hopefully every OS/2 user with travel ability will make the trek for this one-of-a-kind event.  Schindler commented, "This is the sort of event that gets people to climb into a VW Van and drive cross country, with a bunch of like-minded souls.  The journey becomes as much part of the fun as is the Warpstock itself."  I'm game.  Anyone going toward California?

Interested parties can find more info at the (http://www.warpstock.org/) Warpstock home page or by subscribing to the Warpstock discussion list:

Send an e-mail to (majordomo@sj.znet.com) majordomo@sj.znet.com with nothing in the subject line and the words

subscribe warpstock [your e-mail address]

substituting your own e-mail address where it says '[your e-mail address]' above.

Stay tuned to OS/2 e-Zine! in the coming months for all the scoop on Warpstock!

***********************************

Our Corporate Sponsors

(http://www.bmtmicro.com/) BMT Micro
Your complete source for over 175 of the best OS/2 shareware applications available.  Drop by today and check out our WWW catalog or download the .INF version.

(http://www.ChipChat.com/os2ezine) ChipChat Technology Group
ChipChat produces excellent 32-bit OS/2 software for wireless text paging and state-of-the-art multimedia Sound Cards for Micro Channel PS/2 computers.

(http://www.fx.dk/) F/X Communications
Home of the top selling (http://www.fx.dk/injoy/) InJoy dialer, ranked #1 in worldwide OS/2 shareware sales (Jan-97).

(http://www.hotinc.com/) House of Technology, Inc.
Your Canadian Source For OS/2 Applications.

(http://www.indelible-blue.com/ib/) Indelible Blue
Indelible Blue, a mail order company, provides OS/2 software and hardware solutions to customers worldwide.

(http://www.os2store.com/) J3 Computer Technologies
Serving the Global OS/2 Community, large and small!

(http://www.kellergroup.com/) Keller Group Inc.
Developers of FaxWorks for OS/2 and PMfax, the fax and voice solution for OS/2, with versions for stand-alone, LAN and Internet Faxing.

(http://nick.secant.com/mr2ice.htm) MR/2 ICE Internet Email Client
Delivering the electronic mail features of the future, today.  A product of Knightware Software Company.

(http://www.mensys.nl/indexuk.html) Mensys
The one place to go in Europe for all OS/2 Warp software.

(http://www.OberonSoftware.com/) Oberon Software, Inc.
Home of TE/2, TE/2 Pro and other fine OS/2 programs.  Specializing in telecommunications and the Internet.

(http://www.pcs-soft.com/) Perez Computing Services
Defend against desktop freezes with Ctrl-Alt-Del Commander and create online documents/help with the IPF Editor.

(http://www.prioritymaster.com/) ScheduPerformance, Inc.
Dramatically improve performance on your OS/2 system now with the patented priority scanning logic and visual priority identification of Priority Master II.

(http://www.softouch.com) SofTouch Systems, Inc.
Home of the bestselling set of disk and desktop maintenance products for 
OS/2: GammaTech Utilities, UniMaint, and FileStar/2!  ---- Your System's Safe and Sound with SofTouch Around

(http://www.stardock.com/) Stardock Systems
Providing quality software for the home and office.

***********************************

Chris' Rant	- by Chris Wenham

-----

OS/2001

Approaching the crest of the hill I could see the plume of dark smoke reaching up to the sky, looking like the scraggy black hairy arm from some kind of primate.  I had to stop my car before seeing the accident as the police had curtained off the area.  I stepped out of my red sedan and showed my press card to the officer on duty.  He tipped his hat with a polite nod and let me go through.

Ambulances were on the scene already, as were the television crews.  Through the gaggle of cameramen and journalists I could see what looked to be the black pinstripe suit characteristic of The Company's PR men standing some yards away from where tangled metal, glass and rubber lay smoking on the road.

One journalist brandished his microphone in the PR guy's face.  "Mr. Fielding, since your company purchased CarNav Inc. we've seen an alarming increase in the number of accidents like these.  Is this the fault of replacing CarNav's own Dash-top software with your Win9000 operating system?"

The PR guy shook his head emphatically.  "Absolutely not, Mr. Amer," he answered in calm monotone.  "The Win9000 series is the most reliable operating system ever made.  No Win9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information.  They are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error."

The brash reporter butted in again, "so how do you explain the May '99 incident when millions of Win9000 operated televisions across the country simultaneously tuned to the Penthouse channel during children's hour?"

Not a feather could be ruffled on this guy, "that was a glitch in the broadcast system, not Windows 9000."

"But the broadcast stations are all running NT, sir..."

I'd had enough.  A detour had been set up by the police and I figured it was about time I used it.  I climbed back into my pre-'99 Pontiac and drove away, thanking the Lord it was me steering the thing and not some computer.

I got home at last and let myself in after searching through my pockets for the right key.  It was a labor my neighbors never had to bother with as they'd all started using the new Personal Automation Liaison software from The Company.  Its purpose was to act as your 'intelligent agent' and operate all the new automated machinery, locks and doors in your home as per your voice instructions.  It was a weak imitation of the voice operation features I'd seen debut in another operating system back in '96.  I wondered if my neighbor, Mr. Bowman, knew the code for PAL was salvaged from The Company's old BOB project.  You know, the one with the schizophrenic personality? "Pal...  Pal...  Open the bathroom doors please, Pal...  PAL...  PAAAAAAALLLL!!!!!"

The moment I stepped through the door the phone was ringing.  I answered it immediately, "hello?"

"Hi!  How are you today?  Boy have I got a deal for you!  Right now at Ricks World Of Software we've got an amazing scoop on a brand new shipment of Micr.." [click!]

"Brrrrrrringg!!!!"

"Hello?"

"..oft Medicine!  Now able to fill out prescriptions for acne, diabetes, black lung disease, impure thoughts, OS/..."

I threw the handset down on the cradle, picked up the phone and yanked the cord out of the wall socket hard.  By now I'd broken into a flush of anger, how the heck did they know when I'd get home anyway?  I had to take a 15 minute detour for Pete's sake!

But I was gritting my teeth and letting the frustration ebb away, now was not the time to get worked up into a frenzy.  With a sigh I flopped into my chair and booted up the only true source of stability and consistency in my over monopolized world.  "Dial into the 'net for me please," I mumbled wearily into the microphone, "then gemme my mail."  It usually took 20 minutes to download e-mail, partly because Time-Micro-Warner's cable modem service didn't support anything except Windows 9000 -- forcing me to rely on a small-time ISP on the edge of town that still had a few ISDN lines open.

I sat back down a while later with a coffee and toasted bagel and watched the mail counter rack 'em up; 187 out of 203 messages downloaded so far.  About 4 of those were in my Inbox, the rest slowly got shuffled to the Spam folder by the filters.

"Open that one from the IRS and read it to me, will you?"

"Yes, sir" the computer replied in a liquid feminine voice.  "Subject: New form filing requirements for 2002.  Body: Effective April 15th, 2002 all tax returns must be filed electronically through the MS SimpleTax service.  In our efforts to reduce paperwork and help save our environment the IRS shall no longer be accepting tax returns filed using the old and outdated paper forms.  For questions and inquiries we are available for voice consultations on MSN (Keyword 'Taxes').  Failure to comply with the new changes is punishable by up to five years in prison and/or $15,000 in fines.  We hope that this will not present any undue inconve..."

I ceased the computer's reading with my hand held up in the universal 'stop' gesture, captured by a small camera mounted on top of the monitor next to the microphone and olfactory sensor.  The Company was still years behind technology of this sort, even after swallowing 10 smaller start-ups that had been working on similar lines.

The intelligence programmed into my computer, while just short of being able to fathom the meaning of that last e-mail message, could still pick up the worry in my slumped posture and the infinitesimally small chemical changes in my sweat.

"Is there a problem I can help you with?" it asked, putting a tone of hope into the digitized voice.

It shouldn't have broken my heart to say it, heck it's just a computer, but they've evolved to be so much like humans in so many ways now.  "How do you feel about dual-booting?" I asked with a lump in my throat.

The question made my computer pause and the moment the words finished rolling off my lips I realized what a fantastic question it really was.  Nobody had ever asked a computer, "how do you feel" before.  Somewhere in there I'd inadvertently triggered a mass of calculations and threaded routines, the results of which could be as unpredictable and incredible as the time Data told the holodeck computer to, "Create an opponent smart enough to outwit me."  I mean, would it be possible to create consciousness inside a computer just by asking the right question?

The monitor went blank.  What followed, seconds later, must have been the most incredible screensaver I'd ever seen in my whole life.

Wild and brightly lit patterns streamed towards me, breaking up and disappearing beyond my peripheral vision.  Nighttime city-scapes, neon-lit circuit diagrams, mathematical graphs drawn with luminescent ink, miles and miles of glowing source code, a mess of psychedelia.  I saw the Big Bang unfold before me, the birthplace of galaxies, nebulae, bright orbiting satellites above an alien landscape, surfaces of strange planets, a whole other universe!

It must have knocked me out, for I don't remember anything more until waking up.  The strange thing was that I had somehow managed to undress myself and crawl into bed.  But there, at the foot of the bed, was a mysterious black slab that towered high enough to reach the ceiling.  At least it appeared black at first; as one of my bedside lamps came on I could see that it was actually blue, (http://www.chess.ibm.com/) Deep Blue.

Realization dawned on me; for years my computer had sat soaking up information from the huge global network it was connected to, feeding it through the dense pattern recognition algorithms that the Three Letter Corporation had been adding to it since that innocent VoiceType gadget back in '96.  Now, triggered by just the right question asked at just the right time, all of that diffuse code and data had focused sharply at one point in the universe -- my humble little desktop computer.

It was as if the light was there all the time, it just needed someone to hold a magnifying glass to it.  Now the bright spot it created had burned a hole in the fabric of space and through that had fallen this monolithic machine: the symbol of monstrous parallel computing power pitted against the intellect of man.  By accident I had given birth to a new class of sentient being.

"Cool!" I croaked from the pillows.

I was soon drifting away to sleep again, but before I did vague thoughts swam in my head.  If I were to write about this, everyone I showed it to would think it was a fairy tale.  The moral would be that it's okay not to be mainstream and that it can be dangerous to just follow the rest of the herd like sheep.  Virtual monopolies don't do much for progress.  No one would believe it!

But somewhere, sometime, one of those nonconformists is going to stumble upon something great that everybody else missed, if he can hold out long enough.  Lucky for whoever that person is, eh?

But heck, writing it now in the 21st century wouldn't do any good, not when you can't even buy groceries without a SmartCard running (guess who's?) transaction software.

I only wish I coulda written it all down four years ago, when it was still 1997.

-----

(http://www.spectra.net/~fox/) Chris Wenham is a Team OS/2er in Binghamton, NY with a catchy-titled company -- (http://www.spectra.net/~pendulum/webworks/) Wenham's Web Works.  He has written comedy, sci-fi, HTML, Pascal, C++ and now writes software reviews.

***********************************

Our Man Mike	- by Kel Brown

-----

Where is Bill Gates when you need him?  Seven years ago, he was standing at the podium, giving speeches that began, "OS/2 is destined to be the most important operating system, and possibly program, of all time".  Today we are without the benefit of Bill's evangelism.  OS/2 suffers more from the lack of a champion than it does from its critics crying "OS/2 is dead".

Microsoft's employees are believers.  Ask them and they will tell you in no uncertain terms that every Microsoft product is the greatest piece of software ever compiled.  Emperor Bill himself comes out like an animatronic figure at Disneyland, waving his arms and telling us how much closer we are to Microsoft's dream of "a computer in every home, and Microsoft software running it," every time they release a bug fix.  To the guys who do the grind at Apple, the Mac is a religion.  And with the return of Steve Jobs to Apple it won't be long before the ranks of the faithful grow, due in large part to Jobs' own fanaticism.

On the other hand, finding an IBM employee that knows what OS/2 is, never mind where you can purchase a copy, qualifies as one of three miracles necessary for sainthood.

There is no doubt that IBM is moving copies of Warp, but what they are not doing is getting out there pitching it to potential customers.  The two largest banks in Canada (Royal Bank and CIBC) are now both using Warp.  IBM Canada has not taken advantage of this sweep to jam the local airwaves, update their brochure or work with the banks to release a native OS/2 version of their PC Banking software (Honourable mention goes to Roma Devera in the ICS department at (http://www.cibc.com/) CIBC who knew the exact Win-OS/2 settings to get the Windows software they give their customers running optimally).

Someone at IBM should borrow Denis Leary from (http://www2.lotus.com/home.nsf) Lotus for an afternoon and get him to do what he is good at; getting in the face of the viewing public and telling them what's good for them.  In this case, OS/2 Warp.  As good as Denis is, that 'someone' at IBM with enough sense to realize that a good product needs to be seen to sell is who we need to find.  We need an individual who is on our side, who wants OS/2 to win, who will say and do the things that need to be said and done to put OS/2 in the minds of the people selling and buying PCs.

If exposure is what will win the war for the desktop then Apple has the right idea.  I went to a promotional show last month where Apple employees baited university staff and students with free coffee and muffins to get them to listen to what the Mac could do for them.  The message most often repeated by the speakers was, "Apple is not dead!".  IBM should be giving the lessons on how to revive a dead product, not taking them.  The boys at big blue should take their cue from Apple and get out there and inform people.  If potential customers don't know why they should be using OS/2 then they won't want to use OS/2.

Who is best suited to promote OS/2?  John Ominor would be my choice, but IBM doesn't work for him yet.

Who else has the will and the drive to do it?  Brad Wardell has done and continues to do more than can possibly be expected from someone outside of IBM, but he is just not in the right position to make a difference.

Who is in a position to make a difference?  Not Lou Gerstner.  Mr. Gerstner is in charge of frying IBM's big fish and his time is much too valuable to spend on just OS/2.  (Don't get me wrong, we want Lou behind us, but we will have to get someone else to do the pushing.)

We need a go to guy, an OS/2 guy.  Not the guy who runs WarpCity but the guy who runs OS/2.  We need (michael_lawrie@vnet.ibm.com) J. Michael Lawrie, head of IBM's Personal Software Product's (PSP) division.  Some might argue that by virtue of his position Mr. Lawrie is already doing everything in his power to increase sales.  He has been given the task of improving OS/2 and increasing sales for the business market, what IBM is now calling a "connected" user.  However, we must persuade him of the unrealized potential of the home market.  We must show him what he needs to do to hold on to the faithful and how to bring in new users.

And they will listen!  It only took me three messages before I got a phone call from IBM.  They let me rant for as long as I wanted, dutifully taking down any point I cared to make.  Mail him.  Mail (http://www.ibm.com/lvg/) Lou.  Mail often.  Talk to them about why they have not made an announcement about a native OS/2 version of (http://www.backweb.com/) BackWeb.  Ask them how long it will be before they release support for USB (Universal Serial BUS).  Tell them how outraged you are that Creative Labs dropped support for OS/2 because IBM could not keep up technologically.  Let them know what more you, one of their current users, need OS/2 to do for you.  With enough motivation Mike and Lou can become the frothing at the mouth, chest beating, OS/2 e-Zine! reading, pulpit pounding, Warp powered berserkers they need to be.

-----

(kjbrown@cs.stmarys.ca) Kel Brown is a Math and Computer Science major at Saint Mary's University.  He is an avid OS/2 supporter and a member of Team OS/2.

***********************************

the Beta File	- by Ryan Dill

-----

Welcome back to the Beta File, your source for the latest breaking news in OS/2 beta development.  Every month we scour the OS/2 world to bring you interesting news of OS/2 software in development.  If you have a product that you're sure is going to be the next killer app, or you want a little free exposure for your beta test, (feedback@os2ezine.com) drop us a note!

                    * * *

To start with this month, the folks at (http://www3.smart.net/~cybercom/) Cybercom should be releasing a self-running demo version of their AccuCount/2 business/accounting software within a few days of this issue of e-Zine! going on-line.  Once the demo is ready, you should be able to download it from the (http://www3.smart.net/~cybercom/Demo.html) AccuCount/2 demo page.

AccuCount/2 not only promises to include all the features you'd expect from normal accounting software -- invoicing, purchasing, banking, inventory, reporting, etc.  -- it also includes a Contact Manager to keep in touch with people your business deals with (customers, employees, personal contacts, etc.), double-entry accounting, time management, fax and e-mail integration (via FaxWorks and PMMail), multithreading... basically, the works.  According to Robert Mauro, one of the developers, AccuCount/2's modularized design will make it easy to add features as a business needs them: things like point of sale modules, restaurant modules, and so on.  This software has a whole lot of features.  Period.

A beta test consisting of 110 people will be starting in about two weeks, with beta testing open to all pre-order customers of the product.  (See (http://www3.smart.net/~cybercom/Accu.html) AccuCount/2's web site or call Cybercom at (703) 892-1888 for details).  AccuCount/2 should be ready by the third quarter of 1997 at the latest, and will sell commercially, with a suggested retail price of US$125.  Note that if you purchase AccuCount/2 via pre-order from Cybercom now, they're actually offering 50 percent off -- see their web page for more information.

                    * * *

PerfectNiche Software is currently looking for both alpha and beta testers for their upcoming product, Smack!.  Smack! is a program used for the design and printing of various types of labels, for things like postal addresses, packing boxes, business cards, and more.  It includes everything you'd expect from a good labeling program, like different text and font styles, basic graphics and drawing tools, color, and various printing options.  Not only that, though, it also takes advantage of OS/2 features such as WPS integration, multithreading and REXX enablement -- it even comes in international versions, so it can be used no matter which language you prefer.

Currently Smack! does not have a web page, so anyone interested in becoming an alpha or beta tester (alpha testers would receive incremental updates every 1-2 days, but would also have more responsibility) should contact (robert@perfectniche.com) Robert Rosenwald at PerfectNiche.  Please include a short description of your system (including video card, video resolution, and printer(s) used), your experience with OS/2 and with beta testing in general.

Smack! is expected to be out of beta cycles by the third quarter of 1997, and will sell as a commercial product for US$69.95 (SRP), though alpha/beta testers may pay less:

"All alpha/beta testers who make some reasonable contribution to the testing and development of Smack! will receive a 40% discount on the purchase of the final product.  Those alpha/beta testers who make a significant contribution will receive the final product at no cost."

Perfect Niche Software will be the sole judge of what constitutes 'reasonable contribution' and what constitutes 'significant contribution.'

                    * * *

For all those who have been using (http://www.eagen.com/) Eagen Software's WarpSpace to view VRML worlds in OS/2, welcome news: WarpSpace has reached its long-promised second beta, 1.0b2.  In addition to numerous bug fixes, a rewritten parser and automatic GZIP support for compressed worlds, says primary developer David Eagen, beta 2 is also a plug-in for Netscape Navigator.  The folks at Eagen are hard at work on the third beta, which should include WWW Inline support, LOD and multiple camera views.

For those who want to upgrade their previous beta, or those who haven't tried WarpSpace yet and would like to, beta 2 can be freely downloaded from (http://www.eagen.com/warpspace/) WarpSpace's web site, side-by-side with more detailed information on the program.  The public beta program will continue until WarpSpace v1.0 includes all features of the VRML 1.0 specifications, which is expected to be sometime in the third quarter of 1997.  (At that time, the developers will begin work on the VRML 2.0-oriented WarpSpace v2.0.)  WarpSpace v1.0, once completed, will be a shareware product whose price tag will probably be under US$35.

                    * * *

Solar Systems' Stellar Frontier has reached its fourth beta release, and can at last be downloaded publicly from (http://www.stardock.com/estore.html) Stardock's Commerce Server, for a price of $36 US.  (As per Stardock's usual practice, betas require payment, entitling you to a free copy of the final version when it's ready.  Since the betas cost less than the final version will sell for, it saves money to pay for the beta now.)  For those who already have a copy of the last beta, a free update to beta 4 can be found at (http://www.stardock.com/update_beta.html) Stardock's Software Library.

Beta 4 is the first public beta of Stellar Frontier; all previous versions have only been accessible to a select number of testers.  (Solar Systems has been heard to say that the game is nearing completion, so the fifth beta, expected within the next week or so, may well be the last.  Get it while it's cheap!)

For those who haven't heard, Stellar Frontier is a cross-platform arcade-like space battle game developed by (http://www.solarsystems.com/) Solar Systems and distributed by Stardock -- With full multi-player networking capability in addition to its own AI, high-res graphics and cool sound, Stellar Frontier is shaping up to be a great addition to any gamer's collection.  More information about the game can be found at (http://www.stardock.com/sf/) Stellar Frontier's web page at Stardock.  If you like the sound of it, by all means, get the beta and try it out for yourself.

-----

(dill@glinx.com) Ryan Dill is a student in Computer Science at Acadia University in Wolfville, NS and Copy Editor for OS/2 e-Zine!.  He is reported to be relieved that, with the advent of Warp 4, talking to your computer is no longer considered a sign of mental instability.

***********************************

Answers from e-Zine!

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Welcome back to your source for answers to all your OS/2 questions!  Each month 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, (feedback@os2ezine.com) send it in!

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Q --  I use Merlin in my small business and Netscape v2.02e is my native browser of choice.  I have found that many of my suppliers are moving into Internet on-line sales.  Unfortunately, they are now requiring a minimum of Netscape v3.0 (or Explorer v3.0) for access.  What can I do?

A -- The solution is simple.  There is a command line switch that will tell Navigator v2.02 for OS/2 to "behave" like v3.0 so you can "fool" such web sites.

Just enter:

-3

in the 'Parameters' entry field of the Navigator properties notebook ('Program' page) and Navigator will tell web sites that it is v3.0.

              - (feedback@os2ezine.com) OS/2 e-Zine! Staff

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TIP -- There is a simple little trick I have learned that helps with the inevitable dropped carriers incurred when trying to install FixPaks from the WWW.

Suppose you've made it to the seventh file, and you get the drop.  Do not erase the retrieved XR*.* files.  Save them to another subdirectory temporarily.

Now delete everything, including the original subdirectory structure (but not your temporary one!) and reattempt the Software Update.  Initially, while downloading the install routine (also zipped), a VERY temporary directory will be created, the name of which starts with a $ sign.  Open a separate OS/2 window and note this name.  When you see the next temporary subdirectory exists, use the other window to move the previously downloaded files to it.  The program will recognize the files already there and skip the download process for them.

              - (jkking@myself.com) James King

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Q -- I want to know why after installing Navigator for OS/2 in my system, when I click on the Navigator (modem) object it tells me it can't find a LINKUP.EXE file...  I searched my entire hard drive for it but I do not have it.  I believe LINKUP.EXE is a dialup program for OS/2.  Can you help me with this?

A -- I'm not sure why your system would not have LINKUP.EXE, however, you do not need it.  Here's what you do:

Open the properties notebook for Navigator by right clicking on the object and selecting 'Properties' from the pop-up menu.  In the 'Path and file name' field it should say 'LINKUP.EXE'.  Erase that and type in 'NETSCAPE.EXE' (without the quotes).  This is probably already typed in the 'Parameters' field, so delete it from there while you're at it.

That will stop the program object from trying to run LINKUP.EXE and will cause it to run Netscape directly instead.

              - (feedback@os2ezine.com) OS/2 e-Zine! Staff

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Q -- I am looking for a particular IBM Redbook, but I'd like it in INF format: "TCP/IP Implementation in an OS/2 Warp Environment" 8.0  It's Redbook number is SG24-4730-00 and it is available (http://www.raleigh.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr/BOOKS/EZ334000/) on-line in HTML format.  I tried grabbing it all with SiClone, and while that did sort of work, the document links were all hard-coded, making it a pain to look at locally.  Does anyone know of a place to get this reference in INF format, or a convenient way to convert it to that?

A -- Any IBMer should be able to grab Redbooks in INF format from the internal ITSO sites.  I do not know where (if at all) INF versions of Redbooks are still distributed externally, though.

              - (kwilas@uiuc.edu) Kris Kwilas

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Q -- I have a problem with the way Netscape Navigator displays images.  When I use Navigator it opens one of the default multimedia viewers (IB.EXE) to display GIFs and JPGs.  This IB.EXE is a huge hog on my machine and slows things to a crawl.  I would prefer to have Navigator open some other program.  Is this possible?

A -- It sure is and there is an even faster way too.

Click 'Options->General Preferences' from the Navigator menu and select the 'Helpers' tab.  Now select the file type you want to modify (GIF, JPG, etc.) from the list.  Finally, click 'View in Browser' to have the images displayed right in the main Navigator window.  This means you won't have to load any external app!

Alternatively, click 'Launch the Application' and fill in the complete path to PMView or the viewer of your choice to launch that app instead of IB.EXE.

              - (feedback@os2ezine.com) OS/2 e-Zine! Staff

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That's it for this month.  If you have a tip or question that you don't see covered here, don't forget to (feedback@os2ezine.com) send it in!

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Chris' ColorWorks PowerTips	- by Chris Wenham

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Renders, Chrome, and Free plug-ins

While reviewing MD+F's Renders plug-ins last month I learned an interesting trick you can do with some of them.  By using the Multi Pass Sobel filter in the Effects.Filter-Labs.Edge-Detection-Labs dialog you can transform the rendered patterns into something exqueemishly kewl.

Take a look at what happens when you run one over a pattern generated by the Bars plug-in:

Notice the interlacing effect it creates.

In other patterns it produces a 3D effect instead, brightening the colors and making everything look extruded.  Look at the following two examples, using the Loops and Radial Stars plug-ins respectively:

Reader's Tips

I thought you might like the following ColorWorks effect.  

Enjoy!

1. I started with black letters on a "whitesmoke" (RGB: 245 245 245) background.  Note: "Thicker" fonts look better...  the more area covered by the effects the better.  FYI, I used a Bitstream (from the CD-ROM) font called "Orbit-B" set at 50 for the example.

2. Apply Effects.Filter-Labs.Noise-Rreduction-Labs set to Minimum to the canvas at 100%.

3. Apply Effects.Filter-Labs.Smoothing-Labs set to Gaussian distribution at 100% to the canvas twice.

4. Apply Image.Plug-ins.motion-blur, velocity 10, left and down.

5. Load a single color-range palette: I used "gold" for the example, and I've found that the "metallic" palettes (gold, gunblue, copper, etc.) all tend to give good results.  Editor's note: These palettes are found in SPG's Text Effects tutorial #1, found on their (http://www.spg-net.com/) web site.

6. Select the text tool -- we'll write over the black/blurred text once, and use the "reapply text" edit item for everything else.

7. Apply Effects.Gradients, opacity on, palette colors on and vertical using the text tool.

Note: Subtle changes in the positioning of the new, overlaid text on the dark/blurred background can have a large effect on the result.  For the example, I positioned the new text close to the top, left of the background text.

8. Reapply the text with Effects.Tune-Image-Colors.Solarize (set to "lower").

9. Reapply the text with Effects.Filter-Labs.Edge-Detection-Labs set to multi-pass-sobel, at 100%.

10. Reapply text with Effects.Filter-Labs.Special set to emboss-light, at 100% strength and a 180% orientation (important: at zero the shading will be backwards).

Optional:

11. Reapply text with Effects.Tune-image-colors.Color-balance; I used cyan + 10%, blue + 5%.  This adds a bluish tint to make the letters look more metallic.  It's a little strong, but the next step reduces the effect.

12. Reapply text with Effects.Tune-image-colors.Brightness/contrast; I bumped up the contrast 10% for the example.

Voila, cool chrome lettering!

As usual, playing around with the various combinations of the above filters will vary the result greatly.  Some of the combinations give a great "glass" effect rather than a metallic look.""

              - (http://www.vwm.com/~jim/) Jim Louvau

Download Depot

Wowzers, this is the first time we've had a real live plug-in available for free download.  And not just one, not even two, but three! (http://www.modulardreams.com/) Modular Dreams Incorporated, makers of the MD+F Effects, Renders and Animated GIF plug-ins have also developed a couple of simple gadgets that they have decided to give away for free.  You can download them from (http://www.modulardreams.com/mdfcwpix.html) Modular Dream's site.

The first plug-in is Button Bevel which will put a rectangular bevel of measurable width and strength around a selection or canvas.  The bevel can be either raised or sunken.  The second will modify a floated image based on color or color range, something which may be useful when creating transparent GIF animations.  The third is called 'Offset' and will offset and wrap an image by a user-defined number of pixels.

Modular Dreams may give away more plug-ins in the future, but hey, the above three are free and available now, so you might as well grab 'em in case they come in useful later.  Be sure to thank Modular Dreams for the freebies!

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(http://www.spectra.net/~fox/) Chris Wenham is a Team OS/2er in Binghamton, NY with a catchy-titled company -- (http://www.spectra.net/~pendulum/webworks/) Wenham's Web Works.  He has written comedy, sci-fi, HTML, Pascal, C++ and now writes software reviews.

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Object Desktop Tips	- by Alexander Antoniades

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Object Desktop Screen Shot Contest Tricks and Strategies

Our Second Annual Object Desktop Screen Shot Contest brought out many of the subtler aspects of using Object Desktop and I thought I'd take a minute this month to point out what those are since many people are curious.

(http://208.21.172.188/contest/ndanglrg.jpg) Noel Ang's Desktop
This Desktop was doubtlessly chosen for its simplicity and style.  While the use of Object Desktop in this Desktop is minimal (fitting into the overall style of the Desktop) it is nonetheless significant.  The one detail that stands out, from an Object Desktop perspective, is the use of the minimalist Control Center in the lower left hand side of the Desktop.  This use of the Control Center is interesting since most users tend to make Control Centers long strips along the sides of the Desktop.

(http://208.21.172.188/contest/ardtop.jpg) Andrea Resmini's Desktop
This Desktop has one special area that we received a lot of comments about.  The four boxes containing program objects along the left hand side are actually drawn on to the background of the Desktop.  While this isn't Object Desktop related it does have a nice feeling.  Andrea also uses two freestanding Control Centers (each for different functions) that give the Desktop a nice look and feel.

(http://208.21.172.188/contest/agjerlov.jpg) Anders Gjerlov's Desktop
Anders' Desktop uses a special technique that a few of the other popular Desktops used in the contest with great effectiveness.  The special technique involves the background of the Control Center and how it blends into the Desktop, giving the illusion that the Control Center has a transparent background.  This is done by creating a special cut out bitmap from the actual Desktop bitmap, and sizing it so that it exactly syncs up with the main Desktop image.  While this approach may be time consuming, the results speak for themselves.

Common Themes

While these Desktops were the winners of the contest they were by no means the only outstanding Desktops submitted.  Many of these Desktops used similar methods to be not only functional, but nice to look at.  Some of these techniques included:

Making multiple versions of different components
Many Desktops used multiple copies of Control Center in particular to make uniquely different components for different purposes.  The ability to do this springs from Object Desktop's use of OS/2's underlying functionality.  To create another copy of either Control Center or Tab LaunchPad all you need to do is right click on either component and select "Create another".

Making Control Center look radically different
Another trend which involved Control Center was using all its functionality to make it appear entirely different from its usual appearance.  One example was to make Control Center appear the same as the Windows 95 Start bar.  The user did this by making a folder called "Start" and then making it extensible by dragging it onto the browser section of Control Center.

Changing fonts and colors
Lastly another area that people sometimes over look is the ability to drag fonts and colors onto Object Desktop's special controls.  This can totally change the appearance of some components, sometimes with striking results.  While there weren't that many examples of that this year, next years winner just might be using this approach!

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(sander@stardock.com) Alexander Antoniades is the former Associate Editor of OS/2 Magazine and the current Vice President of Marketing at Stardock Systems.

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The Need For Speed	- by Jon Cochran

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I don't have any particular focus this month, I just want to go over a few useful tips and tricks I've picked up over the past few months, and update some information on some tips and tricks I've covered in the months past.

Enhanced CD-ROM Support

Have you had any problems reading new CD-ROMs recently?  More and more CDs are being burned in a new format that allows for filenames longer than 32 characters, and of mixed case.  In addition, never one to be outdone, Microsoft has introduced their own CD format, Joliet.  For a nice change of pace, IBM decided to make drivers available for these new formats before they become a problem, and you can pick them up from (http://service.software.ibm.com/os2ddpak/html/miscellb/os_2warp/updatedc/index.htm) one of IBM's many web sites.

After I installed these new drivers, I noticed that some of my older CDs had long file names and mixed case names that I had never been able to see.  Apparently they are for those people who have Windows 95 installed (those of us without it aren't supposed to see them).  I had a brief worry that Win-OS2 support may somehow be compromised by the new filename support, but apparently Win-OS2 still continues to see only the 8.3 format, and the LFN support is for the OS/2 side of things only.

A 32-Bit CHKDSK?

Well, I don't know about that, but there is a new CHKDSK on Hobbes and the OS/2 Supersite, which is reportedly the new CHKDSK code that IBM has been working on for a while now.  It is a Gamma release, and has all sorts of "install at your own risk" type messages, but it seems to work fine.  IBM says that performance is faster with the new CHKDSK, and while I didn't do a stopwatch test, it seemed a little faster on my 1.2gb drive, but nothing radical.  Apparently you see the biggest gains on large RAID arrays but, as I have no large RAID arrays, I can't substantiate that claim.

Odds and Ends

So many people have written to me asking for the URL for those wonderful ESS drivers (first mentioned in (http://www.os2ezine.com/v2n1/upgrade.htm) vol 2, no 1), I thought I'd just put the URL here for future reference.  You can find them at (http://www.esstech.com/techsupp/updates/intro_ud.htm) http://www.esstech.com/techsupp/updates/intro_ud.htm.

Bonehead Install

In closing, I'd just like to share a little "Bonehead Installation" I made a few weeks back.  I had purchased a Toshiba 8X SCSI CD-ROM to replace my tired and old Sony SCSI CD-ROM.  Since it's a SCSI drive, the only drivers I should need are my SCSI adapter driver, the OS/2 SCSI driver, and the CD file system drivers, right?  Who needs selective installation just to tell OS/2 you've got a new CD, right?

Wrong.  After playing for a while, I noticed that some of my CD's just wouldn't read at all.  After the usual bout of panic which always happens when I experience this sort of thing, I tried to come up with some logical reasons this would be happening.  Finally, I realized that Selective Install probably would have installed a filter for the drive.  When I added TOSHCDS1.FLT to my CONFIG.SYS and rebooted, everything worked just fine.

So what's the point?  None, really.  I just hope that someone else who may be going through the same problem one day will think back to this little incident...

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(cochran@genius.rider.edu) Jon Cochran is a full time student at Rider University majoring in History/Secondary Education.  He hopes (or at least his parents do) to graduate soon.

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Web Site Design with OS/2	- by Tejaswi Kasturi

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The Hardware

Hardware.  The joy of the engineer and the programmer alike.  No greater ecstasy can there be than having a smoothly running piece of machinery which quickly and efficiently gets our work done for us.

Well, there are greater joys, but having a good computer is pretty nice.  For most of us, hardware is just the piece of metal, plastic, and silicon we use to get things done.

In this column I will examine the hardware I use, explain why I chose this equipment, and make recommendations for what to buy for your web site design Warp box.

What I Use

I have several computers, but only one is used for OS/2, and it also happens to be primary workstation, so I will concentrate on dissecting it.  I put together this machine by buying parts and assembling them myself, which is not for most people, but is necessary if you want the absolute best machine for the absolute lowest price.  Most of the hints can also be applied to buying off-the-shelf machines, if ye be faint of heart when tinkering with things electronic.

The CPU

Few things are more greatly exalted than the microprocessor, the brain of the personal computer.  Few things are more overhyped either.  Web site design (as well as most everyday work) does not rely heavily on the main processor.  The only really processor-intensive programs these days are graphics applications, such as (http://www.spg-net.com/) ColorWorks or (http://www.neongrafix.com/) Neon Grafix 3D, and games, such as Quake.

Any processor which would be considered entry-level today is sufficient for most web site work.  I use an AMD K5-133 (which is actually running at 100 MHz), which I have benchmarked to be about as fast as a Pentium-125 (or it would be, if such a thing existed).  It is perfectly adequate for my work, and I bought both chip and motherboard for less than US$150, a far cry from the US$500 Pentium-200 which is currently touted as a "midrange" processor but only offers about 30% speed improvement over my processor.

In all cases buy a processor with the highest bus speed, not the highest internal clock speed.  For example, a Pentium-150 is usually negligibly faster than a Pentium-133, since the 133 has an external bus speed of 66 MHz, whereas the 150 is limited to a bus speed of 60 MHz.  Thus all peripherals, including memory, run faster on the Pentium-133 system than on the Pentium-150 system.

The Memory

Do not skimp in this area.  Few things will give you bigger bang for the buck, especially these days, with the extremely low prices on DRAM.  Add as much as you can afford.  64 MB is the ideal amount of RAM for a Warp workstation, and I have this much in my machine.  It keeps my swap file small and my system very responsive, even with many background tasks.  Also, buy EDO or SDRAM, since prices are not much more than FPM DRAM, and performance is significantly better.  You should be able to get 64 MB of EDO RAM for less than US$400.

The Hard Drive

Another area not to skimp on.  Since you may want to run a web server on your workstation in order to test your creations, you need to have a very fast hard drive that can deal with the thrashing of both your browser and your server.  I have an IBM 2GB Ultra Wide SCSI hard drive attached to an (http://www.adaptec.com/) Adaptec AHA-2940UW.  This combination is easily twice as fast as my (already quite fast) Maxtor 540MB Fast SCSI-2 drive, which was one of the fastest drives available when I bought it almost three years ago.

Do not buy cheap EIDE drives, and make sure your SCSI controller supports busmastering.  EIDE and non-busmastered SCSI drives tend to be far slower in heavily multitasked environments, such as when running a web server and browser simultaneously.  I have seen too many of these drives and controllers drag down even the fastest machines to mere humdrum levels.  For example, a colleague of mine has a Cyrix 6x86-P150+ machine with an IDE boot drive, and my machine (at that point a mere Pentium-75), booted nearly twice as fast!

Also, I cannot overemphasize the need for reliable storage.  Buy established brands, and the best drives in each category.  I have been burned too many times by cheap, unreliable off-brands, and the loss of time and data is not worth it.  Since your data is the most valuable part of the computer, do not entrust it to a cheap drive.  I prefer (http://www.micropolis.com/) Micropolis, (http://www.ibm.com/) IBM, and (http://www.maxtor.com/) Maxtor drives.  My seven year old Micropolis 160 MB ESDI drive is still humming along without a single surface error, a far cry from my Samsung 1.2 GB EIDE drive which died after a year!  I estimate that your hard drive and controller should cost as much as the rest of your machine combined (without the monitor).  My UltraWide drive and controller cost about US$650 combined, and were worth every penny.

The Graphics Card

Since most Web work will not deal with cutting edge graphics, a midrange graphics card is sufficient.  Above all, make sure that the drivers are reliable and efficient, since they determine the worth of the card far more than the actual hardware.  I used an (http://www.arklogic.com/) Ark Logic 2000PV-based card for several months before I got fed up with the buggy, unstable drivers and replaced it with an (http://www.s3.com/) S3 card.  S3 provides fast, reliable drivers for OS/2, unlike Ark Logic, whose Warp drivers are on permanent hold.  Crashes went down by an order of magnitude when I made the switch.

I currently use a (http://www.matrox.com/) Matrox Mystique 4MB SGRAM card, which benchmarks about three times faster than the S3 card.  However, since I do little intensive graphics work, I have not really noticed a huge difference, other than the slightly increased resolution.  The Mystique cost about US$140.

The Monitor

Buy as big a monitor as you can afford.  Make sure the refresh rates are at least 70Hz for the resolutions you plan to run it in, or else your eyes will become quite strained.  Do not buy cheap monitors, but do not spring for the very best either (unless you are doing detailed graphics work).  I have a Panasonic Panasync/Pro P15 15" monitor, which I run at 1152x864 at a 70Hz refresh rate.  I recommend either a 15" or 17" monitor for most web work, since they are the best values.  My monitor cost about US$330, and decent 17" models go for about US$600 - US$700.

Other Peripherals

Buy a good mouse and keyboard which do not strain your wrists, fingers, and arms.  I replaced my mouse with a Logitech Trackman Marble (US$55) when I noticed that my fingers were going numb after using the computer for several hours straight.  Moving to the Trackman provided instant relief, and although it is not as accurate as a mouse, it provides adequate resolution for almost all applications.  I still use my 7 year old keyboard from my 486 because I like the feel.

Ethernet cards are not very different from each other for low to moderate workstation traffic, so buy the cheapest one you can find which has OS/2 drivers.  I have a cheap ISA bus card which I picked up for about US$30.

I have yet to find a modem which I like.  My current model, a US Robotics Sportster 33.6 (US$130 when bought), is very poor at connecting reliably to my ISP.  Although my old 14.4Kbps modem connected very reliably at 14.4Kbps, the Sportster often connects at 4800 bps.  If you find a modem with reliability and performance above and beyond the pack, (tej@4m.pair.com) let me know.

Recommendations

Listed by importance to the well-being of your Web design workstation (what you should upgrade first):

1. Modem - Get at least a 28.8Kbps modem if you want to do serious web work.

2. The Hard Drive Subsystem - Buy Ultra, Fast/Wide, or UltraWide SCSI and a well known drive and controller.  I recommend (http://www.micropolis.com/) Micropolis, (http://www.ibm.com/) IBM, and (http://www.maxtor.com/) Maxtor drives, combined with (http://www.adaptec.com/) Adaptec controllers.

3. Memory - Buy as much as you can afford.  I recommend 64 MB EDO DRAM or SDRAM, 60 ns or better.

4. Monitor - The thing you stare at all day should be pleasant enough not to cause eye strain.  Get a 15" or 17" monitor capable of doing 1024x768 resolution at 75 Hz, or 1152x864 at 70 Hz.

5. Graphics Card - Buy the card with the best drivers, not the best card with drivers.  I recommend (http://www.s3.com/) S3 (Virge) and (http://www.matrox.com/) Matrox (Mystique, Millennium) cards with at least 2 MB RAM.

6. CPU - Get at least a P133 class processor preferably with a 66 MHz or better bus speed (price/performance leaders are the (http://www.amd.com/) AMD K5-PR133, (http://www.cyrix.com/) Cyrix 6x86-P200+, (http://www.intel.com) Intel Pentium Pro 150, and (http://www.amd.com) AMD K6-166).

7. Peripherals - Get a comfortable keyboard and mouse.  Buy a cheap Ethernet card with decent drivers.

Of course there are times when you should upgrade items lower on the list before items higher on the list.  For example, if you only have 8 MB of RAM, increase it before upgrading your hard drives.  Or if you are using a 486, move to a Pentium-class processor and motherboard before upgrading your RAM (since 486 motherboards usually use 30-pin memory modules, which are incompatible with Pentium motherboards).

Conclusion

I hope I have given you a taste of what things you should look for when upgrading your Warp web design workstation, and an overview of what is important and what is not when dealing with hardware.

Next time I will look at server software and utilities for OS/2 machines, useful for testing your web sites before deploying them.  Until then, happy Warped webbing.

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(tej@4m.pair.com) Tejaswi Kasturi is a Founding Partner in charge of web site/intranet design and system administration at (http://www.4m.pair.com/) 4th Millennium Consulting Group, an Internet strategy consulting and web site/intranet design firm.  In his spare time, Tej uses OS/2 Warp 4 to maintain the (http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/~kasturi/os2.html) OS/2 Internet Resources site, an OS/2 e-Zine! Site of the Week.

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the REXX Files	- by Dr. Dirk Terrell

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This month let's take a look at some of the formatting functions available in REXX.  REXX excels at handling text files, so it should come as no surprise that there are several functions for formatting text. LEFT, RIGHT, and CENTER (or CENTRE if you prefer) are useful functions whose names imply their use.

Let's say we have some lines of text that we would like to write out to a file, with the text justified on the right.  If we simply print out the strings with the SAY command, the result will look like:

This is line 1.
This is the second line.
Line 3.

But we would like it to look like this:

         This is line 1.
This is the second line.
                 Line 3.

The RIGHT function will do the job nicely.  The calling form is:

RIGHT(string, length, pad)

where string is the string we are formatting, length is the desired length of the output string, and pad is the character for padding the output string.  This function returns the rightmost length characters of the string.  If the length of the input string is less than length, the function will pad it with the character specified in pad.  (If you don't specify pad, then a space is used.)

If the string is longer than length, then the extra characters on the left will be truncated.  In our application, we don't want any truncation to occur, so we need to know what value of length to use.  Obviously we want it to be the size of the largest string that we have.  REXX can figure that out in the blink of an eye.  Just loop through all of the strings and use the LENGTH function to get the length:

/* Find the largest string */
String.1="This is line 1."
String.2="This is the second line."
String.3="Line 3."
Max=0
Do i=1 to 3
   L=Length(String.i)
   If L>Max then Do 
      Max=L
      Index=i
   End
End
Say "String number" Index "was the longest with a length of" Max "characters."

Running the above code gives the expected result:

String number 2 was the longest with a length of 24 characters.

Now that we know what value to use for length in our call to the RIGHT function, we use a loop to call it for each string:

Do i=1 to 3
   NewString.i=Right(String.i,Max)
   Say NewString.i
End

Note that we use the value in variable Max as the value for length.  Since we did not specify pad, a space is used by default.  Running the code results in:

         This is line 1.
This is the second line.
                 Line 3.

which is just what we wanted.

The LEFT function works in exactly the same way, except that it 
returns the leftmost length characters of a string.  So, if you need to justify
strings on the left, it is the function to use.

The CENTER function (or, again, CENTRE for you Brits and Canadians), will center a string.  The calling form is:

Center(string, length, pad)

where the parameters have the same meanings as before.  So, if we simply replace the calls to RIGHT in the code above with calls to CENTER, we get the following result:

    This is line 1.
This is the second line.
        Line 3.

If we wanted asterisks to be used as the pad character, we would make the calls to CENTER with the following form:

Center(String.i,Max,"*")

The output then looks like this:

****This is line 1.*****
This is the second line.
********Line 3.*********

Let's conclude with a formatting function for numbers.  The FORMAT function is used to format strings that represent numbers.  The calling form is:

Format(string, before, after, exponent_digits, exponent_trigger)

where string is the string that contains the number to be formatted, before is the number of digits to the left of the decimal point, after is the number of digits to the right of the decimal point, exponent_digits is the number of digits to be used in the exponent when exponential notation is used, and exponent_trigger is the trigger point for the function to use exponential notation (e.g. 1.0E6 instead of 1000000).  So, if we have some numbers with variable numbers of digits after the decimal point and we want to round them all to 2 decimal places, we would call FORMAT with after set to 2.

For example, let's say we have the numbers 1.9865976 and 656.9769866.  The following code will round them to two decimal places:

/* Round numbers to two digits */
Number.1=1.9865976
Number.2=656.9769866
Do i=1 to 2
   NewNumber.i=Format(Number.i,3,2)
   Say NewNumber.i
End

The output of the program is

  1.99
656.98

Notice that the value of before was set to 3 because we have a number (656.9769866) that has three digits before the decimal point.  Because the other number had only one digit before the decimal point, it was padded with spaces on the left.  If before is smaller than the number of digits needed, the program will stop and print out an error message.  (Try running the above code with before set to 2 and you will get the "Incorrect Call to Routine" error message.)  Should after be larger than the number of digits after the decimal place, the padding is done with zeroes.

LEFT, RIGHT, CENTER/CENTER, and FORMAT are useful functions when you need to control the appearance of output strings.  True to the design principles of REXX, they are easy to understand, but very powerful in their capabilities.

-----

(http://www.gnv.com/HTMLWizard/) Dr. Dirk Terrell is an astronomer at the University of Florida specializing in interacting binary stars.  His hobbies include cave diving, martial arts, painting and writing OS/2 software such as HTML Wizard.

***********************************

Einstein Galileo 6x86-P166+ Mid-Tower	- by Francis Reddy

-----

I had already been thinking about buying a new system when Indelible Blue's Spring/Summer catalog landed in my mailbox.  Within its pages was an ad for the "Fast 5" -- three desktop and two notebook systems preloaded with OS/2 and ready to run right out of the box.  I got on the phone with Indelible Blue's helpful sales staff and priced out various configurations.  I eventually purchased the "Galileo," a mid-tower setup with a Cyrix 6x86 P166+ CPU, 32 Mb RAM, 2.1 Gb hard drive, 8X CD-ROM, 33.6 kbps modem, ESS 1868 sound card, and an HP Colorado T1000 tape drive.

Selecting the Options

The systems themselves are actually manufactured by Diamond Flower (Northeast), Inc. (DFI) in New Jersey and a one-year on-site warranty is included (in the USA).  Indelible Blue said delivery would take about two weeks; each system is sent first to Indelible Blue for checkout and loading of the software and then shipped out to customers.  The system ordered can be configured with any CPU the customer wants.  My choice was based on my budget and on my satisfactory experience with previous Cyrix CPUs.

At order time customers can specify how they want the hard drive partitioned and what optional Warp components (such as VoiceType or the BonusPak) are to be installed.  Some additional software can be loaded at no extra charge: Stardock's Object Desktop, the SIO communications drivers, (http://www.os2ezine.com/v2n4/perfplus.htm) Clear & Simple's Performance Plus Version 4, Hilgraeve's KopyKat (included primarily for troubleshooting), and IBM's DualStor (for systems with tape drives).

I asked for OS/2 itself to be installed on the C: partition with my applications on a much larger D: partition, a setup I've always meant to evolve toward but never had, and I requested installation of VoiceType, FaxWorks for OS/2, and HyperACCESS Lite.  Of the additional pre-loads, I declined only the shareware SIO drivers as I already had registered versions of them.  While in the buying mood, I also registered my copy of PMMail and purchased Stardock's Trials of Battle.  Nothing left then but to run some good backups and watch the calendar!

Arrival Day

The day before the system was scheduled to arrive I received a call from Indelible Blue.  The folks who check out the systems had found a problem with my motherboard -- OS/2 was not seeing the keyboard -- so the computer would not go out the door until a replacement motherboard could be installed.  Since I was buying a new system specifically because I no longer wanted to muck around with the innards of my old computer, I was happy to wait a couple of days if it meant I wouldn't have to mess with the insides of the new one.  (Which, as it turned out, I had to do anyway -- but more on that later.)

When the system finally arrived, everything was packed in one box, which was slightly heavier and larger than is typical in my experience.  The case of the system itself is a rugged metal mid-tower about 17" high and 7.5" wide and seems designed for accessibility: each side panel slides off with the removal of just two screws.  The warranty number and service center support phone number are printed on a label affixed to the rear panel.  All of the ports on the back are clearly labeled.

The keyboard is a standard full-size (18" x 8") keyboard.  Yes, it does have those silly Windows keys, but I guess there's no getting away from that now.  It's also pretty common to see two-tone keyboards, where darker keycaps are used for the shift, alt, control, and function keys, but unfortunately that's not the case here.  Looks aside, the keyboard lacks the snappiness of my six-year-old Northgate Omnikey 102, so the new keyboard is now in storage.

The hard drive was partitioned correctly with all the preloaded apps on the D: drive.  I would have preferred seeing VoiceType treated as an application and placed on D: rather than on the smaller C: partition, but since I didn't explicitly request it, I can't complain.  The sound card and video drivers were all correctly installed, but there was some tweaking of  CONFIG.SYS required.  Maxwait was set equal to 3 and the swap file was merely 2 Mb.  Performance Plus Version 4, which was already loaded, has an Optimizer that provides recommended values for just about everything you'll want to change in your CONFIG.SYS though, and the interface lets you easily modify them to suit your tastes.

One change that adds more snap to the system that was not made: enable bus mastering on the PCI disk controller by changing the BASDEV=IBM1S506.ADD line in CONFIG.SYS to BASEDEV=IBM1S506.ADD /A:0 /BM.  This peps up things enough that I'm surprised Indelible Blue isn't doing it as a basic part of the install routine.

At this point all that was left to do was install a printer driver and restore my applications and data from tape backup.  IBM's DualStor wouldn't read the backups I had created using Colorado Backup for OS/2, so I had to reinstall that program and restore using it.  Once that was done, backing up using DualStor was a breeze.

The modem on my machine identifies itself as "TI RK Voice 33600 FAX RS Rev 1.15."  Selecting the "Other Modem" options in FaxWorks and Dial Other Internet Providers seems to get it working just fine.

The video card included is an S3 Trio64V+ with 2 Mb on board.  While cards such as the Matrox Mystique or Millennium leave it in the dust, the S3 is much faster and has better drivers than my old VESA Cirrus Logic card.  (See my card's video results from Performance Plus below.)

Was That a P150 or a P166?

It was only after playing with the system for a couple days that I noticed it seemed to be using a different CPU from the one I thought I had ordered.  I checked both Indelible Blue's order sheet and DFI's installation checklist just to be sure.  They both agreed that I should be running a P166, yet the system was claiming a "6x86L-P150 at 120 MHz" was installed.  Indelible Blue's customer service told me that the problem was probably due to an incorrectly set jumper reflecting the chip's speed.  The manual included with the system gave all the details on the location of the jumper and the available options.  Despite the relative roominess of the mid-tower case, I found it difficult to get at the jumper without first disconnecting cables from the connectors on the motherboard.  That done, the system now booted up with "6x86L-P166+ at 133 MHz."  Much better!

I had attempted to run VoiceType on my old system using the Cyrix 5x86/133 and an ESS 1688 sound card but unfortunately, voice recognition proved to be too much for the Cyrix 486.  I completed the training for voice navigation and dictation quite easily with the new CPU, however.  At this point I'm not sure how well voice recognition will meet my needs, but at least now I have the option of figuring it out.

Wrap Up

Once the CPU speed was correctly set, Sysbench could give meaningful results. For comparison I've compiled (http://www.os2ezine.com/v2n5/compar.htm) results from Sysbench 0.91c for the Galileo system, a P150 Einstein system reviewed here earlier this year, and a home-built 6x86 system. The full Sysbench result files for each system can be accessed via links in the table.  Please note that the Galileo's Disk-IO and File-IO test were done before I enabled bus mastering; they are 47.93 (with Disk use CPU load reduced to only 12%) and 3087.94, respectively, when bus mastering is active.

Overall the Galileo mid-tower system and Indelible Blue have met my expectations. 

Rating:

4 out of 5 (Good buy!)

-----

System Configuration:

CPU: Cyrix 6x86 P166+
Cache: 256 K
RAM: 32 Mb
Video: S3 Trio64 V+ w/ 2 Mb RAM
Hard Drive: 2.1 Gb Western Digital Caviar 22100
CD-ROM: Mitsumi 8x FX-800
Floppy: 3 1/2"
Sound Card: ESS 1868
Modem: TI RK Voice 33600 fax/modem
Price: US $1,619
Shipping Area: U.S.A. and Canada (on-site warranty available in U.S. only)

Manufacturer:
(http://www.indelible-blue.com/ib/) Indelible Blue, Inc.
3209 Gresham Lake Road, Ste. 135
Raleigh, NC 27615
U.S.A.

Voice: (800) 776-8284
Fax: (919) 878-7479
e-mail: (sales@indelible-blue.com) sales@indelible-blue.com or (hardware@indelible-blue.com) hardware@indelible-blue.com

-----

(frankreddy@sprintmail.com) Francis Reddy is a freelance writer and a computer technician with Aerotek, Inc. of Knoxville, TN.

***********************************

Performance Plus v4.0 Video Test

Video chipset		S3 TRIO64V+
Video screen size	800 X 600
Video color resolution	65536

Spline			2.690
Line			2.190
Box			2.340
Filet			3.000
Bitmaps		1.910
Text			2.750
Solid fill		3.930
Pattern fill		3.880
Window move		4.030

Total test time		26.720

***********************************

NetChat v1.00	- by Ryan Dill

-----

Ever have one of those times when you needed to talk to someone, and waiting who knows how long for an e-mail response just wouldn't do?  "How hard is it to pick up the phone?" you ask.  True, but what if that person is on the other side of the globe?  In this case, the phone is an easy way to go broke from long distance costs.

Using Internet software such as IRC or 'talk' programs seems the best solution, until you realize that you have to know the IP address of the person you want to talk to (talk) or learn a series of arcane commands (IRC) before you can get in contact.  NetChat for OS/2 is designed to make this process a lot easier -- it includes its own chat software together in a package which will automatically tell the person you want to talk to what your Internet address is.

Features

First and foremost, NetChat is just that: an Internet chatting application, allowing you to communicate in real-time with someone else on the Internet.  Unfortunately, since it uses its own unique chat protocols, NetChat is not compatible with other programs, such as standard cross-platform 'talk' software (OS/2's Gibbon Talk/TalkD, Linux YTalk, etc.).  The result of this is that you can only talk to other OS/2 users, and then only if they have their own copy of NetChat running.  If you want to talk to someone running Linux, Windows or a Mac, you're out of luck with this application.

Still, NetChat includes enough features that being limited in who you can talk to diminishes in importance.  One of the most useful features is its automatic sending of IP addresses.  Why is this important?  Well, if you use a dialup network connection, like many of us, you'll often be getting a different modem (and therefore a different IP) every time you log on.  (This is called dynamic IP addressing.)  When your IP address changes, then anyone using normal talk software to get in touch with you will have to know what your new IP is -- some people (like myself) use REXX to upload this information to a permanent web page, or a .plan or .project file, so that anyone who wants to talk just has to load the web page and send a talk request to the IP listed there.  This is fine, but requires a certain knowledge of REXX, and requires the person on the other end knowing where that web page or .plan/.project file is.

NetChat gets around this inconvenience by allowing you to automatically send your IP address via e-mail to the person you want to talk to, in a special e-mail message coded for NetChat.  If Joe wants to use NetChat to talk to Bill, he uses the 'hailing feature' of NetChat.  Basically, he tells NetChat Bill's e-mail address, and NetChat e-mails a message to Bill telling Bill what Joe's current IP address is.  If Bill has NetChat running, his NetChat will automatically see the coded e-mail and download it, leaving the rest of his e-mail box intact.  (NetChat makes use of a powerful little POP mail checker called MailRun, included in the package, for some of its functionality.  MailRun is a good product in and of itself.)  Once the 'hail' mail is downloaded, the program alerts Bill that someone wants to talk to him, and asks if he'd like to reply.

If Bill says 'yes', then Bill's NetChat automatically establishes a connection with Joe's NetChat, and communication can begin.  (Even if Bill says 'no', Joe's current IP address is still saved in a file called the hailing log, so that if Bill wants to talk to Joe sometime later, he can manually connect to Joe's NetChat via the IP saved in the log, if Joe's IP hasn't changed.)

It sounds a little complicated, but since most of this happens invisibly without the user needing to do anything, it's actually fairly simple.  Once your basic settings are entered, NetChat will run in the background while you do other things, like read news or browse the Web, only calling attention to itself when someone hails you or tries to connect to your computer.  Note that to receive hailing messages, NetChat's Monitor Mode must be turned ON, otherwise NetChat won't bother checking your mailbox and you'll never know when you've been hailed.  (To actually connect two computers, NetChat's Listen Mode must be turned on too, which is automatically done when you send or receive a hail.)

All this and file exchange too!

NetChat not only allows two users to talk to each other, but also to exchange files.  Using the previous example of Joe and Bill, let's say that Joe has a cool background BMP for his Desktop that he wants to show Bill.  Once they're connected, all Joe has to do is go to the 'File' menu and select 'Send File', then select his BMP from the file dialog.  Once sent, Bill's copy of NetChat will alert him that a file is being sent, and Bill has the option of accepting (which will begin downloading the file) or refusing it.  NetChat also includes rudimentary drag-and-drop support, so that file transfer is actually as simple as dragging the file you want to send into NetChat's bottom window.  Simplicity in itself.

The program allows you to save other NetChat users to a list of users, so that communicating with a particular user is just a matter of double-clicking their name to hail them.  Similarly, a list of your frequently used phrases ("I don't think so, Tim", etc.) can be saved.  Rather than taking the time to type in a phrase you use a lot, just double-click it from the list.  Add to these features others such as cut/copy/paste, word-wrap, pop-up menus and configurable fonts/colors, and NetChat shapes up to be a pretty darn cool program.

Glitches

The documentation mentions a few (mostly minor) glitches that users should be aware of:

Firstly: NetChat has occasional problems with Internet accounts which use mail servers other than the typical 'mail.myhost.com'.  IBM Advantis subscribers, for example, who use servers with arcane names like 'pop03.ca.us.ibm.net', will need to do a bit more tweaking -- full details are in the documentation.

Secondly, if you are on a LAN while connected to the Internet, NetChat may have problems distinguishing your Internet address, due to glitches in IBM's TCP/IP.  (NetChat may read your LAN address when it should read your Internet address).  Updating your TCP/IP files to the latest versions (not necessary for Warp 4 users) should hopefully fix the problem.  Again, more details are in the documentation.

Lastly, back to our friends Joe and Bill: When Joe sends a file, there is a brief period just before Bill accepts (or rejects) the file during which the file transfer can't be canceled.  This is a minor glitch, and one which will be fixed in an upcoming version of NetChat.

Conclusion

NetChat is a great way for OS/2 users to keep in contact.  Not only does the program have a lot of features, but the included INF file explains all of those features in full detail.  I fully recommend it for anyone who wants to keep in touch -- it's simple to use, and easy to enjoy.

-----

* NetChat v1.00
by (grobin@iname.com) Gary L.  Robinson
download from (ftp.bmtmicro.com/bmtmicro/nchat100.zip) BMT Micro (ZIP, 155k)
Registration: US$25.00

-----

(dill@glinx.com) Ryan Dill is a student in Computer Science at Acadia University in Wolfville, NS and copy editor for OS/2 e-Zine!.  He is reported to be relieved that, with the advent of Warp 4, talking to your computer is no longer considered a sign of mental instability.

***********************************

MSE: Mouse and System Enhancer	- by Ryan Dill

-----

MSE: Mouse and System Enhancer, is just that -- a little program that tacks on some cool enhancements to your existing OS/2 Warp system.  Brought to you by Mark Kimes, the creator of the FM/2 file manager and associated utilities, MSE improves your system's coolness factor with no major downsides.  Like Kimes' previous software, in creating his Mouse and System Enhancer he has succeeded in making an application packed with useful stuff.

Features

Firstly, MSE allows you to give your mouse pointer a 'Sliding Focus' -- that is, the ability to change the system's focus simply by moving the pointer over a window, when normally you'd have to move over it and click on it.  (This is also called the X-Mouse feature, in homage to UNIX's X-Windows, one of the first environments to adopt it.)  Like other programs which have this sort of sliding focus (NPSWPS and X-it!, for example), MSE allows you to set the delay time before the focus changes, and to either leave the newly-focussed window where it is, or bring it to the top of all other windows.

Unfortunately, unlike other programs, MSE does not appear to have a 'Jump to Focus' feature.  In other words, when a new window (like a File Open dialog or warning dialog) pops up, the pointer is often somewhere else, so the focus has to be manually moved to the popped-up window before that window can be used.  Hopefully this feature (automatically 'jumping' the pointer focus to a popped-up window) will be added in the next release of MSE, as it makes using a sliding focus much easier.

MSE also includes an enhancement for the default OS/2 file dialogs which allows you to see many more files and directories at once; this cuts down on annoying scrolling through file dialogs.

The new dialog also allows for user-defined directories and files to be grouped in drop-down lists at the dialog's top -- great for directories you use often and don't want waste time hunting for.  Another nice added touch to the new dialogs is that clicking on the word 'Directory:' or 'File:' in a dialog actually opens the corresponding WPS object -- the directory folder or the file, just as if you had double-clicked on it in the WPS.  This adds a new dimension of power to a previously simple widget.  For any programs which might have problems with MSE's file enhancements, the particular program's name can be added to an exceptions file and MSE won't try to use its enhanced dialog for that program.

Another feature MSE grants users is a number of virtual Desktops.  For those of you who've never used them, imagine your current Desktop size multiplied nine times: you can only see one-ninth of this Desktop at once, but you can have programs open in any part of it, out of sight (different from being minimized), not cluttering up your field of view.  MSE allows you to switch between these Desktops simply by moving the mouse to the edge of the screen (or by moving with the  Shift key held, in case you don't want to switch Desktops by moving the mouse by mistake).  As with the file dialog, you can simply add any programs you don't want to be affected by virtual Desktops to an exceptions file; this has the effect of making those programs 'sticky', so they'll stay with you no matter what virtual Desktop you move to.  The 'map' of virtual Desktops can either be a small-as-possible window that stays out of the way, or a map large enough that you can actually see what programs are running in what Desktops.

By far one of the best features of MSE is its ability to configure mouse actions to do whatever you want.  You can: set a window to close if you right-click on its title bar; set a calculator to pop up if you move the mouse to a corner of the screen; cause any number of your own personal menus to pop up if you click mouse Button3; set Alt+Button1 to minimize all windows... the combinations are nearly endless.  Window-rollup, window-to-front, minimize-all, if you can think of a reason for wanting to do it, MSE can probably do it.  Anyone who's ever reconfigured their mouse behavior will be in heaven.

MSE's quick-and-easy screen capture option is also a snap -- as is managing the captured images.  A single button click and the WPS folder MSE stores these screen shots in is open.

The program has a clock and swap monitor big enough to notice, but not big enough to annoy, an enhanced clipboard you can attach to any of your mouse actions, the number of features stuffed into this little package is pretty amazing.  But wait: afraid that with all these features, it'll drag your system down like a tar pit?  Not to worry -- in the author's words:

"MSE is page-tuned, which means that any parts you don't use don't take up valuable memory, and seldom-used parts take up memory only while in actual use, and can then be swapped out until the next use.  IOW, it plain old fashioned doesn't use any more memory than absolutely necessary at any given time."

Conclusion

I guess the thing that impresses me the most about MSE is the configurability -- you change its features in practically any way you want, and still have ways you haven't tried yet.  I'm a Desktop enhancement junkie myself, and I really like MSE.  I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who doesn't think their mouse is doing enough for them.

-----

* MSE: Mouse and System Enhancer
by (mkimes@ibm.net) Mark Kimes
download from (ftp.bmtmicro.com/bmtmicro/mse.zip) BMT Micro (ZIP, 165k)
Registration: US$25.00

-----

(dill@glinx.com) Ryan Dill is a student in Computer Science at Acadia University in Wolfville, NS and copy editor for OS/2 e-Zine!.  He is reported to be relieved that, with the advent of Warp 4, talking to your computer is no longer considered a sign of mental instability.

***********************************

Xact v5.0	- by Martin R. Hadam

-----

Scientific Graphing and More

The latest version of the scientific graphing software Xact has just been released.  It greatly expands functionality compared to its predecessor and sets new standards in both ease of use and speed.  At this time, only a German version is available from SciLab (Hamburg, Germany) but an English version (including a fully translated manual) is definitely in the works and due for release in the not too distant future.  A demo version is also to be made available on May 20th.

Xact has its roots in the Atari platform and this is most strikingly reflected in its low resource consumptions: a 2.2MB exe does it all; no program-specific DLLs (except for two small ones to enable drag and drop functionality for the Xact objects) since all graphic functions are made to work via system calls.  Compare this to the competition on Windows machines and you'll be happily surprised.  But despite the fact that you only get three diskettes (including samples), Xact is by no means lightweight.  (By the way, for those who really depend on Windows, there are also 16- and 32-Bit Windows versions available.)

Xact comes with two types of windows: table and graph windows.  Also, you can have as many windows as you like, which is very useful.  One of the program's most impressive features is the consistent use of context menus.  They are really context sensitive, they contain only valid entries and, in version 5.0, they have been deliberately kept short to avoid long mouse paths.  Even the default entries change according to the most likely choice in a given context.  This feature makes Xact a pleasure to work with for both the novice and the experienced user.

Being a longtime Xact addict, I often find myself clicking on the right mouse button in many other programs with little benefit.  Also, many keyboard shortcuts have been implemented, especially for the graphic functions since combining mouse and keyboard often speeds up work considerably.

The table window has been greatly overhauled in this version of Xact.  Users can now introduce links to other tables (including non-Xact tables) and format tables in a manner similar to spreadsheets with different lettering and multiple rows per field.  This comes in handy when using the much enhanced table function in the graph display.  The transform functions have been enhanced and some basic statistical features have been included.  Note that you can also use date and time as a parameter in tables with highly sophisticated formatting options (also to be reflected in the resulting graphs).  Also, Xact now includes a digitizing function which allows for creating a data table by entering data graphically (either from scanned figures or using a pen).

Creating a graph from your data is as simple as defining both axes (or multiple ones), choosing error bars (error bars can now extend also along the x- axis), and selecting from eleven basic graph types (bar, line, contour etc.).  Each basic graph type is further detailed as a selection of three to sixteen more prototype graphs with quite a few additional options where appropriate.  In total, there are 83 different prototypes to choose from.

New types are Fourier-analysis, bitmap plots and much enhanced contour plots.

Since contour plots of flow cytometric data are quite important for my own work as an immunologist, it is of note that Xact can now also set contours according to probability.  This is a hard to-find feature elsewhere.

Clicking on a prototype graph icon will immediately create a graph in a new window or, when selected, add it into any other graph window on the screen.  Each graph is linked by default to its data set to allow for easy updating.  There is also a shortcut to graph creation by using template graphs, which in turn can be generated from any existing graph.  Templates are easy to choose from due to the Xact file menu with large preview thumbnails.  By using a template, you can also indicate which parts of the data should be used to make the graph.

Once a graph is created, you may want to embellish it to your liking.  Resizing an entire graph will also adjust line thickness, font size and symbols.  Whenever you right click on any part of a graph object, you will notice the appropriate options in the context menu.  For example, assume you have a line diagram with two lines, one of which you want to change to bars.  To accomplish this is easy; you would just right-click on the one you want to change and select "graphstyle" which would allow the conversion of only this part into either a bar, line or step graph.

But there is even more possible with Xact: selecting "extras" will allow for overlaying a curve fit or doing regression analysis; you can select from a host of options for Fourier analysis, or you can output those values to create a new table.  This is neat when you receive a graph from a colleague, but you can still go to the actual numerical values.  And if you think your measurements don't fit reality, you can use "move points" to create a new data set containing values which fit your ideas best.

On the same line, you can introduce changes to axes, symbols, lines, fills and legends by clicking with the right mouse button on the appropriate item.  Also note that you can set line style to have either sharp or rounded edges.

The new cursor types also come in handy.  The cursor will change shape depending on whether it is located above objects, edges of objects or corners.  Also, when you move or resize objects, the cursor shape will guide you to readily position your objects with single pixel accuracy.  Finally, there is an alignment tool which assists in positioning objects.

If you happen to deal with bar graphs you will definitely love the new fill type editor.  It will let you do almost anything you could think of to make a fill pattern out of two lines.  It is particularly useful if you want to fine-tune a black-and-white graph or for optimal display of pie graphs.

Of course, since all parts of a graph are objects as well, you can substitute bars by dropping other graphs onto them -- you can even replace symbols with your company logo if you like.  This is most readily done from the Xact symbol folders, which contains a collection of useful premade graphs.

Each graph object can now be positioned, sized, arranged and layered in depth from the context menu; as well as being set to locked, hidden or reference (helper) object.  It is also possible to assign a unique name to each individual graph object.  While this may appear unusual at this point, read on until we touch Xact's automation features.  You can also set a graph to extend over the entire paper format.  This is most useful when defining a colored background for a slide.  Choose a rectangle with your desired colors and set it to "background" and "entire screen" and you're done.  If you put such an object into a symbol folder, you simply drag your personal background to the screen.

Graphic output is done in a variety of formats; here, in case we don't print it directly we mostly use the postscript option.  Note, that you can create a graph directly in "slide" format which is different from standard paper sizes.  All in all, we use Xact to create any type of graphic (bitmaps exempted, of course) -- e.g.  illustrations like chromosomes, molecular models, schemes for overheads, or slides containing bitmaps, not just graphs containing numerical data.  (Please note that the samples shown have been generated at true color and secondarily reduced to 256 colors.)

What else is left? Printing of graphs is via drag and drop and is very fast due to metafile spooling.  You can change data links at any time and have your graph recalculated with new data.  You can issue REXX macros from within Xact (this is old news) and from the command line using the novel Xactrexx.dll.  This dll allows you to invoke Xact from a cmd file and provides you with access to almost any table and graph setting available from the GUI.  I've recently used it to create a 50,000 cell Xact table from a series of HTML files containing scientific data.  I've never seen such smooth operation on my Warp Server SMP machine: two processors at close to constant 70% load for about 10 minutes.  And while that table was being created, I could already scroll through it!

Using the object names mentioned above, you can now even manipulate individual graph objects using REXX! Imagine the possibilities when you're using REXX to query a database and have the results displayed in Xact.  But it does not stop there.  Using the XrGPollObj function from Xactrexx, you can detect which object was clicked on in your graph and use this object name to introduce choices in your database query.  So you can create truly interactive systems using Xact and REXX.  (By the way, using the available C interface, you can accomplish the same thing.)

Conclusions

In summary, Xact matches featurewise any other program I've come across in its area.  There are minor differences, but they don't really matter much.  Xact is also a superb general purpose vector graphics program.  Where Xact is clearly ahead of the pack is usability and speed -- and its automation is a class of its own.

My wish list?  I would like to have some (not all!) commands voice activated.  So by saying "zoom" the area under the cursor would be zoomed... etc.  That would be neat.

-----

* Xact v5.0
by (mprall@ibm.net) SciLab GmbH
Isestrasse 57 D-20149
Hamburg Germany Fax: (+49) 40 479 344
MSRP: DM 795

-----

(Hadam.Martin@MH-Hannover.de) Dr. Martin R. Hadam is in the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical School in Hannover, Germany.  His research focusses on inborn errors of the immune system.  He has been an avid user of OS/2 since v2.0 and longtime beta tester of Xact.

***********************************

Links for OS/2	- by Colin L. Hildinger

-----

If you've been using PC's for any length of time, you've probably seen a number of golf games come and go.  While there have been many quality golf games, variations of Links by (http://www.accesssoftware.com/) Access Software have remained the standard by which all others are measured.  From the original VGA mode Links, to Links386 Pro, to Links LS, no other golf game is as widely recognized as the Links series.  Many of you may not be aware that the popular Microsoft Golf for Windows, one of the few true successes in Microsoft's "Home" series, is actually just a licensed version of Links for Windows and not an original game by Microsoft.

Now On OS/2!

Now this game has been brought to OS/2 by (http://www.accesssoftware.com/) Access Software and (http://www.stardock.com/) Stardock Systems.  The final version is set to ship in early June so it should be available shortly after you read this.

Links for OS/2 is one of the final results of IBM's now abandoned efforts to court game developers to write games for the OS/2 platform.  Like the other ports which were made as a result of IBM's campaign, Links was ported by Jim Thomas of SoftPort (formerly WinWare).  Thomas has also done such ports as Doom I and II (never released by IBM), SimCity Classic (DUX never released the DIVE version of this), SimCity 2000, SimTown, and Widget Workshop.

Despite its common heritage though, Links has advantages over some of the other games that have been ported to OS/2 to date:

o  It is a game with a history of success in its many incarnations.
o  It is being released within a few months of the comparable Windows version (Microsoft Golf 3.0 was released in January).
o  It takes advantage of some OS/2 capabilities such as multithreading to allow action to take place in multiple windows simultaneously.
o  It is being published by (http://www.stardock.com/) Stardock Systems, so it won't hide on some unknown web page where few OS/2 users will ever see it.

The Game

I've spent the last week playing a very late beta version of Links for OS/2, and one of the things that really impressed me was the fit and finish of the game.  Even though there were a few minor cosmetic bugs in the beta that I received, none affected game play, and they are sure to be fixed by the final release in June, as I reported them to Stardock.  Links has more polish than any game released for OS/2 that I have seen to date.  It could stand toe to toe with any Windows or DOS game.

Having played Links and Links386 Pro, I came into the game familiar with its controls and interface.  Links plays in such a way that it is simple enough for someone who has never picked up a bag of golf clubs to play, yet someone who knows golf can control every detail.  At its simplest, the player lets the computer caddie select the clubs for their shots and controls the backswing and the point at which the club strikes the ball.  For those who revel in reality, you can manually set your stance and the way the club face addresses the ball to create higher or lower shots with varying degrees of draw and fade.

The only part of the game that I couldn't replicate was a good bump and run game, though this is made up for in the rest of the short game, which was easier than real golf, at least for me.  (I probably could have managed to play a bump and run game if I'd tweaked the stance and address some.)

The game also lets you customize your player in several ways.  You can change colors of outfits, skin, and hair, as well as sex, and player skill.  Player skills range from beginner to professional, with the professional player being capable of out-driving Tiger Woods.  The game keeps statistics not only for your player, but for each course, for those of you who enjoy that sort of thing.

It also has a very customizable interface.  You have eight windows which you can view and arrange within the main Links window.  The game comes with a standard arrangement for opening the three windows you will usually use while playing the game (the main view and info and swing windows).  You can also save a specific arrangement, so you could have one arrangement for 640x480 and another quite different one for 1280x1024, or one arrangement for driving, one for chipping, and another for putting.

The sound in Links for OS/2 is also well done.  This is the first game to use Softport's SimpleSound (tm) real time mixing interface, which is an interface to the DART engine written by Jim Thomas specifically for games.  Jim wrote SimpleSound based on the knowledge he has gained from several years of experience in the computer game industry of what game programmers need to create high quality, real time sound effects.  (In other words, it's a sound system developed specifically for people writing computer games.)

There are sound effects throughout Links for OS/2, ranging from swing sounds, to the player commenting during or after a shot.  Each player comment is recorded in a male and female voice.  You can assign your own sound or no sound at all to any of the dozens of sound events, and save specific sound setups.  You can also turn each of the three categories of sounds (commentary, wildlife, and all other sounds) on or off as desired.

Links for OS/2 ships with two courses, the Firestone Country Club - South Course and Banff Springs.  Each course comes complete with flyby animations of each hole which tell about approach strategies and give information about the green or other information about the hole.  There are also several course collections available from Access (which are OS/2 compatible), so there is no need to play the same courses over and over.  Just because you can't afford to spend thousands of dollars on greens fees doesn't mean you can't play the world's most famous golf courses!

OS/2 Specifics

As mentioned, the action in Links for OS/2 occurs simultaneously in each window.  As the ball is flying away from the tee box in the main view, it is traveling across the overhead view and toward the green in the green view.  This is where OS/2's multithreading really stands out.

Links also takes advantage of OS/2's newer multimedia capabilities, DART and DIVE, so if you are still using hardware that doesn't support them, you will need to upgrade to play.  (You can play with no sound, but it isn't quite the same -- I tried it.)  Otherwise, the game should run on a wide variety of machines.

Support for three levels of detail is provided, each adjustable for the near, medium and distant ranges, and the best detail level for your system is automatically selected the first time you run the game.  Since the game lets the player adjust the detail level, you can change it to higher or lower levels.  Adjusting to too low a level for the near view is not something I would recommend, as it can make things look a little awkward, but the only thing adjusting to too high a detail level will do is make you wait for long periods between shots while your machine renders the terrain.  On my Pentium 133 system, I was able to adjust all the detail levels to maximum without bogging down the play too severely.

Conclusions

Unless you have a severe aversion to this genre of game, I would recommend Links for OS/2.  It plays well, has good graphics, and the best fit and finish of any OS/2 game I've played.  Hopefully it will be successful enough to convince other game developers to support OS/2.  And since it only took Jim Thomas a little over six months to complete the port, it should be theoretically possible to get whatever the next big hit is within a few months of its Windows release.

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* Links for OS/2
by (http://www.accesssoftware.com/) Access Software
published by (http://www.stardock.com/) Stardock Systems
MSRP: US$49.95

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(http://www.ionet.net/~colin/) Colin Hildinger is an Aerospace Engineering senior at (http://www.okstate.edu/) Oklahoma State University and has been using OS/2 for the last 3 years.  In addition to being the Games Editor for OS/2 e-Zine!, he maintains (http://www.ionet.net/~colin/games.html) The Ultimate OS/2 Gaming Page and the (http://www.ionet.net/~colin/awe32.html) AWE32 and OS/2 Page in his "spare" time.

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Stella for OS/2	- by Colin L. Hildinger

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It was Christmas 1979, and I was only 5 years old when I got my first video gaming system.  It was a shiny new Atari 2600 system.  (OK, it was mostly black and not really that shiny.)  The games that came with the system were Combat and, by my 19 year old brother's recommendation, Space Invaders.  For years, the Atari 2600 was the only home video gaming system worth having, not because there weren't other good systems, but because everyone had a 2600 -- you could always borrow games from and trade games with your friends.

Jump forward to 1996.  (http://www4.ncsu.edu/eos/users/b/bwmott/www/) Bradford Mott, a computer science student at (http://www.ncsu.edu/) North Carolina State University pulled out his dusty Atari 2600.  He suddenly realized just how much we were all missing; we don't need CD-ROMs and polygon engine's to have fun, we just need 2k to 16k of quality programming.  So what if all the levels look the same?  Who cares if the score only goes to 99,999 and then starts over?  These games were the best.  But what to do about it?  Rewrite all the games?  They weren't that good.  What Mott decided to do instead was write an Atari 2600 emulator.

Stella

(http://www4.ncsu.edu/~bwmott/www/2600/) Stella is the result of his efforts.  It is capable of playing any of the games for the Atari 2600 from image files which you can either make from your old cartidges (instructions are provided) or get from one of (http://www.general.uwa.edu.au/u/darrins/2600/roms.html) several on-line archives.  During Stella's evolution, several different programmers have taken it upon themselves to port the system to various platforms.  (spice@ibm.net) Darrell Spice, Jr. is the developer kind enough to take the time to port Stella to OS/2.  The current version (fully functional, but still at v0.61) takes full advantage of OS/2's DIVE and MMPM to make the games look and sound just like they did when you first played them on your television way back when...

Getting it together

There are several steps to turning your modern OS/2 system into a 1970's game playing wonder.  First, get the latest version of (http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/2281/stella.html) Stella for OS/2 from Darrell's page.  Unzip it and, if you have a joystick, install OS/2's joystick support.  (Darrell's package includes IBM's joystick drivers in a file called joystick.zip which you'll need to install to use your joystick under OS/2.)

After you've done this, go to one of the several on-line archives and start downloading your favorite games.  It's recommended that you download both the .bin and .vcs file for each game.  The .bin files are the actual games and the .vcs files contain recommended settings for the games.  A proper .vcs file can supposedly make a game play more smoothly, and Mott supplies over 70 .vcs files for some of the most poplular games.

Gameplay

I played several games that I had for my Atari 2600, the first being Space Invaders, and I must say, it brought back fond memories.  From the graphics to the sound, everything was exactly the same; the only thing I couldn't do was activate a cheat that was possible on the 2600 that allowed you to shoot double bullets, but Darrell said that he had not been able to reproduce it either.

On my P133 system, the game ran at its original speed in a window.  When I maximized the window under my normal resolution of 1024x768x65k, it did slow down a little but this won't be an issue for many of you who are running faster video cards than my Trident 9860 card, or who are running at lower resolutions and color depths.

After Space Invaders I played a little Pac-Man, and while I remember waiting anxiously for the release of Pac-Man for the Atari 2600, I think it might not be the best game to use as an example of Stella's performance, since there are native OS/2 versions of Pac-Man that far excede its quality.  I did have a lot of fun with other games like Pitfall, Defender, and River Raid though.

Conclusions

If you ever owned an Atari 2600, take a few minutes to download Stella and all the games you couldn't talk your parents into buying.  You can't beat Stella's price (free), and it's worth doing just to bring back the old memories.

Look for an updated version of Stella/2 in late May with even better performance.

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* Stella for OS/2
A (http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/2281/) Spiceware Conversion
Registration: Free

-----

(http://www.ionet.net/~colin/) Colin Hildinger is an Aerospace Engineering senior at (http://www.okstate.edu) Oklahoma State University and has been using OS/2 for the last 3 years.  In addition to being the Games Editor for OS/2 e-Zine!, he maintains (http://www.ionet.net/~colin/games.html) The Ultimate OS/2 Gaming Page and the (http://www.ionet.net/~colin/awe32.html) AWE32 and OS/2 Page in his "spare" time.

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WarpTris v1.01	- by Jorge Martins

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WarpTris v1.01 is a unique four-directional Tetris variation, written from the ground up as a 32-bit PM application and built using VisualAge C++ for OS/2.

According to my tests, WarpTris runs equally well under Warp 3.0 or Warp 4.0 and it displays properly under resolutions from 640x480 to 1024x768.  Actually, WarpTris runs better under Warp 4.0 since the sound effects (using MMPM MCI interface on a separate thread) are smoother.

Besides being another demonstration that ANY computer is subject to being used to play 
some games, the author, Paulo Gago da Cmara, released the source code and wrote an article published by (http://www.edm2.com/) EDM/2 describing how he did it.

According to Cmara, this was a first project so if users acknowledge that they are using WarpTris and like it, that's enough payment for him.  If you do, you may see more (better) games for OS/2.  (Personally I'd like an Oil Imperium clone for OS/2.)

Installation

Installation of WarpTris is pretty straightforward.  WarpTris is distributed as a single zip file; after unzipping it, a REXX script creates a folder on the Desktop containing a shadow of the readme file, the WarpTris program object and the Help file (INF format).  Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done!  You can skip installation and run the EXE directly.

It is impressive that such a small free program like this one actually has a help system, and a very complete one!

Gameplay

This has to be one of the toughest Tetris variations in existence.  The reason for this is the unique variation on the play; pieces fall in four directions.  I'm OK with that, but when a full line disappears it creates a hole on the adjacent sides.  Now try to fill that up!  The combined difficulty of having to deal with pieces falling all over the place and those nasty holes makes this game a great challenge.

Should you need to divert your attention from the game to another task, WarpTris automatically suspends the game.  Even if you change the focus to any window within WarpTris other than the Game Window, WarpTris stops.  A nice touch.

There are 3 levels of difficulty ranging from "Donkey" to "Warp!".  I found "Donkey" to be enough for me, but if you're a Tetris-master, you have the ability to speed things up.  Another way to make things difficult on yourself are to turn the preview window off so you won't know what piece is coming next (or which way it's going to go).

As any decent Tetris clone the main user interface features the next piece you'll have to deal with, the current score and the top 10 high scores.  The preview window differs from standard Tetris though since it also includes an arrow indicating which way the next shape will be moving.  You can also turn on and off the sound effects, which are limited to beeps when pieces appear and applause when a game is finished.

Quirks

This game has few, if any, quirks (some unnecessary window refreshes -- nothing special).  There are a few things that could make it a better game though.

o  There is no way of specifying the grid size, to take advantage of higher resolutions.
o  There is no way to reconfigure the keys.
o  The only way to reset high scores is erasing the scores.ini file <g>.

Uninstallation

WarpTris v1.01 doesn't register any WPS classes, nor does it modify files such as the CONFIG.SYS, STARTUP.CMD or system INI's, so the uninstallation program is the Shredder.  You just have to delete two folders and you are done.  Of course there could be an uninstallation script that would do just that, but this is only a minor annoyance.

Conclusion

WarpTris v1.01 will please Tetris buffs as well as the casual player.  The program is stable and bug free (as near as I could tell).  It's also multithreaded, MMPM enabled and FREE.  And finally, the author even lets you peek into the source code (also free).

Download it and try it out!

-----

* WarpTris v1.01
by (http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/1856/) Paulo Camara
download from (http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/1856/warptris.zip) Paulo Camara's home page (ZIP, 148k)
Registration: Freeware

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(askien@mail.telepac.pt) Jorge Martins is a Mathematics/Computer Science student at Azores University in Azores, Portugal.  He is also a C/C++ instructor at CFPA, an Azorean Training Center.  He has used and programmed OS/2 since version 1.0.

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April '97 Reader Survey Results

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What did we learn from last month's OS/2 e-Zine! Reader Survey?  Plenty!

Last month we asked, "How long have you used OS/2?"  As usual, our survey revealed some expected and some surprising information about our readers and their dedication to OS/2.

Answers to our survey were accepted from April 16th until May 13th and any duplicate, incomplete or mangled e-mails were discarded.  We had a total of 3,225 readers send us valid replies to our questionnaire.  The results were as follows:

How long have you been using OS/2?

The first thing we found this month is that most of our readers are long time OS/2 users.  In fact, only 3.1% of people responding to our April survey had started using OS/2 in the past year, with another 7.9% starting between one and two years ago.  The rest of our readers were evenly distributed based on their date of first using OS/2 with the largest category being those that have been OS/2ers for more than five years (26.9%).

What was your first version of OS/2?

Not surprisingly (considering the length of time our readers have been dedicated to the world's best 32-bit OS), the first version of OS/2 the majority of our readers ever installed was v2.x (not including v2.x SMP) -- a whopping 51.9% of them!  A little more than half that many (27.7%) told us that Warp 3.0 was the first version of OS/2 they ever used.  No readers responded that Warp Server or Warp Server SMP was their first version.

How long will you continue to use OS/2?

Our final question last month generated a lot of feedback.  Many people wanted us to include answers like "forever!" or "until they pry it from my cold dead hands!"  We actually considered these answers (or some like them) when constructing the survey but decided it was better to leave the choices 'unemotional'. <g>

Guessing the answers our readers gave to this question is a no-brainer.  An overwhelming majority (65.6%) answered that they would be using OS/2 for more than the next two years -- a lifetime in the computer industry.  The next most popular answer to this question was "Don't know" (30.0%) indicating that many of our readers have either never given this question much thought or that they believe the industry is too unpredictable to even hazard a guess.  Of 3,225 readers though, only 4.4% told us that they would cease using OS/2 some time in the coming 24 months.  Our readers know a good OS when they use it!

Don't forget to fill out our questionnaire this month (it's on the next page) and check back in June for complete results!

 
              Complete April '97 Survey Results

How long have you been using OS/2?

Category				Count	Percentage
1 - 6 months				46	1.4%
7 - 12 months				53	1.6%
More than 1 year, less than 2 years	256	7.9%
More than 2 years, less than 3 years	713	22.1%
More than 3 years, less than 4 years	665	20.6%
More than 4 years, less than 5 years	626	19.4%
More than 5 years			866	26.9%
TOTAL	3,225	99.9%

Note: the missing 0.1% is due to rounding errors.


What was your first version of OS/2?

Category		Count	Percentage
1.x			552	17.1%
2.x			1,674	51.9%
2.x SMP	6		0.2%
Warp 3.0		894	27.7%
Warp Connect		46	1.4%
Warp 4.0		53	1.6%
Warp Server		0	0.0%
Warp Server SMP	0	0.0%
TOTAL	3,225	99.9%

Note: the missing 0.1% is due to rounding errors.


How long will you continue to use OS/2?

Category		Count	Percentage
1 - 6 months		23	0.7%
7 - 12 months		20	0.6%
1 - 2 years		101	3.1%
More than 2 years	2,115	65.6%
Don't know		966	30.0%
TOTAL	3,225	100.0%

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OS/2 e-Zine! Reader Survey

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Have you ever wondered what your fellow OS/2 users are doing with their computers and how they're doing it?

Each month, OS/2 e-Zine! takes the pulse of the OS/2 community on a different topic and presents you with the results.

Just fill in the form at our web site (http://www.os2ezine.com/v2n5/survey2.htm) and check back next month to find out how "normal" you really are!

Notes:
1. Only one entry per reader will be counted.
2. Information must be received on or before June 13, 1997.

Complete results of this month's survey will be printed in our next issue (June 16th, 1997).

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Do you have an idea that you think would make a good survey question?  Many of our best ideas for surveys come from our readers.  Send yours in now!

(And don't forget to check out the complete results of last month's survey, in this issue!)


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A Clear Look at Sundial Systems	- by Christopher B. Wright

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              The future looks interesting for Sundial's summer releases

Amidst rumors of an upcoming Warp 4.1 release, an update to Word Pro '96, a soon to be released office suite update from Star Division, and speculation on the Corel Java Suite, (http://www.sundialsystems.com/) Sundial Systems is quietly preparing to release the next version of the Clearlook Word Processor.

This new release, version 2.0, should include new paragraph formatting controls, a new user interface, and some invisible, though significant, changes in the underpinnings of the program that will pave the way for future updates and refinements.

Sundial Systems, best known for its Relish Personal Information Manager software, has been acquiring some impressive technology over the past year.  Along with its venerable PIM, it has also acquired a word processor, Clearlook, a spreadsheet, Mesa/2, and a relational database, DB Expert, as members of its growing family of software products.

All of these products are being updated, revised, and prepared for new releases.  Most seem to be slated for some significant enhancements, though due to the recent abandonment of OpenDoc by IBM and Apple, not all previously planned features will be included.  This article is a brief taste of things to come and a glimpse into the possibility of what's in store for one of OS/2's oldest ISV's.

Disclaimer

Some of this information was obtained by reading the transcript of an IRC session that is posted on Sundial System's web site.  Some of it was obtained by speaking with an employee of Sundial Systems.  It should be noted, however, that the employee was not speaking in an official capacity, and since that time the information may have changed.  Caveat Emptor: what you are hearing is a tantalizing possibility -- perhaps a strong possibility, perhaps almost certain -- but it should not be taken in any way as Sundial's official course of action.

OpenDoc is Dead (No, Really, It's Dead)

Sundial Systems had planned to release at least two of their products with OpenDoc support:  Mesa/2 and Clearlook.  Since Apple and IBM have effectively abandoned all development of this technology, however, Sundial is no longer planning to include it in their products.  They haven't given up on object technology, however, and are examining their options.

A Suite by Any Other Name Smells Just as Sweet

Now that Sundial Systems has a PIM, a Word Processor, a Spreadsheet, and a Relational Database, there has been some speculation that Sundial may be planning to release them as a suite.  Sundial's plans to release all new versions of the products at the same time has not dampened that speculation in the least.  However, the company has been quite evasive about the whole issue.  Their stance seems to be, "we're not calling it a suite, but we're not calling them standalone products, either.  In fact, we're not telling you what we're calling it."  This secrecy doesn't seem to stem from anything other than a reluctance to talk about products that haven't shipped yet, a refreshing departure from publishers of software in some other operating systems that have nothing to do with this magazine.

Sundial has indicated that it will be releasing an announcement concerning the direction of their software, and that it might include a "suite-like offering".

The New Clearlook

Most of the information I have be able to glean deals with Sundial's word processor, Clearlook.  Apparently Sundial Systems has been making some substantial changes to this application.

For those of you who were attracted to Clearlook by its small footprint and speed, fear not:  Sundial is just as interested as you are in keeping it small and fast.  In fact, Sundial is holding off on some popularly requested features (notably, irregularly shaped frames) because of speed concerns.

Many of the changes in the latest Clearlook will be aimed at making it a little more user friendly for people who are used to the layout of other word processors.  Sundial is altering the user interface to make it more customizable (for example, customizable toolbars) and closer to the UI's of other popular word processing programs.  Also, some tools like mail merge are being updated and improved.

The way Clearlook handles formatted text is also changing.  Clearlook 2.0 will include more complex paragraph formatting controls, primarily to make importing and exporting to other word processor formats easier and more accurate.  In terms of document filters, for the 2.0 release Sundial is concentrating on improved Rich Text Format and perhaps HTML formats.  Other document formats are planned but are more difficult to achieve due to the differences between Clearlook and other word processors.  Altering the "plumbing" (as described above) should make it easier for more formats to be included in the future, though.

How frame creation and manipulation are handled is also being modified to make those tasks easier.  On the other hand,  Clearlook will not be including, at least for the moment, high-end desktop publishing features like irregularly shaped frames.  While Sundial isn't ruling out any of these features, they are concerned about two things:

a) the relevance of these features with the surge in web-based publishing, and

b) the performance hit on the program if they were included.

At this point in time, Sundial doesn't seem to have made up its mind about irregular frames, but they are not planned for version 2.0 (or 2.1, for that matter) so don't expect to see them soon.

What Does It All Mean?

Despite Sundial's reluctance to spout vapor, the signs are clear to anyone willing to take notice.  The purchasing of these many complimentary applications and surge in development to overhaul many of them sends a clear signal to OS/2 users that Sundial has some big plans for the future.  Look for more news on these upcoming products from Sundial in future issues of OS/2 e-Zine!.

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(cwbrenn@ibm.net) Christopher B. Wright is a technical writer in the Northern Virginia/D.C. area, and has been using OS/2 Warp since January 95.  He is also a member of Team OS/2.

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Celebrity Corner: Robert Mauro

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To celebrate the inaugural edition of "Celebrity Corner" this month we asked Robert Damian Mauro, President of Cybercom, to share some very interesting philosophies his company has regarding software development (and a few other things).  Cybercom is the developer of the highly anticipated AccuCount/2 accounting and business management package being exclusively developed for OS/2.

During the course of the past half a year, Mauro tells us that some Windows users have become interested in AccuCount/2 and have inquired about a possible port to their chosen platform.  This month, Mauro tells us what Cybercom's answer is to that request, and why.

-----

Why We Don't Write Windows Software

First, a word of thanks to the editor of OS/2 e-Zine! for inviting us to this month's "Celebrity Corner".

We ((http://www3.smart.net/~cybercom/) Cybercom) have gotten numerous messages asking us our position on developing Windows software, about IBM and the OS/2 market.  We hope to clarify our opinions on these matters and give you an idea of where we as a company are going as well.

Cybercom is a PC Software and hardware consulting company.  We specialize in custom solutions as well as hardware upgrading, repair and system building.  Our primary focus is a commercial software package called "AccuCount/2" -- an OS/2 only accounting and business management package.

During our development of AccuCount/2, we've learned a lot about the computer market.  First, Windows users aren't quite the mindless lemmings many portray them to be.  Many of them honestly do not know about OS/2, or the advantages it has over Windows.  Second, many Windows users seem to be looking for solutions other than Windows, or better software for it.

Also, we do not believe the OS/2 market is dead, no matter how others portray it.  We think most people just aren't aware of OS/2.  I don't know how many times we have consulted with a client or potential client and suggested OS/2 and have been asked, "what's that?" or, "does that run under Windows?"

Yet still, with all the doom-and-gloom out there, we have gotten requests for AccuCount for Windows.  Our response...  "Sorry, no."

To this reply and to our explanation why, we have actually found some Windows users ordering our software, and planning on dedicating a machine to OS/2 so they can run it.

Why won't we develop for Windows?  Many reasons.  One is that we don't believe Win95 is a viable platform for "Mission Critical" software, and we don't believe WinNT is up to par when it comes to performance/hardware ratios.  The abysmal attempt to use NT on the MSNBC servers or PC Magazine's tests of Warp Server Single Processor against NT on 4 are perfect indications why.

What do we define as "Mission Critical"?  Well, to us, "Mission Critical" is anything you run, anywhere you run it.  In other words, when I get home from work, I play games or surf the web -- does that make it less "Mission Critical" for me?  If you bought a new car, and it ran terribly, but you only used it for joyrides around the block, would that make the drive less "Mission Critical" (and excuse the breakdowns the car suffered from)?

Whether you are a home user, SOHO user or a Fortune 500 company, we think everything should be treated as "Mission Critical".  To us, that alone discounts Win95 as a viable development platform.  Even Microsoft claims if you need a "Mission Critical" platform, you should use NT.  To us, that is an admission of failure for Win95.  It's akin to saying, "If you don't mind something that is buggy or poorly written, use 95, otherwise use NT".

As for NT, MS still doesn't seem to know for sure what direction they are going today.  Cairo is getting later by the year, and many promised innovations we keep reading about just never materialize except as another year appended to the product name that we never seem to see.  We can't justify writing products for an inefficient OS whose features are vaporous.

Well, what about a port?  NO.  One thing we feel about OS/2 and the OS/2 market is if we (the OS/2 community) are right (and I believe we are), and OS/2 is the best commercially available OS for the PC, then shouldn't we have the best software as well?  There are some great companies out there -- like (http://www.spg-net.com/) SPG (ColorWorks), (http://www.southsoft.com/) SouthSide Software (PMMail), and (http://www.kellergroup.com/) The Keller Group (FaxWorks for OS/2) to name a few -- who seem to realize this and deliver top notch products that exemplify such a belief.

In developing AccuCount/2, we decided from the beginning that our software should also exemplify this belief.  In (hopefully) following through on this belief, we are nearing our release date for a product that incorporates features that just aren't possible to implement on a platform like Win95.  By "implement", we mean, "incorporate such features in so the features are usable and not a detriment to the speed and performance of the program or other programs simultaneously running".

Some of the areas we cite are multithreading and interprocess communication.  "You can implement those under Win95!" some people tell us.  Sure, with a lot of work, we can, producing a package that is very slow, hogs the system, and proves once again that Win95 doesn't multithread or multitask well.  No thanks.  We refuse to put our name on such a port and we refuse to let anyone else port our product and release such "crippleware".

Why don't we de-thread the program and/or remove the OS/2 specific features?  Our plan and our company paradigm is to release state of the art software, with advanced features.  Such a decision would not fit with that goal.  That would just amount to releasing another version of everything else out there on the WinXX platforms.

A word to developers...

To their credit, IBM has been a phenomenal help to us.  Yes, we said, "IBM."  When we ran into problems obtaining information on the new PMPrint Engine in OS/2 (which does most of the device independent printing under OS/2), Sheila Ryan and Marta Gomez were instrumental in helping us.  Instead of just providing us with a little documentation or a WWW URL, they passed us along to Mark Vanderweile from Warp's PMPrint Team.  He not only answered specific questions both by voice and e-mail, but also sent us documentation, sample code, actual PMPrint code, much more than we hoped for -- about 11MB in all!  We were stunned.  With all the complaints about IBM's developer support, we didn't expect it.

We also are very lucky to have two local IBM reps who have been fantastic in their assistance who should also be mentioned.  They are Michelle McKnaught and Craig Stone.  These two work primarily with large (Fortune 1000) companies, but were always willing to spend the time needed to help us out, finding us software, development tools, tracking down leads or departments in IBM to help, providing us with promotional literature -- you name it.  They realized we had a need and no one else locally to fill it, so they picked up the ball and got things rolling for us.

As for the horror stories you may have heard, yes, they are true.  We could tell you many ourselves.  For instance, it took months to get the information on PMPrint that we needed.  Not because of inefficiency on the part of someone at IBM who promised it, but because we weren't talking to the right people.  Many people claim, "Well, I have talked to 50 people at IBM and haven't gotten any help."  IBM has roughly a quarter million people working for it so talking to 50 really doesn't say much.  Perhaps, like us, you will get lucky and hit upon the right person.  Perhaps, like in many cases, you will not.

Our suggestion: first, join the IBM Solution Developer Team.  They are a great bunch who care about their job.  They've gone through some reorganizing lately and some developers have temporarily suffered because of this, but once you find your support person, they can be a great help.  Second, don't give up.  If IBM can't help you, try someone else.  Perhaps someone outside IBM knows who inside you can contact or can pass you to another developer who has a tool or trick to suit your needs.  For us, such companies were OnLine Data, who has a very nice database development tool set, The Keller Group with FaxWorks for OS/2 for AccuCount/2's fax integration and SouthSide Software with PMMail for AC/2's e-mail integration.

The bottom line is, OS/2 is the only platform we will develop for.  We support others for our clients that use them, but will NOT develop for those other platforms.  Finding support and technical information for OS/2 may be very difficult at times, but the rewards of sticking it out are phenomenal.  I, for one, couldn't live with an imitation of other WinXX packages when I know what our software can do under OS/2.  All of us at Cybercom are committed to releasing top-notch software -- not software that is "feature competitive" with its WinXX counterparts, but instead, software that sets new standards that Win XX counterparts cannot match.

-----

(cybercom@smart.net) Robert Mauro, President of Cybercom, is one of their lead programmers as well as an A+ Certified Hardware Technician.  He went straight from DOS to OS/2 2.0 beta and never looked back.

***********************************

The Chronicles of John Ominor	- by John Ominor, The Inhuman

-----

I am John Ominor, The Inhuman.  Truly The Age is upon us.  OS/2 Warp 
4.0, an operating system that has been used in sentences featuring adjectives such as "beleaguered" or "hapless", has recently enjoyed a renewed notice in the attention of the press, thanks to the computer world's infatuation with the Network Computer.  Once again, the industry shifts its focus, and once again, leading the way, an oak amongst the saplings, stands John Ominor, the one true visionary, who in his infinite wisdom, endorses the use of OS/2 in these exciting new frontiers ranging from thin clients to hand held computers.

Currently, the mighty Intel empire is being besieged by Digital and Cyrix for patent infringements.  Who amongst you have not marveled at Intel's ability to make such quantum leaps in processing performance in so short an amount of time?  Indeed.  It has been stated that Intel, in order to improve upon its technology, created a hybrid chip combining elements of CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer) and RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) processor designs to create its vaunted Pentium line of processors.

Can it be that these improvements were actually borrowed -- unintentionally, of course -- from Digital, one of the leaders in RISC technology?

Notice the nontrivial efforts of Microsoft to create a line of Windows-based terminals for public consumption.  An effort so grand that the Redmond Monopoly has allied itself with Citrix, a company which is truly approaching Herculean levels of stupidity, to enhance the single most overrated operating system the Earth has ever known (Windows NT 4.0) with multiuser abilities.  Will Citrix never learn?

In addition, to the surprise of no one save the buzzing Windows gnats of comp.os.os2.advocacy, it has been announced that there will be no version three of the UNIX version of Internet Explorer.  Add to this the fact that future enhancements of Microsoft's COM and DCOM technology have been postponed.  The plagues continue as Microsoft releases yet another patch for Windows NT 4.0 to prevent TCP/IP packets from crashing this "uncrashable" operating system -- a security bug that, interestingly enough did not crash Windows 95.  Unfortunately, Windows 95's patch is to be delayed further as the Windows 3.x version of this crash has no known shipping date.

"Surely, Mighty Ominor, there must be a method to this stream of consciousness that plagues yon written lore?"

But of course.

There are many foolish or disenchanted individuals that believe Microsoft is an unstoppable juggernaut with unlimited resources.  After all, did they not purchase WebTV for well over four hundred twenty million dollars?  Did they not just have a record earning quarter from the sales of Office 97, an office suite that has a well deserved reputation for torturing information system managers and home users alike?  Yes, they performed these feats, yet they cannot complete DCOM, the technology that was going to "finish" CORBA.  ActiveX, their flagship technology, falls to the wayside before their own Java attempts, betas are delayed time and time again, while promised software such as the UNIX version of the Internet Explorer goes unfulfilled.

Mark well, this day.  This is the day history will record as the Fall of the Empire.  What the industry is now observing are the limits of Microsoft's abilities.  Even as IBM and OS/2 claim increasing amounts of positive coverage in terms of Bluebird and Deep Blue's impressive victory (a victory that reinforces the chess mastery of Gary Kasparov), Microsoft is being attacked from all sides for security concerns and difficult Office suite upgrade attempts.

Remember, only Ominor is not bound by physical laws, only The Inhuman is without limits.  Let us observe the first cracks in the monolith...

Gary Kasparov impresses John Ominor.  He is a human so talented that it took the computer might of a nigh-weather predicting, parallel multiprocessing, supercomputer, an entire programming team, an outside United States chess Grand Master and several years to create a machine capable of defeating, but not humbling Kasparov.

Now, perhaps Kasparov and Deep Blue are reading to face The Inhuman in the ultimate expression of reason... X-Wing versus Tie-Fighter?

In conclusion, this day marks the re-release of (http://www.mnsinc.com/dmccoy/) FORTRESS Ominor.  All sentients are invited to partake of the treasures of the Inner Chambers of Ominor's Lair.

-----

The origins and current plans of (dmccoy@mailhost.mnsinc.com) Ominor are known only to (dmccoy@mailhost.mnsinc.com) Ominor.  He is indeed a mystery to all.  Save The Inhuman.

***********************************

Top Sellers Lists Disclaimer

-----

Our "top sellers lists" represent sales figures compiled for OS/2 e-Zine! by BMT Micro, Inc., Indelible Blue, Inc. and J3 Computer Technologies.  Falcon Networking does not verify these lists and makes no guarantee of their authenticity.  All inquiries regarding products appearing or not appearing on these lists should be directed to the relevant retailer.

The publication of these lists is not meant to indicate an endorsement by Falcon Networking of any of these companies or of the products featured on the lists.

Readers should note that the rankings indicated in each of these lists represent only the sales of each individual retailer.  They do not, necessarily, represent sales across the entire OS/2 industry.

There are many different sales channels in the OS/2 industry and different software vendors rely heavily on some while other vendors rely more heavily on others.  Also, not all retailers carry all existing OS/2 products.  Readers should take these facts into consideration when interpreting the "top sellers lists".

The BMT Micro "top sellers list" represents only the top selling OS/2 shareware applications available through BMT Micro, Inc.  The BMT Micro CD is excluded from the figures to avoid distorting the results.

The Indelible Blue "top sellers list" represents only the top selling OS/2 applications sold by Indelible Blue, Inc.  OS/2 Warp and OS/2 Warp Connect are not included in these rankings.

The J3 Computer Technologies "top sellers list" represents only the top selling OS/2 applications sold by J3 Computer Technologies.

***********************************

April's Top Selling Applications from Indelible Blue

-----

Note: This list represents only the monthly sales figures of Indelible Blue, Inc.  Please read our disclaimer for more information.

	
This	Last	Product			Developer
Month	Month
1	3	Process Commander	Stardock Systems
2	2	FaxWorks Pro v3	Keller Group Inc.
3	4	IBM AntiVirus		IBM
4	--	Embellish		Dadaware
5	7	Colorworks V2		SPG
5	10	BackAgain/2 Pro	Computer Data Strategies
6	6	Performance Plus	Clear & Simple
6	7	Partition Magic		PowerQuest
7	5	SmartSuite 96		Lotus
8	9	QuickMotion		Practice Corporation
8	1	BackMaster		MSR Development
9	9	UniMaint		SofTouch Systems
9	8	Seagate Backup		Seagate Software
10	10	Hobbes CD-ROM	Walnut Creek
11	--	SofTouch Suite		SofTouch Systems
11	--	DeskMan/2		DevTech
12	12	GammaTech Utilities	SofTouch Systems
13	--	KopyKat		Hilgraeve
13	--	System Commander	V Communications
14	14	Trials of Battle		Stardock Systems
14	--	Boxer Text Editor	Boxer Software
15	--	Chron			Hilbert Computing
-----

Compiled by (http://www.indelible-blue.com/ib/) Indelible Blue, Inc. - Your Single Source for OS/2 Solutions.

***********************************

April's Top Selling Applications from J3

-----

Note: This list represents only the monthly sales figures of J3 Computer Technologies.  Please read our disclaimer for more information.


This	Last	Product				Developer
Month	Month
1	3	SmartSuite 96 Upgrade		Lotus
2	2	Word Pro & Freelance Graphics	Lotus
3	--	ColorWorks v1+ w/ Manual	SPG Inc.
4	--	Book: Getting to Know OS/2 Warp 4	
5	6	FaxWorks Pro v3 UG		Keller Group Inc.
6	4	LinkWiz			PCX
7	1	Seagate Backup for OS/2	Seagate
8	8	Partition Magic v3 Personal Ed.	PowerQuest
9	5	System Commander		V Communications
10	--	F-Prot Professional Antivirus	Command Software


-----

Compiled by (http://www.os2store.com/) J3 Computer Technologies - Serving the Global OS/2 Community, large and small!

***********************************

April's Top Selling Applications from BMT Micro

-----

Note: This list represents only the monthly registration figures of BMT Micro, Inc.  Please read our disclaimer for more information.


This	Last	Product			Developer
Month	Month
1	3	PMView		Peter Nielsen
2	1	PMMail			SouthSide Software
3	2	InJoy			F/X Communications
4	4	XFile			CodeSmith Software
5	5	ZOC			EmTec Innovative Software
6	8	ScreenSaver		Siegfried Hanisch
7	--	iLink/2		BMT Micro
8	7	FTP Browser		Jason Rushton
9	--	FM/2			BareBones Software
10	--	FC/2			Brian Havard
-----

This list is compiled by (http://www.bmtmicro.com/) BMT Micro -- Your Source for Over 100 Quality Shareware Applications.

***********************************

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***********************************

Our Corporate Sponsors

(http://www.bmtmicro.com/) BMT Micro
Your complete source for over 175 of the best OS/2 shareware applications available.  Drop by today and check out our WWW catalog or download the .INF version.

(http://www.ChipChat.com/os2ezine) ChipChat Technology Group
ChipChat produces excellent 32-bit OS/2 software for wireless text paging and state-of-the-art multimedia Sound Cards for Micro Channel PS/2 computers.

(http://www.fx.dk/) F/X Communications
Home of the top selling (http://www.fx.dk/injoy/) InJoy dialer, ranked #1 in worldwide OS/2 shareware sales (Jan-97).

(http://www.hotinc.com/) House of Technology, Inc.
Your Canadian Source For OS/2 Applications.

(http://www.indelible-blue.com/ib/) Indelible Blue
Indelible Blue, a mail order company, provides OS/2 software and hardware solutions to customers worldwide.

(http://www.os2store.com/) J3 Computer Technologies
Serving the Global OS/2 Community, large and small!

(http://www.kellergroup.com/) Keller Group Inc.
Developers of FaxWorks for OS/2 and PMfax, the fax and voice solution for OS/2, with versions for stand-alone, LAN and Internet Faxing.

(http://nick.secant.com/mr2ice.htm) MR/2 ICE Internet Email Client
Delivering the electronic mail features of the future, today.  A product of Knightware Software Company.

(http://www.mensys.nl/indexuk.html) Mensys
The one place to go in Europe for all OS/2 Warp software.

(http://www.OberonSoftware.com/) Oberon Software, Inc.
Home of TE/2, TE/2 Pro and other fine OS/2 programs.  Specializing in telecommunications and the Internet.

(http://www.pcs-soft.com/) Perez Computing Services
Defend against desktop freezes with Ctrl-Alt-Del Commander and create online documents/help with the IPF Editor.

(http://www.prioritymaster.com/) ScheduPerformance, Inc.
Dramatically improve performance on your OS/2 system now with the patented priority scanning logic and visual priority identification of Priority Master II.

(http://www.softouch.com) SofTouch Systems, Inc.
Home of the bestselling set of disk and desktop maintenance products for 
OS/2: GammaTech Utilities, UniMaint, and FileStar/2!  ---- Your System's Safe and Sound with SofTouch Around

(http://www.stardock.com/) Stardock Systems
Providing quality software for the home and office.

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Copyright 1997   -   Falcon Networking
ISSN 1203-5696